//------------------------------// // Chapter 15: Beginning anew // Story: Shield and Shadow Part 1: Rise and Fall // by LucidReverie //------------------------------// Change. Spring Mist awoke from his slumber, surprised that he managed to sleep through the night. Most unusual. But understandable, given the schedule for the day. He lay in bed for a few moments, thinking over what had transpired the night before. His eyes shot open with realization - his life was changing, and today was the day it started. He leapt out of bed, full of energy, ready for the day. First, see Assistant Head Old Tome. His stomach grumbled audibly. Well, maybe food should be first. Then the Assistant Head. Mist headed into the kitchen and grabbed the first items he could find: apples, a small bunch of daisies, and a few slices of bread. He munched down on the food quickly, eager to get out of the house. When he was done with his breakfast, Mist cleaned himself up and packed his saddlebags. He then turned out the door and headed to The Arc. The streets were sparsely filled, and Mist made his way to The Arc quite quickly. Once there, he immediately headed to the now familiar linguistics building, seeing its intricate façade coming closer. Reaching the door, Mist paused for a moment, then entered. The same purple earth pony as yesterday was the first pony Mist saw. Others were wandering about, performing their duties. Mist wasted little time, approaching the earth pony, “Good morning, fellow. I trust you remember me from yesterday,” - the pony gave a curt nod - “I’m here to see the Assistant Head, Old Tome.” The pony rolled his eyes, “Yes, she’s waiting for you. Over there.” He motioned with his head towards a table in the corner, most obscured by large piles of books. Mist could only just make out some movement behind them, so he trotted off in that direction, offering a small “Thank you” to the purple pony, who ignored him. Unfazed, Mist continued to the pile until he noticed it looked like a veritable book fort. Not wishing to disturb it, he quietly called, “Old Tome?” The old mare’s head popped up out of the ‘fort’. “Ah! You’re here! Come quickly! You are going to love this!” she said before popping her head back down. Mist frowned at the pile for a bit, then decided to delicately move the books around so he had a clear path to the mare. He began floating the books off to the side, and soon had a suitable pathway. Within the circle of book piles sat Old Tome, pouring over scrolls. “So, what is it? What am I going to love?” Mist asked. Old Tome looked up, “Well, I set to work late last night and finished not two hours ago. Since then, I’ve been trying to figure it out.” “Figure what out? I thought you translated it?” “Yes, yes. I did. But I need to figure out what it’s saying, not what it’s saying.” “What?” “Oh, just come here and look.” Mist walked towards Old Tome and looked at the confusing configuration of notes and scrolls settled around the area. “So what am I looking at?” “Well, here is the translation,” she said, handing him a scroll covered in ink, mostly legible. Mist stared at it for a few seconds. “Well, read it!” she insisted. Mist looked at the notation: Moons arise and suns fall, Darkness shields the light. Hope begins, dreams are reached. A new star burns bright. For you… Mist looked at the page for a while. “So… what does it mean?” “That’s what I’m trying to figure out.” “Any ideas yet?” “Well, it’s a vague statement, similar to a poem. But I’ve compared it to other texts of the period, and despite being written in Ancient Equestrian, the prose and syntax is that of our modern language. Most intriguing.” “I suppose it is. So, is there anything you need from me?” “You said this was in the crater, yes? Was there anything else in the area?” “I don’t know. I was going to report back to the site for today, and be back before sunset. I suppose I could ask and see if anything else was found.” “That would be of tremendous help. You’ll be leaving soon then?” “Yes, after I came to see you, I would head back to the site immediately.” “Well, off you go then. Don’t want to be late. I’ll keep you appraised of any developments into the meaning of the script.” “Oh, may I take down a copy of the translation? Honey Sweetroll would like to see this.” “Of course, of course. Here.” She gave Mist a quill, ink, and a fresh scroll. His quickly scribbled down the poem and stowed the scroll in his bag. “Thank you, Old Tome. I’ll see you this afternoon.” “Very well, son. I’ll keep working.” Mist trotted away from the book fort and made his way back to the door, stepping outside. Second, get back to the site. Hopefully nothing nasty will show up again, Mist thought to himself. He set off immediately for the city gates. He poured through the streets with little hurry. Ponies were growing in number, beginning their days, going to work, taking foals to school. Mist weaved between the families, reaching the gates before long. The guards were standing at the top of the gate towers, and Mist called to them, “Good day! Could you open the gates?” The guards looked down at Mist. “Weren’t you the one who came running in like a madpony yesterday?” Mist flushed a bit, “Erm, yes. That was me.” “And you want to go out again?” “Yes. And I’ll be returning later, too. Just to warn you.” “Fine. Just be careful along the road.” The guards activated the mechanisms and the gate began to open. “Many thanks!” Mist said, trotting out of the opening. Before him was the road, and eventually the path to the crash site. Mist hoped that there were no beasts wandering around looking for a mid-morning meal. But Mist walked forward, undaunted. This voyage should not take very long. Mist briskly cantered along the road. Thus far, nothing had come near him, and for that, Mist was thankful. He turned into the forest, now moving in the direction of the camp. When he cleared away the greenery, Mist saw the scholars’ tent all set up right where he left them. Ponies were walking about, talking, running tests. Mist immediately headed to the main tent, where he figured Bloom or Sweetroll - hopefully both - would be. He reached the tent to find he was right: Bloom and Sweetroll were looking over notes and charts on a table. Mist approached, “Good morning, everypony.” Bloom looked up with an expression of both happiness and slight discomfort. Sweetroll wore her usual deadpan look. She was the first to speak, “Oh, guardboy. You’re back.” Mist smiled, “Not a guard anymore, Honey.” Sweetroll seethed while Bloom stifled a giggle. “What did you call me, guard?” “Honey,” Mist answered flippantly, “And as I said, I’m not a guard anymore.” “Then you have no reason to be here.” “Well, actually, I met your mother last night. She wanted me here. I also have the translation for the text on the meteorite. Oh, and I’m now your colleague, Scholar Spring Mist.” Bloom smiled, “Really? Well then, welcome! Glad to have you on board, Mist. It’ll be fun working with you.” Sweetroll’s look changed from irritation to shock and anger. “You? A scholar? No. You’re lying. There’s no way mo – um, the Head Scholar – would accept you.” “Actually, I went to confirm that star, as you know, and we did just that. Confirmed it. Your mother - excuse me, the Head Scholar – then asked me to leave the guards and join the astronomy tower. I’ll be living there now. I’ll be heading back later to make arrangements and plan for the party celebrating the discovery.” Mist was enjoying this a bit too much. Sweetroll seemed almost catatonic, so Bloom stepped in, “So, you have a translation?” Mist nodded and levitated out the scroll from his bag, giving it to Bloom. Bloom looked at the writing for a bit, looking ponderous. “Well, that might explain something…” he said quietly. “Explain what?” Mist asked, now ignoring the fuming Sweetroll. “Come and look,” said Bloom, leading Mist to the area where they had looked at the meteorite the day before. Sitting on the table was the meteorite, only it had been split open perfectly thought the middle. Mist looked at it with confusion. “What am I looking at? What happened?” Mist asked. Bloom shrugged, “Well, we were examining it when Honey brushed over something, not sure what, and it just cracked open. And there was something inside it, too.” “What? Something inside? What was it?” Bloom turned to another table and floated a small wooden box over to Mist, who grasped the box in his own magic and placed it down on the table in front of him. It was a simple box, unassuming. It was a darker wood, like cherry or mahogany. Mist looked it over, asking “This was found in the meteorite?” “No you nitwit,” Sweetroll seemed to have at least partially regained her composure, “Look inside the box.” Mist gave her a look, then proceeded to open the box. Within lay a small trinket, seemingly made of a dark-colored gem. It was shaped like a rudimentary kite shield, where within lay a crescent moon. A fairly attractive design, it appeared to be designed to be inlaid into a necklace or medallion. Mist stared at it for the longest time – it was so familiar. Only a loud cough roused him from his reverie. Mist looked up curiously. Sweetroll rolled her eyes almost comically while letting out a derisive laugh, “Wow, you really are dense. You won’t last a second in the tower.” Mist was still drawn to the gem, greatly distracted. “What?” Bloom stepped in before Sweetroll could chide any more, “Mist, your cutie mark.” Mist looked at his cutie mark - kite shield with a crescent moon – then to the gem – kite shield, with a crescent moon. Mist was now horribly confused. “But I… I don’t understand.” “Neither do we,” said Bloom, “But we can speculate. We’ll have to get back to the tower and talk to Head Scholar Caramel Tart. She’ll know what to make of this.” “Really? That seems unlikely,” Mist asked, but when seeing Sweetroll’s glare, quickly corrected, “not that I doubt her, of course.” “Well, she could at least advise us.” Bloom agreed. “Alright, well, I’m heading back soon. I can get it to her.” “Go now, and take Bloom with you,” Sweetroll ordered. Bloom gave her a look, “You sure you don’t need me here? And Mist just arrived.” Sweetroll nodded, “Not much for the astronomers to do anymore – the reports from the other groups will be sent to us when they are done. I’d leave, myself, but we still need at least one representative to coordinate. That and I don’t want spend any more time around guardboy here than I have to, so I’m sending you.” Mist shrugged, “Alright, then I guess we’ll head out soon. Is that okay, Bloom?” Bloom nodded ponderously, “Certainly. I’ll gather my gear together and we can head out.” Mist closed the box and floated it into one of his bags. “Okay, I’ll meet you just outside in a few minutes.” Bloom nodded and walked out of the tent. When he had vanished from sight, Mist turned on Sweetroll, staring at her. “What do you want?” she asked indignantly. “Why do you hate me, Sweetroll?” “I don’t really,” she said with a shrug, “I just don’t like you. You just waltzed into the tower all ‘high-and-mighty’ and started making demands, then throwing threats around when you didn’t get what you want.” “Well that’s not really fair. As I recall, you very harshly brushed aside anything I had to say.” “I still listened, didn’t I?” “True, but why you had to –have to – be so unpleasant about it is beyond me. I’d get over that dislike if we’re going to be working together.” Sweetroll just rolled her eyes “I’ll make you a deal – I’ll stop making fun of and taking shots at you if you stop making it so easy. Okay?” Before Mist could answer, she pushed him and walked out of the tent, wearing a smirk the whole time. Alone, Mist stood in the tent, thinking about what just happened. He wandered off into other trains of thought, and was removed from his own mind by Bloom standing in the entrance to the tent. “Ready?” Mist asked. “I believe so. Shall we?” Bloom gestured toward the forest. “We shall,” Mist smiled. The two began walking toward the forest and back to Everfree, Bloom striking up a conversation along the way, though Mist only slightly paid attention. The day having only just begun was quite eventful, and only more lay ahead. But the odd gem and Sweetroll’s comments still tickled the back of his mind. What exactly is going on?