Divine Equine

Chapter 2: A Name, Delve Deep

Outside of Umbrus’ home, the sun shone down from the sky above, casting rays of warmth amongst the cool shadows of the trees. She was in a village, the mare observed, one was protected by large wooden palisades that completely encircled it. She wondered what a village so small needed palisades for, but put the question off to the side as she began to overhear a conversation. The mare made her way away from the hut which she’d come out of, and towards a larger, more traditional, thatched-roof building. Skirting the edges of the home, she hid in the brush which grew up alongside it, her ears flicking, her eyes watching from her hiding spot.

“Silent Seal, how are you this morning?” a young, pale green, female pony with leaves and vines growing along her hooves asked another, “It’s strange seeing you up and about so early.”

The voice which responded was older, and quite jovial. “I’m doing quite fine, Leaf Litter, quite fine indeed. Your tea has done wonders for me!”

The mare had to adjust her place to get a better view of the pony what kind of pony Silent Seal was, who was revealed to be a Unicorn once the mare had settled into a better vantage point amongst the brush. A much, much older Unicorn than his voice might have betrayed. His robes were clearly ancient, and his beard was white and ragged. The ancient-looking stallion even carried a staff to help him walk.

Leaf Litter, smiling happily at such praise, brushed her hoof against the ground, acting bashful “Well that’s good. We’ve all been worried about you lately… so-”

It was then that Silent Seal changed. Without warning and suddenly, the older stallion began yelling at the top of his lungs about the end of days. It frankly scared the living buck out of the mare, who shrunk back behind the corner of the house, only listening, but daring not to look.

“HE SHALL RISE!” Silent Seal raged without warning, his voice booming, his cloak billowing with ethereal power, “NEMESIS SHALL RISE AND TAKE THEE ALL WITH HIM BACK DOWN TO THE GATES OF TARTARUS!”

“Silent Seal! Please, calm down! You need to rest!” the mare heard Leaf Litter cry, “You’re not in your right mind!”

“IT IS TOO LATE, THOU ART ALL DOOMED!”

The mare, still hiding in the bushes shuddered at the voice. It was powerful, reminiscent of old magics. Powerful magics. She heard the clopping of hooves as Leaf Litter chased after Silent Seal, away from her place of hiding. She was grateful for it, and shuddered, rocking a little against the wall which she hid behind. It was then that Umbrus approached, peeling the bushes back, as if he’d known where she was.

“I see you have observed Silent Seal, I still hope this job you will not repeal.” Umbrus frowned, reaching out to the mare, who took the hoof, feeling as if she were in a haze.

She shook off her fear, which took a few moments, and calmed down, “Umbrus… what was that?” she asked, “What was he talking about?”

Umbrus sighed, staring down the now empty cobbled streets where Leaf Litter and Silent Seal had stood only moments before, “His is an affliction of the mind, something has caused it to unbind. If a cure is not soon found, I fear that this village will become open ground.”

More riddles. The mare was becoming quite tired of riddles, and it showed up her face. Fortune would have it that he did not stop speaking there, either because Umbrus had seen her expression, or because he knew for a fact it wasn’t enough to gain any real information off of.

“Silent Seal is a powerful mage, it is quite unusual for him to rage. If his mind is not rebound fast, we will all be memories in a time soon past! For a soul is trapped beneath the sand, an enemy powerful and grand!”

Such words rekindled the fear in the mare’s heart. Her purple eyes gazed up at Umbrus as he finished.

“... Why are you telling me this?”

Umbrus almost glared down at the mare, who shrunk at his gaze, “If you do not know, then I assure you that you should go. Stay and find the truth, reveal! or leave and let us enjoy our last meal!”

With that, Umbrus turned and trotted back into his home, leaving the poor mare to stand, stunned at his words. The mare breathed a heavy sigh and moved away from the wall.

“If I stay… I could get hurt.” she thought, “... but if I leave… I mean, they did help me after all…”

It was a tough decision. Whatever Silent Seal’s problem was, it was likely outside her league. She could barely remember what she was doing the night before, and couldn’t even remember her name. Even if she HAD been some kind of warrior or explorer.... she didn’t remember how.

“WHOO WHOO!”

Her ears flicked. She looked around.

“WHOO WHOO!” the sound came again.

“What is that noise?” the mare asked aloud, looking all over, then up towards a nearby tree.

“WHO WHOOO!” the noise came again, “You might be able to get by on your good looks, but thinking or reading for more than a few minutes gives you a headache! Intelligence fifteen! WHO WHOO!”

That was uncalled for, though the mare. In fact, it was downright insulting.

“Who’s there!?” she asked, glaring around at any tree or rock she could see that might hide the insulting catcaller, “What do you want?”

“Frail old mares beat you at arm wrestling! Strength ten! WHOO WHOO!”

The mare gritted her teeth, and was about to leave just as she spotted the culprit. An owl. In a tree about fifteen feet in the air. An owl with a smile like an… well… she didn’t have words for it! It didn’t look friendly!

“What’s all that mess you’re talking?” she asked the owl, frowning up at it.

“WHO WHOO! You’re as clumsy as an ox and as slow on your feet, the healer thinks you have a gladular deficiency! Agility ten! WHOO WHO!”

The mare stomped her hoof, and stumbled. “You… you bucking bird!” she screamed, finding her first curse at last, hopping a little, each time stumbling a litte less, “I ought to come up there an pluck all your feathers off!” she screamed in frustrated anger, her horn glowing, then fizzling out before she could fire a spell off.

“WHO WHOO! If you tried, you’d break your butt! Problem solving ZERO! WHOO WHOO!” it said, then flew off into the distance and beyond the palisade fence.

This left the white Unicorn mare to grumble and fume as she headed around the home and towards the edge of town, to the south. Or what she assumed was south. She headed for the gate, in other words. Near the gate, at the edge of town, she spotted the home the Umbrus had told her about, and Leaf Litter. She looked different. A lot more… blue and shiny. The mare approached Leaf Litter, who did not turn to face her.

“Um… Leaf Litter…?” the mare asked, unsure of how to approach the strange looking mare, “Leaf… Litt- Oh my…”

Leaf Litter was frozen almost completely. The only thing she could do was move her mouth a little and move her eyes to look at the mare as she came around to the front of the frozen pony.

“P-please…! Help me…!” the Forest Pony managed to shivver out between her chattering teeth, “I-I’m going to f-freeze to death!”

The mare suddenly felt… strange. She started to chuckle.

“You sure you want to get out of there?” she asked Leaf Litter, “You’ll end up being a pretty nice ice-sculpture in a few hours. People will come from miles away to see the most lifelike-”

“Please!” she chattered, “I-I don’t wanna die!”

The mare sighed, “You’re nuts, aren’t you?” she asked, “You must think *I’m* crazy if you think I’m going to just waltz up to the door of that “Unicorn and…”

But the mare was cut off by a sudden yelling, coming from the window of the home of Silent Seal.

“BEGONE FOUL DEMON! I WILL NOT SUFFER YOUR DARK WILES, HERALD OF NEMESIS, YE SUCCUBUS OF DARK WHIMS!”

The stallion poked his staff out the window.

“Now wait just a minute, you insane old fart…! I’m not a succubus, and she’s not here to hurt you. Put the staff down so we can talk and maybe-”

An explosive bolt of energy struck the ground next to the mare, knocking over Leaf Litter. It was fortunate that she landed on something soft, or else her skin and coat might have shattered. It was not so fortunate for the mare who had tried to talk Silent Seal down, however, because she ended up falling down the well next to the house after being sent through the air like pony-shaped cannon-ball.

She did manage to scream most of the way down, landing in a deep pool of water at the bottom, which saved her from any real damage.

“Buck…!” she choked as she surfaced and splashed around. It didn’t take long for her to remember she could swim. Sort of. She struggled to reach the edge and pull herself up onto shore, and coughed up foul-tasting water as she rolled over once she’d reached it. She cursed once more, righting herself slowly. She felt dazed, and wobbled as she walked, but otherwise she felt okay.

“I guess I deserved that after telling the Leaf… whatever her name was that she’d make a great ice sculpture…”

The well was dank, messy, and smelled of rotten carrots. Really rotten. The mare gagged once at the heady smell, then headed towards one of the nearby torches, where a book lay atop a barrel, framed by weak light from old torches which sat in metal holders, bolted to the crumbling, moisture-wicked walls.

“Delve Deep… by the Inter-Village Cave-Diving Union…” she muttered, reading the title and opening the cover.

The first page was blank. And the second. And the one after that. Every page was blank!

“This… is useless…” she muttered, annoyed at the waste of time and putting the book down, “I could write anything I want in that book and no one would know the difference… Who even leaves a blank book laying around? Stupid book...”

For a moment, the mare decided to walk away, but just as she reached the grating on the other side of the room and reached for the lever… she stopped.

“I could write anything I want…” she repeated, her purple eyes lighting up, “I could write anything I want!”

The Unicorn mare galloped over to the book. She gathered it up in her hooves as she slid to a stop and grinned at it.

“I am Delve Deep…” she said, staring at the empty pages, almost drooling at the idea, “... and I will be anypony I want to be!”