A Story Still Being Written Elsewhere..

“You can do that, but the kicker is..” He winced. Oh, there was no dancing around the bush for this; he had to outright say it. “..They’d be undead. Or at worse, a thrall of a body for someone’s whims when it comes to necromancy.”

  “ U-Undead?” The centaur thought for a moment on what that actually meant but it was pretty easy to understand… They’d be dead but…. not quite dead. It was a hard concept to grasp but hearing that they’d be more likely under the conrol of someone didn’t sound nice.

“I’ve heard it possible before. Never seen it happen myself, but..” The topic of this dark magic brought a nervous set of fingers against the back of his neck. Necromancy was an art that the priest himself didn’t like to think about, let alone acknowledge it existed.

“..It’s an art that’s mostly associated with those less savory.”

  He noticed the unsavoury tone that caught in Gordon’s voice as he spoke of the subject and the taur cause see how uncomfortable it was making him feel and he could sort of understand why.

“See, now that’s defeatist talking. Surely, surely, there’s other sources of Changeling history out there in this world, I feel. Chrysalis can’t just be only source of information, related to you lot.” Gordon seemed set on the hypothesis; and perhaps wanted to see if it was true. If it was, it would be nice to find other sources outside of Chrysalis to learn of Changeling history..

“Sorry…” She said quietly. He had gotten really excited about it, but if it wasn’t in Equestrian history and no other changeling knew… where else was there to even check?

A skeptical look, and a raise of his claws went against his chin. “And who’s to say that she’s the only source in the world for Changeling history? Equestria’s own history didn’t come from just one pony, it came from a multitude of various other ponies out there who contributed to it all. And even then, she..”

He paused, unsure of how best to word this. “..probably would tell it from a biased perspective. But, I’ll knock on wood with that.”

“… but she made sure no one knew changelings even existed for… for hundreds of years! All the way up until… um… well, you know. No one knows what happened before, except for her.”

That was a good way of looking at it, in his world. It would get brighter as time went on, hopefully.  “As always, I’m on a pursuit of knowledge - in all of it’s many forms.” The griffon said simply. “I’m looking to expand my history senses into the like of the strange and the unknown. Especially about the Changelings’ own.”

“Well… knowledge is good, but I don’t think you’ll find anything on changelings here. No one knows our history… except the Queen.” That brought a bit of a heavier sigh.

“..Well, the other form of magic I know is the traditional type; which does involve books, but doesn’t require deities to channel it through. But that would require you to learn reading.” He smiled, before.. a frown catches his features. This particular class of magic was one he didn’t like talking about, but regardless, felt it best top point out.

“There’s also ‘necromancy’, but we’ll try to stick away from that. Unless you’re a big fan of raising the dead.”

  A loud and annoyed groan came from that statement, reading was hard enough as it is, why was it needed for so many things out here?! As much as he loved learning he just wanted to be able to do what the words told him.

  Though at the griffon’s other words and the darkness that seemed to rest on his features, the centaur’s ears folded back, both concerned with the prospect of raising the dead and… Intrigued.

“Not all history can be as glamorous. Even Equestria’s isn’t so different, if one looks far back. But you shouldn’t let this knowledge get down.” The griffon smiled down to her. “We have the magic of the modern era to learn from this, and make a better life for the people of the present the way I see it. It’s what we choose to do with this knowledge.”

“It’s true… it only gets brighter as time goes on. But I can’t learn from the past if I don’t know the past… so I keep reading.” The books on Equestrian history she had read had a few dark spots too, but nothing quite like Sombra’s takeover. It reminded her a little too much of a certain queen.

It was good to see someone as young as her begin to take up reading; and in non fiction, no less. This mare was well enough on the way.. ‘The Fall of the Crystal Empire’? Now that was a subject Gordon had been meaning to expand his arsenal of knowledge on.

“..I might be interested in reading up on that, myself. There’s lots I don’t know about that beautiful place, and I’d love to learn all I can.”

“It’s… not very happy history.” She said sadly. This wasn’t the first tome she had read on it.

“… no one seems to agree where ‘Sombra’ came from, but they do agree that he… he killed their Princess and pulled the kingdom into darkness with him.” Ocellus gave a little sigh, sliding the book away with a shrug.

“Sometimes, it’s good to go the extra mile, Terrance.” Gordon reminded him, before patting the fluffed top of the sheeptaur around.

“Plus, you can’t rush these things. It is a devotion of patience that has paid off for me down the line, and perhaps even you too, if you just give it the chance.”

  Terry gave a heavy sigh, he knew that Gordon was right but he was just so eager to learn all these new things, he just wanted them all at once. And at the moment, he couldn’t see why he couldn’t he just had to learn a spell or something, right?

A small snicker escaped the griffon, whom simply nodded his head. Childlike enthusiasm - you didn’t see much of that nowadays. Those that did, the good griffon treasured those that did and held onto them. Some days, it felt like a reminder that not all was cold and jaded.. ..But that was a train of thought to explore another day.

“I told you, Terry. We have to keep practicing meditations, opening up our minds, and focusing on calling to our patron deities.” Gordon reminded the sheep, patting him this time on the shoulder. “You can do this, buddy. I believe in you.”

  Terrance sighed impatiently at the reply, staring down at his studies with newfound annoyance. Gordon made things look so easy and here he was struggling just reading.

The griffon could relate. In his school life, he was the one bird many relied upon for history questions, as well as general knowledge of other countries. The ‘egghead’, some called him. “There’s a phrase that I often keep in my pocket; It’s about the journey, not the destination. Take all the time you need to play catch up, no matter how long it’ll take. My offer will still be there, no matter how long it’ll take you.”

With a bit of a laugh, she sank back down to her books. “W-well… I do really like reading. I… aheh, don’t know how I got by without it for so long…”

She had been reading anything she could get her hooves on for a while, mostly nonfiction. She didn’t even have a destination in mind, Ocellus just… wanted to read all she could get. The Hive didn’t even have books yet…

“However,” Gordon added, “It’s necessary to see it in both darkness and light - for it is how we all grow as creatures of the world. We learn from past mistakes in our present, to make a better future for everyone. That’s what I’ve always believed in, and so did my dad.”

The griffon lets in a breath, before exhaling it out; smiling at the adorable mare. “..I don’t suppose you’re interested in history, as I am?”

“Well… I am interested… but I’m still trying to, you know, catch up. Most ponies would have already been in school for years by now…” The changeling said slowly. She had been making up for lost time, for sure, but she had easily passed by many in her age group already.

“Parts yes and parts no.” Gordon smiled at the little fledgling changeling, sitting on his own haunches. If someone asked, he would be happy to tell them about the former kingdom of Anugypt. “It was divided into two pieces of history: The Old Kingdom and The New Kingdom.” “Most people know the history of The New Kingdom, particularly the most popular tidbit was when Cleopatrot had rose up to power. As for what it was like, well..” He pondered it over, before saying. “Not all history is pretty, yeah?”

That was a name she might have to look up. It had to be in a book somewhere in here, Headmare Twilight had a lot of history books; most of them ended up in the school. Maybe all of them. If not, Ocellus might be asking to see them anyway.

A blink of surprise takes the griffon, adorned in the silk and gold as per usual. “..Really now? It’s a very popular subject of study amongst historians - some dubbing it a gold mine. For many reason.”

There was a curious look to the choice of bookmark; a distinct light blue feather - he wondered for a moment who it belonged to, before letting the thought slide away.

“You’ve never heard of it? Come across it in your classes?”

“A… gold mine? They dug up gold there?” She asked, a little confused. Ocellus stood, but mostly because talking to an adult why she was sitting was… weird, it was like she was pretending she was more important.

“N-no… I’ve never heard of it before. This is… um… my first time at school. I mean, my first year. Before that…” She gave an uncomfortable shrug and let the thought fade away. It wasn’t a pleasant one.