Miracle for the Cursed

Pacing back and forth inside a room made entirely out of the inside of a tree was a very worried and flustered young lavender unicorn mare. Stress seemed to plague her as her indigo mane with pink and purple streaks frayed at the curves, producing a mock bed-head. With her natural telekenisis, she was holding a scroll that was addressed to her by the Princess.

"What does she mean?" she asked herself, re-reading the scroll over and over, "Is the Princess warning me about an upcoming threat? Is somepony in trouble? ARE they trouble?! Are my parents moving in?!!!"

A small purple baby dragon with green spines and a yellow underbelly approached the mare from the kitchen. He held a tray of 'De-Stress Tea TM' (Tea to relieve stress!), which sat beside a freshly boiled tea-pot, and perfectly polished cup with saucer. "Twilight, you have to relax. The princess probably just met somepony odd and decided to tell you about it. You know, like what you do when you make a 'Friendship Report' to her, except she made one to you."

"She doesn't make friendship reports!" She snapped out of ever increasing anxiety, "She doesn't have time to do these things because she's the PRINCESS and has royal duties of... such and such. When she sends a message to me out of the blue, it ALWAYS means something big is gonna happen, or something bad. Usually big AND bad!"

"What about the Wedding invite?" Spike asked, "The after party there was pretty cool."

Twilight's eyes shrunk in horror to the reminder. "The wedding was crashed by Changelings, remember?"

"The Hearth's Warming Eve celebration?"

"Attacked by Windigos after we left the theater."

"The Royal Summer Sensation Surprise?"

Twilight's cheeks flushed a little, "I'd rather not talk about that one..."

"Anyway, this letter you have isn't even an invite, so there's no need to worry about angry snow spirits, changelings, or bogey-boarding," the fire reptile said, trying to reassure his caretaker, "It's just a plain old letter that has her telling you about her own recent experience. That's all."

"No! That's NOT all!" She started again, "It CAN'T be all! There has to be some thing else behind it. Like this," she said before she slammed the unfurled scroll on the center table, with her hoof pointed towards the bottom of the letter, "what does 'May your new guest entertain you for eons' even mean, huh?"

Spike looked at her a little confused, before asking, "What's an eon?"

Twilight sighed in exasperation, "Spike, don't tell me you forgot. We went over this last year when we were studying time periods in Equestria history." When the little dragon continued to stare at the mare with nary a clue in his head, Twilight began to re-explain, "In ancient pony times, it was used to describe ages using the average lifespan of a pony as a base unit. These days it's used to describe thousands of years at a time in transcribed eras, such as the Era of Discord, or the era we are in right now, the Era of Harmony. With Celestia being as old as she is, she might be using the original meaning, which means a single pony's lifetime. But why would she even use a term like that, and why would she make it PLURAL!?"

"Maybe it's just a figure of speech?" answered Spike.

"Nothing is JUST a figure of speech with the Princess!" She barked in retaliation. Spike could only clap his claw against his forehead, realizing she was pretty much too far gone, as he continued to watch her melt down.

The only thing that finally kicked Twilight out of her ever descending rant on how the Princess' figure of speech on eons might be a code (even mentioning time travel, the fabric of reality tearing asunder, and giant multi-eyed tentacle monsters invading Equestria), was a very gentle knock at the door. Freshly snapped out of her stream of consciousness, Twilight initially assumed it might be Fluttershy coming for a visit, but two things were wrong with that. The first was that Fluttershy was in Cloudsdale to visit her uncle, and wouldn't be back for a few days. The second was that this is a library. Anyone who lived in or around Ponyville knew that, for the most part, you could just walk in just like any other shop or business.

"Hello?" she asked, "You can come right in, you know. This IS a library, after all."

The handle gently turned and the door swung open softly, without a lingering aura of magic, revealing-

-v-v-v-v-v-

About five minutes prior to Twilight receiving her letter and having her subsequent meltdown, Janos suddenly appeared in a flash of blue light high above the little town. He stood upon on a cloud, which made him slightly puzzled.

"How curious," he said, amused. He bounced on the cloud a few times to test it and it remained a relatively solid, if incredibly soft, platform. "What strange magics this world has."

He looked down over the cloud, and gazed at the town of Ponyville below. It was a quaint little settlement to say the least, aside from the bright colors, which were a big part of the world as Janos came to realize. As he tipped forward to get a better look, he lost his footing on the cloud, and began to fall. Letting his wings unfurl, he caught himself mid air, and gently glided for a few moments.

Something felt a little off about how his wings operated, and to test it, he gave them a flap while he was still in the air. He sharply shot upward, as if his wings were now twice as strong as they were before he transformed. But that was wrong. His wings didn't feel any different from when he wasn't a pony. Though, he felt a sort of force push up against the feathery appendages, as if the world around him was helping him fly.

He figured it would be best to find out about this phenomenon later, since he still has very little knowledge about the race here, save for what the princess had told him the night prior. He floated down to the settlement, watching how peaceful everything seemed to be. It was one thing to see the tranquility of the land from afar, but entirely another to get a much closer experience. That was until something smashed into him, causing him to fall, dazed and confused. The last thing he saw clearly was a blur of cyan and... rainbow?

He hit the ground with a deafening thud, face down. As he rose back to his hooves with a groan, he rubbed the back of his head and face to check for any injuries, where that unknown flying object struck him and what he landed on after the impact. To his relative relief, he had none. Though, that may be because I still retain my ability of accelerated healing, he thought. Wincing, he slowly opened his eyes, and realized that he was amongst ponies of various different colors and shapes. And they were all staring at him. He hadn't noticed before, but he was easily a full head taller than most of them. Celestia exceeded his own height while her nephew was nearly a match, if a bit shorter. Perhaps it was uncommon for this race to be so large, which would explain the staring. One of them, a purple goggle wearing white coated unicorn with a jagged blue mane streaked with sky blue, approached Janos. She was cautious, but not intimidated.

"You ok there, dude?" she asked, "You took a nasty fall. Were ya skydiving or somethin'?"

Janos looked at the sky briefly, before he answered, "No. I was struck by some..." he paused, trying to think of the right word, "Actually, I have no earthly idea what hit me." With that said, most of the onlookers began to disperse and continue with their normal lives, leaving the mare with Janos.

"I figured you pegasi would've had courses that taught you to watch for other fliers, but I guess some still don't learn." she gave a small laugh before quickly changing the subject, "Your accent is rather weird, and you're pretty tall for a pegasus. You're probably not from around here, are you?" Before he could answer, the unicorn interrupted, "Doesn't matter, though. We get lots of outta towners coming by, so it isn't such a shock. Though, that crater you left was shock enough, guy."

Janos looked down and saw the imprint of his body imbedded in the ground. How hard did I fall, he asked himself in thought with a rather surprised expression. She giggled a bit, taking notice to the ancient's surprise. "By the way, my name is Vinyl. Vinyl Scratch. Local DJ of awesome beats!" She made a small pose of pride in reaction to her own title.

The ancient looked back towards her. He raised an eyebrow to the term DJ in slight confusion, but smiled and returned the courtesy, "And I, am Janos Audron," he proclaimed with a small bow, "I seek the one named Twilight Sparkle. Do you know where I could find this individual?"

"Brainiac? Sure, she's just down the street!" She pointed a hoof down what looked like a small neighborhood towards a rather large tree, before continuing, "She'll most likely be still in the library, studying away like usual. I swear, that mare needs to get out and go clubbing once in awhile."

"Thank you. Ms. Scratch."

"Aw, dude, don't call me that! Call me Vinyl, or my alias DJ-PON3... The E is spelled as a 3..."

Slightly bewildered from the reaction, he decided it would be easier just to comply, "Very well, Vinyl."

"Thanks man! Hope to catch you on the flip-side!" she said as she walked away towards a group of other ponies. Janos stood in silence for a moment, before he made his way towards the large tree. He decided to take in the sights while he sallied forth. The first to attract his attention, aside from all the different brightly colored ponies, were the houses. White walls lined with a timber-frame, with distinct yellow thatched roofs and overhanging upper floors. Details, such as the edgings and the doors, were done in pink. While the windows seemed to be tinted in a light purple. Each home was decorated with trees, bushes, flowers, and a few of them even had a bit of ivy climbing on the walls. They reminded him of the homesteads of those in Uschtenheim, the small village that he had unfortunately needed to visit when he was to feed, but those houses weren't nearly as bright or cheerful.

He soon approached his destination, and it was a sight to behold. An indeed still living tree, possibly just as old as the land it stood on but still no less fertile. All around it showed signs that it was more than just that, though. Windows could be clearly seen peppered on the trunk, and a few even in the canopy. Balconies were clearly visible on the sides, with an added one at the top which held what looked like a dual telescope. The roofing on the added rooms and the door frame were mere bushes of leaves, in keeping with the natural presence of the tree. He could hear the buzzing of a swarm of bees nearby, and spotted a hive hanging off a branch on east side. An interesting decoration choice, he thought, if that is, indeed, supposed to be a decoration.. He shivered at the thought of the hive being disturbed in any way by some unsuspecting passerby.

He noticed the sign to his left. It was simple and wooden, with the picture of an open book on the front. He figured this must be the library Vinyl was mentioning. As he approached the door, he heard the sound of an increasingly worried female voice going on about the concept of an eon being used as a figure of speech to be a cover up for something sinister. He shook the puzzled look from his face, and without further hesitation, he knocked at the door gently, not wanting to startle the worried one on the other side. There was silence for a moment, before the voice he heard spoke up.

"Hello?" she asked, "You can come right in, you know. This IS a library, after all."

He looked at the handle, then his hoof. I won't be able to grip it right with these, he thought, but with a little concentration, I should be able to will it open. He closed his eyes, and raised his right hoof slightly, and let his natural vampiric telekinesis to turn the handle. The door gently swung open.

Janos looked around the interior. Indeed the entire place simply was a giant tree hollowed out to be a room. How the tree managed to survive with so much missing from the inside was lost to him. The "walls" had hollowed out pockets made specifically for the many books that resided here. He noticed doors leading to a few rooms, two of which were near the canopy, one leading to a possible root cellar. To one side was a simple archway that lead to a kitchen. The whole place had a light, fresh scent that usually lingered near a tree.

"Excuse me," the lavender unicorn started, "May I help you? Nothing too big, cause I'm just a teensy bit busy."

"Yes," he answered, stepping into the library, "I seek the one named Twilight Sparkle."

"You're speaking to her," she said. She took a good look at her new visitor. He's rather large for a pegasus, she thought, and I never knew wings could be a different color from the coat. His accent seems Trottsylvanian, but most of those ponies are rather recluse. And those eyes...

Janos smiled, "Ah, yes. The Princess said you would be able to help me."

Wait, Princess? She thought, is this the guest Princess Celestia was talking about? She looked at the note for a moment before she crumpled it up and tossed it in the bin off to the far corner. "Really? I'm glad Princess Celestia thinks of me so highly to trust me with a friend of hers." She smiled nervously, scoffing at herself for thinking that the figure of speech was code for the end of the world.

The ancient perked an eyebrow, but decided to let it slide. She seemed stressed enough as it is, he thought. "Where are my manners. My name, is Janos Audron," He proclaimed with a bow.

"It's very nice to meet you, Janos... It's kind of an odd name. Where are you from?"

Janos thought about it for a moment. "I originate from Nosgoth, a very... isolated land. All of our names might seem 'odd' to you."

"Nosgoth," she repeated going into deep thought, searching through her memories for that name that might have been mentioned in her many study sessions, "I can't say I've heard of it. Maybe you can tell me all about it?" Her eyes began to shimmer in wonder with the prospect of learning about a new land.

"Perhaps another day. First, I need a new place to stay."

"I'll be glad to help with that. I'll take you to the town hall, and we can speak to the Mayor about accommodations."

"I beg your pardon, but I believe you stated that you were a bit busy, and this seems like an awful amount of trouble-"

"My schedule just cleared," she interjected. Twilight trotted up to Janos, but caught a glimpse of her frazzled mane in the reflection of her window. "Eh, heh, just one second," the lavander mare uttered before quickly dashing away, and just as quickly returned with a much tidier do. "Alright, let's go," she said with a smile and motioned for him to follow as she continued outside. "Spike, would you be so kind as to clean the library while I'm out?"

The little dragon took a large gulp of the tea he so recently set, muttering that he's gonna need more of it, before he replied, "Yeah, I'll see you when you get back." Janos, whom noticed the dragon for the first time, couldn't help but be slightly shocked. There are dragons in this world?

"Janos, aren't you coming?" Twilight asked him. Snapping out of his thought, he noticed she was a fair distance away from him. He quickly caught up to Twilight and apologized.

As they walked down the street, heading towards the Mayor's office, they failed to notice a pair of bright blue eyes staring at them from the bushes. Bushes that had a small curl of bright pink hair sticking out of it. If those two were only a little closer, they would have been able to hear a high pitched and elongated gasp coming from the hiding individual.

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Authors Note: I don't usually do these ANs, due to them interrupting the story and all, but I feel this must be said. I don't mind if you give me a thumbs down. It's disheartening, yes, but I ultimately don't mind. HOWEVER, I would prefer that you express WHY you gave me and my story a thumbs down. I can't grow as a writer if I don't know what I did wrong. So please, if you thumb it down, explain why you did. It will help me greatly. Thank you.

Also, sorry for the shorter chapter. This will be the last set up chapter for a long time. After this, it's all shenanigans...