Seekers in Equestria

by dracone

A Meeting With Royalty and the Start of a New Mission

Rec woke the next morning and the first thing he saw in his room the biggest cupcake he had ever seen, instead the usual reaction someone would have he took a deep inhalation of the scents in the room and said, “seriously, triple chocolate strawberry swirl? I'm more of a huckleberry and mint four chocolate swirl type, this my sister's favorite kind of cupcake. This could mean one of three things, since she's not crazy enough to pull a stunt like this I'm going to rule out her trying to prank me. The other two involve Inari, that fox better have something new this time around,” he walked up to the cupcake and took small hoofful and chewed it then swallowed, “hm, that's the real deal alright and very tasty as well. Wonder where it came from,” the first thing he saw when he opened the door was Pinkie Pie hanging upside down over his door frame, “oh, hi Pinkie, what are you doing here so early?” the entire time he was so calm Pinkie made a worried face.

“Are you okay, usually ponies are like bwalalkalrakaaaaaaaaaaa,” said Pinkie, during her amusing sound she did a mock flail.”

“I'll do that later,” said Rec calmly, “right now I have a schedule to keep.”

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Watching the scene unfold in a hidden place, thanks to Inari's illusion ability, Discord said, “You knew he would react this way! So why go through all of our preparation work if he's just going to remain calm about it?”

“The thing about Rec is that his morning reactions are different from his fully awake reactions, he acts calm and collected when he gets up because his brain is still processing a bunch of stuff, but when he finishes his morning ritual,” the sound of a shower turning on came from down the hall, “he has very different reactions.”

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Five minutes later Rec was stepping out of the shower, and then it dawned on him what he had just woken to in the morning, the sound him shouting at the top of his lungs, “Inari, get your nine tailed butt out here now. We! Need! To! Talk! About! Your! Extra! Curricular! Activities!”

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“Told ya,” said Inari with a wink at Discord, “now for faze two, that's where you make yourself look like me. He'll be able to tell the real from the fake, but it will take him a few seconds.”

Both blinked in front of him looking like the nine tailed white fox.

_________________________________________________

“Very funny,” said Rec in an unamused voice after a few seconds, “Discord return to your natural state please, I have a lesson plan with Twilight and your presence in your natural state would be appreciated.” While looking right at said dronequus.

“How did he know which was which,” said Discord in his usual voice as he assumed his natural state.

“I bonded with Inari, it let's me know things like which one is the real thing if she makes duplicates. Of course the bond also gives her a direct line to my head, which has me wondering, why did you go with my sister's favorite cupcakes?”

“Because I wanted to make your sister freak out,” said Inari, “she was next to us during the part where I told Discord what this endeavor would involve.”

“Did you get the yogurt?” Inari nodded, “A bowl to hold it all?” Another nod, “huckleberries?” Another nod, “well, I don't need to ask about the spoon then. Honey?” She shook her head. “Cinnamon?” Another head shake, “ginger?” Her head shook again. “What kind of yougurt ploy is it without cinnamon or ginger? The honey I can understand, that pairing is used way too often.”

“That's one the reason we bonded so effectively,” said Inari turning to Discord, “he and my original Seeker have some interesting reactions when they realize a gag is being run.”

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

A few minutes later Rec was in his borrowed room pulling the Mythichive from his bags. After the device was floating by his head in his newly discovered blue and yellow glowing aura he sifted through the bags for something to wear (while he had noticed that naked seemed to be the societal default in Equestria he still felt like he would need to wear something other than his amulet and flank pouches). After a minute or two of sifting the spare clothes he was glad he had packed in backpack he pulled up a multi-pocketed vest (which surprisingly was now in a format suitable for an equine) and slipped it on with his Vitaguard amulet, after that he checked his amulets in his flank pouch and noted which he had on him and made a mental note to grab a few more from home when they found a way out of Equestria and back home (which was now starting to sound odd to him because for some reason after a good night's rest he was starting to think of Equestria as home as well). Checking the window he found the sun wasn't quite up, a quick check of the clock revealed the sun probably wouldn't be up for another three or four hours (at the time he was unaware of the powers Celestia and Luna possessed).

After double checking which Titans he had Rec made his way down the stair and towards the kitchen. Once there he pulled out some of his amulets with his foreleg and began invoking them, “trick the trap, Springer,” a four tailed foxy squirrel (much like his sister's appeared), “work the mechanism, Tinkertock,” the little robot like Titan appeared once more, “fly high, Solwing,” the bird like Titan appeared on his shoulder, “scurry about, Gremlow,” the little rat like Titan appeared once more, “reveal yourself, Gareon,” afterward he set the amulets on the dining table and the iguana like Gareon positioned to guard them. “Alright everyone,” he said to the Titans, “we're making breakfast, everyone knows their roles let's kick this one on into high gear, we have royalty to impress.”

With all the Titans out and moving with motions that were far more fluid in relation to one another than one might think it was easy to tell this was regular practice for them and Rec. The Titans brought Rec the ingredients for some very wholesome apple and cinnamon pancakes. Rec got to work on the meal with such ease and practice using his hooves and magic in such a level of care and control that it one would think he had been doing so his entire life.

Spike was up with the sunrise, something he found was quite a common practice only to see the sight of Rec and his Titans making breakfast and setting the table (to be more accurate Solwing and Springer were setting the table, Gremlow seemed to be standing guard until someone came down before using a more subdued version of its swarm ability to go and check on the rooms that everyone was sleeping in, Gareon was still watching over the amulets and leered at the young dragon as if daring him to try something, the rest were helping Rec with his cooking in some capacity). “Um, what's going on?” said in his young voice.

“Making breakfast,” said Rec without looking away from what he was doing, I do hope you don't dislike apple cinnamon pancakes.”

“Um, no,” said Spike cautiously, “but it's been a while since Twilight or I had a formal meal. Where's that cool thing you called a 'Mythichive'?”

“I dropped it off in the study on the way to the kitchen,” said Rec, “have seat, and for the love of all that is sacred do not start eating before everyone else is at the table. More individuals need to practiced common courtesy these days.”

“Um, okay,” said Spike sliding into a seat across from Gareon, “how did you train them to do all of this?”

“I didn't,” said Rec, “Titans and their Seekers have magical bond that allows us to better communicate. I still have to issue verbal suggestions or commands, but know exactly what my meaning in the words is.”

“Besides,” said Inari seeming to materialize next to Spike, “this is one to the best shows you'll ever get. Most Seekers just use their Titans for combat or dealing with problems they are having difficulty with, Rec actually brings them out for conversation and little tasks like this. After they're finished he'll give them all free reign to do as they please with the stipulation they should respect privacy and stay out of trouble.”

A few minutes later Twilight's voice could be heard saying, “Well, Fluttershy would definitely want to meet you, you're unlike any animal I've seen before.”

“That little one's name is Gremlow,” Inari said just loud enough for the lavender Alicorn to hear her yet soft enough she wouldn't wake any who were still sleeping, “he's one of Rec's Titans.”

A Gremlow followed by Twilight came down and she was treated to the sight of all the titans performing the morning task. She looked over at Spike who shrugged before turning her attention to Gareon, the titan hissed at her in a manner she assumed was a warning. Turning her attention to the kitchen she was treated to the sight of the small titans milling about like a chef's assistants as Rec continued pile flapjacks onto a plate. Once it had reached a height almost level with his horn the Springer lifted the plate and carefully made its way to the table, after nimbly jumping from the floor to a chair then the table Springer set the plate with a large pile down on the table's center. The small titan then made its way back to the kitchen where it motioned to Tinkertock to open the fridge door. After giving a series of clinks (that both amused Twilight and made her think it was rather cute) the little clockwork titan scurried over to the near the fridge before positioning itself in a manner that caused a pair of large gears in its torso to move in opposing directions and cause the door to open as if a unicorn had used their magic to open the door. Springer hopped about the shelves before grabbing a mass of oranges that Twilight had in the fridge and jumping out and shutting the door with its tails. After jumping back on to the counter to carefully set the oranges so none would bruise or roll away Springer ran to the cupboard that held Twilight's pitchers for fresh drinks and pulled out a clay one with ease and care before returning to the oranges with care. After positioning himself so that his squeezes of the oranges all went into the pitcher, after a few minutes all the oranges were expertly squeezed and Springer sniffed around before scurrying to the cupboard where Twilight kept her sugar (raw, she had read it was much healthier than sugar that was processed in any capacity). Twilight just shook her head, she kept her sugar in a container with an enchantment that made it unbreakable and another that required an unlocking spell to remove the lid, and prepared to help out. She stopped short when Springer sniffed the container a few times and ran one of its claws over the edge of the lid, and was surprised when the little titan removed the lid and took a small pawful of sugar, followed by Solwing gently lowering a wooden mixing spoon into the pitcher before landing on the table next to Gareon.

As Springer slowly mixed the raw sugar into juice Twilight said, “How did he do that? That container had an enchantment that made it impossible to open without an unlocking spell!”

“Springer's ability allows him to bypass locks and traps of mundane and magical nature,” said Rec as he opened a cupboard for the little titan to get drinking glasses out. Springer and Solwing set the glasses on the table with such ease and expertise that it brought a smile to Twilight's face despite her confusion.

“They look like they they've done this many times before. How long have you been making meals like this?” inquired Twilight.

“I thought he had trained them,” said Spike, “but he says the mental link seekers call a bond makes that not required.”

Twilight's eyes went big before she said, “You mean they know exactly what you request regardless how vague you are?”

“Yep,” said Rec as he came to the table with the pitcher and Springer on his shoulder, “titans have direct access to your mind through the link we call the bond so they can better perform tasks asked of them, it also helps with them doing things if a command or suggestion gets cut off. You still have to issue verbal commands to the titans though, it isn't until you powerbond that it no longer becomes a requirement.”

“Powerbond?” said Twilight with interest.

“A powerbond is when your link with your titan reaches its ultimate extent. When that happens the titan gets new abilities and sometimes even changes in appearance. When a seeker is powerbonded they can mental communicate with their titan. I've never experienced it myself yet, but I've read up on it. I have the whole study in my Mythichive under the file name 'Bonding and Seekers', it's really a fascinating read through really.”

“I'll check it out after your lecture later today. You said you'd explain Legendary Titans and I'm pretty sure you never really explained the Mythichive.”

“We hope we are not intruding,” came Luna's voice.

“Princess Luna,” said Twilight with a smile, “it's nice to see you here, but shouldn't you be lowering the moon soon?”

“Indeed,” said Luna, “I merely wished to meet our guests in pony beforehoof, the young one was quite pleasant in her dreams, she seemed to feel a strong connection with me within the dream realm.”

“Orchid has always been more nocturnal,” said Rec as he stroked the head of his Springer, “she seems to bond most readily with animal like Titans, but there's one titan seems to like us both evenly,” he reached into his bag and pulled out silver amulet in the form of a unicorn's head with a green gem that looked like it played the part of the eye, “Orchid and I have eyes that match hers, mom's are more of an indigo. Colors like green, indigo, violet and maroon are very uncommon eye colors where we come from.”

“Twilight has informed us of these creatures you call Titans,” said Luna as she took a seat next to Rec and took closer look at the amulet, “but from what we were told I expected to see bigger creatures of unusual appearance,” she gestured to the small titans that seemed to be acting leisurely, “but right now I only see small creatures of unusual appearance and nature.”

“They're small Titans,” said Rec as he set Springer on the table, “all the ones you see right now are scout class titans, and each has abilities to help it in that regard,” he gestured to Springer and said, “this is a Springer, their special ability called Trap Trickster. The ability means he's good at solving puzzle, opening locks and deactivating traps, mundane or magical. He can also rig traps for catching others or go all out and make entire traps,” he gestured to Solwing, “Solwing's flying ability and sharp eyes and ears make him excellent at finding things,” he gestured to Gareon, “Gareon can turn invisible for short periods of time in addition to having the ability to crawl along walls and ceilings,” he gestured to Tinkertock, “and Tinkertock can remotely access any device and manipulate it with his ability.”

“I saw him do that,” said Twilight, “he opened the fridge as if he was a unicorn.”

“With so much ambient magic flowing around it's no very surprising that some of the abilities of our titans are much more powerful than usual,” said Rec, “back home our fridge is a compartment in the wall so it saves space, Tinkertock's ability is very good at getting those doors open when everyone else needs to go through a series of puzzles. Orchid cheats and uses her Springer.”

As if on cute Orchid walked in and mumbled about smelling heaven. Luna smiled and nuzzled the filly, this woke her up completely, “Am I dreaming?” was all Orchid said.

“No,” said Rec, “she's physically here, you know how the other two are.”

Orchid gave a mischievous smile before saying, “How will they wake them up this time, somehow drowning them in warm water or setting their...”

“Orchid,” chastised Rec.

“Sorry,” said Orchid pulling her ears back in shame.

Luna's horn started glowing and the moon began to set. “Huh, moonset is a bit earlier than I calculated,” said Rec taking look outside the window.

“What?” said Twilight, “Princess Luna is just lowering the moon a little early, and I think I know why,” both mares gave smirk.

“That's not how it works in our world,” said Rec, “it's all an unassisted natural cycle with no one working it, it's just planetary rotation and orientation for the rising and falling of the moon and sun in addition to seasonal transitions. Are you telling me that in this world that's all maintained by individuals that have that as part of their job description?”

“Um, yes,” said Twilight.

Orchid looked at her brother with confusion before he said to her, “Remember the bedtime stories mom would tell us?”

Her eyes went wide, “About the beautiful ladies who commanded the sun and moon? She only told us those stories, our brothers and sisters never got to hear those stories. Are you saying that she modified them in some way?”

“I'm starting to think she might have visited here when she was younger and modified what she saw around her for us. It could also explain our naming conventions. Well that and...” he trailed off like he decided to not continue the the thought, “follow me to the study, the lecture will be there. Twilight, what day is it?”

“Saturday,” said Twilight.

“Really? It was Sunday yesterday for us,” said Rec, “Orchid, go find others your age to spend the day with.”

“Okay,” said Orchid, “I'll drop by miss Rarity's and see if Sweetie Belle wants to spend the day with me.”

“If she's not around she might be with Apple Bloom and Scootaloo at their clubhouse at Sweet Apple Acres,” said Twilight, “Spike can show you the way.”

“You got it,” said Spike, as he lead Orchid out he whispered to her, “And it gets me out of more magic lessons, those can be infuriating.”

“I like learning about magic, it's fun,” said Orchid as they left the complex.

“Now that the young ones are out I think it's time I explained things proper, my last lecture was more of a primer course.”

Twilight (with a mass of notebooks and writing materials) had eager eyes, it wasn't often she learned about new kinds of magic. Luna sat with a more subdued interested look (and nothing to record with). Rec took note of this.

“First off I need to explain Titans and Amulets,” his Springer dashed into the room and sat on the presentation table next the Mythichive and... two amulets? Shaking the confusion for later in the presentation Rec said, “Titans are entities from the Spirit world, particular they have their own subsection of there referred to as Huntik, which is also referred to as the Titan Dimension. In a sense Titans draw their appearance from the native flora and fauna of the world their amulets reside, or at least they did for my world. Each Titan has one or more special abilities that give it an advantage at something. An amulet is a Titan's home and serves as their anchor to the physical realm, if a Titan's amulet is destroyed that usually means the Titan has lost it's link to the physical world and has no choice other than returning the spirit realm, without a titan to balance an amulet's power the amulet breaks down into dust and scatters to the wind. When you first bond with a Titan it's referred to as a bond or standard bond. In this state you share a mental link that the Titan can talk to you through, most Titan's can't physically talk. In addition when your connection to a Titan reaches its ultimate extent they become what is referred to as 'Powerbonded' and gain new abilities, and sometimes even a new look. Any Questions so far?”

Twilight raised her hoof, Rec nodded before she said, “How does one bond with a Titan?”

“Usually by making physical contact with the titan's amulet,” said Rec, “but in this world it might be possible to bond through merely feeding a bit of your magic into the amulet, which reminds me. Twilight, you were studying one amulet, correct?” Twilight nodded, “then why do I see two next to my Mythichive?”

“I don't know,” said Twilight, “can't you scan it with the device like last time?”

“Yes, but I think this would be a wonderful test and see your Seeker potential,” said Rec with a smirk, “come on up and pick up the new amulet with your hoof,” he gestured to a yellow amulet with blue and green highlights in the shape of a cat's paw with a silver gem as the center pad, Twilight trotted up the amulet and slipped her hoof through the neck loop.

“I feel a little tingly,” said Twilight, “can we scan it now?”

“You could do that, or ask the Titan its name. Focus on the amulet and listen for the Titan's voice.”

Twilight closed her eyes and focused on the amulet for few seconds before saying, “Akmen-Meo, her name is Akmen-Meo,” suddenly the gem glowed with a black icon of a cat's head wearing a nemes appeared on the gem and what looked like a black and white domestic cat wearing a nemes with its back half decayed down to the bone with bits of mummy gauze wrapped loosely around the midsection appeared, “what just happened?”

“You summoned her,” said Rec, “if you will for a titan to come when you invoke its name while in contact with their amulet you summon them. Now let's see what your new little friend is capable of, this is a good lead up to the Mythichive and similar devices.”

Twilight held the amulet over the center of the device after Rec opened it. After scanning the amulet the Mythichive displayed the titan in its holographic display and said, “Akmen-Meo, Attack 1, Defense 1, Size: Small, Special Abilities: Loremaster, Type: Hecto-Titan Scout.”

“What does its ability mean?” inquired Luna.

“It means Akmen-Meo can move through large volumes of texts regardless of their age or linguistic obscurity and gather information from them, in short Akmen-Meo can understand any language that spoken or written without fail and give a perfectly recalled report to its Seeker or bring the exact text her Seeker is looking for. Since Twilight and Akmen-Meo are so similar they bonded quite easily. Now Nordrake is bit more vicious, a Seeker needs be a bit more aggressive to trigger a bond with it. Twilight got herself a good companion and...” he reached into his side pouch and pulled out blue-steel amulet with grayish-pink gem that looked like the upper section of a set of heavy armor with the gem looking like it was where the head should go, “this is someone that will serve you well as a guardian. His name is Ironsquire, hold out your hoof Twilight,” Twilight did as she was asked, Rec dropped the amulet into her waiting hoof, she felt the connection form, “when a Seeker willing gives another Seeker an amulet with the intention they have it for more than a few seconds they also transfer the bond, I want Twilight to keep Ironsquire with her, he might come out as just the friend she needs in the future. Would you like to attempt as well your majesty?”

“I am perfectly fine without any those entities, thank you,” said Luna.

“I suppose the only Titans I have that you and Celestia would be interested in bonding with are Lunar and Solar, and I left their amulets back at my house.”

Luna's eyes popped, “They are named for the sun and the moon?”

“Yes, but they aren't very powerful,” said Rec, “the most powerful Titans are the Legendary Titans. The four most well known of the Legendary Titans are Behemoth, the Legendary Titan of Body; Tao, the Legendary Titan of Spirit; Araknos the Legendary Titan of Mind; and the Legendary Titan of Immortality, Overlos. All four have one thing in common, that is they were initially bonded to Lord Casterwill, the first Seeker. Lord Casterwill is the one who summoned the Titans to Earth. It is said Overlos was the first titan he summoned and it was with Overlos's power he summoned the rest to fight and great evil from Huntik that made its way to Earth. The war lasted for centuries, it is said Lord Castewill kept himself alive for six hundred years by sheer force of will and when the threat of the Nullifiers had passed he finally died from exhaustion and old age. To give a sense of scale, the oldest living humans on record haven't even passed the three hundred year mark, but the war with the Nullifiers happened long before recorded history.”

Luna and Twilight just stared at Rec for a long while before Luna said, “Such a great will, and to continue the fight even with his body telling him he should not be capable of such feats is impressive and commendable.”

“As far as I know he was the only human with a will that strong, it's conceivable that if he had found his way to this world he would probably be a great unicorn or even an alicorn given his understanding of will power and magic. In a sense when we bond with titans we can make some some small claim we are continuing his legacy, but only if we have truly good and noble intentions in our hearts and minds when we take on the mantle and practice of being Seekers. Twilight, keep Akmen-Meo and Ironsquire close, they will prove time and time again they are invaluable friends if you treat them right. Some Seekers use Titans as nothing more than tools or weapons, to me titans are valuable friends and comrades, to me you will always have a special connection with the first Titan you ever bonded with. Maybe one day you might powerbond with Akem-Meo and unlike the full potential of your bond. You have a great talent for magic, but remember this, just because a titan's body is formed through magic does not mean they are completely magic. Some titans like Ironsquire are physical titans, some like Akmen-Meo are mental titans and some like my good friend Janusea the Gatekeeper are magic type titans. Each has its role in the grand design of the world, you just need to ask the proper questions to find the right answers. Remember nopony can tell you what the proper question is, you have to find it for yourself. That's what being a Seeker has taught me, there are many secrets and in a way it is the duty of a good Seeker to find and safeguard those secrets until the right time or individual appears. I've never experienced a powerbond as of yet, I've read up on it and have the files on my Mythichive.”

“That was one of the most insightful speeches I've heard in centuries,” said Luna with a smile, “you could have been one with great promise at my sister's school if you were born here, then again we might have never met had that happened.”

“Even if I had been given a scholarship I would have turned it down,” said Rec, “I would have been perfectly happy in whatever life I was living. My specialty is combinations, I doubt the curriculum for your sister's school would have had any courses exploring that possibility.”

“Indeed,” came a warm maternal sounding feminine voice, “something that needs to be remedied, when all of this is over I would like to extend a formal invitation for you to serve as an instructor at my school.” They all turned to see an ivory alicorn almost as tall as fully grown horse with four toned mane of violet, pink, blue and green.

“Sister I thought you had court today,” said Luna with surprise.

“I did,” said Celestia, “but after I learned all the petitioners today were nobles and overly wealthy ponies that usually ask for me to sign off on the most ridiculous things I shut my doors to petitioners early, it helps keep them on their hooves and I really needed some time away from court. I see an interesting creature is here.”

“Um, how do I unsummon a titan?” asked Twilight sheepishly.

“Just will it to return to the amulet,” said Rec.

A moment later Akmen-Meo became a wisp and shot into her amulet. “She bonded with her first Titan,” said Rec, “it was part of the lesson plan, it helped explain things a bit more effectively.”

“He just told us about the four Legendary Titans,” said Luna.

“There are more than four,” said Rec, “those four are just he most well known, and Overlos is considered to be an unfounded fable by many Seekers. If there were only four then how would you explain her,” Inari seemed to Materialize next him, “this is Inari, the Legendary Titan of Cunning, she's one of the lesser known titans, in fact as it stands only my friends, sister and seats on the Association Council know of her. And this is her amulet,” he held up a silver ring that was shaped like a fox head with a light green gem positioned like an eye which almost made it look like the ring was winking.

He let the light of the Mytichive play over the ring before it displayed her walking in a holographic image and said, “Inari, Attack 7, Defense 5, Size: Average, Special Abilities: Illusions, Burning Attack, Type: Legendary Sorceress.”

They all looked at the fox for few minutes before Twilight said, “does that mean she's a spell caster?”

“Yes,” said Rec, “her status also means she's one of the most powerful titans you will ever find. Her illusions are so powerful that they can fool every sense that isn't touch, and her fire abilities are on a level few can match. Now on to the Mythichive.”

He looked around and all of them nodded, then Discord flashed in and said, “lovely presentation, but I think you all could use a break.”

Ignoring Discord Rec said, “the Mythichive can do more than identify titans, Mythichive scan this room,” the aqua green light played out all over the room for a few seconds before a holographic display of the room with green avatars in all of their likenesses was displayed, “if there were any hostile entities they would show up in red,” continued Rec, “and the Mythichive can even store scanned rooms to build maps for later use. It can also be used for planning strategies and,” he tapped the Celestia and Luna icons with his hoof causing them to move to different areas of the room, “it's fully interactive so you can show plans in real time. They can also store any information you want in a set of magical files. You can also scan items to find if they have anything hidden on them or manipulate them without actually affecting the item. You can scan documents and maps for later use as well. And then there's mission mode.”

“Mission mode?” inquired all three alicorns in unison, which was practically a cue for Mandi and Claudia to step in.

“We need to be given a mission first,” said Claudia, “do any of you have something you want us to investigate?”

“There were a series of disappearance at random time periods at my magic school,” said Celestia, “the most recent being a little over thirty years ago.”

Rec smiled and said, “Seekers we have a mission, Mystery of the Magic School. Objective investigate the disappearances, learn what we can about them, learn what we can about all recorded missing students and report our finding to the crown,” as he spoke a card with the image of Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns appeared, Claudia grabbed it and stuffed it into Rec's bag.

“What was that?” said Twilight.

“A mission card,” said Mandi, “all devices like the Mythichive can make them.”

“Well I'm joining you on your mission,” said Twilight.

“Only if Pinkie joins us as well,” said Rec.

“Why Pinkie,” said Twilight, Claudia and Mandi in unison.

“She's a lot smarter than she appears, and a whole lot more perceptive than she acts,” said Rec, “I would appreciate her perceptive skills on this mission, and Twilight I recommend you bring your titans because you might need to ask for their help.”

“Wait, she has Titans now?” said Claudia in surprise.

“Yes,” said Rec, “an Akmen-Meo and my old Ironsquire.”

“You gave her an Ironsquire? Great now she can turtle up when we need her.”

“With her and Akmen-Meo doing research an Ironsquire acting as a wall for her seemed logical, besides he said he likes her.”

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Meanwhile with the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Orchid was just finishing explaining what Seekers were like. The three fillies were captivated by what Orchid had to say, Spike had bid them goodbye and went to see if Rarity required his assistance. As she finished they filed out of the CMC clubhouse and Apple Bloom said, "can ya teach us how ta do things like that? Please.”

“How cool would it be to have a really big dragon as a good buddy you could call up at any time time you wanted,” chimed Scootaloo.

“You do realize you would need amulets for that first,” said Orchid, “and you'd have to touch them to access your Seeker potential. Let's just go and do something.”

“Let's go and see if we can find any more those magic amulets,” said Sweetie Belle, “since Orchid has seen a lot of them and is familiar with them she can help point them out to us and then we can try getting our own cool monsters.”

“For the fourteenth time they are called titans, I don't appreciate you calling my closest friends monsters.”

“Oh, sorry,” said Sweetie Belle.

Orchid brought a hoof to her Jirwolf amulet before saying, “I think it's a good idea, we can pretend we're a team of treasure hunters.”

“Cutie Mark Crusaders Tresasure Hunters, yeah,” said the three in unison.

Orchid rolled her eyes before saying, “I'm sure they aren't that... what do you mean reputation?... Okay, well maybe we help tone down some of their eccentricities while we're here.”

“Who y talkin' ta?” said Apple Bloom.

“Hellynx, he's one of my Titans,” said Orchid.

“Can we see him?” inquired Scootaloo.

“Maybe later,” said Orchid, all the CMC gave her a depressed look, “let's see if we can find those amulets,” they perked up, “lead the way.”

The four fillies made their way to the market place, there was only one pony selling jewelry. As they looked over the merchandise Sweetie squeaked, “Anything?”

“No, this is all just regular jewelry, no amulets among these.”

“Well look what we have here Tiara?” came a condescending female voice around their age.

“It's the blank flanks and a new blank flank for their little club,” came another female voice that more condescending and had hint of irritation.

All four turned to indeed see a gray earth filly with spectacles and what looked like an ornate bright gray spoon on her flank and a pink earth filly with a silver looking tiara and a cutie mark that looked almost identical to what adorned her head. “Diamond Tiara,” growled Scootaloo at the pink filly.

“Silver Spoon,” said Apple Bloom with contempt.

Ignoring what their obvious distaste for the two Diamond said, “I asked who your new friend here is.”

“Oh, I'm Orchid Spell,” said Orchid in pleasant manner, which surprised all five fillies (especially considering before she went into describing what a Seeker is like, the CMC had been very thorough their descriptions of Diamond and Silver, up to and including how they looked in addition to how they acted).

After the initial shock wore off Diamond Tiara said in an arrogant, “Finally somepony that respects us.”

“Nope,” said Orchid continuing her friendly manner, “I'm just being courteous because it's expected of me, I've already learned of your reputations, and I must say you both act very much like spoiled brats. At least you aren't acting heaven-sends, yet. My brother usually regularly deals with one of those on his missions, the guy is a total jerk. Do you know what we do with jerks?”

“No,” said Diamond with irritation.

Still maintaining her pleasant manner Orchid said, “We put them in their place, and I know just how to do it a few ways,” she lifted her hoof and pointed at Diamond Tiara before saying “BubbleLift,” Diamond Tiara was suddenly in a bubble with light blue sheen, before she could properly react Orchid pointed a hoof at Silver Spoon and uttered the phrase again putting the gray earth filly in an identical bubble to Diamond's, “You'll be perfectly fine,” Orchid continued in her pleasant manner, you can't pop them from the inside, and don't worry you'll be out of there in about a half hour.” Turning to the Crusaders she said, “maybe there's an old place we can go to find some amulets.”

“Do you know who my dad is?” Diamond Tiara bellowed.

“No,” said Orchid calmly as she turned her back to the pink filly, “and frankly I don't care, the way you act indicates you have a lot of wealth and not a whole lot else. My family has a history of having its unique connection to magic stretching back thousands of years, but we don't act like what we have is better than those around us. I grew up on a farm living a simple life, and I suggest you start reevaluating your priorities before that attitude of gets you into trouble when you're older. I've met a number of individuals that were fully grown adults acting like you in public, but when you found out what they did it made you want to laugh.”

“Really? I doubt it.”

“So a mail carrier that acted like you isn't enough of an incentive,” said Orchid evenly, “before you retort, his attitude caused his family to cut off his access to their assets until he learned to be more responsible. He's still a jerk and still cut off from the family money, at least last I checked. Let's go girls,” she started walking off.

When they were out of earshot of the two Scootaloo said, “that was awesome, you just showed up Diamond and Silver and walked away. You weren't serious about that mailpony thing were you?”

“Actually, I was,” said Orchid, “it's not pretty, he acts like his family is a big deal, and to an extent they are, but all the banks and businesses they own and are affiliated have been notified to not give him any sort of special treatment. The guy still thinks he's better than everyone around, mostly 'cause he figures the ban on him will lift in his immediate future, despite thinking that for the past three years.”

“Whoa, heavy,” said Scootaloo.

“Ya think Diamond 'ill take tha hint?” said Apple Bloom

“I certainly hope so,” said Orchid.

“So, where should we look for treasure next? This is kind of boring right now,” said Sweetie Belle.

“Are there any old ruins nearby, sometimes old structures that have spells or massive amounts of magic flowing through them have active guardians Seekers refer to as 'Wild Titans', in fact Jirwolf was a one before I bonded with him.”

“There's and old castle in the Everfree Forest,” said Scootaloo excitedly, “but we're not allowed to travel the Everfree Forest without Rainbow or one her friends, although maybe your brother could help out with this one.”

“Maybe,” Orchid said, “but he's giving lessons on Seeker magic and Titans to Twilight, he might be caught up in so much he ignores us.”

“We gotta try et least,” said Apple Bloom.

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

A few minutes later the four fillies rushed into the Friendship Castle to see Rec, Claudia and Mandi gearing up for their mission. “I still think you should take me along on the mission,” said Twilight, “you need somepony who knows the school, and I was student there before coming to Ponyville. Not too mention I know more about Equestrian history than you.”

“I didn't respond because I agree with all that,” said Rec, “but I think your friend Pinkie Pie should join us on this endeavor.”

“Why Pinkie?” said Twilight, Mandi and Claudia in unison with surprise in their voices.

“She's smarter than she looks, she's more perceptive than most give her credit for, and I genuinely like her,” said Rec with a firm nod and commanding voice.

“You met her twice,” said Mandi, “ and the first time she barreled me and Claudia over and the second time was that party she threw us as a welcome, Claudia and I spent a few hours with her last night, that mare nearly exhausted me and nearly made Claudia lose her focus in an arm wrestling match.”

“I totally had it under control,” said Claudia with a smirk.

“Yes, because an arm wrestling match that started before ten at night and ended at three in the morning due to both of you starting to nod off was totally reasonable,” Mandi snarked.

“Can we come?” inquired Sweetie Belle.

“If you answer one of the questions I give you with honesty and I find the answer makes it worth the risk,” said Rec.

“Lay it on us bro,” said Orchid.

“Can you handle yourself in a collapsing ruin?”

“Um, I don't think we've had the chance to test that one,” said Scootaloo, “but I'm sure that if we did we'd be so awesome it wouldn't matter.”

“Have you faced any real dangers that required you to think on your hooves?”

“No,” said Sweetie Belle, “will that really be a skill we need?”

“Have you ever encountered a puzzle on a time limit and solved it with time to spare?”

“Nope,” said Apple Bloom, “can't ah hauve.”

“Pfft,” said Orchid, “I dealt with all those on the mission I joined you on.”

“By somehow convincing mom that I was supposed to be looking after you that day despite the fact I had told her that I would be going into a potentially dangerous situation and our sibling exercise day wasn't for another week,” said Rec narrowing his eyes at his sister, “face it Orchid, you have a talent for trouble and are not joining us on this mission, the only reason I brought you along on the mission that got us stuck here is because I was assured it would be safe mission and I didn't see any harm in you tagging along. This time around we're investigating disappearing students at s prestigious school. You are not coming, and if any of you decide to stow away on this mission I will show you a spell designed to hold you down and air mail you back here in the most uncomfortable material possible, have I made myself clear?”

“Pfft, like he'd really do that,” said Scootaloo in an unbelieving voice.

“No, he'd really do that,” said Orchid in a calm manner, which means we don't follow him on the mission,” she gave the other three a wink which they all immediately understood.

“And no circumventing me this time,” said Rec, “if I find you did that you can forget the air mail and instead insist you come back on the roughest most abrasive land delivery I can find with the the insistence to the deliverer that he deliberately hit every rough point on the road with a bonus for doing so.”

The four looked at each other before they all shrugged and headed for the door, on the way out Sweetie Belle said, “could somepony at least chaperon us to the Castle of the Two Sisters in the Everfree Forest, we want to try getting our cutie marks there.”

“We'll talk to Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Rarity about it on our way out,” said Rec, “no promises it will go well with them though.”

“Hello, everypony,” came Rainbow's voice, “I heard ya on the way in, I'd love to take the squirts out to the Evefree,” the prismatically maned cyan mare then walked into the room and said, “whoa, whatcha guys up to?”

“Looking into something Princess Celestia asked us to,” said Rec as he slipped on his saddlebags, “Twilight and Pinkie will be joining us, I recommend you get yourself some help watching the young ones because they outnumber you four to one. Trust me watching others gets easier the more of you there are.”

“Done a lot of foalsitting hava you,” said Luna teasingly.

“If by that you mean keeping an eye on potentially hostile forces that were more than interested in my harm then then yes,” said Rec, “where we come from expressions like that are generic terms for watching someone in addition looking after children while their legal guardians are elsewhere for a short period of time.”

“Seriously?” said Rainbow Dash, “guess that's why Daring Do cracks those jokes about foalsitting in some of her books.”

“Not even going to touch that one,” said Claudia.

“That's a name here?” said Mandi, “it's just an expression where we come from, but for some reason the way you said that feels familiar, not sounds just feels.”

“That's interesting,” said Claudia, “during our earliest mission you would say things like you were 'not interested in doing any daring do' in a manner that suggested it could be used as a name a few times.”

“Rec also regularly talked to his amulets, still does,” said Mandi, “and you would keep babbling about how excited you were to fly and go hang gliding.”

“What do you mean by go flying?” said Rainbow, “you both have wings.”

“As we said last night,” said Mandi, “where we come from we don't have wings, but we do use machines for it.”

Before Rainbow could inquire further Rec cleared his throat and said, “Mission...time table...move out.”

“Oh sorry,” said Claudia and Mandi in unison, which elicited giggles from all the mares and fillies, except Rainbow who was laughing out loud instead.”

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

After picking up Pinkie and loading on to the train and speeding toward Canterlot the pink mare asked what they were going Canterlot for and Twilight explained what they were up to. On the way they met up with Appljack, whom after hearing that Rainbow would be the only one supervising four fillies in the Everfree Forest agreed to chaperon the four fillies as well.

“I get to see where Twilight was going to school before coming to Ponyville, this going to be great,” cheered Pinkie.

“This isn't a vacation or guided tour,” said Rec, “we're investigating a serious matter, Princess Celestia will be meeting us at the school and explain things in a bit more detail, which will include telling us about some the cases, after that we can begin our investigation. Since there are five of us we'll break up into two groups and meet at a rendezvous point. I'm thinking I'll partner up with Pinkie while you guys team up with Twilight. I would like to make the team's an even split, but you have to work with what ya got. Anyway these are what authorities call a 'cold case' so finding clues will be a bit more difficult than jumping into an active investigation.”

“It's a good thing Seekers excel at those kinds of things,” said Claudia with a smirk.

“And a good thing Princess Celestia gave you that map you scanned into your Mythichive,” said Mandi.

“I'm pretty sure she just wanted to observe the feature,” said Rec, “but yes it was helpful of her. Our first stop after she briefs us will be the student records and incident reports, hopefully we'll find a report of their last known locations when they disappeared to point us in the right direction.”

“I was thinking the same thing,” said Twilight, “but all the investigators probably did as well, and some of them could have been former students at school.”

“Which means,” said Claudia, “they'd probably take the same kind of approach you would, but we have something they didn't.”

Which is what exactly?” inquired Twilight. Claudia just pointed to the amulet around Twilight's neck, the purple alicorn looked down and gave the griffin a confused look.

“Titans,” said Rec in an amused voice, “you can ask your titans to assist you, and their abilities can point out things the prior investigations couldn't. You can call up Akmen-Meo to peruse the files and any other texts we encounter, and with her Loremaster ability she can find things that most would have missed. Then tell you all of it through the bond.”

“Oh,” said Twilight with sudden realization, “I never thought of it that way!”

“You haven't had a titan for long,” said Rec, “and you're so used to thinking in terms of your magics that you haven't really had time to consider things the way a Seeker would. Of course seekers have a tendency to think along magical lines that are a little different than most, so you might find yourself with magical puzzles if you encounter anything Seeker related.”

“The Seeker approach is different than most would anticipate,” said Mandi, “our ability to invoke titans and cast spells comes from our will, the stronger your willpower the more magic you can call on. I wouldn't give up this life for anything, while adventures really aren't my cup of tea I'm willing to do all this for my friends. Rec, you better request a real vacation when this is over.”

“You know I will,” said Rec, “we don't know how long we'll be here, so looking into things like this could work out in our favor. If nothing else we could start trying to build lives here after a few months of getting no closer to finding our way home.”

“Nice to see you're thinking long term,” said Twilight, “I can't house you at my home forever. So, tell me more about this Seeker lifestyle you have.” Pinkie had big grin and was eager to hear it as well.

“Well we covered most of the basics,” said Rec, “the only thing we haven't really covered Seeker territories. What I mean by that is each faction has locations and facilities they manage or control. Like I already told you Seekers don't have actually have any places that advertise where you should go if you're a Seeker. We make the places far more subtle. A church here, a restaurant there, a library of that way and a party supply store down the street can all be owned by the same Seeker faction, and the party supply store and church could even double as safe houses for the faction controlling them. We make sure our facilities are the kind of thing that are open to the public so we can come and go without arousing suspicion,” Twilight was once again writing it all down, “because of how Seeker powers work it's possible for any of your friends, not just those ones with the obvious potential to cast spells, to gain the ability to be Seekers. Since it appears you have Seeker potential it is quite possible any of your friends could as well,”

Pinkie had a big grin and said, “ooh, ooh, could you give me one of those amulet things to see if that theory is true.”

“Um,” said Rec, then after a pause for a few seconds, “no! If you want to be a Seeker you usually have to go through the training, one of the first things you need to do is find your first amulet and bond with a titan. Titans have a variety of aspects to them. They're usually neutral, but the longer a seeker is bonded to them or the greater their power, sometimes both, the more the titans take on personality aspects of that seeker. Unbonded titans will bond most readily with the first potential seeker that touches their amulet, however some have special rules regarding your bonding with them. If your getting an amulet that was bonded to another seeker it will bond more readily if you possess similar personality traits. I don't know if Twilight's Akmen-Meo was bonded or not, but I've heard rumors that Akmen-Meo titans will only bond with scholarly seekers. You could very well find a titan of your own on this mission, stranger things have happened.”

“Yeah, like the fact that we three have titans that lineup with what we turned into.”

“Really?” said Twilight, “ would you care to share that with us?”

“I suppose,” said Rec floating his Mythichive and an amulet that looked like a silver unicorn's head with a round green gem that looked like the head's eye in a a gentle blue and green two toned aura.

“I can't believe it only took you seven minutes to reach that level of control of unicorn magic I had a few months ago,” Twilight mused.

Ignoring the lavender mare's statement Rec flipped open the Mythichive and hung the amulet over the center and said, “Mythichive, scan.”

The aqua green light played over the amulet before Rec pulled it back and the aqua green holographic image of a unicorn trotted in place and rotated as the Mythichive said in its gentle female voice, “Unia, Attack 5, Defense 3, Size: Average, Special Abilities: Purifying Barrier, Type: Gaia-Titan Guardian.”

“Wow,” said Pinkie, “that's so cool, I wonder what she could tell us about your world.”

“She can't,” said Claudia passing an amulet that looked like a blue-steel griffin talon holding a grayish-pink gem over the Mythichive's center.

The light played over the amulet and when it stopped she pulled the amulet away and placed back in her side pouch. The holographic image of a griffin displayed and walked around as the Mythichive said, “Grypharian, Attack 8, Defense 4, Size: Large, Special Abilities: Flight, Diving Snatch, Type: Draco-Titan Warrior.”

Mandi wordlessly waved a Yellow and Orange amulet that looked like a wing with an aqua gem in the center over the Mythichive until the light stopped dancing on amulet and the Mythichive displayed a holographic trotting pegasus and said, “Pegasus, Attack 4, Defense 5, Size: Average, Special Abilities: Flight, Type: Krono-Titan Sentinel.”

“Okay, so that's the Titan responsible for the tales of Pegasus in your world,” said Twilight cautiously, “I'm pretty sure somepony would have a fit if they saw that you could summon a pegasus while being a pegasus.”

“I'm just glad that there's no one else on the train,” said Mandi, “it doesn't feel right doing this sort of thing, but Rec did use Nordrake to calm me down.”

“Well I figured my SnowBlast spell would be a little too strong and my other ice powered Titans are back home,” said Rec.

“Others with ice powers?” said Twilight.

Rec nodded and said, “Mythichive, Yuki-onna.”

A holographic image of a thin woman in a slightly loose kimono with long hair appeared in the holographic display before flickering to look like an earth pony with the same attributes, “that's odd,” said Mandi.

“It did the same with Vitaguard,” said Rec.

A few seconds later, as the holographic image continued to trot in place the Mythichive said, “Yuki-onna, Attack 6, Defense 2, Size: Average, Special Abilities: Chilling Breath, Type: Yama-Titan Sorceress.”

“Mythichive, Summer and Winter,” said Rec.

Twilight gave him skeptical look and said, “only one of those sounds like it would have ice powers.”

“That's because only Winter has Ice Powers,” said Mandi, “but the system glitches up for a few minutes if Summer isn't paired with Winter, its sort of passive effect the titans have.”

A holographic display of a humanoid woman with a mask and crown shaped like the sun appeared before flickering to be replaced by an alicorn with the same features and what looked like life-like wings, “Summer, Attack 7, Defesne 6, Size: Large, Special Abilities: Summer's Fury, Type: Gaia-Titan Sorceress” the holographic image changed to a large humanoid figure with a snowflake shaped mask and crown before flickering to look like an alicorn with same features and what looked like frost covered leaf-like wings, “Winter, Attack 6, Defense 7, Size: Large, Special Abilities: Winter's Wrath, Type: Gaia-Titan Sorceress.”

“What does that mean about their abilities?” inquired Pinkie Pie.

“Summer can continually heat anything she wants, it has been calculate that she could make it feel like the hottest desert you can think of in the coldest place you can imagine. Winter can continually cool the world around her, it has been calculated she could easily do the inverse of Summer. In short they are two very powerful titans, and very stubborn. It's a miracle I was able to bond with both them, they usually bond with separate seekers.”

“You, have access to those two?” said Twilight, “and you didn't bring them.”

“It was supposed to be a simple inspection mission, with minor complications,” said Mandi, “We all thought bringing heavy hitters would be overkill. The only reason Rec brought Inari is because she's figured out how to move her ring to where he is.”

“And I don't want anyone else accidentally messing with her ring, or her.”

“Or her messing with anyone while you're away,” said Mandi.

A few minutes later the train pulled into the station, “Alright, everypony follow me,” said Twilight leading them towards the school building. The complex itself could easily be seen from the station. Looking very much like a whitewashed classic magic school from fantasy novel in the minds of Mandi and Claudia. The white colors and symmetrical towers looked almost familiar to Rec, he figured it was because of fact they had visited their family home in England so many times and gotten so used the look that being in Canterlot just made them feel nostalgic.

Author's Note:

Well, here's the setup for an adventure. I looked through the Huntik wiki for a while to find a Titan that would be a good fit for Twilight, and after I found it I decided to put the titan this chapter. The amulet design was generated by me since the Akem-Meo is a titan from the Huntik card game (which is a separate continuity from the series proper) and thus has no amulet (the same holds true with the Amulet around Claudia's neck, it was mentioned as being Fireblade without actually being shown, that was intentional). While each of them consider their first Titans the equivalent of best friend they haven't really had a valid reason to invoke the titans (especially since one of them is really freaking big), this has mostly to do with the fact they haven't yet encountered any incidents that would potentially mean they need those titans in the story, yet. No worries, you will get to see the Titans in action. Rec and Claudia also talk to their titans in their amulets, it really wasn't shown often in the series (the only time I can think of from the series is when Defoe took Lok's Kipperin amulet with his SorrowBond spell and made a comment about the titan inside, a titan he had yet to see from his statement, being feisty). I'm thinking of giving the Mane 6 all at least one Titan each, with Twilight and Rarity both amassing their own little collections of amulets (for very different reasons), and I would appreciate any suggestions for titans they could bond with. You don't have to use what's on the Huntik wiki or fanon, think of some the myths referenced in the show or you would like to see and give brief description of what said entity is like and pm me with it all. I know some of you are wondering about the rest of the ploy that Inari and Discord started in a prior chapter, I'll get to it in the next chapter (seeing as there was no one talking about it anywhere in Ponyville). More shenanigans for everyone because it's going to be the CMC and Orchid next, I'm adding in the tag after I post this.