Eclipse Born

I contemplatively chewed a mouthful of hay as Rainbow, Pinkie and Applejack watched. Rainbow, ever the impatient one, couldn’t help but press. “Well? How is it?”

“Spike! I need the notes I assembled for the meeting with the mayor!”

“On your desk!”

I looked at her, eyebrow raised as I chewed a few more times before swallowing. They had decided that since I was a pony for the time being, I had to try hay. “Fine, I guess? I mean, it wasn’t bad, but not what I’d call my favourite thing. This is what Spike and Twilight shovel down at restaurants?”

“Oh no, I think I need more flash cards! I haven’t finished putting together the prompts for everypony’s opinions on the events!”

“This here is just yer basic breakfast hay,” Applejack explained. Her plate had held a larger serving than my own had, but aside from that, the oatmeal, pile of eggs, muffin and serving of fruit had been the same. She, Pinkie and Spike had teamed up to cover the meal. “The one they give ya at restaurants is a different type.”

“They roast it or spice it up too,” Rainbow interjected as I washed it down with some water.

“I wish I had been able to take better reading on the nature of the magic but I didn’t have the time! Spike—”

“It’s on your desk too! In the folder on the right!”

“And then there are the different kinds of grass and such they make it from,” I nodded. I’ll admit, I had been confused by the hay thing at first, but clarity continued to be gained on the topic. So it had been an enlightening meal.

Oh, and Twilight was freaking out about the trip now that our ride was almost due. Spike trumped into the room and collapsed on a chair. Twilight, a pair of bulging saddlebags on her back, was not far behind.

“All done freaking out?” I asked innocently. Twilight shot me a look. I grinned as she took a seat. “Twilight, Celestia and Luna are nice people. You know that. No need to be freaking out. Everyone else has finished getting ready, Lyra even went back to sleep after eating and is out in the front napping.”

“She’s what?” Twilight asked, incredulous.

“Yes, napping. Until the chariot arrives for us,” I said, wings shrugging. “Even Rarity has her dress and everything. And she’s the only one wearing clothes. We are ready.” Twilight’s expression suddenly went smug. “What?”

“You said you are packed?” Twilight asked. “Even you?”

“Yep. Got my phone, laptop, a book to read on the way, even that de—,” I glanced as Fluttershy and changed my word choice, “—withered fruit bat and some vine pieces I found in my book bag.”

“Funny, I thought you’d take clothes,” Twilight grinned.

“Aren’t you the one who always says ponies don’t need clothes?” I rolled my eyes.

“Ah, but don’t you plan to turn back in a bit?” Twilight commented. I blinked at her. How the hell did I forget that? The others laughed as I raced out to add a change of clothes to my bag.

“Were you not the one who chided me for casting my suspicion against young Caleb?” Luna softly commented, a slight smirk on her face, as her sister paced worriedly across the hallway. “While there may be cause for fear anew, is this really reason to doubt him?”

“No, it isn’t doubt for him that trouble me, Luna,” Celestia sighed, forcing herself to stop. The morning light spilling in from the window did little to chase the lines of worry from her face though. “It’s actually fear for him that troubles me. I care for all my ponies, even if they aren’t quite ponies themselves. But there is so much that has been happening around him in such a short period of time.”

“To be plucked from your own world and thrust into another, faced with facts that force one to re-evaluate your own self and self-image, to have your own form altered,” Luna’s smiled gained a somewhat sad edge as she joined her sister in gazing unfocused through the patterned glass. “Perhaps that is why I was able to relate so well with him, despite his not being a pony.”

“He has managed surprisingly well, despite it all,” Celestia added, touching her sister’s horn with her own in a comforting gesture. “Better than many of our ponies would have.”

“Then why do you dread for him if you acknowledge his strength? Even my own concerns that his fears and woes would lend to a vulnerability to the darker forces that still lurk in the dreamscape were unfounded.” Luna couldn’t help but let a touch of pride at her newest friend’s accomplishments colour her tone. True, her early visits had been motivated by suspicion, but the latter were from a combination of budding companionship and concerns that he would be preyed upon. “He is strong. Stronger than I initially thought of him.”

“It’s not his strength that I doubt either,” Celestia sighed. She looked around the room, at the numerous stained glass windows, reminiscing slightly. “It’s his destiny. Our nation is on track to great change and great challenges, but it seems Caleb’s fate is becoming more intricately tied to it the more time passes.”

Luna hesitated. “For the sake of clarity, assume I do not follow your thinking.”

“The current stage of Twilight’s journey is nearing fruition, and the same can be said for her friends,” Celestia remarked thoughtfully as she unconsciously started moving again. “At times I can see glimpses of their greatness when I look at them. Do you not as well?”

“I… I must admit that I do. While I still believe it is too soon, I cannot deny the signs are there.” Luna acknowledged reluctantly. It had been something of a sore point between them—Twilight’s trials. “Even my dreams seem to bear omens for it. But what does that have to do with young Caleb? True; even races without a cutie mark are still touched by destiny, but he is not even of this world.”

“Are we still sure of that?” Celestia murmured. Luna raised an eyebrow.

“Sister?”

Celestia signed explosively and spread her wings. “You read as well as I Twilight’s report on what happened. The mars on the veil of our world, they are linked to him, if not of his own violation. And the elements themselves have accepted him despite his otherworldly origin. Did they not attempt to evict the Whisper in all prior the encounters? Until they at last succeeded when Twilight and her friends freed you from your rage and jealously?”

“You were shaken when you read that Caleb had been struck,” Luna recalled. She eyed her sister in mingled concern and shock. “You feared they would have banished him as they did Sombra.”

“Instead, they may have tied him to Equestria. To the bearers themselves,” Celestia let her wings fall. “Perhaps I am worrying too much, making a non-issue into one.”

“Perhaps,” Luna echoed, though her response wasn’t as confident as she would have liked. There had been something different about Caleb’s dreams when she brushed them the night prior. Something she couldn’t quite put her hoof on. Not something she could merely attribute to his transformation spell. It was something that changed since his visit to the forest.

“We will see when they arrive, Sister,” Luna said, speaking with more confidence than she felt.

I honestly forgot how impressive the castle could be. Of course, I spent most of my time in Canterlot more or less holed up in my room, so there was that. I wonder what they did with my own room. It was definitely different trotting through the castle compared to walking. For one, everyone was at eyelevel. And things were actually set up to be appreciated from the level I was at.

I nodded at the guards as the girls chattered on. Spike had decided that I would make the better steed and abandoned Twilight for the time being. He didn’t weigh that much, though someone riding on my back was weird. I let him be though. Twilight had accessed my magic situation and determined that it should be fine for me to try and shift back, but I felt it was more important not to at the moment.

Just a feeling.

The guards opened the doors as we approached. “The Princesses are waiting for you.”

“Thank you, sirs,” Twilight said, leading us in confidently before the doors were closed behind us.

Celestia and Luna were conversing softly with each other, but they both looked up with a smile when we entered. Celestia was the first to greet us. “Good morning everypony. I am pleased you were all able to make it.”

“Shucks, it was no problem, princess,” Applejack said lightly. “Ain’t all that early anyway.”

“For some,” Lyra grumbled.

“Should the truth be told; we would have rathered it be under less distressing circumstances,” Luna admitted.

“Distressing? We kicked flanked!” Rainbow extolled, leaping into the air. When she realized all the eyes in the room were on her, she sheepishly landed. “I mean; princess.”

“Yes, you quick actions were paramount in bring a dangerous situation under control,” Celestia said with a warm smile not balking at giving commendation. “And all before it could escalate into a true threat. Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy; you’ve proven on numerous times to be heroes, but Spike, Lyra and Caleb, you three stepped up as well. I am proud of you all, my little ponies.”

The responses ranged from Fluttershy’s I couldn’t help but smile a bit smugly. Say what you want about me not being local or technically one of her little ponies, this was the mare that ruled a nation and raises the sun daily.

Luna eyed me curiously. “On that topic, you make a quite an impressive stallion, Caleb.”

I grinned sheepishly. “Thank you, I guess?”

“Unfortunately, it seems as if the tear you repaired and the remnants of the breach your arrival made are connected more directly than we would have believed.” Luna’s statement shifted the atmosphere of the room. “The breach has been active once more.”

“That’s not good, is it?” I asked.

“Is it anything like what we encountered in the White Tail Forest?” Twilight asked quickly. From the corner of my eye I noticed the other mare’s subtle shifting to a more ready position.

“Be at ease,” Celestia said soothingly. “It has been contained by the precautions we already had in place.”

“But we would like to hear your opinions and perspective on your encounter in the forest,” Luna added. “We had hoped to adjourn to a more causal setting and talk about your experiences. Perhaps over a light meal.”

“Ooo! That sounds like fun!” Pinkie exclaimed. “It’s like a second breakfast!”

“No need to overdo it, Pinkie,” Rarity chided before smiling at the Princesses. “That sounds, lovely, Princess Luna.”

So it was that we found ourselves in the same dining room I often shared meals in during my stay in Canterlot, just talking about what we encountered and how we felt as we snacked on dainty little sandwiches. Celestia and Luna asked a few questions, drawing more information, pertinent or not, from us as we spoke. It was a while before everyone’s recollection was shared.

“Wild Magic might be an apt description of what emerges from these tears, indeed,” Celestia said thoughtfully. She cast a look in my direction. “I only hope there are not too many more of these tears across Equestria. No, I am not blaming you, Caleb, only stating facts.”

I grinned awkwardly, Celestia pre-empting my protest. Luna was looking at me for a different reason. “So you believe you have a spell for each of the tribes?”

“I think so,” I nodded.

I turned my perception inward. Everything seemed to have settled down. The extent of the brightness was beyond what it had been, which I hoped was only the higher magic levels Twilight predicted. I could easily pick out the ‘spells’ I knew, little nodes hovering, for lack of a better word, around my core. The new clarity I had was astounding. With a mere thought each one was ringing with the promise of what it could do. The shield spell, three transformations, a rough telekinesis spell.

I was a bit concerned about a few of the others I never noticed before and couldn’t quite make out. They were ‘deeper’, again for lack of a better word, than the other spells were. Two of them reminded me a bit of Luna and Celestia’s magic, for some weird reason. Another seemed like a gem just out of reach. A fourth was like a wisp of smoke, a fifth like a flickering shadow and light, a sixth like-

“Caleb!” Luna’s voice snapped me out of the daze. Blinking, I realized everyone was staring at me, concerned.

“Caleb, are you okay?” Lyra asked.

“You seemed to have gone into a trance of some form,” Twilight added.

“Is there something wrong?” Luna added.

“No, no, I’m good,” I said, waving off their concerns. “It’s just that I took the first good look since my magic calmed down and I was surprised at how… clear it was. But your question, I have a spell for unicorn, pegasus and earth pony. None for your nocturnal pegasus though.”

“And those all spawned from the elements?” Celestia asked.

“Building on the template your magic surge created,” Luna proposed.

“Sounds about right,” I nodded.

“It’s remarkable,” Luna commented. Her horn glowed and she motioned at me. “If I may?”

I nodded, figuring what her intentions were. A moment later I felt her magic rippling over me, and my feathers ruffled. “Tingly…”

“For all intents and purposes, you truly seem like a fit and attractive stallion,” Luna remarked, making my cheeks tint, tilting her head curiously.

“He’s had surprisingly little difficulty using the form as well,” Twilight added. “His movement and control, even ability to use the inherent magic of his form have been shockingly natural.”

“He even used unicorn style levitation when he was a unicorn,” Lyra added.

“And even if he refused to fly,” Rainbow spat a little, “his wings are pretty good, considering he’s a human under it.”

“Is that so?” Celestia asked. “Most transformation spells have a most complex structure to allow for that, and would still require somepony to serve as the base of the pattern transferred along with the transformation.”

“That may partially be my doing,” Luna admitted.

“Wait, what? How?” I, okay, not quite demanded, but it was a bit more forceful than merely asking.

“Did you forget? I gave you a small spark when you had your flare,” Luna smirked, a twinkle in her eye. “That was a collection of muscle and subconscious memories of how a pony body operates. Considering I provided them, it’s likely you would find controlling the magic in your earth pony form just as natural. In fact, you could likely fly should you attempt it.”

“Really?” Rainbow grinned at me.

“So… it wasn’t just my spell being that good?” I whimpered. Luna laughed at my expression.

“I must say no,” she said between giggles. “Still, your spell is quite adaptive if it integrated the gift I gave you so thoroughly. For the sake of curiosity, do you think you could mimic an alicorn’s form?”

“I… I… what?” I stammered; slack jawed. The expressions on the other’s faces ranged from shock to gobsmacked. Twilight was the outlying—she looked intrigued with the idea.

Celestia spoke up. “It would be interesting. Is it possible?”

“No!” I said quickly, shaking myself out of my daze. Alicorn? Wasn’t that like, demigodhood? That was one beehive I was not willing to poke. I’d need a few more months, preferably years, of getting to know my magic before I tried something like that. “I mean, no. I don’t think so. I got the unicorn spell from Lyra’s magic and the other two from the elements. So no… And I don’t think I can run them all at the same time either!”

I added the last bit as Pinkie raised a hoof. “Aww… but I thought mixing them together like a layer cake would make it work!”

“And alicorn is more than a layer cake, Pinkie,” Twilight groaned, rubbing her nose bridge.

“That’s correct,” Celestia agreed. “While we have the magic of all three tribes, an alicorn is something more, a true blend and harmony meld.”

“Like a chocolate almond raspberry cake?” Pinkie asked. “All good on their own, but put them together and it’s ever best-er! Like Black Forest cake! But that’s only two flavours… Marzapan? No… that’s still two… wow, this is harder than I thought!”

“Can we not make more cake comparisons?” Rainbow groaned.

“Okie-dokie!”

“While I’m sure my sister would prefer you did,” Luna smirked, earning a slight look of irritation from Celestia, “it is not an issue of importance. And that route is a potentially hazardous one.”

“Hazardous?” Lyra asked.

“Actually, considering the manner in which Caleb’s spells operate, it might even be deadly,” Twilight added.

“Of course it would,” I sighed, slumping unto the table. Twilight looked apologetic. I waved a wing at her. “No, no. It’s just been that kind of a… few days. Go on.”

“Well… with how drastic your spell subverts and reforms your metaphysical and physical form, without a precise balance between the spells, it could result in a dangerous, even fatal shift.” Twilight swallowed nervously when the princess’ attentions focused on her. “Then there is also the fact that while the spell doesn’t draw on a lot of your magic while it’s maintained, far below the amounts your naturally restore, there is a large draw at the time of casting, and using three might be cubing the requirements, rather than just being additive.”

“… Yep. Not trying that,” I reaffirmed. One thing after another.

“Moving away from that distressing topic,” Luna said smoothly taking control again. “Your pony form is, as I mentioned, nigh without flaw. Even more effective than my own transformation spells. Do you think you may be able to acquire a cutie mark?”

It was like I was struck with lightning and I bolted upright.

“Dude! What’s that for?” Spike yelped as my wing smacked him in the face.

“Luna…” I said distractedly. I couldn’t believe I forgot it happened.

“Princess,” Twilight corrected.

“Princess Luna,” I said, looking at the mare in question. He—I—had been right about one thing; it did eventually make it to the forebrain, even if it needed a prompt. But hindsight was tossing a lot of things into suspect. “Is there anything that can… enter your dream and head? I mean, aside from you?”

“There are a few,” Luna replied, the curious eyes of the others, excluding Celestia, of course, on her. “They are rare, but most avoid preying directly on active dreamers, but I have never noticed any around your dreams.” Her eyes narrowed slightly. “Why do you ask?”

“I’m pretty sure I… er… how to explain this?” I said, fumbling uncertainly. Where did I start? The more I thought about it, the more worried I got.

“Calm down and relax,” Celestia advised, floating a cup of tea over to me. “Take a few breaths and then let the words flow.”

I nodded and put a leash on my fears the best I could, gulping down some of the tea. “Gah! Hot!”

“Oh dear,” Rarity gasped, bringing a hoof to her mouth. “I don’t think he realized it was still that hot.”

“Gak… okay… I’m fine… alright… I got this…” I said, waving off Fluttershy, who looked ready to come over to me.

“You sure, sugarcube?” Applejack asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine…” Mostly. My tongue was smarting a bit. “Okay… I remembered what happened when I got hit with the Elements.”

“Hold up, didn’t you get knocked out when that happened?” Rainbow demanded.

“Kinda? I… ended up in an empty dream field and met with me and myself.” Their looked of disbelief annoyed me. “I’m not kidding! Another me. Two of them, pony and human. Devoted and Vincent.”

“You called a pony version of yourself Devoted?” Lyra snickered.

“Shut it…” I grumbled at her. Again with the stupid name.

“I see,” Celestia commented before Lyra could retort. “My sister and I were actually discussing your experience with the Elements and what they may have done to you. It seems they assessed you, and forced a self assessment. You quite literally had a chance to meet with yourself, an unveiling.”

That… would explain the details in the room that formed. There were a lot of memories on those walls. Celestia smiled at my expression. “Did you learn anything?”

“Actually, I did. I learned a lot, or at least realized a lot about how my magic works,” I admitted. I shook my head from the tangent. “Anyway, they were the ones to point it out to me and told me to mention it to you, Luna?”

Luna was doing her best to glare a hold through me, the groves in her horn glowing pale white and her eyes glittering. I started backing away, her soft voice stopped me. “How long?”

“I’m sorry?”

“How long?” Luna repeated slowly. “How long has this been going on?”

“I guess… for most of my time here?” I mused. I glanced down at my tea thoughtfully. “If it wasn’t for Vincent pointing it out, and your visits helping me realize what a dream felt like, I wouldn’t have noticed. But… I’ve had a lot of short dreams that I realize weren’t natural ones, as if something was affecting it. And there were a few thoughts and ideas I had that… I’m not sure were mine or not.”

There were a lot of times since I was practising magic that something said ‘just do it’. Sure, my magic ran on impulse, but was that really me speaking, or something else? “Now that I’m thinking about it, I’m really freaked out about it.”

“The Whisper…” Luna exhaled. The glow cut off abrupt. “I am sorry, but I must take my leave.”

Luna got up and quickly left the room, her billowing tail vanishing through the doors that quickly shut behind her. Celestia watched her go sadly, while the rest of us were just confused. Rainbow spoke up first. “Um… what just happened?”

“I’m afraid my sister is facing some sad memories,” Celestia admitted.

“I guess it’s something to do with that Whisper thing she mentioned?” Applejack asked.

“The Whisper’s story… is a long one,” Celestia said slowly. “Neither of us know where it came from, but we have seen evidence of it throughout the ages, moving from target to target, sometimes staying with one pony for years. Many ponies were driven to madness by it. Others to horrible actions.”

“But Princess, how did you find it?” Rarity asked.

“It eventually learned how to hide, but it was a few centuries before it was fully able to conceal its influence,” Celestia said with a sad smile. “We had though we defeated it at first, but then it reappeared…”

“What kind of horrible things?” Fluttershy asked softly.

“Too many to list, my little pony, but more concerning was that not all of it’s targets turned bad.” Celestia sighed. “But we found traces of it in some of the best and worse ponies we have known. Starswirl for one had its subtle mark, though we found it after it left it. But so did Sombra.”

“Sombra!” most of the others yelled. I say most because Twilight instead yelled, “Starswirl!”

“But what impacts her the most is that the worse that the Whisper led to.” Celestia paused for a moment and the anticipation built. “Nightmare Moon.”

A stress headache was building and I kneaded my temples wearily. Decades. The Whisper had been in Luna’s head for decades, influencing her thoughts and emotions, fueling her frustrations and suspicions until the powerful Alicorn snapped.

Driven by years of pent up resentment magnified by the Whisper’s work, Luna used her negative and darker emotions to amplify her magic and power, transforming into Nightmare Moon. In a way, the Whisper’s intention backfired. Though blinded by her anger, she was no less canny, and found the Whisper, trapping it in a Dream Prison within her despite still lashing out.

Nightmare Moon, being Luna’s Empowered form, was strong than I, forcing me to turn the elements on her. For a fleeting moment the elements linked our minds and I realized that for all the Whisper’s twisted words, it had not been wrong in how I treated her. The Thousand Years was the Elements Punishment on all of us. Luna for letting her despair drive her down a dark path, the Whisper locked away with her as the Elements, improperly wielded, could not banish it from her, and myself, to be isolated to from the sister I loved yet spurned.

I had hoped that the Whisper was lost following my sister’s cleansing, but seems we were wrong about that…

After all the revelations and worries, I took a walk of my own. It was relaxing to be back in my human body after too long, and I aimlessly retraced some of the paths I had taken back when the Castle was still my place of residence, eventually ending up in the courtyards. Confused a bit exhausted, I found a tree to sit against.

I could see why Luna was upset. Something that did that to her suddenly turning up in one of your friends? I was considering asking her about it, but two things were working against me. First off, I wasn’t sure I wanted to bring up the bad memories any more than I already had. Then there was the fact that I hadn’t seen her since she rushed out.

So I was banking on the fact that I had only been in Equestria for a few weeks so I wasn’t likely to go insane. Celestia confirmed that the Whisper worked on its victim for years before the effects started showing. According to her, it was years before Starswirl started messing with spacetime.

That was the other part that worried me. The Whisper tended to push people towards that type of magic. Starswirl made time spells and apparently a dimensional banishment spell in his later years. Sombra rigged his entire kingdom to phase between dimensions when he lost. A few lesser know ponies did their own things too. There was apparently an earth pony that made a pool that instead of traversing dimensions pulled a flawed and temporary copy into yours.

Then insert me into the equation. A guy from another world arriving by the very same make this Whisper had been trying to get people to work out. A guy that caused scars across this world’s aether. A guy with a ‘key’ to the magic residue clinging to those same scars. A guy who seemed to still have the basics of the spell he used to throw himself between worlds imprinted in his magic.

“Caleb?”

I looked up, wiping tears from my eyes which Lyra looked on in concern. “Hey, Lyra. Didn’t I say I needed some time by my self?”

“You did,” Lyra said as she sat down beside me, facing the same direction I was. “But I decided it would be better you have a friend with you.”

“Really…” I deadpanned. “A friend is going to help?”

“You just found out that a freaky forgotten evil spirit has been haunting you,” Lyra pointed out. “You really think I would leave you alone right now?”

“Yes, the same thing that caused Luna to flip from ‘protect my subjects from the things that go bump in the night’ to ‘Omnicidal Maniac’,” I commented bitterly, pulling a knee to my chest and twiddling a finger in the air. “A little friendship? What’s that gonna do?”

“A little friendship is what let Twilight and the others flip Princess Luna back,” Lyra grinned. I opened my mouth but closed it reluctantly. Lyra continued. “It also defeated the spirit of chaos, helped reform him later and patched up the hole in reality in the forest.”

“Fine! You’ve made your point,” I groaned. Jeeze. I couldn’t even mope properly. Which was a good thing, I guess. Sometimes you really needed someone to break you out of a funk. Or at least help hold your head over the water. “Friendship can solve all sorts of issues here. Whoopie.”

“Glad you see it my way,” Lyra laughed, bumping my shoulder playfully.

“Where are the rest of the girls and Spike anyway?” I grumbled.

“Still in the room talking with Princess Celestia some more,” Lyra replied. “I told them I would keep you from doing something stupid.”

“Cheeky. Now that you’ve ruined my brooding session,” I sighed, rolling my eyes at her, “I suppose you have something you want to do?”

“Maybe,” Lyra teased.

“Lyra…”

“I want to see the breach.”

“Huh?”

“The thing you came here through,” Lyra waved a hoof in the air in a vague wavering line. “I want to go see it.”

“Sure,” I shrugged, pushing myself upright. “Not like I have anything better to do… I should actually check up on it myself. See if it feels anything like the forest did.”

“Lead on, Devoted,” Lyra grinned.

“Shut it…”

“I’m sorry, but this is a restricted area,” the guard said for the forth time. The princesses really improved the watch on the breach. A wall had been build around it from plant life, but I could sense the magic energy thrumming from it. More surprising to me was the fact that it wasn’t the twinkling I’d come to expect from unicorn magic. I had to focus a bit more to pick it up, but it was a steady beat. Earth Pony magic?

But back to the guard. There had to be a way, oh, right! I smirked at him. “You know who I am, right?”

The guard blinked. “Of course. Caleb, human ambassador.”

“Perfect! Then you should know I have full access to all research relating to the breach.” I pointed to the entrance behind him. “Which includes the breach itself.”

He blinked but sighed. “Okay, fine. But what about her?”

Lyra was grinning excitedly beside me, a grin that only widened when the guard nodded in her direction. I grinned too. “Miss Heartstrings is my assistant.”

“I’m sure she is,” the guard muttered, rolling his eyes. He did step aside though. I thanked him and we slipped in. They wall of topiary hedged in a small clearing, various tents set up, each one protecting some piece of equipment or another. There were a few ponies who looked up at us in surprise, but I focused Lyra’s attention on the thin rippling line in air above us.

“So… is that it?” Lyra said, sounding disappointed.

“It’s a crack in the sky,” I said with a bit of incredulity. “What were you expecting?” I grumbled a bit and opened up my magic senses. After a few moments of focus; I was able to find something in the air, but it was much fainter and less abrasive than the one in the forest. Since it seemed louder in one specific direction, I wandered towards it.

“The one in the forest was a glowing mark, something like that. All dramatic like,” Lyra proposed.

“Celestia did say this one was contained,” I commented distracted. It was weird, the sound was strongest in one particular area, and just moving from one side to another had noticeable effects.

“I guess boring means safe,” Lyra sighed. She looked at my antics curiously.

“I’m sorry, but I couldn’t help but overhear,” one of the unicorns said, walking over nervously. “But where you involved with the Forest Incident?”

I smiled slightly as I caught Lyra’s slightly haughty expression in the cover of my eye. She nodded at him. “We both were.”

“How exciting!” He quickly started chatting with her, trying to get as much information from her as he could. Her expression quickly shifted from pride to confusion and finally frazzled distress. I snickered and pulled out my phone to take a few pictures of the breach.

“It’s not picking it up as well as I’d like, but maybe I can fiddle with it on the laptop…” Actually, I hadn’t put the pictures I took in the forest on the computer yet either. Since then was as good a time as any, I booted it up and started turning on the phone’s connectivity, kept off to preserve as much battery as I could.

“Caleb, help?” Lyra said plaintively. Glancing over, I burst out laughing. Three more ponies at surrounded Lyra and they all seemed to have a strong professional interest in her at the moment.

“You wanted to come,” I snickered. My laugher died in throat when I spotted the notification on the phone. One that I hadn’t seen since waking up in Equestria. A pop up alert with warning.

Mobile Service connection weak. Calls may not be possible.