Tides of the Past

by King-Mac-13

High Tide

Excerpt from Starswirl’s interview with Melody the Siren:
Starswirl: Your friend told me that the creature you tried to drain all those years ago was a Leviathan.
Melody: Not “a,” The Leviathan. We never believed those old stories about that monster.
Starswirl: Stories?
Melody: Yeah. Old stories that our moms used to tell us. We always thought it was just one of those stories adults tell to keep kids in line. Turns out those tales weren’t as tall as we thought.
-\/-

Twilight and Levi arrived at the Ponyville station as the sun started to descend in the sky (basically late afternoon). Levi constantly looked around at everything as though he had never seen any of it before in his life. Whether that was true, Twilight wasn’t sure. After all, she didn’t know how old he really was. As they walked, a voice from behind them caught their attention.

“Hey, Twilight!” The trio of young fillies known as the Cutie Mark Crusaders ran up to the princess and pony out of time. Scootaloo looked at Levi, “Who’s your new friend?”

Levi looked down at the young Pegasus and cleared his throat. “I am Levi Athtan. Twilight was just showing me around.”

“That makes sense.” Sweetie Belle replied.

“It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Levi,” Applebloom added.

Levi chuckled. “It’s nice to meet you all as well. Though, I’ll have to ask that we meet at another time. I’ve been on a train for a few days and would like a chance to stretch my legs.”

“Okay. See you Twilight.” The three ran off to do who knows what.

Twilight looked over to him. “You seem to have a way with children.”

“Be it my era or this new era, some things don’t change.”

They continued to walk toward the castle. Twilight continued to ask questions about the old era. “What were the ponies like? Where did they live? What did you mean by alicorns being rare?”

The answers being, “not much different. Often in small communities or cities,” and, “Alicorns, as you call them, were practically non-existent back then. If they did exist, I never heard of or saw one.”

They arrived at the castle in time for the door to swing open and a pink blur to tackle Twilight. “Welcome back!”

“Pinkie Pie!” Twilight was still a little dizzy, but greeted her friend. “It’s nice to be home.”

The rest of the group walked out of the castle and greeted their friend. Applejack was the first to notice Levi and walked over. “Hey there, stranger. Welcome to Ponyville. I’m Applejack. You are…?”

“Levi Athtan. Nice to meet you.”

“Twilight, darling…” Rarity walked up to Twilight and pulled her aside a bit. “Where did you meet this… dashing stallion?”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “I met him during the trip…”

“Apologies, all. But I need to rest after the long trip. Twilight, would you mind if I use one of the guest rooms? Assuming you have one, of course.”

“Of course. Take the first left after the stairs and it’s the third door on the right.”

“Thank you.” He walked in and made his way to the room.

Fluttershy looked toward the door. “He seemed nice.”

Twilight smiled and walked inside with her friends toward the throne room. “Yeah. He’s been really helpful in answering my questions.”

“What questions?”

“Oh! Right. He’s not from our time.”

“Wait!” Rainbow grabbed Twilight’s face and pulled her up a bit. “Is he a time traveler or something?”

“I don’t know everything. But I found him confined in a cave. He says he’s from before Equestria and the evidence seems to support that idea.”

“How, exactly?”

“The lock was an old magic that I’ve never seen before. He knows so much about the world and has relayed them accurately.”

“Lock?” Applejack chimed in.

“He says he was locked away for property damage and they forgot about him.”

“You don’t think he might have been lying?”

“It’s possible. But I want to give him the benefit of the doubt right now. He promised to behave himself.”

“If you say so.”

A murmur from outside caught their attention. Pinkie Pie spoke up, “What’s going on?”

The group made their way outside and found that everypony was looking up at the sky. The six followed their gazes and found something that was… unnatural. The sun was accented by what appeared to be the face of a jack-o-lantern.

“What the hey?”

“So… I was looking in the mirror…” Levi walked up behind them. “I guess that something’s wrong with the sun.”

“How did you get that from a mirror?” The group turned to face him and got their answer. His yellow eye had the same pattern. “What?”

“It’s a long story and one I’d prefer not to get into right now. The point is that something is causing this pattern to appear on the sun and we need to fix it.”

“And do you have some idea as to how?” Rainbow said with skepticism seeping from her voice.

“If it’s still around…” He walked passed them and continued, “There should be an old ruin nearby to the northwest.”

“I don’t remember a ruin there…” Twilight thought a moment, trying to think back to everything she had learned about the area.

“You likely wouldn’t. Come on.” He started to walk to the northwest side of Ponyville.

The group followed him, most a bit concerned. Rainbow was the first to speak up after they left the town’s boarders. “So… Where are we going, exactly?”

Levi stopped after a short while and looked around. “It should be around here… somewhere…”

“You sure about that?”

“No. You’ve likely been told already that I am not of this era. Everything I know is different here.”

“Right…”

Levi closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Unless…” He looked around and started to dig a small hole nearby. “Here!” Below the surface was a small opening into a cave.

“Huh… Maybe it’s not all just malarkey…” Applejack looked down into the cave.

“Lovely…” Levi entered the cavern. “Another cave. This is getting old.”

“Got something against caves?”

“I was trapped in one long enough that I lost track of centuries.”

The group looked between one another but followed him into the cave. “So,” Rainbow Dash, broke the silence of the cave, “What are we looking for?”

Levi stopped at a large structure. “This.” The structure was a large, stone spire with clear indications that there is more to the spire than what is outwardly seen. “Ah… to have seen this in its heyday. They say it was adorned in beautiful colors and gems.”

“Gems?” Rarity’s interest was grabbed instantly.

“So, this thing can fix the face on the sun?” Rainbow asked.

“This is Harmonia. Twilight told me about your previous adventures. This is like the prototype of usable Elements of Harmony. However, using it will have consequences.”

“What consequences?” Fluttershy asked, hiding behind her friends.

“I don’t know.”

“How do know what it is and that there would be consequences, but not know what could happen if you use it?” Applejack inquired.

“Because nopony ever used it. Barring that, all power has consequences. Be it athletic performance, knowledge, or magical prowess; something had to be given up. Be it time for training or studying, or some effect of the magic. Even your old element required all six to be used. If one was absent, it would fail.” He walked up and placed a hoof on the device. “Of course, it will take time to charge.” He pushed a device on the side and the tower started to glow slightly.

“Ah, yes. What a nice sentiment.” The group spun around to find a dark grey, unicorn stallion with a red mane and deep purple eyes walking down toward them. His cutie mark, an open book with a bright blue fire ball hovering over the pages. “Am I interrupting?”

“Who are you?”

“Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Grimoire Maleficarum.”

“Wait a second…” Twilight thought a moment. “I know that name. You were kicked out of magic school!”

“A forced retirement by a broken system.” Grimoire walked up and swatted his tail at Twilight. “Though how can I expect the newest princess to understand that. Just because I dabbled in dark magic, I’m automatically expelled.”

“What?!” Twilight instantly adopted a defensive stance.

“I wouldn’t if I were you, princess. The structure is quite old. Any violence could topple your hope to fix the sun.”

“You’re the one behind the sun’s change, aren’t you?”

“Give the mare a prize! But that’s not the important part of our little interaction. Any violence will break the spire, which I now know is called Harmonia. Thanks for that, by the way. Now then, what will you do? Will you stop me and bring me in, but doom your sun. Or will you hold back and save your sun, but give me the necessary room to be able to escape?” When no one moved, he smiled. “There the answer, I suppose.”

“Why are you doing this?”

“Right to the point. I can respect that. I’m out to do what you used to. The pursuit of knowledge for knowledge’s sake. Of course, unlike you, I’m not focusing on theory and book study. I’m out to prove those theories in the field. I’ve already confirmed the idea that Dark Magic is driven by emotion. But I also debunked the idea that it is the magic of cowards. If anything, it’s more impressive than normal magic. Unlike normal, light magic, which is bound by knowing yourself and being the most magically inclined. Dark Magic is not bound by raw power. Rather it is…” He stopped suddenly and chuckled. “Oops. Almost used up my time. You can forgive me, different magics have always fascinated me and I’m out to understand them all. And I should thank you for making my job easier.”

“What?”

“3… 2… 1…”

Harmonia fully charged and fired a burst of energy upward toward the sun. When it flew into the sky, there was a moment of pause before a rainbow burst outward from the sun. The sun was back to normal.

Grimoire jumped in joy. “Yes! Ha! It worked!”

“What are you talking about? We just foiled your plans.” Rainbow flew over to confront Grimoire.

“Did you?”

“Well… yeah… Right?”

“Not quite. The first rule to mastering Dark Magic is to be the smartest pony in the room. Though… I’m the smartest pony that use magic… If I had half the mental capabilities of your pink friend, I’d be able to do anything I wanted! Again, off topic.”

“I’ve had enough of this!” Rainbow charged forward and flew through Grimoire, crashing into the wall behind him. “What the…?!”

“Do you honestly believe I would be in the same room and the group trying to stop me? This is a projection. I enjoy a good gloat, but I’m not about to walk in to get captured. I see you brought the first of the four, though. How nice of you.”

“What four?”

“The four Elementals. Forces of nature given form. The Elemental of Water, Leviathan.” He gestured toward Levi.

“Leviathan?”

“Yes. One of the Elementals that was sealed away. It’s said his eyes are the sun and moon. His breath is a fire that burns even under water. But, none of that matters, really. The important part is that he’s here.”

Levi stared done the projection. “What do you want?”

“Oh! Right. I want the knowledge that was lost. I want the power of the ancients. I’m going to fix this broken system once and for all! But enough about all that, I’ve spent too much time with the exposition. Maybe next time we can have a real meeting. I’m thinking tea and scones. Anyway, see you around.” The projection faded.

“What just happened?”

Levi looked at the spire. “I fear we played a part in his plan. This magic is old, but powerful. It will act as a beacon for many who seek such power. Including the Elementals he spoke of. I’m not sure when, but they will arrive. And I fear that’s what he wants.”

“Who are these Elementals, anyway?” Applejack asked.

“We did only get an overview.” Twilight looked around curiously.

Levi walked to the wall Rainbow crashed into. “Twilight, if you could give us some more light…” When Twilight illuminated the room, the group could see a carving of four creatures. “They are the Phoenix, the Sphinx, the Raiju, and the Leviathan. Elementals of fire, earth, wind, and water; respectively.”

“Phoenix?” Fluttershy continued to hide, but wanted to know about the creature more.

The phoenix on the carving was shown with outstretched wings and a burning landscape, causing said shy pony to hide again. The Sphinx’s carving showed the creature surrounded by various creatures and plant life. The Raiju was a wolf that seemed to be made of lightning. The Leviathan’s appearance could be described as a harsher version of a siren. Its eyes were a solid gold and silver.

“Woah…” Twilight looked at the carvings with a scientific eye. “This is incredible. We should study the area immediately!” She stops a moment and looks to Levi. “Wait. He said you were the Leviathan.”

“He did.”

“Are you?”

“Yes.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Two reasons. 1) I had inferred that you knew what I was because you came to my cave specifically.”

“And the second.”

Pinkie popped up between them. “You didn’t ask!”

“There you go.” Levi turned around and started to leave the cave. “Get ready, everypony. The days to come will be difficult.
-\/-
Excerpt from the journal of Grimoire Maleficarum:
Entry: K-M-11 (02)
It’s clear they don’t understand. I practice a magic they call evil. In my studies, I have found that Dark Magic is no more evil than light magic. They don’t bother to understand it. They see one bad example and they think they know everything about how it works. They are hoofchair-theorists! Nothing more! They haven’t tried to understand the magic! Though… nothing I say to them will matter. I don’t care, anymore. Their actions create the monsters they try to prevent. Maybe it’s time someone fixed what is broken.