Beginnings of a Young Scholar

Chapter V

Seeds of Wrath

~49th of Spring, 980 LSE – Canterlot Castle (Before Dawn)

"TRAITOR! … you monsters … I'll never forgive you! …"

Those words still stung more than Omnicron would have liked.

Even several hours after the fact, he still felt a slight pain in his chest from the cruel prank he had played along with Princess Celestia on the young prince—there was also the multiple cuts and bruises from the window to act as a reminder. He never realized how hard the Prince would take the seeming betrayal of one of his friends, but the expression and the events afterward in the brown colt's memory would forever plague his dreams. Any joy he should have gotten from his impromptu playing along with the prank was not to be found.

Sitting on the guest room's balcony, he felt absolutely miserable, and the Princess had long since given up any attempts of consoling him. Her presence, for now, just angered him, and a part of him wanted nothing more than to be in Hoofington and tell his father that he had been right about the Solar Goddess all along. However, he knew it had not been of malicious intent, and she had even apologized to the two colts.

Omnicron knew that he was only really avoiding the real problem though. In truth, it EXCITED him that he got to even pretend he was betraying all of Equestria to join the Nightmare. That part of him sickened him to no end, but he could not deny that feeling had been very real. The role just felt too natural.

Was this the reason Celestia had been so hesitant to give the Chrono herd free reign? he wondered idly as he sank even lower in despair.

Then, he felt something shift next to him, and he remembered what he had originally been doing. He had started on his reading of Dusk Star the Quicksilver's alchemy studies hours ago, yet he found he could not even focus enough to even comprehend the individual words, let alone the tome itself.

He slammed his hoof into the marble surface, producing a sharp clap. "I'm such an idiot! Why do I have to always overdo things?! Now, I've even lost the first friend I've made in five years!"

"Whoever said I wasn't your friend?"

The sudden voice made Omnicron jump and spin around, horn lit, ready to defend himself if need be. However, upon seeing the alabaster unicorn, he immediately relaxed and returned to slouching as he fell back on his haunches. "Oh … it's you …"

Blueblood gave Omni a concerned look. "My friend, I think you're mistaken." He shook his head. "You and my aunt's performance was just so believable that I thought it was reality. I—"

"The scary part of it is …" interrupted Omnicron as if he had no choice. "… I-I enjoyed it!" He let his legs fold up underneath him and hid his face behind his forehooves. "The thought of betraying everypony for the Nightmare excited me! I-I'm such a fool to think I should ever learn higher magics!"

"Now, there will be none of that!" snapped Blueblood. "It's quite clear to me you DID NOT enjoy the act of betrayal, merely the act itself."

"But—"

The Prince ran right over Omnicron's interjection with with a hoof pointed at the brown colt—his expression hardened. "Look how much it upset you that you've become over just THINKING you could betray Equestria! Tell me, if you were sure you wanted to betray Equestria, would you be crying over it in fear of what you were thinking?"

"I-I …" stammered Omni as he began to think it over again whilst Blueblood waited patiently. Time seemed to crawl, and Omnicron's unease only grew as the dreadful silence pursued. Seconds seemed like minutes and minutes turned into an eternity, making Omni doubt how well he even knew himself. He even began to doubt how much of was actually him and how much was what his father shaped him to be.

The Prince seemed to notice his unease as he began to look more and more concerned. It was becoming obvious that the brown colts state of mind was starting to fall into a downward spiral of panic by the hyperventilation and fearful, distressed countenance.

Finally, Blueblood raised a hoof to place on Omni's shoulder as a sign of comfort. "Don't …"

"I … I don't know …" said Omni suddenly—voice wavering in self doubt. "I'm not even sure who I am honestly." He looked the alabaster unicorn in the eye. "How do I know I am who I think I am?"

The Prince swallowed hard as he drew his hoof back to himself. "I can't answer that for you … I-I'm sorry, Omnicron. You're starting to unsettle me, but I-I'm sure Auntie Celestia could help. Do you want me to go get her? I'm sure she wants to speak to you too."

"No!" yelled Omnicron in a vicious tone, making Blueblood take a step back, but immediately recoiled, as if struck. "No … I-I just want to be alone …"

Prince Blueblood sighed heavily as he began to find his hooves very interesting. "Fine … If … if you need anything, please, Omni, let me know." He pulled a piece of paper out from under his mane and set it in front of the prodigy. "This is a map I drew for you, so you can get to my chambers if you decide you wish to talk."

"Altheras ma (my appreciations)," murmured back Omnicron in Modern Unicornian, which was the standard response when you were given something by a member of the unicorn nobility or royalty.

"A deas vurma, yeru (I return sentiment, equal fellow)," answered the Prince with a smile before slipping out the door with a click as the door shut behind him.

Omnicron blinked in surprise. 'Yeru' was a term rarely used by unicorn nobility and even less likely in royalty unless they were talking to another royal they highly respected and was of equal stature to. A royal using it to address a commoner, or even a noble, was unheard of. The gesture almost made him smile until he looked up at the full disc of Mona in the night sky.

Still mentally numbed by his near psychological meltdown earlier, he only stared at the moon—or rather the infamous Mare in the Moon, the mark of the bygone Nightmare. His neutral expression soon fell into a scowl as he went back over the events of the prank again in the mind.

His recollection was interrupted by a loud bang that emanated from his room. Whipping around to look behind him, he saw his door had been bashed down by a large navy blue stallion wearing what seemed to be jet black armor. Instinctively, Omnicron jumped left as he noticed the stallion charge at him with a sword in his mouth that seemed to have glowing aquamarine runes running along the blade.

Omnicron's eyes narrowed as he recognized the runes from a similar sword from the Lunar Rebellion in the Hoofington Museum. Hostile anti-magic runes?! Those were outlawed centuries ago! What is going on here?!

"You're faster than I expected, Doctor Chronicle. However, I must give you a traitor's death," grumbled the pegasus assassin around the hilt as he glared at Omnicron, readying for another attack. "Pity really, your abilities would have so in handy for the new regime."

"New regime? What in Tartarus are you talking about?" Omnicron now definitely wished he had some alchemy runes etched on his hooves or something for self defense, because while direct magic attacks or defenses could be deflected or destroyed by his sword, and likely his armor, outside forces could still effect him. Hopefully, he could stall until he could think of something else.

The stallion snorted. "I'll tell you a secret … Our Queen is coming back soon, and we want to make sure we have everything ready for her, but you have just been excluded from that little plan." With that said, he rushed the young surgeon again.

Omnicron looked behind him to find he had nothing but sky behind him with his tail against the stone railing of the balcony. He was cornered, but that did not mean he could not escape. The idea had hatched only seconds before, and even if could not incapacitate the assassin, he COULD knock him back.

Before he could even do anything though, a blur of white came through the door way and slammed into the assassin, making him drop his sword and slam into the wall with a loud clang from the armor.

"Omni, run!" yelled Blueblood as he started to charge up his horn, only to find it had no effect on the pegasus. "What?!"

Omnicron tried to yell something, but an object clipped his head making him cry out in pain and fall to his side as he held his horn in blinding pain.

Then, he heard a scuffle and a pony choking on their own blood, one the sounds he hated most in the world, and he could only hope it was his assassin that was hit. However, fate is a cruel mistress, and as Omni cracked his eyes to see Blueblood laying not far away on his side struggling to breath.

The young surgeon could not believe what he was seeing. He WOULD not believe it, and he would not let a pony die on his watch. He had never had a pony die on him in the operating room, and was not about to let a pony die now. Shifting so he could examine the Prince more closely, he estimated he had probably thirty seconds to start work on his new found friend for him to make a full recovery anytime soon. Otherwise, he would start to drown in his own blood.

"Well, another piece of current aristocracy in the trash bin. Good riddance I say. This colt annoyed me," said the pegasus as he turned an eyes to Omnicron.

However, the assassin had made one mistake: he did not finish the surgeon off immediately, and now he would face Omniscient Chronicle's wrath. Omni's anger kept swelling, knowing that it was this filth that stood between him and his friend, and something sparked … then snapped.

A rush of energy greater than anything he could imagine overcame him, and everything at once made sense to him as a perfect smoldering calm overcame him. He could see how the runes of the sword worked and intuitively understood them as if they were simply another set of words on a page. He felt the enchantments in the armor as well, but a quick zap of blue energy from his horn destroyed all enchantments the armor had held in a moment.

He noticed the assassins features were fixed in fear now. "What?! What are you?!"

Omnicron smirked. "I'm your judge. I am wrath unleashed."

Without saying another word, Omnicron ripped the sword out of the offender's mouth and the armor off the pegasus, not bothering to be gentle, leaving several lacerations and a few broken ribs whilst holding him rigidly in his electric blue telekinetic grasp. He was not done though, he stopped the movement of air around the pegasus's mouth with a series of runes projected from his mind, effectively making him unable to utter a single sound.

"Let's see how you like being branded, shall we?" the colt asked coldly as he ripped the anti-magic runes' power off the sword and branded the runes on each of his would-be assassin's wings and hooves, eliminating his ability to fly, manipulate weather, or even cloud-walk. The stallion attempted to scream with all his might, but only the sound of heavy breathing and whines through his nose was heard.

Then, he knocked the assassin unconscious with a sleep spell before turning to his friend. Blueblood was still struggling to breathe, and that was a good sign in Omni's eyes considering he had just been run through the throat. His legs were moving as well showing the spinal cord had not been severed, which was great news.

After putting an anesthesia spell on the unicorn, he used an inverse of the frequency on the runes to cancel the enchantment before using a flesh knitting spell on the open wound to seal the clean cut thoroughly while he used his telekinesis to pull the blood out of the alabaster unicorn's lungs through his mouth, hence letting Prince Blueblood breathe without obstruction.

After a quick diagnostic spell, Omni found nothing else wrong, and all his energy rushed out of him at once, like a burnt out candle. It was then he realized what he had just done. He looked at the pegasus in horror as the still smoking brands were glowing an electric blue. He had just taken one of the most precious things away from a pony without killing them. He had taken a pony's ability to use magic.

"No … No … I'm … I-I … Oh, Celestia … What did I do?"

"Looks like you saved yourself and the Prince, Doctor. I also think you just made one of the most impressive citizen arrests I've ever seen." said a voice behind him.

Omnicron quickly turned to see Second Lieutenant Star Strike standing in the doorway along with three other unicorn guards and five more earth pony guards. He looked back to the pegasus murmuring, "But … I-I never meant to go that far. I'm not even sure that what I've done is reversible, and I even broke my oath never to use my talents for harm."

"What did you do?" asked the lieutenant with a raised though his voice sounded wary.

"I-I took away his magic! I'm a monster!" cried the brown colt as he let his legs fall out under him with a look of numb shock.

Star Strike and the other guards look at each other uncertainly. After a moment, a silent consensus had been reached, and the second lieutenant sat next to the traumatized colt saying, "Omniscient, what you did tonight was a very brave thing, and just because you sealed his magic … somehow … doesn't make you a monster. You did it to protect yourself and your friend … our prince. I know you'll not be punished for it, and what you did is probably an equal judgment on this assassin's crimes. I will speak to Her Majesty about it when she awakes."

Omnicron looked at the stallion with wide eyes. "B-But having your magic taken away is worse than death!"

Star Strike snorted. "Trust me, treason does not merely end in death, and with that compounded with what he did here, you taking away his magic will be a mercy if that's the only punishment he gets."

As the corners of his vision began to be eaten away by exhaustion—physically, mentally, and magically—he tried to understand what the armored stallion had just told him, but his thoughts were muddled, as were his senses. "I … I don't understand?" The term came out more as a question to himself, rather than to the lieutenant. However, he did not hear the response as his world faded into nothingness, not even feeling his head hit the floor.