Red Ink and Long Jump: Story 2

Chapters

Red Ink Packs for an Adventure
Calpain Settles an Argument
Red Ink Leads an Investigation

Red Ink Packs for an Adventure

It always took Red Ink far too long to pack. When he’d left on vacation, he’d spent several days trying to figure out exactly what he needed to take, and exactly how to fit all of those things into a few bags. The red-coated pony ran back and forth across his apartment, floating one thing and then another into a bag. He threw a magic book into the main saddlebag, then paused, and floated it onto his bed. If they were going on a long journey, perhaps he should keep extra reading to a minimum. Maybe a few spellbooks would be in order, or some protective charms. He yanked open a drawer, checked to see if any of the pendants still glowed, and moved those into a small satchel.

Maybe Long Jump packed efficiently. As he understood, ponies in the military always knew how to use space well, but he didn’t know if Long Jump fell into that category. The only time they’d gone anywhere together, Red Ink had been the one moving them around. Now, they were in Canterlot, with access to all of Red Ink’s stuff. What would he need on a secret mission for Luna?

That was really the problem – if he knew more than what direction they were going, he could prepare. He definitely couldn’t bring every book in his apartment or every magical item, because then they’d need a carriage and hire some ponies just to carry everything. If Luna wanted this to stay low-key, she probably need want the young professor to hire extra help or gab on about it out in town. Sighing, the stallion floated a waterproof wizard’s hat into his bag. That would come in handy, especially with the glowing stars dangling off the brim.

Maybe he should check in on Calpain. The buckskin earth pony was his teaching assistant and planned to come with them. What would he take with him? Probably an extra coat, and some books, but Red Ink didn’t really know what the other pony might bring. Maybe he should check to make sure they both didn’t bring the same magic book.

It took him a few minutes to get out of his apartment, mostly because of all the things he’d left floating in the air. It took him only a moment of concentration to move them back to a flat surface, and then he trotted into the hall. Calpain lived nearby, since he worked with Red Ink at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, but he didn’t have a nice tower spire like Red Ink. Odds were, his apartment would be surrounded by other assistants’ homes or students.

There were more than a few apartment buildings near the school, mostly refurbished dormitories for the many magical students, but some of the younger professors and most of the assistants lived there as well. Many of them weren’t around right now, because it was the summer break, but a dozen or so foals loitered in front of Calpain’s building, talking about some recent movie. One of them noticed him and started to get up, but he just shook his head. No need to try and be formal with students today. He was about to be on an adventure. Red Ink walked right into the building and turned a corner in the hallway to look at Cal’s apartment’s slightly open door.

Cal’s apartment was a lot cleaner than those of other student he’d visited. Maybe it was because he was a little older, or he was just a cleaner pony, but instead of things like the crumpled-up papers that dotted Red Ink’s apartment, it looked as though there were as many books in the one-room space as there were in Red Ink’s entire home. They were stacked on the small table, all around the bed, and filled a single bookcase to the point that every shelf bowed significantly. Red Ink pushed open the door a little further, accidentally pushing a stack of books over.

“I’ll be with you in a moment,” Calpain said. The buckskin-patterned pony hadn’t turned around. He was bent with his nose in a giant saddlebag, and Red Ink now noticed a variety of scrolls, ink bottles, trail rations, and the like scattered on the bed, it being the only area of the apartment not stuffed with books. Even there, however, a few paperback books sat waiting to be crammed into the bag.

“What all are you taking?” Red Ink asked. The buckskin-patterned pony jumped a little, but relaxed when he looked up at the unicorn.

“I’m…I’m not sure yet. There’s so much stuff we might need. I’d bring the seven ritual books I have, but I’m not sure if I have the space. It’s all stuff I can draw, but it might be best if we bring at least a few of them. I’ve got these candles that can’t be blown out, and some scrolls that you could use if we need them. There’s even a bag or two of trail rations in case there isn’t enough grass…”

Calpain then ducked under the bed, and bracing his back hooves, he yanked something out. Red Ink needed to take a step backward – there were two full, bulging saddlebags already zipped shut under there.

“This is just extra coats, spell components, and maps. I’ve been packing since early this morning.”

“Why did it take so long?” Red Ink thought, and then realized he was being stupid. Of course it took the earth pony longer to pack – he didn’t have magic to float everything around and look at it.

“Well,” Red Ink continued quickly, “what if you just brought the rations and spellbooks? We can probably figure everything else out. I’ll bring some magic scrolls and money. Those candles sound good too. Where’d you get them?”

“The school’s storerooms. How do you think they keep the hallways lit at night?” Calpain asked.

Well, to be honest, Red Ink had always figured there was a mass of servants rushing this way and that, making the school look perfect all the time. He probably should have figured magic was involved.

“Well, you finish packing. Probably get it down to just the two saddlebags. I’m betting we don’t want to be overburdened,” Red Ink said.

“How is Long Jump doing with his packing?” Calpain asked.

“I don’t know. He wasn’t there when I got up,” Red Ink said. Maybe he should check there as well, but he felt a member of the military could definitely pack light.

• • •

Long Jump awoke an hour before dawn, ignoring the siren’s call of one of Red Ink’s couches he’d slept on the night before. He stole an apple and orange from the unicorn’s kitchen for breakfast, then after a bit of searching found the remains of his saddlebags. Confirming that there was nothing else useful in them he took his battered notebook. Leaving a note on the table that he was leaving for the training base, the grounded pegasus drew on his black cloak and headed out to the city streets.

During his walk from the university, Long Jump reviewed the events of yesterday in his head, his expression getting harder each moment as he did so. While the enchanted collar Red Ink made for him kept the pain down, he was aware of how badly his injuries were aggravated from yesterday’s ‘events’. He should be on paid leave like Prince Shining Armor said, not going on some mission for Princess Luna. He should be in the hospital seeing if his cheek bone was broken, not hobbling down the capitol streets. He should be getting physical therapy so that his right foreleg would get back to strength, not having to worry about keeping his friends safe from whatever when he wasn’t sure he could defend himself from a filly.

By the time the lieutenant had rounded the last corner and was on the way to the side entrance to the base. His jaw throbbed from grinding his teeth in impotent frustration. With his head down he was taken by surprise when the guard at the gate told him to stop, this causing Long Jump to look up confused.

“What?” the pegasus asked, keeping his voice flat as possible.

“Long Jump what are you doing here? The Prince himself told you to take a break,” the uniformly white guard in the golden celestial armor responded. It took Long Jump a moment of study to the guard to remember who he was under the glamour the armor provided.

“Sunstone, please let me in. I need to talk to the quartermaster,” Long Jump said.

The side of Sunstone’s mouth turned up in a little bit of a grin and he nudged his fellow guard on the other side of the entrance, whose eyes widened a bit “So you did go home with that unicorn from yesterday, eh?”

Long Jump blinked. “What.”

“We were trying to figure out why that unicorn turned this place upside down yesterday for your sorry hide, guess he wanted his toy guard back.” The guard next to Sunstone was doing his best to keep from breaking out laughing.

Long Jump took a few steps up to Sunstone and put a hoof on his shoulder, then just pushed him out of the way. Both of them broke out laughing behind his back as he limped into the base, making the pegasus’s mood even darker.

He headed for the barracks first, not having to dodge the usual hum of activity the base had due to the early hour. However, he did stop for a moment to stare at the potatoes having been pushed into a pile at some point, and held there by some riot barriers. Reaching the building that held his bunk he stepped in quietly, as not to wake any of the other ponies who were off duty and asleep, and headed to his hoof locker.

He let out a sigh and opened it. He never owned much but somepony had decided to help themselves to his possessions, save just left a blank notebook and a few pencils. He took them and then closed the chest quietly, stepping out with his ears low. He could understand taking his bits, but why would somepony take his little plush guard doll? His gut told him that Bulwark had probably seized everything when he had him arrested, and that instead of turning it over as seized property it was gone. Still, Long Jump stopped at the entrance of the barracks and filed a brief theft report. After he turned he could hear the ensign’s mirthful giggles when he left the building.

His fellow guards laughing at him was starting to get on his already-frayed nerves, but he bit down his frustration, the dawn getting brighter meaning he was going to be late if he didn’t get his flank in gear. Managing something of a trot he crossed the base grounds to the quartermaster’s, ignoring the calls of his co-workers asking if he was alright, why he was here, and in one case a cat-call.

A bored-looking unicorn cadet was at the counter instead of the usual quartermaster, probably due to the early hour. Long Jump cleared his throat rather roughly to get his attention, making the mare jump, knocking her coffee over as she got to her hoofs and snapped a salute.

“At ease, cadet. I need a small-sized earth pony field kit, a hoof crossbow, dagger, and a new Mark of the Crown… and why are you blushing?”

“Sir, sorry, sir,” she stammered, her blush coloring her peach colored cheeks a deeper tint of red. “But aren’t you a pegasus? Why do you need an earth pony kit?”

Long Jump huffed in annoyance and threw up the right side of his cloak, turning to show the mare the lack of wing on that side. “That enough of a reason? Get moving cadet I’m on a tight time-table. Oh, and I need some wide and narrow linen bandages, and some leather strapping.” The mare’s blush got even deeper at the word leather, this finally pushing Long Jump over the edge “NOW!” he shouted and the cadet tripped over herself running to the stockrooms. He tapped his hoof impatiently while the mare scrambled, gathering the requested equipment and bringing it in a floating ball to the counter.

This wasn’t the first time he’d re-applied the bandages, but this was the first time he’d done it recently without Red’s assistance. However, he was not going to just trot out of town without doing this. The easiest part was getting his remaining wing to lay flat, with the bandages only really serving to hold it down so he didn’t flap it and fall over. He worked the second roll around his right shoulder, just to stop it from jostling too much, and then finally made a sling from the wide bandages and the straps to just set his right hind leg in, so he wouldn’t trip over his own hooves. As he suspected, and confirmed with the sling, he was wasting a lot of energy keeping his leg up to avoid wearing his hoof down to the quick from dragging it. With a few secure tugs he got the barding around him. The cadet just sort of watched, but didn’t say anything. He was getting a lot better at self-sufficiency, but that whole stunt had tired him out.

Finally the armaments. He didn’t know if he’d need them, but he’d be dammed if he was going to be caught without them. The shield and spear attached to the left side of the field pannier, and on the right was a general purpose bag already filled with supplies. The dagger slipped into the holster attached to his shoulder, at the right height for him to grab it with his teeth. Finally the crossbow and bolts around his right forelimb.

With his armor on his slung the pannier over his back and then checked the mirror, clipping the Mark of the Crown badge on his left shoulder. Looking over himself, everything was in order, crossbow secured, dagger not slipping, pack balanced, the collar rotated so that the shiny heart shaped lock was quite visible hanging off of the front instead of hidden in his mane…

“I’m going to kill that unicorn.”

• • •

After stomping out of the base, it did not take long for Long Jump to make it to the gates of Canterlot. Red Ink and Calpain were already there, saddlebags hanging off their sides, and chatting as though nothing was wrong. He glared at the two of them from under the hood of his cloak, but neither seemed to notice. He wanted the little heart-shaped lock to go away, and he wanted to pummel the stupid unicorn that had locked it on him. Right now, though, they had a mission, however vague is might be. He trotted over on his three good legs to the two waiting ponies. Mission first, yelling at Red Ink second.

Author's Note

2014-10-02: Revision 1

Calpain Settles an Argument

The next morning started with a fiery letter.

Calpain had always heard about the Princesses sending letters through magic, but he had always figured that was only on special occasions. However, now he bolted up at the flash of fire a few feet from his eyes, and watched an envelope fall down onto the bed next to him. It didn’t actually look on fire, but he could have sworn he’d seen fire. He looked around the room, and realized from the grey light coming in through the window it was only a few minutes from dawn. When he actually glanced at the envelope, he noticed the giant crescent moon wax seal.

“Red!” Long Jump called out. The unicorn rolled, and then Calpain winced as Red Ink fell on top of him.

“What? What’s happened? What’s going on?” the unicorn said. His horn glowed for a moment, and the room lit up as though it was noon.

“I think Princess Luna sent you a letter,” Long Jump said.

Their little group had arrived late at the inn, and Red Ink had refused to sleep in the common room like a sensible pony. Instead, he’d plopped several coins down on the bartop and started to walk upstairs like money solved all his problems. Calpain’s issue with this had been that the money DID solve the problem: a colt rushed after them with a key and a few bowls of barley stew. Long Jump hadn’t said anything last night, instead just removed the harder parts of his gear, leaving on most of the barding and flopped down on the bed and gone to sleep. Calpain had slept on the floor with a blanket.

Red Ink got up, split open the seal with magic and pulled out a very long piece of parchment with elegant-looking lettering. Calpain didn’t feel like reading along, so he rolled over and focused on waking up. Red Ink made a bunch of ‘erm’ and ‘hmmm’ noises, but now Calpain just wanted to get one more hour of sleep in before they started back out on the road. They knew their direction. Princess Luna must have just sent some specific instructions.

“Mmm…” Red Ink mumbled. Calpain stood up a bit shakily.

“Something more specific?” Calpain asked. He licked his lips. Maybe there was oatmeal downstairs.

“We’re apparently going to the Ascelle Ruins,” Red Ink said. “I’ve actually never been there.”

“I have,” Calpain said. Long Jump turned to stare at the earth pony, which made Calpain blush. As he understood, Red Ink was quite well-traveled, but Long Jump rarely left the capitol.

“It’s basically just a bunch of crumbling buildings, trees, and some weird plants,” Calpain continued. “I don’t know why she’d need us to go out there. I’ve found some rare plants for potions, but nothing you can’t find anywhere else.”

“Maybe something evil moved in,” Long Jump mumbled. Both of the other ponies stared at him.

“Why wouldn’t Luna just take care of it, then?” Red Ink asked.

“Not my place to question that,” Long Jump said. “We have our orders.”

“Well, I sure can question it,” Red Ink said. He got up off the floor and trotted over to the window. Even if the light of his horn was bright, he still apparently wanted some natural light.

“The ink is completely dry…” Red Ink continued. “She must have written this before we left. I wonder why she waited to send it.”

“Maybe she was worried it would be intercepted?” Calpain suggested.

“Is that possible?” Long Jump asked. Calpain knew how the messenger spells worked, but whether or not a powerful unicorn could interfere with them was a weird question that he didn’t really have the answer to; his specialties were more on the practical, physical side of things instead of the metaphysical stuff.

“I’m… not sure,” Red Ink said, his gaze still on the letter. Well, that was a little disconcerting. If a professor of magic didn’t know if someone was even possible, did that mean they’d be screwed if something more important came up?

“Well, I’m awake,” Long Jump said and rolled out of bed. Calpain caught a glimpse of the heart-shaped lock as he limped to the door, opened it, and slammed it back shut behind him.

“Is something wrong?” Calpain asked.

Red Ink sighed, stretched, and rolled his neck a few times before answering. Calpain had run this routine before; when Red Ink was searching for a more appropriate way to describe something, he delayed to give himself time to censor his language.

“Long Jump is mad at me about the lock, I think,” Red Ink mumbled. He honestly looked down about the whole thing, but Calpain kind of figured it was his own fault.

“Maybe you should have asked him before snapping a heart-shaped lock on his collar,” Calpain said, though he couldn’t help but smile a little. Long Jump might be overreacting a little, but Red Ink did stuff like this all the time. He’d move stuff around the lab, borrow books without asking, or eat hay from someone else’s plate, assuming a joke or a smooth word would fix it. Calpain didn’t think that worked as well for Long Jump.

“I don’t see what the problem is. It’s cute!” Red Ink said.

“I think that’s the problem,” Calpain replied, but still tried not to smile. It was funny to see Long Jump, the proud, stoic soldier, with a heart dangling from his collar.

“Well, I don’t have a spare one with me. If he wants the pain suppression spells to work, he’ll need to keep wearing it,” Red Ink said.

“Could you change the shape?” Calpain asked. He knew a few spells that could alter how plants grew or the shape of a desk, but didn’t know if they’d work on something so small. Magic could be weird that way.

“Maybe,” Red Ink admitted, “but I think it’s cute.”

“Do you want him to stay mad at you?” Calpain asked.

It took the unicorn a moment to answer. He was probably so used to being right or not being challenged that the idea of Long Jump just not accepting something was too bizarre.

“No. I’ll fix it.”

Calpain then followed the unicorn out of the room, down the stairs, and around the corner to the common room. Most of those ponies that had chosen to sleep there last night were still there, but he did notice a few pulling on armor or gathering their things. It made the most sense to leave at dawn, since it would probably grow hot midday, and no pony wanted to walk down a dusty road while sweating through their coats. Red Ink turned back to Calpain.

“Should I do it now?” Red Ink whispered.

“Tell him what you’re doing,” the earth pony said. “I think he’ll feel better.”

Red Ink walked over to Long Jump, and as soon as the unicorn started talking the guard got up and limped back to the stairs, leaving his breakfast unfinished.

“Well, that didn’t work,” Red Ink said, looking a little crestfallen but overall still fairly chipper. Calpain did not really understand his level of confidence. Sure, he was a professor, but surely he couldn’t expect everything to go his way all the time?

“Did you expect it to be that easy?” Calpain asked. “He’s really mad at you. You locked a tiny heart around his neck that he can’t pull off.”

“I needed a focus for the spell, and it was…”

Calpain cut him off. “I think you need to actually talk to him. Explain everything to him. And apologize. Don’t say ‘I’m sorry you’re mad.’ Actually apologize. He’s not a student or an angry guard. Well, he is an angry guard, but not because you accidentally turned him into a frog like last year in Canterlot. Talking to him is important.”

Red Ink sighed heavily and propped himself up against the bar. “How can I fix it?”

“Glad you asked,” Calpain answered, and couldn’t help but smile a little. “Go upstairs. Be quiet. Be nice. Try not to smirk.”

“I smirk all the time,” Red Ink countered.

“I think that’s part of the problem.”

Red Ink sighed again, but rather than continue trying to figure out a way out of it like Calpain had expected, the unicorn instead trudged away and upstairs.

While they sorted out their issues, Calpain went ahead and assessed his own situation. Here he was, on a mission, with little else to entertain him. He wanted Red Ink and Long Jump to be happy, but there was little he could do in that situation besides point out to the unicorn when he was being unreasonable. Otherwise, Calpain would do his best to contribute where he could. He might not have the magical prowess that Red Ink had, or the knowledge of the Crown that Long Jump had, but he was probably the only one amongst the three of them who could push heavy things or identify all the strange things they may discover.

A few minutes later, the two other ponies came downstairs, Long Jump in a shaky, unstable lead as he went directly back to the bar and motioned for the barkeep to return his unfinished breakfast. Red Ink walked over to Long Jump. Calpain didn’t hear what the unicorn said, but with Long Jump’s muzzle against his plate, and the pegasus not even looking up from the small bar-top, Calpain had to assume their conversation upstairs had not gone swimmingly. However, there was a small dot of light, enough for several of the other ponies to grumble, and then Long Jump looked up at the unicorn. Calpain trotted over then, and noticed the tiny lock on the front of the collar was now a much more reasonable (and masculine) square, instead of a heart.

“Better?” Calpain asked.

Long Jump looked up from his food and glared at the unicorn. “Would that have been so hard to do before you locked it? Or not use a lock at all?”

“I didn’t figure it would bother you,” the unicorn admitted. “I thought it was cute.”

“It is-,” the pegasus cut himself off, ears flicking back for a moment, then started again. “I represent the Crown. There is an image to maintain. We’re on a mission. An important one. I shouldn’t be wearing it.”

“Just remind me to re-do it in a couple of days,” Red Ink said. “The shapeshift will wear off.” The pegasus gave a defeated sigh and nodded. Calpain figured if he had to put up with a heart-shaped lock, it would at least be better that it looked more reasonable to other people until they could actually remedy the situation.

Calpain and Red Ink both ordered some oats for the morning, Calpain bought an apple from the barkeep, and they started out on the road a few minutes later. There was a thick fog over the road, but the earth pony figured the Sun would burn it off. Now that they knew exactly where they were going, he wondered why Luna had needed to send them this way.

It took them nearly the entire day of trudging down the hot road to reach the Ascelle Ruins. When they stepped between some trees – the road didn’t exactly lead to an abandoned historical site – the dilapidated buildings, fallen columns, and overgrown vegetation, and statues came into view. It looked almost exactly like the last time Calpain had been here, though without the colts and fillies prancing around and not paying attention to the lecturer. A few more plants, to be sure, but he figured it was like a garden; if you didn’t prune it, more and more weeds just kept growing. A few of the trees, however, looked out of place, since he didn’t think oranges grew this far north.

“Looks… boring,” Red Ink said.

“Calpain, do you have any fighting experience” Long Jump asked, turning to look at the earth pony, catching Calpain a little off-guard.

“Not really,” Calpain said. “I’ve been in a few scraps, but nothing serious.”

Long Jump walked to a stump and sat down behind it. “I assume you know the differences between the pony races right?”

“Yes?” Calpain said.

“But how much have you seen of that practically? Red, come here for a moment,” Long Jump said.

The unicorn walked over to the stump, and directed by the blue hoof pointing, sat down directly opposite of Long Jump. The pegasus put his right foreleg up and motioned for the unicorn to do the same. Long Jump pushed the unicorn’s foreleg against his own and curled his hoof around the other.

“Hoof wrestling, I’m right hooved, Red is right-hoofed, but my leg is very weak right now,” Long Jump said, using his muzzle to gesture to his bandaged shoulder. “How do you expect this to turn out?”

“Red’ll win?” Calpain suggested.

“Give us a countdown,” Long Jump said.

“Three, Two, One…”

With zero effort Long Jump slammed the unicorn’s hoof down, making the red stallion tip over with the force of it. He then put his left hoof up on the stump and motioned for Calpain to take Red Ink’s place. “Now I’m a trained guard, and this is my strong foreleg right now, how do you expect this go to?”

“You’ll win?” Calpain put forward.

Long Jump nodded and then looked to Red Ink, whom was making an exaggerated show of nursing his hoof. “Countdown if you please”

Red Ink got to the word go and match was on. To the earth pony’s surprise, while it was difficult, he was winning. Long Jump was fighting with all his might but the scientist was able to slowly but steadily get the guard’s hoof down to the stump.

Long Jump got up and walked a few paces away, shaking his mane out and generally looking like he was limbering up, then crouched down a bit, staring at the earth pony. “Now come at me.” Calpain just stared at him.

“I’m trying to make a point here to keep everypony here safe, now attack,” Long Jump declared.

Calpain gave up his arguing and then looked his opponent over, who was still standing still, braced, but not moving. Cal started circling to the left to come at the guard from his right, the damaged side, then with what (he would insist later was) a war cry he charged the guard, whom was still looking straight ahead and wasn’t moving.

Calpain crashed into the guard.

Then the world was spinning.

Then he found himself on his back with Long Jump standing over him lightly pressing a hoof to his throat.

“So even with your line of work, you can easily overpower non-earth ponies by shear strength. Training trumps that. Keep that in mind so you don’t do something that would get you hurt. Even though I’m crippled, I’m here to protect you two, not the other way around. Don’t do anything stupid.” Long Jump then took another step toward the ruins and huffed.

“There’s got to be something here,” Long Jump said, and shouldered into the thicket of fallen branches and weeds. Calpain wanted to tell him to be careful, but he figured the soldier pony had his own way of dealing with things.

Now to investigate.

Author's Note

2014-02-10: Revision 1

Red Ink Leads an Investigation

What got to Red Ink the most was the silence. In the city, there would always be bustle, and even in the middle of the night he could open a window and hear a party, or go down to a tavern and have some fun. When he was in his summer cottage, the birds sang, the insects buzzed all night, and there was the occasional howl of a wolf or growl of something more spectacular. Here, in these ruins, the only noise he could pick up was Long Jump’s heavy breathing and Calpain digging at the ground.

The whole area also puzzled the red unicorn. The buildings didn’t actually look too old – the style had been in fashion about a hundred years ago, but even the ones that still remained somewhat intact looked like they’d gone through thousands of years of decay. Whole stone walls had crumbled, and wood frames took only the smallest pressure to reduce to powder. Weeds and vines covered everything; the pony had to yank with his teeth to reveal even the smallest portion of unexposed stone.

Red Ink watched as Long Jump tossed his cloak, revealing his light barding and the weapons he’d brought with him. The unicorn smiled at the hoofiwork – the pegasus’s bandages looked intact, even after the hard march out here. Even as the other pony surveyed the area, glancing behind crumbling walls and poking bushes as though he expected a monster to pop out at any moment, Red Ink knew he needed to focus on finding out why they’d been brought out here. Since Calpain had also busied himself examining the ruins, Red Ink figured now would be as good a time as any to unpack.

Red Ink had saddlebags full of wizarding supplies and trail rations, so he started to set everything out on a stump. However, at unrolling the first magic scroll, he found it to be blank. Surely he’d packed magic scrolls instead of blank parchment – he made a point to keep them in separate drawers just for that reason. He yanked a potion out of his bag, but when he popped the cork and gave it a sniff, and it was only water. Surely he hadn’t simultaneously brought blank scrolls and accidentally filled the potion bottles with water.

With a little spurt of magic he lifted the potion bottle from the stump, but it took a lot more concentration that he’d expected. Normally he could do something like this without even thinking about it. Was the area itself fighting against his magic? Was that why his magic scrolls and potions had gone blank? Trudging around old buildings wasn’t his type of excitement, but now that there was some mystery to the whole thing he wanted to find out what was going on.

“Where do you think we should start?” He asked Long Jump, since Calpain seemed to be preoccupied with the plant life.

Long Jump glowered at Red Ink, pushing himself back on his hoofs to start walking towards some of the more distant structures.

“You’re the academic here, go… I dunno, do something,” Long Jump said bitterly. “I’m a bit surprised you don’t seem disturbed about this place. The air feels… dead.”

Red Ink cocked his head for a second and concentrated. Now that the pegasus mentioned it, everything did feel a little odd, but he couldn’t quite put his hoof down as to why.

“What do you mean it feels dead? There’s grass. And buildings. No other ponies, but still. Can you be more specific?” He knew Long Jump wasn’t one of his students, so he tried to keep the ‘I’m quizzing you’ tone out of his voice as best he could. Besides, something was definitely going on with the magic.

“You can’t feel the air?” Long Jump asked. “It’s off. Like something important is missing. Maybe it’s a pegasus thing,” Long Jump said. “Don’t know why you’re asking me, though. You’re the ‘smart’ one here.”

While ignoring the pegasus’s tone, Red Ink tried to focus, pushing away the thoughts about the grass and the odd vines, trying to figure out what was wrong with the place. However, the more he concentrated, the more it slipped away, as though pouring magic into it was only making it more mysterious. Red Ink hoofed at the ground before turning back to Long Jump. This was definitely about more than the weird air and the neutralizing of magic items.

“I am sorry about making you upset. Not just that you’re upset. I’m sorry about the heart locket. I should have asked first.” Red Ink hoofed at the ground again. “So can you please explain how the air feels off?”

Long Jump narrowed his eyes. “It’s not a locket, it’s a lock. How am I supposed to get this off? Did you bring a key? Is there even a key to it?”

Even though he knew it was a bit unfair, Red Ink pranced over and caught up to the Pegasus pretty easily. In one swift movement he thrust his horn forward and jammed it into the lock. It popped open without any resistance, though at the moment it did not fall off, since both halves of the collar connection were still hanging onto the loops.

“The spells need a single, small object as a focus. The lock itself doesn’t need a key, since it’s so small. If you want, I can loop it around…” He fumbled with the pieces of the collar for a moment – which also took far too much magical concentration than it should have – and then clicked the lock back together.

“There. I broke the lock itself when I stabbed my horn into it. It’ll hold together, and when we get back to Canterlot, I’ll replace it with a simple clasp. Is that alright?” Red Ink asked.

“Look. Red… I…” Long Jump trailed off, looking off to the side for a moment, and then scuffed at the dirt. “The air just doesn’t seem like it has the… energy it should. Everything’s muted. I didn’t even know how the air felt until… you know…” He gestured at his scarred side then continued, “The umm… flavor? I honestly can’t describe it in words, but after the accident everything ‘tasted’ different. But here and now? It’s like ash.”

Long Jump winced and rubbed his bad shoulder. “Can you just give me some space for a bit? I’m tired and I hurt. And…” He grunted angrily. “Can you just go work with your assistant?”

Red Ink smiled at Long Jump and then walked over to Cal. If he couldn’t solve that problem right now, then he could at least try and figure out what was up with the ruins.

“Any ideas, Cal?” Red Ink asked. Calpain pulled his head out of a bush and took a moment to shake the leaves out of his mane.

“Huh? Think about what?” Calpain asked.

Red Ink waved a hoof around. “We can both feel it, but neither of us can put it in words. There’s something strange going on in this area, and the air feels weird. Is there a plant that could be causing this?”

Calpain stood tall and listened, taking a couple deep breaths. “Hmm, something is certainly off. There’s no wind, birds or insects. The air is stagnant. It’s almost as if this place is being preserved in a certain state for some reason. What do you think, professor?” Calpain asked.

Until Cal had mentioned it, he hadn’t realized that was one of the things that was bothering him – the lack of magical sense. A forest always had a low level of magic, but this small area didn’t. For some reason, he still couldn’t pinpoint what was wrong with the air, and magic wasn’t helping. In his experience, very few problems couldn’t be solved with magic, and maybe that was what was bothering him the most. He couldn’t even figure out which spell to try, since his magical senses weren’t working. Come to think of it, Red Ink couldn’t even notice the traces of his own power, even on his own hooves or belongings.

“I can only guess there’s some field here that’s blocking everything, but I’ve never seen anything like that. No bugs? That’s certainly odd,” Red Ink said.

Calpain nodded. “Hmm…” The other stallion thought for a moment before sitting down on the ground. “I remember a case in one of my books about a preservation spell that was beginning to ‘spoil’. It started leaking from the object it was cast on and contaminated the surrounding area,” Calpain said.

Red Ink nodded. “That could be it. Preservation spells are generally only for a few days, though. What could be preserved for so long, and this far out from civilization?”

Calpain shrugged. “Not sure, all I do know is that it’s got to be very important if it had been preserved for so long. And I bet…” He looked further into the ruins. “That it’s somewhere in there. Any idea what we should be looking for?” Calpain asked.

Red Ink wondered why he worked at the school if he loved field work so much– Red Ink certainly wouldn’t want to be out in the untamed wilds all the time. Perhaps it was because he was an Earth pony, without the protection magic could give him, or a Pegasus who could easily escape a rampaging magical beast. Well, like most pegasuses, Red Ink thought, though in a fight between Long Jump and an Ursa Major, he’d put bits on Long Jump.

Red held up a hoof to tell Cal to wait a moment, then entered a nearby structure. Besides dust and decay nothing seemed extraordinary. When Red Ink stepped back out of a crumbling building, he took another gander at the whole area. Long Jump was investigating what looked like a destroyed fountain some distance away, and Calpain had moved on to one of the buildings that had collapsed into its own basement. “I say we just keep exploring until something jumps out at us,” Red Ink suggested. The unicorn still couldn’t sense any magic – not even the normal residue that would be here from just a bunch of unicorns living in the area for an extended period of time. It was as though the entire village had never experienced a moment of magic, even from explorers or people passing through.

As an experiment, the unicorn sent a shower of rainbow sparks into the air. Normally, they might have spread out and arced over the destroyed building in front of him, but instead, a few feet from his horn, they just disappeared. Frowning, the unicorn concentrated and tried again, this time pointing his horn at one of the walls a few dozen yards away and fired a beam of destructive magic. In any other situation, there would have been little of the wall left except for a crater, but instead the blast of magic just faded away a few feet from his horn. Not only was the air not even warmer, as it should have been, but there wasn’t even the ruffling of his mane from the push of the blast.

“That was… weird,” Calpain said.

“There are some intact columns to the West in a style I’ve never seen before. Why don’t you try moving them with magic?” Calpain suggested. “There might be something underneath them.”

Calpain crept between the crumbling buildings and led them to a set of intact columns that looked like part of the mayor’s house. Though the rest of building had fallen to the plants and time, three columns formed a line in front of the small group. Between them, a few statues of ponies littered the ground, but though they too were covered in vines, it didn’t look like they were damaged at all. That felt odd to Red Ink, but he’d focus on that in a moment.

“Try on the columns first,” Calpain said, prancing around the space.

Red Ink sighed and concentrated. Power poured from his horn, and though he could barely see from the brightness of it all, but despite the sweat pouring down his flanks, nothing was happening to the column. He could move the vines, but the second the magic touched the column or spent more than a second in the open air, it was like he wasn’t even trying. He strained, and even as he felt his magic touch and wrap around the column, it only dissipated. Finally, he twisted it and tried to lift the statues.

The small explosion blasted Red Ink and Calpain back several feet. Vines and leaves flew in every direction, and once Red Ink got back on his feet, he surveyed the damage, or lack thereof. It was as though they weren’t there, and the pony statues hadn’t budged an inch, besides now being a bit clearer of flora.

“Umm… Red Ink?” Cal said, looking over at the unicorn.

“What?” Red Ink asked.

“Look down,” the Earth pony said.

When the unicorn did, he didn’t really know what to do. His hooves had been covered in stone powder, but he knew they hadn’t actually damaged anything. As he watched, the dust solidified, formed into little scales, and then those merged together into solid pieces of marble. It didn’t look like a shell, but instead as if it were part of his hooves. As he watched, more powder appeared, now in his fur, and the process started up again. As an experiment, he took a step. He could still move, but already his ankles felt stiff.

“I think we have a problem.”

Author's Note

2014-06-19: Revision 1