Clear Waters and Obscured Connections

by canterlots

Chapter 2

The brown pony was just passing by, but Twilight wasn’t going to let this chance escape her. She had to figure out what that cutie mark was, but it would take subtlety not to put him on the defensive. She started following him and came up with a plan. The brown pony was wearing saddle bags. She slowly and lightly opened the bag on the right with her telekinetic abilities. It wasn’t the best plan in the world. If someone had been watching them close enough it would look like Twilight was stealing. She grabbed something from the open bag telekinetically and then set it down on the ground. She waited for a second to see if anyone had noticed her. Luckily, it looked like she was in the clear. She walked up to the fruits of her labour. It turned out to be a simple quill. She grabbed it in her mouth and approached the brown pony.

“Excuse me, sir, but I think you dropped this quill a little ways back,” Twilight said politely.

The brown pony turned around to address Twilight. Meanwhile, Twilight tried to get as many good looks at the cutie mark as she could within the limits of subtlety.

“Oh! That is very well possible! Let me see that,” he said with a lively tone. His eyes scanned over the quill with a quizzical expression. They stopped near the tip and widened as they seemed to pick out something that they recognised.

“Ah yes. This is mine. See here? This is an engraving. It was made for me by my father. Thank you very much for bringing this back! It has a lot of sentimental value and I would be distraught if I had lost it.”

So much for putting him on the defensive! This pony seems to want to volunteer information! This might be easier than I thought.

“Happy to help,” she said. “Hey, you know, I haven’t ever seen you in town before. Where are you from?”

“Well... I am from here, I guess. I am a sailor so I spend a lot of time out at sea, but my home is Ponyville. The name’s Flotsam. Flotsam Clearwater. But you can just call me Sam, if you like. Most ponies do. Anyways, what’s your name?”

“Twilight Sparkle. Pleased to meet you!” she said with enthusiasm.

“Likewise. Always happy to meet some more of the good folks from Ponyville.”

“So you are a sailor, huh? Wow. That is really neat!” Twilight said, trying to sound as naive as possible. “I have never been to the sea. What’s it like?”

Sam smiled a little at the flattering question.

“Imagine blue for as far as the eye can see... and completely flat too. On a nice day it is very beautiful—the very image of tranquility.”

He then took the opportunity to ham it up a little with some overblown acting.

“On a bad day, however, the sea can be very cruel! And unforgiving, too! During a storm it is whipped into a frenzy! It tosses and turns you about on waves as high as buildings! It becomes like a creature you have harmed, and it is thrown into a frantic rage—not happy until you are dashed up on the rocks!”

The hoof gestures were flying.

“Wow...” said Twilight, doing a bit of acting of her own in pretending to be stupefied by the speech.

“Yes, it’s quite an impressive sight. I feel somewhat privileged to have seen it all and still be here today. Some of my friends, however... they weren’t so lucky...” Sam trailed off, with a voice suddenly tinged by sadness.

“That’s unfortunate, Sam.”

Twilight didn’t want to talk about dead friends, though, so she figured she would try to steer him towards the topic of his cutie mark while he was still talkative.

“So, I couldn’t help but notice your interesting cutie mark. What is it?”

She pointed at the cutie mark. It was a triangular shape, split down the middle, dividing it into two regions containing angular, rune-like objects.

“Oh! Um... It’s a sextant. It’s a nautical device we use to find our position on the map.”

A red light went on in Twilight’s mind. She had never been to the sea, indeed, but she had read books on it. She knew what a sextant looked like and this was not it.

“How interesting!” she said, hiding her suspicion.

“Indeed,” he said, sounding a little less enthusiastic to continue. “Well, as you must understand, I have a lot to do and really should get going. It has been nice talking to you, Twilight.”

“Yes, it was nice meeting you, Sam.”

Twilight didn’t want to stop here, but getting more out of him didn’t seem likely, so she did not pursue it. As he started to walk away, she stayed still for a minute, considering her next move. Her next move, as it turns out, was tailing him.

Am I really going to stalk this guy around town all day? —Yes, I have to. It sounds ridiculous, I’ll admit, but I need answers.

She followed him around at a distance and watched him do some very mundane things. Most of it involved visiting various shops and standing around and then not buying anything. She even let herself get bored with the task for a minute until, in the market, while keeping an eye on him and at the same time pretending to be studying a cart of oranges very intensely, she suddenly noticed him making his way straight over to her cart. She ducked behind it, heart pounding and listened as his hoofbeats drew closer. Just as she expected herself to be discovered, she heard the lively voice of a street vendor drawing him in with an excellent bargain for some bananas. The hoof sounds moved off course and she took the opportunity to scurry off in the opposite direction behind a nearby building.

Wow, that was a rush! Maybe I missed my calling in life? Should have gotten an espionage cutie mark?

She laughed over the thought. She looked back and saw that Sam was moving away from the market, with a new bag of bananas added on his back. She followed.

---

After tracing him through some dense city streets and narrow alleys, she saw him enter a modest cottage on the outskirts of Ponyville. He had a key to the door so she figured that this must be his house. She now knew what she had to do. She had to sneak into his house after he left and look around for anything out of the ordinary. She figured it was going to be a long wait, so she got as comfortable as possible sitting behind a crate in an alley opposite the house. Her suspicions turned out to be true. After waiting what felt like a few hours, she was almost ready to give up. Dying of boredom, she kicked around some rocks beneath her hooves.

Spying sure does involve a lot of waiting. I think I’ll stick with magic. This is a little trying on the patience.

As if in response, at that moment saw the door open and Sam emerge. As Sam walked off, excitement filled her heart.

This is it! There’s no telling how long he could be gone, so I need to finish this up as quickly as possible.

After he had disappeared in the distance, she emerged from behind the crate into the daylight, feeling free as a bird.

“Twilight!”

[Expletive censored]! Applejack! This is not the time!

The orange pony approached and Twilight realized there was going to be no quick way out of this.

“Hey Twi, how’s it goin’?” Applejack greeted her friend, cheerily.

“Oh hi, Applejack! It’s going good. It’s going great. Everything’s fine,” Twilight said with impatient quickness. “Hey! You know what? I have to rush off right now. There’s something I gotta do.”

“Oh yeah? What’s that?” Applejack asked, oblivious to her friend's torment.

Twilight’s mind was a never ending parade of cuss words.

“Oh... um... I need to... give spike a bath! Yep! He’s really dirty.”

Applejack laughed. “Oh I bet! Where is the little feller?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?” Applejack inquired with an eyebrow raised. “Then how do you know he’s dirty?”

“I just know.”

“You do? How?” Applejack asked, still oblivious.

“Oh... you know... you just get a feel for these things... It being that time of day after all.”

Twilight laughed an unexpectedly nervous sounding laugh.

Applejack looked at her friend. She didn’t buy any of this story, but the laugh and the nervous glance told her not to inquire any further.

“Riiight,” she said. “Well, I was just wondering if you wanted to come over to Sweet Apple Acres tonight. We are just finishing up the harvest and want to have a little bit of a feast. We’d love to have you.”

“Sorry Applejack, I can’t. I am really busy,” Twilight said, genuinely feeling bad for shutting down her friend.

Oh well. I will tell her the truth after this is all over. This will just be something to laugh about later.

“In fact, I need to run. I will talk to you later ok?” Twilight said.

With that she ran off into a nearby alley and darted in behind a building. Applejack said something back, but she didn’t hear. She hid out there for a few minutes and then checked back into the street to see if Applejack had continued on. There was no sign of Applejack in the street. She was good to go.

Twilight approached the door to what she thought was Sam’s place. There was a sinking feeling in her gut as she realized she had no way to deal with a locked door.

I could teleport in easily enough... But without knowing the layout of the room...And if something’s in the way...

She shuttered at the thought of what might happen. Instead, she decided to try simply using the knob. Luckily, it worked. For whatever reason, Sam had decided not to lock up. She breathed a sigh of relief.

Inside, it was a pretty typical Ponyville home. Although it was a little small, its most distinctive feature was all the sailor kitsch Sam seemed to possess. It was a two-floor place, and after exploring the simple kitchen and dining room on the bottom floor, she headed on up the stairs to the top floor. She explored around the top floor, which functioned as the bedroom. It was also pretty unremarkable, but after a short scan she found what she had been looking for. Next to the bed on a simple wooden reading altar was the book she had seen in her dream.

Amazing! Visual proof of what I had foreseen in a dream! Never again will you be able to call me, Twilight Sparkle, a sceptic.

As she came to grips with the very real object before her, she flipped through its pages and realized that it was all in a runic script that she could not read.

Well that’s a bit disappointing, but still rather amazing. Perhaps I will sneak in again after reading up a bit on my ancient languages. –Hold on just one moment. What is this?

On the front page was a note written in quill in the common equestrian tongue. “Instructions for use,” it started off simply at the top. What followed was a recipe for a spell Twilight had never seen before. This one called for use of the something called the ‘Mauros’ field. The term was likely a transliteration from a word used in that runic script. Twilight had never heard of it before.

Twilight’s education had taught her that magic spells in general used things called ‘ether fields’, which were like dimensions separate from, but connected the familiar dimensions of space. They existed in a constant state of flux, but only unicorns can control the flow (actively, at least). Pegasi and earth ponies controlled them too, but without knowing it, through things like farming. Twilight was very familiar with the strange and vague way instructions are described in spellbooks, having picked up quite a few in her time. So, even without knowing the field, she began to work some sense out of the cryptic instructions for casting the spell. She found the new field, felt out the way it responded to her will and then began channelling it through her horn as described in the book. She saw a black cloud forming near her horn.

That’s a little ominous...

The cloud became bigger and bigger. Twilight noticed a change in her shadow. The sunlight coming in through the window was being completely blocked out by this dark cloud. Darkness stretched out from her horn to the ground in a sharp diagonal column. The sunlight formed a sharp contrast as it splashed around playfully at the edges of the shadow.

Oh well. No point in stopping now.

The cloud began to contract. It was now spinning, forming a vortex around her horn. She looked at the book once more and began to put the final touches on the spell. The vortex was now spinning very fast. She could feel the breeze forming like a little tornado emanating from her horn. Suddenly, a jet black arc of lightning shot out of her horn, straight at the book.

Wow! What was that?

Twilight was quite shocked at first, but then realized that she didn’t know what she expected coming into the endeavour. Admittedly, she had focused on the instructions, omitting all that came after them from her focus. She looked back at the book. She had read it all, save for one little note at the bottom. It read: “P.S. Please do be nice to Bill. He is getting rather old and senile. Good luck.”

Bill? What an odd name. It sounds foreign, but also, strangely elegant. What could it mean?

Before she could get any further with that thought, the book sprung into life. It jumped up and floated about in the air. It then began to give off sounds.

Is it... Is it talking?

The book indeed was talking, and it appeared to know the common tongue. In the gruff voice of an old pony, it said, “Sam? Sam... is that you?”

Twilight was silent and still, dumbfounded. The book seemed to scan around the room and then it stopped, oriented in her general direction.

“Ah... Sam. There you are. It’s been a while, but I would never fail to recognise an old friend.”

Twilight was amazed.

The book can see too? Well, I guess it can’t see very well, considering I look nothing like Sam, but incredible nonetheless.

She took this as her cue to put on a very bad Sam accent and start talking to it.

Hopefully it can’t hear very well either. This is going to be bad.

She tried her best to take on Sam’s whimsical tone while dropping about an octave in pitch.

“HeEe—” she said, with her voice cracking abruptly, right off the start. However, she pushed on through this rocky beginning.

“Hey Bill. Yep, Sam here. How’s it going ol’ chum?”

By Celestia, that wasn’t bad; it was horrible.

“Sam, you sound sick. You should get some bed rest,” the book responded.

Twilight could barely keep from laughing. The book had bought her horrible impression without question.

“Anyways, what did you wake me up for? I was having a particularly nice dream,” the book added.

Twilight immediately changed into a more serious mindset.

I need to extract all the information I can from this book, now while I am still able. I might not be able to return here. Presumably this book will tell Sam about this chat at some point, and he will become suspicious.

“Um... I was wondering what more you could tell me about your contents... being a book and such.”

The book laughed a hearty laugh that turned into a kind of hacking cough near the end. “They say I’m an open book, but I can’t very well read myself, can I?"

Twilight was learning so much today.

“No...I’ve forgotten what was written on my pages long ago.” The book paused thoughtfully. Twilight wasn’t sure what to say. Luckily, the book continued its thought. “Sam, are you telling me you have gotten rusty on reading the Ekhwas script?” The guttural-sounding word seemed to come natural to the book.

That must be the name for those strange runic symbols.

“You don’t have to be so cagey about it, you know. I understand completely. Forgetting is something that I am naturally quite skilled at,” the book said, adopting a sympathetic tone.

Twilight took the bait. “Yes... you got me Bill, ol’ buddy. You always do. Where could I learn more about that?”

“...You have forgotten that too? Now this feat of forgetting surprises even me... You need to find the nearest family house, which is in the Everfree forest. Once you get there, I am sure somepony will help you brush up. They really are a nice bunch. I wish I could have stayed there rather than this dusty old bedroom.”

Family house? Interesting, but it’s not enough to go on.

“...And...um... how might I go about getting there again?”

The book let out a long sigh.

“Forget what I said earlier. I now know that I am needed here. If I left you alone you might forget how to breathe... Just go to the edge of the Everfree forest on the trail leading there from Ponyvillle. Cut off the path to the left and walk about 50 paces. You should see a large oval shaped rock jutting out of the ground. There will be a map nearby.”

Before Twilight could ask another question, Bill began again.

“I’m not going to let you leave alone, Sam,” he said with a concerned tone. “I am worried about you. The Everfree forest is a dangerous place. You don’t sound very confident about your navigation abilities and—“

Just then a door slammed downstairs.

“—you are going to need me to help you get there. So take me with you. I—“

“No that’s alright Bill. Really. I am fine,” Twilight interrupted in a rushed manner, trying to end this discourse as quickly as possible.

“No I insist, Sam. You know how I worry. I am not—“

“Don’t worry! I’ll live!” Twilight said, losing her grip on the bad Sam-accent.

“Now you listen here—“

Steps on the stairs could be heard.

I need to end this now. How do I shut this thing off?

“Gotta run, Bill. Sorry.”

“I’m not done with you yet. Hey! Put me down this instant.”

Twilight had telekinetically grabbed the book and pulled it down to the altar. She then pushed the cover shut and leaned on it with a hoof. Once the cover was shut, it seemed to remain quiet. There was no time for relief, however. She needed a hiding spot. Her eyes zipped from one corner of the room to the other.

The closet!

She darted into the closet as quickly as possible while trying to muffle her steps. Once inside, she swung the door nearly closed and froze in place. She could just barely see outside through the slits of the closet door.

The bedroom door swung open and Sam entered. He lazily made his way straight up to the book and inspected it for a second. He then looked around the room carefully. When his eyes crossed over the closet, Twilight’s heart skipped a beat. Luckily he didn’t seem to notice anything out of order. He sat down in front of the book, just staring at the cover for a few minutes. He mumbled something to himself that Twilight couldn’t hear.

What the hay is he doing? Is he just going to look at that book for hours on end? And what if he just decides to go to sleep? Am I going to be trapped in the closet forever?

As if to answer that question, he suddenly got up and left the room unceremoniously. Twilight heard him walking down the stairs, and then a few minutes later, she heard the door slam shut once again. She emerged from the closet cautiously. She peeked down the stairs and saw no sign of the brown unicorn. She then scurried towards the door and out into the open air. Luckily, he had decided not to lock up once again.

She knew what she had to do now. She was driven to continue to search for answers. Also, the prospect of being part of a real-life mystery was quite thrilling. She headed for the Everfree forest.