“...my souls on fire...”
Stories in Stone
Memories of Twilight
By TDR
“...my souls on fire...”
In a time long before life as we know lived on this world, when the land was fresh and the first spirits walked the land granting life and death at their whim, there lived two siblings: a brother and a sister. The pair was created by a wandering spirit to serve as prophets of its will, and it granted them powers far surpassing that of their closest kin.
These creatures were the first alicorns.
The other ancient spirits saw what their brethren was doing and took delight in its cleverness. They, too, set out to create their own prophets so that they may speak with more ease to the life they had created in their own images.
This was the creation of the gods, the first immortal races crafted by the elder spirits of existence.
For uncounted eons, the two alicorns and the other created gods were the liaisons between the spirits and the mortal races they created to live in this world. Then, one day, all the spirits left this world, leaving their creations behind to fend for themselves.
The alicorns and the other gods did their best to keep their world together, but without the presence of the spirits, most of the races fell back into their more bestial calling. Despite the gods’ best efforts, civilization all but collapsed and the beginning of the first dark age came about.
The eldest of the alicorn siblings, Zacherle, an alicorn stallion so glowing white that his visage was at once all hues and none, first worked with the other gods and his sister in trying to restore the world to the way it was. In time, though, resentment grew in him for what he viewed as abandonment by those who created him. Once his resentment reached a peak, he abandoned his charges and the other gods to seek his own way.
His sister tried to reason with him, but to no avail. A madness of sorts eventually took hold in him. Zacherle began to believe that
the spirits had not left them for a malicious reason, but because they had achieved perfection with the creation of the gods and there was no longer a need to remain.
Zacherle gave up on trying to restore the world and instead sought a way to remake it, to make everything perfect, to make everything gods in his image. Being the first god created, he began to see himself as the greatest creation, a perfection that every creature should strive to achieve.
His sister, Bonnie, an alicorn mare of a darkness so black that light would not fall on her, could do nothing to stop him. Zacherle stirred up the mortals, creating conflict and war. These were new concepts to the world, and no god yet understood why one creature would wish to kill another.
However, the alicorn simply did this to weed out the weak so that the others could learn from his teachings. Zacherle used all his power to create a book, one that would teach those whom the spirits had not blessed the path to godhood. He poured his own essence into this creation. He was so set on his pride at being a perfect being that he did not notice when his creation took all of him, leaving nothing but a shattered husk behind.
The death of one of the first sent far more panic into the ranks of the gods and mortals than even the departure of the spirits did. The spirits may return; that a god passed as the mortals did was inconceivable.
Only Bonnie knew the truth: her brother was not dead; his essence and soul resided in his creation, the first book of Orbsah: The Gray Grimoire.
The last remaining alicorn could see what her brother had done, and what he had planned for the world was against everything the spirits had created them for. She also knew she could never hope to destroy the artifact that was her brother.
The spirits had granted her brother the power, though she had been granted the knowledge and the ability to foresee what was to come because of her brother’s actions. The spirits created them to be shepherds of the flocks of their creations. Her brother had given up his role of shepherd to become a wolf.
His foolish pride would unmake the world. Every creature that attained godhood from his actions would be a twisted thing, barely able to call itself a god, but filled with terrible power that could destroy everything that the spirits had created.
She consulted the other first gods about what she knew and found what she feared to be true: Zacherle was the first god; their powers could not match his, or even hers. After much deliberation, a course of action was decided upon.
The corruption from the first book of Orbsah was already being felt among the mortal races; conflicts and war erupted from those trying to claim its power. The gathered gods could not stop the corruption, but they could weaken it, and forge something that could fight it.
Bonnie and the five other gods — the god of dragons, the god of hounds, the god of wild, the god of the air, and the god of the sea — followed the path that the first god had taken. They shared their essence to weaken the power of the Gray Grimoire, and in doing so, gave their lives.
As a final act, each let loose their godhood so that the mortals might again give birth to a creature that could live to guide them in troubled times, thus paving the way for all the gods to follow them.
With their powers spent, all that remained of the gods was a token of the essence of who they were and what they represented.
Honesty.
Loyalty.
Compassion.
Generosity.
Laughter.
Magic.
The last of the six's essence formed into items that, when wielded by those who were the embodiment of these traits, could undo anything that the book could infect. Artifacts that could bring hope to the world and light its darkest hours.
The Elements of Harmony.
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Spike blinked, looking at the book he had found and rubbing his eyes. He turned to the first few pages again and looked at the title and the first chapter.
History of the Books of Orbsah.
Chapter One: They could not take your pride.
He was not even sure where he found this one. He had just become curious about the Books Silver Claw kept talking about. He assumed they were the same ones that he had read about that made Luna become Nightmare Moon.
He looked back down at the book. This was only the first chapter; this was gonna be a long night again.
===============================================================
Applejack sighed as she wrote up another document before giving it to a runner and having the pegasus tell every member of the emergency crew she had recruited. So far, it had been rather easy.
She sent a letter to Celestia informing her of what she had planned, and the princess had given her apporoval to take full control of the emergency management. Mayor Mare would still be in charge of the day-to-day duties, but everything that involved evacuation, shelters, or other dangerous situations was under Applejack's control. Celestia even added a clause that in times of disagreement between the farm pony and the mayor, AJ would be considered to have seniority.
There was also a strongly-worded note to Applejack to not abuse the power that she had been granted, though AJ would be more than happy to give it up and just go back to farming. However, the Princess thought she could make this town safer, and she wasn't going to stop until it was.
Now she just had to figure out where she was going to get the bits from the budget to outfit some of the cellars in town into emergency shelters.
==================================================
The clack of wood resounded in the clearing, accompanying a yelp from Twilight. The wooden blade fell from her mouth and hit the ground with a dull thud. Jer'rahd buried his face in his hooves as Breezy looked embarrassed at knocking Twilight's weapon out of her grasp again.
“Umm, sorry about that... I was trying to go easy, miss...” Breezy started before Jer'rahd interrupted.
“Breezy, head back over to Captain Silvertail and join her training before she needs to head back to Canterlot. Seems I need to start with her from the ground up.” Jer'rahd sighed.
Yes, sir,” Breezy stated and zipped off before they could find anything else for him to do.
“Ow... that should have worked, in theory. How the heck do you still have teeth after blocking with a sword in your mouth?” Twilight grumbled.
“You build up a tolerance and muscles the more you use it. Honestly, I should have you just go hit a training dummy for a few hours, but what you said earlier has my attention, so we will take a break for a bit.”
Twilight grumbled. When she first came out here for sword training, she had not really been able to hold back spilling information on Aviana that she picked up from Celestia's dreams. After all, besides Celestia and maybe Forgescale, Jer'rahd had been screwed over by the old goddess more than anyone else.
Of course, that got his curiosity up, and now she was stuck relaying the information to him. Honestly, she did not want to give him another reason to hate the Princess more, but she was rather stuck now. She just hoped that Celestia would not be even angrier with her for telling him this. She decided to at least to tell him the first dream she and Luna had seen, and then gauge his reaction from that.
Jer'rahd listened intently, letting her tell the whole story before asking questions. “So you said Celestia saw something different. What did she see?” Jer'rahd asked.
“Well, Luna and I did talk a little about it, and as near as I can tell, in the first dream, everything was exactly the same, only it was not Aviana who saved the Princess, it was Saffron. Aviana was nowhere in sight, yet Celestia swears it was Aviana who saved her from the changeling Diamond Dog.”
“How many of these dreams did you go into?”
“Quite a few, and none of them seemed to make sense. I saw one version, and Luna saw two different versions overlapping one another. Celestia clearly saw the second version that I didn't see.”
“Hmmm, considering how long I have wondered about this sort of thing… I would ask you to tell me what you found out or witnessed.”
“Why, so you can have something else to taunt Celestia about?”
Jer'rahd stood up and stretched, lifting a training blade from a rack with his magic. “Actually, this time, my response is a little different. It sounds very much like someone screwed with Celestia's memories. I had someone screw with my mind a few times as well; it's not fun. If it turns out this code of non-aggression that Celestia follows was brought about through trickery, I want to know why. If she is the way she is now because of it, she's more a victim than a cause of everything that's happened.”
“Princess Luna said the almost same thing,” Twilight sighed as she picked up the training sword again.
============================================================
History of the Books of Orbsah.
Chapter Two,
..still just a rat in a cage...
The conflicts between the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony and the gods created by the Gray Grimoire continued for ages. The book could not fulfill its goals while the Elements existed, and like the book itself, there was no way to destroy them, so the conflict raged.
In time, tales of the book piqued the interest of a powerful Diamond Dog god who set out to acquire the tome. The creature was an outcast, despite being a god; he had been ousted by the other gods of his pack for abusing his power and his subjects. Rather than submit to the judgment of his peers, he slew all that came against him until the combined powers of the remaining Diamond Dog gods and the gods of other races joined forces to stop his reign of terror. Kay'cee fled rather than face destruction, but his sole purpose for acquiring the book was revenge on those who had tried to bring him to justice.
The Gray Grimoire recognized the potential of the god, and rather than simply empower the dog, it offered him a choice.
The task of spreading the ability to be a god was slow going with simply one book, and the Gray Grimoire was not discounting the theory that someday some a creature might find a way to seal it fully. It had already proven useless to try and copy itself as the words copied held no power on their own, and normal books could easily be destroyed. But it still knew the ritual that created it. It also had calculated that the power the first gods used to limit its power may not carry over to another book.
Kay'cee agreed, seeing this as a way to enact a revenge on those that dethroned him, and any generations that would exist after them. The ritual was carried out, just as it had been done eons before with the Gray Grimoire's creation, only this time, there was a flaw. The reduction of power that the first’s sacrifices had caused had altered the spell slightly, and in order to keep from losing the spell and Kay'cee, the Gray Grimoire was forced to sacrifice something of itself to ensure Kay'cee's transformation was complete.
The ritual finished successfully and the Red Tome came into existance.
Despite having two Books of Orbsah of equal power, they had both lost a small portion of their ability from the Grimoire's sacrifice. Now the book's fate was even further ensnared with the Elements of Harmony.
The books could no longer grant godhood to any that used them; now, only those who had wielded the Elements of Harmony could properly become a god.
Upon learning of this new limitation to their plans, both books raged to themselves for centuries.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rhede tilted his head, looking at the book, a large grin crossing his face. He had nearly passed the book over in the Royal Library of the Crystal Empire, but something made him come back to it.
It turned out that everything in the library had been collected under King Sombra's rule and much of it was quite dark in nature and only useful to a unicorn or another caster. There were a number of history books and a few tomes specifically centered on the creation and maintenance of the Crystal Heart, something he set aside to give to Princess Cadence.
But this... well, only one word could be said about this find.
“Jackpot.”
==================================================
“Luna,” Celestia stated clearly and rather loudly.
At the sound of her sister’s voice, the half-dozing alicorn mare fell off of her chair and tried to leap out of it at the same time, resulting in a flailing panic of limbs and wings.
“I DID NOTHING!” Luna shouted before tripping over her own hooves and crashing into a heap.
Celestia blinked, looking down at her sister as Luna muttered curses she had heard Starfall utter at her embarrassing panic attack.
She glared towards the door as Starfall grinned sheepishly and ducked back out of the room.
“I understand I am not to be sleeping here, but given this room was supposed to be private, I would appreciate if you do not simply waltz in without some warning,” Luna grumbled.
“Then that makes two of us who have issues with privacy.”
Luna cursed to herself again, her ears flattening to her head. “If you are here to simply prove a lesson or continue to heap punishment on me for mine transgressions, sister, then be done with it already and get out. What was seen sheds more light on thy relationship with mine predecessor. I do not regret succumbing to my curiosity in this regard. There is decidedly something wrong with thy situation and relationship with that mare.”
“You still should have asked.”
“While it was not our intent to even look at first, we could not pass the opportunity. Would you have allowed it if you knew?”
“No.”
“Then mine statement still stands,” Luna said defiantly. “If not to heap more torment, what is your purpose then, sister? This is supposed to be thine and Sparkle's day of rest before you start on Nocturne's wing. Carrying both duties leaves me little time for sleep, and unless thou wishest the sun to wobble across the sky today, I would ask thee to let me get back to it.”
Celestia sighed and settled to sit down, ignoring Luna's glare. “I understand you are grouchy after being woken up...”
“Thy guest beds are like sleeping on gravel. The couch is of far more comfort, as is the floor...”
“...But that still does not explain why you are angry when you are the one at fault here. I did not wish you to read my dreams.”
“And I did not wish to fight a war against a creature that had a justifiable cause to hate us. The accusations that Forgescale made make more sense now. Every clue we have seen leads us to her being the cause of that dragon's anger against us. “
“There is no rock-solid proof against her...”
“There is much; you refuse to see it. Why do you defend a mare that seems to be the very root of all the problems Equestria has had?” Luna shouted standing up to glare at Celestia.
“I am not sure... why did I do my best to defend you when you were Nightmare Moon?” Celestia responded flatly.
Luna deflated some, though the anger remained. “Were it not for Aviana's actions bringing about the war, I never would have been tempted to become that…”
Celestia sighed. “An argument was not why I came here.”
“Then what is it you want?
“I would like to know what you saw, and why you and Twilight seem so confident that my memories are wrong.”
Luna sighed, settling back on the couch and rubbing her head. “Your dreams overlap the true memories. ‘Tis a sign that they have been tampered with. I know this as I did it to others as Nightmare Moon in order to get them to fight for me. The effect is the same as what I used, though stronger then what I managed. A spell of mine would not have lasted this long.”
“Then tell me what you saw.”
============================================================
Fluttershy sighed, thanking the squirrels again and glancing over to Big Mac ,who stood a good bit away in order not to startle the creatures, though where he could still keep an eye on the pale yellow pony. “Any luck?” he asked.
“No; aside from seeing them move back and forth through the forest, none of them bothered to listen to what they said or cared very much once they were out of sight. To be honest, I expected as much.”
“Mmmm,” Big Mac responded, looking around the forest as the pair started walking back to town.
“I guess now I head back and see if I can help Applejack or something. I feel so useless in this; I haven’t been able to do anything for anyone...”
Big Mac glanced down at the yellow mare, but refrained from commenting. Getting Fluttershy to say anything was hard enough; getting her to talk about her problems was almost as hard as getting Rainbow Dash to admit she was wrong, so he simply let her continue as they walked.
“I'm not a fighter, I can't cast spells, and I can't even really heal as well as ponies trained for it. I really don't know what I am supposed to do during all this. I want to help, but I don't even know what I could do that would help anyone.”
Big Mac shrugged, unsure of what to say. He mulled it over a bit as the pair walked along in silence before finally coming up with something. “Yer not useless, Fluttershy. Yah stopped a dragon by yerself, helped defeat Discord and Nightmare Moon, and ya even managed to save Twilight from a cockatrice. “
“Yes, but all of that was when the others were there... and I was the only one who could do anything...”
“So yah need tah lean a little more on yer friends at times. When they need yah, haven’t yah always been there for ‘em?”
“Well, except for all the times I ran away...”
“If’n ah remember, yah usually came back pretty quick, too. Every pony’s got fears; ain't nothing wrong with that.”
“Then what are you afraid of?”
Big Mac sighed. “Y’ already know that. She's harder tah keep outta trouble than Apple Bloom.”
“I know what you mean. I don't know how you can stand it, though.”
“Not sure m'self. Ah just know that's tha way of things, an’ ah need tah accept it. Nothing's gonna change it,” Mac said. “All yah ken do is keep trying yer best and hope it's enough. Didn't ya say ya were gonna train with that dragoness Bleu at some point?”
“Oh my gosh, I forgot!” Fluttershy zipped off, leaving Mac at the edge of town. She zipped back, quickly hugging him with a small blush. “Thanks for listening. I do feel a bit better now. Okay, goodbye.” A moment later, the yellow mare was back again. “Oh, and thank you for escorting me today; I appreciate it.” She zipped off again.
Big Mac sighed, starting to understand why Fluttershy's pet bunny was so ornery trying to keep up with the yellow mare. “Eeeyup.”
=============================================
History of the Books of Orbsah.
Chapter Three,
Purposeless Sloth
The third book came about many decades later. After a long time of argument between themselves, the two books were found and bought back to a small tribe of zebra for study. The pair considered trying to convert the tribe, though they had no idea where the Elements of Harmony were at that point.
The decision was taken from them when the tribe was raided by a pack of Diamond Dog bandits and the books were taken to the bandit lord— a large blue dragon named Grim Fang. The creature had enslaved the pack of dogs and was using them as minions and slaves while it sat by doing little more than enjoying the fruits of others’ labor. Upon the discovery of the two Books of Osbsah, Grim Fang immediately set her minions to work in creating the ritual site needed to attain godhood.
It was the books that stopped her from proceeding with that goal. The Red Tome and Gray Grimoire, both realized this dragon could be the opportunity they were looking for, and they tried to convince the dragon to become a third book.
The dragon was not stupid and was leery of the plan, though she realized that while she would no longer have her form, she would be immortal and would no longer need to worry about keeping herself alive or creating more minions— a perfect existence to one who disliked any form of activity.
Utilizing the spell, Grim Fang became the Teal Text. Her ascension changed the limitations placed on the books. Now, instead of the spell simply failing on those who had not wielded the Elements, they would become monstrous versions of themselves, nearly immortal and mindless, following only instinct and the orders of the books.
The pack of bandit Diamond Dogs were the first to test the new god ritual, each of them excited to be granted godhood by their former master.
These were the first trolls.
------------------------------------------------------
Spike narrowed his eyes, looking over at the sleeping form of Silver Claw in the other room. So much for the purity of ancient dragons the large red one had been spouting when they first met. Still, it was unlikely that Silver Claw actually knew the origins of the books or what they really were. Granted, that was if this book was correct as well.
Oddly, it made him feel a bit better that his race could indeed be as fallible as he was led to believe ponies were. That meant there was no perfect race and that the wars could have been a mistake and not any sort of divine right as Silver Claw had said.
===================================================
The dull clack of the train along the tracks was starting to grate her nerves. Despite how soothing it had seemed at first, the noise was starting to make her head hurt. Sleep was not coming at this point; she might as well accept that fact. Despite all the others from the envoy already being asleep, it eluded her.
Rainbow Dash sighed, slipping out of her bed and trotting towards the back of the train, figuring a quick flight might tire her out enough to finally sleep. Making her way through the dining car, one light illuminated another figure still awake, writing something in a book.
Dash met the zebra's gaze as she passed when Velkorn looked up from her work. Their eyes locked briefly before the mare ignored the pegasus again. Rainbow Dash grumbled and moved past the zebra, pausing as Velkorn spoke. “While it is not my place to question why, I take you are stepping out to fly?”
“Err, yeah, for a bit, anyway. I can't sleep... Why are you still up?”
“I spent many a year awake during the night; to switch that up now does not seem right. “
“Oh... I see.”
The zebra looked up from the book at the young pegasus and sighed. “While I could mind my own business and ignore your passing through, it has come to my attention that something is bothering you.”
“I don't want to talk about it. Why are you zebras so nosy? Zecora tends to poke her nose into others’ business all the time. Well... she usually winds up helping out...”
“Considering what happens when you ponies let your minds and feelings stew, it is better that someone talk to you. If you feel you do not wish to say your piece, at least speak with Zecroa, though be warned, she is my great grand niece.”
Dash looked back at Velkorn curiously. “Wait, you and Zecora are related? How'd you figure that out?”
“I did nothing of the sort; she came to me with that report. I suppose you may want to know more. Have a seat; don't stand there blocking the door.”
Dash looked at the door, considering, and sighed, moving back over to slump down in the seat across from the zebra as she continued writing. “Yeah, like anyone else is gonna come through at this hour. What are you working on, anyway?”
“Some books of mine have been considered lost. I figured I would rewrite them, though they are outdated and might still be tossed.”
“You mean the medical books? If you think they won't be useful, why write them?” Dash questioned.
“Because even if it is only one page that is kept around, it means another cure or treatment when before there was not one around. The goal is to see what I can do to help others in pain. I never cared for the recognition or any sort of gain.”
“Heh, small wonder you were chosen to wield Kindness then.”
“Both you and Jer'rahd seem to have your minds set; the Elements are tools, not weapons to get.”
“Yeah, well, doesn't seem like he thinks I should 'get' any of it.”
“Jer'rahd has his mind set a certain way, though if his views are correct or not, no one can really say.”
“He still didn't have to yell at me like that,”Dash fumed.
“That, too, is really his way. If you hurt one he cares about, his first thoughts are to slay.”
“Geez, and AJ says I’m a hothead.”
Velkorn smirked, shrugging lightly. “I suppose now would be a good a point as any to ask you: what was it that made you and
Starfall have a falling out, too?”
“Do I have to answer that...?”
“No, you do not have to, but if one of us is made to understand, it is less stress on you.”
“It's no one’s business but mine!”
“I have no plans of forcing you to do what you don't want, though as angry as it makes you, it seems the feelings do haunt.”
“Gah, stupid rhyming nonsense... fine... but you don't tell anyone else, especially not Starfall. She's already tried to mother me, and I don't need her trying even harder.”
“That itself is easy to do. I will not tell a soul unless you wish me to. You look like you could borrow someone’s ear, just to listen, not pass on something far and near.”
“Yeah, probably,” Dash sighed, crossing her forelegs on the table and laying her head down on them.
Velkorn closed the book she was working on and looked at the pegasus curiously.
“Alright, I already told Twilight I was abandoned as a foal; said the same thing to Starfall, though that's not really all of it. My dad showed up a few times, trying to have some father-daughter time. He told me he and my mom were trying to work things out so that we could be a big happy family again. I guess he thought it was a nice lie to tell me. I don't doubt he cared for mom, but it was clear she didn't want me back from the way he talked. It was also clear that he loved her more than me, so he did whatever she wanted him to do. By my sixth birthday, they had moved out of Cloudsdale and went somewhere out west; I don't even care where it was, probably Las Pegasus or something. With no family nearby, the orphanage put me in their adoption program. I was adopted at least three times before I hit the age of ten. Every single pony who took me in said we could be a family, and every one of them got rid of me the moment I was any sort of trouble or burden on them.”
Velkorn's ears perked, but she didn’t say anything.
“Eventually, I got so sick of being lied to that I stopped caring and stopped trying to be good for whoever wanted to adopt me. No one bothered to try and take me in after that, and I was fine with it. It got worse after Fluttershy left. She was older than me by a couple of years, and when she turned eighteen, she left and came down to Ponyville. Evidently, something about the place attracted her. I always had issues making friends; any time I became friends with someone, they got adopted or came of age and left and I was alone again. I met Gilda not long after that in high school. She didn't have any family around, either; they sent her away to protect her from something or another going on at home. I never did get why, though griffons do tend to get violent when it comes to politics.”
Velkorn nodded lightly. “That was your friend who had died? You voice carries pain you cannot hide.”
“Yeah, that’s her. We were kinda the bad crowd. We didn't take crap from anyone and we were our own little gang of troublemakers. We spent a few summers with her family, though I always felt like an outsider there despite their attempts to make me feel at home.
After graduation, she left to serve in the griffon guard as was required of everyone that came of age, and I went looking for Fluttershy ‘cause I had nothing better to do once I left the orphanage. Found her in Ponyville and was introduced to AJ and Pinkie Pie. I eventually wound up sticking around, got a job as a weather controller, made more friends than I ever had before, and I guess I finally was happy. I even told Gilda off at one point for trying to get me to pick sides between her and my new friends... I didn't want to go back to only having her as a friend. Kinda regret her leavening like that now, considering I’ll never get another chance. Then all this crap happens and I meet Starfall. I mean, I thought she was awesome and we did some of the stuff Gilda and I used. Then she starts all the crap that my dad and all those other ponies started doing, treating me like I’m something and a family. I couldn't handle the idea that I was gonna be left alone again and, well I guess I probably reacted badly.”
“Starfall would not do that to you; she has her own abandonment issues, too.”
“You say that, but what's gonna happen when all this is over, when the bad guys are gone? No offense, but Princess Luna does not seem very close to forgiving any of you. Considering your leader seems set on that, I figure he'll want to go back to being a statue and that all of you would follow him again, including Starfall. If I started to care, I would be left alone again.”
Velkorn sighed. “I doubt at this point that is something that we would do. Jer'rahd, in fact, seeks not only to destroy the escapees, but end his own life, too.”
“What? Why the heck would he do that?”
“He fears most that which he has within. He knows killing himself is wrong, but letting the creature have a chance to escape would be a greater sin.”
“Pfft, he yells at me for leaving my friends and that's his plan? Hypocritical jackass.”
“He thinks his intents are noble in the end. On a subject change, however, did you find out who killed your friend?”
Dash blinked a moment, lifting her head up from her forelegs to meet the zebra's gaze, though she flinched a bit under the scrutiny.
“No; most of the family still thinks it was one of the other houses that did it.” Dash explained, staring at the ceiling.
================================================================
“No offense, miss, but you look like you need a nap and a doctor, not to be giving a lecture,” one of the trainees spoke up, receiving an annoyed glare from Twilight.
“I am fine. The Major just doesn't bother to hold back any punches in training...” Twilight sighed, not wanting to tell them that most of her bruises were self-inflicted. The book had said learning sword play would be easy. Of course, evidently, she had read the wrong book because Kaisur had recognized a number of dueling stances she had tried and nearly flipped his already short-tempered lid. Besides, she was not about to miss a chance to teach something.
“Alright, you have gone over the training, and most of you can actually merge your magic power now?” Twilight questioned.
“Well, most of us, miss. Turns out the half-dragons can't do it. Their casting is too different somehow.”
“I didn't expect they would. Most half-dragons draw their spells from the same source as full dragons. I don't know much about that sort of magic, though. I will see if I can send someone down here who knows both types to show them some things. Anyway, do you have any questions regarding this ability? I expect most of you already knew about it before from other training, but using it in combat is different from using it for the usual enchanting and such.”
“I do have a question, miss,” a zebra unicorn mare spoke up.
“Well, go ahead.”
“This is the first time I have experienced this, and it is a little unnerving to allow your power to be drawn out and used by another. It really doesn't feel quite right, like whoever is lead in these little exercises could just overlap you completely and take over. I mean, we were all so synced I couldn't tell which body was mine for a moment.”
“Dislocated body dissonance, or DBD, is not uncommon for first-timers. I wouldn't worry much about someone taking over, though. Unicorns and zebra's like you focus primarily on aura magic. Aura magic might overlap when the trifecta or coven ability is used, but they never mesh fully. You will always come back to yourself afterwards because the innate magic in your horn and body will act like a locator so that you will always remain yourself. The training is useless to others, though the small ritual you have to do before you can enter the magic realm prevents anyone who should not be in the realm from getting in. The half-dragons couldn't access it because their magic pulled too heavily from the draconic earth magic, so the joining ritual wouldn't happen.”
“Okay, so what would have happened if they didn’t bother with the ritual and just hopped right in? Major Kaisur said it could be skipped if one was pressed for time.”
“It can, but I would not recommend doing it with someone who you are not sure can normally access the magic plane. To be honest, it's not as if there’s very much that someone who was not supposed to be there could do, but at the same time, that overlapping you felt would not go well for a non-aura user. Okay, say somehow an earth pony follows this practice and gets into the magic realm...”
Twilight's eyes narrowed as there was a chuckle of laughs at the idea of an earth pony even using magic. Twilight coughed loudly and pointed across the field to the group of ponies that Major Rose was training who were all rushing across the field with boulders three times their size balanced on their heads.
The collective spell casters’ eyes widened as one of them tripped and the rock he was carrying rolled into and through one of the out buildings, pulping the wood and stone structure. The solider in question panicked, running after the loose boulder while Major Rose screamed at him.
“Earth ponies may not be able to use aura magic like us, but they have their own magic, and they can also learn some dragon magic. While it is a farfetched idea that one of them might see the magic realm, it is not impossible.” Twilight sighed. “It would, however, be a bad idea. Unlike unicorns, an earth pony would not have an anchor point like our horns, so if they joined a collective, they could very well get lost or taken over by someone skilled in aura magic. There was a legend of just that happening a long time ago. A lesser alicorn named Clopopatria. It's a pretty popular legend; I am sure at least some of you have heard it...”
=======================================================
History of the Books of Orbsah.
Chapter Four,
Tainted Love
The new ritual brought about by the newly-created Teal Text soon gave the Books something they had never experienced before: minions. Trolls were bestial at best and murderously homicidal at worst. Realizing that they would need something physical to keep the creatures in line, they enlisted the aid of one of the smartest of the trolls they created —which was not saying much— who was also the largest and most dangerous —which was saying a lot— and empowered him, creating the first troll god and cementing the creatures as their own unique race.
The Teal Text fell into a slumber, leaving the Red Tome and Gray Grimoire to plan. Using the trolls, the three books had themselves brought to prominent places around the world in order continue their goals. For a long time, this continued with the books at the core of some of the most disastrous points in early history. They were the cause of the rift between the pony empire's three races, and they were the ones who guided the earth ponies that would become zebras to the southern lands, among many other issues.
Time and time again, the Elements of Harmony were used to stop what they created, though more often than not, those who used the power of the artifacts fell under the sway of the books not long after besting their former minions.
In time, the books found that the powers the gods they created bore striking similarities to one another based on what Element of
Harmony they had used in the ritual.
Those blessed by Loyalty became The Enslaved Beast.
Those blessed by Laughter became Chaos
Those blessed by Generosity became The Green Eyed Monster.
Those blessed by Honesty became The Mask of Lies.
Those blessed by Compassion became The Succubus.
And those blessed by Magic became The Tyrant.
It was to one blessed by Compassion that the books found themselves all drawn too.
Coquette Clopopatria— she and her friends had stopped a giant creature that rose from the sea and tried to destroy anything it came across. It was not something the books created this time, however, though it was a monster nonetheless. Coquette was a lesser alicorn, born of the union of one of the pony gods and a mortal. While she was not a god, she was quite powerful and long-lived. She expressed a desire for the finer things in life and was quite often known to bed any and all who took her fancy until she tired of them. It was also rumored that she could even posses others and over write their will with her own. She had discovered the Teal Text and begun gathering what was needed for the ritual to become a full god when the other books fell into her hooves.
Realizing the potential of an alicorn, even one who was not a god, the books offered her a chance to become one of them. She refused, though, and the books, in turn, refused to grant her godhood.
For many years, this was of no consequence to the mare, until age started to catch up with her. Though much longer lived than a normal pony, Coquette was still a mortal. It was not long after her first gray hairs came that she came back to the books to accept the offer.
She became the Silver Script, and her existence is speculated to have brought great changes to the Books of Orbsah's power, though they have never been recorded or known to be used.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rhede grumbled at the last line.
“Well, that was bucking helpful.”
“Sad it did not give pornographic descriptions of her conquests or even a number so you could check to see who was a bigger slut, sir?” Captain Sandy Gale quipped as she brought in another stack of books.
“Seriously, mare, were you a jilted lover of mine in another life?” Rhede sighed. “I haven’t even tried to flirt with you or anything, and you're giving me crap non-stop.
“Sorry, sir; you simply have the sort of face I wish to cave in with my hoof.”
“Crap. If we ever get Jer right in the head again, remind me to introduce you two. You're both violent nut jobs. I'm sure you'd hit it off fine.”
===============================================
Claymore sat on top of the large, amethyst-colored book, looking at the scrub land before them as they moved back towards Equestria.
Bloodtail rested on the other side of the book, still sleeping off the spell he had used. Wind Razor was scouting ahead somewhere, flying over the place. And Trixie... well, his new pet was working.
“Damn thing’s wobbling to the left, mare. Fix it!” Claymore shouted, leaning over the edge of the massive book to glare at the blue mare trudging along under the massive tome, her magic barely supporting its weight along with the two riders as she walked through the sand and grit. The unicorn mare whimpered through the bit and bridle shoved into her mouth gagging her. The leads for the bit were hooked to a pair of overfilled saddle bags with all their supplies. The leather lines were so tight that she had to keep her head lifted up straight in a somewhat haughty pose or pull the bare metal painfully back into her mouth. A few new lash marks crossed the mare’s back and flank, and at Claymore's complaint she quickly moved to try and balance the massive tome better before continuing her trudge.
Claymore snorted and settled back on the book, making an effort to wobble the massive thing to give the mare trouble.
[“I think before long you are going to kill her just in trying to break her,”] Bloodtail muttered from under his hood.
“Do you care?”
[“Not particularly, unless you expect me to carry this book.”]
“Then mind yer own business. This mare’s a rather strong one, an’ I wanna make sure she's broken in properly.”
=============================================
“This the place?” Jer'rahd asked, glancing back at Starfall, who nodded.
“This is where the merchant said he traded with the dragon that asked about Spike. Lodestone even drew us a map.” Starfall replied. Looking around the clearing, her eyes focused on the cave.
“You sure that it's a good idea to leave Sparkle and Rose teaching without supervision, boss?” Bleu asked sniffing the air. “There’s dragon scent here. Old, though.”
“The Guard Captain’s still around if they run into trouble. Besides, after what happened last time, I don't want Sparkle here in case we do run into something.” Jer'rahd stated, trotting towards the mouth of the cave.
Bleu and Starfall looked at each other and sighed before moving along after him.
“Hope we don't find any more rivers...” Bleu quipped.
========================================
“...After that, we were witness to you as a foal moving through the castle at night,” Luna concluded, rubbing her forehead as Celestia
stared at her.
“When the noble and Aviana were talking about what to do with my friends and I?”
“Yes and no,” Luna sighed. “Yes, they were talking about you, but no, it was not a noble. It was Andre.”
“Andre... I never met him until we paid a visit to Aqua. Even then, I was unaware he was the leviathan.”
“Quit correcting me, Tia. I saw both versions of this, and I know it was Andre due to what Kaisur said he saw when he fought the leviathan of Aqua's. You were clearly unaware that you met him earlier, and Aviana was attempting to foist you all off onto him. She played quite the vamp, too, but this must have been after Andre left her for Aqua, because he was not falling for it. He was the one that suggested she take you in, considering the size of the castle and the amount of servants Aviana had,” Luna said.
“Was any of what I saw correct, or are you simply going to tell me it was all wrong?” Celestia snapped.
“Oh no. You getting your flank handed to you by Ruin and setting the great hall on fire while showing Aviana what you could do happened exactly the way you saw it, as did your fights with the changelings and the name Solar Flare being earned.”
“I am impressed you were not more taken aback that an earth pony could command fire.”
“Twilight was, though why should I be surprised about that, keep in mind what I was able to do before I became a goddess, sister. You are rare, but not the only one who has defied their nature like that.”
Celestia sighed. “Valid point. Alright, what about the last part before I caught you and Twilight?”
===========================================================
Princess Cadence sipped her tea as Pinkie Pie dropped her head back onto the table after the long winded rant about what had happened.
To be perfectly honest, Cadence was a little surprised that something like that could upset somepony who bore the Element of Laughter. Wasn't the point of laughter to try and take the pain away from these situations, not succumb to them? Maybe she didn't see that. Well, one way to find out. Might be a good way to see if she was fit to explain this sort of thing to a foal. Thankfully, she had not started foal sitting Twilight until after the goldfish incident, though she had heard about it from Shining and couldn't help but wince.
“Pinkie, I have a question for you.”
“Mmmm?”
“How long do you think everyone will actually live?”
“What?”
“Everyone you know. Applejack, Rainbow Dash, everyone you are friends with, which, if Twilight is correct, is everyone in Ponyville.
With the exception of the Princesses, none of them are gods, and they won't live forever. What will you do when they die?”
Pinkie's eyes widened tears welling up in them and pouring down her cheek like a waterfall. The pink pony’s bottom lip quivered and Cadence made a note to let Shining deal with this when it came up with their foals.
“Pinkie, stop and listen a moment, please. Every pony is going to die at some point. That is the natural order of things. The average pony only has maybe a good eighty to ninety years on them, earth ponies maybe twenty or thirty years more, but that's it. Heck, even I am only likely to live to maybe a thousand, and that is only because I am an alicorn. Shining is not.”
Pinkie's eyes widened. “But then… that means you'll…”
“Yes, I will outlive my husband by a rather large number of years. And that is provided he doesn't get killed defending the empire.” Cadence took a sip of tea.
“But, but, but, if you knew you were only gonna be with him for so long, why did you marry him? I mean, he's gonna die, too...”
“Because I love him. I don't need another reason. Life is the longest thing any of us will ever experience. Why should we worry about an end we know will come and ignore all the joy and love we could be having between the start and the end? Why would I want to worry about the inevitable when I can enjoy what is going on right now and the time that we have together?”
Pinkie stared at the pink alicorn curiously, her ears perked with a somewhat serious and angry look on her face. Cadence though it a rather creepy look with Pinkie's hair straight like it was. “That's your advice? Live in the now?”
“Princess Celestia passed it onto me. It is an interesting philosophy and one that the longer-lived of our kind almost need to follow or risk going mad from grief. Yesterday is a fading memory, and tomorrow is open for any possibility. All you have is today. Make the most of it. I think she said it was from somepony named Confuseus, or something like that.”
“I can see it; I guess there really isn't any point at being depressed about it...”
Cadence smiled into her tea cup, believing that maybe she could handle this sort of discussion after all.
“So what does Confuseus say about an itchy hoof that keeps telling me someone else is going to die?” Pinkie questioned.
Cadence coughs, choking on her tea. “Wha-, what?”
====================================================
History of the Books of Orbsah.
Chapter Five,
...I want to make her mine...
The fifth book to join the ranks was not expected, nor was it invited. Star Charmer was a griffon lord of considerable political power during the time that the gods hid from the world, trying to guide their kind from afar. While the aftermath of the ponies’ venturing from the Frozen North to settle Equestria is the most widely spread tale of the gods’ return, the other races have their own tales.
Before the gods’ return, there were none higher than Star Charmer in the griffon empire. He had spent his life climbing the social ladder, outwitting or killing all that stood in his way until he was on top. When the gods returned, there was nothing he could do when they took back their rule. He could not harm or remove them; he could only grow more bitter as they wielded the power and status that had once been his.
While he did not know of the Books of Orbsah themselves, he knew of the failed attempts by the Gray Grimoire to make other books. He gathered all of these he could find, researching, studying, and testing them for years. He eventually pieced together a ritual from all the writings and his own study which should elevate him to godhood.
It did not.
The ritual turned Star Charmer into the Jade Scroll. The former griffon’s first encounter with the real Books of Orbsah was after he
was turned into one of them.
The sudden creation of another of their kind splintered the books’ power further. The books lost what little control they had over the gods they had made. The surge in power also made two aspects of the power they gave self-aware.
The essence of corrupted Loyalty and Compassion gained self awareness and the knowledge of both what they were and what they could do. The pair rebelled against their creators and fought against the books at every turn to try and free themselves. This internal struggle between the books and the very powers they granted caused a rift that the others have yet to forgive the Jade Litany for.
Despite the fact that the Books of Orbsah are stronger together, none of them wished to deal with the fifth book unless they had to. By the same token, the Jade Litany refused to deal with them hating the fact it is considered the least of the books.
It is believed that this book was carried away by the troll minions of the first four books and left high in the mountains in a place called the Shadow of Nox, where it could not interfere with the other books further.
=======================================================
“So they are not perfect,” Spike muttered, reaching up and rubbing his eyes. “Funny to think of books fighting among themselves, though.”
Silver Claw had left to get something to eat, and it was likely going to be a bad day for some creature out there, as the larger dragon had wanted meat. Spike picked up the lantern. He once again walked to the cave mouth, looking down at the lights of Ponyville with a sigh. He really needed to stop doing this, but every night, he couldn’t help but come out here and look back at the town.
The leathery flap of wings echoing over the mountain announced Silver Claw's return before the dragon even came into view. The large red beast had been healing, though his eye was still wrecked. He left nearly every night to check on Nocturne or to hunt. It seemed that fresh meat was more a help to healing dragons than the plethora of gems in the back of the cave.
There was quite a bit Silver Claw could teach him about dragons, something he had promised to do and thus far neglected to do.
Spike would need to fix that soon.
===================================================
“A waste of time,” Jer'rahd growled, trotting out of the cave. Blood ran down his armor and fur and splattered on the ground below him as he walked back into the sun. Bleu and Starfall followed out soon after, with Bleu munching on a couple of gems and Starfall just looking annoyed.
“It was not a waste of time, General. We probably just saved Ponyville a great deal of grief, and we found out he has not been here in at least a week.”
“Those Diamond dogs sure move quickly, invading a dragon’s lair only a few days after the dragon leaves,” —Bleu chuckled around a mouth full of gems— “and then making plans to raid the nearby town for work slaves for their mines.”
“Yes, and these dogs were civilians, for the most part. We could have simply run them off,” Starfall snapped.
“They shouldn't have jumped on our backs and tried to bridle us, then. Seriously, what sort of idiot jumps on the back of armed ponies and a dragon?” Jer growled.
“Well, the one who jumped on me did make a good yo-yo until he got dizzy and threw up,” Bleu commented.
“General, you killed six of them after bisecting the one that landed on you. They had surrendered and started to run after the first one died. You need to calm the buck down,” Starfall growled. “Not everything in this place needs to be solved by as much killing as you can get away with before you're called on it.”
“In their defense, the leaders only peed themselves a little before running,” Bleu quipped, “though I think one might have done a bit more that that... or he just stunk...”
“I am aware of that, Starfall...”
“Well, you don't act like it. I'm all for combat as much as the next war pony, but even I have my limits.”
“Unless it's griffons.”
“Dusty and your troops are still alive, aren’t they?” snarled Starfall. “It’s a new world, Jer'rahd. We need to accept that things have changed. Not everything that attacks us is going to try and kill us or even hurt us. Even if they had wanted to harm us, that crap back there was savage even for you. You're wearing more blood than you left in the cave.”
“Yeah, I mean the last battle fought was between ponies and buffalo, and it was fought with apple pies,” Bleu pointed out. “Crap, now I’m hungry again.”
Starfall trotted over to Jer'rahd, jabbing him in the chest with her hoof. “Listen here, you ass: despite your best attempts to try and force me away, I am still your friend, though the stars know why at this point. You continue with this mopey woe-is-me bullcrap, and
I will kick your flank from here to the Zebralands and back. And so help me, if you actually try and kill yourself like you've been hinting, I will stop you and then beat the holy snot out of you and charge tickets to the long line of other ponies who would want to do the same.”
“I call next!” Bleu shouted.
“I don't care what the heck you've got in your head. In case you didn't notice, Luna had something wrong with her, too, and she got over it. There's a cure of sorts for what the damn books do, it seems. Just pointing that out, in case you couldn't see it past your freaking self-pity,” Starfall growled.
“You have no right to say any of that, Silvertail,” Jer'rahd snarled.
“Don't like it? The come and make me take it back. Neither of us is injured, and I fought the same as you in those caves, so there's no handicap. So we going to do something, or do I get Sparkle to change your cutie mark to a chicken?”
Jer'rahd looked to say something, but he stopped, wiping some blood from his eyes, and chuckled lightly. “So how long have you been waiting to throw that back in my face now?” Jer questioned.
“Quite a while— a thousand years, at least. I can't argue it wasn't fairly good advice, though we would have one sixth less problems if you had let me kill her.”
“Yeah, well, hindsight is twenty-twenty. If I would have known that she could have gotten out, I would have let you.”
“Never understood that saying. I mean, I think I would look silly with eyes on my butt. Plus, while the food I eat looks good, I don't wanna see what it looks like coming out the other end. Though I do wonder if I could eat enough gems to get it to sparkle...”
“What?!” Starfall and Jer'ahd questioned, looking up at Bleu.
“Oh, NOW you pay attention to me.”
==========================================================
“...the six of you then activated the Elements of Harmony and pushed Chrysalis and her swarm back through the gate into Tartarus along with Sombra and Forgescale, who had been trying to talk with them.”
Celestia lowered her head a bit. “So what you saw was Forgescale trying to negotiate a peace, and Aviana playing on our anger to attack them first?”
“That is what I witnessed. The tension was thick enough to cut with a knife, and then Aviana provoked a response from you. “
“Why would Forgescale even care about what happened to Sombra and Chrysalis?”
“Even if you disregard the book that Bleu brought back about the Love-Cursed ones, the dream gave the answer perfectly when Forgescale and Aviana argued about what to do.”
“Because Sombra is his son,” Celestia muttered.
“And Aviana's. All of this points to Aviana being a mare who would sacrifice her child, her friends, and anyone else she could to get what she wanted. Considering how your memories are tampered with, Tia, I would not put it past her to have done that as well,” Luna stated with another yawn.
“Then why would she make me promise to always find a peaceful solution before she retired? Why bother to continue to raise me, to show me how to be a proper goddess for my subjects?”
“Because she had no choice in the latter. The energy left the Ferrymare and went to you. Avaiana was furious that it did. We did not see any more than her raging when you became a god before you found us out, but she clearly wanted the power for herself.”
“It does not work like that. There will always be two...”
“Perhaps she expected it to be different with how things went. I am not even sure why the power went to you. Forgescale remained a god even in Tartarus. Twilight suggested the Ferrymare was the one who pulled the power from Chrysalis to give to you. Only she likely knows why.”
“The Ferrymare does not speak with us. There is no point in even going to the gates to ask her.”
“This is true.”
Celestia rose, moving towards the door. “I am still annoyed at you, sister, but this is bothering me. Feel free to go back to your nap; I will think on this to decide what to do.”
“That may be it, Tia...”
“What may be it?”
“The reason she wanted you to be a peaceful ruler. After all it seems she has done, and what you were, perhaps she was terrified you would find out and seek revenge on her?”
“Well, she need not worry about that. There is no point seeking revenge on the long dead,” Celestia sighed, stepping out the door.
=======================================================
History of the Books of Orbsah.
Chapter Six,
Just eat it...
The forced introduction of the Jade Litany to their ranks caused the other Books of Orbsah no end of trouble.
For a long time, they refused to make gods of those who bore Loyalty or Compassion for fear of not being able to control the power they provided. It was not lost on any of them that the Jade Litany’s introduction had created two brand new life forms made of magic, though there was no way to rework that power now into something that could aid them. However, they could minimize the damage.
The books again made it their mission to recruit another to their ranks, and in this age, there were plenty of options.
The Silver Script found its way into a library in the Zebralands owned by one of the zebra gods. Vollerei was a zebra god of considerable power, yet no desire to use it. In his time, he was considered one of the strongest, though no one was quite sure exactly what his powers entailed. It was said that he always wound up being at the right place at the right time for what was needed to be done, though that may have just been from his habits.
Vollerei was known as a scholar, though not the kind to teach or study any one subject. He was a hoarder of information. The library of Vollerei was considered one of the seven wonders of the ancient zebra world. It was easily twice the size of Canterlot today, a stone tower that soared high enough into the sky that it could be seen from the griffon lands on a clear day. It was said that any book, any scroll, any scrap of parchment that was ever written resided there, either in its original form or a copy, and Vollerei had read them all. He did not just seek information; he devoured it and kept it close so that no others could have it.
Vollerei knew about the books of Orbsah, and had been hunting them, but his abilities had failed him up until the point he chanced upon the Silver Script. He immediately agreed to the deal offered and practically rewrote the entire spell for his transformation on his own.
When the ritual was performed, the library of Vollerei was consumed in magical fire. All of the words, all of the information that had been collected was added into the spell, and to Vollerei's new form as the Purple Pamphlet.
The power that came about from that surge changed the books to how they are in this age. The entity that had been created by Compassion was severed from her connection to the books. In the throes of anguish at being cut off so suddenly, the creature of magic known as Serenity tore a hole through the fabric of realities between the place she was created and the real world.
Realizing her error, she quickly set to work trying to repair the tear. This did not go unnoticed by the gods of the world, who quickly came to see what had happened. It was there that the gods of the world first encountered the gate and its guardian. Serenity realized her situation and the problem it would cause for these mortals. She decided that she would remain where she was of her own choice guarding the tear into what the world would come to call Tartarus.
The creature created from Loyalty and the books, however, was not so fortunate to escape as Serenity. Entropy was considered too powerful to simply be cast out, and was instead sealed tighter in his cage. The creature’s presence, however, still managed to escape when a strong Element Bearer was touched by the books. To counter this, the Purple Pamphlet locked its existence to The Tyrant, making the creature a bound pet to the one who had wielded Magic even if he did escape. While not ideal, the change was better that the alternative caused by the Jade Litany.
The other books also sought out possible converts, though with less fortune than the Silver Script. The Gray Grimoire and Red Tome were found and brought to the queen of the sea, a sea pony goddess named Aqua. This lead turned into a dead end as the goddess could not acquire the Elements. However, she did make use of the books’ power to change the former Bearer of Loyalty into an obedient, if monstrous, pet. The pony known as Andre was not strong enough to pull the beast fully from its bindings.
The Teal Text was also presented an opportunity, though the pony goddess and her love only wished to use the book so that he could be immortal and remain with her forever. Neither had any desire to become a seventh book.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rhede's ears perked up as the door opened. He looked up from the book to the exasperated face of the Crystal Princess. He raised a brow, and the pink alicorn smirked and trotted over to him, her eyes looking over the massive stacks of books.
“Have you found what you are looking for yet, Mr. Pelt?” Cadence asked.
“I believe I have. Looks like I might even have a lead. Do you know of a place called the Shadow of Nox?” Rhede questioned.
Cadence shook her head, her eyes still running over the covers of all the books. “I'm afraid I do not. Auntie Celestia might, though.”
“Well, she was the next one I planned to ask.” Rhede chuckled, rubbing his eyes with a hoof. “How’s Pinkie?”
“Better. Still depressed, though she's at least laughing at the stories my husband is telling her about Twilight when she was younger. I really did not expect somepony chosen by the Element of Laughter to be so hard to cheer up.”
“Bleu is the same way, and she was the previous bearer. I am starting to think a pony or dragon has to be rather damaged to become a Bearer of Laughter.”
“That is not very nice.”
“Doesn't make it not true. Out of the six of us Bleu, probably has it worse than anyone in the group save Starfall. Jer had a lot of crap happen to him, true, but Bleu watched her sister die, was nearly evicted from Equestria, watched Jer die, had nearly all of her friends killed. She's been tortured, nearly eaten, helped in an attempt wipe out her entire race, and been forced to watch those she cares about suffer, she's also only about sixteen or seventeen. I don't know how she manages to still joke around as much as she does.”
“Because she can. Just like Pinkie, she can't sit by when someone else is hurting and she has to do her best to cheer them up. But when those who bring laughter suffer and feel pain, who do they have to turn to?” Cadence stated, tilting her head to look over the book Rhede was reading.
“Valid point.” Rhede grinned suddenly. “So on a different note, I have heard you have some sort of power of love, or something like that, right?”
“Something like that, yes.” Cadence looked skeptically at Rhede.
“Any chance you can do something about a certain stubborn unicorn, and a twice-as-stubborn Princess of the Night?”
Cadence blinked. “Auntie Luna? Someone likes Auntie Luna?”
“Last I knew, the feeling was mutual, though they are both being stubborn and giving some stupid reasons for not doing anything about it.”
“You will have to fill me in on this one; I have been out of the loop on what's going on in Canterlot for a while now. To be honest, I expected you to ask me something about you and that zebra friend of yours.”
“There is nothing going on there that you need to worry about,” Rhede snapped.
“Mmm hmm. I have heard otherwise, but do tell me what's going on with Auntie Luna first. Ever since I first met her and all her royal seriousness, I’ve been considering trying to set her up with someone.”
“I knew I was asking the right pony.” Rhede smiled and started to fill Cadence in on the drama between the Jer'rahd and Luna.
========================================================
“Know what we need? Some rope!” Sweetie Belle stated.
“For what?” Scootaloo questioned.
“All the heroes in movies always have rope.” Sweetie Belle responded.
“What?” Apple Bloom asked, confused.
“Yeah, these ponies always got a lot of rope strapped around ‘em in the movies, and they always end up using it,” Sweetie Belle pointed out, looking at her saddlebags.
“Oh, you've lost it, haven’t you?” Scootaloo muttered, rolling her eyes.
“I'm serious,” Sweetie Belle squeaked, getting annoyed.
“Ah am, too. That's stupid. Name one thing we're gonna need it for,” Apple Bloom said.
“Well, we are going to be climbing a mountain,” Sweetie Belle replied.
“Fine, get your dumb rope...” Scootaloo grumbled, slinging her saddle bags over her back and shifting it until she could freely flutter her wings.
The trio had been preparing for a few days for this trip with everything they thought they might need to rescue Spike. They had seen him a few more times at night, though they hadn't seen the big red dragon in a while. The plan was to get up there, grab Spike, and bring him back before the big dragon returned. At most, it would take a day.
There were, of course, a number of doubts about this mission, the chief among them being the red dragon himself. At first, they had tried to tell some of the adults what they had seen, but both Rarity and Applejack were so busy that they ran off the CMC before the trio could say anything. When even Twilight all but threw them out of the library rather than deal with what she called 'their antics', the trio decided that the only option left was their first choice: save Spike themselves.
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Good chapter and origin though you might want to check your I's some are lowercase.
Finally some background information on the books
Well, continuing this glorious tradition of giving a huge comment on every chapter. Hope you don't mind ;).
So, we start with the ponies' take of the Genesis? Interesting. Of course, ponies think that their gods were the first. Every race is so arrogant… But wait, this book Spike’s reading. Does it mean, it’s the ‘canon’ version? Neat :)
And 'Zacherle'? It almost sounds like a profanity in my language :D 
'Bonnie'? Seriously?
Ah, so that is how the Elements were created? Interesting. But who was who? :)
Well obviously ‘trolls’ refers to the books. That is a fine trolling.
Heh, so that’s how books were created also. It wasn’t Discord who wrote them, as was originally thought.
Yay, finally some training sequence with Twilight! And yeah, that was my thought exactly – Celestia’s memories were tampered with. I really wonder who did it and why. But it’s good to see, that Celestia is reasonable and is willing to listen to Luna.
Is that FlutterMac? But I don’t even…. have anything against it… huh…
Huh. So that’s why RD was so short with Starfall. Being lied to and constantly being abandoned, not having a real family and being afraid of having one only for it to be lost again. She’s in a pickle. But we know that Starfall is nice, so… I hope they'll make up.
‘Clopopatria’? Mwah-ha-ha
Again, poor Trixie. Why do you torment her so? Oh, is it so it will much more satisfying when she finally slits his throat or something? He-he, can’t wait.
Wait, the Diamond dogs that tried to bridle them? Are those the same ones, from the ‘Dog and Pony Show’ episode? Ha-ha, that’s rich
Ouch, when you just list off everything Bleu went through like that, it really sucks. I’d say she’s way better at being the Element of Laughter, than Pinkie. Bleu is funny and hilarious. Pinkie is just annoying.
Uh-oh, matchmaking and meddling. That can’t end well.
Wait. CMC were trying to tell the grownups about Spike, but they just waved them off? Are you serious? I don’t believe it! If Twilight just heard the CMC utter three words: “we saw Spike”, she’d be climbing that mountain herself!
Great chapter! Thank you for making my evening a pleasant one
Lots of spelling errors though, but who cares about those.
Hallo I have been reading Stores in Stone since you first put it up and it’s my favorite story on Fim Fiction. I finally became a member yesterday which alloyed my to finally add a like to your stores and now I can tell you how much I have enjoyed reading you them and that I can’t wait to see how the rest of you story will play out.
P.S. I can’t for the life of my, remember who Seamore is can you help me.
2918735 keep in mind this book was likely written by a pony, so it may or may not be true... though the show isn't called my little dragon or my little Diamond Dog.
Bonnie Zacherle was the creator of the first MLP toy. I just split her name for the first alicorns.
Celestia is willing to listen yes, though not quite willing to believe.
Fluttermac... i did tell you there would be some popular shippings in here.
I wanted to expand a bit on why Dash acted like she did. Really not a RBD fan, but i don't want to make her the bad one here.
Cloppatria yeah... more puns....
And yes those were the same ones from dog and pony show. Jer'rahd was not up for whining at them.
Pinkie Pie always struck me as far more tourtured then she let on, Party of one just sort of opened a window. She strikes me as a type who is always depressed so she acts crazy to try and hide it. But she can't do it all the time. Bleu is the sameway so as Cadence said They are there to keep every one elses spirts high, though who helps them?
But it's Cadence... the Princess of love, what possibly can't go wrong?
Keep in mind with the CMC and the disasters they cause with all the other ponies in such a high level of stress most would tend to do the 'I can't deal with this right now' and tune out and quickly get rid of. Twilight not only is worried about spike, but also the sword training, the magic training, and the issue with Celestia, she's not int he right frame of mind to be dealing with the town trotting disasters..
2919843 Seamore, or Steven Magnet as he's now known, is the sea serpant that Rarity gave her tail too in the first two eipisodes of MLP:FIM.
Sorry I mean how does Bleu know him from the past?
Good chapter with a lot of info in it. But one question is why are the books referred as the books of orbsah? Was that explained earlier? Also as much as I love this story, you need an editor bad because there were too many spelling errors in this chapter.
2921188 My main editor is having PC trouble. I tend to post the chapter when i am done and they take it fix it and i repost it. That hasn;t quite happened yet.
As for why they are called the Books of Orbsah.... look at the name in a mirror. Books of Hasbro.....
That it thats the only reason......
2921327
Glad to hear it.
Hasbro->Orbsah.Huh. That's clever and I'm kinda mad I didn't figure that out for myself.
TDR? Fire your pre-reader. You've got a ton of typoes and "spellcheck" errors this chapter. "PHamplet" for "Pamphlet" is one example.
2921774 I would have to fire myself then. i am my prereader. My editor usualy corrects it after it's been posted.
Great work on going into the past.
Spike the god of infodump.
So, Sombra is the half brother of Silverclaw and great great great great uncle of Jer? (It was from Aviana that the Bluebloods came from, right?). I have a feeling that nothing of that will affect future developements.
I stopped caring about the typos in this story since long time ago, but implying Spike has the pokemon Lanturn got my attention.
Entrophy seems like a cool guy. After being sealed for such a long time, I'm sure it would like to stretch it's legs a bit and then destroy the world, but after it's done, it would be a great friend.
2925091 Spike and Rhede. They both found the same book. Plus it helped me bounce back and forthe a bit between the two.
Yep Jer is in a way a decendant of Sombra's family line through Aviana.And no this means not a bloody thing to the ponies in the 'present' but it would be considered a big deal for Celestia and sombra. It also blurs the lines of who the evil one really is in all this. Clearly the books, and likely Aviana, though i always have reasons for what i write....even if they are stupid sometimes.
Initially i was going to make the Blue Bloods from Andre and Aviana though that was a bit too contrived. The pair still knocked horseshoes, but Andree left her when Silver Claw brought certain things to light. It was the same reason Ruin would not help her either. As a Bearer of Loyalty Andre was not about to put up with her crap, granted the mare he wound up with had a tendency to collect pets of stallions so it may not have worked out perfectly.
yeah sorry i probably need to update open office again, it's been missing stuff it didn't at first.
Considering whats happened to him and serentiy it's small wonder he's like he is. Though i never stated he wants to destroy the world. the only thing he wants is to be free and destroy anything that seeks to cage him again. Which... could be everything..... okay maybe he does want to destroy everything.
To be honest I really loved this chapter regardless of all the information
That's actually what I liked about it since it answered alot of my questions
I'm amazed at how you can blend all of these different theories together so well and it all make perfect sense
It all matches the story way back to Luna's royal guard and I love it!
I'm trying to write a story of my own and was wanting to know if you could try to teach me how to plan a story ahead of time like that if you wouldn't mind
2927303
That's what I meant with Entrophy. I don't think it has "destroy the world" in his agenda more than Hulk does. It could end up doing it anyways.
You want contrived? Make it so the Bluebloods come from Sombra and Chrysalis. That way Jer is related to them, Aviana, Forgescale, Silverclaw, and whatever other relative you come up with later.
So, Silverclaw actually did something before Forgescale's escape from Tartarus. Until now, it seemed he was just another dragon until his father came and things changed.
2936245 Jer is already releated to the Blue Bloods, and by token of the matron of them being Aviana he is related to Sombra and by that token Chrysilis by mairage. and no, there are no griffons in Jer'rahd's blood line...... the really really sad thing is I ACTUALLY did the genetics of the mane 6 and the Beasts, down to what every type of creature they were related too was...... I was bored one night.
No Silver Claw was not born before his father escaped Tartarus. SilverClaw was born not long before the first dragon war. This was well after Forge Scale Escaped Tartarus.. In truth he is just another dragon, though one who has done little but prepare for war and train to fight. He is also the son of a god , which allowed his voice to be heard in the dragon council and the flame party, but only so much as a noble's he had no real pull in either.
As said in the previous chapter Silver Claw did not agree with the attack on Dullahan, but Onyx Scale went for it any way. And that dragon is the reason a great number of things happened, out of all the enimies that they have faced the Black Dragon God Onyx Scale was the worst.
The reason he had an army of creatures under his control was his god power. Onyx Scale's power was suggestion. Basicly he could manipulate the weakwilled into doing his bidding. Nearly the entire army he gathered were all thought slaves, includeing the castles and trolls. His powers didn't work on other gods and most soilders who had trained and steeled themselves for battle.
crap i went offon a tangent there.
2938508
I think I am somewhat confused then.
In your previous comment, you said Andre left Aviana after Silver Claw revealed something. By the end of the first Dragon War Luna was a princess (If I remember correctly). At some point between those events, Aviana left and Luna became a goddess.
I just had the idea that the time since Forgescale's return and the dragon war was short. Now it seems it was at least a century.
2941294 Oh whoops... That should have been Forgescale... I got my dragons mixed up.
Andre was Aviana's suitor though he left her and most of the rest of the group in disgust after finding out she was banging whoever she felt like, Forgescale who bore Honesty told him that. Loyalty did not take well to that and he left. Durning the time he was away from Aviana he met Aqua and the two hit it off fairly well, Aqua already had the books by this point and convinced him to use them so he could stay with her.
Aqua and Andre were actually a couple though after a few thousand years together it was sort of an open relation ship on both ends with Aqua's toys. He was already an imortal when Aviana asked him to take care of Celestia and Friends, he refused, still mad at her for her betrayal and even more angry at her about the child she and Forgescale had and what she had done to him and the other goddess.
I'm just gonna make a guess. Aviana had turned into a book without anyone knowing resulting in the books always failing no matter what because hers would always be missing. And now I am gonna guess that she's the history book that spike is reading.
Nope. There is reading the original. Spike's. Is a copy his powers made. 2971319
2971558
Ah, but you do not deny that she is a secret book?
[REDACTED]2971579
BOONDOCK SAINTS REFERENCE! YOU WIN SIR
It appears my earlier thoughts on her is panning out to a degree. How deep will this rabbit hole go?
Only one gripe in this entire time, you had a failed rhyme.
Nice Boondock Saints reference.
"unless thou wishest the sun to wobble across the sky today, I would ask thee to let me get back to it.”
i just had to think of the joke the princess: is drunk again!
leavening? really please try to get a family member or a friend to read it over after it is edited they may find more spelling mistakes like leavening