The Founders of Harmony

Book 1: World of Chaos

Chapter 2: Augeas

A gentle touch roused Celestia from sleep. She blinked several times. Weeks outside had left her used to more sunlight, now her eyes struggled to adjust to a darker environment. But soon enough, she could see her mother, knelt beside her in the wagon, illuminated by light crystals outside.

“Are you back with us dear?” she asked, smiling widely. Celestia didn’t respond, but not for lack of awareness. She was sifting back through her memories of all the times she’d seen her mother smile. There were few. Not that she was always frowning, or looking distraught, but she usually had a far off look in her eyes, her mind deep in thought. Celestia guessed she was thinking of the countless things that needed to be done to ensure the survival of her family. Now Celestia realized, that almost every memory she had of her mother’s smile, was when she was sitting down. As though her entire body needed to be at rest in order to muster the strength necessary for that one small curl of the lips. But Celestia had never seen her mother smile like this before. It was wide and vibrant, her eyes clear of distant concerns. “Celestia, are you alright?” her mother asked, the smile shrinking some. Celestia snapped back to attention, realizing she’d been staring at her mother blankly. She played it off by rubbing her eyes and faking a yawn.

“Yes Ma, I’m fine, thank you...are we there?”

“Yes dear, we’re there,” Her mother’s wide smile returned. Together they stepped out the back of the wagon and Celestia could see they were underground again. A square dirt room lined with light crystals, floor and ceiling just high enough for the wagon, directly behind which was a pitch black corridor that might go on forever. She turned and let out a small gasp. Several feet in front of the wagon, her father and Luna were standing together talking to two other ponies, Unicorns. Guards she assumed. They held spears and wore chainmail tunics with wrought iron helmets that had holes for their horns and ears to stick out. Behind the guards the entire wall was made of two heavy metal slabs that met in the middle. Celestia rushed over as calmly as she could. Her father was speaking casually with the guards, while Luna was slightly behind him, hands folded, behind her back, and eyes down, fienning fascination with the dirt floor.

“Hello there!” Celestia called as she pranced over. Bolt turned to see her and smiled.

“Ah there she is, this is-”

“Hi I’m Celestia! Pleasure to meet you!”

“You weren’t exaggerating about her Bolt” The darker furred unicorn chuckled

“Told you, Celestia this is Craft, he’s an old friend of mine,”

“Do you guard this door all day sir?” Celestia asked.

“No no, only in shifts miss,” he chuckled.

“Aren’t you getting a little old for outer guard duty Craft?”

“Volunteered for extra shifts this year, let the kids have more fun during the festival. Ebony! Good to see you again!” He said as Ebony walked up the wagon following behind, its roof dismantled and stored below.

“Good to see you too Craft, are we free to enter” Ebony said smiling,

“Yup you’re all good. This is your first time visiting Augeas right?” He asked Celestia

“Yes it is sir I can’t wait!”

“Hehe, well don’t let me hold you up then,”

Celestia and Luna got in the back of the wagon while Ebony and Bolt sat on the front bench. Craft and the other guard went to the far sides of the door and simultaneously knocked on it in a rhythmic pattern with their knuckles. After a moment a series of knocks came from the other side of the door, and the two guards knocked again in a different pattern. Then at last, slow and creaking, the doors swung back, and blinding light flooded the room. Celestia squinted, and when her eyes adjusted, she saw that the gate they came through was boxed in by metal walls, each 15 feet high and as long as the gate. On the other side of the walls were more guard, facing the gate. Straight ahead was a gatehouse 10 feet higher than the walls. As they approached, this second gate was opened to them, rising up into the gatehouse. The opening was barely wide enough to fit a single wagon.

They passed through, and Celestia stood up in the wagon, awestruck. Before her was a cavern of enormous magnitude. It was hundreds of feet high and both sides were honeycombed with windows of homes inside the cavern walls. To her left and right at the end of each wall was an opening with a wide staircase that went up. She could not see the top but there were many ponies going in and out. There were wide rectangular windows every couple of yards above the staircase, and Celestia caught glimpses of even more ponies moving inside. She surmised the staircase must somehow go all the way to the top, allowing ponies on the higher levels to reach their homes.

They moved farther in and she saw that about 15 yards from each side of the wall were roads packed with ponies of every color of the rainbow going back and forth. Between the two roads, was a red brick wall about a foot wide and 2 feet high which ran down the entire length of the cavern. On each side of the wall there were two lanes. Each of the four lanes was slightly wider than their wagon, and denoted by the color of the brick set into the ground. The lanes with white brick were next to the wall and had many wagons much like their own moving about, while the lanes with the black brick were on the outsides, and had many wagons parked along it.

About 50 yards ahead there was a brick overpass that went over the wagon lanes and connected the two roads, allowing ponies to get from side to side. Aligned with this overpass on each side was another flight of stairs leading up. As Celestia squinted and looked ahead there appeared to be an overpass and a set of stairs every 50 yards down the cavern, which stretched on and on and on, until she could barely see where the cavern opened up, and a great light almost as bright as the sun glistened.

“Mother, how long is this cavern,” Celestia asked in awe.

“This one?...This one is very long,” Ebony said slyly.

“This one?” Celestia said amazed, “How many are there?”

“Eight, my old master lives down the great hall opposite this one,” Celestia went slack jawed with amazement. Ebony and Bolt chuckled. They entered the lane on their right, where Celestia noticed all the wagons were moving the same direction towards the great light at the end of the hall, while all the wagons on their left moved away from it.

As they went through the city, Celestia marveled at all the different ponies. She saw some Fillies and Colts laughing as they ran together through the street, and couldn’t help laughing. She could remember being a filly with Luna, but to see them now made her wonder how she had ever been so small. Then she saw some incredibly old Ponies, Celestia was amazed that someone’s body could get that wrinkled and still work. What they all did was as varied as their size, shape, color and age. Some seemed to be making deliveries, unpacking baskets filled with food, cloth and other goods from parked wagons, and carrying them up a flight of stairs. She saw a group of Pegasi high up, repairing crumbling parts of the wall.

The homes on the bottom floor seemed to be mostly shops, their front doors right next to the street, as opposed to however the other ponies got into their homes after walking up the staircases. She saw the most through the windows of these bottom homes. One pony was sowing clothes, while a Unicorn was making pottery by levitating several instruments to shape his work on a flat spinning wheel, while some just engaged in friendly conversation. Then, she saw a Stallion.

He was Blue furred, Yellow maned, about her same age. He was wearing thick leather mittens and set a large stone paddle with several steamy loaves of bread on his window sill. Then he looked up and their eyes met. Celestia was overcome by a curious sensation, her heartbeat raced, and her whole body felt elated, and she was certain that her face had the same look of wonder that his did. Celestia had no idea why, but she liked that Stallion, a lot. He smiled and waved weakly with a mittened hand. Celestia couldn’t help but smile and wave back, her cheeks hot. As the wagon got farther away his head stuck farther and farther out the window to maintain eye contact with her, until at last he disappeared for a moment before stepping out his door to watch her go. He got smaller and smaller until he disappeared behind the crowd. Suddenly she was free of her trance, and almost called out for her mother to stop the cart so she could go talk to that Stallion. But she quickly realized how silly that would be and instead made a mental note of where he had been. She would find him again. In the meantime she couldn’t help but be overwhelmed by rest of the city. But in the back of her mind she chuckled to herself, it seemed that she at long last knew what a handsome stallion looked like.

*****

Save for the endless cocugheny of the city outside, the library was tranquil. A young unicorn stallion sat at a brick desk in the middle of the square room, his horn glowing faintly. He was intently reading from a very large tome with very small text, occasionally scraping notes into an adjacent, blank book with his feather pen, his eye ever on one book or the other. The wall across from him held the front door and two windows on either side, looking out into the city. The rest of the walls were covered floor to ceiling with books resting in shelves hewn from the rock, save for a gap in the back wall for a flight of stairs which lead up, and down which a pair of hooves now walked.

“I have to go meet with the council now, mind the library,”

“Yes grandmother,” the stallion at the desk replied absentmindedly, gaze fixed downward.

“Oh and be ready to help Mrs.Rose and her family if they...STARSWIRL!” she shouted agitated as she came around the desk and saw his face, the bottom half of which was a messy thistle of uneven stubble, and on the top half sat an unkempt mane tied back into a sad stubby foxtail.

“Yes?” he asked, finally looking up from his book.

“You told me last night you were going to shave and clean yourself up,” Remembrance dawned on his face, then fell to surprise and anxious guilt.

“Apologies grandmother, it must have slipped my mind while I was studying,” he said apologetically. His grandmother was very old, her body had shriveled up like sheet of leather paper left next to a fire, but she was resilient like the deepest roots of an ancient tree, had lost none of her vigor for life and her mind had only sharpened with each new year of life.

“How do you expect to find a wife when you shuffle around looking like a dusty old rag all the time?” She asked exasperated. Starswirl looked away, cheeks red. He would be coming of age in two months and she’d been pestering him about his ragged visage more and more the past year. It wasn’t that he didn’t like mares, it just didn’t seem important to him right now. Besides none of them ever paid much attention to him. His grandmother sighed, “Whatever shall I do with you? taking his head in her hand and kissing him softly on the forehead. Starswirl looked back at her smiling slightly. “As soon as I get back,”

“Of course,” he said softly. She smiled back as she left, shaking her head slightly as she closed the door behind her. Starswirl’s smile dropped, and he returned to his work, brow furrowing. Starswirl loved his grandmother and knew she was only trying to help, but he still felt angry and annoyed. Why should it matter if he find a mare to marry? Mares his age were rather dull like most everyone else in the city. He usually didn’t talk to anyone when he walked through the streets, but he was always listening, amazed at how much they talked, yet how little they said. The talk of ponies was mundane, tedious, and rarely to the point. He preferred books, they didn’t waste his time. They got straight to the point and told you exactly what they wanted to without fluff or bluster. The only exception was novels and poems, who’s symbolism and prattling he cared little for. Feeling vindicated, he returned to his book.

A few minutes later, the door opened again and he heard a single pair of hoofsteps enter, follow by a gasp.

“Incredible,” the new voice said aloud. A mare, but he didn’t recognize her voice.

“Welcome to Nebula’s Library, if you’re new you’ll have to register before you can borrow anything,” He recited, eyes still on his tome.

“Amazing, is each one different?” She asked her voice rich and curious.

“We do have copies in storage but we only keep one of each down here,”

“I always knew there’d be a lot, but seeing them all now...I just didn’t know there were so many thing to write about!”

“Oh there’s a book for everything, history, agriculture, astronomy and uhh….” he trailed off as he looked up to see who he was talking to.

Starswirl had never seen the sun outside.

The only image he had of it in his mind was a few crudely stylized illustrations in his grandmother’s most ancient books. He began to recall poems about it, describing its brilliant, all encompassing beauty, so bright it hurt to stare at. This was the mare who stood before him, smiling wildly, face radiant, eyes gleaming with ravenous curiosity. “And...I...uh,” he stammered.

“Yes?” She asked, her eyes attentive and intelligent.

“I...haven’t seen you...before, first time in the library?”

“Oh right! I’m sorry, I got so excited I forgot my manners,” she held out her hand. “I’m Celestia and you?”

Starswirl’s mind froze. He was suddenly much more conscious of his ragged appearance. Nonetheless, he summoned up all his courage and extended his own arm towards her. His mind howled in panic as his hand entered his view. It was atrocious, dotted with ink stains leading up to fingernails that were black underneath. But she didn’t look at his hand, her lustrous fuchsia eyes were locked onto his. So he let his hand go to meet hers. It was quite soft, but her grip was firm.

“I’m Starswirl,” he said with all the confidence of a mouse in a cat’s jaws.

“Good to meet you Starswirl,” It was in this next instant that he finally noticed she was a Unicorn like him. His mind recalled a passage from a history book, describing how in the old Unicorn kingdom, noble lords would greet ladies with a kiss on the hand. That thought set his heart thundering, and he quickly and politely shook her hand, letting go before his palm started to sweat.

“Wow,” Celestia said running her fingers over the book he’d been reading from, “What do you use to make all these anyway?” Starswirl thanked the gods for her question, it allowed him to move his mind away from all the confusing thoughts clouding his head.

“Well it’s written that books were once made of paper from trees, but it's impossible to cut down trees outside for fear of being discovered. So my grandmother cultivated a derivation of the fungi we use to make our clothes, and its tough enough to serve as pages when cut thin.

“Incredible,” Celestia marveld. She had picked up Starswirl’s book and was running a page between her fingers. “But how do make all the copies? My mother’s writing lessons are so tedious, I can’t imagine how much time you’d need to make all these copies,”

“Oh that’s simple,” Starswirl said dismissively, “Follow me I’ll show you,” Starswirl said standing. Celestia followed him up the stairs. At the top, a hallway stretched left and right with several doorways. They passed this level and went up another stairwell, this one curving up and around, leading up to an identical hallway. Celestia guessed the stairwells she saw earlier must be like this one, but larger. They passed the second hall as well, going up another curved staircase. The third floor hallway was like the first two, except the doorways were all sealed with large slabs of flat stone, on which were carved glowing runes. Starswirl went to the first door on the left and placed a hand on it, his horn glowed and then the stone slid down into the ground. Celestia wondered what could be so important to merit such a complex magical protection. She followed Starswirl in and gasped. A rectangular room with two rows of five stone tables. On each lay two open books. The books on the left looked very old and had pages stacked tightly with words like the book on the table downstairs. But the ones on the right were blank...mostly, above them floated pens that moved of their own accord. Celestia watched as one of the pens wrote, then over at the words on the older book, The pen was copying it word for word.

“What kind of spell is this?” she asked.

“One of my grandmother’s. She said it took years to make it work properly. But now she’s able to copy all the books she’s found over the years and - OH! Please don’t touch them!” Celestia’s hand was moving towards one of the old books, but she snapped it back quickly.

“Oh sorry, are they fragile?”

“It’s the spell, if the book is moved too much it might disrupt the replication, and yes they’re also very fragile. My grandmother says we can only levitate them with magic, anything else is too dangerous,

“That old?”

“Yes and they were extremely hard to find. Ponies died during some of her expeditions to get these, including my parents,” Starswirl said giving the books a faraway look.

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” Celestia said placing a hand on his shoulder. Starswirl bit his tongue to keep from shouting. His heart pounded in response to her touch. He then breathed out deeply in an attempt to look dignified and considered.

“Thank you, but don’t worry yourself over it. It was long before I can remember. And besides they died for something important so, I suppose I can be proud of that”

The sound of Wild Bolt clearing his throat echoed through the room like a clap of thunder. Starswirl jumped and bit his tongue again to keep from shrieking like frientened foal. Celestia gasped and turned to her father who was leaning against the wall just outside the doorway, arms crossed and looking rather cross.

“Father! I-” she was cut off.

“Celestia, what happened to getting help to unload the wagon?”

“I….” she paused, the sound of her breathing in slowly through her smile like a balloon filling up with air. She tried thinking of an excuse but instead burst with excitement. “Sorry it's just, the books, and and everything and have you seen this room it's incredible!” Celestia said giddy, bouncing up and down on hooves. Wild Bolt couldn’t help but bellow with laughter, shaking his head.

“Go help you mother and sister,”

“Yes father, right away,” she pranced out of the room.

“I’ll...go help, good to see you again sir,” Starswirl said awkwardly.

“You as well Starswirl, you’ve grown quite a bit,” he ruffling Starswirl’s shaggy mane.

“Uh...yes,” he stammered before going down the stairs. Wild Bolt chuckled and shook his head. He had known Starswirl since the boy was a toddler. Every time he’d visited Augeas he had gotten a little bigger, but was always just sitting alone reading a book, or writing one, hardly speaking, and he had never seen Starswirl open up the way he had while talking to Celestia just now. He wasn’t too surprised. Celestia shined so brightly, nothing could stay hidden when she illuminated a room, not even shy little Starswirl; Wild Bolt wondered if that would always be a good thing.

*****

Luna hefted a heavy sack towards the library door.

“Be careful Luna,” her mother said from behind, holding a wicker basket in her arms and levitating a few more of the heavy sacks around her.

“Thankyou mother, but I’m quite fine-” Luna tripped on the doorframe which was slightly raised from the rest of the ground. She dropped the sack and nearly fell over herself. But Luna and the sack were held aloft by golden light. Celestia ran towards her, horn aglow.

“Sorry Luna, let me get that,” she said moving the sack to a pile to the left of the door, and set Luna upright on her feet again

“Celestia where were you?” Ebony Rose asked perturbed.

“Sorry Ma, Starswirl was showing me how they make the books, and oh right, Luna this is Starswirl. Starswirl, my sister Luna,”

“Hello,” Starswirl said nodding slightly.

“Greetings,” Luna said making brief eye contact then returning her gaze to the floor.

“Oh and hello again miss Rose,” Starswirl said to Ebony.

“Hello Starswirl, I hope you’re doing well?” she smiled warmly.

“Yes Mam, thank you. Oh and my grandmother went out, but she should be back shortly,”

“Ok then, let’s get the wagon cleared out,” Wild Bolt said coming down the stairs.

The five of them were able to empty the wagon in a single trip, and then it was stored in the communal storehouse at the end of the street.

“Starswirl, can you show the girls where they’ll be staying?” Ebony asked.

“OH yes I...uh,” Starswirl knew his grandmother had told him, probably even shown him which room they’d be staying in, but now it was gone.

“Of course you don’t remember. You spend so much time reading, if only I could just get you to hear through your eyes, you might actually listen once in awhile,” Nebula said as she entered.

“Master!” Ebony Rose said smiling.

“Oh my dear, it's so good to see you again,” She said embracing her student. Starswirl meanwhile tilted his head down so his shaggy mane might hide his blush of shame.

“Oh and you two beautiful ladies must be Celestia and Luna,”

“So glad to meet you master Nebula!” Celestia and Luna said together, bowing slightly.

“Wonderful to meet you as well,” Nebula said, “Now it's getting late, and you must all be famished from your journey. Wild Bolt, why don’t you show me how your studies have progressed the last year,”

“Of course Master,” Wild Bolt said with a wink and a pinch of sarcasm, “In fact I’ve created a few variations of the recipes you gave me,” he picked up a basket of produce they’d brought, “Though I’ll need my apprentice’s help,” he said looking to Celestia.

“Oh right!” Celestia said in realization “You did say Master Nebula taught you how to cook,”

“To be fair your father was quite talented when we met, I just helped him master his craft,” Nebulas said humbly.

“Ah I only knew how to throw together whatever my squad and found in the woods,” Wild Bolt said shaking his head “You taught me how to make real food,”

“You’re too kind dear, and you’ve been teaching Celestia?”

“Sure have,” he said putting the basket in one arm and hugging Celestia with the other. “She’s almost better with food than she is with swords,”

“When I started I only wanted to learn to make pies,” Celestia said somewhat embarrassed, “But I’ve really come to enjoy it, I wish making potions was as fun as cooking,”

“Speaking of potions,” Nebula said wryly. Ebony gulped, “Ebony darling how have your studies gone?”

“Well master I’ve mostly perfected the spells you assigned me, though...I had a few questions regarding the potions,” Ebony said slowly, speaking like a student who hasn’t finished their homework. Master Nebula laughed.

“Potions never was your strong suit Ebony, no wonder you’re an awful cook,” Nebula cackled. “Come Celestia the kitchen is upstairs, show me what your father has taught you” she said leading Celestia and Bolt up the steps.

“Master!” Ebony cried, red faced and embarrassed, stomping after them preparing a protest in her mind. Luna was about to follow then stopped, watching them go up.

“Do you have a latrine?” Luna asked Starswirl, her words quick. Catching him off guard.

“Um...yes next floor up second door on the left, I can sho-”

“Thank you,” Luna said as she went, cutting Starswirl off. She found the Latrine, pulling back the curtain that covered the doorway and tightly tugging it close. Luna wasn’t sure what she was feeling, she just knew she wanted quiet and solitude. She sat with her back to the wall, legs crossed, just staring at the floor. When Celestia called out her name, telling her it was time for supper, she took a deep breath and went down the hall where she found the dining room opposite the kitchen.

Supper was quite delicious. Luna kept her thoughts to herself, but Celestia exclaimed many compliments for Master Nebula’s cooking. When she ran out of exultations, Celestia began a never ending series of questions. She asked Nebula about the city, about magic, old stories about their parents. All the while Starswirl’s gaze was locked on Celestia. His eyes dancing on her face like a moth dancing around a flame. The elbow of his right arm was propped up on the table, head resting in its hand as he stared lazily at Celestia, mouth slightly ajar. Luna even thought at one point he had almost started drooling. Luna seemed to be the only one to notice this, except for Master Nebula.

“Starswirl!” Nebula had said loudly. Not so loud as to seem like a reprimand (Though Luna had a feeling it was) but in that loudness that naturally occurs when a group of friends are enjoying time together. Starswirl had been in his daydreaming stance for so long that his chin and the palm it sat in had gotten slick with sweat, and when his grandmother called his name his body had jerked in surprise and his head slipped from his hand so fast he nearly hit his chin on the table. Luna bit her tongue to keep from laughing aloud. “Could you go get the dessert Starswirl?” Nebula asked.

*****

So stomachs were filled, eyes began to droop, and soon all were off to bed. Celestia slept peacefully on the other side of the room, but no matter how long she kept her eyes closed and tried to clear her mind, Luna remained bound by consciousness. Nothing felt right, and it didn’t make sense. After living underground her whole life, she’d had trouble sleeping outside on their journey, with the constant hum of nature in her ear, it should be easier for her to sleep here, yet it was harder than ever. She desperately missed her room back home, the kitchen, the garden, the training room, her little nook on the cliff, she wanted to be back there. Luna let out a squeak as she began to cry. She clamped her hands over her mouth, desperate not to wake Celestia, but the tears continued to flow. The crying turned to sobbing and she pulled her cover tighter over her head to muffle the noise. She let it all out as quietly as she could, and only then, body exhausted by sorrow, was she able to fall asleep.

.Chapter 2 End.

Author's Note

Huh? Oh! Hi there! Thank you for reading all the way to the end of the chapter, means the world! I hope you enjoyed. If you have the time I'd love some feedback, positive or negative as long as its constructive :D

Keep on trotting my pony friends ;) <3