853 ALB

My father threw my bag of treasures on the table, hitting with enough force to send them spilling out all across it. I winced, both in fear of what was about to happen and for the breakable artifacts inside.

“What do you call this?” he asked, not in the shout of an angered parent, but in the scathing voice that hurt even more.

I dropped my gaze from the table, acting like the ashamed child he expected me to be. “Just some things I found exploring,” I murmured.

“Exploring where, exactly?” It was a rhetorical question; both of us knew where I had been. He didn’t expect me to answer and answering would have just been met by more disgust and likely another speech on how I should be acting. “Exactly. Now toss this out into the ocean where it belongs and go read up on your history.”

Keeping my eyes down, I grabbed the few that were floating and stuffed them back in the bag. Swimming past him, I brushed aside the curtain of seaweed we used as our door and headed into the town. A few seaponies below waved a flipped at me, but I didn’t pay them any attention. I swam around the spire that marked our house, heading upwards towards the surface. Stopping about fifty feet up from the highest point, I turned and looked back down below.

Our city wasn’t the largest of the near-land colonies, but it was definitely the grandest. We were the capitol of our sector, a sector that bordered the entire northern length of the continent Equus. We stretched a ways west as well, but nowhere close to the griffons and dragons; our only neighbors were ponies. But of course, we couldn’t actually go and talk to them with that idiotic Non-Contact Policy in place. If my father was angry about me just collecting their treasures, I could only imagine how he’d be if I exposed our entire race. If he discovered that I had merely been to the surface, I probably would have been exiled.

Speaking of my treasures, I opened the bag I had been holding and the lighter treasures slowly floated out of the bag. Now that this one had been found out, I had to go hide it with the rapidly growing stash that I had concealed in a cave on the underwater cliffside of Equus. I hadn’t found anything too interesting with this find: a waterlogged book that only the cover was intact on; another glowing glass mana orb to join the half dozen I already collected; a stone wing and horn, presumably broken off some alicorn statue; and a journal wrapped in a waterproof oilskin that I found in an old sea wreckage.

The last item was most assuredly older than my father due to its wrapping, but I wasn’t about to remove it where it would immediately become soaked and intelligible. I tucked the items back in the sack and started swimming towards the land above.

The cave that served as my home away from home wasn’t too far of a journey, but is enough of one that it wouldn’t be found by somepony on a casual swim. Best of all, it had an air pocket that allowed me to read things that I couldn’t underwater. I approached the entrance and wove around the spires of rock that blocked the direct path in. Finding it had been a complete accident. If it hadn’t been for my older brother cataloging every inch of shoreline for ten miles when he offended our dad, we never would have found this place. As it were, this cave technically didn’t exist on any documents anywhere. There was literally no better place to hide our secrets.

I finished looping into the cavern, only to find both the overwater and underwater lights lit. I caught sight of his distinctive yellow tail drifting lazily in the water and surfaced. Looking ahead, he was lying mostly on the rocky shelf where we stored out dry items, quietly reading one of our few books. At the sound of my splash, he looked up sharply before a smile broke out on his face.

“Crest! I didn’t expect to see you here today!” He picked up on my slightly ticked off posture and his smile slipped a little. “Dad find your bag again?”

I rolled my eyes and nodded. “He told me to toss it in the ocean, but he probably knows that I won’t. But that’s not that important. I found a new book!”

His eyes widened in surprise and eagerness, almost leaping into the water just to read it a few seconds earlier. “Well don’t waste any time; get up and let’s see what it is!”

“Here ya go Wave.” I passed the bag up to him before hauling myself up onto the rocky ledge. We didn’t move very well out of the water, but we could easily manage the small space we had to travel in our cave. He scooted over so that I could slide next to him, my wet skin soothing his.

By the time I got settled he had already unfolded the oilskin and was gazing at the cover. It was definitely faded, but looked remarkably dry. It was dark green on the outside, with what looked like pristine white pages inside.

“’The Journal of Velvet, Ambassador of the Deer Peoples.’” I read off the cover.

“Crest, imagine what could be inside this one! Deer! What do they look like? The south sector borders the deerlands, so I can’t imagine how this got here. Where’d you find it?”

“It was in the wreckage of a ship about ten miles out from the city. Now enough talk, let’s see what’s inside!”

Entry 1

My mother always said that I should keep a journal. I suppose that with my official post as ambassador to the pony tribes, it would be best to keep a record of events. Even if I am the only one to read this in my lifetime, I hope that it will be of use to any and all species in the future.

Entry 2

Today started simply enough. I travelled to Canterlot a few days ago to open up talks with Princess Celestia. My mother, Starry Sky, came with me, but Floydien stayed behind to continue managing the tribes as the violence against ponies decreases. It hasn’t been easy, but if any deer could do it, it’s him. It’s strange being a representative of my entire species at such a young age, but I’ll do what’s necessary to help our kind survive.

As for the peace talk themselves, they went surprisingly smoothly, at least where Celestia was concerned. Today was just a meeting of her and I. After just one meeting, I can say that she is a wise and noble ruler who is undoubtedly a strong leader. While I might question some of her tactics, especially when it comes to dealing with foreign threats, they are no doubt effective. She is certainly an interesting leader; being an immortal one tends to make small issues even smaller. Our talk went well enough, but she warned me that the meeting with the nobles in a few days would not go as smoothly. She was not looking forward to it either, but it is necessary to convince them if our plan will work.

The one in particular we need to convince is Duke Goldblood, the steward of the lands bordering ours. He is said to be an open-minded pony, so I have a little hope.

Entry 3

The Duke is on our side! My mother said that it was my age and maturity that convinced him, but I know that Celestia’s approval must have been a driving factor as well. It is never wise to offend one’s chief, especially one as powerful as her.

Unfortunately, that means that most of the nobles are fools! Many of them are opposed to the peace talks simply for the sake of money. The battle of our tribes lets them gain more money and they are too stubborn to let go of it. It seems that my father’s advice that ponies are one good apple in a bushel of bad is truer than I hoped.

Entry 4

The nobles seemed quite unhappy when I entered the talk today. It may have had something to do with the fact that all of them voted to ratify the treaty that Floydien and the other chiefs drafted! We have peace! I have no doubt that Celestia was involved somehow. There was no way that the nobles would have agreed otherwise. Mother and I will remain in Canterlot for a few days longer before returning on the train with Goldblood. While we have officially set up peace between our races, there is much work to be done in repairing the relations between individual villages.

I set down the journal, stopping us before we could get further. “Wave, do you know what this means?”

He gave me a quizzical look, most likely suspecting what was on my mind. “Possibly. What are you thinking?”

I eagerly flipped back a few pages to the second journal entry, pointing to a line in specific. “Velvet says here that Celestia is immortal. If she’s anything now like she was then, we would have no trouble making peace with the ponies!”

“What?! No, we can’t do that! We could be exiled, even killed! It would ruin Dad!” His voice rose in volume and pitch, obviously not thinking as far as I had. “Crest, you have got to put those thoughts out of your head. We can’t just go and expose our entire race like that! And in case you forgot, Canterlot isn’t anywhere near here. It’s practically in the middle of the continent. How do you plan on getting there?”

I rolled my eyes and pointed at another line as if it were obvious. “Take a train, of course. I’m sure we’ve got something down here that’ll buy a train ticket.”

My brother stared at me long, saying nothing. I kept silent as well, not sure how to break the silence. At last, he let out a whisper. “You’re really determined to do this, aren’t you?” I gave a single nod. “And nothing I do will stop you?” A pause, then I nodded again. He gave a sigh, then rewrapped the journal in the oilskin. “I guess I’ll be going with you then.”

My heart skipped a beat. “You will? Brilliant!”

“You wouldn’t get ten miles without me little brother. Besides, I’ve got a map.” I was speechless as he pulled himself fully out of the water to fetch something behind me. He returned a few seconds later and unfolded a worn piece of leather, a large image clearly painted on it.

“Now this map is quite old, but it does show a river leading almost the entire way to Canterlot itself. It leads to the base of the mountain anyhow. The mouth is at Archer Bay, so we’ll have to swim against the current most of the way.” I raised my eyebrows and he glanced at me. “Don’t worry, the current isn’t nearly as strong as it is in the ocean. I was actually reading about different bodies of water before you showed up.”

“It’ll still have fish, right?”

“Course. We can probably leave right now if you want. No time like the present.”

“If I want? Of course I want! Let’s go!”

“Not without us you won’t be.” My brother and I jumped, causing me to fall into the water. I frantically searched the entrance to our cave, searching for the body belonging to the voice. It was deep and masculine, almost sounding like my father had swum in on us. I found no sight of his body though, and resurfaced to gaze at my brother.

“What was that Wave?”

“That was my brother being an annoyance. Please forgive him; it has been many years since he had mortals to tease. We are the spirits Volucris and Vicis. As for where our voice is coming from, you will find our spirits bound to two stone figures."

“You mean that wing and horn I found? I thought they were just part of some statue.” My fear had gradually fallen away, instead being replaced by an insatiable curiosity.

“At one point, they were. But that is no matter now. If you are going to Celestia, we wish that you take us with you to give to her. In return, we will make sure that you succeed on your journey and come to no harm.”

I gazed at my brother and he gave a single nod, returning the thoughts that I had. “We would be honored to escort you to Celestia so long as you help us get there.”

“Excellent. Let us go with all haste; it has been far too long since I saw her.”

I grabbed the sack from where it lay close to the edge and checked inside to make sure the two items from before were there. For good measure, I tossed the journal in as well. Diving back down, I found a randomly growing strand of kelp and wrapped it around my middle, tying it to the bag. When I was swimming underwater, it would be pulled behind me and not impair my movement. Glancing to where my brother was extinguishing the last of the land lights, I dove back underwater to do the same.

I heard a splash and saw bubbles shoot up from where he dived in. Pressing his hooves together in the sign of readiness, the two of us swam out of the cave and headed south.