Odysseed

by AuroraDawn

Chapter 3

The Friendship Express chugged rhythmically and heartily as it rounded Mount Canterlot, and Applejack leaned against the glass, fogging it up with each breath. She was staring at the Castle, with vague thoughts and feelings running back and forth across her mind without much aim or direction.

Global, magical conspiracies of ancient lore asides, she couldn’t shake the feeling that something big was coming. It was an odd sort of thought to chew on, and she gnawed on it like a corn husk. There’d been plenty of ‘big’ things in her life. Dozens of times the state of the nation or the world was on the edge of crisis and they had been called to defend it or simply shown up regardless. She knew how that heavy feeling of anticipation settled in one’s stomach, how the gravitas of a plan would vibrate in her bones. That was here, too, but it wasn’t alone this time. Now there was a shadow at the back of her brain, shouting at her silently, an anxious little gremlin shaking her brain.

Twilight Sparkle was seated across from her, going over the notes she had compiled from the few ponies in town she had managed to speak to. She was muttering various lines over and over to herself, and scratching notes out just as quickly as she had jotted them down. Applejack sat up straight, pulling her thoughts away from the strange uneasiness that had seeped into her since she had first stepped off of her farmstead.

“Whatcha doing?” She asked, craning her head at Twilight.

“Oh? Oh!” Twilight looked up and then set her notebook down. “Trying to figure out what all those passages mean. From what I’ve gathered, two sets of them end on a rhyme, but the rest of them don’t, and one of the sets makes no sense together. I guess I’m just missing too much data to really make any sense of these yet.”

“A rhyme, huh? You think it’s a poem, or just a coincidence?”

“Oh, these ancient things love riddles, so it’s probably one of those. And you know how much I love riddles, so I can’t really get my mind off it. It’s been like trying to scratch an itch but my leg isn’t long enough to reach it.” She slumped, grimacing. “And there’s this weird feeling on top of it all, like I’m not moving fast enough already.”

Applejack’s ears perked up, and Twilight caught the expression.

“You too, huh?”

“Yeah,” the farmer replied, tilting her stetson back and scratching her chin. “Feels like stage fright, nerves or somethin’. Like I can’t mess up whatever I’m about to do.”

“You, Applejack, nervous?”

Applejack blushed. “Well, that’s kind of y’all, but don’t install me as a statue at your castle just yet. I ain’t stone, things get to me as much as the next pony. Though for some reason this one just has some extra weight to it that I can’t pin down.” She shrugged, looking back out the window as the full breadth of the castle came into view. Her mind drifted, bringing memories of all the times she had been in those hallowed halls, and the occasions that had brought her there.

For once, it would have been nice to visit without an impending disaster, she thought with a grimace.

“I wonder if it’s the Source itself that’s doing this,” Applejack surmised, turning quickly to Twilight.

“How so?”

“It wants to be found, right? Why else would it send such an obvious signal out there? And if it’s wielding this spooky wooky changer-of-the-universe level power, it’s probably making us feel real antsy about getting out there and finding it.”

Twilight considered this, giving a nod that began slow and quickly accelerated. “Yeah, that makes a lot of sense, actually. I’m sure the princesses will know more, they already seem to have a lot of information. I’m really looking forward to meeting with them again! Ooh, it’s so exciting!”

Applejack grinned and resumed leaning against the glass. The train had entered the city proper by now, and so all that she could see of the majestic hanging castle were the tall lavender towers. The sunlight caught on the gold trim and shone painfully into her eyes, and Applejack closed them and breathed steadily instead.

The weather in Canterlot was typical of summer. Cloudless and bright, though the elevation brought a lingering chill that the sun’s rays could not alone defeat. Applejack liked it, the balance of warmth and coolness feeling perfect on her coat. There wasn’t even hardly any wind today, and what breezes that did blow in from the mountaintop were cut short by the rows of houses and shops that surrounded the ancient towers of Canterlot Castle.

Twilight and Applejack took the direct route to the capitol from the train station, following one of the canals that flowed out from the peak and cut through the city, only to crest and cascade off the courtyard cliffs. Here too Applejack found the light shining bright into her eyes, reflecting off the serene waves of mountain water. Even now in the middle of summer, the water would be freezing, and the sprays carried by the rare gusts tickled her legs. She welcomed it, thankful for the physical distraction from the incessant anxiety that she wasn’t immediately running around the country trying to find a… Well, find something.

There was none of the usual pomp and circumstance of Twilight’s attendance at the castle this time. When the two ponies met the royal guards at the gates, a third guard—a pegasus, seemingly a lieutenant judging by her armor—raced out to greet them.

“Ah, Princess Twilight Sparkle! We were told to expect you. No carpets or fanfare this time, I’m afraid,” she said, bowing and raising so fast it was almost as if she had done a pushup. “Though as I understand it you’re probably fine with that?”

“Ah, Polished Brass, nice to see you again. Yes, that’s fine,” she chuckled awkwardly. “I get it’s procedure and all but really, it’s never necessary…”

“Ah, but what is the point of a royal guard if not to serve royalty?” Polished Brass winked, and then turned to Applejack. “We haven’t met before. Wait wait, don’t tell me. Earth pony, well kempt mane, strong physique. You must be the Element of Honesty, Applejack, yes?”

Applejack took her hat off and did her usual curtsey. “Right on all accounts, ma’am. Pleased to make your acquetence!”

“Acquaintance,” Twilight muttered.

“Hush, you,” Applejack replied.

“All the same, it is correct! But we really must carry on, I have kept you for far too long. I trust you two know the way to the library?”

“The library?” Applejack and Twilight asked at the same time. One of the voices was drenched in excitement, and the other in curiosity.

“Yes, the princesses are awaiting you there instead of the Throne Room. Seemingly this is a matter of high security, so they chose a location less likely to be intruded upon.”

At Twilight’s consternation, Applejack burst into laughter. “Don’t take it personally, Twi. You know the royal library isn’t nearly as big as the city proper’s. Anyways Ms. Brass, we sure as sugar know the way. Thanks for your help today,” she said, guiding a steaming Twilight away from the guard.

“Less likely?!” Twilight grunted once they passed the large doors to the castle. “There must be some mistake. How could a library not be popular? I just—”

“Deep breaths now, that’s it, let it out. We’ll visit the Crystal Empire’s library when we’re done whatever it is we need to do now. Promise. You’ll get to see all them books getting properly cared for and read. Easy girl, come on now.”

Her calming reassurance lasted them throughout the dozen hallways and stairways they had to traverse until finally coming to the aforementioned room.

“Imagine meeting in an apple orchard!”

“Don’t make this personal now!”

“Twilight, it’s so good to see you.”

At the sight of Princess Celestia, all frustration vanished from Twilight’s face, and she lit up like a Hearth’s Warming tree. Celestia was sitting near one of the many lecterns that peppered the small library, an old and tattered looking tome open before her. While Twilight pranced forward, Applejack entered slowly, taking in her surroundings.

It was awfully cramped in here. She suspected it would have been dusty, too, though the rays of light coming through the large stained glass window at the end of the room revealed it was at least cleaned along with the rest of the castle. To the right side of the room were several corridors of bookshelves that reached all the way up to the vaulted ceiling. On the left were more of the same, though in the middle of it all a spiralling marble staircase reached up to the floor above. And that was really about it. There was nothing else in the room except for books, shelves, and the three ponies, and Applejack quickly caught up with the other two.

“Applejack, it is delightful to see you as well. I suspect,” she said, giving a quick sly grin to Twilight, “that you were by when she received my missive?”

“Right on the snout, your Highness.”

“Well, I am pleased to have you here all the same. Your input will be just as valued, I assure you.”

Twilight settled down on a velvet pillow that rested near the lectern. “So what’s going on, Princess? I had my suspicions that it was the Source when I first woke up, and started compiling some notes on it, but I haven’t really figured anything concrete out. Applejack and I were actually discussing what else it might have been when we got your letter.”

Applejack nodded. “Yup. I wasn’t really sold on it, but then again I hadn’t ever heard of anything like it before.”

Celestia observed the two with her usual stoic expression, an unchanging half-glare that seemed to radiate compassion and disinterest all the same. Applejack wondered if it was something she had always done, or if it was some political poker face, practiced over a thousand years to never give away anything too soon.

“Tell me,” the white alicorn said, “What do you know about the Source then, Twilight?”

She perked up and started speaking, unable to hold back her giddiness. “The Source is the origin of all magical energy on Equus! Eons ago a group of sages discovered it themselves, and realized that the temptation to use the Source for evil would be too great to control. As such they cast a spell to bury the Source in an unknown location for an unknown amount of time. When it arises again, all the world would ring with its coming!”

Celestia nodded. “Anything else?”

“Er.” Twilight faltered, her ears drooping. “Uh, no, I guess? I think really it was a foal’s book I had read about it in. A Thousand Tales for Tiny Tails.”

Celestia closed the huge book in front of her and magicked it up back onto a shelf high above them. “So far nothing you’ve said is incorrect, as far as anypony knows of course. The problem with researching events that happened before the invention of our language, or the dead languages it’s built off of, are that there’s very little written down and even less of it that can be presumed to be accurate. All the same we do have some attested records in the library.

“What we know is that the Source is immensely powerful. Unbelievably so. Imagine having the power to wish for anything, with no rules or strings attached. Whatever you so desire, instantaneously made true. By physically channeling the Source, anything can be made possible; be it an infinite supply of real bits, the complete obedience of any and every creature, the eradication of entire ecological systems… One could even create a new planet if they so wished.

“It’s incredibly important that we find and obtain the Source before anyone else has the opportunity to do so. Equestria has noble goals, but this is not something we can rest so easily assured that any other faction will be the same. I have summoned you here so we can plan an expedition to go get it.”

Twilight and Applejack looked at each other, the same question exchanged between them with a glance. Twilight spoke up, asking it first.

“What exactly does Equestria plan to do with a source of infinite power?”

A tiny smile spread on Celestia’s lips. “Much like one often fantasizes about winning a lottery and what they would purchase with the bits, we have long considered and debated this very idea. We would infuse it into the Tree of Harmony, allowing its influence to reach the world and ensure peace and security for time eternal.”

Twilight tossed her head back and forth, thinking, before finally shrugging. “I can’t really think of any drawbacks or downsides to that, no. Seems noble enough to me.” She glanced at Applejack to find her brow furrowed. “What about you? Something wrong?”

“Not with the plan, no, I think that’s all fine and dandy enough myself. But I gotta ask, why would the sages cast a hiding spell that pins a bright ol’ beacon plum onto the thing they were trying to hide in the first place? Makes no sense to me, not a lick.”

“It is not the sage’s spell that has called out into the void,” a new voice came from the stairway. Applejack snapped her gaze over as soon as she heard it, her mouth dropping open in awe before she caught it and closed it.