Harmonics

by ezra09

Libiris

A few dozen feet into the forest the canopy overhead became so dense that the group was plunged into near darkness.

“A little light, if y'all don’t mind?”

“Sure,” Thistleroot said, horn glowing blue. A pale green joined the mix as Sweetie Belle lit her horn, and then darker changeling green followed as Mimic joined.

“That’s better. So, it shouldn’t be too far then. Two miles, that’s not even the walk to the school from Sweet Apple Acres.”

The marched on, the occasional comment passing between them, but growing more silent as they began to face the unlikely task they had before them. The growing tension between them began to feel like a presence in the air, tingling at the back of Scootaloo’s neck. She began to feel anxious and antsy, and found herself glancing about, over her shoulders, up into the branches above, and off in the dark stretches between trees.

“Does anypony else feel like something’s wrong?” Apple Bloom asked, her voice uncomfortably loud. Thistleroot jumped in surprise when she spoke.

“Mmhmm,” Sweetie Belle said, nodding. “I don’t know why though.”

“It’s too quiet,” Mimic said. “Listen.”

They stopped walking and listened.

Nothing moved. No creatures called out. No wind disturbed the leaves of the trees. After a few moments, Scootaloo could hear the blood pumping through her own ears. Mimic was right, the silence around them was so absolute that it was almost a physical presence threatening to crush them.

“Well,” Thistleroot said, louder than necessary, “let’s not do that again. What do you guys want to talk about? Any suggestions?” They began walking again.

“How about our job?” Spike said. “We haven’t hammered out any details yet.”

“We haven’t actually seen this building yet. We can’t really make any plans until we do.”

“Yeah, the more I think about it, the more I don’t think we can do this,” Sweetie Belle said. “What can we do that Starswirl the Bearded can’t?”

“We won’t know until we try, will we?” Apple Bloom said.

“Here, here!” Thistleroot said. “Starswirl doesn’t think we can do it. Let’s be sure to prove him wrong. He’s kind of mean anyway.”

“Ah think Ah see the fork ahead,” Apple Bloom said. “Yeah. She said the left one, right?”

“Right,” Thistleroot said. He paused, and then said, “Right as in correct, it’s the left one.”

“Okay,” Apple Bloom said, taking the left path. The group followed.

Almost immediately the well worn dirt path became a thin line of slightly less tangled undergrowth twisting its way through much more tangled undergrowth. The little conversation they’d been having faded away, and the oppressive silence was only kept away by the sounds of breaking plant life and heavy breathing.

Star Charmer said it was only six hundred feet, but it felt more like six hundred miles by the time Scootaloo finally broke through the last of it onto even ground. She felt a shiver, as though passing into an area of fine mist, and the plants were gone. The trees stopped at a perfect line, and the ground underneath was loamy dirt, dark brown and unmarked by any vegetation.

Before them, about thirty yards away, was an enormous slate black building, trimmed with white marble. The building wasn’t quite symmetrical. The line of the roof swooped up like a large scale abstract art piece. Cobble work of the same black stone started maybe ten feet away, leading to a set of stairs thirty feet across. The stairs led up only a few steps to a carved arch. The arch was in the shape of a set of double doors, but flush with the wall. More like an image of a set of doors.

The image was a darker color than the surrounding stone, trimmed with thin silver lines. There were no handles, but a thick band of iron ran horizontal just below head height. A push bar, maybe?

The entire building was wrapped in dark green vines that pushed their way up through the cobble stones, the only plant life in the circle. The thinnest of the vines looked to be as wide as Scootaloo’s hoof, while the thickest were larger around than a pony.

Scootaloo gingerly stepped forward, reaching out for each step, watching. No signs of the protective magic appeared when she stepped onto the cobblestones, nor when she reached the stairs. When she was about half way up, she heard Sweetie Belle gasp and looked back. Sweetie Belle was looking up at the carving. Scootaloo looked back around to see something had changed about it. Faint blue lines had appeared across the push bars. Scootaloo took another tentative step and the lines grew darker.

She took a breath and finished climbing the stairs. By the time she reached the doors, the faint blue light had solidified into a scrawl of illegible writing. More lines wove along the lines of the carving like stitches. Scootaloo gingerly reached out and placed a hoof against the carving. She could feel faint vibrations of power, but nothing changed.

“I think it’s safe to come up.”

The others began climbing the stairs as she inspected the carving more closely. Vines had grown across the bottom, and across the top corners. Even if the image of the doors could be opened, and even if Scootaloo could unlock them, she doubted the doors would open with all that.

“Wow,” Thistleroot said softly as he came to stand beside her. “This is so cool. This building is literally older than Princess Celestia.”

“Yeah,” Scootaloo said. “When you put it like that. Wow. Hey, do you think you can do something about these vines?”

“Yeah, no problem.” Thistleroot’s horn glowed brighter and bright green script poured over the vines. Thistleroot hopped back in surprise, dropping the spell. The script disappeared, leaving the vines unchanged and unmoved. “Slight problem.”

“Do that again,” Mimic said, stepping forward.

Thistleroot looked at her questionly, but her attention was focused on the vines. He took a deep breath and his horn glowed. The script appeared on the vines again.

“This lettering,” Mimic said. “It’s… it’s not the changeling alphabet, but it looks close. Like, the letters are all a little off, and even if they weren’t, it’s mostly just gibberish. But there’s a few words here. Hold and time, right here. And over here, this either says chisel or breath.”

“Those words aren’t even close to each other,” Apple Bloom said.

“Well, not in this language,” Mimic said, tilting her head, and again Scootaloo got the impression she was rolling her eyes, though it was hard to tell with changelings.

“Over here,” Spike said. “This character looks like the draconic symbol for dragon, but upside down. Is this a changeling letter too?”

Mimic shook her head.

The script faded and Thistleroot’s horn stopped glowing. He took a deep breath, shaking his head. “Sorry. Just need a minute.”

“Let me take over,” Sweetie Belle said. Her horn began to glow pale green, and the magic began to spread across the vines. Colors poured out from where the vines touched the door, like inks poured across the floor, mixing with each other. Sweetie Belle’s horn stopped glowing and the colors recede. She frowned, and tried again. The colors poured out once more, and receded again when she ended her spell.

“Midlight did say the effects depended on what spell was cast,” Thistleroot said. “Try something else.”

“How about a spell to burn the vines away?” Mimic suggested. She dropped her pony form and turned toward the door. Green fire erupted from her horn like a lance, slamming into a thick weave of vines near the bottom right corner.

The vines didn’t so much as singe, but the area around where the fire hit began to glow with faint blue light. Faint blue symbols appeared on the stone beneath the vines. They vanished after a few seconds.

“Okay. Maybe we’re getting somewhere. Anything else we can try?” Thistleroot said.

“Um, how about Rarity’s gem finding spell?” Sweetie Belle asked. Her horn glowed once again.

The pale green light spilled over the carving, and for a moment the stone became translucent. Beneath it was an intricate webwork of softly glowing patterns, interconnected circles and runes laid over each other in a dozen layers until it looked like the scribbles of a madpony.

The spell faded, leaving the group in silence for a long moment.

“We are in way over our heads, aren’t we?” Thistleroot asked.

“Yup,” Apple Bloom said.

“Let’s get back to town,” Scootaloo said. “Maybe Midlight can help now that we've actually seen Libiris. And we can still ask the townsponies.”

“It’s better than doing nothing,” Apple Bloom agreed.

“How about some water first,” Spike said. “Before we have to walk through that trail again.”

“Good idea. Here,” Sweetie Belle said, opening her bag. She frowned, tilting her head, and levitated her canteen to Spike. He accepted it, taking a long drink.

“What’s wrong?” Scootaloo asked.

“My cosmetics kit.” Sweetie Belle lifted some scarves and another canteen out of the pack. The kit came next. “There it is. But, we used it last night. What was it doing at the bottom?”

“Maybe it shifted to the bottom while we were hiking?”

“Maybe,” Sweetie Belle said. “But it was packed pretty tight, and the kit isn’t as heavy as the water.”

“Y'all don’t think somepony went through our bags, do ya?”

“Maybe. Oh, that’s super creepy,” Scootaloo said.

“It makes sense,” Mimic said. “We’re complete strangers to them. They let us stay the night, but it makes sense they would want to look for anything dangerous we might be carrying.”

“Maybe, but that’s still really creepy,” Sweetie Belle said. “Nothing’s missing at least.”

A cold sensation of dread slithered into the pit of Scootaloo’s stomach. She pulled her own saddlebags off her back and started rifling through them.

“Good idea,” Thistleroot said, doing the same.

“Still there,” Spike said, pulling a comic book from his pack. “And still wrapped tight. Thank goodness.”

“All here,” Apple Bloom said. Thistleroot nodded.

“No. No, no, no!” Scootaloo upended her saddlebags, spilling the contents across the ancient stone floor. She fell back on her haunches, the bags tumbling from her hooves. “It’s gone.”

Her friends looked at her questioningly.

“The fragment of harmony. The one Princess Celestia made before she was imprisoned. It’s missing.”

Comments

[the other sans]

Scootaloo gingerly reach out and placed a hoof against the carving

1. Reached.

[TheGreatEater]

“A little light, if ya’ll don’t mind?”

“Ya’ll don’t think somepony went through our bags, do ya?”

y'all
__________

“Ah think ah see the fork ahead,” Apple Bloom said. “Yeah. She said the left one, right?”

Ah
______________

[Frankie2]

Looks like Scootaloo got robbed. They still have to get through the forest to get back.

[Salted Pingas]

Dun Dun Dunnnn!

[TheGreatEater]

“Ya’ll don’t think somepony went through our bags, do ya?”

Y'all
______