The Spirit Of Knowledge

After the speech, everyone of importance retired to the ballroom for the after party.  Unfortunately, not many interesting things happened. So, if it's all the same to you, I'm just going to write about the interesting things, I doubt you want to read about the creampuffs. Actually... I don't know if they even had creampuffs, or any type of food. I don't exactly eat things anymore. Well, let's assume they had some, them being royalty and all. Anyway, we were early to the party by a few minutes, so Twilight thought it would be the perfect time to ambush me.

"Shade!" I turned to my left, to see an angry Twilight charging at me. After blinking a few times to make sure I wasn't seeing things, I threw Codex into her path, causing both of them to become a tangled heap on the floor.

"Hello Twilight, did you know Codex right there, is the very same journal I stole from you? And that he has all the knowledge from my library in his mind? Judging from your face you didn't... well, see you later. Enjoy your date Codex!" Codex responded with a whimper, as a manic Twilight teleported them both away. I don't think she heard what I said about the date. "Shall we continue your majesties?"

They both responded with a nod, giggling the entire time. With a smile, I made small talk until the other guests arrived.

Most of the party was filled with boring conversations, except for a few interesting nobles. I did feel slightly guilty for what I did to Codex, but I knew he could handle himself. Plus he hid something from me, something he did to let everypony either know about me, or be less xenophobic. And if he wants to play the big boy game, (Politics and manipulations.), I wasn't going to deny him. Back on topic, the last interesting thing wasn't really a thing, but a pony. For some reason, I felt drawn to her the moment I saw her eyes.

"It's such a shame when one can't enjoy their own party, isn't it?" I turned away from my musings, to the pony before me. I couldn't put my claw on it, but something didn't seem right. She was a pegasus with dark golden fur, and a mane that looked like a rainbow without its color. What really got my attention was her eyes and cutie mark. One eye was a deep blue, and the other was a scarlet red. Her cutie mark was a book with a compass on the cover.

"Why, I have no idea what you're talking about. This is a magnificent party, filled with the most interesting of individuals." My comeback might have been ruined by the monotone it was delivered in, but it did get her to laugh.

"The individuals yes, but nopony would say such about the groups." My eyes followed her hoof, as it swept towards the crowd. The room was covered in tightly nit groups, that seemed to follow a select few individuals around wherever they went. "If I'm being honest, you aren't the only one who hates these things." Well, I wouldn't have gone as far as saying I hated it, but I wouldn't be telling her that.

"I hear so much about the castle garden, but I've never seen it. I assume from your non-pretentious attitude, you aren't above a walk through the dirt?" With a smile she chuckled, and motioned for me to lead the way. Most interesting thing that happened by far.

Now you might be wondering, why was I being so forward? I had only known the mare for all of five seconds. The truth is, I have no idea. There was something just so... familiar about her. It was like I knew her all my life, like an old friend. For some reason, the thought to be wary never crossed my mind.

"It's so very beautiful, isn't it?" We were sitting in the middle of the garden, looking at the statues and roses. But that wasn't where my attention was. My eyes only saw her, underneath the dazzling moonlight, and the way her eyes sparkled. We had been sitting in the garden for a few hours now, making small talk, and discussing the world. She seemed interested in ruins, so I discussed the histories I had read about. The evening had been perfect.

"The garden? I can see how an appreciative eye could see it as such yes."  She turned to me with laughter in her eyes, and the smallest of lifts to her mouth.

"Oh, and here I thought that we left the nobles back at the party? I'll have you know I was talking about the night sky. Though perhaps my assumption of noble was wrong, if all you think about is the dirt and mud like a commoner." The somewhat insulting effect was ruined so thoroughly, by the laughter she barely contained. I could see the smallest of hitches upon her barrel, and the tiniest of twitches upon her wings.

"Dear heavens, why I never! I'll have you know that I'm the number son from the rather obscure family you've never heard of! We have a history that I talk about so grandly as to shame you for not knowing it, while I direct the conversation away from areas I am likewise ignorant of! I sputter indignantly at your attempts to laugh me off, before I storm away haughtily, my nose going to ever rising heights!" By the end of my little tirade, she was on the ground wheezing, with tears in her eyes.  I watched with a smile until she had almost calmed herself, and than I struck the final blow. "Mistaking me for a commoner, various humphs and tsking sounds." Another smile graced my face, as she was once again brought to tears.

After she had once again attained control of herself, I realized I had forgotten something very important. "Forgive me for not asking sooner, but I never got your name?" She seemed to pause for a sec, contemplating something. She even went as far as to bite her lip. At that point I was starting to sweat, I had just had her rolling with laughter, and here she was thinking about denying me her name? Such a thing didn't make sense to me, what would she need to hide?

With a sigh and a small smile, she finally looked up at me. "My name is Daring, and it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance"

Unfortunately, shortly after I got her name, I was called back to the party by Celestia. I couldn't get my mind of Daring for the rest of the night, she had hesitated to give me her name, but why? Was she in trouble, the kind that knowing the wrong name could bring you into? Did she worry about some gossip I would overhear about her? Either way I was going to look into it, after the party I headed back to the Library. It was time to do some reading.

She had lived quite the life. After finding her book, I couldn't bring myself to put it down. It was interesting. Her book started with her birth, and a little info about her parents. She was born in a cottage outside Vanhoover, to the renowned female author Written Knowledge, and her husband, the adventurer Archaic Findings. Her first year of life is spent in a loving home, with all the family time and toys she could want. She was taken with on visits to the city, got to experience the lovely forest air, and just had an all around great first year. Unfortunately, the story wouldn't have been interesting if it stayed like that.

A few months after her first birthday, she was left in the hooves of a trusted family friend. Her parents had found an ancient ruin, and wanted to be the first to explore and discover it. Archaic went, because it was his hobby and cutie mark, and Written went, because she thought it would give her inspiration for her next book. That, and they wanted a honeymoon away from their foal. It had... uhh... been a while.

Their trip seemed to be going great, not to many bugs, romantic nights under the stars, and no wild creatures attacking them. They made it to the ruins completely safe and sound. Archaic had discovered these ruins by accident, and only did minor exploring before leaving to get supplies.

After a few minutes of walking, they caught up to where he had stopped, and prepared to go further. They spend hours slowly moving forwards, getting etchings and pictures of what they could, while Written also wrote down her ideas.

It all went wrong a few hours later. They were halfway through the ruins, when they came upon a mostly intact library. Like foals on their birthdays, they rushed into the room. They gazed upon the books with awe, leaping with joy at their discovery. Until one of them accidentally bumped the table that sat in the library's center. On that table, was a big, blue, crystal ball. Once it felt the vibrations, it glowed with power, waking up once again.

Their eyes widened as they took notice, thinking they had sprung a trap, they both made to leave. Seeing this, the crystal ball closed the library's doors, and prevented them from being opened. They held each other, eyes wide with fear, but mostly love and regret. They had fear from the giant and frankly disturbing crystal, love for each other, and regret for not being there, for their little Daring do. The air seemed to quiver, as the crystal spoke.

"So more have come, seeking the gift of knowledge. Very well, let us see if you are worthy." They blinked to themselves, what was it talking about? They just wanted to explore a ruin and have some fun. And what did it mean more? Wasn't the ruin undiscovered? Surely some pony would have talked about it by now. Then the realization hit them. What if there was no pony left to talk?

Archaic gathered his courage, surely if they told it they were just explorers, it would leave them be? He opened his mouth, but was interrupted before he could even say a word. "Ahh, you wish to volunteer to be first? Very well than." He had just started shaking his head, when a blinding pain shot through his body.

"It seems you aren't worthy, oh well. I'm sure she will have much better luck." Archaic, screaming in pain, turned to his wife with fear in his eyes, as she stared at him with even more. Her face was pale, and she seemed close to fainting. After a few seconds of nothing, Archaic thought she would be fine, she wouldn't suffer like him. He was wrong.

Just when hope had started to overpower the fear, she collapsed in pain. Joining her husband in screams of agony. Looking to Archaic, she saw his cutie-mark changing, and his coat loosing it's luster. His eyes seemed to go dark, as if something no longer there. For some reason, he just stopped reminding her of her husband, and she screamed even harder.

"Two more to join the dust, won't anyone ever be worthy? Back to sleep I suppose." The dust Written wondered? It was than she took a look around the room. In odd places there was dust, and others were clean as a whistle. In fact, there was enough dust in those places, to vaguely form the shape of a body. With horror she realized she couldn't count the number of piles. What about those who searched for them? What about Daring? Wouldn't she ever wonder what happened? With grim determination, Written ignored the absolute agony coursing through her body, and used her magic (She's a unicorn, Archaic is a pegasus) to pull out her husbands old compass. With all the magic power she could muster, she etched into its back, Don't touch the cryst, before she knew no more, and it fell to the ground.

Search parties were sent out to look for them, but after two never came back, it was deemed to dangerous, and everypony moved on. Daring was raised by that family friend, brought up on stories of her parents, reading her mother's books. She slept with a picture of them over her bed every night, and dreamed of writing books of her own. She went through flight camp, break ups, and had an ordinary life. That is, until she turned seven-teen. She was staying in her parents old cabin, looking through mementos, when she found her mother's diary. It told the area the ruin was in, and the preparations they had made.

With determination, Daring decided to find out what happened to her parents. She battled through bugs, monsters, and bad directions for days until she found it. With confidence only the young can muster, she strode through the ruin, looking for traps, and any evidence of her parents. She had almost given up, when she stumbled upon on certain library. Unlike those before her, she slowly crept inside, and took the time to look over everything she could see.

After a quick glance over the room, she noticed three things. Their was pony shaped piles of dust in sporadic places, and the area around a big, blue, crystal ball was completely clean. She knew ponies tended to run away from what scared them, so it looked to her the crystal was the cause. She also noticed a golden gleam, down by her hoof. It looked just like the commas her father had, in the picture above her bed.

With tears in her eyes, she picked it up, and looked it over. On the back, in her mother's writing, Don't touch the cryst, was written. Daring quickly fled the ruins with tears in her eyes, knowing that they and many other's had fallen to that thing. She knew what it was, from eavesdropping on her caretaker. It was an ancient artifact, that had some evil purpose to fulfill. But she wouldn't let any other ponies die to such things.

With shaky steps, Daring traveled back to the city, took all her bits from the bank, and bought as much dynamite as she could. She even payed extra so there wouldn't be any questions. Dynamite in tow, she went back the ruin, back to the library, and blew the entire thing to kingdom come. (She brought the compass back with her of course.) She vowed to never let things like that happen again, and was startled by a realization. Her father's compass, was not just in her safe, it was on her flank as well.

And so, with her new cutie-mark, Daring do became an adventurer just like her father, thwarting evil plans and capturing/destroying evil artifacts. She told her caretaker about her adventures, and she told her to write a book about it. But Daring didn't want anypony to know the stories were true, or they might go searching for those evil artifacts. So she decided to write under a false name. Something that had meaning, she didn't want just any random name for the story of her life. So she thought back to the beginning. Thought back to her parents, and when she lost them. Archaic Knowledge Yearling, or A. K. Yearling for short.

I'm not ashamed to say I shed a few tears, reading about her life, and I'm sure you did as well. I decided to stop at that point, because I had read enough to answer my question. Though when it walked about her cutie-mark, it didn't mention there being a book involved. I decided to stop worry about it, I could always just talk to her like a normal being. I was just about to go to sleep, when I remembered Codex. How long did Twilight plan to keep him? It had been like seven hours since they vanished, and it was already one in the morning.

Maybe I should check in on them...