Beyond the Skies

by FrostTheWolf

Scroll 35- Stories of Old

Beyond the Skies- Stories of Old

---

In the Skylands, it is often said that knowledge was like a seed. If you took the time to care for it, then what you might learn would be worth it once it started to bloom. However, it was ill advised to rush a delicate process and instead be patient, for good things would always come to those who waited.

Unfortunately, for the Dark Portal Master named Kaos, patience was something he saw as less of a recommendation and more of an ignored suggestion, one that came with predictable results. “Gah, this is so infuriating!!”

For the last couple of days, Kaos had tried to piece together a plan for his next scheme. However, there were a few obstacles that prevented him from doing so. The first was that while Sombra did provide some useful information on the different legends of Equestria, nothing was ‘concrete’. Many of them were seen as myths, and it was unknown if there was any truth to such stories. He would look stupid if he launched an invasion to try and go after something powerful, only to learn that said thing he was going for didn’t even exist.

The other obstacle was the lack of a certain butler that would help him in times such as these. No less than a couple days ago, Kaos sent Glumshanks to try and see if he could get any information by spying on his mother’s spy network, The Web. He thought that, since his mom and Glumshanks seemed rather friendly with one another, that she wouldn’t suspect anything. Now, because of his absence, many of the duties that Glumshanks would do around the castle were stocking up, like the amount of dirty dishes that were currently sitting in the kitchen sink.

It didn’t help that the greebles, despite being rather expendable and cheap, were a poor substitute.

“The longer I have to wait for him, the more that I have to put all of my devious schemes ON HOLD!! Just how much longer is that imbecile going to make me-”

“Uh, h-hello master-”

The sudden remark had Kaos almost jump out of his robe as he rapidly turned around to see what was behind him, only to be looking directly at the troll butler he had been waiting desperately for, “Glumshanks!! How many times have I told you to-!?”

Before he could even finish, a different thought crossed his mind as he cleared his throat. “More importantly, where have you been?! I gave you one simple assignment. Why would it take you this long to return back to me-?”

“A-about that, L-Lord Kaos,” Glumshanks tried to say, “I did find something. But… well-”

“Well, what?” the Dark Portal Master asked, “Spill it out. You kept me waiting in suspense for this long. Shouldn’t be that hard to-”

Before the troll could even say anything, a much different voice answered Kaos’ question. “What he found was me.”

When the Portal Master turned around, he found himself staring at a set of red eyes and a figure that reminded him of that dreaded puppeteer that was in his lair once before. Only this time, the figure was dressed in a long dark coat with a fancy suit and tie underneath it. Most of its arms were behind its back, but its gaze was fixed on him.

“What the-!? How did-?! Glumshanks, did you-!?”

“I let myself in,” the figure replied back, “As for why I’m here, I believe that is rather self explanatory. You asked your consort to look into something he, and by extension you, wasn’t prepared for. What he found was me.”

“And what in the name of the Skylands is that supposed to mean?”

The spider let out a small sigh, his gaze still fixed on Kaos. “If you wanted to find out more about The Web, you could’ve just gone yourself.”

“Oh, I see. You’re just some messenger. An errand boy working for whoever is in charge-?”

In a flash, the Portal Master felt his body spin around and be constrained by webbing. Two sets of the arms the spider had kept them restrained as he was brought closer to him. “A little more than that, I’m afraid. I am the one in charge, and you are being rather disrespectful.”

With a flick of the wrist, the figure flipped Kaos around a few more times as some webs covered the Portal Master’s mouth, “If you were any other curious rat trying to peek around where they don’t belong, I would dispose of you here and now. However, you are different. You are the son of Lady Kaossandra, and she would be rather displeased if she learned of either your attempts to look into our affairs or this conversation.”

Then, the spider gave off a small grin, “But, perhaps we can come to an understanding. After all, I’ve yet to introduce myself.”

With a snap of a finger, the webs immediately loosened up as Kaos fell to the floor. He had to take a moment to spit out what was inside his mouth, as Glumshanks rushed over to help him. All the while, the spider continued to speak, “My name is Lìn. I am responsible for many duties with Lady Kaossandra, but the most prominent one that you seem to be interested in the most is with The Web, so much so that you sent someone else to try and find out about us instead of going yourself.”

“So, what? You came all this way just to belittle me?”

“Oh, quite the opposite actually,” he smirked, “If anything, I’m under the impression that you have a misunderstanding of our intentions.”

That just had Kaos look at Glumshanks, who could only give him an unsure shrug. Despite the orders he was given, the troll couldn’t really find any answers for him. Not only that, but when he did think that he found something that he could bring back, Lìn just so happened to find him first.

“And what sort of misunderstanding might that be, hmm…?”

“You assume specifically that your mother utilizes our organization to find a way to hinder any plans you try to put in motion,” that single response was enough to throw him off guard. Yet, before Kaos could speak, Lìn continued, “Despite your tense history with her, Lady Kaossandra does not utilize our services in the field of sabotaging your ongoing efforts. She sees conflict among family members as counterproductive.”

“Oh, like I haven’t heard that before,” the Dark Portal Master rolled his eyes, “Tell me something I don’t know.”

Much to the surprise of both of them, Lìn obliged. “Have you ever considered the reason why your devious plans haven’t gone your way is because you’re coming off as predictable?”

That single question had the Dark Portal Master’s eyes twitch. This spider, who just showed up in his lair unannounced, had the audacity to ask him that!? Who in the world did this guy think he was?!

“Now, before you go on some unhinged tirade about what I said, why don’t you listen to what I have to say first?” the spider said, before putting his first set of hands together across his chest, “You might not be aware of it, but the Web has been paying attention to every attempt you made to make the Skylands be under your rule. While there were times that you were initially successful, the reason why everything doesn’t work the way you intend it is because, in the end, what you seek to achieve is always the same thing. You don’t change your goals.”

“So, why should I? It’s worked for me before-”

“Yes, but those who will try to stop you know what that goal is,” he pointed out, “In my experience, the less likely that your future enemies will try to understand what your goals are, the more likely you will succeed. Not to mention that in the instances that you do achieve what you set out to do, you’re not satisfied with taking just the Skylands. You want more.”

He did not know why, but when the spider said those words in particular, it felt like a particular chord was struck. Something about what he was saying resonated with Kaos. He did not know how, but Lìn now had hold of his curiosity. “Go on.”

“It is no coincidence that ever since the discovery of the realm below the clouds that you want to add that to your dominion. What I am merely saying is that my lady and I aren’t planning on stopping you. Let us handle any issues that happen to arise in the Skylands, so that you can dedicate everything in your power to the task at hand. That way, you don’t have to have yourself be distracted by petty diversions.”

Despite the words sounding so tempting, Kaos still had a tiny amount of doubt as he folded his arms, “Hmm. Though, how exactly can you prove to me that you’re trustworthy? I’ve had others speak to me the same way before, only to stab me in the back once they had what they wanted.”

The spider could only grin at that, for he was expecting a question like this to come up. “Have you forgotten who I work for? If Lady Kaossandra were to learn that I or someone from The Web were to even lay a scratch on you or your butler, she would not hesitate to find the one responsible and make an example out of them. Not only that, but if we were to distract ourselves with every single minor inconvenience, then we would not only be wasting our time, but also the time and patience of our employer, both of which are counterproductive.”

Kaos didn’t say anything at first. Yet, Lìn made a valid point. Despite the differences between him and the other members of his family, his mother did have a tendency to be rather protective of him when he was younger. In fact, despite being much older now, there were times where it felt like his mother was still treating him like a child and that she knew what was best for him. So, what Lìn described to him sounded a lot like something she would do.

“Okay, you make a valid point,” the Dark Portal Master said, “So, what happens now?”

“Now?” the spider asked, before providing the answer to his own question, “Now, I will take my leave and entrust that you will listen to the words I said. If you’re looking for a place to start, why not inquire with your friendly shadow on the wall? Perhaps he might know something to point you in the right direction.”

Within moments, Lìn disappeared as quickly as he entered, which left Kaos and Glumshanks by themselves inside the castle. Everything was silent at first, until the butler asked a simple question. “So, uh… what do we do now, Master Kaos?”

“Well, isn’t it blatantly obvious?!” Kaos asked, “I have a few questions to ask Sombra. As for you, many of your tasks that you couldn’t do while you were away have been piling up! I suggest you fix that NOW!!”

“Y-yes, Master! Right away!!” the troll stammered, before scurrying off to the kitchen to quickly get to work.

---

For the last few days, all Sombra had done was remain idle in the master’s room. Despite everything that he had done to help Lord Kaos in his efforts, there was something that didn’t settle right with him. Like an uncomfortable itch that he couldn’t scratch, no matter what he did. To make matters even more annoying, the umbrum couldn’t figure out a reason as to why this was the case.

Before he even had the chance to get that far, the door to the room was slammed open. “SOMBRA! I require your insight on an important matter this instant!!”

Immediately, the umbrum drifted down from his position on the wall and landed in the center of the chamber. “You called for me, Lord Kaos?”

“Why, yes indeed!” the Dark Portal Master, “It has come to my attention that there is something I am missing that’s critical to our plans.”

Sombra couldn’t help but feel confused by Kaos’ choice of words, “Missing? But every time we’ve spoken, I’ve shared everything with you about-”

“Yes, yes! I remember that,” Kaos brushed it off, before immediately grabbing his attention, “HOWEVER, it’s come to my attention that despite all the stories and legends you told me of Equestria’s past, we lack any information on what’s going on now! How am I, Kaos, supposed to conquer Equestria if I know nothing about it other than legends that might not even be true!?”

The question was a valid one. However, it did not exactly provide anything specific for Sombra to go off of. “Then, what do you wish to know? How can I help you better prepare for your future endeavors?”

“I wish to know if Equestria has any secret repositories of knowledge! I have learned quite well that if there’s any information that someone would try to hide, they would always keep it someplace secret, to keep it away from prying eyes. Such is the case here with the Secret Society in Scholarville and the Secret Vault of Secrets from the Arkeyans! Surely, Equestria must have something similar now, wouldn’t you agree?”

Surprisingly, despite any doubts Sombra might’ve had, Kaos might have been onto something. Whether it was planning evil schemes or just trying to win a game of Annex, information was vital. Without it, you would essentially be flying into an oncoming storm while blindfolded. While there might be some in Equestria that would accept such a challenge, Sombra was not one of them.

“Well, there are numerous libraries across Equestria that could contain that knowledge. Though, in terms of ‘Secret’, I can only think of a couple of places,” the shadow pony replied, “The first is the Royal Library in Canterlot. While it poses itself as a public library, I do remember overhearing that there was a restricted section in there that only members of royalty are allowed to visit-”

“Nope, not going there again.”

Sombra blinked, puzzled by what he just heard. “Again? I’m… not sure I follow.”

“The last time I sent forces into that city to see if it was even remotely possible for me to invade it, that was when I first met that pain in the neck that could change into Skylanders and got hit in the head by the spawn of TREES!! Do you have any idea how infuriating it is to have your plans foiled and be humiliated by the one thing that’s the bane of my existence!?”

The shadow pony could not even begin to think of a possible question to ask in response, for a lot of what Kaos had just rambled about was information that he wasn’t even aware of. However, it would be better for him not to dwell on such things. “Noted. Now, aside from that, there are two other possibilities that come to mind. The Crystal Empire is one, but given the circumstances, I wouldn’t recommend that.”

“And why’s that?” the Dark Portal Master asked, “Are you doubting my capabilities?”

“Hardly,” Sombra retorted, “It’s more of the fact that the Empire would be impossible for you to try and take by force.”

“Didn’t you do that though?”

“Because I had lived in the Empire for most of my life before I crowned myself king. However, in your position, it would be impossible to conquer for two reasons. First, the empire is too big in size compared to the numerous settlements that I’ve seen in my short time here. And two, the Crystal Empire and the mountains they reside in are notorious for being very cold when you least expect it. So, unless you want your troops to freeze like ice cubes, I would suggest not focusing on that one.”

“Well, it is either being in the presence of trees again or this third option you have yet to tell me,” Kaos folded his arms, rather disappointed by what he was told so far.

Sombra let out a small breath to regain his composure, before he nodded his head. “Right. The last choice I can think of isn’t exactly normal. The Library of Discord-”

In a single second, the itch ceased.

To Sombra, it felt like a set of invisible chains were now broken. Numerous memories began to flood back in all at once, along with a sudden realization. Ever since they tried to scry on Discord, he had inadvertently been hypnotized by the draconequus’ curiosity. Yet, instead of trying to find a way to fix it, Kaos just used him like a dangling puppet.

He was beyond furious. However, he chose not to act. It didn’t seem like the Dark Portal Master realized that the trance had been broken. Perhaps it was better to let him keep thinking like that for now and gladly repay him for his treachery later.

“Well? Go on.”

With a grin on his face, the umbrum obliged. “The Library of Discord is the personal library of the Spirit of Chaos. With that in mind, there are a few things that I must inform you that make this one a bit of an oddity compared to the other choices I told you.”

“Pfft,” Kaos rolled his eyes, not taking Sombra’s advice seriously, “What oddities, exactly? Surely, a library can’t be that troublesome.”

Sombra could only narrow his eyes as he looked back at the Dark Portal Master that disrespected him. He was extremely tempted to just let him find out about the library for himself. However, he had to restrain himself. Otherwise, he would give himself away. “With ordinary libraries, yes. However, this one has a tendency to never really be in one place.”

“I’m sorry, what?”

Now that the Shadow Pony had gotten his attention, it was time to continue. “One of the things that makes the Library of Discord different from the others is that it nevers stays in one place. Every one hundred years, it disappears from where it was last seen and then it rematerializes in a different location anywhere in Equestria. There is no telling where it could be at any given point in time, or where it might be right now.”

Kaos had a rebuttal at the ready, but Sombra was too quick with his words and cut him off before he had the chance to speak, “To complicate things further, because of this, nopony knows what’s actually in the library once you step through its doors. The only ones who would happen to know of anything inside would either be the librarian's caretaker, who nopony has ever seen before, or Discord himself.”

After he was finished, Sombra watched as the Dark Portal Master was contemplating on everything he was just told. There were times where it looked like he had something to say, only to immediately backtrack a few seconds later. This happened a couple of times over and over, as Kaos’ frustration was clear on his face.

“Well, if the only choices that we have are between trees and a disappearing library, then I’d choose the latter over trees any day!”

The decision was one that the Shadow Pony sort of expected, but still surprised him nonetheless. “Are you certain, Lord Kaos? While I’m not someone to question your decisions, I did mention that attempting to find the Library of Discord would be a lot more challenging compared to the other options.”

“I will not let such difficulties force me to go back to a place where I was shamefully humiliated! Besides, I’ve heard the same speech of ‘it will be impossible to find this place’ numerous times before and ended up finding what I was looking for anyways. This is no different!”

Irritation was beginning to set in now. Still, Sombra couldn’t help but admire his insistence. “Then, should I just excuse myself and leave you to your schemes?”

“Yes, now GET OUT! I will need some time to think!! Go check on Glumshanks or something-”

Before he could even finish rambling, the umbrum was already out of the room. If the Dark Portal Master was going to do what he thought he was going to do, Sombra wanted to be as far away from his chambers as possible. Otherwise, he would end up falling under another accidental trance. Being humiliated once was enough, and he wouldn’t dare suffer the same fate again-

“H-hello there, Sombra.”

The umbrum immediately turned around to face the voice, only to be a little relieved when he saw the troll butler that found his horn. “Ah, hello, Glumshanks. If you’re looking for your master, then he’s presently occupied. It might not be a good idea to disturb him right now.”

“Oh, uh… t-thanks for telling me,” the troll nervously replied. For a moment, it looked like he was going to turn away and go on with his business. Though, as the shadow pony was about to leave, Glumshanks turned back around and asked another question, “I-I don’t mean to sound rude, but… are you doing okay?”

The question had him chuckle, facing him to give the troll a confident smile as violet shadows formed around his eyes. “Oh, I’m doing just fine. Why do you ask?”

“I-I was just wondering. S-something seemed different, b-but maybe I’m just overthinking things,” Glumshanks quickly retorted, before taking off farther down the hall. Sombra couldn’t help but smile at seeing the troll flee, as his body turned into shadows, and he slipped into the darkness.

“Now, let’s see what’s been happening since I was entranced by that chaotic miscreant.”

---

Elsewhere

As Calvin woke up and slowly rose from his bed this morning, he had a feeling that something was different. Not in the bad sort of way that meant that there was trouble afoot, but more in the sense that something was just different. The last few weeks have had a lot of surprises, from helping out Raquel with her magic to learning that there was another side of his family that he didn’t know about. By comparison, it felt strange that today felt somewhat normal compared to Ponyville in general.

So, when he found Spike in Twilight’s study, signing off on paperwork that she’d normally would do, the Skyshifter had to ask what was going on. Though, the answer was something he didn’t expect. “Twilight’s on vacation?”

“More like a family trip, from the sounds of it,” Spike insisted, turning away from the signed stack of papers to face him, “Her parents won some vacation getaway thing to Neighagra Falls, and they invited her to come along. I think Shining and Cadence are there as well, with Flurry Heart, if I remember correctly.”

“Aren’t you technically part of her family as well?” Calvin asked.

“Sort of, but I volunteered to take care of things here while she was away. That way, Twilight won’t stress out over stuff like paperwork when she’s supposed to be having fun.”

To him, that sort of made sense. For all he knew, it was rare to ever see Twilight not working or doing something to occupy her attention. She was the busiest pony that he had met in his time here, and most of that was because of the amount of expectations Twilight puts on herself. Even when things would get really stressful, she would still have a smile on her face and press on.

“So, what do you plan to do today, Calvin?”

“I’m… not sure,” he admitted as he scratched the back of his head, “I mean, I don’t have class today, so today’s kind of a free day.”

“Well, maybe you can go see if Apple Bloom and the Crusaders are doing anything?”

“Yeah, about that,” Calvin said, “I went by Sweet Apple Acres to see if Apple Bloom and her friends were free, but I was told by Granny Smith that they were going camping this weekend with Applejack, Rarity and Rainbow.”

“Huh. This seems like the weekend where almost everypony’s out of town or away for something,” the dragon commented, “I mean, before she left, Twilight told me that Starlight and Trixie were going to surprise Thorax and see how the Changelings are doing.”

Calvin’s curiosity peaked a little at the mention of that. It had been a while since he had last heard of anything from either Thorax or Ocellus after Chrysalis tried to hatch another scheme for taking over Equestria. All he knew was that after everything that happened, the friend he had helped on that day was now a King. Maybe he could use some time today to write a letter and see how they’ve been?

“So, who exactly is still in town?” he asked, “Aside from most of the residents in Ponyville.”

The question was simple, but it was enough to have Spike stop signing off the papers on the desk and set down the quill he was holding. “Well, aside from everypony in the castle, I can only think of a couple names. There’s Pinkie Pie, but I don’t know if she’s working at Sugarcube Corner or if the Cakes need her to babysit the twins. Fluttershy might be at her cottage as well, but aside from taking care of her animals, I’m not sure what else she could be doing-”

Before the dragon could finish, Calvin interjected to ask a particular question to him, “What about Discord?”

“Yes, what about little old me?” an all too familiar voice spoke up as a paperweight on the desk now had the horns of the friendly neighborhood draconequus, “It feels quite rude to be the center of a conversation when I’m not around.”

If Spike were truly honest, he would’ve anticipated something like this. Still, even if he was expecting it, Discord’s arrival caught him and Calvin by surprise. As he moved the signed papers aside, the paperweight rolled off the table as a puff of pink smoke went off. Seconds later, the Spirit of Chaos dropped his disguise and stood among his friends. “Good morning, Discord. I see that you’re as lively as ever.”

“Same to you,” the draconequus acknowledged, “Though, everything seems a bit quieter around here. Would you happen to know why that might be?”

“Actually, we were talking about that a moment ago,” Calvin said, before a small grumble in his stomach reminded him of something he was missing, “Maybe we can explain more over breakfast? I haven’t had the chance to eat yet.”

“Well, why didn’t you say so? Let’s go fix that right away!”

Just as quickly as he made his presence known, the draconequus snapped his talons and vanished from the room. Rather than leave him to his own devices, Spike got out of the chair and went after him. The Skyshifter himself followed suit, but wasn’t as fast as the dragon, as he was closing the door to Twilight’s study by the time that Spike was already halfway down the stairs.

Not only that, but the commotion was enough to attract the attention of some of the other residents in the castle. “Calvin, why did I just see Spike running down the stairs in a panic?”

When he turned around, Calvin found Trevor and Raquel at the door to their room. It looked like they had only just woken up, for the twins looked rather tired and had not had the chance to change clothes yet. “Good morning. Discord is trying to make breakfast, and I think Spike is worried that he’ll make a mess in the kitchen.”

“W-wait, you mean,” Raquel yawned, before rubbing her eyes, “You mean that noodle dragon that just appears out of nowhere sometimes?”

“Noodle dragon?”

Raquel just pinched the bridge of her nose, before letting out a sigh, “Y-you know what I mean. I just can’t remember the actual name right now.”

“More importantly, what’s he doing here anyways?” Trevor wondered, “I don’t think any of us wanted early morning craziness as soon as we woke up.”

Now, Calvin nervously scratched the back of his head as he looked back at the twins, “Yeah, that might’ve accidentally been my fault,” he admitted, “I was talking with Spike this morning, and we realized that many of our friends were out of town this weekend, whether it be on travel or just visiting friends. When trying to see who wasn’t out of town, I asked about Discord, and then, he just… appeared.”

Both Trevor and Raquel seem a bit uncertain by that. While Calvin might have been used to the antics of the Spirit of Chaos, the twins were a different case, and their first impressions on Discord were not quite positive. For someone that was supposed to be ‘reformed’ and have good intentions, his methods of doing the right thing were a bit questionable at best, especially when they learned about what happened last time he tried to be helpful.

“Are you sure that he’s not here to cause any problems?”

Calvin could only really give a small shrug, “Honestly, that’s something I don’t know. But I would think that since Discord’s previous mess, he’s been a little bit more careful with what he does, so that it doesn’t happen again. Besides, he’s just volunteering to cook breakfast. How harmful can that be?”

“I’ll believe it when I see it.”

Raquel was quick to walk past him and down the stairs, expecting the worst. However, when she reached the bottom of the stairs, she was surprised to find that things were a bit more tame than what she was expecting. Discord was in the kitchen, wearing an apron that said ‘I am the one who cooks’ on the front and standing by a few different ingredients while a bowl and wick were floating near his head. In front of him, Spike was next to a cookbook that was almost as big as his body.

It seemed like the dragon was trying to give the draconequus instructions, but there was some confusion. “Okay, I have the pancake mix and the milk. But with this next step, it says ‘fold the eggs in gently’. I know I’ve been around as long as the princesses, but I still have no idea what that means.”

“Ehh, Twilight just sees it as mixing the eggs in with the rest of the batter. Nopony says it like that anymore,” the dragon replied, which led to the draconequus moving his talons as a pair of eggs were released from their shells and mixed into the batter, “Though, you’re going to need something to pour it on once it's properly mixed. How much were you intending to make?”

“Well, there’s you, me, Calvin, and the twins who don’t entirely trust me,” Discord counted off, before setting the bowl on the counter, “I was also going to see if Pinkie and Flutters were available this morning and invite them over. I thought it would be nice to catch up with them and see how everypony’s been.”

Almost as if it was right on cue, the front door of the castle opened up, as two familiar faces trotted inside. It took only seconds for Raquel to realize who it was, and ironically, it was the same ponies that Discord was talking about a moment ago. “Oh, hi there, Raqy!!”

“H-hello, Pinkie,” she nervously replied, “What brings you here?”

“No reason. We just wanted to say hi and-” Before she could go further, the party pony’s nose twitched alongside her ears as she looked over towards the kitchen, “Ooh… are those fresh pancakes I smell?”

“Yeah, uh… Discord wanted to make breakfast for everyone-”

“O-oh, really? T-that sounds nice-”

Immediately, without any sort of explanation, Pinkie moved past her and made a beeline straight for the kitchen. It caught both Raquel and Fluttershy by surprise, but it didn’t look like she was moving out of urgency. If anything, it looked like she wanted to be with them and was hurrying over, so she didn’t miss out on anything.

It didn’t help that at the same moment that Pinkie took off, Trevor and Calvin had just caught up with her. “What the heck just happened?”

Raquel didn’t say anything, but instead, Fluttershy decided to say something, “O-oh, g-good morning Calvin. P-Pinkie was here, but-”

The sound of something hitting the floor along with giggles and a bit of panic was enough to startle the four of them as they all looked in the direction that Pinkie ran off towards. “Uh, do you think we should help them?”

“M-maybe it would be better if we just wait at the map table,” the pegasus insisted, “S-she’s probably just trying to lend a helping hoof.”

“Pinkie, I-I’m happy to hear that you want to assist, but we have everything that we… Wait, where did you get that? S-stop, t-that’s too much! Pinkie, WAIT-!!”

While Fluttershy tried to keep everyone calm, a loud ‘BANG!’ from the kitchen was enough to have everyone in the main corridor rush over to see what occurred. In their minds, they thought that something very bad happened. However, what they found was not quite what any of them expected. Instead of a giant mess, they found that the whole kitchen was covered in streamers and confetti. Baking trays with what appeared to be dough that was already prepared were on the counter, and Pinkie’s party cannon was positioned right next to the oven.

Pinkie herself was waiting on the oven, for when it was at the proper temperature, while also flipping pancakes with the spatula that her… tail was holding onto. Somehow.

All the while, Spike and Discord were both equally confused by what just happened. “…I understand the streamers and stuff. It’s Pinkie. But where did the dough come from?”

“Honestly, it’s better if you do not ask. I’ve learned that from experience,” the dragon told his friend, “It’ll save you from future headaches.”

---

“There we go, all done! Breakfast is ready, everypony!”

By the time that food was on the table and everyone was seated, the amount of food that was made would be enough for leftovers for the next few days. While Discord thought that pancakes on their own would’ve been enough, Pinkie thought that his meal needed a bit more variety and provided everypony different options to eat.

While that might have sounded good at the time, it led to Pinkie coming up with several different options for breakfast, to the point that the Cutie Map looked like the centerpiece for a breakfast buffet. Luckily, the sheer amount of food didn’t really affect the appetite of everyone that was at the table. In fact, everyone seemed to be rather focused on talking with one another.

Though, the main subject of the conversation wasn’t about anything going on today. Instead, it was about the friends that were absent. “So, let me see if I got this right. Twilight’s on a family vacation, and your friends are camping with AJ, Rarity and Rainbow?”

A nod from Calvin was followed by a surprised look from Trevor as he folded his arms, “Huh, I was wondering why everything felt a bit quiet earlier. Though, wouldn’t Twilight probably tell us if something like this was coming up?”

“From the sounds of everything, it sounded like it was all last minute,” Spike added. “Which is kind of weird, but seeing how excited Twilight was about the whole thing, I decided not to question it. She rarely gets to spend time with family, since her duties take up most of her time.”

“Fair point,” he replied, “I think it might be safe to assume that Apple Bloom and her friends going camping might also fall under that category?”

“That’s more sisterly bonding if you ask me, silly,” Pinkie Pie interjected, “Ooh, I can’t help but wonder what fun things they might be doing right now!”

That had a few looks exchanged among everyone at the table. Though, it was Discord who ended up breaking the silence, “I don’t mean to sound like that guy, but that’s sort of like extending an open invitation for trouble. And yes, I know how that sounds coming from me.”

“W-well, w-what do you think they might be doing then, Discord?” Fluttershy asked.

“I can take a guess at one thing that they probably will do at one point, but not exactly when,” the Spirit of Chaos replied, “I mean, you can’t exactly have a camping trip without campfire stories.”

“H-huh? What do you-?”

“No, no, he has a valid point,” Pinkie interjected, “I mean, you can’t have one without the other.”

Calvin couldn’t help but wonder a bit about that. Even though he hadn’t really gone camping himself, one thing he knew from his time so far was that Equestria had a lot of different stories. “Okay, I’m now curious. What kind of stories are shared? Anything specific?”

“Honestly, there’s too many to count. You got the stories of Gusty the Great, Clover the Clever, and the tale of the first hearth’s warming, just to name a few,” Discord remarked as he started to count a few off of his talons, before glancing at Spike, Pinkie and Fluttershy, “Though, correct me if I’m wrong, but I think some of the stories that practically everypony knows to an extent are about the Pillars.”

At the same time, Calvin and the twins unknowingly happened to ask the exact same question, “Pillars?”

Discord blinked, before looking back at everyone at the table. Much to his surprise, it seemed that even Pinkie and Fluttershy were a little bit puzzled. “Well, I guess not a lot of ponies are familiar with that phrase… No wonder, it’s been so long. Okay, let’s take this straight from the top!”

With a snap of a talon, the draconequus disappeared from his spot at the table and manifested in the center of the room. Next to him was a portable projector screen, and he was dressed in the cap and gown of a college professor. On the screen were the silhouettes of six ponies; two earth ponies, two pegasi, and two unicorns. As he started to speak, color began to take form in the silhouettes to reveal pictures of the ponies he spoke of.

“Long ago in the past, Equestria had a different set of heroes, almost like the Elements of Harmony nowadays. These six were known as the Pillars of Old Equestria, because it was believed that ‘the pillars of their deeds laid the groundwork for the Equestria we know today’. Their words, not mine,” Discord stated, while reading off of what looked like flashcards that materialized in his paw.

That had a question raised by the Skyshifter, as he was trying to make sense of everything, “So, you’re saying it’s like the Elements of the Past?”

“Well, yes. But not exactly. The names of the elements were very different back then compared to what we know today,” he paused, before looking at Trevor and Raquel, “Before I go on, do you need any context? I’m sure that this is probably going to get complicated unless-”

“Calvin kind of gave a summarized version during our first week here,” The Aberrant Mind said, “Just who Twilight and her friends are, them being heroes. That kind of thing.”

“Okay, that’s going to make this a whole lot easier,” Discord let out a sigh of relief, before he cleared his throat and continued from where he left off. With another snap of the finger, the slide changed to a collection of symbols. The first group was a bit familiar, for it was the symbols of the Elements of Harmony. However, the second group was different, and the pictures on that side consisted of a mask, a shield, a curved horn, a shovel, a headdress and a wizard's hat.

“The elements that we know today consist of the Elements of Honesty, Generosity, Kindness, Laughter, Loyalty and Magic. Simple enough. However, back then, the Pillars were referred to as the Elements of Healing, Bravery, Beauty, Strength, Hope and Sorcery. The main difference is that their elements were based on their past deeds, which cemented their stories into legends that many ponies would share as campfire tales.”

The mentioning of that was enough to pique some intrigue among those at the table, so much so that Discord didn’t have to wait too long for someone to ask a question. “Could you tell us about some of these stories? Or who the elements were?”

“Well, the main one that probably everypony knows, and I know for sure our resident book princess would probably fangirl over if you bring up his name, is the Element of Sorcery,” the Spirit of Chaos folded his arms, “otherwise known as Starswirl the Bearded.”

That name struck a chord with Calvin almost immediately. “Huh, I believe I heard of him before.”

“I wouldn’t blame you. Everypony has at some point. Though, out of curiosity, what do you know about him?”

“Well, when I first heard the name, it was because someone from the Skylands mentioned it,” Calvin’s answer was one that initially surprised Discord. In the draconequus’ mind, he thought that everything revolving around the Skylands were more recent events, so that was something new to him, “Master Eon, who lives at Skylander Academy, said that his predecessor met him once. But outside of that, I don’t really know too much.”

“Huh… that’s interesting to note,” the Spirit of Chaos scribbled in a notepad and pushed off to the side, “Back to the matter at hoof, Starswirl’s story and deeds revolved a lot around magic and his accomplishments with it. He was a master of many fields of spellcraft and the author of numerous spells that are commonly used today. Hay, if I remember correctly, there’s an entire wing of the Canterlot library dedicated to him.”

Calvin and Raquel looked rather surprised by that. While the two of them did know that Twilight looked up to Starswirl, they knew nothing about his actual accomplishments. Though, out of everyone at the table, there was one person who did not feel that way. “Is that all?”

“Is something wrong, Trevor?” Raquel asked.

“I don’t know about you, but hearing all that about one guy seems… off,” he replied back, “Like, you know those stories where a character is written in a way that makes them come off as if they’re perfect and nothing’s wrong with them? It doesn’t settle quite right with me, given that no one is ever perfect and making mistakes is how we learn. So, when I hear about this guy, I can’t help but feel that.”

Strangely enough, when Trevor looked back at Discord, he couldn’t help but notice that the draconequus was smiling, “You would be right to assume that. I’ve actually met him before, and… well, to put it lightly, his way of thinking sometimes is a bit rigid.”

“Really?” Spike tilted his head, “I don’t remember Twilight ever mentioning anything like that.”

“Well, let me give you an example,” the Spirit of Chaos said as he changed the slide again, “Long time ago, Starswirl and the Pillars were tasked to deal with a crisis that involved a trio of sirens. Back then, he and the rest of the Pillars had a close friend that was rather keen when it came to strategy. Yet, despite the advice he gave Starswirl on how to approach the situation, Starswirl ignored it in favor of a more direct approach and just banished them outright.”

As he continued, Discord had the scene change to show the scene he was describing, as well as what looked like a magical mirror, “At the time, he thought that sending them to someplace without magic was the ideal solution. However, all that did was pretty much make it someone else’s problem that they had to deal with. I know one of Twilight’s friends on the other side can vouch for me on that.”

Calvin wasn’t quite entirely sure what he meant by that. Not only that, but the mirror on the projection screen looked to be set in a room that would be a part of the castle. However, he decided not to think about it too much and instead ask a different question. “What about the other Pillars? Can you tell us about them?”

“Oh, certainly! Starswirl’s only just one element. All the others have equally impressive talents and stories,” the draconequus chuckled, before having the screen go back to the silhouettes that he showed to start off this conversation. “Which one would you like to hear about next?”

“Well, you already shared the last one, silly,” Pinkie giggled, swallowing some pieces of food whole before continuing further, “So, why don’t you just start from the beginning? Most stories do start from there, after all!”

Shortly after the suggestion was made, the scene changed again. This time, it focused on the mask as a light cerulean earth pony with a fluffy scarlet mane tied up in a tower of sorts appeared, “To start from the top, we have the Element of Healing. While there are folktales that refer to her as ‘The Mystical Mask’, this particular Pillar is widely known as Mage Meadowbrook.”

“O-oh! I remember this one,” Fluttershy squeaked, “M-my parents told me about her w-when I was a filly.”

“Oh, well if that’s the case, why don’t you go ahead and share the story then?” Discord asked, stepping aside so that the pegasus could share with everyone else.

“W-well, long ago, she lived in a village by the Hayseed Swamp and studied medicine with her mother. F-from what I remember, one of the m-main tales involved her searching for a cure for a terrible illness that h-her mother and her villagers were infected by called Swamp Fever. A-after discovering that a species of insects called Flash Bee’s were immune to S-swamp Fever, she used some of the honey from their hive to create the cure she was looking for. Afterwards, she dedicated her life to healing the sick, not just in her village, but all across Equestria.”

The story of Meadowbrook was one that surprised Calvin. Many stories that he had heard about before involved characters that would make a name for themselves through their heroics in battle. Yet, Meadowbrook’s story wasn’t like that at all. There was no fighting, battles or a ‘great evil’ that needed to be vanquished. Yet, he still enjoyed it. Her determination to find a cure despite all odds was rather inspiring, to say the least.

“Huh, that’s an interesting tale. I can see why you would like it,” Spike told the pegasus, who just shyly blushed in response, “She sounds like a very kind pony, just like you.”

“Aww, stop it, Spike. You’re making her blush,” Pinkie chuckled, trying her best to be supportive of her friend, who still had a giant blush on her face.

In an effort to try and shift the topic of the conversation, after finishing the food on her plate, Raquel took it upon herself to ask another question. “So, aside from Starswirl and Meadowbrook, who were the other elements? And why is one of them Beauty? It kind of seems… out of the ordinary, compared to the last two we talked about.”

“That is because the story behind it is a little more specific,” the Spirit of Chaos replied, changing slides once more as a book fell into his lion paw. Instead of the figure with the shield being the next one, the horn was chosen next, and much to the surprise of all three humans there, the equestrian in question this time was… older than they originally thought, like Granny Smith older in terms of age, but had a long mane, like that of a princess.

“This is Mistmane, the Element of Beauty,” Discord continued, “Her story is that, back in the day, she was renowned for both her kindness and her beauty, so much so that it made her best friend, Sable Spirit, rather jealous of her. One day, while Mistmane was away at magic school, Sable Spirit attempted a spell to have her beauty match that of her friend. However, her spell ended up having the opposite effect.”

As he spoke, the slides behind him changed to portray the scene Discord was describing to him, “After her spell backfired and made her hideous, she proceeded to steal the beauty from everyone in their hometown. When Mistmane returned home and saw what was happening to her friends, she confronted Sable Spirit in a magic duel. Even though she won the confrontation that followed, it did little to help those who were affected. So, she cast a spell to restore the beauty of everyone in the village, at the cost of her own.”

“Sable, who had been jealous of Mistmane for a long time, was moved by her sacrifice and, from that day forth, ruled with kindness and compassion. As for Mistmane herself, she dedicated her life to spreading beauty throughout Equestria. To her, beauty isn’t defined by the appearance of somepony, but that it could be found in all things.”

Raquel did not have any specific questions after Discord was finished. Instead, she was rather surprised by the events of Mistmane’s tale. She honestly thought that the story was going to end differently, but the Aberrant Mind never anticipated that Mistmane willingly gave up what made her elegant in the eyes of her friends just to save them. Such humble generosity, oddly enough, reminded her of one of Twilight’s friends.

“Does anypony have any other questions? I would ideally like to try and finish this up before the rest of the food gets cold.”

“Well, if that’s the case, then maybe you could summarize the other three?” Spike suggested, “I mean, I… don’t think there’s anything complicated with them now, is there?”

“Two of them are simple, but one will need a little more context,” Discord said, the book vanishing from his hand as Mistmane’s picture was replaced by the images of two stallions. One of them was a pegasus, while the other one was an earth pony that looked like Big Mac’s size. Most notably, the pegasus had a very particular shield, while the earth pony had a shovel.

“On the left, we have Flash Magnus, the Element of Bravery. His story was that he was part of the Royal Legion, a precursor of the Wonderbolts. When his squadron was attacked by dragons, he valiantly put himself in harm’s way as a decoy, so that the other ponies in his squad could be rescued and brought to safety. His commanding officer, Ironhead, gave him the fireproof shield Netitus, and after the successful rescue, allowed him to keep it.”

Once the story was shared, Flash’s side faded from view as the draconequus continued, “As for who we have on the right, we have Rockhoof, the Element of Strength. When he was younger, he tried to join a guard unit called the Mighty Helm. However, because he lacked physical prowess, other ponies ridiculed him, gave him a shovel and told him to stick to digging instead. However, when a volcano started to erupt and ponies from the nearby village refused to leave, Rockhoof pushed himself to his limits to dig a trench and divert the flow of the lava. In the process of doing that, he ended up turning into the mighty stallion that you see on the screen behind me and got accepted into the ranks of the Mighty Helm because of his heroics.”

Despite the Spirit of Chaos giving a ‘simplified’ version of the stories, there was still a lot to process with so little words. But it wasn’t long until another question surfaced, this time from Calvin, “Huh… I see. Though, if those two are both Bravery and Strength, then who represents the Element of Hope?”

Once more, the graphics on the projection screen changed again. This time, what was on screen was a pegasus mare with an egyptian style headdress and a transparent garb over their body. “That would be Somnambula-”

“Ooh! I heard of that place before!” Pinkie interjected.

The party pony’s sudden outburst just confused Calvin and the twins. “Place? Isn’t Discord talking about a specific pony?”

“Pinkie’s not wrong, but she’s also getting rather ahead of herself,” the draconequus replied, exchanging a simple glance with her before going further into detail, “The story goes that in Southern Equestria, somewhere in the desert, there was a village that was being menaced by a sphinx that took all the crops that the villagers needed for themselves. Things looked hopeless and a bit grim at times. However, one particular mare did everything that she could, including selling her necklace of pearls to provide food for the villagers, to give them hope. That mare was Somnambula.”

“Her efforts to provide hope for the village did not go unnoticed. Inspired by her compassion, the son of the pharaoh, Prince Hisan, stood up to the sphinx and tried to defy her. Unfortunately for him, all that did was have him get captured. The sphinx would then challenge the ponies of the village, saying that if any of them were to answer her riddle, she would let the prince go free.”

“Wait a minute,” Raquel interjected, “Riddles? I was… expecting something different.”

“Sphinxes by nature are rather cunning and intelligent, laying traps and tricks for ponies to fall for. They use riddles as a way to see if anypony they come across are as smart as they are, and mostly end up assuming that they won’t answer it correctly,” the Spirit of Chaos deviated for a moment to explain that, before steering back on topic, “Which is why this sphinx was furious when Somnambula was able to do just that. However, she feared that such an outcome would lead to the sphinx going back on her word. So, Somnambula asks for the sphinx to give her one more challenge, on the condition that if she can successfully complete it, the sphinx would have to leave the kingdom forever and never return.”

“W-what kind of challenge?”

“The challenge that the sphinx had Somnambula do was that she had to walk to Hisan across a narrow bridge. She was blindfolded and couldn’t use her wings to fly. The Sphinx assumed that Somnambula would just make one misstep, fall off the bridge and to her demise. Instead, she used Hisan’s voice as a guide to make it across, and when Somnambula reached the other side, the sphinx furiously flew away.”

Then, Discord paused for a brief moment as he looked back to Pinkie, “As for what Pinkie mentioned, there is some truth to it. After Somnambula rescued him, Prince Hisan did three things to show his gratitude to her. The first was that he replaced the necklace she used to provide food for the villagers, the second was that he had a statue of her constructed, and the last one was that the village was named after her, in honor of her deeds that day. To this day, the town of Somnambula still stands in Southern Equestria.”

As he finished the story, the draconequus collected everything from his presentation and snapped them out of existence. Once they were gone, he was sitting back at the table and only posed one question for his audience. “So, any questions?”

To which, the Skyshifter that was a couple spots next to him had a response, “I have one. You were mentioning all their stories and everything, but what happened afterwards?”

That had the smile that was on Discord’s face fall down as he shrugged. “As difficult as it may seem to believe, since it’s coming from me… It’s unclear.”

Trevor almost choked on his food when he heard that, “S-Seriously? But you-”

“What I told you was based on all known historical records and folktales on them. The last time anypony has heard anything of the Pillars was when they came together to fight off a ‘great evil’ a thousand years ago, that being the sirens that got banished because of Starswirl’s ego. However, everything past that point is a blank slate. There’s no records or information as to what happened afterwards. I even checked my own personal sources, and I couldn’t find anything, which is surprising, since those sources have kept me up to date on a lot of things going on across Equestria.”

Trevor wanted to say something in return, but he couldn’t exactly find the right words to say. Despite everything Discord had told them though, he doubted that they just simply disappeared and that was the end of it. His sister didn’t think that Calvin disappeared, and that belief brought the twins straight to him. There was an overwhelming feeling that there was more to this than anyone knew, but without any proof, he couldn’t really do much.

His train of thought stopped when he heard Raquel speak up, “So, uh, where were we before that whole talk about the Pillars?”

“I think we were talking about what the girls might be doing while camping-”

Just as that was said, the door to the castle opened. Much to the surprise of everyone at the table, the ponies that were at the entrance just so happened to be the same friends that they were talking about a few moments ago. “Well, all of ya seem to be having a good time. Got room for a few more?”

“Applejack?” Calvin spoke up, “I thought you girls were out camping this weekend.”

“We had a bit of a change in plans,” Rainbow Dash spoke up as she was idly flying above Scootaloo and her friends, “Long story, not really eager to talk about it, and some of us are hungry as heck.”

“Well, lucky for you, we just happen to have a lot of extras!” Pinkie proclaimed, bouncing around to get a bunch of extra chairs to put around the map table. Around the same time, Discord excused himself to retrieve some more plates and a few extra pieces of silverware. “Go ahead and help yourselves!”

The ponies that had just entered were quick to take up the offer, as they took up seats and began to fill their plates with food. Then, once they were all settled, Scootaloo looked over to Calvin & the twins and asked a question. “So, what were you up to while we were away?”

The Skyshifter just looked at both of the twins as Raquel took it upon herself to answer, “Well, Discord was just telling us about some stories and such.”

“Oh, really?” Sweetie Belle asked as she sat down nearby her, along with Apple Bloom, “What kind of stories?”

Calvin had only one question to ask in return, “…Have you heard of the Pillars of Old Equestria?”

---

End Scroll 35

Author's Note:

Hey guys, Frost here. Got another chapter here and this time, we're sort of back on track.

After the last couple of chapters involved dealing with some personal hurdles for our characters, we're now back in the swing of things. There are some hints and clues as to what might be coming, and I took some inspiration for a few of them based on the Tails of Equestria tabletop game.

Hopefully, I'll get the next chapter ready for you guys soon. Until then, I hope you guys have a great day.
-Frost

P.S. A small little fun fact, 'Annex' is the name I thought of for the Equestrian Equivalent of the board game 'RISK'.