42. Amber
Scholar Arc
Month 2, Day 1
Hades sat on a comfortable chair grown and shaped from vines. In front of him was a similarly grown table, upon which rested a tea set. He had poured himself a steaming cup of herbal tea and was reclined and relaxed, content to enjoy the view he had.
Asphodel grew as far as the eye could see, creating a veritable sea of white before him, disturbed only by the odd tree growing out of it.
The Asphodel meadow always was a place of relaxation for Hades, a place he could retreat to whenever he needed a break from his duties. Sure, Elysium could be considered to be paradise by many, but the population tended to disturb his quiet time more often than not; as such, the Asphodel meadow proved to be a much better place to relax.
The only sound came from the wind disturbing the sea of flowers all around him, the soft rustling soothing his addled mind.
Hades closed his eyes and listened to the symphony created by the interplay of wind and nature, letting his mind wander to times less stressful.
He was pondering meaningless things, such as which tea he should drink the next time he came here, when he heard footsteps approaching from behind.
As he was in no rush, he waited until whoever came to visit him stood almost directly behind him. Without opening his eyes he spoke to the mysterious visitor.
"What brings you to this desolate part of my dominion?" He asked.
"I bring news about our trapped associate," The visitor replied.
"Ah, young Alexander, how does he fare?" Hades queried, genuinely curious as it had been some time since he last checked in on him.
"Well, he has taken to calling himself Atlas recently."
"Oh? How curious. Why is this?"
"His reasoning was that he wanted to leave his old life behind by shedding his old name; although, I believe there is more to his decision."
"Do you think the souls have started to merge?" Hades took another sip of his tea, eyes still closed.
"Most likely."
"Has Zeus caught on to this?"
"I don't believe so," the visitor replied. "As a matter of fact, he's already lost interest for the most part. He really only checks in sporadically, but still keeps urging us to hurry up and finish the prison. Thankfully the others flock to him like sheep, meaning I’m the only one viewing most of the time."
"Good, wouldn't want him to become suspicious," Hades sighed contently. "So how long until it's completed?"
"Two weeks at most," came the swift reply. "Once we're done, he'll be trapped forever."
"I hope you remembered to leave the back door open for me," Hades stated.
"Of course."
Hades nodded in satisfaction, once again sipping his tea, letting silence fall over them. After a few minutes of listening to the soft melody around them, Hades found one more question he needed to ask.
"Have you provided 'Atlas' with the means to his escape?"
"The bait has been cast, but it's still up to him whether he bites or not. I had to make it as opaque as possible so that no one else would catch on." The visitor replied.
"Good, good.” Hades took the final sip from his tea, emptying the cup.
He opened his eyes for the first time since the conversation started and turned around to face his guest. A second chair grew out of the ground next to him and he gestured towards it.
"Tea?"
-------------------------------------
Atlas sat down at one of the desks in the front row of the classroom. He found himself reasonably excited for his first day of regular classes, he’d decided to show up a little earlier so he could snag himself a good spot.
Back on Earth he always sat in the front row as well, albeit for very different reasons. In his experience, the teachers were usually fixated on the back rows when looking for troublemakers, allowing for him to goof off relatively unnoticed.
While that was certainly an added bonus, here in Equus, he found himself wanting to sit in front for an entirely different set of reasons; mainly that magic had the side effect of transforming him into a huge nerd.
The classroom he found himself in was relatively simple as far as classrooms went. Located at the front was the teacher's desk, as well as the blackboard, which took up almost all of the wall it hung upon. Filling up the rest of the room were the student's desks; neatly organized in four rows of three desks, each desk providing ample space for two ponies.
Sitting front and center, Atlas took out all his study supplies from his saddlebags and neatly organized them on his half of the desk, until it was littered with empty: scrolls, quills and books. As he found himself with approximately half an hour of time to waste, he decided to read up on the first class according to his schedule.
Magical theory.
Even though that was the most boring subject of them all in his opinion, he still recognized its importance and diligently studied it's dry rhetoric.
It was about twenty minutes into his lecture that the first of his classmates started showing up. He gave each unicorn that entered a disarming and welcoming smile, hoping for somepony to take up the empty space next to him.
The first few to enter just awkwardly smiled back, and took up their positions at the very back of the class, as was tradition.
As the seats around him started to fill up, his mood started to sour proportionally. Apparently, his reputation preceded him to the point that even new students already knew about him, adopting the same weird strategy of avoiding him as did the rest of the school.
Atlas once asked Amethyst if he had any idea why every student in the school seemed to give him the cold shoulder, but since he dealt with a similar situation they didn't make much headway. For now, the best guess they had was that, due to their potential importance in the future, everypony was waiting to see if it was worth sucking up to them or if it potentially could hurt their own reputation.
Atlas still doubted that reasoning, since he was sure there would at least be one or two slick asshats trying to get into their good graces if that was the case. Personal goons, so to speak.
By the time their teacher had entered and closed the door behind her, Atlas had adopted a deadpan frown. Literally every single seat was occupied, except the one next to him of course. In a sense, he almost found it comical, but since he wanted to make at least one or two new friends today, he was totally bummed by the turnout.
With nothing better to do, he observed his new teacher as she wrote her name on the blackboard with a floating piece of chalk. She had a pristine white coat, the only thing disturbing its purity was her cutie mark. A blackboard adorned with some gibberish writing, most likely intended to represent teaching. At first, Atlas thought her mane was black, but upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a really deep shade of green.
"Good morning class," she said as she turned to face them. "My name is Emerald Fo-"
Her introduction was disturbed by the classroom door flying open with an audible crash and a unicorn mare stumbling in, faceplanting with all the grace of a blue whale at a dance rehearsal.
While most ponies just stared at her in confusion, with the occasional blink, snickering could be heard from the back of the class. As brains were rebooting, the mare with an orange coat and blonde mane rose from her make out session with Atlas's oldest friend in this world. ‘The ground.’
"Sorry... Sorry..." the mare sputtered, hastily closing the door behind her with magic. "I hope I'm not too late."
Their teacher blinked a few times, apparently finalizing her reboot and catching up to the situation before addressing their newest arrival.
"No... No, I was just about to begin class," she confirmed. "Although please make sure to be present a bit earlier next time."
"Will do, it won't happen again," the orange mare briefly scanned the room for an empty seat until her eyes fell upon the seat next to Atlas.
She cantered over to it and sat without hesitation, pulling out her materials as soon as she arrived. Meanwhile, the teacher returned to her introduction.
"As I was saying, my name is Emerald Forest and I'll be your homeroom teacher for the next year, pleased to meet you all."
A cacophony of murmured agreements was her only response. Seemingly used to it, she continued on with the thing teachers loved and all students hated.
"It's always exciting for me to meet new faces at the start of a year, so why don't you all introduce yourself?" She stated with annoying enthusiasm, which was answered by a multitude of groans. "Why don't we start with you? Miss?"
Emerald Forest gestured towards the mare sitting closest to the door. She had a yellow coat and a pink mane with her unwillingness evident in her eyes. Nonetheless, she got up and did as she was told.
"My name's Golden Eye, my special talent is identifying magical currents, my hobbies are..."
The mare was rattling down her introduction when Atlas felt something poke his side. He refocused his attention to the mare sitting next to him, who apparently had something to say to him.
"Hey, my name's Amber, what's yours?" She asked in a hushed voice.
"Atlas," was his simple response.
He didn't expect the current development, already having made peace with the fact that he would be largely ignored during class as well.
"Cool, I’m looking forward to sitting next to you and hopefully getting to know you.” She said, a smile adorning her face.
"Likewise," Atlas simply nodded towards her, a small smile spreading on his face as well.
Apparently satisfied with his answer, Amber shifted her attention back towards the pony currently introducing himself, which was a deep green stallion with a light blue mane.
Meanwhile, Atlas threw a little celebration inside his head. It wasn't clear if Amber simply hadn't heard of him or just didn't care, but whatever the case may be, he had just made a new friend.
Spending an entire year without someone to talk to would have been incredibly boring, so he was glad that the solution presented itself in the form of his desk partner.
---------------------------------
The magical bell rang, signaling an end to morning classes. Atlas, as well as the rest of the class, started to put away their things.
While morning classes were mostly dedicated to all things theoretical, afternoon classes was where they practiced actual spellcasting. They would split into groups depending on their affinities, where they would hone their abilities.
"Hey, Atlas?" Amber asked from the side.
"Yeah?"
"Wanna go grab some lunch together?"
Atlas had talked a bit with Amber during classes and the smaller breaks. As it turns out she really hadn't heard anything about him, the reason being that she came from a relatively poor family, but managing to get into the academy due to her talent in the school of energy.
"Sure, wanna go back to the dorms or just grab something from a vendor outside?" Atlas asked as he put away the last of his things.
"Let's go back to the dorms, they make a lasagna to die for," Amber replied with a slight drool.
"Alright, sounds good to me," Atlas chuckled and started towards the door, Amber not far behind him.
As they walked through the halls, Atlas's eyes fell once again upon Amber’s flank. Her cutie mark consisted of two question marks and one exclamation mark, an unusual motive if he ever saw one. Ever since he first saw it, he tried to make sense of it, but try as he might he just couldn't.
"Hey, Amber?" Atlas started. "What does your cutie mark mean? I can't figure out what your special talent is. Is there a specific reason you didn't mention it when you introduced yourself to the class?"
Amber winced at the question and Atlas immediately regretted asking it. Had he just overstepped his boundaries? What if there was some tragic backstory to it she didn't want to talk about?
"You don't have to answer if you don't want to." He hastily added, trying to defuse the situation.
"No, it's okay," Amber sighed. "I know it's a rather unusual mark, and to be honest... I have no idea what my special talent is either."
Atlas raised an eyebrow to that statement but let her continue on undisturbed.
"I got it after a magical surge a few years back," Amber explained. "It just kinda appeared and no one was really able to figure it out, even now I still haven't been able to."
"Wow," Atlas said surprised. "I didn't know something like that was possible."
"Well, I didn't know it was possible for somepony to have three affinities at the same time, so I believe we're even in that regard," Amber replied playfully.
"If you say so," Atlas replied, happy to have at least made one new friend today.
"To me, it's way more interesting that you managed to get this old without finding your special talent," Amber said and pointed at Atlas's decidedly empty flank. "You ever get made fun of for that?"
"A few odd looks and cold shoulders every now and then, but nopony has tried to ridicule me for it, why?" Atlas replied while rolling his eyes.
"Just curious," Amber replied. "You are quite the enigma, you know that?”
"Yeah," Atlas laughed. "You're not the first one to tell me that."
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The crew is complete. Now update that Picture in the description...
I hypothesize Amber's cutie mark represents an excitement for the unkown.
When I say G̼̲̫ͨͯ̀͋ͨ́͝o̴̹̘̣ͧ̌͒̕̕ Be ready to throw.
G̛̰͇͈̱͙̼̫̾̃ͣ́̒ͪ̊̐ͦ͗͂͂͘͝͝Ǫ̢̼̱̳͚͍͖͙̇ͦ͊̋̑͊̂ͫͭͬ̑ͪ̆̐̚͠!̶̧̩̖̹̭͍͍͚͇̣̙̙͔̻̰̝̯̦̑͗ͪ͑
7723894 1.bp.blogspot.com/-_ZVazR9lYsE/TzR3YBFskII/AAAAAAAAAHU/lw08ZGB9jcw/s1600/Ehwaz.jpg
7723900 Damn! I always forget
I have a feeling that Amber is the "back door" Hades was talking about. Her cutie mark is too bizarre for her to be anything else.
So after seeing her cutie mark, those trying to figure it out were like "?!?"
what the heck is this?
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MrMrMangoHead is the best
7723971 I was thinking maybe the ehwaz stone, considering
7723928
7724667 WHAT ARE YOU DOING? I love both of you
7723985
7724035 CLICK
7724831 Ah, but I think the Greek Gods would be crafty enough to make a mortal a magical key.
7724837 Heheh. Maybe, only time will tell.
7723985 goddamnit
7724835
7724917
66.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lvur1gDR791r3k1m8o1_500.png
7725095 pinkie.mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/rsz/mlfw10494_small.jpg
for i hate puns with a fiery passion
so i repeat
do you think this is a mother fucking game!?
7723985
7725178 Technically, that wasn't a pun.
7725219 i think its a sub category of them none the less
my crusade stays true
7724835 not sure how that helps explain things here...
7725278 rest assured, it doesn't... I'm just gonna assume you're wondering about the zalgo text, and not the actual meme since you singled the word out. Just search for Zalgo text and you're golden.
7723860 Coat color means nothing. Celestia and Luna are blue and white respectively, and they wielded the elements. You have to look at the way they act, the way they REact, and how they go about things in certain situations. See, Fluttershy is the element of kindness, she cares for the wellbeing of others despite differences, etc etc. Belle is the same way.
EDIT: however, there is a new chapter, so I dunno.
Noice noice! We got our last part of the crew!!!! Oh, Ý̹̮̻͙͈̭͉̖̫̭̙̫̘́́͜ó̡͓̺͔̫̱̲͟͟͠u̻͍̮͖̮̠͎̲͈̠̕͘͟͞ ̢͕̣͈͔͍̘̗̳̹̣f̕҉̵̻̤̠̞̺̲͍̞̹̹̀ó̸̝͍̼̘͔̜̻̙̗̞̰̀u̧̨͖̬̞͍̝͉̺̞͇̖̘̥̝͜͜ͅņ̢̫̺͎͈̗͙̟͍͈̱̝̱͖͠d̸̼̘̞̜̪̳̲̠̘̣̥̬̣̜͓͟͞ ̷̸̧͖̯͔̝͇̬̮̠̘̯̘̱̤̥͔̯̫͡i̸̶̢͕̻̱̣̤͎̙̻̩̱̣̣͜t̸͙̤̲͢͢͜͝ ̴҉̶͏҉̪̘̝̩̯t͏̧̨̼̘̞͢o̧̢̬̙̩̫̕͞o͏̬̰͚̰̦̲͖̘͙̩̣̣̜̝͜͝͡?̴̞͖̜̮͖̠̦͙̪̕
7723985 I see what you did there.
7724035 T͕o͖ ̰͈̬̟̩͢i̴n̼̬̜̦͇̳͟v͏̫͈͍̣̣̺o̵̤͕̠̰̗̰̦ķ͈̲̤ę̹̬̯͉ͅ ̣̬̻̟̞͉t̩̙ͅḥ̹̙̣éͅ ḩ̰̮̜̣i̘̼͎͉͎̬v̩̦̟͕e͞-̻̻m͈̖̺̹̠̥̣i͉̳̤n͙̝̳̱͖͚̕d̖̘̬͉̕ ҉̘̰͉̖r̫̫̲̤e̘̫̦̗͙̘p̡̪͙̞ͅr͇͡ḙ̦s͎̺̳͖̠̙̞ȩ̣̮̯̩̗͇͖ǹ̮̘t̛͍̗͚͍i̷̬̻͓ṋ͍̙͚̞̹ͅg ̴̣̜̪͉͇̩c̵͔͖̝̥̩͙h̬̟͔̼a̛͍͕os̺͇.̦̺̣̦͚̟̟ ͖͎̖̳̝I̧͚n̼̜̠͈͇̮v̲ó̤͚̟̼k̛͈͙i͕̫̳̼̫n͔̕ǵ̤̞̹͙̯͖̜ ̸̭̬th̭e͇͙̲̹̜ ͓̦̠̤͢f҉̭̩̥̤e̵͕͍̭͎̣̬̭e͉̼̻̮̜͓͈͝l̟͈ḭ̻̲̦͈n̰̪̖̣͍̪ͅg̗̪̻͕̹͙͢ ̶̲͉o͏͖f̳ ̻̬̱̯͓c̷̜̙͕̠̰̤ͅh͇͚aos̟̹̖̰̩͞.҉͔̰ ̦̯̥͔W̱͔͔̣̤̜̙͟i̫̺͍̘̼̜ͅt͕̤̬̘̪h̴͕̦̞̙͈ ̠̮̳̰͕̮o̧̫͔̙ư̻͓͈ͅt̻̬ ͓͍̹̬̰ͅo̧͓͎̤r͚̜̠̯͠d͚͙̤͠e͚̭r͏͓͖̖̬.͢ ̮͎͖͍͜ͅŢ͖͓͓h͔̗̫e̟̼͓̫ͅ ̮̖N͏̩̜̗͉̥͔è̺z̰͙p̷̗͖̳e̩̦r͕͙̺̙̬d̢͙͍̪̪ḭa̞̘̳͟ͅn̻̜̹̹̰̰͠ ̩̪͝h͈͚i̺͎͇̦ͅv̛͍̺̗̜͓͕e̗̭͔̗̺͓-̛͕̤̱̜͚͎m̸̙ì͉̯͎͎̟̝̩n̰̻̬̤̤͙ḏ ͖̼͚ơ̤̳͚f̠͔̥̫̫͖ ̸̯̝ch͏̦̼̟͎̲ͅa̭̖̯̹̙̭͡o̴s̫̳̟͉͚͚.͕̱̝̖͓ Z͙̥͍̥a̩͉̞̼͞l̘͎̘͇̮g̯̭̣͎̮̻o̧͓̜͉ͅͅ.̙̠͎̞̯ ̙̼̹͖̮͓͙Ḥ̛͕͖̣e ̷w̫̯̬̲̰ho͘ ̨̼͖̻̯̟͔ͅW̡̟a̞͇i̤̥̳ts̡͍̝̫̰ ͔͎̻̗̙B̟e̥̦̯̜̤͟h̳̪̗͈̼̬̕ͅì̫̪n̵͕͖̪ḍ̵̮̬̟ ͍̖̬̼̻͓T͉̫̩̹̟͡h̪̞̻͚͚̪̻e ̷̻̣͈̥͈W̫̞̰̦a͕̲͟l̷l̩̪͈͝.͠ ̦͍ZA̠̲̰͕̬̲͎L̪̻̭G̶͙̬̺Ò͓̝͕̣!̬̤͇̙͚͈́
great we are going back to the main plot of the story again. For what I can see Atlas will be confronted with the had choice of leaving his prison and his friends behind or stay imprisoned with his friends and eventually had the Olympian gods come to kill his soul. Normally I would say that he should leave, but seeing that we don't know that Atlas body is still immortal when he leaves he would have to learn everything again and be more vulnerable then ever to the gods again, there is nothing to say that they would try the same thing again. Unless the gods who are supporting him take him under their winds and teach him how to use is titan powers I don't think there is much to gain. we are still not clear if Atlas' magic that he is currently using can't be overwrite by the gods seeing that the physics of this dimension where created and have power over it by them I would expect them to think about that little detail at least. I think the new companions special talent is to ask the hard and unusual questions that no one had first considered before of be able to think ahead in the heat of the moment. I can't wait to see the next chapter.
when i say go
Well It's Time for me to wait because I ran of of chapters to read now. Also This Is some pretty top tier stuff you got here.
Welcome to my world.
Want a churro?
7725310 alright, thanks.
7731162 I was really confused when I read your comment...
"Who the fuck is Jerry?" I asked myself, since I couldn't remember writing any characters with that name recently.
Then I saw which chapter the comment came from, and found myself agreeing with you. Snakes make for better ponies anyway!
7732667
You mean the true hero of the story?
You may have not realized it yourself author, but Jerry is crucial to this entire plot, nay, this universe.
Here's how I know:
You remember when you mentioned a student named Golden Eye? The first thing that popped into a lot of people's minds was James Bond most likely. And who is James Bond? A secret agent. And what happens when you combine a secret agent with a snake? You get Solid Snake. And what's Snake commended for doing? Saving the world. And what does Atlas bear on his back? The world. And you know who's also been called snake? Jerry.
So basically Jerry is the backbone of the entire storyline.
Bam! Boom! Revealed.
7734036 holy shit, snake confirmed! 4.bp.blogspot.com/-GgZneDp-C28/VQMEr1NvZdI/AAAAAAAA4ts/o142EFYT_NU/s1600/Snake%2BHero%2B2.jpg
"If you say so," Atlas replied, happy to have at least mad one new friend today
AERFH, let's try something else!
[The Need To Slap Him Intensifies]
Boy, she is probably your second shadow. The cover is too good, a mare from a poor family but with an excellent talent in the affinity of energy and a cutie mark of an inquisitive nature.
The last one! Late to class, one seat left!
Called it!
The moment that she came stumbling into the classroom, I immediately went "Ah, there's the seventh and final member of the party at last."
Good to see that I guessed right, but who wouldn't have?
its
motif
Books aren't usually referred to as lectures, unless they're precisely records of lectures.
…class is not time for socializing. Bad Atlas.
7734036
i2.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/facebook/000/004/029/disgusted-mother-of-god.jpg
Ah, We Are Number One.
Forever shall we love that song.
The necklace-rune thingy.
Yes, that's a sound strategy, though you'd have to feel out the particular teacher. Many of them had what we used to call field of fire that was 2+, meaning -- they'd fire at the second row and beyond. Many had a blind spot for what was literally in front of them... but there were those that would "perch" here and there, and "snipe" (essentially meaning that they'd roam the classroom and the "board" would shift depending on their position; if they were in the back, your front-row would then be considered the last row, etc.).
I had one teacher that could see what was going on in the reflection of her glasses. ;] This made any attempts to do crap while she was writing on the board suicide, because she paid a lot more attention with her back turned. ;)