Venus Transcendent

Seamus poked the bed of coals, hot cinders flying into the night air in a whorl. It had been a hard day of marching, and hardly a moment went by when his legs weren't sore. A slight pang ran up his front leg as he handled the long fire-poker, trying to ignore the slight pain. Scootaloo sat next to him around the fire, while Amethyst and Armstrong sat a few meters away from them on a log. As much as the Princess wanted to be at FrostSpire by nightfall it hadn't happened, and sadly it would take another long day of marching to reach the City of Ice.

Scootaloo wasn't tired at all, and even now the filly was busying herself by tying ropes in knots and untying them, sighing and biting her lip if she made them incorrectly. At first Seamus had questioned her on her motives on taking this trip with him, but now he had not reserves at taking her along. The pegasus was perfectly capable of keeping up with Amethyst, even more so than the alicorn himself. He'd gotten out of shape in his year of lounging in the castle. Scootaloo had acquired a small knife from Amethyst, and the grin on her face as she held it was the happiest anypony had ever seen her.

Seamus threw another log on the fire, letting the blue-ish flames lap at the new source of fuel. He'd been wondering something about Amethyst, but he was hesitant to ask her. But seeing as how she couldn't get rid of him this far into the journey he reasoned that it wouldn't hurt.

"Hey.... Amethyst? I overheard you and Luna talking the other night about a Book. Anything I should know?"

The Princess froze and shot him a look of death, her hoof twitching down to her belt of knives. She instinctively wanted to but one in his foreleg, but she refrained. The unicorn had promised him returned unharmed.

"I don't think this is a tale to tell around foals." Her eyes flicked to Scootaloo. "Unless she can handle it?"

Scootaloo gave her a nod, putting on a brave face to impress the armored Princess.

"You may know that before Jakben left on his final trip out of Ponyville, he left something behind. A book he used himself to learn all of his dark magical tricks. Have you ever wondered how he got so good? Not even a vampire can move as well as he could or get in and out of rooms as silently as he could. He had help form that book, and it taught him the ways of darker magic."

"Wait, so there is a way for an Earth Pony or Pegasus to learn real magic?" Seamus pondered. "I didn't even think that was possible... but even it is you keep saying that the Book 'Taught' him. Like the Book literally told him how to do all those things."

"It did." Amethyst sighed. "Sadly, the text is a book from a land far away and it was made in a language so far dead that no living thing can remember save maybe Discord or the Zebras. It is so laced full of dark magic that it took up a conscience, somehow. It can think and reason, and it knows full well it's position as a powerful artifact. It manipulates the current possessor of the tome with it's power and wreaks havoc on the world to it's content, happy that nothing would ever guess a book would be able to wreak such chaos.

The problem arose when this book, the same one that helped Jakben in his reign of terror, was stolen form the Castle. Right out from under Luna and Celestia's nose. If a simple pony has it, and this same book managed to gain control of Luna herself, imagine what it could do with such a simple being as a thief. Besides that I don't think the Book would be satisfied with a simplistic host. It would want somepony powerful, and only one pony was powerful enough to satisfy the Book for over seven-hundred years."

Seamus was beginning to see what she was getting at. "You mean that this Book is going to be going back to the North to find Melody?"

"No." Amethyst rubbed her sinuses with her hoof. "It's going to look for it's long-dead owner, Jakben."

A harsh quiet fell over the circle as the name echoed. Even the other fires several yards away were sent into a hush after the accursed name was mentioned. The breeze from the North suddenly seemed to chill their bones as they sat there, prompting Seamus to put another log on the fire. As the blaze leapt up again Amethyst continued.

"Of course the Book will find nothing but the pit that your newly vampiric friend Rainbow Dash threw him in and maybe the dust that he withered into. We won't have to worry about him again, but it's new host could be a problem. It might want to jump owners again, to a pony more powerful or more useful. Besides that we will still have to deal with my people's woes. Bandits, marauders and psychos are thriving in the Northern Counties now, and I have to fix all that. Of course, you all will help."

General Armstrong nodded sagely. "If you would permit me, I could lead either the search for this Book or your army in it's campaign."

"We'll decide that at a later date.' The Princess yawned. "For now, it's time to sleep. Set out a sentry and give him a loud alarm. I'll see you all in the morning."

I deeply apologize for the brevity of this chapter, but school just started for me and I'm not able to get as much done as I used to. I hope that you can understand.

~DWhay