Hanging in the Balance
Chapter 0: Quilin
My Faithful Student,
There are urgent matters in Caterlot that require the attention of yourself and the other Elements as well. As soon as you are all able, I request that you come to my court so that we may speak on this most grievous of matters. Time is of the essence, so please do not delay.
Yours Truly,
Princess Celestia
Twilight Sparkle read the letter from Princess Celestia over again, brow furrowed as she tried to put her hoof on what was wrong in the letter’s tone. It sounded like all of Celestia’s other correspondences, but something was wrong – she sounded desperate. “I wonder-” Before she could complete her sentence, she heard Spike burp and looked up in time to see him cough up another letter adorned with the royal seal of not Celestia, but Princess Luna. “Oh no…” She retrieved the scroll from Spike’s hands, breaking the wax seal as she hovered the parchment at eye-level.
My Dearest Friend,
My sister is being quite the mule, so I must take matters into my own hooves if anything is to be completed in a timely and well-researched manner. Doubtlessly, she has already sent a summons for yourself and your friends in the shortest and most cryptic manner possible. What she had failed to request of you, or even mention, is that we need you to come to Canterlot with not only your friends, but research as well. What we need is any information you can ascertain on a race of Pony hybrids known as the Quilin. All myself or my sister know is that they are usually grievous trouble and that we have had one ‘grace’ us with her presence without a single warning. I have spent innumerable hours combing the royal library, but, alas, nothing. This is an ambiguous subject that I ask you to look into, but I have the utmost faith in your ability to deliver an accurate and well-informed report to myself and my sister the moment you set hoof in Canterlot. The best of luck to you, Twilight Sparkle.
Warmest Regards,
Princess Luna
“Bad news?” Spike asked, watching curiously as Twilight startled levitating books off of the shelves in a near panicked hurry. “Twi?”
Twilight had practically dumped half of her library on the floor before she answered, “We have to go to Canterlot at Princess Celestia’s behest, but Princess Luna also requested that I come with a report as well.”
Spike moved around the mammoth book mountain to regard Twilight. “On what?”
“Princess Luna only said that she and Princess Celestia need information on a race known as the Quilin. That and we need to be in Canterlot as soon as possible.” Twilight tossed her head and a book followed over her shoulder in the first of the discard pile. “Can you and Peewee please head out and gather everypony here?”
Spike whistled and held his arm out to offer a perch to the young phoenix that swooped down from their shared sleeping area. He scratched at Peewee’s neck delicately with a claw before urging the little bird onto his shoulder. “We’ll be back before you can miss us!”
Twilight barely nodded in reply, in scholar mode as plunked down in the middle of the library and started ripping through book after book, meanwhile digging through the expansive archives of her mind to see if there was any particular time that she had encountered mention of such a race. I think I’d remember Pony hybrids, she figured as she cast another book aside. And I can’t remember ever reading about such a race. I always thought there were just the Pegasi, Earth Ponies, and Unicorns. …And, well, the Changelings, but that’s a whole other matter. She shuttered at the thought of those fiendish, insect-like Ponies and cast the thought aside. Twilight magically slung another book over her shoulder with a little extra force than the last one and sighed. “What the hay, Princess?”
The pile was fast dwindling and Twilight doubted that there would be anything of use in her collection. And Princess Luna already said that she had tried searching the library at Canterlot. “Great!” She chucked a book against the wall, already dismayed that she couldn’t find an immediate answer, and startled when Owloysius hooted at her. “Sorry.” The last book in the most obvious of tomes flew over her shoulder and settled by her flank as a few books slid out of the pile. “Now what?” She knew that “as soon as possible” meant that Celestia needed everypony in Canterlot post haste, but she didn’t want to disappoint Luna by showing up empty hooved.
Sensing Twilight’s irritation, Owloysius flew from his perch over to Twilight and settled on her back with a soft hoot.
“I don’t know what to do,” Twilight murmured into her forehooves. She was so used to having the answer right there that she was put out by the notion of being unable to find anything on the matter. “Between what I have and the royal library, there should be an answer! But there’s nothing!” Before she could start to go through less promising books, Owloysius flew over to another section of the library and retrieved a book that Twilight kept on hoof for bedtime reading.
With a proud hoot, the little owl dropped the book in front of Twilight and landed on it to peck at the title.
“ ‘The Compendium of Magical Potions’… Owloysius, a potion won’t help me,” Twilight sighed.
The owl pecked the cover harder.
“I appreciate the help but… Zecora!” Twilight finally got what Owloysius was trying to relay and grinned brightly as she jumped up. “That’s it! C’mon, let’s go!” She waited until Owloysius was on her back before she wrote out a quick note to Spike explaining where she had gone before taking off at a quick trot for the Everfree Forest. Once she was outside of Ponyville’s borders, she broke into a full-on gallop that had Owloysius clinging to her pelt for dear life. Praying that the zebra was home, the purple mare dodged across the familiar landscape of Everfree’s outskirts until Zecora’s modest hut came into view.
Twilight didn’t bother to catch her breath as she knocked on the door, unaware that her and Owloysius looked ridiculous; the former had twigs and leaves jutting out of her mane and tail while the latter was a mess of ruffled feathers.
The door opened before Twilight could knock again and Zecora was pleasantly surprised to find one of her friends there. “How good to see you, Twilight Sparkle. Enter, even though my home is a bit unacceptable.”
Twilight entered the hut with a polite nod of thanks, her nerves soothed a bit by the familiar smell of exotic potions and herbs that always hung heavy in the air and on Zecora. “Thank you. I hate to just barge in, but I really need help.”
“And what is it I can do to help you?” Zecora inquired.
Still trying to regain her breath, Twilight relayed the letters she had received from the Princesses.
Through the explanation, Zecora’s expression had become more and more icy and her tone was downright glacial when she spoke. “Of the Quilin, I have heard before. They are nothing but trouble that I wholly abhor.”
“What are they?” Twilight pressed. “I can’t remember reading about them anywhere in my books! And Princess Luna tried to look into them as well and found nothing!”
“No history book will ever tell the tale of those monstrous creatures who bring destruction without fail.” Zecora raised a bangled hoof when she saw Twilight startle. “Calm yourself, my child, for you must understand that, for these creatures, my hate is much more than a little mild. They are a mystical race born of two different breeds; the fiercest of Dragons and most noble of steeds. Called the ‘Quilin’ since the time before time, they come from lands far beyond reason and rhyme. They call themselves the keepers of balance, yet from all worldly affairs, they claim acquittance. They only appear when a ruler is to ascend and another die or when the scales of light and dark tip on the sly.”
Twilight swallowed thickly. “When a ruler dies? Like, before or after?” That fact stuck in her throat like a morsel of unchewed food, threatening to choke her. The thought of losing Princess Celestia…
“They appear before the ruler’s time has come and deign a new ruler to maintain equilibrium.” Zecora had never been so negative on any subject before and there was a sharp edge to her voice that was matched by the look in her eyes. “The most heinous of creatures, these monsters of lore.”
Twilight was at a loss for words and could only ask, “Did these creatures do something to you?” She had never seen a zebra aside from Zecora and, with the way she had reacted to mention of the Quilin, could only guess that the race had done something awful to Zecora’s people.
“That is a story for another day,” Zecora sighed, her anger bleeding away, “when the horizon is not such a stormy grey.” She met Twilight’s frightened gaze and wished that she could offer some sort of consolation. Unfortunately, she had nothing; all she could offer was a magnificent tome from her expansive collection. “If a Quilin is here, then it is the worst I fear. We will either face a blood war or dear Celestia will be our Princess no more.”
