The ReIncarnation AU: From Space

by SweetToothTheUnicorn

Villages

Unrolling the scrolls brings up a small bit of anxiety in Spike as he keeps thinking on what Twilight had said. Everything was old and needed to be tended to with the utmost care. The idea that he could rip something and ruin it forever has him shaking in mild horror because he’s destroyed plenty of documents in the past. As he looks over the scrolls that he’s been given and immediately realizes that more than half of these are in the same language as the book’s cover. Great.

He can’t help but grumble, “Still can’t believe I’m going to be on a scheduled reading time. It’s not like I’m a baby dragon anymore. And did she even check before handing this to me? Or does she want me to teach myself this...whatever this is!”

Leafing through the scrolls there is one, two different pieces that Spike can’t understand before he finds one that had been translated. Based on the intricate short hoof print it was done by Star Swirl the Bearded at one point. Possibly important for later. With that he reads the third scroll in the bunch.

---

Two days into Sun and Moon Era

Dear Healer Mountain Breeze,

The Village of Usth asks for your aid as there has been a drastic change in two of our members after the great explosion that happened not far from our borders. We had thought it was a great beast attacking some poor wayward souls at first, but we’d realized that some of our members were missing. A search party went out to find them and were horrified to find that there was death across one of our prominent grazing fields. Among the dried crops were the bodies of rabbits, birds, and squirrels that seemed to have been sucked dry in a similar way. We don’t know how this happened and frantically looked for our lost friends in hopes of rescuing them from whatever caused this.

Instead we found bodies.

They were horrifying to see and left many unable to keep hold of their lunches or their emotions. Crying, screaming, vomiting alike as a need to mourn encapsulated us. We are simple people with simple needs and were not prepared for these new horrors to befall us. We had been ready to turn back right away before our top hunter, Grove Trotter, had pointed out that there were only six corpses before us. There were still two ponies out there that needed to be found. So, we searched.

We’d spent hours out in the heat and amongst the smell of rot. We turned over rubble and wayward boulders that seemed to have fallen from the nearby mountain. Nothing had come up. We lost hope. Believing that maybe some distant animal had come and eaten their bodies, we rushed to gather up the bodies of those we could identify and return home. Upon arrival we were greeted to the sight of a perfectly frantic village as looming above the citizens was our two missing members. But, altered drastically.

Crissal was once a simple pony that lived her life caring for the young in her village under the watchful eye of the other Elders. She made sure they didn’t get into fights, that they were fed, and that they went to each of their lessons. Her body had once been a rich brown, a similar color to her dark mane and tail, yet she returned to the village looking changed to the point no one recognized her at first. Body a shining golden hue, hair an unnatural bright orange, and eyes bluer than any river I’ve ever seen. But her voice was the same and her kind smile was unchanged so how could we not realize that whatever had happened simply changed her? Our poor Lorna was no different.

She’d had dark coloring before but now, her body was obsidian black with snow white hair and bottomless black eyes. But her body was like Crissal’s. Legs extended to great heights, neck like a prideful swan, and thin faces that gave an almost gaunt appearance. They have increased hunger than before but seem to carry with them no sickness, but we all know something is wrong. Please venture to us across the Mahurin River and take a look at our friends. We fear what this could mean for the rest of us or what lasting effects this will have on Crissal and Lorna.

Sincerely,
Elder Magpie

---

Spike tries not to cringe over what he’s read. The ways that this Elder Magpie had described the whole experience was upsetting enough that he wonders if his stomach would be turning till dinner. If he decided to even eat dinner after this. He hopes that there isn’t more of that in any of these. Checking another reveals a strange series of charts and diagrams that the dragon has never seen before. Spike can’t tell the numbers from the regular sentences to the point he can’t even guess what these are linked to, but he does recognize the combination of symbols that made up Elder Magpie’s name in the previous letter. Under a wild guess he assumes it was important to the village.

“Okay, so, these scrolls probably came from the Elder. Why isn’t more of this translated? There’s got to be a spell, right? Maybe Twilight will know,” the purple dragon says to himself. He pulls out some extra parchment and a quill to write down his questions for later.

Turning back to the scrolls, Spike moves to the fifth and sixth pages to find rough sketches of ponies. They are all young fillies that seem to go from earth ponies to either unicorns or pegasi, their expressions becoming more haggard with time. There are no colors but there is heavy blots of ink or faded smears of strange liquids around the appendages they seem to be growing. He hazards a guess that it is to represent whatever blood or gore that was revealed in this process. Thankful to the minor censoring, Spike quickly moves onto the seventh page and is surprised to find another translated page. He dives in greedily to see what more the Elder had to say.

---

Ninety-Two days into Sun and Moon Era

Dear Questa,

It has been three month now since the terrible incident that had destroyed much of the West Grazing field and we have growing concern for our world. The sun is taking much longer to set and rise each day. The replanting efforts have been thrown for a loop as everyone’s sundials have been off due to this. There has also been growing concern as some of the animals within the forest seem to have taken on features of other creatures and developed strange abilities. They have also become hostile in a way that was never seen before. Elders Robin and Blue jay agreed with me that no one should return to that place in hopes of avoiding anymore injuries. It has lead to ongoing discussions of moving across the Mahurin River in hopes of making allies with the village there so that we may combine together. It will take much negotiating to even receive a proper conversation with their leaders, so we are desperately trying to save all future crops and any chance we have for foraging.

We have little hope that this will actually do much, but it is giving our people hope. That’s enough.

On to other business, Healer Mountain Breeze did not find anything during his visit and neither did the three others that he’d reached out to in our time of need. There is no explanation as to why the two mares were so thin or so different from before. They also had no theories for the strange abilities that they began to show after only a few nights resting in the village. Abilities that started sprouting up amongst the young fillies that have been complaining about headaches. They are forming growths... No one is experiencing symptoms at this time, so we are hoping that our move will bring us closer to the Healers and avoid whatever misfortune looms on the horizon.

The world seems to be changing so much, so suddenly. I worry for our people. Please let us know if you’ve faired any better. I remember your last few letters that there was a seasonal flu going around for many of your own young. If there is a way we can help you, please let us know.

Missing you greatly,
Elder Magpie

---

Spike’s eyes move to the margins of the translation to find more writing in a pink ink. Much newer and in another’s hoof writing, while he doesn’t recognize whose it is easy to see that it’s not Star Swirl’s. Another weird feature that the young dragon jots down in his notes before finally reading the margins. He mumbles to himself, “Rapid evolutionary properties. Illness through a drastic genetic change, but minor enough to bring no deaths. The largest demographic are fillies between the ages of four to twelve. Based on further research made, this may have been tied with the first cutie marks to ever exist.”

He blinks rapidly at that last part. “The first to ever exist?!”

“SSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!”

He cranes to look past the podium to see Twilight sticking her head out from behind a stack of reading material. She had that ‘I’m so, so serious’ face on and everything. After flashing a sheepish smile, Spike huddles back into the beanbag and turns his attention to the eighth page. Another untranslated page that he couldn’t make heads or tails of, but what really caught his attention was the very detailed painting of what looked to be alicorns. They fit the descriptions from before almost to a T.

To the best of his ability he tries to copy the picture as he once more talks to himself, “The first alicorns... Hmm... I guess all alicorns really do look the same. I wonder why.”

Once his crude copy is done, the young dragon flips through two more pages and finds more untranslated pages. He spots the familiar symbols of Elder Magpie’s name to confirm that it does indeed belong amongst this growing pile. Moving on to the next page reveals another translated page with many more notes in the margins.

---

Three-hundred and Forty-Two days into Sun and Moon Era

Dear Elder Swiftwind of Risse Village,

The Village of Usth thanks you for the aid you have provided to us in these past few months. With so many falling bedridden I was worried that your village was being set upon by the same dangers that we’ve found. Seeing that great gifts have begun to form for both of our villages I have much hope that this turn of fate may be the change that Elder Robin had prophesized many weeks ago. Truly, that mare surprises me every time we speak.

I know that there has been much happening since the incident in the West Grazing field, but I did want your opinion on something. The other Elders and I had reached out to the Healers about ways to help control the miracles many of the young were doing. They assured us that Crissal and Lorna could do it. The same with those who have found themselves gifted with flight. I wasn’t sure of these suggestions at first, after all both mares had only held their own new appendages for just as long. But they took to it naturally as if it was second nature. They led them with kindness and gentleness that has been shown to our stressed populace. We have become more advisors than leaders with how we’ve run around like chickens with our heads cut off. After some consideration the Elders and I have been considering training them to take over properly.

Power should always be utilized to care for our people, shouldn’t it? We Elders are getting old, getting tired. We are not equipped to deal with these differences but it seems that we may not need to be. No, we simply need to be advisors to the usual inner workings as neither mare is aware of them. And is it truly so wrong to do that? Elder Blue jay seems to think so while Elder Robin is too lost in her visions to care. What will become of us when the Elder focused on the past is uninterested in the present? What progress will we make when the Elder, who’s eyes are only trained forward lifts no finger to change what’s around them? Old and stubborn is all we are.

So, my friend, what should I do in this predicament? Please, write back to me soon as I fear the growing tensions may find our simple village splitting up much like the Village in the Valley did a few weeks ago. The migrants we’d taken in had spoken of similar instances to our own but with higher tension as they had no real leadership. They took to Crissal and Lorna quickly. More evidence in my opinion, but just more hints of a mutiny in the making for the others. I am at a loss on how to keep the peace.

Ever nervous,
Elder Magpie

---

The pink ink in the margins reads: Elder Magpie does not get to see things come to fruition. Her death greatly shifts the power dynamics. There was no avoiding the civil war she feared and many are hurt in the process. Her belief allows for the Princesses to come into power, so her unfortunate demise was integral to Equestria’s history. Elder Blue Jay and Elder Robin do not remain problems for long. Questa was a beneficial advisor.

“Questa? She was the only one to not have a title,” Spike taps the quill against his chin as he vocalizes his thoughts. “Maybe she was close friends with Elder Magpie? Could be a family member, too, I guess...”

He glances back to the previous pages and hums in thought. Before he can think more on it he hears Twilight call out, “Spike! We need to head back to the throne room!”

Jumping up, he gathers all of the papers into the satchel with a shout, “Coming!”

The purple dragon pulls out the color coded schedule once more and crosses off their break time as he rushes after her. There are twelve more meetings on the docket before the day ends and two of those are before they even have lunch! Man, he hopes one of the cooks is bringing something to snack on in between.

Author's Note:

Elder Magpie, as you can see, is much more active in her home---both in the politics and in it’s foundation. The only one to be part of a search party as much as she is reaching out to achieve needed aid outside. She had known the two vessels that our Solar Gliders now reside in and is doing her best to not freak out like everyone else is doing. It is kind of working... Kinda.

Our next chapter will be changing format just a little bit again along with perspective. Be prepared!

Beyond that I hope you enjoyed! Please ask anything in the comments and I will do my best to answer with either another chapter or a really small summary of what is planned. Thanks again!