A Book of Logic

by Dreamscape

Quietness

Quietness

"Is it even possible, sister?" Luna asked Celestia as they walked down the rather empty and quiet streets of Ponyville.

"It's our only chance; we must be hopeful." Celestia said as she turned to face her sister.

"But what if we've allowed the most evil alliance in all of Equestria's history to come into existence?” Luna continued.

"That could be the case, but I don't think so." Celestia laughed. "Even if we have, you and I both know that Illogic is more powerful than all of their powers combined. They must concentrate on him before initiating any other plans that they have. You may have a hard time believing it, Luna, but Discord has changed."

"I understand that he has changed, but he is still not a true ally—not yet at least. I do trust your confidence in him, though."

"I'm glad to hear that, my sister...” Celestia paused as she gazed about the quiet, deserted town. “Something isn't right."

Now would be the perfect time for an old, cartoony tumbleweed to roll across the street, she thought.

"You’re right, Celestia. Where are the masses of confused citizens we've been seeing for the last day...and where is Illogic and his overjoyed minion?"

"It’s all too strange; let's take a look around to see if anypony is here." Celestia motioned with her hoof for Luna to follow.

The six new wielders of the elements, walking along a small dirt road, reached the abandoned town soon afterwards. "Well, this is rather odd," Nightmare commented as she looked at the empty houses along the street. Some of their doors still hung wide open, creaking as they swayed in the breeze.

"Odd indeed,” the changeling queen added. “I have never in all my days seen Ponyville...so silent, so lifeless. It's somewhat nice, actually."

Discord scratched the back of his ear in confusion. "Well, this will complicate things a little. Twilight told me that Illogic was here harassing everypony, but it looks like nopony is here to be harassed."

"Does that mean he isn't here either?" Trixie asked.

"Possibly. He could have hidden them, or imprisoned them—or this could all be an elaborate trap. You just can’t tell, and there's no use in guessing what he’s up to at this point. Hmm…the Princesses should be here too. Let's make a quick loop of the town and see if we can find anything. If not, we’d better think of something else quickly.”

The villains made their way through the town, scanning streets and alleys for any sign of life or movement. After an hour of vain searching (or, according to Trixie, what must have been five hours), Gilda spotted a white figure dart behind Sugarcube Corner.

“Discord!” she whispered hoarsely. "Is Illogic's fur white?"

"Yes, somewhat. Why?"

"Well, I think I saw him up there, around the corner." she said as she tilted her head in the direction of the flash. She beckoned the others with her claw to follow her as she moved in to investigate.

Steadily they approached the side of the building, their backs against the wall. Gilda put a single feather to her mouth, signaling for the others to keep quiet. The rest watched nervously as she poked her head around the wall.

“EEEEEEEEEEEEEK!”

The villains ran away screaming as something large and brown charged at them fiercely. Quickly they ducked out of sight and watched a tumbleweed as it rolled away.

“Whew, that was close,” muttered Gilda.

Discord muffled his laughter. “You mean you were afraid of that teeny-tiny tumbleweed?”

“Of course not!” Gilda huffed. “In fact, I don’t think there’s anything there to be afraid of at all! Just watch me!” Head high, she strutted back to the corner of the house. I’ll show them, she thought confidently. At least, that’s what she thought until a white hoof was planted right in front of her determined face.

“EEEEEEEEEEEEEK!”

“AAAAAAAAAAAH!”

Gilda and Celestia ran for their lives, screaming loudly. Soon everpony was running crazily about the town. Amidst the chaos, Discord cupped his hurting ears with his claw and paw. He silenced his panicking companions with a few soft, gentle words.

"ALL RIGHT, CALM DOWN. IT’S OK!"

Discord breathed hard as the adrenaline from the fight began to subside. "Gah! Never again, Celestia, never again... I think...I almost died."

"Don't worry, you scared me too." Celestia gasped with surprise and joy as she stared at the elements around the villains' necks and the crown upon Discord's head. "I can't believe it, you've actually done it!"

Discord smiled as he looked around at his new friends. "Yes, we did—but I must ask you one thing before we continue this little conversation. Did you roll that tumbleweed across the street?"

Celestia giggled. “Yes.”

"Why, exactly?"

"Well, it seemed appropriate, considering the circumstances."

Before Discord could speak again, Luna came flying down from the sky. She struck a daring pose as she glared at the villains.

"Are you all right, sister? What have they done to…" She quickly stopped talking once she saw the villains bearing the elements.

"Just a...slight mishap." Celestia said, turning to her sister.

"It’s hard to believe, but they have actually done it. It’s”—she shook her head in disbelief—“it’s absolutely amazing."

"I told you they could do it."

Chrysalis cleared her throat in impatience. "Yes, it’s amazing, we know—but I think there are much more important things at hoof which we should be doing instead of standing around and gawking. Where is everypony—and more importantly, where is Illogic?"

"We do not know,” Luna replied. “We have searched all across Ponyville and come up with nothing."

“What a coincidence—that’s exactly what we’ve been doing!” exclaimed Trixie.

"If anypony was here, they would have heard our screaming." Nightmare Moon said.

"Yes, I could hear your screams all the way across town." said Luna.

"So, that could either be good or bad. Whoever is hiding will stay hiding, or they will come to investigate."

"Yes." Luna stared at Nightmare’s element, still in disbelief. "This cannot be true."

Nightmare blushed. "So what? I guess you have influenced me."

"I never thought I’d see you wielding that element. Actually, I never thought I'd witness you wielding any elements. I'm quite proud of you...me...us?"

"Wait, shhh!" Gilda whispered. They all heard the very faint but comprehensible sound of voices in the distance.

****

"I don't know why, but I don't like it," Rainbow Dash was saying. "Let's check it out."

"I'm not so sure." Spike winced as he glanced around the deserted town. “I mean, we probably shouldn't be wasting our time looking if nopony's here, right?"

"Well there must be somepony here," Rarity said. "Those horrid screams we heard had to have come from somewhere."

"I…I guess.”

"I...don't...like this." Fluttershy whispered. Her body shook frantically, like a washing machine set to its highest speed.

"Yes, it's very strange isn't it?" Twilight said, speaking more to herself then the others. "This is a very interesting perspective on Ponyville. I've never seen it like this, and I'm guessing none of you have either?"

"What was THAT?" Fluttershy whispered loudly, hearing movement up ahead.

"Here we go." Rainbow Dash whispered, smacking her hooves together (for added effect, of course) and flew toward the sound of the movement as the others followed in their quiet charge. The villains and two princesses walked out from behind the wall, unsuspecting of any attack. The charge was quickly halted as the girls skidded their hoofs against the dirt avenue beneath them, their bodies seizing from fright and their lungs releasing all their air in the form of a long, drawn out scream. The frightened villains and princesses followed the example. Sombra reared his body upwards and let out a whimpering neigh and quickly ran to the nearest set of stairs for comfort.

Pinkie stood in silence staring at the chaos which surrounded her, looking at her friends, the villains, the princesses, and then back again. She was so confused…what was she supposed to be doing?

"Oh!" she said aloud, a light bulb appearing above her. This light bulb was, of course, only a figment of the pink pony's imagination. As the power of this inspirational glowing object hit her, she too joined in on the screaming soiree.

Finally, gasping for air, the screamers began to settle down. "This is more than enough excitement for one day." Chrysalis commented. "Can we please..."

“AAAAAAAAAAAH!” Pinkie began to scream once again.

“AAAAAAAAAAAH!” they all screamed again, running crazily in every direction. The shrieks quickly died off this time and everypony turned their heads to glare at the culprit.

"Pinkie!" Twilight snarled.

"What? It was so much fun! I thought we could do it bitty bit longer."

"Jesus, I think twice in one day is more than enough." Celestia said, wiping her brow. All the others turned towards her with questioning expressions.

Twilight asked the same question all the others were thinking. "What is a Jesus?"

"Mother of God! I have no idea." she said, putting her hoof over her mouth. "It just came out of my mouth. It must be some form of expression, although I don't recall where I heard it."

"What is...God?"

"I. Don’t. Know.”

"Could it be referring to a deity, like Celestia is a goddess?" Discord asked.

"But why would this statement be referring to this god's mother and why is this god called God?" Luna added.

"Maybe it was just a colt named God and for some reason everypony was afraid of his mom." Pinkie ventured. Her suggestion, however, was only met with a chorus of “hmm’s” and a handful of shrugs.

Suddenly, in a flash of glowing light, a scroll appeared out of the air and fell to Celestia's feet. A yellow aura appeared around the letter as she quickly unrolled it and held it in front of her face. She began to read the crisp and very recently written note, which although new, looked as though it had been sealed with a stamp hundreds of years earlier and set in a cave, where it had waited for an explorer to find it and read whatever contents lay inside. The sides were ripped and the paper itself was yellowed with age or coffee stains.

My Princess, you must return to Canterlot immediately. There is a very large wooden structure in the shape of some fur-less creature which stands upon two long legs and has five appendages coming from each hoof. The structure appeared outside of the gates earlier today and none of the other guards know what it is, how it got here, or what its purpose is. Could this be a sign of Illogic? We ask for you to return immediately to investigate and to calm your frightened citizens and your guards.

Celestia struggled to read the chicken scratch in front of her eyes but finally finished. The others peered over her shoulders, squinting and turning their heads as they too attempted to read the almost alien language written on the small note. This was obviously written by a non-unicorn—the signs of the pen being held in the mouth rather than by magic were too obvious. Celestia didn't care about this, however—she was glad that this guard was following his duties to the point and doing his best to protect her city, even if he was a bit frightened.

Rainbow Dash hovered above the rest of the group as she read the letter. "Does anypony know what that is?"

"I think I might." Twilight said, scratching her chin with her non-existent fingers. "One of the mythology books from the library I read a while back mentioned a savage and nearly hairless beast which stood on two legs. I think it was referred to as a “Hoomin”. I'm guessing that's what this structure resembles."

"Well, do you know anything else about this “Hoomin”?" Trixie asked.

"Or why there is a large structure in the form of a Hoomin resting outside of Canterlot's gates?" Luna added.

Twilight looked off into the distance as she slowly replied. "In today's world, Hoomins are just a myth, but many scholars believe that these creatures did exist and may even still exist in the deepest and darkest regions of the Everfree Forest. Like the wooden structure, the Hoomins are described as nearly hairless creatures, with only a small patch of hair upon their head and small patches here and there on their bodies. They stand on two legs and have five "fingers", or movable appendages, that allow them to easily grasp things. In fact, many have noticed that they strikingly resemble a monkey. From ancient accounts—and some more recent—these creatures are described as savage, hostile, and greedy. They only care for themselves, nothing else, and would only join together out of spite for other Hoomins and creatures. If they could kill their own kind to help themselves they would gladly do so and they did. It is said that groups of Hoomins would battle each other for dominance and resources. This is thought to be what brought them into a decline in numbers if they did exist and to their possible extinction. As for the structure, I don't know. It could be a reference to these savage battles or mindsets of the Hoomins. Maybe a hint?"

"So, do you think that this structure could be a harbinger for a battle to come?" Celestia asked.

"Yes, that could be the case."

Celestia turned back to the group. "Then we must return to Canterlot immediately, all of us. Be prepared for a battle. Discord, make sure you and the other wielders are ready. Once you see Illogic you all must strike before he has time to plan anything else. I will use a transportation spell to get us there. Although it will take much of my energy, I fear we have little time left. Luna, Twilight; use you’re magic to aid me. Don't worry, I'll take the brunt of it."

Celestia's eyes began to glow a ghostly white as she cast all of her energy into the spell. An aura of golden yellow surrounded her and then reached out towards the others. Luna and Twilight stood beside her as blue and pink gradually mixed with the golden colors.

Pinkie looked over at Sombra and at the element around his neck. "The Element of Laughter, huh? You don't seem very funny to me; I haven't seen one pony smile because of you. I've only seen them frown. I don't think you deserve it. I'll be waiting for you to prove me wrong!" She lifted her head in spite until she remembered the earlier confusion. "Well, I guess it was kind of funny when you got scared and started hugging those stairs."

"Shall we?" Celestia asked, looking at the two ponies aiding her.

"We shall." Luna responded, and in a flash of light they vanished from the deserted, silent Ponyville.

Author's Note:

Thanks for all the help, SlipperPutty!

Comments

[SlipperPutty]

"Thanks for all the help, SlipperPutty!

You're quite welcome, my good sir.