Invocation
Spike yawned and picked himself off the floor, opening and closing his mouth a couple of times to alleviate that sticky sensation that accompanies awakening. The rug wasn't an altogether comfortable place for a nap, and Derpy Hooves was still sitting upside down on the bean bag, so he reasoned that he musn't have been asleep for very long.
"Are we still talking about sissy girly stuff?" he mumbled. Zecora chuckled.
"That story's reached its end, my little dragon friend."
"Actually, while we're talking about cutie marks..." Derpy added, lifting a finger to gesture raising a point. She wasn't entirely aware that she was just pointing at the ground.
"Ugh! Do zebras even have cutie marks?" Spike groaned as he slumped back to the floor. Zecora smiled, knocked back the last of her tea, and sat forward.
"While ponies and zebras aren't quite the same, the marks on their flanks are playing the same game! Though a zebra's mark is oft hard to discern, it remains the sign of one's field of concern." She held up the amulet draped over the hoops around her neck; a strip of gold hammered into a narrow spiral, with several smaller prongs of gold radiating from the outermost swirl. Derpy screwed up her face trying to filter the rhyme for meaning.
"So... even though it kinda looks like the rest of your stripes, it still works the same way?"
"That is correct, young mailmare..."
"Wake me when you're done..." Spike turned over on the carpet and groaned. Zecora snorted, and turned back to Derpy.
"... would you wish me my story to share?"
"Sure! Let me just..." Derpy shifted around in the seat a little, and prepared to concentrate. After all, rhyme. "... okay. Ready."
"Our tale begins in a faraway land, unsullied by the work of hoof and hand,
Bathed eternal in tropical sun, where things were still in the old ways done...
A long time ago, a filly was born, and to her tribe's honour she was sworn;
Her parents, the village's finest at arms, named her Zecora, the bringer of charms.
"They hoped, one day, she would take up their spear... but, she wasn't as athletic as her peers!
Her balance was fine, and so was her sight, but she couldn't quite measure in physical might;
Her eyes were as keen as those of a cat, but running and jumping just knocked her flat!
Try as she would, she was hopeless you see - a warrior's life just wasn't for me.
"There was only so much she could take of the stress, and over her mark she began to obsess;
Her clan insisted on the warrior's way, so she ran from home on her twelfth birthday.
She was barely an hour's walk from her door, when she encountered a zebra most poor;
A wandering witch doctor, lain in the grass, screaming and howling like an injured ass.
"She was not sure what made him yelp, or what a young filly could do to help,
But she wished him stay put, and was off like a shot, to see if aid was within a short trot.
Nobody she found, but something else she spied - some herbs and flowers caught her eye;
She began to recall some rhymes from her youth, about a meek herb's power to soothe.
"There are as many plants that hurt as heal, and some will harm you an awful great deal;
But somehow, the filly knew in her heart, the simple wisdom of the witch doctor's art.
She chose a few leaves, a root and a petal, and returned to her charge to bid him settle;
She fed him the herbs, and rubbed his chest, and within a few minutes he was back to his best!
"The wandering stallion was greatly impressed, and instantly saw that this filly was blessed,
With sharpest sight and an intuition, ideal for a witch doctor's mission.
He removed his mask and cracked a smile, and gave it to her to reward her while;
She accepted his gift with many thanks, and a brand new spiral upon her flanks."
Derpy blinked, and transfixed by the story, eventually acknowledging it with a juvenile smile and a simple response.
"Neat!"
Spike snored quietly.
"Okay, seems legit..." Dinky rubbed her chin, sitting by the wall, opposite Kalza. The others sat more or less in a circle on the floor as she shared her story. "I guess it'd be okay if she hung out with us for a while..."
"It's not like she has anywhere to go!" Sweetie Belle chipped in. Scootaloo stuck her tongue out at Applebloom.
"Ugh, fine, you win. But you've only got yerselves to blame if she takes a bite out o' one o' you!"
"Why would I bite peoples? Peoples aren't food..." Kalza stroked her beak with a claw.
"So what's the Cutie Mark Crusaders agenda for today?" Dinky stood up and walked over to a chest in the corner of the room. She opened it, pulled out a scroll labelled 'Cutie Mark Crusaders Crusades' with one of the e's written backwards, and rolled it out on the table.
"Cutie Mark Crusaders?" Kalza just looked even more baffled.
"That's our secrwhoa!" Sweetie Belle's first attempt at getting up was a false start. Scootaloo chuckled. "Our secret club!"
"We made it... wow, is it nearly two years ago already? But yeah, way back when before we earned our cutie marks!" The pegasus filly added.
"What's a cutie mark?" The gryphlet blinked.
"Oh, right! A cutie mark is a special mark that appears on a pony's flank when they discover what their special talent in life is. We all have them! Mine is my scooter..." She gestured to the patch on the shoulder of her t-shirt, bearing a wheel, spinning and emitting a purple flame.
"... mine is singing..." Sweetie Belle held up a necklace with the image of three bells.
"... and mine is handiwork!" Applebloom pulled on the badge on her dungarees; a hammer superimposed on a red apple.
"I don't have mine yet, but that's what the Cutie Mark Crusaders are for!" Dinky chirped.
"Uh, neat, I guess... I thought you said they were on your flanks, not..."
"Ah ain't showin' you mah butt!" Applebloom yelled, audibly offended. Scootaloo laughed again.
"I think you're gonna have to take our word for it, Kal."
"Oh, okay..." She looked at the ground disappointedly for a moment, before she shot another smile. "Can I get one?"
"Uhh... I dunno, can gryphons even get cutie marks?"
"Of course they can't, don't be silly, Scootaloo!" Applebloom laughed.
"How do you know?" Dinky blinked.
"Have you ever seen a gryphon with a cutie mark?"
"How many gryphons have you ever seen?"
"Guys, guys!" Sweetie Belle pushed herself in between Applebloom and Dinky before things got too out of hand. "Why don't we go find out?"
"Ah dunno...." Applebloom folded her arms. "That sounds kinda..."
"Fun!" Scootaloo cut in.
"Yeah! It'd be an adventure!" Kalza added.
"I'm liking this idea!" Dinky smirked. Applebloom glared back at her. Next time, Hooves. Next time.
"Okay, sure, why not..."
"Cutie Mark Crusaders gry... griff..." Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle and Dinky shouted together, though their unison quickly broke down.
"Gryphon... studiers?" Sweetie Belle scratched her head and blinked.
"Gryphonologists?" Applebloom offered with a raised eyebrow.
"Cutie Mark Crusaders gryphonologists, yay!" they cheered, and charged out the door, ahead of a less than enthusiastic Applebloom and a positively dumbfounded Kalza.
Once Twilight and her friends were ferried across the bridge, they hastened through the castle. The ruins were in slightly worse nick than they had been last time they were here; she wasn't sure whether it was just a particularly harsh winter, or there was an enchantment recently unbound. If anything, this accentuated her desire to investigate the ruins further - she wouldn't be able to find out who built them after they were gone. On top of that, she wasn't enthusiastic about the prospect of a challenge centred on her. Hmm... magic... magic of friendship... hypnotism? Some kind of airborne aggression aura? She remained ahead of the group, ensconced in her thoughts. She was supposed to be leading the party back to the old library, but more than once, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy had to correct her. Every time, she put it down to distraction, and hastily carried on.
Even with a preoccupied navigator, they reached the room outside the library in no time. The soil bursting through one set of windows had crept a length or two across the room, and all that remained of the skeleton they uncovered last time was the skull. The door was still fairly clear, still propped open an inch by an indestructible book. Twilight grinned and bounded up to the door to inspect it. It wasn't even bent.
"Hahah! Good ol' Stable & Cooper! I'm keeping you when we're done."
"Twilight, are you... talking to a book?" Rarity blinked.
"Quiet. Let me have my moment," Twilight blurted. Dash pulled a face and waved her finger in a circle around her temple, drawing a little giggle from Pinkie. Once she was done admiring the volume wedged in the door, the unicorn turned back to the group and held out her arms. "Alright, everypony grab on!"
"Aren't you gonna open the door?" Dash tilted her head.
"Actually, it's easier to just teleport the five of you inside than crack the hornlock again."
"Why didn't you do that before?" The pegasus furrowed her brow.
"I couldn't be sure what was on the other side the first time, or even that it was a door. And, well, bad things happen when you try to wink into solid objects." Twilight's warning drew a couple of grimaces. Without further delay, everypony took hold of a part of Twilight's arm, and they disappeared from the room in a burst of white light.
Inside, they reappeared a few inches from the ground. The drop took only Rarity by surprise; Twilight was expecting it, and the others were a bit more used to short falls anyway. Without further instruction, they got to work. Applejack made it her mission to keep Twilight from spending all day in here, while Fluttershy couldn't help but sneak a look at a few natural history books, and Rarity slipped some fashion histories away to browse later. Rainbow Dash quietly relieved a shelf of its contents so she could nap on it, while Pinkie Pie seemed happy to build book forts.
When Twilight found the histories shelf, she was overwhelmed with the amount of literature. Detailed histories about nations and races she never knew existed, books in languages she'd never even heard of, and most importantly, massive tomes about the collected history of the world. With some help, she heaved the most complete-looking one of these - Index of Recorded History - off the shelf and began to trawl.
Her first observation was that the timeline stopped abruptly after "Canterlot sacked by Aurum's horde", with a number of empty pages afterwards. She figured the library's owners were probably equine from this, though based on the year numbering, they clearly weren't Equestrian. She was nearly overwhelmed by the troves of accounts and myriad timelines - she promised herself she'd come back to peruse these one day. Eventually she settled on a cluster of articles that interested her around what she guessed was the right date.
"Okay, says here, about two thousand years ago we have... the Colonisation of Equestria from Hippaea, Civil War crisis and Foundation of the Canterlot?"
"Huh." Applejack frowned, and folded her arms. "Ah don't know about you, but that sounds an awful lot like the Hearth's Warming story to me."
"Discord doesn't have anything to do with Hearth's Warming... but on the other hand, the version of that story we know was probably butchered and watered down. Let's see... 'During the civil war crisis, the three tribes of ponies, fleeing a Wendigo problem in Hippaea, fought to settle in a new land..." Her eyes lit up as she skimmed. "... amidst the influence of a mysterious and powerful being known as Discord!' This should be it! 'The crisis resulted in the establishment of the principality of Canterlot, and the banishment of Discord to... space?' Huh. 'Due to the dominance of the latter in the whole affair, the event is also known as the Apple of Discord crisis.'"
"So, this thing?" Applejack pulled a book from the shelf with just that title.
"Wh- that was quick!"
"Ah saw it a few minutes ago. If it's called the Apple of Discord..." She tossed it over to the unicorn, who fumbled it a little in her hands.
"Alright, alright... Let's grab a few other things while we're here, this shelf is just gold!" She slipped The Apple of Discord into her carryall, and resumed browsing. She could just about fit another five books in alongside her current load; The Zebra Nation, A Study of Predatory Societies, Journals of Marco Pony, Troy's Hippocratic State and Hipponikes' Speculations on Prehistory. Her load was heavy, but she reassured herself it would be worth it. "Okay everypony, let's get out of here before anything else happens," she called. They reassembled by the door with varying degrees of eagerness. "Same drill." Once they all had a hold, she lowered her head and concentrated...
...and nothing happened. She tried again, and her horn continued to defy her. Confused, she tried a simple spell, just levitating a book from a shelf, but instead of Stable and Cooper: Fathers of Economics floating over to her, there was only awkward silence.
"We'd like to leave today, Twi," Dash started.
"I don't understand, my magic isn't working! I can't teleport, or levitate..." She tapped her horn and tried again, to no avail. Rarity took another look at a shelf, and focussed her gaze on it for a few seconds, before giving up.
"I'm not getting anything either!"
"Hmm... Rainbow Dash, hover for me."
"What? Uhm... okay..." The pegasus jumped backwards, and started to beat her wings to find a stable position in the air. She was quickly caught off guard when rather than stopping dead a few feet off the ground, she glided backwards a few lengths before coming to a stop. Even then, she had to really work to stay afloat, flapping her wings furiously. "...whoa! It's like walking on ice!" She quickly dropped to the ground before she started wearing herself out. Twilight rubbed her forehead and sighed.
"Dammit, Discord..."
"What? What's happening?"
"I just made the connection. Somewhere around here, he's set up an arcanonegative field, so I can't use my magic to get us out of here. I was expecting something a bit less... well, direct."
"So what do we do?" Dash's tone started to carry traces of worry, reflected in the expressions of the rest of the group.
"We have our backup plan. We wait for Derpy, Zecora and Spike to come looking for us. I told them exactly where this library is." Twilight's assurance did little to calm the pegasus.
"But that's like... three hours from now!"
"Pfff don't be such a baby, Rainbow! There are much worse places to be stuck for three hours than a library," the unicorn giggled. "Besides, it gives me a chance to look over some of the things we pulled from here."
"Maybe for eggheads like you!" Dash's exasperation wasn't shared.
"Come on y'big baby, let's find you something to do..." Applejack grabbed her shoulder and started leading her away.
Twilight took a few minutes to find herself a comfortable corner to curl up in and upended the contents of her bag onto the floor. The others were keeping themselves busy at least - Rarity and Fluttershy were deep in browsing, while Rainbow Dash appeared to be adding to Pinkie's book fort. At least they can't break these ones, she thought with a smirk. Her attention returned to the volumes on the floor in front of her. Let's see what we've got here... Predatory Societies... maybe later. Need to be in the mood for that. Hipponikes, this seems interesting... She flipped it the little book open, and ran her eyes over a paragraph. She found herself having to reread the paragraph, the dense, archaic language making it a pain to understand. After a few more minutes of trying, she snapped it shut and tossed it over her shoulder. Much too heavy. I sure hope these aren't all like that. Let's try... the Apple of Discord, by Pundamilia...
O Muses sing to me this day, upon your genius I pray
Aid me as I tell my tale, to ye I bid sincerely, hail!
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Oh, my. Let's hope that Discord isn't going to do anything stupid to Derpy. I still remember "Squeezing It Wrong."
When is there going to be a new chapter, because this story is so awesome!
257398 I took a week out do a February Write-Off entry, and then college thought it would be a great idea to make sure EVERYTHING was due in the same week. Fortunately I have a week off now, so I might be able to get two, three chapters up before returning to schedule.
Thats cool
209233 I can't find this story you speak of. The name implies scandalous stuff which I may find funny. Pray tell, how might an interested patron partake in such readings.
I literally, and I mean literally literally, just spewed Mountain Dew all over my monitor.
Twilight never saw it coming, I'm obligated to read more
How will Zecora and company help them? Twi took Rarity with her...
Sort of confused, but I shall continue this awesome sequel