My Brave Pony: The Heart of the World

by Scipio Smith

The Words of a Queen

The Words of a Queen

“Hmm,” Twilight murmured.

“Hmm?” repeated Fluttershy, looking up.

Twilight chuckled. “Exactly, Fluttershy.”

“Have you found something, Twilight?” Spike asked, putting aside the scroll that he’d been reading and waddling quickly across the library towards Twilight.

“Maybe,” Twilight said. “Or maybe not. It’s… difficult to say for sure.”

Fluttershy joined Twilight and Spike. “Well, what have you found?”

Twilight laid out the scroll, one of a set of scrolls, out upon the floor as Ace descended from the high shelves to hover in the air just above them, positioning herself in such a way that she didn’t cast a shadow over Twilight as she read, nor get in the way of the light coming in from the windows.

“This is part of the account of Queen Dido,” Twilight explained. “One of the rulers of the old Zebra Empire in the old days, before the first empire fell and when rulers still consulted the Heart of the World. This is her own account, an autobiography almost, and I think she might have even written the first copy herself rather than dictating it to a scribe.”

“Had you heard of her before now?” asked Ace.

“I had,” Twilight said. “Although I don’t know a great many details about her. She reigned before Celestia and Luna came to power in Equestria, and although she did deal with Equestria and its rulers of that time, so many of the records before Celestia’s ascension are either lost or muddled or have become so suffused with legend and myth that it’s hard to say what’s true and what isn’t any more. In the confusion of Discord’s… well, being Discord, so much knowledge was lost and so much had to reconstructed from a mixture of memories and folklore. Why, did you know that for over a hundred years everypony assumed that the story of Princess Silverlode burning the cakes really happened because it was included in her biography by her assistant Buttercup? It was only about sixty years ago that scholars realised that that entire incident was actually an interpolation added to the life by later transcribers who-“ Twilight stopped as she realised that everyone was staring at her with bemusement of varying degrees of fondness upon their faces.

She laughed nervously. “Uh huh. Sorry, I, um, I get, uh… so, where was I? Oh, right, Queen Dido of the zebras, right. As I was saying I know that there were dealings between the Zebra Empire and Equestria while she sat on the throne, and that she was considered to be a wise ruler, for whom her pony counterparts had a great deal of respect. At that time, Zebrica was considered to be more culturally advanced and more prosperous than Equestria; the Equestrian ambassador to her court left an account of his time there, but unfortunately only fragments of it survive now. But, those fragments that do survive indicate that he was very impressed by what he experienced: the wealth, the culture, the harmony. At that time, it seems as though zebras were even more united than ponies!”

“Okay, she sounds pretty great,” Spike conceded. “But what does that have to do with the Heart of the World?”

“I’m getting there,” Twilight said, a touch of sharpness entering her voice. “This is Queen Dido’s own account of her life; I don’t think there can be that many copies of this in the whole world.”

“But there’s one here,” said Ace, a touch of scepticism seeping into her tone.

“This is a regional capital,” Twilight reminded her. “It’s not so surprising that, if an account of Dido’s life were to survive, it would survive in a place like this. But honestly, we’re so lucky to have this; just as the records of Equestria before Celestia were lost, so was so much knowledge about the old empire after it fell. I wonder if Sophoniba even know this is here.”

“You can be sure to mention it before we take our leave,” Ace said. “What have you found?”

“Is there really any need to be so impatient?” Twilight asked.

“Yes!” Ace and Spike said loudly at the same time.

“It’s okay, Twilight,” Fluttershy calmly. “We know how much you enjoy all of this, but we’re just eager to find out what it is in particular that caught your interest.”

“Thank you, Fluttershy, for phrasing it so diplomatically,” Twilight said. “What caught my eye in particular was this passage from near the beginning of the work; Dido doesn’t spend a lot of time on her early life – not least because she came to the throne quite young – but here is what she says about the time just preceding her coronation: ‘As is customary, I sought the blessing of the Heart of the World upon my rule, not only because I could not become Queen without its blessing, but also because I felt very deeply my youth and inexperience, and wished the council of one much older and wiser than myself in how I ought to rule this land in the best interests of its people.’”

“Shouldn’t she be rhyming?” Spike asked.

“A lot can change in the span of history that we’re talking about, remember?” Twilight said. “Just because zebras – some zebras, anyway, speak in rhyme now, doesn’t mean that they necessarily did back then; even if the First Empire was a more culturally sophisticated time, that still doesn’t mean that customs and manners can’t change in between time. Or perhaps the queen did speak in rhyme, but wrote in prose so that her meaning would be clearer to those coming after? At this distance it’s impossible to say.” She wished that she could just study this. She felt as though she could spend half a lifetime analysing all of these scrolls, extracting all the information from it; when her search was done she might come back here, not for half a lifetime but for a little while, just to study out of pure academic interest, if Lady Sophoniba would allow it. Perhaps she would learn enough to write a small book about what she’d found. Wouldn’t that be exciting?

Such pleasant imaginings would have to wait for the moment, however; right now, she was here to find concrete information about the Heart of the World, information that would lead her to it, that would enable her to approach it as Dido had once approached it long ago, and like Dido to seek answers from one so much older and wiser than herself.

She cleared her throat, and continued to read. “’As is custom, I took the pilgrim road eastward into Qartaggia’ – that’s the area where we are now, this region was known in ancient times as Qartaggia; this mean that I was right, the Heart of the World is in this region somewhere – ‘accompanied by my lord, my bodyguards, my officers of state and my dearest friends and closest companions of my youth. As is customary, my lords and officers remained behind at the obsidian marker, for it is said that those who approach the Heart of the World, be they ever so high or ever so low, must one and all approach as pilgrims, humble in heart and stripped of pride, not as great lords demanding as of right, but beseeching a favour from one greater than themselves. And so, at the black stone, those who would serve me in my court made camp, to await for my return with sign of the Heart’s blessing.

“’Qartaggia is a barren land; at least it is so past the obsidian marker. I cannot help but wonder if the Heart makes it so, although I cannot imagine how such a thing would be accomplished. Nevertheless it seems very convenient to me, the land is too arid to be settled, not good for farming or for grazing; nothing grows here, there is no food but what we brought with us, it all serves very well to keep our folk from intruding too close to the Heart in ordinary circumstances.

“’Although my lords remained behind, my guards went with me to protect me from harm, for although there was nothing there and it was a hard place to live, it was said that some desperate zebras lurked about those parts, preying upon the pilgrims making their way along the road with offerings. Of even greater concern was the talk of dragons, drawn by the same rich offerings that might have attracted bandits. I resolved that when I reached the Heart I would be leave to have my warriors patrol the pilgrim road and offer protection to those travelling it, even to establish fortresses and waystations for their benefit. Nevertheless, our journey was troubled by nothing more than the hardships of the land itself, until we reached the porphyr marker, and it was necessary to leave my guards behind; for we were come close to the Heart now, and it was said that the Heart itself had many powers that would keep safe those whom it wished to protect, and to punish those it wished to punish. It was said that nothing could survive past that point without the Heart’s knowledge and its leave.’”

“That doesn’t sound good,” Fluttershy murmured.

“None of this sounds brilliant so far,” Ace agreed.

“I’m not done yet,” Twilight said. “’And so I approached the mountain with only my close friends for company. Bostar sang for us, to keep our spirits high, while Hanno told fantastical stories of far off lands and distant places; hearing him speak of the land of Equestria I wished so much to visit it someday. It is to my last regret that my duties never allowed me the opportunity, but at least I got to call ambassador Meadowsweet my friend. These ponies are rough-hewn barbarians, but they have a great charm about them; I think they will do great things once they are civilised.’”

“Rough hewn barbarians?” Ace repeated.

“This was written a long time ago,” Twilight said defensively. “And I did tell you they were more advanced than we are. Is it so surprising that snobbery took hold amongst some of them?”

“I suppose not,” Ace allowed. “Doesn’t mean I have to like hearing it, though.”

“You’re a royal guard in Canterlot, aren’t you used to it yet?” Twilight asked.

“No,” Ace replied flatly. “If I ever found that I got used to it I’d have to quit.” She paused. “You never knew Sunset Shimmer, did you?”

“No,” Twilight said. “Did you?”

“I don’t think anypony but Princess Celestia really knew Sunset Shimmer – she kept herself to herself, you know – but I saw her around sometimes, and something that I heard her say once kind of stuck with me: your pride is the one thing that nopony can take away from you; only you can give it up. Well, I’m not going to give up mine just because some fancy unicorn tells me that I should.” Ace fell silent, descending to the floor with a slow beating of her wings. She looked down at the wooden boards beneath her hooves, and scratched at her ear with one foreleg. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to…” she cleared her throat. “Anyway, Twilight, you were saying?”

“Yes,” Twilight said. “I’m almost done. Unfortunately this manuscript isn’t quite complete; there are holes in Dido’s account.”

“Something that she didn’t want to write down?” Spike guessed.

“No, there are literal holes in the manuscript,” Twilight clarified, levitating the scroll up into the air so that they could all see for themselves. “It must be very old, and nobody has ever thought to make a more recent copy. Anyway, here’s what else Dido has to say: ‘At the foot of the mountain, I left even my friends behind, for it is a custom that one must always approach the Heart of the World absolutely and utterly alone – for the final stage of the journey, at least. I began to climb-‘ And that’s where it ends.”

“It seems as though the way was pretty clearly marked out once upon a time,” Fluttershy pointed out. “There was a road that everybody knew to follow, and rules that everybody knew about, and even markers. Although I don’t like that last part about going alone at the end. I don’t want you to have to make the final journey by yourself.”

“I don’t relish the idea either,” Twilight murmured. “But if that is the way it has to be then-“

“Twilight Sparkle!” Fluttershy said firmly. “Please don’t tell me you’re thinking of leaving us behind.”

“I don’t want to,” Twilight insisted. “But if the Heart won’t allow me to go to it with company then what choice do I have? What if you’re trying to go with me puts you in danger?”

“What if you’re trying to go alone puts you in danger?” Fluttershy responded. “This isn’t the old days when Dido was writing, a lot has changed since then just like you said. It can’t have been that difficult to reach the Heart of the World alone back then because so many did, but if that was the case now then… then things wouldn’t have turned out like this so far, would they?”

“Well, no,” Twilight admitted, “but-“

“It’s all a bit of an academic question, if that’s all there is,” Ace said. “I mean, it’s very interesting, but-“

“But it didn’t tell you anything except confirm what you’d already worked out, Twilight,” Spike said. “That the Heart of the World is somewhere in this region, but you knew that already. It doesn’t tell you anything more than that.”

“Unless the pilgrim road with the markings is still there,” murmured Fluttershy.

“Unfortunately not,” Twilight said. “But remember that Dido’s account ends with her climbing a mountain.” Twilight’s horn flared lavender as she levitated a map down from its shelf and spread it out over the floor next to Queen Dido’s account. “As you can see, there aren’t that many mountains in Qartaggia. In fact-“

“There’s only one,” Ace gasped, her eyes widening.

“Well, technically, the Atlas Mountains do begin at the southern edge of the region, with these peaks here,” Twilight replied, gesturing with her hoof in that direction, but, yes, I think it is far more likely that the mountain being referred to is Mount Hyperion, the Lonely Mountain, here near the centre of the area; it fits better with what Dido said about travelling through a barren landscape; the area around the Atlas Mountains is actually quite well populated, you’d like it there, Fluttershy.” Twilight paused for a moment. “You know, I think I’d like to come back here another time, when we aren’t… when I’m looking for the Heart, to see if Lady Sophoniba will let me study her library, so that Fluttershy can appreciate some of the local fauna, so that we can all… enjoy ourselves, you know, like a vacation.”

Fluttershy smiled. “That sounds like a wonderful idea, Twilight, I’m sure there are so many amazing creatures to see, although I’m not sure what Rarity or Pinkie Pie would do here.”

“Oh, I’m sure they could both find something,” Twilight replied. “But all of that… that’s for later. Because right now,” she looked down at the map, and at Queen Dido’s account which sat beside it. Her gaze landed for a moment upon Mount Hyperion, the mountain rising in the middle of the desert. On top of the mountain, or within the mountain, or accessible somehow from the mountain was the Heart of the World. And with it, she hoped, the answers she was seeking.

Lightning, Krysta, wait for me just a little longer.

“Girls,” she said. “I think I know where to go next.”