Scroll 36- The Library
Beyond the Skies- The Library
The sounds of clashing metal continued to ring out throughout the training grounds. What started as a simple training match between some of the more recent ‘students’ that were being taught at the academy now escalated into a clash, where both sides tried to give it their all. Even though the battle was being supervised and watched rather closely, there were a few times where those who were watching were tempted to just stop it outright, because of how serious everything was getting.
Yet, much to the surprise of pretty much everyone, this was something that one of the students requested. Up until this moment, Trevor had been focusing all of his attention on training his newfound magic, as well as his capabilities as a fighter. However, despite all the lessons he was given, he felt that his training lacked putting the teachings into practice, not just against wooden dummies or greebles, but actual skilled fighters.
Luckily for him, he had two things going for him. The first was a friend whose special traits involved him transforming into powerful warriors, and the second was a staff member who just so happened to agree with him.
So, with Buzz watching over the battle between him and his friend Calvin, Trevor now had the opportunity to put his skills to the test. Of course, given that the Skyshifter had more experience compared to him, Buzz had to put some limitations on how he would fight, to make the match seem somewhat fair. Which was fine with him, because he only thought of one form that would fit the criteria of this fight.
Fast forward to what’s happening now, and Trevor was going toe to toe against a skeletal knight that Calvin had turned into. He couldn’t remember his name, but names meant nothing when your opponent was charging at you with weapons at the ready. For the last few minutes, he had called forth weapons he could conjure to deflect incoming attacks and tried to find openings to exploit.
Of course, that wasn’t quite easy. Even though Calvin claimed that he had not used this form before, he still found ways to somehow get the upper hand.
After about a few more minutes, a whistle was blown, as both fighters stopped in place. “Alright, that’s enough. Time’s up.”
The mabu’s voice had Calvin change back to his normal form, while Trevor dismissed the weapons he conjured. “So? How did we do?”
“Well, let me first start by saying that for your first real fight, what you demonstrated was rather impressive,” Buzz complimented him, “However, there still seems to be some room for improvement.”
At that, Trevor was puzzled, “Improvement? I’m sorry, but I don’t understand what you mean by that.”
Buzz couldn’t help but chuckle at that, “Don’t worry, it’s not that big of an issue. In fact, this is something that happens a lot with many students that come here. The skills you demonstrated today are rather impressive. Though, perhaps Calvin has the answer already.”
As he turned to his friend, Calvin nodded, “One of the things Buzz taught me, and pretty much every Skylander, is that repeating the same kind of attacks or strategies over and over again will lead to whoever you’re fighting to come up with ways to get around it. You might’ve noticed that, at one point, I was using my shield more to block your attacks first.”
“Exactly. By teaching our Skylanders to use different moves to use in battle, it allows for them to catch whoever they might be fighting by surprise,” Buzz tapped his cane and glanced over at a clock on a nearby wall, before looking over towards Trevor, “I had hoped to see if we can find a way to expand your arsenal. Unfortunately though, that’s all we’ll be able to do today.”
Now, both of them looked over at Buzz with a confused expression, “Really? It’s still a couple hours early.”
“That is true. Though, I have a meeting I need to attend that I can’t quite skip out on,” the mabu insisted, “I’m not sure how long it will be, and I would rather not have you just standing around and waiting for me to return. Though, perhaps this off time can help you think a bit more on what we’ve discussed today.”
With a simple wave, Buzz exited the training room and left both of them alone. After a moment of silence, it was interrupted by a new question from Trevor. “So, what now? I don’t think either of us expected for class to end early today.”
“Maybe we should just go back to the castle?” Calvin shrugged his shoulders, “I’m pretty sure there’s no other reason to stick around, unless Raquel’s here, and you want to wait for her.”
“I’m pretty sure she and I have lessons on different days,” Trevor replied, before he started to walk out of the training grounds, with the Skyshifter following behind him, “Whenever I’m here, she’s back with Twilight, and whenever I’m at the Castle, she happens to be here. Not entirely sure as to why that is though. If anything, I honestly thought that we would be doing this training thing together when we first agreed to this.”
Calvin understood a bit of what he meant. Though considering how much experience Buzz has as head of security, as well as his other occupation, there must’ve been some kind of reason for that. What that reason was, he had no idea, and it was probably better not to dwell on thinking about it too much.
As both of them walked out of the academy and into the expanse of the M.A.P, both of them ran into someone that they didn’t expect to find there, that being the same sibling that they had talked about only a few moments ago, “Oh, there you guys are.”
“Raquel?” Trevor asked, “What are you doing here?”
“I would ask you the same thing,” she replied, “Don’t you guys have class going on right now? Please tell me you’re not skipping out.”
Calvin was quick to shake his head as he looked back at her, “No, no! Buzz had a meeting he needed to attend, so class ended a bit earlier than normal today.”
For a moment, it looked like Raquel flinched a bit, and there was a glow from her eyes, before she let out a deep breath. “Okay, I guess that makes sense somehow,” then, she looked over at her brother, “As for why I’m here, let's just say that Twilight somehow brought a lot of house guests with her on a recent trip. Too many minds in one place and so many thoughts bouncing around is a recipe for the mother of all headaches.”
Both Trevor and Calvin glanced over at one another with confused expressions, before Trevor slowly looked over at his sister, “Did Twilight say that she was going to have people over today?”
“No, which is why this is kind of weird,” the Aberrant Mind shook her head, “There’s one other thing that also doesn’t make sense.”
“What would that be, Raquel?” the Skyshifter asked, now slightly curious as to what she was talking about. While it wasn’t uncommon for Twilight to have guests at her castle, the three of them would normally get some form of advanced warning before they would arrive.
“Well, I didn’t hear too much, but one thing I did hear was the mention of some names that were in those stories Discord told us about a couple of weeks ago. You know, the Pillars, or whatever they were called?”
Now, Calvin couldn’t help but feel as if something else was going on by how Raquel said that. Plus, considering that Twilight was specifically mentioned, it meant that things were either going well… or going rather poorly. “Maybe we should go check on her and make sure everything’s alright? I mean, it’s not like her to just forget to tell us anything, especially when she has guests coming over.”
While there was some hesitation from Raquel, both of the twins agreed with their friend, as the three of them proceeded to head to the doorway that led back to Equestria, unsure of what they would happen to find on the other side.
Out of all the possibilities of what Twilight thought was going to happen today, what had transpired today was not one of them.
It all started earlier in the week, when Sunburst showed them the supposedly lost journal of Starswirl the Bearded. Much of the entries matched many known historical records, but the last entry in the journal was written in a form of dialect that was rather difficult to decipher. Whenever some form of progress was made, there was a new obstacle in their path that made things a bit more difficult.
Fast forward several days, a visit to the site of Ponhedge and also a scavenger hunt to try and find all the relics that were associated with the Pillars of Old Equestria led to the discovery that they had sealed themselves away in Limbo. However, in their attempts to free them, they also freed the Pony of Shadows that they tried to lock away.
Originally, at Starswirl’s insistence, it was believed that the Pony of Shadows was a vengeful monster that had to be sealed away. However, that was farthest from the truth. In reality, the darkened monster was an entity that possessed Starswirl’s own apprentice, who wanted nothing more than just to help those that he saw as his friends. When the Pillars realized their mistake, they collaborated with Twilight and her friends to free Stygian and banish the darkness into limbo, where it belonged.
After all was said and done, each one of Twilight friends decided to try and show their heroes how much had changed over the last thousand years. Rainbow was probably showing Flash Magnus around Cloudsdale, Somnambula and Rockhoof were being given a ‘grand tour’ around Ponyville by Pinkie Pie and Applejack, Mage Meadowbrook was at Fluttershy’s cottage, and Rarity had invited Mistmane over to her boutique. As for Starswirl and his apprentice, the two of them were still at the castle, since both of them were rather exhausted after everything that had happened.
While it was beyond her wildest dreams to talk to the one pony that she idolized since she was a filly, the direction of the conversation was not quite one that Twilight prepared for. Despite having a stockpile of things to ask Starswirl, the Princess of Friendship didn’t quite have that many answers to the questions both Starswirl and Stygian had for her in return. There were even times where she didn’t even have a proper answer for some of their inquiries.
Fortunately, there was a moment where the inquiries from both of them had to be put on hold. Unfortunately though, that moment in particular was less than ideal.
“Excuse me for a moment, princess.”
Without any sort of reasoning, Starswirl left the table in a flash and teleported to the other side of the room. The sudden and abrupt departure confused both Twilight and Stygian, because up until that point, Starswirl had been rather relaxed. Now, he looked rather serious. “Uh, Stygian? Is something like this normal?”
“Not really,” Stygian shook his head, “Maybe he felt something that didn’t settle right?”
“Felt something? What do you mean?”
“Oh, right, uh…” he scratched the back of his head, “He kind of has this… thing where he could feel strange sources of magic that… shouldn’t be here. I can’t quite remember how he phrased it. If something doesn’t feel right, he goes to investigate-”
“Huh? Who’re you-? Hey!! What’s the big deal?!”
Immediately, Twilight knew whose voice was that. But before she could say anything, Starswirl returned back to the Cutie Map, while holding three familiar figures in a powerful levitation spell. All three of them were caught by surprise and did not look rather pleased by what was going on, “Forgive me, Princess Twilight, but I felt these intruders come in and-”
Before he had the chance to finish, the alicorn let out a small breath as she looked back at the wizard, “Starswirl, could you please let them down?”
Starswirl blinked at that, confused by the request, “Let them down-? Princess, they just entered the castle without warning. Are you certain they’re not threats?”
“I’m certain. In fact, if you let them go, I can explain everything,” Twilight nodded. Despite Starswirl being rather hesitant, he listened and followed through on her request. Shortly afterwards, the magic around the wizard's horn disappeared, and the spell was dropped… as well as all three of its captives, as they fell to the floor, “I was hoping to do these introductions later, but I guess now is a better time than any. Starswirl, Stygian, these three are some special guests that are staying at the Castle of Friendship. This is Calvin, Raquel and Trevor.”
“H-hi,” Calvin spoke up as he slowly got off of the floor and back onto his feet.
“T-they’re guests?” Starswirl asked, a bit baffled and caught off guard by what Twilight just said, “But the magic I felt wasn’t from Equestria though. How-?”
“Would that be because you felt these?” The question from Raquel was followed by her helping her brother get back on his feet, before pointing at the bracelet on her wrist and the pendant around Calvin’s neck. The sight of the wizard’s eyes widening was enough to tell her what she needed to know, as she looked back towards Twilight. “Thought so.”
“Huh? Raquel, what do you mean-?”
Before Twilight finished her question, she had an answer, “If I had to take a guess, even though we’re not using them at the minute, the fact that we have these means that he could tell they’re magical in nature.”
Even though her guess was correct, it did little to help with Starswirl’s dwindling patience, “Yes, but how does that relate to you coming into possession of such things? Such artifacts are rare to come by, and also dangerous-”
“I’m sorry to interrupt,” the voice of Stygian echoed as he got up from the table and trotted over next to where Calvin was standing, “But maybe we should hear their story first before we jump to conclusions? Any questions we might have could easily be answered if we listened to them first.”
The wizard didn’t seem to be rather open minded at first, but after a few moments, he straightened himself up and looked back towards Stygian with an expression of recognition and familiarity. “Very well then. Please, share with us your story.”
For the next few minutes, the three of them took turns recalling everything, to make sure no stone was left unturned. The conversation first started with explaining how they arrived and how long they’ve been around for, to bring both of the unicorns up to speed. Calvin went first, giving a brief summary of what life in Equestria had been for him over the last couple of months, before Raquel and Trevor shared their story of how trying to look for their friend led to them ending up here as well.
Then, each one of them explained that when they ended up displaced here, each one of them had something on them that allowed them to use a particular form of magic and why Starswirl was able to feel dormant magic from them. Raquel’s bracelet allowed her to use a mixture of both arcane and psychic based magic, Trevor’s band allowed his magic to take the form of weapons to use in battle, and Calvin’s pendant allowed for him to take the form of different creatures he called ‘Skylanders’ for a limited time.
Out of all three, Starswirl was most surprised by Calvin’s capabilities. Though, a look of familiarity also seemed to be on his face as he watched the Skyshifter showcase his abilities, like there was something he wanted to say that was on the tip of his tongue, but he couldn’t quite remember what it was.
“Does that help answer any questions you might have?”
Stygian looked a bit nervous as he tried to process everything, before looking to the wizard that stood next to him, “It did answer a few questions I had at least. What about you, Starswirl? Was there anything else you wanted to ask?”
“Well, there are always things to ask about,” he retorted in a knowingly manner, before looking over to the three non-equestrians in the room, “But with regards to this, I think it would be better to ask such things another time.”
The wizard looked back to the unicorn next to him, and both of them turned to head out towards the door. Though, before either of them could step outside, that was when Calvin interrupted, “Uh, c-can I ask you something before you go, please?”
Starswirl stopped, just before reaching the door as he turned back around. He didn’t seem to have an annoyed expression on his face, but one that almost seemed like he anticipated something like this. “Sure, I guess. What would you like to know?”
“Are you familiar with somebody named Eon?”
While the question was simple, Starswirl’s reaction was anything but that. There was a look of recognition, but also confusion on his face as he scratched his beard with a hoof. “Eon… that name’s familiar for some reason,” he pondered, before looking back at him, “Could you give me some time to think? We’ve all been through a lot today, and I think I’ll have a proper answer for you, once I've had the chance to rest my mind.”
Calvin, and by extension Twilight, both nodded their heads as the elderly wizard went through the door and stepped outside, leaving the three of them alone with Twilight as they looked back to the alicorn and sat down by the Cutie Map. “So, uh, what exactly happened while we were gone? Raquel said that you had a lot of guests earlier?”
“That’s a bit of a long sto-” the princess said, before she blinked in realization as her eyes drifted to a nearby clock on the wall, “Wait a minute. What are you doing back here so early? Are you skipping class?”
“Buzz had an important meeting, so he had class finish up earlier than normal today. Shortly after we left the academy, we ran into Raquel.”
Twilight looked back at both Trevor and Calvin with a raised eyebrow, before she looked over to Raquel. “They’re not lying, Twilight. I did run into them earlier and also checked their minds, to make sure they weren’t hiding anything.”
The princess felt a bit relieved to hear the reassurance from her, before looking towards each one of them. “So, for what happened today, it all started a few days ago, when Sunburst found the lost journal of Starswirl the Bearded.”
As time passed, Starswirl and the others learned much of what had changed since the day they sealed themselves in Limbo to keep the Pony of Shadows at bay. Small villages during their time had now become towns and cities, nations that were once at odds with Equestria were now allies, and even creatures that were believed to be beyond redemption like Discord and the changelings had changed their ways for the better.
Even with all that had happened today, a single thought still lingered in Starswirl’s mind. The name that the boy mentioned earlier, he could’ve sworn that he had heard that name once before in passing. But the question that still lingered was where did he hear it?
Then, a single thought came to mind. One that even he was uncertain about. “Wait. Did he mean… Ordo’s student?” The question was then followed by him shaking his head as he floated his hat on his desk and hung up his robe. “No, no, no. That can’t be right. Did he ever mention who his successor was?”
The wizard then let out a sigh. Now wasn’t quite the time for late night quandaries. After everything that happened today, rest was what he needed the most. But it was as he laid down to sleep, another question surfaced.
If this ‘Eon’ was the successor of his friend, how did a boy that he had met only a few hours earlier know about him?
The Following Morning
By the time that the light of the morning sun filled his windows, Calvin really wanted to just sleep in longer. Compared to most other days, where he had to be up early so he wouldn’t be late for class, the weekends were the only days that he didn’t have to be awake at the crack of dawn. From what he could remember, nothing important seemed to be going on today. So, maybe he could see if Apple Bloom and the Cutie Mark Crusaders wanted to do anything?
Unfortunately, any thoughts of what he wanted to do today changed the moment he heard a knock on the door. “Hey, uh, Calvin? Are you in there?”
The simple question from the dragon that was outside his door was enough to leave him wide awake and staring at the ceiling. He didn’t say anything at first, but after a good minute or so, he rolled out of the bed and went to the door with his PJ’s still on and his hair being a curled mess. “Good morning, Spike.”
“Oh, uh,” Spike nervously looked from side to side, “D-did I interrupt something?”
While the answer in Calvin’s mind was definitely a yes, he refrained himself from saying it out loud. “N-not really. I’m at least awake right now. Is there something you need?”
“Well, I was going to start with breakfast soon. Since Twilight’s not up, I thought I’d ask if you wanted to help. But, I can wait a bit if-”
The Skyshifter shook his head, before giving Spike a soft smile. “Of course I’ll help. Just give me a second for me to change clothes, and I’ll join you.”
The young dragon nodded, before scurrying back down the stairs as Calvin took a couple of moments to get himself ready, just to brush out his hair, change into some more suitable clothes and so on. Though, it was as he was about to descend down the stairs that he heard a knock at the door, not to any of the doors in the guest wing, but at the front door to the castle itself. It was something that Calvin only noticed when he reached the bottom of the stairs, seeing Spike standing there and staring at whoever or whatever was on the other side.
“Spike? Is everything okay over there?”
“Uh, Calvin,” the dragon slowly turned around, looking back at him, “There’s somepony at the door that wants to see you.”
“Huh? Who would-” The moment that he looked past the dragon to see who was on the other side, the question that he was going to ask was answered almost immediately. The pony that was at the front door was none other than the wizard that he and the twins just so happened to have ‘met’ yesterday, the pony that Twilight called ‘Starswirl’.
“Good morning,” the wizard greeted both of them, tilting his hat with a simple spell, “May I come in?”
“S-sure,” the Skyshifter nervously replied, looking over to Spike briefly before both of them moved to the sides of the doorway, to allow Starswirl to trot inside, “Um, Mr. Starswirl? What brings you here?”
“Please, Starswirl is just fine,” he insisted, glancing over at both Spike and Calvin, before trotting towards the Cutie Map, “As for why I am here, I did say yesterday that once I had the chance to rest, I might have the answer to the question you posed to me. So, I came here as soon as I could to discuss it. Unless, right now is an inconvenient time for you?”
To Calvin, it did surely feel that way. Only a few minutes ago did he promise to help Spike with preparing breakfast. Now, a famously renowned wizard that Twilight saved with her friends just yesterday happened to show up on the doorstep of the castle. Not only that, but he was here to pick up on the conservation they were having just the other day and to possibly provide an answer to the question Calvin left for him.
Not a really convenient position to be in, if he had anything to say about it. “I-”
“We were going to start on breakfast,” Spike interjected, “But if this is important, then I guess I can hold off a moment and wait until-”
“Spike, there’s no need for that. I’m sure that there’s still some way that I can help,” he replied while looking back towards the dragon.
“Well, if you’re certain about that,” Spike insisted, before opening the door to a cabinet in the kitchen. As he was talking, the dragon brought out a stack of plates, as well as some silverware, “Then, how about you help with getting the table set up? Shouldn’t be too difficult of a thing to do.”
“Thanks, Spike,” he smiled, before taking some of the plates into his hands as he started to bring them over. Once they were set on the table and he started to put them in place, Calvin looked back over to Starswirl, “I kind of promised that I would help him this morning. So, I didn’t want to go back on my word.”
“Understandable,” Starswirl nodded, before he took a moment to clear his throat, “Now, before I go any further, there’s something I want to ask you, if you don’t mind?”
The question came off as a bit of a surprise for him. Honestly, Calvin thought that Starswirl was directly going to provide the answer right away. Though, it didn’t seem like too much of an issue. After all, he had no idea what the wizard was going to ask him. “Sure, what is it?”
“The name you mentioned yesterday. Eon, I believe it was. How do you know them?”
The Skyshifter paused for a moment, gently setting down another plate before he looked at the wizard, “Well, that’s… a bit of a tough one to answer. The best way I could describe him is that he’s like a mentor to not just me, but many others in a place called the Skylands. He’s a Portal Master that taught me about my necklace, what I can do with it and a few other things. He also seemed to know about you.”
“Really?” the wizard asked, his curiosity piqued a bit, “How so?”
“If I remember correctly, Eon found a journal from his predecessor, and when he read it, there were entries about you in it: How you were Celestia’s teacher, and that, after something happened between her and Luna, you wanted to say something to her, but couldn’t find the right words,” he tried his best to recall from memory as he placed a few more plates down, “I-If I may though, how… does that relate to the question I asked yesterday?”
The wizard took a moment to adjust his hat and robes, before he pulled out what looked like an old piece of paper from a pocket in his robes. “Did he look like this?”
On the paper was a sketch of a tall human-like figure who looked almost like Eon. The robes, helmet and staff that he carried were exactly the same. However, the only thing that was different was that his beard was wider in length and thickness compared to the shorter beard that he remembered on Eon.
“Almost, but not quite. Why?”
It was as Starswirl folded up the paper and put it back in his robes that he began to explain everything. “Because that was someone else I happened to know a long time ago. His name was Ordo, and he had the same title as this ‘Eon’ that you described to me. Master Ordo, he called himself. If I remember correctly, he told me once that he had an apprentice that sounded a lot like Celestia, when she was under my tutelage.”
That almost had Calvin lose his grip on the dishes that he was setting on the table. If what Starswirl was saying was true, then the ‘apprentice’ he spoke of was Eon. “Huh, I see. So, how did you and Ordo meet?”
“Well, Ordo himself would say that it was fate that had me land in his sanctum. I, however, say otherwise,” the wizard said, “Working with various powerful magics in enclosed spaces tends to not go so well when things don’t go the way you think they would.”
“So, it was an accident?”
“I prefer miscalculation, but yes,” Starswirl corrected, “It did not take too long for Ordo to help me return to Equestria. But, in the short time there, the conversations we had were… very intriguing. Despite this ‘Skylands’ and Equestria being vastly different from one another, there were certain similarities that couldn’t exactly be ignored. So much so that, after coming back to Equestria, I managed to stay in contact with him and asked for his assistance in a research project based on the similarities I mentioned earlier.”
At that point, Calvin had finished setting down the plates and now was placing the utensils on the table. “I-If I may, what… were these similarities? I don’t think I quite heard that.”
“Oh, my apologies. Almost left out that detail,” the wizard backtracked a bit, “What we noticed was that, out of almost everything that would make the Skylands and Equestria different, there were two elements that were almost the same, those being what we called the Elements of Order and Chaos.”
Mere seconds after that was mentioned, a different voice happened to echo in the map room, a voice that was recognizable to both of them. “Really now? You were doing a project on chaos back in the day and didn’t even bother to ask me about it? That’s rather hurtful, Swirly.”
Starswirl didn’t even flinch at the voice. In fact, the wizard just rolled his eyes and let out a deep breath. “Oh, here we go.”
As if he had been here the whole time, Discord suddenly manifested himself behind the chair that the wizard was nearby as he looked back at him. “Now, if this were about any other subject, then I honestly would not be too concerned about it. However, chaos and anything with it is my field of expertise. Why wouldn’t you want to seek out my professional opinion on a subject such as this?”
Of course, Starswirl was not having any of the draconequus’ shenanigans this morning. “For your information, when we were doing this project, it was months after you became the stone centerpiece of Celestia’s Garden. Freeing you just so you can answer a few questions would have more risks than benefits, especially since you weren’t so honest compared to how you are now.”
Discord folded his arms, not too amused by the choice of words the wizard had said, “So, what sort of second-hand sources did you rely on then?”
“Why does it really matter?” Starswirl then retorted, “That project’s never going to be finished anyways.”
The last remark from the wizard caught Calvin’s attention as he finished setting up the table and looked back towards Starswirl, “If I may, why is it never going to be finished?”
“Well, just as we were getting to the point that we could’ve had a breakthrough, I was called away, along with the rest of the Pillars, by Stygian,” he sighed, looking at both Discord and Calvin this time. “Both of you might already have an idea as to what came next. Not only that, but when I went back to my old study the other night, most of the journals that were originally there were no longer present. Celestia told me that some of them had been put in the restricted section of the Canterlot Library, for safe keeping. But not everything’s there, I’m sure of it.”
When the Skyshifter looked over towards the draconequus, he watched as a look of realization dawned on his face. “Yeah, about that-”
The moment he heard those words, Starswirl looked far from pleased, as he narrowed his gaze at Discord, “What did you do?”
“Okay, but you can’t be mad at me.”
“What did you do?”
“So, for context,” Discord clarified, holding up a single digit of his paw to try and get a moment to speak, “This happened shortly after somepony, who ended up getting reformed by Princess Twilight later, tried to use your time travel spell for some revenge plot-”
“They tried what?!”
“SO, in order to try to avoid something like this from happening again, I took some of your more dangerous works and put them in a place that only you would know about. If I had to take a guess, if the journal that has the notes from this project isn't in your study or in the restricted section of the library, then it would be there.”
At first, it didn’t look like Starswirl had any idea what the draconequus was talking about. As Calvin watched, it looked like he was trying to mentally put together pieces of a complex puzzle that Discord put in front of him. “Uh, Discord-?”
“Wait for it.”
Then, as if a lightning bolt had struck outside, the wizard immediately came to a conclusion and stared directly at Discord. “You didn’t-”
The Spirit of Chaos smiled, “See? I told you that it would be a place that only you would know about.”
“You put some of my belongings in your library, of all places?!”
Starswirl’s outburst was enough to even have Spike stop cooking as both he and Calvin looked over at Discord, “Wait a minute, you have a library?”
The Spirit of Chaos slowly turned his attention over to both of them, “Why, yes, I do. Why do you think it’s so strange for me to have a place to curl up and read? You live with a princess that’s also a full time bookworm.”
Immediately, Starswirl was quick to cut back into the conversation, “That place is anything but a library!”
“How would you know that, Swirly?” Discord asked, playfully messing with the wizard's hat before turning to face him, “Have you ever been inside?”
“Well, no,” the wizard said, “But I have been observing it. Ever since you were originally sealed in stone by the sisters, your library has been behaving like it has a mind of its own! It’s one of the most unsolved phenomena in Equestrian history, for Celestia’s sake!”
At that point, before either Discord or Starswirl could go any further, Calvin decided to speak up and ask a question, “Uh, some of us don’t quite get what you two are talking about. C-can we please get an explanation?”
Not missing a beat, Starswirl straightened up his coat and hat before looking back to him, “The Library of Discord, as I mentioned, is self explanatory as to what it is. However, because of the magical nature of such a place, it always spontaneously disappears without warning and manifests in a new location in Equestria every one hundred years.”
“So, because of that, nobody knows what’s actually inside?”
“That’s right,” the wizard nodded, before his eyes shifted over to the draconequus in the room, “Except for one particular individual. However, I doubt he’s rather keen on ‘spoiling’ anything, as he would put it.”
Discord gave off a small chuckle at that, as he comfortably sat himself down in one of the chairs around the Cutie Map. “Oh, you know me too well, Swirly. It feels just like old times.”
Before Starswirl even had the chance to say anything, someone else spoke up. This time, it came from the stairwell, as everyone looked to see none other than Starlight Glimmer trotting down the stairs. “U-uh, good morning, everypony-” she greeted, before realizing that both Discord and Starswirl the Bearded were present by the Cutie Map, “Am I… interrupting something?”
“Apparently, Discord put some of Starswirl’s stuff in his library, and he’s not happy about it.”
That had the unicorn blink for a moment, stunned by what Calvin tried to summarize for her. She wanted to ask for clarification, but before she could, Spike called out from the kitchen. “Hey, uh, I hate to interrupt, but breakfast is done, and I don’t think any of us want cold pancakes. Maybe we could talk about this while we eat?”
The question was answered by both Discord and Starswirl responding at the exact same time. “Yes, please.”
By the time that she had finished breakfast this morning, Starlight was half expecting for the Cutie Map to light up, because the more that she listened to Discord and Starswirl speak to one another, the more that it sounded like it was going to escalate and turn into a Friendship Problem at any moment.
It started off simple, with Starswirl stopping by to answer a question that Calvin had asked him the other day. However, the moment that ‘chaos’ was mentioned, it quickly began to go off the rails, once Discord got himself involved. Now, she wasn’t even sure if what they were talking about was remotely related to the question that Calvin asked Starswirl.
Still, the only way that it seemed that she could steer the conversation back on course was by trying to speak up. “So, uh, can I ask something? I-I know you two are busy with your conversations, but I feel that there’s something I’m missing.”
Both Discord and Starswirl paused, their attention shifting from one another over to her, “What sort of thing?”
“What exactly was the thing that Discord ‘moved’ again?” she asked, shifting her gaze to the draconequus, “Calvin said it was a project on something, before Discord… well-”
“Arrived?”
“Yes, that.”
The wizard sounded a bit relieved to actually hear her question. If anything, it was probably safe to assume that he’d rather answer a question from somepony else, if the alternative was being in a constant argument with Discord. “Well, to summarize, the purpose of our research was to try and expand further on something Ordo mentioned, when we originally talked about magic.”
“What kind of something?” Spike asked. With the times that he had traveled with Calvin over to the Skylands, it was hard to think that there were similarities between what was over there and what was in Equestria. If anything, both places just seemed vastly different.
“Well, oddly enough, this happened to involve what he called the Elements of Order and Chaos,” Starswirl explained, glancing over at Discord briefly before his gaze returned back to them, “To be completely honest, I didn’t exactly believe it at first. Though, the more that we talked about it, the more that I noticed certain parallels.”
“Parallels? With my chaos?” Discord questioned, before manifesting what looked like a pipe in his paw as he blew what looked like chewing gum bubbles out of it, “Oh, Swirly. You originally had my curiosity, but now, you have my attention. Please, go on.”
The wizard groaned, but let out a sigh as he continued, at the draconequus’ insistence. “Well, the Element of Chaos that Ordo was familiar with may be seen by you as a mockery of your capabilities,” he said, motioning to the pipe that Discord was holding, “The chaos he knows is the mimicry of other forms of power that are channeled outward into different forms of energy.”
That had Discord throw the pipe behind him, before it blew up in a puff of smoke, “So, it’s just a cheap imitation? Now, that’s just disappointing.”
Now, Calvin was confused. Given that he had witnessed Kaos use his powers several times before, he’d thought that the Spirit of Chaos would react much differently when talking about something that was his particular specialty. “Huh? Why’s that?”
“The best way to explain it is that my power is chaos in general. Since chaos affects all things, my power is rather expansive in regards to the things I could do,” Discord explained, “What Swirly just described to me sounds like a very limited version of that same chaos. Only being allowed to do certain things, but not everything that chaos is supposed to be.”
“So, almost the same thing… but not quite?”
Discord shook his head, “The best way I can explain it is that this ‘Element’ is the idea of ‘Profound cosmic POWER!’ squeezed into a itty bitty little space. You can do it, but it severely restricts what you are capable of. Like, if you take up painting as a hobby, but you force yourself to only paint one thing over and over again.”
The more that they continued to discuss this, the more that Calvin began to realize something. This element they were discussing sounds eerily similar to the magic that Kaos can use. Though, it was very unlikely that Kaos was around thousands of years ago. So, that meant there could’ve been only one other possibility.
“Starswirl, if I may, did Ordo know of anyone who used the Element of Chaos back then?”
The wizard’s gaze was fixed to him, before he let out a low and deep sigh. “There was one particular sorceress who was able to wield such chaotic magic back then. Her name was Aris, and to put it bluntly, she hated Ordo with a passion.”
“W-why was that?” Spike asked.
“Both of them were complete opposites, not just in magic, but in personality,” As Starswirl was speaking, he pulled out the same piece of paper that had the picture of Ordo on it. Then, a second piece of paper was placed, depicting a woman with very little hair and a familiar image of six small triangular shapes in a ring as a mark on her hands, “Ordo wanted to maintain balance and greatly cared for those that were under his protection. Aris, on the other hoof, cared little for such things. All she wanted was to use her powers without any shackles, not even caring for the damage it would bring or who she would end up hurting.”
The wizard then looked over to Calvin, “Is there a particular reason why you asked?”
“Well, that’s a bit of a long story. But to start,” as he was speaking, Calvin pointed towards the picture of Aris: more specifically, the markings on her hands, “There’s a… let’s call him a bad guy for now, who has the same kind of magic we’ve been talking about. Not only that, but he’s called Kaos and has this mark on his forehead.”
To say that Starswirl was caught off guard was a bit of an understatement. If anything, he looked as if somepony pulled out the chair that he was sitting on. The more he listened to Calvin speak about him and what he’d been up to, the more that the wizard grew concerned.
Before he had the chance to say anything though, that’s when something odd happened.
“Excuse me for a moment. I’ll be right back,” Discord apologized, before quickly snapping his talon and disappearing from the Map Room.
“Uh… where is he going?” Spike asked. The question was followed by Calvin and Starlight shrugging their shoulders, while Starswirl just deeply sighed.
“Knowing him, I doubt it’s anything serious-”
As soon as Starswirl said that, the Draconequus came back immediately, “I hate to stop our current conversation, but something serious has come up.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Ironically enough, it involves my library,” he said, “A couple of visitors were felt in the proximity of my library, and when I happened to see them, they were definitely not friendly. I tried to apprehend them, but they were able to slip through my grasp, and-.”
“What do you mean by ‘not friendly’?”
“Well, they don’t look like they’re from Equestria, that’s for sure. They had weapons on their person and also looked like that one creature that Calvin can change into. You know, with the green skin and pointy ears?”
Immediately, that had a chill run down Calvin’s spine, as he recognized what Discord was talking about right away. “Oh, that’s not good.”
“I fail to see what makes this concerning-”
Before the wizard could finish, the Skyshifter interjected as he turned towards them, “The creatures that Discord is talking about are Drow elves, many of which serve as minions to Kaos, the one that I told you about earlier. If they’re here in Equestria and sneaking around the entrance to Discord’s library of all places…”
Then, everything clicked into place. “Then, they would want to take what’s inside,” In an instant, Starswirl rose from his chair and immediately looked towards the door, “If those thieves think they can steal my research, then-!!”
“Uh, Swirly? Where do you think you’re going?”
“Well, to your library, obviously-” the wizard was going to say more, before remembering something he said not that long ago as he stopped, “Oh. Right.”
The Spirit of Chaos couldn’t help but smirk as he folded his arms and looked back at him, “You said it yourself. Every hundred years, it manifests in a new location. Fortunately, not only do I happen to know where that location is, but I also am not a fan of creatures wandering around my library and acting like they own the place.”
As he was speaking, Discord then extended a lion paw to Starswirl, as if expecting a handshake, “So, how about this once, we set aside any grudges we have with each other for the moment and try to handle this problem together?”
The wizard’s eyes narrowed as he looked back at the draconequus. Personally, Starswirl didn’t like this and doubted that Discord was being completely truthful with him. However, without his assistance, trying to find the library on his own would be next to impossible. Unless he wanted to search every nook and cranny across the entire realm, and there was no telling how much time that would take.
“Grr… fine,” he begrudgingly replied, “We’ll work together, but on one condition.”
Discord couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow as he looked back at Starswirl, “What’s the condition?”
“We have somepony else come along, to make sure that you’re true to your word. Even though you say that you’re reformed, I’ve yet to see that for myself.”
Now, the Spirit of Chaos couldn’t help but chuckle at that. “Funny you say that,” he said, before briefly glancing over at Calvin, “Because I was going to ask for Calvin to join us anyways. Compared to the two of us, he has a better understanding of who we may be dealing with, especially if these crooks work for this Kaos fellow.”
“Wait, what?” Calvin briefly said, realizing that he was now getting dragged into this conversation by Discord. “Are you sure about that?”
It did not help that shortly after he asked that, Starswirl’s attention was now focused on him, “Normally, I wouldn’t be so keen on dragging others into situations like this. But, even though I hate to admit it, Discord makes a valid point.”
“Don’t I always?”
The wizard let out a low groan, before picking up where he left off. “If those thieves are able to take anything out of that library back to their master, then I can guarantee that only trouble will follow suit. With your help, we can ensure that doesn’t come to pass. So, can we count on you?”
At that point, Calvin found it rather difficult to say no. Not only that, but if he didn’t do anything, then Kaos may end up finding something he could use to cause trouble in both the Skylands and Equestria. “Y-yeah, uh, hold on a second,” Calvin said, before he glanced over at Starlight and Spike, “Could you-?”
“Don’t worry about anything,” the dragon reassured him, “If anybody asks, we’ll fill them in.”
Slowly, the Skyshifter nodded and thanked them, before he turned back towards Starswirl and Discord. “Okay, I guess I’m ready. Though, where exactly are we-?”
Not a moment later, a single snap was heard, as all three of them vanished within an instant, as Starlight and Spike were left by themselves in the middle of the map chamber. Though, the silence that followed didn’t quite last too long, as they heard a series of hoofsteps reaching the bottom of the stairs.
“Good morning,” the sound of Twilight’s voice had a slight shiver go down their spines, as she looked around the map room, “Oh, you made breakfast already?”
“W-we were in the process of it,” Starlight nervously replied, while Spike scurried back into the kitchen.
“Oh, okay then,” the alicorn said, “I’m going to try and organize some things in my study. Can you call me when the food's ready?”
“Sure, we can do that.”
For a moment, the princess just smiled and walked down the hall, as Starlight just looked back over at the dragon in the kitchen. However, Twilight returned a bit sooner than expected, with a different question to ask them.
“Oh, by the way, have either of you seen Calvin this morning? I went to check on him, but his room was empty. Did he have something going on today?”
Elsewhere…
Before Calvin even had the chance to finish the question that he was asking, he found himself landing roughly on the ground underneath him. In all fairness, he should’ve expected something like this from Discord. However, the Skyshifter honestly thought that the draconequus would tell both him and Starswirl where they were going before they left.
Instead, Discord took more of a direct approach. While it was effective to an extent, Starswirl had some choice words for him. “Did you have to be so abrupt about that?”
“What? I thought you were the one that seemed eager to get this done quickly, with how fast you wanted to leave the castle,” the draconequus shrugged, “Sheesh, and this is what I get for trying to be helpful.”
By that point, Calvin was able to brush the dirt off his clothes and take in his surroundings. Unlike the crystalline confines of Twilight’s castle, where they happened to be now looked a lot more like a dense jungle. Various trees and plants bloomed around them, and the environment was a lot more colorful, compared to that of the Everfree Forest. As he tried to move some of the foliage away, he found the edge of a giant cliff in front of him, as the forest extended into grassy hillsides.
Further ahead, there looked to be a city of some kind. Strangely enough, each one of the buildings looked like the furniture pieces that cats would use as scratching posts, from this distance. He couldn’t even tell if anyone actually lived there, either.
“Uh, Discord?” he now asked, “Where exactly are we?”
At the question, Discord and Starswirl looked back towards where he was and walked over to see what he was seeing, the sight of which had the draconequus smirk. “Well, what do you know? That’s the kingdom of Abyssinia.”
“Abyssinia?” Starswirl asked, baffled by what he said, “You mean on the other side of the Celestial Sea? That Abyssinia?!”
“What? You didn’t think that my library would just confine itself to only Equestria now, did you?” As he asked that, a loud whirring noise was heard, as wind began to pick up all around them. Right above their heads, several flying vessels started to make their way towards the kingdom, bearing the symbol of what looked like a two pronged spearhead on its sides, “Though, I don’t quite remember that being there the last time I visited.”
The wizard then looked towards Calvin, “Does this look like something that Kaos would use?”
“He would have an airship,” he remarked, “But his ship would be a lot more obvious than whatever that is. He kind of has a knack for going all out with presentation.”
“Perhaps that’s something we can ponder on later?” Discord suggested, “We still have thieves to catch. Now, if you would follow me, please.”
At his insistence, Starswirl and Calvin started to follow him. At first, the two of them weren’t sure where Discord was leading them exactly. Though, after a few moments, they were greeted by a giant structure that looked to be hidden away in the dense foliage of the jungle. In fact, because of its sheer size and appearance, it wouldn’t be a surprise to have people mistake it for some kind of observatory, with doors that were half as tall as the ones leading into the castle in Canterlot.
“This is the library?” Starswirl asked, “It looks… different from what I last remember.”
“Well, let’s just say that you’re part of the reason for that,” the draconequus replied, just as he manifested what looked like a lock in his hand and one of his talons shifted to resemble that of a key with the word ‘King’ emblazoned on it.
Starswirl blinked at the comment and was going to say something. Though, as he was about to do so, an audible click was heard from the lock, as it released. Once this was done, Discord opened one of the doors and motioned for the other two to come inside. “After you.”
Both of them had completely different reactions to the gesture. Starswirl was hesitant, unsure if the Chaos Spirit was being genuine or not. Calvin, on the other hand, did the exact opposite and just walked right inside. In his mind, this place was probably just a library like the one in Twilight’s castle or the academy. It couldn’t be that hard to find what they were looking for.
Immediately, as the Skyshifter stepped into the main hall, he was proven wrong. Unlike the other libraries he had visited, two major things stood out. First and foremost, the bookcases that held everything were massive. From where he stood, the shelves looked as if they were as tall as some of the mountain ranges in Equestria, perhaps even as tall as the mountain that held Canterlot.
The second thing was that, unlike the well organized archives Calvin had seen in other places, this library was a disorganized mess. Some things were on the shelves, but many books and loose papers were scattered all over the floor. He couldn’t even see the floor, since the pages were everywhere he looked.
“Geez, when was the last time that Discord cleaned this place?” he thought as Calvin tried to navigate his way through the numerous piles of books and paper. He could hear Discord and Starswirl not that far behind, but he couldn’t quite tell the expression that was on the wizard’s face. It looked like awe and wonder, mixed with utter disgust at the state of the room around him.
He couldn’t quite tell what exactly they were talking about from this far away, but Calvin wasn’t quite paying attention to them, for he happened to notice something else that was among the mess that was on the floor. In the back corner, there happened to be a hallway leading out with another room in front of him and also a direction to the right. The room in front of him was filled with… feathers for some reason, and when he looked down to the right, he happened to find a spiral staircase…
…and a room with books that just so happened to have ink flowing out like water. “Uh… Discord? Where are we?”
When the draconequus peaked out of the room, he immediately had a look of recognition on his face. “Oh, right. I should’ve mentioned that.”
“Mentioned what?” Starswirl now asked, his attention focused on him.
“We’re not exactly in the entrance to the library. This is what’s underneath it,” Discord then shrugged, “My non-reformed self sort of took inspiration from the many trap doors and pranks from the old castle in the Everfree and used that as a defense system for the upper levels. If they do happen to find their way in, it would be a heck of a time trying to go through everything up top.”
While his words sounded reassuring, Calvin didn’t want to think it was done for. Besides, Kaos happens to have the habit of being just one step ahead of anyone trying to pursue him or prevent them from taking something he wants. “Discord, can I ask you something?”
“Sure, what is it?”
“Are there any floors farther down besides this one?”
The draconequus scratched his chin at that, thinking for a moment as something began to surface in his head, “Well, there is one particular one farther down. But why-?”
“If I happen to know Kaos as well as I think I do, then he’s not the kind of person that would take his time trying to solve puzzles,” the Skyshifter attempted to reason with him, looking down another hallway to his right as he stood next to the spiral staircase, “If anything, he’d be more like the kind of person that tries to either brute force his way past obstacles or avoid them entirely.”
At that, both of them seemed rather concerned. Though, it was Starswirl that was the first to speak on it, “So, you’re saying that there’s a possibility that this Kaos is right now underneath our hooves, and we don’t know it?”
“Maybe,” Calvin said, before looking back down the hall, “Either way, I don’t think it’s a good idea to leave it to chance.”
“Well, if you want to go down there and make sure, then I’m not stopping you,” Discord replied back, “However, if you do happen to find yourself in trouble, there’s one thing I’d like to request from you.”
“What is it?”
“Well, having seen you in action, I know that some of your strongest forms allow you to control fire,” the draconequus said, taking a second to bite his lower lip before he continued, “However, if you do happen to find yourself having to fight, please refrain from using anything related to fire. The library is old and many of the things still down there, including what we’re looking for, are rather flammable. It would be a shame to have what we’re looking for go up in smoke, after coming all this way.”
Despite his hesitancy on the suggestion, Discord did make a valid point. Though, trying to figure out what to use instead would be a matter that he’d have to worry about later. “I can do that. Now, where should I go?”
“Head down the hall on your right and keep going. When you see something that looks like an hourglass, take a left. You’ll find the way down over there.”
Shortly after the chaos spirit finished, Calvin followed his instructions and began to move. Even though this place had a number of oddities that looked out of place, learning more about them would have to wait. To waste any time now would be like giving Kaos what he wanted. So, he needed to hurry, as quickly as possible.
When he did reach the end of the hall though, there was a slight snag. Even though there was a way down, there wasn’t exactly a stairwell, for the only thing he could see was an extensively long shelf, like in the first room he entered. The only difference was that it was heading down, instead of up, and he couldn’t see the bottom.
“Well, I guess getting down safely is out of the picture,” he thought. While there were ladders along the edge of the bookcase, none of them went all the way down. So, there was only one potential idea for what he could do. Though, the only problem was that he never tried anything like this before.
Back at the academy, he remembered a particular Skylander that was a friend and teammate of Spitfire. Her name was Stormblade, and from what he could remember, she enjoyed being a daredevil. In fact, when she wasn’t on duty, she would sometimes pull off aerial stunts and dive deep into the sky, as far as she could go. Since time was of the essence, something like that would be what he needed right now.
Taking in a deep breath, Calvin backed away as far as he could from the edge. Then, he sprinted towards it and jumped, his necklace glowing as the air began to pick up around him, “Feather the Storm!”
Once the transformation was complete, the Skyshifter did an immediate dive towards the bottom. Various books and the shelves that held them became a blur the faster and farther he descended into the dark unknown. There was no telling what awaited him down there, but as long as he reached the bottom, everything should be fine.
However, at one point, something flew past him that caused him to stop his descent. “Woah-!”
At first glance, he honestly thought that it was some kind of projectile attack aimed at him. Yet, as he looked behind him, he saw something different. It was a bird made out of paper, but it acted like it was alive… and it was focused on him.
“Um… hi?”
Less than a few moments later, the bird emitted an outward cry. No less than a few seconds later, papers from the nearby shelf began to float out and fold themselves into airplanes. First, there were only two of them. Then, there were eight and more were continuing to take form. All of them being focused on him.
“Okay, that’s bad. Time to go!”
The moment he took off to make his way back down to the bottom, a whole swarm of paper airplanes and birds started to pursue after him. At one point, Calvin tried to throw a few feather blades to slow them down. Yet, even if he was able to hit something, it did little to push them back.
The only thing he could do was to try and get as far away from it as he could, and the Skyshifter had no idea how far down this would go.
It was as he was thinking this through that he happened to see something flicker farther down, from two forms of light that were small, but steadily grew as he continued to dive deeper and closer to it. As he continued to glide down, the glimmer he saw started to come into focus, as two burning blue torches were set by a giant wooden door as the ground floor got closer. At first, Calvin was only thinking about trying to get to the door as quickly as possible, before the paper creatures would catch him.
Then, he remembered something that Discord specifically told him not too long ago.
“-please refrain from using anything related to fire. The library is old, and many of the things still down there, including what we’re looking for, are rather flammable.”
That alone was enough to spark an idea. If he could reach the torches, then perhaps whatever these things were would stop chasing him. Since these beings were made of paper, it was more than likely that they might have a fear of fire.
“Well, only one way to know for sure!”
As soon as his feet touched the ground, the Skyshifter bolted straight for the door. With every step he took, he could hear his pursuers getting closer and closer. Even as his transformation gave way, Calvin continued to run as fast as he could and not look behind him. All that mattered was reaching the doors and getting inside.
Upon reaching the door, the noise that was very close to him began to back off. As he slowly turned around, he saw that the light of the torches and the crackling fire was keeping them away. Calvin wasn’t quite sure how exactly this was working, and honestly, he didn’t quite care. If it was enough to keep them away for a brief moment, then that was good.
Yet, when he got closer to the door, something didn’t feel right. Instead of some form of lock or something that blocked the door, it opened without any issues. He didn’t know if this was because Discord had it this way and was too lazy to lock it up, or because someone else was already here. Either way, Calvin wasn’t too comfortable with this, as he slowly made his way further in.
Behind the door was a room that had some similarities to the first one, but a few noticeable differences. For one thing, even though there were still papers on the floor, the room was a lot larger in size. Instead of shelves that reached up all the way into the ceiling, there were circular ones that curved along most of the walls and a giant table in the center. The books on the walls looked to be covered in dust, and no one else seemed to be around.
It was quiet and peaceful. However, something felt very off about this place.
Like, despite everything that he was seeing in front of him, it wasn’t supposed to be this way. It felt unnatural, as if something was right behind him, that he couldn’t see.
“Okay, let’s just stay calm and keep an eye out. Who knows where he might be?” he thought to himself, slowly approaching the table. The books on the table were not as dusty, compared to what he was seeing on the walls, so he assumed that they happened to have been more recent additions to this collection down here.
Besides, it wouldn’t hurt to take a look. If he was lucky, this might point him in the right direction.
As Calvin inspected each of the books, he saw that the covers for each one did not exactly have words on the front of them. Instead, each one had a specific picture or symbol on the front. At first, the symbol’s didn’t quite make sense and seemed a bit random.
It was only after he looked beyond the cover of each book and at the titles did each one start to make some manner of sense. A book with a five pointed star on it was one that focused on astrology and constellations. Three of the books with a different sized swirl on the front discussed basic magic at beginner, intermediate and advanced levels. Another book with a burning torch and a crown on the front was a guide on how to identify items with magical properties and so on.
The common similarity with each book he read was the author; Starswirl, the Bearded.
“Well, that’s a good sign, at least,” he thought to himself, setting a few books to one side of the table and looking towards what happened to be left. Although, despite everything that was there, it was what was hidden underneath that really got his attention. Compared to the hardcover textbooks that were already there, there was one that looked more like a small sized diary, that didn’t have any discernible markings on the front.
So, to be absolutely certain this was it, he opened to the first page and started to read.
Knowledge of the unknown is always something that will elude anypony, no matter how many try to understand or make sense of it. Threads of what we do happen to know lead to more questions than the elusive answer we’re trying to find. Though, as of this moment, I happen to find myself in the rarest of unforeseen circumstances, as well as blessed with an opportunity to bring understanding to a subject that had eluded many arcane scholars for decades.
With this in mind, this record will be used to contain information regarding a collaborative research project with a newfound friend, Ordo, into the nature of Order and Chaos. Two complete opposites, given form here in this place I found myself in. It is my hope that this project will bear fruit, to help understand the nature of these fundamental forces more clearly.
While the nature of the subject is not the same compared to the chaos magic used by Discord, back in Equestria, there happens to be parallels between them that I couldn’t just overlook. So, it is my hope that-
Before he could read any further, the Skyshifter felt a cold presence linger in the air around him. The hairs on the back of his neck began to stand up on end, and he carefully turned around, back towards where he came in. “Who’s there-?”
In the blink of an eye, the doors burst open, as a flood of books and papers immediately began to spill out into the room. The Skyshifter had mere moments to get out of the way, as the table and what was on it ended up getting swallowed by the massive collection. Calvin was lucky that he didn’t get crushed by the oncoming avalanche, but now, he had to find a new way to get back to Discord and Starswirl.
To make matters even harder for him, he soon realized that he wasn’t alone.
“GLUMSHANKS!!”
“Oh no,” the Skyshifter thought, watching as a pair of robed arms attempted to pull themselves above the surface of the books, with little success. He knew who that voice belonged to, and it was the last person he wanted to run into down here.
“I-I’m here, Master!” another voice was heard, followed by a familiar Troll emerging from the book flood and trying to pull the Dark Portal Master he served out of the mess. Yet, instead of any sign of thanks, Glumshanks instead received an earful from his master.
“You IMBECILE! Why didn’t you warn me that something like this would happen?!”
“S-sir, I tried. B-but you wanted to speed things up and-”
“And because you interrupted my concentration, what we came here to find is now buried under everything else in this mess!!” the Dark Portal Master snapped in frustration, “Sombra told us that this place would have knowledge that would be of use to us, and I am NOT leaving here empty handed!”
That alone revealed enough for Calvin to know that this was bad, and if the two of them happened to spot him, it was going to get a lot worse. He could change forms, but something flashy like that was probably going to end up drawing their attention. There had to be some other way out of here, and something that wasn’t too obvious.
Carefully, Calvin stayed along the walls, hoping that the two of them would be distracted by their own antics, to the point that they wouldn’t even notice him. At first, it looked like such an idea seemed to be working. Both of them were too busy dealing with one another and digging through the contents of the books, while he was looking for a way out.
That is, until he accidentally lost his footing, and several books next to him fell off the shelf and hit the floor.
“Uh oh-”
“Lord Kaos, d-did you hear that?”
Immediately, Kaos’ head turned straight towards where he heard the noise, before locking eyes with Calvin. A spark of recognition could be seen in the Dark Portal Master’s eyes, as he stared directly at him. “You! You’re the one who hit me with the spawn of trees!!”
“Oh, he still remembers that,” Calvin thought, desperately trying to look for a way out of this situation, but coming up empty. So, he tried his best to downplay the situation, “Um, hello there.”
“H-hi-”
“Don’t be nice with him, Glumshanks!” Kaos snapped, narrowing his gaze and not taking his eyes off of him for even a moment, “This kid is friends with those pesky Sky-losers! Clearly, he’s here to find what we’re after and take it from us!”
“A-are you sure, Master?” the Troll asked, looking at Calvin with a confused expression, “H-He doesn’t look like he’s dangerous.”
It was as the two of them were talking that something else caught the Skyshifter’s attention. Unbeknownst to that of the Dark Portal Master or his butler, the papers on the floor were starting to move on their own and fold into different shapes. With each second that passed, the shapes started to come together and form a towering knight-like figure behind them.
“Hah!! You really don’t think he’s dangerous, Glumshanks!?” Kaos boasted, unaware of the danger that lurked mere inches behind him as he continued to ramble on, “You’re going to see how dangerous he is soon enough!”
“Uh, sir-” Calvin tried to interject and motion to what was behind them, only to be ignored, as the Dark Portal Master kept talking and the knight behind finished forming its body as it raised its giant origami fist.
“Watch Glumshanks! I’m going to get attacked by him in three, two, one-!”
SMACK!!
In an instant, a giant gauntlet smacked the Dark Portal Master from behind and sent him flying into a nearby bookcase. When Glumshanks turned around to see what it was that hit his master, he watched in fear as a giant origami knight stood before them. Papers from the floor now swirled in the air and started to form another creation, as the knight grasped a giant paper blade of its own. Its non-existent gaze now focused solely on him.
“M-master? W-What-?”
As if on instinct, Calvin immediately sprang to action, as the knight readied its blade. He didn’t need to transform, but he ran as quickly as he could and dove towards the troll, to push him out of the way. Luckily, he was barely able to reach him in time, as the knight tried to bring its blade down upon them.
“W-what is that thing?!”
“I have no idea,” he remarked, trying to put himself between the troll and the massive figure that just manifested, “But I’m gonna take a guess that it doesn’t like us being here.”
The knight did not respond, but instead turned towards both of them and prepared to raise its weapon again. However, before it had the chance to swing down, a blast of energy struck it in the back of the head and sent the knight tumbling to the ground. Both Calvin and the Troll looked over to see a very annoyed Kaos rise up from the floor, with magic wildly churning in both of his hands.
“Do you have any idea who you’re dealing with?! I am KAOS, and you will greatly regret that!!”
Despite the Dark Portal Master’s cocky bravado, the knight looked unfazed by the attack. More papers continued to rise from the floor and fly around the room, folding together to take the form of other knight-like figures of various sizes. Each one had their own weapons at the ready, as the situation was starting to escalate very quickly.
“M-Master? T-this isn’t looking good-!”
“I can see that!”
Immediately, several of the knights charged towards Kaos, with freshly created paper weapons at the ready. While his butler tried to scramble out of the way and Calvin tried to think of a way to get out of this predicament, Kaos took the fight directly to them. Magic crackled to life in his hands, as he summoned a pair of spectral soldiers to his side to clash with the newly formed knights. Though, the Dark Portal Master’s attention was more on the first Origami Knight in the room, as it approached him.
This time, as the paper soldier tried to strike the Dark Portal Master, its blade was stopped by a pair of giant magical hands that grasped the weapon, as the knight was trying to swing it down on him. “I’m going to make you regret making an enemy of me!! Now, feel the wrath of KAOS!!”
At his proclamation, the giant hands pushed the knight backwards, to knock it off balance, followed by a strike that was powerful enough to send the giant Origami Knight crashing into one of the bookcases, something that made the Dark Portal Master laugh with joy, as he watched these creations struggle to stand up to him. However, something that Calvin happened to notice was that, for each one that Kaos supposedly ‘defeated’, more would be created to take its place. And with so much paper being scattered everywhere, it was possible that the amount of knights that could be created were endless.
However, that was when Calvin heard something. As the giant knight pushed itself off of the bookcase, an audible click was heard, as it pushed down on one of the shelves. No less than a few seconds later, a large section of the wall began to crack open and rotate, with a hidden passageway that wasn’t there before right behind it.
The moment he saw it, the Skyshifter immediately made a break for it and raced over to the entryway, something that didn’t go unnoticed by the Dark Portal Master. “What the-!? HEY, GET BACK HERE!! Glumshanks, after him!!”
“B-But Master-”
“I SAID AFTER HIM!!!”
As he heard Kaos screaming to give chase, Calvin was trying to run as fast as he could. In any other circumstance, he would stay and fight. However, even if the Skyshifter were to do that here, he would be vastly outnumbered and possibly overwhelmed by the various paper entities that Kaos just so happened to anger. Right now, the only thing that mattered was that he needed to find a way out of this chaotic labyrinth of a library.
Inconveniently, it was right around now that a certain draconequus decided to check on him. For as Calvin tried to look around this new area he found himself in, he felt something tap his shoulder, as a small miniature version of Discord was standing there. “Hey, uh, how’s everything going? Starswirl and I heard some commotion from up here-”
The Skyshifter took a deep breath, not even questioning how or why the Spirit of Chaos was on his shoulder. Instead, he decided to try and summarize everything that happened, “Well, I found what I was looking for-”
“Huh, that’s good!”
“Then, Kaos and his butler arrived and kicked up a hornet’s nest in the process.”
“Oh, uh… that’s not good.”
“So… I’m running, it’s bad, and I need to find a way out, before they catch up with me,” Calvin tried to summarize, just as he heard another bookcase crash farther behind him, “All the while, I need to make sure this doesn’t fall in Kaos’ hands.”
The little draconequus slithered down his arm like a snake, as he got a closer look at what was in his hand. “Is this what I think it is?”
“Yeah. That’s the project he told us about,” the Skyshifter said, quickly glancing around the corner, before he looked back at him, “I found some of Starswirl’s other things back in the other room, but because of the unwelcome guests here, it’s all buried underneath a pile of books.”
“Well, I can come back and fix that later. Right now, let me take that off of your hands,” with a simple touch of an outstretched talon, Discord was able to shrink the journal down to the same size of his current form and pocket it away, “As for an exit, I can-”
Before he could continue, Calvin placed a finger on Discord’s mouth to silence him, “Hold on a second,” he whispered, before grabbing hold of his pendant, as he heard the encroaching sounds from farther down the hall, “We should find a place to hide first.”
“Right, right,” the Spirit of Chaos retorted, “Do you have a form or something that can help with not being seen?”
The question alone was enough to prompt Calvin to smirk, as his pendant began to glow an emerald green. After he spoke a few words in a whisper, his form shifted into that of Stealth Elf, as ‘she’ looked back to Discord, “Would this answer your question-?”
The sound of more bookcases falling over prompted both of them to look behind, before the Skyshifter hugged a nearby wall, as he placed Discord on his shoulder and vanished from sight. As he slowly moved away, the two of them could see that Kaos and Glumshanks were on the other side, as the Dark Portal Master used the fallen shelves like a makeshift barricade.
“So, what kind of hornet’s nest did he-?”
Before Calvin could answer, a giant paper claymore came crashing down towards the barricade, as the giant knight from the main room was followed by a battalion of smaller paper knights with various weapons right behind them.
Seeing this, the Skyshifter did not want to stick around and get caught up in this mess, so he continued to hurry down the hallway towards another corridor. This time, there were only two particular ways he could proceed, since the door at the north end was closed off. So, his only options were another hallway that was directly to his left or a spiral staircase leading upwards, to his right.
As Calvin shifted back to normal, he was going to head over towards the staircase. However, before he could even take a step, Discord’s voice echoed in his head. “Calvin, wait. Whatever you do, don’t go that way.”
“Huh? What’s the matter-?”
Suddenly, a giant figure crashed into the staircase, forcing him to quickly back away. As the dust cleared, the stairway leading up wasn’t just simply broken. It looked as if a section of it had been eaten. Not a small piece, but the entire bottom half was gone.
“Oh, that’s not good. Calvin, hide!!”
As Calvin backed up and hugged a wall away from the entrance, the dust faded, and he could see a new monstrous figure. Like with the other Origami creatures, its body was fully made of paper, with closed books along its spine. Magic coursed throughout the creation’s body, as it took the form of a large serpentine dragon that dwarfed that of the knight the Skyshifter just fled from. Antler-like horns and burning eyebrows rested on the creature’s head, as its head careened around and started to search.
“Discord, what is that?”
“That… is a Bookwyrm,” the draconequus said, “And we’re in trouble.”
“How bad?”
“Let’s just say that my younger and more impulsive self made it as a way to deter possible thieves, but didn’t realize how problematic it would end up becoming,” Discord admitted. “I mean, having a monster feared for being able to eat anything sounded practical on paper-”
“Wait a minute. You’re saying that you created something that could eat anything, including the very stuff here, around as a pet?”
“You can’t blame me for what Young Discord did. That guy’s an idiot,” the Spirit of Chaos said, “Something tells me that the commotion from down the hall disturbed its slumber and caused it to go on the prowl again.”
“So, what do we do?”
“Preferably, we stay away from it and try to hide. Because once it catches sight of something, it will not stop until it catches whatever it’s pursuing,” Discord groaned, walking along Calvin’s shoulder as he pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes, “We’ve already had enough problems right now, and it’s not like they’re going to cancel each other out.”
Even though it was just a simple remark from him, pieces of an idea started to surface and come together within the Skyshifter’s mind. “What if we can do that?”
“…Would you care to elaborate?” the tiny draconequus asked as he folded his arms.
That had Calvin drop down to his knees, picking up a piece of paper that was by his foot and quietly moving over to an empty desk in the center of the corridor. As he started to crouch underneath, he grabbed a small vial of ink and a quill off of the desk to bring with him. Once underneath, the Skyshifter started to draw a bit of what was on his mind.
“You said that it would not stop unless it catches something, right?” he pointed towards the creature that was a few feet away, “Well, what if we had it chase something and lead it over to where the knights and Kaos are?”
As Discord slithered down his arm and onto the paper, he scratched his chin and began to think. “You think that we could knock out two birds with one stone? That is a one sided fight there-”
“Having the two of them fight is not what matters. What matters is that they’re distracted,” Calvin pointed out. “The more that this book dragon is focused on something or someone else, the less likely that it would pay attention to us, so we can find a way out without a monster breathing down our necks.”
“That’s… huh,” Discord said, a bit surprised by what he was suggesting, as the draconequus looked back at him, “That could work. Though, I must say, this sounds like a plan that a villain would do. Overwhelm the heroes with impossible odds and then slip out the back while they’re distracted.”
“Well, now that you mentioned that, I am kind of taking a page out of Kaos’ book with this one,” the Skyshifter chuckled, before he picked up the small chaos spirit and placed him on his shoulder, “Since it’s worked for him so many times, perhaps it might work for us if we try it?”
“Hey, I’m all on board for reckless ideas,” the draconequus insisted, “Though, I think I should probably ask this. What do you plan on distracting the Wyrm with?”
As Calvin began to think, an idea slowly began to come together. It was unlikely that this wyrm would chase after anything, like a dog would chase a tennis ball. There needed to be something that would convince them that whatever they were going to chase was suitable prey, and the more he thought on it, the more that one possibility came to mind.
“Remember the form I was in earlier? Well, there’s one trick I can do with it that might work for this.”
“Glumshanks!! Stop hiding like a coward and do something!!” Kaos ordered as he channeled more power through his hands. Despite making sufficient progress in preventing the knights from gaining a foothold, the fight was at a standstill. Any time the knights started to lose ground, he’d lose a few more of the spectral soldiers he conjured. Not to mention that the doom sharks he can create did little to improve anything.
“M-Master, are you… sure about that?” the troll questioned, “H-How can-?”
As Glumshanks frantically looked around to try and find something to help his master, he happened to notice an odd sight. From an alley to his right, he noticed that someone was running towards them, an elven figure with features that were strikingly similar to an elf that lived at Skylander Academy. But, he couldn’t figure out why they were here.
“U-uh, M-master? Someone else is coming-!”
“What?!” Kaos snapped, turning to see what his butler was looking at as he let out a groan, “Oh, brilliant. How could this get any worse-?!”
Before he could even finish, a completely different threat was now seen barreling down the hallway. It looked like a massive paper dragon with books along its spine and magic coursing throughout its entire body. The beast steamrolled past what they now saw was just a decoy of whoever was there previously, before setting its sights on a new target, as it charged straight at them.
“ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?!”
Upon hearing the cries of disbelief from down the hall, Calvin couldn’t help but smirk as he peaked out from under the desk. “Well, what do you know? That worked like a charm! If I didn’t know you better, I thought you would be a little agent of chaos.”
“Uh, thanks?” Calvin said, unsure if that was supposed to be a compliment or not, before turning his head towards a door that was to his left and the only one that wasn’t blocked off, “We should probably get going.”
The little chaos spirit nodded, before whisking over towards the door and opening it for him, as the Skyshifter rushed inside. As he stepped in, Calvin was greeted by the sight of another long hallway. This time, it was filled with a bunch of bookshelves that were about as high as a pony and extended all the way down. Much to his dismay, this almost looked like the last one.
“Discord, what part of the library are we in now?”
“Oh, this is where I keep all the short stories I read,” Discord chuckled, which only had Calvin raise an eyebrow in confusion, “You know, because… well, it’s short.”
Normally, he would respond in turn to something like this. But instead, the Skyshifter started to pick up on something not that far from where he was. It was a familiar scent, too, for it was the smell of something burning. As he followed it, Calvin soon found what looked like a small crack in the wall that was behind a bookcase.
“Do you think you can fit through that?” he asked.
“I’ll do you one better,” Discord replied as he snapped his talon. In an instant, the bookshelves parted, like a set of sliding doors, and the crack in the wall became wide enough for Calvin to barely squeeze his way through.
Once on the other side, Discord changed his form back to his normal size. “Well, at least we’re out. Now, if you excuse me, I gotta grab the other guest we had come along with. Hang tight.”
When the spirit of chaos left, Calvin tried to follow the whiff of smoke he smelled earlier. For one thing, he found himself back in the same forest they arrived in. But, something seemed very wrong. Birds and animals were moving past him frantically, and the clear sky from before was now a darkened hue that blocked out any sunlight. His heartbeat was beginning to quicken rapidly. With each step, he rushed to the edge of the cliff face to look out at what was below.
Immediately, he felt something drop within him, as he stared at what was playing out before his very eyes, “Oh, no.”
The city that once stood proudly in the distance was now ablaze. Embers from the fires in the burning buildings were out of control, as blazing sparks danced on the wind and ignited trees in the forest farther down. He could see figures in the streets panicking and running around, unsure as to what they were doing.
He had only been inside the library for a short while, and in that time, a storm of untold proportions had razed the kingdom of Abyssinia to the ground.
End Scroll 36
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11472543
Can you do a second "Memo to the Academy " chapter? With all that's happened since the first one, the rules have probably have been updated, added, and/ or removed.
11613885
That might be something for the future. But right now, we're getting into some rather serious territory. Might be some time before that happens
11614205
At least it will happen eventually. That's good enough for me. Beggars can't be choosers and all that.
20 bits that says here comes Storm King!