The Beginning
Book of Greed
Part 1: The Beginning
"Beginnings are always messy"
Sunburst rested his head on the Cutie Map, it's cold stone becoming a suitable replacement for his pillow in his mind. He'd woken up early to do something, anything, but he supposed that was wishful thinking. For him to do anything worth doing, to be actively useful, the Crystal empire would need to be in trouble again.
And that was impossible. For one, the empire had significantly increased the size of their royal guard and had added several changelings to their ranks for the "surprise factor" they provided. Add in an Equestrian Pillar, two adult alicorns, and the Crystal Heart, an energy source they recently learned how to weaponize, and the empire would be safe for years to come.
And on top of all this, there was Flurry Heart, who was arguably the only defense they needed.
Sunburst lifted his head, levitating his cup of cocoa to his mouth. He took a sip.
Cold.
Sunburst narrowed his eyes, his horn glowing with orange light as his cup of cocoa let out a satisfying hiss. Sweet-smelling steam rose from its deliciously murky depths and tickled gave Sunburst a teaser of what was to come. He floated the cup to his mouth again and took another sip, this time a bit faster.
"That’s the stuff!", Sunburst murmured, his posture relaxing as a content smile graced his features.
Despite Sunburst's normal hobo aesthetic, his current living situation forced him to clean up his appearance, if only to avoid his mare friends' disapproving looks and the occasional hostile stare due to his "nauseating scent". As he melted into the crystal throne, his light blue cape acted as a soft cushion for his body while his normally scattered, dark orange mane quietly squashed against the solid back of the throne giving him a pseudo-pillow to rest his head. The only part of his old getup that had remained from his old days was the large, round-rimmed glasses that he sat snuggly on his face until, of course, he decided to move at all.
Not that it mattered to him, however, as the action of pushing his glasses up was a calming ritual of sorts which was reason enough for him to hold onto them.
Sunburst stole a glance at the ceiling of the throne room, taking in the beauty of the chandelier that hung above him. Soon, with nowhere left to wander, his eyes gravitated towards a clock that clung to the wall.
"9:30," Sunburst read as he let out a heavy sigh and took another sip of his cocoa, "Here we go again..."
Right on time, the doors swung open as the bickering forms of Trixie and Luster Dawn forced their way inside. They paused their squabble momentarily, their eyes hastily searching the throne room before falling on Sunburst, who wore a small smile on his content, yet cautious face.
POOF!
"AH!" Sunburst cried out in surprise as Luster teleported right in front of him, only to be tackled by Trixie who utilized her smoke pellets to close the distance.
He was so surprised that his magic wavered causing his cup of cocoa to fall. Sunburst scrambled away from the throne as the cup shattered, spraying the delicious concoction everywhere. He was just barely able to get away in time to avoid a painful burn, though some of the heated cocoa found its way onto his cape, staining it. He'd deal with that later... or maybe never. Didn't matter right now, though.
He poked his head out from behind the throne to meet the quarreling forms of Trixie and Luster, who were currently wrestling on the Cutie Map. "H-hey guys. What’s this about?"
"HELLO SUNBURST!" Trixie shouted her reply as she struggled to push Luster off of her, "The Great and Powerful Trixie commands you to inform Luster that Hoofdini is a much better magician than some smelly old wizard nopony likes!"
"HEY!" Luster growled as she pointed a hoof at Trixie's face, "I'll have you know Starswirl the Bearded is one of the greatest wizards ever! Plus, he's done so much for our world I doubt there's a single person who doesn't like him! Haven't you heard about that time when Starswirl discovered how to-"
Trixie rolled her eyes, the blue unicorn pulling her ears down as Luster started ranting, "Look, Loser Dawn. Trixie has no time for your incomprehensible nerd speak. Just admit Hoofdini is the best, so Trixie can feel good knowing she enlightened a young mind today."
Luster immediately stopped, her cheeks burning as she glared at Trixie who stuck her tongue out at her in response. Luster let out a war cry as she quickly fired a beam of magic at Trixie. Trixie dodged it, of course, but to do so safely she required a simple roll onto the floor. Instead, she had flung herself sideways, right into the throne of Honesty.
Sunburst winced as the sound of Trixie's head hitting solid crystal echoed throughout the room. She'd be fine... probably.
He turned to Luster, taking in her miffed expression as he talked, "So you two are arguing over who's the better spellcaster?"
Luster gave him a nod as she levitated Trixie's body back onto the map. The Great and Powerful magician let out a long moan as she pulled herself up and clutched her head. It took her a while, but soon Trixie had recovered enough to speak again.
"The Great and Powerful Trixie is confident in Sunburst's ability to convince Luster of Hoofdini's excellence while explaining that Starswirl is but a small fly compared to my hero," Trixie said with a smug smile.
Luster's horn started to glow again, eliciting a fearful gulp from Trixie. Fortunately for Trixie, a shake of Sunburst’s head was enough to get Luster to calm down, the latter giving Trixie a pointed gaze as she gave her two cents.
"What Trixie means to say, is that we came to see if you could act as an unbiased third party to settle our little debate," Luster leaned towards Sunburst, a sly grin forming on her face, "And I know you'll make the right choice. Wink!"
Sunburst raised an eyebrow, Luster giggling as he did. She leaned back and took her place next to Trixie, "So, who's got better taste in heroes?"
Sunburst tilted his head in confusion, "Am I the only one who finds it weird that your 'Hero' isn't Twilight? You know, the Queen of Equestria and your mentor?"
Luster raised a hoof as she tried to think up a counterpoint, but her eyes soon widened with an emotion akin to embarrassment, though not quite there. Her lips puckered in quiet shame as she turned away from the stallion, though not before the heat in her cheeks could be seen.
The silence in the room was much less uncomfortable than it could have been. Out of the three unicorns present, only Luster was feeling uneasy. Sunburst was a bit too slow to realize what he had done, and his reaction to her embarrassment—a set of rapid blinks, followed by a moment of excessive stammering, and finally, a simple apology—was understandably delayed.
And then there was Trixie, who, in regular Trixie fashion, began gloating.
"Well since Luster Dawn is experiencing a small crisis," Trixie started, "The Triumphant and Victorious Trixie will consider this a win! Not that she was ever going to be defeated by the likes of Loser Dawn."
Sunburst gave Trixie a small glare, though whether or not Trixie saw it was not represented on her joyful face. He turned to Luster who was sitting on the Cutie Map. Upon closer inspection, Sunburst noticed her hazy eyes and her rambling lips which spoke at too low of a volume for Sunburst to easily discern what she was saying.
Luster was a relatively new acquaintance, to Sunburst at least. Up until a few months ago, he'd never even known she existed. Now (under Twilight's command, mind you) she lived in the castle with the rest of them. She was a bit like Twilight, at least, before the whole "Friendship is Magic" debacle led to her becoming one of the strongest ponies in Equestria. From what he had heard, Luster had thought Friendship was just a waste of time, or at the very least, a means to an end.
Twilight had somehow changed her mind with a single song.
Either way, something about her never sat right with Sunburst. The second he had seen her curious dark-yellow eyes and her unkempt yellow-orange mane, the deja-vu train had nearly run him over.
That was irrelevant here, though...
Sunburst shook his head, adjusting his glasses as he addressed his friends, "If we're deciding this based on each pony's magical ability and knowledge of the arcane, then it seems to me Starswirl is the only sensible choice."
Sunburst didn't even need to turn his head to feel the narrowed stare of Trixie. Her gaze bored into his neck, but he stood firm, "However, I will say Hoofdini is superior if we consider his ability to control a crowd and his mastery of illusionary magic."
He waited for a moment, and soon, to his relief, Trixie let out a small huff as she patted him on the back, "The Great and Powerful Trixie supposes she can accept this outcome."
That was enough for him. He prodded Luster with his hoof, "Was that ok? I know I didn't really settle your argument, but—"
Luster looked over her shoulder, her smile back in full force, "Nah, it's fine. Technically, you did say I was right, so I'll take it."
Sunburst only smiled at her response as he looked up towards the ceiling again. He closed his eyes, and for a moment, he could feel the bright rays of the sun bearing down on him. Even as the crystal blocked it, the sun's rays gave him hope. For what he couldn't fathom, but it was hope nonetheless.
He let out a huge sigh as he lowered himself on Cutie Map, "I have a feeling that today is going to be a good day."
He was wrong.
Not all the way wrong, just mostly wrong. The day had started decently as an argument between Trixie and Luster could hardly be considered bad. They did it all the time and so far nothing remotely destructive had come of it.
No, it was the news that was delivered after, which caused his day to take a turn for the worse.
Sunburst groaned as he thought back to a few minutes earlier when Starlight had come barrelling into the throne room. She had been excited, too excited, for her at least. Starlight was the kind of pony to get excited over the weirdest things, not that that was bad or anything. It just meant that whenever she had that large of a grin on her face, they'd be promptly dragged off to do something "peculiar". Like flying kites or... well, mostly just flying kites.
This time, however, was different. Her smile had been large, but not as large as it had been the other times. She was definitely elated about something, but it almost seemed like she didn't want to feel that way, as if the thing she was elated about should have caused her great pain or turmoil.
The pieces clicked in his head almost immediately. Unfortunately for him, Starlight beat him to the punch.
"EQUESTRIA'S IN DANGER AGAIN!" Sunburst remembered Starlight saying as she trotted happily in place, "AND WE'RE GONNA SAVE IT!"
At the time, all Sunburst could manage was a jaw drop and incoherent stutter. He was under the impression that Starlight was about to recruit them for some low-stakes adventure, something exhilarating, but all in all not too dangerous. Instead, they were preparing to save the world again.
And to top it all off, they were going in blind!
They had no information about what threat they were facing besides an incredibly vague warning from the Treehouse of Harmony (He would never call it that out loud though) and even that produced more questions than answers. Unfortunately, his friends did not share his hesitancy, and while they weren’t as thrilled as Starlight was, the smiles that they donned spoke louder than words.
So, like the good friend he was, Sunburst was helping Starlight search the Castle's library while Trixie and Luster searched the Canterlot one, hoping that they'd find something they could work with.
And that was going... not good.
Sunburst fiddled with his glasses as he levitated the next round of books off his section of the library. His eyes scanned over the titles of each book, searching for anything remotely suspicious. Equestria's Baddest and Where to Find Them? Maybe, but with no idea what they were fighting it wouldn't be that much help. Foenum Fairy Tales? Just a fictitious storybook, with a few strands of reality tied in. Cookies and Creme #5: Cupping the—
Sunburst blinked, embarrassment apparent on his face as he floated the, ahem, "graphic novel" away from the shelves. After a quick glance to see if he would spot anything he missed on his first look, Sunburst placed the books back on the shelves and started to levitate the next group of books.
"Found anything yet?"
Sunburst tilted his head over his shoulder as he flashed a smile to the light purple pony behind him, "Nothing yet, but something should come up soon... Hopefully."
Starlight drew in closer, biting her lip as she spoke, "Well I'm done with my section, so..."
Sunburst voice lowered to match Starlight's own, "I could use the help if that's what you were insinuating."
The two traded uneasy smiles as they continued to scour the shelves for any scrap of information they could. It wasn't boring, though, as the quiet company of the other was enough to soothe their souls as they worked. Unfortunately, their combined efforts did not cause any new information to appear, so they stopped searching to take a break.
Two plates of cookies later and they were ready to continue, until...
"A Book-finding spell?" Sunburst asked as Starlight gathered some parchments and spellbooks from the shelf, "Aren't all, er, the majority of the books in the castle in this room?"
"Yes, but this won't be any old book-finding spell," Starlight replied as she began weaving the words of different spells together, recording her words on the papers before her, "I'll be combining it with a Mind Map spell and a Memory Connector spell. In theory, it should allow me to—"
"Identify a book that best matches the exact situation you were in last night?" Sunburst finished as Starlight raised an eyebrow at him. "What? You're not the only one who’s mixed spells before. I just tend to mix the less 'ambiguous ones'."
Starlight shrugged. "Vague as this might be, it's not like we have any other options. Besides, at the very least, we'll find a book loosely related to our current issue. It's not like we lose anything from trying."
"I know, I know," Sunburst said as he put some distance between him and Starlight, "I'll just watch from over here. The last time you tried a combo spell like this, we couldn't enter the kitchen for weeks. I don't want to be too close in case this one backfires too."
"That was an accident, caused by a teensy mistake that I've since corrected," Starlight stated, rolling her eyes at Sunburst's unsure expression, "This is barely anything compared to that. There's no way it'll backfire."
"You said that about the 'Better Batter' spell and it backfired too-" Sunburst started, but stopped as soon as he caught sight of Starlight's dull glare bearing down on him, "Ok, fine. Just be careful."
Starlight simply nodded as she began chanting the words to her makeshift spell. Soon her horn took on a wispy blue color and her eyes glowed with ethereal energy. Her body floated a few inches into the air and her mane began to stretch in every direction, each strand clawing at the air as if it were full of life.
And then she dropped.
Sunburst hadn't been expecting her to fall so abruptly, so he was unprepared to catch Starlight's unconscious body when it came down. Instead, Starlight fell back first onto one of the wood tables, her body splayed over it and her mane scattered across the oak wood beneath her. Sunburst quickly made his way over to his friend and began prodding her, thoroughly searching her body for any injuries as she laid there.
"Nothing seems to be broken..." Sunburst said worriedly as he stared at his friend beneath and unconsciously sniffed the air.
Lilacs..., he thought as the scent gently smothered his nose. He moved in closer, allowing the scent to reel him in. Soon he found himself just inches away from Starlight's calm features. He gulped, slowly moving his head downwards, his breaths becoming silent as he approached her lips—
"The Prophet's Key."
Sunburst jerked backward as Starlight's eyes opened, her gray-purple eyes replaced with an eerie blue glow. He watched as Starlight's body was abruptly pulled into a sitting position, her horn glowing as her head quickly looked around the room.
Sunburst cocked his head in confusion, but stood back and decided to let the spell run its course. Fortunately, his judgment had been spot on. From the section he had been searching, a single brown book glowed as it was pulled off the shelf. It silently floated over to Starlight who slowly rotated it in the air as she examined it.
Sunburst leaned in to take a closer look, but soon frowned as he read the cover, "Foenum Fairy Tales? I've already looked over this one. I doubt it'll be any—"
Starlight's horn crackled as the energy surrounding it went wild. Sunburst took a few steps back in fear as her magic turned a bright yellow color with black energy dancing between the cracks. Starlight's eyes, which were also this color, narrowed as she focused the energy on the storybook. The book promptly burst into magic flames, burning for a few seconds until Starlight cut the magic off causing both the book and her to fall to the table.
Sunburst made his way to Starlight's side first, and after deciding she was ok, levitated the book into his hooves. His eyes glimmered with curiosity as he stared at the newly transformed book. Where before it was a simple brown book with a weird assortment of creatures on its cover, now it was a deep onyx color with ancient carvings that snaked across the cover of the book. To the top of the look, a goat skull, with red and blue gems embedded where its eyes once were, was painted onto the cover.
"T-this is amazing!" Sunburst exclaimed as he rapidly flipped through the pages of the book.
"Ughh... What happened?" Sunburst stopped his reading to glance back at Starlight who was rubbing her back in pain, "Did the spell work?"
Sunburst dangled the book in front of her face, causing her eyes to widen. "Heck yeah, it did! Or, at least, that's what it looks like!"
Starlight immediately popped up and scooted closer to Sunburst as the latter continued reading through the ancient text. Together, the two unicorns quickly skimmed through the book, until a particular page caught Starlight's eye.
"Wait, wait, wait!" Starlight said, stopping Sunburst in his tracks. "Go back real quick. I think I saw something on page 453."
Sunburst had a confused expression on his face but obeyed Starlight's request anyway. Flipping backward, Sunburst and Starlight found themselves staring at a very peculiar page. Unlike the other ones, which were a pale white color with black ink, this one was pitch black with white lines scribbled onto it like chalk on a chalkboard. Besides a few words written at the bottom, the page was completely taken over by a circular illustration with six muddled outlines surrounding it.
"What do you think it is?" Sunburst asked as he held the book up to the light.
"I have no idea," Starlight replied, as she leaned in towards Sunburst and the book, "What do the words say? They don't look like Ponish."
"Give me a sec," Sunburst said as his horn glowed and the words on the page began to twist and turn, "That should do it."
"A translator spell?" Starlight questioned as she tried reading the words, "Don't you need to know what language you're dealing with to convert it to something else?
"Usually, yeah, but something about this book is just different," Sunburst said as he adjusted his falling glasses. "When I levitated it before I didn't feel anything. Now though, I'm getting some magical feedback, like the book's magic is slowly converting my magic to match its own!"
"...Isn't that kinda bad?" Starlight asked as she watched the magic glow on the book slowly become darker. "Yeah, no. Sunburst, I think you should cut your magic off before something bad happens."
Sunburst had wanted to observe the change a bit longer, but a quick and painful migraine caused him to relent. He moved the book to the table and set it down, cutting off his magic as soon he did.
"Now then," Sunburst started as his eyes focused on the newly translated text, "Let's see what this is all about."
He began reading, "Foenum. Land of the Free. The Free fear the Fanged. The fighting was brutal, but the Free prevailed. When the Fanged swore revenge, Six Champions were chosen. The champions defeated the Fanged once more. But the Fanged are relentless. From the Hold, they will return and select their own champions. Tyrants..."
Sunburst paused after the word "Tyrants" left his mouth. It felt wrong, almost as if something horrid was nesting in his throat. He turned to Starlight, dread creeping up his neck as he spoke, "...Starlight?"
"Y-yes Sunburst?" Starlight stuttered as she absorbed Sunburst's fear, making it her own.
Sunburst grit his teeth, “You don't think the Tyrants in this book could be referring to the Elements of Disharmony the tree warned you about, could it?"
She gulped as a bead of sweat flowed down her neck, "Probably?"
"...I'll keep reading for now," Sunburst steeled his spirit as he continued reading, "...Here, a summoning glyph is recorded. A precaution, for those who live on a different side. If the Fanged roam your lands, the glyph can call our Champions to drive them back.
"To do so, however, requires essence. Each symbol on the glyph contains a pair of parts. One part is made to hold the wild essence of the Fanged while the other to hold the virtuous essence that opposes the Fanged it is connected to. ONLY with all essence: harmonious and discordant, will the glyph become active and bring salvation where there is none."
Sunburst blinked quickly as he pushed away from the book. He laid his back on the table, letting his mind process all he had read. What was essence? Who were the Fanged? Their name was tame compared to other evils in Equestria’s history, but it struck him in all the wrong places. Though, the question that truly twisted in his brain was an ominous one.
Who were the Elements of Disharmony?
"Soooooo," Sunburst snapped away from his thoughts as he faced Starlight, "What now?"
Sunburst let out a sigh as he rubbed his head. "I'm not completely sure. I mean, we know more than we did before, but this is something else..."
Starlight took a deep breath as she pushed herself off the table. If she had been taking this lightly before, it didn't show. "I'll go into town and gather the girls. They've been through world-ending threats like this before. Maybe they'll be able to help us out?"
Sunburst paused for a bit, his head tilted downwards as he pondered the statement. "...I can see that being plausible. While you're doing that, I'll look into this book some more and wait for Trix and Luster. Once I fill them in I'll bring them into town, so we can discuss this in detail."
Starlight smiled as she galloped out of the library, leaving Sunburst behind to study the book. As she went through the door, she stopped, taking one last look at Sunburst, who gave her a confident smile—and a magic shove—to get her out the door. She shook her head and ran. The time for playing games was over.
It was time to get serious.
Much earlier that morning
The Everfree Forest was teeming with life. Heck, it was practically alive itself. The farther you went, the harder it was to discern a branch waving in the wind to an old treant on the hunt. Even the more tame creatures knew better than to roam the deeper parts of the forest at night, lest they fall victim to the wooden monsters the forest was known for.
Though not every creature had that luxury. Through the twisting trees of the forest, a quadrupedal creature bobbed and weaved. It turned its head to the air and sniffed. Three hostiles and they were gaining.
The creature’s body was coated by a slick sheen of sweat, heavy breaths revealing its need to find an open space soon. To stand its ground surrounded by the trees would be suicide. At least in an open space, the enemy would be unable to sneak up on him, drastically improving his chances of survival.
The creature kept sniffing as he made his way through the perilous forest, quiet as he could be to avoid drawing the attention of any larger beasts. Soon, the creature found himself slowing down as fatigue started to catch up to him. His breath grew quiet, slowly lowering his body to the forest floor, trying his best to camouflage itself in the darkness of the woods.
He pointed his snout up and took another whiff. His expression soured as he caught the scent of the same three hostiles. They'd be on him soon.
The creature closed his eyes and focused, the sounds of the world around him being shut out for the time being. The only thing he could feel was the cool rays of the moon shining on him, charging his fur with its astral energy. He felt his body go rigid as he began to embody the moon, become one with the moon.
He opened his eyes and soon, blue, wispy energy poured from them as he frantically looked around the forest for an open space to fight the upcoming battle. Finally, the moon led his eyes to a clearing of a manageable size. It was about 30-40 paces from him. If he started running now, he'd get caught before he made it and be dragged back into the forest. Unless...
Once again, the creature began channeling the moon's energy. This time, however, the creature's eyes were filled with unstable red energy that seemed to glitch every so often. The creature sank into the shadows just as his pursuers made their way to his location. They were confused, but they wouldn't be for long. He couldn't hide in the shade forever.
The creature swam through the shade until he reached his destination. He popped out of the shadow of a large Ether-Oak tree and quickly made his way to the middle of the clearing. His eyes narrowed on the treeline as the gnashing of teeth and creaky snarls could be heard.
"Oh, Orionos, the great hunter of the night sky," The creature chanted, closing his eyes as the pounding feet of his enemies got closer, "Grant me STRENGTH!"
The creature let out a mighty roar as his eyes flew open. His body started giving off a soft white glow as his eyes glazed over. He threw himself at his enemies, blindly slashing and biting whatever got close.
Soon, the battlefield fell quiet and the creature fell to the ground, the white glow disappearing from his body, and his eyes returning to their solid red color. In the moonlight, the creature's body was revealed to be that of a wolf, but not a normal one. His fur was pitch black and his teeth were a bright red color, somewhat similar to blood.
That was too close. The wolf thought as he looked over the carnage, only to find there was none.
Where dead bodies should've lain, sticks and leaves were scattered across the forest floor. The wolf tilted his head in confusion but decided he could deal with it when he was safe for the night. He turned around to leave the area, but...
Creaakk!
The wolf's body immediately turned back to the sticks on the floor which started to float as they began to come together. He let out a low growl and puffed out his fur. Was he being chased by some immortal beast? If so, simple intimidation probably wouldn't work. Though there was no way he was going to run with his tail between his legs. He watched with wild eyes as the sticks finished their transformation into a giant timberwolf.
The wolf blinked, his expression softening and his body relaxing. A fellow wolf! It'd been a while since he'd seen one considering his living conditions before now, but better late than never!
He took a step forward. "Hello, my wooden brethren! I am-"
The timberwolf didn't even let him finish. It let out a high pitched whine that hurt his sensitive ears and immediately ran off into the woods with its tail tucked beneath its legs.
"Wait!" he shouted, but the timberwolf was already long gone, "Darnit!"
The wolf kicked the ground with his paw before his mind thought back to the fight he had just been in. His eyes widened as he realized his blunder.
"So the predator that was hunting me was…?" The wolf cursed in his native tongue as he slapped his paw against his face. "...You're an idiot, Fluffers! We had a potential ally tracking us the entire time and instead of trying to befriend them, we beat them up then scared them off! Very smooth!"
Fluffers rolled around on the ground in frustration. Eventually, he picked himself up and let out a low growl as he ended his tantrum. No matter, he thought as he continued his trek through the forest, There will be other chances to build my pack. He let out a deeply distorted howl as he picked up his pace, his shadowy body being blurred out by darkness around him and his eyes filled with determination.
It was time to get serious.
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Luster Dawn will play a part In the saving yes. How she will do that I will not say
REALLY good job on this latest chapter. It took a while, but was quite worth the wait. Love the work that went into the exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-up in all the right places. I certainly enjoyed seeing Sunburst defusing that argument between Trixie and Luster (at least for the time being). And his reaction to Starlight's bit of news was quite understandable. And Fluffers scared off a timberwolf. Yikes! I have got a bad feeling about this, but it's the bad feeling that is good for story-telling.
Definitely looking forward to seeing how the other remaining Predators are going to try to bolster their ranks.
At any rate, certainly awaiting the next chapter quite eagerly.
I'm happy you're enjoying the story!