"Jethro, thanks fer stayin' with me on the chariot," Applejack said about an hour later when she shakily stepped off of the chariot onto the ground. Since the castle was pure stone, Twilight and Moondancer both agreed that it was okay for her to walk on it since there were no plants or earth nearby. "Ah don't really like flyin'. An Earth Pony's place is on the ground. It ain't natural havin' mah hooves anywhere but the ground."
"Funny, I read a fanfic where you said pretty much the exact same thing after a chariot trip," I smiled a bit as I stayed nearby and helped her regain her footing. "And had this been six months or so ago, I'd have agreed with you. Sure, humans have invented ways of flying without magic, but those are all in enclosed spaces. Flying on an open chariot is a bit scary. Now that I have wings, it's not as scary."
"You okay, Applejack?" Twilight asked with concern as she came up to her friend's side.
"Ah'll be right as rain in a few moments, Twi," Applejack replied.
"I'm happy to hear it," a deep motherly voice said from a short distance away. Turning, the four of us (Sunset had returned from wherever she'd come from and had said she'd love to come) saw both Celestia and Luna approaching, the latter looking exhausted, but with a serious expression on her face. Moondancer immediately bowed as did Applejack, but Twilight and I smiled and made our way over to the two Princesses.
"Princess Celestia!" Twilight said happily as she hugged her mentor.
"Hello my dear Twilight, everyone," she said, looking over at the rest of us as she hugged her student back. "I'm glad to see you, even if the situation is unusual." She then directed her attention to Applejack. "Miss Apple, are you feeling alright?"
"Ah feel fine right now, yer highness," she said. She still remained close to me, however.
Celestia didn't miss this change in the young mare's behavior, and she gave me a slight knowing smirk before her kindly smile returned. "I'm pleased to hear it."
"If you would accompany us," Luna said, standing a bit more regally than she normally would, "My sister and I would have words with you before we take you to where you wish to go. There are things we must discuss. And matters like this are best done in private, especially considering the circumstances."
"Of course," I said, putting a reassuring hand on Applejack's withers. "Lead the way."
About ten minutes later, we were in what could only be described as a private study. The room itself was circular in shape, with a large oak desk at one end where Celestia was currently seated, with Luna sitting in a chair beside her. The rest of us were all seated in large comfortable chairs, including the custom one someone had crafted to fit me perfectly. There were neatly stacked piles of paper and scrolls sitting on the desk itself with a few fancy gold plated quills situated nearby. There was a large fireplace to the left of the desk and a few oil lamps on sconces around the room, making the place feel even warmer and inviting. There were a few holiday themed paintings on the wall, all oil paintings which depicted scenes like the founding of Equestria, the first flames of Friendship being created, and even the first meeting of each tribe. They looked like they'd been painted by some of the greatest Renaissance painters, all fairly realistic. There was a window to the right of the desk which showed the entirety of Canterlot, a circular city nestled against the mountain. Currently, it was snowing moderately.
After we had gotten comfortable and were each given cups of warm tea or hot chocolate according to our requests (I had requested tea since I felt this was a serious topic), Celestia put her hooves together and leaned forward. "Now then, before we head over to the Canterlot Library, I would like to tell you a bit about what we know and we'd like to see that passage you found."
"Let's do the second thing first," I said, turning to Moondancer. "You brought the book?"
She nodded and hovered it over to the desk and opened it to the passage. The two sisters read over it, frowning when they presumably reached the untranslatable text. Luna was the first to speak. "I only recognize one word from this: Friþhengest. It's an ancient name for Pony, older than Old Ponish even. I can't read the rest, but I have heard the word Scúrboga before."
"I can read a lot of it," I said. "A few of the words there were probably proper nouns. Like Mætan Sæl, Scúrboga or Eoh Eorðdenu."
"Is there anypony who could translate those words?" Twilight asked the Princesses hopefully.
"Had this been a thousand years ago, many would have known and studied the ancient languages," Luna said sadly.
"True," Celestia said. "Unfortunately, when Harmonia burned, a lot of the old scrolls from the Pre-Equestrian Era went with it." Luna's ears flattened guiltily at that, but Celestia put a wing over her sister's back. "Don't look like that, sister. Not all was lost. What we could save was kept securely hidden in that place you referenced, Jethro. There might be something there that could help."
I nodded. "I hope so. But you said something about Earth Pony magic?"
Celestia nodded and leaned back, a wistful smile appearing on her face. "When we were being taught by Starswirl before we ascended the throne, we could easily get him distracted so he could tell us stories. One of the stories he mentioned was an old Pony's tale about an Earth Pony mare named Milscapuldor Gebéorscipe. She was said to have lived long before the tribes of Ponies even moved to our old homeland. She was able to bless the ground so that the plants she tended would grow fast, just like what happened to Miss Applejack. It was a nice story, especially since she managed to keep her entire village from starving by growing a large vine up to an evil sorcerer's castle which flew through the sky and take back their village's magic golden egg. She then destroyed the vine which the sorcerer was climbing down which sent him plummeting to his death."
"That sounds like a very odd version of Jack and the Beanstalk," I said, "but is that all you heard about this kind of Earth Pony magic?"
"When we asked Starswirl if such a thing was possible, he did concede that there may have been at one point before the disappearance of some ancient artifact he called Scúrboga Légeléoht," Luna said.
"What's that?" Twilight asked.
"Even he didn't know," he said. "He knew very little about that time in our history."
"It must have been out of the reach of even Athena if I can't read it or even translate what they might mean," I said as I stroked my chin thoughtfully.
Celestia nodded. "She was a smart mare, but nopony's omniscient."
"How does this help with Applejack?" I asked, looking over at the mare who was sitting next to me.
"It's a starting point," Luna said. "If the tale of Milscapuldor Gebéorscipe is more than just an old Pony's tale, then perhaps there's something there you can use."
"We did manage to save a few genealogical records from the Harmonia Library," Celestia said. "If you can find Milscapuldor Gebéorscipe somewhere there, then perhaps there's something to the old tale. I should warn you, however, that the Archive's mechanical catalogue-"
"-hasn't been well maintained, I know," I finished. "We'll have to go through everything. Oh, and Twilight? They have Canterlot Cantabiles Volume Thirty One. You heard me, Twilight. Thirty. One."
"No…way…that's when it gets guuuud!" said purple Unicorn exclaimed excitedly, clapping her hooves together happily.
"You've seen it in the show, didn't you?" Sunset smirked.
"I have, but briefly," I said. "I also saw it the first day I came here." I turned to Celestia. "Is there anything else you can tell us?"
"Nothing that comes to mind," Celestia said sadly. "We might be old, my dear knight, but we still know next to nothing about the era even before the Pre-Equestrian era. However, there's something to be said about fresh eyes looking over the old scrolls and books. You might find something there that's helpful. Even I have not gone through everything in that Archive."
"Well, unlike how I saw it in the show, there are more than twice the number of individuals here willing to read through them and help," I said, gesturing to Twilight, Sunset, Moondancer and Applejack.
"Just them? Why darling, you wound me," a familiar posh sounding voice said from behind me.
I jumped out of my chair and whirled around to face the other Mane Six as well as Spike, Zecora and even Scarlet, who were standing in the doorway to the study. Rarity had a hoof over her chest in a gesture of mock hurt. I opened my mouth, closed it again, then turned back to Celestia and Luna, both of whom were now smirking. "I should be surprised about this, but somehow I'm not," I said.
"Did you think, my love, that we would let you take this task on alone?" Zecora asked as she walked up and stood on both hind legs, nuzzling my face affectionately as she did so. "A friend in need is a friend indeed."
"Did you really think we'd leave Applejack hanging like that?" Rainbow Dash asked, flying up to me and poking me in the chest. "I might tease Twilight about reading, but I can suffer through reading some stuff if it means one of my friends gets some answers for her freaky new magic."
"What kind of friends would that make us?" Fluttershy asked, joining her Pegasus friend and smiling at both me and Applejack.
The orange Earth Pony mare looked extremely touched at the sentiment, smiling at her friends with a grateful smile. "Yer the best friends a mare could ask fer," she said happily.
Behind them, a tired but serious looking Cadance strode in. She was followed closely by Shining Armor. "I've briefed them and Captain Shining on the seriousness of going into the Restricted Archives," she said.
"Thank you, Cadance," Celestia said as she turned to the rest of us. "As the others already know, there is a reason the place my sister and I will be taking you to is restricted. A lot of the books there are old and need to be treated delicately. Some contain secrets best left hidden for the time being. In fact, we recently moved some books there after some warnings from Jethro." She gave me a grateful nod.
"Well, what are we waiting for then?" Pinkie asked, bouncing up and down until she reached me and landed in my lap. "We've got some books to read!"
"Very well," Celestia said as she stood. "Come with us, everyone."
"Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! So many books, all unread! Ancient historical artifacts!" Twilight gasped as we all entered the ancient underground section of the Canterlot Library. Grabbing three nearby books, she opened them and looked at them with wide eyed excitement. "I just…I can't…hah…hah…"
"You sure you're up for helping look through all this stuff?" I said automatically. "I mean, we've got plenty of people here-"
"DON'T TAKE THIS AWAY FROM ME!" Twilight gasped, running up and hugging me, looking up at me with pleading eyes.
"Breathe, Twilight," I said, pushing her mouth closed and running my hand through her mane. Although, truth be told, I was impressed with what I was seeing as well. Unlike how it was depicted in the show, this archive was larger than what I'd seen in the show. The Greek style was still present in any of the architecture which held up the massive moss covered stone walls, and there were archways that led into vast caverns full of books, scrolls and artifacts. The entire room was well lit by a massive fireplace. Now that I got a good look at the fire, I could feel magic coming from it, so I had to assume it was enchanted.
"My stars…this is mighty big," Applejack said as she slowly and gingerly walked in, noticing the moss nearby and wincing in worry.
"Indeed so," Luna said, "much larger than the library at our old castle."
"Speaking of that, are those books still there?" I asked curiously.
"We have been making copies of them and bringing the originals here over the past few months," Celestia explained as she stopped in front of the center table. "They're in the chamber to my right, your left," she said, pointing towards one of the archways leading into another section of the archives.
"Wow…this is really big," Spike, who was walking beside me, said.
"Pretty sure ah just said that," Applejack said with a smirk.
Celestia clapped her hooves, getting the attention of everyone in the room. "Now, before we leave you to researching, my sister and I wish to ensure that everyone here understands just how much trust we are placing in you all." Her tone caused even me to stand straighter at attention. Everyone else did similarly. Even Pinkie wasn't smiling but looked completely serious. Once our attention was given to all three Alicorns, Celestia continued. "This archive is restricted for a reason. We have placed the ancient artifacts and tomes away because they were either too worn to be held even by the gentlest of hooves or because there are secrets within that are best kept hidden from Equestria's enemies. Only an Alicorn can open the doors to this place and there are hundreds of enchantments that protect the archive from outside intrusion."
"We ask that you please keep this place a secret from anypony, or anycreature, else," Luna added. "Nay, this is a royal decree from all three of us."
"Except for you, Emperor Jethro," Cadance said, turning to me and approaching. The young Alicorn stopped in front of me and gazed into my eyes with a seriousness I hadn't seen from her before. "We're placing a lot of trust in you by showing the imperial side of you these secrets. We can't really order you as the Emperor. We can order you as a citizen of Equestria and as its only living knight, but as the Emperor-"
I held out my hand to silence her. "I understand. As the Emperor of Aelyssia, my word is my bond, just as it is as your Knight and a citizen of this country. What I see here shall never leave this room. All three of me swear it."
All three Alicorns nodded, then Luna and Celestia both spread their wings. "We need to go," Celestia said, "but Cadance can remain behind and help with the search. She is the only other one who can lock the doors behind her."
"If Alicorns can open those doors, does that mean I have the capacity?" I asked before they left.
Celestia nodded. "Yes, but not the training. Maybe one day we will teach you." With that, both Alicorn sisters lifted their heads and vanished in a flash of teleportation light and a pop of displaced air.
I turned to the gathered Equestrians. "Alright, everyone, Study Hall is now in session." I mimed pushing up a pair of glasses on my nose and said, "Find a place to start and let's crack open those books."
Rainbow Dash groaned. "It's like I'm back in school."
"Oh, my dear Rainbow Dash…you never left," I grinned.
"Wait, what?" she asked, raising a worried eyebrow at me.
"Never mind, just me being silly," I said. "We're looking for a few things. References to Earth Ponies and their magic, a Pony named Milscapuldor Gebéorscipe if possible, anything about fast growth of plants. Even if it was caused by a Unicorn, bring anything you find to this table. Oh, and try and keep them as organized as possible. I don't know how the Princesses organized this place, but I think they'd appreciate it kept as neat as possible. Looking at you, Pinkie, Rainbow AND Scarlet," I said, giving each mare a glare and a smirk.
"I can be neat and tidy when I want to be!" Rainbow huffed, causing the others to chuckle in amusement. "What? It's true!"
"Settle down there, Sally," Applejack said, and hearing her say that phrase made me wonder if she'd gotten that from me, Jackie or if there'd been some saying in this world that predated my arrival. How she'd gotten that human expression was beyond me, but not important at the time.
"Twilight, you're probably the best among us who can organize things," I said, turning to the purple Unicorn, "so how would you like us to do this? Just scatter and find a section to look over, or what?"
"Well…I think that's a good idea," she said. "I don't know how this is organized, either."
"That device over there does," I said, pointing to a large contraption with large cylinders hanging off of some gears. The same device that I'd seen on the Forgotten Friendship Equestria Girls special. "But don't touch it. If I ever go into my Morphean state again, I'll try and fully repair it."
"Why haven't you been doing that?" Twilight asked.
"For some reason, it's getting harder and harder to stay in that state," I said. "Anyway, it's time to search! Let's get cracking, everyone." And with that, I spread my wings, flew as gently as I could up to the third level, grabbed a book and began.
For the next three hours, everyone spent their time looking through the books. Zecora hardly left my side as we spent those hours browsing the entire collection of books. It was then that I learned that I was a faster reader than I ever had been. I could also retain much more than I ever could. I learned a lot about the Pre-Equestrian Era that day.
For one, I learned that the three tribes of Ponies lived in a land called Hōslōnd, a land to the east of Equestria. I noticed that the maps created during this time period seemed to have a lot more land than modern day maps, leading me to believe that Equestria had gone through an ice age at some point. In fact, I noticed that the landmass where Griffonstone was now and Equestria were at one time joined together by a land bridge, and had more land near the shorelines. I noted that Hōslōnd's continent had a massive inland sea as well and that they'd all lived in the northern area of the continent. I didn't find any concrete reasons as to why, mostly superstitions about how the southern lands were cursed, especially the inland sea, Cwélmmere, which was apparently the site of some great calamity long since forgotten.
The three tribes had an uneasy peace between them, exchanging goods for services rendered. Other than that, there was no exchange between the three tribes. Pegasi lived mostly in the northern mountains nearer to the clouds, the Earth Ponies lived near the richest part of the soil they could find, and the Unicorns lived in cities and strongholds of stone near caverns where they mined gems and jewels. They lived in that land for hundreds of years, although the exact number was apparently unknown. Some sources claimed it was at least four hundred years while I saw other sources claiming it was at least seven hundred years or even longer. With how long Pony lives were, it made sense that those in power could hold onto it and maintain the status quo.
All I read about Earth Ponies was stuff that I pretty much had either already learned or guessed about them. Earth Ponies had a special connection to the ground, allowing them to grow and shape the land to fit their needs. They owed their great strength, apparently, to their connection to, for lack of a better word, Mother Earth. Stalwart and stubborn was the Earth Pony way.
Anything I could find that even mentioned Earth Ponies I read, from famous recipe books (which confused me as to why they were down here) to long forgotten tomes in the same language I'd seen in that Earth Pony book. However, there wasn't much I could find. The others seemed to have just as much trouble as I did, and it showed in their faces just how frustrated they were becoming.
I was reading one of the older historical book from the Pre-Equestrian Era when the mare I was sitting next to, Sunset, closed a particularly large book. "Did you know that Chancellor Puddinghead tried to pass a law mandating Earth Ponies drink carrot juice at every meal? I do. Know that. Now."
"I knew that too," I said as I put down the book I was reading. "Did you also know that Princess Platinum was the actual one who translated the Epic of Gilgamare? Apparently, she wanted to credit Clover the Clever since she was a bit embarrassed about it. Not sure why, though."
"The more time I spent on Earth, the more I wondered about the vast similarities between our worlds," Sunset admitted.
Zecora, who had hardly left my side, put down a book and said, "A mystery that we cannot solve, tis true. But perhaps one day, it will be clear to you."
"Hey, I think I found something," Rainbow Dash, who looked exhausted, flew up with a very, VERY old stone tablet in her hooves. "Can somepony take this from-"
I reached out and took the tablet with my magic and gently lifted it over to me. Rainbow flew down and sat on a cushion, laying her head on the table. I put it down and looked it over. "Hmm…okay, this is the same language we saw in the book," I said. "Does anyone have a brush? There's dust in some of the words."
"Right here!" Twilight said as she floated a small brush over to me. By this time, everyone else was gathering around the table in the middle of the room.
I grabbed the brush and very gently began brushing the dust off. As I did, I recognized a part of the passage as being the exact same one I'd seen in the book. "You've got a sharp eye, Rainbow," I said.
"Of course, I'm awesome!" she said as she gave me a winning smile before sitting in one of the chairs. "That thing's heavy, though."
"Where'd you find it?" Cadance asked.
"On an old shelf that was about to fall," Rainbow said.
"Could you show me?" the Princess of Love asked.
"Yeah…follow me," Rainbow said, tiredly spreading her wings and flying towards one of the arched entryways into another room.
"That writing looks familiar," Moondancer said as she moved closer to observe the large slab.
"It's the same language as that writing in that book," I said, "and it's part of the same passage."
Her eyes widened. "Really!? Can you read it?"
"In a minute, once I get the dust off," I said.
While I was gently brushing the dust aside, Rainbow and Cadance came back. "She found it in the oldest section of the Archives," Cadance said after Twilight gave her an eager look. "She was right, too. That shelf was pretty much hours away from falling. We moved everything."
"So…anything yet?" Rainbow asked.
"Not yet," I said. "Give me, like, five or so minutes to clean this off."
"Alright."
For the next five minutes, I carefully removed every last bit of dust from the stone slab as I could. It required a lot of patience, but eventually the writing was legible. I put down the brush, which Twilight took and put back in her saddlebag. "Alright…give me a moment to read it over a few times, then I'll read out the translation. Someone prepare to take some notes."
"On it!" Twilight said, taking out a pen and a notebook.
"Alright, hang on," I said. I cleared my throat, relaxed, and began reading the stone again. It took me a while to come up with a translation I liked.
A Brief History of Eoh Eorðdenu
By Sǒnnī Blican
The Friþhengest of old were once a great civilization. In the early days of the Age of Efenheortnes, the Friþhengest lived in the Mætan Sæl, the mightiest fortress known to exist in the lands to the east of Hōslōnd before the Great Sinking and the destruction of the land. Many relics were lost, such as the Scúrboga Légeléoht and the Siex Gierd, both of which were kept in the Mætan Sæl, which were used by the Friþhengest princesses to protect their land from outside threats. The Friþhengest were of five tribes, those which lived in tune with the ground, those that lived in tune with the skies, those who were also in tune with the skies but with the wings of magic, those who lived under the waters, and those which lived in tune with the magic of the world. In times of crisis, the Friþhengest would call on three beings from beyond the Scúrboga, who were known as the Freoðuweardas. Their land, Eoh Eorðdenu, lay east of the great mountains and west of the vast sea where the fifth Friþhengest tribe once lived before the Great Sinking.
During the Age of Efenheortnes, the ancient Friþhengest possessed great magical prowess. Those horned Friþhengest who were in tune with the magic of the world could perform feats of the arcane now lost. Those Friþhengest who lived under the waters could themselves brave the deepest depths of the ocean and had the singing voice of such sweetness that any who heard it would be revived. Those Friþhengest who lived with the wings of magic could create vast winds using said wings. Those Friþhengest with feathered wings could manipulate and create weather patterns, and those in tune with the land, the most common of all the Friþhengest, could channel magic through their hooves to create the vast farmlands throughout the land of Eoh Eorðdenu.
Magic in Eoh Eorðdenu came from the Heortscræf, a large gemstone which was said to have been connected to the center of the world. It was the source of not only all magic in Eoh Eorðdenu as well as the Siex Gierd. However, as of this writing, the Heortscræf was destroyed by the enemies of Eoh Eorðdenu which spread magic all across the world, diluting its effects and sinking the land, destroying everything. Three of the five Friþhengest tribes found each other again, but the other two were either lost or were buried beneath the rubble. These three tribes began a long trek eastwards until they came out of the large chasm that is now the Cwélmmere.
I plan on writing a longer history of our original homeland someday, but I wanted this to be a testament to how we were once a happy and peaceful society. And how, someday, perhaps we will be again. One can only hope.
After I was finished, having read it out slowly so that Twilight, Sunset and Moondancer could all record it, I leaned back and looked at Applejack. There was only one passage on that tablet that mattered. The one about the tribe that could control the growth of plants. I felt like we'd gotten a massive information dump and yet nothing at all. Something about this was odd to me. How had Applejack regained some magic that had been lost to Earth Ponies for however long ago this had happened? And what are these words that I can't really translate? There's something very fishy about this. Pony culture is ancient. Maybe not as old as Dragon culture, but still, very old. Older than what the show depicted. It's good to know this magic isn't a new thing, but some of these words seem not to fit the rest of the words and phrases.
"Jethro? Are you alright, love?" Zecora asked, gently nudging me and breaking me out of my reverie.
"Huh? What? Oh, sorry," I said, shaking my head quickly. "Just…trying to think about things here. All this new information…I mean, if what's written here is true, then we just uncovered some really big historical data on you Ponies. And if we can find out who this Sǒnnī Blican is, maybe we can find this book they wrote."
"You know, Cwélmmere kinda reminds me of Mirrormere from Lord of the Rings," Scarlet said offhandedly.
"Huh…that's a good point," I said as I pulled out my phone. I was surprised that I had a signal down here. "It's a long shot, but let's see here…" I typed in mere meaning and got an autocompleted search result that said mere meaning lake. I hit that, and went to the Wikipedia entry for mere. "Hmm…okay, so this says that mere can also be an Old English word for Sea or Lake, similar to the Old Saxon word for it."
"Old English? Is that similar to Old Ponish?" Twilight asked.
"I don't know," I said. "I've actually never compared the Old Ponish to Old English."
"Here's a thought," Sunset said, "what if those words you can't translate are identical to some Earth language?"
"That's a bit of a stretch, dontcha think?" Scarlet asked.
"With how similar our worlds are? I don't know, babe," I said. "Hang on, I'm gonna Google one of these words." So saying, I Googled Old English Translator, clicked on the first result, then typed in Friþhengest. I raised an eyebrow when I found that it meant Friesian horse or stallion. "That's a very odd coincidence, but why does it mean that?"
"What did you translate?" Moondancer asked.
"Friþhengest. According to the staticnet it means Friesian horse or stallion," I replied. "Hang on, I'm gonna try translating a few other words."
As I went in order, I was stunned to discover that not only did the words translate, but they translated to very familiar words. Efenheortnes translated to Harmony and Mætan Sæl translated loosely to Dream Castle, but it all clicked into place when I translated Scúrboga Légeléoht. "No fucking way! RAINBOW LIGHT?!" I shouted in astonishment, standing so fast that my chair went crashing behind me.
"Jethro?! What's wrong?!" Twilight asked.
"If…If I'm translating this right," I said, "then what I'm seeing here is that the First Generation of My Little Pony is real too! Hold on! Someone hand me a pen and paper!"
Twilight quickly handed me the pen and a blank sheet of paper, the latter of which I slammed onto the table. With that, I continued translating.
This was what I found.
Siex Gierd basically translated to "Six Staffs", which could have been a reference to the wands used by the Princess Ponies mentioned on the Generation One wiki. Freoðuweardas translated to "A Guardian of Peace", which I didn't understand until I translated beyond the Scúrboga, which meant "Beyond the Rainbow," which only raised more questions than answers. Eoh Eorðdenu translated loosely to "Horse Valley", which could also easily have been Ponyland. Heortscræf was literally "Heart". Lastly, Cwélmmere was the combination of Cwélm, which translated to "Death and Destruction" and "Lake or Sea."
"It's real…it's fucking real…" I said with complete shock. "Generation One…Dream Valley, Flutter Ponies…all…real…"
"You're shitting me," Sunset said.
I looked up at the bacon haired Pony. "No…no I'm not. The First Generation of My Little Pony…there's no other explanation. It's real." I leaned back and dropped the pen, letting it roll off of the table, clattering onto the floor which echoed throughout the vast chamber. "Fuck."
If this chapter makes or breaks the story for you, I'm sorry.