The Third Alicorn

by Lux Aeterna

Rating: everyone
Tags: Adventure, Slice of Life
Length: 9287

A myth, a prophesy, and a long forgotten god.

A myth, a prophesy, and a long forgotten god.

My first story… hopefully it will get better as I write more. please read and review. praise is good, criticism is better!

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2013-01-17 18:31:15 UTC

1: Creation

Creation

In the beginning all was formless chaos. From this chaos rose three alicorns, 2 mares and one stallion. The eldest, the stallion, took a piece of chaos and formed it into the earth, and molded its every peak and valley. Then he took more pieces of chaos and formed them into the many plants and animals, from the largest tree to the smallest bug.

“But still the sky is boring, let me give them light,” stated the youngest, and so saying she created the moon and the stars, arranging them into patterns similar to the inhabitants of the planets.

“Beautiful,” said the elder of the sisters “but they look cold and scared…let my power give them warmth and light.” With that said she created the sun, and so the first day dawned on the planet.

“Sister,” pouted the third “your sun hides my stars, and eclipses my moon…”

“Well maybe you should have made them brighter, the creatures of the world obviously like my creation more than yours”

“But yours is boring, and too bright to look at… it leaves the sky blank”

“Then let us compromise,” said the eldest, talking for the first time “the sun and day shall rule half the time, while the moon and night rule the other half.”

“But…” the sisters started together.

“Is this not fair? Would you be greedy enough to wish ill upon your sibling?” he returned his gaze to the earth “still, my creation is missing something…”

“Ooh!” exclaimed the youngest excitedly “lets create creatures that look like US!” and with that she created the pegasi, winged so they could explore the sky she loved so much, The elder of the sisters created the unicorns with a small ability to force order upon the chaos, and the eldest created the earth ponies.

“We should help guide them,” mused the middle sibling, “they look lost and lonely,”

“No,” stated the eldest “leave them to their own devices; we will only interfere if the need is great. For now, we shall merely watch.”

For millennium, that was all they did, watching as their chosen races grew and prospered alongside the others. All was good until the chaos gave rise to a new being on that was a mixture of other parts. This being, the self-proclaimed “discord” proceeded to mess with their creation, going so far as to declare himself as ruler of all equestrian, as the pony races came to called it.

“That’s too far!” the elder sister said angrily “we must stop him!”

“His power is greater than ours, he would destroy us easily” the male said sadly, after all, it was his creation that was bearing the brunt of discords chaos.

“You forget brother,” the youngest said quietly, “there are three of us, and only one of him”

“Then I guess it is time to interfere,” stated the eldest “now, while we still have the element of surprise.”

With that, the three siblings finally descended onto the surface to confront discord. Around them, the power of discord faded, and the world returned to its original form

“Ha!” laughed discord “three unicorns trying to take me down? What hope do you have?

With a small tendril of magic discord tried to remove their horns, only for the magic to be scattered like dust by the deities combined power.

“We are no creatures of this planet; to be so easily changed by your power discord,” the eldest replied angrily, “your tampering with our creations has gone on long enough.”

“YOUR creations? Oh that’s a hoot let me tell you something little equine, I found these wonderful things, and as they say, finders keepers, losers weepers.”

“Very well then… sisters, lets dispose of this upstart,” with a flash of light discord was gone, and in his place stood a statue of his likeness, with a very surprised look on his face. The eldest looked at the statue with a smirk “that should hold him. Now, let us return to our vigil”

“He was right you know…” said the older of the sisters, “we need to protect our creations in case something else happens to them.”

“Besides,” added the younger, “now that the ponies have seen us, leaving would be cruel.”

“You two still believe that the ponies of this world still need our guidance?”

“Yes,” they said together.

“Then I won’t fight you, but I’m not going to rule. I will watch, maybe influence events here and there, but I will NOT lead.”

“What if we need you?” the youngest asked “how will we find you?”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be around, if our creations are again in danger, I will show myself and take my place at your side,”

Six ponies sat in a circle in the center of the library, all looking at Twilight as she read from an old book titled “old mares’ tales”.

“Well, that’s a mighty fine story, but why did you call us here to listen to it Twi?”

“I’m getting to that AJ,” said Twilight “One of the ponies who owned this book before it got donated to the library scribbled a note on the bottom of the last page. Here’s what it says:”

Although it does not state names, the mares in this story could not be anything but Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. However, the third alicorn is unaccounted for. Other stories speak of a “wandering prince” who helps those who help him, but never a name or description. The last account of him was in a little town called “Ponyville” .That was around the time of Nightmare moon, and no sightings have been made since then (approximately 200 years ago). Citizens of that town claim that their grandparents saw the prince go into the Everfree forest.

-TA

After the end of the message she looked up expectantly, only to meet the blank stares of her five friends. Finally, the cyan Pegasus, Rainbow Dash, spoke up “That’s it? The ramblings of some old pony gone senile?”

“Well… there is one more thing… but it’s not in any language I recognize,” Twilight said, holding up the book so that her friends could see the encrypted message.

Primum omnium sex tribus inveniet

2: The Meeting

The Meeting

Primum omnium sex tribus inveniet

The ponies looked at the encrypted message in confusion for a few seconds… then looked back at Twilight.

“What’s it mean?” AJ asked

“That’s just it AJ, I don’t know!”

At this Dash started to get annoyed “So you called us all here to show us a bunch of scribbles on a page that may or may not be a hidden message and may or may not be important?”

Twilight looked down “I was just hoping that one of you might be able to help me decode it…”

“It’s ok dear,” Rarity chimed in “Dash here just doesn’t appreciate things that have to do with the mind.”

Throughout this Fluttershy continued to look at the encoded message, finally speaking up “Umm… I could be wrong, but some of those words look a lot like the words we use normally.”

“Of course! Why didn’t I see that!” exclaimed twilight “Thank you Fluttershy. Now hopefully that’s the only thing…” Her voice died off as she started working on it.

“Uh Twi? You mind if ah borrow that ‘Old Mares Tales’ book for Apple bloom?”

“One sec” she said as she quickly scribbled the message onto another piece of paper “here you go,”

“Thanks, Apple Bloom will love this,”

Twilight sighed happily; now that her friends were gone she could get to the business at hand: decoding. She did love her friends, and they her, but she still liked her peace and quiet at times. It was about time for Celestia to lower the sun but that was ok, it’s easier to work at night when it’s more calm.

“Ok let’s see… primum… close to primary so ‘first’. Ominum… prefix ‘omni’ so all. First all… no, that doesn’t make sense… first of all? So ‘first of all… something something something.”

Apple Jack smiled as she trotted home with the book in her saddle bags. Apple Bloom would love this book! She and her friends were always interested in the myths of the “old mares tales”… claimed that they gave them inspiration. She sighed as she reached for the door handle. Even if the Cutie Mark Crusaders often… or rather ALWAYS caused chaos with their antics, they meant well.

“Hey Apple Bloom,” she called out “Ah’ve got a book for you!”

The sound of hooves came galloping down the stairs as Apple Bloom came bursting into the room “A new book? What’s it about?”

“It’s a whole book of old mares’ tales,”

“Ah can’t wait to start!” she said, grabbing the book in her mouth before turning around and dashing back up the stairs.

“Save it ‘till tomorrow AB, it’s getting’ late, besides your friends would be disappointed if ya started without them!” AJ called up the stairs before turning around to begin her last checks around the farm.

The next day was Saturday, the Cutie Mark Crusaders weekly planning day. Today, more than ever, Apple Bloom was excited to meet with her friends. The “Old Mares Tales” book would give them so many ideas for their Cutie Mark crusades. However, when she reached the tree house they were not there yet.

“Of all the days for them to be late…” she said to herself “it HAD to be today.”

“Hey AB! Sorry we’re late, Sweetie slept in,”

“I did not sleep in… I simply lost track of time while helping my sister.”

“Jus’ get up here girls! Ah’ve got something to show you.”

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle quickly climbed up into the tree house to see what AB had to show them. “What is it?”

“A book of old mares’ tales! Hopefully we can find some more cutie mark ideas in here.”

The fillies gathered around the book, eager to see what they could find. The book had all the common “myths”:

Nightmare moon, Discord, Slender pony…

“Ah! This one’s new, Creation” AB said as she scanned through the table of contents “let’s see… page 247… oops, too far. Wait… what’s this? Someone wrote in the book. Something about a third alicorn lost in the Everfree forest. You know what that means?”

“CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS ALICORN HUNTERS!” they yelled together before dashing towards the forest. The wind of their passing turned the page of the book to the encrypted message.

Primum omnium sex tribus inveniet

The three fillies stood at the edge of the Everfree forest, the darkness under the branches giving them pause. “Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea… “Sweetie Belle said, slowly backing up.

“What? You’re still afraid of the Everfree? We’ve gone in there loads of times.” Sctootaloo scoffed.

“Yes… but each time we go in there something bad happens… “

“Well, we’re bound to get a lucky break sooner or later. Are you too afraid to get your cutie mark?”

“I am not! I was just… offering an alternative.” With this said, they started into the Everfree.

It was like a switch was thrown, as the light dimmed to something more befitting an overcast dusk, rather than the clear blue midday it was. The crusaders traveled on for hours, until the darkness of the Everfree started to darken further: night was approaching.

“Maybe we should come back tomorrow?” AB ventured.

“I thought we were already heading back.” Sweetie said surprised. There was a dead silence. The three crusaders slowly looked at each other before coming to a conclusion.

“We’re lost…” started AB.

“…in the Everfree…” continued Scootaloo.

“…at night” finished Sweetie.

In the blink of an eye all three fillies went from the brave adventurers they thought they were to three little fillies, shivering in fear of the dangers of the Everfree, both real and imagined.

“Well,” said an amused voice, “what have we here?”

At the sound of the voice the crusaders slowly turned around, coming to face the owner of the voice: an old, one might say ancient, blue and green earth pony stallion with a tree for a cutie mark.

“Three little fillies up past their bed times,” the stranger answered his own question “Are you not afraid that Nightmare moon will come and eat you up?”

Finally, Apple Bloom managed to find her voice “Nightmare moon is a myth, Princess Luna is actually a very nice pony.”

A look of surprise crossed the old stallions face before being quickly covered by a smile. “So she is indeed… still what are you three fillies doing out here in the Everfree, don’t you know it’s dangerous?”

This time Scootaloo replied, “We were looking for somepony! You see we are trying to get our cuite marks and we read this book that said that there was an Alicorn hidden somewhere in this forest and…” Scootaloo dwindled off as something occurred to her “You don’t happen to know where he is hiding do you?”

“I remember when I was like you… always rushing off into grand adventures. But that’s beside the point. Why are you out here at night? there are safer times to explore.”

“We’re lost sir,” Sweetie said “c-could you help us? We’re trying to get back to Ponyville”

“Well then, it’s a good thing that I stumbled across you! Don’t worry, I’ll get you home.”

“Umm… if you don’t mind me asking sir, who are you? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in Ponyville.”

“My name is Terra. And you wouldn’t know me as I have lived in this forest for many years now… You’re the first ponies I’ve seen in all that time.”

In the empty tree house lay the book. Unseen and unaided, a new line scribbled its way across the page

Sex in unum conveniant, cum ignotum

3: Ponyville

Ponyville

In the library, Twilight was working on the code. She had been, in fact, for almost 28 hours straight now. Despite her dedication, she had not made any progress. Still the words refused to translate, and they lay on the paper, taunting her as she stared at them, hoping for their meaning to come jumping out.

“I’m not sleeping until I’ve got this figure out…“ she said to herself

Suddenly, the door slammed open, revealing a very worried Apple Jack and a disheveled Rarity. “Twilight, have ya seen Apple Bloom anywhere?” Apple jack said quickly

“We haven’t seen her or Sweetie Belle all day!” continued the distraught Rarity “and we’ve checked everywhere!”

This got Twilights attention. Those two missing at the same time could mean only one thing: A Cutie Mark Crusader disaster. “Ok, as hard as it is, I need you two to calm down. When was the last time you saw them?”

“I last saw sweetie this morning when she left with Scootaloo for one of those crusader meetings of theirs” Rarity started

“An’ ah last saw AB last night when ah gave her the book you lent me.”

“Right book…” Twilight said. There had to be something there that would give them a hint. Thinking of the book her eyes shifted over to the cypher that she had been working on. The cypher that had taken up her entire day… and had come from the very book that she had lent Apple Jack… the book that had the mysterious passage from one ‘TA’. “BUCK!”

This surprised AJ and Rarity out of their worry: Twilight NEVER swore. Their surprise only lasted a short time though, what she said next launched them out of shock into despair. “They went into the Everfree! Rarity, get Pinkie Pie. AJ, get Fluttershy and tell her to wake up dash. Meet back here ASAP! I’ve got to plan.” As AJ and Rarity sprinted off to their destinations, Twilight started planning and gathering supplies.

Following Terra, the crusaders saw a whole new side of the forest. Instead of being stifling, the darkness was welcoming. Instead of sounds being scary, they were nice. Perhaps this new-found courage was the illusion of safety a foal gets when following a confident adult or maybe it was something else.

“So mister Terra, where are you from?” Sweetie asked.

“Oh, around… I’ve been wandering ever since I was a young lad, never had a permanent home like your Ponyville miss… “Terra chuckled “you know… you never gave me your names,”

“Ah’m Apple Bloom,” AB volunteered “the unicorn is Sweetie Belle, and the Pegasus is Scootaloo and together we are…”

“THE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS!” the three shouted together.

“How long have you lived out here Mister Terra?”

“A long, long time… after a while the years seem to run together.”

“Did you fight any of the monsters in here?” Scootaloo asked excitedly.

“Monsters? There are no monsters in here, only animals. Dangerous and hungry animals yes, but only animals. A monster would kill for the sake of killing, the animals here kill because they need meat to live.”

“But they eat ponies!” Sweetie Belle protested.

“In the Everfree, ponies are just another animal to hunt Sweetie.”

“How can yah say somethin’ like that Terra? That’s horrible, we’re thinking-“

“I’m old Apple Bloom, I have seen things that wouldn’t even lurk in your nightmares, that’s how I can say something like that. As for horrible? It’s the law of the wild miss: Eat or be eaten. The strong hunt the weak and the weak hide from the strong. That’s just the way things are. But don’t worry; with me you are counted among the strong.” This stopped the conversation as the fillies mulled over the knowledge he had forced on them.

The four of them continued on in silence while they slowly made their way back towards Ponyville. For the fillies, the trip back seemed to take much longer than the trip out but even so, before they knew it, they were approaching the edge of the forest.

“Ah Ponyville! And it looks like a welcoming committee is out for you three.”  Terra said happily “Well, what are you waiting for? Go on!”

“Aren’t you coming with us mister Terra?” AB asked. Turning around, only to find that Terra had disappeared.

“Ok,” Twilight started “two groups of three. Apple Jack, Fluttershy, and Rarity your one group. Dash and Pinkie, your with me for the other group. Shy and Dash: stay over the canopy at all times, me and Rarity will be using a strong light spell so we can see and be seen. Remember, one pulse means we found them, two means trouble. We are not leaving until we find Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and-“

“APPLE BLOOM!” AJ yelled excitedly.

“-yes AJ, and Apple Bloom”

AJ shook her head before galloping off towards the forest “NO! Apple Bloom! She’s right there!”

The other members of the search party followed her with confused looks on their faces until they saw what she had seen: the three missing fillies slowly leaving the forest with very ashamed looks on their faces. They stood there stunned for a few seconds until rarity ran towards her sister, shortly followed by Shy, Dash, Pinkie, and Twilight.

“AB ah was worried sick about you.” Apple Jack said hugging her sister tightly.

“Sweetie what did I tell you about going into the Everfree, you know it’s dangerous in there!” Rarity scolded.

“Nothing bad happened to us sis… though we did get lost. But we met a nice pony who helped us leave.” Sweetie said in an attempt to reason with Rarity.”

“Sweetie, you know nopony lives in the Everfree except Zecora,”

Apple Bloom came to her friends defense “But we met one! He said his name was Terra an’ he claimed he had lived in the Everfree for a long time.”

“Oh, then where is he now? Ah would like to thank the pony who saved my sister.”

“Ah… ah don’ know...”

“It doesn’t matter,” Twilight said “the fillies are safe now. It doesn’t matter how, but they’re safe, thank Celestia. Now, let’s return to our beds. We can talk more about this tomorrow when we have gotten some rest and this supposed ‘savior’ has shown up.”

The next day, Terra entered the town by way of the main road. After a bit of wandering he found himself in the marketplace,

“Excuse me sir? Do you need some help?” asked a pony behind him.

Terra turned and saw the yellow farmpony from the last night tending a stall full of apples. “Ah yes, how much for an apple?“

“Two bits fer one, 20 bits fer a dozen.”

“Only two bits? Well, if you want to undersell you’re fine merchandise who am I to argue.” He quickly hoofed over two bits.

As Applejack went to place the bits in her register she happened to glance at the coins. They were made of worn gold with a sun and Celestia on one side and… a moon and Luna on the other? She had seen a bit like this before, in Granny Smith’s collection. It was a relic of the pre-nightmare-moon era… worth quite a bit to the right bidder. “Ah sir did you mean to give me these…particular… bits?”

“Why yes, is something wrong with them?”

“Well… no… it’s just that these are pre-Nightmare-Moon era bits. Quite a bit more valuable than normal bits.”

“I appreciate the honesty miss. Tell you what: I’ll call it even if you can tell me where I might rest my weary head tonight.”

“Well, that’s easy; we have spare rooms up at the house. Only use them when relatives are visiting… Ah’ll even add in meals. Though, if you’re going to room with us, ya’ll have to give me your name.”

“Of course! Always forget the name. Let me introduce myself… my name is Terra.”

At this the mares smirk disappeared, replaced by a stunned expression.

“You ok miss? You look like you got bucked upside of the head.”

“You saved mah sister last night…” the pony managed to force out.

“I did? Oh, she was one of the fillies wasn’t she?”

“Apple bloom” she replied still stunned.

“Ah, I liked that one, strong willed. Now is there a library in town miss… You know, I seem to have forgotten your name.”

At this the farmpony smiled “That’s ‘cause I never gave it, m’ names AppleJack, and the library is right over there. ”

“Thank you AppleJack, I will see you in time for dinner, good day.”

Terra walked away humming. This WAS luck, within an hour he had the problems of room and board solved. Now he just had to catch back up with the times. A tree! Books in a tree! He chuckled to himself as he pushed open the door.

Terra was again surprised as he came face to face with a baby dragon who had just been about to open the door. Terra was the first to speak “I didn’t expect to see a dragon living with ponies… let alone residing in a library full of flammable books.”

“Spike,” called a voice from up the stairs “Don’t forget the grocery list this time.”

“Right! By the way there’s a new pony here for some books.”

A purple unicorn appeared at the top of the stairs. “Oh, hello there, sorry about that. New ponies in town aren’t very common... what are you looking for?”

“Just some books on recent history.” Terra said.

“Oh, that’s easy” Twilight said trotting over to a nearby bookshelf, levitating out a single large tome “Unfortunately; I can’t let you leave the library with it… why are you looking at me like that?”

Terra, who had been looking at twilight intently, was startled by this unexpected comment. “Sorry, I don’t mean to offend, but there’s something off about you… something I just can’t place… anyways, that’s fine. I wasn’t planning on leaving anyway.”

“Well I am the magic element of harmony, perhaps that’s it?”

“Yes… that must be it, now pardon me I have some reading to catch up on.” He said as he sat at one of the empty tables.

“Right… If you need anything, I’ll be right over here,”

The library quickly faded back to almost perfect silence, the silence that is only achieved when everypony is completely engrossed in a book. Terra sat quietly reading his book for several hours, only broken when a certain pink pony came pouncing through the door.

“Twilight do you have any more cooking books the Cakes want more recipes and they sent me here to see if you have anymore,” The pink mare said in one breath.

“Sorry Pinkie, the Cakes already know all the recipes in the library.”

“Oh phooie…” she said, slowly turning around, stopping suddenly what she saw Terra. With a loud gasp she zipped over to him faster than most ponies are capable of. “Who are you? I’ve never seen you here and I know everypony so that means you’re new and that means you don’t know anypony which means I have to throw you a welcome to ponyville party so you can get to know people can you tell me your name so I know what to put on the banner?” Pinkie said very quickly and, again, in one breath.

Terra answered with a chuckle “my name is Terra, young one”

With another large gasp Pinkie zipped back out of the library, leaving behind an amused stallion. “Can’t say I was expecting one of those here.”

“One of whats?”

“Never mind that, do you know where she went?”

“Well, she’s either going to prepare a party for you, or going to get our friends to thank you for saving the fillies.”

“So why aren’t you surprised about it?”

“I put it together from the facts. The CMC said that they were helped by a male pony that had been in the forest for a long time. Next day you, a male pony, come in and ask to read a book or recent history, to catch up on what you missed while in the forest I’m assuming It’s really quite simple.” Twilight said.

At this Terra chuckled “You’ve got a good head on your shoulders, miss. Well, I’d better be going, wouldn’t want to leave a bad impression on my new friend up at the orchard.”

“You already met AppleJack? Did she thank you for finding the fillies?”

“Indeed, even offered me a place to stay for the time being, quite nice of her.” As he passed by the table in the center of the room his eyes happened to fall upon the cypher, “my my my… wherever did you find this?"

“That annoying thing? I got it out of a book, don’t know what it means though. Wait, you recognized it! Do you know what it is or what it says?”

“Not off the top of my head, but where is the book you got it out of?”

“I lent it to AJ for her little sister, it’s the same book that made them go into the forest in fact.”

“Well then, I guess it’s off to the farm to chat with AppleBloom.” He said trotting out the door.

Pinkie was just on her way back with the rest: AJ, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash, along with AB who wanted to thank Terra again for saving her, when he ran into them.

“Perfect! Just the filly I needed to see! Where is the book that AJ gave you two nights ago?”

“Uh…It’s in our tree house… “

“And where is that exactly?”

“In the orchard near the Everfree forest.”

“Well then, off we go. You gals will want to see this.”

“See what exactly?”

Terra just smiled and continued off towards the Tree house, prompting the other ponies to join Twilight in following him. When they got near the Tree house AB galloped ahead and retrieved the book for the adults, still open to the page that held the prophesy.

Terra quickly scanned over the lines “tell me Twilight, why didn’t you write down the whole thing?”

“What do you mean? Of course I wrote down…” Twilight stopped when she saw what Terra was pointing at, a second line under the first. “wha… that wasn’t there before!”

“Then my assumptions are proved correct. What this is is a prophesy. Magical writings that tell the future and appear where they are needed. The thing about prophesies is they are riddles, even if you manage to translate them before they come to pass, you still need to figure out what it means. Also, the next line will only appear when the line before it comes to pass.”

“So the line I spent all of yesterday trying to translate is useless now?”

“Yup. And another thing. This page wasn’t here when the book was made.” Terra said, before slowly tearing out the page with the prophesy on it, much to his companions surprise. When twilight was about to start berating him, he held a hoof up, silencing her just long enough for the magic to get working. Before the ponies eyes, a plethora of colors appeared, colors that they had never seen before, and might never see again. These colors moved like smoke, wrapping around the scraps of the torn out page left in the book. As the ponies watched, the smoke seemed to consume the paper before moving on, leaving no sign that there had been a page there not moments before. It then floated to the page Terra held in his hoof, slowly sinking into it. He quickly put the page down, then stepped back as it seemed to come to life, writhing as it replicated and shrunk. First two pages…then four…8…16…finally calming down on 32 pages. At this time, the book that it had formed was the size of a common journal. Then it stopped and the magic left as quickly as it had come.

“And that…” Terra said, walking up to the newly formed book and smiling at the stunned ponies “…is the magic of prophesy.

In the book, a third line formed.

a novum malum erit devenire

4: Ponyville

Ponyville pt.2

The ponies looked in awe and surprise at the book that had suddenly formed. Its pages looked and acted like the highest quality paper, but felt more like silk. The letters were shaped perfectly and written in an ink that seemed to absorb the light. But the most amazing feature, by far, was its cover. At a glance, the cover appeared to be the purest white. Upon closer inspection, flashes of color become apparent. Have good eyes and a quick mind and the flashes of color become pictures, lasting only long enough to admit their presence before changing. Terra walked forward and picked the book up off the ground before turning to Apple Jack “Anyways, I’m here for dinner.”

Those few words brought the other ponies out of their stun. Twilight was the first to speak, “Wait! You’ve told us what it is, but not what it means,”

“Right, how silly of me to forget. Let’s see… ‘Primum omnium sex tribus inveniet’ translates to ‘Three of the six shall find the first of them all’. The second line-“

“What’s that supposed to mean? It doesn’t make any more sense than the gibberish!”

“Well as I said, it’s a riddle. You have to figure out the meaning. What three of what six and the first of whom? Anyways, the second line, ‘Sex in unum conveniant, cum ignotum’ means ‘the six shall meet the one, though they not know it’.

“That doesn’t help at ALL!” Twilight whined.

“On the contrary Miss Sparkle, now you know what the words are, you just have to find what exactly they mean, but if you think you can make sense out of it, take the book,” Terra tossed Twilight the book. “Now, Applejack, dinner?”

“Uh…Well dinner won’t be ready fer a bit. If you could head up to the house, ah’ve got more apples to buck.” and with that, the group split up, each pony going its own way. AppleJack made it halfway to the unbuckled parts of the orchard before she noticed that Terra was following her. “Uh, Terra, this isn’t the way to the house.”

“Oh, I know that. I just figured I would help you finish your work, many hooves make light work after all.”

“Well… normally ah’d be happy for any help ah could get… but aren’t you a bit old fer bucking trees?”

“AppleJack, The day I can’t rid a tree of apples is the day I lie down and die.”

“Uh… well…If you’re that determined…” she said as she came to a stop before a tree that still contained apples, “Try this one.”

Terra chuckled softly, he was about to blow the poor farm ponies mind. Instead of turning around to buck the tree he placed one fore hoof on it like he was greeting an old friend and left it there. After about a minute, Apple jack opened her mouth to ask him what he was doing and as if cued all of the apples fell. The surprise of seeing the tree bare of apples combined with the fact that it had been accomplished by an old stallion she hadn’t thought could buck even ONE apple off was enough to make her forget to close her mouth.

She was brought out of her daze by a soft chuck coming from terra “Close your mouth Miss, wouldn’t want a bird to make a nest in there would we?”

It took several seconds for the words to make their way through the car crash that was AJ’s thought process and several more seconds for a reply to make its way out “how...how did ya do that?”

Terra chuckled again, “I’m honestly not surprised, it’s a trick that few earth ponies know about, and fewer successfully do. You see, all ponies have latent magic. Unicorns and pegasi use theirs obviously in everyday life, walking on clouds and casting spells. Earth ponies on the other hoof, are much more subtle, our magic gives us enhanced strength and endurance as you already knew. What you didn’t know is that, with focus and practice, earth ponies can communicate with anything be it pony, animal, or even plant.”

“Do ya think ah could do it?” Applejack asked hopefully. With the difficulty of running a farm, anything that lightened the load was welcome.

“Any earth pony can DO it. Most just can’t muster the focus.”

“So… ah’ll have no trouble then… right?”

Terra’s face turned dead serious “If you truly want to, yes. But I suggest practicing on your own time. Wouldn’t want to lower the productivity of the farm would we?”

“Ah guess you right… ah’ll stick to my way of doing thing and ya’ll stick to your way. Now, let’s get buckin’” Applejack said, before bucking the tree behind her. They continued bucking for several hours as the sun slowly sank in the sky, stopping only for a quick lunch. Finally, just as the sun kissed the horizon, AJ stopped bucking. She stood there panting slightly as Terra walked up to her, still as fresh as he had been in the morning.

“Ah think that’s enough for the day” AJ said between pants, “Let’s head back to the house for sup.”

“Wonderful! Hopefully it’s as good as the plain apple was.”

“Say what ya will but never call us apples lazy, and never insult our cooking.” AJ said with a smirk.

“I wouldn’t dream of it.” Terra responded with a chuckle as they approached the door. “Though I warn you, it was all I could do to eat the apple like a civilized pony. If dinner is any better I may not be able to restrain myself.”

As he opened the door a scent of home cooking wafted forth, leading him in to the table where an assortment of dishes lay. Every fruit and vegetable was there in one dish or another, and lots of apples. Unfortunately for Terra it was a feast he would be unable to partake in. As soon as the family had settled down, the door crashed open to admit a very concerned looking Twilight. “Terra, come quickly! There’s a third line in the book!”

“I know.”

“Look it says ‘nov…’ wait… you know? Why didn’t you TELL me!?”

“Because I know what it means Twilight and I don’t want you to worry you’re little head about it.”

“Wait… worry my little… are you saying that whatever the prophesy is predicting is dangerous?”

“Astute as always Twilight.”

“AND YOU WON’T TELL ME!?”

“Nope.”

“This is going straight to Princess Celestia.”

“Okay. Just leave my name out of it will you? Celestia and I didn’t part on best of terms.”

Twilight just disappeared with the crack of teleportation as AppleJack took up the conversation, a slightly worried look on her face ”What did ya do to rile up the Princess?”

“Oh nothing illegal if you’re worried. Just a minor disagreement. Of course, a minor disagreement with a nearly omnipotent being is slightly worse than one with a normal pony… and ‘Tia always did hold grudges.”

“Did ya just call the princess Tia?” a nod from Terra “You’re lucky Twilight ‘ported away when she did, she would bite your head off for that.”

“AppleJack, I’ve had thing worse than her try to bite my head off, why this one time when I had just gone into my seclusion a manticore decided I looked like a nice snack. Let me tell you, He regretted it before I was through with him. But enough talk! There is food to be eaten and if it tastes half as good as it smells you’ll have to dig in quickly before I eat it all.”

Dinner was indeed good, and the company of the Apple family even better. Afterwards, while cleaning up dinner(Terra had insisted on helping), AJ brought up the manticore again. “Terra remember how you mentioned that you beat a manticore? Could you perhaps tell me how you beat it? The only encounter Ah had with one of them didn’t end too well.”

“Remember what I said about Earth Pony magic in the orchard?”

“That it gives us enhanced strength and endurance and with practice you can…” A look of disbelief crossed AJ’s face, “…are ya trying to tell me ya TALKED to it?”

“Indeed Applejack. Wasn’t a bad conversationalist, once I convinced him that eating ponies was a bad idea… in fact, most animals are good conversationalists if you can get past their individual quirks.”

“What types of quirks?”

“Well… predators are always talking about prey and territory, prey animals tend to talk about location of predators, and all animals talk about the weather… especially the birds. Let me tell you, the one downside of learning to speak to animals is the birds. Always chattering on about wind currents, storm systems and thermals. I know more about weather than a weather Pegasus, just from my stay in the Everfree. Of course they are quite informative if you can get their attention, birds see a lot you know. Why, one bird I talked to claimed to have seen a battle between a Timberwolf pack and a manticore… the larger predators tend to avoid each other due to the fact that a minor injury can mean the difference between life and death… you know, I never did hear how that one ended… Most likely the Timberwolves, they’re probably the most intelligent non-sentient creature in the forest, what with their social structure and all... ah, but I seem to have rambled on, my apologies AppleJack.”

“Don’t, that was quite… informative. But ya said ‘non-sentient’. Do ya mean there are ponies living in the Everfree?”

“Not ponies per say…”

“Then gryphons?”

“Look, AppleJack, if they haven’t informed ponies of their existence than they wish to remain unknown, and I will respect their wishes.”

“But ya met them didn’t ya?”

“Of course, how else would I know of their existence?”

“Are they nice?”

“Well… in their own way, yes.”

“Then that’s enough fer me. An’ look, we’re done! Mah ma’ always said that many hooves makes light work. Thank you fer the help Terra.”

“No thanks needed, if I’m going to live in this house then I’m going to pull my own weight.”

“If yer going to pull your own weight then you might want to hit the sack, Ah know Ah’m going to, got a busy day ahead of us tomorrow.”

“Indeed… oh and AppleJack, I would appreciate if none of that particular information got out ok?”

“Mah lips are shut, it’s the least ah can do after all you’ve done fer us. Goodnight Terra”

“Goodnight AppleJack.”

That night AppleJack dreamed of the knowledge that Terra had imparted, and of all of the secrets he yet kept.

5: Everfree

Everfree

Terra smiled as he entered Ponyville. With his help, the ‘busy day’ had turned out to be more of a ‘busy 6 hours’, leaving him with the rest of the day to spend as he wished. Hopefully, something to do would show itself, seeing as the only thing on his to-do list was visit the library to finish catching up on history… something he was not looking forward to after the visit from Twilight Sparkle the previous night.

After a bit more walking (and unfortunately no interruptions) Terra found himself looking at the library door. He paused for a moment to prepare himself for the mental conflict he was about to partake in, then pushed open the door.

Twilight looked up in surprise from the book of prophesy she was studying, a look of anger flashing across her face before being replaced with a careful mask of politeness, “So I got a reply from the Princess,” She stated conversationally.

“And what did she say, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“She told me what the line meant. She also mentioned that the only known books on prophesy were lost in the fight against the Nightmare and that she doesn’t remember getting angry at a blue and green earth pony stallion any time in recent history.” Her voice slowly grew harder as her façade of calmness cracked.

Terra simply raised an eyebrow “I thought I asked you not to mention me?”

At this Twilights front completely crumbled and her voice took on that steely tone of somepony struggling to control their anger, “The only reason I am not dragging you off to see Princess Celestia right now is that she told me not to worry about it…”

“See, she agrees with me.”

“…she also expressed an interest in meeting the pony who managed to decipher the prophesy,” Her tone took on a confident air at her small victory. Nopony would deny a direct summons from the princess.

“Well, she’ll just have to wait. I’ve got better things to do than spend time on a train to Canterlot. Oh, good, its right where I left it.” Terra settled down to continue reading from where he left off the previous evening.

“B-but NOPONY ignores a direct summons from Celestia!”

No response.

“I know you can hear me Terra!”

Still no response.

“… Oh look! There’s another line of prophesy!”

Terra showed no signs of having heard her.

“Fine… have it your way. You’re going to put that book down eventually, and when you do-“

“SLAM!” Twilight jumped at the unexpected sound of the door opening, narrowly avoiding the cyan Pegasus that came barreling through and promptly exited through the (closed) window on the other side. Twilight stared in annoyance at the broken window until Rainbow Dash came back through, “Dash, what have I told you before?”

“But Twilight there’s-“

“I don’t care,” Twilight frowned in concentration as she slowly pieced the window back together with her magic.

Rainbow let out a sigh, “To keep my speed to a manageable level to minimize unnecessary collisions and collateral damage I believe were your exact words… sorry Twilight.”

“Apology accepted, now why were you in such a hurry to see me?”

Dash perked up “Oh right! Fluttershy has a timberwolf down at the cottage she wanted you to go over because she can’t tell what it wants and you might be able to help.”

“Wait… I must have misheard you, I could have sworn you said timberwolf… wolves made of wood.”

“That’s what I said! And one is at Fluttershy’s cottage right now!”

Twilight just stood there with her mouth open for a few seconds, just as Dash reached out to poke her, her mind reengaged, “Research!” she grabbed her saddlebags as her telekinesis grabbed at multiple items and started checking off items as the flew in, “Paper, quill, more paper, back up quill, ink, second backup quill in case the first breaks, more ink in case the first spills-“

Dash watched with growing annoyance until she had to interrupt, “Twilight don’t you have enough stuff? Fluttershy is waiting, come on.”

Twilight gave a chuckle of embarrassment, “hehe… right, let’s-“

“What does it look like?” the two mare’s heads turned to the, until now, forgotten earth pony that was sitting quietly in the corner.

“Why does that matter at all?” a very confused Rainbow Dash asked.

“Because the wood of a timberwolf reflects its personality. For example, and oak timberwolf is stronger than a pine timberwolf but the pine is more resilient.”

At this Twilights ears perked up, “But that’s not in any of the books I read.”

“Twilight, I spent years in that forest with only the animals to keep me company, I think I learned a thing or two about them that isn’t in books. But that’s beside the point description please.”

“Uh… birch?”

“With a scar across its left eye?”

“How did you know that?”

“That’s the only birch timberwolf that I know in the pack that controls this area of the forest… and I might be able to help.”

Fluttershy’s cottage was different form how it was usually, the presence of an apex predator quieting all but the largest of animals that resided there. The predator in question, a great white timberwolf lying behind the house and close to the Everfree, was not interested in the numerous forms of prey cowering around him. This was a place of sanctuary for all, a place to get dangerous injuries healed; though that was not the reason he was here, he was waiting for somepony. His ears perked up as he heard the distant sound of footsteps, a sniff told him that, yes there were ponies coming. One scent was of that annoying wing-pony, another was one who positively stank of magical power, and the last… the last he knew as well as that of his own pack, the scent of the forest-pony.

“…I’ll say it again Twilight, while I know more about the creatures of the Everfree than quite possibly anypony, I WILL NOT tell you. If you wish so badly to figure them out then go out there and do your own research.”

“But…”

“This conversation is over Twilight. Now, it looks like we’re here.  I’d assume the wolf is out back, since we can’t see him from here.” As Terra said this a large wolf came trotting out from around the cottage, followed by a pale yellow pegasus.

Twilights instincts screamed at her to flee, an urge barely kept in check by her curiosity and Rainbow at her side, or rather above her. As Terra walked to meet the wolf her fear and curiosity turned to confusion and wonder as, when the two met, the wolf showed submissive behavior towards the significantly smaller stallion.

Terra focused on his innate magic. Slowly, the barks and growls of the timberwolf in front of him changed into words.

"Forest pony can understand now?"

“Yes old friend, what brings you out of the forest at this time?”

The wolf tilted its head, “Wolf is not old, forest-pony is old.”

“I will not dispute that, but you did not come out just to call me old.”

“Wolf needs help, stone-eyes got packmate.”

“Ah? And I should help why?”

“Stone-eyes also got pony.”

“Ah bribery… but what happened to stone-eyes?”

“Was good meal.”

Terra broke off the trance with a sigh. The wolf pack’s hunger had made his job harder. He turned to the girls behind him, “Well, I’ve got good news and bad news. The good news is that I know what the wolf wants. The bad-“

“Wait just a minute,” Twilight interrupted, “what where you doing there?”

“Talking to the wolf. How else was I supposed to figure out what he wanted?”

“But how would the wolf know what you were saying… Tartarus, how would YOU know what IT was saying, assuming it had a language.”

“Tell me Twilight, do you know what a timberwolf’s size correlates to?”

“Well no but-“

“It’s age, although their growth rapidly declines when they reach adulthood, a timberwolf never truly stops growing.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“Do you know how long this wolf has had to pick up on the language of ponies? Five-hundred years.”

“Assuming that the wolf is intelligent enough to understand our speech that still doesn’t explain how you understand IT.”

“Uh guys…” Fluttershy whispered.

“Ask your friend Applejack that. I don’t feel like explaining it again. Yes Fluttershy?”

“Oh uh… what does the wolf want?”

“Oh, that. It wants me to go into the forest and free a pack member that was stoned by a cockatrice. Of course, needless to say, I’m going.”

“WHAT!” Dash dropped out of the sky in surprise, “You would help one of those… those… monsters!?”

“Miss Dash the timberwolves are not monsters, just predators”

“But they eat PONIES!”

“I’ll have to agree with Dash on this one,” Twilight interjected.

”Fluttershy, what do predators eat?”

“Well… meat.”

“Exactly, and what, Miss Dash and Miss Sparkle, are ponies made of?”

“But- we’re ponies! We’ve got a civilization and a culture and a-“ Twilight blustered.

“Timberwolves do too you know.”

“wha?”

“They have a philosophy, a nice and simple one: Win or die. Basically, if you lose in a fight against them you deserve to be killed and eaten. It doesn’t matter how smart you are or what your race is, if you’re weaker, you’re prey.”

“How can you say something like that?”

“I am merely speaking for the timberwolf since you can’t understand him. Anyways, the bad news is that the timberwolves decided to have the cockatrices in question for lunch, so we’re going to have to go about this a bit… unconventionally.”

“Wait… we? Who said anything about going in there with you?” Twilight said, still angry at losing the argument. Dash just nodded in agreement.

“Well, you came here to do research on timberwolves didn’t you? And what better way than meeting a whole pack that isn’t trying to kill and eat you? Fluttershy would probably be interested in learning a new cure, and I doubt Dash would be willing to let you go into the Everfree without her. Besides, the cockatrice also got a pony.” Terra turned and followed the wolf into the forest

The three ponies just blinked at Terras accurate reading of their characters before scrambling to catch up.

“Umm… why are we stopping at a patch of poison joke?”

“Do you know what poison joke does Twilight?”

“It plays a joke on whoever touches it.”

“Yes, a joke based on whatever that being is most proud of. A lesser known fact is that they also interrupt any and all magic that it comes in contact with, quite deadly to creatures that require magic to live.”

“So… how does that help?”

“A cockatrice’s stare is an enchantment, the being affected is still technically alive, just in a kind of stasis, rubbing them with poison joke breaks that enchantment and frees the individual… of course, they get a joke played on them but that’s better than being a statue for all eternity.”

Twilight shuddered remembering her past experience with a cockatrice, “Anything would be better than that. But… how do we pick it if we can’t touch it and can’t use magic?”

“The stems are safe to touch.” That being said, Terra picked one stalk and carefully wrapped it in a large leaf.

It was not long after that that the group reached the clearing that held the timberwolf pack. At first, it just looked like a couple trees had fallen and the forest had yet to regrow. Then one of the logs opened an eye, then another, and another, until all the wolves had awoken. The ponies stopped, paralyzed with fear as the camouflaged wolves revealed themselves. That was, until Terra entered the clearing.

Terra ignored the numerous stares, from both wolves and ponies, and went straight to the duo of statues near the center of the grove, followed by the three elements of harmony. First he rubbed the poison joke on the timberwolf statue. The stone quickly crumbled into dust, freeing a very trembling and tired looking timberwolf. It quickly ran off to join the rest of the pack which, now at its full strength, disappeared into the forest. He then turned to the pony statue, “I don’t suppose you recognize this pony?”

Twilight cocked her head to the side, “Now that you mention it, no… and Pinky introduced me to everypony in ponyville.”

“Figures that would be the case…”  Terra said while carefully rubbing down the statue, shortly after saying that the statue broke.

The bubbly mare that emerged seemed none the worse for wear from her imprisonment in stone, “Thank you for freeing me my friends, but I’m on a mission from The Elders to deliver something to the ancient… one…” her voice trailed off when she noticed that the ponies who had rescued her were not, in fact who she thought they were.

“Hello, my names Twilight Sparkle. You were caught by a cockatrice and may be a bit confused, as we’ve never met. Who are you and where are you from?”

The pony started slowly backing away from the unicorn and pair of pegasi, a look of fear present on her face.

“It’s ok, we’re not going to hurt you, we just want to know where you’re from so we can take you back there.”

At this, the pony’s slow retreat turned into a sprint away from the unicorn. Or it would have, had not the pony come face to face with Terra the moment she turned around to run. When she saw him, her run turned into a full-fledged face plant.

“Well that’s new,” He said with a raised eyebrow “I’ve never been bowed to before.”

“Ancient, I was sent to deliver an important message,” The pony said, head still bowed in reverence.

“Well, out with it then.”

Instead of responding, the pony pulled a pristine white book out of her saddle bags and handed it to Terra.

“Umm Terra? Is that what I think it is?” Twilight started.

“Yes Twilight, it is. Don’t worry, it is highly unlikely that it is the same prophesy…” He said before opening it up, “Or it could be the same one… well, this complicates things. What was your name?” he asked turning to the messenger.

“Azure Flash, Ancient.”

“Well Azure,” he said, handing the book back, “Report back to the elders that you found me, and tell them to expect a visit in the near future.”

“Of course Ancient.” With that said, she vanished into the forest.

“Twilight, it looks like Celestia is going to get that meeting she wanted.”