NaNoWriMo2015 Oneshot Colletction

Neutral, Flux and Event all took Moonlight’s invitation and entered the apartment. Inside was just as nice as the outside. They went through a small front hall with closets for outdoor clothes, shoes, boots, scarves, and other things not meant to be worn indoors. Once though the short hallway, the apartment opened up into a huge open concept design. Off to one side was a wooden ballet floor with a barre, mirrored walls, and a record player. Beside the miniature dance studio was a set of mats, a heavy bag, a dummy, and a continuation of the mirrored wall. Off to the side of that mat, against the wall after it turned a corner was a rack containing weapons—both real and practice—sparring pads, practice pads, and various other equipment that a well-stocked dojo would have, though only enough for three or four ponies to practice one thing at one time. And only enough room for maybe eight ponies in all. The dance studio part was big enough for maybe the same amount.

On the other side of the room was a living room set consisting of two couches, a loveseat, a pair of chairs and a few seating pillows off to the side, with a long, glass coffee table in the centre. In the last sort of corner of the room was a formal dining set, made of wood, and set out with silverware and china. Behind the living room set was a big glass case containing several awards, trophies, and certifications. On the other wall, also by the living room set was another case containing dozens of pictures of other ponies, sometimes with her in them, more often without. A sort of friends and family case.

On the living room/dining room side of the huge room was a trio of doors along the wall. The one in the far corner was shut. Of the other two, the middle one opened into a huge bathroom in which a Jacuzzi, alicorn sized shower, and granite counters were visible. Though the other one, a large kitchen with stainless steel appliances, granite counters, and nice tile floors were visible.

Moonlight let them over to the sitting area, taking one of the chairs. Flux took the loveseat, Neutral took another chair, and Event took one of the couches. “So, what happened?” Moonlight asked the three unicorns, looking worried, though not overly dreading anything. She looked pretty confident that Starlight was okay.

“You don’t want to know if she’s alright?” Event asked in surprise.

“She’s alive,” Moonlight said confidently, holding up her front hoof. Around it was a platinum inset with five stones, four were shining with an inner light, and the fifth, while shiny, was clearly only reflecting and refracting light from without. The comparatively dull one was a topaz. The rest, in order, were a diamond, an amethyst, an alexandrite, and a ruby, all of which were shining with an inner light. “The amethyst is Starlight,” she explained. “And since you’re not the guard or a pony dressed in a suit, she’s not dying either. I don’t know how well you know her, but suffice to say she tries to account for everything with her paranoia.”

The three nodded. “We’re her coworkers in the Theoretical Arcana Department of the School of Arcana at Canterlot University,” Flux said. “We’re not entirely sure what happened, only that something went seriously wrong with what we now know to be her healing spell. It… did something, and turned her into at least a winged unicorn.”

“She’s at the hospital now, and the doctor said the Guard was going to need to get involved,” Neutral put in.

“Did he say what for?” Moonlight asked.

“Just that she had traces of ‘Forbidden Magic’ on her,” Neutral responded softly, looking towards his hooves and avoiding looking at Moonlight.

“That could be any number of things. Her wards weren’t exactly legal once you get past the surface, and her time studying at home involves some of the same things, I assume,” Moonlight said casually.

“You’re being rather trusting,” Flux noted after a moment, eyeing the other mare suspiciously.

“She’s already in trouble. You can’t get in any worse trouble than dealing with or in forbidden magic,”  Moonlight explained without hesitation. “Plus, I know you’re most likely who you say, anyway.”

“Really, how?” Event asked curiously.

“My wards are designed by Starlight. They let me know if there is any sort of identification spell on you, you’re carrying anything that can summon a guard badge, or the badge itself, and other enchantments that in combination or alone would label you as a guard. You’re not a Private Investigator, for the same reasons. If I’m wrong about it and charged with being an accessory, I have enough money and public influence that I will ensure that both cases will not be kept under wraps.”

Forgetting himself, Neutral looked up to gape at Moonlight. In his periphery vision, he could see that his coworkers were doing the same. There was an angry, determined light in her eyes and her face was set. There was no moving her.

This brought a question to Neutral’s mind, and he asked before really thinking, “What makes you think they’d try and do a completely private trial or keep the public from knowing about something like this?” Almost immediately after, he snapped his mouth shut, realizing how skeptical he sounded.

“Forbidden Magic is a little different from illegal, as you three should well know,” Moonlight explained, tone hard.

Neutral blinked for a second, before a realization dawned. He had been thinking that illegal and Forbidden were one in the same, however, while all Forbidden Magic was illegal, not all illegal magic was Forbidden. Illegal magic could be studied or practiced with the right credentials and licencing. Forbidden Magic was never to be cast on pain of death. The only capital punishment still in Equestria’s books. And that moment made Neutral realize that more than just Starlight’s career and freedom was at stake. The trails were also never public or publicized, although Neutral knew that going through the right law books in the Equestrian National Archives would yield a list of names and years of trial for the crimes. “Oh…” was all the poor stallion could manage in response as the realization hit.

The other two also seemed to be just getting what was actually at stake. It seemed like they’d been thinking the same way as Neutral. Forbidden and Illegal being interchangeable in that context. Moonlight nodded as she saw the realizations evident on the unicorns’ faces. “You were thinking I meant illegal weren’t you?” she asked with a humourless smile. “My sister is a massive magic nerd. I can’t have a sister like that and not have at least some basic knowledge on various areas in the arcane studies.” Neutral nodded dumbly. “So do you have any ideas about what happened past the fact she’s now possibly an alicorn?”

“No. We came over because you’re listed as next of kin, and the doctor will be more forthcoming with you, as well as the fact you’ve got a right to know something happened, as her family,” Flux explained. “You now know everything we do, and probably more.” None of them asked if she really did know more, simply due to the fact it would most likely because it probably wouldn’t go over very well. That’s why Neutral didn’t, at least.

Moonlight nodded. “Let’s go see what the doctor knows then,” she said to them, standing up and motioning for them to follow.

“How do you feel about teleportation?” Flux asked, standing up with her, and the stallions right behind them.

“Not my favourite mode of transport, but between that and walking, I’ll take it. Just not in here. Bad things will happen if you attempt to teleport within my condo unit, itself,” Moonlight replied, leading them toward the door once more.

After they were all back in the atrium, Moonlight ran her wing in a quick, five point pattern over a spot beside the door, and there was a small increase in energy though the wards, though just a surface scan gave Neutral the mental image of a bank vault.

“There, now we can teleport,” Moonlight said, turning back to them.

“How do you know?” Event asked, sounding somewhat nervous.

“Starry gave me a list of rules with what do and not to do with the wards she made me. One of those things is that the atrium can be used to teleport so long as the rest of the unit is locked down. I’m not going to try and get you guys hurt or otherwise. Not when you’ve done nothing to harm me or make me distrust you,” Moonlight explained unhesitatingly.

Even nodded, before Flux cut in, “Let’s get to the hospital now. See if they know anything more.”

There was a collective nod, then, with another series of flashes, the foursome were on their way to Canterlot General Hospital.