Chapters If there was one this Twilight truly despised, it would be her current predicament. A reference to three mysterious beings called Planeswalkers, no written information in any books, and the only pony how might know something was being incredibly tight lipped about it. With a groan, Twilight pushed open the doors to her own chambers in the castle.
While she usually lived in Ponyville, she did have her own quarters in the castle for whenever she visited. The walls were covered in bookshelves, much like her library back home. Rare tomes and obscure books filled the shelves from floor to ceiling. The only other furniture in the room was a large oak desk with plenty of blank scrolls in the drawers, as well as a few gallons of ink. A four post bed sat against one of the walls in the octagon shaped room. A magical fireplace sat along the opposite wall, across from the bed. Normally, a fireplace being surrounded by tons of books was a recipe for an inferno. Twilight knew this, and placed a number of safety enhancements on the area surrounding the open flame.
“Yo, Twilight. How’d your study session go?” Spike asked as he stood up from in front of the fireplace.
“Terrible. I find one ancient tome that talks about some mythical creatures, and then every other book I check makes it seem like they don’t exist at all!” Twilight nearly shouted as she flopped onto her bed.
“Well, maybe the princesses would know about it. Did you try asking one of them?” The young dragon suggested as he hopped up onto the bed next to the distraught alicorn.
“I asked Celestia about it, but she just kept giving vague answers. I know she knows about them, but I can’t understand why she won’t tell me anything concrete...” the young princess exclaimed with a sigh.
“Uhhh, who are ‘they’?” Spike asked with a confused look.
Twilight groaned as she put her hooves over her eyes. “Planeswalkers, Spike. Planeswalkers.”
“Huh, never heard of ‘em,” Spike replied with a shrug. “So if Celestia won’t talk about these Planeswalkers, why not ask Luna?”
Twilight’s eyes shot open and a grin crossed her face. “Spike, that’s a brilliant idea!” With that said, Twilight bolted out the door
~~~<<<>>>~~~
The two Alloy Myrs and the Palladium Myr quietly crept through the castle. Over the years of being stored on the shelf, they had occasionally snuck out of the archives and explored the massive palace. As such, they knew exactly where they were going, and how to get there without being seen by the usual guard patrols.
With a rehearsed efficiency, the three myrs quietly made their way through the castle, sticking along the walls to avoid detection. After seven minutes of successful sneaking, the myrs encountered a problem. Walking toward them from the other end of the hall was none other than princess Twilight. She looked incredibly focused on something as she trotted down the hall.
Before the alicorn could reach them, the myrs all darted across the current hallway and ran down an intersecting hallway. Unfortunately, Twilight noticed the three silver blurs cross in front of her. Taking off at a gallop, Twilight turned the corner in pursuit of the three myrs.
Luckily, this wasn’t the first time somepony had noticed the myrs trying to sneak through the castle. The myrs continued to run along the base of the wall until they came to a brick marked with a small “x” scratched into the middle. Hearing the approaching alicorn, the Palladium Myr began to press against the brick until it slowly pushed into the wall, revealing a small open area behind the brick.
Before the alicorn could catch them, all three myrs had slipped behind the brick and pushed it back into place. Not knowing the myrs had just given her the slip, Twilight continued her search. Waiting for the sounds of galloping hoofbeats to fade, the myrs slowly emerged from their hiding spot. With the distraction gone, the myrs resumed their mission.
~~~<<<>>>~~~
Luna groaned as she slowly came back to the waking world. She took a deep breath as she prepared to throw off the covers. Though something was not right. As she let out her breath, she felt a weight shift on her left side. As the princess opened her eyes, she came face-to-face with an Alloy Myr sitting on her shoulder.
The colorful Alloy Myr cocked it’s head and flashed its lights at her, mimicking a blinking eye. Luna’s mind was having a very difficult time coming to terms with what she was looking at. As one of the three myrs began chirping at her, the lunar princess swept all off them into a tight embrace.
After a few moments, Luna eased up on her hug. Looking down at the three myrs in her hooves, a single thought crossed her mind.
“Wait, where did you three come from?” The myrs began chirping back at her excitedly.
“They’re back?!” Luna shouted, her wings shooting open as her head recoiled in shock.
The three myrs nodded.
“Where?!” Luna replied with pleading eyes.
The Palladium Myr began chirping and pointing at the door. In one fluid motion, Luna set the three myrs on her back and threw the doors open with her magic. While Luna could have easily just teleported to her destination, she and her sister had made a rule of not teleporting in the castle. More than once, guards and servants alike would sometimes find themselves walking along in their daily routines, only to run headfirst into a teleporting princess. On some of the more rare occasions, said guards and servants found themselves underneath a teleporting princess. Suffice to say, after the first few ponies were crushed, both sisters agreed to just walk while inside the palace.
As Luna cantered through the maze of hallways and passages, the myrs had migrated from her back to the top of her head. The two Alloy Myrs each grabbed onto one of her ears. The Palladium Myr, however, was standing just above her forehead, using one hand to hold on to the base of her horn while pointing the way with the other.
It took very little time for the lunar princess to cover the distance between her chambers and the archives. With another quick use of magic, the doors to the archives swung open just long enough for the princess and passengers to slip through before slamming shut. The Palladium Myr holding onto her horn began using its tiny weight to pull the princess’s head in the direction she needed to go.
With the myr guiding her, Luna finally came to her destination, only to see her sister standing in front of a red tome.
“Sister! Where are the-”
Luna never got a chance to finish the sentence as she was suddenly rolled onto her back by a pair of strong arms. Before she could voice any surprise, the hands began furiously tickling her exposed belly.
“Ha ha ha- Oh please! No mo- ha ha ha ha!” Luna shouted as she flailed her hooves.
Her torturer was having none of it, and continued with his relentless assault. Without warning, Ziggle looked into Luna’s eyes with a mischievous grin. The alicorn’s face dropped as she instantly recognized what was coming.
The Planeswalker took a deep breath before puffing out his cheeks. Luna had no chance as the Planeswalker blew the mother of all raspberries into her soft belly. It proved to be too much for the alicorn as she began laughing and flailing until Ziggle was forced to come up for air.
As Luna caught her breath and Celestia finally stopped giggling, the door to the archives slammed. Everyone looked in the direction of the door, only to see an irate princess Twilight glaring at everyone.
Ziggle, who was still hunched over an upside down Luna, was the first to speak.
“Heh he... uh oh.”
~~~<<<>>>~~~
The group found themselves sitting at one of the long dining tables while Twilight paced back and forth. No one dared to speak for fear of setting off the already fuming alicorn. Luna looked to Celestia as if to say, ”She’s your bucking student! Do something!” .
Eventually, Twilight turned to the three Planeswalkers. “So... I think it is safe to assume that the three of you are, in fact, Planeswalkers?”
“What gave it away? The spell book with our portraits?” Ziggle mumbled.
Kayne quickly elbowed him in the side before politely asking him to shut the fuck up. Now Twilight turned to Celestia with a hurt expression.
“You knew about them, but you wouldn’t tell me. Why?” the young princess asked.
Celestia looked to the Plainswalkers before turning back to Twilight. “There are plenty of things I don’t tell you. You just happened across one of the more sensitive topics.”
“Alright, but that doesn’t explain how you know them. Besides, their... behavior, around both of you doesn’t make any sense!” Twilight shouted as she pointed at the three Plainswalkers.
“To be fair, we’ve known Celestia and Luna longer than anyone alive,” Donovan replied as he raised his right hand.
Twilight whipped her head to see Celestia’s reaction. “He’s telling the truth.”
“Yeah, we knew both of them when they were just wee little fillies. Boy were they a handful...” Ziggle added with a chuckle.
Luna rolled her eyes at this. “Oh please, we weren’t that bad.”
Donovan slowly leaned forward to stare at Luna with a deadpan glare. “Your father had to call three Planeswalkers to keep you both out of trouble. I don’t even wanna hear it.”
The lunar princess grinned sheepishly as she shrank back into her chair.
“Wait a second, you all knew the princesses when they were fillies?” Twilight asked as she recoiled in shock.
“Yes, Twilight, they did. As a matter of fact, they were our foal sitters. Much like Cadance was yours,” Celestia answered with a nod.
Twilight’s face paled at the revelation, her brain refusing to process what she had just heard. Taking the opportunity, Kayne decided to ask a question of his own.
“Who’s Cadance?”
“My adopted niece. It’s... a long story.” Celestia quietly replied as Twilight struggled to come to terms with what had been said.
“By that do you mean it’s actually a long story, or you just don’t remember it?” Donovan asked with a sly grin.
“The second one,” Luna replied for her sister.
“Okay, okay, okay... so why is there no record of any of you existing? Surely beings like you would be fairly obvious.” Twilight stated as she looked to the three Plainswalers.
“Simple; we wanted to keep our existence a secret,” Donovan responded.
“Why?! Something like this would be huge! Imagine what Equestria would think of this,” Twilight exclaimed by throwing her hooves in the air.
Donovan calmly leaned forward and looked at Twilight. “It’s for that exact reason that we chose to stay hidden. If our actions were recorded and then circulated, what do you think that would do to Celestia and Luna’s image?”
“I... guess that would depend on what you did,” Twilight replied with a hint of nervousness.
“Tell me, what do you know of the Discordian War?”
The young alicorn didn’t hesitate with her answer. “A lot. Short version, it was the period when Celestia and Luna fought against the forces of chaos, resulting in Discord being imprisoned in stone.”
The Planeswalkers began to chuckle. “And what if I told you that you only know about five percent of what really happened?” Donovan continued.
Twilight looked at him with disbelief and then to Celestia. The white alicorn could only nod slowly. “Well... what do you mean? What else is there?”
“My dear, there is much you don’t know. With Celestia and Luna’s permission, I would be willing to share the story with you,” Ziggle stated as he looked to the other two alicorns at the table.
“It’s fine with me. What about you, sister?” Luna asked as she looked to Celestia.
“I suppose. Though Twilight, you must promise me to keep what you hear a secret. No pony can know what is about to be said,” Celestia said as he horn lit up.
“Of course Princess,” Twilight replied eagerly. “Might I ask what spell you just cast?”
“A ward spell and a soundproofing spell. I want us to be alone and free of eavesdroppers. Proceed, Don.”
“Right, well before we can dive into the Discordian War, I think we should first go back to a time that neither of my darling god-daughters remember,” Donovan began.
“Wait! What did you just say?!” Twilight shouted.
“Patience, young one. Everything will be clear by the end. Now, it all began with their father, King Solaris.”
Author's Note
So yeah, gonna keep chugging at this while I work on the next chapter of Voidrunner.
Mainly because I feel bad when I don't publish things for extended periods of time. So while Dawn and I work on the next installment of that story, enjoy some light hearted comedy and heartwarming moments here.
Questions, comments, concerns, things you liked, things you didn't like, haiku poetry, drop it below.
Putting The "Fun" In Fungus
The sounds of running footsteps echoed through Everfree Castle as the three Planeswalkers charged through the elegant hallways. Behind them, a number of ponies were in pursuit. About ten guards, and another twelve servants were following the Planeswalkers through the castle.
“C’mon man! We gotta keep going!” Ziggle shouted as Donovan began to slow down.
“I know, I know!” the Planeswalker shouted back. The sound of rapid hoofsteps got louder and louder as the mass of ponies gained on them.
Taking off at a full sprint again, the Planeswalkers continued their mad dash through the castle. Three minutes later, Ziggle was the first to round a corner, nearly running headfirst into a bulky, cream white alicorn with a fiery red mane. King Solaris was sitting next to a door with a red cross on it. Though his face was contorted into a full snarl as the three Planeswalkers turned the corner.
“Oh... uh... hey there...” Kayne chuckled nervously.
“You’re late!” the king boomed.
“I know, I know... but Kayne lost his spellbook, and Donovan needed to brush his hair,” Ziggle quickly replied.
Donovan covered his face with his hand. “You stupid fucker, don’t try to pin this on me and Kayne, you were the one who got lost. Besides, I don’t have any hair.”
“Enough! You’re late, and that’s all that matters right now,” Solaris shouted as the rest of the ponies rounded the corner, some running into the Planeswalkers. “I called all of you ten minutes ago! How does it take you ten minutes to get-”
The king’s rant was stopped as a scream resounded from inside the room. Every head in the hallway was looking at the door as more screams of pain continued to echo forth. There were a few other voices coming from inside, but those were quickly drowned out by more screams.
The king’s expression quickly turned to one of regret as he bowed his head in shame. “I feel so bucking useless right now...” King Solaris mumbled.
Ziggle stepped forward and put a hand on the alicorn’s shoulder. “Hey, man. You’re doing great.”
“Ziggle, what the buck are you talking about?” Solaris asked with a dumbfounded expression.
The Planeswalker tapped his chin in thought. “I, uh, didn’t really think that far ahead. It was just supposed to cheer you up a bit.”
The king shook his head with a chuckle before another pained scream came from the room. This one was much longer and louder than any previous scream. Once again, all conversation stopped, and all eyes were on the door. Seconds seemed like hours before the door opened slightly, a nurse poking her head out before speaking.
“My king,” she said as she opened the door wider, a smile barely contained on her face.
Solaris wasted no time in trotting through the door. Everyone else stood frozen in place as the king disappeared into the room. A few seconds later, Solaris’s poked his head out of the room, glaring at the Planeswalkers.
“Are you three morons coming?” The king nearly shouted.
Not wanting to piss off Solaris more than he already was, the three Planeswalkers quickly stumbled into the room. Laying on the bed was the king’s wife, Queen Nocturne. She was as equally stunning as the king, however, her coat was a dark and rich purple, while her mane and tail resembled the untarnished night sky. Entire arms of the galaxy seemed to move and ripple through her mane, making it seem as though she were a direct conduit to the heavens above.
Held between her forehooves was a small blue bundle of cloth. Just barely visible within, was a white filly with a small tuft of pink for a mane. A tiny horn protruded from her forehead, marking her forever as a magic user.
Everyone in the room was silent as the king slowly made his way to his wife’s side. The words shared between the two were inaudible for everyone else. The king gave a nod and sat down as he gently took the filly in his hooves.
“Everyone, meet my daughter, Celestia.” A click was heard as Ziggle quickly pocketed a small device.
~~~<<<>>>~~~
“Awww, that sounds adorable,” Twilight cooed, much to the embarrassment of Celestia.
“It really was. I’m surprised Kayne here didn’t start crying,” Donovan said with a chuckle.
“Hey, screw you. It was a beautiful moment,” Kayne said as he wiped a single tear from his eye.
Ziggle then pulled out his spellbook and began flipping through the pages. “That’s great and all, but you wanna know what’s really awesome?”
Everyone at the table looked at the mentally unstable Planeswalker as he skimmed through the pages.
“I promise you, it’s something everyone dreads. The single most horrifying thing to ever cross the mortal realm. No matter what, no matter where, these objects are feared by all. Not even the Dimir interrogators would dare use something so nefarious.” Pausing for dramatic effect, “Behold! The single greatest source of blackmail ever created! Baby pictures!” With that, he spun the book around for all to see.
Taped to the inside of the back cover were a number of baby pictures, all of Celestia. The solar Princess instantly turned bright red and tried to hide her embarrassment in her hooves. For Luna, however, this was not something that could ever be passed up.
“Tell me, how did you get these!?” She demanded.
Ziggle casually pulled a small silver device from his robe pocket before setting it down on the table. Twilight eyed it curiously before looking back to Ziggle.
“What’s Nikon?”
“This, my dear, is what’s called a camera. I picked this up on some other plane a while back. Arth... no... Airth... no... Eerth... no...”
“Earth, you dumbass. The plane was called Earth,” Kayne said with a sigh.
“Whatever, nerd. Point is, I got baby pictures,” Ziggle said with a beaming smile.
“Oh, these are amazing!” Luna shouted as she and Twilight crowded over the open book.
“Don’t be so gung-ho there Luna. You don’t think we missed out on getting a few of you, right?” Donovan said with a sly grin.
Luna’s expression instantly dropped to one of dread as she mulled over the implications. Celestia seemed to capitalize on this and leaned over to her sister.
“You know, I have a few contacts in the Equestrian Press who would absolutely love even one of your baby pictures. So be careful who you poke fun at, dearest sister of mine,” Celestia said into Luna’s ear.
The indigo alicorn froze up as sweat beads formed on her forehead. Celestia was right, the embarrassment would be unimaginable. Noticing the two alicorns whispering to each other, Kayne cleared his throat.
“Hmmm, perhaps we could get both sets of pictures published. I’m sure there’s a news agency that would kill to get their hooves on something like this.” Both siblings looked at Kayne with expressions of sheer terror, all while Twilight was trying not to burst out laughing. For her, this was a side of both princesses that she had never even dreamed about, let alone actually see. Getting back on track, Twilight summoned a blank scroll and inkwell.
“So, this was all after the pony tribes unified, correct?”
Donovan turned to Twilight and nodded. “Yeah, about seven hundred years to be precise.”
“Wow. Just how old are you?” Twilight asked as she began to scribble notes.
“That’s easy. How old is time?” Ziggle asked as he put his camera away.
“Uhhh... well the universe is only thirteen billion years old...” Twilight pondered.
“Not quite. Take how old time is, multiply it by seventeen. The square it. Now you should have a totally useless number because it’s nothing like that at all,” Ziggle said as he began to laugh.
Twilight just sat there slack jawed as she tried to comprehend what he had just said. Failing miserably, the young alicorn shook her head to try and collect her thoughts.
“Okay, so, what were the years after Celestia’s birth like?”
“They were... exhausting,” Kayne replied.
“Chaotic.” Donovan said.
“Totally fucking sweet,” Ziggle exclaimed.
Everyone looked at him with concerned looks before Kayne smacked him on the back of the head. “Ziggle, sometimes it amazes me that you remember how to breathe.”
~~~<<<>>>~~~
The castle was in full panic mode as every servant and guard rushed about, trying to find the young princess Celestia. Somehow, the five year old filly had managed to slip away from the watchful eye of her foal sitter and was now making her way through the castle gardens.
She had begged her father to let her go outside and play, but her father always said is was “too dangerous” for her to go beyond the confines of the private garden of the castle. Out here, she was free to roam and explore everything. The young Celestia didn’t have a care in the world as she trotted through the seemingly endless garden surrounding Everfree Castle. Her father had always spoken of the dangers posed by the world beyond the castle walls, but now that she was here, she couldn’t see what he was talking about.
Back within the castle, an irate Solaris was pacing back in forth in front of his throne. The three Planeswalkers were standing idly by, flipping through their spells as they waited for any news on the missing Princess.
“Your majesty!” A guard announced as he bowed to his king.
“Have you found her?!” The king demanded.
“No, sire. We’ve checked every room in the castle. Nopony has seen her,” the guard admitted.
“Then check the surrounding area. Harmony forbid she got beyond the walls,” Solaris ordered. The guard popped a salute and quickly cantered off. The king then turned to the waiting Planeswalkers. “Is there anything you three could do?”
Kayne instantly began flipping through pages before stopping on one. With a quick bit of focus, the Planeswalker gathered up nine green mana orbs. The mana quickly formed into one big spehe before shooting into his spell book. Suddenly, three small plant-like sprouts formed on the stone tile. As the king watched with interest, all three sprouts suddenly became about as big as one of his guards.
Each plant-creature was different from the next. One looked like a log had grown six legs with it’s back was covered in dull orange mushrooms. The one next to it seemed to lack definitive legs, but had two arms and was made almost entirely of tree roots. Oddly enough, it seemed to have a defined face, although it lacked any real facial features. The last one looked like a dog, only it’s body resembled a clove of garlic turned on its side. Just below its eyes dangled a small mass of red tendrils.
Kayne smiled as another bipedal fungus creature seemed to appear out of thin air. With only a nod, the four fungus-creatures scurried off in different directions, leaving a speechless king.
“What were those... things?”
“Saprolings: tiny little bits of sentient fungus. If anyone can find Celestia, it’s those little guys. Besides,” another dog-like saproling popped into existence and quickly galloped out of the castle, “if she’s out in the garden, what better to find her with than a plant?”
“Hmmm, but what if somepony tries to hurt her? Can those saprolings fight?” the king asked with concern.
“Eh, kinda. Their power is in their massive numbers. I can always summon something with a bit more beef to it,” Kayne said as he flipped through his spells.
“It would put my mind at ease if you did,” the king replied.
Gathering up another five green mana orbs, Kayne pressed them into the spellbook, causing the page to glow. With a quick flash, a massive fungus-creature was standing in the throne room. This one was easily bigger than anyone in the room. It stood on two short legs and supported itself with two massive arms. A mess of tendrils and vines dropped from its face while its red eyes gave at a very malicious look.
“Be a good thalid and go find me Celestia. Tiny little white and pink pony, hard to miss.” The thalid replied with a guttural groan as it turned to leave the castle. The Planeswalker quickly gathered up another two orbs of green mana and threw them at the thalid. “Oh, and one more thing. Ponies are friends, not food. Unless they try to hurt the princess. Then they can be food.”
~~~<<<>>>~~~
Out in the gardens, Celestia was truly enjoying her newfound freedom. There was no one to tell her not to eat that rose, or be mindful of where she was walking. Out here, she could do whatever she wanted.
“Well, hello there, little filly. What are you doing out here?” Celestia whipped around to see three thuggish looking stallions walking up through the bushes. “Aww, are you out here all alone?”
The sneers and laughs they were giving her were not indicative of somepony who she could trust. Backing up slowly, Celestia tried to put some distance between her and the three stallions.
“Hey now, where do you think you’re off to? You’re not trying to leave, are ya?” One of the ponies asked with a chuckle.
“Oh, now this is somethin’ special. You’re the king’s daughter, ‘aint ya?! Oh boy, that means you’ll be worth a lotta bits,” a brown unicorn said as he lit his horn. Celestia soon found her hooves unable to move as they were wrapped in a light brown aura.
“Don’t make a sound, or it’ll be the last sound ya ever make,” A grey pegasus chuckled.
Suddenly, a loud roar and a pounding noise shattered the scene. Lumbering only twenty feet away was the massive savage thalid. It roared and pounded it’s incredibly thick fists on the ground again, as if giving one last warning.
“The buck is that thing?” The brown unicorn asked with a hint of fear.
“Just zap it an let’s go,” the pegasus suggested.
However, just as the unicorn was about to fire his spell, the monstrosity charged the group. Raising its massive fists up into the air, the thalid brought them down on the pegasus, crushing and killing it instantly. The unicorn fared little better as he suddenly found a massive fist slamming into the side of his skull. The force enough to shatter every bone on the left side of his body.
However, the third pony, a beige unicorn, was able to get off a quick fireball. The spell shot forward and exploded as soon as it touched the thalid, killing it instantly. The unicorn cheered at his victory while Celestia cried at the sudden loss of her would be savior.
The young Celestia then noticed a faint shimmer of green light before the massive thalid rose to its feet once more. Before the unicorn could fire another spell, he found himself in the grip of the monstrous thalid. With a look of pure malice, the savage thalid began to squeeze. Celestia could only hear the stallion scream for mercy before a loud crack silenced his cries for help.
The young alicorn tried to hide in a nearby bush as the thalid turned to face her. Rather than crush her under its foot, the thalid instead laid an open palm at Celestia’s hooves. Confused, the young princess looked up to the fungus. Gone was the malice and rage that inhabited its eyes only moments ago.
With a gulp, Celestia climbed onto its palm and gripped the thalid’s wrist as it brought its hand up to the top of its head. Celestia slowly climbed off the hand and settled atop the thalid’s hunched back. With Celestia riding atop it, the thalid slowly turned around and lumbered back to the castle.
Author's Note
Here we go!
Tid-bits of info for you Magic players.
Spells used in this chapter (in order)
Thugs power/toughness:
Tea Parties and the Great Cake Capper
Twilight blinked as she dropped her quill. She had since stopped trying to take notes and had just listened to the last bit of Donovan’s story. Nothing of what was being said made any sense to the young scholar. If it wasn’t for the nods and other expressions coming from both Celestia and Luna, she would have likely dismissed everything as a bad joke.
“So, this fungus... thing, saved Princess Celestia from being ponynapped?” Twilight asked.
Kayne nodded. “Yup. A Savage Thalid, to be precise.”
Twilight turned to the solar princess for a more elaborate answer. “And your father was okay with this?”
“He was. In fact, he liked the idea of having a powerful creature acting as my guardian. It never slept, never ate, and never asked questions. At first I was... more than a bit resentful to having something following me around all the time, but in the days following the incident, I understood why it was a necessity,” Celestia replied with a light shrug.
“Though your mom was a lot more... apprehensive about having aggressive sentient fungus watching over her only daughter,” Donovan added with a chuckle.
“But she accepted it later, right?” Twilight asked as she looked between Celestia and Kayne.
“She did, though it took a bit of work,” Kayne replied with a grin
~~~<<<>>>~~~
“You want to do what ?!” Queen Nocturne screamed at the two individuals sitting in a pair of chairs. Kayne was doing his best to examine every detail of the floor, while Solaris was doing his best to keep his wife from tearing off his head.
“I just think it would be wise to have a... guardian, with her at all times,” the king said meekly. “It would make me feel better knowing she was safe from anypony who would want to do her harm.”
The queen continued to circle the two like a shark sizing up prey. “And what happens when her ‘guardian’ feels like having a snack?”
Kayne raised his index finger slowly before speaking. “To be fair, most of my fungus don’t actually eat. They photosynthesize sunlight and breakdown other organic plant material. Plus they aren’t capable of making their own decisions. They only do what I tell them to do.”
Nocturne eyed the Planeswalker critically before continuing her pacing. “I’m still not comfortable leaving my daughter alone with something so... unpredictable.”
Kayne sighed. “Again, it will only do what I tell it to do. How about a compromise?”
The queen stopped her pacing and looked at the Planeswalker. “Oh?”
“I’ll summon something smaller. Like, a normal thalid; I’ll even make it one of the adorable dog-like ones. That way she still has something guarding her at all times, while still not being powerful enough to crush every pony in it’s path,” Kayne offered with a nervous grin.
“Show me first,” the queen demanded.
Kayne removed his spellbook from his waist and quickly began flipping through the pages before stopping on the intended spell. Queen Nocturne peered over the edge of the book to get a better look at the picture. The small fungus creature was a quadruped that looked like a small dog than a plant. It’s body was white and green and was shaped like a clove of garlic turned on it’s side. Even Nocturne had to admit that the creature looked fairly harmless.
“Satisfied?”
The queen eyed the small thalid and nodded. “I suppose this would be fine.”
“I’m going to interject here,” the king said bravely. “I would request that you keep the other creature available, just in case.”
This remark earned the king an immediate, and intense, glare from his wife. Being an astute and observant Planeswalker, Kayne quickly spoke up, preventing what could have become the marital argument to end the world.
“Sure, I’ll keep the Savage Thalid around, but hidden in a way that no one will know it’s there.”
Nocturne sighed as she looked at Kayne. “Make sure of it.”
~~~<<<>>>~~~
“So she dropped the subject? Just like that?” Twilight asked as she set down her quill.
“Pretty much. She knew that a compromise like that would be the only way to get anything done. Besides, I’m pretty sure that she knew the security of her daughter was worth keeping a monstrous thalid around,” Kayne replied with a shrug.
“A monstrous thalid? Shall I remind the court of the time you summoned Mycoloth so Celestia could have a tea party in the gardens?” Ziggle said with a sly grin.
“Isn’t a mycoloth a type of mushroom?” Twilight asked with a raised eyebrow.
Kayne nodded. “Indeed it is. It’s also the name of my favorite summon. Mycoloth,” he said as he flipped through his spellbook before turning it so Twilight could see the page, “is a fungus that allows me to generate a near limitless and constant supply of saprolings. It’s great for when you need an army in a pinch.”
“So... you summoned it... for a tea party?” Twilight deadpanned as she slowly shifted her gaze to Celestia. The princess in question was hiding her face behind a giant white wing. Luna seemed to be nudging her sister while wearing the best shit eating grin imaginable.
“Yup. I’ve even got the pictures!” Ziggle exclaimed as he flipped through the back pages of his spellbook.
Sure enough, there was a filly Celestia sitting at a table with a different shaped saproling at each seat. All of them were wearing a different type of hat and occasionally a shiny bead necklace. Twilight almost fell off her chair laughing as she came across a picture of Celestia pouring tea for a saproling wearing a large sun hat, much like ones her friend Rarity wore often.
Noticing that Celestia seemed on the verge of dying of embarrassment, Donovan felt it was time to level the playing field.
“Don’t worry, Luna. I have plenty of great stories about you. Ones I’m sure your sister would love to hear,” the Planeswalker said with a sly grin.
Luna’s face instantly dropped as his words sank in, prompting a smirk from Celestia.
“You do?” Twilight asked as she finally recomposed herself.
“Oh yes. Like the time Luna got a few myrs and tried to stage a kitchen raid,” Donovan said as he chuckled. Now it was Luna’s turn to hide behind a wing. “She was... five years old at this point and, as most children are, was quite fond of sweets. Cake was a particular favorite of both sisters, but Luna acted on her impulses a bit more frequently than Celestia. Anyway, one day, Luna enlisted the help of a few myrs that I had assigned to keep an eye on her and just be generally helpful.”
“Oh, they were helpful alright. Up to the point where they stabbed me in the back...” Luna mumbled from behind her wing.
Donovan chuckled. “Right, well Luna here had a craving for cake one day and went off with a few myrs to procure some. Now, she managed to get into the kitchen without being noticed. Even more incredible was how she managed to find the cake destined to be that night’s dessert. From what I was told, the myrs formed a ladder so that she could climb up to the counter and retrieve her spoils. This is where her plan fell apart. The cake was much too heavy for her to carry on her own, especially since her magic was still too uncontrollable to safely carry the cake. So she instead gave the cake to the myrs to carry,” Donovan began laughing as he recounted the tale.
“Just get on with it,” Luna mumbled while Celestia nudged her younger sister.
“As soon as she gave the cake to the myrs, they took off at a full sprint. Now, during all of this, I was sitting with the king and queen, enjoying some tea and just having some pleasant conversation. The next thing I know, five myrs run in through the door carrying a cake, followed by a very annoyed looking Luna. I swear, her expression went from unbridled fury to absolute horror in a nano second. She knew she had been caught red-hooved, and just froze up in the doorway.”
Twilight was having an incredibly hard time keeping down her laughter. A loud thunk emanated from Luna as she dropped her forehead onto the table. “I can’t imagine Solaris was very happy.”
Donovan chuckled as he reached over and began to rub Luna’s left ear. ”He wasn’t at first and was thinking of a way to punish her. Nocturne, however, figured that the mortification and lack of dessert that night was punishment enough.”
It was at this time that Celestia let out a wide yawn as she looked over to a nearby wall clock. “Well, it’s late and I really should get some sleep. Good night everypony, goodnight cake bandit.”
Luna groaned an incoherent response as Donovan continued to rub her ear.
“I should probably do the same. It’s been a long day,” Twilight added as she picked up her scrolls and writing implements.
Ziggle leaned back in his chair as he stretched his arms out. “Yeah, sleep sounds nice. Got any guest rooms we could take over for a few days?”
Celestia nodded. “Certainly. Twilight, would be willing to show them the guest rooms?”
“Of course,” Twilight replied with a nod.
Donovan finally let go he Luna’s ear as he stood up, eliciting a groan of disappointment from the lunar princess. “C’mon, don’t you have court soon?”
“Yeah, yeah. Not like anypony really shows up to it anyway,” Luna mumbled as she straightened out her crown.
With all said and done, Twilight led the three Planeswalkers out of the dining hall and toward the guest rooms. The four of them walked in silence until they came to the base of the tower that held their rooms.
“Twilight, I think it’s time you know exactly why we are really here,” Donovan began.
“Are you sure this is the time?” Kayne asked with a raised eyebrow.
The young scholar looked up at Donovan curiously. “What do you mean?”
“The reason we are here is not some spontaneous visit. In fact, it has been planned for hundreds of years. Luckily for us, Celestia doesn’t seem to remember,” the Planeswalker replied.
Twilight suddenly found herself feeling a bit uneasy. “Oh...kay... so then what is it?”
“You must first promise me that you will not tell anyone about this, and I mean anyone. No one can know our true reason for being here until the right moment. Deal?” Kayne added, his voice taking on a very serious tone.
“I... I suppose. Is it something serious?”
“Very. We only have three days to prepare for an event of monumental importance. An event that modern Equestria hasn’t experienced in over a millennium,” Ziggle said.
“W-what is it?” Twilight asked, trying her best to keep her rampant mind from concocting multiple doomsday scenarios.
“Celestia’s birthday,” Kayne finally said.
Twilight blinked as she looked at the Planeswalkers. “That’s it? Celestia’s birthday?”
“Not just any birthday! But her fifteen hundredth birthday!” Ziggle nearly shouted.
“All that dramatic set up for a birthday!?” Twilight said with a hint of anger.
Kayne put his hands up defensively. “To be fair, she is turning fifteen hundred.”
Twilight groaned as she rubbed her forehead with a hoof. “I get it that Celestia’s birthday is important, but really? Did you need to make it sound like a doomsday scenario?”
Ziggle shrugged. “Eh, the dramatic emphasis was my idea. I think Kayne could have been a bit more convincing.”
At this remark, the Planeswalker in question reached out and punched Ziggle in the side, knocking him against the wall. “Point is, she hasn’t celebrated her birthday in one thousand three hundred and twenty six years. We intend to break that record in three days, of which, we will need your help.”
“Okay, but why wouldn’t Celestia celebrate her birthday? Especially for so long?” Twilight asked with a hint of worry.
“Birthday parties get a bit... tiring, after your first two hundred. Plus it’s kinda hard to fit enough candles on a cake without lighting the whole damn thing on fire,” Ziggle replied with a chuckle.
“Huh... makes sense. What do you need me to do?”
“You mentioned a Princess Cadance?” Donovan asked.
“Yeah, she’s my brother’s wife, and niece to Celestia and Luna. Why?” Twilight asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Great. Convince her to come to Canterlot,” Donovan said with a nod.
“Alright, I’ll see what I can do,” Twilight replied confidently.
“Well then, let’s all get some rest. We’re going to have a busy few days. And Twilight, we’ll tell you the story of Discord tomorrow. Bring some scrolls, you’re going to want to take notes. Though I don’t want to see anything published. Keep them to yourself,” Kayne announced.
Twilight nodded as the Planeswalkers walked up the steps to their rooms. In all her years of studying, and all the trials she had faced with her friends, nothing had prepared her for this.
It was another beautiful morning in Canterlot as Twilight descended the stairs from her chambers. She hummed happily to herself as she made her way to the dining hall. Behind her, a number of blank scrolls and bottles of ink levitated, all to be used for taking notes during the Planeswalker’s stories.
As she arrived in the great hall, both Celestia and Luna were conversing with the three Planeswalkers. While it was odd to see Luna up at this hour, it was understandable, given the circumstances.
“Morning Twilight!” Ziggle nearly shouted as he waved.
Kayne looked to Ziggle with a frown and punched him in the side. “No shouting. Especially not this early.”
Twilight chuckled at their banter and took a seat at the table. “So, you mentioned something about the story of Discord?”
Donovan nodded as he set down his fork and wiped his mouth. “Indeed. I’ve spoken with these two here, and they agreed to have me tell you the story. This one is about, oh, a hundred and nine years after Luna was born. The sisters were now ruling the fledgling nation out of the Everfree Castle.”
~~~<<<>>>~~~
Celestia and her younger sister galloped down the road toward their home at the Everfree Castle. Their meeting with the governor of the small township of Manehattan had to be put on hold to deal with a more serious threat. One of their father’s worst enemies had emerged, and now he was spreading madness and chaos across the fledgling nation. His name; Discord.
As the two alicorns drew closer to their home, the land showed more and more of the chaotic taint. Trees were floating in the air, rivers were flowing toward the sky, rocks were dancing and playing leapfrog with bears in top hats, the road itself seemed to be getting scaley, clouds were polka dotted and formed into odd shapes, even the sun and moon seemed to be chasing each other across the sky.
Though none of this paled in comparison to what had happened to the ponies. Arranged in a massive mob around the castle walls were literally hundreds of ponies, each of them with a faint purple shimmer surrounding them. As the sisters got closer, every head turned to look at them. Every mare, stallion, and foal wore a cheshire grin while their pupils expanded and contracted at an alarmingly fast rate. Standing on the wall in front of the mob was Discord himself.
“Oh wonderful, the sisters are back. I hope you don’t mind, but I took the liberty of livening up the place while you two were away at that boooooring meeting,” Discord said with a chuckle and a toothy grin.
“What have you done to these ponies, Discord?!” Celestia shouted up at the mad draconequus.
“Me? Why, I’ve merely freed their minds. They all looked so dreary when I showed up. Now, now they simply beam with excitement and energy. Wouldn’t you agree?”
“You’ve turned our ponies into slaves of Chaos. Release our ponies, or face our wrath!” Luna shouted.
Discord simply yawned. “Oh please, you’re going to have to try much harder than that.”
Before Celestia could fully react, Luna charged the crowd with a warcry. However, her charge was stopped short as the first row of ponies opened the mouths, exhaling a stream of a purple gas. The young alicorn was instantly engulfed in the gas, causing her to drop to her knees and start coughing.
“Luna!” Celestia shouted as she reached out with her magic and quickly pulled her sister back.
Discord merely began clapping loudly. “Bravo, my dear. Excellent effort. I’m sure if you tried that again it might just work.”
Celestia ground her teeth as she shot Discord a death stare, all while Luna continued coughing. The solar alicorn quickly turned her attention to Luna, if nothing else than for comfort. The ponies in front of Discord all began laughing manically at the two alicorns as Discord continued clapping. As soon as the laughing began, it stopped.
Celestia looked up from her fallen sister, only to see Discord and all the ponies, had stopped laughing and clapping. Instead of the joyful and happy smiles, their faces were replaced by stoic stares and scowls. Confused, Celestia quickly looked around to see what might of caused the change. Standing behind her, were the three Planeswalkers.
“Well, Discord, I’m surprised you made your move this early. Did you get bored, or are you just feeling confident?” Donovan asked.
Discord huffed as he stared at the three. “I’ve been biding my time for long enough. This “order” and “harmony” make me sick. With the king and queen out of the way, only their two idiot daughters stand in my way. Chaos will reign, and there’s nothing you three can do to stop me.”
The three Planeswalkers looked at each other with bemused expressions. “Oh... kay, and what makes you think that?”
“Because, Celestia would never let anyone hurt her dear little ponies. You’ll have to kill them to get at me, something I know she could never let happen,’ Discord replied with a menacing grin.
Kayne nodded before leaning down to Celestia. “My dear, he’s right. We will have to go through that army if we want to stop Discord.”
“No! They don’t know what they’re doing!” Celestia protested as she cradled her sister’s head.
Ziggle snapped his finger.
“I got a plan.” All eyes went to the red and blue robed man. “We can’t destroy the ponies, but we can reshape the land.”
Donovan raised a curious eyebrow. “Meaning?”
“Chaos has tainted this whole land. If we can’t destroy these ponies, then lets destroy and reshape the land. That way we can bring out the really big guns.” The insane spellcaster replied with an eager grin.
All eyes turned to Celestia who only nodded. The three Planeswalkers nodded in silent response before pulling out their spellbooks in unison. Discord watched curiously as the three opened their books, causing three colored orbs to shoot from the first page, before sinking into the ground.
Wishing to see what the light show accomplished, Discord sat silently as two more orbs from each book sank into the ground. Slightly shocked, Discord noticed that the nearby river was once again flowing in the normal direction, the woods nearby weren’t glowing, and the grassy hills were lush and green again.
“Do you plan on boring me with landscaping? Is that your master plan?” Discord asked with a chuckle.
“I promise, you’ll like where this is going.” Ziggle answered with a hint of glee.
Donovan then reached out and pulled forth a blue orb, and two white orbs. Then, with the snap of his fingers, a small pedestal appeared next to him.
“Need something to sit on? You could have just asked for a chair, I’m not THAT unreasonable,” the mad draconequus stated sarcastically.
“Watch and learn,” Donovan replied before tapping the pedestal. “Pony citizen”
In a flash of light, the hundreds of ponies that were standing in front of Discord vanished. Their only trace was a bright blue orb floating above the pedestal next to Donovan.
Discord’s face dropped as he realized what had just happened.
“Huh... well that’s not very nice.”
~~~<<<>>>~~~
“Wait, wait, wait. What did that spell do?” Twilight interrupted, much to Donovan’s annoyance.
“The spell is called Detention Sphere. It’s used if you want to confiscate a large number of similar beings all at once. In this instance, it was used to take back control of all the pony citizens that Discord had corrupted,” Donovan explained calmly.
“It was a brilliant move, really. The chaos corruption in each of the ponies was purified as soon as they came out of the sphere,” Celestia added.
“Exactly,” Donovan said with a nod. “Now, the fight with Discord lasted almost three hours. All that time was spent covering for Kayne. You see, his power needs time to grow and build up. Ziggle and I both knew that if Kayne could reach his full power, we would be unstoppable.”
Kayne chuckled at the compliment. “Nature conquers all.”
“Anyway, so were taking a real beating...”
~~~<<<>>>~~~
“Kayne! Use Spore Flower! Now!” Donovan shouted as a massive chaos beast was preparing to swing at the vulnerable Planeswalker. however, moments before impact, a small fungus flower released a huge cloud of spores, completely obscuring the battlefield and causing the beast to miss its attack.
Ziggle instantly pulled up a orb of blue mana and shot it at the hulking chaos beast, reducing it to the size of a goat. The Planeswalker chuckled as a goblin charged across the field and smashed the beast over the head with what looked like a frying pan.
Discord huffed as he watched his latest creation fall. All around him the world was changing. Gone were the ever rolling hills of Equestria. Now he was surrounded by thick woods, with the sound of rushing water echoing off unseen gorges. Visible from their little clearing was a massive mountain peak with waterfalls pouring down the sides.
Even more surprising were the Planeswalkers themselves. Kayne had been largely passive throughout the whole encounter, opting to throw quickly replaced fungus creatures in the way of the endless chaos aberrations. Discord knew he was building up for something, though it was impossible to tell at this point.
Donovan stood proud with dozens of tiny myrs, a few larger myrs that were obviously made for battle, and an incredible ball of what looked like hundreds of the small machines glued together. Discord could have sworn he heard Donovan call it a battlesphere. However, that was not what made him worried.
Ziggle stood with only a few things in front of him. A goblin that looked like it was wearing a hat made out of copper pipe, a lantern that swirled with all five colors of mana, and a wild looking old man with goggles and strange tubes leading to his hands. From what Discord had learned, Ziggle was a very powerful, and spontaneous, spell caster. The Planeswalker always seemed to have an instant counter to every chaos spell, a debilitating effect for every aberration, or even a way of redirecting Discord’s magic.
It was at that point, the Kayne began to move. The a sweep of his hand, the Planeswalker pulled forth five green orbs before slamming them onto an open page in his spellbook. In a flash of light, all the small spore creatures that Kayne had been protecting and growing, vanished.
In their place, stood a massive creature made of nothing but fungus. A gargantuan, bipedal monstrosity loomed over the battlefield in front of Kayne. It was at this point that Discord realised he might be in over his head.
“Discord, Mycoloth. Mycoloth, say hello to Discord, with your fist.” Kayne stated neutrally.
Before Discord had time to react, Ziggle pulled an orb of red and threw it at Mycoloth. “Go get ‘im champ!”
Without warning, Mycoloth quickly charged across the field and slammed a club-like arm into the stunned draconequus, sending him flying into the castle wall. As he began pulling himself from the rubble, the myr battlesphere ran into him, sending him clear through the other side of the heavy stone structure. In an act of desperation, Discord summoned up as much chaos magic as he had left, and erected a massive shield.
“As much fun as this has all been, I do have other places to go... so, yeah.” Discord announced as he turned to leave.
However, his retreat was quickly cut short. All around the edge of the clearing were lumbering fungus creatures and heavily armored myrs. Even the sky was dotted with myrs riding on what looked like sails. With a nervous gulp, Discord turned back to the group to see what happened next.
To Discord’s relief, the massive fungus army had largely been sacrificed when the massive beast appeared. Sadly, that relief faded when at least a hundred slamm fungus creatures budded off of Mycoloth.
Ziggle, now with a second goblin on the field, began rubbing his hands together. “Alright Donovan, I think it’s time.”
“Agreed. Ready Kayne?”
“We doing it now? Alrighty then, Ziggle, your lantern please?” Kayne asked as he flipped to a nearby page in his book.
As if on cue, the small goblin picked up the chromatic lantern and stumbled over the Kayne before dropping it at his feet. With a relaxed sigh, Kayne reached down and pulled a single piece of red mana from the lantern, before summoning up four green orbs. With one last smile, he pushed the mana orbs into his spellbook. Just like with Mycoloth, the hundred tiny fungus creatures vanished, causing Discord to reconsider his decision to stay. That was when he felt it.
The ground gave a mighty shake while a deafening roar filled the air. The trees at the far edge of the woods began to viably rise as the ground swelled and buckled upward, until finally, it broke. Emerging from the sundered earth was a creature of unbelievable proportions. While Mycoloth stood at an impressive seventy five feet, the spines covering this new beast were easily the size of Mycoloth. The creature’s skin appeared to almost be made of lava as it continued to rise up and tower over everything.
Kayne laughed excitedly as his final creation emerged. “Discord, may I present to you, Thromok the Insatiable. Ziggle, would you please help them get better acquainted?”
Ziggle only nodded eagerly as he summoned up another ball of red mana, while Kayne pulled forth two green orbs. Together, the two Planeswalkers cast their spells. In an instant, Thromok took a single step toward Discord, only to smash straight through his shield, and even a few surviving chaos aberration before looming over the cowering chaos lord himself.
Discord stammered as he looked up at the near god-like creature standing before him. At that moment, he managed to stammer one sentence.
“No fair.”
~~~<<<>>>~~~
“You expect me to believe that a creature the size of Canterlot Mountain was used to defeat Discord?” Twilight asked with disbelief.
“Pretty much, yeah.” Kayne answered with a smug grin.
“Actually, Thromok was probably a couple dozen feet taller than the mountain.” Celestia corrected as Luna poured herself another mug of coffee.
“In fact, you can visit the site where Thromok emerged. I believe you call it Rambling Rock Ridge,” Donovan added with a chuckle.
Twilight simply looked at her reflection in her mug before back to the Planeswalkers. “I’m not even going to question it.”
Ziggle began clapping excitedly, “Yay! She gets it!”
Author's Note
Yup, almost a year later to update this one. As I said from the start, this would largely be a side project for me to do when I have time from my other projects.
Twilight happily walked through the Canterlot Royal archives. Since becoming a princess, she had been granted unrestricted access to some of the off-limits areas of the library. As such, she was eager to explore every book in this previously restricted section. The shelves were packed to the ceiling with tomes of ancient magic, hidden history, and other secrets that were meant to be forgotten.
As Twilight continued to walk along the bookshelves, a small, metallic looking object fell from one of the lower shelves. Startled by the sudden sound, Twilight looked around in panic. She spotted the small object and carefully picked it up. Upon closer examination, she realised that it was more than just some ball of shiney metal. It seemed to have a face of sorts, with a green, red, and white light on its top.
As she continued to look at the strange object, she noticed that it actually seemed to be more of a creature than some random object. It appeared to have a head shaped like a gryphon’s beak, a thin neck, with two equally thin arms folded in front of its body. A pair of stubby legs completed the strange object.
With her curiosity left unsatisfied, Twilight began scanning the shelves for more of these odd things. Sure enough, there were two more on a nearby shelf. One of them was identical to the one she held, the other was a bit thicker and not quite a shiney. What struck her as odd was that these three objects were set on a shelf just above an old looking tome on a stand.
Rather than be on a shelf with the rest of the books, this one was left out on a display stand. It also looked very different than the other books in the room. While most of the ancient tomes were brown, leather bound, and slightly wrinkled with age, this book still looked pristine. Its red leather cover was accentuated by metal fittings on the corners and spine. A long metal chain drooped from the fittings on the spine, as if it was meant to be used as a carrying handle.
Carefully, Twilight approached the tome with the strange metal object still in her magical grasp. On the front of the strange book were five gems in a pentagon. A white gem sat at the top of the pentagon, with a blue one lower to the right. This was followed by a black, then a red gem on the bottom. A single green gem finished the shape on the right.
With her burning curiosity only increasing, she set the metal object back on the shelf and slowly undid the metal clasp holding the covers together. Holding her breath, Twilight slowly lifted the cover of the tome, only to reveal a blank page. Frowning, the young alicorn flipped the page to reveal the actual content of the book.
It was something she had never seen before. In the upper left corner of the page was the word “Kayne”. Mirrored on the upper right were three symbols; a grey number two, a small green tree, and a white star. Just below this was a portrait of some strange creature. The figure seemed to be male, suggested by his short brown hair and his well groomed goatee. He seemed rather youthful as he looked back at the viewer. His dark green robes seemed to be accentuated by streaks of white, and black along the edges. This image was set above a single word. Planeswalker.
Still utterly confused, Twilight flipped the page, hoping some clarity could be found in later pages. Her hopes of a clear answer were instantly dashed as a page, almost identical to the first, was revealed. The difference here was the portrait. An equally youthful man appeared to be throwing spells at an unseen target, his face full of glee and exuberance. The red and blue robes he wore seemed to be blowing in a gale force wind. His longer black hair was also blowing in the unseen force. The name “Ziggle Ziggler” adorned the upper left of the page, while a grey number two, along with a red flame and a blue raindrop sat in the upper right.
With a scowl, Twilight flipped the page again to reveal a third portrait. This one was much bulkier than the other two. His face was more serious, yet still warm and inviting. His clean shaven head was only contrasted by a short, black, beard running from just above his ears. While the others wore robes, this one wore a grey coat with silver accents along the edges. The name “Donovan” sat in the left of the page, while a grey four sat in the upper right with no other symbols or colors.
Every page after the first four were completely blank. Now thoroughly frustrated by the book, Twilight lifted it off its podium and took it back to one of the reading rooms for further study. As she turned and began walking away, she failed to notice the three metallic objects unfold and start silently scurrying after her.
They stood only a foot tall and ran on two legs. Silently, the three small objects continued to move along the bookshelves, diving behind stacks of books and scrolls every time the alicorn looked over her shoulder. Twilight eventually stopped at a wooden door before pulling it open and walking inside with a odd tome. Before any of the three objects could slip inside, she closed the door with an audible thunk. As if to express their frustration, the three objects quietly chirped amongst themselves as they sat outside the room.
~~~<<<>>>~~~
For the next three hours, Twilight studied the book in excruciating detail. Even going so far as to take notes on what little information she could glean from the pages. Most of it was mere speculation on her part. One thing was clear, though, it was a spell of sorts. Considering she had found the book among other spell tomes, it was a safe assumption.
What she didn’t understand, was how to cast the spell. Usually a spell tome gave instruction on how the spell caster should use their magic to bind and weave the spell. This one had no such instructions. Frustrated, Twilight closed the book and slammed her head on the table, causing her quill and scroll to bounce.
“Having a bit of trouble?” a smooth motherly voice asked.
Twilight spun in her seat as she came face to face with princess Celestia. The white alicorn wore her usual warm smile as she looked at the frustrated Twilight.
“Trouble doesn’t even begin to describe what I’m feeling. Never have I run into a spell that I couldn’t figure out. At least, I think this is a spell. Princess, do you know what a Planeswalker is?” Twilight asked with a tilt of her head.
Celestia’s eyes went wide with shock at the mention of Planeswalkers. “Where did you hear about that?”
Twilight levitated the book up from the table. “In here. Three of them are pictured with some other weird symbols. I’m not really sure what to make of it.”
The solar princess looked at the book before taking it gently in her own magical aura. “They are beings of immense power, capable of traveling between worlds and realities.”
“That’s it?” Twilight groaned.
“Not at all. Some of them are very powerful spell casters, while others are great leaders and warriors,” Celestia replied with a shake of her head.
“Oh...kay... so what about the three in here? Do you know what kind they were?” Twilight pressed.
“The three in here are none of the above. They are on a completely different level. They have the power to shape realities, summon mighty beings to do their bidding, and cast spells that could ravage or protect entire civilizations.”
Now it was Twilight’s turn to recoil in shock. “When you say they do, does that mean they still exist?”
Celestia only nodded. “I’m sure of it. Though they haven’t been seen in Equestria for a very long time.”
Twilight was confused. She knew Celestia was holding back a lot of information, but she just couldn’t fathom what it might be, or why. “So, why don’t we see them in any history books? Surely something as major as a Planeswalker would be recorded.”
Again, Celestia shook her head. “There are a few reasons why you have never heard of them before. Mainly, it was their decision last time they visited Equestria. I’m not sure as to their reasons, but we respect them none the less.”
Celestia set the book back on the table in front of Twilight. The young alicorn sighed as she looked at the book. She hated knowing about these seemingly super powerful entities, and yet being unable to learn anything about them. With a look of defeat, Twilight closed the latch on the book and picked it up.
“I guess I can come back to it later. Who knows, maybe there is something buried in here that could shed some light on the subject,” Twilight mumbled as she walked back to the book’s podium.
“Quite right. Not even I remember all the secrets held within these shelves. Now come, let’s go get some dinner.”
~~~<<<>>>~~~
Celestia sighed as she wandered through the restricted section of the archives. Twilight finding that tome had brought back a flurry of memories; both good and bad. Eventually, the sun princess stopped at the tome in question and simply stared at it. It had been hundreds of years since she had even thought about it, let alone seen it. Looking up from the old tome, she couldn’t help but notice an empty space in the shelf above the tome.
Looking closely, Celestia could see where three objects once sat, their outlines marked clearly in dust. Though for the life of her, she couldn’t recall what once sat there. With a defeated sigh, Celestia looked back to the tome. Memories from her foalhood began to creep up on her. Playing in the castle gardens with her sister, learning how to use magic, flying for the first time, all of it.
Sometimes she wondered why the Planeswalkers had decided to keep themselves secret. It wasn’t as if their deeds were even remotely secret. On the contrary, they were some of the most notable points in Equestria’s history. Even the very landscape had its roots with the Planeswalkers. With a hint of loneliness, Celestia thought back to the last time she had seen the three.
Eleven hundred years ago. A hundred years before she was forced to banish her own sister to the moon. She had thought of calling upon the Planeswalkers multiple times, if only just to have a familiar shoulder to cry on. That was all in the past now.
In this very moment, Celestia found herself tempted to open the tome and figure out how to cast the spell within. Unfortunately, only her parents and the Planeswalkers themselves knew how to cast the spell. Though she did recall a set of metallic objects her father had given to her many centuries ago. He had instructed her in their use, and added that they could provide the components necessary to cast the spell.
Sadly, she was still rather young at that age, and had brushed them aside as useless trinkets. When her sister fell to madness, Celestia hated herself for not knowing how to summon the Planeswalkers. They might have been able to stop Nightmare Moon without having to banish Luna to the moon. Alas, it was just another regret for Celestia to live with.
Celestia was brought out of her slightly depressing thoughts as a dull thunk echoed through the archives. Looking back to the book, one of the metallic objects looked at her. Even though the object had no real facial features, she couldn’t help but feel that it was worried about her. The small metallic being was then accompanied by an exact duplicate of itself as it climbed up the podium. A third, slightly bulkier object joined the other two on the podium. All three looking to her.
They looked familiar to the solar princess. In fact, they seemed to recognize her better than she recognized them. As if some unheard order was given, the three turned to the book and unfastened the latch.
The bigger of the three took the front cover in his tiny hands and slowly walked across the podium, opening the book. Another one of the tiny constructs carefully picked up the front page and turned it over, revealing the first of the three portraits. With the page revealed, all three of the metallic beings lined up facing the page. The two thinner ones shook slightly as they folded up, becoming the size of a tomato. What was produced, however, were two colored orbs; one green and one white. This was joined by the other construct folding up, producing two grey orbs.
The four glowing orbs then shot into the tome, causing the page to pulsate with light. After a few seconds, the small beings unfolded and repeated the process, this time producing a red and blue orb, in addition to the grey ones. A few more seconds passed as the constructs then produced two white orbs and two grey orbs.
As the last of the orbs sank into the pages, the entire tome began to glow dimly. Cautiously, Celestia took a few steps back until she was pressed up against the wall. The three tiny constructs simply began chirping wildly, as if excited about what was happening.
Suddenly, the tome began wildly flipping through pages as it continued to glow even brighter. Celestia soon brought a wing up to shield her eyes as the light continued to get brighter and brighter. With a bang, the light died down, and the book stopped moving.
Slowly lowering her wing, Celestia got a front row view to what had happened. Standing before her were three humanoids, all grinning at her. The one standing in the middle threw it’s arms outward before moving forward and pulling the princess into a hug, even lifting her a few inches off the ground.
“Hey there kiddo. Long time no see,” one of them chuckled.
Author's Note
Here it is, my personal take on a Magic: The Gathering crossover. The Planeswalkers here would be considered players in a real game of magic.
This is just something that I had floating around during a day at work that I wanted to write down. It's a nice little break from the rigors of my other writings. As such, this is more of a side project than an actual main focus. I will update it semi-regularly. Just know that Voidrunner will still be my primary focus until it is complete.
Questions, comments, concerns, things you liked, things you didn't like, haiku poetry, toss 'em bellow.
