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.