• Published 28th Dec 2014
  • 1,712 Views, 7 Comments

Seekers in Equestria - dracone



Three friends, and teammates, find themselves with Mysteries they never imagined

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A Story and the Beginnings of Something More

“Tell me about Merlin,” said Twilight, “what are some of the more outstanding stories about him?”

“Let me see,” said Rec as he looked about the study and tapped his chin with a hoof, his friends and Daring had departed for some exercises elsewhere, Pinkie and Fluttershy had come over just in time to hear the story. “How about the tale of Merlin and Dragons?”

“That sounds fascinating,” said Twilight.

“It sounds a little scary to me,” said Fluttershy.

“I assure the dragons don't do anything too scary for the story,” said Rec, “there are a few scenes that you might not agree with, but for the most part the story doesn't have anything all too scary.”

“Oh, thank goodness,” said yellow pegasus, “and thank you for telling before the story even starts.”

“Now, how did it go again?” said Rec in mock contemplation, “ah yes, the story starts with a boy named Emrys. He was boy with eyes sharp like a hawk, with a face that never seemed to smile. He lived in a mountainous, rugged wilds of what is now known in our world as Northern Wales. He was a lonely, fatherless boy. The reason he rarely smiled was because he was troubled by dreams and visions he did not understand.”

“Now, that is most interesting,” came Luna's voice.

“Princess Luna,” said Twilight, “how long have you been here?”

“The part about a colt having no father to speak of,” said Luna as she settled in to listen to the story.

“Yes well, anyway,” said Rec, “as the story goes, since he had no father he made time with an old man who spent his time in the mountains. This was a man that was so old that it seemed he had been around forever. He seemed to know everything from reading and writing to how the birds speak and why the colors of the leaves changed color in the autumn. You have to remember the world from which I come has very different rules to how nature operates, when the leaves change color they fall to the ground on their own. I might tell a story about how some thought the leaves changed color, but for now this is the tale of a young boy and the experiences that helped set the foundations for being one of the greatest of all time. The old man liked the young Emrys and taught the boy all he could. It is said that the mother of Emrys was a princess, but she lived far away from her father's castle and knew almost nothing of the things boys like to do, like climbing trees or catching tadpoles. That meant that Emrys was left to figure all that by himself. It was lonely, indeed, the other boys in the village would make fun of him and as it were seemed to always be teasing about not knowing anything of his father. They called him such names as 'mother's bane' and 'little apron pull', and never invited him to take part in their games.”

“That's just terrible,” said Pinkie, “no wonder he had trouble smiling, nopony wanted to be his friend.”

“I suppose interruptions are inevitable,” said Rec, “try to keep your commentary to a minimum so the story doesn't run too long. As I was saying, because of this he was left to himself. He would observe the fish, marvel at frogs and watch butterflies. All the while keeping his strange dreams to himself. Although it was his strange way with animals, especially birds that finally brought the other boys to him, it was more their curiosity than any sort of friendship that kept them around him. He would try to impress them by making up what he thought were harmless little predictions to amuse them.”

“With one who knows little of such great abilities such an act is inevitable, but still potentially dangerous,” said Luna.

“Moving on,” said Rec, “things like saying that ir would soon rain, which it soon did, and the first bird of spring would be arriving shortly, then so it was. Remember, in my world the acts all on its own and wild animals tend to themselves.”

“So it's basically a world that acts like the Everfree forest,” said Twilight.

“Yes, but minus a few of the fauna flora,” said Rec.

“Come again,” said Pinkie, “I'm not familiar with those names.”

“They're words from an old language in my world that mean animals and plants,” said Rec, “Fauna means animal or animals and Flora plant or plants.”

“Oh, we have those terms for the same things,” said Twilight.

“Anyway,” said Rec, “the truth be told, any farmer's child could make the same guesses. After a while the boys lost interest in him. However, when he was around nine years old Emrys found a book of seasons and planetary movements in the old man's cottage. And with this he tried to impress them by saying that sun would disappear the day he made the prediction, he thought it was harmless, but everyone else not so much. There was an eclipse of the sun that day, just as he had read in the book from the old man's house.”

“Eclipse of the sun?” came Luna voice.

“We know that what is called a solar eclipse, an eclipsing of the sun, is caused when the moon passes between our world and the sun,” said Rec, “a lunar eclipse is when the shadow of our world physically passes over the moon and blocks sunlight from reaching it. Both events are actually quite rare.” Twilight and Luna gave each other concerned looks. “Don't worry, the events are known to not last more than a few hours. Moving on,” he said, “when this happened and the village seemed to be plunged into darkness, to the villagers this was some kind of foul magic. They avoided him all together after that.”

“They thought because he made a prediction about the sun disappearing he was doing dark magic, I can't say blame them,” said Twilight.

Rec facehoofed before saying, “he didn't do any dark magic or any kind of expressly evil magic. The planetary actions operate on their own mechanics without influence from any other force. The moon orbits our world and our world orbit our sun. The rising and setting of the sun and the moon is a naturally occurring optical illusion that requires no magic to execute. It's merely a result of our world rotating on its axis, nothing more,” he then muttered, “why am I trying explain basic scientific information that every grade schooler should be learning?”

“What was that?” said Twilight.

“Nothing to concern yourself with yet,” said Rec, “anyway, the point is he didn't use magic, all he did was make a prediction based on the book of planetary movements that he read.”

“Oh,” said Twilight, “I need to get one of those kinds of books into my library.”

“Maybe someday you will,” said Rec, “but for now, let us continue the story.”

“Yeah, about that,” said Twilight, “you said this story is called 'Merlin and the Dragons', I realize it will take some time to build up where the dragons are, but I have yet to find Merlin in this story.”

“Think a bit,” said Rec, “who have I been talking the most about in this story?”

“Some colt name Emrys,” said Pinkie, then started bouncing up and down with excitement like she just figured something out.

“Exactly,” said Twilight, “who is Emrys? Really?”

Rec gave a knowing smile and said, “Maybe you'll figure it out by the end of the story, and if not then I'll share it with you if you ask the question again after the story. After all the set up for this story was Merlin himself telling a newly crowned king Arthur this very story when Arthur had trouble sleeping.”

“Such an odd name,” said Fluttershy.

“It's a Gaelic name,” said Rec, “it means bear.”

“Oh, that makes it sound almost pony in nature,” said Twilight quickly jotting down note in one of her books.

“Now, where was I? Oh yes,” said Rec, “Emrys had managed to frighten the town because they thought he had performed a terrible magic. It was after that they started saying that he must have been spawned by a demon, or some other evil creature. This made him more alone than any prior time time. Then one day when Emrys was about twelve a ruthless man called Vortigern arrived and was unjustly calling himself the high kin over all the lands of Britannia. He had slain all his enemies and had traveled for weeks on end. He finally arrived in Emrys's home valley with a tired army of soldiers and a handful of magicians. The peaceful life of Emrys's tiny village was about change forever. Vortigern forced the villagers to do all the labor required him in making a fortress like tower so that he could watch over the valley for any enemies he might have missed from a position of strength.”

“Well, that's just rude,” said Twilight, “but I guess bad ponies are a bit of a constant at this point.”

“Yes, well,” Rec, “before long a tower that seemed to dominate everything in valley below, including the village Emrys called home, had taken form. However that very night the tower began to shudder and shake until it came tumbling down. The shaking cracked the mortar, and whole thing came crashing and tumbling down in a heap rubble. Now for the part that frightened Emrys, it was just as he dreamed it would happen.”

“Oh, that's right he didn't share his frightening dreams with anypony,” said Luna.

Rec nodded, “He was frightened because he did not know what to make of his powers to see into future. Vortigern however believed it to be the work of the villagers, saying such things as their work was careless, he forced them to rebuild his tower again and told them that when did so to pray that would do it right. As the villagers returned to work Vortigen drove them even harder. By the following night the tower had been almost rebuilt. And once again the mountain gave a great shudder and tower fell once more, the day's labor laid in ruins. Vortigern was not happy, in fact was furious and worked the villagers even harder than the day before. He worked the villagers until they dropped, but the tower fell to the mountain's shuddering a third time. The tower once again lay in rubble. Even a stubborn man would have looked for a better place to build, but Vortigern was far too proud for something like that. He turned to his magicians and told them to find him an answer as to why the tower kept collapsing, he also told them he wanted a solution to the problem. He demanded that his tower had to built there.”

“Such a stallion isn't fit to rule an alley,” said Luna.

“Agreed,” said Rec, “the following morning his magicians put on the most impressive robes, drew the circles of power, cast the sacred stones of fate, consulted the sacred sticks of prophecy and consulted each other on their findings.”

Twilight gave a giggle before saying, “All they did was put on a show before entering into debate.”

“In a nutshell,” said Rec, “that is being generous. When it was all done they announced their findings to Vortigern, they told him that he needed find a fatherless boy spawned by a demon and sprinkle his blood over the stones, only then would the powers of the land allow the tower to be built. It was a load nonsense anyway, they were merely telling him what they thought he would want to hear, such a tactic was common among charlatans such as they. Vortigern told them to go and find him such a boy, they told him they weren't even sure if such a boy even existed.”

“That's just a barbaric,” said Twilight, “even ponies wouldn't consider something so atrocious.”

“There are quite a few out there that would agree you,” said Rec, “anyway, as the story goes, Vortigern offered a moderate sack of gold to anyone who could bring him such a child to his soldiers. As the greedy soldier hurried off to search for a victim one of the village boys caught his attention and asked for mercy as he told Vortigern of Emrys and where he could be found. At that same time Emrys was immersed in a new vision, one in which he saw a pool of water under or within the mountain, the accounts are unsure of such details, and in the pool he saw two large stones, he was unsure of what the stones might mean at the time. After hearing of Emrys Vortigern ordered the boy brought to him.”

“This is starting sound scary,” said Fluttershy.

“Sometimes the best stories scare us a little,” said Rec, “it's so we can better see courage when it is displayed within the tale. When Emrys was going to be brought before Vortigern he asked the old man for advice, the old man told him to trust his dreams. When he was brought before Vortigern the tyrant asked if he was indeed Emrys, the boy sired by demon. Emrys said that was indeed his name, but was not the child of a demon. Vortigern said he cared not if the boy were right or not and ordered the boy to be slain. It was at this moment Emrys said that it would be better Vortigern have his dreams, then told Vortigern to ask his magicians what lay under the tower. Vortigern then ordered the boy untied and asked him what lay under the tower. Emrys told him of the underground pool, Vortigern reasoned that underground water might indeed be the cause of his tower's problems with its foundations, but told Emrys that if he was wrong then the boy's blood would indeed be used to satiate the ritual his magicians were set to perform. Vortigern had the underside of the mountain dug into, and indeed there was large pool water. Within the pool they saw two great stones that looked as though they were breathing in and out. With each expansion of the stones the mud around them them would tremble. Emrys told Vortigern these stones were places where two great dragons were sleeping.”

“Dragon eggs? Of what size? I need specifics,” said Twilight.

“They were said to be the size boulders,” said Rec.

“The kind when somepony says boulder? Or Maud's pet rock?” said Pinkie.

“Seeing as I was unaware of anyone named Maud until you mentioned the name,” said Rec, “I meant boulders as in very large rocks.”

“Those are some really big baby dragons,” said Twilight.

“Indeed,” said Rec, “Emrys told Vortigern that it was the dreaming of the dragons that shook the earth each night and made the tower fall. Vortigern's men descended into the muddy pit and with mighty hammers pounded upon the stones. Once, twice, three times their hammer rang out and jets of lighting in the cracks ran about each stone. Out them came two dragons, one that was said to be with a belly white as milk and other had a body red as wine. The two were huge, angry creatures with battle cries that echoed in the air. The dragons took wing and circled one another, rising higher and higher into the sky. They wheeled about, poised to strike. Then came the fire. They clashed breast to breast, raining teeth and scales down upon the ground. Vortigern's men were too much in awe to shoot at the dragons, so Vortigern grabbed a bow and shot at the at the red dragon and pierced its wing, distracting the creature. It was just Emrys had foreseen in his childhood with a vision of these very dragons, the white had defeated the red. It should be known that Vortigern's own insignia was that of a red dragon. Vortigern asked Emrys if he was so good at prophecy what it all meant after the white dragon had taken off and flown to parts unknown. Emrys boldly proclaimed that one day Vortigern would share the fate of the fallen red dragon, which in its death was set ablaze by the white dragon before it had flown off.”

“He would meet his end just as the real red dragon had,” said Twilight, “fascinating, who was the one who bore the white dragon as their mark?”

“We're getting there,” said Rec, “Vortigern let his pride state that his tower be rebuilt and demanded that Emrys not have anymore dreams that led to the mad ruler's downfall. It was then that Emrys could feel his confidence growing every hour, he watched and waited on the hillside for any sign of help for his village. With the assistance of a hawk that seemed to have read his thoughts after he beckoned it onto his arm he searched for aid. With it he saw a great army led by two men in gleaming armor, these were Vortigern's enemies and the true heirs to the land. They saw the hawk and took it as a good omen, they followed it through a mountain pass and toward Emrys's village. It was after he had come out of his vision Emrys came down from the hillside to confront Vortigern. He declared to Vortigern that he was going be defeated by righteous knights and his cruelty brought to an eternal end, just as Vortigern was about to strike the boy down his men proclaimed the arrival the army of the two knights. The two kings came up to the foot of the tower and demanded that Vortigern come and meet his fate. Vortigern gave the order to defend the tower, but in the face of an army of thousands no soul would stand with him, his soldiers all fled at the sight of great army leaving Vortigern alone with the tower he had ordered to be constructed. The kings urged Vortigern to surrender, he declared he would never surrender.”

“Prideful and stubborn to the last,” commented Twilight.

“This is true,” said Rec, “in the end Vortigern was burned right up within his own tower. Now, can do think you can answer the question you asked earlier?”

Twilight returned to deep contemplation, looking over the notes she had compiled over the course of the story. “Could it be that, Merlin and Emrys were one and the same?”

“That's right,” said Rec, “Emrys grew up and took the name Merlin in the years before he met Arthur. Now, Princess Luna, to what do we ow the pleasure,” he said as he got up and stretched, after all he had spent around a half hour telling the story.

“We came to check in on you, and I also think I finally was able to devise a name for group that will handle all the seeker related issues.”

“And what would that be?” Inquired Rec.

“We have chosen to call it the Preservation Society,” said Luna.

“I see,” said Rec, “and have you been able to find some more individuals that can keep secrets when need be?”

“I believe so, yes,” said Luna, “but due to the fact that ponies will agree with almost anything their princesses say I thought it prudent to put their claims to a little test. We'll know the results in a few days.”

“Nice to see you're being practical,” said Rec.

“Given some of the potential dangers that you have expressed we thought it best to be extra careful.”

“Um,” said Fluttershy, “what about Merlin's connection with animals.”

Rec gave a small chuckle and said, “he kept company with an owl named Archimedes for many years, the owl always seemed to be much smarter and wiser than most other birds.”

“Twilight has an owl,” Pinkie, “but he seems to only pop up when it's narrtively relevant.”

“It's Pinkie Pie, just go with it,” Twilight.

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

It was a few hours after all that, Luna departed after hearing that seekers didn't tend to have a set uniform since they preferred to be low profile. Although she did like the idea of a council to manage the administrative decisions for effectively. Rec now found himself in Carousel Boutique being prepared for a fitting by Rarity. His many pocketed vest near the white mare. Twilight had left for Canterlot with a the Cypherdex, she wanted to magically examine the crystals herself before sending them off to Canterlot as well.

“This piece has such a simple elegance to it,” said Rarity, “although I can tell it was created for practical reasons with aesthetics not being considered. Darling, this just will not do. It needs to be practical and turn heads, maybe something that identifies it as yours needs to be on it, and the black so drab, it needs to compliment your coat.”

“I'm aware my coat is indigo,” said Rec, “but back home I just have a hide with no coat, it's a peachy pink by the way. You might be a little hard pressed to make an outfit that compliments both, considering they seem to be pretty close to opposite each other on the comparative color chart.”

“Rarity seemed be lost in thought for moment before she gave a dramatic gasp, “Oh dear, you're right. When you finally do get home you'll require an attire to compliment your look.”

“Forest green always worked for me,” said Rec.

Rarity seemed to be making the evaluation in her head for a moment, “Yes, I do believe that will work just fine,” said Rarity, “it seems your talent for combinations extends into aesthetics, that will make this a bit easier than I was initially anticipating, usually the ponies I work with are a bit lacking when comes to a sense of Aesthetics.”

Rec looked around uneasily a bit before saying, “Don't expect the dimension you get her will properly transfer,” Rarity started giving him worried puppy dog eyes, “but if you think there are some colors that could properly compliment the other coloration I talked about then I suppose you could bring a few samples for comparison on the other side.”

“What a marvelous idea,” said Rarity as she started taking his measurements and scribbling them down with a few notes in a ledger, “and your idea for training my ability to find those very special crystals worked out beautifully, I can probably turn some of the surplus into adornments for my work, the variety we have is absolutely gorgeous. Those aqua greens might be wonderful for you, but I think a blend of different colors might prove better for us.”

“You're not going to have final say in that regard,” said Rec, “besides a more constant and cohesive color makes it easier for logistical reasons, if we had a rainbow's spectrum with every unit there's a chance we could end up causing sight problems. Are you familiar with the term 'color blind'?”

“Yes, it's where a pony has no sense of how colors work well together.”

“It's a bit more complicated than that,” said Rec, “we've found in our world it is a medical condition, some folks are born with an inability to see certain colors. Imagine for a moment you encountered someone who had a physical inability to see the color red, how would try explaining crimson or scarlet?”

Rarity blinked for a moment before saying, “I don't I could properly convey that, it would almost be like trying explain to a pony that had been blind their whole life what the color blue is,” she started chewing her lower lip, “I never thought somepony would actually have such an inability.”

Rec shook his red mane a bit as the measuring tape seemed to be trying get the dimensions of neck, “Are you trying to make me a whole a wardrobe? That's really not necessary,” he said, the tape continued by measuring the dimensions of his forelegs.

“You can never be to careful, darling,” said Rarity, “and all of these new things have given me so much inspiration.”

“Glad to help,” said Rec, “I just remembered you politely refused to invoke your titan during the exercise, we chose to press it on grounds you probably weren't ready to try it. Applejack refused, but in her defense Rainbow pointed out that she had very big titan. Powerful and big titans take more energy to invoke than those that are small or moderately sized. Due to his size the first few times Mandi invoked Undergolem she was visibly drained, fortunately for her all of those were practice and in a secure environment with competent medical staff nearby should things get a bit to traumatic.”

“So for larger titans and more powerful spells you need to build up your reserves,” said Rarity as she set her measuring tape aside. “It makes sense, how do you build up your reserves?”

“Practice your seeker spells mostly,” said Rec, “also try invoking the big ones enough times and it isn't quite so draining, you get used it and call on them with less of effort or draining with enough practice in both spells and invoking of the titan itself. Just there are different kinds of ponies there are number of different kinds of seekers, some have even been known to have titan related talents.”

“So, in many respects its very much like regular spellcraft, like that used by unicorns.”

“Yes and no, it's kind of hard to explain, but bottom line is the greater your will is focused the more powerful of a force you can express or command.”

“I see,” said Rarity, “Applejack is certainly the most stubborn of us.”

“Stubbornness and a strong will aren't the same thing, they're often mistaken one another, but what you need to remember is that even a strong will is willing to concede to reason, stubbornness is an inability to entertain reason since the only reason you and the only reason listen to in that state is your own flawed season of reason.”

“Oh, well she also is one of our most strong willed members too, it's just sometimes...” Rarity started making a face that said she didn't want say something mean or unjustified.

“She can take things so far that her strong willed drive digresses into some state of stubborn pride,” said Rec with a knowing nod.

The ivory mare just gave a prim nod. He gave Rarity a nod as well, he then bid her a silent goodbye. He had feeling she'd drag him back to the boutique once her work was finished, at first he thought letting her look at the vest with numerous pouches wouldn't be much of an issue, esspecially since it was made of what was called a cheap material back home. He half expected Rarity to pester him about all he knew about the material.

It as he was leaving the boutique that he heard a somber, yet serious, female voice say, “I finally found one of you. Do you know how hard it is to track down you three? Especially over the course of a week!”

A dull yellow pony with a mane and tail colored in stripes of pink in the center and a dulled blue on the outer sides trotted up to him in a huffy manner, Rec also noticed a somewhat concerned sea foam green unicorn mare racing who seemed to be a little tizzied racing up to join them.

“Can I help you miss...?

“Ponies around these parts call me Bon Bon,” said the mare, “an familiar dragon near Princess Twilight's castle the day you and your friends arrived, it also looked like it attacked the poor mare near you before disappearing into thin.”

“Bon Bon,” yelled the sea foam green unicorn as she came up next the pair, “I thought we we agreed no more of these 'errands' of yours, that's not your line of work anymore. I'm so sorry, she does this 'monster hunter' thing every once a while, I swear I have no idea why she thinks she needs to do that sort of thing. I'm Lyra, nice to met you.”

“My friends call me Rec,” said Rec, “pleasure meeting both of you, as for the thing about the dragon I can assure you it was non-harmful. Good day.” With that he gave a courteous bow and left them alone. On his way back to the castle he started thinking about what he should say to Twilight about it all.

As he was heading out he hard the pony that called herself Bon Bon saying to Lyra, in an annoyed tone, “Great, that even less then I anticipated, why did you have to interrupt us like that?”

After a few minutes Rec was back at the castle, he was treated to the sight of Spike swing stick around as if were a sword or spear. “Preparing to save the damsel, I presume,” said Rec, this caused the young dragon to lose his focus and fall over. Spike gave a sheepish grin, “Is Twilight in? Or did she decide to head off to assist in studying Merlin's Cypherdex?”

“Actually,” said Spike, “she's in her library with a few bags and boxes having a debate with herself over that very thing. On one forehoof she could learn about the magical technology, possibly more than you given the statements about the device you gave, on the other forehoof she could stay here and figure out how to integrate the two different magics to create an all new school of magic.”

“Several, actually,” said Rec as he headed inside, “I will admit the possibilities that exist for existing Equestrian magic and Seeker magic are far more numerous than she's probably calculated. However, the reverse engineering of the Cypherdex might take more time than she thinks, after all the princesses need to ensure that those they choose for the project aren't members of an unwanted element, and more importantly can keep a secret. Seekers are pretty new phenomenon in this world, and the fact almost any demographic has potential as a seeker means a whole new way of...” he entered the library of the castle and several pillars worth of bags and boxes that seemed to be crammed packed with books, “looking at things. Was it like this when you headed outside?”

“Um, no,” said Spike, “she had at most twelve bags and fifteen boxes worth of books,” he took a quick look around, “I think Twilight wants to bring her entire library with her on the off chance she misses something.”

“Well, this unhealthy,” said Rec, “Let us get miss Sparkle and get her somewhere healthier, like the sweets shop or a sporting event before she has an event of her own that requires medical aid.”

“Um, how?”

“FlashJump,” this was followed by a bright flash that caused Spike to start rubbing his eyes, while doing so he heard Twilight being very vocal about the same thing.

A very annoyed Twilight reappeared in a BubbleLift bubble with several books, which Spike assumed were on some kind of magic theory, following behind Rec. Spike kept on telling himself mentally to not laugh, especially since Twilight seemed more like a pouting filly than a mature mare (alicorn or unicorn Twilight's mannerism were basically something the young dragon had very much been able to know as a constant).

“I warned you about some of your tendencies,” said Spike, “I said you at most you might need 'a bag and a few boxes', but it looks like you tried to find a way to take the whole library with you.”

“This is a whole new kind of magic for us, I need as many reference materials as possible for us to work off,” said Twilight, her voice slightly distorted by the bubble (almost like she was talking from inside a balloon).

“Sorry, but you need a study break,” said Rec, “if your idea is to take every book on Equestrian magical practices as 'study materials' then I think it's time you took a break. Spike, you can ask Nordrake to help you out on getting all these reading materials back where they need to be, there's more than enough room from him to fly, just make sure to keep the windows shut, don't want anyone freaking out over an unknown dragon without next to no details.”

Spike just gave a salute as Rec left the castle with Twilight.

Half way to Sugurcube Corner Twilight said, “I'm calmed down now, you can let me out.”

“No can do,” said Rec, “and you remember what I said about the spell that's holding you?”

“You can set the resistance for the inside of the bubble based on your intentions for it's use.”

“Which is why your bubble can only be affected by magic and physical damage from the outside, you really do need a break from your travel preparations, at least I left you with some reading material.”

Twilight rolled her eyes before saying, “I'm really appreciative of the act, but you can let me out now.”

“Nope, you're stuck in their for a few more minutes,” said Rec.

“You just want to make sure that I'm not just trying to say what you want to hear, I get it. Did you want talk about something?”

“I had Bon Bon bump into me as I left Rarity's place.”

“Don't you mean you bumped into her?”

“No, she hunted me down and told me she's been trying to find me all week.”

“Oh, this can't good.”

“Thankfully, Lyra caught up to her and managed to divert enough of her attention for me to take my leave. I'm sure she'll try something like that again.”

“Yes, well if she here's even half of what you told us the day you arrived she would probably assist Bon Bon in tracking you down.”

“Have you gotten word from the princesses regarding anyone who can be trusted to keep a secret that also happens to have some talents or skills that will be useful in starting up the Society?”

“Princess Celestia did send word that Luna was doing a detailed search into the matter, she made a few suggestion. But the final say will in the matter will be Luna's, I think it was actually a smart move to make Luna the main power with this sort of thing, she's been trying to get caught up to date on everything and her establishing this Society might help out in a big way. From the way you explained things she can decide what kind of facilities are established to the public, with some extra rooms for members or those that have been brought into the know about the full mission of the Society. Celestia told me how things were in terms what Luna did before the Nightmare incident, she'll never be able to go back to that, but at the very least she'll be able to help Equestria's citizens with the Society.”

“The main reason I suggested Princess Luna was because she seemed to have a lot of time to kill, and with those who are supposed to be in power that usually isn't a good thing.”

“Good point,” said Twilight as they came up on Sugurcube Corner.

Almost as if on cue Pinkie popped up and said, “Hi, why is Twilight in a bubble while I'm not?”

“Because you didn't try to pack up the bulk of your personal library to the point the boxes full of books could potentially be used as auxiliary support pillars,” said Rec as he continued to the sweets shop, “Pinkie, please get her the best snack you know for calming nerves.”

“Okie, dokie, Loki,” said Pinkie before she hopped into the sweets shop. Rec followed with Twilight still stuck in the bubble in tow from him, no one in the town seemed be bothered by the fact Twilight was being pulled along in a bubble.

The moment he entered with Twilight in the bubble he heard the loud sound of Rainbow laughing her flank off. “Oh, I didn't think it got that bad,” came Fluttershy's voice from same direction of hysterically laughing Rainbow Dash.

“Could someone please cut Rainbow's laughter short,” said Rec as he turned toward the table noticing it was occupied by Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Applejack. Pinkie was returning from the back with a rather large looking chocolate malt. Rec set Twilight by the table and released his hold over the bubble causing it disappear without a pop, but Twilight did make a distinct sound of hitting her seat a little hard. Almost at the exact moment she was released from the bubble Pinkie placed the malt in front of the lavender alicorn.

“It was probably a good idea to get Twilight out of castle before things got further out of hoof,” said Rarity.

Twilight just grumbled to herself as she slowly sipped the straw of her malt. Rec shook his head a bit before saying, “what can you tell me about Lyra and Bon Bon?”

Pinkie took a deep breath before going “Well if you really want to...” a hoof from Applejack plugged up the pink mare's mouth.

“Any reason yer asking sugar cube? Pinkie, stop lickin' mah hoof.”

“Bon Bon almost bumped into me after I departed Rarity's place, she seemed very invested about confirming someone's claim to have seen Nordrake. Lyra managed to divert her attention me to make a discreet exit when she finally caught up to Bon Bon.”

“I'll... send word to Princess Celestia,” said Twilight before taking a much larger sip of her malt.

“Are we back to a more reasonable mannerism now?” Said Rec as he looked at Twilight.

“Getting there,” she grumbled, “another few minutes should do it.”

Rec chuckled to himself when he looked what all the things Twilight and her friends were consuming.

“What's so funny? It helps when you're in on the joke,” said Rainbow Dash.

“I'll tell you when we don't have any potential audiences,” said Rec, “it will a take a while to help explain the context, context and timing are the things most important to a joke.”

“Who told you that?” Asked Rainbow.

“Mom, and popular culture where I come from,” said Rec.

“What can get you while you're here,” inquired Pinkie.

“I'm good,” said Rec, “just needed to bring Twilight back to a where she's actually listening reason. Twilight, when you get back try to limit it a dozen relevant reference materials.”

“But there's so much to compare,” said Twilight, “if we're missing an appropriate reference piece the debates could go in a direction that could be more hindering than helpful.”

Rec shook his head a bit before saying, “Before you start packing your references ask yourself if they have that particular reference where you are going, and the answers is yes then leave it where you have it. I like reference materials a lot, but my friends and I know we need to pack light when we go on a trip. Pack only the essentials and then play it by ear seems to be what find ourselves doing a lot. Twilight, you need to do a better job packing light, you won't always have the comfort of your reference materials to fall back on. The magic I showed you is very different from the kind of magic you're familiar with.”

“I suppose you're right,” said Twilight, she then perked up, “but the artifact we found mentioned Starswirl, which means...”

“It also mentioned Princess Celestia and Princess Luna as foals,” said Rec, “which means you are going to go back to some of his earliest records, didn't you mention during our last discussion of great spell users that a great number of his personal accounts were lost before the original Nightmare Moon incident?”

Twilight's ears drooped as she said, “Yes, and if there were another great spell caster in the known records we would have debates about him back at Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns year ago,” she gave a frustrated sigh, “and from what you've told me of this Merlin is pretty limited. A small hoofful of accounts of his younger years, almost nothing from his prime, and a small saddlebag's worth of lore when it came to his later years.”

“The Casterwills are very secretive, the Association doesn't have the kind of relationship with them that would give us access to their records. Merlin was a Caterwill, that means he was part of the longest standing traditions. I would be a bit more extensive, but we are in a public setting, it also helps almost no one bats an eye when magic is discussed in public.”

“Right, you do your best to keep certain...elements out of the public eye,” said Rarity, “which I think is absolutely understandable.”

“Yes, but the elements that he and his friends are used to keeping secret aren't the same as what they need to here,” said Twilight.

“I suggest we take the rest of this somewhere else,” said Rec, “we're starting to draw the wrong kind of attention. Pinkie, I would very much appreciate it if you would pack up some conference and meet us later at where we're going.”

“Okie, Dokie, Loki,” said Pinkie.

As they made their way out Rec told the others, “Which reminds me, I have some things to tell you.”


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

It was a half hour later at Twilight's castle. Rec had filled everyone in on some extra details and was finishing up another story regarding Norse mythology. Some were showing concern, but Rarity most of all.

“He did what?” Shouted the ivory unicorn, “That is just...I don't have the appropriate words to express my disapproval.”

“About Loki turning into a mare? Or actually having a foal?”

“That this Odin characther would d that to family. I mean while Loki is a stallion, of sorts, the fact he could turn into a mare that can concieve foals is startling enough, but for Odin turn that poor pony into a steed.”

“That's just how story goes,” said Rec, “Loki and Odin were actually ancient seekers, I heard some rumors that a couple of years ago the Foundation got into a skirmish with some of the the follower's of Thor.”

“Which is a pretty cool sounding name,” said Rainbow Dash, “he must have been pretty awesome to have a bunch of followers.”

“Well, if you were to believe the stories he reigned over thunder and lightning,” said Rec.

“Which is pegasus territory here, which means if he ended up here he would have been one.”

“Not so fast there Rainbow,” said Rec, “he was also the god of the forge, and was incredible warrior. But from the stories about him before he attained his divinity chances are he'd be more of an earth pony, after all he was blackmith. He had a talent crafting metal and fighting, and an understanding of metal means understanding the earth and materials that come out of it. The Norse, the culture that the gods of Asgard are from, had a lack of mines for iron so they needed do it a different way.”

“At what way was that,” inquired Twilight.

“Peat, they refined peat moss to get their iron. They were talented sailors, mostly because of where they came from, and they knew how to make boats that go almost anywhere. In fact there's a story about ship that could sail anywhere.”

“Cool, I'm totally naming my future foals Thor and whatever ship was named.”

“Yeah, well Thor wasn't the brightest of individuals, in fact he pretty dumb. When he had dress up as female, which actually quite often, he needed someone with Loki's wits help keep up the charade.”

“He had dress up look like a mare,” said Pinkie, “that's actually pretty funny.”

“Usually was his sister, Freya,” said Rec. “See, Thor was actually the elder brother of a pair twins that also were given divinity. A set of twins named Freyr and Freya, haven't been able to find which of the two elder though. Point is, Freya was said to such a great beauty that a lot of fights got started over her. Every deity in the Norse pantheon was warrior, and twins were no exception.

“So, other than who his mother was what made Sleipner so special? If if you don't mind telling us,” said Fluttershy.

“Sleipnir was a horse with six legs that could run faster than anything in all the realms, he was the fast creature to ever exist. Loki always seems to have an odd family. Fenrir, the wolf that bit off Tyr's hand; Jourmangandr, the Midgard Serpent; and Hella, the half faced goddess.”

“What's so special about this Midgard Serpent? If you don't mind my asking,” said Twilight.

“It is said he was big that he could wrap around the entire world,” said Rec.

“That is a very snake,” said Fluttershy, “he must be very mad about being away from his family.”

“Well he was prophesised to kill Thor during Ragnarok,” said Rec.

“What's that,” inquired Pinkie, “it doesn't sound very nice.”

“It's the end of the world, literally. And it all goes out as a massive war where everyone dies, speaking of War in another religious structure that heralds the end of the world with War being one of precursors.”

“Care to elaborate,” said Twilight.

“JudeoChristian lore there the end of the world will be heralded by four horsemen, or here guess they would just be horses. They're known as War, Famine, Pestilence and Death. War is Red, Famine is Brown, Pestilence is Gray and Death is White. The event they herald is called the Apocolypses.” At the end of his statement they all looked at Rarity.

“Seriously,” said Applejack, “care ta elaborate on that one. Ah think a little frame o' reference would do us all good.”

“The first herald, War, means a great conflict will come, and with him the others will follow. The other horses of the Apocolyse are actually things that come through itself. When I say conflict I don't mean just few family or communities having a disagreement that is difficult to resolve. War is a conflict that has two sides literally hurting each other, sometimes in ways never before imagined. When War of the Apocalypse comes we talking about a global level event, nations fight other nations,” everyone shivered with fear, and Fluttershy hid behind her friends, “After War comes Famine. Famine is horrific. For frame of reference imagine Sweet Apple Acres.”

“Easy 'nough,” said Applejack.

“Now imagine its abundance withered to to the point that it can barely support its caregivers and the community, now imagine all the local farms are in the situation, that is famine on local scale. When Famine of the Apocalypse comes it will be global event, which ironically will drive forth the war so that each nation can have more farmland to support their citizens.”

“Okay, Death is pretty strait forward,” said Twilight, “what is Pestilence?”

“An olden time term for disease, in particular an incurable disease.”

“Oh,” said Twilight, “that doesn't sound good. Why is Death white?”

“Ever seen a dead field?” Said Rec.

“Ah have, once,” said Applejack, “it was when we were tryin' a new method wid tha corn one year, before we knew it the entire field was full of dead stalks that had gone completely white.”

“There's your answer,” said Rec.

“Okay,” said Twilight, “so these four, are they a bit more real than most would think?”

“Titans are influenced by their seekers in many ways, it's possible that someone found a way to create legendary titans that embody all the things we want to avoid as it is with legendary titans that embody everything that we seek to improve or should aspire more towards. It's possible with the titans falling to this world that the Elements of Harmony you spoke of drew titans towards them and the power they hold transformed into a whole new set of Legendary Titans. A Legendary Titan for each of the Elements, but this is just theory right now, you'll have to verify it at a later date. Twilight and I have a meeting with the princesses tomorrow, and Princess Luna is most likely going over a comprehensive list of individuals that meet the criteria we need. Twilight, thanks for you and Spike getting that message sent out soon as we got here. I'm sorry I wasn't as careful as I should have been.”

“Don't worry about it,” said Twilight, “we all make mistakes, besides the one you made wasn't as big of an issue as you think.”

Rec cocked an eyebrow and his head in confusion. “This is Ponyville, darling,” said Rarity, “ever since we freed Princess Luna from her curse the kind of stuff that happened when you arrived was on par for what happens on an average week here.”

Author's Note:

Quick note, most of story had its words taken from this this show, which happens to be broken up into three segments on youtube, this is part I

Comments ( 3 )

A little heavy on the lore, but the thing with Twilight was hilarious.

6847248 Some chapters being a little lore heavy is a little inevitable with stuff regarding this sort of thing, but yeah it did feel like a bit of an info dump. And which thing with Twilight are you referring to? I had a few in this chapter.

6847389 Mainly the part where she tried to pack all the books.
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