Chapter 50

– Mark of Magic –

“Come on, there has to be something here!” Gallus shouted.

Comet and her friends all sat in a circle at the center of the library, books lying in heaps around them as they tried to find anything to help them stop Tourmaline.

“We know how he’s stealing magic, but we need to know how to stop him.” Comet said.

“Those artifacts, I remember reading about them in Twilight’s class. But that doesn’t tell us how to stop it.” Ocellus said.

“Why not just yank the artifacts out of the circle?” Smoulder asked.

“We could, but that could cause a magical feedback loop and destroy the school.” Ocellus answered.

“How much time do we have? Tourmaline said sunset was when all the magic would be gone.” Sandbar asked.

Yona looked out the window, “Sun is close to setting. What we do?”

Comet thought about what they could do, Starlight needed their help, her Dad needed their help. Everything was riding on them, but how could they stop it?

An idea came to Comet’s mind, making her stand up, “We have to get back to the school.”

“Did you think of something?” Silverstream asked.

“It’s risky, but it’s the only idea I can think of.” Comet said.

“So spill, what’s the plan?” Smoulder asked.

“Tourmaline is planning to absorb all the magic after sunset, if we can disrupt the spell right before he absorbs everything, maybe the disruption will release the magic.” Comet said.

“So our big plan is to wait till the last second to do something?” Gallus said, not sounding convinced.

“I can’t think of any other way, Gallus. We have to try.” Comet said.

“Comet’s right, let’s get going. Tourmaline is not getting away with this.” Sandbar said.

Comet and her friends all got up and ran for the door. Comet lagged behind a little, thinking about her idea. She didn’t tell them everything, but it was the only thing she could come up with. They were running out of time.

“So, is everyone comfortable? You all get front row seats to my ascension, you should feel honored that I let a bunch of worthless peasants witness my greatness.” Tourmaline said, looking at his captives.

Trail, Zala, and Zecora were all pinned to the wall of the chamber with magic, unable to move. Trail struggled against the magic, but to no avail.

He looked at Starlight in the orb, how worried she looked, “Why is Starlight in that orb? What are you doing to her?”

Tourmaline smiled, “Call it revenge for her not choosing me as her apprentice. She is pulling in more magic than all these artifacts combined. You really know how to pick them sir.”

“What’s gonna happen to her?” Trail demanded.

“Hmm, I’m not entirely sure to be honest. Once I begin to absorb all the magic, I suspect all the artifacts will crumble into dust. Who knows, this may be Miss Glimmer’s final moments.” Tourmaline cackled.

“You sick twisted little varmint!” Trail shouted.

“Soon I will be a god. Your little insults will mean nothing to me.” Tourmaline said, looking at his pocket watch.

Comet led her friends into the tunnels from the grate in the library, all the students followed the tunnels until they reached the chamber where the artifacts and Starlight were. They all looked through the openings and saw Tourmaline with Comet’s family.

“Right, sunset is like 15 minutes away. What do we do?” Gallus said.

“Ocellus and I will look at the magic circle. Can the rest of you keep Tourmaline busy? Maybe see if you can free my family?” Comet asked.

“I’m totally into that. I’ve wanted to burn this guy ever since the Running of the Leaves.” Smoulder said, grinning.

“Ok, Silverstream and I will try and free Mr. Trail Blazer and the others. Smoulder, Gallus, Yona, you three keep Tourmaline occupied. Comet, Ocellus you do your magic thing when Tourmaline is distracted.” Sandbar said.

The whole team nodded and Smoulder and Gallus were the first to fly in, charging at Tourmaline. Smoulder shot a fireball before Tourmaline even knew what was coming. The fireball hit right in front of him, making him jump and look up. He looked up right in time for Gallus to punch him in the face. Before Tourmaline could retaliate, Yona rammed right into his side, knocking him off his hooves and into the wall.

“Don’t let up! Don’t let him get a spell off!” Smoulder shouted.

Sandbar and Silverstream rushed to Trail Blazer and the zebras, trying to figure out how to free them.

Silverstream clawed at the magic restraining them, “Man, this magic is too strong.”

“Silverstream, in my bag, there is some magicite dust. Maybe that will break the spell.” Zala said.

Silverstream quickly dug into the bag, pulling out a bag of white dust, “This it?”

“Yes, sprinkle it on the restraints.” Zala said.

Silverstream did as she was asked, sprinkling it on the zebra’s restraints, the magic flickered and eventually dissipated, freeing the zebra’s hoof.

“Yes! It’s working.” Sandbar said.

Silverstream quickly flew to each restraint, sprinkling more dust and eventually all three captives were free.

“We gotta help occupy Tourmaline, we gotta buy Comet and Ocellus more time.” Sandbar said, pointing towards Tourmaline.

Trail and both zebras nodded, running towards the fight. Tourmaline was getting frustrated, every time he’d try to concentrate, he’d get either a fireball or a punch to the face. He growled in frustration, not noticing the reinforcements coming from behind him. Trail rushed the colt and tackled him, pinning him to the wall.

“Game over, Tourmaline. Now stop the spell.” Trail said, his voice stern.

“No! Not when I’m so close!” Tourmaline shouted, magic surging off his horn.

A shockwave pulsed out from Tourmaline, pushing all around him away. Most of the students hit the ground, while Trail managed to stay on his feet, along with Zala. Zecora caught herself and ran towards the children.

“I will ascend, and no one's gonna stop me!” Tourmaline said, a wicked smile on his face.

While Comet and Ocellus ran to each artifact and tried to think of a way to stop the spell. But all they could tell is that the circle was getting more and more unstable with every second.

“We have to remove the artifacts. I don’t want the school destroyed, but I don’t see any other way.” Ocellus said.

“I know, the circle is struggling to hold all the magic. Look, the sphere is getting bigger!” Comet said, pointing a hoof towards the sphere.

Starlight panicked as the sphere grew bigger, and magical claws flew out of the sphere, grabbing Ocellus by the horn and pulling her towards the sphere.

“No!” Comet yelled, grabbing her friend’s leg.

The pull was too strong, she tried so hard to hold her friend, “Guys, help!”

All of the students had recovered enough to get up and help pull, but as they did, more claws came out and grabbed them one by one. As the claws pulled them closer to the sphere, Smoulder had just enough strength for one last push. She pushed Comet away from the sphere, just in time to save her from being sucked in.

“NO!” Comet yelled as the sphere took her friends.

Suddenly, the magic flowing into the top of the sphere stopped, leaving the sphere in the center of the circle, glowing brighter than ever.

“Yes! It’s complete!” Tourmaline cheered.

He took a step closer to the circle, only to find Trail in his way.

“Move it!” Tourmaline yelled, blasting Trail with magic and sending him flying into Zala, both hitting the wall hard.

Zecora tried to grab the colt, but she too was thrown, landing next to Trail and Zala. All three adults lay unconscious against the wall.

“At last, all my work is finally paying off. I will ascend!” Tourmaline shouted maniacally.

Comet stood in his way, “I won’t let you!”

Tourmaline glared at her, “Even now, you stand in the way of my greatness. Why was I cursed with you ruining my plans? I had everything. None of this would have been necessary if you hadn’t come here.”

“I came here to make friends and learn about friendship. Magic just came naturally. I worked hard to get where I am, unlike you who had daddy fight all your battles.” Comet said.

“Leave my father out of this! He never understood me. He never supported me in anything! But now, he'll have no choice but to be proud of me. I will bring the Rhinestone family more honor than he ever did. He will be the failure, not me!”

“That’s what this is about!? You steal all our magic, you imprison Starlight, you hurt my friends and my family, all because Daddy wasn’t proud of you? Are you serious, Tourmaline?”

“I don’t expect you to understand. Look at you, your own mother isn’t even around anymore. I bet she was so ashamed of you that she moved on to a better family. If she could see you now, I bet she’d be ashamed to even share blood with somepony so worthless!” Tourmaline laughed.

“I don’t care about what my birth mother thinks of me. She hurt my daddy, I hope I never meet her, ever! I have somepony better than she ever could be.” Comet shouted back.

“Oh, and who is that?” Tourmaline sneered.

Comet looked back behind her, she saw all her friends looking at her from inside the sphere. But it wasn’t her friends that she was focused on. It was the mare trapped with them. The mare who taught her magic, who taught her how to fly a kite, who read books with her, who comforted her when she was sad, who told her how proud she was.

The mare who fought a changeling queen to protect her.

Starlight Glimmer looked at Comet from the sphere, her light blue eyes staring into her green ones.

She turned back to Tourmaline, “She’s been more of a mother to me than my birth mother could ever be. She is…”

Comet hesitated for a moment, but she steeled herself and stood proud, “She is my real Mom!”

Starlight’s eyes went wide, as did her friends in the sphere. Comet really said it.

Tourmaline raised an eyebrow, “You really think Starlight Glimmer would want a daughter as pathetic as you? Then she really has fallen. Whatever, I’ll take my power now.”
“No you won’t!” Comet said, holding her ground.

Tourmaline simply blasted her with telekinesis, sending her flying into the wall. She groaned as the pain made her head spin. When she got her senses back, she saw Tourmaline was in the center of the circle. The sphere glowed brighter, along with his horn.

“YES! COME TO ME!” Tourmaline commanded.

The magic surged and shined bright as the sun, Tourmaline had won.

Or so he thought.

Comet used all her strength to push herself up and run, “Get away from my Mom and my friends!”

Comet shoves Tourmaline out of the circle, and at that moment, the sphere released the stored magic and all the magic shot right down onto Comet, blinding everyone in the room with its light.

When the light subsided, all of Comet’s friends and Starlight were outside the sphere, and were gently placed down on the ground by a soft magical glow. They were all shocked and looked back at the center of the circle. Standing there was a pony, but her coat shined bright, almost as if she was made of crystal.

Tourmaline recovered as looked at the figure in the circle, “NO! AGAIN YOU TAKE WHAT IS MINE!”

He fired a beam of magic at the figure, only for it to do absolutely nothing. The pony took notice of his actions and bright white eyes looked in the colt's direction. Within seconds, magical chains appeared and wrapped all around Tourmaline’s legs and around his horn. Tourmaline’s horn loses its glow and he is unable to move.

“Comet, is that you?” Starlight asked.

The pony in the circle nodded and sent a wave of magic throughout the room, and afterwords, Starlight could hear Trail and the others groan as they regained consciousness. Starlight ran over to hug Trail, bringing him back to his senses.

“Starlight, what happened?” Trail asked.

“I’m not sure, but I’m worried about Comet.” Starlight said, turning towards Comet.

Trail looked in the direction Starlight was looking and saw Comet, her glowing form concerning him.

Trail and Starlight approach her, “Sweetheart, are you ok?”

Comet didn’t answer as her head turned upwards, her ears pointing straight up as if she heard something. Another flash of light blinded everyone in the room and when they could see it again, they found themselves in the central courtyard of the school.

“Wait, how’d we get outside?” Silverstream asked.

“Comet must have teleported all of us. That’s some serious power.” Ocellus said.

All of Comet’s friends and her family looked to the glowing unicorn filly, who had still not said a word. The sounds of flapping wings grabbed everyone’s attention, as Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Tala and the royal guard all surrounded the area.

“Bro, what’s going on? Where’s Comet?” Tala asked, having landed next to Trail and Starlight.

“That’s Comet.” Trail said, pointing at the glowing filly.

Tala looked at her niece, shining bright as a star, “What in Celestia’s name?”

“Yes, I would like an explanation.” Princess Celestia said, having landed with her sister.

“GIVE ME BACK MY POWER! I DESERVE IT!” Tourmaline shouted, literally dragging himself over to Comet.

She looked down at him and glared. The chains around him squeezed tighter, making him stop his advance.

“What is happening here? Explain yourself.” Princess Luna demanded.

“Comet must have absorbed all the magic instead of Tourmaline!” Ocellus said.

The Princesses gasped and looked at the glowing filly with concern.

“That much power is too much for somepony so young. Comet Trail, you must let the magic free.” Princess Luna said.

Comet looked at the Princess, but before anything could be done, Tourmaline started laughing.

“So that’s it? You’re just gonna give up that power? You are literally a goddess now, more so than those old fossils over there ever were. You have all the magic in the world, and you just wanna throw it all away. You’re so pathetic. Think of all that you could do with that power. You could rule over everything, you could reshape this world into anything you want.” Tourmaline said, chuckling.

Comet looked down at him, the glare dissipating a little. She looked at the Princesses and then to all the beings standing in the courtyard.

“Comet!” Starlight called out.

Comet turned her head to look at her.

“It’s over. You did it. But you have to let it go.” Starlight said.

“Don’t listen to this washed up unicorn.” Tourmaline mocked.

Comet’s eye immediately went to Tourmaline, and within seconds, a muzzle was placed on Tourmaline’s face.

Starlight and Trail walked up to Comet, her friends just behind them.

“Comet, it’s ok. Let it go. You don’t need this power.” Trail said.

“You are an amazing mage, and the most talented filly I’ve ever met. But no one should have all this power. Magic belongs to everyone, right?” Starlight said.

“You don’t need this power. You’ll always be the best in our eyes.” Ocellus said.

“Yeah, no one’s better than you. You’ll be better than Starswirl no doubt.” Smoulder said.

“But come on, this look isn’t you.” Gallus said.

“Yona agree, Yona want friend back.” Yona smiled.

“Well the glowy effect is cool, but the real Comet is even cooler.” Silverstream said.

“The best unicorn we’ve ever met. The next Archmage of Equestria. Now, what do you say we finish this, huh?” Sandbar said.

Comet smiled, looking at all of them. She stopped on Starlight and Trail, both putting a hoof to each of her cheeks.

“It’s time to go home, Comet.” Both said softly.

Comet nodded, took a step back and from her horn, a bright light flew into the sky. And then, an explosion of color spread across the night sky, wisps of light flying in every direction. Trail and Starlight felt the wisps enter their horns, along with the Princesses and every other unicorn there. Magic had returned to Equestria.

Comet’s form lost its white glow, and when the light fully faded, she fell to her side. Trail and Starlight moved to pick her up, holding her as her friends and the Princesses gathered around her.

Then a bright purple flash appeared, and from it, Princess Twilight and the Elements appeared.

“Is everyone ok? What’s going on?” Princess Twilight asked.

“Everything is well, Twilight Sparkle. Comet Trail has won the day.” Princess Luna said.

All the teachers crowded around as Comet lay in Trail’s and Starlight’s hooves. She groaned as her eyes slowly opened.

“Dad?” Comet said, seeing her father’s face.

“Hey sweetie, how do you feel?” He asked.

“Ugh, I feel like I did when Starlight made me do magic drills after I broke her favorite tea set.” Comet groaned.

Starlight giggled, “Well, it did teach you not to lose focus now didn’t it?”

Comet saw Starlight and giggled a little, “Yeah. It did.”

Starlight pulled Comet closer and placed her head under her chin, “I’m so proud of you, sweetie.”

Comet cuddled against the mare, then remember what she said before, “Hey Starlight.”

Starlight pulled back to look her in the eye, “Yes Comet?”

“Is it ok if I call you… Mom?” Comet asked.

Starlight gasped and teared up a little, looking at Trail, who was shocked. Tears fell from Starlight’s cheeks as she nuzzled the filly, “Of course you can, sweetie. I’d be so proud and happy to call you my daughter.”

Comet burst into happy tears and hugged her new Mom, Trail joining in on the hug, one big happy family. When the crying was done, the family pulled apart so that Comet’s friends could hug her as well. The last being Ocellus, who gave the biggest hug.

“You were so cool!” Ocellus cheered.

Comet rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment, but then Silverstream let out a gasp, “Comet, look!”
Comet looked at the hippogriff in confusion and looked to where she was pointing. Comet’s eye widened as she looked at her blank flank. Or what was once a blank flank.

There, on her rump, was a picture of a paintbrush painting a falling star across her flank. The falling star had a purple color, similar to Starlight’s, and the trail it made had the same colors as Comet’s mane.

She finally had her cutiemark.

Author's Note

Hey guys, Hades here.

So, that happened. Comet has her cutiemark! Only took saving the world and having all the magic in Equestria for a few minutes.

See you guys next time,
Hades