//------------------------------// // Memories Made Many Moons Ago // Story: Peacevic the Rapper in... // by peacevic //------------------------------// Memories Made Many Moons Ago Peacevic was having a great night. Keyword- was. At least until the pipe hit his jaw. Moments after he collapsed to the pavement, two pairs of hooves grabbed him roughly and hauled him up. Another pony, hooded, stepped out in front of him and rasped, "The Troubadour..." "I don't know what that word means," Peacevic mumbled drunkenly, "but this isn't exactly the best way to ask for an autograph." "We need not your voice, Troubadour. Only your blood." "I'm fairly certain murder is against the law." A purple unicorn trotted around the corner behind Mr. Raspy Voice and lit up her horn, dropping into a ready stance. Peacevic was dropped to the ground. Scrambling back up to his hooves, he saw the three hooded ponies backing away from the newcomer. Then, seemingly to clear up the rapper's confusion, the apparent leader said why. "The Princess' student!" The hoods decided it wasn't worth a fight at the moment, especially against the Sun Princess' personally-selected protege, and fled. Once she was satisfied they were actually gone, the purple pony quickly crossed over to stand in front of Peacevic. "Are you okay? My name's Twilight Sparkle." "Yeah, nice to meet you. Bet you already know who I am." "Nope." Twilight shook her head. "Should I?" "Ummm... I'm Peacevic. I'm a rapper. Rising Star of the Canterlot Scene?" "Oh- sorry, I'm not really interested in rap. I only listen to classical, helps me concentrate while I study." She began to check his head. "Doesn't look like you have a concussion, though I'd recommend seeing a doctor. Can't be too careful with head trauma, at least that's what my books say." "Are you serious?" He didn't get an answer as she'd already started strolling away, seemingly lost in thought. Peacevic jogged to catch up. "Wait a minute, who were those ponies?" "You're famous, right? They were probably just muggers," Twilight replied, as noncommittally as she could. A pony didn't need to be good at reading body language, which Peacevic was, to know she was hiding something. It was painfully obvious she wasn't used to deceiving others. "Nope, I don't believe that for a second. So are you going to tell me the truth, or am I going to have to follow you around all night?" Twilight ground her teeth in irritation. "Alright, I'll tell you. But you can't tell anypony else!" "Okay, sure." That was fine with Peacevic, he didn't like reporters anyway. As quickly as she could, she filled him in. Told him of a rash of mysterious sightings and odd thefts. Between his occasional question and her hyper-detailed, almost professorial explanations, it was over twenty minutes before she ran out of steam. "Well, that's everything and- as it so happens- this is where I'm staying. Have a good night, and hopefully I'll have solved this case before those ponies decide to come after you again." "Whoa, whoa whoa!" Peacevic hurriedly blocked the door before she could close it in her face. "You can't expect me to hear all that and just walk away!" "Uh... can't I?" Twilight looked genuinely confused, as if she couldn't imagine anypony taking the situation as seriously as she did. "No, you can't! Those plot-holes attacked me! With a pipe! If you're going after them, then count me in." Peacevic hoped he sounded as adamant as he did in his head, but truthfully he couldn't tell. His jaw still hurt like a motherbucker. "But it's-" "No buts!" The rapper gently, but insistently, pushed past her and trotted into the... Library? Don't misjudge Peacevic, he'd gladly crack a book open from time to time. But this was more than a little excessive. Shelf upon shelf all crammed full of thick tomes, with the overflow stacked on the floor in piles taller than either unicorn. In fact, the only area not drowning in books was the space immediately in front of a tackboard. Said tackboard was smothered in newspaper clippings and messily-written notes. And a map. "You're pretty late getting home, Twilight. What were you-" The speaker, a tiny purple dragon currently trying to wrangle the madness-inducing amount of books, abruptly stopped talking when he turned around and saw who was accompanying his co-inhabitant. His eyes went buggy. "Twilight, why is Peacevic with you?! Are you two hooking up?!" "Spike, you're too young to know that phrase!" Twilight's face flushed red. Peacevic couldn't help it, he just had to laugh. "I'm not a baby anymore, Twilight! I- you know what, just forget it." Spike the dragon had clearly voiced this protest before and, judging by his dropping the subject, it hadn't made much of a difference. Plus, he probably didn't want one of the coolest ponies in Canterlot to see him whine. "So why is he here? Oh, I mean- no offense, Mr Peacevic. Uh, sir." "Not a knight, Spike, and no offense taken." Peacevic liked the little guy. He leaned over to Spike and stage-whispered, "Between you and me? Twilight's super-cute and all, but she's not really my type." Twilight glared at the other unicorn. He hadn't been all that quiet. "Peacevic was attacked by some hooded ponies, that's why he's here. That and the fact he won't go away." "Really? So Twilight's not going crazy and there really are weirdo ponies running around?" Peacevic shrugged. "I can't speak for her general mental health, but she's right about this." "I'm not crazy! I took a test!" "Did you administer the test yourself?" When she didn't answer, Peacevic continued, "'Cause it doesn't count if you administered it yourself." Twilight growled and stalked over to the map. "These tacks represent the site of each of the sightings and robberies, the dates of the events, and the approximate times the events took place. Thus far I've been unable to figure out any correlation between the events. They seem to happen at random intervals, and there's also no logical pattern when it comes to location. A hooded pony will be seen in one district, then the next night it'll be somewhere completely different." "Does the picture mean anything?" "Huh?" Peacevic pointed at Twilight's map. "If you look at the events all together they look like a symbol, or something. Does that symbol mean anything?" Twilight stared at Peacevic in shock for a few moments, looked at the map, then looked again at Peacevic. Then she grabbed a quill and some parchment and started copying the pattern down. "Ha! Not just some dumb rapper, am I?" "Shut up!" She blushed again. "I'd have thought of it... eventually." He grinned at her. "Don't feel bad, Twilight. Sometimes you just need a creative thinker like me to put everything together." "I've got some creative things I can think of doing to you." "Yeah, I bet you do." "Wait, what does that mean?" Spike scratched his head. "Never mind!" She passed one of the copies to the little dragon. "Just- just start searching through the reference books for anything matching this symbol." Peacevic took a copy for himself. "Where should I start?" "Try Equscan Pottery. It's on the far end over there." She nodded in the proper direction, already busy searching her own section. Nothing. Hours of carefully scanning every page, of pouring over every possibly related book, and they hadn't found a single match. "I guess it wasn't that great an idea after all," Peacevic conceded, trying at the same time to stifle a yawn. "Not necessarily." Twilight was just as bleary-eyed as the rapper, having lost her source of caffeine when Spike went to bed. "It could be we just don't have the right book." "If you don't have the book we need, who could?" "The Princess might. I'll send her a letter after I get a few hours of sleep. You should rest as well, you're looking a little rough." "Well excuse me, Miss Canterlot four years running." Peacevic gave a little 'hmmph'. "No, I just meant-" "I know, Twilight, I know." He held up a hoof to cut her off. "I'm just messing with you." Twilight scowled. "Well, don't. I'm too tired for that." "We both are, that joke was pretty bad. See you in a couple hours." The sleep was good, what little he got. Quality aside, the quantity simply wasn't there and it seemed he had just drifted off when Twilight shook him awake again. "Get up, Peacevic. Celestia's sent a reply." "Already? How long was I out?" he asked, massaging his jaw. The pain was almost gone, all that was left was a dull ache. "And is there any coffee? I need about... a pot." Twilight made little check marks in the air as she replied, "Yes, about five hours, and yes. Spike made two pots." "Good. Speaking of, how the buck do you have a dragon living with you?" "I'm sure I'll tell you at some point, but right now we kinda have more important things to worry about." She waggled a scroll at him with her magic. Peacevic sighed. "Alright. Let me grab a cup and then we'll hear what Sun-butt has to say." "Don't call her that! Celestia's the Princess, and she deserves your respect." "I respect the buck out of her flank." "I- Gah!" Twilight winced. "I don't even want to think of-" "Am I gonna get to meet her, by the way?" "No!" "That is just incredibly weak." Peacevic stood and stretched with a groan. "I need all of the coffee, post haste." The two of them adjourned to the tiny dining area, where they proceeded to guzzle copious amounts of thick black coffee. To a pony observing from outside, it would almost seem as if they were racing each other. Of course, if there was somepony watching neither would notice. After finishing off the two pots, and a third one that Spike had wisely made up when he saw how fast the others were going, it was mail time. Peacevic settled back in his seat and gave Twilight his undivided attention as she unrolled the Princess' letter. "My Dearest Twilight... A short time ago, I told you I had once made a terrible mistake. You may not remember, as the mention was made cryptically and in passing, and I can only hope my reticence in discussing it was not yet another mistake. The rune you sent me was once part of my Writing, and it signifies Immortality. I stress the word once, as I very quickly realized what some ponies were willing to do with it and forbade its use. I attempted to have all records of the Word purged but, as you no doubt know, any knowledge- once revealed- is very difficult to conceal again. I can only hope that you are asking about it out of simple curiosity, and not any darker motive. Please remember that I am always here for you and you can always rely on me to help you overcome any corruption, if such corruption exists." Twilight facehoofed. "Great, now Celestia thinks I'm some sort of dark mage." "And I'm sure that's awful for you," Peacevic deadpanned. "But I'm a little out of the loop on a couple things, first of which is this 'Writing' thing. What is that?" "A few centuries ago, back towards the end of the Second Equestrian Revival, Celestia saw that all of the artistic and cultural momentum her subjects had built up was waning." Twilight looked up, trying to recall all she had been told on the subject. "So she decided to teach the very best magic users a new discipline, a form of runecrafting centered around special Words. These Words were... representations of physical and metaphysical concepts, and thus held the concepts' power. The idea was for ponies to be inspired by this new Sun Writing, but it... didn't exactly work out. Most of the Writers were overwhelmed by their own power." "That doesn't seem like the wisest decision ever made." "It's easy to criticize in hindsight, but I'm sure Celestia had good intentions." Peacevic shrugged. "I guess. Second question, what do these 'Writers' want with me?" "They called you 'Troubadour', right? That's a pretty odd word choice, so I suspect it has something to do with a ritual. One they want to perform either with or on you." "A ritual, huh? That's really specific." The rapper looked around at the forest's worth of fiction and nonfiction surrounding them. "You wouldn't happen to have a handy guide to all things Sun Writing laying around, would you?" "Actually... yeah, I think I might. Celestia gave me an encyclopedia on magical theory and practices as a birthday present a few years ago, and it dates from about that period. If anything can shed some light on what the hooded ponies want with you, it'll be that book." She started digging through a nearby pile. "Wait, the Princess gave you an encyclopedia as a birthday present?" Twilight re-emerged, a goofy grin dominating her features. "I know, isn't she the greatest?" "Yeah... yeah, she's the greatest." "Hey Twilight, have you seen that flyer I brought home?" Spike stuck only his head into the room as he asked his question. "I was hoping Peacevic could sign it for me." Peacevic instantly felt bad. He hadn't even noticed when the dragon left, and the little guy was a fan! "Did you leave it in here?" Twilight asked the stack she was scanning. Spike stroked his chin as he shuffled fully into the room. "I might have." "Then it probably got used as a bookmark. Do you remember where we stuck that encyclopedia on magic Celestia gave me?" "You mean this one?" The dragon pulled a huge hardback off a nearby shelf and held it up. Almost immediately the book was wrapped in Twilight's magic and pulled toward her, and if Peacevic hadn't grabbed Spike with his own power the little guy would've gone with it. "Yep, this is it. Let's see..." She flipped through the tome as speedily as the age-worn pages would allow. "Should be about right- AAH!" "What?! Did you find it?" "So- Somep-pony..." Twilight began hyperventilating, and that wasn't really helping her coherency. "Twilight? Twilight, use your words. What's wrong?" But- despite the fact her mouth was moving- the words just wouldn't come out, and Twilight's eyes took on a glassy sheen. Spike walked up to his caretaker and eased the book away from away from her, which Twilight didn't notice because she was too busy making grandiose gestures with a hoof, as if she were explaining some arcane theorem to a lecture hall. He peered at the pages that had sent Twilight into a fit. Or, rather, where they should have been. "Looks like somepony's ripped these pages out." "Priceless page... an incredibly valuable historical artifact..." "Yeah, she's gonna be out of it for a while." "Then what should we do now?" Peacevic asked. Spike nonchalantly shrugged, fully used to Twilight's freak outs by now. "I've got to go shopping today, you can come with if you want. Or you can wait for her to come to." "Is there anything I can do around here that won't result in me learning?" "I have some Power Pony issues you can read," Spike replied as he gathered together a few obscenely long lists, "and also some indie titles." "Comic books?" "Yeah." Peacevic grabbed one of the lists. "So what are we buying?" "You can see how this was a huge mistake, right?" None of Peacevic's captors responded, choosing to focus on carrying the rod he was strapped to and ignore him. Extremely dangerous and potentially fatal situation aside, the lack of interaction was driving the rapper nuts. He was the kind of pony that was easily bored when not fully engaged by what was happening around him. Hence the inane and incessant chatter. He had to do something to liven things up. "Obviously, I wouldn't just wander around Canterlot with only a baby dragon for protection. This is all a clever ruse to get you guys to lead me and Twilight- that purple unicorn from last night- to your lair. She's the personal student of Princess Celestia, you know." "We know who Twilight Sparkle is, Troubadour," a certain pony in the back grumbled. Peacevic twisted as best he could to see the pony who spoke. "I recognize that voice from last night, buddy. Soon as Twilight gets here, I'm shoving my hoof up your plot." "Your threats are meaningless. Nopony is coming to save you." The rapper hoped that was just general overconfidence, and not the hooded jerk's way of saying they'd caught Spike as well. Twilight may have taken it upon herself to get involved, but the dragon was a bystander. And a kid. And if he got grabbed, what was the point of Peacevic's epically brave distraction? Quite a few of his captors were sporting cuts and bruises from that fracas, and Peacevic was particularly proud of that bit with the mop and the noodle bowl. He doubted the cultists involved would be forgetting it anytime soon. Especially the mop. Peacevic honestly didn't know what had possessed him. But despite it all he was now a prisoner, and if Spike had been captured as well, or was unable to get help, then he was pretty bucked. He needed a bodyguard. The ponies carrying him started to slow down and he heard a door creak open. Torchlight washed over him, as did a new voice. "The Troubadour has arrived!" This new voice was female, and it carried the conviction that anything the speaker did was justified. It was the voice of a zealot. Peacevic had been picketed enough that he automatically disliked zealots, even the ones who hadn't ordered his abduction. "Great Magdha, we've brought the one you asked for. Did we do good?" Peacevic groaned. "I already hate you, dude. Don't be a suck-up on top of everything else." "Silence!" The talkative pony jabbed him in the ribs. "That's three, bucker," Peacevic hissed through clenched teeth. "That's three." "There's no need to injure him further, my faithful follower. He's already beaten." An earth pony sashayed into Peacevic's field of vision, the mare who'd announced their arrival. She was a frosty blue, with her platinum mane elaborately braided and coiled around her neck. And she was absolutely stunning. Seriously, even though she was visibly older than he was, Peacevic would have a hard time looking anywhere else if he had a mind to. Which he didn't. Her could-be-severe features were perfectly softened by the light smile she wore, and her dancer's grace accentuated... everything a seductress would want accentuated. "You know..." Peacevic was finding it difficult to form words at the moment, which was more than a little unusual for him. "You, um, probably would've had an easier time grabbing me if... you know, you'd come after me." She chuckled softly. "I absolutely would've, considering how... excited you are. Too bad there isn't enough time to grab you now." Damn it, he'd walked right into that double entendre. Into both of them! Irritation at being verbally out-maneuvered helped his wits reconstitute themselves. "Yeah, too bad you're about to sacrifice me to gain immortality. You're Magdha, I take it?" "I am. And you're Peacevic the Rapper, Rising Star of the Canterlot scene! A musician clever enough to figure out my plan. So tell me, you clever stallion, how'd you put it together?" "Turns out a map dotted with tacks in the shape of a rune, in the home of the student of the pony who created the rune, is pretty helpful. Add in the fact that the rune means 'Immortality', and it's obvious what the end goal is." "And?" Magdha urged. "Come on, you're doing good so far. Keep it going. Do you know how I'm going to become immortal?" "You're going to use a ritual." The sorceress arched an eyebrow. "A ritual?" "Yeah." "That's really specific." "Look- I sling words, not spells, and the stupid pages were missing," Peacevic snapped. "Cut me some slack." She leaned in close. "Unfortunately the ritual's about to start, so I can't really do that. And I just so happen to have some torn-out pages right here, so I know exactly what kind of ritual I'm performing. Once my faithful follower over there hoofs me your heart, I'll live forever." "You don't even know his name, do you?" "Let's keep that our little secret." Suddenly, her lips were on his and his brain thought it was best to forget about all this ritual nonsense and who even cares if What's-his-name has a name and why'd he have to be tied up he could- Then Magdha pulled away and the moment passed. "Put him next to the other one." That snapped Peacevic out of his daze. Other one? Was it Spike? Did they snatch Twilight? No, it was some other pony he saw when they plopped him down on an altar. Another stallion, either his own age or younger, hooves bound and a gag shoved in his mouth. A closer inspection determined the other pony was definitely younger than Peacevic, probably mid-teens. He just looked older than he was, and was no doubt proud of that fact whenever his peers commented on it. He was also whimpering. "Magdha, let him go!" "Why?" she asked as she passed by Peacevic's altar, busily checking the preparations. "You- you have me, you don't need him. Please, he's just a colt." "So? He's going to die anyway. Everypony in Canterlot's going to die- maybe even Princess Celestia." "Every-" "And once I'm the immortal Queen O' Shades, whose coming was foretold in prophecy, everypony's going to be ghosts doing my bidding," she continued, not noticing she'd interrupted him. "So I really don't understand what the problem is." "The problem, you psychopathic bitch, is that I can do this!" Peacevic yanked at the ropes with his magic, creating enough sudden tension to snap them, then leapt up as quick as he could- Only to be just as quickly slammed back down on the altar as a pair of wraiths coalesced next to him. "Ooh, you're pretty hot when you're angry." Magdha gently brushed a bit of his mane from its eye-obscuring position. "I'm going to have so much fun with you when this is all over. Well, with your corpse." With that little bit of fortune-telling, Magdha took her place in between the two altars. A tray was set up beside her, and a glass chalice was placed on it. The sorceress cleared her throat and, after accepting a dagger from another cultist (who swiftly left the stage once his task was done), let out a string of what could have been words. "Ich bin der Autor der Schrift . Lassen Sie meine Worte, um die Welt um mich herum zu ändern." Peacevic may not have recognized the language, but the effects were pretty clear. Burning sigils flared into existence along the perimeter of the stage. Magdha slashed several times at the air in front of her, each stroke leaving a glowing line like the surrounding sigils, until a rune was floating there. THE rune. Immortality. Then Magdha plunged her dagger through the rune and deep into the colt's heart. It stayed there as the colt thrashed once, twice, and even as he gave a few last twitches. Only when the body went completely still and no light remained in the colt's eyes, only then did Magdha withdraw the blade. She scrapped the dagger on the rim of the chalice, the pooling blood visible through the glass. Once the chalice had received all the blood, she held it aloft and cried, "The Word is manifest!" "The Word is manifest," echoed the crowd. "The Troubadour's blood shall sing the Word!" Magdha raised the dagger again. A purple beam struck her through a lung. "Everypony stand down!" A stallion's voice boomed. "We are the Royal Guard, and you are all under arrest!" Twilight appeared at Peacevic's side and banished the specters holding him down. "You left a few hairs behind when you slept on my couch. I was able to cast a spell to track you, and I brought my brother along to help." "Well, you're late," Peacevic growled, pointing at the cooling colt. She gagged when she saw the wound, but recovered and the next thing Peacevic knew all three of them were outside. Twilight's horn lit up again, wrapping the colt's body in magic. "What're you doing?" "Preserving the-" She swallowed hard. It was a couple seconds before she resumed. "I'm preserving his body. The Guard will want to process it for any additional evidence, and his family..." Peacevic didn't hug her, or put a hoof on her shoulder, or anything like that- he didn't really feel like they were close enough for it. Instead, he simply stood a little closer. "Exactly none of this was your fault, Twilight. You know that, right?" "Of course it's my fault. I should've stopped this, should've seen the pattern earlier." "Did you form a cult for the express purpose of gaining immortality? Did you steal a ritual from an adorkable mare who, judging by the insane amount- seriously, donate some of them- of books she owns, clearly loves to read? Actually, that's probably where Spike's flyer went... No to both?" He ducked his head down so his eyes were level with hers. "Did you knife the colt?" "No..." "Case closed, then. In fact if it wasn't for you all of Canterlot would be dead by now. You saved everypony and, as part of everypony, you get a big Peacevic 'thank you'." She took a deep breath and blew it out, not really letting go of the guilt, just putting it aside for now. "Celestia's going to lose it when she hears about this..." "About that- can we not tell her?" "What?! No!" Twilight exclaimed. "She's my teacher, I have to tell her! Besides, my brother's basically next in line to be Captain of the Royal Guard. She is going to find out." "Well that's my cue to leave, then. Just say you didn't know who the other hostage was." Peacevic started walking home. "Why?" Twilight asked, hurrying to catch up. "I thought you wanted to meet the Princess." He nodded, but didn't slow his pace. "Oh, I'd love to meet her- private debriefings, and all that- but I refuse to let this mark my career. I will not be known as a victim." "But you saved Canterlot as much as I did! You're not a victim, Peacevic." "That's for the media to decide, not you or me." He whirled around suddenly. "Go back to your brother, Twilight. He's probably worried about you." Peacevic turned back around and trotted away, leaving the mare behind. The first thing Peacevic did when he got to his house was throw up. Several times. Then he realized the place was strangely empty. She must've moved out while he was gone. That was just like her, no time wasted. Though he really could've used her comfort right about now. He missed her already...