Ponyfinder: Potions and Swords

by David Silver

11 - Gaining Depth

Zecora sat before the fortune teller, setting a silver piece on the little table between them with a hoof.

This got a brow raise. "Are you a wizard? No, an alchemist. A useful spell, that." She burst into laughter. "Not that you like to call them spells."

Zecora inclined her head. "What have I done that could be a spell? I have approached and paid, all I can tell."

The fortune teller pointed at Zecora's flat hoof. "Nothing to grab things with, but you did it anyway."

"She does that," sang Aeorean with a big smile. "Been doing it since we met her."

"Not a spell then," corrected the fortune teller. "An oddity, like the rest of you. You have paid, a small amount, let's see what the whispers have to share." She began to weave her hooves in strange patterns over the table. "Already they are eager to share."

Longma rolled her eyes. "I'm no expert in the going rates of fortunes, but a silver is a fine amount, last I knew, hag."

"Unkind words do not get discounts." Not that she looked away from Zecora. "You come from a realm at peace, but always in conflict." She set her hooves closer together. "Never too much. Brightness and warmth... But you are not part of it, not directly. You... stood aside."

Zecora tensed at the description of her life. "I hope you have more than whispers of my past, What I really want is my forecast."

"The past makes the future," assured the fortune teller. "We can't skip one for the other." She clapped her hooves, glittering powder puffing out. "An accident, a friend, taken without your leave? I see questing fingers." Her eyes went to Jon, the only one there with fingers. "They can be troublesome things."

Jon tucked his hands away self-consciously, remembering that he needed new gloves. Aeorean sat down, apparently satisfied enough with the performance to not continue trying to urge them away.

Zecora was still and quiet, waiting.

"Flat meets round. Not the first...Not the last..." She trailed lines in the glittering top of the table. "It seems these worlds were destined to meet, to crash, to bring joy and pain."

"Already have I seen this," interrupted Zecora. "Please, do continue, miss."

"You hardly needed to ask." She sat up, crossing her arms. "But I think I've proven myself. Pay for what you wish to know."

Zecora looked to Aeorean, holder of the party funds. He inclined his head, then looked to the fortune teller. "How much are we talking about?"

The fortune teller fixed Aeorean in her gaze, the money source clearly identified. "I have my needs, as do the spirits that share with me. The more you give them, the more freely they speak to me, and I can talk to you."

Aeorean clopped down a hoof. "That's kinda vague! Which is probably the point." He huffed with annoyance, burying his nose into a saddlebag and coming out with a lone gold coin that he passed to Zecora, who took it on the end of a hoof. "Huh, it really does come natural to you." Aeorean had to grab it in his teeth, no magic being used to let his hooves perform such tricks.

Zecora nodded to Aeorean "My thanks to you." She set the coin down on the glittering table. "Let's see what answers we can accrue."

Longma leaned towards Aeorean. "This is coming from her share, right?"

"The gods watch with mixed concern. To some, a friend, to others, worry." She looked up, meeting Zecora's eyes once more. "You know them. Their name was whispered in your ear."

There was one god Twilight had mentioned fondly. "The god of friendship and books? It is no mystery why that friend keeps giving looks." Two of a kind, those two. "Will she help me?"

"A goddess of friends, of bonds forged in trial. Ask her kindly, but be prepared." The fortune teller leaned forward. "Her faithful are not known for short sermons."

Jon knew what Zecora was and who she was, but not anything else brought up so far. How did she know about an Everglow god? "Zecora, you've been here before?"

"My friend Twilight shared her adventures for free," explained Zecora.

The fortune telling mare raised a brow. "Twilight? I had thought that a twist of the tongue... A flowery saying. Hm." She brushed aside the glitter with a skill few shared with her. "You have a choice." Zecora perked, but said nothing. "You can flee home now, or you can risk, and learn." She reached and dabbed some of that glitter on Zecora's nose. "Neither is entirely easy. Do well, and either gets you home."

Zecora frowned softly as she rose, still glittering on her snout. "Thank you, your words are worth the price." She turned away. "I have much musing to do on this advice."

The fortune teller waved, but did not stop them from departing, leaving her behind as they resumed their journey through the city. Jon reached, about to touch Zecora when he caught himself. "How are you feeling? Whichever way you decide, I will help."

Zecora cracked a smile at his words, glancing up at him. "Your intentions are kind and selfless, but what of you, do you truly desire adventures endless? Surely you've a home that you have come from. Was the past so bad you only worry for what you have become?"

Longma snorted a little sparkling cloud despite being a pony, at least at the moment. "You all live such short lives, I'm surprised any of you have time to think about the past. It does explain half the dumb things you do."

"About that." Jon turned his attention to their dragonpony friend. "What do rift dragons do? I mean, you get a rift, great, then what? You don't collect things, and rifts only have so much in them... Don't you get bored?"

Longma huffed, but that turned into a laughter, quiet, but raising in intensity. "What small inner lives you must lead. Surrounded by creatures that are awed by me, I have little physical wants that aren't sated." She reached over, prodding at Jon with a hoof. "So I think. I think and think and keep right on thinking. I think about large things and small things and me things and, well, now that I know you, you things. If you think you ever see me not thinking, you are incorrect."

Aeorean inclined his head faintly as they marched. "So if it was so comfortable, why are we rushing to relax?"

"Charming beasts, but cold and simple by and large." Longma shrugged softly. "City-dwellers are much more cultured. They will show me to relaxation I couldn't have found before. If I'm not going to be in a rift, I'm taking the second best option." She looked to Zecora. "I will still be thinking, and I imagine you will be too. You don't strike me as an idle sort."

Zecora pointed ahead of them. A grand temple rose, seated at the top of stone stairs, heavy and impressive.

Aeorean bobbed his head. "Yep, that's it!" He spread his wings and flew up the stairs rather than climbing them. "Let's see if they have someone that can lend us a hoof. That mare mentioned Princess Luminace, didn't she?"

The rest were a bit slower ascending the stairs, but it wasn't too hard for any of them, climbing up one step after the other. Zecora nodded to Aeorean. "That seems a fine start, but let's look for your friends as the first part."

"Oh right!" Aeorean clopped the side of his head with a hoof as he turned in place to start cantering into the building. "Under! Steel? Any of you in here?" He pushed open the heavy doors that lead inside, his friends right behind him.

A human approached Aeorean first, dressed in the robes befitting a priest. He had no specific god's symbol on him. "Hello and welcome. Please try to keep the noise in the main area down. It is a place for meditation and quiet conversation."

Aeorean inclined his head. "Oh, sorry. I was looking for my friends." He was pointing up at his own face as if that would just explain it. "Dawn Event? Steel Prism? Oh, Fast Shadow or Under Score?"

The priest shook his head, hands spreading. "I know at least one of those, but they are all names of great import."

"Yeah yeah." Aeorean sighed softly, wings drooping a moment. "We all heard it. Our parents picked our names, not us."

Jon nudged around Zecora. "Are these important names?"

"New to Everglow?" greeted the other man with a knowing smile. "It's a local myth, a pony one. The names of champions. They remain popular because of it."

Jon shrugged at that. "Well, Aeorean is pretty awesome."

"As Aeorean, me, not some ancient champion." Aeorean hopped in place lightly. "So, you heard of one, gonna guess it's Dawn. He in?"

"As the gods demand." A pony approached, his dreadlocks bouncing against the heavy metal he wore. "They spoke truthfully this day, as they usually do."

The human priest bowed to the side to allow the others to speak, making himself more useful elsewhere in the temple. Dawn paid it no mind. "Aeorean, what god's whims carries you today?"

Aeorean clopped his hooves together in a glad expression, smile on his face. "I knew it! Dawn! Oh." He turned to the others. "This is Dawn Event, priest, cleric, and awesome person. Dawn, this is my party."

Dawn inclined his head faintly. "Is he treating you well?"

Longma waffled a hoof in the air. "Good enough, priest."

Jon did not hesitate, "So you're a hero?"

Dawn chuckled at that. "I am a humble servant of the gods. That my father decided I had some resemblance to the original Dawn Event is of little matter." His eyes wandered over Jon a moment. "It is not often to see a champion in the company of a human, in name or not."

Aeorean was quick to move between them. "Don't give Jon nasty looks. He's nice, and can fight good, and maybe a bit violent?"

Dawn inclined his head faintly. "Blaze be praised. The Night Mare would lecture me if I turned away a valuable friend just for sake of their heritage. Enough of that, you did not come seeking me just to display your new party." He paused but a moment. "Or did you? Aeorean..."

"I didn't!" Aeorean squeaked defensively. "But since we were here..." He gestured eagerly with his wings, inviting Dawn to behold his new friends.

Dawn began ignoring him in favor of looking at Zecora. "You seem the one with the most pressing questions, though your appearance brings many to me. Out of etiquette, I will allow you to ask first."

Zecora nodded. "I thank you for waiting in line. That you are here, the stars must align." She glanced up as if to spot one of those mischievous stars. "I am from a world quite distant, To return to it, I require an assistant."

Jon joined, one hand moving partway in front of Zecora, "She's from another plane, where ponies look like that." Like a cartoon more than a horse, really. Unlike Dawn, who was a horse, in armor, and with dreadlocks. Those were things horses could do, though it escaped Jon how a horse did their hair like that. "We were told clerics and priests would be--"

"--most suited, yes." He nodded, his eyes stuck on Zecora. "Tell me, does the name Twilight Sparkle mean anything?"

Zecora blinked at that. "Not the first time her name has been raised. I confess, this makes me somewhat amazed. Did she leave such a strong mark, I confess I thought she had joked of mingling with the local monarch."

"So you're a friend," continued Dawn. "That figures. You didn't come with a dragon." His eyes went to Jon. "Instead, you have a human friend."

Longma snorted into a giggling. The habit of Equestrians making, or bringing, dragon friends was not easily defeated.

Author's Note:

The tale continues. Hi Dawn! If you've read other stories in this 'verse, you've met him before. He's shown up in no few of them, as the gods demand it. Was that fortune teller helpful?

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Comments

[badninja]

Well good to see that Zecora choose to keep, adventuring. I bet she will learn much but learn it always fun to do.

[Booster Spice]

So far, so good, theyrein town, and temple, without being picked up by the guard for some infraction.

[Frostgear]

So dragon and equestrians have a certain bond in everglow.

[Chrome Masquerade]

"As the gods demand." A pony approached, his dreadlocks bouncing against the heavy metal he wore. "They spoke truthfully this day, as they usually do."

And suddenly I'm imagining this guy with a Jamaican accent.