Perquisition

by Diexna

Prologue & Chapter 1

Perquisition

Prologue

Perquisition - act of searching for someone or something.

~119 years ago~

Nopony knew what had happened. All they remembered was a bright light.

They had no memories of their pasts, yet all the ponies were somehow able to recognize friends and family without any trouble. Thousands upon thousands of ponies had all been brought to the same place.

All of them could see a grand castle at the top of a hill. Made of a peculiar stone, the intricately-carved patterns that entirely covered it emitted a faint glow. Around it was a surrounding city which seemed to be of similar architecture that could easily be compared to the likes of the castle, but still different; it did not share the same glow. The city was vast, but all the buildings-- including the castle --seemed abandoned. The ponies were scattered throughout the city.

They had no idea where they were, how they had gotten there, or why they couldn’t remember anything. Everything was so unclear, they were scared and confused. Some of those ponies tried to use the confusion as a means of grabbing power, and soon the different groups were in the middle of a power struggle, each of them trying to gain an upper hoof over one another. Few were willing to give up on the chance of ruling an entirely new society.

Some ponies had been running around the city scavenging. If things were about to get bad, they wanted to at least have supplies and tools to be ready for whatever may happen. Many of them started competing, hoping they could get to whatever could be found first. Things escalated quickly.

Just as the city-wide chaos was about to reach its peak the castle started glowing a bright pulsating light, with much more intensity than before. Unlike the previous glow it had been giving off the entire time, it seemed almost alive now.

Everypony ceased with whatever they were doing. Those fighting calmed down, the ones arguing became speechless, and the ones hiding finally showed themselves. For a few moments the chaotic city was about as quiet as it had been before the ponies arrived.

As soon as the bulk of the pony folk had gotten to the glowing castle, the strange radiant glow stopped just as suddenly as it had begun. Most of the ponies started rubbing their eyes while trying to adjust to the sudden change in light.

No pony had any idea what had just happened, but everything seemed so calm after this event. All who had seen the glowing castle could feel the same thing: tranquility, peace and control. Those that had not had the chance to glimpse it themselves were easily composed by their acquaintances that had seen the light.

Many of them had quickly decided afterwards that they couldn’t let this get out of control again, that they all would have to cooperate if they wanted to thrive in this new world.

~118 years ago~

The pony folk had settled in the abandoned city, even if all the buildings seemed to be meant for beings of easily twice their size, barely being able to operate the doors and only just able to make use of the simple rock furniture inside the buildings.

On the outskirts of the city were vast fields with the odd mountains as long as the pegasi’s eyes could see. Earth ponies had used these fields in order to quickly adapt their farming techniques for the sake of growing crops and supporting everypony. Surprisingly, they did not understand how they had been able to farm properly. Regardless, just as the earth ponies would do this, the pegasi would provide everypony with suitable weather for their crops while maintaining the sun as needed. The earth ponies, as well as the unicorns, who were not suitable for farming had instead taken up other crafts inside the city, everything from blacksmithing to health care.

A few leaders had eventually been elected, acting as a council.

~117 years ago~

Life had gotten a lot easier for the ponies. With no memories that bound them to the past, they all looked to the future instead. Crops were prospering, and an economic system had been introduced and was already working quite well.

The council turned their attention from the flourishing city to the unknown; stretching far beyond the range of the city. Because their new society had finally started to be able to self-maintain, the council instead started considering other matters that had been put on hold.

“What is this world?”

Pegasus scouts had been sent throughout the world to explore, to see if anypony or anything else could be found. When they began to return, all the scouts had to report were odd structures spread as far as the eye could see, no matter where they looked. These structures varied from being bigger than mountains to simply being as small as a tomb entrance. They all shared a similar architecture, described as being very much like the city they now lived in.

From vast fields to mountains, dense forests to deserts, these buildings had been found, their shapes as varied as their locales.

So it was decided that the Explorer’s Guild was to be started; qualified ponies that had proven themselves would be sent out to these ruins to explore. And in the case of mazes, to create detailed maps.

~81 years ago~

Many scouts had reported finding unusual structures over the years, not like most of the ruins they had normally found. Among one of these odd findings, one of them had been a set of four towers, a few weeks’ trot from the city, in the middle of a giant field.

The council and the Explorer’s Guild had known about locations like these for a few years, and had come to the decision that it was time for these to be explored.

~80 years ago~

Around a hundred ponies, all from different occupations had been chosen for this pilgrimage. They were being sent to build one of the first outside settlements and to create a new life for themselves there, but to also serve as an outpost for the city.

Along with them, a few hoof picked explorers from the Explorer’s Guild were sent with them; with the purpose of exploring the mysterious towers that had been found in the area. These guild explorers had their own apprentices that went with them, and that would one day take over their master's work.

~Present~

The town now known as Fourtow, based on the four towers in its vicinity, has served its purpose well. While there have been many other new settlements, some even bigger by now, Fourtow was probably one of the happiest towns. The ponies living there had a very easy life compared to those in the capital, now called Ever City.

Out of the four towers, only three had ever been explored, their complex insides gradually hollowed out over the years.

The fourth had been explored, but there were still parts that hadn’t been seen yet.

That would change soon.

Perquisition
Chapter 1

Sketch was impatiently tapping her hoof, getting increasingly irritated while waiting at the town gate. Counting all the bricks in the wall next to her again did nothing to help the boredom building up inside of her.

"Hundred and two... hundred and three... hundred and four... hundred and five... ugh, sometimes I wonder why I even put up with him!" Sketch groaned. She'd been waiting at least an hour every time they were supposed to go out on a mission, and considering the amount of times they'd gone out of town to work, that made an impressive amount of hours wasted.

She gave up on counting the bricks, having already done that over and over whenever she had to wait for her friend. She undid the knot in her mane to let her bright yellow hair fall down over her dark green eyes, only to re-do the ponytail properly using her hair band. This effectively gave her two ponytails, counting the real one as well. She did this once more and decided that bored her too.

Looking for something to pass her time she glanced over the town behind her; it was a town of around two hundred ponies, earth ponies, unicorns and pegasi, all living in the same town since around eighty years back when it was founded. Surrounding the town was a brick wall, tall enough for even the pegasi - who usually flew around just above the buildings - to be bothered by it. It kept the ponies living inside of it safe from the less than friendly animals and creatures that roamed outside.

She pulled out her work-in-progress from her saddle bag, a map book filled with all sorts of scribbles and drawings of the surrounding area. She flipped a few pages until she got to the current: a tower that loomed just south of the town, outside the wall. Her eyes turned up to see the tower, off in the distance. An enormous dark green tower, it was about half the width compared to its height and it was already rivaling the surrounding mountains in the area. It had what looked like windows all over it, but if seen from close enough, it would be clear that they were all just stone decorations, like imprints, not actual openings into it, the single entrance to it being at ground level. The tower itself was only one out of four similar ones, all spread out in a different direction of the town she lived in. They all more or less looked the same; the only major differences were the cracks that had been formed on the older towers. Bits and pieces had been falling off for a couple of years, but compared to the insides they were in good shape.

Turning her head back down to her book, she flipped halfway into it, bringing up maps of the current tower; each map was for a single floor. Every map detailed the mazes in an easy to understand way. They had notes added all over, each one pointing to different objects in the rooms, explaining what had to be done to get the mechanisms working, and more importantly, which ones to avoid.

She flipped a few pages and stopped at map twenty-eight, her current work in progress. She'd spent a few days trying to get the layout looking good enough, so anypony could quickly take a look and figure out which direction would be the best choice. But she had already run out of material to work with, and needed to start exploring once more to complete the floor map.

When she flipped back a few pages to take a look at and get absorbed into, her ears twitched as she heard heard the sound of galloping hooves, steadily becoming louder as she listened. Her view raised until she could see the form of a blue pony running her way. After sighing heavily while letting her book slide back into her saddlebag, she prepared herself so she could be ready to show her disapproval for having waited so long, again, to the approaching stallion.

"Again! Without fail you always manage to show up late whenever we're supposed to get working again!" Sketch scolded the pegasus while staring him down.

Kickbolt gave off a weak smile while brushing away sweat from his silver mane. "Sorrysorrysorry!" was all he managed to blurt out between his breaths.

Sketch dropped her head in disappointment. “What are you, five? Act like a stallion for once! You know, one that can manage to get here in time!” she exclaimed.

"You know I can't leave until I'm done preparing! And I finally got this new gear in from the Main City! I just had to check if it would all fit before I could leave," the marine blue pegasus pointed to the saddlebag he was carrying, which was bigger than usual.

Sketch just glared at him. "Again? You ordered a new contraption from the Main City? Did you forget what happened last time with that claw-horseshoe that was supposed to give you ‘increased agility’ while handling objects?" she reminded him bluntly.

Kickbolt turned his head away in embarrassment as he remembered how the horseshoe he had ordered last time worked out. It was supposed to help him handle objects without having to use his muzzle to grab everything.

"Uh, yeah, they sort of accidentally grabbed the ground and locked in place while we were trying to escape from those goblins in the tower," he mumbled. "But Sketch, this isn't the same! Promise! Which is even why I had to go out of the way to see if this thing would actually fit this time, I’ll show you what it is when we get there," said the pegasus.

Sketch was doing everything in her power to try and see things from his point of view, but it wasn't working, not to mention he always had a similar excuse for being late, and it was rare for him to actually bring something new along for him to try out while mapping new areas. "Whatever, as long as I don't have to save you, you're the one that's supposed to protect ME! Besides, you know I can't stay mad at you for being the most forgetful being in existence," she teased. "You even forgot to fly again! Seriously, you're a pegasus and whenever you're in a hurry you suddenly forget how to use your wings and always end up using the slower path that the rest of us earth-bound ponies have to use. If you only knew how many of us wished we could just fly to where we wanted to go."

Kickbolt, who had only just stopped blushing for being reminded of the claw-incident suddenly flushed red again. "Only because you yell at me for leaving you behind whenever we're in a hurry!" he affirmed to his protection.

Sketch covered her face with a hoof and sighed. "That's only when we're moving together, and when we’re actually running from something.” Kickbolt turned his head away in shame. “Why would you not fly for trying to get somewhere in time?" was all she could muster; she was quickly growing tired of this conversation and wanted to get a move on already. "Fine, whatever, that's how you are and how you'll always be, an overly energetic colt that can't be bothered to think things through twice.” She started walking to the gate, when she noticed Kickbolt was still sitting on his haunches with his head turned away.

Sketch turned back to face Kickbolt, drawing his attention. “Now can we PLEASE get this over with? We're so close, I just know it!” she uttered while her frown was slowly turning into a smile at the change of topic. “Our masters already covered half this tower before they left it to us, and if it's anything like the other three towers, there's only thirty floors, and we're on twenty-eight!" her eyes were almost glowing at this point, trying to imagine what could possibly be at the top. "The other three towers were in such bad shape when they were getting explored, and apparently all the top floors were left in ruins. We can only hope that the same won't have happened to this final tower," she reminded her friend.

Kickbolt opened his mouth to ask. "Uh, so, tell me again, how come this tower never got explored earlier? It's in the best shape compared to the other three but no one bothered to check it out?" his silver eyes widening.

"Fine! I’ll remind you yet again! Because it’s not like you don’t ask this same question every other time we go in there... I'm surprised you actually remember to check out all those weird gadgets you order from the Main City," she teased him. But after a few moments she decided to answer, "It wasn't until our masters started doing this that the fourth tower had finally opened up. They could never figure out the reason, but apparently it was always closed until the other three towers had gotten fully explored. Logic dictates that something in them triggered that made the fourth tower available to us, but nothing like that was ever found. Either way, it's up to us to get this tower done, we're already so close!" she squealed happily, already having forgotten about her earlier frustration with Kickbolt.

He nodded, happy to not be the subject of her anger any longer, readying a new argument. "Well yeah, let's get it done then! Or it’d be up to the alternative to get it done." He waited for Sketch's reaction.

Sketch, having turned to begin walking again until she heard the first few words which caused her to immediately stopped in her tracks. "No way am I letting her near this work! The guild is expecting me to finish mapping the tower; I've already spent way too much time doing this to let it all slip away. The amount of points we'd get for finishing it would let us go wherever we would want to! Speaking of which, we need to discuss that soon," Sketch pointed out while stomping angrily.

Kickbolt trudged up to her while smiling. “But, won't we need a unicorn in the group if we're going to other places? The only reason the guild even lets us do this by the two of us is because of you, and you know it."

Sketch turned her head away to avoid showing her smile, but her coat already flushing gave it away before she had a chance to cover her face with a hoof.

Kickbolt chuckled for a moment before continuing. "There hasn't been a mapper as good as you in this town ever since it got founded and you know it! Even the guild master said so!” He motioned at her flank. “Heck, your cutie mark even proves that you were born for this, you’re not called ‘Map Sketch’ for nothing!" he exclaimed, referring to her cutie mark showing an outspread scroll with a compass lying on top of it.

Sketch turned her head back around, still smiling after having tried composing herself. She pointed at Kickbolt’s cutie mark, sporting a lightning bolt shaped like a horseshoe. “Well if it weren’t for you protecting me, they wouldn’t let us go at all.” Sketch nodded her head and cleared her throat. "But you're also right about the unicorn, there's no way the guild will let us do any more exploring as long as it's the two of us, the only reason we're actually allowed to explore the tower is because it's probably so similar to the other three that's already done with, so they know what to expect of it. Doesn't make it any easier though, we run into more monsters and traps than we'd like and I'm sure some unicorn magic could probably help every now and then. I mean, you won't be able to fight off everything we come across, now will you?" she batted her eyes at the bigger stallion while ending the sentence.

Kickbolt sighed openly while staring intently at the green mare for a moment.

Sketch continued before he said anything. "Come ooon, I don't really want anyone else to butt into this. Besides, there are no available unicorns that are actually willing to do this sort of thing, unless the Main City ends up sending some new candidates or something, and last I heard they just sent some to another town, meaning they're fresh out for now anyway."

He smiled as a he realized an opportunity to turn this around, "Well then, too bad we won't be able to keep on doing this once we finish this tower."

"I suppose, I could use a break anyway from doing this," she yawned, lazily waving a hoof in front of her face.

"Then some other group would just end up having to explore the good places instead of us, because you obviously can't be bothered," he implied, trying to sound sarcastic.

Sketch's dark green eyes shot up at this. "No way! I already told you I am not letting her do my work!" she almost yelled out. "Now come on, we need to get a move on already if we're gonna get this done anytime soon! Do you know how much time we've already wasted because of you!?" said Sketch as she suddenly grabbed his tail with her teeth and started pulling him towards the gate. His face already getting dragged along the grass before he had a chance to do anything about it.

When Sketch suddenly stopped pulling his tail, he took the opportunity to turn around to walk for himself, only to see the reason for why Sketch had stopped pulling.

Sketch was standing face to face with a purple unicorn mare with a pink and white mane. On her flank you could see a contract for a cutie mark. Or rather, face to neck, seeing as the lavender mare was rather tall, and how Sketch was shorter than the average mare.

"Map Sketch," the purple unicorn said with a cheeky voice.

"Brdgwrd." Sketch had responded, not realizing she was still biting down on Kickbolt's tail, quickly spitting it out and once again attempting to say her nemesis name as cocky as she could possibly muster. Seeing how she already failed, the second try was her last shot at maintaining her honor. "Pledgewoorgh-," was all she could get out before coughing violently because of the long hairs that had ended up stuck between her teeth from pulling Kickbolt, which she accidentally had inhaled.

"I still cannot honestly see what the guild master sees in you, eating tails of your teammates instead of actually doing your job. You're only lucky you two get to work with the tower instead of actually having to explore new places like us.” The purple mare sneered down at Sketch. “You already have the finished maps of the other towers, so this last one is practically done for you!" she taunted while turning away to proceed to keep her head higher than usual, if only to annoy Sketch further. "We just came back from the plains to the east, that area is now finished and we'll finally get the points we rightfully deserve from guild. Maybe now we will have enough to actually get away from ponies like you for a while."

Sketch was finally gagging the last hair out of her throat, and proceeded by glaring daggers at the purple mare's neck instead, not being quite able to see her eyes. "Pledgeword." She finally got it out with a disgustingly dripping voice.

Pledgeword finally looked at Sketch directly. "Oh, so you can speak," her voice sounding even cheekier than it had before.

Sketch lifted her head to properly meet Pledgeword’s face. "Just because the other three towers are already done doesn't mean this last one is easy, not to mention they’re nothing alike. You haven't actually been inside it so you couldn't tell the traps apart from the door opening mechanisms." Their eyes finally met, followed by Sketch kicking dirt.

As the two rivals proceeded to attack each others with words, Kickbolt shared a forgiving look with those of Pledgeword's teammates, all of them being painfully aware of how the two mares behaved whenever they met. One of them was a light orange pegasus mare with black mane and an old telescope for a cutie mark. Their third teammate was an earth pony, a colt, at least that's what Kickbolt had always assumed; seeing as how he was almost as small as Sketch. He had a grey coat with a light brown mane, and his cutie mark was a toolbox.

The two's eyes met with Kickbolt's and gave him a tired look back. While none of the three had any issues with each other, Sketch's and Pledgeword's constant bickering wasn't exactly wanted. The two that had just returned were tired from their trip along with Pledgeword and had expected to finally get home and rest. Not to stop at the front gate and watch their team leader starting fights with every pony that was unfortunate enough to stand in her path. Their group leader always ended up talking down to others whenever she got the chance, particularly so in Sketch's case.

"Whatever! We're going already!" Sketch declared, having had enough of the quarrel already. "Come on Kickbolt, it's your fault we're not even there yet!" she continued, only to bite his tail again to start pulling him away from the town gate again.

Pledgeword turned her head away with a huff and continued walking into town, followed by her two teammates that were hanging their heads from the exhausting four days they'd been away.

"I can walk myself, thank you very much!” the blue pegasus responded, fluttering his wings to fly up above Sketch, pulling her head up and finally forcing her to let go of his tail. He’d probably complain more often if he wasn’t so used to being pulled around by Sketch.

Sketch fumed, "You're the reason we're not even there yet, so no complaining about the methods used to get you moving!" her nostrils flared. "I hate that mare!" her voice almost shaking from anger. "I can't believe she's almost caught up on us with points, I don't even know HOW she could become a mapper?! Much less how she's actually able to keep on doing it. I mean, her cutie mark is a contract! How does that even work when exploring?!"

Kickbolt landed lightly next to her to stop Sketch from continuing her rant. “I always just assumed she’s good at getting things done whatever it is, sort of like making a contract and making sure everything works out like planned.” He rolled his eyes.

Sketch ignored this and just kept on stomping away angrily.

Not much else was said during the short journey to the tower south of the town.

(Author’s note: I’d like to thank ARBPW and LysanderasD for helping me with editing and making my story readable. If you liked it, please leave a comment, they’re probably the biggest source of encouragement I’ve yet to encounter. Don’t forget to rate!)

Comments

[MyInnerWeirdo]

Oh wow, Pledgeword is mean. I really, really, really look forward to reading more of this.

[thaecrasis]

This is pretty great! It lays out a really good foundation for all the upcoming chapters, for both the environment and the characters all in one chapter; that takes some skill right there. I've read up to chapter two right now, and I just realized how funny/punny it would have been if Fourtow had four river channels surrounding it, instead of towers. Wait for it... Fourchan

[Jack Ass Knife]

The story sort of reminds me a little of Antipodes. Looking forward!

[alatar]

really liked it next one

[Mist]

My thoughts: Though some of the prologue feels very list-like (This happened, then this) it's not that bad and I got through it just fine.

A few minor grammatical errors, but all and all if the rest of the story is as well told as this first chapter I can say that it will have my vote for being put into the High Quality Fictions Group.

[Seven Fates]

My first impressions are majorly positive.

-The plot is relatively unique, and very interesting. It leaves out just enough in the first chapter to lead to a desire to read more.

-Characterization seems to be well in hoof. Map Sketch and Kickbolt seem interesting enough, and the displayed rivalry between Sketch and Pledgeword certainly gives an impression of something more to come.

-The grammar and spelling are fairly solid, which is a plus for me. I only really had three major issues, all of them appearing to be an instance where you wrote something, only to be distracted and write an awkward thought. I know only too well how easy these can be to overlook.
"Life was had gotten a lot easier for the ponies."
“Well if it weren’t for you protecting me either they wouldn’t let me us go either.”
"While none of the three had any issues with each other, besides Sketch's and Pledgeword's constant bickering."

I'm thus far enjoying this fic, and will certainly be looking forward to reading more this evening. This is definitely worth a favorite.

[AzureSkies]

Pledgeworld, why are u such a Meanie McMeanyPants?

[deathtap]

ARBPW brought me here and I'm glad he did. Can't wait to read more.