3: Progress Made
June 21, 1463 of the Common Age
Griffonstone was unlike how Opheda had heard it was like in her studies. During her study of history beyond the borders of the deer’s old kingdom, she had read stories about the rich land that belonged to the griffons across the mountains.
She’d read the brief history that had been in her book. In it, the griffons were described as having been a race full of pride, united under the crown thanks to some idol created by melting golden dust blown over the mountains by the northern winds into the shape of a goblet with a wing curled around the center, where a spherical gem that long predated the era of even the deer had been placed. They united under the banner and had spread their influence over the land of their continent that existed on the western side of the mountains known to the griffons as the Hyperborean Range.
Despite being a young doe and strange multicolored doe pair, nogriffon seemed to give them a second thought. Opheda wasn’t sure whether to feel relieved or insulted by this observation, but she kept her mouth shut. Her words had gotten her into enough trouble as it was, anyway. All she was hoping for was to find a ship on its way to Equestria, but when they’d reached the docks at the bottom of the mountain several hours before, they’d found them all rotted away. They both had no idea how to get into Equestria, so they decided to go to the city and try and find a way to get there.
However, what she saw here was nothing like the drawings she’d seen in the books. Griffonstone was anything but glorious. In fact, it looked like a ruin, and smelled even worse. Opheda pulled out a hoofkerchief and tied it around her muzzle, trying to block out the stench. Beside her, Verbana just looked out at the ancient city with a look of great sadness. “The last time I was here, this city was a thriving metropolis. Now…it’s fallen so far.”
“When were you here last?” Opheda asked as they approached the gates, a golden arch with a mini arch near the top and red wings spread out from the gates themselves.
“Long ago, very long ago,” Verbana said.
“Was it anything like the stories?” Opheda asked.
“No,” Verbana replied, much to Opheda’s disappointment. Disappointment which vanished when Verbana continued, “it was much better.”
Opheda listened in rapture as Verbana described, in great detail, the once proud nation of Griffonstone and the empire which it controlled. Griffons lived quite well during those days. Everygriffon had a comfortable life and earned more than a living wage for the time. The various cities around the empire were more like pieces of art than construction. The power of the Idol of Boreas seemed to permeate the entire empire during the height of its power. Griffons were known as fearsome warriors and clever businesscreatures. Their emperors were strong and powerful and their economy was unparalleled at the time. To Opheda, it sounded like it rivaled or perhaps even surpassed what she had heard about Equestria.
“I wouldn’t know about that,” Verbana said, “because I’ve not been to Equestria since before its founding. Still, it’s possible.”
Opheda nodded, then continued looking around at the crowds of griffons wandering around, almost aimlessly. “So…what do we do? I can’t cross the ocean now, and the only other way I know of would be to cross a small bridge north of here.”
“That may be where we need to go,” Verbana said, “but first I need to find out something.”
“Like what?”
Verbana sighed. “There was once a powerful artifact here, an Idol that the griffons once held in high regard. I had heard it was lost over the Abyssmal Abyss, but when we passed it earlier, I couldn’t sense it at all. I also saw signs of recent activity on one side of the cliff. Someone either found it or tried to.”
The two deer walked around, their slender frames taller than the burlier griffons around them. They looked for anygriffon who might be willing to help them with some information, but anygriffon who they asked always asked for money in return. Opheda found this repulsive, but Verbana could only sigh and nod in understanding. She explained that griffons had a natural affinity for greed, but had suppressed that need during their height. Now, it seemed as if their fall had allowed that greed to resurface.
Finally, they found a griffon who might be more willing to help them. A dark gray-cobalt blue griffon hen who was busily delivering letters all around spotted them, landed, and greeted them warmly, introducing herself as Gabriella, but then immediately asked to be called Gabby. Opheda was taken aback by how friendly this griffon was, but Verbana seemed to welcome this change. “Miss Gabby, thank you for your warm greeting,” she said kindly.
“No problem,” Gabby said with a smile of her own, “but what brings two deer here? Last I heard, the deer were all the way east of us over the Hyperborean Range.”
“We’ve come to try and find a way into Equestria,” Verbana said, “do you know of a way there from here?”
“Oh sure,” Gabby said immediately. She turned and pointed to the northewest. “It’s down near the base of the mountain, but there’s a train station there that’ll take you across to Equestria. The first town you’ll come to is Rainbow Falls south of the Yaket Range.”
“Is that near Mt. Everhoof?” Verbana asked.
“I think so?” Gabby looked a bit unsure before a look of certainty appeared on her face. “No, it is. Whenever I’ve delivered mail there, I’ve seen it in the distance. It’s pretty far away, though.”
“Understood,” Verbana said.
“Anything else I can do for you?” she asked.
Verbana nodded. “Could you show me where your farmlands are?”
As Gabby led the two down to some of the lower levels of Griffonstone, Opheda looked up at the older, taller deer. “What are you thinking?” she asked. There wasn’t any accusation in her tone, merely curiosity.
“Look around, young doe,” Verbana said. “Tell me what you see.”
Opheda did so, taking in everything around her before turning back to her traveling companion. “Lots of dirty griffons, a bunch of hay, ruined houses, a town in ruin.”
“Look harder,” Verbana instructed her.
Opheda frowned. She felt like she was back at the Temple of True Accord now, but something in Verbana’s voice gave her pause. Verbana’s tone seemed more interested in Opheda learning than just shoving lessons down her throat. So, she did so, trying to find what Verbana was seeing that she couldn’t. She tried her best to see something she’d missed, but she turned back after a few minutes, shaking her head. “I don’t see it.”
“Then let me tell you what I see,” Verbana said. “This is a starving nation. The griffons here are constantly going hungry, unable to fully fill their stomachs with even the most necessary of food.” She turned to Gabby. “Isn’t that right, Miss Gabby?”
Gabby sighed and nodded sadly. “Yeah…we can barely feed ourselves. Especially now that the crop fields are starting to die.”
“When did that start?” Opheda asked in alarm.
“About a year ago,” Gabby said.
“Did anything unusual happen a year ago?” Verbana asked.
“Nothing that I can think of,” Gabby admitted, “but the years here blend together a lot, so I may have missed something.”
Opheda looked up at Verbana. “You think something happened last year that caused their fields to die?”
“I won’t know until I get there,” Verbana said.
With that, the three continued going on in silence. Opheda took another look around, and finally saw what Verbana must have seen. She saw how gaunt a few of the griffons were, even seeing a griffon mother feeding her kittens some meat but barely taking any for herself. It was the first sign of selflessness she’d seen in this city. She continued observing everything, trying to see things that she’d either ignored or hadn’t seen. She wished she could do something for them, but there was nothing she was able to do at the moment.
They left the city and made their way to a vast swath of land near the Abyss. Opheda was horrified by what she was seeing. Crops were nothing more than black husks that blew away in the wind. The ground was a dark gray instead of a healthy dark brown. Rocks were strewn everywhere and the few griffons in the fields had a hopeless look in each of their eyes. Opheda looked up to Verbana, and saw that the unusual deer had a tear falling down her cheek. “It’s worse than I thought…” she said. She turned to Opheda. “Stay here, young one.”
Before Opheda could object, Verbana turned and began galloping away, but not in a way normal for any deer. It was like with one bound, she sailed through the air, bounding like a jackalope, but with grace and dexterity that she’d only read about. She and Gabby watched in awe as the ancient deer made her way to the edge of the farmland, then crossed over the old rotten fence towards the edge of the Abysmal Abyss. She looked down at it and Opheda could see that the winds were blowing the leaves off of Verbana’s horns, but said leaves were simply growing back.
“Is she magical?” Gabby asked, startling Opheda.
“Huh?” Opheda looked back at Gabby, then quickly nodded. “She’s a special deer, and very powerful too.”
After a while, Verbana came back, her leaves having been blown off and regrown several times. She had a frown on her face as she said, “It’s just as I feared. The Idol is no longer in its former resting place.”
“Idol? You meant the Idol of Boreas??” Gabby’s eyes were wide at this news.
“It would seem so,” Verbana said. “If it fell down into that ravine, its power would have been enough to keep this farmland fertile, but if it was taken or destroyed, then its power and influence over these fields would be diminished.” She raised her head and her horns glowed their signature green magic. A small empty portion of the field began to glow a dim green before she lowered her head, the magic disappearing. “There is no magic flowing here, but there are traces of magic that used to exist her.”
“Can you do something?” Opheda asked, looking up at Verbana.
The deer looked down at Opheda with a sad smile. “I can,” she said, “but the magic I can give them will only last for a hooffull of years before it wears off.” She turned back to the fields. “Still, I can’t just ignore a civilization on the verge of collapse. I only hope that a more permanent solution can be found before it’s too late.” Once more, she raised her horns and they began to glow.
Opheda could feel the immense amount of magic radiating off of the multicolored doe as she and Gabby stepped back. The entire field of dying crops began glowing, alarming the griffons there who launched themselves into the air, staring at the ground with fear and confusion. As they watched, they saw the stones and rocks in the fields begin lifting off of the ground before being flung into the abyss. The gray soil began to transform into perfectly healthy brown. The dead plants receded into the soil only to be replaced with the quickly growing and healthy looking crops. Many different crops began to grow, not just what had been growing there before. A large grove of different types of trees grew, such as apples, oranges, even coconut trees grew. Corn stalks, wheat fields, strawberry patches and many other staples also grew in the vast fields surrounding Griffonstone. The rows of crops also increased to accommodate for more food than had been grown before.
By the time Verbana was complete, the fields were all ready for harvest, the fruits all ready to be picked and the grains ready to be harvested. There was silence in the air before the griffons who were hovering over the once barren fields emitted screeches of joy before descending towards the fields, both eating and harvesting the fields as fast as they could. Opheda could see the joy in their eyes as a couple of these griffons flew back to the town, only to return with more willing fieldhands who began to harvest.
However, it appeared as if Verbana wasn’t done. She walked over to the Abysmal Abyss and looked down it again. As Opheda watched, she saw that the edges of the abyss which faced the sea were beginning to move. The ground began to close up with large rocks and boulders from below appearing and blocking the exit where the river below that had carved the Abyss ran through. The impromptu dam took time to complete, but when it was done, the winds from the Abyss now blew up out of the massive canyon instead of through it. From below came the sound of rushing water. Opheda and Gabby, both unable to wait to see what was happening, ran up and looked down, only to see that the now dammed Abyss was filling with water more quickly than Opheda had anticipated.
Clean water was rising up from the canyon below, swallowing up the dangerous crevice in the earth until in about ten minutes the water level reached the new shores of a large lake. The excess water began to pour over the side where the dam had formed, creating a brand new waterfall which restarted the river below. The massive torrents of water fell down, the roaring audible everywhere. The griffons who saw this came running over, dipping their heads into the new crystal clear lake and drinking large gulps of water.
Opheda looked at the brand new waterfall, and in the sunlight saw a rainbow being formed by the mists. It was truly a remarkable sight. Gabby, eyes as wide as saucers, turned to Verbana. “You’re really her…” she said, “the Harvest Bringer…”
Verbana put her hoof to her lips, making a shushing sound before lowering it. “All of your fields should be able to give you one harvest a month for the next five years, maybe six. The new lake will hold for a very long time. You can use it to water your fields. If things don’t change in five years, I will try and come back and replenish the magic. I wish I could do more.”
Gabby spread her wings, launching herself at the old doe and hugging her tightly, tears falling down her cheeks. “You don’t know just how much this means to us!” Gabby exclaimed happily. She broke the hug. “Twenty four harvests of this size will keep us all well fed, and maybe I can convince Grandpa Gruff to store some for the future.”
“A wise precaution,” Verbana said. “Hopefully this will be enough to tide you over before a permanent solution is found.”
Gabby thanked her again, then turned and flew down to help in the harvest. Opheda saw the young griffon sneaking some fruits to eat while helping. Opheda then turned to Verbana, a newfound respect for this once mythical doe being formed within her. She realized she had more respect for this doe than she ever had for anydeer else back at the Temple. Even her former Matron. Verbana didn’t look back, instead looked over at the newly regrown fields with a look of serenity in her dark green eyes.
After a while, Verbana turned and looked back at Opheda. “Come along,” she said, “it’s time for us to depart. We have what we came here for.”
Opheda nodded, but as they turned, they heard flapping from behind them. “Hold on!” Gabby called out as she landed in front of them, panting a bit. Her beak was stained with some juice from the orange she held in her claw. She reached into her saddlebag and pulled out a brown bag tied by an old rope. She passed it over to the two. “You’ll both need this if you’re gonna be in Equestria. Train tickets cost money, after all.”
Verbana gently took the bag and both deer could hear the jingling of coins from inside. The older doe looked at Gabby. “You’re too kind, but we can’t accept-”
“Please, I insist,” Gabby interrupted her, a pleading look in her eyes. “It’s the least anygriffon here can do for you after what you’ve done.”
Verbana looked at the sack, then back up at Gabby. She slowly nodded, then looked at Opheda. “Place this in your saddlebag,” she instructed.
Opheda took the bag with her magic and placed it inside said saddlebag before she too turned to Gabby. “Thank you very much,” she said.
Gabby smiled, then nodded before taking a bite out of her peeled orange before jumping back into the air, heading back to the new fields. Verbana smiled at this as she said, “That Gabby is a griffon among griffons. I wouldn’t be surprised if she rises to greatness among her kind.” She looked back to Opheda. “Come, Opheda. We should go.”
As the two made their way back down the mountain to the train station, Opheda took one last look at the city. In an instant, she saw not what it looked like in the present, but what it had been. The city was gleaming with life. There was no sign of decay, no rot of any kind. The griffons she saw were well fed and had a look of pride on each of their faces. There were smiles everywhere. Griffon kittens were playing around the clean stone street, food was being sold in markets, and the entire city seemed more alive than what it was now.
She was brought out of her reverie by a hoof on her back. Opheda turned to see Verbana looking at her with a concerned look. “Young one? Are you okay?”
Opheda looked back at Griffonstone, only to see its current decaying state. She blinked a couple times, then turned back to Verbana. “Yeah,” she said with a nod. “I was just taking one last look at the city, imagining what it must have been like in its prime.”
Verbana smiled a bit, then gently led Opheda away. “Maybe someday, they can rebuild what they’ve made here.”
“I hope so…” Opheda said as they continued their journey.
Ponyville was in the midst of a massive celebration. Princess Celestia had not only returned to raise the sun once more, but the legendary Nightmare Moon had been vanquished and Princess Luna, the long lost little sister of the solar monarch, had been saved from corruption by the new Elements of Harmony. The mood around the entire town was one of joy and merriment. Everyone was enjoying themselves and having a magnificent time.
Everyone except for a certain Djinn. He stood far to the side of the party, watching it with his normal expressionless face through a pair of sunglasses he’d created for himself. After being in the dark for so long, being out in the day was hard. As he watched, he reflected on the last part of the first episode of the show. It had only shown a little bit, but the truth of the matter was that this party had been going on for hours. He was sitting on a bench he’d created with his Djinn abilities, watching as the ponies of Ponyville ate, drank, danced, and generally had a merry time. Nobody seemed to pay him any mind, and that was by his choice. He’d made himself something that could be easily overlooked by the average magical creature.
All, that is, except for two alicorn princesses. One of which was walking over towards him. Celestia took a seat on the bench next to him, holding two mugs of cider in her magic as she observed a few ponies gathering around her temporarily diminished little sister. He didn’t say anything, only keeping his thoughts to himself as he continued observing the party in the main town square. His thoughts were interrupted when he felt something being pressed into his hand. Looking down, he saw that the princess had slipped one of the mugs into his hand. He wrapped his fingers through the handle, looking at the frothy and opaque liquid before looking up at Celestia with a raised eyebrow. She looked at him, her purple eyes full of warmth and mirth. “The Apple family makes the best cider this side of the Maressissippi,” she said in an odd southern accent before slipping back to her normal cadence. “I imagine you would want something new to enjoy other than whatever you could create only from memory.”’
Damian looked down at the contents of the mug once more. A part of him had always wondered just why the ponies of this town went crazy for this stuff in the show, and he never imagined he’d have the opportunity to find out. So, he slowly brought it to his lips and drank.
Immediately he understood the hype. The sweetness of the drink mixed with the slight froth made the drink go down incredibly smoothly. He sampled the second swig, swishing it around in his mouth as he got a feel for the taste before letting it go down. There were no bits of apple in there like he’d expected for some reason. It wasn’t overbearingly sweet, either, and he thought he detected a hint of cinnamon, but that may have been his imagination.
He held out his hand, and a small ball of the liquid moved out of the mug, surrounded by his dark green misty aura. He examined it with curiosity, reaching out with a finger and running said finger through the floating orb of cider before he placed it back in the mug. As he drank, Celestia spoke. “From what I hear, ponies of this town have to line up for miles just to get a mug of this cider. I always order a couple of barrels myself. I save one and drink the other. I have barrels from over a hundred and fifty years ago, when the Apple family came and settled here. I have over one hundred and fifty barrels there, all aged and all quite delicious even now.”
Damian was intrigued by the number she gave, but he nodded and continued drinking the cider until it was gone. He placed the mug on the bench in between the two before leaning back. “How was it?” Celestia asked as she took another sip of her cider.
“I can see why the hype exists,” Damian replied, still just observing the town celebration. “I’ve had apple juice and apple cider on my old world, and they’re good, but those drinks pale in comparison to that cider.” He grabbed the mug and the interior was full once more with cider. He drank it, then nodded. “Yes, it’s very delectable.”
“My sister seems to be enjoying it,” Celestia said, gesturing over to where Luna was busily gulping down a mug while a few ponies were chanting at her to chug. “The Apple’s do make an alcoholic version, but that’s more for the taverns.”
“Sounds intriguing,” Damian said. “I tend not to drink alcohol, but I might make an exception to try it.”
“I normally abstain from alcohol myself,” Celestia said with a slight giggle. “If I become too intoxicated it can affect my ability to raise the sun and moon.”
“You mean your ability to rotate the planet,” Damian said.
Celestia shot Damian a surprised look. “How did you guess that?” she asked.
“Someone once visited me in my prison during a partial lunar eclipse,” Damian said. “The shadow on the moon was circular. On my old world, we’ve advanced in our understanding of how the universe works. Our planet revolves around its sun, while the moon revolves around our planet. I just took a shot in the dark.”
Celestia slowly nodded, turning back to the crowd. “Well, you’re right,” she admitted quietly, “we do move the world, not the sun and moon. We’ve had to ever since Discord’s rule caused some sort of magical disruption that made the world stop moving.”
“Makes sense,” Damian said. “I won’t tell a soul if you’re keeping it a secret.”
“Thank you,” Celestia said gratefully before lapsing into silence once again. The two continued watching the party before she asked, “What kind of magic are you using? Nopony seems to be able to notice you, not even Pinkie.”
“It’s perception filter magic,” Damian explained. “It misdirects the senses of anyone around me. I’m just a part of the background to everyone right now, only perceived as something inconspicuous.” He turned to her. “It’s a light bit of magic, nothing more. Nobody will be permanently harmed by it.”
Celestia frowned. “Damian,” she said gently, scooting closer to him, “I know things must be hard for you right now, and I can understand why. Being alone and unable to sleep can’t have been healthy for you.” She put a wing around him gently, pulling him close. To her relief, he didn’t object and let her hold her, even leaning against her. “We have four years to find a solution to your predicament,” she said, “and I promise that I’ll do everything I can to make sure you’re permanently freed from that prison.”
He didn’t say anything for a bit, simply looking out at the crowd and sipping at the cider. Finally, he said, “As you like, Princess.”
As she tightened her grip on him, the two heard a commotion from the southwest. Celestia released Damian and stood, looking towards the source of the commotion. The party had been disrupted and a group of ponies were fleeing from something. Damian stood as well, watching with the mug still in his hand. The only ones who didn’t see to be running were Twilight, Spike, and Princess Luna. The streets were emptying rather fast as a hooded pony ran forward, a brown jar of something in its muzzle. They ran past Twilight, Spike and Luna, running towards Damian.
Celestia recognized the stripes on the part of the figure she could see and realized quickly that this was no pony. She hadn’t seen a zebra in a long time, but the way this one was barreling down at Damian, he was clearly a threat in this zebra’s eyes. Not wanting him injured, she raised her horn and caught the zebra in their tracks, lifting them off the ground with ease before removing the hood. This revealed a zebra mare with a mohawk and deep blue eyes. As she held the zebra mare in place, she approached. “Who are you,” she began, “and why were you charging my guest like he is an enemy.”
The zebra looked in surprise at Celestia, then back at Damian with fire in her eyes. She dropped the jar in her mouth and it fell, but not before being caught by Luna in her own magic. “Your highnesses, I beg you pardon, the potion I carried was only to stun.” She pointed at Damian. “The power of this creature is monstrous, and I feared that it might be dangerous. I feared for the ponies of this place, and I wished to only protect them, your Grace.”
The ponies who had fled from this zebra poked their heads out upon hearing this. There was fear in their eyes and mistrust, but some of the younger ones, especially three young fillies, came out of their hiding place and approached Princess Celestia. The yellow earth pony with a red mane looked at the zebra and asked, “Yer name’s Zecora, right?”
The mare looked at the earth pony and nodded. “Zecora is my name, my little foal, and brewing potions is my goal.”
“Princess, put Zecora down,” Damian said as he reached out to pick the potion bottle up with his magic. “She was only acting in defense of this town. Although how she got past my perception filter is a bit interesting.”
“She was threatening your life,” Celestia said with a worried tone.
Damian opened the jar and looked at its contents. He gently poured a drop onto his finger, then put the cork back in, turning back to Celestia. “This potion would have only made me sticky,” he said. “Put Miss Zecora down, please.”
She looked back at Zecora, and with a slight warning glare, said, “If I put you down, will you promise not to harm my guest here?”
Zecora’s face was one of shock, but when she was spoken to, she looked back at the princess. “It would appear I have no choice,” she said, “so I will hear and obey your voice.”
When she was placed down, Damian walked over to the zebra mare and held out the jar to her. Everypony in town noted how Zecora recoiled a bit at this, but Damian didn’t seem too perturbed by this. Instead, he simply placed the jar on the ground in front of her and backed away, making sure to keep his hands visible. The mare looked at the jar, then back at Damian. Slowly, she touched it with her hoof, quickly pulling away. When she opened the jar and looked inside, a look of shame passed over her face as she looked up. “It would appear that I need to make amends. I made an assumption and tried to cause your end.”
Damian waved a hand dismissively. “Don’t worry about it,” he said. “You had every right to be worried. The magic I possess is powerful, but it’s never magic I wanted.”
“He’s a Djinn who was cursed to grant wishes to anycreature who asks,” Celestia explained, “but each wish always comes with a very poor consequence. He has been imprisoned for the last thousand years without the ability to leave or sleep. The Elements of Harmony freed him, but he has only four years before he is sent back. I won’t let that happen.” She stood tall beside Damian, who hadn’t moved and was simply sipping his mug again. “I will make sure a way is found to free him permanently from his prison.”
Zecora’s ears flattened at this. “To hear of this is indeed tragic. Who would curse you with such magic?”
“That is something we intend to find out, miss Zecora,” Celestia said, stepping forward. “Am I correct in assuming that you’re a shaman from Farasi?”
“Farasi is the land from which I came,” Zecora replied, “but to my ancestors I’ve brought much shame.” She turned to Damian again. “If you are open to my aid, I can help you on this crusade. While a unicorn with magic I am not, I may have some knowledge I’ve self-taught.”
“We’ll take any help we can get,” Celestia said with a grateful smile, happy that this incident hadn’t done any harm to Damian or anypony else. “I take it from the brambles on your cloak you live in the Everfree?”
“The forest is where I make my home,” Zecora said, “for to me, it is the perfect biome.”
“Well, then it would be rude of me to ask you to come live in Canterlot with me and Damian,” Celestia said.
“Hold up, I’m living in Canterlot?” Damian asked, looking up with some slight confusion at the princess.
“I’d prefer it if you did,” Celestia said, “but if you don’t want to, you can stay here in Ponyville.”
He looked around the town, then back at the massive distant spires of Canterlot. “Well, I suppose it doesn’t matter to me too much,” he said. “I can teleport back and forth with ease if I wanted. Canterlot sounds good to me.”
Celestia smiled at this, then looked down at Twilight. “Twilight, I know I just announced you to study the magic of friendship, and while I still wish that for you, I want you to engage in a secondary mission, to work in finding a means of permanently freeing young Damian Price from his bondage. I will have other ponies doing the same, but every little bit helps.”
Twilight nodded, then turned to Zecora. “Would you be willing to help me, Miss Zecora?”
“To free someone imprisoned is a no brainer,” Zecora replied. “I will gladly offer my services for sure.”
As the other ponies came out to talk amongst themselves, the party resumed. Zecora was invited to join, and many of the ponies were apologizing to her. As for Damian, he retreated back to his bench, the perception filter back up as he watched once more. Only now, he was joined by Celestia AND Luna this time, both sitting on either side of him as they offered him solidarity and companionship. Nobody spoke, that is until Damian dropped his mug and slumped against Celestia, eyes closed. At first, the princesses feared something had happened, but when the saw him breathing normally, the two relaxed.
Damian, for the first time in nearly one thousand years of imprisonment, had fallen asleep.
When Maerise entered the city of Griffonstone late that night, she found the city in a celebratory mood. There was great feasting and happiness among the griffons despite their city looking to be in shambles. She was tired, hungry, and frustrated. Her search for Opheda had somehow led her here, although she was unsure why. She wandered through the city, trying to ask if anygriffon there had seen a deer, but the griffons were too caught up in their celebration to care or respond. Many were even drunk and there was a lot of dancing in the streets. She was unable to find anygriffon able or willing to help.
She continued wandering the streets before she was stopped by a young griffon hen who called herself Gabby. “I didn’t think I’d see another deer again since those two deer came and helped us.”
When Maerise heard this, alarm bells went off in her mind. “Two deer? Did one of them have brown fur with a small white patch on the forehead and some small horns?”
“Yeah, how’d you guess?” Gabby asked.
“Was her name Opheda?” Maerise asked.
“I think so,” she replied.
“Do you know where she went?” Maerise asked in an almost desperate tone.
“Um, yes, but is she in trouble?” Gabby asked, now seeming a bit wary of the older doe.
Maerise took a few deep breaths to calm herself. She knew that she wouldn’t get anywhere if she was this frantic. After a few moments, she apologized. “I’m her matron,” she explained, “and she left our order after we…shared some terse words. I wanted to find her to apologize.” While that was partially true, she didn’t want to reveal the full extent of her reasoning.
“Well…last I heard, she and Harvest Bringer were going to Equestria,” Gabby said.
Maerise’s heart dropped. She thought back to those dreams that Opheda had. Something about a Djinn in some ancient ruins in Equestria. If Opheda was as single minded in this new endeavor as she was in her research, she might be very hard to convince to come back. She was so distraught that it took a while for her to register what Gabby had said. When she did, her heart nearly stopped. She turned and looked at Gabby. “Harvest Bringer? Who’s that? Sounds like a pony name.”
“Well, unless this pony is green, yellow, orange and has two antlers with leaves and apples on them and leaf shaped ears, then maybe,” Gabby said.
Maerise looked confused. She’d never known about any deer by that description. She decided to pry more. “Did she do anything to harm the other doe?”
Gabby immediately shook her head. “No way! Harvest Bringer saved us from starvation for a couple of years!”
Without being prompted, Gabby told Maerise about what had transpired earlier that day. Maerise listened in utter shock at what she was hearing. A deer with that kind of magic was unlike anything she’d heard of in all of her time at the Temple. Gabby even brought Maerise to the vast fields that had all been harvested and would be harvested again in a month. The older doe was flabbergasted by this news. Whoever Opheda was traveling with was extremely powerful and magnanimous. Or was pretending to be.
When Maerise said she had to go follow them, Gabby dropped a bombshell. “The train won’t be running until tomorrow morning,” she said. “You might want to stay here until tomorrow.”
Maerise bit her lower lip. She didn’t want to stop moving, but the odds were that the two had probably stopped in this Rainbow Falls town for the night. She nodded. “I don’t have money for an inn, though.”
Gabby shook her head. “You can stay with me for the night! Come on!”
“Are you sure?” Maerise asked.
“It’s the least I can do!” Gabby exclaimed happily. “Besides, our inns are a mess. You don’t wanna stay in one.”
As Maerise let herself be led away, her thoughts drifted back to Opheda. She just hoped that whoever this Harvest Bringer was that she wasn’t a threat to the former Acolyte.
Santhea watched through the Third Eye at what Evasia was seeing. The shadow creature at her command was slipping through alleys within the ancient city of Griffonstone, trailing Maerise and a griffon hen who was leading her down the streets. The blind doe frowned at what she’d just heard. Apparently, Opheda had come into contact with a deer of immense power. She’d seen the fields of newly grown crops. She was unable to detect the magic from her view using the Third Eye’s, but it was clear that this Harvest Bringer was a powerful enchanter. For a doe to possess magic on par with the most powerful of their Order was concerning. However, there was something about the way that this Gabby griffon described this doe that brought up a memory for her.
Slowly, used her magic to ring a bell on the wall. A few moments later, the door opened to reveal Priest Tharos. “You called for me?” he asked.
“Go to the Archives and bring me the sphere of ancient knowledge,” she ordered.
“At once,” Tharos said as he departed.
While she was waiting, she continued watching the scene before her through the Third Eye. The griffons of this dilapidated city were in a celebratory mood, something she could understand. Having apparently been without much food, she could only imagine their joy at having a sudden surplus of both food AND water. In the moonlight, the waterfall she’d seen through Evasia’s sight was a magnificent sight to behold. Its beauty couldn’t be understated, but to have been made in only a short timespan was worrying. She continued to try and remember why that description of this Harvest was so familiar to her, but she still was drawing a blank.
As Evasia watched Gabby and Maerise walk into a small hut, Tharos returned with a small crystal orb in his magic. “The sphere as you requested, High Priestess,” he said, placing it on the table in front of her.
“Thank you. You may go.” As Tharos left, Santhea gave instructions to Evasia to keep an eye on the two and report if anything unusual happens before cutting the link. As her vision went dark again, she reached over and touched the crystal orb, feeling the aether trapped within become active once more. She stared out into the room with her unseeing eyes as a voice in her head began speaking.
The voice of the first High Priestess of their order began to speak. Santhea listened to High Priestess Myril talk about the various legends she knew of from her time as a young fawn. She spoke about them as if they were all real, but when she began talking about a certain ancient legend, Santhea stopped and listened more closely about Verbana, the legendary doe who was said to be able to make lands fertile beyond their natural abilities. The narration included a depiction of said legendary doe, and the image that appeared in her mind matched the description that Gabby had given.
Removing her hoof from the orb, she sat in her chair and thought. If the young Opheda was with this legend, things could be dangerous. Opheda had to be brought back to the Order at all costs, and if this Verbana was real and protecting her, she needed to be prepared.
Opheda was a wild element. One which needed to be tamed.
June 23, 1463 of the Common Age
Canterlot, the capital city of the Kingdom of Equestria, was one of the greatest wonders of the modern era. Built on the side of the solitary mountain known as the Maretterhorn, it had been built over the span of twenty years after the banishment of Nightmare Moon due to the destruction of the Castle of the Two Sisters and the surrounding city of Evertide. Now, it was the center of the Equestrian political system, a huge center of commerce, and the home of many of the Equestrian nobility.
The city streets were always full of the richer Ponies in the kingdom, each so self-absorbed they hardly noticed anything other than their own needs. The streets were also impeccably clean of refuse, even the back alleys of the commercial sections.
This included one street where a small shop existed that was so far off of the beaten path that it was hardly ever visited. The street was near the high cliff that led up to the Mareterhorn’s summit. At the very end of the street, a solitary wooden door had been placed directly into the cliff wall. Above the door were painted the faded words Quill’s Curious Curios.
It was here that a solitary unicorn was heading in the early morning hours of the morning. She was a light purple mare with a darker purple mane and tail with a light aquamarine stripe through both. She had a dark purple star and a wisp of dark aquamarine swirl coming off of the star for a cutie mark. The pony had heard about the hidden shop through word of mouth in her search. She looked back and forth, her dark blue eyes searching for the road towards the cliff.
Unfortunately, for her, there were over a dozen roads heading down towards the shop that she’d heard about. According to her research in the only library she could get access to, the one in Ponyville, it was a shop that was owned by an eccentric eutherian stallion who believed he was an alicorn, or who at least pretended to be. The shop was also said to move from location to location, but that if anypony really desired to go see it, then they would be able to find certain guaranteed locations. One of them being this exact place.
The unicorn’s desire to find this curio shop was higher than it have ever been. If it really did exist, then it would likely have something she could use in her future endeavors. She looked around, making sure nopony was following her before she quickly made her way down the street described in the book. It was more of an alley than a street, but it still was a street. Two whitewashed buildings rose up on either side and at the end of said street there was nothing but a white wall of a third building that intersected the two others. Her tail drooped when she saw this. She knew this was a tall chance, but she was growing desperate for something to aid her in her quest for unity and equality among ponies.
Before she turned away to leave, however, the air around the end of the alley seemed to morph and shift. She watched in awe as a small black structure formed. It was a shop, that much was clear, but the way it was built reminded her of an older building. It had a strange look to it, but as she approached, she saw a sign above the door which read QUILL’S CURIOUS CURIOS.
As she stepped in, she saw that the interior was dimly lit with candles and a couple of lanterns hanging from the ceiling. The place had a unique smell to it, like incense and scented candles. There were tables of many different types of various objects ranging from swords to jewelry to vials of glowing liquids to large cloaks that radiated magic. Being such a gifted magical pony, this unicorn knew that there had to be something here that she could use.
“Welcome to my shop,” a deep voice said from behind her, causing the pony to jump and whirl around, only to find herself face to face with a dark gray eutherian with light blue mane, tail, and goatee. His red eyes glowed in the dim light as he looked at the unicorn, and he was wearing a dark brown hooded cloak. “What can old Quill Heart find for you today?”
The unicorn looked at the horn on his head. She couldn’t feel any sort of magic flowing from it, but the craftsstallionship of this false horn was impeccable, indistinguishable from the real thing. She cleared her throat. “I’m looking for something to help me remove cutie marks from a pony.”
The eutherian raised an eyebrow as he slowly walked by her, not looking away. “That is quite the dangerous ability you seek, young mare,” she said, “and could land you in quite the predicament if you’re caught. Are you sure you want this?”
The unicorn frowned. “I thought this was a shop for unique artifacts,” she said with a scowl, “Isn’t it a shopkeeper’s job to just find what the customer wants and not question it?”
“I wouldn’t be a good shopkeeper if I didn’t assure my merchandise was being used for anything untoward,” Quill said.
The unicorn sighed. “It’s for…an experiment of sorts,” she said.
Quill looked at her with those unnerving slitted batlike eyes before he turned and slowly walked over to a back table, his cloak moving slightly thanks to his wings being underneath them. He picked up an object that resembled a small necklace with a glowing teardrop shaped white gem on it. It was held inside a transparent bag of sorts and he held it up for her to see. “This is the White Teardrop,” he said as he walked over to the counter and placed it down before walking behind said counter and facing her. “It will not only enhance your magic, but it has an ability that can store any magical ability inside it. I will warn you, though, if you store a magical ability inside it can never be retrieved.”
The unicorn was having none of it, however. She simply walked up to the counter, lifted a bag of bits out of her saddlebags, and placed it on said counter. “How much?”
“Ah ah ah, before that, there comes the waiver,” the eutherian said as he brought out a piece of parchment, a quill pen, and an ink bottle. He slid the parchment over. “Read it carefully.”
“Summarize it for me,” the unicorn said with a huff. She was in no mood to read what looked like a long page.
Quill looked at her, then said, “In a nutshell, it says that my shop can’t be held responsible for anything that happens because of that artifact. It also says there are no refunds. All sales are final.”
“Sure, that’s fine with me,” she said as she took the paper and signed it hastily before looking back at Quill. “Now how much?”
“One hundred bits.”
The unicorn’s jaw dropped. “Surely you can’t be serious,” she said dumbfounded.
“I am,” Quill said, “and don’t call me Shirley. One hundred bits. No bartering in my shop.”
Her teeth clenched together as she scowled before taking out the appropriate number of coins. She slammed them down on the counter, sending a lot of them around the room. She swiped the artifact with her magic and placed it in her saddlebags. “Highway robber,” she scowled as she stormed out of the shop.
Quill watched her go, a grin forming on his muzzle as he nodded. “Oh, she’ll be back,” he said with a chuckle, “they always come back.” He picked up the paper, the name STARLIGHT GLIMMER still fresh. He set it aside and let the ink dry before putting it away.
As he waited, he felt a strong shift. The store was about to move again, so he held onto the counter. This shift was incredibly strong this time, and a number of objects in his shop fell. He too fell onto the floor before things started to simmer down. When he stood up, he saw that the shaded windows were now dark. No sunlight came through. He adjusted his cloak and walked towards the door, curious as to what he might see when he opened it. He looked around in awe at what he was seeing.
He was in an underground cavern of some sort. A massive chamber with unusual structures built into the walls of this massive cavern. They were connected by bridged and ladders all across the walls. His shop was now located on the ground near what looked like farmland. He saw tall equine forms tending to the land. He immediately identified them as Saddle Arabians. He saw Saddle Arabian earth ponies and unicorns while Saddle Arabian pegasi roamed the skies, gathering what looked like clouds.
The light came from a ceiling made entirely of gemstones, although that wasn’t the only crystalline structure he saw. There was a massive crystal spire with a flat stone at the top, sitting perfectly on the top of the spire.
“Thanatos…” he said in awe as he slowly closed the door before walking quickly over to a bookshelf. He pulled one book off and placed it on a nearby table. He opened it and began searching through it. Finally, he came upon a page that had a description of Thanatos, how it was once used as a prison for Saddle Arabians.
He put the book away, walked back to the counter, and sat down on a bench behind it. He closed his eyes. Normally whenever he came to a new place, he had an inkling about what was needed. It usually came to him within the first five minutes of arrival, so he waited. And waited.
Two minutes passed. Then three. Four. Five. By the time seven minutes rolled around without so much as an inkling, Quill knew something was wrong. Still, he was patient. He could afford to be. He was an alicorn, after all. He reached up and touched the horn on his forehead, adjusting it before closing his eyes and waiting.
Ten minutes. Fifteen. Twenty. Twenty five. At thirty minutes, Quill gave up and stood. He decided that instead of waiting, he’d go downstairs to the restricted area where the most dangerous artifacts were kept and check on them. It was high time he did that anyway. He did so near the end of every month and it was nearly time to do it. He grabbed a pen and clipboard, heading down to the section where all of his most dangerous artifacts were. The torches in the room sprang to life as he entered, illuminating large locked chests scattered across the basement floor. He brought out a large keyring full of different keys.
He checked on each artifact within, making sure that they were all accounted for. However, when he reached one particularly large chest, he paused. Something about it felt different. Fearing for the worst, he unlocked it, looking inside. The gem that was inside was still there, thankfully, but unlike the previous times he’d seen it, Quill noted that it was now glowing. This worried him greatly. The three colored wing shaped crystal was an incredibly powerful artifact and it had not glowed like this ever since it had been in Quill’s possession.
He quickly locked it back up before taking the key off of the ring and placing it in his cloak pocket. He would hide the key until he felt it safe to reattach the key to it rightful place. He just hoped that whoever the store had been sent here to assist wouldn’t be after the Unity Crystal.
June 24, 1463 of the Common Age
The ice cold landscape around the bundled up Saddle Arabian mare seemed to go on for miles and miles. The land was covered in ice and snow, but a massive circular area in the center of a vast tundra stood out like a sore hoof.
The beige unicorn mare lifted her horn. Her dark green magic enveloped her in warmth. She absolutely hated the cold. Having been born and raised in the hot desert sun of her homeland, this icy wasteland was a complete mystery to her. How could anypony even consider living in a place like this.
Of course, if the stories here were true, then there was a means by which the former occupants had managed to live in such a hostile environment. She raised her horn and cast a powerful magical detection spell once again. Just as before, she was unable to sense anything. It frustrated her to no end. There had once been a powerful civilization here, and with said civilization was an artifact that she needed. However, upon her return, she’d learned that the once powerful empire had fallen to the hooves of some power hungry maniac who had enslaved the citizens and forced them to fight in his wars. In a single night, the entire empire vanished in a blaze of light.
Still, the artifact she sought wasn’t one that could easily be destroyed. She knew that the artifact she wanted was too strong to be simply decimated. With a sigh, she decided that her best bet would be to enter the circular area. It seemed to be about the right size of their former capital city. She trudged through the thick snowdrifts and kept her sand goggles over her eyes. They were most effective against the icy winds of the north.
When she stepped onto the surface of the circular enclosure, she felt a dark presence almost immediately. However, she didn’t fear it, but instead cast a magic detection spell once again. This time, she could detect a faint magic signature, or rather two. They seemed out of normal phase with the rest of the world. Completely out of her reach. She scowled angrily. There was always something.
As she turned to leave, she heard a dark voice calling into her mind. “It’s been some time since anypony has come traveling so far,” the voice said in a menacing tone. The unicorn paused, turning back and looking at the flat tundra. Scanning the circular enclosure around her, she saw nothing. As she turned back, the voice called again, “I know what it is you seek, and you cannot have it. It belongs to me.”
The unicorn, growing weary of such prattle, rolled her eyes behind her goggles and turned back once more. “That isn’t up to you,” she said to what she knew now was an umbrum. “You are unable to return yet, and I’m more powerful than you could ever hope to be.”
The voice of the umbrum hissed in anger before saying, “You will regret those words, fool. I will not let some upstart take what is rightfully mine! I have lived for much longer than you could ever have hoped.”
“I highly doubt that,” the unicorn mare snarled back.
“You will perish here, just like every other fool who dares take a step into my domain!”
The unicorn felt something then against her horn. She began feeling a light tingling that seemed to grow in intensity with each passing second. She simply sighed, casting a spell that threw the possession spell away. The old power that tried to desecrate her mine was flung back. She stood tall and proud, facing down her invisible enemy. “You would dare to enter my mind?” she said. “Clearly, the broodmare before you taught you nothing of manners. Then again, she was a whorse.”
“I will make you suffer for that!” the umbrum growled.
“I believe the modern day phrase I’m looking for is ‘Bring it on’,” the mare said back with a grin underneath her cowl. Her horn began to glow a deep green and she chuckled.
“Die, peasant!” the umbrum roared.
The unicorn felt the same tingling on her horn again, only it was much more intense. She scoffed at this pathetic attempt to enter her body and flung the disembodied soul away. She heard the voice cry out in fury before she fired a dark green blast of powerful magic at the ground. The voice screamed out, and for the briefest of moments a translucent outline of a dark gray unicorn stallion shorter than her appeared, his face contorted in pain and rage.
“My my,” she said in a teasing tone, “now I know why you had that menacing voice. Guess smaller ponies need to feel big.”
“Raaah!” the umbrum’s voice bellowed out. He was completely lost to his rage, and the unicorn knew she had him.
Without missing a beat, the unicorn created a Lastday Cage, a powerful spell she’d developed long ago to trap and slowly destroy anything unlucky enough to be imprisoned within. The light blue cage rattled and thrashed about as the spirit of the stallion struggled. “I believe it’s my turn to say ‘Die, peasant’, but you shouldn’t flatter yourself. Peasants are so much better than you will ever hope to be.”
“This cannot hold me forever!” the umbrum shouted in fury.
“No, it won’t need to hold you forever,” the mare said, approaching the cage and kneeling to look inside at the emptiness. “It just needs to hold you long enough to kill you.”
“You’re lying!”
“By now you should already be feeling the effects,” the mare said as she began casually walking around the cage which was now shrinking in around the umbrum. “Your magic and your essence should be feeling a bit weaker than before.”
“…What have you done to me, wretch!?” the umbrum demanded to know.
“What does it matter?” the mare asked nonchalantly. “You’ll be dead in moment anyway, so what would the point of me telling you what I did to you? You won’t be able to do anything about it.”
“Release me! NOW!” the umbrum shouted, although the mare could now hear a hint of fear creeping into his voice.
“No,” was the mare’s simple reply. She stepped back as the cage continued shrinking around the umbrum. His cries of rage quickly became pleas for his life, all of which she ignored. As the Lastday Cage formed around the invisible umbrum’s body, it began to squeeze until suddenly there was a snapping sound. A sudden splash of thick black liquid came from the cage, spreading everywhere and staining the snow. The liquid hissed and bubbled when it touched the snow, but that slowly subsided as the storm around her began to cover up any evidence of the death of the umbrum’s mind. His body was alive, but what made the former tyrant him was gone.
Still, she had to leave this place empty hooved. She was unable to retrieve the artifact she hoped to grab. No matter. Once she had what she wanted, she could find the artifact and bring it back. She raised her horn, and in a blink of white light she vanished, leaving nothing behind of her visit save for a few hoofprints in the snow and the remnants of the ectoplasm that had once been the umbrum, which were quickly being erased by the snowstorm.
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Psst… new chapter
Remove “near the north” or “north of here”
11847258
Whoop. My bad. Fixed.
After almost 2 years, finally, a new chapter!
WOOOOO! It’s back!
Oooh, the tension grows! Damian seems content not to rock any boats and to just go with the flow wherever the river takes him.
On the one hand, probably a good idea to be seen as a passive entity given the sheer amount of power at his fingertips but on the flip-side, it sort of feels like he’s already accepted that he’ll be sent back into his prison in 4 years and that there’s nothing anyone can do to save him so why bother? Seems like he’s afraid to even try and hope for salvation and given his circumstances, who can blame him?
I don’t like Santhea, something about her is eery and the way she described poor Opheda as something to be “tamed”. You shits didn’t take care of her properly, didn’t step in to help or defend her against her bullying peers and now she’s gone and made friends with a being orders of magnitude more powerful than you and that’s all you can say? Control-freaks, that’s what those Deers in that “Order” are.
As for the mysterious brown unicorn…Alicorn Amulet, Staff of Sacanas and the Idol of Boreas. The way she described griffons and how easily she mind-controlled people suggests to me her intentions may not be entirely honorable.
Looking forward to more!
Here's my pleasant surprise of the day
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Thestral was originally used in Harry Potter so I wanted a more original name.
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Why not “Noctherians”? That sounds cool right?
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Hmmm, when I post the next chapter I might change it to something else.
Hot damn, this was a surprise to see a new chapter. There was certainly a lot of new threads created upon this tapestry and I am curious as to where each one shall end.
You forgot to rhyme
Santhea's giving off more bad vibes the more we get of her. It seems that too much order can sometimes be a bad thing, just as much as too much chaos.
It is your story, so you can do what you like with names for things that don't officially have them, but I feel like the name I've seen of "Canterhorn" feels less weird to read and more intuitive than "Maretterhorn" which immediately threw me for a loop.
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Brainer and Sure sound similar enough to rhyme. It’s a loose rhyme sure but close enough.
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I was trying to make it sound more like the Matterhorn.
Awesome chapter!
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I understand, I just feel like the it doesn't mentally roll of the tongue/it reads a bit weirdly for me.
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It could possibly be differences in pronunciation from differnet areas, but to me "brainer" doesn't rhyme with "sure" at all.
I pronounce "Brainer" as one might expect ("brain" followed by the "er" sound, don't think that changes too much in different accents)
But since I pronounce "Sure" as mostly how it is said in this video:
This is probably the most likely to be the differently pronounced word.
Huh could this be why Sombra in the show was pretty mindless and just said 'Crystals' and stuff? Or hmm guess could also just result in a brain dead vegetable who knows.
Hmmmm, somebody New Jersey'd the place!