Fallout Equestria: Desperados V3 (Bonds of Platinum)

Fallout: Equestria

Desperado’s V3: Bonds of Platinum

Ch 6, The Coven of Clovers, Part 2.

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If the Outer-city was like a wasteland version of ancient Equestria, and the Inner-city like ancient Canterlot, the inside of the Coven of Clovers gateway was like trotting into pre-Equestria times. And if this was Clover the Clever’s teahouse, then the stones used to build this place might actually be from the lands ponies lived in before Equestria itself.

Unlike the lye painted brickwork and cut wood that was common in Platinum Hill, this place used cobblestone and logs as building materials. What looked like runes were carved into everything, giving off a faint hint of ancient magic that was similar to talismans, yet fundamentally different. Plant filled baskets were everywhere, made of some long wood like materials, all bursting with herbs and flowers. There was also an abundance of small animals, many of which were pure white with red eyes, darting about like phantoms.

I also noticed that the air here was more than just clean, it felt rejuvenating. “Wait? Is that aromatic oil in the air?” I asked.

Weeping Willow nodded. “We make several herbolic materials here, which are used by the residents of the city to keep themselves healthy. Or as healthy as you can get here. Our most popular product is our scented healing oils, for obvious reasons.”

“I bet, Platinum Hill has always had a bit of a smell to it, but like, it's so much worse now.” Fizzy commented.

“Well, that happens when the population grows by over ten times within less than ten years. As annoying as the Steel Rangers are, building that wall was a good move. As hospitable as we like to be, we also like to keep the outsiders at a safe distance. Having such a clear border, It helps our more xenophobic neighbors stay calm and to themselves.” Weeping told us as we trotted into the building, entering a warm and cozy room with a little fireplace in use. “Sit here, I'll go get our elder.”

Everything here looked considerably old and well cared for, with polished wood, soft cushions, and even a raw iron chandelier covered in candle wax hung overhead. The windows here were made from small diamond shaped pieces of glass, fitted together by cross sections of metal, and each piece engraved with magic. On a windowsill was a small open container with a small candle inside, on top of it was a small water filled pottery bowl that steamed with vapor, which gave off the smell of the scented oils.

“Amazing.” Slowtrot said as his eyes darted around. “I don't remember it all that well, but isn’t this Clover the Clever's teahouse?”

“That it is!” A mare spoke with a chuckle. “Though we have added to the buildings, we've made sure not to alter the original parts as much as possible.” A nearly pure white unicorn mare trotted in, draped in a white robe and wearing a fairly large white floppy hat that covered her face, which just barely hid her pure white mane. “Even then, even if we wanted to, Clover the Clever made sure this place couldn't be simply tampered with. Blow this place up, it will repair itself in due time.”

The pure magical force this mare irradiated slapped me in the face. It was powerful like Fizzy’s, but refined to an absurd degree.

“Right, I remember that story.” Slowtrot spoke up. “Supposedly, Princess Platinum, Commander Hurricane and Mayor Puddinghat kept accidentally destroying Clover's house. So as a response, she meticulously enchanted every piece of her home, and moved it out into the middle of nowhere… wait… are we at Clover Hill? But They keep calling this place Platinum Hill.”

“Spoken like a pony out of his own time. But yes, unfortunately, over time ponies do tend to forget things, and names change because of it.” The mare said. “Right, before we continue, let us introduce ourselves. I'm known as Elder Magnificence, though I prefer to be called the Tea Witch Mag, or just Mag. And don't mind Willow, she's very much a stickler for tradition and ritual.”

Before I could stop anypony, Star asked a question that shouldn't be asked, “you sound way too young to be an elder or a ghoul?”

Again Mag chuckled, then lifted up her big floppy hat, revealing that she had no eyes, just smooth fur over where the eyes should have been. Even more terrifying was that now I could see her face better, she had no lips, just more smooth fur and a slit for her mouth, same for her nose. “Let's just say that my situation is rather complicated. I mean I should be lucky, taking a megaspell to the face and living isn't something most ponies can boast about. Though my face was melted by it, I am very much still alive. And before you ask, yes I am a ghoul, just not a Bailfire ghoul like most others. Equestria's megaspell tends to have a much more variety of effects when making undead.”

“Like temporal ghouls.” I spoke, remembering those poor souls trapped inside the R&D stable, with blacked out eyes, and unable to die.

Mag tipped her hat back down. “Ghouls made by time magic, I presume?”

I nodded back. “There was a half collapsed time space megaspell back where I'm from, I got tossed into it right after a friend of mine managed to finish getting it to implode.”

Slowtrot raised his hoof. “I was the one who started the implosion. That was around two hundred and eleven, maybe twelve years ago.”

Mag waved her horn over us, it glowing with a silver light. “Yes, I can see it now, you both certainly have residual time magic stuck to your souls.”

“What!” I nearly yelled, then magically had my mouth shut.

“Please do not raise your voice so suddenly, I happen to have sensitive ears. As do the walls.” Mag told me sternly. She waved her horn again, and her magic surrounded everypony as it spread out like a bubble. “There we go, that should keep others from needlessly listening in. And as for you two, yes, it seems that both of you have had a piece of your souls chipped away, the stallion more than the mare. In its place, filling the gaps is something that doesn't belong to this world.”

“The pipbuck 2600, it had an error that shaved off the user's soul. That's how Quicktrot was born.” Slowtrot said.

“Wait, but I never put it on, just downloaded its program into my pipbuck!” I retorted.

“Best to not speculate too hard on the subject of souls, they are fragile things that can be damaged easily. But we have plenty of time to ponder on the hows and whys, so maybe you should start by introducing yourselves to me.” Mag said calmly. “All three of you; Slowtrot, Star Charter, and of course you, Harp Melody. Or should I address you by your official title?”

She had no eyes, but it felt as though she was seeing right through me.

I shook my head. “That's not needed, you can just address me by my name.”

Mag smiled as she lightly clapped her hooves. “Alright, then could you three start from the beginning. But before you do, Bianca, shouldn't you be heading home? Your father will start to worry if you take too long.”

“But, like I haven't seen Fizzy in, like, forever!” Bianca said with puppy dog eyes.

“I'm blind Bianca, giving me that look will not work on me. Now go home, and let your father know you're alright. Anyways, I'm sure you will have time to see more of Fizzy later.” Mag told the young griffin.

Giving Fizzy a dramatic hug, Bianca then left, leaving the five of us with the unusual ghoul.

Weeping then trotted in, levitating a silver platter with six tea cups, a teapot, and a plate piled with cookies. Placing it down on a small table in front of Mag, Weeping proceeds to pour tea into each cup before leaving with the teapot. The aroma of the tea was nostalgic, almost making me cry as I remembered my home.

“This can't be, can it?” I asked.

Mag levitated a cup and took a sip. “Royal Tea, grown here and brewed perfectly. It happened to be rediscovered several years ago, and managed to make its way up to us. Unfortunately we can only grow so much of it here, making quite the delicacy.”

“Ehhh, Sparkle-Cola is better.” Fizzy said as she sipped her own cup.

Mag let out a sigh. “Sadly, its refined taste is lost on most ponies.”

I tasted it myself, and it's subtle floral, but bitter taste filled my mouth, just like the tea mother brewed. “It really is royal tea, the same that Celestia cultivated.” Looking at the mare, I was sure she knew who I was, or at least knew enough. I didn't know if Arras told her about me, or if she just knew, but I didn't feel worried about it. Strangely, she gave off the same feeling as my mother. Her tone, how she drank her tea, even her magic felt a bit like my mothers. “Right, where do you want us to start?”

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We got to talking, Slowtrot about his time in the R&D stable, Star about her life before the wasteland, and I about the events right before I landed in the Followers free clinic. It felt good to be able to tell more ponies about all of it, to not hide who I was, and my mistakes.

Unfortunately, I think I said too much, as I got to the end of my tale, a very purple mare then gave me a very big hug.

“Oh, that's so sad! Having to live through such a horrible thing!” Fizzy cried out as she was almost suffocating me with her mane and body. “I know exactly how you feel!”

“Fizzy, please don't hug my guest to death.” Mag warned.

She mercifully let me go, though I still had to pull a bit of her mane out of my mouth. “S… sorry.” Fizzy apologized.

“It's fine.” I replied, taking a moment to catch my breath. “But what do you mean by knowing how I feel?”

She looked away, losing the enthusiasm she had before.

Mag clapped a few times, getting our attention. “A story for later, so best to leave it as one of many wasteland tragedy's.” Weeping returned with another steaming teapot, of which Mag sniffed the air and smiled. “herbal tea, just what we need to relax.”

Not wanting to pry into a stranger's past, I took Mag's word on this. Anyways, I already heard way too much about tragedy in the wasteland. How Cloudy nearly starved to death waiting for her rather, only to get used and abused later. Brass Chain being assaulted for what her father did, and left with alcoholism and a foal she can barely look after. And as much as I hate Ashy Oaks for what she did, I couldn't blame her. It wasn't like her hatred was misplaced, just that she couldn't let it go.

“So we told you about ourselves, what about you, and this place? I mean, Platinum Hill is remarkable in of itself, to think a place like this could exist after the war." I asked Mag.

The tea witch sighed. “It was not without its hardships, but thanks to the Platinum Guard, the Steel Rangers, and even the Desperados, the madness that consumed the rest of Equestria was greatly subdued here. A pocket of order you could say.”

“Wait, if that's true, then couldn't you have helped the rest of Equestria?” Slowtrot asked, then frowned. “What happened?”

“Same thing as the rest of the world at the time. The end of the war was only the start of another tragedy.” Mag told us, a neutral expression forming on her muzzle. “We avoided the madness, that is four sure. Where much of Equestria had a glut of mentally damaged ponies self medicating themselves on any and every chem, the the territories of the Grand Prairie were a rather dry place filled with ponies who shunned the new culture and its vices.”

“What does self medicating ponies have to do with anything?” Star then asked.

Surprisingly, Slowtrot answered the question. “It's probably where the term raiders come from. In the last year there were a lot of ponies suffering from wartime stress disorder, and used chems to keep themselves stable. But now and then a group of them would just snap and omit crimes as a group. The newspapers called them raiders, as they would commonly loot places, often for alcohol or pharmaceuticals.”

Mag nodded slowly, a solemn look on her muzzle. “Yes, I remember that. Thank Celestia I had become blind before the worst of that time. The things I heard were hard enough on my soul, and how it crushed my friends hurt me even more. Making our way to Clover Hill did them good, for as long as it lasted. Unfortunately the Zebras made sure that the Grand Prairie couldn't be used to revive Equestria. Though it was never bombed directly, they did detonate very dirty megaspell above the lands, poisoning the ground and air. To make things worse, the pegasus closing up the sky prevented the radiation and other toxins from leaving the land, which ensured the groundwater was poisoned as well.”

“That's how Elder Big Papa and his crew became a ghoul. From his stories, they rode back and forth along route 50, getting ponies out of the hot zones.” Live added.

Mag again nodded. “And for that we are forever in their debt. I, and my friends and I would never have made it here if not for the Desperados and Rainbow Dash.”

I and Slowtrot stood up in shock, but were then magically forced back down before we could say anything.

“Yes, I met Rainbow Dash after the bombs dropped, a most fortunate turn of events.” She then took a long sip of her tea, leaving us waiting. “But if you're wondering where she is, as so many others, unfortunately I do not know. Once she had insured Clover Hill could survive on its own, she up and vanished.”

Putting her teacup down, Mag took a moment before continuing. It was clear the next part wasn't something she was fond of talking about. “Around that time the Demon Grass started appearing, many suspected the Zebras, and they might be right, but knowing the Ministry's… who really knows. It turned a terrible, but manageable situation into a nightmare. The few safe zones we had, which were growing food, would become overwhelmed in time by the weeds. So many ponies found themselves cut off from us, and either died trying to get out, or starved to death, too scared to brave the grass.”

“Wait, it couldn't have happened that fast? To overtake the Grand Prairie, it must have taken years.” I pointed out.

“That it did.” Mag said with a sigh. “But by the time we knew the danger, it was too late. Those damn cows, they thought they had won with their new food, spreading it all over the place. I guess they got what was coming to them in the end, but even I wouldn't have wished that on the zebras. The pathetic creatures you know as the Brahmin are the ones who doomed the Grand Prairie, and even after we found out how dangerous the grass was, and told them to stop, their minds had become too addled to know how to stop. Worse, without a proper communication network, we were unable to warn any others in time. Even the Steel Rangers scorched earth policy wasn't enough to slow the spread. Just too much land, and not enough ponies. Our only saving grace was that that mountain range to the south and rivers to the north kept the grass contained.”

“So everypony settled here.” I said, starting to grasp how bad it must have gotten. Actually, it sounded much like how bad it got in the Marewaii Islands Metro. Too much like what happened on the Marewaii Islands. “By Celestia, don't tell me-.”

Mag raised her hoof to stop me, nodding solemnly. “What was a spread out population of self-sufficient ponies very quickly became a condensed population with quickly dwindling food supplies. We thought about sending ponies away, but the south was a radiation hot zone, winter was setting in so the north was freezing over, the west was a long empty road at the time, and the east was still suffering from raider madness. It pains me to remember how powerless I was to help them. Ponies starved, and pushed to extremes, yet desperately clinging onto civility and love. So many ponies sacrificed themselves so that others could live. And when it seemed like the end had come, that's when Lieutenant General Apple Flora arrived looking for Rainbow Dash and our local Steel Ranger platoon.” We all raised an eyebrow at that. “Right, you're not Steel Rangers. Apple Flora was Applejack's cousin, and the one who wrote the codex that the modern Rangers follow religiously. Though back then those rules made sense, as it was a different time that required extremes. It didn't help that back then, it was common for some chem mad raider to be running around with a death ray, or other dangerous tech.”

She took a moment to sip her tea before continuing. “Well, Apple Flora quickly got to work resolving the situation, sharing their food with everypony, providing medical aid, and helping reclaim Umberfoal so that we could use the river again. But it was just a bandage to a bigger problem. Too many ponies in too small of an area to support them.” A bitter frown formed on her muzzle. “There wasn't any other way to solve the issue but let her take much of our population. It was no better than selling them off into slavery, but it was that or face starvation all over again.”

“Wait, but the Rangers don't take slaves, normally.” Live blurted out.

“In all but name, they were. In all but name.” Mag said with a sigh. “But with those ponies, the Steel Rangers were able to spread out and secure many military outposts that fell to raiders, along with recovering tech from those who were misusing it.”

Live Axle looked like she was having a migraine as she then asked. “Oh don't tell me, you're saying, that most of those tin cans that have a bug up their ass, they came from… here?”

“Yes, many Steel Rangers can trace their lineage from the survivors of the Grand Prairie, which is also why they are so dead set on keeping this place away from the wastelanders. And why were we unable to just tell them to leave.” Mag then finished off her tea. “But thanks to them taking much of the population off our shoulders, Platinum Hill was better able to manage our situation and build the hill into a proper settlement.”

“I see, makes sense why you weren't able to help the rest of the wasteland. Hard to do that when you have your own problems forcing you to rebuild from scratch.” I thought out loud. “But still, this doesn't explain about you. Just who are you, or to be exact, who were you?”

Mag smiled. “Right, I never did say. Well long ago I used to be quite the beauty, and some say I still am, but I feel like an old hag nowadays. During the war I was the body double for a very elusive princess, even took over her public life as she and her family took shelter in a stable ahead of time. It was like a wish come true, no longer being a shadow, and over that week, I grew to hate it so much.”

My mouth dropped open as I realized, I was sure of it. “You mean… Princess Majesty?”

She nodded. “Yes, during the war I was Princess Majesty's body double, always ready to die in her place. At some point I became her Luna and she my Celestia, though I had no right to such jealousy. And in the end, I couldn't turn my training off, though it was for a pony I cared about just as much.”

Willow trotted in, taking our finished tea cups, Mag smiling as she did. “Willow's ancestors, and my dear friend, was Lady Blackcharry Blackroot, a name at least two of you should know.”

“A founder of Molly Manticor!” Slowtrot blurted.

Willow visibly shivered as she trotted away.

“Not just that, she's a cosigner in several of Majesty's research papers, including the dissertation on time traveling magic.” I added.

“She also happens to be the founder of the Coven of Clovers, which was rather fitting.” Something about how she said that felt that it had deeper meaning to it, but before I could ask, Mag continued. “Fizzy too, is a Blackroot, though it's a bit more complicated for her.”

We looked over at Fizzy, who waved back at us with a chuckle. “Even I was surprised when I found out that Willow was my cousin. Well, distant cousins. I thought I had no family, then like bam, family!”

Mag cleared her throat. “Yes, it even shocked me when I saw her. Fizzy happens to look exactly like her ancestors, that I thought Blackcherry had come back to life… not to say I actually saw her, but you know.”

“Similar magic.” I guessed.

“Yes, very much so.” She replied.

Thinking about that, it didn't sound right. A trained unicorn would have more refined magic, not a wild wellspring. But as I thought, I saw Magnificence place her hoof to her muzzle as though to tell me to not say anymore about it.

“Alright, I'm sure everypony has had enough history for the day. Time for the main subject at hoof.” Mag announced.

“Right, the time magic. Is there anything you can tell us why Slowtrot keeps jumping through it?” I ask.

“As you clearly know, time traveling is a self correcting magic.” Mag began to explain. “Both Majesty and Blackcharry suspected that a higher power was responsible for this, like how Celestia and Luna controlled the sun and moon. It's also why Celestia made time traveling forbidden, as to not catch the eye of whomever might be controlling it. Actually, Majesty suspected that Celestia knew the truth, but it was something she couldn't tell others about.”

Mag took a moment to scratch her chin, nodding a little. “If we go with this idea, that there is a greater power at hoof when it comes to time magic, then we can guarantee that Slowtrot's time jumping isn't random. That something is controlling where and when he jumps, possibly with a plan.”

“Like sending him to the trenches and getting a trench gun.” Star pointed out.

“Or the Lazarus Serum from the city of Despoines.” I added.

“Or rescuing our foolish Fizzy from the Mega Mall.” Mag said. “Yes, if you put the pieces together like that, then it makes sense. Something out their has a plan, and though Slowtrot may not be the best pony for it-”

“I'm the only pony who can, the only one saturated with time and space magic.” Slowtrot said as he nervously scratched his leg. “I may not be all that smart, but… I know enough that I know… megaspells, radiation, and being exposed to it all… wouldn't that make me a… well, a ghoul?”

The realization hit me like a sack of bricks. He was right, being that exposed to a megaspell couldn't be healthy, yet how was he fine… why wasn't he like those poor ponies in the R&D stable, he was exposed to the same megaspell after all.

Mag let out a sigh. “In all likelihood, you very much are, but the nature of the magic is different.” she pointed to herself. “The megaspell that hit me was designed to break through magic and melt a pony. Fortunately, I was already part way a ghoul when I took the hit, so only my face was affected. It may just take time for your ghoulification to set in, but you never know with chaotic magic.”

“if… that's true… then what about my…” Live tryed to ask, but couldn't quite get the words out.

“Will be fine. You're with child right? Then it should be fine. At worse, it will be a healthy Waste Pony, or be an earth pony with some extra magical spark.” Mag said, calming Live down a bit. “Now I think it's time that we end things here, it isn't good for one's health to stay inside with stagnating air after all. How would you all like to see our garden, and smell our flowers?” Mag then asked everypony.

Fizzy was first up, raising her hoof. “Oh I do, I like, totes love your garden, granny!”

For a split second Mag grimaced, but quickly returned to her smile. “Fizzy, what have I told you about calling me that?”

Turning away, Fizzy twittled her hooves. “But aren't you, like, super old?”

“That I am.” Mag said with a smile, her horn glowing with magic. “So show me some respect!”

A silver overglow then wrapped around one of Fizzy’s ears, and tugged at it. “Hay! Ow! Like that hurts gr… Lady Mag. Like let go!”

“Not until you learn your manners.” Mag told Fizzy, practically dragging her out by her ear. Mag then looked over at us with a huge grin on her muzzle. “Come now, let's get some fresh air.”

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Leaving the ancient tea house and into its back yard, it looked like a thriving forest from an old storybook. From the Birch trees to the green walls, along with the plant filled baskets hanging off of everything, which held a plethora of herbs and flowers. Under our hooves was actual grass, soft and green, and small stone structures decorated the large yard.

A little white mouse ran past my hooves, holding a pencil as it made its way to a group of unicorn foals. The group were listening to an elderly stallion read a book out loud as the foals took notes. Listening, the stallion was going over the fundamentals of magic, specifically the necessities of protection spells when casting magic that affected the body.

Even though I couldn't cast magic like the rest of my family, as a foal I was still forced to learn all this. Though boring, it did put into perspective how impressive it was for a pony to cast teleportation on themselves, as the risk of losing a leg was rather high. The pirates had their cheat with slip teleportation, requiring two ponies to send a third from one pony to the second. And there were arcano-tech devices that could use teleportation, though most were janky.

My eyes drifted back to the mouse, watching it paw over the pencil to a foal.

“Curious?” Mag asked as she trotted next to me. “About the little critters?”

Looking around I noticed that everypony else had wandered off, now exploring this place. I also noticed that Magnificence was casting another spell, this one similar to that of Azure's natural perception blocking.

I nodded, and Mag explained. “They are the descendants of lab animals that I rescued from a Ministry of Arcane Science lab long ago. It was a rather selfie and short sighted thing I did, as it's not like they couldn't just get more.” A pure white rabbit hopped over to Mag, who she picked up and placed it onto her back, where two white mice joined it. “Save a few, and then turn a blind eye to the millions that suffered. Still, at least here they can live and be happy.”

“Sounds like Platinum Hill.” I commented.

“Very much so.” She replied. “A small sanctuary in a world that is suffering.”

“So… I'm guessing you want something from me? Or want me to do something for you?” I then asked.

“you are… correct.” Mag said, a hint of sorrow in her voice. “But before I ask you anything, please tell me, did Majesty find peace in the end?”

I took a moment to think about that, digging up Majesty's journals in my mind. “It's hard to tell from her journal alone. Most of it was just about day to day things, and bits of wisdom she wanted to pass on. I also suspect that there were other journals, ones only meant for the crowned queen. But, I did get the feeling that she seemed filled with regrets in the jornal I did read, yet at the same time, a sense of hope as well. It was like she was reaching through the pages to try and guide us.”

“That sounds like her.” Mag said with a sigh. “The world on her shoulders, and always just out of hoofs reach to resolve it. She even got chewed out by Celestia for attempting time travel to stop the war. The results were as predictable as every ponies attempt at time traveling.”

“Strange, now that I think about it. She did mention that it was possible, but it involved a strange blue box.” I said, remembering one odd page in my ancestor's jornal.

“Hmmm.” Mag scratched her chin. “A blue box you say. There was one time I took over for her, and she was standing near one.” Mag then shook her head and let out a huff. “Oh never mind that, my bones are too old for a mystery like that anymore.” Mag then sighed, full of regrets and a sense of futility. “And because of that, I have a request for you.”

I watched as she then whistled, catching Fizzy’s attention and waved the mare over. As Fizzy trotted to us, she looked nervous as white mice climbed all over her.

“Fizzy dear, when you left, you forgot a few things.” From her robes, Mag pulled out a book and a pair of very thick glasses.

“Oh, so that's where I left my spare glasses!” Fizzy exclaimed as she put on the glasses. Pulling her mane back the glasses completely obscured her eyes, and a fair amount of her face. Also, I was sure of it, that the glass was made from soda bottles. As for the book, it looked like a very girly scrapbook, covered in drawings of hearts, and giving off a sickly sweet magic that can only mean trouble.

Shoving the book into Fizzy’s hooves, Mag looked less than pleased as she said. “And please, don't leave it in such a random place again. You know how dangerous this thing is, and you left it in Weeping's dresser. Took us weeks to find out she was being affected by it. Never thought she'd ever put on that much pink.”

Fizzy looked genuinely sorry as she carefully put the book away. “Right, d… did anything bad happen to her?”

“Fortunately no, Weeping is, if anything, a very magical and mentally stable pony.” Mag said to Fizzy's relief. “But if that thing fell into any other ponies hooves, it would have been a disaster.”

Nervously, Fizzy chuckled. “Oh I know.”

“Excuse me, but what's all that about?” I asked, feeling it had a lot to do with what Mag was about to ask of me.

“Right, remembering how Fizzy said she knew how you feel?” Mag asked and I nodded. “Well, I guess Fizzy can fill you in on the details, but in short, she was born into a rather nasty cult that turned raider. Nothing all that unusual as cults go, but unfortunately its leader, Fizzy’s father, was a direct descendant of Blackcurrant Blackroot, Blackcharry's brother you see. And unfortunately, Blackcurrant was a stallion who had access to many forbidden cursed books.”

I cocked an eyebrow. “Um, are you telling me that book is an ancient cursed book?”

Fizzy chuckled nervously, as though she was holding back on saying the word “oops.”

“Yes and no.” Mag said. “As hair to the cult, Fizzy was made to memorize a certain book. That same book was later destroyed along with the entire cult. But Fizzy was spared, and placed in the Friendship City orphanage.

Looking at the book, and how bright and overly decorated it was, I quickly figured out the issue. “So the book is actually inside Fizzy’s head, and she's able to remake it. And let me guess, that cult wasn't all destroyed, was it?”

Mag nodded. “Yes, that sums up the problem. Remnants of the cult survived, and are seeking out Fizzy so as to have her lead them. Not that she'll have the choice in the matter if they ever catch her. So long as the knowledge of that book is in her head, they will never stop chasing her.”

“Okay, but what exactly do you need me to do about that? If it's inside her brain, there's not much anypony can do that wouldn't result in a lobotomy.” I asked.

Fizzy lifted up her hoof. “Oh, I know! There's a thingy in Molly Manticor Mega Mall. I can trade that knowledge for power or other things, and through that, rid me of the book in my head.”

“As dubious as it sounds, I actually believe Fizzy.” Mag said as she forced Fizzy’s hoof back down. “The Blackroot were heavily invested in Molly Manticor, using it to train AI programming which was later sold to the open market and to the Ministries, making them unbelievably wealthy. They were also a very secretive family with an obsession with the occult. Everypony knew they were using robots to dig in the forgotten places, using the automatons to haul dangerous artifacts that can easily corrupt the minds of ponies. It was also suspected among those in the know that the Molly Manticor restaurants were used as camouflage for ritual sights.”

That… was a lot to take in. “Right… so, you want me to escort Fizzy to this Mega Mall, and help her forget the book?” it didn't make any more sense saying it out loud.

Mag smiled at me, which without any lips, was rather unnerving. “Yes, that is exactly right. And if you need any more convincing, just ask yourself this. Why is it now that Slowtrot recovered Fizzy, and to here of all places she was returned to.”

She was right, that is if we assume that there are greater powers at play. “And lets say I refuse?”

“Then you refuse.” Mag said calmly, but coldly. “I believe we have free will, nothing else screams that more than the sun and moon now moving on their own, like beasts set free into the wild. We might as well be playthings of powers we could never understand, but those powers have long since stopped playing with us. Yet even though, sometimes I feel that one of those powers keeps an eye on us, even sometimes tries to guide us.”

I think I understood what she was trying to tell me, that even though I can refuse, I probably shouldn't. “How dangerous is that book? It can't be any worse than megaspells?”

Fizzy opened her book to a random page, in which I saw an illustration of two ponies in the mists of intercorse. But as I looked at it, I found it quite fascinating, and maybe, a bit… arousing. The book was then slammed shut by Fizzy, causing me to flinch in shock.

“It's the book of Venus.” Fizzy explained. “Also known as the lessons of Venus. Supposedly she was a goddess of love, beauty, and fertility. And the book teaches a pony how to invoke her powers.”

I again cocked an eyebrow. “Wait, and how is that bad?”

“Just imagine it.” Mag then said. “To wield such powers is to make all fall in love with you. Or to make two ponies fall madly in love with each other. I've seen it several times, where ponies make love potions, only for it to be a sickly sweet poison. Princess Cadence also has a similar such power, in which if she abused it, she could make nearly anypony lick her hooves or kill for her.”

“And if it were to fall into the hooves of a bad pony… nothing good would come from it.” I said, now starting to understand the scope of this issue. “I'll… need to talk with the others about it, is that okay.”

“Please do.” Mag told me. “But until then, can you keep an eye on dear Fizzy. We are unfortunately too busy to keep her out of trouble, you see. And she may prove useful to you in case things become hectic.” Mag then chuckled to herself. “You can think of it as fate actually. Just as Clover the Clever and Princess Platinum were close companions, so have their descendants been close companions man6 times before.”

I looked at Fizzy, but didn't see it. No way was Mag telling me that Fizzy was a descendant of Clover the Clever.

I shrugged anyway. “Alright, until we decide if we're going to help Fizzy or not, we'll look after her.”

“Oh, you're like, not going to regret this!” Fizzy squealed as she hugged me, making me regret this as I found it hard to breathe.

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