Andalusian's Creed : Bloodlines

by ac3

A Little Help

"Umm... Hello?" A tiny voice squeaked at the doorway to the Ponyville library. "Is anypony home? I hope I'm not intruding on anything or bothering anypony. Maybe I'll just comeback some other time." continued the speaker in a softly manner.

Twilight Sparkle came to the entrance, instantly recognizing the owner of the voice. The book she was engrossed in was quickly put down in anticipation of an unexpected visit by one of her very close and dear friends.

Things were getting back to normal, as normal as it can get, after her coronation as a princess, and all the functions she had to attend. Her new status brings her more attention than she had ever wanted. Sometimes she wished for the quiet life she had before becoming an alicorn. How she wished to just stroll down main street without ponies turning their heads toward her and whispering "that's the princess!" For now, she's just glad they have stopped knocking at her door, looking to take pictures with the new celebrity or asking for her autograph. A visit from her friend is one of the normal things she desired the most.

"Hi Fluttershy! What's up?" she said. She behaved just like when she was the regular old uniciorn not too long ago.

"Hello Twilight. Oh, excuse, me! I mean, Princess Twilight?" came the reply from the cute shy pegasus.

"Please Fluttershy, I'm still the same Twilight Sparkle that's been your friend for so long!" Twilight said exesperatingly. "Will I ever get some semblance of my old lifeback?" she thought to herself.

"Well, um... it's kind of hard thinking of it that way when you are now a bit taller than me." came the embarrased reply.

Twilight thought for a moment. True, when she became an alicorn, her limbs grew a bit and she now stands maybe an inch or two taller than her friends. Plus her horn and wings were bigger than any unicorn or pegasus, though not as big as Celestia's, Luna's or even Cadence's. She was foolishly hoping nobody would notice it.

The purple alicorn quickly changed the subject. "Is there something troubling you? You look a bit tired. Want to go to the spa?"

"Can we just go inside? I-I-I'd rather talk about it in private." Fluttershy said while turning her head to look at the ground, not willing to look at Twilight eye to eye.

"Oh! Of course!" Twilight said. She was so excited to see Fluttershy that she forgot to invite her in.

Spike poured tea and served it along with some slices of lemon cake to the two ponies in the reading room. It was nice, he thought, to have regular guests around for a change. He involuntarily touched his dragon stomach, remembering how it ached after all those messages Princess Celestia kept sending about the visit of dignitaries from other towns wishing to meet the new princess. After putting the tray with the refreshments down beside his friends, he quickly went to attend another chore to leave the two alone.

"Oh Twilight! I had the most terrible dream!" was the first thing Fluttershy said when Spike was beyond earshot.

"Dreams are just dreams. They disappear when you wake up." reassured Twilight.

"You don't understand. I have the same dream almost every night."

"Please, tell me what the dream was about." Twilight said in a serious tone.

Fluttershy began telling the tale about how she was about to shoot another living being in a distant land. How real it felt; and, how eager she was willing to do it. The story continued with the feeling of fear and discovery. She finished up with the fight with the pegasi and the fall.

Twilight listened intently. The description of the place and the weapons she described were too detailed to be just her imagination. Knowing Fluttershy doesn't go on trips to faraway places and certainly does not use weapons means there is something more to this dream than just a trick of the mind.

"Do you remember when you started having this dream?" the new alicorn queried.

Fluttershy thought for a moment. "It was after your magic duel with Trixie." she pointed out. "I-I-I think it has something to do with Rarity's dangerous missions suit." She explained how she felt strange after donning those clothes. She didn't want to mention it to anyone at first, since Ponyville was in trouble.

Twilight scolded herself mentally for not quickly picking up that objects could unlock old suppressed memories. But were they memories? Maybe of a past life? An exciting idea began forming in her head. But first, she needed more information. "Let's go to Rarity's place and ask about that suit she made."

The duo walked down the street, heading for Rarity's shop and home. Along the way, some ponies, out of respect for Twilight's new status, reflexively bow their heads upon their approach. She just looked straight ahead, trying to hide her discomfort as best she can. Though it is the same path she took often, it felt farther now. She involuntarily drew her wings closer to her.

Rarity was at her sewing machine, putting together her latest creation. She stopped and thought about the recent days that past. Her friend and former unicorn mate Twilight Sparkle had suddenly risen to royalty. She felt a bit jealous. She recalled her dream of marrying a prince and becoming a princess. She then remembered the disaster at the Gala - that narcisstic Prince Blueblood. How easy Twilight got Rarity's most treasured wish of nobility and she didn't even knew nor wanted it! And here, Rarity thought, she tried so hard and only met with failure, or rather, met with a jerk. Still, despite that small hint of envy, she felt more of happiness for her friend in finding her destiny. If there is anybody that deserved it, Twilight did. Such is the selflessness of the holder of the element of generosity.

"I'll carve out my own empire with these hooves, and be queen of the fashion world." she vowed to herself.

Somebody was at the door. Rarity opened it and was shocked to see Twilight and Fluttershy waiting outside. She hoped she didn't say the thing about becoming a queen out too loudly.

"Oh, hello Twilight dear." she said. "And Fluttershy! What a surprise! Is there an occasion I'm not aware of?"

"Good morning Rarity." Twilight greeted. "Fluttershy and I dropped by to ask for some information about the dangerous mission suit you made for her."

Rarity suddenly became pale, as pale as a white unicorn can get. She quickly invited them in. There was a flurry of activity as Rarity drew all the window curtains, locked the doors and even shut the chimney vent. Fluttershy was watching with anxiety. Twilight just raised one of her eyebrows and cocked her head to one side.

"What's going on Rarity?"

Rarity had one last look around. Confident everything was closed or airtight she slowly turned toward her friends.

"You figured it out." she replied coldly. "Okay! I admit it! I tried so hard to think of something original but with all the mess Trixie was doing to Ponyville and the limited time to make it, I couldn't think of anything!" she exclaimed.

Twilight prepared herself for the climax she knew was coming next. "So..." she started.

"I copied from a book!" Rarity cried out, simultaneously pulling her sofa to catch her dramatic faint. "It was not an original design! I feel so ashamed!" she added while lying on the sofa.

Fluttershy went to Rarity's side.

"There, there. We're not here to accuse you of anything." she said, trying to soothe Rarity's fragile ego.

"You said a book." Twilight interrupted. "Do you still have it?"

"No darling, I put it back in the library immediately after I rushed to finish the suit. As we needed Fluttershy to find you in as little time time as possible, I had to make alterations to the design. The bunny ears were definitely crucial though. She looked absolutely cute in them!" Rarity answered. Her apprehension subsided at remembering Fluttershy in the suit.

Fluttershy blushed.

"Do you remember what the book's title was?" Twilight asked.

"Hmmm... I don't recall exactly. It was sort of... about a place outside Equestria." the white unicorn with the blue well styled mane said.

"Great, that just leaves about a hundred books in the library. We need to get the help of the others to find that one particular picture." Twilight said in resignation.

A short time later, with the exception of Rainbow Dash who was visiting Cloudsdale at the time, all the friends congregated in the library.

"Ooh! A scavenger hunt! Only with pictures! And no scavengers!" Pinkie Pie was jumping up and down with glee.

"Okay ponies, look for books about the history of anyplace not in Equestria. Check if they have pictures that look like Fluttershy's dangerous missions suit. If you find one, show it to Rarity. Pay close attention to those that have bunny ears. "

Just as Twilight finished speaking, Pinkie exclaimed, "I found it!"

"That's impossible." Rarity said. "Nopony could find something inside a book that fast unless she knows where to look."

"Or reading about a search for page in a book in a library would be no fun, so a quick end to it would lead to the more exciting parts of the story." Pinkie said as a matter of fact, amidst the confused look of her friends. "It's Pinkie sense!" she changed her answer. With that everyone understood the meaning - that there really is no logical explanation.

"Yes! That's the one!" Rarity said after being shown the page with the picture.

Twilight quickly scanned through the contents of the book. "It's a place called Andalon on the western edge of Equestria." she said. She explained to her friends that was a land ruled by the head of their faith, a theocracy. Order was kept by magical knights, those that wore suits similar to what Fluttershy had. The bunny ears turned out to be filled with runes engraved to give the pony magic powers.

"Why do they need to do that?" Rarity was bewildered. "Can't their unicorns or leaders do magic?"

"That's just it." Twilight pointed out. "The Andalusians were all earth ponies."

"So that's why there were no holes for my wings." Fluttershy drew the conclusion about Rarity's suit. "It all makes sense now."

Applejack was about to ask why only earth ponies live there but Twilight was already about to give the explanation. She said those living there believe earth ponies should be the only ponies the world. They believe unicorns and pegasi where not natural. Twilight's face looked sad as she spoke. The look on her friends' faces confirms the same feeling of shock and dismay that a whole population would not tolerate differences.

Twilight looked at Fluttershy. She couldn't understand how she, a peace loving pegasus, would have some connection to the war mongering Andalusians.

She continued her brief history lesson. 500 years ago, Andalon waged a war with Equestria. Their leaders declared all the unicorns and pegasi be removed from the lands. Princess Celestia, being an alicorn as well as the leader of Equestria, was specially targeted by the Andalusians' hatred for every being that was not an earth pony.

"But we kicked their tail right?" Applejack blurted. "What I'm saying, with earth ponies, unicorns and pegasi fighting together, our combined strength must have beaten them. I don't remember hearing about a land like that!" she concluded.

"Actually, they were about to beat US, according to this book." Twilight said. "They have been fighting wars for centuries and have become quite good at it. " She added that all those wars have taught them how to fight those that fly or use magic. They were also trained in various hoof to hoof combat techniques as well as deadly weapons; and, they have access to very powerful arcane magic.

"How did the war end?" Pinkie asked.

Twilight answered that the book did not specifically mentioned how the hostilities ended. All it said was half a century after the war started, Princess Celestia was invited by their leaders to forge a peace agreement. Once the two nations were at peace, they became close neighbors. Soon the Andalusians stopped treating unicorns and pegasi differently and they abandoned their old beliefs. A few hundred years after that, Andalusians decided to become part of Equestria.

"Here's something interesting. The Andalusians, aside from wearing battle armor, also wear clothes all the time. Only after uniting with Equestria did they gradually stopped wearing them." Twilight said, trying to ease the atmosphere of gloom with a little factual humor.

"It's a good thing there are no longer anypony like that. I wonder how would they react to Discord?" Rarity shuddered. "Probably they would have asked him to take everypony's wings and horns."

"Take their wimgs." Twilight muttered to herself.

"M-m-my great great great grandparents came from far west Equestria." Fluttershy finally spoke.

Twilight's eyes sparkled with the light of comprehension. "Yes! Yes! Yes! That pony in your dream must be one of your ancestors! You must have been reliving her experience that was unlocked by Rarity's dangerous missions suit! This is the best thing that could ever happen." Twilight added that she was researching a way to get the knowledge of past wizards like Starswirl the Bearded to broaden the knowledge of magic they had today. In her research she found the theory that some memories were passed down from parent to child and when they grew up, passed on to their children. When Fluttershy first came to the library early that day, she suspected it could be one. But, she needed to know for sure. Here now, she said, was a golden opportunity to try out if they could actually extract it. They could use the unlocked ancestral memory to discover more passed down experiences and maybe get to know how the war ended firstnhand.

"I got a magic spell for that." Twilight said, then turned her head toward Fluttershy. "Let's try it now."

All Fluttershy could say was, "Meep!"