Tales of Equestria

                                                    Chapter 8: Legends of Harmony and Light

After a few hours of studying "The Legend of the Elements of Harmony". I began to understand a few more things. Seeing that I had finished reading. The old unicorn stood up and replaced the legend book. "Now then," he said turning to me, "Now that you have the solid foundation of the past, its time to build up to the present, and maybe take a peek at the future." He began pacing, "Tell me, how much has she told you about the "Legend of Light and Darkness"? I blinked, thinking for a second, then remembered that Celestia mentioned a "Legend" of some kind. I proceeded to tell him what Celestia told me. The janitor stroked the stubble on his chin thoughtfully, then said, "Well, that's all you really need to know currently. After you gain a bit more knowledge, we'll discuss the rest."

"Oh, I was really hoping you would just go ahead and tell him!" A familiarly strange voice seemed to echo from everywhere at once. I jumped slightly, while the unicorn janitor merely grinned mysteriously. "Ah, Discord, I was beginning to wonder if you were ever going to come out of hiding my old 'Friend'." Suddenly, my shadow jumped up and took the form of the mish-mashed dragon creature. "Daddy?" said a strange young feminine voice that appeared to come from a small decorative vase, "Can I come out now?"

Discord smiled and snapped his paw. Instantly, the vase turned into a strange little filly. She was a weird light pinky-purple color, and wore a strange propeller hat that seemed to never slow down. She turned to me and smiled. "Hi!" she said, "I'm Screwball! You must be that new pony human that Daddy was talking about." Before I could come up with a reply, she quickly trotted up to me, planted herself infront of me, and began starring straight into my eyes. I opened my mouth to say something, when the whole world suddenly began flipping out. I felt like I had suddenly stumbled into a roller coaster, and all I could see was those twisting, glowing irises. I tried to look away from those unsettling eyes, but my body wouldn't function at all.

Eventually world stopped spinning and I regained control over my bodily functions. I slowly became aware of the fact that I was now on the ground, starring up at Screwball's cute yet slightly crazy grin. She turned around and walked over to Discord, and after whispering something in his ear, she ran off. I shook my head and muttered "What happened?" Discord gave a little chuckle, "Well well well! It's rare that my precious little doll actually finds someone interesting enough to put them through the 'Test'. And a pony no less!" Discord stroked his beard thoughtfully and said "Well now, guess I'd better keep an eye on you Danny. Or is it Blade Edge now? You intrigue me boy, we'll see just how well you turn out. But for now,"  He said floating up and looking around, "I best be going, Celestia is going to be back any second now. And your 'Teacher' there might want to make himself scarce...or uninteresting at least!" With that, for the second time today, Discord have a little bow before vanishing in a puff of smoke. "He's right, I can already sense her coming. We shall talk more later." He turned to leave, but I quickly stopped him. "Wait, I didn't even get your name mister?" The mysterious unicorn chuckled to himself and answered, "Just call me "Gramps", all you young "Whippersnappers" do, and I find it a rather pleasant nickname." He then turned away and trotted off to attend to whatever business he had.

As soon as he turned a corner, Princess Celestia's calm, regal form strode up to me. "Hello Blade, I trust your studies went well?" I simply nodded yes, "Very well, I believe you've earned a break. I'm giving you permission to wander the castle at your leisure. I advise you to talk to any and every pony you meet here, so that you might learn more about this place. And possibly make a few friends." After she informed me about a few "Off-limits" areas, she gracefully made her exit, leaving me to my own devices. I exited the library and figured that I might as well wander around. I began slowly meandering down the hallways, poking my head into doors to see what room lay beyond them (Knocking before entering if they were closed of course. It would have been rude not to!). I trotted up to a pair of blue doors and knocked on them. However, this time a received a reply. "About time!" said a rather huffy stallion's voice, "You may enter.". Feeling rather confused, I opened the door and was greeted by the sight of a rather snooty looking unicorn stallion and was given my very first mundane task that I would later call a "Quest". "Ugh, the service gets slower and slower around here." He said curtly. I opened my mouth to say I wasn't one of the staff, when he cut me off. "I'm starving, go and get me a sandwich." he then gestured for me to leave. "B-but!" I tried to protest. "What? Are you so incompetent, that you can't understand a simple instruction from a superior?" He said curtly, slightly annoying me with his tone. "The kitchen shouldn't be that hard to find, for even one as lowly as you. Its just down the hall.". I sighed slightly exasperated and trotted off down the hall in the direction he directed. I opened the door to the kitchen to find it bustling with several ponies and yet another kind of strange, sentient creature. He was a four-legged mish-mash beast that had a bird-like body and head. Its front-legs were talons, while its hind-legs were what appeared to be the paws of a lion. It took me about three seconds to identify it as a griffon. He wore a chief's hat and was busy cooking something over a stove. "Uh, excuse me sir?" I spoke up, not wanting to distract him if he was doing something important. He turned around and looked at me. Smiling and stroking a curly mustache, he answered with a friendly, "Ahhhh. Bonjour! Welcome to the kitchen newcomer. I am Chief Pierre! Celestia told me zat some new face would show itself around here.". I introduced myself and told him what that stallion wanted. He frowned for a minute and said, "Zat Prince Blueblood iz an infuriating one no? Don't worry friend! I know exactly what he wants." The griffon turned to a counter and picked up a plate with a sandwich on it. "E're," He said giving me the plate, "Zis is what ze prince ordered! Try to ignore his 'ow do you say? 'Antics'." I nodded, levitated the plate of food, and made my exit.