Unleash the Magic!

Chapters

Prologue
Chapter 2: Preparing for a New Day
Chapter 3: The Interview and The Revelation
Chapter 4: A Gang Fight and a Magic Duel
Chapter 5: The Heartbreaking Truth
Chapter 6: Life Changing Discoveries
Chapter 7: Light and Shadow
Chapter 8: Wielder and Seer
Chapter 9: Searching for Answers
Chapter 1: The End of Another Day

Prologue

There once existed six celestial beings that roamed in the never-ending blackness of time and space: Ignis of Fire, Nympha of Water, Terra of Earth, Tono of Thunder, Lux of Light, and Umbra of Shadow. These six guardians were said to have used their magical attributes to create the sun, the moon, the planet of Equis, and all of the living beings that reside on it.

The alicorns were one of the first sapient beings created, whom each of the Guardians gave a small piece of their magic in order to move the sun and moon, maintain the planet’s life, and to live and thrive in harmony.

At least, that was what the guardians had hoped.

The planet of Equis had one day been driven into chaos, as the alicorns used the guardians’ magic to wage war against one another. Much blood soaked the ground; destruction came at every waking moment; cries of agony, anger, and dominance filled the air. This would continue on until only one would remain standing and victorious.

The Guardians were infuriated with this downfall and almost gave up hope on the alicorn race itself. They planned on wiping out the entire race from existence until they witnessed two alicorn sisters. Even when they were young in age, these unique individuals helped tend the others’ wounds, gave them food and nourishment, and made sure they were safe and happy. They even convinced a few to assist them in helping others.

The Guardians were astonished to witness the honesty, kindness, generosity, loyalty, laughter, and use of magic from these two alicorns, the very qualities that resemble harmony itself. They were convinced that not all alicorns wished for destruction, and may perhaps be simply misguided. With that in mind, the Guardians came up with an idea.

By the power vested in the six, they collected the remaining alicorns, both good and bad, wiped their memories involving the war clean, and split their beings into three separate races that would mark the ponies’ first coming to Equis: the earth ponies, the pegasi, and the unicorns. The two alicorn sisters were then crowned princesses by the Guardians to lead these new races of ponies to harmony while carrying the duty of raising the sun and moon.

Before the guardians left Equis, they gave the princesses one last gift for the planet’s certain survival. They planted a unique seed, advising the newly crowned princesses that if they ever require additional help should their own power not be enough, they go to the tree grown from said seed and use its power to help aid the planet’s path to harmony.

With that, the Guardians left Equis and disappeared into the darkness of space. Though the princesses and their subjects may not see them, they know the guardians will always watch over and guide them should they need assistance; however, the six had overlooked one small, but very important detail before they left the planet in the hands of the two sisters. Not too long after the six’s departure, one of the newly reformed ponies that were split came across one of the guardians’ attribution powers on accident, changing what they have known about the magic they possess forever.

This is the story of how one of these special ponies stumbled upon this gift in a similar manner thousands of years later, how his and five others’ lives were forever changed with this magic, their journey to uncovering the secrets of these powers, and how they contribute to maintaining the harmony in the ever expansive lands of Equestria.

Chapter 2: Preparing for a New Day

Author's Note

Before we start this chapter, I just want to thank you guys for giving this story a read. For those who are new, this is actually a reboot to my very first story that I didn't prepare very well when I first published it. Now that I've gained enough experience as a writer and learned some techniques, I can actually tell this story better than I did over a year ago.

I forgot to mention this when I published the first chapter, so I'll say it here. Thank you for taking a look at this, and I hope you'll enjoy what I have in store for Starry Night and his friends.

Enjoy the chapter. :twilightsmile:

Chapter 2: Preparing for a New Day

“So… You’re going to confess to him later today?” Creamy asked as we were putting on our training clothes for the day.

“That’s the plan.”

“How are you going to do it?”

“I’ll get his attention with my mom’s special corn casserole recipe I’ll make after my interview, we’ll chat a little, then I’ll bring up our time together and where we’ll go from there.”

“You sound really serious, Lumina. I didn’t think you had it in you.”

“When it’s something like this, it’s not a laughing matter.”

“What got you to do this in the first place?”

I sighed and rubbed my eyes. “I hate to admit this, but Nil was the one who convinced me enough to make the choice.”

“Really? He must be pretty good for a pervert to make you come to that decision. Did he threaten to steal your panties if you don’t or something?”

“Nah, he may not be smart when it comes to mares, but he knows when not to mess with me if he wants to live the next day. It went a little more something like this…”

“I gotta find that colt. I just need to know.”

“Nil, get over yourself. A pony eating a gem like rock candy out of nowhere can surprise anypony, but there’s no reason to get worked up over it. You may not even see him again.”

“You don’t understand, Lumina. Finding facts to understand the world around us is one of the main goals for anypony who’s passionate in the sciences. Any hint of a pony exhibiting a unique behavior is a scientific discovery!”

We were in our favorite restaurant enjoying our dinner (or at least one of us was trying to). Nil had calmed down from his freak out, but couldn’t let go of the fact that a pony had eaten a gem like any other kind of food. I was getting rather annoyed of him getting all hung up on it, so I tried to change the subject.

“Are you planning to go into some sort of scientific field for a career, then?” I asked. “I have seen you build some odd stuff sometimes, but you looked really into it. How come you didn’t enroll in a university instead?”

“I have my reasons for enrolling in the E.U.P. Guard Academy.”

There was a pause between us as Nil took a few bites out of his food.

“... Can you tell me what those reasons are?” I asked.

“I’ll tell you at some point.”

Ugh! How weird can this guy get?!

“Anyway, what are you planning on doing?” Nil asked.

“What do you mean?”

“You’re not planning on staying at the academy forever, are you? So I’m asking where you’re going to go once you leave.”

“I don’t know, I haven’t thought that far ahead yet. Why? Do I need to?”

“You may if Shining Armor doesn’t stay in the academy.”

That statement froze me up.

“You’ve seen for yourself how capable he is being in the guard, right?” Nil asked. “He’s been working towards that goal for quite some time now, and there have been cases where trainees enroll into the guard even after only one year in the academy. He could be one of them this year.”

Fuck, he’s right about that.

“So if you’re planning on telling him how you feel, I suggest you’d do that soon, unless you’re going to follow him into the Royal Guard itself,” Nil continued. “It would mean you’ll have more time to prepare, but at the same time, you’ll be joining the guard for entirely different reasons than everypony else. Where you want to go from here is for you to decide.”

“… Sheesh, you’re really something when you talk like that,” I commented.

“I’m just telling what I’ve learned from personal experiences. Nothing too special.”

“So does that mean you have everything planned out yourself, too?”

“I could be doing that very thing right now, but I have some things I need to take care of first. Being in the academy is part of that, and I’ll be finishing that phase pretty soon.”

“And you’ll be telling me that sometime soon too, right?”

“Indeed.”

“Wow, that’s really something,” Creamy commented as I tied my mane in a ponytail. “And that’s how you came to confessing to Shining Armor?”

“Yep.”

“You know other mares have tried to ask him out and got turned down, right? Not to sound rude or anything, but how do you know it will be different for you?”

“Well, we have hung out and talked for the past year. I think that’s long enough to start thinking about taking our relationship a step further, and I know I like him enough to give him a try.”

“So does that mean you’ll be in the guard with him too?”

“… I’m still thinking about that.”

“Well, whatever you decide, you’ve got my support.” Creamy accentuated this with a pat on her bosom. “I know I’ll be going into the guard when the opportunity comes up, so if you end up coming along too, I got your back.”

I smiled at that. “Thanks, Creamy. That means a lot.”

“Anytime.”

All of us stood in two lines at attention in the training grounds. I stood between Nil and Shining Armor like usual, but was really tense for what I was facing today: the Commander of Defense, and confessing my feelings to a stallion I really like. The only other time I was this nervous was my very first date back home.

“ATTENTION!” the drill sergeant exclaimed, making us stand up straighter than before. “Listen up, trainees! Today we have special guests from the Royal Guard who will be monitoring your performances and evaluating your progress to be future guard ponies. Everypony give salute to Commander of Defense and Offense: Marine Night and Gale Storm!”

“GOOD MORNING, SIRS!” we all yelled.

“At ease,” one voice ordered with a calm, yet authoritative tone before we shifted our stance to a more comfortable position with arms behind our backs, still at attention.

At one end of the lines were two stallions: Marine Night, a dark blue unicorn with a long black mane and tail, stood at the left in his uniform, crimson eyes forward with hands behind his back; on the right stood Gale Storm, a dark green pegasus with a uniform of similar structure, but about the same color as Nil’s jacket, with a white mane styled like it was blown behind him by the wind, and a tail in a similar state of disarray. He stood in position with Marine, but his presence was far more overpowering, perhaps condescending in comparison.

“As you’ve heard, we’ll be monitoring your training for today!” Gale exclaimed as he walked down the lines. “Today, we will see if you have what it takes to join our ranks in the guard, the strength to power through any obstacle, the speed to run circles around your enemy, and the aggression to take down anypony that stands in your way, no matter the cost!”

“That’s not all there is to being a soldier, Commander Gale,” Marine intervened as he walked down the path, grazing the other trainees as he passed by. “This squadron… I can certainly see changes from some of you that I met at orientation last year. Some of you have gotten stronger. Not through physical means, no, but mentally, whether it be with emotion, cognition, or intelligence. Some of you probably went through traumatic, sad, or life changing experiences, but you’ve learned from them and got stronger along the way.

“There may be many reasons why you’re here today, whether it be to find your place in life, searching yourself, or the main reason why we have this academy: to shape ponies into the best guards imagined to protect our royal monarch, our loved ones, our comrades, and maintaining the peace in Equestria. Whatever motivations you have for coming here, I would like to personally thank you for choosing this academy to find your calling, and for considering being one of the many offering their time and lives to maintaining this land of harmony.

“Today, Commander Gale and I will be recording your progress throughout your training, and we will be holding interviews with each of you about what you have experienced here and what you’ll do next. There will be no skipping out on the latter. When we call you in, you will follow with no arguments, questions, or excuses.” Marine suddenly stopped in front of me. Though facing straight ahead, he looked at me with those fearsome crimson eyes. “Do I make myself clear?”

“SIR YES SIR!” we all answered. Part of me wanted to think that last question went to everypony in the squad, but when he looked at me back then, I could tell it was directed mostly to me.

Gale snorted and cleared his throat. “All right. Sergeant, they’re all yours.”

“ALL RIGHT TRAINEES!” the drill sergeant started. “FOUR LAPS AROUND THE OBSTACLE COURSE! LET’S GO GO GO!”

“SIR YES SIR!”

“You have everything you need for today, sweetie?” Mom asked me for like the umpteenth time today.

“Yes, Mom,” I drawled.

“Got your bits?”

“Yep.”

“Pocket watch?”

“Yep.”

“Spare change of underwear?”

“… Really, Mom? Does anypony even carry something like that?”

“I’m just messing with ya, sweetie. Oh! Hang on, this needs to be fixed.” She then licked her hand and ‘fixed’ my mane. “Gotta look good for your date with your marefriends today.”

“Ugh! Mooom! My mane’s fine! And they’re not my marefriends!” Before my mom could embarrass me any further, I was out the door.

“Don’t be out too late now! Remember, we’re having your favorite for dinner!” she called out as I jogged to the street.

“Got it! Bye Mom!” I exclaimed with a wave as I jogged to the east, meeting Misty at her mansion first for the day. I got my mane back to the casually straight style once I was out of Mom’s sight, and transitioned to a walk with heavy eyelids while forcing a smile.

I can already tell this day is going to turn out great. I need something like this after all I’ve been through the past few weeks.

It was definitely a hectic time. I even skipped out on studying last night to get extra sleep; yet, I still felt tired from the dream I was having lately. What’s really strange though was that last night the dream turned out differently than what I was used to. Most of it was pretty much the same: blackness, glowing chains, and the voice calling my name. One thing I didn’t notice until then was that with each trip I had in the dream, I was getting closer and closer to that clump of chains before I woke up. Plus, the number of times my name was called had increased as well. Last night, I was able to touch the clump, and the voice had other things to say.

“Starry… Please… Free me…”

That was what all she said, and unexpectedly, the chains started to rattle until some of the links began to crack. My alarm woke me up before the dream progressed any further.

What exactly are these dreams showing me? What is all of this leading me up to?

Before I knew it, I was already at the front gates of Misty’s mansion. I put my thoughts to the side and smiled as I walked to the intercom and pressed the buzzer.

“Who is it?” an old stallion asked through the speaker.

“It’s Starry Night. I’m here to pick up Misty?”

“Ah! Master Starry, we’ve been expecting you. Please, do come right in.”

Soon the gates opened inward and I walked to the entrance. As I approached the door, it opened to reveal an old, dark grey earth pony stallion with a combed back silver mane and a big, stylized mustache. The butler wore an expensive tux with tails, a red bow tie, and white linen gloves.

“Good morning, Master Starry,” the head butler greeted with a bow.

“Morning, Sigmund. Is Misty ready to go?”

“She’s just getting ready. Would you please wait in the living room while I let her know you’re here?”

“Sure.”

He then went up the stairs while I went to the living room on my right. No matter how many times I enter Misty’s home, it still amazes me how big the place was. I’ve even gotten myself lost here sometimes. I sat down on one of the plushy chairs that was in the room, which was as comfy as it was luxurious. I yawned from how relaxed I was getting in my seat.

I think I’ll just rest my eyes for a bit until Misty comes by.

I did just that with little effort, and I zonked out almost immediately.

“Ooh… Which one should I go with?” I was holding up one ensemble in each hand, putting each one in front of me as I checked myself in my wardrobe’s mirror. “This one matches my eyes and gives me a cute appeal, but it may stand out with how doll-like it is and doesn’t show much of my mature side, while this one is more casual and more fitting for a nice day, but you could see my underarms and the skirt’s a little too short for something like this. I don’t want to look like some kind of skank. Blast it. Cinny, what do you think?”

“H-Huh? Oh no no! I couldn’t possibly pick which one’s best, Lady Misty! They both look wonderful on you!”

Cinny, one of our manor’s newest service maids, was a buttercream colored earth pony mare with a braided red mane and tail (the former styled into twin tails), freckles, and large, rounded glasses. I thought I’d give her a chance to ease into her job by giving me her opinion on my dresses, but like any new ponies working for a noble, she thought she should just tell me what I want to hear instead of voicing her own thoughts. Can’t say I blame her, though. She was trembling like a scared chihuahua on her first day, and Mother and Father didn’t exactly help with her self-esteem.

I sighed and rubbed my eyes. “Cinny, it’s okay for you to give me an opinion. It’s not like your job is at stake here.”

She stiffened up and I could see a chill running down her spine.

Nice choice of words there, Misty. You’ve really loosened her up now. “Cinny, I really mean it. I’ve made good friends with everypony on staff here, and if there’s one thing I highly value from my friends, it’s their opinion. I’d like to get acquainted with you as well, and hearing what you think I should wear would give it a good start. Would you do this for me?”

Cinny put a hand to her chest and took deep, shaky breaths. “D-Do… you really mean that?”

“Absolutely.” I gave a smile to get my point across.

“W-Well, if I had to be honest…” Cinny walked over to the small pile of discarded clothes on my bed I didn’t think would be good enough for my day out with Starry and Granite. She sifted through the pile until she pulled one out to show me. “I kind of like this one the best. You looked like you didn’t pay too much attention to this when you were going through your wardrobe, but just one glimpse of this had the image of you wearing this stuck in my head.”

“Hmm…” I thoroughly inspected her choice of attire and held it in front of me while looking at the mirror. I smiled at how pleasing the outcome was. Ohh~, I remember this one. Not bad, Cinny. I like the way you think. “This looks perfect. Thank you, Cinny.”

She sighed and fixed her glasses. “I’m so glad you feel that way. May I help you put it on?”

“Please.” I passed the attire back to her, turned back to the mirror, and held my arms up. “So what made you decide to pick this one?” I asked as she started dressing me.

“I guess I just thought this would be something I’d wear if I was going out on a date,” she answered with a smile.

The reflection of my face suddenly turned red. “W-What?! A date?!”

“Is that not what you were getting ready for? From the way you were speaking earlier, it looked like you were worried about how your coltfriend would see you.”

“L-Like I would worry over something like that! He already knows how beautiful I am, and we’re only going to hang out with Granite today. Nothing more!”

Cinny covered her giggles. “Of course, Lady Misty. In all honesty, though, I really do like this dress. I kind of wish I had it in my size with a different color.”

Once Cinny was finished dressing me up, I turned to look at her body. The one thing that stood out from everything else were her large breasts. I wondered if they were part of the reason why Father employed her to the service staff, as they looked to be E cup sized mounds. Even so, the rest of her body was still well in proportion, and I couldn’t help but felt aggravated knowing how small my chest was in comparison.

“Um… L-Lady Misty? Why are you glaring me like that?” Cinny asked.

Her question suddenly snapped me out of it and I shook my head before forcing a smile. “Oh, it’s nothing. I thought I spotted a speck of dirt on your uniform. Looks like I was wrong… Oh ho ho ho.” Just remember, Misty: the bigger the bags, the farther they’ll sag.

A few knocks on the door saved the moment from getting any more tense before I heard my trusty head butler calling from behind it. “Lady Misty, Master Starry has arrived. He’s waiting in the living room.”

“Oh no! He’s here already?!” I quickly fetched my purse and powerwalked out of my room past Sigmund while keeping my posture in good form. As I made my way to the living room, Cinny’s question about me worrying Starry over my appearance clouded my mind.

Can’t say that what she said wasn’t partly true. Even though Starry told me himself that I was pretty, I can’t shake how he was seeing that mare yesterday. She looked so beautiful, even if her breasts were perhaps smaller than Cinny’s. I didn’t think Starry would be into older mares, but I can sort of see why he would think that way. I shook my head and gave my cheeks a few good smacks. No Misty! You must not lose confidence in yourself now! You’ll just have to show Starry that you can be just as mature, maybe even more so than that mare, and be beautiful on top of that. It’s imperative that you…

My thoughts trailed off as I approached Starry, who was fast asleep on one of the living room’s chairs. His light snoring was a quick giveaway of how tired he was.

“Aw, he looks so cute,” I cooed in a whisper. But did I keep him waiting long enough for him to fall asleep like this? Then again, he has been having trouble staying up some days lately. Blast it, now I’m more worried over his health than his view on my appearance. I need to see how he’s doing.

I walked to his front, squatted slightly, and lightly shook his shoulder. “Psst. Starry. Staaarryyyy. Wake up.”

“Mgh.” My eyelids felt heavy as I forced them open, my vision adjusting to give me clarity while I tried to blink. Soon, I could see a familiar pair of icy blue eyes, the filly’s muzzle also close enough to where I felt her hot breath against me. The reality of the situation was slowly dawning on me, and it looked like Misty was thinking the same thing as our faces were heating up before she pulled back.

“Um… Good morning, Starry,” she greeted while looking to the side, shuffling in place.

“Y-Yeah, good morning.” I wiped my eyes and stood up before fixing my clothes.

“I sincerely apologize. Did you wait long for me?”

“N-No no! Not at all! I was just a little tired on my way here.”

She sighed and placed a hand to her chest. “That’s what I was afraid of.”

“What do you mean?”

“Your sleeping habits are getting a little out of hand lately, Starry. I’m getting a little worried. Have you been getting enough rest?”

I sighed. “I admit, I’ve stayed up a couple times for study reasons, but that’s not all there is to it. It’s just the recurring dream I told you and Granite about. I even went to bed early last night to prepare for today, and I still got tired because of the dream after I woke up.”

“Really?”

“Yes. This weekend may be different because of the exams, but once those are out of the way, I’ll get more hours of rest. I think that’s all I really need.”

“… You promise?”

“I promise.”

“Sky promise?” Misty then held her pinky out front with a small smile.

I nodded and smiled in return. “Sky promise.” I then held my own pinky out and we made the same motions we did yesterday while counting them out, ending with our fists one knuckle away from each other before we chuckled a little.

When I calmed down, I noticed the baby blue dress Misty was wearing. It had short see-through sleeves; a good portion of her collar bone was seen thanks to the square-shaped neckline; and the skirt was draped to just above her knees. Her chest area looked to be made of silk while everything else below the ribs was some other soft material, maybe cotton.

“Is something the matter, Starry?”

Misty’s question snapped me out of my trance with a few blinks before I rubbed my eyes. “N-no, nothing big. I guess I just forget how you look when you’re not in our school uniform sometimes.”

“Oh? Well, what do you think of this one? I actually bought this pretty recently.” She gave a small twirl on one hoof, causing the skirt of her dress to twirl and flutter along with her movement until she came to a stop. She put her hands behind her back and leaned forward before fluttering her eyelashes. “How do I look?”

“You look really nice. Very pretty.” My face warmed up and I berated myself internally from how dumb I sounded.

“Thank you, Starry.” She stood back up and walked past me with a turquoise purse around her shoulder while smiling. “Shall we be off to Granite’s then?”

“Y-Yeah, sure.” I shook myself out of my daze and followed Misty to the door where Sigmund and what looked like one of her manor’s new (and dare I say very well endowed) maids stood to see us off.

“Can I trust you to bring Lady Misty home before dark?” Sigmund asked.

“You can count on me, Sigmund. I’ll be sure she comes back safely.”

“Very well.” He then opened the door before Misty and I walked out side by side.

“Have fun on your date!” the maid exclaimed, catching the two of us off-balance. We averted our gazes away from each other until we were off of Misty’s property.

“Geez, slow down, Granite. Ya might choke yourself if you’re not careful.”

“Ahm fine, Mom,” I replied with my mouth full before continuing to shovel more of my breakfast. Suddenly, I had trouble swallowing what was in my mouth and thumped my fist on my chest. When that failed, I quickly took my glass of orange juice and downed it with what was in my muzzle, then breathed a big sigh of relief. I looked up to see my Mom with her arms crossed and a raised brow before I laughed nervously. “Right… I’ll slow down.”

“Honestly, you’ve got plenty of time before your friends come in. I know it because you came back from your morning run in record time before I even finished cooking breakfast.”

“I just want a chance to clean up before they come, ya know?”

Mom made an exaggerated gasp. “Sweet Celestia. My Granite cleaning up before starting the day? Are you sure you’re my daughter?”

“Hey, I know I go to school sweaty sometimes—”

“Sometimes?”

“Okay okay, three to four times a week with how late I am for school, but this is serious.”

“Not that I’m trying to insult you or anything, but you could clean up after yourself more.”

“It’s not like I don’t want to take showers in the morning. Showers after workouts are awesome. I’m just bad with timing. I’m just lucky to have gym first thing in the morning and I shower after that in the locker rooms.”

“Still, it’s not like you to get so anxious to take a shower. Unless you’re trying to get the attention of a colt.”

My face heated up and I averted my gaze while crossing my arms. “Sh-shut up. Why would I worry about how Star sees me?”

“Well for one thing, I didn’t say it was Starry’s attention you were trying to get.”

… Fuck.

“Anyway, he’s a handsome colt and has been a good help around shop sometimes. If you’re really into him, I say go for it and show him the good stuff.”

“Mom!”

“What? You’re an attractive filly and can use your looks to your advantage. You could knock him out more with them than your fighting moves if you do it right. It’s how I snagged your father, after all.”

I didn’t need to hear that part. I finished what was left of my plate and drank the rest of my juice before standing up. “I’m gonna go clean up.”

“How are your ears, by the way? They been doin’ all right?”

“They feel okay. Can I put them on after my shower?”

“Go for it.”

I then dashed upstairs and went straight to the shower after I grabbed a change of clothes. I made sure I was thorough with my cleaning, even borrowing Mom’s scented soap and shampoo for good measure. Once I stepped out and dried off, I quickly brushed my mane and tail to a somewhat decent style before grabbing my new accessories.

“Alright. Let’s see how this goes.”

“I still can’t believe I might actually get into the gifted school for unicorns if things turn out well,” I said as we made our way to Granite’s home. “Just think, I may be learning things about magic that only a select handful of ponies would know about, and how I could use it to help ponies is anypony’s guess. How exciting is that?”

“H-Huh? Oh, yes. That sounds really nice.”

I raised a brow at Misty’s response. “Is something the matter?”

“Well… It’s just—oh! It looks like we’re here.”

I looked ahead and, sure enough, Granite’s two-story home/place of business for her mom’s tailoring and designing was there with the “OPEN” sign hanging on the front door.

“Let’s head on in,” Misty said before heading towards it first.

I found it strange how Misty changed the subject like that, but I shrugged it off and followed her inside. A bell rang once the door was opened, and we took in the wide variety of attires in the shop part’s main lobby. In the back of the building, we saw Granite’s mom, Sultry Stone, in the kitchen washing dishes. She was a curvy, light-orange earth pony mare with her blonde mane tied in a bun, and a coiled, matching colored tail. She had a black, V-shape collared blouse with short sleeves and a white long skirt that reached her hooves, which had a slit on the side that was long and open enough for movement while showing off her legs.

“Good morning, Ms. Stone,” Misty greeted with a curtsy.

“Why good morning, Misty! Starry!” Ms. Stone finished the last of her dishes and walked to the lobby.

“Is Granite getting ready?” I asked.

“She sure is. She’ll be down in a few minutes. And may I just say, Misty, I am lovin’ how you look in that dress.”

“Thank you. A very talented tailor designed this for me.”

“Talented, huh? I’ll certainly take that to heart.” Ms. Stone smiled.

Wait, did Ms. Stone make the dress Misty’s wearing?

“What do you think, Starry? You want me to make you something special, too? I’m sure Granite would like to see how handsome a young stallion you can be.” Ms. Stone grinned and winked.

“Uhh…”

“Mom! Don’t put Star on the spot like that!”

The three of us turned to the source upstairs to find Granite walking down the steps. From how clean she looked, she must have just stepped out of the shower, especially with how healthy and well-brushed her mane and tail were from the way they bounced. She was sporting her favorite signature black leather jacket Ms. Stone designed and refitted for her throughout the years over a low-cut white tank top, showing off her belly-button and subtle muscle lines on her abs from all the training she went through. Then there were her washed-out jeans that fitted her just right to show off the toned muscles on her legs while still keeping her movements free. The whole thing portrayed her as being one of those bad girls you see from gangs, but knowing Granite for so long only made me see how attractive she looked, especially since she’s not as scary and mean as others would make her out to be… So long as you didn’t piss her off, of course.

Wait… is it just me, or is there something different about—

“*Gasp* Granite! You got your ears pierced!” Misty exclaimed. “Was that what you were running off for yesterday?”

“Yep. Didn’t want to be late for my appointment to get them done.”

“How do they feel?”

“Punching the hole hurt like Tartarus. They’re a little sensitive right now.” Granite moved one of her hands to the silver studs on her ears and grazed over them. “Still trying to get used to having these on me. What do you think, Star?”

“Huh? Oh! They look really cute on you!” I responded almost too quickly. When I realized what I just said, I mentally face-palmed. Fuck! What the fuck did I just say?! I should’ve said something like ‘cool’ or ‘awesome,’ something to fit her tough girl look. ‘Cute’ just basically downplays that image! What is she gonna do?! Why’s nopony saying anything?!

“I agree with Starry on this one!” Misty exclaimed gleefully. “They complement you really well. I wish I could do something with mine too, but Mother and Father wouldn’t approve.”

“H-Huh? Oh, thanks... I forgot my pouch, I’ll be right back.” Granite then sprinted upstairs before we said anything else. My eyes must have been playing tricks on me, but I could’ve sworn I saw her face was tinted red.

A fit of giggles derailed my train of thought, and I turned to see it was Ms. Stone who was trying to cover it with her mouth. “Looks like you two might have brightened her day. I gotta get back to work, but be sure Granite gets back home before dark.”

“We will. You have a good day, Ms. Stone,” Misty bid before Ms. Stone nodded and went downstairs in the back of the kitchen where her workshop was.

It was only Misty and me standing in the lobby now, waiting for Granite to get her bits so we could start our day.

“So… Ms. Stone designed that dress for you?” I asked with my gaze averted.

“Indeed she did. I think I’ve come to like this as one of my favorites.”

“She did a really good job on it. It looks great on you.”

“Thank you, Starry.”

Soon, sounds of hoofsteps were heard again as Granite rushed back down to the lobby. ”Okay, I’m all set. Let’s quit twiddlin’ our thumbs and get to the movie already!”

Misty and I nodded and we left the shop. My thoughts lingered as I tried to keep myself in the conversation as we walked.

I’m not sure when I’ll ever come to the decision of going out with Misty or Granite, but I hope later on the three of us will keep getting along like we are right now. I just wish the other two girls I met before them were here with us too, especially the one I made that promise to, so she’d see how far I’ve gone to become the dependable stallion she wanted me to be. I’m sure she’d be proud of me, but I know I’ve still got quite a ways to go. Ebony would probably like to get to know them as well. I just wish I knew where she is right now.

Either way, I just know this summer will be something I’ll never forget. I bet my gut on it.

Chapter 3: The Interview and The Revelation

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Chapter 4: A Gang Fight and a Magic Duel

“You’re not gonna win this.”

“Not listening.”

“You’re not gonna win this.”

“Come on, Starry! You can do this!”

“You’re not gonna—”

“HADOUKEN!”

“GYAAGH!”

“K.O.!”

I grinned and glanced at Granite. “And you said I wasn’t gonna win.”

“Hooray! You did it, Starry!”

“I want a rematch!”

“But I want to play something with Starry now!”

“Don’t worry! We have plenty of time today to play. Let’s do all of the games here.”

The three of us were at the arcade after we finished our movie and lunch. The movie was good, and we ended up having pizza for lunch afterwards. We then went to the popular arcade on West Side Canterlot to goof off a little before having some down time at the park later. The arcade was an awesome spot, and we were going to spend hours there to get through all of the games at least once… At least, that was the plan.

“Misty, why don’t you choose what we should play next?” I asked.

“I want to try that dancing one over there.” Misty pointed to a large machine against the wall with arrow panels on the floor and 8-bit graphics of those arrows scrolling up the screen.

“Oh, I heard that’s a new one. I’ve been wanting to try that for a while.”

“Okay, and as soon as you’re done with that, it’s another round between you and me.”

“And you think we’re gonna let you do that?”

We turned to the sudden new pony in the group, who had a couple friends of his own behind him. They were all taller than us, and they looked like bad news with the—excuse my language—shit-eating grins on their faces.

“High schoolers…” Misty muttered.

“What do you mean by that?” I asked the earth pony colt who butted in.

“This arcade is our turf. We aren’t gonna have a bunch of cryfoals running around in a place for older ponies like us.” The other four colts behind him chuckled in agreement.

“Uh, the arcade is for everypony to enjoy, and we’re actually going to be high school freshponies after this summer,” I reasoned. “Don’t you think you’re being a little too territorial?”

“Territorial? You think you can show how big you are using big words like that?”

“Frankly, I’m more concerned with your level of education if you thought ‘territorial’ was a big word for you,” Misty quipped with a furrowed brow.

“Look, we’re tryin’ to have some fun today. I’m not in the mood for some trouble, but if you aren’t gonna fuck off in the next twenty seconds, we’re gonna have a problem here,” Granite warned as she started popping her knuckles.

“A smartass little bitch and a tough talker. Now I’m really getting pissed here.”

“Hey boss, does that chick with the jacket ring any bells to you? I feel like I heard about her from somewhere.”

“Big deal.” The leader looked down on me while invading my personal space. “Listen, kid. This is your last warning. If you and your marefriends don’t get out of here in the next five seconds, we’ll drive you out by force,”

“Whelp, that tears it then. Star, watch over Misty. It’s been a while since I last blew some steam, and I could use a refresher on my moves right now.” Granite stepped up while rolling her right arm and shoulder before popping her neck. With a furrowed brow, a threatening glare, and a frightening grin, she got into fighting position. I nodded and stepped back with an arm in front of Misty, making sure I keep her out of harm’s way.

When she gets like this, there’s no stopping her now, Celestia may give mercy for these fools, but I’m sure Granite won’t.

The grin on the boss’s face grew wider. “Ooh~, a filly’s going to beat me up. I’m so scared.” He and the rest of his friends guffawed, except for one, whose face suddenly went pale.

“B-Boss, I remember who she is now! She’s—!”

“BREAKING PUNCH!”

POOM!

Granite’s fist collided with the leader’s exposed muzzle, almost making it collapse in itself as the punch hit it really deep. The colt then flew backwards until one of the arcade machines broke his landing, barely cracking it on contact. The laughter died instantaneously as the crew saw the damage with jaws agape, the second pony shivering and seeing the sight in horror before he turned back to the monstrous Granite still grinning.

“Sh-she’s… She’s… THE BONE-BREAKING BRAWLER!”

The leader staggered to his hooves while holding his muzzle. Blood escaped out of his hand and dripped to the floor. His eyes turned furious as his pupils shrunk to pinpricks. “DUN JUSHT SHTUND THERE! GET ER!” he muffled loudly while pointing to Granite.

The other four colts turned and charged at her with a battle cry, making a desperate attempt to shake up Granite (especially the one who called out her street name), but her expression was unchanged.

Instead, she charged forward with her arms out and toppled the two colts in the center to the ground by the neck, like a scythe that would behead the hooligans by the slightest touch. The other two colts outside of the line were caught by surprise at Granite’s attack. They braked their charge, turned, and ran toward her, but she was already one step ahead of them as she made the next attack to the colt on her left.

“BREAKING UPPERCUT!” Her right fist shot straight up under the colt’s muzzle, and with the few fractures to his jaw, he flew and buried his head through the ceiling, leaving him hanging limply in the air. The other colt stood there and trembled at the sight.

The two colts Granite toppled down quickly got up and rubbed their necks before beginning their payback while her back was turned. She glanced back and bent her legs.

“ROUNDHOUSE!” With speed and momentum of a spin, her right hoof flew up and collided with the colt’s face to her right. Granite’s follow-through involved the other colt to her left as his own face crashed with his buddy’s, sending both on a collision course to another one of the poor machines unfortunate enough to break under her crossfire. The two colts fell to the ground after the crash and groaned in pain.

Granite turned to the last colt standing whose pants had a growing dark spot near his crotch, and with that faint scent I smelled from where I stood, it didn’t take a genius to know what got them wet. Her smile spread eerily across her face, and from that second of eye contact, the colt screamed as he sprinted out of the arcade.

In a matter of minutes, maybe seconds even, three colts were left in a painful state of defeat. Even with Granite huffing in victory, there was something still unsettling weighing on my shoulders.

As soon as I realized, I quickly turned around and saw the leader of the group preparing his attack on a distracted Misty with a brushless broom stick.

“LOOK OUT!” I shoved Misty aside as his weapon came down. I reacted quickly and stopped the attack in its track with my magic, his whole body and broomstick enveloped in my light-blue aura. I gritted my teeth as I concentrated much of my magic on his surprised being to lift him off the ground, which was heavier than I anticipated. With a battle cry of my own and flinging both my hands up in the air, the leader flew to the ceiling and met the same fate as one of his cohorts.

I released my hold and gasped for breath as I used up more magic than what was needed. I grabbed my knees for support while I tried to get some oxygen back in my system.

“Are you… okay, Misty?” I asked her between breaths.

“Y-Yes, I’m fine. Thank you.” Misty cleared her throat and straightened her dress.

“Come on, we ought to get outta here,” Granite suggested as she pulled one of my arms around her shoulders while she held my opposite side. Misty and I nodded in agreement before we escaped the collateral damage in the arcade as fast as we could.

When we got far away enough, the three of us leaned against the wall of a restaurant to catch a breath.

“I gotta tell ya, Star, I knew you were good with magic, but I didn’t know you had something like that in ya. I’m impressed.” Granite gave me a punch to the arm with a smirk.

“That’s nothing compared to what you did to those guys back there, though.” I rubbed the spot she punched while I grinned sheepishly.

“Honestly, Granite, did you really have to go that far with those hooligans?” Misty asked with her arms crossed. “And what’s this I hear about you being the ‘Bone-Breaking Brawler?’”

“Hey, I didn’t give myself the name. Those dickheads and the many ones before them were dumb enough to piss me off, that’s all. Their own fault they started the fight in the first place.”

“And it’s because of your behavior that we may not be able to go back to the arcade for a while.”

“… Oh yeah. Well, look on the bright side. My rep of being the strongest in Canterlot will go up with news of me beating up those high schoolers going around.”

“Frankly, I’m wondering if that will just attract more unwanted attention.” Misty sighed. “I didn’t even get a chance to play with Starry in the arcade before all of that ruckus happened. I doubt that opportunity will happen again for quite some time.”

My ears folded from her statement. It was true that we were all having fun today up until that point, I didn’t want to leave a sour memory like that standing out. I looked to the side and noticed a familiar claw machine game at the entrance. I remembered this place as my family’s favorite restaurant to go if Mom was too tired to cook after a long day at work. Oftentimes each of us would try our hand at the machine to see if we could get any of the prizes, and we learned some cool tricks to winning with each try we made. I looked inside the glass case and noticed a plush rabbit and tiger together with their tags conveniently close together.

“Hold on a second,” I said as I pulled out a bit from my pouch. The two fillies raised their brows as I inserted the coin in the slot after evaluating where the claw was and how to move it.

I timed the claw’s movements with the provided buttons just right. I lowered the device when I got to position, and with excellent precision, the joints hooked the tags before pulling the two plush toys I was aiming for up in the air.

The girls gasped as the toys were precariously hung by the claw, and once it moved to the drop chute and released the prizes, the machine made noises indicating my victory. My friends stood there agape as I reached down and picked up the prizes.

“It’s not much to make up for not playing with you today, Misty, but I hope this will suffice at least a little,” I said as I handed the plush bunny to the wide-eyed pegasus. “And Granite, I’m not sure if you’re into these toys, but consider this as thanks for backing us up from those high schoolers. I would like it if you try not to get yourself into too much trouble in the future, though.” I held up the plush tiger towards Granite, whose expression was also frozen with shock before she shook herself out of it.

“Well… I really am not into kiddie toys like this, but I suppose I could take it as your way of saying thanks,” Granite said as she took the tiger and stuffed it in her jacket before zipping it up. There was a hint of red spread across her cheeks as she scanned the area for any passerby that could be watching. “Not making any promises for that trouble part, though.”

A flushed Misty hugged the bunny tightly to herself as she looked at me with sparkling eyes. “I think this makes up for it very well. Thank you, Starry.”

Shit, Granite and Misty look so cute like this right now. I wish I had a camera. I tried not to dwell into their expressions as I cleared my throat. “Should we end the day with some time at the park?”

The girls nodded and we made our way to the park. Misty still held her stuffed animal close to her chest along the way while Granite just walked with hands in her jacket pockets, trying to hide the bulge her own toy was making with little succession.

When we got to the park a couple minutes later, we all sat against the lone tree in the vicinity and just enjoyed the serenity of the silence and environment as well as each other’s company. The girls sat at both of my sides, Granite had her eyes closed with a smile plastered on her face while Misty just stared up at the sky with her bunny sitting on her lap. My eyes were heavy as I yawned, thinking I should follow Granite’s example and just take a nap right there.

“Are you tired, Starry?” Misty asked.

“After what happened earlier? I wouldn’t be surprised,” Granite answered with her eyes still closed before she yawned as well. “I’m so beat I could use a nap, myself.”

“I don’t think my exhaustion would compare to yours though, Granite,” I admitted. “I didn’t really do much but overspent my magic.”

“Pft. You kidding, dude?” Granite peeked over me with one eye. “You managed to get Misty out of harm’s way and showed that dick what you could do. I could already see who had the bigger balls out of the two of you just from that, alone.”

“Must you use such vulgar language to get your point across? It’s not exactly lady-like for a filly to use such words.”

“I don’t hear Star complainin’ about it, so I don’t know what the big deal is. He’s even cursed a few times himself. Right, Star?”

“Pretty much, and I honestly sort of like her speech patterns. It really loosens up the atmosphere and not make my surroundings seem so uptight.”

“Ya heard it here, Misty. Maybe you should start loosening up a bit more like yours truly.” Granite rubbed her nose with a big grin on her face.

“I can ‘loosen up’ on my own, thank you very much. I don’t even need to use such words to show how ‘chill’ I can be, either.”

“Really?”

“Of course.”

“Then you should have no problem saying ‘dick’ in front of Star, here.”

“Excuse me?!”

“It’s not that hard, really. You just gotta get what you want to say out in the open. Here, try saying this: ‘Emerald Brace is the biggest dick in our class.’ Now you try.”

Uh, should I stop this? Then again, I’ve never heard Misty use words like that before. I’m almost curious to hear it now, myself.

“V-Very well! If it will get my point across, then I’ll do it!”

“All right, then let’s hear it.”

A moment of silence was passed between us, except probably the winds whistling by. Misty’s face was bright red as she bit her lip. She coughed into her arm to clear her throat. I was about to stop and tell her she doesn’t have to do it, but then she took a breath.

“Emerald Brace… biggest… in our class.”

“What was that? Speak up, would ya?”

“Emerald Brace, is the biggest… in our class.”

“I still can’t hear ya. One more time, with feeling.”

Misty’s ears flicked while a pout formed on her face. She breathed in once more, and… “Emerald Brace is the biggest dick in our class!” Her face had gotten redder when she realized what she just did.

“See? Now that wasn’t so bad, was it? And the best part is that your parents don’t even need to know you did it, so long as they aren’t around.”

Misty’s ears perked and her eyes widened. “You… may actually be right about that, Granite. I never even thought of that.”

“Heh, what can I say? Fuckin’ around’s one of my better traits.”

“I do admit it was kind of adorable how difficult it was for you to swear earlier, Misty,” I pointed out. “How do you feel, though?”

Misty seemed to be in a daze before quickly shaking her head. “I feel… a little exhilarated, actually. Strange, but in a good way. I feel, ‘fucking’ fantastic.”

Granite faked her sniffles. “Our little filly’s all grown up. She said ‘fuck’ for the first time in her life. I couldn’t be any prouder than I am right now.”

And I didn’t think ‘fuck’ would sound kind of hot coming from Misty’s mouth like that.

“Well well well, look who it is. It’s the loser blank trio.”

Oh fuck me.

As the three of us turned to the familiar source, I think we all wished we didn’t used him as an example for Misty to try swearing for the first time, as if he came just from mentioning his name. Emerald Brace, the biggest bully in our class, was a green unicorn with a styled red and white mane. He was wearing a darker green button-up shirt and black slacks, all to go with the shit-eating grin plastered on his face. Standing beside him was a grayish brown unicorn colt with an indigo mane that stretched to his shoulder named Copper Cut, wearing a black button-up shirt with vertical light purple stripes and matching slacks. He was looking to the side with an uncomfortable expression on his face.

“The fuck are you guys doing here?” Granite snarled as the three of us stood up.

“I was just enjoying a little stroll until I saw an opportunity to crash a party. Right, Copper?”

“H-Huh? Oh, right…”

I stood there staring at Copper with a furrowed brow while he didn’t want to make any eye contact before shifting my gaze to Brace.

“You better have a damn good reason to barge in on us if you know what’s in store,” Granite threatened as she cracked her knuckles while Misty glared at them with her wings flared open.

“I just wanted to confirm if Night’s really going to SGU’s summer program to prepare for that enrollment test, because I honestly think he’s wasting his time.”

“And what is that supposed to mean, Emerald?” Misty asked.

“Oh please, I think you and the bumpkin already know full well what Night’s extent of magic is even though you’ve never studied it yourself. Besides levitation, he’s only known and practiced a number of spells I could count on one of my hands, and he could barely even pull them off. The test to get in the SGU requires you to perform a spell high or unique enough that represents our race to gain the judges’ attention. I highly doubt Night here is even able to perform one high level spell with proper precision. ”

The more Brace was condescending me, the more my body was shaking as I tightened my fists and gritted my teeth.

“Why does a spell need to represent the unicorn race for him to get in?” Misty asked. “I don’t see how that would reflect the school’s course of study.”

“Oh, but it does, featherbrain. Besides an alicorn like Princess Celestia, the unicorns are the master race out of the main three that exist today. Never mind not having a cutie mark, but if Night could barely even perform a mid-level spell, then I wonder if he’s even a unicorn at all? If he can’t even learn any higher spells than that, then he doesn’t deserve to stay in Canterlot like all the earth ponies and pegasi that reside here. Our streets would look much cleaner without trashes like you three lingering around.”

“YOU TAKE THAT BACK RIGHT NOW, BRACE!” I screamed. I could barely see what was around myself anymore besides the bastard in front of me.

“Then why don’t you prove it?” he asked with a smug grin. “Magic Duel. Right here, right now, and we’ll see if you’re worthy of being called a unicorn.”

“Starry, you don’t have to do this!” Misty exclaimed as she grabbed my arm. “Let’s just walk away and go someplace else.”

“Forget walking away, let me just pound the dick’s face down to the ground!”

“No. It may be one thing about my abilities, but I’m not letting him get away with insulting you two like that,” I argued as I pulled my arm away from Misty’s grasp. “I’m not going to let this die down without me at least trying to fend for you guys as well as myself. I wouldn’t be a good friend, otherwise.”

“But what about what happened earlier?! You used up a bunch of magic on that already!”

I ignored Misty’s statement as I approached Brace. I could almost feel the girls’ worries from behind me. “I accept your challenge, Brace, and when I’m through with you, you better take back what you said about my friends and their respective races.”

“We’ll see about that, Night. Copper. You be the referee.”

“Y-Yes…” Copper complied and walked to a space between us. “T-Take your places.”

Brace and I moved until we stood at a safe distance between us, our stares not leaving each other’s sight.

“This was so not the best way I was hoping for this to turn out,” Misty commented.

“I really wish I could just kick the crap out of those guys instead, but I can’t change Star’s mind, now. We’ll just have to hope for the best.”

“This Magic Duel will be between Emerald Brace and Starry Night,” Copper began. “The rules are simple. Each contestant will have a turn to cast a spell that the other must match. The unicorn first casting the spell will be switched with each round. There will be no physical contact, no spells causing physical damage, and no interruptions from outside the arena, or the contestant associated with them is automatically disqualified. Last unicorn standing wins the match. I will now do a coin toss to decide who goes first.” Copper pulled a bit out from his pocket and flipped it in the air.

“Heads,” I called before the coin hit the ground.

“Tails. Emerald will go first,” Copper concluded before picking up the bit and glanced between us. “Contestants, are you ready?”

“As always.”

“Let’s just get this over with.”

Copper raised a hand up in the air. “Let the Magic Duel… BEGIN!” he exclaimed as he cut the line between us.

“I’ll start things off with a bit of a warm up. Be grateful I’m giving you this handicap, Night.” Brace closed his eyes and raised one of his hands while it and his horn glowed an emerald colored aura. In a flash, a patch of grass before him turned from its natural green color to a shade of red. His hand and horn stopped glowing as he relaxed himself. “Your turn, failure.”

Okay, a color changing spell. That’s not too hard. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath to focus myself. Once ready, I opened my eyes and targeted the colored patch of grass. I aimed my concentration at it, raised my right hand towards it and glowed a light blue aura around it before I changed the patch of red grass back to its original green color. Success. Misty and Granite applauded my achievement in response.

“First round of this Magic Duel is over. Starry will now begin round two,” Copper announced as he gestured a hand toward me.

“Give it all you got, Star!”

“You can do this!”

I spent a hefty amount of magic earlier. If I want this to end, I’ll have to use the best spell I have in my arsenal with little effort as possible. I got into a more balanced, defensive stance, pointed a finger to the air, and concentrated the same spell I performed with Dad yesterday with just enough magic to make it work. My fingertip glowed the same light blue aura from earlier before I shot it up to the sky. It exploded and spread itself into a light blue umbrella that stretched to the ground around me, creating my force field. With the spell complete, I held it up for a couple seconds before dissipating it and sighed while wiping a few beads of sweat off my brow. Misty and Granite cheered loudly at my achievement. I’d rather try to see how long I could last it, but now’s not a good time to test my abilities.

“Hmm… Not bad, but not so hard to match.” Brace commented with a lack of interest in his expression. He copied my gestures from before, focused his magic, and shot a ball of emerald aura up in the air. What was different from this one compared to mine was that not only did it get higher, but once it exploded, it enveloped a wider area that not only defended the three of us in the arena, but even the girls off to the side as well. “Heh. Larger than yours, and I didn’t even break a sweat. Seems I have more insurance shielding ourselves from an oncoming attack than you are.”

“Second round of this Magic Duel is over. Emerald will now start round three,” Copper announced as Brace diminished the force field spell.

“I think it’s time we finished this once and for all. This next spell will be your demise.” Brace’s horn started to glow brightly as he seemed to put more concentration in this next spell than the previous ones. In a flash of light, he suddenly disappeared. I jumped back from the sudden intensity and was frantic to what happened to him as I quickly scanned the area. “I’m over here~.” I turned to the source of the voice and saw him leaning against the lone tree in the park my friends and I relaxed under earlier while checking his nails. My heart started to race as to what spell he had just performed.

“Oh no…” Misty muttered.

“Wait, what happened?! What the fuck was that?!”

“A teleportation spell… One of the higher level spells to cast,” I answered Granite.

“Correct, Night,” Brace added. “I should probably tell you all now, but I went to the SGU spring program this year. Said I was one of the best among the group.” He brushed his nails he checked earlier on his shirt before he yawned and looked at me with lack of interest. “I’m getting bored with this, Night, so let’s cut to the chase. If you can perform the teleportation spell in this round, we’ll end it right then, I’ll submit defeat, and take back everything I said about yourself and your pathetic friends’ races. You don’t even have to teleport as far as I have to do it. Just disappear and reappear at least an arm’s length in any direction, and that will be the end of the duel.”

This is it… This is where it all ends. I’m lucky that the teleportation spell was something I studied on the side to challenge myself, so I got a good handle of the concepts, but I’ve never even tried to perform it firsthand. I turned to my friends where they looked back with that same, worried expression from the beginning. I can’t mess this up, I just can’t.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I recalled a few things from Dad about how a unicorn had something called a magical surge—a great burst of energy that surpasses the pony’s limits for an instant while in the middle of casting a difficult spell—during her exam at SGU while she was still a filly. Apparently it was so great, not only did she passed, but she ended up becoming Princess Celestia’s pupil instead of enrolling the school. There was still some speculation on how something like that occurred, but that wasn’t the only case that happened to a unicorn like her.

My body trembled, my heart raced, and I tried controlling my breath. I may not know the chances of having a magical surge happening, but right now, it was the only thing I can rely on with my current level of magic. I couldn’t back down now, my friends’ prides and images as well as my own were riding on this, and I couldn’t fuck this up.

Please… Please, let this moment be that time. I’m not only doing this for myself, but for Misty and Granite as well, the most important ponies in the world to me right now. Come on magic, let me tap into that hidden potential so I can win this!

I steadied my stance, gritted my teeth, closed my hands and eyes tightly, and concentrated. I could feel my horn burning and glowing brightly. Even with how much magic I spent today, I tried to put every ounce I had left inside me into this last spell. I started to feel pain from my horn, Mom and Dad have told me to stop what I was doing should something like this happened, but I ignored that warning as I kept pushing myself more and more.

My face was sweating beads, my whole body was shaking, somewhere there was a strange sound of rattling metal with a few pops from here and there, but I pushed it aside as I kept going.

My horn kept getting hotter and hotter.

There was a bright light like I was walking out of a dark tunnel…

KACHIIIIIIIING!

KRA-KOOM!

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!”

I dropped to the ground and screamed in agonizing pain from the magic explosion. I scrambled on the grass, grabbed my horn tightly, trying to ease the searing burn that was running through it, my entire body felt like it was enveloped in flames.

“STARRY/STAR!” The girls were running towards me, at least that what it sounded like, but stopped from a distance.

My voice cracked, my throat was dry and sore from all the screaming, and tears were trailing down my cheeks. The burning across my body felt like it took hours before it finally started calming down along with the pain. I was silent and in a fetal position as I choked on my sobs against the grass. When things went quiet for a moment, a new, but horrendous sound filled the air.

“AAAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh, this is just PERFECT!” Brace exclaimed. “Not only have I beaten you, but I even got to see you wallow in defeat! Copper! End this duel! NOW!”

There was a pause of silence before Copper spoke with a few cracks in his voice. “The winner… of this Magic D-Duel goes to… Emerald Brace.”

“YES! Let today’s duel also be known that not only are unicorns the superior race, but Starry Night… is a FAILURE OF A UNICORN!” Brace finished his victory speech with a haughtier laugh from before as he walked out of the park’s premises, the quiet hoofsteps from Copper followed suit. The laugh slowly died down until everything around me was dead silent.

I was still on the ground in a fetal position while tightly grasping my horn. My body tightened as tears continued to stream down my face. I heard the tentative hoofsteps from my friends as they got closer and crouched above me.

“Starry? Are you all right?” Misty asked.

At that moment, I jolted up to my hooves and sprinted out of the park in a different direction where Brace left. I didn’t know where I was going, but I didn’t care. I just wanted to get as far away from anypony as possible. I kept running through the streets of West Side Canterlot while a trail of tears was left behind.

“STARRY! WAIT!” Misty screamed before she tried going after our friend, but I grabbed her arm to stop her. My gaze was facing the ground. “Granite! What are you doing?! We have to go after him!”

“Misty… We need to give him some time alone.”

“ALONE?! WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?!”

“Misty, with a loss like that, I’d want to have some time to think if I was in his position. Star had just lost his honor for trying to stand up for us. He has a lot going on in his head right now if he can’t speak to us without feeling shameful of himself. He needs to calm down and think things through himself before he can come talk to us.”

“Excuse my language, but THAT IS FUCKING BULLCRAP!” Misty screamed. “HONOR DOESN’T HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH THIS! I WANT TO SEE IF OUR CLOSEST FUCKING FRIEND IS ALL RIGHT FROM THAT EXPLOSION EARLIER! HOW CAN HONOR BE MORE IMPORTANT THAN HIS HEALTH?!”

“AND WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU KNOW ABOUT HONOR?!” I yelled back, making Misty jump back from my outburst.

I hate crying. It reminds me of how weak I was back when I first moved to Canterlot from Manehattan as a filly, and I promised myself I’d never cry again as I trained myself to be stronger for my friends. I pretty much broke that promise as of right now.

I wanted to go check on Star as much as Misty did, I mean it, but what was I going to say when I see him? Even when I knew what he was going through, I couldn’t rack my brain on what to say because I’ve dealt with more losses than he had, and from what happened today, Star’s loss was so much heavier than all the ones I went through combined. What’s worse was that he must have thought he lost all of our dignities from that Magic Duel, unable to protect us from a bully like Blaze at the very end. I didn’t really care about my dignity. I’m already a fucking delinquent to really worry about my image like Star and Misty would, but that still didn’t soften the blow Star went through.

Misty’s tightness in the arm I was grasping loosened as she looked down with ears folded. “I’m sorry, you’re right… I don’t know any better, and I didn’t think about his feelings. Some friend I turned out to be,” she croaked as tears welled up in her eyes.

I pulled Misty in for a hug, her head rested on the crook of my shoulder. Her eyes were widened at the sudden gesture, which was normal since I wasn’t the kind of pony that would get all mushy like this, but this time pretty much called for it as I sort of needed it myself.

“You’re not a bad friend, Misty,” I said with a crack in my voice while tears left my face. “I want to see him too, but we need to give him space to calm down and think things through.” I pulled back from the hug and wiped the tears off with my sleeve. “We can check on him tomorrow morning and see how he is then. All right?”

Misty nodded sheepishly as she sniffled and wiped her own tears. “That sounds good… I guess I’ll see you tomorrow then. Good-bye, Granite.”

“Later,” I bid with a wave as Misty unfurled her wings and flew back home at a surprisingly fast speed, but that wasn’t what was on my mind at the moment.

I looked down on the grass and stood still as I clenched my fists and teeth. “… Why? Why didn’t you stop this before it freakin’ began?!” I exclaimed to myself. “I should’ve stopped them… I should’ve pounded Blaze myself, took the heat, and avoid all of this from happening… WHY CAN’T YOU DO ANYTHING RIGHT YOU STUPID BITCH?!” I stomped over to the pavement outside the park grounds, dropped to my knees, and pounded my fists to the hard, stone covered ground. I didn’t care for the pain welling in my knuckles as my anger distracted me enough to notice.

“STUPID! WORTHLESS! PATHETIC!” As I continued insulting myself, I thought I felt the ground shook a little with each punch I made, but that didn’t cross my mind. The ground was starting to become red as blood was dripping from my fists.

I raised my right fist in the air, concentrating all the strength I had to prepare for my last punch. “WHY CAN’T YOU DO ANYTHING FUCKING USEFUL FOR ONCE YOU FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT?!” I brought my fist down to the ground, and upon contact…

KSHKOOOOM!

The sound was made as my fist somehow punched through the ground like water, covering my arm up to my elbow. I sat there with widened eyes at what just happened before I realized my arm was stuck in the pavement.

“Huh? W-What the?” I tried pulling my arm out of it, but no dice. “H-Hey! I can’t get out! “Hello?! Anypony around here?! I need help!”

Silence was the response.

“DAMMIT! How did I get into this and how do I get out?!” I struggled to pull my arm out of the ground, putting most of my strength into my legs. “GRRRRRGH! Come ON you stupid ground! LET. ME. GO!” I demanded before I punched my other arm to the ground, this time the impact opened a hole around my immobile arm. The momentum of the pull made me fall backwards as I yelped in surprise.

I groaned from the pain on my back before I got up on my hooves and checked part of the ground I was stuck in. “The fuck was that? How was that even possible?” I checked the arm I pulled out, which looked okay despite the dried blood on my knuckles, but there was no dust, dirt, or pebbles whatsoever on me.

I looked back to the hole, which was strangely clean-cut into a perfect circle. “… Did I do that?” I tried to think of what to do next to get some kind of similar result. With not much options, I just stomped a hoof to the ground while looking at the hole before a pillar of stone suddenly rose out of it, making me jump back in surprise. “HOLY FUCKING SHIT!” I screamed. “Crap crap crap… What do I do? How do I get it down? Uhh…” I circled around the pillar as I tried to think of how to hide the strange scene.

I then recalled some of my teachings from a previous martial arts instructor, one of which was a weird gesture with a breathing technique in case I was freaking out, stressed, or just really angry (which was what happened to me most of the time I was there). I definitely needed to calm down to think about what I should do, so I went with that option.

I walked back to where I stood before, then moved my arms in an inside-outside, circular motion as I breathed in through my nose. I then pushed my hands down to a resting position in front of my torso while breathing out of my mouth, which somehow lowered the stone pillar back down to where it was before I got my arm stuck in there. “O-Okay, this is getting way too freaky for me. I’m getting the fuck out of here.” I dashed out of the park and back to my house, trying to forget about the freaky thing that happened back there.

I didn’t bother paging Sigmund at the front gates as I approached the front door. I was too frustrated to think about formalities. Plus it was my own home, I’m pretty sure something like that isn’t even required if I could just fly over it. I unlocked the door with my house key, slammed open the door, and stomped inside before shutting the door behind me.

“SIGMUND!” I yelled at the empty entry hall. Hoofsteps were quickly and loudly approaching before my trusted head butler arrived in his formal, calm self before it changed to concern from looking at me.

“Lady Misty, are you all right? Did something happen?”

“Sigmund,” I said in a demanding tone, “I need some ‘stress relief’ posthaste. I’ll explain the situation then.”

Sigmund’s expression went from concern to understanding as he nodded. “Yes, Lady Misty. Any place in particular you would like to take this?”

“Near the fountain at the back. Meet me there with the ‘tools,’ and I expect it to happen in five minutes.”

“Yes, milady.” He then calmly and quickly took off while I made my way to the backyard where the fountain was.

I made it a minute later while ignoring the greetings the other service staff gave, and sat at the stony rim of the fountain’s architecture. I crossed my arms and one leg over the other as I waited for Sigmund to return with a furrowed brow. Soon, Sigmund came through the door with two long, black cases in each hand. He briskly walked toward me and set them down before he bowed.

I checked the pocket watch I pulled out from my purse. “Four and a half minutes. Very good, Sigmund,” I complimented before I hopped off the fountain. “Is it in good condition?”

“Yes, milady. I had just cleaned these this morning.” He picked up the case on his left and presented it to me.

I clicked open the buckles keeping it closed and opened the lid, revealing a rapier sword in its black scabbard that sat on the red carpet-like pelt inside. The guard was silver colored, with a black leather tightly gripped around the handle. I lifted the weapon and sounds of sliding steel were made as I unsheathed the blade out of its scabbard. I inspected the luster of the steel blade that shined from the sun’s light reflecting on it. I grasped the handle while in a stance, testing the weight, grip, and swiftness of the blade with a few swings and thrusts. “Excellent,” I concluded.

This was something I’ve kept from Starry and Granite for quite some time, especially my parents, but I have a secret hobby of practicing fencing. I picked up its charm by playing sword fights with a few of the pegasi back at flight camp. We used blunted sticks, yes, but there was something about wielding them in such a fashion that just felt right with me. It was the only thing that kept my time at flight camp enjoyable, but the other pegasi stopped playing with me after a while as I kept winning the game every time.

I trusted Sigmund enough to tell him my experience when I came back, and he was happy to see how I found something to enjoy myself with. Apparently, he was also quite the fencer when he was younger and still practice the art today when he had spare time, so when he offered to teach me swordplay, I accepted it at the drop of a hat. We agreed to keep it a secret from my parents as they may think fencing was something a lady such as myself shouldn’t be doing; because of that statement, I couldn’t bring it up to either of my friends as I wasn’t sure how they’d react to me practicing swordplay, especially Starry of all ponies. Sigmund had taught me fencing up to this day in secret while my parents weren’t around, and I practiced with eagerness to improve, or vent out frustrations like what I was about to do.

I set the scabbard back in the case that was set aside before I turned to Sigmund, who had his own rapier in his hand while in a stance, ready to take me on. “All right, Lady Misty, tell me what has gotten you so riled up right now,” he requested while sounds of flowing water coming out of the fountain’s structure were in the air.

“Gladly!” I charged in with a battle cry and began lashing at him with many fast slices and thrusts of my blade. Sigmund parried and dodged each strike with ease. “Starry, Granite, and I were having a wonderful time! Right up until those savages, Emerald and Copper, budged in and mocked us!” I exclaimed as I kept striking.

“Ah yes. You have told me before how avaricious those two can be, and I’ve heard their parents aren’t any better,” Sigmund replied calmly as he continued parrying and blocking. “What happened then?”

“Starry had to step in to defend the three of us for spatting on Granite’s and mine’s pony races, and for Emerald calling him a failure of a unicorn since he knew only a couple of spells!”

“How dreadful. I’d have stepped in if I was there.”

“So Starry and Emerald held a Magic Duel with our dignities on the line, which I didn’t care for as I was more worried for my friend than my title! Starry ended up losing after a magical explosion from failing to cast a teleportation spell, making him scream in pain!” I gritted my teeth as I upped my pace of strikes. I was too frustrated to notice how the fountain’s water flow was suddenly getting louder and more forceful out of the spouts.

“I wanted to see if he was okay once the savages left, but he sprinted off! Granite stopped and convinced me to leave him alone to think things through, but I’m just so frustrated—no, I’m infuriated that I couldn’t do anything! What kind of friend am I for not giving Starry my full support?! URRGH! I just want to find that damned Emerald and SLICE HIS FUCKING HEAD OFF WITH MY BLADE!” I brought down one last slash of my sword, meeting Sigmund’s to cause a loud clash of steel blades before—

FWOOOOOOOSH!

The sound of rushing waters caught my attention as our blades were still in contact before I dropped my rapier. Sigmund pulled me to the ground and shielded me from the falling stone debris from the sky while the sound of erupting waters continued. My anger turned to fear and confusion at what was going on before the sound of rushing waters eased down.

Sigmund and I stood back up soaking wet and saw the damage of the eruption. The fountain’s centerpiece was destroyed from the middle-up, leaving a broken pipe system that just squirted the water out in an unorganized fashion.

KRUUUUSH!

“GAAH!” I screamed as I jumped to the side. The top half of the fountain’s centerpiece apparently fell from the sky and crashed onto the structure’s rim, breaking them into pieces and leaving a big hole off the side. I fell back on my bottom from the sight of the aftermath, leaving me stunned and sore from all my sword flails earlier.

After what seemed like an eternity of silence, I finally asked, “What… What just happened?”

Author's Note

Oof, tough luck for Starry. What's going to happen to him, what's with the strange events his two best friends have experienced after the duel? Will Starry be able to cast magic again after that incident?

Before we get to that, our next chapter will focus back to Lumina where she makes her attempt to confess her attraction to Shining Armor. What will be the outcome? You'll have to stick around to find out. Until next time,

This is Dudeler, signing off.

Chapter 5: The Heartbreaking Truth

I made my way to the mess hall’s kitchen immediately after my talk with Nil. I’ll admit, over the first few weeks of attendance, I got into trouble a lot when I had to work in the kitchen for a while as a punishment. It was worth it though, I got to learn about cooking and made good friends with the kitchen staff. They didn’t mind letting me borrow their kitchen and ingredients once I told them why I’d be cooking—without mentioning Shining Armor, of course. I recalled how I used to help my mom cook her special dish when I was younger as I made it, remembering what ingredients I needed, how to prepare them, and the works.

Finally, the food was cooked to how I remembered it. I only hoped it tasted as good as it looked. I split the necessary portions in some Tupperware while I let the staff have the leftovers. In exchange they gave me a paper bag to carry the food as well as silverware and some water bottles. I was thankful for how lucky I was to have such generous ponies under such harsh environment.

Soon enough, the time of our meeting was near. I made my way to the gardens like we said where we’d meet as I tried to practice how I would confess to him. “Let’s see… ‘Hey, Shining, glad you could make it. Wanna have some of my casserole while I tell you how much I love you?’ Nah. ‘Shining, the truth is, I’ve felt this way for a while and…’ No, that’s just dragging it on. ‘Yo, Shining. You’re buff, I’m curvy, and we’re both sexy. What do you say we inhale this food and have some fun behind the bushes?’ Fuck where did that even come from? When was the last time I confessed my feelings for a stallion? Or anypony for that matter?”

I stopped and tried to think back, and sadly, I couldn’t find any that came to mind. I’ve seen a bunch of ponies before I attended the academy, and I mostly just went right into it without knowing much about them. There was only one confession I could think of, but it didn’t count in this case and I was trying to forget about that guy. Holy shit, this would be the very first confession I give to a pony. The revelation dawned on me. Crap, I think I might be getting even more nervous than in the beginning… Hey wait, is that Shining up there? I put a hand over my brow and squinted my eyes to see said stallion leaning over the stone rail of one of the castle’s balconies. Weird, I thought he was busy until later. It’s late in the afternoon, but it’s not really dark yet. Maybe I should just head on up there and get it over with while the food’s still warm?

With a plan set, I went into the castle and took the necessary passageways to get to the same balcony Shining was on. I hid behind the wall once I got there and peeked around to see his broad back hunched over the railing he was leaning over, his head staring up in the sky intently. I pulled myself back and tried to calm my breaths. I felt my heart thumping hard against my chest while I tried to avoid making any sounds—especially the paper bag in my hand crinkling from movement.

Fuck, this is it. He’s just around that corner and I don’t think I’d ever felt this nervous before. Come on, Lumina, no chickening out now. It’s a little sooner than expected, but it’s time to set records straight—

“Hey there!” Shining’s voice exclaimed.

I take that back. There’s no way I can do this. I’ve been found out, and he expects me to come out to see what I’m doing up here! Wait, maybe it’s better this way. I’m not even sure if I was gonna go out there with all this pep talk to myself. This is it, Lumina, time to—

“Sorry for coming so late. I had to make sure the coast was clear before I got up here,” an unfamiliar mare’s voice responded.

…Wait… What? Who else is up here? I peeked around again to see another figure with Shining. It was a pretty, slender mare in a white dress that reached to her hooves. Her long mane and tail were curled at the end with colors of yellow, fuchsia, and violet. She also had wings and a horn… Wait, wings and a horn?! Hang on, backtrack time. I think I remember Princess Celestia had a niece that liked to go in and out of the castle. What was her name again? Mi Amore Cadenza, right? Could that be her niece? I didn’t see a crown on her when I checked. What was she doing here, and how does she know Shining? I perked my ears and listened in. Thoughts of eavesdropping being wrong passed over my head.

“You know we’re going to have to tell everypony about us eventually, right?” Shining asked.

…Us? I thought as my heart skipped a beat.

“I know,” the princess said, “but I just didn’t want you or me getting so much unwanted attention while you’re still in the academy. I know joining the guards means a lot to you, and I don’t want to make things any harder for you than it already is.”

“I appreciate the thought, Cadence, but training in the academy would probably be much harder if we didn’t get together like this.”

C-Cadence? That sounds so… casual. Like something one would call a close friend. They’re just close friends… Right?

Cadence giggled. “Oh Shining, you can be such a sweet-talker, and I feel the same way going through my days at the castle.”

This can’t be happening. They can’t be together like that, can they? It’s just a platonic, very intimate relationship they have going on, right?

It wasn’t until I heard the next few phrases that everything around me crumbled.

“I love you, Cadence.”

“I love you too, Shining.”

I shakily peeked around the wall once more and saw the two of them in each other’s arms. Their lips were melded together with eyes closed, like they were the only ponies in the world… But they didn’t know I was there.

I quickly ran back the way I came. I didn’t care how much noise my hooves were making in the halls, or how some of the guards stared as I ran by, I just wanted to get far away before either of those two ponies noticed me. I ran to the gardens once I got outside, finally slowing down when I got to a bench. I fell hard on it and set the bag of food I prepared on the side.

The next moment I was bawling my eyes out, I felt great pain in my chest, like a similar experience I had before, but much worse.

I don’t understand. Shining said he wasn’t seeing anypony when I asked, but… everything I knew about him was wrong. HE LIED! Lied to everypony, even to ME. The one out of the majority who tried his best to connect with me during the first few weeks when I didn’t even glance at him. How long was he with HER before that?! What the fuck does he even see in ME?! Why was he so nice up to this point?!

I asked many questions, but I had no answers for any of them.

I’m such an idiot… A stupid, lovestruck, hopeless idiot. Everything makes sense now. Why he didn’t talk about relationships very much. Why he didn’t look at me like most other guys would. The one pony I wanted to look at me in such a way, but didn’t get one fucking glance!

I looked up to see a pond in front of me. I walked up to it and saw my reflection, whose eyes were puffy from the tears. I closed my eyes tightly, wiped the tears from my face and looked back into the pond. My reflection had a furrowed brow now, her face was contorted with her teeth gritted.

“… I think I found my answer for what I want to do.” I picked up my food from the bench and ran back into my room. The sun was beginning to set while clouds were looming overhead. I heard there was going to be a rainstorm tonight, so I needed to get this done and over with fast.

SLAM!

“Gah!” Creamy yelped as she jumped from her top bunk. She looked like she was reading before I barged in, but I didn’t pay much attention. “What the heck, Lumina?! Why’d you… Whoa, I haven’t seen that face in a while. Did something happen?”

“Yeah, something did happen.” With my magic, I pulled all of my things from the closet and drawers and stuffed them in a sack. I took out the resignation form I had in my pocket and spread it out on the desk. With a pen, I quickly filled in the necessary lines with my name.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m getting out of here, Creamy.”

“Y-You mean… like leaving the academy?”

“No, ‘Obvious Square.’ Yes I’m leaving the fucking academy.”

“I guess you’ve already talked to Shining—”

“Don’t. You. Speak. That. Name,” I interrupted with gritted teeth and my face right into her personal space before pulling back. “Spread this around to the other girls: whatever they thought of when they saw me and that jackass up to now, it’s done. Over. Kaput. Nothing ever went on between us, and it never will for me as well as the rest of them. They’re barking up a lost cause.”

“Whoa, is he really that bad?”

“A fucking liar is what he is, Creamy. I was wrong about him from the very beginning.” I went back to the form and finished what was left. “I thought I had a good reason for staying, but I was damn lucky I found this out before making that mistake. There’s nothing for me in this damn pish posh of a city, which is why I’ll be leaving tonight.”

Suddenly, I was stopped by a sudden embrace from my roommate. “I’m sorry it didn’t work out for you, Lumina.” She pulled back and forced a smile while my eyes were widened by the sudden gesture. “Well, like I said earlier; whatever you decide, you got my support. I hope you’ll find somepony better outside of Canterlot. I know they’re out there somewhere.”

I tried to hold in my tears as I sniffled and forced a small smile of my own. “Creamy, you’re the best fillyfriend a mare could ask for. I know there’s somepony out there for you as well. I know I’d show you a good time.”

Creamy’s beige face turned red as she scratched her head. “Hehehe, thanks. I’m pretty sure you won’t be around Canterlot for a while, but if I see you around, let me treat you to a drink or something.”

“I’ll take you up on that. Best of luck in the guard.” We exchanged a fist bump and bid our farewells before I left the room with my things packed.

I made a stop to Marine’s office to slide the resignation form below the door before I was on my way out of the academy grounds, still emotional from earlier, but trying to keep it together. As I approached the gates, a familiar pony was standing there.

Oh yeah, I forgot about this guy.

“I assume you’ve made your decision?” Nil asked.

“Yeah. I’m not going to spend another night in this fancy shithole of a city, but I want to take you up on the traveling.”

“I probably wouldn’t blame ya if I was in your hooves after seeing that performance.”

My eyes widened while my cheeks warmed up. “H-How did—”

“A certain alicorn passing by took my attention while I was relaxing on a cloud. Peeped on the whole thing, even the moment you ran out of the castle. They didn’t notice anything, by the way.”

“Good, cause I really don’t want to be seeing him right now. I’ll be leaving the city tonight.”

“Which is why I took the liberty of bringing you this.” From behind, he tossed a large bag that I caught, despite being surprised.

“Wait, isn’t this camping gear?”

“That it is.”

“Aren’t these supposed to be locked in a warehouse along with other important equipment?”

“I have my ways of getting in, but enough about that.” A roar of thunder sounded through the air, interrupting my suspicions. “You might want to get out of here quickly. There’s a storm scheduled that goes on all night tonight.”

“Where do we meet next time?”

“Manehattan at the main library of the city. It will take me a couple days before I finally get there, but just check in for a few hours during the early afternoon. Other than that, I’ll be looking forward to working with you, Lumina.” He took out a hand while giving me a smile.

I grabbed it and pulled him into a hug. I could tell he was surprised from how tense his back was. “Thank you, Nil. Try anything funny, though…”

He chuckled before I felt one of his arms around my back, his hard metal plates pressing against it. “Yeah yeah, I know. I’ll watch my step.” We pulled out of the hug and he tipped his hat to me. “I’ll explain what we’ll do next once I see you there. Until then, you take care of yourself.”

I nodded and lugged the camping gear over my shoulders with my things before I passed by him. The sudden drizzle made me quickly transition from a walk to a sprint.

“What do you mean the station’s just closing?!” I yelled under the loud rain, my mane, tail, and clothes getting soaking wet.

“Sorry, miss. Last train for the night just left a half-hour ago. Had to cut preparations for departure short with this rain,” the ticket booth’s employee explained outside of the box. “Next train for Manehattan will be around tomorrow morning.”

“But I don’t want to stay here another night! Isn’t there another way I could leave this city without taking the train?!”

“Well, there is the old stairway that you could take that’s just to the east of here, but I wouldn’t advise leaving at this time of night with whatever’s lurking outside the castle’s borders. Plus, it would take at least twenty minutes just getting down from here by hoof.”

“I’ll take my chances, thanks.” I sprinted off without hearing another word from him. The entrance into the stairwell was a large cave carved in the mountain. Without a moment to think, I rushed in to get out of the rain and made my way down the stairs at a fast pace.

As the station employee said, it took me about twenty minutes to get down the steps. Fortunately, all that running in the academy had improved my endurance to where I wasn’t short of breath when I reached the bottom, even with all the weight I was carrying. In fact, I kept jogging east to the forest next to Foal Mountains. It would be bad if I camped in plain sight, so it was better that I hid in the forest to spend the night. Once inside, my jog slowed to a walk while I finally took time to get oxygen back in my lungs. I was wary of my surroundings for any suspicious movements until I came across a clearing. It was mostly grass with the exception of a few rocks and bushes on the side.

“This looks to be a good spot,” I sighed as I tossed my things to the ground and sat on the rock. Taking a moment to relax, I reflected on what the heck just happened and how I even got here.

My eyes heated up when the image of Shining Armor and Cadence kissing and in each other’s arms came to mind. “Why…?” I asked before I covered my face with my hands and let go of all the emotions welled up inside me. I could barely remember the last time I cried this much over a colt, but I think this case was much worse than before.

I guess I was just never good enough for anypony, after all.

Author's Note

Next chapter we'll check back to how Starry's dealing with his defeat in the Magic Duel. What will he come across in this low point of his life? You'll have to wait to find out. Until next time,

This is Dudeler, signing off.

Chapter 6: Life Changing Discoveries

I lost track of how long I had been running, but I kept going with hopes that my friends wouldn’t follow. My legs and hooves were burning up, but I just kept running, unaware of what was around me until one of my hooves hit something on the road. I tripped and fell to the cold, hard ground. I didn’t bother trying to get up. I broke into sobs and punched the ground repeatedly instead, not caring for the pain rising in my fists. Maybe I did it to distract the pain that was inside of me, I don’t know. I wasn’t really thinking straight.

“It’s not fair…” I cried, my voice cracked from the screaming earlier. “It’s just not fair. Why am I like this? Why can’t I do something right? Why was I not able to stand up for them? What the hell am I?” One side of my face was planted on the ground as my tears rolled down it.

I squinted under the swelled up, heated eyelids to see I was in a dark alleyway, a street light above me was flickering in the cold night.

It’s late… My parents are probably wondering where I am right now. As if I could face them like this. I failed… I failed Mom, Dad, Misty, Granite, even the filly I made the promise to. I’m nothing but a fucked up failure of a unicorn.

The streetlight went out to be replaced by the dim moonlight, still clear from the surrounding clouds. Shadows of the burnt out streetlight and other objects surrounding it overcast me I closed my eyes while my tears slowed down. I sniffled less, but still lied there while my body adjusted to the ground’s temperature.

Moments later, I heard hoofsteps slowly walking and growing louder towards me. It was at least a hoof away from me before they stopped.

“Go away… Please,” I muttered with my eyes closed shut. I was met with silence.

Instead, I felt a gentle, soft hand petting my head while what felt like a handkerchief was dabbing the dried up tears off my eyes and face. It was unexpected, but it suddenly loosened me up from how tense I was earlier. Another handkerchief that was bigger than the last was placed on one of my hands laid in front of me. I grabbed it and brought it to my nostrils to blow into it, all while my eyes were still closed. I wiped and blew what was left until I was done, I folded the handkerchief twice after that.

When I finally opened my eyes, I saw that the folded piece of cloth was pitch black. I turned my head to where I was met with a pair of hooves of the same color. I trailed up to see a black mare squatting before me, staring with…

I scrambled myself to the nearest wall with my heart racing while I hyperventilated. “Y-Your eyes… What happened to your eyes?!”

There was only white of what I assumed was the sclera. No pupils, no irises, no blood vessels, nothing. Like they were constantly rolled up to where she might look inside her skull, as if the mare was possessed. Perhaps she never had any eyes at all and I only see the white insides somehow, but that wouldn’t be anatomically correct. The mare blinked at me a few times before I realized what I had just said and quickly move myself into a bow like I was beneath her hooves.

“I-I’m sorry! That was really rude of me! Please forgive me!”

I was responded with a few pats to my head, which made me flinch at first that I thought she was going to hit me. I peeked up to see those white eyes formed upside down U’s, like an animated expression of joy or some other positive expression as I’ve seen in those Japoneighse comics. The white arches opened back up to ovals before she urged me to a sitting position that she followed, cross-legged across from me.

Upon closer inspection, though the mysterious mare was entirely pitch black, I could make out the dress she was wearing, as well as the horn signifying her as a unicorn and the ethereal mane and tail that flowed like Princess Celestia’s, strangely enough. The way she kept staring at me was starting to get creepy, though.

“Uh… Thanks for the handkerchief. You want this back?” I asked as I held up the folded square.

She took it by the corner and set it down on the side.

“Are you lost? Something I can help you with? I don’t see you around these parts.”

The white oval eyes formed into right-side up U’s as she shook her head. Opened again, she pointed a finger at herself before changing its direction over to me.

“You… want to help me?” I asked before she nodded.

I’m not sure what she wants, but I should keep myself on guard. “So what do want to help me with, exactly? If it’s about earlier, I appreciate the gesture, but I have… problems you might not help me with.

She tilted her head to the side.

“You see, I was trying to stand up for my friends from this bully earlier. We had a Magic Duel, with him taking back the insults if I won, but that didn’t happen, obviously. There was one spell I couldn’t pull off in the last round that really hurt me from failing to cast it, physically and emotionally. He laughed at me and walked away with his friend while I was on the ground. My own friends were concerned if I was all right, but I ended up running away from them. I couldn’t face them after failing like that.”

I looked down with ears folded while hugging my knees. “I honestly don’t know what to do anymore. No matter how much I studied magic, no matter how much effort I put into it, I could never perform higher level spells. If I can’t perform greater spells, what else is there for me to do? Not like there are other kinds of magic unicorns can do, is there?” I looked up to see the mare still staring attentively at me.

She held up a finger at me and picked the folded handkerchief back up by the corner, holding it up to me.

“Uh, I don’t feel like crying anymore if that’s what you’re asking, and I don’t think I’d want to use a used handkerchief if I was.”

Her eyes formed arches again while a free hand covered her muzzle, her body shook a little.

Wait, is she giggling? What the heck’s so funny with this?

Once calmed down, she held up that free finger at me again. She gestured the folded cloth over her free hand, signifying that it was indeed a used handkerchief. With two fingers she pointed at her white eyes before changing its direction back to the piece of cloth with one.

“… Okay, I’m watching closely,” I guessed from her gestures.

Suddenly, she squashed the handkerchief with both hands and rubbing them together fiercely. There was a black aura surrounding them and her horn, white outlines making out the contours of what was inside them.

“Wait, what are you doing?! My boogers were in there! That’s gross!”

Her hands suddenly stopped rubbing together while the aura surrounding them and her horn disappeared. She looked up at me once before turning back to her hands. She slowly opened them up, revealing a pitch black dove. It just stood on her hand, scanning around the area like a normal bird would, but like the strange mare, the dove also had white eyes in place of the beady black ones.

The dove looked at my direction, and with a few flaps of its wings, it perched itself on my shoulder before staring at me expectantly.

… WHAT THE FUCK DID I JUST WATCHED?! When I realized the freaky thing was on my shoulder, I scrambled to another part of the wall I leaned against before I hyperventilated, a hand gripped tightly to my chest. The dove flew off my shoulder during the scramble and landed next to the mare who was rolling on the ground, laughing. At least, I assumed she was laughing as I couldn’t even hear anything out of her. I was too shocked to get the slightest bit annoyed.

“H-How’d you do that? What was that? How did that even get there?!” I asked before the strange mare calmed down and sat back up.

With a black aura around her horn and finger, she suddenly began drawing black lines in the air, writing something. I sat there watching this strange, but unique magic unfold while I tried to comprehend what that even was. When finished, she flipped the message around to where I could read it.

Did you like it? It read.

“Y-Yeah, I guess I liked—no, I definitely liked it! That was incredible! I’ve never seen anything like that before, or read it anywhere in my studies.”

The mare seemed giddy at my response as her eyes closed to arches and she clapped her hands together. She waved a hand over the message, making it disappear like smoke fading away. She quickly wrote another message before flipping it to me.

What would you say if I could teach you how to do this?

I looked down for a moment.

Wait a minute, was this what she wanted to help me with? She wants to teach me this new type of magic? Is it even possible? If I learned this, there are endless possibilities of where I could go with it. Most importantly, I don’t even know how high I could go with this type of magic. It could even surpass what I’ve learned up to this point!

A part of me was screaming to stop and walk away as accepting stuff from strangers was a bad idea, as what we’ve been taught from school and our parents when we were younger, but I was too wrapped up in my excitement to care. Trying to hide that anticipation, I got to one knee and bowed my head to her with eyes closed.

“Please… If I can perform this magic, I want to know all about it. Please be my teacher. I’ll follow whatever instructions necessary.”

After a moment of silence, I felt her hand holding my chin as she directed my attention up and to the side where a new message was displayed.

Do you trust me?

I guess she wants to be absolutely sure I want to do this, since she’s the only one I know right now that can teach me. I’ll admit, this one’s a… unique individual I haven’t come across in my life so far, more unique than that colt who ate that gem yesterday. I still have many questions to ask, but thinking back to where she first came to me, she showed kindness, possibly understanding, and even has a bit of a sense of humor. I don’t think she has any hidden motives at the moment, and she hasn’t posed a threat yet…

I suddenly felt a weight placed on my knee before it got under my hand. I looked down to see the black dove nuzzling against my palm and making itself comfortable under it like a blanket.

Oh that’s just not fair. This is just too cute to turn down. I couldn’t help but chuckle before I gently pet its black, velvet-like feathers down the back, which it accepted with delight. I smiled and looked back to the mare still giving me her undivided attention before I nodded my head. “Yes, I can trust you.”

The mare immediately pulled me into a hug, pressing me into her surprisingly large and soft chest and resting her head on top of my own. I was surprised at first, but smiled and hugged her back. The embrace felt warm, I couldn’t help but feel safer in her arms. Something seemed off though, like one thing in particular missing that should be there when I was in this position. With my head against her chest and my ears perked up, I realized…

Why do I not feel her heartbeat?

She broke off the hug before I said anything and placed a hand against my chest. Her eyes closed into a U shape as her horn and hand were enveloped in the black aura.

“Hey, what exactly are you—”

THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!

KACHIIIIIIIIIIING!

SLAM!

Out of nowhere, I felt large, painful pulses throughout my body before I heard a sound that was familiar to me, but louder than before. The wind was knocked out of me as the force pushed and slammed me to the wall. I leaned against it for support as I gasped for air, as if all of it was pushed out of my body a moment ago.

The pain died down surprisingly quickly, and I felt… lighter? Open? Free? I couldn’t describe it, but I felt a lot better than I usually was.

“W-What the fuck was that?! What just happened?!”

She quickly wrote a message in the air before flipping it. Sorry. I had to open you up before we could proceed.

“Open me up? What does that mean? And what for?”

You’ll see.

Finally, she stood up and pulled me along. My eyes only met her muzzle once I compared how tall we were. The mare then held up one finger before changing her hand sign into an L.

“One L… First lesson?”

She nodded before taking a few steps back with one hand in front of her. She focused intently on it before the black aura enveloped it and her horn. A black, six-pointed star figure emerged from the aura, floating in mid-air. I couldn’t believe how easy she made it out of nothing, if not whatever that black stuff was. She looked up to me and stared.

“… You want me to make this?”

She nodded.

“But, how? I don’t know the concepts and theories behind this… spell. Maybe if you wrote something I could—”

She interrupted with a finger on my lips. Stepping back once more, she took that finger and pointed it at her head.

“Head… Use my head? My imagination?”

She snapped her fingers in response, which may be her way of saying ‘bingo.’

I held a hand in front of me like she did and stared at it. Okay, I just need to think about it, right? Sounds surprisingly easy. There has to be more to go with this, or am I just overthinking it? Ah fuck it. I’ll just wing it.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes to help visualize the same six-pointed star the mare showed me. I made sure the points were the same size, length, and distance apart as the original. After a moment of intense concentration, I opened my eyes and gasped.

There it was. The six-pointed star, floating above my hand that was enveloped in a black aura like the mare’s. I looked up as much as I could to barely see my horn was also in that same aura. I turned back to the star with widened eyes.

“… I did it. I really did it.” A smile slowly spread across my face. “I FUCKING DID IT!” I yelled to the sky before making a bunch of victory poses and pumping my free fist in the air.

“YESYESYESYESYES! Ha! This is incredible! Wonder if I can make other shapes like this? Okay okay, let’s try… a square!” I immediately visualized the shape without closing my eyes. I stared astonishingly at the star morphing itself into a black square. “HOLY CRAP THIS IS AWESOME!”

I then went crazy with what I could do with it. Changing the square into a triangle, then a circle, and a few other shapes. I was pretty much just playing with it once I started moving it around. “This is unbelievable! I still can’t believe I can do this! Miss! Thank you so much for—!”

I quickly turned around to see the black mare was gone. I glanced the area to see if she was hiding in places the moonlight couldn’t reach before I realized that was gone too. She as well as that black dove disappeared without a trace. I wondered where she took off before I felt something wet drop onto my eyes, making me flinch.

“Huh?” I let the black figure floating above my hand disappear along with the aura before I looked up. More wet drops fell from the sky and it took me a moment to remember what was going on. “OH FUCK THE RAINSTORM! I GOTTA GET HOME!” I sprinted out of the alleyway to make my way home, the drizzle quickly transitioning to a heavy shower.

Despite getting soaking wet, I was smiling like an idiot remembering how I just learned something truly unique and incredible. I didn’t know who that mare was, I but definitely had to thank her and get her name next time I saw her. As I ran through the streets, a mixture of excitement and fear welled inside of me.

“I got to tell Mom and Dad about this.”

Once I got to the door of my house, I quickly rushed inside and slammed it shut behind me. I was gasping for breath while I was drenched in rainwater that dripped from my clothes, mane, and tail.

“Starry Night! Where have you been?!” The loud, familiar voice made me stiffened in place. I looked up and saw my parents standing in the dining room. Dinner on the table looked like it was sitting there for quite a while. Mom was standing with her hands on her hips, wearing a different attire and style of mane and tail than she had this morning, while Dad looked like he was just settling back home with how he’s still in uniform. He out of the two was not looking at his best right now with his crossed arms, piercing crimson eyes that I inherited, and the somber expression that I’ve seen that could bring his cadets down to their knees.

“Son? You better have a good reason as to why you made us worry for so long, and coming back so late in your state,” Dad said before he and Mom stood there silently, waiting for an answer as I trembled. I didn’t realize how dry my throat got from when I gulped.

I took a deep breath, one I didn’t know I was holding for dear life, and breathed out with a sigh. “Okay, just hear me out and let me go through the important events before you ask any questions, please.”

They glanced at each other before turning back to me. “All right, we’re listening,” Dad said.

I intentionally left out what happened up to the arcade today and explained what went on in the park. Emerald Brace and Copper Cut’s arrival, the dissing, Mom and Dad were listening intently until I went to the Magic Duel in the last round…

“You tried to do WHAT?!” Dad exclaimed, interrupting my story. “Does he not know how dangerous performing that spell is for a unicorn without enough experience?! How far did you push yourself?!”

“I… pretty much exploded.” I looked down with ears folded. “I’m sorry that I might have embarrassed you two for me not performing the spell. If I studied it more ahead of time, I might have…” I trailed off before Mom interrupted with a hug.

“Sweetie, we are not embarrassed at all, and there’s no need for you to be ashamed of yourself for something you couldn’t pull off. I don’t know how you’re able to walk it off, but please don’t push yourself if a spell starts to get painful. Your safety is a bigger concern for us than your accomplishments.”

“I’m going to have a word with that brat’s parents later,” Dad said. “So what happened after that duel?”

“I couldn’t face Granite or Misty after the duel, so I ran off. How long, I didn’t know, but I got into quite a slump later. That was when this mare came and tried to cheer me up.”

“What kind of mare was she?”

“A unicorn. Somepony I haven’t seen around the city. She seemed to be a traveling performer because she was showing me these awesome tricks to help me feel better.” Yeah, that sounds about right. Just as much as I could make out at the moment until I learn more about her.

“Well that’s really nice of her. She must have been quite a practitioner of magic,” Mom said.

“Oh was she. She even taught me a trick myself before I had to run back home. Here, you’ve got to see this.” I stepped back and held up my hand like before. With a little focus, a black aura formed around my hand once more before the black six-pointed star rose above it. “You see that?! How cool is… this?” I looked up to see Mom and even Dad standing there with widened eyes. Something was off about their looks, though.

It was as if they were afraid, somehow.

“Mom? Dad? Are you all right?” I asked, letting my trick dissipate.

“Son… Why don’t you take your dinner upstairs to your room for tonight, clean up and get ready for bed?” Dad asked. “Your mother and I have something to discuss. Just leave your plate in the kitchen sink when you’re done.”

“Um, okay.” I went to the kitchen to pick up my plate with silverware, and an apple that was in a bowl set aside. Before I made my way upstairs, I looked to them. “Uh, goodnight.”

“You have a good night too, sweetie. Get plenty of rest,” Mom said before I walked up the steps.

That was odd… I don’t think Dad ever asked me to eat in my room before. I walked into my room and set my food on my desk before I used magic to pull a towel out of my bathroom as well as a change of clothes out of my drawers. I dried myself once I stripped off my soaked clothes in the bathroom until something caught my eye.

“Wait, what?”

I moved the towel off of my shoulders to see a marking on each side, a black six-pointed star like earlier. I tried rubbing the towel over one of them, but it wasn’t coming off, not to mention it was somehow tingly to the touch. “No. It can’t be.” I looked to my lower half on each side of my bare hips, and those same marks were there as well. I touched one of them to find it was a little more sensitive than my shoulders’. “Could this… be my cutie mark?”

A part of me wanted to jump around my room in excitement for finally earning my cutie mark, but I was still feeling off about how Mom and Dad acted. Actually, I probably couldn’t get excited with how anxious I was currently feeling. I thought they’d be psyched to see me perform such a unique form of magic. Happy, maybe proud, but it turned out the complete opposite.

I wanted to check in on them, especially if what they were discussing involved me, so I quickly changed into my pajamas once I was dried off and crept out of my room, towards the top of the stairs where I laid low and peeked behind the corner.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Mom asked.

“It must be done. That magic is dangerous and could hold a potential threat to anypony around him.” Dad answered. “The place we’re sending him is secluded and safe enough where nopony can be harmed. I don’t know how long it will take, but as of right now, nopony around Starry, not even his friends, is safe. This is the best course of action for all of us.”

My whole body was trembling after what I just heard. I quickly and quietly walked back to my room, gently closed the door behind me, and cast a sound-proof spell around my room so nopony outside would hear me.

“My magic is… d-dangerous?” I asked with a tremble in my voice. “And my friends… won’t be safe around me? Where is this secluded place Dad was talking about? Why do they want to send me away?” I tried to come up with the right answer for these questions, but my mind was clouded with fear, anxiety, confusion, and despair. I didn’t know where my parents want to send me away, but I thought it was safe, yet morbid to assume that they somehow saw me as some kind of monster, and now they think I needed to be locked up before I hurt anypony. My mind was drawing a blank. I couldn’t think straight at that moment except for one thing.

“… I got to get out of here.” It was the best conclusion I came up with at the time.

I hastily grabbed my backpack and dumped all my school contents on the bed. I quickly changed into new clothes before tossing the pajamas I had into the bag. With magic, I pulled a few more sets of pajamas as well as clothes from my drawers to put in the bag. I got to my closet and also packed two jackets—one with a hood while the other didn’t.

“…I need to let Misty and Granite know about this. They deserve that much after I left them like that.” I took two parchments and two quills from my school pile with my magic before I set them on my desk once I slid my dinner to the side. I got the quills dipped in ink before I started writing their respective names on each letter.

To Misty/Roxxie,

It is with great regret to say that there’s absolutely no chance of me staying in Canterlot anymore. It seems with a recent discovery I found after we parted ways and what I told to my parents, they came to the conclusion that I poise too big of a threat to be around them and the two of you anymore. They want to send me someplace far away where I won’t hurt anypony, but I’ll be saving them the trouble. If what they said was true, I don’t want to risk getting either of you hurt just from being around me, as you both are the best friends I could ever ask for.

I paused mid-way when something important came to mind. “… Well, I’d rather not have any regrets left behind,” I said to myself before I continued writing.

Both of you are very important to me, and honestly? I might have grown a crush on you two from all the times the three of us shared together. Don’t ask which of you I’d choose, though. I don’t think I could ever pick one over the other out of favoritism, though I guess being indecisive isn’t a good quality to have, huh?

I’m sorry that I won’t be able stay with you two, but it’s best for all of us that I was gone. Thank you for all the wonderful times we all shared. I couldn’t ask for better friends with ponies so amazing and beautiful like you two around. I will always like the both of you for as long as I live.

Goodbye and Thank You,

Starry Night

After finishing the letters, I rolled and tied them each with a fancy ribbon I kept in my drawers for important messages. I stuffed the letters and the apple from the dinner plate in my coat pockets, and turned to the picture frame on my desk to see the three of us in an amusement park we visited one day, having the time of our lives. I took the photo out of the frame and tucked it in a special pocket in my backpack before zipping it up. I then grabbed a few towels and toiletries, as well as my piggy bank containing my life’s savings before stuffing them in my backpack as well. Lastly, I pulled a sleeping bag I had used on our family camping trips from the closet and tied it around my backpack, finishing my preparations.

I opened the window and the cold, heavy rains and wind blew inside, practically slapping against my entire face. Despite the distraction, I put my hood up and was able to levitate my things and myself out of the window—with surprisingly more ease than earlier with the high schooler that attacked Misty—and gently landed on the wet ground before closing my way out. With one last look at my former home, I rushed out of the property.

It took me some time, but I was able to drop off the letters in their respective mailboxes before I made my way to the main gates of Canterlot. I knew the trains wouldn’t be running at this time, but I knew there was also an exit that anypony can walk through at any time.

As I made my way, my eyes caught a pony in an alleyway, wrapped in a tarp. A large cardboard box was behind him while a fire was going inside a drum in front of him, set under a makeshift tent to keep the flames from getting wet. It was dark from a distance, but I could see it looked up at me while I stared back. Besides my horn sticking out, I was sure the rest of my face was concealed thanks to the hood. The pony looked young, around my age, and I felt bad somepony was stranded like that in this kind of weather. It wasn’t much, but I pulled out the apple I saved earlier and levitate it over in my light blue aura before the pony caught it in his/her hands. The least the poor thing could have is some food to get through the night. I nodded to the homeless pony, wishing it luck before I continued running to the main gates.

I approached the large cave-like exit and slowed to a walk until I stopped. I turned back to take one last look at my hometown as a whole, dark and drenched under the heavy rain.

“… Good-bye Misty. Good-bye Granite. Good-bye Canterlot. You’ll all be dearly missed.” I turned my back towards the cave and started running down the stairs of the mountain, using an illumination spell to help light the way in the new darkness.

Author's Note

And so our main male protagonist has left Canterlot. Where will he go from here, and what other discoveries will he find about the mysterious new magic he learned? Finally, who the heck was that creepy black mare? Some of these questions and others may be answered in the next chapter as we check back with how Lumina's doing with her issues. Until next time,

This is Dudeler, signing off.

Chapter 7: Light and Shadow

I sighed and stretched my body after changing into new clothes. I left my tent to appreciate my work in setting up camp for the night. In matters of convenience and efficiency, we were told that three ponies are able to squeeze into these tents along with their gear, and I could understand why from the size of it after I had finished setting it up. It was a good distraction after I had a good cry a while ago, along with putting up my soaked clothes on a provided liner to dry overnight.

“All right, that should do it. I still can’t believe how things escalated into this.” My thoughts drifted to that kiss before I shook myself out of it. “Let’s just try to get past that and think of something else …”

I knew I would be travelling with Nil once we regrouped in Manehattan, but I wanted to think of what other options are available if things turn out ugly. It was true that I wanted to learn more about my Light Magic and why this type of elemental magic was so rare among practitioners. The old hag explained some when I was training under her, but she was still rather cryptic about some details, annoying as that was. If she wasn’t going to be straight even if I talked to her again, I might as well look for those answers on my own, right?

Sure, I could have gone back home to Trottingham where my mother and older sister would still be doing their own things, and from the letters we exchanged during my year at the academy, they seemed to miss me as much as I missed them. That still left the question of what I wanted to do with my life.

“I guess getting into the business that most of my family’s in would be one option. It sounds like a lot of fun, but I’m not sure if I want one of my favorite activities to be turned into a way of living …” Before I thought any deeper, my stomach suddenly growled. “Guess all that excitement made me forget about dinner. Good thing I—”

Snap!

“Freeze!” Out of habit, I immediately sprang up to my hooves and pointed two of my fingers on one hand at the source of the sound’s direction, readying to create a small magic sphere. “Step slowly into the clearing with your hands in the air!”

I wheezed and leaned against the wall of the mountain, catching my breath after finally going down countless stairs to leave Canterlot’s premises.

“Holy shit, that took a while,” I breathed between pants. “I gotta keep going though. Mom and Dad must have noticed I was gone and sent a search party to look for me.”

I quickly looked around and noted my surroundings before my eyes caught the Foal Mountains’ majestic silhouette. Looking down, I saw a large forest across a flowing river that surrounded the mountain Canterlot was perched upon.

“That looks like a good spot to hide for the night.” I went straight into the forest, using my magic to hover myself over the river to get across before I jogged the rest of the way. It was a good thing I tried to stay fit in my running with Dad drilling me some mornings of the week, or I might have been exhausted before I even reached the bottom of the mountain.

I arrived in the forest minutes later, slowing my jog to a walk to conserve energy. It was a little chilly, especially with my soaked clothes. The noises from some of the animals in the dark were sending shivers up my spine.

Come on, Starry, get a grip. I just need to get through one night out here before I figure out what to do next after morning comes. Just gotta find a good place to sleep, relax, keep cool, and not make any noises—

Snap! My thoughts were interrupted when I stepped on a twig, followed by an immediate shout.

“Freeze! Step slowly into the clearing with your hands in the air!” a mare exclaimed as I saw two glowing things of purple in the distance, one looking like an aura around a horn while the other below that was a ball of light.

Oh fuck! That’s a Magic Gun! If this pony knows that, then they must have trained in the Royal Guard! What are they doing here?!

“You hear what I said?! I said step into the clearing with your hands in the air!”

Fuck, I shouldn’t disobey right now. Just play along and see if you can find a way to escape. I gulped and raised my arms, elbows bent at ninety degrees, before I obliged and walked toward the lights. I was trembling more out of fear than the cold as I got closer to the clearing where the pony was, and once I stepped out, I shut my eyes tightly, waiting for the inevitable. I stood there for what felt like an eternity.

“Whoa, wait, aren’t you the kid from yesterday?”

I cracked open one of my eyes to peek before both opened wide once I saw who the pony was. Her weapon was lowered as she looked at me in question. It’s that mare … “Uh, yeah, I think so. You told me and my friends to get back home before dark after that colt ate a gem and left.”

“Yeah, that’s it. Didn’t think I’d see you again around these parts. What are you doing out here? Oh, and you can lower your arms now.”

“Uh …” I looked to the side as I lowered my arms, trying to come up with an answer before my stomach interrupted me.

“I guess you skipped out on dinner, too?”

“Y-Yeah.”

“Hold on, I got some food in my bag. I was going to grab some grub before you came along. Have a seat.”

I took off my backpack and set it aside before sitting myself down cross-legged while the mare went into her tent. Well, I guess I owe Misty an apology for proving myself wrong about not running into this mare again. Still, I didn’t think she was training in the Royal Guard when I saw her yesterday. That shady guy with her must have been in it too. If she knows my dad though, I’ll need to keep my identity hidden.

Moments later, the mare came back with two plastic containers, water bottles, and forks pulled out from a paper bag. “It got a bit lukewarm since I put them in earlier, so I hope you don’t mind,” she said as she passed one of each to me.

“N-No! Not at all! Your generosity in sharing this is much appreciated.” I opened the lid, letting some of the steam leave the package. The mare sat and stared as she waited for me to take the first bite. I got the first spoonful into my mouth and gave it a few chews before my eyes widened. “Whoa, this is really good. What is it?”

“Corn casserole, my mom’s recipe,” she answered as she took the first bite herself. “Doesn’t exactly taste the same as I remember though.”

“Well it’s still very delicious, and I’m sure your mom would be proud, so thank you for sharing it.”

She smiled. “Don’t mention it.”

The next couple minutes were spent in silence as we ate our fill. Once finished, the mare put the dirtied containers, forks, and empty bottles back in the paper bag before turning to me. “Sorry if I scared you earlier. From the day I had, I was tense enough to respond the way I was trained.”

“It’s fine. So are you in the E.U.P. Guard Academy?”

“I was. Today was my last day there before I decided to get the fuck out of it.”

“You didn’t have a good time over there?”

“I didn’t want to go there to begin with, but complications had me going anyways.”

“I’m sorry your stay in Canterlot wasn’t that great.”

“Eh, the city’s fine, but it’s not the kind of place I want to live in. There were more stuck-ups walking around there than I thought. I wanted to take the train to Manehattan, but the station was closed when I was ready to leave and I didn’t want to stay another day there.”

“So that’s why you’re out here near the Foal Mountains?”

“Yup. I’ll be heading to Manehattan first thing in the morning, too. So what’s your story being out here?”

I opened my mouth before the series of events from earlier came to mind: the conversation my parents had, the fear I had in my room, the panic that rushed me packing and leaving the house, and the sorrow after I left the letters to my best friends in the world. My mind went fuzzy at that moment before I gritted my teeth, shut my eyes tightly, and tried not to let any tears fall.

“Hey, are you all right?” the mare asked as I felt a hand on my shoulder. I jolted my eyes open to see a blurry vision of the pony in front of me.

The coldness ran through me once more as I started to shiver. I looked down and hugged my arms, trying to make it stop. “I-I’m sorry. I don’t know what … J-Just let me take a moment to—”

Before I said anything else, a feeling of warmth enveloped me as I gasped silently. The shivering stopped, but my vision was still shaky.

“Don’t worry, it’s okay. You can let it all out.”

The soothing voice that said those words was like magic as I broke and bawled into her shoulder. All the anxiety I’d held in from that moment was pouring out into tears as I wrapped my arms around her while she stroked my back. I thought I did enough crying after I lost the Magic Duel, but this was much more intense.

After what felt like an eternity, I finally started to calm down as my sobs became quieter. My shoulders still shook a little before I pulled myself back and wiped my eyes and nose with my sleeve.

“You feel a little better?”

“A little. Sorry for all of that.”

“Everypony needs a good cry now and then, so don’t worry about it.”

I looked back up to the mare with a clearer vision, seeing her smile softly while the moonlight accentuated her beauty.

“Why don’t you calmly explain from the beginning what happened and we’ll see where to go from there, all right?”

I sniffled and nodded before I told her about the biggest things which had happened today: the Magic Duel I lost, the new magic I learned—with details of who taught me still too vague to explain—what went on when I got home, and how I got here in the woods. The mare sat there listening intently throughout the whole thing, stopping me a few times for a question or two before I continued to the end.

“I see, I think I get it now,” she said with a nod, “and your two fillyfriends are the ones that were with you yesterday, right?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“They looked pretty cute. You must be quite the stallion to snag those two ponies.” She then smirked while quirking a brow.

“I’m not much, really. After what happened today, they deserve a lot better, especially since I couldn’t choose between them.”

“Hmm … Have you thought of forming a herd with them?”

“Oh I couldn’t do that. That stuff is pretty taboo in Canterlot, especially for the higher class that one of my friends grew up with. I don’t think she would want that, her parents especially. I’m not so sure about my other friend, though.”

“Well going back to what kind of pony they deserve, let me tell you something. From the colts I’ve seen when I was around your age, you’re a lot better than them. Not many of them would do what you did for your friends today. Just showing how much you care about them can get fillies to swoon. I know I’d want to be with you if I was in their hooves, and your cuteness is just a bonus for them.”

“Oh geez.” I averted my gaze and rubbed my arm while my face heated up. I was sure my color would stand out even in the dark.

“Still, I’m really sorry all of that happened to you,” she said with concern. “What are you going to do now?”

“I don’t know. Dad said my magic was dangerous, apparently, and I don’t want anypony to get hurt because of that.” I looked down with ears folded. “I guess I’d wander to a stranded place like they’d intended and live however long I can.”

“Speaking of which, I haven’t exactly seen this so-called dangerous magic of yours yet. Would you be willing to give a demonstration?”

Goosebumps started to rise under my fur as I jolted my head up to her. “Y-You … want to see it?”

“Can’t really say how dangerous this magic is unless I see it myself. What do you say? Could you do this for me? Please?”

My eyes darted around as my mind was drawing a blank. After a couple seconds, I realized what this kind mare had done for me tonight, and it wasn’t fair not to give something in return. I took a deep breath and looked back up to her. “Okay, just this once, but try not to freak out when you see it.”

“Trust me, there’s a good chance I’ve seen freakier. Now show me what you got.”

I nodded and held up my palm. With a little concentration as practiced earlier, a black aura surrounded my hand once more before a six-pointed star like my cutie mark rose out of it, hovering a few inches while it spun slowly. I glanced up to see the mare staring wide-eyed with a hand covering her muzzle. Her violet eyes were smaller than when I first saw them.

I figured there’d be a reaction like that. I sighed as I let go of my concentration, letting the star and aura around my hand dissipate. “I understand if you’re scared of this too. I think this might be a good time for me to go.” I stood up and lugged my things over my shoulders before I looked back down at the mare who was still staring. “Thank you for the food and hearing my story. I’ll find another place to sleep and get out of your hair. Have a good night …” I walked past her with ears folded as I made my way out of the clearing—

“Hold it,” she called, stopping me in my tracks. I was suddenly enveloped by a purple aura before being lifted up from the ground while my gear slipped off of my back. I was pulled back to a sitting position in front of the mare. “What’s your name?”

“W-What?”

“We’ve been sitting out here for the past half hour talking about how screwed up our lives are and you think you can just walk away without even introducing yourself like some sort of emo protagonist trying to look cool? No, I’m not even letting you get back up until we get over that bridge. So what … is your name?”

“S-Starry, ma’am.” I left out the other name fearing she might know whose son I was.

“Starry, let me tell you right now that that magic you have there isn’t dangerous. It only is in the hands of bad ponies, and if what you told me tonight is true, you are not a bad pony.”

“I-It isn’t dangerous? How do you know?”

“Because I have a magic that’s similar to that. Watch closely.” She then held up her own palm with a focused gaze, and suddenly, instead of purple, her horn was enveloped in a yellow light before a ball of the same color and essence appeared above her palm. The development lit up the majority of the clearing, as well as lighting up her distinguishing features that included the small smile gracing her face.

I was going to call her out that she was casting an illumination spell like I did earlier, but there was something really different with what she was doing. First, like my own recently discovered magic, hers was a completely different color than her Magic Gun and levitation I saw earlier. Second, the illumination spell only lets the horn light up the area around them, and it doesn’t form into a ball like she did. Third, the light produced a certain kind of warmth, something the illumination spell could never do. So instead of a retort, I was left with this response:

“… Whoa.”

“And that’s not all I could do. Watch the tree behind you at 2 o’ clock.” The ball of light then shrank to the size of a grape before it moved to two of her fingers. She pointed them towards the tree like she would with a Magic Gun. The ball was shot with a high-pitched squeal, moving at a faster speed than I’ve seen from a Magic Gun before it hit the tree she mentioned, leaving a burnt, black, round indent in the bark. The after effect was entirely different compared to a Magic Gun’s blast. If a Magic Gun shot a pony, the least dangerous form would make the force strong enough to knock the wind out of them, sometimes even stopping another unicorn from using magic for a brief moment if they willed it. If not handled carefully, the Magic Gun would make quite the lethal weapon, but it seemed the kind of shot the mare made showed its own kind of danger.

“Holy shit ...”

“What this is right here is called Light Magic, and what you have is called Shadow Magic,” the mare continued as I turned back to her. “This isn’t even limited to us unicorns either. You know the pegasus I was with yesterday? He actually has magic like us, too.”

“That shady hermit guy? Seriously?”

She snorted. “Shady hermit guy, good one! But yes, I’m serious. The three of us together are called Wielders, those who are able to cast these special forms of magic which is accessible to all three races. There are three other kinds of magic that are out there as well.”

I blinked as I was at a loss for what to say, but one question did come to mind. “So … Why exactly are you telling me this?”

“Let me ask you this first: Do you want to learn more about what this magic is?”

“Y-Yeah, definitely.”

“That pegasus and I will be travelling around Equestria to figure out what this magic is. Since it seems like you don’t know where to go from here, why don’t you join us?”

My eyes widened. “Y-You want me to come with you on this search?”

“I wouldn’t ask you if I didn’t want you to, would I? I will have to warn you, however,” the mare’s brow furrowed, “from what he told me, it sounds like we might come across a lot of obstacles along the way. Lots of trouble, basically. It may even be dangerous. You won’t have to take on things alone, but the three of us would need to work together while shouldering each other’s weights to get through them all. Are you still interested in joining us after hearing this, Starry?”

I looked down with a furrowed brow of my own. It was true that I wanted to learn more about this Shadow Magic the mare explained to me, even more now along with what other kinds of magic are out there. There could be a chance I’d show the world how my magic wasn’t dangerous while at the same time learning what exactly I could do with it. I had already left everything dear to me behind and desperately run into the unknown ahead of me out of fear.

That being said, what else did I have left to lose?

I looked back up to the mare who still had the patient, but serious expression, waiting for my answer. “I … wanna know what I can do in this world, what this Shadow Magic is capable of, and I only have that, the magic I’ve already learned, as well as what I have on my back to get me by. I don’t know what I can do to help you guys, but I want to do my best, even if it means putting myself in danger.”

“So you’ll join us, then?”

“Yes. That is my decision, if you’ll have me.”

“In that case, let me be the first in welcoming you to the group.” With a determined smile, she held out a hand in front of me. “The name’s Luminescence Luster, but I like to go by Lumina. I’m what you’d call a Light Wielder if you haven’t guessed already.”

A smile spread on my face as I firmly grasped her hand to shake it. “I’m Starry, and … I guess I’m a Shadow Wielder if I do Shadow Magic, right?”

“That’s right.”

“That sounds pretty badass.”

She giggled before we pulled our hands back. “It kind of does, doesn’t it? Anyway, we still need to talk to Nil—that’s the pegasus’ name, by the way—about you joining us, but I have my ways of convincing him if normal methods don’t work, so you don’t have much to worry about,” she finished with a wink.

“All right, I guess I’ll count on you then.” The two of us stood and I picked up my things once more.

“Great! I already have a tent set up so we’ll be sleeping there tonight. Your clothes still look damp from the rain earlier, so it might be a good idea to change so you don’t catch a cold. You can hang the old ones on the liner over there.” She pointed her thumb behind her before I looked over her shoulder. There I saw pieces of clothing hanging on the liner, which included… a large black laced bra and matching panties.

Heat rose to my head before I shook it and cleared my throat. “Y-Yeah, good idea. I’ll just uh … change out here while you settle in.”

“Sounds good. I’ll see you inside.” She then went back into the tent with the paper bag in hand while I went to the side to change into some new clothes.

As I hung the damp clothes on the liner, my eyes strayed to Lumina’s underwear, specifically the tag on her bra. I focused on the print before my eyes widened and I covered my mouth. My face was burning hot. Holy shit! 36DD?! How did she get through the academy with those huge things bouncing around?! My mind suddenly wandered to an image of her jogging around a track where her breasts were bouncing all over the place. I tried to shake the image off and slapped my cheeks. Sports bra! She must have a well-supported sports bra! There’s no way they wouldn’t be bouncing around like crazy otherwise! And I need to stop thinking about this!

I took a few deep breaths to try to keep myself composed. Just calm down, Starry. Lumina’s kind enough to provide you some help, so you shouldn’t even be thinking about her so disrespectfully and lewd-like. I mean, I may have stumbled across Mom’s and Dad’s secret stashes, and walked into Sultry’s ‘adult’ section in her shop—both cases on accident and innocent curiosity—and may have started seeing mares in a new light, but that doesn’t mean you should treat them any differently. I don’t know what the heck Misty and Granite would’ve done if they found that out about me before I left.

Anyway, you owe a lot to Lumina for treating you this nicely, so you need to treat her the same way, especially with how mature and attractive she is. I may have already started working towards it, but with how things are now, it’s really time to start acting like the strong, helpful, dependable stallion you promised to that filly to become all those years ago. I looked up to the night sky and pointed my pinky finger in the air. With the motions of the Sky Promise, I punched my fist to the stars, sending a message to that filly wherever she may be that I was still going strong. “Yes! I will do my best!” I exclaimed in a whisper.

Was this the right move for me to do? I thought to myself as I settled in my sleeping bag while waiting for Starry to come inside. Usually the right thing to do would be to return a lost pony to their home, but not only do I not want to go back to Canterlot after coming all this way, I feel sorry for the poor guy being abandoned by his own family like that. Whatever circumstances arose during that time, I just don’t see anything wrong with that kid after talking to him tonight, which contradicts what that old hag told me a while back about Shadow Wielders, too.

I recalled one of my training sessions with the old hag back in Trottingham where she was telling me a little about the other kinds of magic that were similar to mine. There was just that one warning she told me while she was lecturing about it that stood out to me.

“Whatever you do, Lumina, do not associate yourself with anypony that possesses Shadow Magic. They are considered unpredictable, cunning, and dangerous to be around. The moment you let one of them in with your guard down, they’ll stab you in the back the moment they get the opportunity. Literally.”

Yep. No matter how I looked at it, I just can’t see that kid being anything like the old hag described. Maybe she has some kind of grudge with them?

When I thought back to how the kid was desperately trying to hold back his tears, there was something familiar about that situation I couldn’t put a finger on. Plus, I didn’t even think about why I hugged and comforted him the way I did. Sure, anypony might have said it was the right thing to do, but it was as if I knew what to do as soon as I saw what was in front of me. Whatever was up with that kid, he resembled something I’ve seen before.

Ugh, this is just gonna keep me up all night if I keep thinking about it. I sighed and scratched my head after I undid the ponytail in my mane. As soon as I set the band aside, sounds of the tent’s zippers opening and closing were heard. I sat up to see Starry coming in with his horn lit with an illumination spell, lighting up the tent before he set his things down and started preparing his sleeping bag. “You all set there?” I asked.

“Yeah, I think it’s good enough, anyways,” he answered. After he finished setting up his sleeping bag, he turned to me with a smile. “Lumina, I just want to thank you again for everything you’ve done tonight. I think you’ve pretty much saved my life here.”

“Don’t worry about it,” I answered with a smile. “We both had a heck of a day, but it’s all over now.”

“At least until we begin anew tomorrow. I promise I’ll do whatever it takes to be a good … uh, what’s a good word for this? Companion? Partner?”

I couldn’t help but giggle. “No need for formalities, kid. At this point, we’re pretty much friends now.”

“You really mean that?”

“Sure, why not?”

“Well in that case, can we do something I do with my friends when we make promises? It just holds a lot more significance that way.”

“Ooh~, like a secret handshake?”

“Something like that, yeah.”

“I don’t see why not. Lead the way and I’ll follow along.”

“It’s pretty easy. We just hold one pinky finger pointing each other like this,” he began as he demonstrated. I followed his example raising my right pinky in front of me and pointing it to his own. “Then we make the promise to everypony following the gesture pointing at the center. In this case, I promise to be a good friend who won’t be a burden to you and will support you in any way possible in the times to come.”

Wait, that’s weird, why does this—

“Then, we raise those pinkies high in the air, sending our promises to the sky as our witness and signifying they will always be near us when we think about them,” he continued as I mimicked his movements without thinking. “After that, we pull them down and back with our hands clenched into fists. And then with oomph, we punch right at each other, giving our promises the power and strength to not be broken since everypony involved got caught in it. The gestures are counted up to three so everypony is in sync with the motions once the promise is declared, and that’s how the Sky Promise works.”

The moment I heard the name after we punched, I was suddenly filled with nostalgia. This weird sense of déjà vu like earlier became stronger, but I somehow still couldn’t remember where I had even seen or heard of this situation before. My mind was going in circles like a dog chasing its own tail, where the answer seemed so close but was just out of reach.

“So what do you think? Pretty cool promise, huh?”

“H-Huh? Oh, yeah. It’s definitely unique. I kind of like it. So this means I’ll really hold you to that promise, right?”

“That’s right, and I won’t let you down.”

“All right, I guess that goes for me watching your back, too. Now let’s get some sleep and get plenty of rest. We’ve got a big day ahead of us.”

“Sure thing.” Starry then turned off the illumination spell, leaving the inside of the tent dark as we got ourselves comfortable in our sleeping bags. “Night, Lumina.”

“Good night, Starry.” I was facing away from Starry as I said that while staring at the darkened tent wall. After a few moments of silence, I closed my eyes.

Just who are you exactly, Starry?

Author's Note

And thus, a new journey awaits our main protagonists the next day.

But first, something unexpected comes up in Starry's dreams. What could be waiting for him in his slumber? You'll have to see in the next chapter, and until next time,

This is Dudeler, signing off.

Chapter 8: Wielder and Seer

“M-Mommy? Daddy?” W-Where am I? The haunted house was so scary that I ran out by myself. There are a lot of ponies here, but none of them look like my parents. Are they still inside?

I quickly looked around, having cried earlier, but enough time had passed that the trails my tears left had dried up; however, my fright and terror were quickly getting their wetness back as I was starting to get scared again. I shook, but tightly closed my eyes, clenched my fists, and gritted my teeth while trying to keep myself from crying again. I’m scared, but I don’t wanna to cry again. Daddy never cries because he’s strong. I thought going into the haunted house would make me strong as him, but …

“Hey, are you okay?”

I jumped back and yelped from the sudden voice and touch, tears rolling down my face again as I saw the new pony in front of me. It was a filly with a short mane tied in twin-tails, and her face was painted orange with black stripes and whiskers, making her look like a tiger.

“I’m sorry. Did I scare you?” she asked.

I shook my head quickly and wiped my tears, trying to stop them from falling as best as I could.

“Are you lost?”

“N-no … Yes, I think.”

“Do you know where you saw your parents before?”

“W-We were in the haunted house.”

“Really? Why did you go in there?”

“I wanted to show Daddy I could be as strong and brave as him, but …”

“I see. I was scared when I tried it once before, too. Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll make it through next time.”

I sniffled. “Really?”

“Really, really. Now why don’t we go look for your parents together, okay?” She smiled as she held a hand out towards me.

I nodded a little and took her hand, gripping it tight so I wouldn’t get lost again. She was bigger than me and so was her hand, but it was warm and soft. I felt better, somehow.

“Ugh … What was that?” I asked as I sat up and rubbed my eyes. Where did that come from? As I blinked to clear my vision, I realized I was in a completely different space than where I slept before. Another familiar place I know too well, but at the same time was different in a way I couldn’t describe.

“Is this Canterlot Park? Here’s the tree we always hung out beneath, and the playground is over there, but …” Everywhere else I looked there was a field of grass as far as I could see. No stony pavement nearby, and no indication I was on a mountain whatsoever. “Am I dreaming?”

“Why yes. You are, indeed.”

The new voice startled me enough to make me jump up. I checked my surroundings. The source wasn’t around. “Who’s there?! Where are you?!” I was really on edge. The voice came out of nowhere, but it had some sort of familiarity to it. I didn’t know why that was, but I was too pent up to think about it further as I backed myself towards the tree behind me.

That was when a black figure dropped in, centimeters close to my face.

“Boo.”

“Gah!” I jumped back and hit my head against the bark with a thump, shaking the tree to a slight rustle. I groaned and rubbed the spot where I hit myself with my eyes tightly closed while I heard the figure drop to the ground and guffawed.

“Oh Starry, you’re still scared of a lot of things, I see,” she tried to say between breaths.

When I opened my eyes, they widened as I saw who was tossing on the ground before me. “I-It’s you! The black pony from the streets! And you can talk!”

“Yes, that’s correct. The very same.” She calmed down and stood up while wiping a nonexistent tear from her empty white eyes. Though she was speaking, there was no mouth for her to talk with.

“And how do you know my name? I never introduced myself … At least I don’t think I did.”

“You may not know or remember me, but I know almost everything about you, Starry Night. From the moment you were born into the world, actually.”

I crossed my arms and tilted my head. “You have? But I’d remember a pony as black and … unique with eyes as you if I’ve seen you before. Are you some kind of stalker?” I looked up to the blue cloudless skies. “Now that I think about it, your voice sounds familiar. Where have I …?”

“I was inactive for quite some time, but it wasn’t until very recently that I started calling out to you. Remember?”

“Calling out? When did …” That was when it hit me. The thing I was experiencing that made me sleepy over the past few weeks. “Are you the same mare from my dreams that involved those glowing chains?”

“Yes! Oh, I’m so happy you remembered!” She suddenly pulled me into a tight hug. My head was held against her big soft chest due to the noticeable height difference. Heat rose to my face at first, but despite the embarrassment I felt something different in this contact than the last time.

A heartbeat was racing against my face, probably out of excitement, but that definitely wasn’t there the last time we made full physical contact.

“W-Wait! Hold on a second!” I quickly pulled myself away from the black mare, trying to catch my breath while thinking things through. “Just let me make sense out of this first, all right?”

“Of course.”

“So … The mare in the dreams was you, so that means you’re also the same mare that was in that clump of chains I was trying to reach, too. Right?”

“That’s correct.”

“Okay, so … how do you know me, how did you go from my dreams to the real world, why are you able to speak now instead of the last time we met, and most importantly, who and what the heck are you?”

“I suppose I have a lot to explain and we have a limited time in this space, so I’ll try to keep it brief. I am what you may call a Seer, a being that not only watches over Wielders from the moment they’re awakened—whether they’re conscious of it or not—but is also a part of them as well. I am the manifestation of the magic you’ve recently used earlier with great success.”

“You mean that you’re the source of my Shadow Magic that Lumina told me about?”

“Precisely. Everypony in your world has a Seer of their own, but only a handful such as yourself are able to fully wake us up and establish a connection, utilizing the magic we embody to its full potential.”

“Okay, so how did I ‘wake’ you up? Do you know that much?”

Her ears folded while her eyes changed to how one would look when they’re unsure or concerned. “Sadly, even I do not know that much. I remember being awake much earlier before now, but it was only for a short time before I was knocked out. It wasn’t until recently that I somehow gained some consciousness and tried reaching out to you.”

“Hmm … could those glowing chains have something to do with it?” I closed my eyes tightly and nodded my head. “Maybe it’s due to some sort of sealing spell, but I haven’t read anything that involved Seers, chains, or the like. How were you even able to get out of it?”

“You were actually part of the reason, Starry. A powerful magic force was able to break some of the links enough so I could try to reach out to you in the physical world. I wasn’t able to speak to you that time because it took so much just to meet you in person.”

“Breaking chains from a powerful force, huh?” The only force I could think of would be my failed attempt in casting the teleportation spell during my duel. Actually, I might have heard some chains breaking under the explosion at that time even though I didn’t see anything of the sort outside. Could that be it?

“That would be the most likely case,” she interrupted, making me jump a little.

“Uh, did you just read my mind?”

She giggled. “I’m a part of you after all, Starry. I can hear your thoughts as clearly as your own voice.”

“Okay, better watch myself around you, then. Anyway, I do recall that happening, but I also remember the chain breaking again when you did something that involved putting your hand to my chest. How did that happen?”

“Ah yes. You see, in order for the Wielders to use their special magic, they must start with creating a connection; a strong, trusting bond with their Seers. When they do, that magical potential would link between the two, allowing the Wielders to fully harness and improve their special magic as they please. When I asked if you trusted me for teaching you Shadow Magic, you opened yourself up to me enough to reach in and use that potential to break what was left of the seal that chained you down. It seems that seal of yours was slowly weakening down at that time, and not only did it release the Shadow Magic inside you, it also set free most of the regular magic you’ve known and trained with so much up to now.”

“My regular magic, too? Actually, even though I had my things on my back when I ran away, levitating myself those last few times wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be. I may be able to lift that high schooler easier now than before if that were the case. Does that mean I could cast higher-level spells now, too?”

“It might be possible now, yes.”

“So that seal locked away some of my magic on reserve as well …” If that were the case, and if what she said was true, my Shadow Magic was awakened at a much earlier time before now. Question is: when was it, why don’t I remember it, why was it sealed away as soon as it was awakened, and who put up the spell to begin with? “Gah, my brain hurts,” I groaned as I rubbed my head.

“I understand it’s a lot to take in, but I hope I answered some of your questions up to now.”

“That still only leaves who you are and why you’re here now.”

“To properly introduce myself is one thing. The other is what we Seers usually do when we’re awakened: receive our names.”

I raised a brow and tilted my head. “Wait, are you saying I need to give you a name?”

“That’s right. Due to the circumstances though, the naming had to be postponed, so my naming has been long overdue.”

“How long ago was it when you woke up the first time?”

“I unfortunately don’t know that, either.”

“Shit. All right, we’ll have to worry about the minor details later. Let’s see, what would be a good name for you?” I looked down and concentrated as much as possible. I could feel the black mare’s eager stare during that time. “How about … Shadina?”

“Is that your final answer?”

“I believe so, yes.”

“Then hold out your hand and close your eyes.”

I obliged with my palm faced up before I felt Shadina place hers on top of it. She guided our hands to where we were giving them a gentle push to each other, palms and fingers together.

“As Umbra of Shadow as our witness,” she began, “I hereby accept the name of Shadina by my master, Starry Night. This pact ties our fate as Seer and Wielder, and may our powers serve us in the times to come, until death do us part.”

I felt a sudden tingling in my palm that ran up my arm and spread throughout my body as I shivered in place. I was tempted to peek an eye open to see what was going on, but I resisted the urge until the shivering died down.

“It is done. You may open your eyes, now.”

I slowly opened my eyes and pulled my hand back with my palm towards me, only to see that nothing was there. “What just happened?”

“We’ve officially bonded as Seer and Wielder, Starry. You wouldn’t have done much besides what I taught you earlier in Canterlot because I was only able to release you of the chains that bound your Shadow Magic and regular magic. It’s only when we make the pact as Seer and Wielder that we’re able to practice and use this magic to its full potential.”

“Whoa, that sounds really deep. Who’s this ‘Umbra of Shadow’ that you spoke of, though?”

“Unless Lumina plans to explain it to you, we’ll get to it in another night as our time is nearing its end,” Shadina answered.

I looked around me and noticed how my surroundings were starting to get darker to the point of blackness. “Crap! Are we still going to learn how to use Shadow Magic?!”

“Of course, and we’ll see what you’re capable of soon enough. For now, just practice what I taught you earlier and see what you can do with it, whether it be in different shapes, sizes, and the like.”

“O-Okay, Shadina! I’ll practice as much as possible! I’ll be an awesome Shadow Wielder!”

“I know you will, Starry Night.” Shadina closed her white ovals into arches, doing her best to show how she smiles and express joy. “Take care of yourself.”

Everything then went black, ending our first of many meetings as Wielder and Seer. I felt myself smiling as I looked forward to what I’d learn in the coming future with my new friend and teacher, Shadina.

Author's Note

What will come for Starry the next morning? Finding that out will come much later. Before we get to that, we're going to take a look at how everyone in Canterlot is faring in the next couple of chapters. Lots of stuff will be revealed along with some drama, so prepare yourselves. Until next time,

This is Dudeler, signing off.

Chapter 9: Searching for Answers

I was barely able to sleep last night in spite of everything that has happened. Our run in with those high schoolers, Starry’s loss in the duel, my fountain exploding, what Sigmund explained briefly afterwards, and … that. The fountain shouldn’t have exploded as Mother and Father have that thing checked and cleaned at least once a month, and yet it still did. But then there was what Sigmund had me do after that incident that just left a lot more questions than answers, which made me want to sleep for the rest of the evening without dinner. I had a hard time falling asleep not believing what I even heard.

“You want me to do what now?” I asked the soaking wet Sigmund after shielding me from the falling fountain water and debris.

“I understand it’s an odd request, milady, but please, just play along with the idea for now. I want to confirm something.”

“… Very well.” I walked over to the aftermath of the fountain explosion, with only the metal pipes sputtering liquids, what was left of the stone structure, and a large amount of water in the bottom that survived the blast. What Sigmund requested of me was rather simple: dunk one of my hands in the water, concentrate on the parts that were wet, and just pull it out. I had no idea where he was going with it, but I was just too fed up with what happened today to question it too much.

I took my left hand and placed it in the water, just halfway between the surface and the bottom of the fountain. Okay, my hand’s in the water. The water’s chilly, but not frighteningly cold, I could feel it just up to my forearm, and it’s oddly refreshing with how much of a day I had. Perhaps a nice shower would be a better course of action, but I suppose I could also settle for this cooling myself down. I nodded to myself as I concentrated on the parts of my arm that the water touched, then turned my head to Sigmund while pulling my hand out. “There, satisfied? Now would you please explain what exactly it is you needed to confirm?”

Sigmund just stood there wide-eyed and not exactly looking at me. “Milady, you may need to see your hand again.”

“Again? I don’t see what—” I stopped mid-sentence when I put my hand in front of me to not only feel that it was still cold and wet from the water, but to see that same water literally clinging to it. It was a like a thick glove made of liquid that flowed and rippled as I moved my hand, and it wasn’t until I shrieked and pulled it away that the water slipped right off and fell to the ground. “W-What …What was that?!”

“It’s just as I thought,” Sigmund muttered while looking to the side.

“Sigmund, do you know what’s going on? I demand that you tell me what this is this instant! That’s an order!”

“Yes, of course. It will take me time to explain in full detail, which I will most certainly do tomorrow, but to put it briefly for now—and this is just what I’ve heard in legends during my younger days—you possess a special magic only a handful of ponies are able to use. In your case milady, that was called Water Magic.”

“… Called what now?”

Sigmund had to cut off the conversation there as he needed to gather the necessary staff to clean up the mess as well as order a new fountain before Mother and Father make their return from Cloudsdale. I had to turn down the food he offered as the long day left me too exhausted to not do much else, including arguing with Sigmund to get those answers. I was even too tired to react much when I found something else during my bath. I seemed to have a hard time sleeping throughout last night, thinking I finally had some rest for a moment only to wake up an hour or two later, and then the cycle repeated itself. I stared out the window to watch the heavy rainfall in between intervals until it finally stopped at least an hour before dawn broke.

The whole time I only laid on my side under the covers, changed into a nightgown to [presumably] sleep in after a short bath. It was still dark outside as I pulled out the hand the water clung onto earlier in front of me. I could still feel the cold wetness around the odd area even now despite nothing covering the hand, which was still strange in itself, but the one thing that kept clawing my mind was how Starry was doing after the Magic Duel yesterday. I understood what Granite was trying to say when she stopped me checking up on him, but I was still worried even when I plopped myself on my mattress. I pulled one of the extra pillows and hugged it tightly, imagining it as my dear friend and hoping the feelings put into it would find their way toward him somehow.

“To put it in Granite’s crude language, I’d cuddle the shit out of him right about now,” I said to myself, chuckling a little at how wrong it sounded even though she had me swearing not too long ago.

Further thoughts were interrupted when the door suddenly slammed open, jumping myself up to a sitting position in shock to see Sigmund breathing heavily.

“Lady Misty! We have an emergency!” he exclaimed.

The sudden surprise made me groan and rubbed my eyes from the lack of sleep. “What could it possibly be at this early in the morning?”

“I was going through my usual routes this morning, including the mail, and … I stumbled upon this.” He walked over to me and passed me a scroll that was loosely tied in a fancy ribbon.

I took the scroll and unravel it open. “‘To Misty, it is with great regret to say …’” I mumbled aloud as I skimmed through the letter before my eyes slowly opened fully wide up to the end. “N-No, it can’t …” The letter was shaking in my hands as my eyes started to water. I moved my head down and blinked them back, my messed up mane hung below me. “Sigmund.”

“Yes, Lady Misty?”

“I want you to stop everypony on staff right now from what they’re doing and organize them into search parties,” I commanded with a shaky breath, my head still down. “Have them comb the streets of the city and find whatever clues of where Starry was last seen, and I want this started as of fifteen minutes ago.” I set the paper to the side of my bed before I quickly skimmed through my closet for something to wear on short notice. I didn’t care how I looked, I just wanted to get into something decent. So I went with a baby blue blouse and a white skirt.

“It will be executed immediately, but what are you planning to do?”

“I’m going to tell Granite what’s going on, and then have a word with Mister … with Marine Night and Olive Heart and see what they’ve done with Starry. Find us if any of you come across anything useful that might help us in locating him.”

“As you wish, Lady Misty, and best of luck.” He bowed slightly before quickly leaving the room with the door shut behind him.

I changed from my nightgown to the set of clothes I chose as soon as I was alone before I rolled up Starry’s letter. I opened the large window doors that led to a small balcony and unfurled my wings for takeoff. “If this turns out to be some sick joke, he’s going to have such a smack to the face when I find him!” I swore before I flew out of my room and made my way to the West side of Canterlot where Granite resided.

Dawn was just breaking as I flew high in the skies, keeping myself observant in all directions in case of passersby and any sign of Starry left behind in the streets. I gripped Starry’s letter tightly in my hand as I grew more frustrated and worried.

“Misty! Hey! Down here!” a familiar voice called out, interrupting my thoughts and search.

I looked down to see it was Granite in a set of sweats, probably on her usual morning jog. I swooped myself down to a hover just above the ground in front of her, seeing her whole face reddened and covered in sweat upon closer inspection.

“Misty! You’re not going to believe what happened! Star—!”

“I know,” I interrupted as I held up my letter. “I assume he left you the same thing?”

She nodded as she held up a rolled up letter of her own, gripped inside a hand wrapped in bandages. “Is it true? Is Star really …”

I was confused for why she had bandages around her hand, but I shook myself out of it. “That’s what we’re going to find out from Marine and Olive.” I turned back and flew towards Starry’s residence while Granite was following close behind. “We need to hurry. If we get there fast enough, he might not have—”

“Look out!”

I quickly turned forward upon Granite’s warning, but reacted too late as my head suddenly rammed into something green and black. The momentum sent the both of us flying before falling to the ground in a rough manner. I heard pieces of paper rustling about after the impact, but didn’t pay too much attention of what they were as I sat up with a groan.

“Ow. I’m terribly sorry, I didn’t see where I was going.”

“It’s fine. Have you seen my hat?”

“Um … Oh! Here it is.” I picked up a ragged, black bucket hat from the ground at my side and did my best to remove whatever dirt was on it. “Again, I’m so sorry for the …” I looked up to the stallion I flew into before my eyes widened. “Wait a minute, you’re—”

“The guy that went bonkers over that gem eating colt the other day!” Granite finished.

“Huh?” He was rubbing his head before he opened his eyes and glanced between us. “Oh yeah. I think I remember seeing the two of you earlier. Thanks,” he said as he took his hat and placed it on his head before he stood up and gave me a hand. “So what brings you two around these parts this early in the morning?”

I gladly took his offer and pulled myself up to standing before I patted whatever dirt was on my skirt. “We’ve lost our friend and are going to see his parents to find some answers. Yourself?”

“I was going to turn in a form to a certain boss of mine and …” he patted his worn out jacket and reached its insides before panic grew on his face. “W-Wait, where is it?”

“You’re resigning from the guard academy, Nil Thunder?” Granite asked as we both turned to her. She was holding a piece of paper under her arm and two black books in her hands she was skimming pages over. “And what’s up with these notebooks? One’s a bunch of mare names with their measurements and the other with notes on complicated magic … Wait, is this—?”

“None of your business, I’m afraid. Thank you,” Nil interrupted as he took both notebooks and his form before shoving them back in his jacket. “Now, if either of you could possibly tell me how I can get to a Marine Night’s residence, I’ll just be on my—way?!”

The tall pegasus was suddenly pulled down to Granite’s level as she gripped on his collar and glared into his eyes. “Funny. That’s actually where we’re going, and I say those notes does have business with me. What can you tell me about this Earth Magic and this Wielder crap?”

Earth Magic? Wielder? Sigmund mentioned something like that, too. “Granite, did that notebook mention anything on Water Magic by any chance?”

She looked up with a raised brow. “Huh? Actually, yeah. I think I saw something like that on there, too.”

“Well, Nil Thunder, I believe we can assist each other with our circumstances,” I said with a fixed posture and hands on my hips. “As my friend Granite Stone had said, we were on our way to Marine’s residence as well, and we would be more than happy to escort you there. In exchange, we require your assistance in answering some questions about that complicated magic. This isn’t a request, either. If you refuse, then I, Misty Crystalwaters, will be sure to figure out how I can use that other ‘special notebook’ of yours against you once I bring it up to my parents’ lawyers.”

Nil’s eyes suddenly shrunk to the size of pinpricks. “C-Crystalwaters? As in the Crystalwaters of the Crystalwater Rain Corporation?”

“The very same. Do we have a deal?”

“… Dude, I’d do as she says,” Granite suggested. “If you know about her family, then you know you’ll wish my fist to your muzzle to be the last of your problems if you don’t work with us. Capiche?”

“Y-Yes, of course! It would be my pleasure to answer some questions to some … cute, sweet little fillies like yourselves,” Nil said before forcing a very wide grin.

“Excellent. Glad we came to an understanding,” I said with a smile before I nodded to Granite to release him from her death grip. “Oh and don’t think about running away from us, either. We know who you are and we have connections with the Royal Guard if you haven’t guessed already. We’ll hunt you down to the ends of Equestria if we have to.”

“Th-That won’t be necessary.” Nil cleared his throat and fixed his hat. “Shall we get going then? Onward!” He then started walking ahead of us with stiff steps while we followed behind him.

“Pst, Misty. Is this even all right?” Granite asked. “I want to know as much about whatever the fuck this magic is as you are—even though I have no idea why—but isn’t blackmail going a little too far? Compared to my standards of delinquency, this is pretty rotten to the core.”

I sighed. “You’d be surprised what else Mother and Father have taught me in hopes of taking over the business. It’s not my cup of tea, but if I didn’t resort to something, I was afraid he might get away. As for why I’m interested in this magic, I’ll have to explain later once we get this Starry business taken care of.”

Granite nodded while we kept a close eye on the shady looking stallion ahead of us. I think both of us could agree without saying that he looked pretty off to be a cadet of the guard academy.

It didn’t take us long to reach Starry’s home. Things were starting to get brighter as the morning pulled ahead, but it was still early enough that other ponies around might still be sleeping in. When we reached the door, I turned to Granite standing beside me while Nil occupied another side. “Granite? Would you do the honors?”

“My pleasure.” She popped her knuckles along with the stiffness in her neck before she made a strong back kick on the door with a battle cry. Nil yelped while the door was torn off the hinges and fell to the floor inside. Granite then stepped on the door. “Marine! Olive! Get your arses down here! We got a word with you!”

“What the hay is going on here?!” Marine exclaimed as he and his wife quickly came down the stairs in their nightwear. “Granite, you and Misty better have a good reason kicking our door down or—Nil Thunder? What are you doing here?”

“Don’t mind me. I just came to drop off this form while I ran into these two,” Nil held up his resignation form from behind us.

So they are acquainted somehow. I still don’t see this Nil being part of the guard academy looking like that. I shook my head off of those straying thoughts before I looked up to Marine with a glare. “Marine Night, Granite and I also have something that you two should see and demand some answers from.”

We both handed our letters to the parents. They quickly skimmed through them before their faces suddenly paled and looked at each other. “This can’t …”

“Is it really?”

The couple then dropped the letters and ran up the stairs inside the house. “Hey! I’m not through with you!” Granite exclaimed as she followed them before Nil and I came up behind her. I made sure I had both of our letters with me.

We ended up in Starry’s room that was in a mess and smelled of rain and old pasta. His school supplies was spread across his bed, most of his closet and drawers were empty, a plate of lasagna—Starry’s favorite dish—was sitting on his desk uneaten, and a large damp stain was seen below a closed window.

“No …” Olive trailed off with tears watering up her eyes as she covered her muzzle. She collapsed to her knees. “Did he somehow hear us?”

“Hey!” Granite stomped over to Marine and grabbed his collar before pulling him to face her. “I’m asking what the fuck happened last night?! Where’s our friend?! What the fuck did you even say to him?!”

Marine stood there with his head down and in a state I’ve never seen up until now: a face marked of tears. “I’m sorry. I just, I’m not … obligated to say.”

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?! You drove him away! You should know what happened! Why won’t you fucking tell me, dammit?!” Granite was starting to tear up as she dropped him and weakly pounded his chest. “Tell me, dammit! Tell me … please, just … tell me.” She then dropped to her knees and elbows before bawling on the spot.

Getting the gravity of the situation, I collapsed onto own my knees and started bawling as well. My tears fell to the floor and my fists were tightened on my lap. Olive started sobbing on Starry’s bed while Marine just stood there and cried silently. The next moment I heard a piece of paper being placed on Starry’s desk before I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked up to see Nil kneeling beside me with a furrowed brow. “I think we’re done here. We should get out while we can,” he whispered.

I nodded and was pulled up to my hooves before we went to Granite’s side. I wiped my face before placing a hand on her back. “Granite, we need to go,” I croaked. “We can’t get anything out of them right now. We should leave them alone.”

Granite slowly stood up and put an arm around my shoulder. She felt heavy, but she might have been weak to stand on her own for a bit. Nil was the first out before I pulled the both of us towards the doorway as well. Granite stopped me and turned back to Marine who still stood there. “I swear … when this is all over, I will break every bone in your body if it’s the last thing I do,” she snarled. Her violent promise seemed to have given her some strength back as she stood up on her own and walked out of the room. I looked back to the crying couple in their son’s room. My eyes furrowed slightly as I knew this wasn’t over before I followed the other two out of the household.

“So … where are we heading now?” Nil asked after a painful amount of silence passed as we walked.

“My mansion. We’ll discuss about your findings once we get there.”

“Right. Sorry to hear about your friend being gone, by the way. I think I know a little of why you were so … demanding earlier from that alone.”

“She’s not always like that, you know. Misty can be pretty sweet when you don’t rub her the wrong way. Me? Don’t get any wrong ideas.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. I may not know the situation with this Star kid’s family, but he must have some eye to admit his crush to the both of you.”

My face suddenly turned hot along with Granite’s before we both turned to Nil. “H-How do you know that?! We never showed you our letters!” I exclaimed.

“Oh. I just helped myself to these while you weren’t looking,” Nil smirked as he held up two familiar pieces of parchment. “Kid’s got good handwriting under levitation, I’ll give him that.”

“When did,” I said as the two of us patted ourselves if he was fooling around. Finding out they were the real deal, I swiped them from his hands. “Give us that! Those aren’t for you to read so casually!”

“Like my own notes?”

“… Point taken,” Granite conceded.

“Anyways, I probably wouldn’t worry about him so much if I were you. I think he’s faring for himself pretty well.”

“What makes you so sure?”

“Well if the sequence of events are in line, I believe—”

“Lady Misty!”

We turned to the source of interruption to see Sigmund and Cinny the maid running toward us with a peculiar pony in a tarp in tow. The two were short of breath as they came to a stop in front of us.

“Lady Misty, I think, we may have a lead, to where Starry went,” Sigmund said between breaths.

“You do?! What did you find?!”

“Cinny found—who are you?”

“Don’t mind me, I’m along with these two for the ride, apparently,” Nil answered as he tipped his hat to him. “Nil Thunder. Pleasure to meet you.”

“Likewise. Anyway, Cinny found this young colt sitting in an alley who claimed to have seen somepony passing by late last night.”

Cinny then pulled the tarp out of the pony’s head, making the three of us gasp when we saw a familiar fiery mane.

“The gem colt?!” Nil exclaimed.

“Never mind his diet,” I interrupted as I walked up to the colt who had his head down. “Excuse me, you said you’ve … Oh dear.” When I held up his chin, I recoiled from the state of exhaustion and desperate hunger in his expression.

“I … might have seen somepony,” the poor colt croaked.

“Was it a colt?! A unicorn?! Please! You gotta tell us!” Granite asked as she came up and suddenly shook the colt’s shoulders.

“P-Please, need … food.” His eyes closed and fell limp to the ground like a ragdoll. He went immobile while Cinny screamed.

“Motherfucker!” Granite swore. “What should we do?!”

“You heard the colt! He’s starving to death!” I exclaimed. “Granite, lift him up and let’s get to the mansion, stat! We’ll get him some food there!”

“Right!” Granite quickly heaved the colt on her back while Nil picked up the tarp and knapsack that were dropped. We then dashed off to my home before we lose our only lead to where Starry might have went. Along the way, one phrase from the letter spoke to me in his voice.

“Both of you are very important to me, and honestly? I might have grown a crush on you two from all the times the three of us shared together. Don’t ask which of you I’d choose, though. I don’t think I could ever pick one over the other out of favoritism, though I guess being indecisive isn’t a good quality to have, huh?”

I would not end our relationship here, not when he hasn’t even heard my own and Granite’s feelings yet, and especially not when the three of us haven’t talked about where we’d go from here.

Mark my words, Starry. When we find you, I’ll tell you everything like I should’ve done a long time ago. Even if you did become dangerous somehow, Granite and I won’t have any of it, and we’ll smack it into you if we have to.

Author's Note

So the chase is on and the mysterious gem-eating colt has made a reappearance. What info will he provide that could help the girls? What will the girls find out about their newfound powers? Will Nil's head explode from the influx of it all? You'll have to tune in next time to find out. Until next time,

This is Dudeler, signing off.

Chapter 1: The End of Another Day

Unleash the Magic!

Chapter 1: The End of Another Day

“Starry,” a voice called.

Everything was dark. I couldn’t speak, I couldn’t smell, I couldn’t even see my hand close to my face. I didn’t know where was up, down, left, or right. There was just the blackness and wherever that voice was coming from.

“Starry,” the voice called again.

I tried to follow the source by sound with no knowledge of where I was going. My head suddenly bumped into something with a metallic rattle, and I was temporarily blinded by a flash of light. I rubbed the space under my horn before I squinted at a floating glowing chain in front of me. I rubbed my eyes from the brightness and grasped the chain. It was strangely warm, like it was preheated before I made contact.

“Starry.”

The voice was coming from one side of where the chain was leading. I pulled myself to the source of the sound, and noticed other chains from different directions were coming together. Finally, I saw a big ball of light coming closer. No, not a ball. The chains were binding something in a big lump, but I couldn’t see what it was.

Could it be whoever’s calling me? I thought.

“Starry,” the voice called once more from the cluster of light. I didn’t know what I was doing, but my body reached for that light. The blackness around me got brighter as I got closer. There was a silhouette of somepony trapped in chains. Then things got brighter… closer…

“Starry…”

Brighter…

Closer…

SMACK!

“AAAAGH!” I jolted upwards, the sound of a yardstick hitting my desk startled me awake.

“Starry Night. Seeing as you are sleeping in my class, again, I assume you are prepared for the finals next week?” a grayish purple unicorn mare with a silver bun-tied mane asked with a furrowed brow.

“Uh…. Finals? W-Was that what we were talking about?” Laughter in the room answered my question. Everypony except a pegasus and earth pony filly from my front and left respectively laughed at my reddened, slightly drooling face as I wiped it off.

Our homeroom teacher, Ms. Doubtburn, groaned and rubbed her eyes under her small glasses. “Alright class, settle down. I know you’re all eager to finish school, get to summer vacation, and start high school, but you can’t refrain from doing your school work. As you’ve seen from Starry’s example, you need to get plenty of rest while studying this weekend to prepare for your last tests of your middle school years. You’ll all receive your final grades in your report cards that will be mailed a few weeks after the tests are done. Once you’re done, should you decide to choose, there will be a high school club and summer classes fair, a graduation dance, and a post-graduation party at the local bowling alley on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday respectively. More information for those events are on these papers here that you can pick up on your way out.” She gestured to a stack of papers at the corner of the table closest to the door. “Are there any questions? Yes, Misty?”

The very light blue pegasus filly with the curly white and teal mane and tail lowered her hand. “What happens if we don’t attend our classes for finals?”

“If that happens, I will have a word with your parents and see if arrangements can be made for you to take those tests in another time with partial credit; otherwise, you’ll automatically fail which will affect your final grade significantly. Whether you’ll be able to move on to high school depends on the circumstances with your grades. Granite, I’m looking at you.”

“Yeah yeah, I get the picture,” the light brown earth pony filly with a messy, dirty blond mane answered while rolling her eyes.

The bell suddenly rang, ending the last school day before finals and starting our four day weekend. All the students of the class got their things and made a beeline to the door while some picked up a flyer of the upcoming school events. Granite, Misty, and I picked them up as well while we walked out last. I sighed and rubbed my eyes from the embarrassment I made of myself in the classroom.

“Are you alright, Starry?” Misty asked.

“I’m fine, just trying to get over what I did in the classroom,” I answered.

“You know, you’ve been sleeping in class more often the last few weeks, and I’m usually the one who gets a mouthful for things like that. Is something the matter?” Granite asked with a strong Manehattan accent.

“I think the stress is just getting to me. I’ve been staying up later than usual to study for finals.” I held up the flyer and looked at the summer courses section. “I’m also trying to prepare myself for this as well.”

“You mean that program from the School for Gifted Unicorns?” Misty asked.

We left the school building and walked to our usual hang out at Canterlot Park. We would always go there for pretty much anything that comes to mind, especially for holding important discussions like we were having right now.

“Yeah. It’s a special program for unicorns of all ages to apply and prepare for the exam to enroll in the school. How long they’re there for when they get accepted kind of depends, but you’d have to show the kind of magic that most unicorns don’t in order to get in. I’ve been asking Mom and Dad time and time again if I could apply, and they said as long as I achieved good grades in school while practicing my magic, they’d consider it. With how my grades are doing right now, I shouldn’t have any problems in academics. It’s just my magic that’s concerning me.”

“I may not know as much about magic as the next pony, but you seem good enough to get in,” Granite commented before counting on her fingers. “You make things float, change some stuff to different colors... you could even make a force field.”

“I’m surprised I could even pull that one off,” I commented. “Defensive magic is my dad’s specialty, and I thought with his help I could achieve something so great it would make getting into the program a sure thing. However, I can only make it big enough to cover the three of us, and the longest I could hold it was two minutes. Dad, on the other hand could maintain one that would cover the whole school for weeks. And if that wasn’t bad enough…” I pulled up my sleeve and looked at one side of my bare shoulder. “I haven’t even earned my cutiemark yet, so I don’t even know what my special talent is.”

“Don’t think you’re the only one who’s worried about that,” Misty interjected. She and Granite pulled up their own sleeves and presented their shoulders in the open with nothing on them. “All three of us are having trouble finding our special talents. If I had to guess what mine is, I just hope it’s not something related to my family’s business. It’s bad enough Mother and Father are urging me to take the torch, I don’t need a symbol that would give them all the more reason to do so.”

“And with me training to become a great fighter like my dad was, I thought my cutiemark would be related to that too,” Granite added in. “I’ve been chasing the dream of becoming Equestria’s best fighter for as long as I could remember, but even then I haven’t gotten a cutiemark yet.”

When we made it to the park, we sat down under the large tree that stood out from the grass, taking in the cool temperatures from the shades that were blocking the sun’s rays.

“Perhaps over this summer, we should look into how we can earn our cutiemarks,” I suggested. “If middle school was bad enough with Brace right now, I can’t imagine how things will go when we get to high school. I think it’s absolutely essential that we get those cutiemarks before this summer ends; otherwise, our social lives will be over before they even began.”

“I concur.”

“Ditto.”

“That settles it then. We’ll focus on preparing for finals this weekend, and I need to get ready for the gifted unicorn exam afterwards. Once all that’s done, we’ll start our cutiemark hunt. You two with me?” I stuck my pinky finger out in front of me before glancing between Granite and Misty.

“Pft. Do ya even have to ask? Course I’m in, ya big dope.” Granite followed my gesture with a grin, her pinky pointing towards my own.

“And I will be by your side until the very end.” Misty pointed her own pinky to the center of ours with a smile of her own, making a small triangle out of our finger tips.

“Alright, then let’s promise to make this summer one we’ll always remember, both before and after we earn our cutiemarks, and make the most out of our time together while we’re at it. Ready?”

“One,” we all called as we raised our pinkies to where they pointed to the sky.

“Two.”

We closed our pinkies, lowered our fists down, and pulled them back, readying for a strike.

“Three!”

We all gave a swift punch at the same time, our fists now forming a triangle between the three of us as we smiled.

Granite, Misty, and I have been best friends since elementary school. We’ve always been there for each other, watching each other’s backs, and having all kinds of fun while we were at it. That little ritual we just did was like our version of how we make promises between the three of us, with each pose we made holding a significant meaning to them. I couldn’t remember when we made it, but after a while, it was ingrained enough for us to make into our own thing.

With the ritual done, we lowered our fists and chuckled our worries away, like whatever happens from that point on, things will turn out okay. After a bit, another thought came to mind that I just couldn’t manage to shake off.

“Hey guys, can I ask you something?” I asked.

“I don’t know, can you?” Granite asked with a raised brow and a smirk.

“I think you mean ‘may I ask you something,’ but of course, we’ll listen,” Misty answered.

“Have either of you ever had any recurring dreams?”

Granite and Misty looked up and hummed.

“Can’t say that I have. At least, nothing out of the ordinary,” Misty answered.

“Same here. Why? You been gettin’ any?” Granite asked.

“Yeah, it’s been coming to me over the last few weeks, which I think is also a part of why I’ve been having trouble sleeping too,” I said.

“What are they about?” Misty asked.

“Basically, I’m just floating in complete darkness with no idea where I am, or which way I’m going. There was only somepony calling out to me, and after a few moments of trying to follow it, a bright, glowing chain suddenly appeared in front of me. I then followed the chain to the voice where other links were coming from different directions until they come together into one big glowing lump.”

“A lump?” Granite asked.

“It was made out of all the chains wrapping and conjoining together, of course, but I couldn’t see what was under all of those layers. I only had that voice to go by.”

“Do you know who it belonged to?” Misty asked.

“It was a mare’s, but I’ve never seen the pony who spoke it. It would make sense that I don’t know who the pony is either, but… I don’t know why, but it sounds familiar, somehow. Like I’ve heard this voice all of my life.”

“Did you try to see who was under that lump of chains?” Granite asked.

“I would pull myself closer to that lump, but every time I did, things got brighter and brighter until I woke up, never giving me the chance to even touch it.”

“Hmm… And you said this dream has been coming back to you every night?” Misty asked.

“For the last few weeks, yes,” I answered. “Have either of you ever had a dream similar to that?”

“Nope.”

“I would certainly tell you if I had, but no. What was the mare’s voice like?”

“How do I describe it?” I looked up. “It had a motherly-like tone to it, very caring and mature, almost like Princess Celestia’s, but different. It was otherworldly too, something you don’t hear a lot from other ponies.”

“Well, we would certainly know somepony with a description like that if we ever met her,” Misty said.

“Are you sure it wasn’t Princess Celestia with her voice muffled from all the chains on top of her?” Granite asked.

“No. The lump of chains would be much bigger if that were the case,” I answered. “The lump I saw in the dream was holding a regular sized mare, maybe a little taller than my mom if I had to make a comparison.”

We all hummed as we tried to think hard about what exactly I saw in my dream, but no luck.

“Well, if it keeps coming after school ends, maybe we can look into it more while we try to get our cutie marks over the summer,” Misty asked. “We’ll certainly have plenty of time to do a lot of things, so there’s no reason to rush.”

“I guess.” Still, if this voice was that familiar to me, why would she be calling out to me now rather than earlier in the past? Was she trying to have me reach for her, or… was she trying to come to me, but those chains were holding her back? What are those chains, anyway? Can chains ever be enchanted to become something like that, or is there something more to them that I’m not aware of? I’ll have to look into that at some point.

“Alright, trainees! We’re nearing the end of the day, so let’s finish today off with a few sparring matches!”

“SIR YES SIR!”

About freaking damn time. Even after a year of doing this shit, I still haven’t gotten used to this.

I was standing at attention in a line of ponies between two stallions. The one on my right was a light green pegasus with a messy pale blonde mane stretching to his shoulders, a head taller than me, and with shins covered in bandages along with his arms up to the elbows. There were bags under his eyes, and though he looked tired, he tried not to yawn so our Drill Sergeant wouldn’t give him a reprimand. Strange how he was more tired from sleepiness than exhaustion, I had to admit that. I wasn’t sure why he was like that, though.

On my left was another stallion with a white coat, three different shades of blue on his mane and tail, and a more muscular build than I usually see in other unicorns, half a head taller than me. He stared ahead with a hardened gaze, made to look as stoic as possible and not flinch under any circumstance. My heart raced slightly as I scrolled down to his lower half where he was wearing the same black shorts as everypony else in the line.

Ooh, if only those shorts conformed around our bodies just a little more…

“Now then!” the sergeant exclaimed, snapping me out and looking straight ahead as he passed by us. “First match, Nil, take off the bandages, you’re up against Brainiac!”

“Sir. Permission to keep them on, please,” the pegasus next to me requested while keeping a straight face.

“DENIED! I want them off now, trainee!”

“Yes sir.” He quickly unraveled the bandages around his arms first, revealing thin steel plates under them while the sergeant walked off to one of the sparring rings.

“Hey Lumina, could you watch these for me, please?” Nil asked me as he took off the plates and worked on the bandages on his legs next, which also had plates of similar material with different sizes underneath.

“Sure thing,” I answered.

“Good luck,” the white unicorn next to me said.

When he took off the last one, he stacked the plates and bandages on top and passed them to me. I held onto them and he jogged to the sparring ring where Brainiac, another unicorn, was waiting with his arms crossed.

“About time,” Brainiac said. “Let the record show that today will be the day that I will finally take you down and prove to the entire E.U.P. Guard that—”

“Can we get this over with, please? I’d rather not dawdle for too long,” Nil said as he popped his neck and stretched.

“Hey, Shining Armor,” I whispered to the white unicorn next to me. “Have you figured out why he always wears these plates?”

“Not really, no,” he answered. “All he said was that it helps him relax a little. He has a spare set in our room, along with plenty extra rolls of clean bandages to use too. What’s strange, though, is that he wears them even in his sleep, and he doesn’t take too long in the showers when he has them off.”

The moment he said ‘showers,’ my mind quickly wandered to an image of a soaking wet, steaming Shining Armor scrubbing himself with soap while what was below him was all up to imagination. My face warmed up and I swallowed my watering mouth from the thought of it.

“That’s… good to know, thanks,” I said.

“Hey, what’s the deal with Brainiac and Nil, anyway?” one of the other trainees asked as another conversation in a group started.

“Don’t you remember? They made the highest scores in the entrance exams, with Nil getting a perfect hundred while Brainiac got a ninety-nine. Brainiac’s been trying to one-up him ever since.”

“Remember how shocked he was when Nil first used that here?”

“Yeah, I remember that all too well, too. With Nil’s laid-back attitude, he became the ‘Idle Prodigy’ in this class.”

“It’s not allowed for these spars because of the wings, right? You think he’ll still do it?”

“With how much of a hurry he’s in, I think so. Don’t know why he’d throw away matches like that even knowing about it, though. He’s better when it comes to the practices and courses, strangely enough.”

That’s because he was still wearing those plates, right? Wonder if he feels safer wearing them than not?

“Alright, best two out of three rounds wins the match!” the sergeant exclaimed. Brainiac and Nil got into a fighting stance as the sergeant raised his hand up. “Round one. FIGHT!” He chops the air between the two, commencing the match.

Nil and Brainiac moved in a circle as they kept eye contact and their guards up. As soon as Brainiac made the first move with an oncoming punch, Nil dodged and grabbed his arm, and tried to throw him down. Brainiac acted quickly and wiggled out of Nil’s grip, spacing himself away from him and back to his fighting stance.

“HA! Is that the best you can—GAH!”

Nil rushed forward at an incredible speed, interrupting Brainiac’s gloat by trapping his legs with one of his own and using it as leverage to push the unicorn down to the ground. Nil quickly pinned him down by the shoulder and waist with his hand and knee, and finished him off with an assumed punch in the face.

“Round one goes to Nil!” the sergeant declared.

“You may want to save all comments until the end of the fight, you know?” Nil asked as he stood up and offered his hand to lift Brainiac to his hooves.

Brainiac sneered and stood up on his own. “I don’t need you to tell me that. I’ll get you next round.” The two stallions moved back to their positions in a fighting stance, Brainiac’s glare was more hardened than the beginning of the match while Nil’s still had that slightly tired, but attentive half-lidded stare.

“Huh, he won the first round, that’s rare,” one of the trainees commented.

“Think he’ll actually try to win this time?”

“Five bits says he’ll throw it down with that the next round.”

“You’re on.”

“Round two. FIGHT!” the sergeant exclaimed as he chopped his hand down between them.

Brainiac didn’t wait and charged at Nil. As soon as he was close enough, it happened…

With a small flap with his wings, Nil suddenly appeared behind Brainiac at the blink of an eye, and used his attacker’s momentum to tumble him to the ground. Nil acted quickly and pinned him down with a hoof to his back, stretched his straightened arm out behind him, and made a small push that strained Brainiac to the point of pain.

“OW OW OW OW! Alright alright! I give!” Brainiac yelled as he repeatedly tapped on the ground with his free hand before Nil let him go.

“Penalty! Use of wings! Restarting second round!” the sergeant announced before turning to Nil. “This is your first warning, Nil. Use them again, and Brainiac will be declared winner by default… again.”

“Yes sir,” Nil replied stoically.

“Did you see that?! He did it!” one of the trainees exclaimed in a whisper. “That was the Featherstep, right? I think he got faster this time.”

“Yeah. I heard you’d need as much time and training as the Commander of Offense took to master that technique. Nopony knows when Nil mastered it, but he did it on the first day of training like it was a walk in the park!”

“So is that what made Nil the ‘Idle Prodigy?’”

“You bet, and from the looks of it, he didn’t skip out on his practice with it since he got here.”

Sheesh, go kiss his hooves why don’t you? I thought. Don’t they even remember what he does sometimes?

Like one of the trainees predicted, Nil used the Featherstep on his second try, and threw the match to Brainiac within a couple seconds.

“Nil, you need to not rely on the Featherstep so much to get by,” the sergeant said. “There will come a time when you won’t be able to use it, and if you don’t have any back up plans, you’re done for. Understand?”

“Yes sir,” Nil answered with a nod before quickly jogging back to the line while Brainiac walked to his spot grumbling to himself.

“Yes, five bits for me.”

“Dammit. Hey, how come Brainiac gets grumpy even though he wins?”

“I think it was about not winning fairly, or something. Can’t say I really blame him for feeling that way, though.”

I passed back Nil’s plates and bandages and he took them with a smile. “Thanks for watching these.”

“Don’t mention it,” I said before he started putting the plates and bandages back on from the legs up.

“Alright, next match. Shining Armor! Lumina! You’re up!”

Oh, fuck me! I have to spar with him?!

“Guess we’re up next,” Shining Armor said as he turned to me with a smile. “We haven’t done this for a while together, haven’t we? Let’s make the best out of it.”

“Um… Sure thing,” I said before forcing a smile of my own.

We walked up to the sparring ring where the sergeant was, took our spots from opposite sides, and got into a fighting stance.

“Alright, same as before! The pony who wins best two out of three rounds wins the match!” the sergeant announced as he raised his hand up.

“Best of luck to you, Lumina,” Shining Armor said with a determined smile.

“Thanks… Same to you,” I returned. I could only imagine what the other mares in the group were saying about me, and they were not pretty. I knew Shining Armor and I were talked about a lot in the training camp along with Nil, but I think what they’ve said about me were a little demeaning compared to the other two. I was just glad my roommate Creamy was chill with me compared to the others. I even saw her giving me a thumbs up from where I was standing.

“Round one. FIGHT!” the sergeant announced with a chop.

Our spar went underway almost immediately. Shining Armor and I exchanged blows, blocking each other’s punches and kicks while trying to get an opening. Suddenly, when I gave him a roundhouse, Shining Armor squatted and did a sweep. I yelped as I was tripped onto my back. He quickly pinned me down with his knees on top of my legs and a hand holding my shoulder. As he prepared for a fake punch to my head, I took advantage of the position I was in to take a good look at his cobalt blue eyes. I’ve seen a lot of ponies back in Trottingham before I was enrolled in the Guard Academy, and when I looked into those eyes, I could see how he wasn’t like anypony else I’ve met up to that point. They were almost glimmering with his passion, hope, and resolve to achieve great things, all while showing kindness, respect, and friendly cooperation with other ponies. I wasn’t sure if he was like that with all ponies he talks to, but I couldn’t help but feel a little happy and glad that I made good friends with him, despite the hostility I showed to everypony, including him, during my first few weeks of my time in the academy.

“Lumina? Are you alright? I wasn’t too rough with you, was I?” Shining asked with his open hand toward me, snapping me out of my daze.

“H-Huh? Oh, no, don’t worry, I was just off-guard,” I said as I grasped his hand and he pulled me up to my hooves.

The next two rounds were similar to the first when it came to exchanging blows. I won the second by getting him in a leg lock, and the third I had him in an underarm headlock. It took more out of us than I thought, which showed from our slightly sweaty faces.

“Excellent demonstrations, you two,” the sergeant said as he patted our backs. “Back to the lines. Uppercut! Left Hook! You’re up!”

We jogged back to our spots while the next two ponies took the ring. “You got me good there, Lumina,” Shining Armor complimented while rubbing the back of his head with a grin. “Guess we both know who’s on top for now.”

Nil snickered before I jabbed his ribs with my elbow.

“It’s nothing. You almost had me a few times, yourself,” I said. “We’re going to walk around town for a bit after practice. Wanna come with?”

“I’d love to, but I need to keep up with my studies tonight, especially with what’s happening tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow? What’s tomorrow?”

“Sergeant will remind us after the spars are over. You’ll see what I mean.”

I raised a brow and shrugged before the three of us watched the rest of the matches in silence, not caring for some of the quiet chatters from the other trainees.

“Alright! Now before we finish today, I have an important reminder for all of you,” the sergeant announced after the last pair of trainees went back to their lines. “Tomorrow, the Commanders of Offense and Defense will be stopping by to evaluate you trainees and discuss your progress to your draft into the E.U.P. Guard.”

A cold shiver ran down my spine when I heard ‘Commander of Defense.’ Oh no… Not this again.

“You will learn the details in the morning,” the sergeant continued, “but it’s most important to show what you can do to serve Princess Celestia and protect her along with the citizens of Canterlot. So I want you all to give everything you’ve got before they come and meet with each of you to discuss your futures. You’re dismissed!”

“SIR YES SIR!”

“Aaaaagh! I can’t believe this! Why is this even happening?! Why do I have to go through with this?! And should you even be reading that at a time like this?!”

I was venting my frustrations to Nil as we walked the streets of Canterlot to a diner we sometimes go to for dinner. We went to our rooms after our day of training to change into more comfortable clothing before we headed out. Ponies in the E.U.P. Guard Academy were allowed to stroll around the city until curfew, which was one of the few things I was thankful for, as I wasn’t sure if I could live with myself if I had to stay cooped in there for so long. I was in a comfortable t-shirt and jeans with my violet mane tied in a pony-tail, while Nil had a foreign attire (I think he called the beige shirt and pants set a jinbei, and the dark green jacket a haori?) that looked more like comfy pajamas than clothing. He also had a worn out, black bucket hat sitting on his head.

“It’s your fault for introducing me to these books, you know. I’m near the end of a good act, and I wanted to see it as soon as practice was over. I couldn’t possibly put this down now,” Nil explained as his eyes were glued to the erotica called Of Reins and Fantasies in his hand as we walked. “Frankly, I don’t see what all the fuss is about. Having superiors evaluating you is one thing, but you don’t seem like the kind of pony who really cares for that.”

“It’s not the evaluation that I’m worried about,” I said before sighing. “It’s that I have to face the Commander of Defense.”

“Do you know him?”

“No. He’s just… How should I put this? He’s—”

“Intimidating? Scary? A force to be reckoned with?”

“How about all three?”

“I would have to agree with you on that. For somepony who specializes in defense tactics, he certainly brings more of an offensive aura to his being.”

“It’s his eyes that really get me. What’s worse is that even though I don’t know him, he knows about me, at least to an extent.”

“Is it because of you being in the academy under ‘special recommendation?’” He made air quotes with his free hand.

“Pretty much,” I sighed.

Unlike the rest of the trainees like Nil and Shining Armor, who got in the academy through an entrance exam, I was put in thanks to my bitch of a private teacher, as she has connections to the Royal Guard. I was introduced to the class during orientation, and that was part of how I got my bad rep. Shining Armor and Nil were the only ponies who were okay with me being there, while my roommate Cream Cloud (whom I call Creamy) took a bit longer to warm up to me.

“So much for this teaching me discipline,” I grumbled while I crossed my arms.

“Ah yes, I believe you made your dislike for the academy quite clear during the first two weeks.”

“What about you? What’s your reason for being there again?”

“It’s really for my personal gain. Nothing too special.”

Not with how you’re being so cryptic about it.

“*Sigh* That was nice,” Nil said as he placed a bookmark on a page of the erotica and placed it in his coat pocket. “Back to our previous subject, though things may seem bleak, at least there’s one good thing that happened today for you.”

“What’s that?”

“You pressed yourself on Shining Armor’s back during that headlock.”

I whipped my head to him with heated cheeks. “W-what?”

“That was your attempt to flirt with him, was it not? Though your 36DD breasts were big enough to make it possible, I doubt Shining Armor would notice that in—OW OW OW OW!”

I was twisting his arm, tempted to pop it out of his socket as I pierced a fiery glare through him. “Nil… How did you know my bra size?”

“It… was difficult not to remember when you had your black-laced bra hanging on your door—GYAAGH!”

“Remember how I told you things like that should be kept discreet in public? You say something like that again, and I’ll dislocate your shoulder next. Understand?”

“YES! YES! I understand! Just let me go please!”

“Tch.” I tossed his arm, and he babied it as we continued walking, ignoring some of the stares we were receiving from the locals. “Seriously, are you still this perverted after everything I taught you?”

“I had a complicated life, okay? Cut me some slack.”

“Whatever.”

“Going back to what I was saying before though, why don’t you try telling him how you feel if you like him so much?”

I sighed and rubbed my eyes before looking down the path in front of us with folded ears. “I don’t know, Nil. Part of me wants to, and I have good reasons for liking him, but—”

“HEY! Somepony stop that runaway gem!”

“Huh?”

“So have we got this weekend figured out?” I asked as I was walking the girls back to their homes, Granite’s being the first since hers was closer.

“Mhm. Head to the movie, have lunch, go to the arcade, and finally relax at the park,” Misty said as she counted the events on her fingers.

“I’m so psyched to see Shanghorse Knights,” Granite said as she tightened her first with a grin. “When a movie has Whinny Chan in it, you know there’ll be some kick-ass action going on.”

“I find the concept of ponies from different cultures getting together rather interesting myself,” Misty commented. “It also looked pretty funny, too. We’ll be spending the rest of the weekend studying for finals after that, correct?”

“Yeah,” I replied with a nod. “Thought it might be a good idea to have as much fun as we can get out of our system before we put all our efforts into studying. Wait, did we decide where we’ll hold the first one for the day after?”

“I nominate Star’s crib!” Granite exclaimed while raising her hand up.

“Seconded!” Misty followed.

My body tensed up from the girls’ outburst. “Uh… Are you two sure about that?”

“Your parents aren’t that bad if that’s what you’re tryin’ to get at,” Granite said. “Embarrassing, yeah, but they’re still pretty cool.”

“Better than mine, to be honest,” Misty commented. “Do you not like us being in your home?”

“No no, it’s not like that at all,” I said while shaking my hands out front. “It’s just… Mom and Dad are going to be gone most of the day for work this weekend.”

There was a brief pause as we stopped walking. The girls glanced at each other then back to me. “So? Isn’t that better? You won’t have your mom babying you with us around, right?” Granite asked.

“I don’t see the issue, either,” Misty commented. “Could you elaborate, please?”

“Um…” How do I tell them that the three of us will be alone in the house? I thought. Wait, why am I feeling so nervous about something like that? We’re all best friends here, basically hanging out like we always do. Just without Mom and Dad around. Not much different when I’m by myself there sometimes, too. I’m capable of making my own food, I could even prepare snacks and lunch for the girls if they want. They’ll probably like that. What’s to be worked up about?

“You know what, you’re right,” I resigned. “I’m probably just thinking too much. I’d love to have you two over.”

“Great!” Granite said before slapping me on the back. “That’s settled then—”

“HEY! Somepony stop that runaway gem!”

“Huh?”

The three of us glanced around to see who shouted until I saw a fist-sized emerald rolling toward me. It bumped against my hoof and rattled on the ground before I picked it up. When I looked up, there was an orange colt in very different attire running towards us. When he caught up, he rested his hands on his knees and gasped for breath. He was an earth pony, about Misty’s height, with a fiery-colored mane and a short tail. He only had a black vest with yellow trimmings on his build with no shirt underneath, goggles strapped around his forehead, and beige shorts. There was a cutiemark containing a silhouette of a dragon surrounded by flames on his arm.

When he caught his breath, he looked up with orange eyes. “H-Hey... could I... have that back please?”

Clearly, he wasn’t a Canterlite. I didn’t know what he was doing here in town, but I could tell he needed the gem. It could have been his only currency to pay for something, so I didn’t think too much on what to do with it. “Sure. Here you go. Try not to lose it again, okay?” I asked as I handed it back to him.

“Sweet! You’re a lifesaver! I thought I’d lost my dinner!” the colt exclaimed.

“Don’t mention it. I’d be bummed out too if I lost something to pay for—”

CRUNCH!

The three of us went completely silent as we heard crunching sounds from the colt. There was a bite mark on the emerald that wasn’t there before I handed it back to him. He swallowed and took a few more bites out of the gem as we just stood there with jaws agape.

Finally, he tossed the remainder of the gem in the air, caught it in his mouth, and finished what was left before licking his lips of the emerald’s remnants while rubbing his stomach. “Ah, that will get me through tonight,” he sighed before flashing a big smile at me. “Thanks again, dude! I owe you one!” He then dashed off, leaving the three of us in the lingering dust.

“Did that colt just… eat a gem?” a new voice asked.

I turned to the source and my eyes widened. There was a creamy yellow colored unicorn mare with a violet mane and tail staring in the direction of the strange colt that just left. She was well endowed, fit, and had the curves in the right places as I quickly scanned her figure. When I saw her face though, something clicked in my mind.

Have I… seen this mare somewhere before?

But just like how it came, that feeling disappeared in an instant, leaving me unable to recall that cryptic memory.

“Th-That’s not possible,” the pony next to the mare mumbled. “This just—this just can’t be right.”

Her acquaintance was a light green pegasus stallion with a messy light blonde mane and tail. He almost looked like a beggar with his worn out, baggy, even more foreign clothing than the orange colt. The black bucket hat that was slightly shadowing his eyes made him all the shadier.

“Come on, let’s just go,” the mare said as she patted the stallion’s back, who kept mumbling too incoherently for me to hear. She then turned to the three of us, her violet eyes somehow catching my crimson ones. “You three should get going too. Don’t stay out too late, all right?”

I blinked a few times. “Y-Yeah, sure.”

The pair then passed by with the mare’s hand still rubbing the stallion’s back, who was shivering and still speaking gibberish as the three of us watched them walked.

“Wow… She looked so pretty,” Misty said.

Pretty doesn’t even begin to describe her.

“Oh shit! I gotta get going!” Granite exclaimed, snapping me out of my thoughts. “I’m gonna be late if I don’t get home. I’ll see you tomorrow!” She then ran off in the direction of where her home was, leaving me and Misty by ourselves.

“See you,” I said as we waved.

“Well, shall we head to my home, then?” Misty asked.

“Yeah, sure.” I fixed my backpack and we went to Misty’s home next as I tried to replay what happened in my head. The strange colt eating the gem aside, who was that mare? I don’t see her around here very much, but I feel like I know her from somewhere. But how could I not even remember somepony like that? Ugh, this is just going to bug me if I keep thinking about it. I should just let it go. It’s not like I’ll see her again, right?

“Starry?” Misty asked.

“Huh?”

“Did you hear what I said?”

“Uh…”

“Were you thinking about that mare from earlier?”

“No,” I replied too quickly.

“Liar. You think she’s pretty too, don’t you?” Misty pouted and puffed her cheeks while crossing her arms.

“No! Of course not!”

Misty still kept her face and gesture, not convinced.

I sighed. “Okay, maybe I think she’s cute, but so what? I’m not going to find her and ask her out. She looked much older than me.”

“Uh huh,” she deadpanned as we walked. She kept her posture while taking a few steps further ahead of me.

“I don’t see what you’re getting so worked up about. It’s not like I don’t think of you as being cute.”

Misty then stopped and unfurled one of her wings to block my path, making me skid to a halt. “Do you… really think I’m cute?”

My face heated up as I just remembered what I said a moment ago. I glanced to the side and scratched the back of my head. “Uh, yeah. Sure.” While part of me didn’t want Misty to press the issue any further, I couldn’t help but feel there was some truth in that statement.

After a pause, Misty cleared her throat and folded her wing back. “Well I would certainly hope so. You wouldn’t know how hard it is for somepony like myself to maintain a marely figure.”

“So you’re saying you’ll turn into a stallion if you don’t? That’s kind of a relief.” I snickered as Misty turned to me with her face reddened.

“I didn’t mean it like that you big jerk!” She delivered a flurry of fists on my chest as I chuckled.

“I’m kidding, I’m kidding.”

Just like that, the awkward air between us blew away in an instant as Misty sighed before we continued walking.

“So what was it that you were saying before?” I asked.

“I was saying I was looking forward to the trip to Horseshoe Bay this summer,” Misty answered. “We’re still planning on going there, correct?”

“I’ll double check with Mom and Dad, but yeah, definitely.”

“Good. Because I want this summer to be as memorable with you as possible.” A brief pause passed between us before Misty flailed her arms with flushed cheeks. “And Granite! I want this summer to be as memorable with you and Granite as possible! That’s what I meant to say! Really!”

“Uh, okay. No need to tell me twice.” Wonder what’s gotten her so flustered?

After I dropped Misty off at her home, I went back to mine just as things were getting dark. When I approached the front door and reached for the knob, a voice stopped me in my tracks.

“Oh good, you’re back. I was hoping you’d get here in time for us to talk.”

I turned to the source, and saw my dad, Marine Night. He was a dark blue unicorn stallion in a blackish blue uniform. His mane and tail were as black as mine, his eyes also as crimson as my own. On his uniform were badges, patches, and straps on his chest and shoulders, one badge in particular represented his cutiemark as a maroon shield with a black six pointed star in the center. He was sitting on the edge of our porch as he looked at me with a smile.

“Oh hey, Dad!” I walked over to him and we shared a brief hug before he rustled my mane. “You’re here earlier than usual.”

“I actually would have gotten here sooner if I hadn’t been held up with some last-minute assignments. Getting ready to interview the trainees tomorrow, plus preparing for the gala on Monday, it’s getting rather hectic around the castle lately.”

“Think you’ve found some new recruits for your squad?”

“There’s a good lineup this year, but that’s not what I’m here to talk with you about. Have a seat.”

I nodded and sat on the porch’s edge next to my dad, the Commander of Defense in the Royal Guard. I honestly get a little nervous with how serious he can be with discussions like these sometimes, but none were anything about me doing something wrong to a high degree.

“I realize it’s a little late to ask before your last year in middle school ends, Starry, but do you still want to attend the School for Gifted Unicorns?”

“Yes! I want to take part in the program they’re holding as well. The information’s in this flyer.” I pulled out the paper from my backpack and passed it over to Dad, who inspected it thoroughly.

“Mhm, and you’ve been keeping up with your studies?”

“Of course! Both in academics and magic!”

“Alright, let’s see what you can do with the latter then. Show me how you’re doing with the force field spell.”

Ah, crap. “Okay, I’ll try.” I stood up, took a deep breath and rubbed my hands together. I closed my eyes, pointed one of my fingers in the air, and concentrated the magic to go from my horn to the tip I was directing upwards. I slowly opened my eyes to see a bright blue light on my fingertip, and with one flick, I shot it up in the air, and it exploded, spreading and covering me and Dad like an umbrella changing into a sphere. I opened my hand and focused on maintaining the field around us while Dad took out a pocket watch to keep track of the time. Sweat started to form on my brow, and my breaths became harsh as the seconds passing by felt like hours.

I held on for as long as I could, but I stopped once I felt pain starting to form on my horn, something Dad and Mom advised I should do if I pushed myself too far. The shield shattered like glass and collapsed as it disappeared. I fell on my hands and knees while panting for breath, one of the former lightly touching my horn to be sure it was doing okay.

“Two minutes, twenty-five seconds,” Dad announced.

“R-Really?” I asked between breaths. “That’s better than what I had before.”

Dad walked in front of me and sat on one knee. “Starry, may I ask why you want to attend the school?”

“I want to get better with magic, of course,” I answered as I got on my own knees.

“Is that all there is to it?”

I opened my mouth, but didn’t say anything. I closed it then glanced to the side. “Well…”

“Could it have something to do with this?” Dad lightly patted one of my arm’s sides and I winced. The touch didn’t hurt, but he was on the mark on what I was trying to accomplish.

“I just thought… if I can get into that school, I’ll have a better chance to know what my special talent is. Plus, there was that promise I made.”

“I see. Starry, I understand what you’re trying to accomplish, but you must remember that there are other ways to earn your cutiemark, and there is never only one option in any situation. Mastering the shield spell may be an impressive feat, but it’s not the only way to get in the school if you really want to. Same goes for keeping the promise you made so long ago. I may not have been there when you made it, but seeing you remember it must really mean something to you, doesn’t it?”

I looked up and nodded with ears folded.

“If you’re that determined to keep that promise and getting into the school, there are times in life when we have to make do with what we have on hand. We can only do what we can with our own power. We’re the only ones to decide whether we can surpass ourselves or not, and only we know how to make the most of what we have. Once you know what your special talent is, whether it’s before or after you get in the school, then there are numerous possibilities to what you can do to achieve all your goals.”

“So does that mean I can get in the school?”

Dad gave a small smile. “Tell you what. I’ll get you in this program here for the few weeks listed, but during that time, I want you to keep practicing the force field spell until you’re able to hold one of any size for at least a half hour. I also want you to find and master a new challenging spell that interests you along the way. If you’re able to do at least one of these and still want to attend the school after seeing how they run the classes, then I’ll talk to your mother about applying you for the entrance exam.”

“You really mean it?!”

“Yes, but don’t forget that you’ll need to earn a good grade from your finals next week as well to make this possible. Think you can do that?”

“Absolutely! It’s a deal!” We confirmed our agreement with a handshake. A big grin was plastered on my face while Dad chuckled. “Oh! I almost forgot, but we’re still going to Horseshoe Bay this summer with Granite and Misty, right?”

“Your mother and I have already scheduled our vacation time off from work. Of course, we wouldn’t leave without taking your marefriends along.”

Heat rose in my cheeks as I glance to the side. “Uh, I’m not dating either one of them, you know.”

“Who said you were dating them?” Dad raised a brow with a smirk.

“…Shut up.”

“Alright you two, enough games.”

Dad and I turned to my mom, Olive Heart, who was standing in the doorway as she called us. She was a white unicorn with a light green mane that stretched below her shoulders and matching tail, wearing a white button-up shirt and skirt as she too came back from her job at the Royal Guard’s medical squad a while ago.

“Come on in before your dinner gets cold. There’s plenty to eat,” Mom said with a smile.

“Great, I’m starved,” Dad said.

“Me too!” I agreed as I grabbed my bag before the two of us went inside.

I had a nice shower after dinner was done, and I was in a comfy pair of pajamas while sitting on my bed with my stuffed bear, Bearbert. I cast a sound proof spell in my room so nopony would hear my private conversation with my inanimate friend.

“Just think. I just need to do well in finals and the program in the next few weeks, and I’m sure to get in the School for Gifted Unicorns. Can you imagine all the spells I could learn while I’m there?”

“…”

“I know I should listen to what Dad said too, but still, this is pretty big.”

“…”

“Huh? What do you mean ‘what about Granite and Misty?’ Of course I’ll still make time to hang out with them. They’re my best friends, after all.”

“…”

“What do I think about them? Can you be more specific?”

“…”

“Well of course I like them. That’s kind of silly to ask, isn’t it?”

“…”

“Do I like like them? What makes you think I’m like that with them? I mean, they’re both pretty amazing. I can’t deny that. Granite’s strong, protective, and though she can get deviant and a bit egotistic sometimes, you gotta admire her passion to be Equestria’s top fighter. I still haven’t beaten her in any of our spars yet. Misty, even when she’s sometimes too prideful from compliments and a stickler for cleanliness, she’s headstrong, generous, and quite intelligent. It’s also really something how she wants to find her own path instead of taking over her family’s weather machine business.

“And to top it all off, they’re both pretty cute in their own ways. Misty can be adorable thanks to her petite figure, and the way she dresses also adds charm to her looks. Granite’s also pretty attractive, with her puberty taking effect to her height, some muscles, and even some places like… Wait, why am I rambling so much about this? Bearbert, I’m blaming you for making me say those things, especially almost about something that could be thanks to those magazines in Dad’s secret stash.”

“…”

I sighed. “Okay, maybe I have some special feelings for them, but I can’t confess to them. I’ve known them most of my lifetime, and I’d rather keep our friendship intact instead of complicating it with romance. I can’t really be anypony’s special somepony if I don’t become a strong and dependable stallion, like I promised to her all those years ago. I don’t think I can be in a relationship with anypony if I don’t live up to it. Plus, I’m pretty sure a mare wouldn’t want a pervert who has gone into those kinds of magazines at least once every other week.”

“…”

“Hey, it’s not my fault I got curious of a box I found in my parents’ room, that goes double with Granite’s mom with that ‘special room’ in her boutique. You can never beat curiosity to something once it’s introduced, you know.”

“…”

“Ah whatever, I’m heading to bed.” I placed Bearbert back on my nightstand and turned out the lights with my magic before slipping under the covers.