Freedom Through Harmony

by Electricut

Chapter Fifty-six

Chapter Fifty-six
EverFree Forest, House of the Hylian; Two days later
Fluttershy

“Ugh, what do you blokes want now...” Xekora’s voice echoed from inside his hut. Spike and Fluttershy stood alone on the threshold, waiting for him to come to the door. While Xekora’s strange accent had dropped steadily during the ‘storytelling session’- probably for need to be as serious as possible- the full dialect had returned at this point.

The wooden door swung inward, behind which stood the tall, dark haired historian. His black eyes lingered curiously on the pair. “Ah. ‘S you two... So, what did you want?” He said, not actually seeming to care.

“We’ve got a problem you might be able to help us with.” Spike stated simply. “But it might take a bit to explain it all.”

Xekora watched him for a moment longer, then shrugged and moved aside. “Make yourselves comfortable, then.” Spike nodded and ducked into the cozy shack, Fluttershy following close behind. As much as she realized Xekora was likely the only one who could help them, she was still very uncomfortable around him. A powerful dark aura lingered about him, and he seemed a bit distant at times- likely a result of him being a dark overlord from thousands of years before arriving in Equestria, she realized. Fluttershy could catch momentary glimpses into people’s hearts and minds as a side effect of inheriting her heron abilities, and only saw unmitigated chaos ruling both for Xekora.

She and Spike took a seat on the battered couch on the far side of the room. Xekora sat upon a wooden chair across from them, wearing an impossible to describe combination of taciturn, curious and bemused expressions on his face. Spike shook his head clear, and began to recount what the team had discovered. Xekora, as a historian himself, didn’t need to be told about the harrowing details of this feral drug. Fluttershy was thankful for that; hearing it once was hard enough.

“We were forced to leave Fenrir and return for help.” Spike explained. “He gave us a few bloodied scales as fake proof for the queen that we killed him, and he’s agreed to let us bind him up in that mountain cave for as long as it takes. I didn’t want to do it, but... we have to keep him hidden until we can reverse his affliction.”

“I see...” Xekora mumbled, mostly just to confirm he was listening. “Now, as interesting and sticky a situation this is, I’m afraid I don’t quite see why you’ve come to me about it. I may be alarmingly multitalented and can fix many a problem, but I know very little about this drug. It was eradicated three-hundred years before my arrival, more or less, and I never dug around for the formula, or that of any existing antidote.”

“There is no consumable antidote.” Spike corrected. “Never was. Of that, I’m certain. The only way to heal it was in one of the strongest heron Galdrar, one that only the royals were ever taught, the Galdr of Rebirth. Good news is, my dear friend Fluttershy here can use Galdrar as such. Bad news- we don’t have the lyrics to the song. We’d need to convince the heron royalty to give them to us to help our people, even if we found a way to Tellius, which we can’t do to begin with.”

Spike stood, emboldened by his words so far. “That’s where you come in. You can teleport, correct?”

Xekora stood to face him, beating Spike in height by a few inches. “Yes, I can teleport. Even with Tellius on the clear other side of the planet, I can reach them without much trouble. I suppose your plan is to have me meet with the heron royals and convince them to write down the lyrics for you.”

“Er... yes.” Spike stuttered, the words having been wrenched from his mouth.

“Right. Suspected as much. Well, here’s my deal. I’m trying to remain uninvolved in this war, to the best of my ability, and I really don’t feel doing a direct favor for the ‘Moonlight Resistance’ would be very in the spirit of it, aye?”

“I expected that.” Spike countered, taking his seat back next to Fluttershy. He wasn’t done yet, she knew. “We wouldn’t expect you to hand out favors to people you barely know, but what about doing business with them?”

Xekora’s curiosity was piqued- it showed in his face. Spike continued confidently: “Before they left, both Trixie and Phil said you describe yourself as a merchant of information, is that right?” The historian nodded slowly. “Well, if we were to give you a juicy bit of information, surely you could be persuaded to get this piece- some song lyrics- for us?”

Xekora’s eyes lit up, the prospect of business intriguing him. “Yes, I might be persuaded. What information have you that I haven’t already got my hands on, though?”

Spike grinned evilly, reaching into the small pack he had brought along. From within he withdrew a heavy tome, borrowed from the town library. He placed it on a coffee table next to the couch, then retrieved and placed a few more loose sheets of paper from the bag. He patted the stack proudly. “Ancient wind textbook that I had to barter with the mayor to let me check out. There’s likely some very old, now unheard-of spells tucked away in those pages.”

Xekora sauntered over to the table, scooping up the textbook and flipping through the pages casually, probably more so than a book as old and battered as that deserved. “I’ll admit that my knowledge of wind magics is a bit... lacking.”

“I’ve also called together a lot of little-known history from Tellius; important but overlooked figures in the wars, mostly. Everything I could remember that you wouldn’t find in the history books, I wrote down on those bits of paper.” Xekora took the papers in turn, and perused them with minor curiosity. Finally he nodded and set the book and papers down again.

“Acceptable payment.” He stated simply, taking his seat once more. “More than enough, in fact. I’ll find your song, that’ll remain my number one priority. However, if there’s something else you feel you could use, I feel I could take a detour to pick that up as well.”

Fluttershy shared an excited glance with Spike. This was going better than they first expected. Fluttershy however knew next to nothing about Tellius, so this remained Spike’s show. He thought for a long minute, wracking his brain for anything else he could request. Finally he looked up, his eyes bright with an idea. “Sending stones.” He said.

Xekora’s eyes widened slightly, but there was a smile on his face. “Brilliant. I’ll bring back any that I can get my hands on.”

“What are sending stones?” Fluttershy asked, ashamed that she wasn’t sure where the bargaining was going, but too curious to remain silent.

“Long-distance communication devices.” Spike explained excitedly. “Someone with a strong magical resonance can send words and mental images through them to someone else with another stone. They’re not easy to come by, though. Goldoa has a few, and used them for diplomatic missions. The herons might have a few as well, and any others are probably scattered around in the hands of competent magicians.

“In Equestria, Children of Fire have worked out something similar, with a spell that can transport letters to another receiver, but it’s still rather slow. The letters spend a day or two in... whatever space it travels through, before reaching it’s destination, and no-one’s been able to shorten that time frame. But with sending stones, the messages can be much more precise, can’t be intercepted, and are delivered instantaneously. I’ll bet a skilled Child of Fire could adapt and use them easily enough, and you can imagine what even two of these would do for the resistance.”

Fluttershy nodded. With devices like these, the different factions of Moonlight could stay in contact without fear of runners being intercepted and interrogated, and they could organize joint actions much faster, and hopefully stay a step ahead of Eclipse’s armies. One thing didn’t quite add up, though. “Spike, shouldn’t there be a sending stone already in Equestria?” He raised his eyebrow, so she elaborated. “You said Goldoa used stones for diplomatic missions- shouldn’t there have been one sent with you on your pilgrimage?”

Spike looked away, but she could tell he understood. “Yeah, there was one. Captain Irath had it. He kept it in his quarters, but... Well, one way or another, that stone is at the bottom of the ocean now.”

Fluttershy apologized immediately for bringing it up, but Spike shrugged it off a moment later. He stood and addressed Xekora, who had busied himself with stuffing some supplies into a pack. “So the stones are just to bring back if you can find them. We need at least two for it to be of any use, so if you can’t find more than one, just leave it.”

“Right.” Xekora confirmed. “I’m going to make myself an absolute pest to the heron royalty at this rate. I’ll chat up ol’ dragon king too, let him know you lot are waylaid here. Who knows, he may try to send some backup?”

“No.” Spike countered instantly. “No, tell him not to send anyone else. Don’t let anyone send anyone else. We seriously do not want any countries of Tellius involved in this. If they do, they’ll try and get a piece of Equestria for themselves as payment for helping us with our own power struggle. No, this is a civil war we’ve got going, and I’d like it to stay that way. But... you can tell the king what became of us. Just make sure he understands that we have to handle the situation by ourselves.”

“Fair enough.” Xekora responded cautiously. “No-one else will know of this, save for him. And I’ll tell him you’ve got the situation under control. Sound good?... I can’t say how long I’ll be gone. Depends on how cooperative these people decide to be. But if I had to place an estimate, I’d say... At least two weeks, but I doubt I’ll be longer than two months. That’s about as finite as I can get.”

Spike sighed, but nodded in understanding. “I guess that’ll do. If you’re sure you can’t be back sooner... Alright.” Xekora nodded, stepping outside the hut with his pack. He seemed to have already grabbed everything he felt he needed, because when he stepped outside, a flash of black enveloped him, and the historian was no-where to be seen when Fluttershy and Spike stepped out after him.

“I guess he must have already left for Tellius.” Fluttershy commented under her breath.

“Good. We need him back as fast as possible. I mean, even if he does it in the absolute minimum amount of time he gave us, two weeks is still longer than I thought it would take. I figured Fenrir would only have to stay up there like that for a few days... I’ll probably have to bring him food every couple of days. There was a spring on the other side of the mountain that he should be able to reach, so water isn’t a problem, but there isn’t anything for him to hunt up there.”

“I could help.” Fluttershy stated simply. “There’s no shortage of fruit and other plants in the forest, and I know what’s edible and what isn’t. Plus, I’m sure Applejack could send some crops from the Sweet Apple Acres. I might even be able to get some bigger birds to fly up there with the food and drop it off, so we don’t have to be traveling all the time.”

She looked proudly back to Spike. If he was impressed by her first two offers, he was downright dumbfounded by her third. “You... Are you serious? You can get animals to transport the food? Can you, like, speak with them?”

Fluttershy held her hands behind her back and looked to the side sheepishly. “Well... yes. When I use that song, it calms animal’s minds just the same as everyone else. Once they’re in that calmed state, it’s not hard to give them direction to do basic tasks. You just need to give them simple suggestions that they can understand- like, for this, I would first draw their attention to the food, then point them in the direction of the mountain, then at a pool of water. They would take that information and fly off with the food, and drop it off near the spring at the mountain. Then, without any further instruction, they would just fly back home.”

Spike’s only response was to stare in disbelief and wonder. Fluttershy averted her gaze, but her heart swelled with pride. Finally, Spike found his voice. “That’s... That’s amazing! Fluttershy, you’re the best.” He stepped forward and wrapped her up in a wide, gentle hug. Her face flushed, and while she made no move either way in the short time his arms were around her, she was grateful for this show of affection.

He separated a moment later, motioning for her to follow as he strode happily away from the clearing. Fluttershy considered saying something before he left, but decided against it and followed in silence.

Comments

[Bloodpool]

Fifty-six chapters and still not complete? My god, are you mad?! You'll kill yourself via writing overload!

[Electricut]

378991

I'm working on the eighty-fifth chapter now, my friend. One hundred may not be enough to finish it.

And then there's another book on top of that afterwards.

Madness? Quite possibly.