Chapters The Duo
The moon glowed overhead as the darkness quickly set in. Down below, a Pegasus mare was walking down the cracked road as she talked. Next to her, the young unicorn colt stopped walking and looked up at the sky. His mouth opened for a second, but no words came out. The mare noticed and waved her hand in front of his face to get his attention.
“Hey, are you listening?” She asked calmly. The colt nodded his head before opening his mouth once again.
“Are we going to get there anytime soon?” He asked.
“Almost, if we walk for the rest of the night we’ll get there in the morning. If you’re tired, we could always take another break,” She smiled. This wasn’t the first time he asked.
“They’re saying we should stop for the night,” He said. His eyes were still focused on the sky above.
“Who?” She asked, confused.
“The stars, they aren’t lined up right. Something bad is going to happen if we keep walking,” He said. His eyes were scanning the sky above as he spoke. The mare sighed before nodding.
“Alright, whatever you say. Do you want to camp or get in a tree?” She asked.
The colt didn’t even look away from the sky before answering. “There,” He pointed his hoof at the top of a nearby tree and the mare smiled.
“You always want to make it difficult,” She said. The mare walked up to the tree and grabbed two of the low hanging branches before waiting for the colt to come. He looked down from the sky and used the low hanging branches to climb his way higher up the tree. The mare opened her wings and gently ascended up the tree. She sat on the tallest branch and looked around the area.
“It’s coming,” The colt said in a monotone voice. She turned to where he was looking and barely noticed a stalking blue creature walking down the path they had just been on. He had sharp teeth and a dark blue translucent coat. His body was in the form of a wolf, and there was an astral symbol on his head.
“Canis Minor…” She said. She stayed quiet as it walked past their tree and continued along the path. When it past, she turned to the colt to remark about him worrying about nothing. He had his hoof held out to signify silence. She followed his gaze once again and her eyes widened.
A Canis Major was stalking the forest, with its six other children following close behind. The Canis Major could have easily reached the top of her tree if it reached up. Instead, it didn’t notice them and continued along the path that the first did. She stayed quiet until she was sure the creature’s sharp hearing wouldn’t hear her.
“What is she doing out?” She asked.
“The stars…” The colt said. Once again, he looked up at the stars and the missing stars in the constellations. “The wind…” he continued. The mare stopped to feel the breeze and took a smell. She could smell a faint scent of blood. It was rotten and got stronger by the second. “The ground.” The colt finished.
The mare had to think about that for a second. “What do you mean the ground?” She asked. Her eyes were on the ground for any sign of movement but she didn’t notice anything off.
“The dirt is hard, there hasn’t been very much rain recently. That means smells haven’t been washed away within hundreds of meters of here. The blood could be coming from anywhere, and that brings predators out during the night,” The colt said slowly. He let his head fall on the tree and his eyes close. “Good night.”
“Alright then,” She said, only half impressed he calculated all of that. Maybe the first time she was impressed, but now it was just worrying. “What about the stars?” She said, remembering his first statement.
“They look nice,” He said, dismissingly.
The mare looked over the horizon for the next few hours. She turned her head slowly as she did so to not disturb or alarm any of the creatures nearby. On a few occasions she saw an owl get lucky with the field mice, and she noticed a rabbit hopping from bush to bush get bit by a snake and try to get away. It’s too bad the poison made him run into a tree and the snake took his time catching up.
“Good night,” She said, finally closing her eyes as the moon started its descent back down.
The colt might have had his eyes closed, he might have been breathing shallow as he would in dream state, and he might have been unconscious, but it was in his unconsciousness that he was completely awake.
‘Canis Major, as well as minors walking across the forest,’ he said to a reflection of himself. He was in a room that expanded on for eternity in every direction. He turned to his left as another reflection responded.
‘Anything in the stars?’ he asked. This one looked up at the ceiling and was rewarded with a reflection of himself grinning.
‘The Princess must be having troubles with her duties, her magic supply is draining,’ this one looked to his right at the next reflection.
‘It could be wavering, perhaps her mental state is declining,’ He looked down.
‘No, the manifestations are still stable, it has to be a magic drain,’ He closed his eyes and saw yet another picture of himself.
‘I have to see the princess, she must know of this problem,’ he opened his eyes.
‘She already knows, there’s been an influx of power since we’ve slept,’ He turned to his left.
‘Then let’s deal with the situation if time permits, for now let’s continue,’ he said. He turned around and saw another one of him.
‘Danger potency and probability of those Canis. Following with lethality of a group that size and relevant position with the towns nearby. Next bring into consideration the time of year as well as the protective barriers of the sun princess, don’t forget to account for the weaker barrier of the moon, she still has potential to change-,’
The colt felt a shock of pain in his horn and woke with a start. To anyone watching, his body was still and only his eyes opened. The mare was already asleep and her hair was covering her face from the moon’s glow. The colt shook his head. That’s been happening too many times. The millions of thoughts in his head seemed to stop for just a split second. In that time, he felt a cold emptiness and was glad when he was clouded with thoughts again. The colt closed his eyes and let the multitude of his same voice and image in his head emerge once again.
Luna opened her eyes as her horn sparked suddenly. There it was again. For a slight moment, she could feel the dreams of some unusual creature. Normally she could see anyone’s dreams, her thoughts were always bouncing around, trying to capture the worst of dreams and acting if need be. This creature’s dream was horrifyingly bad, and it was for so short of a time that she could not try to intervene.
The first time this happened, she thought she was just imagining it. It was like there was some pony out there that never dreamed, and she only got a fraction of a dream every few weeks. What kind of pony doesn’t dream? Luna turned her attention back to the last pieces of paperwork underneath her hoof.
“Next time… maybe next time I’ll be able to help. In the meantime…” Luna looked towards the door as she gently slid her hoof to the side, the papers following her hoof. The papers fell into the wastebasket and her hoof went up and wiped invisible sweat off of her forehead. “Phew, hard work,” She said. Luna walked out to the balcony and looked up at the night sky. Her eyes landed on the spots where clusters of stars used to be.
Author's Note
Hope you guys like prologue!
Next Time: The better prodigy: A game of chess
Intelligence
*A little bit of chess gameplay here, but I couldn't resist, same for next chapter. If that doesn't intrigue you, then feel free to skim.*
The young colt blinked at the sign before him. It was early in the morning and they had continued along the track. They had reached a crossroads now, with a sign that was half decayed and half broken off. It was too faded to read, and he inched closer to inspect it.
“I think we should go left,” The mare said. Down the right path she could see the path detour into a cave and in the distance she saw a dark and creepy forest. On the left there was a continuation of the path they were on with a hill in the distance.
“This sign’s been tampered with,” The colt said. He kneeled down and inspected the ground that it was resting in. He looked at the paths that were available and squinted his eyes. “Nobody’s walked down the right path since the last rainfall, maybe even longer than that. Left is definitely the way to the town,” He said.
“Then let’s go,” She said. The colt took one last look at the other path and the forest in the distance before turning and following the mare to the town.
They walked to the hill and looked over the edge. They could see houses and the town hall. It wasn’t that big of a town, but the mare was glad about that. They followed the path and were surprised by the calm surroundings in the town. They walked down the street and were greeted friendly. The mare at first didn’t respond, but decided to give at least acknowledgement.
The pair made it to a big tree that had the word ‘library’ on the sign in the front. “You want to make a quick stop?” The mare asked. She already knew the answer and walked towards the door.
“This place uses more magic than the rest of the town combined,” The colt observed to himself. The mare heard him but didn’t respond. Instead, she opened the door and peered in.
Inside, she could see rows of books on shelves and heard voices. When she opened the door all the way, the voices got louder. “Aha, you left him open,” She heard. They stepped inside completely and found a pony and a purple and green thing sitting on the floor over a board game.
“C’mon, I didn’t know you could move him there,” She heard a male voice say, which she presumed was the purple and green thing because it was definitely a female pony on the floor.
“Hello?” The mare asked. She noticed that they hadn’t heard them enter and didn’t want to feel like they were intruding.
“Oh! Hello there, how can I help you?” the female asked. She had a slight blush at not noticing them enter, but was also curious as to what they would want.
“We’re here to browse around the library,” The mare said. She tilted her head at the purple and green dragon looking thing that was looking at the colt next to her.
“Well I’m Twilight Sparkle, so if you need anything in specific, feel free to ask. This is my assistant Spike, he’s a baby dragon, but-,” Twilight started.
“Can you breathe fire?” The colt asked. He squinted his eyes.
“Yeah, I can breathe fire, it’s usually magical fire though,” Spike said. He crossed his arms. “And who are you?” Spike asked.
“Spike, that’s rude, you ask for names nicely,” Twilight said.
“I’m Eclipse, and this…” The mare started. She put her hoof on the colt’s head and made sure she was annoying him. “This is Starlight, but he doesn’t like being called by that name,” Eclipse said.
“Then what should we call him?” Twilight asked.
“Star, it’s short and simple,” Starlight said.
“Well why don’t you like your old name?” Twilight asked.
“I think it’s best if we don’t go into that,” Eclipse said. She pushed Star towards the books and turned back to Twilight. “So I hope we didn’t interrupt anything,” Eclipse said. She looked down at the black and white checkered board.
“Oh no, we were just finishing up a game of chess. But I’m sure we all know how this is going to turn out, right Spike?” Twilight said with a grin.
Spike sighed. “I’m starting to think you let me win the first game,” He said. Spike sat back down on the floor and looked over the board. “How about…” Spike moved one of his last pawns forward one space and Twilight giggled.
Twilight moved a bishop across the board. “Checkmate,” Twilight said. Spike looked over the board before shrugging.
“Weren’t you going to look for a book?” Twilight asked.
“Actually, that would be him,” Eclipse said. Twilight looked over and, sure enough, Star had a pile of spell books laid out in front of him, as well as books on history and other books nobody ever checked out.
“Then how about it, want to play some chess?” Twilight asked Eclipse. She’d been really bored recently with some of her friends being busy and nobody ever checking out books.
“That’s more of Star’s thing, but I guess why not. He could be a few minutes with those books he found…” Eclipse said. Twilight wondered what she meant by minutes when it takes hours to read books at the minimum, but started resetting the board anyways.
Eclipse let Twilight go first and tried to mimic what she thought Star would do. At first they were both playing passively, with neither side giving up much. Then, like she had set up a checker board to jump four pieces in one turn, Twilight made her move.
Eclipse lost pawn after pawn, followed by a rook and a knight, and finally, her queen. All Eclipse was able to gain out of that, was two bishops and a pawn. Eclipse managed to put her in check and stop the onslaught, but she was at a significant disadvantage.
Twilight blocked the check with her rook and Eclipse was at a loss. Many times when she was facing Star her forces had been picked clean. On the worst occasion, she hadn’t taken more than a couple of pawns before being checkmated. Now, it felt like she was losing just as bad. Then she remembered something Star had done before.
Eclipse slowly and methodically retreated her troops. Twilight gave chase to an extent, but unlike Eclipse back then, she didn’t leave her king in the open. Eclipse saw an open rook and took the opportunity. Twilight countered and took another two pawns. Finally, Eclipse was really low on troops. Twilight moved her queen into Eclipse’s king’s face and that was that, a knight guarding the queen gave a checkmate.
“Checkmate,” Twilight said. “Good game,” Twilight was smiling. At least she put up an effort. Spike didn’t move his queen until near the end, and even then she was gone the next turn.
“Wow, you’re good,” Eclipse said. She was looking the board and the pathetic amount of troops she had at the end.
“How about another?” Twilight asked, ready to keep playing.
“There’s no way I can win, what about you Star? You think you’re up for it?” Eclipse asked. Star looked up from the book he was reading.
“Alright, I was about done anyway,” Star said. He closed the book he was reading and put it up on the shelf. All of the other books were already on the shelf, and Star walked over to where they were playing.
“Are you sure, shouldn’t you play him? He’s only a kid after all,” Twilight said.
“I’ve faced him plenty of times, I think he’d be better off against someone different,” Eclipse said. She smiled to herself inside. This could be fun to watch.
“Alright, I’ll go easy on him though. This game can get pretty stressful,” Twilight said.
“He’s a smart colt, I don’t’ think you’ll need to go easy on him,” Eclipse said, so Star wouldn’t get too annoyed. She could see that he was getting irritated about being treated like a kid. Twilight finished setting up the board and waited for Star to sit down. Eclipse watched closely, eager to see what they’d do. Twilight used magic to move her pieces, while Star used his hooves.
They played the same game for a good fifteen minutes. Both sides lost pieces and it looked fairly even. Eclipse had to admit she didn’t know what kind of strategy was involved, and she couldn’t keep up with what the board looked like. At one point, Eclipse remembered one of the board positions from when she would face Eclipse. Then it hit her in Twilight’s next move where Star’s bishop was under attack.
“I would watch out if I were you,” Eclipse said. She knew this board exactly. It happened so many times that she knew what Star was planning. Star often made Eclipse feel like she was winning and then when she was in check position, ended it in two or three turns. It always hurt more to lose when you were ahead than knowing you had no chance from the beginning.
“What?” Twilight asked.
“She called me a kid,” Star said. He moved his bishop from one side of the board to the other and in effect, put Twilight’s king in check. Twilight responded with moving her bishop to block. Star moved his rook to the other side of the board and put the king in check again. Twilight moved the king down one position. Star placed a knight to once again put the king in check.
“Rushing me is just opening up your king for check,” Twilight said under her breath. Eclipse noticed that she was still taking Star for a kid. Twilight was thinking about the board. She didn’t think hard enough. Twilight moved the king once more down. Star moved his last pawn for the first time in the game forward one space.
“Checkmate,” Star said.
Twilight looked down at the board and noticed that by moving her king away from check, she had separated him from the other pieces. Star’s pieces were all protecting each other in a web of protection. There was nowhere to go, and Twilight had lost.
“W-Wow,” Twilight said to herself. She once again looked at the board. “But I was winning by like… six pieces,” Twilight said.
“But not the right ones,” Star said.
“Want to play another?” Twilight asked, feeling a rush of adrenaline. “This time I won’t show any mercy,” Twilight said. She was feeling refreshed from losing a chess game. She hadn’t lost in a long time, and even then it wasn’t by much. This kid was really something else.
“Then I won’t hold back either,” Star said, he had a big smile on his face. Only Eclipse knew what he was planning to do. It always happens the first time he plays someone, and she was surprised he didn’t do it earlier.
“This time, you can go first,” Twilight said.
Star moved the pawn in front of his king two spaces. Twilight moved the pawn in front of her knight. Star moved his bishop out of the back and into the third row. Twilight moved a knight on the same side of the board as the bishop. Star moved his queen diagonal to the third row. Twilight was surprised and brought out her bishop and put the queen in guard.
Instead of moving the queen or attempting to even block the attack, Star moved the bishop in the front into one of Twilight’s pawns. Twilight at first wondered what he was thinking. Then, she heard him say one word.
“Checkmate,” Star was looking at Twilight’s face which was scanning the board.
“But… that was only four turns,” Twilight said, she was in shock seeing the bishop being protected by a queen and pinning the king in the corner of her own troops.
“Want to play another?” Star asked. In his head, he was churning with various position of the chess board and how he predicted she would play after having played him twice. He was calculating everything as it happened in real time. Millions of himself were conversing over different topics and agreeing on the best methods. Where others took minutes to figure out a strategy, he could do it in a split second.
‘What did you turn into… ?’ Eclipse asked mentally as she watched Twilight reset the board. Star was smiling as he started to once again calculate while he played and Eclipse sighed. ‘At least you’re happy,’ She said. She didn’t notice that one of the books he had taken off of the shelves and was reading last was an ancient spell book. Twilight forgot to lock it up like Celestia said.
Author's Note
Chess is fun... right? Tell me i'm not just a nerd...
Next Time: Canterlock, does it fix the stick keys?
Threat Detected
Star slowly pushed his pawn forward to Twilight’s side of the board. Twilight gave him back a rook and put her head down in frustration.
“Checkmate,” Star said.
“Uh Twilight, don’t you think you’ve played enough for today?” Spike was asking from the steps. “Luna already brought up the moon.”
“I have to win at least once…” Twilight was saying to herself. Then, she looked up and saw Eclipse was lying on the floor with her eyes closed and Star was having to force himself to keep his head up. “Well alright, maybe another time,” Twilight gave in with a blush. She walked over to wake up Eclipse, but she lifted her head on her own.
“C’mon Star, you’ve had enough fun. Let’s get going,” Eclipse said slightly irritated.
Star responded by dropping his head and landing none too gently on the floorboards. Eclipse sighed and stood up. She started getting Star onto her back when Twilight intervened.
“Do you two have a place to stay?” Twilight asked. It sounded like they were planning to leave.
“We were just passing by the town to get some more food for our walk. It’s his fault we didn’t even do that,” Eclipse said.
“It’s my fault too, I shouldn’t have gotten caught up in the game, I’m sorry,” Twilight said.
“Don’t worry about it, I’ll go see if there’s any open shops before we go,” Eclipse said.
“Actually, the stalls close before the sun goes down… why don’t you two spend the night here?” Twilight offered.
“That’d be great. I haven’t slept indoors for a while now,” Eclipse said.
“Really? What have you two been doing?” Twilight asked, curious.
“We’ve been traveling the world, Star’s request,” Eclipse said. She started following Twilight upstairs where the guest bed was.
“Really? Where have you two been so far?” Twilight asked.
“We’ve met griffons, zebras, even donkeys. The last stop on his list is the changelings,” Eclipse said. She noticed the look on Twilight’s face.
“But changelings are extremely hostile, why would he want to see them?” Twilight asked. They had made it to the bed and moved the covers for Star. Eclipse landed him gently on it and put the covers back.
“To tell you the truth, Star doesn’t have much time left,” Eclipse said in a quiet voice.
“What? What’s the matter?” Twilight asked.
“It happened a few years ago… at a laboratory in Canterlot,” Eclipse started. She hadn’t ever told this to anyone, but Twilight looked like someone that could hold a secret,“ Our mom and dad were the head developers on the project. They called it Project Horizon,” Eclipse paused, remembering the details again.
Twilight remembered that from something she heard while studying at Canterlot. Celestia never told her the details, just that it was a failure.
“The project was to ‘unify the races’ by testing to see if earth ponies could be changed to use magic on command. I was visiting my relatives in Detrot while my brother went with them to work one day. On that day, there was something wrong with the magic they obtained. It was unstable and it took all the professors they could find in the town to contain it,” Eclipse said. She paused again as she remembered again what Star told her.
“There were maybe a hundred of them in all that tried to stop it. But even then, the energy broke through the barriers and imploded on itself. It wiped out nearly five blocks around the lab, killing hundreds of ponies. All except one,” Eclipse said. She looked over to Star who was sleeping peacefully.
“But I’ve never heard about this, was it really that bad?” Twilight asked.
“Star said he woke up in the middle of a giant crater. The sky above him was black and the ground had no signs of ponies ever being there. The first thing he did was run away and go home. But there was something wrong with him. He said he could hear hundreds of voices in his head. They all belonged to him, but he said he had trouble keeping up with what they were saying,” Star said.
“Voices? You mean he was talking to himself?” Twilight asked.
“More than that. The reason you can’t beat him in chess is because he calculates everything. He told me himself that by playing you once he can predict a checkmate on every game after that. The voices tell him everything he should do and when. I didn’t believe him at first, but he’s proved it to me too many times,” Eclipse said.
“This is too much to take in,” Twilight said to herself.
“There’s more,” Eclipse said. “He told me that his lifespan was cut shorter too. He predicted the day he’ll die if nothing intervenes. To put it in his words… his mind is going to implode on itself the moment his magic develops enough by getting a cutie mark,” Eclipse said. She shed a tear, but wiped it away quickly.
“Isn’t there anything we can do?” Twilight asked.
“He already gave up himself, that’s why he wants to do everything he can before that. I’m not going to stop him, so the least I can do is help him see the world,” Eclipse said.
“Wait, maybe there’s something we can do to save him… maybe in one of my books,” Twilight said before leaving the room back down to the bottom floor. Eclipse knew that Star would have already found the answer and decided she should get some rest. They had a long day ahead of them.
Twilight closed the last book in her pile. Nothing. Not a single book that had anything to do with Star’s condition or even Project Horizon. What Eclipse said had to be true. There was no reason to lie to her. At a point like this, she needed help.
Twilight woke Spike up from his sleep and he sent the message before dropping his head down again. Now, she hoped Celestia was awake and able to respond before the pair left in the morning. Anything Celestia knew about the project could help the colt, and she felt there could only be a positive outcome with this letter. She was wrong.
Celestia felt something hit her head as she was lying in her bed. She raised her head with a start and looked around. The room was quiet, and she waited for her drowsy mind to adjust to consciousness. She looked down at the scroll that had fallen onto the ground and turned on the lights. She levitated it up to her and opened the scroll. “This better be important,” She mumbled.
Celestia read the scroll. Her eyes widened. She dropped the scroll onto the floor and jumped out of bed. She teleported into Luna’s room where she was gazing up at the stars. Her face was scrunched up in concentration.
“Luna-,” Celestia started.
“Sister, please be silent for a moment,” Luna said. She activated her magic again in a pulse and her eyes opened suddenly. “Found you,” She said to herself. She turned to her sister with a smile.
“Lulu, can you do a check on the library in Ponyville for-,”
“We already have. We found a mare and a colt, as well as Twilight and Spike,” Luna said slowly. Her eyebrows shifted as she finished. Her horn pulsated magic again.
“The colt, I want to know everything about him,” Celestia said, her voice getting more impatient and her face getting closer to Luna. Luna put her hoof on Celestia’s shoulder. Celestia pulled her face away and gave an apologetic smile.
“We will do what we can,” Luna said. She closed her eyes and her horn gave off a steady flow of magic. Then, the glow intensified and she grunted. Finally she gave off a huge pulse of magic before her horn sizzled and she opened her mouth to gasp. Luna shook her head as she controlled her breathing.
Celestia activated her horn and touched Luna’s with it. Luna’s horn glowed again, but this time Celestia’s sizzled. Luna closed her eyes and tried again. This time, she had Celestia’s magic as well as her own. The path to Star was easy.
She used a global magic system from the stars and found Twilight. Then, she looked in the vicinity of Twilight and found the sleeper magic source of Star’s mind. This was the hard part. She snuck into his mind and attempted to enter his dream. When she realized he wasn’t having a dream, a thought came into her head.
Luna was going to force a nightmare onto Star. It wasn’t going to be pretty, but it’ll give her time to get into his head. She knew this wasn’t a normal colt they were talking about. She could feel the magic in his mind, it wasn’t pretty either.
After a second of hesitation, she let out a stream of bad thoughts into the mind to stimulate a reaction. She got one. The image of a crater. The moon’s crater to be more precise. But to Star, the crater wasn’t on the moon. It was in the pit of his mind, where his life became a ticking time bomb. This was the day he wished he died on.
Author's Note
Derp Derp, I'm a fish.
Next Time: I hear the Countdown, am I the only one?
The Four Dimensions
Star opened his eyes. The sun was streaking down on top of him. The warm rays were hitting his face and he didn’t want to move. It felt like time was standing still. There were butterflies above him that fluttered into his vision. One of them landed on his nose and he felt an itch coming on.
Star raised his hoof to itch and suddenly time continued. The butterflies flew away and the sun was blocked by a cloud. Next to the cloud was a Pegasus who turned around to get another cloud. Star looked around at the rest of the room. Colts and Fillies were playing on the playground and some that were even his age had begun to play tag.
Star could assume the Pegasus would make it rain again and they would all be herded back inside. Just like he thought, his mom was coming out of the laboratory to tell them all to get inside. He rushed in ahead of the others and started making his way to the room they were going to be locked inside of.
On the way, he felt the need to use the restroom and looked around. The restrooms would be on the other side of the building. Usually his mom had to come with him to make sure he didn’t get lost, but he was feeling adventurous today.
Star ran in the direction he thought the bathroom was. Behind him, his mom was paying attention to an argument the rest of the children were having and didn’t notice him leave. She really didn’t like the whole ‘bring your foal to work’ day. She was always the one put in charge of them.
Star found the bathroom after only two dead ends. He felt proud to have found it at all. After releasing his bowels, he walked outside of the bathroom and looked around. Every direction looked the same. Long hallway after long hallway and steel walls and floors didn’t help. It looked like a steel cage he was trapped in.
Star turned the direction he thought he came. Now, the hallways twisted and turned in every direction. After deciding he was lost enough, he came to a metal door with the word Horizon on it. Star decided to start opening doors until he found his way back. Star opened the door and was left staring at a room that was bare other than the table in the middle of the room.
On the table in the middle of the room was an orb of light that looked like a rainbow floating in the air. It drew Star’s attention and he lost interest in his search for the others. As he watched and stepped closer, there was a tiny voice that echoed in the room.
“Ten,” The voice said softly. It sounded feminine and yet masculine at the same time. Star took another step closer and heard the air in the room move. It was like a gust of wind trying to escape.
“Nine,” The voice continued. Star stepped even closer, his hoof reaching up to touch the beauty. Nearby, he heard a distant alarm go off.
“Eight,” The voice was right in his ear now. The sounds of hoofsteps approaching entered his ear but was almost completely blocked by the sound of the last of the air leaving.
“Seven,” The door slammed shut and Star felt his throat start to grasp for air that wasn’t there.
“Six,” Star was panicking. The door was being pounded on and his hooves didn’t want to do what he said. The light in front of him started expanding and was creeping towards his face.
“Five,” The rainbow light made contact with his horn and he felt a surge of pain. Star crumbled to the floor in agony and lack of breath. His eyes were burning too.
“Four,” Star saw his horn glow bright before the room went a bright white. His entire body was in shock now. He could feel a pain like electricity course through his veins and stab his coat like daggers.
“Three,” Star no longer felt anything. All the pain was gone, all his sight was white, and the only sound he heard was the countdown still audible in his ears. There was nothing left.
“Two,” It was like an explosion in the calm environment he was in. Suddenly he felt everything in him return. The air was back, his mind was working again, and his body felt great.
“One,” Star opened his eyes. The sun was red in the black sky above. The ground around him was dirt and he was at the bottom of a crater that had rising steam from it. His mind went into overdrive.
“Zero,” He heard what sounded like millions of echoes of that word in his head. He recognized that voice. It was his own. The sound bounced off the walls in his head and he raised his hoof to put it on his head. Then, the sound continued. He heard voices in his head. His own voice repeated again and again in different words.
Star widened his eyes and stood up. The air smelled of smoke and he could smell blood. In panic, Star ran. He ran as fast as he could. It wasn’t until he reached a house that he realized it was his house. He didn’t know how he got there, but somehow he just knew he was going to get there. Like it was programmed into his head.
Still, the voices continued to speak, they brought him to his knees as he reached the inside of his house. He fell to the ground and held his head. Finally, he passed out from the anxiety attack. That was when he met them all. That was when he learned the truth. They told him. He told himself.
He saw millions of himself, all of them speaking to him. He heard them discussing physics, mathematics, probability, he couldn’t keep up with what was being said. Still, he caught the part that he was the result of Project Horizon.
“What now?” Star managed to ask in between all of the voices. The answered quickly and as precise as possible.
“I don’t know,” was repeated millions of times in his head.
Luna looked at her sister as the last of their magic dwindled. She managed to pull back before completely running out, but they’d need time to recover it either way.
“What did you find out?” Celestia asked. She’d been waiting patiently, but her patience was running thin after two hours. Hey eyes had grown heavy as she saw Luna frown.
“Sister… what was Project Horizon?” Luna asked. Celestia closed her eyes.
“Let me explain…” Celestia said.
Author's Note
Bark Bark, I'm a dog.
Next Time: I Am Not Alone, I Shall Overcome.
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.
“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...
Next Time: Overload, Pegasus- Weather, Earth Pony- Summoning, Unicorn-… ?��
Time’s Up
Star listened to the voices and blocked a shot to the back of his head with his armor. He let out a kick to the face of the assailant while the demon below licked his lips. He pounced on something he saw in the darkness. Star flashed away as two figures crossed where he once was.
Celestia was having trouble keeping up. One moment he was there, then he was gone. Either he blocked their attacks or teleported away. They couldn’t land a single attack on him, even with the darkness advantage. She hated to admit it, but he was exactly what Project Horizon intended for. He was using Earth Pony magic to intensify his normal abilities of acrobatics and even managed to create a demon from the magic in the air.
Luna managed to dodge the tail swipe from the demon below. The gust of wind still blew her away from Star who closed his eyes for a second. Then, he opened his eyes and his dull grey eyes were replaced with that of a snake’s. Celestia saw the demon hesitate in his next strike before clawing at the air frantically. He landed on the ground and then jumped right back up towards Celestia. She flew just out of his reach and right into Star’s waiting range.
Star let out a magical blast that contained some of the evil energy the demon contained. She could feel the energy inside of him turning even darker. The blast hit her dead on because she couldn’t react fast enough. She fell to the ground in a crash as her whole body hurt. Then, she raised herself off the ground and flew back up. Her wounds were healing rapidly in the artificial darkness.
Luna activated some of her remaining magic and the stars in the sky sent down lights that hit the demon and one of which that got close to hitting Star. The lights erupted in the demon and he cried out in pain as a portion of him caught fire. Star’s left eye started bleeding and he closed it. The snake eye went in and out of focus as he tried to maintain the form.
Luna was familiar with summoning magic, all she had to do was remove the bonds that it held with the summoner and it would be weaker. Star managed to hold on, but it cost him a lot of his own strength. Then, Star opened the eye with blood in it. The sky started raining. It wasn’t normal rain, Celestia noticed. The drops were burning into the demon below. The creature convulsed on the ground and crawled into a ball. He seemed to melt into the ground as he gave a final cry of pain.
Luna had trouble getting away from the raindrops and she had her wings burned constantly. Celestia frowned. This was a forbidden spell that involved sacrificing a life. Where did he learn how to do that? It was erased from even her own library’s information. It had to have been from the Gryphons. After all, they were the only other ones that knew this existed. Maybe next time she’ll get rid of all of the witnesses.
Celestia felt the magic Luna casted was wearing off. The sky was beginning to brighten up and she wondered if they would be able to beat Star without it. Luna entered her Celestia’s vision, wearing black suit of armor. Celestia took a step back, that was a spell that took a serious toll on the user’s body, but it didn’t use up any magic.
“What’s she doing?” Twilight asked Eclipse, who was the only person that could hear her. Eclipse was still frozen in place, watching Star.
Luna felt the increase in the time limit of her spell and activated a spell that she didn’t want to use. The sky above Star became a web of markings that created a nine pointed star. At each point on the star, a letter was written and spelled out D-E-A-T-H and L-I-F-E.
“Luna, No!” Celestia cried out. It was too late. She was too fast at making summoning markings. The creature caused the air to freeze and the ground to quake. A white and light blue dragon flew out of the circle. Each scale on his body was as big as Twilight’s tree. He barred his monstrous teeth at Star’s direction. Star seemed to widen his eyes at the sight.
Celestia wanted to stop Luna as fast as possible before the demon could suck her energy away. Star looked up at the beast with bewilderment. Then, he nodded his head as the voice suggested an answer.
Star rushed to the beast, dashing forward and making up miles of ground in seconds. The beast looked down as Star put his hoof on the dragon’s scale. The dragon opened his mouth to breath fire at the colt and take a huge portion of Luna’s strength, but the fire never came. Star took one last look at the landscape around before closing his eyes. His right eye began to bleed.
The sky erupted in a flash of white. The moon was thrown away from in front of the sun and the dragon was blown apart into light particles by Star’s magic. The sisters looked up in disbelief as the servant of death himself was destroyed. Luna’s magic was retained by his short summoning, but her will was destroyed as the sky showed itself. Her armor shattered into pieces. The sun was shining down and the world looked normal, save the holes in the ground below.
Star was still floating in the air. His armor cracked and broke into pieces. It fell to the ground and turned to dust. His eyes were bleeding and he didn’t open them. The voices in his head were replaced by a single voice. He cried a red tear as he heard what it said. There was no going back now.
Celestia was still in shock, her mouth was agape. Their last resort was crushed in a second. There was nothing she could do to change that. Then, she looked up at Star who was barely hanging on to his consciousness. She still had small amounts of magic, but it would be enough if he was really out of magic.
Eclipse could now see what happened after everything went dark. She was no unicorn so she couldn’t activate a spell to see in the dark like the others. Now, she saw his condition. She saw the tears of blood that rolled down his cheek. She was almost speechless. Almost.
“Star!” Eclipse called out. She was on the verge of tears. This wasn’t her brother. He would never have let it gone this far.
“I’m sorry,” Star’s voice boomed down from the sky. “I can’t stop it,” Star said. “I just wanted to see the changelings…” Star frowned.
Celestia’s hope of him finally being out of magic was crushed. Star’s horn glowed even brighter, as the last remnants of his magic supply thawed out. He was given a surge of energy and his magic overflowed. The voice told him what would happen.
“You’re going to get your cutie mark now,” It said. He listened to the loudest voices since the beginning of the fight. He had done what the majority of the voices said. But the most important voice was ignored, because it was his own.
Star’s magic pool was tapped into without his permission. His body took over and the sky became littered in lines. The area around the sisters were covered in black lines. The lines split down the middle and a rift was opened. Celestia had no energy to stop the ancient magic. The world shook as the rifts opened up time and space. Meteors rained from the sky and targeted the sisters. Luna decided that with what little magic she had she would stop the colt.
Luna rushed forward, dashing straight to the colt and avoiding the rifts. Star looked right at her as he lifted his hoof towards her. She was stopped in her tracks as the air around her was turned into a web. Then, Star raised his hoof higher and the sky became littered with yellow lights. Except they weren’t lights. The sun rays were changed into a physical form and contained pure energy. They could pierce through the earth’s core in this form.
Star flicked his hoof downwards, and the rays all made contact with Luna’s body. Her scream was silent, as the world became mute. She became a pin cushion for the deadly lights. Celestia was horrified as Luna’s body fell to the ground and barely missed a rift. The meteors were almost there, getting bigger and bigger. Star raised his hoof again as more sun rays were created and were pointed at the hollow breathing alicorn below. Celestia’s hoof was trying to reach towards her sister.
Eclipse shook her head and looked up at Star. “Star!” Eclipse screamed. The silence was broken. The colt twitched.
Star felt a surge of control as he stopped his hoof from dropping. Then, he felt the burning sensation on his flank. He felt the magic supply overload and made a quick decision without the help of any voices. They were all silent now. All except his own.
Star sent the sun rays into the nearest rift and moved the rifts to point their entrances towards Luna. He concentrated all of the magic he was receiving and focused it on the meteors above. They changed directions and headed towards Star. Star gave a smile to Eclipse. His eyes were closed, but his magic sonar turned him to look directly at her.
“Thanks, for everything,” Star smiled. Eclipse’s eyes widened.
The meteors made contact with Star just a star constellation formed on his flank, and his body imploded, becoming a brilliant yellow color. The meteor also changed into a energy as it continued downwards towards Luna. The rifts shot out the rays they had captured before and shot them towards Luna before closing and disappearing.
The energy hit Luna and absorbed the sun rays already attached to her barely living body. The energy rushed through her and fueled her magic supply. The sky above turned to night and filled with stars. Those that had been gone for centuries were back now. Celestia was looking with confusion. Luna rose from the ground and shook her head.
“What was that?” Luna asked softly.
“I was wrong,” Celestia said, giving Luna a hug. The air was clearing up, and there was no sign of Star.
Twilight waved Eclipse goodbye as she was taken by chariot to Canterlot. She smiled to herself as she remembered what she told Celestia.
“What did you learn from this?” Celestia had asked her.
“I learned that sometimes a curse is actually a blessing in disguise. Don’t assume somepony needs to be normal to be happy. Sometimes you’re happier just being who you are,” Twilight had said.
“Very good. See? Good things come in hard to find places,” Celestia said.
“But princess, why did you provoke him in the first place? You still haven’t explained that in the first place,” Twilight said.
“Well you see Twilight… Project Horizon was a hypothesis of mine that tried to give magic to earth ponies. In the end, it did more harm than good, and was forgotten,” Celestia said.
“But I saw Star using… different magic, was he one of the successes?” Twilight asked.
Celestia looked up to the sky as she responded. “Actually, I was told that there was a single survivor of the project. We could never find out who it was until just yesterday. The problem was that when the explosion occurred, it didn’t just explode. It took all of the magic in the area, and gave it to Star. With all of that magic, we couldn’t let him go unless we knew he wasn’t a danger,” Celestia said.
“Still, wasn’t he too young to be considered a threat? I mean, he was just a colt after all,” Twilight asked.
“I guess the question I have to ask you is, Is the life of a colt worth more than putting your kingdom at risk,” Celestia looked Twilight in the eye. “Maybe you’ll answer that question better than I did,” Celestia said.
Twilight pondered this as Eclipse’s chariot faded into the distance. Luna nudged Celestia’s side.
“What did you learn sister?” Luna asked.
“I learned that Project Horizon was a complete success,” Celestia responded, looking away from them.
Luna laughed quietly, but Twilight was wondering if she’d ever have to make a choice like Celestia did. And if she had to, she might just say she needs to think and ask for more time. But some ponies just don't have time.
Author's Note
The end. I don’t think it was too bad, other than I feel it was a bit rushed at parts. I don’t read or write much short stories, so I don’t know if it’s rushed or not. Feel free to tell me what you think about the story, but there is a serious question I want you readers to think about. To prevent a threat to those you love, how far would you go?
