An unexpected turn

by starlight-stream-mlp

2 The journey

Chapter Two - The Journey

The hiss noise now was directed to Shatter. Flowing like a levitation spell, yet with its own will, the spell entered his mind invading it. Shatter squealed and winced in pain. He tried to fight it off but lost relatively quickly. His face frozen, some tears ran down his cheek. His expression was dull and lifeless. In a burst, both, eyes and mouth brightened; his hair floating. His heart started to glow and his brain did the same. Then it started to speak.

"Greetings, my subject. if you allow me to introduce myself; I am called Termio. You might have heard of me in the past. I am afraid there is something bad coming to all that lives. I was not strong enough to stop it on my own. Now, I am here to inform you that you have to leave this place. With your help, I can assure, that these dangers will be defeated. I don't have much time to explain everything. The connection to your world won't last forever. Please hurry! Find the one with the most knowledge, the one with the most wisdom and go through the thin portal of time, space, and matter. I will tell you everything there..."

Starlight heard another hiss, as this Termio went out of Shatter’s body, the levitation spell fading into nothingness. Then silence returned, followed by a thud. Shatter’s body collapsed on the practice bed right next to the exit. A few seconds later, Shatter heard a bell ringing. He growled and pressed his hooves against his temples, to compensate the pain which was running through it. Shatter asked where he was and what happened over again. Having a remedy from a well-known zebra, he gave it to him. Shatter felt better after a few moments. Starlight observed him until his headache was gone entirely. Feeling better, Shatter Speach could leave the practice. Still processing about what happened, Starlight put everything important into a saddle-bag and locked the house for the rest of the day. Starfall was happy, to get some extra free time.

"Thank you, Starlight. Now I can finally buy a new saddle from Rarity. You know that I desperately need a new one."

she cheered while hugging him tightly. In a wave, she left the practice, excited about her new saddle. Standing in front of the doorstep to get back on track with Starlight's thoughts, his neighbour, Mister Cure, who surprisingly worked as a doctor, started laughing and yelled,

"What’s up Nolor? Can't pay the bills anymore?!? Hahahaha!!!!! I knew you would surrender someday!"

Annoyed about the comment, Starlight gave him an irritated, but at the same time slightly disgusted glance and continued walking. Some ponies even looked at Cure with their heads cocked to the side in confusion.

"*groan* Why does such an idiot have to be my neighbour...? Ok, what was he saying again? There is not much time and I have to find a wise one. Why in Equestria do I need to do that? There is Celestia, Luna, or even the fresh baked princess Twilight...."

As time went on, he didn't notice that the door of Zecora’s house was facing him.

"Termio said something about a pony with wisdom; was Zecora the pony he meant? ...well, there is only one way to find out."

Right before him stood a big oak door, covered in wine twigs. They covered every spot of the door. Moving his hoof in a searching motion for the knock hammer, the twigs moved and made way for the pony limb. That way the oak slabs and a wooden bar with black engravement “Lady Zecora” got visible. Having found the skull-alike knock hammer, he knocked on her door and asked if anypony was in. Slowly, the door opened. Nopony seemed to open the door, or at least stand in front of it on the other end. On the other hoof, however, stood the fact that Zecora’s house was a ‘special’ place. Everything could happen when she was working - even her house getting alife. In a sudden motion, some roots shoved Starlight into the tree house. Snaring at the sudden movement, he perked his ears flat in a disobedient manner. Even though he was used to it, Starlight never liked to be pushed around by anything, or anypony.

Being pushed into the main room, the door then slowly closed, accompanied by an old filthy squeak and the loud thud of the door's lock.

"So much for that."

Small dirty windows let a bit of light through them shining on Starlight's cheeks. The warmth also brought some comfort to the young colt. Moving around, searching for Zecora, he smelled an intriguing, yet harmonic scent of herbs drifting in the air. This playful smell came from a boiling and blubbering poison, inside of an old boiler. The boiler appeared to have engravings in a foreign language on its outside. It also inherited a small scene of zebras praising their highest priest. A desk nearly containing out of books was in the centre of the room. Also, a quill and some scattered pages were laying around. The pages were filled with sketches and drawings of Zecoras latest recipes for remedies, poisons, or even venoms. Some pages were hanging from the edge nearly falling to the ground. Above hang some wind plays and ancient relics of her time in Zebrica, her home. Looking at the other well sorted herb boxes, -glasses, -jars and -books embedded in the wooden walls, Starlight heard a bump noise. He scanned the ground and quickly found a boarded up trap door inside of the book filled desk. As Starlight moved the boxes in front of it away, in order to properly access the trapdoor, it seemed to be placed neatly into the big desk. Nothing made the impression that this trapdoor was added a short while ago. A faint

"Come in"

slipped through the cracks, in the rotting wooden boards. Starlight obeyed the offer and opened the door. One root slapped Starlight's hoof and managed to open the door.

"Ou! Hey!"

A cringing squeak injured his ears. Two teal eyes blinked out of the dark, looking at him. It was Zecora’s eyes.

“Come downstairs Mister Stream. Do you want to tell me about your latest dream?”

Hesitantly, he replied:

“N-No. A strange creature was in my practice and told something about dangers, and that I have to find the pony with the most wisdom. Can you help me, please?”

Confused about the trapdoor he added,

“Did you got trapped in your own house?"

Zecora was smiling and indicated to follow her downstairs.

"Too silly is what you think. No, a meditation in blue and pink is what I've waited for."

After looking at the boxes, he noticed invisible strings connected to the trap door, before moving on. He followed her with a sense of dread inside. The earthen walls and the old torches sticking out of them did not look trustworthy, but with Zecora near him, it was not that frightening. Nopony needed to close the door. Zecora’s house, well, more her roots did the job of closing the door and moving the boxes to their original place, by pulling the strings. Starlight knew something would happen, if not sure what exactly.

“I knew that you were coming, my friend. Termio visited me, trying to tell what happens in the end. He was vague with his description, but you know what was his prediction.”

Heading downstairs, they went deeper and deeper into the ground. Every stair was soaking wet and slippery. Starlight was able to see roots holding back the earth around them. All the roots built up the corridor downstairs. Some of them seemed to hang down, like a chandelier. Water ran down until the very end. The liquid built clear water drops, which were falling down on the stairs. All combined, a never-ending water orchestra played its soft melody accompanied by the rhythmic steps both ponies took. Starlight's heart beats faster with every step. A little cave was in vision. He was not sure what would lay upon him down there; what type of role he would play. This was completely new land for him, though he felt a little tingle in his heart. It was....determination. Focused on his thoughts, Starlight replied,

“I’m so confused. That Termio thing was so cryptic and scary to me.Not even my worst nightmares could create such a creature. It also told me to visit a wise one. I know you are, despite to Luna and Celestia herself, one of the wisest ones I know of and one of my best friends from an early age on. That was probably the main reason why I came to you. I still have so many questions about Termio. I...”

“Zecora? Hello!? Is anypony here?”

Another familiar voice joined the two-pony-group. They immediately recognized Twilight’s voice. The pink light-spell of Twilight got in vision.

“There you are. Have you heard the strange noises as well?”

“Yes; we probably heard the same things you did. Did you know about the trap door? ”

Starlight replied. Twilight continued,

"Yes I knew about it, but that is not important right now. Even more important is Termios appearance. I can’t explain who he specifically was, or why he came to us. I mean I read his name in one of my books but never got to get more information about him. Still, the fact that Termio appeared around this time makes me wonder what this is all about. He also mentioned a zebra I should go to and speak with. Since you are the only Zebra I know, I obviously ran to you."

Starlight cocked his head in thought,

"He appeared to me as well. He talked about something that threats all that lives and that I am supposed to help fix it, whatever the issue is. Why should I be helpful? I am nopony special."

Twilight interrupted Starlight with a grin,

"That is not entirely true. You do have special abilities. Remember? You threw a star back into the sky. Only princes Luna would be able to do that, but you?You did that by your own hooves. Not to mention your expertise in healing others which comes in really handy. There is always such a need when you travel. Besides, I was searching the rest of the day for what I have brought to you."

Twilight brought a saddle bag packed with books and old rolls of paper. Some of them looked very old. Searching for the oldest paper in there she unrolled it to reveal a small tale.

“A long long time ago, a time, where not even a single Pony was breathing, there was just dust and a huge empty space. A few bigger chunks drifted around, collided and built up the ground we are walking on. Some other chunks got into a simple form, a pony form. But this form seemed to be empty and without life in it. There was still one ingredient missing. The empty body drifted through some more dust. It didn’t collide with it though; it scratched the surface until a spark jumped over to its head. A light blast flurried through every single chunk of dust. Another blast came. Then it opened its eyes. What it saw first was no solid body. It was a loose ordered ‘something’. It was not happy with it though, so it left the form. A light and half transparent aura got out of the pony form. It saw the huge ball of dust and tried building Seas, Lakes, rivers, grass trees and much more. These creations also took its toll. A long time after, it still saw its old pony form drifting in space. Sad about that, it tried to form something else out of the dust chunks. It stayed a pony form but this time there were 3. It started concentrating on the dust chunks. It concentrated more and more until another little spark jumped to all 3 chunks. The same light blast flurried through them. It wasn’t satisfied with it, so it concentrated on it even more. Three ponies evolved out of the light blast combined with the dust. Happy about what it made, it thought about a name for the 3 ponies and itself. It called itself Termio. The other 3 Ponies, were called Discord, Galactus, and Solaria……..Termio couldn’t ………...and so he disappeared.

From this point on, the other pages got burnt. Celestia told me, that Galactus and Solaria were her and Luna’s Parents. I haven’t heard of them, but I trust Celestia enough to believe it. Since then I searched for any other documents. I searched in the golden old library, in the Canterlot library and in one of the oldest paper rolls, protected by Celestia herself including this one. She didn’t know much more either, but she believed, that Termio needs help. Our entire world, like we know it, it seems to crumble. In addition to that, Termio appeared to me a second time and told me, about these dangers. That we need to travel - I guess into another universe. Maybe into his realms."

Zecora drew everyponies attention towards the centre of the hall.

»There is not much time to lose. Termio needed to choose. He trusts you his life. Don't disappoint, because it could be our last journey, so start to strive."

Inside of the cave, they built a little circle. 4 torches enlightened the little hall. Right above their heads was the central root system, of Zecora’s house tree. The roots held a massive gem from falling to the floor. The floor contained out of moss and old stone plates. Some of them had engravings, others were too damaged to read.

So, the only thing left for us is to go through that thin portal he was talking about, right?

“Sumbria lumda, sumbria lumda, sumbria lumda, sumbria lumda…”

“Um…...Is everything alright?”

Zecora pointed her hoof towards Starlight’s face. What she wanted was silence. The mumbling turned into a ritual dance. She circled around the centre of the hall in a dancing motion. Twilight intuitively joined Zecora; her eyes glowing in the progress. Zecora took some dirt and mixed it with oil. Even though she was in a trance, she knew where to search for that oil. It was in a dark spot in the cave. Right next to it was a bowl. Once the oil and dirt combined to a paste, Zecora applied it in stroking motions on Twilight's face. Once done with her it was now time for Starlight. Closing his eyes, Zecora applied stroke after stroke with a careful hoof. The oil settled on his face. The more time passed, the less he could seem to hear. Opening his eyes, the young colt's vision was blurry. The only things he could make out were a grey spot (Zecora), a purple blur (Twilight) and a bright illuminated portal. Seeing Twilight disappear into the bright surface made Starlight realize, that he needs to go into there now too. So he went there but closed his eyes before entering. What he saw after entering into the portal baffled his mind.

Comments

[JackRipper]

This could really use an editor, punctuation and grammar errors in the description alone does not set a good precedent for the rest of the story.