Devoran Chronicles: Fire of the Phoenix

The hazy world that I had been plopped into swirled and dipped in and out of focus, like fog moving around in a dark forest.  The spell Celestia cast on me was unlike anything I’d ever experienced before.  Where was I?  A magical dungeon in some sort of pseudo-reality?  As I began to form ideas in my head, the smokey surroundings began to form into shapes and figures.  Slowly at first, but then rushing together and filling with colorful arrangements.  A large desk, a library-like office, and two ponies formed out of the smoke.  Once settled, it was obvious who they were.  Princess Celestia sat behind the desk, looking over various documents and notes splayed around in a rather un-orderly pattern.  Princess Luna stood on the opposite side of the desk and was starting to speak.

It became clear now what this was.  It was a memory spell.  The sensation was rather jarring and fuzzy.  The only question that remained was why Princess Celestia would have used a memory spell.  What could she possibly show me that I didn’t already know about her past?  Was she just trying to buy time?  Surely not.  From everything I’d read on memory spells, they were nearly instant.  Whatever experiences that came from one did not cause any time lapse in the real world.  I stepped closer and the sounds became focused.

“Sister,” Princess Luna began, “Many of these students deserve to be in your school.  Most of them simply made a mistake or two in their exams.  They should be allow to retake them!”  As I approached the desk, it was obvious that testing results where what littered the desk’s surface.  Gifted Unicorns Entrance Examinations by the look of their covers.

“I know, sister.  I wish I could accept them all, but you know that we have limited space and simply don’t have the resources right now to let these fillies retake their exams.  If any of them pass, we’ll be driving ever more our already over-allocated number of students this year.  We already have over two dozen students that I don’t know where we’re going to put.  How can we possibly accommodate more?” Princess Celestia stated candidly.

“I know.......” Luna continued, “Its just that many of their parents have sacrificed so much to get them into this school.  The entrance fees and testing fees, as you know, are very high”.

“I know.  I wish they didn’t have to be, but running this school is a great expense to the state and seemingly grows more and more each year.  Without the testing fees, this school could never be at all”.

“Sister……...” Luna pleaded.

“No.  I’m afraid this is the only way to run the school for the time being.  After all, if we let everyone in it wouldn’t be for gifted Unicorns anymore.  We’ll try and figure something out for next year.  I promise”.

“Like that’s ever going to happen.....” Luna stated in sarcastic disbelief.  “You said the same thing LAST year, Tia!”

“I’ll get to it one day, Luna.  Don’t worry.  We’ll figure out how to fund the school and expand it soon”.

“You’ve been saying that for almost a decade now, sister”.

“Has it really been that long?”

“I’m afraid it has......  You know, you should just put together a council to help you”.

“Maybe one day, but for now, send these applicants their rejection letters. They’ll just have to try again next year, I’m afraid”.

In the shuffling, one name stuck out.  Devoran Snapcaster.  Princess Celestia had seemingly stacked the applicants by most to least likely to be accepted.  And mine was laying on top.

“Yes sister.......” and with that, Princess Luna walked out of the room and the smoke began to swirl once again.  When the smoke began to settle, it formed into the burnt, severely damaged form of my childhood home.  Princess Celestia stood outside, examining the wreckage with several Royal Guards.

“What happened here, Captain?” Princess Celestia inquired.  One Unicorn turned to face the Princess.  He bowed in reverence.

“Your majesty, there has been a magical accident.  It appears that a few ponies were killed by some sort of magical artifact.  According to our records, this was the home of Flicker Sprint and Ember Weaver.  Flicker Sprint was a......” he continued before being cut off.

“I’m sorry, did you say Flicker Sprint?  The former Wonderbolt?” Princess Celestia interjected.

“Uhm.....yes, Your Majesty.  And Ember Weaver.  According to our records, he was a chief enchanter for the Royal Guard’s armor and facilities, as well as a member to the Royal Counsel.  Your own appointing,” the guard continued.

“That is terrible news, Captain.  I had just met with Ember a few weeks ago,” Princess Celestia said while her composure returned, “Do we know how this occurred?”

“Not precisely, but we know that the artifact was not activated by either of the parents”.

“Parents?”

“Yes, ma’am.  I’m afraid there was a third that lived here.  Their son who went by the name of ‘Devoran Snapcaster’.  According to the neighbors, some yelling broke out over an unknown cause.  We investigated further using time spells to try and look at details of the event.  Unfortunately, we are unable to completely recreate the event, because the magical anomaly that caused their deaths has also fractured this area’s temporal history, occluding them from our vision.  It seems the family received some sort of news today that upset them.  We can’t quite piece it together, though”.

“Did anyone survive the incident?”

“Although much of the event, as I said is occluded, it seems that everyone within the home perished from the event”.

“I see,” the Princess said.  “May I have a look around?”

“Yes, your majesty.  We’re nearly finished with our investigations.  You’ll have a full report by end of day”.

“Thank you”.

Celestia wandered into the broken mess of a home, examining the carnage.

“What have I done……” she said to herself, looking quite disturbed.

Celestia walked into the Kitchen.  The room was fairly untouched from the event as it was on the opposite side of the structure.  Only minor damage was sustained, with items here and there knocked over from the percussive nature of the blast.  A small end table caught Celestia’s eye.  A picture frame laid on its face, fallen over from the house shaking, no doubt.  Lifting up the frame, it was one of my family’s portraits shrunk down.  The glass face was broken and cracked, so the Princess slowly removed the photo from its frame to examine it.

“He had a son…….how did I not know that?”

At that moment, Princess Celestia stepped on a piece of paper on the floor.  The crunching sound steered her attention to it and she picked it up.  It was singed around the corners slightly, but remained in tact.  It was my rejection letter.  Celestia’s face became crestfallen and upset.

“Oh stars…….”.

With that, the scene began to change and the area once again swirled into a gray-blue fog that began to reform.  As the smoke formed into new solid shapes, the figure of Princess Celestia reappeared.  She sat in a room on a set of pillows, holding and reading a manilla folder near a fireplace.  As I walked closer, I read the tab on the side: “Magical Incident# 32541-A - Family of Ember Weaver Incident”.  The Princess, hunched over examining the picture on the folder suddenly jolted with a sob and it was clear the pages were covered in droplets of tears.  It looked as if she had not slept in some time, as dark circles formed around her eyes.  Pictures of the event were splayed across the floor in front of her as she sat examining them and the report in the folder, her eyes slowly shifting one to the other.  After the fourth or fifth time, the large hall door to the room opened with a soft clank leading into the room.  Princess Luna appeared in the doorway, checking around the room for a moment in search of her sister.  When she noticed her, she spoke to her from across the room.

“Sister!  Its almost time for dawn,” She stated as she walked toward her.  “What are you doing up at this hour?  Have you been awake all night?”

At this point she was only a few feet from Celestia when she stopped suddenly, noticing the despair on her expression.

“Tia?” she said much softer.

“.....his teachers said he was always very gifted in magic.  He practiced everyday, you see........”

“What?  Who?” Luna said, very confused.

“The Weaver child........Devoran.”

“Is that what has you upset, sister?  I know you care very deeply for all of your subjects, but it was an accident.  There was nothing you could do.  No way you could have known about it to help”.

“Are you sure about that?”

“I know you hold yourself to a high standard, sister, but you couldn’t possibly expect to be in all places at all times”.

“This one, though, I’m afraid is very largely my fault, sister”.

“What do you mean?” Luna asked, her tone changing to inquisitively concerned.

“The child was upset over a letter he had received that day”.

“A letter?  I seem to recall something about that from the report.  What did it say?”

“It was a rejection letter.....my rejection letter”.

“Your rejection letter?  To the school?  But there are plenty of potential students that receive rejection letters all the time.  If they cannot pass the tests, we couldn’t simply let them in anyway.  Otherwise, the school would no longer be for the elite casters”.

Celestia leaned over and picked up another manilla file from next to her seat.  This one has a different color coding on the label.  Its label stated “Student Entry Evaluation: Devoran Snapcaster”.  She opened to the first page and began to read.

“Name: Devoran Snapcaster, son of Ember Weaver

Status: ATTENTION: Pending Schoolmaster Review

Grade Level: B - See Notation

Notes: Student appears to possess a strong, potent arcane ability, although his abilities are very unrefined.  Extremely nervous tendency and largely self-taught experience without proper guidance is likely attributed to issues during testing period.  During testing, the student’s fire spell, which was intended to be used to complete the test objective, resulted in minor injury of proctors.  Applicant is given a B level exclusively due to his inability to complete the objective, but it is the recommendation of the proctor committee that the student be accepted into the school, should space allow, as the student’s abilities could result in harmful discharge without proper training.  If this is not possible, at the very least, other arrangements should be made for training.  Submitting student for final review.”

The princess closed the envelope, her breathing quite shallow to the point of an almost entire lack of sound.  The room hung with awkwardly chilling silence until Celestia finally spoke up.

“I never even read the file, sister.  You even tried to have me go through them.  I was simply too busy to be bothered with the life of one of my subjects.....and now three of them are dead because of it.  They were dead the moment I filed away this folder.  There were at least a dozen other promising students with special notes for my review that I completely blew off without a second thought”.

Luna stood planted to the ground as she absorbed what she was hearing.

“So.....you made a mistake.  Everypony makes them.  Even you and I”.

It was then that Celestia pulled out another folder.  This one red with white text.  Its label read “Isolated/Dangerous Magical Artifact”.  Celestia handed the document to Luna.

“What’s this?” she asked as she opened the folder and began to read.

“That is what killed that family.  An artifact I assigned to Ember Weaver to study called the desire stone.  It seems that his son got ahold of it.  It grants wishes, you see…..but at great cost”.

“Oh sister….you couldn’t have known….”

“I should have known, Luna.  I should have.  I didn’t even know he had a son”.

Luna walked closer, resting her hoof on her sister’s shoulder.

“Tia, you couldn’t have known.  It was a great mistake, its true.  But its not one you made on purpose.  At least you can still look at yourself knowing that you did it by accident.  I turned into a monster of the night that attempted to overthrow my very own sister.  My own blood.  At least you can soothe your conscience with that, Tia.  I’m sure that if you had known you needed to step in, you would have.  And I would help you with it”, Luna said with a weak smile as she gently lifted the chin of her older sister.

Sniffling slightly, Celestia lifted her head and peered into her younger sister’s eyes with such pain and remorse that even watching without their knowledge of your existence was painful.  To stare directly into her eyes would seemingly be unbearable.

“What’s done is done, sister.  The only thing we can do now is be better next time”.

“When did you become so wise, Lune?”

“Hmph. I’ve always been wise,” Luna teased, cracking a slight corner-of-the-mouth grin.

Celestia simply responded with a slight smile and an “Indeed”.

The room began to fade away and swirl with violent spirals.  As it settled, I was standing in a staunch white room with no discernible walls or objects of any kind.  The only thing that filled the space was a dark, cloud-like plume of smoke that swirled around and around, devoid of much form.  It slowly and lazily collected until it created an exact replica of myself standing 10 feet in front of me.  I began to step closer and the replica did the same, mimicking my moves and actions.  Somehow, however, there was something that felt wrong about the form.  I couldn’t quite put my hoof on it, but there was definitely something that didn’t match.  It was like staring at two identical pictures of a forest of hundreds of trees and the artist telling you one was missing a tree.  You knew they were different, but can’t figure out why.

As I got within reach of the form, I reached out to touch it.  It did the same, continuing to mimic my actions.  That was, until I was just about to touch it on the nose.  At that instant, the form broke its perfect performance and slapped away my outstretched leg.  I stepped back, slightly startled by the sudden confirmation that I was not looking in a mirror image of myself.

“Who.....or what are you?” I asked.

“I’m you.  Or, to be more specific, I am the you that you’ve become,” the form responded with a cold tone.

“The me that I’ve become?”

“Cold, calculating, and precise.  I am what keeps you alive and helps you complete your right to revenge.  But now, you’re questioning yourself.  And because of this, I am here to convince you to correct that dire mistake”.

“I only question myself because of what I’ve saw.  Princess Celestia....”

“Showed you exactly what she wanted you to see,” the form interrupted. “Celestia is just trying to trick you into faltering.  She killed our parents and now has created this elaborate story for you to see so that you’ll be tossed into doubt about your purpose.  Don’t let her”.

“I’ve studied a lot of memory spells.  That felt very real.  I’ve never heard of anyone managing to fake one,” I responded, confident in my knowledge.

“You don’t think that someone as powerful as Celestia couldn’t fake a memory?”

The figure had a point.  Faking a memory spell would be nearly impossible for a Unicorn, but there was never anything documented on someone as powerful as Celestia trying.

“Why would Celestia be so surprised I’m alive, then?  Surely coming up with a story that elaborate would have to be planned and practiced.  She seemed absolutely shocked I was even still around”.

The figure hissed in disgust.  “That’s simply what she wants you to believe.  She’s deceiving you”.

“I don’t even know what you are for sure.  Why should I believe you?  You’re awfully adamant in her guilt.  If you were truly me, as you claim to be, you wouldn’t disregard evidence.  You’d examine it with scrutiny.  Whatever you are, you are most certainly not me”.

“Lissssssten to me, you dolt!” the figure hissed.

“I don’t think so, whatever you are.  Who are you!?!  Reveal yourself!”

The figure’s form dissolved violently into a cloud before reshaping itself back into a perfect shape of none other than Chrysalis.

“You should have just believed me.  Now I’m going to make you wish you had,” the figure said with a hissing lisp.

Without warning, the figure leapt into the air, dispersing once again into a smoky smog.  The room’s former white began to bleed and tear inky blackness all around.  The figure reached out and grabbed my legs and neck, pressing me to the ground as I struggled to get free.  Its tentacle-like forms only tightened harder and harder until its grip made it impossible to breathe.  I could feel the blood pumping in my ears as I began to drift into unconsciousness.  The world spun and blurred as my body began to fall limp to the ground.  Just as the world was about to go dark and my last bit of struggle ceased, a blinding light pierced the darkness, cutting through the appendages holding me.  They quickly dispersed and evaporated into nothingness with sickeningly screeching screams of pain.  I fell to the ground as the blood rushed to my head, instantly snapping my brain back into action.  As my eyes cleared I saw a stallion and mare standing opposite of an obviously injured figure of Chrysalis.  The smoky form appeared to be struggling to hold its shape as portions of it phased from solid to smoke and back again.  The stallion and mare both lowered their heads and fired a blast directly into the chest of the dark being, evaporating it from existence.  The room had been restored to a pearlescent white once again and was devoid of its corrupted former state.  The figures walked toward me and as they came to focus, I realized what, or more precisely who they were.

“Mom......dad......but.......you’re”

“.....dead?” my father finished with a quizzically chipper sound in his voice.  “Well, I suppose in some ways, you’re completely right son.  We are no longer living in the same world that you do.  However, that doesn’t mean we don’t exist anymore”.

“We exist in you, son,” my mother cooed with her relaxing voice.  Hearing her speak made waves of reassuring relief wash over me.

“What do...you mean?” I said.

“Well, its like everyone says, my son.  Those you love never truly leave you.  Some part of your heart holds on to those you’ve lost that were most dear to you.  When the desire stone took our lives to make your wish come true, it left an imprint of us on you.  We’ve always been with you, son.  For a while there, though, it was hard to reach you.  Vengeance and hatred clouded you until we couldn’t see you anymore”.

Embarrassed and guilty from what I had done, I looked away.  My mother’s look didn’t feel or appear judging, but her disappointment in her voice was enough.

“I’m sorry, mom and dad.  For everything.  I got you both killed and I let you both down on this quest for revenge,” I said staring at the ground in front of me.  Suddenly, I felt my chin being tugged upwards and as I let the hoof lift my head back up, I was met once again with my mother’s eyes.

“Oh, Devvie.  You don’t have to apologize for what happened to us.  We forgave you long ago.  What happened was an accident and we know you didn’t mean for it to be so,” she said.  My mother was now crying, which only made me do the same.  She reached out and grabbed me in a powerful hug.

“I love you son.  No matter what,” she said, tugging a little tighter.  My father slowly walked over and joined in.  The tighter their embrace, the more I felt free.  Free from the weight that had burdened me for so long.  When they finally let me go and I had cleared my eyes, my parents were both smiling as my father wrapped his leg around my mother’s shoulder.  Their smiles faded a little, however, and somehow I knew they would have to go soon.

“You need to set things right, son.  Celestia didn’t deserve your contempt and she doesn’t deserve it now.  Remember, we’ll always be here with you to help you when you’re unsure of yourself or what’s the right thing to do”.

“What if Celestia  and Luna decide to kill me?  Or exile me?” I asked, realizing the very real possibility.

“Well, son, I’m afraid sometimes we need to live with the consequences of our actions, corrected or not.  Whatever they decide, make sure you did your best before they do to set things right.  That’s really all you can do,” my father replied a little somber.  “That’s how I lived my life and I’d say it turned out pretty good.  I ended up with you, after all,” he said with a wink.

Hearing my father say that put what I could only imagine at the stupidest grin on my face, but I didn’t care.  Both my parents chuckled a bit before giving me one last hug.

“We love you son,” my mother said as the room swirled once again.  “And remember.......if you ever doubt yourself again, just remember we’re always here.  And if you ever doubt that for a second, you just have to look in the mirror.  You have your father’s gift for magic and your mother’s wings now”.

Their figures disappeared and I once again was picked up into the air.  When the room formed once again, I was standing back where I started.  Standing over Celestia.