Chapters “ Starswril ? Starswril ! “, shouted a pony named Kindtalker, entering the said pony’s office. Her shouting was however received by none, seeing that as soon as she went in, she found the pony she was looking for: a dark blue one, bearing a long gray mane and a beard of the same color. He was wearing his signature blue robe, covered in various stars and moons, as well as a hat with a bell at the end; the one he would always be wearing in the representations made of him, counting his numerous magical feats.
This pony was none other than Starswril the Bearded, soon to be known as the greatest unicorn of his time and for the generations to come. Almost a walking encyclopedia, he was the only one able to raise the celestial bodies every time he’s needed, even though it drained the magic of those who helped him do so. It however made his body look and feel grayer and older each time.
That same living legend was asleep, thrown into his books, snoring loud enough to be heard from the room next to his office; his state for numerous years now. That caused Kindtalker to roll her eyes; she respected the pony, but this sight was almost pitiful to look at, considering all the respect she holds for the mage. She took a deep breath, before shouting:
“STARWRIL! THE MINOTAURS ARE INVADING!”
That sentence alone caused the older unicorn to awaken suddenly, visibly shaken and panicking; he infused his horn with powerful magic, without paying attention to the scrolls that fell to the ground because of that, he looked left and right for the upcoming menace; the minotaurs were a force to be reckoned wi-
“Minotaurs? But their army has been dissolved decades ago… “, he said. He looked at the other pony in the room, his eyes filled with anger, her face almost exploding from restrained laughter. “Kindtalker! These are not matters of laughter! You almost gave me a heart attack, so if you would be kind, I would ask you to quit wasting my time!”
His words were welcomed with even more laughter, as his anger slowly turned into annoyance; before him was rolling on the ground his most promising disciple, Kindtalker, a pink unicorn with a green mane, curly at the points and messy, in which traces of various potions could be recognized.
Her voice was light and jovial; the kind of voice we could expect from a pony inspiring confidence to others, as well as transpiring it. The voice fitting for some kind of leader, yet she wasn’t one, nor did she want to be one; the sounds she produces where the kind of ones that would make anypony try their best.
She bore a cutie mark in the form of a musical note, which was rare for exceptional unicorns who usually had a brand evoking magic. As she was calming down, she now had her tongue outstretched towards her teacher, as well as a provocative look, carried by her dark green eyes.
“Don’t give me your ‘almighty’ tone”, she said as she took a deeper voice as to mimic his. “You can talk like that to other ponies, but to me? You’re just an old geezer with a serious sleeping problem.”
“For the thousandth time, young lady, that’s how I concentrate.”, he said with sarcasm, ignoring the insult he just received. His pride normally wouldn’t tolerate any kind of disrespect coming from anypony. But Kindtalker was like a daughter to him, and he knew she felt the same way. “That’s how I concentrate. That’s done wonders in the past decades, and that will always be my way of doing magic. You know, magic, the thing I teach you?”, he said with annoyance.
“Well, your way of concentrating is making your office look like a freaking dumpster!”, she said, now a little bit more serious. Kindtalker was really talented in magic, but her personality was rather bold. “I mean look around you; it really isn’t healthy when we’re as old as you… how old are ya really anyway?”
Ignoring the remark about his age, the unicorn shifted his gaze around his office: it consisted of a small desk just in front of the entrance, on which could normally be found some of Starswril’s latest works or letters. It now was a river of paper scattered all across the surface, where he was sleeping just moments ago. The room was illuminated by the sun’s light coming from a small window on the right side of the room, providing the light for daytime work. It wasn’t his only area of work; but it was where he made his researches and most importantly, slept.
“I… see what you mean, yes”, he said, a bit frustrated. “I guess I did need a second view on how I was managing myself…”
“You mean an honest view, right? Ask anypony else and they’ll just lick your hooves telling you how your office looks clean and all”, answered Kindtalker as she began to reorganize everything by levitating the scrolls. The room was silent for some seconds, before she said with a softened voice: “Listen, I know it must be hard for you… the big day is coming soon, right?”
How can she know… , said Starswril to himself, before internally shaking his head; she means well to him, and he knows it. No need to be harsh to her , he thought. Regaining his composure, he said:
“Yes, you’re right. It’s the only thing I could focus about for the last two years… do you ever get that feeling that no matter how hard you could try to prepare to do something, you actually expect to fail more than anything?”, he said, looking at her.
Kindtalker locked her gaze with his, looking to find the reason behind that question. Then she understood it; her old master was looking for comfort, although he was too pride to admit it. She rolled a scroll in the air and gently tapped his muzzle with it.
She patted his back with a soft smile, causing Starswril to turn his head. “Ahem, of course, I wasn’t really talking about myself, but thank you for this support”. He tried to keep his cold and usual air, but he knew he couldn’t fool her; that did warm his heart. Noticing this, she held a look of triumph on her face, and said:
“Anddddd you’re welcome, always a pleasure to talk with you”, she said, quickly winking at him.
While she was finishing her cleaning, Starswril couldn’t help but slightly smile at her. He turned from her, trying to find a way to help cleaning, only to notice that he’s too late. Ah, great; now I’m in her debt, he thought to himself. Actually he felt twice in her debt now; he regained his confidence and cool head thanks to her; not a lot of ponies can really achieve that, adding that to the fact that he could only show his slight doubts to her – and none other.
His smile however quicky turned into a stoic face, as he noticed his gifted student almost jumping in place, her face next to his; he knew that look all too well. He personally considered it a bit rude; it was the kind of face telling ‘I know I’m not supposed to ask but I’ll ask you anyway’, one of the many faces Kindtalker can put on that do slightly annoy the older unicorn. She was biting her lower lip, had her eyes wide open at her master. Before he could say anything, she said- almost shouted:
“Come on! Show it to me! The crystal! You know, the one you’ve been trying to hide from everypony to no avail!”
“Having you knowing about it being a crystal is already too much, young one”, he said with a firm voice, making the room silent. His face was now serious and severe, questioning the younger’s unicorn curiosity. He wondered how she knew about it in the first place; she always snuck behind the scenes to get intel about things she’s not supposed to know about. He thought about it a bit; he thought that keeping some things secrets is best than just throwing it all on the table like that.
“I’ll tell you about it tomorrow”, he finally said, suppressing a slight sigh in his throat. He could see the excitement growing in Kindtalker’s eyes, before she suddenly seemed to calm down a bit, keeping however a smug smile on her face. She was always unpredictable, though Starswril knew it didn’t really bother him; she was always a way of escaping routine. He then noticed his disciple pointing to the door by slightly tilting her head, with a slight smile on her face; the old unicorn agreed by saying with a high voice, as he went out:
“Yes; it is time for that, after all”
Kindtalker shook her head while hearing her old master’s boasting, closing the door behind her. She was beginning to feel worried about his sanity and his health; whatever he was preparing was beginning to damage him badly, as it was apparent by the giant dark circles under her teacher’s eyes, and the small pace he was trotting with. He was old, she thought; but not THAT old either. She had to take care of him until all of this is over; sooner the better, she told herself.
She was walking behind him as to mark the respect she held for him. The walk was silent at first, prompting the pink unicorn to look left and right by whistling a small air she would always sing when bored – even when she was attending Starswril’s courses back in the days. There was nothing to look at after all, at least, nothing according to her; her old master’s office was located in a small house, not far from where years later will exist the capital of Equestria, Canterlot; he took care to decorate his home’s walls with some ornaments of his taste- mostly big blue carpets matching the same decorations as his robe.
They eventually stopped next to each over, looking out from a window; it was now almost the time to set the sun down. Kindtalker looked at the older unicorn, worried; she knew he absolutely had to participate in the ritual, but she could see it when nopony else could: he was beginning to tire from it, and some of his fur is turning grayer and grayer – his body was aging at an abnormal speed.
Why does it have to be like this? It never truly made sense to her. There were other stars out of this world, gleaming in the night; different colors, different intensities, it was truly a sight to behold. But she always thought – is it like this with all the other stars other than the Sun? Does it mean thataround every star, there was some creatures moving all this stuff? Magic wouldn’t be special at all in this case - and she didn’t want to believe that.
She couldn’t wrap her head around this – and she knew , or at least, wondered, if her master felt the same way. But she was cut out of her thoughts when she noticed him looking at her, raising an eyebrow; he had seen her worried gaze, and she knew he didn’t like it, to be put in question.
“I’m still not deep below ground, you know; I can still manage myself”, he said with a high voice.
Well continue like that, and you won’t last long before not managing yourself anymore.
She shrugged at her dark thought, while at the same time answering her master with a nervous laugh; she didn’t know how to react, or act at all at the moment. She always tries to inspire others to do greater things by acting all confident all the time, but she was like anypony else – there are just awkward times, she lately told herself, it’s normal to feel lost.
She looked down as she noticed her master getting away, going out of the castle to join the next group of unicorn volunteers to lower the Sun and raise the Moon .She wasn’t going to follow him instantly – he won’t be surprised when he won’t hear her trotting to catch up to him. It’s part of his character , she thought. Just taking the lead, as always…
It didn’t really bother her, as she needed time to collect her thoughts as well; she looked from the window as her master gave the usual briefing to the group of volunteers.
Does he ever get bored of saying the same things every day?
Chuckling at the slight obviousness of her question. Of course, he did, but somepony has to do it – might as well be him. She looked at the other unicorns present there; they were five, apart from Starswril himself, and they all gathered at the usual spot where the celestial bodies would be manipulated – at the edge of a hill near the castle. She always looked at their reaction – some were scared, others tried to seem brave, but ultimately, all of them wanted to do it because of their own choice.
Is it bravery? Craziness? Do they not care enough about their magic that they’re willing to give it up? Or are there so many ponies that can be called heroes out there?
That’s what these unicorns should be called – heroes, for giving up such a valuable tool such as magic for the rest of their life, just so their fellow ponies can appreciate a simple night of sleep; so that nature itself doesn’t go crazy, so plants don’t have to live eternally under the same sun day after day.
But ponies didn’t care, she often thought. Even she, who can see these ponies from the distance, can’t distinguish any particular features. She could know how they felt from the way their shape was moving, but apart from silhouettes, some bigger from others? They weren’t much more to her, to anypony else, other than maybe their family. And she thought that was unfair; she thought this wasn’t right. Unicorn magic , Starswril always said, was a gift; not that it was superior to earthpony or pegasus magic, but it was a gift nonetheless.
She looked at them as they prepared themselves; she wasn’t allowed by Starswril to participate in the ritual. Her master’s voice echoed in her head: “You are too gifted to waste your magic here. Concentrate on finding solutions; you’ll outlive me, I’m sure you’ll do it”. That was always his was of putting her out of this; she knew that it was to protect her, that he was genuine; but she couldn’t help but feel responsible for these unicorns.
But her thoughts got cut short as a bright light suddenly came from the small group on the hill; they were beginning. She could only see them from their back, with Starswril taking the lead; the Sun was going to set just in front of them. It was always the same routine – it would begin simply, quietly, as their magical auras took the same color, matching one on the celestial bodies: golden for the Sun, and dark blue when it came to the Moon.
Concentration was obviously key in the process, as Starswril always insisted in his explanations – they had to synchronize their levitating powers to near perfection at the beginning of the process. It would be the case when the six of them could connect their magical auras from one horn to another, forming what would sometimes be seen from above as a six-branched star. They could continue only when that level of connection could be obtained. It would sometimes take from a mere five minutes to a half-an-hour, depending on the volunteers. Pegasi were forbidden to fly in the area during a certain time slot, so concentration couldn’t be broken.
Kindtalker watched as the connection was formed after twenty minutes of waiting. The easy part is over, she thought.
And then always came the screaming.
It would, most of the time, begin with the weakest build unicorns screaming on the top on their lungs, feeling such a peculiar pain; it wasn’t especially horrible, it was just so unexpected even after Starswril’s warnings. Like when a foal cries just as soon as it accidently lands on their behind, it was like a new set of nerves would discover a new kind of pain.
It was situated near the horn area; the ones that lived it would often describe it as explosions going on in their heads or being ripped of some of their brain. Starswril’s grew accustomed to it after doing it for some years, just like how an earthpony drags some heavy material with something around their neck to work the earth. None tried to suppress their lamentations going out of their throat, nor their tears; nopony had anytime to be judgmental at that moment.
Some of them tumbled, others nearly knelt; but during those moments, it seemed like the ponies’ determination outgrew their pain, as they did their best to keep their concentration on the only important task in that moment: it was a lifechanging moment for all five of them, but they accepted it, they knew what was to come. But their pain was present during the whole and slow operation, after which the Moon was finally up in the sky.
Being the only really lucid one, Kindtalker quickly teleported next to the group and looked left and right; two of the nameless unicorns were unconscious, with one -a female- bathing in her own fecal matter and piss. She quickly covered by forming a blanket around her, out of respect for her intimacy, as she looked at the three other present there: one of them was already going away, lowering his head. Another one had a blank stare, looking at whatever was going on in his mind – if anything was going on.
There was only one - a male - who seemed , while looking completely weak, conscious enough to actually understand his surroundings. Kindtalker looked at him, thinking about how it wasn’t really common for any of the volunteers to keep their head on their shoulders immediately after the experience. She could only see, however, his gaze staring back at her: his eyes have lost their color, not that she knew what their original one was; it just seemed obvious to her.
That was the effect that would be had on anypony – unicorn, pegasus, earthpony – if they happened to lose their magic. However, anypony else would slowly recover it totally, as living beings produce magic until the creature’s body attain some magical limit; then, their eyes would recover as well. But these? They’ll have to keep their blank stare… forever… The unicorns didn’t really lose all trace of magic in their body, but they lost the important part: the one that specifically made them unicorns, able to use complicated spells, conjure charms. Now it’s like they don’t even go in any category of the three tribes…
She shook her head, and went next to her master, who was now sitting on the ground, looking at the lunar majesty. He seemed to be hiding some part of his body with his right hoof, on the right side of the stomach: Kindtalker swore she could see some gray fur there now, but she quickly looked away.
He didn’t look behind him; His apprentice knew how tired he was of always seeing the same sad view behind. She knew it saddened him deeply; but it had to be done, she though, as she came silently next to him, standing still. Their silence was heavy; the atmosphere blank, apart of the smell of bodily fluids filling their nostrils. While Kindtalker swore to herself that she’ll clean that poor pony ,as she thought that’s the least she could do , she could hear her master’s weak voice, only heard by her, claiming:
“I’ll tell you all the details about the crystal tomorrow”, he said. “Soon, I should be able to finally put us unicorns to rest, and it’ll be the work of my life.”
Everything seemed to go silent as Kindtalker tried to process the information she just heard; but she didn’t have the time as she noticed a bright white light flashing next to her, sign of a teleportation. She knew the signature aura of her master as she understood he didn’t want to do anything there anymore for the time being; she did get angry each time he would do that, but she kept quiet: everypony around her was tired to death, they didn’t need that anger right now.
She silently stared at the place her master was moments ago, just next to her; her first thought was: what has gotten into him? It wasn’t clear – no, rather it didn’t make sense. Why would he suddenly decide to tell her something he didn’t want just minutes ago? She continued to think as she grabbed a small bit of grass to chew on during her reflection; she would always do that whenever she had the occasion, even though she doesn’t realize it until she notices the grass paste unpleasantly formed in her mouth. Her reflections would end after that point.
Starswril wasn’t always clear; he considered Kindtalker as a daughter, but every parent has to keep secrets after all. Right? She knew he wasn’t the kind of pony who would form friendships with anypony he sees across the street – in fact she doesn’t think he really has any friends other than herself, and Clover the Clever, who was far away right now. But even to her, his magical experiences were kept as secret as possible, until the experience itself began, but she didn’t see it as a lack of confidence in her, but rather as a safety measure, so these don’t fall until the control of unwanted forces.
But this was a first; and she didn’t know what to make of it. She then realized that it might actually be really simple: it might just be really dangerous, and Starswril knows it, to the point where he has to prepare her for the upcoming events. Was it too much thinking? Perhaps, she thought; but she’ll make sure he’ll keep his word now.
After chewing for some seconds and spitting the dreaded paste in her mouth, she turned to see the previously emotionless pony with his blank eyes know turning his eyes left and right until his gaze met the one other pony who was conscious other than Kindtalker. She could see them, but their details didn’t matter to her – not that they were far or that they were invisible, she just didn’t care enough about how they look; she only cared about the way their muscles twitch, and their now white eyes.
Every unicorn who had to go through this process looked now the same to her; she didn’t have any eyesight problem, it was on the contrary excellent. But after witnessing so many different ponies having to go through this? Might as well putting mannequins to customize freely; she knew it would look like one who had done it anyway.
The know conscious pony began to suddenly sob and cry, not as intensely as during the ritual, but it was as heartbreaking to hear ; sorrow, sadness… and regret. Just like how a foal cries when they’re scolded by their parents for some mistake, Kindtalker could hear the honest cries of somepony she didn’t know, regretting the decision he just made; was it because he lost his magic? Was it the pain that somehow made its way back to his organism? Or maybe was it that, despite doing what he felt was the right thing to do, for every living pony – heck, every living thing on this planet- , he felt torn to shreds, contemplating the injustice of the situation. Not all of them are ready for it, after all.
But her thoughts were soon directed at the two unconscious ponies; somepony had to take care of them, might as well be her. She approached them, they were quiet close to each other; and though she didn’t register any detail of their body, she could tell they were both females silently sleeping on the ground. The one on her left didn’t look to have any problems other than an unnatural position that hurt Kindtalker’s neck just by looking at her. Gosh, let me fix that; how can she breath like that?
It was really the one on the right that was upsetting her; needless to say, she never really got used to this kind of sight, it wasn’t really common either, maybe occurring once or twice a month. She slowly lifted the pony sleeping in the blanket she conjured like a sleeping bag, as a dark green aura was glowing around her horn.
She thought for a bit before the floating pony seemed to flash, and after a fraction of a second she appeared again on the ground, the blanket nowhere to be seen, and now without an ounce of bodily fluids on her. The blanket itself was a magical temporary invocation; she just made it disappear to regain the tiny bit of magical energy she used to make it appear, adding it to another small amount to perform the cleaning spell.
While I’m at it, let’s find a place for these two to sleep. A quill and a small scroll appeared in front of her, being teleported from somewhere in the castle; she began to write the same usual message when she had to deal with unconscious ponies she didn’t know: teleporting them to a friend’s tavern, asking him to let them sleep as a way to thank them for their achievement. They would find their way home afterwards, she always thought. Going through that process, she then turned away, finally being able to go home on her own.
Tomorrow is another day.
It was 08:23 in the morning, and the Sun was finally up in the sky by that time of the year; it was the middle of winter, the days were getting shorter, and the nights longer. Starswril liked a good night of sleep before raising the Sun, so it bothered him whenever he had to do it after a short night because he studied all night: he would feel less competent than usual in these conditions; that morning was one of these infuriating ones. He would always teleport back to his office after completing the task, but in this kind of morning, he would walk to it, too tired to do any spell for the moment.
As he arrived to his office he already found the door open; this would usually surprise and upset him, but not this time, as he expected that to happen this time. He entered slowly and greeted Kindtalker with a simple nod of his head, noticing the two cups of coffee put on the desk. She returned the silent greeting the same way, as he sat down next to her and took the coffee to his lips; it was burning hot, but at least, it woke him up. The room grew silent, only filled with the noises of drinking and the small sound of cups being put on the table then levitated again. During all of that Kindtalker eyed her teacher, as he kept drinking looking at whatever could be found on the wall in front of him.
“Let’s cut the crap already; what did you want to talk about?”, she said, not wanting to sound mean but impatient.
Her question was greeted by more silence; Starswril didn’t really mind his student’s familiarity, he was just collecting his thoughts while finishing his coffee. After drinking the last drop, he finally looked at her, and spoke:
“Well good day to you too, Kindtalker; I’m happy you’re finally here”
“I was here before you, you know that, right?”, she answered, raising an elbow and crossing her hooves. “You may be tired, but neither of us have all the day, right? So, let’s talk.”
As she said that, a flying object came crashing to the table, resulting in both glasses falling near to the ground before being caught be Starswril’s levitation spell, despite the fact that he was caught by surprise. He immediately began looking at his disciple with daggers in his eyes, until he noticed the crystal from the day before being taken out of the rag it was hidden in by Kindtalker’s hasty hooves.
The solid she was manipulating was chaotic in its form; it wasn’t a perfect cube or a perfect pyramid, nor was it a smooth sphere. One would usually describe it as just spikes of weird, colorless crystal being held together by a fragile microscopic structure, the kind you would expect to find in any cavern you choose to mine in – or have an unfortunate meeting with diamond dogs. However , one would also notice the change of color the crystal was experiencing as Kindtalker held it in her aura as she levitated it: as if adopting that aura’s taint .
Without letting him time to speak, she continued:
“This, right here. What the hec- the hell is it, tell me”, she said, rubbing it with her hoof. “I can definitely sense something’s fishy with it, or else you wouldn’t hide it. When I was lifting it, my magic felt weird; I felt weird, like a part of me went to the crystal, and then came back, magically, no pun intended. I mean, that’s what happened, right?” She held it closer to his face before adding: “What the heck is this, and how did you get your old hooves on something so… weird? … and what do you intend to do with it?”
Her look was frenetic and her breath ragging, and as she looked at her master looking for answer, she could see his amused , worried, and understanding look; it was a complex expression to read, one would display when not knowing what to really answer.
He thought a bit about it; he was beginning to regret that promise that he made to her and thought about trying to convince her to forget about all of it, and putting these words under the responsibility of his tired state back then. Who am I kidding? I’m too deep in this mess, she’ll never let it go.
“Well, you asked for it, young one; prepare yourself for a lot, and I mean a lot of exposition”, he said as he looked at the crystal, which was losing its color now that he was free of Kindtalker’s levitation spell. “Before you I had another great student of magic; she was a lot more polite, though. She learned every word I ever wrote on any sheet of paper, and tried to add her own touch to it. You’re kind of different, you know that? You follow your instinct a lot more…”
“Yeah, get to the point already!”
“Alright, fine! You already met her, it was Clover the Clever; she really made me proud, you know? She founded Equestria back with her two friends, Smart Cookie and Private Pansy. She’s earned my trust that day, so I stopped treating her like a apprentice, and set her off as an accomplished student. From that day, she wanders to other lands to try to rally them to our new Equestria; and from time to time, she sends me something she might think is magical, like a giant pot, a manticore’s tooth, or-“
“A magical crystal which can suck up your soul? Wow, you must have been harsh to her when she was learning”, interrupted him Kindtalker, sticking out her tongue. Starswril ignored her and continued.
“This magical artefact is more complex than that; if I had to guess, I would say it might be a really ancient object; dating from way before us ponies, possibly even from the alicornes’ age”, he answered, now beginning to inspect the object in a more tactile way, as if his words fascinated him too, as if he was learning that as the same time he said it.
“She came back with it four years ago; I remember what she said: ‘ When I found this, it was like whenever I tried to do anything magical to it: levitate it , blast it, heck, even teleport it, this thing would try to keep that power to itself, but fortunately, it never could really. I don’t know what this thing is, but you need to be careful with it; I think that if you put a lot of thought to it, you would be able to imbue it with any kind of magic, like the ones you already use for your dimensional experiments. I just suspect this to a lot more efficient’ ”
Starswril went silent for a small moment, looking as his student seemed to drink every word that was coming out of his mouth, and putting a lot of thought to it: for now she’s stopped her usual playful demeanor to replace it with a lot more serious and expert one: a talented and powerful mage’s attention. They were looking at each one, each expecting somepony would take the initiative to talk; she broke the silence:
“Soooo… it was trying to adapt, that’s what you mean? Take the magical ability I was using on it to keep it for itself?” She thought a bit about it, then stared at the crystal. “It looks like those minerals you can find in some cracks and caves, what is it called again? … Quartz! Yes, that’s it; that thing can store a bit of energy, right? Sooo is this like magical quartz?”
“Well I don’t know about its true nature, but if you want to call it that, I won’t object. Might as well simplify things by calling it that”, he answered, yawning.
Kindtalker listened carefully, still examining the said object. It wasn’t mythical, no legends – that she knew, and she knew a lot- talk about anything like that. Sure, there are a lot of crystals, but they’re shaped perfectly and all, not like this thing. She thought a little bit more about it: who knows what kind of wonders exist out there.She continued:
“So if I understand, its primary task isn’t to hold raw power, but properties, right? Gosh, this could be really dangerous if used poorly…” She looked at him, then added: “I’m pretty sure I know what you want to use it for, but I want you to say it.”
Her look was insisting and put an unexpected pression on Starswril. If she knows it, why do I even need to reexplain?
“Clover didn’t really have any use for these kind of artefacts; she’s more about magic of friendship and whatnot”, he said , slightly shaking his head. “But the second I heard her explanation, I knew just what its purpose must be. And if I succeed...”
“Wait wait wait; I’ve got a word in this, right?”, interrupted him his student. She looked at the tapestry on the wall just next to them, dominating the desk. On it could be seen many stars with their name written in ponish , as well as two dominating astral bodies: a giant white flaming orb, as well as a smaller and rockier blue one. “If you intent on using the crystal to rise the Sun and Moon, let me tell you that I really doubt it’s going to work.”
Seeing the interrogatory look of her master, she continued: “Look at us; each time we need five random unicorns to help you with that mission: we’ll have to refill that same thing with the same amount of power each time, right? Nothing would really change!”
“Magic isn’t always about raw power. Me and five random unicorns can move the Sun and Moon, using not raw power, but the special magic proper to each celestial body. Why do they lose their magic? Well, what if it’s not a question of “power”, but a question of “order”? What if we’re simply not supposed to use these types of magic, to the point that magic kind of punishes the ones who do use it by taking their magic away?”
Kindtalker looked at him stunned, preparing herself to point how impossibly silly that sounds; but she was interrupted again: “now before you say anything, I thought it was stupid too; magic, deciding like a sentient creature? I thought it was boringly implausible... then I nearly stopped myself , you know why? This is magic we’re talking about! Not even me can pretend to know the extent of its effects on us living creatures. This entire planet is magical; why would my theory be so impossible?”
He closed his eyes as he finished these last words. Commission between unicorns and members of the two other pony species could sometimes be heard in the streets, at any time of the day for any possible reasons. Some ponies tried to make unicorns feel guilty and calling them “privileged” was considered soft now, as new racially insulting terms could be heard more and more often: the lasting fire from the conflict between the three pony tribes before their union years ago lasted. And yet a lot of us sacrifice their magic for the good of all ponykind; but nopony mentions that… what a great bunch of assholes.
After some seconds of slow breathing, he opened his eyes again, witnessing now his student in the middle of her thoughts; he could almost see the mechanical part racing in her brain as she thinks about it from every angle she can think of, may it be in terms of safety, efficiency, then difficulty. She was methodical at being against his will sometimes, he quietly joked to himself.
“What about Clover? Isn’t she around to help you?”, she finally said, curious. He shrugged a bit, hating that the answer was negative.
“She’s more concerned about the magic of friendship, or so she calls it. She’s travelling from land to land to also try to teach that to every race she encounters; I swear one day everypony will only have that in their mouths, and true magic will disappear…” Kindtalker was about to answer to that when he interrupted her, adding: “And you can’t help me, I’m sorry. I don’t know how dangerous the experiment may be, and you have to be there for your little baby filly… what’s her name again?”
“Don’t try to turn this discussion around so I talk about my family, and you’d be a great fool if you think that I’m about to listen to whatever orders you try to give me! “, she suddenly snapped, taking Starswril by surprise. She looked at him, panting, then added : “Sorry for yelling, but come on! I accepted the fact that I couldn’t help you with rising the sun and such, but this? This is so important to you, you can’t tell me to back down!”
“But what if someone happens to you?”, said her master while rising his voice. “If something happens to you, it’s on me! Do you understand that I’m not ready to deal with that, if something happens to you?”
Both went quiet that moment, panting while staring in each other’s eyes, scanning their soul; it was quiet an awkward moment for them both, but they expected it to happen at some point. It was heavy, because Starswril did consider asking her for help: she was talented, thought quick about dangerous situations, and handled her magic brilliantly, even better than Clover, but he didn’t tell her yet. He wanted to ask; but the thought that the experiment might go wrong, especially considering the topic at hoof, weighted on his thoughts – he was ready to die if he has to, but he didn’t want to get her involved.
Kindtalker seemed to read her master’s mind, as she leaned slowly towards him, patting him gently on the hoof, saying:
“From the day I became your personal student, I accepted every possibly dangerous situation I could be put in. It wasn’t easy in the beginning, I mean, every morning I misspelled a word to you counted as a dangerous situation to me… but I learned to suck it up, because I didn’t want to disappoint you – and that changed me, made me a risk taker.
I’m not saying this as an excuse to get away from my little family- who would be ready to throw their lives away for that kind of crap? I know I’m not , because you know why? This shit IS going to succeed; it’s time I finally helped you for everything you’ve done for me.”
Starswril stayed silent after she said that, so she added: “ Plus, you didn’t expect me to work all that hard to get where I am just so you tell me ‘nah it’s too dangerous, back off’; you would be fricking wrong you know.”
He looked up at her again, with a stoic face; not that he couldn’t feel anything at that moment, but he just knew that there must be a time where even he wouldn’t be able to prohibit her from doing what she really wanted. He finally sighed in surrender, saying: “Okay, fine… you know you can be a pain in the butt, right? I was just worried about your safety , but if you’re willing to fall with me, so be it…” He smiled a bit when he saw her eyes almost shining after that, her smile covering half of her face; but she quickly regained her composure, sitting once again on the chair, and finally saying with a serious tone:
“All right; when is it due?”
“One week from now; prepare yourself. I’ve already done all the preparations for the experiment”, he answered. He finally added, giving her a small list, containing names. “Get the ponies of the paper, and explain the situation to them; you should know most of them, right? We will need help.”
It was around 6 in the morning ; Starswril was walking alone at the fields he would usually gather the group of ponies who would help him raise the astral objects. It was cold, and he wasn’t covered; but he couldn’t feel the low temperature around him, as his heart pumped rapidly from the adrenaline slowly raising in his body. He wasn’t stressed, not really; he was the best sorcerer of all time, and took great pride in that title. He felt more excited actually; the day has come for maybe the most important work of his life, why wouldn’t he be, after all? It’s only natural , he thought. He was carrying a bag on his back, containing the object of interest of the day.
He suddenly heard the characteristic sound of teleportation behind him, not once, not twice, but multiple times: he knew who it was , and worry began raising in his mind again. He turned so he can face his most faithful students, with Kindtalker in the front, seemingly leading the rest of the group. She was wearing a red robe similar to her mentor’s in style, but less precise in its knotting; she did it herself, and she wasn’t really all that good in making clothes as she was in magic.
“Right, everypony is here?”, he asked, taking his role as the mentor. Everypony there silently nodded, as Starswril continued “You all know how important today is, not just to ponies, but to the world, and to the study of magic in general. I will accept no disobeying today, only discipline, precision, and concentration.” He took the crystal out of the bag and placed it on the ground, with everyone’s eyes locked on it.
He turned to Kindtalker, who took the hint and continued, as she walked slowly around the rest of the group:
“The artefact I all talked to you about is now ready to be used; everypony here knows what’s it’s all about, right? Just in case, I will explain it to you again:
Our goal today is not to give that thing power, but to teach it of some sort; me and Starswril think that if a magical power or ability is concentrated enough, it can retain its properties well enough to be used in a permanent way.
To do so, you have to try to channel Lunar and Solar magic at the same time, try to create it so that you concentrate the same amount of mana for each type of magic. We’ll take the time to do it so everypony can catch up to everypony else, and we direct it at the artefact. Now, if any of you guys begin feeling tired or sick right now, you can leave; if you feel dizzy in the middle of the experiment, we WILL call it off immediately. We don’t know what the hell we’re actually dealing with, but hey, where is the fun if we knew?”
Everypony listened and nodded to the briefing; Starswril was delighted to see his students’ loyalty as nobody left despite having the occasion to. Now is not the time for that , he finally told himself, and spoke again:
“Now that you know the difficulties waiting for us, let us begin”. As he said that, his horn glowed bright white, and began muttering magical incantations in ancient ponish; as he went on, small letters began appearing on the ground, seemingly being written at an incredible speed. These letters quickly formed a circle around the crystal, followed by a perfect octagon with its edges connected to the circle. Lines began going out of theses edges, and met in the center of the geometrical form, also happening to be the crystal.
As they met, a dozen of triangles appeared around all of that, each for one pony of the group; understanding that, each pony took place in one, after infusing it with their own magic to increase its power: the conjuration circle was now complete, and everyone in place.
They all looked at Starswril, who was silently staring at the result of the spell he just casted. After making sure it turned out as he wanted, he raised his head, and with a stomp of his hoof who shook the entire cliff, the séance has begun as each unicorn present charged their hornes with their auras. In the beginning , these auras would follow the usual scheme, meaning that their color matches the one of the user’s eye. But it slowly evolved as their aura began morphing and splitting in two: a dark blue one, and a shining golden one. The processes was difficult, and demanded a lot of concentration; each pony there already used these types of magic before, but not to such precision. Each pony took their own time to complete the process: 1 or 2 minutes in average, with Kindtalker and her master topping the rest, doing it in mere seconds.
When they were all ready, they looked again at their teacher, who silently nodded, as they all directed their horns towards the crystal, and each shot a ray of energy directly at the center of the conjuration circle. As they made contact, a sudden shockwave almost made them fly back, but they were fortunately ready for it: the process has finally begun.
It’s been nearly five minutes since the ritual began for the ponies, and nothing happened until then; Kindtalker began wondering: is it… working? Are we even doing anything at all? I felt this thing absorb my power the last time… is it because we’re a lot more, and the struggle is kind of shared?
She raised her eyes without really breaking her concentration, to verify if she was the only one feeling that way. At first glance, the other ponies seemed fine as well; each one kept their posture since the beginning , seemingly determined to make this work. She was relieved, thinking that maybe this was going to work neatly after all, right?
That thought was quickly cut out however, as she noticed something dripping from one of the other ponies’ chin: upon close inspection, that pony – a male one – was sweating, and not just a little bit; his muscles around his mouth seemed contracted, sign that he was gritting his teeth strongly. She slowly glanced at some others, and most of them shared the same symptom; even though, they seemed determined enough to carry on, even if she couldn’t see their eyes.
Her full attention went back to the crystal, as she noticed: it began glowing faintingly, which she wanted to believe was a good sign of all of this finally coming to fruition. The environment around them began shaking a little bit, as the crystal slowly began floating in the air, and that’s when it began going wrong.
Is that thing… absorbing more and more of my mana? she thought to herself, just as she noticed that she was also slowly dragged towards the middle of it all; she didn’t have to move her eyes to know that the same thing was beginning to happen to everypony else, as she began hearing grunts of struggling and even pain from the rest of the group, as Starswril’s voice echoed in what will be known as a Royal Voice:
“IF ANY OF YOU WISH US TO STOP, SAY IT IMMEDIATELY; I WILL RISK NOPONY’S LIFE TODAY ”.
That intervention stopped every whining coming from anyone, but it doesn’t mean that they weren’t in pain; Kindtalker knew that, as the magical rays became thinner and thinner from everypony. No… this isn’t right!, she thought to herself; she was hesitating to telepathically reach out to Starswril to call it off, when a loud scream from one of the female ponies rushed it.
‘ Starswril! We need to call it off, NOW!’, she told him, and a slow, almost sad nod of his head from the real world agreed. She said to the:
“Alright everypony, stop it now! It’s enough, or you’re going to get killed!”
She waited, and was surprised to hear no response; she couldn’t see anypony else’s face now, as the light became brighter and almost blinded her, but a small feeling made her understand what happened as she became dizzier and dizzier, almost in a state of trance. If she began experiencing it now, then the others must already be out; basically passed out, but still standing on their hooves.
She then looked again at her master, who would soon cut the ritual, by making the circle disappear around them; it was then that it struck her: a small sound that seemingly no one else captured, not even her mentor. The sound was coming from the artefact causing all their problems right now.
What the hell? That sounds like a heartbeat!
As soon as she realized this, time seemed to stop around her, or at least everypony’s but her movements became excessively slow; she felt like a contact was being slowly made for some reason between her and the crystal. She didn’t know how she understood that; she just felt it, a primitive, undecisive call to her being was being made, like a newborn trying to catch the attention of an elder.
Thoughts began racing through Kindtalker’s mind: was the object cursed without their knowledge? If not, is it alive, is it sentient? These theories didn’t feel right to her; and to find an answer, she had no choice but to give in even more. So she concentrated even more and gave in with all her might and being, ready to establish contact, when all of it suddenly made sense to her: their group wasn’t failing, they had made everything necessary, but one condition for them to succeed wasn’t met.
The crystal wasn’t alive, she thought. Not yet.
“Alright everypony, stop it now! It’s enough, or you’re going to get killed!”
That was the truth which the ponies had to accept, much to Starswril’s dismay; the failed miserably, and he had to cut the circle before anyone was indeed hurt. He noticed his disciple looking at him, waiting to do what he must; he didn’t feel any doubt and had to stop everything right at that moment.
But he simply wasn’t fast enough, as a shockwave suddenly send everyone flying back, including the old sorcerer. He was stunned for a moment, and couldn’t comprehend his surroundings, as his ears were ringing from the sock, and dust was sent into his eyes, blinding him. That was only temporary, as the extreme heat around him made him go back to his senses, and he could only open one eye to witness what was unfolding.
The conjuration did not disappear; it simply shrinked to the only pony still standing who was trying to handle the situation alone. Starswril’s pupils shrunk in horror as Kindtalker was now the only pony giving power to the crystal, giving place to consequences; her coat was already up in flames, leaving her naked body take the shock of the magical transfer that was occurring. Parts of her body began to crumble like rocks, and from her mouth saliva was dripping like a raging dog looking at its prey. Her eyes did not flatter though, as she gave a look of extreme – almost mad- determination; being only in her presence was overwhelming, as one would witness her full might.
That wasn’t what was on Starswril’s mind, however; as soon as he came to his spirits, he rushed to try and cut her off from the contact, but almost immediately after a small part of his body entered the circle, he was pushed back by an invisible force, almost knocking him out. He did not abandon though, and as soon as he hit the ground, used his remaining strength to push himself in the airs, forming around his horn a powerful rope of magical energy, stabilizing himself midair, and sent it towards the crystal and try to cut it from his student. His ray was met again with the same invisible forcefield, but his magical power proved too much for it, as it breached it , seemingly giving him the advantage.
However, as soon as contact was made, his spell was absorbed by the artefact at an abnormal speed; its capabilities were much faster, and much more frightening, than before. Baffled by the result, Starswril reached the ground, but twisted one of his hooved upon landing; the electrical feeling caused by the pain did not stop him, and he tried casting many spells, without any result: an attractive spell, a teleportation spell, nothing could break the contact between his student and the object. With each failure, without even realizing it, his shouting became stronger , and tears began forming in his eyes: this is all my fault . This feeling of powerlessness, of guilt , began consuming him slowly, as his strength decreased slowly.
The ground began shaking and cracking, not only around them , but it spread on hundreds of meters in the neighboring areas, waking up the ponies living around these place, in terror of what was happening. Animals in the near woods hid, frightened, may they be prey or predator.
And then it suddenly all stopped, as a ray of pure energy, seemingly from the crystal, shot up to the sky and caused such an explosion in the airs, that the closest trees were blown away; the ponies responsible for that would be dead, if not for a shield of energy protecting them from the blast. Starswril could do nothing, but watch; he did not understand what was truly happening, but neither did he really care, as he rushed to where now lied Kindtalker. The rest of the group began waking up from their trance, and witnessing the body of their friend laying in a pool of her own blood, they ran to her as well.
Starswril slowly leaned close to her, trying his best to hold his emotion back – and failing to do so. The sight of his student was hard to bear: parts of her body were fuming and cremated from the intense heat she was in the middle of. Her horn cracked and seemed on the verge of crumbling, as a light green light was trying to make its way out. Her lips seemed dry, as if she didn’t drink in weeks. There was no bleeding, or at least, the blood evaporated. Her eyes were wide open, and were fixing the sky above them; despite her state, she was very much conscient.
Silence came upon the group, as no one knew how to break it – or rather, no one dared to. Some of the group followed her gaze, looking at the intense light above them in the sky, while others were trying to try a way to fix her. Starswril was neither of these; with great sadness, and yet with the bravery of keeping his composure, he spoke:
“… what madness pushed you to do such a thing, Kindtalker? Do you even have a sense of sanity?!”
His remark was stern, almost cruel, but just; they all knew how dangerous it all was, especially her, as she repeated it to the others before the ritual even began. He was met with a characteristic chuckle from her, and she painfully started talking:
“Yeah… that wasn’t the brightest thing to do, isn’t…” She looked in pain each syllable she muttered, but without losing her small smile. “If it can reassure you… we did it… we succeeded…”
Now everyone’s attention was drawn to the wounded unicorn, as she continued: “Guys… it wasn’t just a stupid crystal we had… it was somehow of a heart…” she coughed as she muttered these words, with bits of bloods accompanying it. “It spoke to me… we just didn’t go far enough; for a heart to truly beat, it needs life…”
As she spoke these words, the light previously in the sky was slowly making its way back to the earth; two small shadowy silhouettes were distinguishable from far away, though no one truly knew what it was . At that point, everyone was looking at it, except Kindtalker and Starswril, looking at each other in the eyes.
“What are talking about? A heart? That’s imposs-”
“Oh shut up, old guy… Are you going to tell me there’s something impossible with magic anymore?”
She then painfully lifted herself up, as the small green light in her horn was slowly fading away. She leened closer to her master’s face, who didn’t have anything to say, and could only look in shock and disbelief , as the life from his daughter-in-soul slowly slipped away from her. Their eyes still locked, she finally said:
“Listen… I don’t regret this, and this was my choice… I know if you had the occasion to do anything, you would have preferred to take my place; but the thing didn’t want anypony but me… so I had to do it…” She slowly patted him on his back, and finally said: “I’m not gonna die… who ever said that? I don’t wanna die… so I’m not going to, you know…? I mean…” She took her last breath, and finally added: “… it’s all… neat right now…”
She stayed still, but Starswril could see it: he could see between his tears that the life from his student’s eyes was gone, yet they were still open. Her horn stopped glowing, and yet she kept staring at him, with her characteristic smile.
At that moment, thousands of thoughts began rushing through Starswril’s mind: it was overwhelming, like he never felt. Emotions started flooding his heart, going from guilt, sadness, to rage. He was blinded by emotion at that moment, and did not notice himself scream at the top of his lungs upon the loss of his most precious protégée. Yet everything was soundless; in his world, there was only him, and his screaming. He did not have to restrain himself; he didn’t care. The only thing that he knew is the cost of his doings; the consequences of his failure dawned upon him.
Suddenly, his world was disrupted by a distinct sound of crying, but its nature is what woke him up; it wasn’t one of his other students, whom presence he almost forgot, neither was it his own.
A… foal?
Giving more attention, he could hear two distinct cries: an older one, and a younger. He slightly turned around, and to his surprise, where the crystal used to be, floated two figures. He could feel a warm feeling, unlike the blazing one from earlier, coming from where the silhouettes were, and as they came closer to where he was, he thought:
No… you aren’t really gone, are you? From life comes life once more…
One of the students made a blanket appear from thin air, next to Kindtalker’s body, where the two figures finally landed. They were ponies; their life was the result of Kindtalker’s own. One of them was white, with a light pink mane, and the other was blue, with a lighter blue mane; both of them had a horn. Starswril didn’t need to look at them any longer, as he fell, next to them: in his mind, he knew what his student had done, and what she meant by them succeeding. His mind began blacking out more and more, accompanied by the alicorn sisters’ cries; he could not hear the familiar voice around him, telling him to sleep, as he fell into unconsciousness.
