Tick Tock

Star opened his eyes. The light was streaking from the window and the covers over him were thick. He was shivering. He had cold sweat on his coat and it felt like his limbs had gone stiff. He turned his head and saw Eclipse sprawled out on the floor. Her mane was covering her face and she was snoring softly. Across the room, he saw Twilight was asleep on her bed. There were books littered next to her. One was still open on her bedside table.

Star lifted himself off the bed and walked downstairs. He wanted to get his thoughts off of the dream he had. There were no voices in his head for the entirety of it. No reasoning, no advice, nothing to put his mind at ease when the world went silent. The images had burned themselves into his head. Now, the voices returned and calmed him down as he listened to what they said as he walked around.

After a few minutes, he found the book he hadn’t finished reading the day before. He opened it to where he left off and began skimming the text again. It was refreshing to get his mind off the dream. After he finished, he decided he’d wake up Eclipse and they’d get going again.

“Good Morning,” Twilight said coming down the steps.
She was looking at him differently, Star noticed. “Good Morning,” He said to be polite.

“I know you probably don’t want to talk about it, but Eclipse told me what happened,” Twilight said, hoping it’d be enough for him to remember but not remember any of the bad thoughts.

“She probably told you it was a curse or something, but I don’t want you think I regret what happened,” Star replied instantly. It was time to get something off of his chest.

“But your parents…” Twilight responded. There went the idea of not bringing up bad thoughts.

“It was bound to happen when you work with such dangerous magic. I was talking about the voices…” Star said. He smiled. “Do you remember the chess games we played yesterday?” Star asked.

Twilight blushed before responding. “Yeah, I won’t forget about those for a while,” She said.

“Anything in particular?” Star asked. He wondered if it ever crossed her mind to take his moves into account for future games. Then again, nopony ever did.

“No, not really. Everything seemed to be a straightforward loss near the end,” Twilight said.

“After the first two games, did I ever move my king or my queen?” Star asked. He saw the look of realization slowly creep on her face. “After those first two games, the voices told me that you take advantage of an out of place queen and you move your pieces to block my king, but never put him in check right after,” Star explained.

“That’s amazing,” Twilight said. She was thinking back on all of the games where that held true. Not once did she remember him move either piece.

“The voices aren’t haunting me like Eclipse thinks, they guide me and keep me company. I lost my mom and dad, but I have more friends than you can imagine,” Star said. He smiled as Twilight’s eyes widened further.

“You’re the wisest colt I’ve met yet,” Twilight said.

“I read a lot of books,” Star said. Suddenly, the sound of a chariot was heard outside. Twilight looked towards the door as it opened.

“Twilight-,” Celestia started. She saw the colt next to her that radiated a hollow magic energy. She could feel the frozen flow of magic in his veins. That was definitely the pony she was looking for.

“Hey, what’s going on?” Eclipse asked walking down the steps. Her fair was frayed and she was rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. When she opened them, her eyes landed on Celestia who was looking at Star.

“Twilight step away from that colt,” Celestia said in a soft but demanding tone. Twilight did as she was told and backed away. Star looked between all three of them and then turned to Celestia quickly.

“I’m not dangerous,” Star responded. Celestia narrowed her eyes as she responded.

“We have to make sure,” Celestia said. She looked behind her where the chariot was. “Come with me and we can have the tests done. Then, we’ll let you go after we’re sure,” Celestia said.

“How long will that take?” Eclipse asked. She remembered Star mentioning he didn’t have too long left.

“That depends how easily he can use magic at his age,” She said.

“But he can’t use magic, not since…” Eclipse started. She turned to Star who tilted his head.

Twilight realized that she was right. He moved his chess pieces with his hoof, not magic. She hadn’t seen him use any magic since he got there.

“Then indefinitely, until he develops the ability to use magic,” Celestia said. “We have to be sure after all.”

Eclipse looked at Celestia and then back to Star who still had his head tilted he was mumbling to himself and she would give anything to hear what he was saying to himself. He was probably calculating how much time he had left. Right now, indefinitely was a long time to a pony with only a little time left.

“No, he doesn’t have a long time left,” Eclipse said.

“This isn’t an option, if he does not come on his own, I will have to use any force necessary,” Celestia said. She was prepared to find a villain worse than discord, but instead she found a colt with a sister that was protecting him. A threat from the princess was probably overkill, but she had to do what it took.

“You can’t-,” Eclipse started. She was cut off by a shift in the air. She looked to Star who was twitching his left eye. His horn had a faint glow.

“There’s always an option,” Star said loud enough for them all to hear. He felt the magic flow in him thaw out and remnants of his old magic fuse with his newer supply. Celestia’s horn glowed as she saw his horn glow. She couldn’t let this opportunity get away.

“Princess, don’t!” Twilight said. Celestia didn’t stop as she sent a bolt of energy towards Star.

Star moved his head to the right and avoided the concentrated energy. The bolt hit a bookshelf and it erupted in flames. Twilight turned away to look at the fire and didn’t see Star teleport outside. Celestia felt him magic outside and teleported after him. Eclipse saw the fire and started helping Twilight put it out.

Outside, Star was in the field behind Twilight’s house where there were less houses. Star’s horn held a constant glow now. Celestia saw the clouds forming in the sky as well as the wind that was being blown in every direction. She felt something was off. This was Pegasus magic.

Star’s eyes faded into a light grey as the sky thundered and lightning rained down on a nearby tree. Celestia shot a barrage of energy towards Star, but they were all blocked by bolts of lightning coming from above. Then, she became the target as they struck around her. The ground exploded with dirt after every lightning bolt, leaving streams of steam to come out of the small holes left behind.

Celestia placed a shield around herself to block the incoming strikes of lightning as she got closer to Star. After the fourth hit, she saw the cracks forming on the shield. This wasn’t normal lightning. She stopped and looked around. The wind was blowing in only two directions now. She felt a warm breeze pass by her head. Her eyes widened.

Celestia tried to fly away from Star, but she was too late. The air increased in velocity and encircled around Star. The warm air and cold air brought the clouds down from above and formed a tornado with Star in the center. Celestia knew her weather, and she activated her magic to increase the strength of the sun above.

Star felt a shift in the structure of the tornado. The heat was rising. His split second thinking led him to also increase the temperature. The rocks that gathered in the middle were thrown out in different directions and were brought back fast by the unstable tornado. The rocks collided and created a spark. The tornado erupted in flames and spiraled even faster in the heat of the sun.

Celestia’s eyes widened as she backed away. The tornado got close enough that she could feel the heat on her face and the intensity of the flames. As she tried to get away, she felt a resistance in her hooves. She looked down at the puddle she had stepped in earlier. It was frozen over, with her hoof frozen with it. The rest of the town had snow falling from the sky.

Her face reached burning levels as the tornado came closer. She felt her shield give up as the tornado burned it down. Celestia activated her magic again, but she could do nothing besides teleport away. Then, she felt the heat of the tornado be replaced by cold winds. She opened her eyes and saw a dark blue figure standing in front of her. It was Luna.

The tornado had dissipated and what was left was Star standing in the middle of the snow. His mind had to wait a full second before a response came. Luna had taken all of the oxygen away from the tornado for a split second and put it out.

“Thanks,” Celestia said. Luna broke the ice off of Celestia’s hooves and they turned to Star.

Celestia was glad Luna knew a lot of different forms of magic. Still, Star was putting up a big fight for not wanting to go with her. Would he be able to fight off both of them?

Star’s mind was quiet for a second as he assessed the situation. Luna could easily counter anything else he threw at her. Then, the voices spoke, although not as many as before. There were about ten voices he heard that suggested this. He hesitated, but went along with it.

Star’s grey eyes grew into a lifeless and dull grey as he activated his magic further. The glow from his horn intensified. Star felt the shift in magic flow inside of him. The knowledge from books he’d read earlier was returning and he felt anew. Celestia could feel the change as well as she sent a hailstorm of raining magic towards Star.

Star was gone in a flash as the hailstorm hit dirt and he appeared between Luna and Celestia. They tried to react, but his magic was already activating. The air around him was thrown away and Celestia was sent into the air while Luna skid the other direction towards Twilight’s tree. She had to struggle to get up.

Celestia flapped her wings and took a weaker impact than Luna. She looked down to Star who was looking up at the sky. She saw white markings underneath Star being formed into a star. At each point on the star was a letter. From Star’s direction the star spelled out B-I-R-D-Y. Celestia rushed forward, hoping to stop the markings.

Star’s star was finished right when Celestia had gotten close enough. Star was no longer feeling like he was in control. He had no thought of stopping anymore, as he was concentrated on what was being said to him and reacting as need be.

The star glowed to yellow markings and the ground began to shake. Star felt a weight on his body and looked down at the dark blue magical armor that had been put on him. The armor was spiky but light for its size. Then, continued to look down as from the ground rose a pair of wings and a beak. The snake eyes opened and looked around. His fur claws and tail rose into the air as he screeched into the air.

Luna felt her blood go cold as the demon towered her by at least five feet. Wingspan, it was about three times her size. The screech hit her chest and she backed away slowly. Celestia was just as terrified, but she teleported to her sister. After shaking her out of her fear, Luna decided that Celestia was right, they had to stop Star. He was losing control.

“Star…” Eclipse said to herself as she saw the demon raise its head. Star rose into the air and his armor glowed in the sunlight. The snow had stopped and the sun was shining down on the battlefield.

“Sister…” Luna started. Celestia looked to her and saw her eyes and horn glowing. The moon rose into the sky and blocked the sun to create a dark sky and a dim lit ground. “Aim for the colt,” Luna said. Celestia hesitated before nodding. There was no going back now. The clock was ticking.

Author's Note

I like adding action into my stories, that should have been apparent if you read the others...
Quack, Quack, I'm a turtle.

Next Time: Overload, Pegasus- Weather, Earth Pony- Summoning, Unicorn-… ?��