Shield and Shadow Part 1: Rise and Fall

by LucidReverie

Chapter 12: The calm before

Sweat.

Spring Mist ran. Ran like he had never run before. His heart was racing and sweat dripped down his brow. He had lost a few scrolls along the way, and his saddlebags we beginning to chafe and scratch at his sides. His lungs were burning, and his body begged for some respite from its plight, but he heard the howls and pushed himself forward.

Mist saw the gates of Everfree up ahead. He ran a bit further and yelled with all the force he could muster, given his current condition. “Open the gates!” he choked out. The guard ponies looked down at the road, searching for the source of the yell they had heard. They spotted the green pony running like a hurricane. What they also spotted was a pack of timberwolves stalking their potential prey. Moving quickly, the two guards began to activate the gate mechanism.

The gates opens just as Spring Mist reached them and he managed to slip through the pony-sized gap before the gates shut again, timberwolves snapping at his hind legs. With a nice, protective barrier between himself and the outside, Mist could finally breathe and relax, falling to the ground.

“Are you alright?” called down one of the guards.

It took Mist a few moments to respond, but soon he stood himself up and replied, “Yes, I’m fine. Thank you both for getting the gate open!”

“Just be careful. You almost didn’t make it.”

“I’ll be sure to mention this to Captain Rockhoof when I see her.”

That surprised the guards a bit, and all they offered was a nod before returning to their post.

Mist dusted himself off and began walking in the direction of home. In the scant few hours he spent outside, the general populace of Everfree had calmed down significantly. Though it was rare, there had been a few occasions where something had disrupted the city, be it a crash, a fire, a roar in the distance from whatever beast lurked beyond the walls, and the ponies of the city had panicked en masse, but only a few hours later, they calmed down, almost as if nothing had ever happened. Mist remarked at the short memories of the ponies here.

There were a few hours still left before sunset, so Mist was in no hurry. Once he arrived home, he unclasped his bags and dropped them on the floor of the main room. Moving into another room, he began to remove his barding. It stuck to his body as he peeled off the layers. I’m definitely going to need to clean myself up. So with that thought in mind, Mist headed into the bathroom.

He emerged later feeling cleaner and much better. His skin was a bit raw from where the bags had scraped at his sides, and his muscles were tired. He moved into the kitchen area and grabbed a few apples from the table. He snacked on them absent-mindedly, just trying to pass the time while recovering from his little sprint away from the timberwolves, and began to slowly drift into sleep.

Mist awoke from his short nap and decided to head out, then grabbed a small messenger bag and the report from the camp. He walked out of the door, stowing the report in the bag on the way. First stop, the linguistics tower to drop off the report. Mist was beginning to get excited about seeing the Head Scholar at the astronomy tower later in the day.

The idea of getting to freely play his trade put a bounce in his step and allowed him to ignore his aching muscles. A smile on his face, he trotted to the Arc, weaving through the city streets.

Mist arrived at the linguistics tower on The Arc after an hour or so of walking, the trip taking much longer than normal due to stiff legs and a need to kill time, with still a while before sunset. He looked at the tower, more of just a large building, really. Sparsely decorated, but adorned with lines of texts in numerous languages: Equestrian, Dragon, Griffon, among others Mist didn’t know the slightest about. He pushed through the door and walked into the building.

Inside, there were long stretches of tables and rows of bookshelves. On the tables were stacks of books and scrolls with scholar ponies pouring over them. Mist approached one of the ponies and began, “Good day, my name is Spring Mist. I’ve been sent by Assistant Head Scholar Honey Sweetroll from the astronomy tower. We have something your group may want to look at.”

A purple earth pony looked up from his scroll and responded nonchalantly, “Just submit it to the public affairs desk. Ask for inter-sectional items.”

Mist was still not used to the scholars’ apparent dislike of outside ponies. “No, I think you’ll want to see this” he stated simply as he pulled out the meteorite scroll and opened it for the scholar to see.

The scholar seemed annoyed, but looked at the scroll regardless. His interest piqued, “Why does Sweetroll have this?”

Mist smirked, “Ah, well. We… ah, found it. At the impact point of a meteorite.”

The scholar arched an eyebrow, “Really? I find that hard to believe.”

Mist just replied, “We all found it pretty interesting. Sweetroll and Brilliant Bloom thought you might be able to decipher the markings.”

“Well, I can’t. I only just recognize the script. Wait here and I’ll get the Assistant Head,” the pony said, walking toward a section of the building and out of sight.

Mist waited in the same spot for a few minutes before the purple pony reemerged, this time with a very bookish-looking, older yellow pegasus. She smiled warmly and greeted Mist, “Hello. My name is Old Tome. I hear you have something interesting to show us.”

Mist smiled at the older mare, “Yes, we found this at a meteorite crash site.” He floated the scroll over to her.

She took it over to the table and laid it out to read while the other pony went back to work. “Huh. Well, it’s Ancient Equestrian.”

“Really?” Mist asked, “It looks nothing like what our writing is now.”

“Our language has undergone many, many changes in its history. It looks very dissimilar now to what it used to be. Now, this script is very old. Some of the oldest recorded in pony history. Just after the paleopony period, I’d say. And you say you found this at a meteorite crash site?”

“Ah. Yes, that’s right.”

“I’m guessing that the blast uncovered some previously buried ruins?”

“Heh. No… we found those markings on the meteorite.”

Old Tome looked at Mist with a look of mixed shock and confusion. “On the meteorite? I don’t see how that’s possible… But you’re not lying.” She paused for a bit, thinking about something, “Okay, I can translate this, but it will take a few hours – I have some other work to do first, but I should have it ready by tomorrow morning. I trust that will be fine?”

Mist smiled at the fortune, “Of course, that’s perfect. I have an engagement this evening, so I’ll be able to collect the translation tomorrow. Should I just ask for you?”

“Wonderful!” the older mare smiled, “Yes, you can ask for me and I can go over it with you.”

“Thank you, Old Tome, for your graciousness,” Mist said, turning to leave.

“You are most welcome, good ser. You have given me something truly interesting to look at! Fair evening!”

Mist smiled as he left the building. Outside, the sun was low in the sky, nearing the horizon. Sunset was still a ways off, but Mist still headed towards the astronomy tower, reflecting along the way. Today was interesting – it had been a long time since Mist had seen so many daylight hours, and the excavation had been really very fascinating. But most of all, there were those markings they had found. What was Ancient Equestrian doing on a meteorite?

The astronomy tower stood before Spring Mist almost too suddenly. He was broken free of his thoughts, and he looked at the door. Time to meet the Head Scholar. Pushing the door open, Mist prepared himself for his meeting, trying to stay strong and certain of his claim. Inside the tower, the few scholars that had been there in the morning were gone, probably preparing for the evening work. There was only one pony in the area, an assistant – he wasn’t wearing standard robes – shelving books.

“Excuse me,” Mist began, “I’m here to see the Head Scholar.”

The assistant jumped slightly, but drawled, “Nopony sees the Head Scholar without an appointment.”

“Well, it’s a good thing I have one of those, isn’t it?”

The pony sighed, “Fine. Left, over there. Up the stairs. All the way up.”

Mist shook his head, “Thank you.”

“Mmph.”

Mist looked toward the staircase that the pony had motioned towards. Somewhere up above, Mist was going to prove his findings to the Head Scholar. He took in a deep breath before moving forward.

This is it. Don’t mess it up, Mist.

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[Material Defender]

[LucidReverie]

Looks like we're gearing up for another double feature.