Father of Monsters

by BaeroRemedy

Kalpas

The sloped streets of Kalpas were paved in uneven stones and flanked by buildings decorated in blue and white. The subtropical sun was low on the horizon, painting the sky in beautiful shades of orange and pink. The locals delighted in the cool evening weather, gallivanting through the streets and chattering in the local language.

If one was to look out from any point, between the houses and shops, past the ponies who were enjoying the late summer afternoon, you would see a sparkling crystal blue ocean. Islands dotted the distance, each one just as alive and vibrant as Kalpas.

The whole region was paradise to most, if not all, who were just passing through.

For the Equestrian stallion who was wandering the quiet moonlit streets, it was just another view. He was used to such magnificent vistas and breathtaking views, they had honestly become less interesting over the years. That didn’t mean that he was unable to appreciate them, it just meant he was a lot more jaded than most. After all he used to be an explorer, he had seen these kinds of vistas more times than he could count.

The Equestrian stopped, catching sight of two ponies sitting on a ledge overlooking the sea and caught in an intimate moment. A pegasus stallion had his wing draped over a young mare, their hooves intertwined as they leaned against one another and just enjoyed the closeness of one another.

The sight alone made the pony frown and look away. He envied them in a way, they both had somepony that they cared for and cared for them in turn. Just another luxury he left behind long ago along with his home back in Canterlot. He wished he could have even half of that kind of connection to another pony, even just sharing a conversation would be good.

His frown only deepened as he felt the familiar tug at his front right leg and the wing on the same side. He had lost them both over a decade ago, now replaced with metal facsimiles that would never quite feel the same as flesh and blood. In his mind, it only served to distance himself further and further from those able bodied individuals around him.

Time and travel had taken their toll on his body more than just missing limbs. His once slate gray coat had become white around his hooves and muzzle, his proud jet black mane was now marred by white streaks all over. For now, that was covered with the rough brown hooded poncho he wore through most of his travels. It wasn’t comfortable or convenient to do what he did anymore, but he did it nonetheless.

Once upon a time he had been part of an exploration force for Equestria. It had been a lifetime of globetrotting and adventure; cities besieged in the desert, jungles full of treasure, unknown lands to explore, and close friends lost to the dangers of the job. He was retired now. He had tried to go back to work a few years ago, but found himself more wandering than exploring, so he just retired and kept wandering.

With his heart and mind heavy, he figured he was done travelling for the day. If he wanted he could easily find a boat down at the docks to take him to one of the neighboring islands before nightfall, but for now he didn’t want to at all. A meal of some kind and a bed would do for the rest of the evening.

After some time working his way through the village, he found a two story building with candles still burning in all of the windows. Warm chatter and laughter emanated from within, along with the smell of fresh cooked food and beer. It would be home for the night.

He made his way inside and threw the hood off of his head. Two hearths burned bright and warm on opposite sides of the room, a warm and delicious smelling cauldron brewing over each. There were a few ponies lingering around the open area here on the first floor, most of them speaking the local language that he only knew simple words and phrases of. Quickly, however, he zeroed in on a fellow Equestrian sitting in a chair in front of one of the fireplaces.

It was a mare tending to the cauldron hanging over the fire in the hearth. It didn’t seem like she was speaking to any of the locals around her, but rather to herself. Weirdly enough, she looked like a local even if she didn’t speak like one; a shiny jet black mane and a rich chestnut coat put her lineage in the area. However, the various pages sticking from her saddlebags let him know that she was Equestrian, or at least spoke it.

“I can’t tell if you are a long way from home, or right where you belong.” He spoke as jovially as he could as he wandered behind the mare. With great care for his knees, he slowly sat in a stiff wooden chair to the side of her. He then held out his good hoof to the fire and let out a contented sigh.

He received nothing in response from the mare except an icy stare from her bright blue eyes. She turned her gaze back towards the cauldron and leaned in to stir the cauldron a little more. With that little move, he got a clear view that she was indeed an earth pony. No horn poked out from her neatly brushed mane, and no wings were folded against her dark brown coat.

“Do you speak Equestrian?” he offered, taking off his saddlebags and cloak and setting them beside his chair. He immediately felt her eyes go to his metal appendages before going back to the pot once again. “I saw some of the papers sticking out of your bags, you at least read it.”

“Yes, I do speak Equestrian.” Her voice was level and calm, giving no hint as to her emotions, but letting Intrepid know that she did not want any conversation. He did gleam something from the terse statement though, an accent. Canterlot, if he remembered after such a long time away from home.

“Ah, good.” He nodded and craned his neck forward to get a better look in the pot over the fire. It didn’t look to be anything too exotic, just a simple vegetable stew. “I apologise for intruding, but it is not every day I get to speak with somepony from home.”

“Mhm,” the mare responded, her eyes kept focused on the boiling broth before her. All Intrepid could do was hold back a sigh in frustration as he was shut out. He knew a pony who didn’t want to be bothered when he saw one, and it was a giant tease for him to find a pony with whom he could finally converse properly after months alone, and she didn’t want to talk. That was just his luck.

“I’m going to leave my things here while I get a room, can you watch them for me?” He stood and looked to the mare for confirmation, only receiving a very curt nod in response.

With that settled, he ventured over to a little desk set up at the far end of the busy room, past the bar that was serving some sort of regional drink to travellers and locals alike, and to a stallion whose colors nearly matched the Equestrian mare by the hearth. He was just a shade lighter, and his eyes were green rather than blue. The bushy black mustache also set him apart, along with the friendly smile he flashed to his newest patron.

“One room, please. For the night.” Intrepid spoke slowly and as clearly as he could, not knowing the amount of Equestrian that the stallion behind the desk spoke. He even punctuated his words by utilizing the feathers on his good wing, holding up a single primary on the end and then pointing it towards the upper floor where the rooms were.

The stallion said something in the local tongue, something that Intrepid could not translate even if he tried. The stallion then pointed to a sign hanging above his head and held out his hoof, waiting.

While Intrepid was an explorer, and he knew about three different languages other than Equestrian, he didn’t know a word of Alogolan, not even a greeting. The area wasn’t one he frequented often, not like the Gryphus Mountains, Saddle Arabia, or the Zebrican Desert. This Alogos Archipelago was not of interest to Equestrian or its Crowns, so he was rarely ever a guest.

The sign, while still in the local language, could still be read thanks to the rather universal numbering system used throughout the various lands. Fifty bits for a room is what it said. Fifty bits! Intrepid narrowed his eyes and furrowed his brows, ready to argue and haggle the price down to something manageable, when the fact that he couldn’t hit him once again. So with a sigh, and a victorious grin from the stallion behind the counter, Intrepid forked over the bits and grumbled as he walked away.

“Can’t believe the rates here…” he complained as he sat back down by the mare. “They charge you a leg and a wing to stay here for one night, can you believe it?” He was hoping that a mutual complaint would spur her into conversation, but instead she only looked at his metal appendages. “Hmm… poor choice of words, I guess…” He ended with a small chuckle.

“Why are you here?” It was more of an accusatory question than curious, and that caught Intrepid off guard. Even the meanest ponies could at least let their curiosity get the better of them, but apparently not this mare.

“W-well…” He stammered out, doing his best to get the idea of an interrogation out of his head. This was a friendly conversation, without the friendliness it seemed. “…I travel around quite a bit, I’m an explorer by trade. I was on my way to Thestralia, and as much as I love being on boats, I was not going to be on one for months on end.” It helped that Alogos was a halfway point between Casaflanca and the home of the bat ponies.

“Why?” The question was asked again, the same tone and inflection. It made Intrepid want to roll his eyes and sigh, but he bit it back and swallowed. He was not going to get frustrated, after all it was conversation.

“Well, if you truly want to know, to meet a friend.” Intrepid looked down at his hooves, his metal one tapping against the stool rhythmically. He hadn’t seen her in what, maybe eight years? Now she was headed to Thestralia with one of her friends, and she had sent a letter inviting him. How could he say no to reuniting with an old acquaintance, especially when he didn’t have to go back to Equestria to do so.

“Hmm…” the mare responded as she looked into the pot, and then nodded in satisfaction. She tapped the wooden spoon she had been using to stir with against the side of the pot and took some of the brew up in it, then poured it into a bowl waiting on the ground. “Would you like some?”

“Oh, yes please.” He nodded enthusiastically and grabbed a bowl from a little peg hanging right above the fireplace and held it out. Carefully, the mare spooned his bowl until it was full and nodded. “Thank you very much, by the way. I will always appreciate a warm meal.”

“Mhm.” She pulled two wooden spoons from above the fireplace and held one out for Intrepid, which he took happily. “What is your name?” The question wasn’t as hostile as the previous ones were, almost as if she was warming up a bit. Progress that he would take!

“Intrepid.” He took the spoon in his wing and scooped up some of the broth in his bowl, blowing on it just a little before finally tasting it. It was a bit bland, but filling nonetheless. It was a meal, and he wasn’t going to squander whatever goodwill he had attained with this mare by complaining. “Yours?” he asked after swallowing.

“Strata,” the mare replied as she began on her own bowl, taking care to blow on the little spoonfuls before putting them in her mouth. “What do you do, Intrepid?” It was a simple question, one that he had been asked an incalculable amount of times before, but here it meant something. It was now filled with genuine curiosity instead of malice, and that was a good sign.

“Explore, mostly.” He continued to eat between sentences, doing his best to not be rude. “I used to work for Princess Celestia for Her Majesty’s Exploration Force, but I am mostly retired now. I go where I want nowadays, report when I feel like it.” It sounded a bit irresponsible when he said it aloud, but he was practically retired now, so he couldn’t care what it sounded like to others. He had earned this.

“Interesting.” Her eyes focused on the fire, studying it and looking for something within the flames. There was a silence as they both ate, for a solid minute at least before she spoke again. “Have you explored Alogos much?”

“A long time ago I spent a few months wandering the islands.” It had been nearly twenty years ago at this point, updating maps and reporting on the political climate. It was nothing too thorough or in-depth, but it was better than nothing. “Other than that, I know what others have left behind, which is more than enough.”

Again, there was a silence as the two enjoyed their small meal. He was not going to push the conversation, as he felt it would go nowhere. If she wanted to talk, she would start it up herself. He knew there was no point in trying to force small talk with somepony who was not so interested in it.

“I am an archaeologist,” Strata stated bluntly as she placed her now empty bowl on the floor beside her stool. “Most of my work is on the ancient Alogos civilizations and learning about their culture.” Well that made the name make a little more sense, a pony who spent their life digging in the dirt was of course named Strata.

“Interesting,” Intrepid offered as he matched her action and put his bowl down beside his seat. “Are you…” He couldn’t think of the right word for what an archaeologist did. Was it called ‘a dig’? That didn’t seem right. “…on an expedition?” he ventured, hoping that was the right verbiage.

“Indeed, I am.” Her voice seemed to lighten up just a bit as she began to speak about her work. “I found something rather interesting during my last dig and I’m following up.” Those icy blue eyes seemed to warm a little, her posture became a little less rigid and more open and relaxed. The marks of a mare with passion, he liked that.

“Oh?” he asked, now knowing how to get Strata to talk. Ponies like this, the kind that lived for their work, were an easy egg to crack once you knew the right spot to hit. “Might I ask what you found?” These types loved talking about their work, especially if it was something that they thought of as theirs. So if this was Strata’s discovery, she would be singing like a canary soon.

“What I find every time, ruins,” Strata stated simply, with just a hint of sarcasm behind the words. Intrepid cracked a smile and leaned in, interested if she would add more. “There were some markings that indicated another lost ruin, something nopony has even heard of before.” There it was, her discovery. “I am going to find it.” That was not just a statement, that was a promise. He could tell.

“Can you tell me what it is you found?” He wasn’t going to pry if she said no, but he had a good feeling she wouldn’t. Not that she was on a roll about her passion.

“I can, I suppose.” Strata’s hesitation in those words were as shallow as a stream, and they both knew it. It was for show more than anything, to uphold her closed off appearance. Slowly she retrieved two things from her saddlebags; a pair of spectacles and an old beat up journal. She flipped through it and muttered before she found the page she was looking for. “Beneath the Celestial Shrine in the middle of Kreváti Alogo, there was a secret antechamber that was discovered after a sinkhole opened up near it.” As Intrepid quietly downed the delicious stew that had been prepared, he craned his neck to see an ancient language transcribed in the journal and hasty translations. “In the main chamber, we discovered a shrine to something named ‘Typhon’. The language around the room said something about where its tomb is.”

As she leaned forward and back to get to the stuff in her saddlebags, he was able to catch a glimpse of her cutie mark finally. It was a pickaxe and shovel, their handles crossed and a few layers of dirt behind them. It was honestly something he should have expected given her name and profession.

“So you’re trying to find the tomb of a god?” He didn’t know of any mortal being that ever had a secret shrine to it. “That seems more like a legend than fact.” What he got in response was a glare, which he met with the most neutral look he could manage. He had stared down much more intimidating things in his life.

“Of course not, I’m trying to find ruins. There most likely is a tomb, but it is probably for show. I have never heard of this Typhon creature, but we are still learning things about the ancient civilizations that lived in this area. This tomb might be the main temple for Typhon and we could learn so much from it.” Intrepid noted the spark in her eyes, the yearning for knowledge and understanding. It was intoxicating, and so different from the closed off and distant mare he had met not even an hour ago.

“Where is it?” The isle and city of Kreváti Alogo was a three day boat ride from Kalpas in good weather, so Strata being here was purposeful it seemed like. “On the island or is this just a pitstop for you?” He put down his now empty bowl next to his seat and stretched his back and one good wing.

“I’m not sure.” The coldness and indifference in her voice and stature had shifted the more he had gotten the mare to talk about her work. It felt good to have this kind of discussion with somepony while they were sitting in front of him. Letters were no substitute for actual equine contact. “I’ve been to three separate islands looking and it just feels like I’m walking around blind. I am literally going off of drawings, not descriptions. Do you know how much islands change over thousands of years? A lot.”

“Did you copy the pictures?” Strata nodded and flipped to another page in her journal. “May I see them? I don’t know the culture very well, but I do know the geography. Maybe I can help.” Strata looked down at her journal, then back at Intrepid. She sighed, closed her eyes, and held the weathered and worn book out to him.

The page in question had a surprisingly detailed drawing on it, one that Intrepid did not think an earth pony was capable of. Intrepid remembered always seeing those vases from antiquity in his history books as a kid, and if he didn’t know better he could’ve sworn the recreation on the page before him was professionally done.

It showed two equine figures standing atop a hill and pointing at a temple in the valley below. Beneath the temple was what looked to be some sort of hulking creature with burning red eyes and spiraled horns in a hole in the ground. That was the basics of the image, but there were a few more things. He could see a peak rising from the horizon behind the two ponies on the hill, and a river flowed on one side of the temple.

He sat the journal in front of himself and turned to his own saddlebag. Inside of the tattered thing was a mess if he was honest, and it was totally his fault. Letters, maps, assorted small supplies were tightly packed to the point of nearly bursting. To most it might’ve been chaos, but he had somewhat of a system: the things he used the most or recently, were towards the front. It wasn’t perfect, but it was perfect for the moment. He had been using his map of the area extensively, so lucky him.

He pulled out his map of the Álogos archipelago and unfolded it. The region was, to use a scientific measurement, not small. There were roughly one-hundred and thirty islands that made up Álogos, and only about seventy of them had names. At least his search was narrowed a bit, the island had to have a valley, a river running through said valley, and a mountain either on island itself or one very close.

“From the language used and other illustrations in the temple-” Strata was by his side now, looking over the map with him. “-it was not a very public thing to worship or praise. I do not think that the tomb would be near any city or trade routes.”

“I agree.” Intrepid added, biting his lip as he looked over the map. “But we have to take into account many things, like what major cities were back when the temple was constructed, and what those trade routes looked like. Also the river in the drawing might have either dried up or moved over time.” Intrepid had used out of date maps before and knew the pain of moving cities and natural landmarks, he just wanted to cover those bases right away.

Strata started flipping through her journal furiously, her eyes were racing across each page as it went and she began muttering under her breath. This was a mare possessed, and that was something that Intrepid could appreciate. He liked seeing this kind of intense passion in ponies, it always reminded him how life should be lived.

“Can I mark some things down?” she mumbled as she produced a quill and some ink from her bag. Intrepid nodded and gestured towards the map. He had drawn on his own plenty of times when he needed to denote and changes in borders or city size, so this would not be a bother at all.

The first thing she did was put a mark on Kreváti Alogo, something he fully expected. It was the oldest and most noteworthy city, and the seat of power. That was a no brainer. She then drew a circle around an island that could roughly be called the center of the area.

“Vathý Ble, it was a site of religious pilgrimage during the golden age for ponies who worshipped the sea.” She drew several lines from Kreváti Alogo to Vathý Ble that snaked around several different islands in the area, presumably trade routes. She went all over the map, denoting several notable cities of antiquity, their names and their significance to the culture and trade routes. Nothing of interest happened until she got to the last island far in the east.

“I don’t know how accurate my translation is, but this mountain is called Ypsilí Orasi, I think. It was a place where the Gods were said to watch the world.” She only drew one line from Kreváti Alogo to the mountain. “There was an annual migration for a festival in honor of the gods who moved the sun and moon, but no one ever lived there.”

“What about this island in front of it?” He tapped a little speck of an island just south of the mountain. It was barely visible on the map, but it was there. It didn’t look big enough for a valley, or a river for that matter, but he was going to ask regardless.

“Hold on…” Strata once again flipped through her journal, almost to the front of it at this point. “...it used to be bigger, it looks like. Something about a storm tearing it apart and it looks like rising sea levels have just shrunk it over time.”

“You think that might be it? It would make sense that the mountain in the picture was this one. The gods looking over the tomb of one of their own? It seems ceremonious.” The problem would be if the site was even intact now. Storms and time had a strong effect on stone.

“It’s the best guess.” Strata sighed and nodded. “Thank you for your help, that’s definitely my next stop.” The mare let loose the first smile that Intrepid had seen from her so far and shook her head in disbelief. “Really, thank you.”

“It’s no problem, really.” He folded up the map and held it out to Strata. “You’re going to need this more than me, I think. I’d hate for you to lose all of your work just so it can stay in my bag for who knows how long.”

“...are you sure…?” Strata cautiously took the map and looked at it. “Don’t you need it?”

“I am an explorer, Strata. If I’m somewhere that already has very detailed maps made of it, I’m not doing my job very well.” Okay, he was bluffing. He did need the map, but he was trying to be nice. A few years ago, this gesture from him and even being this far from Equestria would be unthinkable, so he was still exploring everything outside of his comfort zone.

“Well… thank you, again.” She gave a small flash of a smile and put it in her saddlebags. “Thank you for all of your help, Intrepid. I think I need to get some rest now, though. It was a pleasure meeting you.”

“Good night and good travels, Strata.”

After he had collected his things, he stood and made his way up the stairs and towards the room he had paid for earlier. It wasn’t home, but for more than a few reasons that was a good thing. It would suffice for the night.

Author's Note:

A story featuring one of my favorite characters from A Scratch On Shining Armor! No, you don't need to read that story in order to read this one, they're just barely related.

I hope you all enjoy it, though!

Comments

[Foggy Dreams]

I like how we see him unfold from the reader's point of view. He stops trying to be cheerful and actually becomes more natural in his conversation. And the dialogue didn't feel forced at all, which is very nice. Wonderful world building.