Chapter Fifteen: Soliloquy

私の小さい馬：大きな鉱石の物語

MY LITTLE PONY: THE LEGEND OF THE GREAT CRYSTALS

Daijuugoshou: Hitorigoto

だいじゅうごしょう：ひとりごと

第十五章：独り言

Chapter Fifteen: Soliloquy

Gash and Fluttershy had just left from the battle scene of the school, and they were now making their way to Golden Oaks. The words he had heard Silver Rose say couldn’t be eluded in his mind.

‘It looks like you, except not like you.’

‘Rather short pink mane and green eyes.’

‘Ridiculously powerful.’

‘It called itself Mizuko.’

All of these thoughts distracted him for a moment as he let his mind process what had just happened. He had trouble remembering what had happened before his dark transformation just a few minutes before, as if it caused some kind of memory loss. He could remember being hit multiple times, but he couldn’t remember where, nor what kind of injuries he had been afflicted with. He couldn’t remember anything that was said between them, which frustrated him. On the flipside, he now knew what the spell ‘Gireido’ did, which made him happy.

Before long, Fluttershy and Gash arrived at Golden Oaks. Fluttershy knocked at the door, which was quickly opened by Twilight. She saw the two and gave a small smile.

“Hello, Fluttershy and Gash. What brings you two here today?” she asked.

“We need you to send a message to Princess Celestia immediately,” Gash explained.

“What? Why?” she interrogated, stepping aside and motioning for the two to come in.

“I just fought a demon named Silver Rose at the school, and she disclosed some important information,” Gash told.

“A demon!? At the school!?” Twilight exclaimed.

“Yeah. I won, though, so it’s okay,” Gash said.

“Oh, that’s good. Was anypony hurt?” she questioned.

“I can’t remember. The only thing I remember is that I flew into a rage and started beating some serious as-“ he started, catching himself. “Some serious butt.”

“Oh. Well, I suppose I would’ve heard about it if anypony was seriously injured, so I guess that everypony’s fine, which is good. Anyway, you said that this demon, Silver Rose, let out some heavy information. What did she say?” she inquired.

“Can you take this down on a scroll?” he requested.

“Yes,” she answered, levitating a scroll, quill and inkwell to in front of her. “What did she say?”

“She said there was a demon that she had fought on the Canterlot Mountain that looked like another human,” he began.

When Twilight heard this, she gasped. She opened her mouth to speak, but didn’t say anything about it.

“Please continue,” she requested.

“She reported that this demon, who she said called herself ‘Mizuko,’ was a very powerful Mamono,” he went on. He waited a few moments for Twilight to finish writing before she looked at him, edging him to go on. “She said that Mizuko has pink hair and green eyes. She said that she was wearing a light-blue shirt or coat of some sort, as well as dark-gray pants. She had light-green shoes on her feet, and perhaps her hands as well. The reason I believe that it is human is because she said that it stands on two legs and that its skin color is the same as mine. The only other detail that I have been let upon by the demon is that Mizuko sounded female, but she said that she couldn’t tell. For the sake of our purpose, I suggest we simply refer to Mizuko as ‘she.’” he finished slowly. A minute later, Twilight had all of the information down on a scroll.

“Alright, I got it all down. Here,” she said, handing over the scroll.

Gash looked the script she had written and thought that it was good. He handed it back to her, giving a medium bow.

“Thank you. It is good,” he complimented.

“Wonderful! Spike?” she called out. The baby dragon wandered into the room with a dust cloth in claw.

“Yes, Twilight?” he served.

“We need you to send this scroll to Princess Celestia,” she demanded softly.

“No problem!” he agreed, putting down his duster.

She handed the manifest to Spike, who breathed an emerald flame over the scroll. The smoke that erupted from the scroll swirled around multiple times before exiting from the window.

“Hey, what are you doing!?” Gash shouted.

“I’m sending the letter to Princess Celestia…” he trailed with a confused look on his face.

“But you just burned the scroll!” Gash stated, putting a hand against his face.

“Oh, that,” Twilight started. “That didn’t burn the scroll. Right after I hatched Spike, Princess Celestia infused special magic into his flame breath that connected him directly to her, which allows him to send various things to her via the breath. He just sent the scroll over to her. He can also send other things, such as materials, such as cloth and wood, as well as items such as pencils or books. We’ve never had the need to send anything other than scrolls, so we don’t. Do you understand?”

“I do understand. That’s an interesting little ability you’ve got there. Have you ever sent anything by accident?” Gash asked to Spike.

“Well…not really. I can decide when I want to use ‘special flames,’ as I call it, and normal fire,” he explained. “I don’t really know how to explain it. If I get scared or surprised, I usually end up using my special flames by accident.”

“I see. So, how do you get letters back from Celesti-“ he started, but was surprised when he saw Spike start to cough. “Hey, are you alright?”

Spike’s cheeks puffed up as a small stream of smoke was blown out of his nostrils. He released a loud belch and more smoke was burped out, which coalesced into a scroll, of which had a golden seal on it. Gash just sat there with his mouth open as the scroll landed in his outstretched, open hand.

“Well…that’s…unique. A magical, burping, purple, talking dragon. Are there any other things that you can do?” he asked.

“Aside from being cool? Nah, I’m just me,” he stated, gaining chuckles from the generality.

“Nice. So, let’s see what’s in this scroll,” Gash said, removing the seal and opening the scroll.

“Dear, Twilight and Gash,

I have heard rumors about another human being in Equestria. Now that my suspicions have been confirmed, I fear for the safety of our nation. Based off of my knowledge, humans are a mainly dangerous, vile and cruel species of creatures. For this reason I have sent out search parties to look for ‘Mizuko.’ If she is spotted, we will immediately detain her and bring you, as well as the other Elements of Harmony to Canterlot to question her. Until then, be wary.

Princess Celestia.”

After he finished reading the scroll, he nodded his head in agreement, thinking that this was the best thing that Celestia probably could have done.

“Makes sense to me,” he said as everypony nodded their heads. “So, is that all that we had to do here?”

“Well, I have some books to return,” Fluttershy admitted, opening her saddlebag with her wing. She lifted the two books out and winged them over to Twilight.

‘How the hell do they even do that?’ Gash thought.

“Oh! Thank you, Fluttershy,” Twilight gratified, giving the books to Spike to reshelf.

“I think that’s all we have to do here,” Fluttershy said, looking over to Gash.

“I think so,” he agreed.

“Well, I’ll let you two be on your way, then,” Twilight allowed, waving to them as they headed out. “Bye!”

“See ya!”

“Until next time.”

“Sister, is something the matter?” Luna asked out.

She had wandered around the castle for a while that night, taking her duties as Guardian of the Night seriously. It was during this stroll she had felt strong waves of frustration coming from her older sister. Following the emotions, she found Celestia staring out into the Royal Gardens from her bedroom’s balcony. She had pushed the door to her bedroom open and now Luna stood behind the Princess of the Sun. A deep, heavy sigh came from the Solar Goddess, and she nodded.

“A message came from Ponyville this afternoon, Luna.”

“And?”

“Gash appears to have been attacked by a Book Wielder. Somepony named Silver Rose. I’ve ordered the Guards to look into her background for us,” she informed. Luna placed a hoof over her mouth in shock.

“Is everypony alright?”

"Yes, thankfully. But, there was more. Silver Rose, before fading, told Gash about a second human-like Mamono that she spotted on Canterlot Mountain,” Celestia said with an angry tone to her voice.

“Oh, dear. This is most unpleasant news. First Gash and the books appeared, now there are ponies gaining their own Books of Power! And a new human has appeared in the heart of Equestria! This is just like all those years ago…” she trailed. Celestia nodded solemnly.

“Yes, exactly like a thousand years ago. I fear Gash may have something to do with it this time.” Luna frowned at that and shook her head.

“Tia, ‘tis nopony's, or human's, fault for the Books appearing. It has happened before, and now it happens again. Gash’s appearance is not his fault, from what we can tell. Just like him…”

“Never speak of that… monster… again, Luna!” Celestia’s voice rose several decibels, and she turned to Luna with a blazing fury in her eyes. “He is the reason we fought Discord and Sombra! He forced me to imprison you on the Moon!”

“It was not his fault, Sister! He was a stranger in a new and terrifying land, and all he wanted was peace and friendship! If only we had done more for him, we could have saved him!”

“No! He did not deserve our friendship or to be saved! He, and all other humans, are vile and spiteful monsters!” she bellowed. Celestia’s rage made Luna shiver in fear, but she rallied quickly.

“And what of Gash?” Luna demanded, and Celestia’s fury dimmed slightly. “Do you think he is evil? That he must be punished for being what he is?”

“He turned on the ponies of Ponyville and betrayed their trust!”

“They treated him like an outsider and a beast, and fell into the embrace of evil because of it! He took the path of vengeance because of his Book, and the ease of its power! Just like me, sister!” Luna’s voice had not risen, but as she spoke, tears welled up in her eyes and she sunk to the floor and wept. Celestia immediately regretted raising her voice at her sibling and rushed over to comfort her.

“Gash hurt Twilight and Fluttershy, Luna,” Celestia said softly.

“He repented when he saw his errors,” Luna replied with a sniffle.

“We gave kindness to ‘him’ once, and betrayed us.”

“Gash is not ‘him’, Tia.”

At that, Celestia looked up and out the window at the star studded sky, and the calming glow of the moon. She nuzzled her sister and lay next to her. She said nothing, but her expression told it all. Luna, seeing this, wiped her eyes dry with her foreleg, and returned the nuzzle.

“I know you miss him, Tia, and how much his actions hurt you.” At this, Celestia finally let her own sadness appear, and shed silent tears while Luna comforted her in the light of the moon.

The next day, Rarity had taken a trip to Rambling Rock Ridge because she needed gems for some dresses she was working on for a client. She had just gotten off the train and was traveling to a location she had been to many times before when she needed to search for gems. She had no trouble getting there and she immediately began to search and dig for the jewels. She carried a large box on her back to put the jewels in.

Around this area, there were many large, spiked rocks that had erupted from the earth’s barren surface, many of which had lots of crystals in them. Unfortunately for Rarity, she didn’t have any spells that were strong enough to crack the rocks, which was a shame; having that ability would save her loads of time. For nearly an hour and a half, she searched around, but found nothing. She found herself confused, as this area was usually teeming with valuables.

“Radisu!"

Suddenly, a blast of white energy exploded into a rock behind her, knocking her forward quite a ways. She screamed from shock as she flew through the air quite a ways, rolling on her side when she landed. Looking back in complete fear, she was pelted by rocks, some of which pierced into her skin. Her coat became dirty as she cast a tiny barrier over her body to reflect the stones.

“What has happened!?” she cried out as the rocks stopped flying.

Looking on in fear, she lifted herself back up to her hooves. She took a step back, her eyes widened from the experience.

“Wh-Who’s there!?” she shouted, taking up a half-baked battle stance.

There was dead silence. She felt mortified, thinking that after what had happened, she could potentially be meeting her end. Whatever it was clearly had the potential to kill her.

After about a minute of no answer, she reluctantly took a few steps towards the split open rock. With every step she took a double take out of paranoia that she would be attacked. Deathly quiet roamed the lands around as a hollow clop was created from her hoofsteps. The wind breezed along as tumbleweeds spun across the orange ground, creating a creepy ambience.

As she got to the rock that had been split down the middle, she looked inside. A huge amount of gems lined the inside, creating a light show of greens, blues, reds, yellows and many other colors. At the bottom of the hollowed out rock was a purple book, of which had the same strange markings that Gash’s book did.

“A book…?” she confusedly asked to nothing, lifting it out with her levitation. “It looks like Gash’s.”

She opened it and glanced upon the white text. There were no readable words to her as she slowly flipped through the pages. Eventually, she came upon a page that had some purple text.

“This text is of a separate color,” she said to herself. “I can read it, as well.”

“Shizaruku.”

The book glowed as her mane started to separate into multiple strands that weaved around themselves. She felt her hooves plant themselves into the ground. Her mane had knitted itself into a giant pair of scissors.

“My mane! It turned itself into a pair of scissors…” she blatantly stated as she took a few steps around. “Can I use this for something?”

She walked around with her mane still in its spell form and tried going up to a rock. Without even thinking about it, the giant pair of hair-scissors cut through it, slicing it into two clean halves.

“Oh, my! This can be very useful for my dress making!” she cried out as she began stuffing gems into the box she was carrying. Eventually, her mane turned back into its normal, curly self.

For the next fifteen to twenty minutes, Rarity collected gems from the rocks she had cut. Once she found her box completely full, she decided to head back to the train station and go back home.

Once the area had been cleared, the same figure that had attacked Applejack emerged from the shadows of the rocks. The creature was merely a silhouette, with no noticeable features except for the fact that it was very tall and had white eyes.

“Well, it seems that generous Rarity with a lack of folly has been deceived into the game. A misery to be fallen to the ground is a deficit to the minds of the unwary souls that plague against the land once beautiful. For that she may be one of success, she may be one of great power. She understands little of strength, nor of brawn or power to fell thine enemies,” it said.

The voice still had a metallic sound that resonated through the ridge, just as it did when it struck out at Applejack. It walked around as it spoke to no one, observing the ridge.

“For once a great land alone from life hath become one of woe, I jump not at the idealistic of the great powers that attempt to enrich the land. For the lies that have been placed in this mind of insanity be the sirrah that causes others to bleed to their own satisfaction of the insane mind, I hath bring it to my own opportunity to once again strike down the brightness of the sky.”

“The powers executed upon dark fall upon the eyes of the loved, but the abused speech does leave the soul to break into the pieces of the divinity. The caitiff asp known once before that tried to desolate the heavens doubted the estate of the mind once pure and mellow, bringing upon the wrath eternal from these sullen terms.”

“My abhorred ability that failed before passing to a safe realm could not calm the minds of the two deceitful, mustered cherubin, but only cause the destruction of sanity for a sacrificed soul awakened.”

“The ability in the censure from the sun to the moon was found lacking in the chance brought forth to the resurrected light of my power since forgotten. The ones I have brought to be cozened to hath passed the battle former into the present, to be intervening the great quarrels that occur in frequent.”

“To the one the sirrah calls his friend shall be the next target to my idle play. She is weak, unable to ward off the spirits of those with great ability, or even the smallest of abilities. Her being is to be menacing, allowing herself to release the true mental condition. She is one to be played with, to be brought into my light now festered.”

Once the creature finished soliloquizing, it disappeared in a flash of light.