“I hope I went back far enough…” Twilight thought.
After having conducted quite a few experiments inside the mysterious expanse she found herself in, she could tell you it is incredibly dangerous to cast magic anywhere in it.
The energies swirling and mixing about creating a powerful energy able to turn even the most basic of fire spells into a humongous fireball capable of incinerating everything within its range.
Said fireball was still growing, encompassing the spot Twilight had been mere moments ago, and still growing, feeding off the energies within the Void itself.
How did this happen you ask? Well it began a few days ago when Twilight had uncovered a book in the ruins of the old princesses castle, written by one Star Swirl the Bearded himself.
The book had the detailings of a journal, more specifically something one would use when conducting experiments of any nature and was colored a dull grey.
It detailed the books subject matter, the Void, an endless expanse of nothingness, emptyness and overall not really a good place to nap, as well as the portal spell he had devised to get to such a place.
But Star Swirl's experiments in the Void proved to be of interest, for his detailed accounts said that every spell of a volatile nature he chose to enact within this expanse was catapulted in power levels, resulting in even basic spells turning extremely powerful and unstable.
As such, whenever he attempted to cast such spells. He would teleport to a distance he deemed safe, and observe the effects.
Often times, fireballs would grow to such enormous size that they would resemble a small sun, bolt spells would grow five times their normal size and become more unstable the more distance they traveled, and the beams she had used against Tirek came out of her horn twice the size of when she had all of the alicorns magic.
Right now however, she was completely focused on the fireball that was… still growing.
“Oh fiddlesticks…” She said while she teleported away to a safer distance. Again.
It was a pleasant surprise to find that spells without a more volatile nature like teleportation and transmutation were also empowered while in the Void, meaning she could teleport vast distances while maintaining her own stored magical energy.
That said she had only tried those two before deciding to do the fireball spell. It was slowing down a bit but still growing.
“Why is it still growing? Why are the energies even feeding it? Is there some kind of connection to magic this place has that we don’t know about? Oh this is so exciting and… maybe I should leave now.”
As Twilight came out of her reverie for learning, she noticed it had now expanded to the size of a small sun and looked about ready to explode.
She prepared the simple portal spell that would take her back home the castle and cast it, but all that came out of her horn were a few sparks.
“...Oh that’s not good.” Twilight had overexerted her energy stores and so she did the next best thing.
She ran screaming into the emptyness away from the exploding fireball.
Louise de la Valliere is many things, a noble, a mage, even if she hadn’t even managed to cast a single spell correctly yet, and a proud daughter of the Valliere house.
Right now though she was just nervous.
Today was the Familiar Summoning Ritual, the day she would prove them all wrong! She was a mage! She was a noble! She would summon something great like a dragon! Or a manticore or griffon!
Maybe not a hydra though, she knew that would end badly for everyone involved.
She was standing in the courtyard with the rest of the gathered students.
Among them was the blue-haired, quiet, petite girl that was Tabitha, her specialty in magic being the especially chilling variety.
Standing beside her was the red-haired buxom bimbo that was Kirche Augusta Frederica von Anhalt-Zerbst known for her passionate and carefree disposition, as well as her conquests with the boys, and her fiery spells.
In the crowd was Montmorency Margarita la Fère de Montmorency along with her boyfriend, aka annoying flirting fop, Guiche de Gramont, skilled in alchemy and earth magic respectively.
Not that she was making note of them for making fun of her, that would be petty.
They had all already gone before her, and the student who had just summoned her own familiar was proceeding back to the crowd. All that was left… was her.
Colbert, a bald headed fire mage, and their teacher, with spectacles covering his eyes stepped forward and yelled to the crowd.
“Louise Valliere! It is now your time. Proceed to the summoning circle.”
Already she could hear the snickers, the jeers, the taunting by Zerbst, and here she was shaking and so very nervous.
She walked up to the summoning circle and remembered the lines given to her by her teacher.
But as she gazed at the circle she paused for the briefest moments.
Would this end in disaster? Would she be cast out of the academy? Would her family disown her if she failed?
Would… would she never be able to cast REAL magic?
Magic was the birthright for all nobles in Halkegenia, given to them by their lord Brimir to be the leaders of their society.
In truth she couldn’t care less about that, she just wanted to cast magic once in her life without it exploding in her face, without the feeling of hopeless after each failed attempt after attempt.
She also wanted a friend who appreciated that.
She began to chant the sacred words… along with her own.
“My name is Louise Françoise le Blanc de la Vallière, Pentagon of the five elemental powers, heed my summoning… bring forth my divine, powerful, beautiful and wise servant... From the very bottom of my heart heed my call!”
She raised her wand and cast the spell that would bring her familiar to her.
Then the world was filled with smoke.
“I definitely went overboard with this one! Oohhhhh I’m such an idiot! Forgetting not to overexert myself in such a dangerous place!” Thought Twilight as she ran away from the ever growing inferno that had just been a small flame fifteen minutes ago.
As she ran she tried desperately to cast the portal spell leading to her castle, only resulting in more sparks from her horn.
“Why can’t I cast it!? It shouldn’t take all that much energy!”
As she was contemplating this, she had barely noticed the green wavy oval that had appeared just ahead of her, almost taunting her to come towards it.
She realized it was a portal, and with that in mind she flew to increase her speed towards the mysterious oval. Anywhere was better than being incinerated in the Void.
The fireball had almost gotten to her before she took flight, but it didn’t matter, for the energies within finally had enough, and the miniatures sun exploded, sending waves of fire in all directions.
She was barely able to make it through the portal before the waves got to the oval, and with an audible pop, both she and the green swirling door had disappeared.
“Okay that’s it! No more Void darned experiments! At least with anything related to fire…”
She was currently aware that she was lying in patches of grass, but apparently she had taken as much smoke as she could from the Void before flinging herself into the portal, and all she could see was smoke, smoke and more smoke.
She could faintly make out some shapes and forms but it was quite difficult to make them out properly.
“Hello? Uh, thank you for opening that portal! I was in a bit of trouble! Eh heh heh…”
She tried to talk to the shapes but faintly she heard them talk in a different tongue than hers… maybe Prench?
Actually the smoke was clearing up a bit and she could faintly see a shape getting closer to her… it looked awfully familiar even…
Suddenly a huge gust of wind had blown away all the smoke that had accumulated in the area and she was greeted by a… strange sight.
It was a presumably young pink haired human, wearing one of those skirts she had seen in Canterlot high, trimmed to below her waist and a white shirt with ribbons dangling from her neck.
She wore a cape that went all the way down to her feet, and she was holding a stick that Twilight assumed to be for casting magic.
But that’s not close to what got Twilight’s attention.
As the Princess of Friendship and the Element of Magic, she is no slouch to sensing magical entities, such as the Chaotic Spirit Discord, or the Daemonic energy of Tirek.
But this human was writhing with energies of the Void.
The human herself looked to be quite startled by her appearance and looked ready to say a few words to her teacher. Before she could do that however, Twilight remembered she had taken Prench lessons when she was Celestia’s student.
“Uh… Hello there! I’m Twilight Sparkle! What’s your name?” She raised her hoof for hoof bump.
The girl stood mouth agape for several seconds.
Then she screamed.
That made Twilight scream.
There was a lot of screaming done.
The screaming had continued on while everyone else in the courtyard was busy staring slack-jawed at the unicorn-hybrid Louise had managed to summon.
Zerbst in particular was a little fearful, for unicorns in Halkiginia were known for being temperamental towards anyone they considered impure. Whether this means purity of body, purity of mind or purity of soul is still up to debate.
Regardless, no one really wants to get kicked in the face by a thousand pound horned animal.
Colbert was scrounging around in his mind for knowledge of the strange unicorn-hybrid, for truly there was no such thing in Halkiginia, at least he thought. He wasn't a animalogist.
Tabitha however had simply raised her eyebrow somewhat and gone back to reading her book... before looking back to Sylphid who had a strange look to her snout.
Sylphid was a rhyme dragon, as large as a carriage and quite blue, who could use nature magic to transform from human to her draconic form. The other familiars were a little fearful of her because of this.
But the new arrival caused her to fidget and keep an uneasy expression on her snout.
"What's wrong?" She whispered to Sylphid. She was quite sure nobody could hear her, Tabitha was already pretty quiet to begin with.
Sylphid gave a small trill and shook. She was hesitant to go near the new arrival. Apparently she thought it was very, very powerful.
Tabitha wondered for a moment what could leave a dragon of all things spooked until she heard conversation back from the clearing.
"You speak Tristanian!? You can speak!?"
"Well of course I can speak! I'm not some animal! And don't scare me like that, you almost made me jump out of my fur!"
Twilight Sparkle was still trying to regain her composure at this point and her throat was still a tad bit sore.
You can't really blame her if she gets easily surprised speaking to possibly a new species that has been gone undiscovered after flying away from a blazing inferno just mere moments after.
The girl who was talking to her obviously was not like those she had seen in Canterlot High, the lack of the colorful skin tones of blues, greens, yellows, purples and much more were not present among both her and the crowd behind her.
She did have pink hair though, so there was that she supposed.
She took a gander around the clearing and saw a man she assumed to be an instructor of some sort, bald head and spectacles and wielding a staff that seemed to spark a little bit of fire when he noticed her looking at him.
He was also in a slightly ready posture, ready to intervene if something went wrong.
Oh dear... was he afraid of her? That simply won't do!
"Excuse me sir? Do you happen to know where I am and what all this is? Not that I'm ungrateful for the timely rescue but I'm quite confused!" She spoke in a sincere tone and at the sound of her voice the man seemed to snap out of whatever state he was in and looked at her.
"I... Ahem. You are at the Tristanian Academy of Magic, where we teach young nobles the knowledge they require to become mages. Today is the Familiar Summoning Ritual, where all our second year students cast the sacred ritual spell to summon their familiars, who guard and help them til either the summoner dies, or the familiar does."
She schooled the excitement she got from his words into a practiced neutral face she had asked Celestia to grind into her when she became a Princess. She was excited at the prospect of learning at a human school but there were some other unpleasant things in that sentence she needed to focus on.
Twilight looked at the ground, specifically the lines drawn into it that marked the ritual area and back at Louise, who was waiting with an unsure expression on her face.
She looked back at the scorch mark that she assumed must have been the area where she appeared. Twilight was a smart filly, she connected the dots.
"... And I take it I have been summoned by miss...?"
At this the young girl whirled on her heels and face her with a determined expression. "Vallière. Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière! And I summoned you her to be my servant! So get over here and let me finish it already!"
... Well that simply won't do. "Excuse me Louise but I am not just some golem you can order around even if I am your familiar! I am a living being, and you should pay everyp-one the respect they deserve! And do I not get a say in this?"
Colbert for his part seemed apologetic. "Err... Usually no, the familiar is however an animal with no intelligence to speak with us, so the ceremonies go as planned, however..." He looked to Louise who seemed to be dreading what he was about to say. "... Since you are obviously intelligent enough to argue with us, you are free to leave if you so wish to."
Twilight had not missed the reluctance in his pause, nor the way Louise had deflated. "And what would happen with Louise if I chose to leave?"
"... She would be expelled. All second year students are required to have a familiar by law. She would be expunged from the Academy and would be sent back to her family estate."
As a teacher at the Academy of Friendship, Twilight loved teaching to the six students who had come to her school, and valued their days when she went to work on whatever lesson she had planned, and not just on Friendship either. On a mulititude of subjects that she wanted them to make use of, even if they couldn't directly learn magic.
It broke her heart to hear what Colbert had said. She chose instantly what she wanted to do.
"... Miss Louise my terms as your familiar will be thus: you will NOT treat me like a servant or slave or animal or whatever you want. I am a living being, not a toy. That being said... I hope we can be friends!" She smiled and walked toward the Vallière and raised her hoof.
Louise for her part looked shocked, she honestly wanted to be her familiar?
"Why did you change your mind like that? It really felt like you didn't want to be here."
Twilight looked at her for a moment before giving an even wider smile.
"What kind of friend would I be if I just left you to fend for yourself?"
Louise looked at the raised appendage and with her mind set she grasped it and kissed Twilight on the horn.
"Deal."
There was a shock throughout both of their bodies and a shockwave rounded throughout the courtyart and past the gates. Students and familiars alike were knocked to the ground and a slight panic was set on them.
Then the two passed out.
Colbert was on the move instantly, ordering for the servants to get water mages and medical staff. But he was quite shaken with what he felt. He felt energy unlike any he had felt before... energies he should say, clashing together like a vortex.
One was serene and calm and had almost put him to sleep the moment he felt it, it's energies swirling everything into a calm he hadn't felt in a long long time.
The other felt cold, unfeeling, empty. He knew what that one was. And it scared him witless of the implications.
The entity that was the eternal emptyness had felt Harmonies champion tamper with it, using her magic, gouging, experimenting on the infinite blackness. It felt the raging inferno that was here minutes ago, and had passed it off as it chose the young princess as Louise's familiar.
That was swiftly left aside when Harmony did the equivalent of bringing a sledgehammer across the face of an unlucky individual.
Its existence felt tremors as Harmony itself clashed with it over the two beings.
The Void had marked Harmonies champion as being a Void Familiar. This did not please the existence that was Harmony as its chosen still had work to do. There were the other five of course, but they are incomplete without the sixth.
But Void had need of his own champions, for an evil born of itself was beginning to wake up from its long slumber.
Its mighty jaws had an endless hunger that burned to devour everything in its path, plants, animals, mages, people, the Spirits, and even the very energies that swirl throughout the world. Its scales were harder than even the toughest refined metals. Its claws as sharp as spears, its from towering above even the grandest castles and airships.
With its capabilities, the mages of Halkiginia could not hope to face it alone.
But as it stood, only one of its champions stood ready against it, one of them too mad to even be called a champion, and the other not yet found. The one known as Louise was a grand candidate but she would need her familiar.
As such, Harmony and Void came to a compromise, when the time came that the accursed dragon would wake, Harmony would help the Voids champions against it, and in return, the Element of Magic would be returned to Harmonies fold.
All this happened within the span of a moment as they faded and respectively got to work. Harmony was no stranger to evil, as it had protected its world and it chosen, time and time again.
Void however relied on its champions heavily, and granted their familiars enchanted runes upon their bodies imbued with great magic.
One such was Gandálfr, The Left Hand of God, and was imbued with the power to give knowledge of any weapon the wielder chose. It would not grant total skill, but enough so that they would not die immediately if they came upon a veteran.
The Void peered at the one named Twilight Sparkle, and came to the conclusion that Gandálfr would not do.
It seemed Twilight was ready to use a blade, as insistent training from the Princess of the Night forced her hooves, but primarily, this one fought with magic.
Bolts and blasts of all shapes and kinds graced the Voids mind in an instant, and it summoned the other available runes.
Lífþrasir, Love of Life, The Heart of God.
These runes granted the wielder the power to "stockpile" the power of spells, and use their own life force to enhance them.
Harmony would be quite cross if the Void decided to use give the Alicorn these volatile runes.
And so it came to a conclusion: it needed to make new runes.
The Void had not considered this for millenia, as the runes had worked for every void familiar thus far.
And making new runes... it realized the humans of Halkginia worshiped its very existance to profess their loyalty to Brimir.
It did not care for their sentiments.
And so it pondered what the young Louise wanted when she had summoned the Alicorn.
'I want to use magic... I want a friend.'
Satisfied it got to work.
