New Legacy

Ch.11

“So, you managed to discover that vacuum exists and developed the mercury barometer all on your own?” I asked eagerly while observing the archaic vacuum chamber akin to an iron lung powered by muscle standing next to an antique mercury barometer that I was practically slobbering over. This stallion was essentially this world’s Evangelista Torricelli!

“Yes! The fact you even know that on sight, who are you milady to be so versed in the sciences?” King Orrin asked excitedly while I couldn’t contain the flicking of my thick tail if I wanted. I’m in a place that is literally making history right now in this world!

“Shimmer. I’m a newborn dragoness, but I came pre-packaged with advanced knowledge from another world. Oh, is that a whirlpool simulation vat?” I asked in excitement when I approached the glass tub full of still water with a long spoon in it.

“Yes. It’s glass so that I can observe where objects of different buoyancy move in response to the agitation of the water. I have thus far deduced that naturally generated whirlpools at sea are the cause of ocean currents running across underwater mountains and having counteracting currents pull other currents into what we know as a whirlpool. It’s important to understand with The Boar’s Eye between Beirland and Nia islands.” King Orrin said and I nodded along.

“That’s about right from what I understand. You also need to take into account seasonal whirlpools caused by changes in water temperature and the alteration of undersea currents as a consequence.” The moment I said that, King Orrin promptly summoned a scroll and began writing notes as he frantically muttered in comprehension.

“Don’t go off spouting all of your secrets, Shimmer, I’m already writing down all you can teach.” Roran chided me playfully and I pouted at my intelligent Rider.

“You wrote this? She told you all of this?” Twilight demanded excitedly, reading from one of the books Roran had been recording my knowledge into after requesting that Roran display where his wealth of scientific and other knowledge came from. “You, this, you’re going to cause a revolution!”

“Thank you~.” I cheered as the others, mostly Kalameet, poked around.

“I hope you’re not giving them nukes.” Kalameet commented.

“From what Shimmer has already spoken to me at length about that, I believe we already have something like that using the Ancient Language. Or at least we Elks do. It’s incredibly dangerous.” Arya commented and Brom hummed grimly.

“Yes. Indeed there is something akin to that. Thuviel, a Rider driven mad by the loss of his dragon, turned his body into pure energy and exploded with such violence that he destroyed Doru Araeba and poisoned the very air, rendering the eastern half of Vroengard uninhabitable. In the end, his sacrifice only killed one of the Forsworn while destroying everything.” Brom groused, but he knew about the Vault of Souls from me sharing that with him months ago.

The fewer people who know while his ‘friends’ in Narda scouted the ruins of Doru Araeba for the Vault of Souls, the better. “Ah, yes. I know that spell. It’s mostly used on small pebbles and produces a rather impressive blast yield. I was told it was only to be used in a situation where vast groups of enemies are with no allies nearby, or if I needed to blow up a mountain for whatever reason. I would rather not know the words to do it, but I do.” Arya stated and Twilight’s years twitched.

“Oh! You mean the matter conversion spell. It’s surprisingly much easier to convert matter into energy than energy into matter. Matter is like stored energy, just waiting to be harnessed, while energy itself is fickle and hard to wrangle, which is why our ability to harness and store it in gems and whatnot still fascinates me.” Twilight rambled and I was about to comment when Saphira groaned.

“Can you all please get on with it? Don’t we have someplace to be?” Saphira demanded and I pouted at my sister’s impatience with the sciences and history. Really, she and I are so different I’m surprised she declared me kin. I couldn’t think of her otherwise though. I love her more than anyone besides Roran and Katrina, even if Katrina is still shy about my feelings for her.

“Right. We can enjoy the pursuit of magic and science when the lands to the north aren’t ruled by a tyrant.” King Orrin reluctantly grumbled and sighed. “I’m not vain enough to want to take credit for any discoveries made by other people, but please allow me to join in on this technological and social upheaval you’ll be causing.”

“Certainly.” I chirped and hugged the King, who awkwardly patted my back. “Sorry we have to go, but, y’know, evil to face and allies to meet.”

“Of course. Do come back.” King Orrin kissed my hand again and I tittered before joining our group as Twilight led us out of King Orrin’s lab.

“I hope you come back, I would love to talk shop with you again.” Twilight stated before she teleported us and again those of us unused to sudden spatial displacement fell down. “I’m afraid the best I can do is provide you bullboars for the journey to the westernmost gates of the underground highway and send word ahead via drakefire.” Twilight then led us out of the empty room and to the castle stables. “You’ll find only Warg-raised bullboars have the nerve to be underground for long.”

“I still lament losing Snowfire, Cadoc and Alden back in Aroughs.” Katrina said mulishly. She understood as well as the rest of us that there was no choice other than to abandon the beasts, that didn’t soften the attachment she’d grown being their main tender the whole time we’d traveled and she was the one checking in on them in Teirm’s stables.

“I lament more that we betrayed Haberth’s faith in our promise.” Eragon agreed and I had to remind myself who that was. He was the ranch owner who quite reluctantly sold Brom Snowfire along with Cadoc and Alden with the promise that Snowfire be treated with utmost dignity and respect. More than likely he was either going to be slaughtered for food or turned into breeding stock for the Empire’s own ground-bound cavalry.

Pegasus dominated or not, the Empire’s army still had other species in it due to supply and support positions. “Promises are important. A broken promise is trust broken-.” Twilight was interrupted by Diane popping out of a doorway and startling the lot of us.

“Forever~!” Diane declared before she blinked and looked at us. “Uh, wowie zowie! I was just following my senses poking at me and now I’m here, where is here?” Then she realized who she was looking at and she gasped happily. “Eragon, Roran, Katrina~!” The buxom and surprisingly strong baker lunged and pulled the three former Carvahall villagers in for a hug.

“W-what? How? When? Where? Why?” I asked in absolute bafflement. Diane was supposed to be on the opposite end of the landmass! She’s an earth pony and I doubt she knows magic!

“Um...who is she?” Murtagh questioned uneasily and Twilight was just as baffled at the appearance of the pink pony.

“She is Pinkamena Diane Pie. Most just call her Diane. She works at the bakery for Carvahall, our home village in the north. I have to wonder how she got here.” Saphira informed the second pegasus of our party while I was still failing to comprehend her existence.

“Do not question Pinkie Pie.” Kalameet said with a shiver and the rest of us that weren’t being crushed to death by a super-powered earth pony hug looked at her in bemusement.

“Oh! Oh no~! I have to...Roran, Eragon, Katrina...I have terrible, horrible, no-good bad news.” Diane mewled and looked around before pushing them to a small hay bale where she sat them down. Oh...oh no… “Guys. Things have...happened after you left.”

“W-what is it?” Eragon questioned uneasily and I hurried to grab Roran’s hand and sat next to him, nuzzling him comfortingly to his confusion.

“Garrow is...gone…” Diane’s pained words caused my Rider such immense pain that I wanted to burst into tears. “The King’s ponies. They came and demanded to know where you were. Garrow refused to tell them and when he resisted they…” Roran clenched my hand so tightly that if I weren’t a dragon he would’ve crushed my bones.

“W-what?” Eragon weakly uttered and Saphira was at his side too, holding him up as she hugged him and crooned quietly and soothingly into his ear.

“How did they know?” Brom demanded angrily and Diane looked at Katrina sadly. That was enough for Katrina to gasp and cover her mouth with her head shaking in horrified disbelief.

“Sloan sold him out. None of us said a word, but Sloan sang like a caged canary. None of us know what became of that fetcher, but he wasn’t in town after we killed the soldiers who murdered Garrow in the middle of Carvahall.” Diane then looked around in worry. “Where am I? My Senses have never taken me so far away from home before…”

“Miss Pie. You have somehow ended up on the opposite end of Alagaesia from your home. I know the Pie Family is known for producing prodigies, but would you be able to return from here?” Brom questioned and Diane looked like she was about to panic, but Brom put a hand on her shoulder. “Then I am sorry, but you’re with us now. We cannot simply leave you here.”

“Oh goodness.” Kalameet sighed and I felt a sudden spike of understanding in Roran.

“Diane. The village? The rest of you?” Roran questioned as he ran his free hand’s fingers through Katrina’s coppery mane. Her father was a traitor to his village, his essential extended family. Sure, she left, but that didn’t mean she still didn’t care about the family she left behind.

“Rarity roused everyone into fleeing. I was on a barge heading south from Narda when my Senses brought me here. My family must all be worried sick…” Diane wilted, her already straight mane and tail somehow seeming to become flatter and straighter.

“Brom. Can I try to scry them? Communicate with them somehow?” Roran questioned and Brom looked at Twilight, who was calmly and politely maintaining composure and giving us a respectful distance.

“Perhaps your assistant could help with that. He seems proficient with his magic if he can send a message to the Varden with a breath of fire.” Brom suggested and Twilight nodded.

“If he knows the name of the person, even if not their True Name, he can send them a message. I’d be lost without him, I swear.” Twilight declared and took out a scroll with a quill that she dipped in a floating inkpot. “Who am I writing to? We need them to be literate and in contact with your family if nobody in your family is literate.”

“Address it to Cloudy Quartz, my mother. Let her know everything is upside-down fruitcake with frosted sugar.” We all looked at her in confusion. “It’s our secret ‘everything is fine’ passphrase. Tell her that along with where I ended up since I’m going with them.” Diane declared before she sniffed the air and sharply looked at Murtagh. “You have a brother, Era?”

“Um, yes, half-brother.” Eragon answered, more used to Diane than the rest of us.

“From the smell of him, from Selina’s side. Hm, knee twinge, elbow itch, tail tingle. Also a really big meanie on his dad’s side.” Pinkie then looked between Brom and Eragon. “Oh! So you two worked that out, good!”

“How much do you know?” I asked in bafflement and Pinkie sighed.

“Sometimes too much, but too often it seems not enough.”

🥚

We ended up staying the night in Borromeo Castle. The emotional shock that Eragon, Roran and Katrina had suffered was too much for them to be able to travel since there’s no immediate threat dangling over our heads to push us onward.

I spent the night crooning and whispering sweet nothings both verbally and into Roran’s mind. My Rider was in pain, so I was too. The anguish. I haven’t felt this since my mother died. I joined him in crying and suffered with him. His pain lessened over the night and eventually we managed to sleep. When we awoke, it was past midday. King Orrin was understanding, even encouraging us to rest another night due to our loss, but we declined.

The Empire had to pay.

Vengeance burned in Roran’s heart and sung within mine. I had little doubt that Eragon and Saphira also hungered for sweet revenge. We set out before supper, intent on riding east toward the Beor Mountains through the semi-arid plains of Surda with plenty of preserved foods and water stored in our magic inventories.

We rode and flew until the bullboars tired and we set up a quick camp in the dead of the night, only to wake at first light, tired but determined. At least until the sight of the Beor Mountains greeted us. “It’s one thing to read about it, but they are just so massive. How is it that they don’t have their own gravitational pull?” I asked myself regarding the cloud-piercing ten-mile-high mountains that erupted from the just-above-sea-level plains of the land around them.

“A true Arch Tree or Harmonia are far more impressive.” Kalameet commented and I rolled my eyes in irritation. “I mean, Harmonia is as big as a-.” *Pop!* Kalameet vanished in a sudden popping noise that surprised us and nearly startled the bullboars below where I was flying with Roran into a frenzy, only for Elric to finally appear in her place.

“Eugh...finally. I’ve been dying slowly for what felt like years.” Elric moaned and fell off of his bullboar to groan on the grass. “That stuff they used is evil~!”

“As good as it is to see you once more, Mister Elric, I’m afraid we haven’t the time for your shenanigans. On your bullboar. Now.” Brom demanded while levitating the Undead back into the saddle and Brom took the reins of his Bullboar before getting the group below us fliers back in motion. “Thank you for accommodating us, Miss Sparkle, we have been rather difficult.”

“It’s no problem. I may not have ridden this hard and long before, but as a Lady of House Sparkle, the ability to ride bullboars has been driven into me since early childhood.” Twilight, who would be taking the bullboars back, said with kind professionalism. “I’m honestly surprised at how well Miss Pie is handling it.”

“My parents say I am a savant, whatever that is. I learn things real quick.” Diane, who was riding with Twilight as her passenger, gave as her answer. “I’m getting all sore though~. The saddle makes my core all tingly, but my poor thighs hurt.” I felt a bit flush at Diane admitting to the jostling feeling really good in the naughty way. Now that she’s aired that, Roran was sending me strong feelings of suspicion and mischief. It’s not my fault my scales remove sores and stuff for me! I had to get my pleasure somehow with no privacy~!

“Y-you get used to it.” Twilight was redder than a traffic light, clearly understanding the pervy connotations of Diane’s words.

“I’m guessing my handler was with you for a while?” Elric asked with a rub of his gauntlet-clad wrist. “Sorry if she got under your skin. Kalameet still isn’t used to the idea that she isn’t the greatest thing since sliced bread.”

“She was abrasive and unpleasant, but also gave us a bit of insight into your world beyond what you’ve already shared.” Arya said from her shared saddle with Katrina.

“What Arya said. She was rude and dismissive.” Katrina added on and Elric chuckled darkly.

“Good. I’ll be sure to include your reviews in my report to my goddess so she knows that Kal still needs to learn humility and respect.” Elric hissed and curled on his saddle. “Ah, this really fucking sucks. It’s like a Curse, yet it’s just phantom sensations. Whatever that was, it was worse than any death I’ve experienced before. I’ve dissolved in acid before, for reference.”

“Despite his whining, the fool is preferred to the howling female dog.” Saphira commented from where she and Eragon flew next to me and I nodded in agreement.

“I agree. The way Kalameet talked down to all of us was frustrating. Especially with how she acted like you two weren’t even dragons.” Eragon telepathically huffed and I felt indignation spike in my heart. Just because I don’t meet some offworlder’s definition of a dragon doesn’t mean I’m not one here!

“Relax, Shimmer. No matter what anyone thinks, you’re the prettiest and most regal dragon in the world to me.” Roran told me and I keened quietly in joy at the feelings of love and appreciation he both sent and filled me with. “I think we’re getting close.” Roran observed and brought my attention from the group below us to the lands ahead of us.

The nearest mountain was close enough now that the winds were shifting from updrafts and simple winds to constantly shifting air currents that brought an extra chill to them. The forested base of the mountain was upon us, the redwood pines easily big enough to be thin buildings were starting to replace the plains. “Shimmer, Saphira, Murtagh. Land, you won’t be able to stay with us from the air.” Brom telepathically ordered us from below.

Aw, dang it. I’ve only been able to glide about with Roran for at best a full day since we left Aberon. I dove down and landed, letting Roran get off of me before I transformed into my anthro form and sighed in disappointment. “Goodbye flying, hello to being stuck underground for however long we have to be.” I grumbled as I retrieved my tunic and trousers from my cleavage.

“I’m afraid that will be for some time. After we get through these woods and enter the tunnels, I’d suggest you retake your birth forms. The main tunnels we’ll be using are large enough for whole companies of cavalry to ride five boars abreast with room to either side.” Brom input and I winced. Saphira and I’s wings are going to feel so twitchy in those confining spaces.

“Okay, we’re near enough for me to warp us the rest of the way there.” Twilight warned us before doing just that and I was once more on my ass, dizzy and cursing teleportation. “Whew, moving so many people at once is exhausting. At least there’s a keystone back at the castle’s stables so I can just warp the bullboars back home from here before I do.”

“Huh, Teleportation. It’s been a while since I used such travel.” Elric sighed and got off of his borrowed ride before he retrieved his resurrection shrine from the saddlebag.

“Thank you for the ride, Twily!” Diane chirped and hugged Twilight rather than just held onto her, causing Twilight to flush brighter and awkwardly worm her way off the bullboar before she helped Diane down. “Ow, ow, owie~! My poor thighs~!” Diane whimpered and stood bow-legged like so many american cartoons mocked in ignorance.

“I’ll heal them for you, Miss Pie. Unlike the lads, I’m not afraid to put my hand in intimate places if it’s to help someone.” Brom said and knelt down with Diane lifting her skirt a bit so he could reach under. “Waíse Heill.”

“Have some decency!” A deep and gruff voice snarled before Brom’s magic caught a flying mace that had been flung right at his head. “Pig! Remove your hand from that lady’s privates!”