"I'm certain Windsock has already delivered the notice.
"How can you tell?"
Midnight pointed and the could see there was a lot more security near Canterlot.
as the arrived the guards looked but let them past. when they arrived a large, strong guard gave them a message
"Princess Celestia wants to see you four, I'll serve as an escort."
"Princess Celestia wants to see you four, I'll serve as an escort."
Bookworm stared at the guard, slightly annoyed - they didn't have time to explain every little detail, they needed to find the tools they needed as soon as possible. Still, to disobey Celestia was unheard of, so they had little choice in the matter. wouldn't stop her annoyance however. Bookworm got out of the magical transport and stretched her wings - eager to shake off the tension caused by the strained position the entire trip (a result of her constant reading)
When she exited, Bookworm quickly spread her wings and did a single lap around the the group and their magical carriage. "Okay, I'm ready" she said as she landed, biting her lip to prevent herself from adding "so can we get this over with" - after all she wasn't crazy she was...
The group followed the guard upon meeting Celestia they bowed, Midnight told her the whole story, the storm, Dark Eclipse, using the shout, and how he suspected the return of the old tribes, he even told her about Mossmane.
"Princess Celestia We need to go obtain a rare book: Element's and Armor - a record of magical artifacts of Equestria's past"
The princess nodded.
"By the way I must ask Midnight your voice it almost sounds like
"It sounds like thine own voice." boomed Princess Luna, Midnight bowed lower to her than to Celstia, Who was a bit annoyed at that.
"Do not be envious my sister, This unicorn is from a clan that is a lover of the night, when you raise your sun his magic wanes, but when i bring forth my night his clans power comes back, 'Tis only natural he would favor me."
"Could we get back to the bit about Midnight sounding like Luna?" asked Gearworks "I have acute hearing and I can say they don't sound anything alike."
"You can;t hear it? the change in my voice?" asked Midnight
"no"
"How about NOW?" he asked raising his voice
"Not really."
"HOW ABOUT NOW"
"Still ain't hearing it."
"CAN YOU HEAR IT
[HEADING=1]NOOOOOOOOOOW[/HEADING]
Gearworks and the others were hit by the force of Midnight's shout, it was astonishing the fact that he could perform such a shout, however he did seem out of breath from shouting it and now that They heard it they realized that Luna's powerful voice was like a strained version of this, kept under a leash for the purpose of preventing destruction.
After Midnight's shout, Gearwork's ears rang for a little while afterwards, but it didn't bother him. He had braced himself when Midnight's voice was getting louder and covered his ears just as he shouted. He was a little suprised at the force and power of it, but he could understand that sound has alot of power. He knew that if the sound had the right frequency it could destroy even the hardest of known metals that Gearwork knew of.
'So Midnight is from a clan of unicorns whose power is strengthened at night. I only thought it was just his family whose power was like that.' Gearwork thought to himself. 'I wonder if my family was part of a long lost clan, a group of unicorns who can shape metal without heat. Maybe my family was just a group of outcasts, and was shunned by other clans.' He remembered when he was just a young colt, he always was seen as an outcast. After many years he finally made a few friends, but it always bothered him that how he was viewed as an outcast.
After the meeting with the princesses, the others started heading to the archives. Gearwork said "I want to drop of these stones over at my mom's jewelry store, I'll meet you in the archives in a little while." With that Gearwork headed to his mother's jewelry store.
The store was located a few blocks away from the castle and the archives. As soon as Gearwork and Coo arrived in front of the store, he couldn't help but chuckle at the name of the store: "Enchanted Facets: Jewelry Store" 'Slightly dramatic,' Gearwork thought 'The same as always.' His mother, Gem Facet, was a well-known jewelry maker, and was also known to be very picky with her customers. She would make and finish a piece on her own schedule, not a specified date.
When Gearwork walked in he saw that his mother, a brownish-marroon mare with a greying reddish mane and tail, and wearing a gold bracelet, earrings and necklace, was with a customer. The customer was a white unicorn mare with a curly blue mane and tail, she had a cutie mark that had three diamonds. He knew who she was as soon as he saw her, she was one of Princess Celestia's apprentice's friends, and one of the bearers of the Elements of Harmony. When he entered his mother said "I'll be with you in a little while."
Gearwork responded by saying "I know the procedure with you and your customers, mom."
His mother and the customer both looked at him, and Gearwork said "I brought you a whole bunch of gems from the Hoofington mines, so you can make jewelry from them." He put down the large bag of gemstones on the counter and a few stones fell out on the counter.
The unicorn mare looked at the stones, and said in accented voice "Such lovely facets. So of these stones must be over twenty carats. I've never seen stones as beautiful as these."
"The stones from the Hoofington mines are known for their beauty and quality in all of Equestria." His mother said before Gearwork could say anything. She then looked at the mechanical wings Gearwork was wearing and said "I like the design of your new wings, Gearwork."
"Gearwork. So that is your name." The white unicorn mare said "My name is Rarity. It's a pleasure to meet you, but I must be going. I promised Twilight and the others that I would meet them at the castle." With that Rarity left the store.
Gearwork looked at his mother and said "I have to go as well, mom. I wish I could stay longer, but something major is about to happen, and I have to do some research on some ancient history regarding the ancient pony tribes. Also I want to look up some information on this." He pulled out the stone of power and showed it to his mother. His mother jumped back and almost hit the wall a few feet behind her, when she saw it.
"H-H-How did you get that?" she said in a wavering voice.
Gearwork was confused at the reaction that his mother made, he was also a little confused that she knew what it was. He was just about to tell her when the door opened and Rarity came back and said "I'm sorry. I forgot my ha-" She then noticed the stone of power that Gearwork was holding and walked over over to get a better look at it. "What is that?" she asked, curious.
Gearwork then told them what had transpired a few days before, about the storm, Dark Eclipse, the enslaved unicorn tribe on the platform, his vision about the armor, Midnight's shout, his healing of Midnight afterwards and how it affected the stones he used. He also told them about Mossmane. His mother's expression was that of worry that her son was going to be in danger, while Rarity's expression was that of horror. She couldn't understand what he was talking about, then the sudden realization came to her and said, "So that's why we were summoned by Celestia a few days ago. It was about that storm that you were talking about."
His mother looked a little distraught after what he told her, and she walked to the door and put the sign saying that the store was closed. She then went into the back of the store, and opened a door in the floor that could only be opened by magic, and was completely invisible to everyone who didn't know about it. She went down and after a few minutes, she came back up with a three large satchels two of which were full of ancient scrolls and the other was filled with sheets of a metal that Gearwork didn't recognize, and another stone which looked very similiar to the stone of power that Gearwork had. She looked at Gearwork "I held onto these all my life, hoping I would never have to take them out, and that you wouldn't need to know about these until you were older and had a family so that you could hold on to these and pass them onto you children." she said sorrowfully. She took out the stone and a sheet of metal and placed it on counter, as well as taking out two ancient scrolls and an even older tome.
Gearwork was a little puzzled about what his mother was talking about, and then he looked at the ancient tome's title: Elements and Armor: A Reference Guide: First Edition,written by Metalmind. It was exactly the book what the others were looking for.
Before he could say anything his mother started talking "Our family has held on to these pieces for countless generations. We knew that someday we would need these things again and passed them down secretly thoughout the ages. I had hoped that you would never experience what is happening now, but here we are. This tome is the original version of the book, written by the very pony who helped created those sets of armor. He also created a metal that is much more durable and lighter than regular metal. This is the metal that the armor is made out of. It's called "dark iron" a metal stronger than lighter than titanium, and near impossible to destroy. It may be stronger than other metals, but it is also just as difficult to work with it. No one in our family has been able to work with it, but you seem to show similiar abilities that Metalmind was known to possess. He could work with metal with ease, even under the most stressful conditions. You also possess the abilities of his wife Silverhoof, the ability to use a gemstone's hidden abilities, an art that has been lost since she passed away."
A sudden explosion was heard near the entrance where Gearwork and the others came from. He sent off Coo to warn the others, who was given a small ring that would allow the owl to cloaked for short periods of time, who then left quickly and quietly and headed out towards the archives. His mother looked around worryingly, and then looked at both Gearwork and Rarity and whispered "There is not much time, you have to get to your friends, and retrieve the other stones and pieces of armor. Metalmind thought that keeping the armor all in one place was a very bad idea, so he scattered the sets all over Equestria, he also built sentinals to guard the armor in those places. He drew a map to where they are, and it is impossible to decipher unless you have the original version of his book, he wrote in the side notes on how to decipher the map. That amulet you wear is the key to unlocking the vaults that hold the sets of armor." Another explosion was heard closer to where the store was, as well as shouting from the guards nearby. His mother looked very nervous and then shouted at both him and Rarity "What are you waiting for! GO!!" Gearwork grabbed the tome and maps and the sheets of Dark Iron and put them in his saddlebags, and both he and Rarity left.
When he and Rarity left the store, the streets were in chaos, there were unconscious ponies everywhere, and he saw a pieces of armor that the guards wore with what looked to be scorch marks on them. He then saw a familiar young unicorn mare with a dark green mane and tail and equally dark blue coat walking towards him. She did not know that the owl she tried to kill had survived, as well as warn Gearwork about her. Gearwork looked at Rarity and quickly told her not to say anything about him knowing what she had done to Coo. Rarity nodded and watched as Gearwork approached her.
"Mossmane, what are you doing here?" Gearwork said in a worried voice.
"I came to warn you that the pegasus tribe is attacking and I want to get you and the others in your group the safety" she replied in what sounded like a worried tone of voice.
"What about Rarity over there," Gearwork said looking over at Rarity, who waved nervously, "she could help us escape."
"No, I can't do that I can only teleport you and three others out of here. I know about the armor hidden under the city. I need the amulet that you carry, to unlock the vault they're in. I saw your ability to shape metal without heat, so I know you must have the key to unlock those sets of armor." she replied in a rushed tone of voice that sounded anxious like a young pony about to open their birthday presents.
"So you know about the amulet that I have, you seem like you're in an awful rush to get that amulet. I wonder why? Is it because you couldn't find it when you ransacked my workshop, and almost killed my owl?"
"What are you talking about?" she asked innocently.
"I found your hair in Coo's talons, and he had injuries that only a unicorn could inflict." Gearwork said in a deep voice.
Mossmane's eyes narrowed "I knew I should have incinerated that annoying bird when I injured him. I knew that would bite me in the flank, and here we are." Mossmane said in a mocking tone.
"I knew you weren't a normal unicorn as soon as I removed that harness. You talk like us even though you're part of the ancient unicorn tribe, your voice doesn't sound like that of a young mare, but a much older mare. Also, you recovered way to quickly when I removed that harness. So what is your real name?" Gearwork said.
Mossmane started cackling and then looked at Gearwork with a sneer. "Well, you figured it out, a little quicker than I expected, but not much. My real name is Duskshadow, the second-in-command to Dark Eclipse, the true ruler of Equestria. The only thing standing in our way are those cursed sets of armor that that wretched Metalmind created. I know that he created a key that would unlock the vualts where they are stored, and only his heirs would be the ones who had it. I had hoped to find it in your workshop so you could watch us use the very things created to protect Equestria, but instead conquer it. Sadly, you have it, so I'll have to kill you."
"Heads Up!" a voice Gearwork hadn't heard in years suddenly cry out. As soon as he heard it he saw a blue-green pegasus suddenly slam into Duskshadow, and send her flying down the street, and landed in an unconscious heap. The pegasus who hit Duskshadow looked at Gearwork with a slightly crazed smile and said "Hey, Gearwork. Haven't seen you in a while. Glad I arrived when I did, you looked like you were in a tight spot."
"Hey Foxfire, glad you made it. That unicorn over there didn't see you until it was too late. I appreciate that, thanks."
Foxfire looked past Gearwork at Rarity, and looked up and shouted "Hey! Rainbow! I found them!" A sky blue pegasus with a rainbow colored mane and tail quickly appear and land near Rarity.
Gearwork heard Rarity say "I thought we were done for, but that pegasus showed up out of nowhere and knocked that unicorn quite a distance. Enough gawking, we should get out of here."
"Let me teleport you near the castle, I'm pretty sure we'll find our friends near there" Gearwork said.
The other three ponies gathered around Gearwork and he teleported them near the castle.
I apologize for so much, but I felt alot of inspiration today and I may have gone overboard. So I apologize if it is too much. I just wanted put down some of the things that I've been thinking of for the last few weeks or so and it seemed like a good time to do so.
I also said that I would introduce a few of the Mane six, and I did. I hope it's okay. Maybe we could show some hostility between Trixie and Twilight, since they know each other.
The character Foxfire is a pony that is based on a friend that I have and I'm thinking of having her join our group, since we lost a few members of this forum, and we need more characters.
My character's mother is actually based on what my mom would be like in real life.
Midnight Suddenly heard someone fast approaching he and Trixie were by standing close to Luna.
a purple unicorn with dark purple hair, Of course Midnight recognized Princess Celestia's faithful student.
"Princess Celestia we came as soon as you called What was that storm? I never heard of anything in my resear-"
she turned and saw Trixie
"You?" asked Trixie
"You, what are you doing here?" Asked Twilight, she got very cross and her magic began to charge
But midnight wasn't in the mood for them to do this.
"wait I want to say-" Trixie was interrupted by Twilight tackling her
""You better have a reason for being here, talk fast."
"I'm sorry"
"I don't know what your planning but- wait what?"
"I'm sorry I was wrong before I got so used to people praising my magic I just lost myself.
Can you forgive me?"
twilight backed off looking at her then after a moment of silence she helped Trixie up.
Midnight trotted over to them
"My Name Is Midnight Gaze and It's no surprise you haven't found anything like this Twilight these are form a time that that predates Equestria, I remember the stories of olden times before, Princess Luna was banished to the moon, Oh sorry sensitive manner... I forgot, erm before Discord ruled over Equestria
I will explain soon but I need to find Gearworks, and bookworm I'll explain on the way."
Gearwork and the other three ponies teleported to near where the archives were. What greeted made him jump back a little and emit a yelp in surprise.
It was a pony's face. A pink earth pony with an even brighter pink mane that looked like it was made from cotton candy. She had light blue eyes and a wide grin across her face. He then noticed her cutie mark, a trio of balloons, and immediately regretted teleporting there. He knew of this pony, who was the bearer of the element of laughter/joy, and was a perfect representation of it as well.
A second or so after Gearwork landed from jumping back in surprise, he found himself being barraged by a series of questions. "Who are you? What's your name? Where are you from? Are you friends with Rarity and Rainbow Dash? Are those wings that you're wearing? Are they metal? Did you make them? Do they work? Can you actually fly? Are you here to see the princesses?" They came one after another without a single pause for breath between them. All the while being poked by this pony, who was jumping all over the place faster than he could react and sometimes see. He swore that a few times this pink pony looked like she had to be hovering in midair from where she was placed.
"Whoa, Pinkie! Calm down a little. Don't you think that you might be making him uncomfortable with all those questions." Gearwork heard an orange earth pony say a few feet away, as well as an almost inaudible "oh, my" from a yellow pegasus next to the orange pony, about half-way throught the barrage.
After a few moments of being prodded by Pinkie, Gearwork had had enough. "Cease what you're doing, NOW!!" Gearwork bellowed at the surprised Pinkie. He looked at her with an intense stare that made her stop right in her tracks.
His eyes glowed and the normal metal-grey color shifted to that of a steel-blue, that looked absolutely devoid of any compassion, and simpathy. He heard the others, with the exception of Foxfire, gasp after he looked at Pinkie. He then calmed down and blinked and his eyes returned to normal. "I'm sorry about that. I just don't like being barraged by so many questions at one time, and that quickly. I also don't like being touched, especially by a pony I don't know." Gearwork said in an apologetic tone. "I haven't introduced myself. My name is Gearwork." meanwhile placing his right hoof near his left shoulder and slightly bowed.
"Did Gearwork just use "The Stare" on Pinkie?" Rarity asked. "I thought that Fluttershy was the only one."
"It looks like that." the orange pony said "Name's Applejack. It's a pleasure to meet you, Gearwork." Applejack then pointed a hoof towards the yellow pegasus who was cowering behind her and said "This here," Applejack then moved behind the pegasus "is Fluttershy. You don't need to be afraid of him, sugarcube." She then looked at the still-stunned Pinkie and said "And that's Pinkie Pie. I'm surprised that you were able to do that to her. I see that you already met Rarity and Rainbow Dash. There is one other pony that you haven't met yet, and that's Twilight. We were just about to meet her in the archi-"
Just then a small purple dragon with green crests came running towards the group. He stopped in front of Applejack panting. "Hey, Spike. What's going on? I thought you were helping Twilght?" She asked.
The dragon replied between breaths "I was. But we ran into Trixie and-"
"Trixie?! Why's that two-bit second-rate unicorn magician doing in archives. Shouldn't she be be boasting in a small town somewhere." Rainbow Dash interrupted.
"She's with me and my group." Gearwork interjected. The others turned and looked at him in surprise, with the exception of Rarity who already knew about it.
"She's what?!" Rainbow asked.
"I'll explain on the way to the archives" Gearwork said. "I have to tell them that I found the book that we came here looking for." He started walking towards the archives and the others started following him. He told them what had happened in the Hoofington and the storm, and Mossmane a.k.a. Dusk-Shadow. He also told them that Trixie was Midnight's apprentice, and that they were looking for a peticular book in the archives, and instead of following them into the archives, Gearwork wanted to drop a large bag of gemstones at his mother's store. He then told them about what his mother had said, and what she had given him, as well as the encounter with Duskshadow in Canterlot. Rarity confirmed what Gearwork said and he was glad that he ran into her in his mother's store.
Right after he finished telling the others the story, they had already entered the archives, and met Coo, who was looking for Bookworm. The owl noticed Gearwork who gave a hoot and then swooped down and landed on Gearwork's head. They rounded the next corner and found Midnight and Trixie talking to Twilight.
"I will explain soon, but first I need to find Gearwork and Bookworm and then I'll explain on the way."
"Well, you found me. I knew I should have picked a better hiding spot" Gearwork said jokingly towards Midnight. "And look, I brought friends."
Midnight looked at him for a moment and then said "Perfect timing, we still need to find that book. Maybe Bookworm has found it."
Gearwork couldn't help but chuckle at Midnight. "No need to look for that book any longer. I'm glad I stopped over at my mother's store, you'll never believe what happened. I found the book there, and it's the original copy too. I'll explain after we find Bookworm."
His face then grew serious. "We should hurry though and find Bookworm, and we need to warn the princesses. Mossmane is in the city, and she's actually Dark-Eclipse's second-in-command. Her real name is Dusk-Shadow, she knows about the armor and she destroying the city looking for us, because she knows that I have the key that will unlock the vault with the armor."
While the others were busy discussing magic shouts and trading jewels, Bookworm had made her way directly to the library - they didn't have time to discuss the inner workings evil pegisi to Celestia and/or Luna. Not that they didn't need to be told - they were their leaders - if anyone needed to know it was them, just it only took one pony to deliver a message and Midnight was clearly the loudest of them.
Of course, her rush to the archive had had its own set backs. First had been searching the library for the book - to no avail. That it was difficult to find a book in the library was both a travesty and a matter-of-fact that she was unable to reconcile. I digress however however. The second problem was far worse - one of the explosions had been far too close to the archive, and had damaged the precious storehouse of their history, culture and knowledge! Whoever had caused it was a dead-stallion!
Well, they would be when Bookworm managed to get free of the pile of books that had fallen atop her. This wouldn't have been such a major problem were it not for two important factors: Bookworm was a bookworm, and as such lacked the strength to free herself with great speed. Second, Bookworm was Bookworm, and each book she moved invariably opened to some interesting piece of information she never knew.
Did you know geese cannot burp? Bookworm now does.
"We have to find Bookworm then get to that vault, There's only one way to stop Dusk-Shadow, this is bad I never anticipated this."
"Anticipated what?"
"When I had learned the old tribes were returning to take back Equestria I had Feared the Unicorns would have held on to their bitter rivalry with the Pegasi, I never imagined she would Side with Dark Eclipse but it does explain how a Pegasus gained the magical ability of immortality, now that I know it was a unicorn spell though I fear I have no choice."
"What are you talking about?" asked Gearworks confused Midnight was acting like he was going to do something horrible, it was likely that shouting and he did admit when he had heard Midnight shout it was terrifying the way the ground shook, and the air tightened, but he had used it to save everypony.
"Gearworks when I had shouted before I had used what is known as the clear weather shout, however there is an unforgivable, forbidden shout a shout that, when uttered, gives the pony the ability to kill a god."
Twilight was suddenly in shock
"Hold your horses, are you telling me that You plan on destroying Princes Celstia?" she asked.
"No but the shout was designed to destroy any immortal being, I believe it was being created During the Reign of Discord, back then Shouting was rare the ancient unicorns were losing there need for such powerful magic, but then Discord Came and he ruined the lives of all ponies, the other tribes wanted help form the unicorns but Discords magic was too powerful so they turned to look at the ancient shouts, however none existed that could stop discord so they created one, Horrifying words of power that when used forces the listener to comprehend their mortality with an immortal being it so powerfully forces the concept of death into their heads that their power is all but drained away.
But then Celestia and Luna came they stopped Discord turning him to stone, the Unicorns felt ashamed, the fact that their power would have been such a horrible tool of destruction, it was then decided that the secret of shouting must be hidden away for good. however one cannot simply hide this secret, they put their understanding onto paper and sealed them in hidden areas meanwhile the horrible shout known as Deus Rend, was placed in the secret caves of Canterlot even Celstia doesn't know of this and she never should hear this shout. however it takes a master of shouting to perform, but that's for later for now We must hurry."
'A shout to kill a god' Gearwork thought to himself 'something like that really should have been destroyed, but I can understand why it wasn't. Sadly the enemy knows about it and wants to use it.'
A sudden realization dawned on Gearwork "Wait, Midnight." Gearwork said "Maybe the book and scrolls that my mother gave me could help us. There might be a map telling us where they could be and - hold on I hear somepony approaching." Gearwork whipped his head around and took out a large ruby and charged up his magic "I won't be caught off guard this time" he whispered
"Who's there." Gearwork said in a booming voice "Show yourself." In response a large armored earth pony with no cutie mark came slowly in. Gearwork's eyes flashed a steel-blue and almost unleashed his magic, when he noticed that the earth pony had dropped the weapon he was wearing. Gearwork regained his composure and asked "Who are you and why are you here?"
The earth pony bowed and said "I'm sorry, I know you must take me for the enemy, but I side with those who are against Dark-Eclipse and Dusk-Shadow. You must think that their entire tribe are your enemy, but that is not true. There are small factions within the tribes that are against what Dark-Eclipse and her followers stand for. We would have revealed ourselves long ago, but we are too few in number. We would have been destroyed if we did reveal ourselves. When we heard about the storm that Dark-Eclipse sent was destroyed we knew we should reveal ourselves to the ones who did that. I was the messenger sent to tell you that you are not alone in this fight."
"So you're the one who was watching us make our way to Canterlot, I knew I saw an earth pony." Gearwork said, while putting the ruby away and charging down his magic.
"I'm surprised that you saw me, I am known to be one of the stealthiest earth ponies, in our faction. Very few are able to detect me, that is why I was sent to talk to you. My name is Stealthmane." The earth pony said. "I was sent because I would be more likely to be able to talk to you without you attacking. We knew that if we sent a unicorn or pegasus, they would most likely be struck down before they could convey our message to you."
I thought it would make things more interesting if there were rebels within the tribes, and that they are on our side.
Gearwork looked at the armored earth pony carefully, he was not about to fall victim to an enemy trick. He looked at the earth pony's eyes to if there was any sign of deceit, when there wasn't any, Gearwork decided to listen to what Stealthmane had to say.
After Stealthmane said what he had to say, Gearwork thought about it for a little while. 'It would make sense that there would be some rebel factions within the tribes, they do have free will after all.' Gearwork thought to himself, 'I know I would be part of that rebel group if I was part of the ancient tribes. I don't like to see oppression, and even less to see it enforced.'
Gearwork turned to Midnight and the others to see what they thought of Stealthmane's story. He then remembered that they should look at the book that Gearwork's mother gave him. He pulled out the ancient tome, and realized that this book was not printed on paper or parchment, but on metal. The pages were printed on a pieces of metal that were very thin but also incredibly durable. The words were also made from metal, but from a different kind of metal, that could be read on the sheets that the words were on. 'It would perfectly fit that the original version would be printed on metal instead of paper. It would be a better choice than paper, it would be more durable, last longer, and could not be destroyed by conventional means that would utterly destroy a normal book.' Gearwork thought. He then looked at the scrolls and they were also made from the same type of metal as the pages of the book. 'Metalmind really thought ahead with these, he made sure that they would last the ages, and that time would not be a factor.' Gearwork thought.
"I think we should find Bookworm, she should really know what is going on, and that we found the book." Gearwork said to the others, they all nodded and they headed to the library.
When they got there they saw that part of the library was in ruin, and they all rushed in to find Bookworm to see if she in need of medical attention. Gearwork and the others split up into one group of three and two groups of four to cover more ground so they could find her faster. Midnight and Trixie went with Twilight, Pinkie Pie went with Fluttershy, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash.
Gearwork decided to work with Rarity, Foxfire, and Stealthmane, he wanted to keep an eye on Stealthmane, just to make sure that he wouldn't try and sneak off. He also wanted to try and catch up with Foxfire, she was one of his very few friends, and he had not seen her in a few years. Rarity decided to join their group because she wanted to know more about the Hoofington mines, and also the machinery that Gearwork wore.
After a half hour of what seemed like a fruitless effort, Gearwork and his group passed a large pile of books that had fallen off the shelf when the explosion had occured. It was like many of the other piles of books they had passed, and would have gone with little notice until Gearwork heard a faint muffled voice under the pile say "Well that's interesting. I did not know that." He then heard what sounded like a book being shut and another being opened. "Well, we now know where she is." Gearwork then sighed and shook head slowly, and then said "Well, lets get her out of there." He and the others started moving books from the pile so they could free her.
Midnight and Trixie and Twilight all headed the Star Swirled the Bearded Wing, the reason being that there may have been a clue to where ancient Scrolls were hidden perhaps by some code.
"Are you sure that they'd let such a secret lying around?" asked Trixie
"If those unicorns were smart they'd leave some hint as to where they put them in case they need them later, I'd never throw something that valuable away" answered Twilight, Spike was riding on their back.
"Uh Guys the gate is locked."
Midnight Grit his teeth
"I don't have time for this"
his horn began to glow and suddenly they were all inside the wing with barely a blink of an eye.
Midnight rubbed his temple,
"That one always gets me after a full moon" he groaned
Twilight took charge.
"Let's get searching look for anything that might refer to the ancient unicorns just as Celstia was coming."
Bookworm was surprised to see... well, just see. She had been having some difficulty reading, given the poor lighting, but in one moment, that had all changed. She was about to go back to reading when she heard the sounds of several ponies outside. She didn't recognize any of them, save one - Gearwork.
"Well, lets get her out of there." he said, his voice somewhat annoyed. a few other voices nodded in agreement, and started moving the books. A few minutes later, she was free - and ready to giver her wonderful news.
"Gearwork, I've got great news! I found..." she started to say, holding up a copy of Of Elements and Armor, only to see the same book - though much older - in his hands. Shrugging ehr shoulders, she tossed the book back into the pile and continued, adding "out that there are multiple copies of that book."
She waited a few seconds for the awkwardness of the situation to dissipate before adding. "Thanks for digging me out." she said to everyone. "So... what did I miss?"
Gearwork looked at the book that Bookworm tossed back into the pile. He telekinetically grabbed the book and handed it back to her. "It's better if we have both copies of this book instead of just one, that way we could figure things out quicker" he told Bookworm.
"So... What did I miss?" Bookworm asked.
"Quite a bit." Gearwork responded "If you thought that my dropping off of those gemstones was just an errand, you would have been wrong. I'm glad I stopped over at my mother's store, she was actually holding on to this book." Gearwork moved the book a little "I also ran into Rarity over there" Rarity waved a little to say hello, "We also ran into Mossmane. I was correct that she wasn't who she said was. Her real name is Dusk-Shadow, the second-in-command to Dark Eclipse. She was about to attack me when my old friend Foxfire hit her and sent her flying and knocked her out. I already told Midnight about the incident and we were just about head here when I heard Stealthmane approach us." The armored earth pony appeared behind Gearwork and bowed slightly. "He says he's part of a rebel faction that is against Dark Eclipse and Dusk-Shadow, and that it includes earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns. He also says that the faction wants to help us stop Dark Eclipse and Dusk-Shadow's group. I think that now that we've found you, that should get back to-"
A tremendous explosion was heard from the area where Midnight, Trixie, and Twilight headed. "Midnight!" Gearwork bolted towards where the explosion came from and the others followed. He knew that this had to involve Dusk-Shadow, it was the only explanation that he could think of at the moment.
He ran into Applejack's group and they all headed to where the explosion came from and soon arrived in the Star Swirled the Bearded wing and saw Trixie and Midnight, and Twilight under a protective shield that Twilight conjured. There stood three ponies, but it looked like that two of the ponies, an armored unicorn and an armored pegasus were trying to hold off a familiar looking and angry unicorn.
"Goldwing! Stonehorn!" Stealthmane shouted, he charged to the side of the two ponies trying to hold off Dusk-Shadow. He grabbed his weapon off his back, a large halberd and swung it at Dusk-Shadow, who dodged it and shot a large blast of magical energy at him. It was deflected by another spell that the unicorn, named Stonehorn, casted in front of Stealthmane and it hit the wall near Dusk-Shadow and exploded. "Gearwork!" Stealthmane shouted "Get Midnight and the others out of here! We'll hold her off! We meet you after!"
Gearwork nodded and ran towards Midnight, Trixie and Twilight who just then dispersed the shield she had created and the group ran towards the exit of the library.
Midnight could see the Angry unicorn was using his magic, but he had a guess that None of Dusk-Shadows unicorns knew shouting The unicorn tribe was not fully adept and they had been prisoners
He turned back and charge
"Midnight what are you doing?" Cried Gearworks
Midnight Focused on the voice with himself he could hear the words inside he focused hard to channel power he was thinking into words.
"Magicae euanescere potentia amissa Midnight shouted at the Raging unicorn the Effect wasn't as Dramatic as his Previous shout, the walls didn't shake and there wasn't an echo but the effect was instantaneous. The magic from the raging unicorn suddenly fizzled out
"It worked I didn't think I could do it." Midnight said then his legs began to wobble a bit
"not again." he said trying to get away
Gearworks shook his head
"whats the point of having a power like that if it leaves you unable to run?" Asked Twilight
"This is nothing Last time I could barely stand." Midnight with Trixie's help was ale to get away.
When the magic from the enemy unicorn fizzled out, it immediately retreated with both Stonehorn and Goldwing in pursuit of it. Stealthmane turned around and soon joined the group, who by then had almost reached Trixie's caravan. He then helped Midnight enter it, and waited until everypony had entered before asking if he could come inside. Gearwork looked at Midnight who nodded his head weakly.
A few minutes later the caravan was already moving away from Canterlot, towards Hoofington. Gearwork had already started healing Midnight with one of the few emeralds he grabbed before he left for Canterlot. Rarity and Twilight were watching in amazement that a unicorn could use a gemstone to cast different spells. Twilight was watching intensely and trying to figure out so she could do it as well, it was an entirely new technique to her and she wanted to learn how to copy it. When Gearwork was done healing him, Midnight thanked him and started talking to Stealthmane.
While Midnight was doing that Bookworm was already reading the two copies of Elements and Armor and comparing them. Gearwork decided that while the others were doing their thing that he should try and use some of the dark iron that he recieved when he got the book, and try and add it to his mechanical wings. He took off the wings and took a few pieces of dark iron out of his bag. He held up the metal and focused his magic on shaping the metal, and soon realized that trying to shape it was draining him incredibly fast with little progress. He then thought of the spell stone he carried with him, he knew if he was able to use a small percent of it's power to help him with the metal that he could mold and shape the pieces much faster. 'Midnight's going think that I'm being reckless by doing this, but I'm only going to be holding the stone, not casting with it.' Gearwork thought while he took out the small violet stone that glowed with the golden light.
He held the stone in one of his hooves and started focusing on the metal again and he felt the stone's power flowing through him, and he felt a little uncomfortable and knew if he started feeling the slightest bit overwhelmed he would immediately let go of the stone. While he focused on the metal with the power flowing through him he was able to mold the metal much faster and was done building the new pair of wings in about the same amount of time it took him to build the reinforced wings. The new wings were larger than the reinforced set and looked a little more elegant. He put away the spell stone and put on the new set of wings and moved each wing, testing if they worked. When they did, he folded them down and decided to look out of the window.
Midnight Was resting for now, his eyes were closed and his face suggested he was having a pleasant dream in fact his dream was strange.
he was running around his observatory looking for a key to a lock that was keeping his mouth clamped shut. he heard some thing outside laughing but he could do nothing about it.
suddenly the world round his dram shattered and he was in a strange place where several unicorns they were wearing simple robes and gathered around a blue fire.
"Welcome, DO not be afraid, We have called you here, Once we were simple unicorns practicing the ancient Magics with Discipline and Wisdom we did not want to get involved with The Traitors we had hoped their attempt to Overrun he place you call Equestria would fail, some who had stayed but were wise enough to forgive decided to ask for our help we offered them shelter and food but would not use our magic for Personal gain. However when the Traitors lead there attack they were intent on using Ancient magic to threaten all that was in balance we could not risk this so now we help the resistance, We used a from of magic that caused your mind to project yourself into this place."
"Why for what purpose"
"To show you this."
Midnight saw these ponies were all watching several unicorns these unicorns were in chains like the ones before and they were being cruelly shoved around by Armored Pegasus, whats more there were earth ponies being forced to move large heavy chains.
finally a unicorns suddenly appeared. it was Dusk Shadow or at least it appeared to be here, he realized she was projecting herself, however she did it on her own.
"IS everything ready?" she asked
"Yes ma'am but uh......"
"What?"
"Are you sure this is a Good Idea?
"Don't question My plans, your Commander would have your Court Martialed for this."
The unicorns after some prodding began to vocalize their voices, Dusk shadow smiled
"That little stargazer thinks he is the only one with the Words of Power? he is dead wrong while Many can use the ancient tongue and create magic very few can speak the words of power No wonder the storm was dissipated."
she then took her position she read form a scroll similar to Midnight's
she looked up at the heavens a particular constellation. [HEADING=1]LAY MI NOR[/HEADING]
the earth shook violently and something began to swirl around the constellation, something was descending down to the ground, when is reached it took form a giant Dark Green creature that looked like a lion club Midnight gasped, it was just as he had suspected the Ursa minor and Ursa Major were not in fact natural creatures that happened to have constellations of them, they were beings created by magic.
and he just realized she had summoned her own, Leo minor a little one but he guessed like himself she had only one scroll.
It was a few hours since Gearwork had made the new pair of dark iron wings, he also had explained to both Rarity and Twilight how he used a gemstone's hidden abilities. He had been vague, since he couldn't really explain how he did it. Twilight had gotten annoyed with Gearwork since he couldn't be more descriptive, and help her figure it out, but she couldn't replicate the results.
Rarity on the other hand had made a little progress with it. 'It's probably because her affinity to gemstones already. She can already sense their location, so I would assume that she could learn to use their hidden power.' Gearwork thought to himself as he watched her cast small blue lights around a sapphire that he lent to both her and Twilight. He didn't want to give any other stones since a sapphire's ability was water and the worst thing that would happen is that they would all get wet. Bookworm wasn't too happy about the idea of getting wet, and/or getting the old books damaged, but she at least agreed when Gearwork said that it was either a sapphire that created water or a ruby that erupted fire.
Midnight was sleeping, but there was something off about him. It didn't look like he was actually fully dreaming, but more like he was having a vision. Gearwork could hear a few words being spoken that were almost inaudible, but he could make out at least a few words and the most audible that he heard startled him.
He heard Midnight grumble "LAY MI NOR" and he immediately knew that this was not a good thing. He remembered reading something about Ursa Major's and minors that there were other types of creatures that were similiar to them. Gearwork just knew that something even worse was about to happen and that the group had to hurry and find the pieces of armor in any hope of standing a chance against Dusk-Shadow and her spells.
Midnight awoke and shook his head
"Where are we?" he shouted startling Twilight and Rarity, luckily no one got hit by any stray magic.
"I just got projected elsewhere, Dusk-Shadow can shout, except she can do a lot worse than make the weather a sunny day. SHe can call forth an astral creature, I think though it can backfire now."
"How so?"
"Nopw I know all the constellations names are actually words of power, meaning If I can study one I might be able to translate on for my own." he said grinning.
Bookworm stared at midnight as he awoke then spoke. She had, until this point, been busy ensuring the continued well being of her many books; water was bad for them and she would not let Gearwork forget it. But, as he awoke, Bookworm felt the need to question something.
"Why is it every time something crazy happens, you end up unconscious?" she asked, her head tilted. Not waiting for an answer, she returned to the more important task of checking her books for damage. Fortuitously, it seemed her books had escaped damage - she knew there was a reason she had her saddle bags waterproofed.
A few minutes later, her task complete, and remembering Midnights words about constellations, Bookworm came up with another question - this one more serious. "What happens if you call Equuleus?" she asked, truly curious what calling to the little pony constellation would provide.
This Constellation business has brought up several questions in my mind.
1) So if calling out constellation names summons an avatar of the constellation, would calling out to the pony constellation call a pony? If so, that would be rather anti-climactic. Unless said pony was Dusk-Shadow, because then things get weird yet strangely fitting.
2) Are all the hero constellations in Equestria pony equivalents or are they still humans. To elaborate, if we call, say Hercules, do we end up with the traditional Greek human wearing a lion pelt and super-strength or a pony wearing a lion pelt with super strength?
3) What happens if we call Orion? Do we summon the avatar of our GM (minus one "n" I suppose)
4)Finally, what happens if we summon Libra (the scale)... do we get a better exchange rate between countries or...?
"Hmm, I don't know, I can't remember the story of Equuleus, I think it was a fast earth pony. I don't think Summoning a Pony would be smart, The Creatures usually obey whoever calls them but Ponies tend to do things on their own choice."
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