Bastion Goes to Fight Camp

by Wise Cracker

Rating: teen
Tags: Starlight Glimmer, Sunburst, Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Original Character
Length: 57770

Following the events with the griffons, Bastion goes off to camp to make some new friends. The friends he makes, however, turn out to be about as complicated as he is.

It's been a rough few weeks for Bastion: misunderstandings, weird dreams, international intrigue with the threat of a changeling Queen looming over him...

So it's decided he needs a little break. He needs to go someplace new, reset himself a little, see how he acts without anyone trying to steer him one way or another. Appropriately enough for the heir to the War Engineer Faux Pas, that place is Fight Camp.

It's not long before he makes some new friends, of course, and learns some new combat tricks.

His new friends, however, may be a league too high for him, and have their own dark pasts to worry about.

Published 2021-12-20 17:10:01 UTC
Last updated 2021-12-28 20:31:22 UTC

Assault and Battery

Bastion followed the sounds of thunder. When he rounded the corner, he could still smell the water of the lake with how the wind was blowing, but the lake itself was hidden from view by a thick row of pine trees.

He could see the bunk ahead, and indeed the ground had been levelled to make for a small training area. All of that struck him as perfectly normal.

He wasn’t sure what to make of the ponies using the spot, though.

Ahead of him, two colts squared off against each other: a Unicorn and a Pegasus. The Unicorn looked average in most respects, with a mocha brown coat and white mane and tail, but the way the tail had been cut suggested a military background: buzzed straight as short as it could be without nicking flesh. The Pegasus, however, was anything but average, as he possessed a muscular physique that rivalled Bulk Biceps not in volume, to be sure, but in definition. This boy was a dark blue, his mane and tail even darker than his coat, and cut conspicuously similar to Bastion’s godfather, Soarin.

As if that wasn’t strange enough, the Pegasus was wearing some rings on his legs, as well as the sort of chest piece Bastion had seen on the Royal Guard a few times. The design was different, though, less of a decorative element and more sober in its construction. The Royal Guard also didn’t usually have anything on their belly, whereas this colt wore what looked like a belt made of leaves, at least from afar.

The changeling looked up to try and find the source of that ozone smell he’d picked up earlier, as well as the thunder he’d been hearing on his way up. Then the Unicorn attacked, and he realised his mistake.

The thunder wasn’t coming from up above, but from the ground level.

The Unicorn’s horn glowed and let loose an arc of lightning that crawled along the ground, driving the Pegasus back lest he get zapped.

“Good opening move,” Bastion reasoned. Natural lightning would always try to travel to the ground, after all, and using that tendency to create a barrier as well as force some distance was a sound strategy. There was no way to get around that sort of attack without any ranged options, or a dash.

The Pegasus landed, driven eight or ten paces back, then gestured with at the Unicorn with his right hoof. He made a turning motion, clockwise, then quickly yanked the air.

From that far, Bastion couldn’t feel the wind, but he saw the effect it had on the electric Unicorn, and the grass around. A gust of wind, strong enough to pick up the boy, dragged him off the ground and towards his attacker, breaking his concentration in the process.

Are those rings magic? That’s a bit weird, to give a colt rare magical items like that.

The wind, though, had apparently not come from the rings. Those only now began to glow as the Pegasus wound up for a single punch to the gut, further fuelled by a blue lightning arc. The Unicorn was sent sailing back across the ground, tumbling unceremoniously over the grass before coming to full stop.

The brown colt did not get up from that. He didn’t even seem to breathe. Bastion couldn’t taste anything coming from that direction.

It was at that point that he noticed that the Pegasus didn’t give off emotional energy like normal ponies did. There was energy to him, that much was certain, but it came with a bitter taste of warning, as if it was suffused with forbidden power instead of mere feelings. There was an odd sense of cold coming from him, too, and the same cold rose up from the Unicorn where he’d been punched, like smoke following a hit from a fire spell.

Bastion’s hearts pounded with the thrill of combat. He felt the pulse through his limbs, his eyes, his whole body. Aggression, fear, and pangs of hunger took him over.

He didn’t even realise he’d zoned out before he got halfway to them. “Oh my gosh, are you okay? What was that all about?”

There was no surprise in the Pegasus’s face, or alarm, or any emotion for that matter. “Huh? Oh, that was just a warm-up. Are you lost?”

Bastion skidded to a halt. “N-no. I’m your new bunkmate. Mister Sage sent me? Did you just kill that guy?”

In the blink of an eye, the Unicorn bounced up on all fours, bright smile adorning his face. “We get a changeling bunkmate this time? Coooool!” He rushed up to Bastion. “Welcome to Assault and Battery. This is Assault, and I’m Battery.”

Bastion furrowed his brow for a moment, then looked at the cutie marks of his new bunkmates. The Pegasus had a black dot framed by what looked like three ink droplets circling it for a mark, which was obviously some spiritual symbol that further confirmed the boy’s talent for more obscure practices. The Unicorn’s, though, was less esoteric, and consisted of a yellow rounded triangle with a black centre, broken only by yellow horizontal lines with what looked like a hoof reaching for them. Above that hoof were four lightningbolts converging on where it would touch the line.

This boy’s cutie mark was a danger sign, and in particular one for electrical hazards.

Bastion chuckled nervously. “Right. You’re the Battery, because your talent is electrical magic. That’s clever.”

Battery stuck out his tongue at Assault. “See? Told you ponies would get it.”

Assault’s ears flicked, but his expression didn’t change from its almost tired-looking state. “Sorry if that scared you: we, umm, we get a little antsy sometimes, especially when it’s been a while. I didn’t hurt him, if that’s what you’re thinking. I know what he can take.”

“Yeah, I kinda have a knack for drama and theatre, too, I’m pretty good at playing dead. You’d be surprised how often it comes in handy,” said the Battery.

“I’ll bet,” Bastion replied. “So, umm, Assault-”

“Doldrum,” said the Pegasus. “You should know our real names, if you’re gonna be our bunkmate.”

“I’m Live Wire,” said the Unicorn. “I’d shake your hoof, but, you know… little high-voltage right now. Or, really, all the time, it’s kinda why I’m here, workin’ on it. What’s your name?”

“Oh, I’m Bastion.”

“Cool. And what’s your real name?”

Bastion blinked. “That is my real name.”

“Then what’s your warrior name?”

He squinted. “I didn’t think I needed one?”

“Bastion’s fine for now, then.” Live Wire cocked his head towards the bunks further up the hill. “Come on, we’ll show you our bunk. You should unpack before the first lesson.”

“First session? Today? We start that early?”

“Uhuh,” Doldrum replied in a hushed monotone. “No point wasting time.”

Bastion stopped. “Wait. Sage told me this is the highest level bunk here. Is that true?”

“Yup,” Live Wire said with a bright smile. “The three of us are the strongest fighters on-site.”

“And what do you do here, then, exactly? Practise magic?”

“Mister Sage is a magic specialist, so, yes, mostly,” Doldrum replied. “Umm, you know, the kind of magic we can’t really learn other places.”

Bastion kept his attention on the Pegasus. The calm around him was uncanny, almost feeling artificial in its own right. “So that’s lightning magic for you, and… artifact magic for you?”

“Sort of, yes. Why?”

“No reason, I just thought magical artifacts were supposed to be rare?”

“They are,” Doldrum said. Still the colt sounded unnaturally calm, it unnerved Bastion to his core.

“Then how do you have them?”

“I made them.” The boy shrugged. “Powerful artifacts are rare, sure, but a lot of them are pretty easy to make if you know how to use your magic. Mine aren’t that good, though.”

Bastion barely caught himself staring at the kit Doldrum was wearing. “You… you make artifacts? You make your own weapons?”

“Pretty much,” Live Wire said. “It’s kind of his thing. Now come on, Sage doesn’t like it when we dawdle.”

“Right.” Bastion blinked in confusion as the two led the way.

Magic artifacts.

He makes artifacts.

He makes weapons.

That was an option?

The stallion regarded Starlight for a moment, taking a glance at her cutie mark before speaking to Sunburst.

“So, this is your friend?”

“Yup,” Sunburst said.

She tried not to stiffen too much, and decided to relieve some pressure by blurting out, “Hi, I’m Starlight Glimmer. Me and Sunburst grew up together, and, well, things happened, and now here I am.”

She bit down on the urge to spill the whole story, to say she’d been obsessed about losing her only friend for years, to admit to learning dark and forbidden magics with the sole intent of ridding ponies everywhere of their cutie marks, and their talents.

She took a look at Sage’s cutie mark, then. There was a sage plant in it, she recognised that much, but the other part wasn’t magic-related. If anything, it looked like a bit of food.

“Sage Cracker.” He extended his hoof in greeting, and she shook it gently. “I run things around here, sort of. I’m not the head when it comes to administration or paperwork, but I get the final say on pretty much everything practical. Sunburst tells me you have some experience with children?”

“Err, yes, I did spend some time in Alherda hospital, the paediatric ward. Mostly Unicorns having trouble with their cu-err, ahem, magic.”

“Good, good. And combat-wise?”

Starlight’s heart skipped a beat.

Oh, no. How could I forget? This is Fight Camp. I could bluff my way through anything else, but they do combat here. He’s going to find out. He’s going to get the Royal Guards, or a torches and pitchforks mob-

“She knows most of the same stuff you do, actually,” Sunburst said. “Lethemancy and papyromancy, even a little bit of chaos magic.”

Wait, what?

Sage seemed to be taken aback by that, a cheerful grin on his face. “Really, now? You’re a papyromancer?”

“I only know a little bit,” she replied with a chuckle. “And most of my magic is, technically, emotional casting in general. It’s a good way to cheat, but I don’t know for sure if I’d be any good in a fight.” Assuming I can’t just cheat and rip someone’s cutie mark off, of course.

The stallion nodded, pensive. “I am familiar with emotional casting. Getting rare to find a good example of that these days, though, sadly. And the lethemancy?”

“I can make ponies forget, yes, but it’s not something I do lightly, certainly not something I could do in the middle of a fight.”

“Not yet, you mean,” he joked. At least, she hoped he was joking. “Don’t worry, me neither. A mind is a precious thing, and should be handled with care. But your time in Alherda, anything specific I should know?”

“I don’t follow?”

“You said you dealt with foals with magic problems. And given your skills in lethemancy, I’m assuming you dealt with mental traumas. What kinds, in general? Did you ever offer counselling or therapy? Don’t spare the buzzwords, I’ve dipped my hoof in those waters a few times.”

“Cheering up, and a little talk here and there, some visual storytelling, re-framing.”

“That sounds obvious to me. But again, what types are we talking here? Anxiety, anathemism, aura infestation, egregoric instability?”

Yup, he knew the buzz-words alright. “Pretty much all of those, at least once. Lots of magic-amplified nightmares, but I assume that’s gone away now that Princess Luna’s in charge. Then there was a ton of anger-fuelled fire magic and even a few ice cannons, but never anyone with synergy issues, thank goodness. A couple of aggressive imaginary friends getting too lively, those were...” She shuddered. “Those were not fun for anyone involved, but that’s what the lethemancy is for, after all. One narcissistic feedback loop, that one took a lot out of me.” She let out a sigh of relief at the thought. “And then, of course, all of the consequences that magic had on their regular lives, that needed talking about. Couple of kids who were disowned, banned from school, pretty much what you’d expect. I was officially one of the wizards in residence, if that means anything, but most of what I did really was just talking, making pretty pictures, get their minds out of a bad place.”

“With a list like that, the bulk of your work was limited to standard re-framing, then, okay. With the occasional magic use from your end, I presume, if your position was officially wizardly in nature.”

Sure, like temporarily amputating their cutie marks so they don’t have to suffer the compulsions and magic feedback from them. “Yes. But I only used magic under strict supervision. I never got too involved, the nurses and doctors did all of the real work. They were kinda desperate for ponies like me, so they skirted the rules a little. I imagine they still do, if things haven’t gotten any better since then. I didn’t pursue it professionally, not enough, I don’t have any degrees in that kind of thing.”

“No one here does, and I don’t blame you: it is a draining and thankless experience.” Sage’s nose curled in disgust, before he smiled. “But that’s not the purpose of this place, anyway. No, you’ll do fine with our bunk, we only have three kids in it now, with Bastion in the mix.”

“Three counsellors for three children?” Starlight asked. “Sunburst told me you like to get more specialists, but that seems a bit excessive for camp.”

Sage shrugged. “Me and Sunburst take the speciality cases, yes, and those don’t get cranked out in large numbers, thank the stars. We’ve had two regulars the past two years: Assault and Battery.”

“Those are just nicknames, by the way,” Sunburst interjected. “Identifying by another name lets them-”

“Break the cycle of learned helplessness by assuming a new role, particularly when combined with gnostic practices,” Starlight said. “I’m aware.”

“That, too, but mostly they enjoy being called something awesome, makes it sound like Royal Guard code names. Boys, you know,” Sage remarked.

“I’ll bet. I guess you want to let them tell me their real names as an icebreaker? As well as test my skills in analysing them?”

“You weren’t kidding, Sunburst. She is good.” Sage chuckled.

Good? I was right about to start my cult a few weeks ago.

“But yes, not every pony learns how to wield their magic the same way, and not everyone picks up on the same problems, so I will want your input, especially for the changeling. As for our numbers: sometimes you get special cases, and I’ve found special cases react well to one-on-one interactions. Having high-level mages of very different… builds, so to speak, it’s good to expose them to that idea early on, so they know they’re not entirely alone. But we like to start off with group work to evaluate their progress, then move on to one-on-one instruction with, well, whichever ponies we happen to have access to at the time.”

Starlight nodded, then grimaced. “Hold on. You said you know the same things I do. And that includes...”

“Chaos magic?” He nodded with an almost evil grin. “Oh, yes, it’s my speciality. I’m one of the strongest practitioners in the country, not that that’s saying much with the current state of things. Come to think of it, I’ve not had the chance to test that for a while. You said you weren’t sure how strong you were in a fight. Care to find out sometime? I’m sure the boys would appreciate a demonstration of real power.”

She gulped. This guy considered chaos magic to be ‘real power.’ That alone was a red flag, if ever there was one. And now she’d be faced with two violent little colts and one changeling… colt, nymph, thing, whatever the bales he was supposed to be called. In hindsight, she really wished she’d talked to Sapphire about that some more.

Starlight wanted to teleport back home right then and there.

But Sunburst was there with her, showing her where he worked as well as his new friends. It felt like she was back in Sire’s Hollow, playing board games on a rainy day.

I have my friend back. This is what I wanted.

I can’t lose him again.

“Yeah, I’d love a little sparring sometime. I’m sure I’ll get along well with the umm, the boys.”

When Starlight got to the bunk, all three had already unpacked. It was a nice bunk, at least, if a bit remote, and the treeline obscuring it from view of the lake worried her a little bit. On further reflection, she figured it was probably so the other campers didn’t get hit with any stray magic, or to have the boys practise with only the eyes of their instructors on them. Distractions and high level magic did not mix, after all, she remembered that much of her own childhood, and especially Sunburst’s. Her room still had a scorch mark from when her mother had walked in on them playing cards.

Sage knocked on the open door, and Starlight saw the two boys with Bastion: a brown Unicorn and a blue Pegasus. She had to look at the Pegasus twice to make sure her mind wasn’t playing tricks on her. She’d seen physiques that looked sculpted before, but never on someone so young. His hooves matched the thickness of his arms, so it wasn’t like Bulk Biceps, but the skin on him looked tight and taut under his musculature regardless.

What are they feeding him? Is that from his genetics? No, couldn’t be, he’d be more swollen if that were the case.

“Boys,” Sage started. “I hope you’ve welcomed our new bunkmate already.”

“We’ve been unpacking, and talking,” the brown colt said. He thought for a moment, then added, “Carefully. We haven’t had any accidents yet.”

“Good,” Sage said. “Well, then, we have another new face this year: this is Starlight.”

Starlight took a deep breath and went in. “Hi. I’m Starlight Glimmer. I’m not much of a fighter, but I know papyromancy and a little bit of chaos magic. I was also a wizard in residence in Alherda hospital, but I didn’t go far enough to get my degree, so no need to call me ‘master’ or ‘doctor’.”

The Unicorn perked up immediately. “Ooh, you’re a papyromancer, too? Do you know any combat conjuration spells?”

Sunburst flashed her a sheepish smile. “Yeah, we promised we’d teach him that sometime. He has the evocation down fine, but he’s getting to the point where he should expand his roster a bit.”

“I do know a few spells that fall under that, actually, and I’ve taught them to foals before, but not for combat specifically. Conjuration’s kinda broad like that.” She looked back and forth between the two. “Which one of you is Assault and which one is Battery?”

“Oh, I’m the Battery, Miss,” the Unicorn replied, smiling broadly. “My friends call me Live Wire.”

Right at that moment, a mosquito landed on his flank. It sparked, exploded, then flew off into a death spiral to land on the ground. Everyone in the room stared at the thing as it lay smouldering in a little pile.

The blue Pegasus, who Starlight presumed had to be Assault, snorted and leered at his companion. “Show-off.”

Starlight got a look at the pair’s cutie marks then. “Ah, right. Battery. You have a talent for lightning magic. That’s… clever, I like that. I think we’ll get along just fine. And that would make you little Mister Assault, right?”

The blue colt nodded at her. Everything about him gave off an air of calm, controlled power, not at all the imposing presence of a hulk like Bulk Biceps. Even his voice came in a low, husky whisper. “Uhuh. Doldrum’s my name.”

She nodded to his bag. “And I take it that little arsenal you have in there is yours, then?”

His ears flicked back. “That’s right. You know artifact magic?”

She gritted her teeth for a moment, before clearing her throat. “You might say I’ve dabbled, mostly with arcane-powered gems.” She walked over to the bag to inspect it. “What have you got in there? I see rings, a belt of wi-”

She felt a force snatch the bag out of her grasp. She hadn’t even seen Doldrum move, but he had his bag well clear of her grasp.

Right. Pegasus, super speed, should have known.

“Please don’t touch my things,” he said, shaken but still in his odd whispering tone.

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry. If you’d rather show it off in practice, I’ll know what it is, then, I can wait.”

“It’s not that. I have an Ice Amulet, Lightning Rings-”

“For front or hind legs?” she asked.

“Both.”

She whistled, impressed. “At the same time?”

“Of course. Then I have six wands: two for Arcane Missiles, two for Spark Bolt, and two for Frostbite. I didn’t make those, though, I’m still working on that.”

“That’s a pretty good inventory.”

“Then I have my Wind Belt. It’s supposed to go on my belly, but I like keeping my neck covered when I can, so I’ll wear it there if I’m not using anything else.”

Now Starlight’s ears fell back. “Okay.”

“And I have a Triple Radiance Helm.”

“Of course you do.”

“And then there’s the sheath for the wands, of course, and my regular armour. And some enchanted throwing knives.”

She wasn’t even trying to pretend this was normal anymore. “Oh, obviously, if you’re going to go that far. No rapid-fire crossbow?”

He pouted and looked at the floor. “Not until I’m sixteen. I have a restraining order.”

She looked to the stallions. Neither Sage nor Sunburst showed any sign of protest, or any indication the boy was lying or exaggerating.

“Deer Lords, sounds like you’ve almost got a full kingslayer armour.”

Much to her surprise, he perked up at that. There was actual emotion in his voice when he spoke up now. “Oh, that’s what I’m working up to. Do you know how to make the padding for that?”

“No? And if you don’t mind me asking, where did you get all of that in the first place? Especially child-sized ones?”

He shrugged. “I get it from mail order. EEA-sanctioned, of course, it’s only the pieces. Putting it together and enchanting it is the real work.”

“And using it,” Starlight reasoned. “I take it you’re mostly here to master the use of it all, and not the fabrication? I don’t think we’re allowed to teach you how to build a rocket launcher or anything.”

“That’s okay: I don’t like artillery, it’s too loud. I can wait.”

She cleared her throat. “Well, I look forward to seeing what you can do with all of your inventory, then.”

That only left Bastion. “Okay, you I know. You’re Bastion Pristin. I met your friend Sapphire Gaze a little while ago. What are you here to learn?”

The changeling looked shocked for a moment, then he stared at her blankly. “Umm…”

“Well?” Sunburst asked. “I’ve got material on all the major schools of magic, different systems, too, if you have any preference. Just say it and we can plan a program for you.”

“I’m not sure,” Bastion replied, scratching his head. “What are my options?”

Starlight looked at Sage, but he seemed as confused about the response as she was. She shrugged. “If you want to use the standard system by the Sorcerers of the Eastern Shores: there’s conjuration and transmutation, enchantment and illusion, divination gets overlooked a lot, but it’s surprisingly powerful. Then there’s evocation, that’s what most ponies go for, but it’s a little overdone if you ask me. Abjuration is making a comeback, I hear, and lastly there’s necromancy, which is really just divination with some energy work, doesn’t have the best reputation, but it has its uses. Oh, right, you don’t know what any of those are, do you? Sorry about that, I completely forgot.”

“I do know what those are, actually: conjuration’s summoning, transmutation is changing things, and evocation is most of the blasty stuff. Those three are the big ones most wizards try to go for. And abjuration is defense, like shields and elemental walls. I don’t know which one I’d wanna learn, though.” The boy rubbed his arms. “Can I think about it?”

“Sure,” Sage replied. “Why don’t we start with some basic exercises, get you used to using your magic first, we can decide how to develop it once you know your baseline.”

“Okay. Do I need anything?” Bastion asked.

“No, but Doldrum: load up your wand sheath. I want to see if your trick shots are any better now,” Sage replied.

Live Wire started bouncing next to the changeling, little sparks flying off of his mane and tail. Starlight tried to let the two pass by without tensing up too much.

Don’t let him smell your fear. Do not let the walking Category 4 disaster smell your fear or he’ll only get more nervous and have a misfire.

“Nothing like having the target range all to yourself,” Live Wire started.

“Target range? Like shooting magic? You shoot magic here?” he asked.

“Of course. You gotta learn how to shoot when you have a horn, otherwise how are you gonna use it right? Like, this one time, I was walking close to Cottontail woods, and then from out of nowhere wham! Bam!”

Starlight tuned him out, waiting for Doldrum to catch up. Sure enough, he even had a genuine wand sheath strapped to his arms, for quick switching between different types of ammunition. With a quick ping of a detection spell, she found out the type, too: these were the advanced ones, pre-loaded with a hoofful of detonations but capable of taking a pony’s magic to power out more.

She noticed the way he moved, as well. A boy with his bulk should have made more noise by merely moving about, idle clopping of heavy hooves on wood. This little Assault, though, moved silently, like a whisper in the night, even at a normal gait.

That boy was already at a higher level than most if he could do that so casually, not to mention him using magical artifacts like it was nothing. If she had to guess, his cutie mark didn’t actually make it easier to do magic, but aided him greatly in learning it. A mark like that would provide motivation, drive, and inspiration, rather than raw ability.

And if he was already being driven and inspired to learn that kind technique and wield that kind of weaponry at such a young age, there was no telling what he might get into as an adult.

That’s definitely a cutie mark catastrophe waiting to happen. Both of them are.

“So, what do you think?” Sage asked. “First impressions?”

Starlight winced. “You weren’t kidding. That’s a pair of specialists, alright. I wouldn’t even know where to look for ponies like that, never mind children.”

“But are you up to the task?”

“I’m still not entirely sure what the task is, but if it’s counselling, then… sure.” She smiled at Sunburst. “It’s not like I’ll have to do it alone. And besides, I like a challenge.”

Bastion had tried to pay attention to Live Wire’s story, but truth be told the walking battery spoke very quickly, and while Live Wire definitely possessed a knack for theatrics, he hadn’t quite managed the fine art of maintaining a solid plot yet. Somewhere along the line, Bastion had lost the thread, and he didn’t have the hearts to tell the Unicorn he couldn’t keep up.

“Anyway, that’s why I’m not allowed within fifty paces of a petting zoo,” Live Wire finished.

“Wow,” Starlight said, coming up behind them. “I didn’t even know vultures had a Parliament.”

“Okay, so: this is our firing range,” Sunburst announced as they rounded a corner.

Bastion looked around at the site. It was downward from the hill their bunk was on, and just far enough to be out of sight of the main camp site by the lake, but close enough to easily make a signal, no doubt for safety purposes.

Like the bunk terrain, the ground here was levelled, and formed an arena with a dirt floor. Nestled against the hillside stood a row of shacks, that Sunburst opened with his magic.

Bastion’s hearts went aflutter when Sage lifted the training dummies out. They were adult-sized, similar to the model dolls Miss Rarity used, but more articulated, and able to stand without a pole to support them.

“Now, some basic rules: don’t shoot unless given permission,” Sunburst said. “Don’t fire a spell if you don’t know what’s behind your target, even if you think you have permission. Don’t fire a spell when somepony is on the range within firing distance.” He blinked and adjusted his glasses. “Or a changeling, or any local wildlife, for that matter. We have some very foolhardy squirrels around here, we don’t want to see them hurt. That means you, Sir Battery.”

Live Wire whistled innocently and looked away. Bastion carefully shuffled a little further from him, just in case.

“And if you do need to move onto the range, signal everyone first,” Sage finished. “Now, Sir Battery, if you would do us the honours? Show us a clean shot, standard magical beam.”

Bastion watched as Live Wire closed his eyes, twirled his horn with a little flair and brought it down to shoot a white beam of energy at one of the dummies. It wasn’t like most beams he’d seen: this one sparked and arced more than it flowed, it struck him as being somehow less stable than the magic he was used to seeing. There were little ribbons of lightning around it, too, perhaps that was why.

The dummy certainly didn’t care for it. It took the blow straight in the chest and flew back from the impact, landing on its back with a singe-mark smoking from its chest.

“How was that?” Live Wire asked.

“Not bad, not bad,” Sage said. “It’s still not completely straightened out, but you’ve gotten better. Sunburst?”

Sunburst took out a scroll and quill in his magic. “Oh, yes, that’s a big improvement from last time. Less fragmented than it used to be. What did you think of it?”

“Umm… I like it?” Live Wire replied with a shy smile. “At least the dummy’s flying back in a straight line now. And it’s not shaking all over the place before it hits the target.”

That explained it: the colt had a problem directing his magic. Which made sense, considering the nature of electrical magic. Let that get out of control, it’ll snap at anything that gets too close, wasting energy in the process.

Bastion felt a twinge of pain at the thought. His uncle had warned him about electrical magic often enough, since most nations had tried it as a defense against changelings at some point or another. Bug-zapper tactics, they called it, and now he would be bunking with a Unicorn whose main power was zapping bugs like him.

“Okay, then we won’t need to spend too much time and energy on that again,” Sage said. “Master Assault, if you’d please?” He cast another spell on the dummy to right it, but he also mended its damage through means Bastion couldn’t figure out.

It was the strangest thing: Sage’s horn didn’t glow when he cast a spell. He merely gestured, squinted a little, and the burn marks and dents were fixed.

Mister Sage can hide his magic. That’s interesting...

Doldrum took Live Wire’s place in the middle of the range. Then he took a deep, slow breath in, and in one motion rose on his hind hooves, pointed one of the sheaths at the target, and let fly an arrow made of energy. It went far to the right, before curving to hit the dummy dead in the chest.

“That’s good,” Sunburst said. “Much better trajectory control than last time. How’s your switching?”

Doldrum fiddled with his wand sheath to pull out the middle one on his right and the outermost one on his left.

He went back and forth casting from his left and right, one causing the dummy to grow a layer frost, the other giving it a loud snap crackle of an electric spark. It never knocked the target down, but Bastion could see how much pain any of those shots might cause.

And Doldrum just kept it up like it was nothing.

“Okay, that’s good,” Sunburst said after a volley or three.

Bastion shook his head to clear it.

“What?” Doldrum asked.

“Nothing, nothing, just… that’s pretty impressive. Those are home-made wands?”

Doldrum’s nose curled in annoyance. “No. I’m not good enough to make a wand.”

“Not good enough yet, you mean,” Sage remarked. “Bastion, you’re up,” Sage announced. “Show us what you’ve got.”

Bastion took his spot in the middle of the range, let out a quick breath, and let rip a beam of pure energy through his horn.

It slapped the dummy like a harmless snowball, barely making it wobble. Bastion blinked. “Huh?”

“That’s odd,” Sunburst said. “I thought you were trained for this kind of thing?”

“I am. Should I try again?” Bastion looked at the three grown-ups, all of them looked confused, except for Starlight, who had a little more curiosity in her eyes than the stallions did.

Again, Bastion reared up and fired a green bolt at the dummy. Again, it barely made the thing shake.

Sage walked over to stand next to him. “How do you do that? That beam blast, I mean? What’s your process?”

Bastion shrugged. “I just reach down inside myself and shoot energy. Why, is that a problem?”

“Sounds like a regular evocation spell to me, then,” Sage said. “Starlight, your thoughts?”

“It’s pretty obvious what the problem is: he’s a changeling. If he tries to fire something using energy inside him, then he’ll fire what’s inside. What’s inside is usually stolen energy, right?” Starlight asked gently. “And you haven’t been stealing anything, so you don’t have anything to fire.”

“Doesn’t that mean he’s gonna starve?” Live Wire asked.

“No. No, love isn’t really like food is to ponies, but it does make us stronger. And it is a good fuel.” Bastion sighed. “But I guess I can’t really use it anymore. I’m sorry, does that mean I need to go to a different bunk?”

“If you still want to work on your magic, not at all,” Sage replied, rubbing his chin. “It’s only a question of how we’re going to approach it. You’re technically sound, at least, you’re not making any of the newbie mistakes when you shoot a beam, that’ll save a lot of time. The problem is the substance. We can hardly have you draining ponies for practice, not without consent, and that’d be useless outside of camp anyway. There’s nothing wrong with your skill, it’s the fuel we need to change.”

“Is that even possible?” Bastion asked. “I’ve always done it like this. What other fuel is there?”

Sage gestured to Starlight, and she raised a hoof. “Ah, actually, there’s your own emotions. Emotional casting is what most ponies call your branch of magic: still with the thinking in it, but powered by feeling.”

“Thank you, Starlight. Yes, she’s an emotional caster herself. You can learn to use your own feelings to get magic done, even supercharge it and change the nature of an existing spell to some extent. It’s not a sort of magic I’m partial to myself, but I’ve seen ponies get good results with it. You can cheat out a win against vastly superior opponents with that kind of techniques.”

Bastion’s ears perked. Cheating out a win against someone way out of my league? Perfect. “Are you sure that would work?”

“Of course,” Starlight replied. “It’s a different kind of fuel, is all. You can’t do the same things with drained emotions that you can with your own.”

“All we’d need to know is what the baseline is,” Sunburst said, taking another sheet of paper to write it on. “What would be the closest magic to that? Emotional vampirism is the feeding part, but what’s the projection, then?”

“I’d guess... blood sacrifice,” Sage remarked, getting a nod from Sunburst after some thought. “You very rarely want to use your own blood for that.”

“Great.” Bastion plopped his rump on the ground. “So now I have to cut myself if I want to do magic? I have to act like those ponies with white powder all over and fake fangs?”

Sunburst already had a book open. “No, you misunderstand. Energetic vampirism is a well-documented ability, it’s an acquired skill, if not a very popular one. If what you used to do is similar to blood magic, you’ve got a good basis already. If anything, you should be at a higher level than average compared to most Unicorns. Way higher.”

“I don’t feel any higher,” Bastion replied.

“Blood magic is generally avoided these days because ponies are educated on magic a little better now. It’s an unstable material to work with, volatile magic that can be easily replaced by proper instruction,” Sage added.

“I still don’t get it.”

Starlight rolled her eyes and groaned. “What the master wizards are trying to say is: if you’re good enough to use blood magic in the first place, you’re good enough to not need it. And if you’re good enough to use drained emotions, you should be good enough to not need them, either, at least in terms of skill. You’ll get less bang for your buck, so to speak, but actually doing it isn’t that much of a shift. We know how ancient ponies moved from sacrificial magic to their own power once the Sun started moving again, so we can come up with ways for you to move to your own power. I can probably get you up to speed with Assault and Battery over here nice and quickly, if you don’t mind putting in the effort.”

“Okay. That sounds good.”

“Let’s start with something simple, if that’s okay with you,” Starlight started.

Sage waved a hoof for her to continue. “By all means. We can keep the dummies up and intact.”

“Start with bellows breathing: when you rely on your emotions for your magic, your body gets more involved in the process. Try breathing quickly first: quick little puffs. One, two, three, shoot.”

Bastion got back into firing position and followed the instructions. “One, two, three, shoot!”

The blast that came out hit harder, slapping the dummy’s head enough to twist its neck, but it still wasn’t something he’d consider useful in a fight.

“Your wings are too tight,” Doldrum blurted out, quietly.

“What?” Starlight asked.

“His wings, Miss. He’s tensing up his wings, and those muscles can, umm, mess up your breathing. Try opening them up and relaxing first. The more tense you are, the more energy you waste.”

Starlight nodded. “He’s got a point there. Try it.”

Bastion felt the eyes of everypony on him, nerves clenching around him like a snake. He forced his wings to unfurl, mentally commanded his body to relax, then did the little puffs of breath to wind up the shot.

Something rushed up his spine, hitting him in the neck. His eyes went white, and closing them didn’t make the whiteness go away. When he opened his eyes again, he was on his back, staring at the sky. “What just happened?”

“Spell recoil, noobie mistake.” Live Wire said. “It’s not an easy trick to dig your hooves in and relax at the same time. Cool shot, though.”

“I’ll say,” Starlight noted. “Very powerful force blast, nice and straight, hardly any dispersal on the impact. Most foals take a whole semester to get that kind of skill, but I guess you’ve had previous training. Are you okay?” She extended a hoof.

He took her hoof and let himself get pulled up. The dummy he’d hit was blasted back, its legs a messy tangle. “I’m fine. I just went out of it a little.”

“Congratulations, then: that was a proper magical trance. That’s how you turn your magic on and off. Do you remember how that felt?” Starlight asked.

“Yes.”

“Good,” Sage said, fetching two more dummies. “Do it again. All three of you: we’re going for stamina first. By the time you get good and tuckered out, you’ll be thinking straight and your technique will improve on its own. Me and Sunburst will be paying attention to any slips, and see what needs improving, on a first impression.”

“Don’t worry,” Live Wire said. “We’re the best bunk on site, highest level juniors. Just follow my lead, and you’ll get stronger in no time.”

“Yeah,” said the Pegasus, “follow Battery’s lead, you’ll be fine.”

Lunchtime saw the boys tired and yawning. Even Doldrum was showing the shakes a little bit, despite not having cast any spell on his own. Bastion could tell the Pegasus put some energy into his castings, but had no clue as to how the wands worked yet.

Doldrum wasn’t wearing his gear now, so there was no way to get a quick look, either.

“So,” Sage started, munching on a cucumber sandwich, “are we all nice and worked up, not too tired?”

Live Wire yawned, then slapped his own chest twice. “Doin’ good.”

“No missing beats?” Sunburst asked.

“Huh?” Bastion turned to the Unicorn colt, chewing on his own olive bun.

“Oh, umm, funny story: the stuff I make? The lightning magic? Not the healthiest talent you could have, turns out. It’s complicated, but basically I can’t overdo it or I, you know...”

Bastion shook his head. “No, I don’t know. You… what?”

Starlight gestured to him. “Evocation magic is usually energy-based instead of spell-focused: you make a certain type of energy and then project it, like when you shoot a beam. But the elemental types, like lightning or fire magic, those require converting your energy, and that’s a full body skill. Most ponies don’t notice, but the ones who specialise or use one type almost constantly will get a few issues over time. It depends on the type: fire magic is in the breath, ice magic is in the blood, and lightning magic is in, well, the heart. Use too much fire magic, you run out of breath. Use too much lightning magic, if your body isn’t conditioned for the after-effects, and you’ll risk heart problems.”

Bastion nodded, then squinted. “Oh. Wait, so if you overdo it, you could die? Just like that? You use up all your magic and then you’re dead?”

“No, no.” Live Wire waved away the remark. “That’d be awful. If I use up all my magic, my heart stops. Then I have about half a minute to say something really cool and then I die.”

“Huh. You know, suddenly I’m feeling less jealous.”

“No kidding. I’m jealous of you: if your heart stops, at least you’ve got a spare,” the Unicorn joked. “And you can cast actual spells.”

“So that kind of magic isn’t from spells? What are spells for, then?” Bastion asked.

“We’ll cover that later,” Sage said. “Most ponies never get around to learning that distinction, even in higher academia.” He snorted.

“Seriously, though,” Sunburst said in between bites. “Don’t overdo it. You know your limits better than we do, especially with the progress you’ve been making. It’s gonna get harder and harder for somepony else to keep your powers under control, so you need to be on top of that.”

“I am, I am,” replied Live Wire. “I’m responsible, and I check my heart when I have to. I’m not gonna die, I’m just tired. Oh, if I’m tired enough, can I go swimming this afternoon?” He perked up, and right at that moment a spark crackled from his horn to his right ear.

Now Starlight was confused. “Why would you need to be tired to go swi-oh, right. Gotta discharge the battery before you go into the water. Gosh, that must get annoying.”

“Tell me about it,” Live Wire said with a groan. “I’m not even allowed within fifty paces of a public pool.”

“At least until he gets it under full control,” Sage said. “Until then, what do we always say?”

“Suppression only works on the weak,” Live Wire replied. “When you’re strong, it’s self-control.”

“Good. Speaking of which, meditation practice this afternoon.”

Doldrum winced. “Will we be with Miss Tree Hugger’s group again?”

“Not yet. I think it’d be better to start with a solo practice first, see how that part of the training has been progressing. We’ll use the meditation bunks for now. I’ll take Doldrum, Sunburst can take Live Wire through it, and Starlight can show Bastion.”

He could taste the surprise and hint of fear in Starlight’s reaction. A little flick of his horn quickly evacuated that bit of unpleasant energy from his stomach.

“What? Me?” she asked.

“You are an emotional caster like he’s trying to be, yes?”

“Well, I mean, sure, but still…” she lowered her voice to a whisper. “What am I supposed to do exactly?”

“It’s a meditation bunk,” Sage replied. “You use it for meditating. You didn’t get to where you are without any sort of grounding practice, did you?”

“No,” Starlight conceded. “No, I practised a couple of things: Somnanbula’s White and Black Mirror, Meadowbrook’s Curling Vine, Star Swirl’s Witness...”

“Any of those will do,” Sage said. “Work on one, go through the motions, then warm up and move about. Then do it again, and again. Work your way up.”

Bastion saw Starlight’s ears go down in fear. Why, he couldn’t quite tell, because at that point he wasn’t risking another dose of foul-tasting fear.

“Oh, okay,” she said. “Like that, you mean.”

“Is something wrong?” Bastion asked.

“No, no, nothing’s wrong,” Starlight replied. “Just discussing the best method, is all. It’s fine.”

Starlight stood stiff as a board in front of the bunk, on the bottom of the same hill as their sleeping quarters and shooting grounds, but on a different side so they faced away from the main camp site.

This is not fine.

Her heart pounded in her chest. Her throat felt dry.

“Pretty neat, huh?” Sunburst came up behind her, smiling. “Sage set it up a few years ago, it’s been really useful.”

“I’ll bet,” she croaked.

The meditation bunks were arranged in a set of five overall. Each bunk was identical: two windows on the east side where the door was, one window north and south, none west, where the hill was. On the north side of the room, there was a shelf with books, as well as a single poster. On the west side, the wall was covered with posters, and a small amount of hay as well as a trough of water was provided. The southern part of the room was left blank. In the corners near the ceiling, there were speakers.

It was her indoctrination room.

Fight Camp had five indoctrination rooms identical to the one she’d built in her village. The only difference was what the posters on the walls showed: arcane runes of power, actual runes made up of straight and rigid lines.

“I take it by that look you recognise the design?” Sage asked.

Oh, holly cud on a compost sandwich, of course. He’s read the same books I have. Of course he’d build something like this, why wouldn’t he?

“Yeah, I know it. Star Swirl the Bearded mentioned it in his books, a little something his masters used to do: the old wizard formation cell, right?”

“I’m impressed. Most ponies attribute it to Star Swirl himself, wrongly, of course. Anyway, there’s hay and water for the smell, if you need it, plenty of paper to get the smell of a library in if you’re doing one of those exercises, and the signs on the posters are all rigged with a simple illusion spell. There’s no security on it, so feel free to switch’em to whatever you think is best.”

“And the speakers?” Starlight asked.

“Crystal charge, nothing fancy. Just think really loudly at it, give it a little mental tug, it’ll play on its own. Assuming you need background noise, of course.”

“Of course.”

“Well, me and Sunburst will be flanking you, but the rooms are soundproofed once the door closes: it’s a mix of whisperwood fibres and camel cork.”

Soundproofed, too. Wish I’d thought of that.

“Use a spell to signal us if anything happens, okay? There’s a clock above the door, we’ll check in after two hours, that should be enough to do a good fractionation,” Sunburst said.

“Yup, no problem. Fractionation is… fun, after all.” Starlight saluted the stallions.

“I know, right? It’s great to have some peace and quiet. Anyway, we’ll leave you to it.”

With that, Sunburst closed the door, leaving Starlight alone in the bunk with the changeling.

“Ho boy,” she said to herself.

“So what do we start with?” He sat down facing her.

“Good question. You’ve never done any kind of work with emotional casting before?”

He shook his head. “Uh uh.”

“But you do know the basics of magic already. Mostly energy work.”

“Yes. I don’t know what the difference is between that and a spell, though.”

“Okay, good.” She looked around nervously. “Good. You shouldn’t be too worried about figuring it out, most ponies never do anyway.” She lit up her horn and aimed it at the posters. With a mere thought, they changed from the bird’s foot rune to the arrow rune. “There. We’ll work on concentration first, that means arrow first.”

“Are you scared of me?”

She jumped. “What?! No, no, what makes you say that?”

“Because you’re acting kind of nervous, Miss Starlight. And scared. It’s okay if you are. Changelings are scary.”

Not half as scary as I am, though.

She sighed and sat down, crossing her legs and motioning for him to do the same. “No. I’m not scared of you, exactly. It’s just that teaching magic isn’t like teaching normal skills: you can’t hide your limitations from your students because, well, a lot of complicated reasons. It’s a lot of responsibility, and a lot can go wrong. But I’m sure a boy in your situation doesn’t think that’s so bad, huh?”

“Maybe, kinda. It’s understandable.”

“Good.” She nodded. “Understanding is good. Now, we’re going to do a fractionation exercise. You know what that is?”

“I’ve heard of it, but I don’t know it.”

“It’s not technically a meditation technique, but a conditioning technique. It’s one of the ways you can get someone to change how they think. That means it’s very powerful, and a little bit dangerous in the wrong hooves. Still, it’s simple in concept: you meditate, you relax, you go down deep for a while. Then you come back up to your normal mental state, and then you try to relax again. You go on and off, on and off, on and off. Doing it like that helps train your mind to go from normal mode to magical mode on a whim. And for emotional casters like us, it gives us the ability to channel our magic with our emotions without the physical backlash.”

“You mean the recoil? Me flying back from the blast?”

“That’s more of a dosing issue,” she replied. “I mean more basic: the consequences of using your emotions like that. It’s powerful, but it puts a lot of stress on your body: there’s hormones involved, muscle tension, heart rate, blood pressure, that kind of thing. When you get very emotional, your magic flares up with more power, but you risk losing control because of that. Then there’s all sorts of other side effects you might run into: ringing ears, light in your eyes that doesn’t go away if you close them, muscle soreness, that kind of thing.”

She noticed his ears perk at that, and suspected he’d probably had at least one of those things happen already, but she didn’t press the issue.

“Huh.” He grimaced. “I never really thought about that. Maybe that’s why changelings have two hearts.”

Starlight wanted to object, but upon further reflection couldn’t think of a good reason why. “You know, come to think of it, that might actually be a fair point. Regardless, feeling things heavily, it can affect your health if you’re not careful. Stress like that eats away at your body, even your mind.”

“Well, you look healthy.”

She stifled a gulp. “Yes. I am healthy, in every way, because I did things right. Now you’re going to do it right as well, just follow my lead. This may feel a little strange, but it’s so you can learn. There’s no wrong way to learn, remember that.”

Just stick to the magic, Starlight, don’t get caught up in the equality thing.

You can work that out later.

Although he did feel a bit woozy after the meditation practice, Bastion shook off most of the after-effects and, with Sunburst’s approval, he rushed off to the other side of camp to go play with the rest of the foals, Assault and Battery close behind.

That is, he thought Assault and Battery were close behind. Live Wire had a spring in his step, but Doldrum took his sweet time getting from one side of the lake of the other. He glided okay, yet he didn’t seem to want to join in on anything, going by how little he flapped his wings.

Bastion didn’t think too long on it, preferring to make new friends at the volleyball court. Some of the children looked at him weirdly, but when pressed, they turned out to be more concerned about where he was staying and with whom than anything related to his appearance. Everyone in camp knew him by reputation, no doubt. No one tried to be extra nice to him for a change, which he welcomed.

He put a little bit of goop on the spurs of his arms so he wouldn’t accidentally pop any balls and went to play.

Eventually, his fellow bunk mates got his attention: Battery was currently defending his title of camp champion at Twister, and Assault was hammering a punching bag while Bulk Biceps held it back. Neither of the two sights were particularly normal, even to a changeling.

Live Wire being good at Twister struck him as odd for a moment, before another mosquito going into a death spiral reminded Bastion that the title probably wasn’t due to any advantage in flexibility, but rather the unfortunate fact that most ponies couldn’t keep their balance whilst being electrocuted. Bastion shuddered at the thought. Most ponies here were Pegasi, too: they already had an innate resistance to lightning, and they still couldn’t cope with the Battery’s voltage. At least it was a goal to work towards, Bastion figured.

Doldrum, on the other hoof, had no competitors at all, and even the spectators gave him a wide berth. His punching technique stood out, too, or rather the rhythm. Unlike what his nickname might suggest, Assault didn’t pepper the bag or do any sort of quick combo attacks. All he did was strike once, pull back, then strike again, in a slow and even rhythm. Even so, the force behind the blows was enough to make Bulk have to lean in to steady the thing.

So he’s got Earth pony strength, too? How? Why?

He left the volleyball game once the next group wanted to do a match, and went to join Tree Hugger in her stretching class where he wouldn’t be distracted by the sight of his bunkmates.

Guess I’ll find out soon enough.

At least he looks happy when he’s punching things.

Is that a good thing or not?

By the time the Sun was setting, the boys had had dinner and relaxed with another round of less physically taxing games. By now, Bastion felt pretty confident no one outside of his bunk would pose a problem, as all the kids here were laid back but dedicated in their own way. Despite the majority of Pegasi, there were a surprising number of foals of all three tribes who wanted to be Royal Guards, the usual number of Wonderbolts among the Pegasi, but most of the children here were in sports clubs doing some martial arts or other, he didn’t keep close track of it all. He’d heard the term ‘karate’ thrown around a lot, as well as ‘judo’ and something involving fences.

A campfire was set up, and everyone, including the remote bunk of Assault and Battery, gathered around for the final activity of the first day.

Starlight and Sage sat behind the three boys. Sunburst took centre stage.

“What is this?” Starlight whispered.

“A little something we do every camp: story time. Trust me, you’ll like it. Sunburst is good at it.”

“Okay, everyone, settle down please. For the next two weeks, I’ll be telling you the story of the realm of Hippidion, and its many threats.”

Starlight smiled to herself as he sat down and got out the book.

Just like old times.

Then she looked around at the big crowd of children and adults who hung on his every word. By the time he got to describing to the witch who lived in a house on chicken legs, everyone was hooked.

Well, mostly like old times, I guess. I’ll talk to him when he’s alone.

That should be soon, right?

Starlight lay in an unfamiliar bed, a whole room to herself and her thoughts.

Okay, so I didn’t get any time alone with Sunburst. No biggie. Day one went fine, even if it wasn’t a full day yet. Sunburst is happy I’m here, Sage doesn’t mind me helping, the boys are fine. Right?

She perked her ears, and found no noise coming from the room next to hers. She had noticed little changeling stealing glances at Assault’s equipment bag, but then she’d caught herself doing that as well a few times. That boy was carrying some strange things on him.

Doesn’t matter.

They’re sound asleep, ready for tomorrow. We have some time alone now, us grown-ups.

I could talk to Sunburst now.

Hey, Sunburst! You remember when we were kids and we had so much fun learning magic together? Yeah, I kinda want that back. Permanently. You broke my heart in pieces when you left and I’ve hated cutie marks ever since. Incidentally, you’re a camp counsellor, how do you feel about re-education camps?

That train of thought raced through her head, and promptly crashed at a terminus.

Oh, stars, what am I supposed to say? I already said ‘hello,’ I never thought I’d get that far!

She sighed.

Hey, Sunburst? I have a confession to make. I missed you, a lot. I’ve missed you every single day since you’ve been gone. In fact, I may have started something awful because you left.

Great, now I’m gonna blame him for me being so messed up. It’s not his fault his parents sent him to Canterlot the same day he got his cutie mark, with no warning or any kind of preparation time.

No, I did this to myself. It’s my responsibility. I have him back now, right? I can catch up, make everything alright again. I have my friend back, that’s all I need.

Right?

So why does it still feel so empty inside?

A sound broke her reverie, from the other side of where the boys were sleeping.

Hoofsteps went to her door, gently and quietly, before being replaced by the telltale sound of an ear leaning against wood. She recognised the sound well enough from eavesdropping on her parents when they had a new shipment of books to discuss.

She’d learned not to make that sound. Sunburst, weirdly enough, never got the hang of it. The swish of a cape solidified in her mind the fact that Sunburst was the one to check in on her. He then went to check on the boys in the same way, then walked away at a quick pace towards the lake.

Again, she sighed.

I definitely shouldn’t tell him tonight, he’s obviously busy with something. I wonder what, though?

Tomorrow. Tomorrow will be a good time to just talk. I’m sure he’ll understand everything, he won’t be upset, it won’t be weird, it’ll just be like old times again.

She clutched her pillow.

Please let things be like old times again?

Author's Note

And here we see one of the first big hurdles in writing this thing: re-making Doldrum from a ninja to an artificer.

Makes more sense within the later canon of the show, makes more sense with established history of the show, but it royally messed up a lot of the other concepts in the early drafts. It also formed one of the reasons for localised over-editing: the nature of what he brings to Fight Camp. Initially he had some ninja gear with him, it ended up being three trinkets out of Orcs Must Die and some wands and sheaths from DnD. That ended up changing what he's there to learn, too.

This one suffered pretty hard in the over-editing department, for hopefully obvious reasons. Turns out I didn't even manage to get all the kunai out before I uploaded the darn thing. Go figure.

Matters of Meta

By the time Starlight woke up, she felt like she hadn’t slept at all. A knocking came at her door.

“Time to wake up, Starlight,” she heard Sunburst say.

Great. Well, on the bright side, at least I’ll get to talk to him now. Sort of.

“Good morning, Sunburst,” she greeted as she opened the door and hopped out.

He adjusted his glasses at the sight of her. “Whoa, did you sleep okay, Starlight? You look a little worn out.”

“Oh, it’s nothing.” She cast a minor spell to clean up her mane and face. “Country air, the excitement of camp, all the sounds, I’m sure I’ll get used to it in a night or two. Umm, speaking of which, what were you doing last night?”

“What do you mean?”

“You left about half an hour after bedtime. You didn’t go to sleep until close to midnight, I think.”

“Really? That late? Huh, well, I didn’t keep track of it. It was just a bit of teambuilding and planning with the other counsellors. You know, settle on some goals for the next few days, that sort of thing.”

“Oh.”

“Thanks for looking out, though. I didn’t think you’d notice.”

Starlight blushed. “Well, I mean, it’s not like I stayed up waiting for you or anything, obviously.”

“Obviously. You’re sure you’re okay? No mosquito problems? We are right by a lake after all.”

“All right!” came a voice. “Brand new day and I’m pumped!” The call was swiftly followed by the sound of electricity crackling.

“I think we have about a two mile radius that doesn’t need to worry about insect problems,” Starlight remarked.

“Right. Okay, gang, time for breakfast, let’s go. Sage is already up, checking the other bunks.”

The boys came out, single file, with Doldrum in the back. Still, his hooves made no sound on the wooden floor.

“So what is the program for today?” Starlight asked.

“Metamagic for Bastion and our Battery. Battery’s pretty advanced in certain things, and he’s due to learn by now. Bastion can probably learn a few new things to keep his interest, let him work with what he has already before he learns any new spells.”

“And for Assault? How are you planning to keep him engaged when you’re training Unicorns?”

“He has his artifacts, they charge up overnight.”

“Yeah, but he’s using stored spells. That’s somepony else’s magic in there, isn’t it?”

Sunburst grinned. “Only in the wands. He made those other trinkets himself, he can use those.”

Starlight raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, quick question about that: why? That cutie mark is pretty generalist, as far as I know. Why would a boy his age want that kind of firepower?”

He shrugged. “You’ll have to ask Sage, he knows more of the details. Or you can ask Doldrum yourself, he might tell you if he trusts you enough.”

“Oh. So it’s a sore spot, then?”

“Kind of. Everypony in camp kind of knows: Doldrum’s talent gives him some sensitivity, and he went through some stress a while back. Really bad stress, the kind that left a mark. There’s been some debate on what exactly is wrong with him, so obviously there’s debate on how to make it better, too. So far, making artifacts is making him better: it helps him relax, and he’s good at it. Does that answer your question?”

“Yes. Just one other thing: I noticed him around the punching bags yesterday. Was he strong before he started tinkering, or did that start after?”

“Same time, actually.”

Starlight ran that information through her head. It did not compute. “Does he wear a Belt of Strength, by any chance?”

“Not usually, but he does have one. Didn’t make that one himself, though, and he never brings it to camp.”

“At least he has some limits, then. And where is Doldrum getting his books from? How does he know what to look for?”

“Right now? I’d say his teachers, mostly. Doldrum’s a little complicated, even by our standards. Sage has been more involved with him than I have, outside of camp, too.”

“Good to know. I am definitely going to have a talk with him about that.”

After breakfast and some simple warming up exercises, Sage got out the target dummies and arranged them for the boys, then gestured to Sunburst to get started.

“Okay, boys, today I’ll be taking care of the lessons. Live Wire, Doldrum, you’ve covered some of the theory before, so this’ll be a bit of a repeat lesson, but Bastion should be new at this. So, Bastion: if you don’t understand something, let me know.”

“Got it.”

“Good.” Sunburst conjured up a screen that looked like a makeshift blackboard. “We’ll be covering advanced spellcraft later this week, but to keep things fair, today we’ll discuss the merits of metamagic. Does that term ring any bells?”

“I’ve heard it, but I’m not sure I know what it is,” Bastion replied.

“Most ponies don’t,” Sage interjected. “So you’ll have a leg up pretty soon.”

“Indeed. Metamagic is the art of improving spells you’ve already learned, ones you can already cast, mainly outside of the divinatory realm and almost exclusively in the projective realm.”

“That means it’s mainly for things you’re trying to do, not spells to learn things or see stuff,” Starlight added.

Bastion nodded, and he noticed Live Wire nodded, too. Doldrum seemed oddly indifferent about the whole thing.

“How you use metamagic depends on what type of spell you’re casting, of course, but in general it’s a skill that favours emotional casters. The different modes of an improved spell, the different additions, they come from channeling a very particular emotional energy. For that reason, any spell usually has only one added mode you can use per casting.” He adjusted his glasses. “Although, having said that, I suppose I should explain what the different modes are first.”

He gestured towards the conjured blackboard, and a red outline of a crudely drawn Unicorn appeared on it.

“Let’s say you’re a caster stuck in combat, and you need to take out an enemy. One way to do that is with a simple force beam or blast.” With a minor flicker of his horn, the drawn Unicorn blasted at an incoming – and equally crudely drawn – Timberwolf. “Standard force blasts are common, and don’t require any sort of advanced machinations or mental exercises. We call that kind of spell a cantrip: it’s pure energy work, and subject to the same rules and weaknesses as any sort of energy manipulation.”

Bastion furrowed his brow. His compatriots looked and even tasted bored.

“But what if force blasts don’t work?” Sunburst continued. “What if you’re dealing with an armoured enemy, something too heavy, or something protected against energy? Well, that’s when we resort to more complicated and powerful spells: flame sprays, acid splashes, ice bombs, that sort of thing.”

The figure now launched a blue ball of ice at an incoming crayon Craggadile. To Bastion, that seemed like a perfectly viable option: with Craggadiles living in hot humid environments, an ice attack was probably super effective.

“Metamagic comes in when even that type of spell won’t cut it on its own,” Sunburst wiped the board, leaving only the Unicorn. With a wave of his hoof, white lines flowed in the middle to make a pool of sorts, out of which the Craggadile from before now leaped.

“Say you get ambushed. Someone or something gets the drop on you. Casting spells requires attention, concentration, clarity of mind. The easiest way to down a wizard is to keep the pressure on them. That is when you will want to quicken a spell.”

“Quicken?” Live Wire asked. “You mean I could cast even faster? That’s an option?”

Sunburst smiled and nodded at the boy. “With a little bit of practice, yes. Being able to quicken a spell requires repeating the motions over and over and over until it’s imprinted in your mind. Once that’s done, when you go to cast the spell, you can pour a little bit of fear energy into it to speed up the process.”

“It’s an anxious, nervous energy,” Starlight corrected. “Close to the fear you’d feel when you get jumped, but different enough to still require some skill and control.”

“Quite right.” The Unicorn on the board now quickly blasted the Craggadile without the swish and twirl of his horn like before. “Quickening spells lets you cast under pressure, but it does come at the cost of exhausting you more quickly. Most moderate-level Unicorns end up quickening their teleportation spells when they panic, it’s a reflex.”

“But I can’t even do a teleport yet,” Live Wire said with a pout.

“You might learn it from this,” Sage offered. “The skillsets required are pretty close to each other. Although with your talent, I’d guess you’ll end up doing the old thunder step first: it’s the same principle, but more of a boom in taking off, very useful in widening the gap.”

“Also true,” Sunburst said. “Since quickening is the most common and the most useful metamagic technique to master, at least as a stepping stone, that’s what we’ll be starting with today. However, there are two more we can cover. The second one is twinning spells.”

The Unicorn on the board was now facing two Craggadiles at once.

“This is less common, because most wizards feel that any problem you can fix with this, you can fix with other techniques more easily.”

“Complacent hacks,” Sage remarked under his breath.

Sunburst continued undisturbed. “Twinning, like the name implies, takes the essence of a spell and doubles it.” The board showed the Unicorn shooting two ice balls in one shot. “It’s related to multi-target spells in a way, but different in that it requires a vastly different skillset. Sage, if you don’t mind demonstrating?”

“Arcane missiles, coming up.”

Bastion turned, and saw Mister Sage twirl his horn before letting out a barrage of five arrows made up of dark grey energy. They impacted on the dummies one by one, knocking them back.

“The thing is: that’s a single spell. The spell is constructed to launch a certain amount of missiles,” Sunburst said. “And as such it has the same problem as trying to solve everything with a force beam or blast. A custom spell, a more advanced spell, is designed to solve a problem. By twinning such a spell, you solve two problems at once.” He sighed happily. “More importantly: by learning how to twin such a spell, you truly master it. You go from having to rapidly repeat the same motion to knowing how to do it all in one swoop. You go from merely memorising a spell to understanding it.”

“Case in point.” Sage gestured with his right front hoof now, and before Bastion could blink, two of the dummies were blown back by a shockwave. There was no glow, either from his horn or his limbs, and no muttering of any incantations, either.

The result on the two dummies was identical, though: they were blown back evenly and an equal distance, making it clear that this was, in fact, a single spell duplicated.

“That’s a standard unidirectional thunderwave. It uses force, in the physical sense, but technically it falls under the ‘thunder’ type of spells. Highly localised, though, and as you can see: it hits without any flashes of light. Very useful if you want to end a fight without drawing too much attention. Its main weakness, of course, is that it only hits one target at a time. Twinning a spell like that makes it useful in many more situations.”

“Ooh, you could do a lot of damage twinning fireballs, too, huh?” Live Wire asked.

“You could, if fireballs could be twinned in the first place. It’s a practice generally reserved for things that affect one target or have only one moving part. A fireball is a complex evocation,” Sunburst winced and shook his head at the thought. “It has its own complex patterns, so if you want to do multiples of those, it’s better to use a separate spell for that, like the arcane missiles one. Still, twinning is a good skill to develop before you move on to complicated spells, because you learn mastery of the theory. Mastery of control is what you get from the last one: delayed spells.”

Live Wire blinked in confusion. “Why would anyone ever wanna delay a spell?”

Sunburst chuckled, and the Unicorn he’d drawn faced off against a Craggadile once again.

“Suppose you find yourself in a situation where you feel threatened. You cast a spell to defend yourself, but you do not detonate it.” A red dot formed on the Craggadile’s nose. “Sometimes the threat is enough to end a fight, and sometimes you can use the time before a fight breaks out to set up a quick finish. But even more often…” The Craggadile waved its paws at the Unicorn, and lifted up its skin, revealing another Unicorn. “You need to act before you know everything. Having a spell out and ready to go off gives you options. Another big advantage is that you can aim a spell past someone’s defenses. A lot of magic comes with little bundles of energy, that detonate on contact. Sometimes you need to aim past a frontline, and be able to hit something you can’t see. To do that, you need to be able to let your spell travel, hold it, and only make it go off when it has to.”

Live Wire scrunched his nose. “I still don’t get it.”

“Imagine if you had a bunch of zombies attacking you, with one necromancer using them as a shield. You’d want to hit the guy in the middle, right?” Bastion asked.

“Well, yeah, but that’s what fireballs are for, duh,” Live Wire said.

“That wouldn’t work if they all had shields,” Doldrum offered. “There’s plenty of ways to block a fireball, even a big one. Especially if you know it’s coming. Umm, you know, that’s… what I heard, at least.”

Bastion’s ears perked at the sound of his voice. The Pegasus had been quiet all morning, to the point of being invisible, almost.

“Yeah, that’s right,” Bastion added. “If they’re in formation, it’s pretty easy to defend against an area of effect attack: only one of them has to block for everyone else. But a precision strike at the leader, from an unexpected angle, that’s a lot harder to block. That’s something the leader has to deal with himself, usually. It’s also kind of useful against an enemy you can’t see.”

Live Wire pondered it for a moment. “Oh. So, what, you can turn someone into a squirrel even if you can’t see them?”

Sage nodded. “Assuming you can make the spell connect, yes. And holding and detonating the spell makes it easier to connect, like, say, against a moving target trying to bait you into over-extending.”

“And above all: it teaches you how to control and wield the spell, so you’re not just going through the motions all the time. It’s a good way to build up your willpower, prevent any accidents involving magic,” Sunburst said.

Live Wire pouted.

Starlight noticed. She prodded him gently, yelping at the static from his fur. “Ow!”

“Sorry,” Live Wire said with a wince.

“My mistake, I forgot.” She leaned in to whisper. “Sunburst had to learn how to hold his magic early on, too. He had a lot of accidents when we were little.”

Sunburst rolled his eyes as he dispelled the blackboard. “True, I did have some trouble controlling my horn, especially when I got excited. But that’s what practice is for. Thank you, Starlight, for the reminder.”

“You’re welcome.” Starlight smiled. “It’s not something to feel embarrassed about, Live Wire: the point is that it’s not a new problem, and there’s a solution to it. There’s a way to get past that, and we have ponies here who’ve done it.”

“Some of us with more help than others, I might add,” Sage said. “Anyway, with that little dissertation out of the way, let’s get to the fun stuff, shall we? We’ll start with quickening and work our way up twinning, maybe we’ll get to delayed spells by noon, but there’s no rush for that, so go at your own pace. Bastion, you’re up first.”

Bastion raised a forelimb. “Umm, one problem.”

“Yes?”

“I don’t think I have any spells I can use for that. I’m not sure I even understand what a spell is.”

“Yeah, me neither,” Live Wire said. “I usually just do energy stuff. You know, still?”

They both looked at Doldrum.

“What? I’m fine, I know what to do.”

“Oh,” Sunburst said. “Right. Probably should have started with that part.”

Princess Celestia looked up from her paperwork when the Royal Guards brought her guest in. “Ah, right on time. Guards, you are excused for the moment.”

She slid out of the throne and went towards the stallion. His grey fur stood out against the bright colours of the palace, and while he may have passed for a Royal Guard with his armour, even a casual glance would reveal his bandanna and back and belly protection were anything but standard issue.

This gentlecolt did not deal with threats that the Royal Guard was trained to handle, and he made no secret of it. “Begging your pardon, Your Majesty, I was under the impression I wasn’t due here for at least another three months. Is something wrong?”

“I am terribly sorry to tear you away from your creature emporium, Cratus.” Celestia smiled and opened the door, motioning for him to follow her down the corridors. “I’m hoping it’s not a problem, but Philomena has been shedding more than usual, and I fear my sister may be slipping her some sugary treats here and there. Besides, you know some ponies react poorly to phoenix feathers, I’d rather she be trimmed by a professional than risk a foreign dignitary going deaf.” She shuddered. “Who knows what kind of incident that might cause. Better to be safe than sorry, right?”

“Of course.” Cratus followed the Princess down the hall. “Anything for my favorite customer.”

Eventually they found themselves in front of a large door, which Celestia opened with her magic.

“You’ve moved Philomena’s nest?”

Celestia gestured him to go inside. Her pet phoenix was, indeed, inside, sitting on a stick beside a meeting table.

Celestia closed the door behind him. “I did. It’s nice and quiet here. The walls are lined with whisperwood, so there’s no chance of any eavesdroppers, either.”

He nodded. “Ah. This isn’t a house call, then.”

“No.” Celestia sat down at the table and unfurled a map of Equestria and the lands beyond. “You are familiar with the changeling threat, I believe?”

“Of course. Nasty business, really.” He sat down opposite her and looked at the map. “Why, what are you in the market for?”

“We’ll get to that in a moment. For now, I must ask: what do you know of changeling magic, specifically? Its nature, I mean?”

He shrugged. “The magic they’re born with is hunger-based, if I’m not mistaken, necromancy mixed in with enchantment, if you’re asking for the pony version of that. It’s not a common thing in magical creatures, but it’s not unheard of.”

“And in your experience, what can hunger magic steal?” She took a scroll in her magic, along with a quill, ready to note any examples.

“Energy, especially emotional energy. Some devils steal memories, but only when their victim is ejecting a lot of emotional energy. They need an opening for that, a seam. A few others can steal more raw magical energy to fuel their powers, I think? I’m not sure I know where you’re going with this.”

Her nose curled. No further examples, that was a mixed blessing at best. “Have you heard of any creature that could steal a soul? Or store it, preserve it, even consume it?”

Cratus didn’t need long to think about that. “If we’re talking energy and memories together? A whole spirit? No, not without spellcraft, not on its own.”

“What about spells? Any sort of mimic that could steal a spell from a wizard?”

“You mean like stealing secrets and memories? Plenty of creatures can do that, water devils do nothing but that.”

“Yes, but they do not gain any abilities or skills in the process. I mean stealing the ability to cast a spell, as the victim would.”

Kratus shook his head, confused. “No, that sort of thing is impossible. As far as I know, no wizard has ever been able to do that, and there’s no way that kind of ability would ever exist in the wild: it’s too inefficient for survival. And even if it did, we’d know about it right away: things like that can’t hide, the prey disappearing would get noticed. No, that kind of thing could only evolve in a few places, and I know all of them. There’s no spellstealing beasts, anywhere.”

“Good.” Celestia nodded, pondering. “Good. That rules out a few options. Alright, I did not call you here simply to hear your opinion on the threat. I need to increase my security, and I would ask for your help in that.”

“Against the changelings?”

She sighed. “Probably, but not as we know them. Their Queen is working on something. I have a few suspicions on what, but no way to confirm it, so I’d rather take a more universal precaution, if you catch my drift.”

“Ah, I understand. Changeling magic is hunger-based. Anything they’ll throw at us will be hunger-based. You want to beat them at their own game.” He let out a grin, and pointed at one particular spot on the map: a valley, with a river flowing through it, that was marked with all sorts of monsters and a silly amount of different biomes flowing into one another. “There’s only one place in the world where magic like that is abundant, where you can find a natural predator to them.”

“The Limos Valley,” Celestia said. “A dangerous place, but one I believe you are quite familiar with by now, more than any other pony in Equestria.”

“Well, I don’t like to brag...”

“Please don’t: this will need to be done in secret. Think you could retrieve something of interest for me?”

Kratus grumbled to himself and scratched behind his ears. “To be honest, I’m not a hundred percent sure. Stuff that lives in that valley, it’s not natural. The river’s waters give everything a hunger unlike anything in the world. Most of what lives there is nasty and hostile by default. But if it’s for the defense of Equestria, I’m willing to risk a trek. What are you asking me to retrieve? Some Spyder Queen eggs? A herd of electric goats? An Ant Lion, perhaps, to make a trap?”

“No, no mere monsters. The enemy would be prepared for such a creature, it wouldn’t be enough. Moreover, if my scholars and your reports are correct, none of those monstrous creatures run the valley’s hunger magic in a pure enough form to be useful. No, I’m looking for something completely immune to changeling tricks.”

Kratus shook his head. “I don’t think I can get you something like that, sorry. There’s no animal running that magic pure enough to be completely immune. Resistant? Sure, everything in that valley is resistant to that kind of magic. But there’s a big difference between resistance and immunity, I’m sure you understand.”

She smirked. “Oh, I understand perfectly. But I wasn’t thinking of anything new for the bestiary.”

“I don’t follow.”

“I was thinking of something new for my garden.”

Kratus’s eyes went wide. “Oh. You’re asking me to go chopping and shopping. Yeah, that… that’s a tall order.”

“I am aware. But is it feasible? And can it be done in secret, without anyone, not even my own Royal Guards, any the wiser?”

Kratus stroked his beard, thinking. “I might know a few spots. But you’ll have to arrange the maintenance yourself. And I can’t be held responsible for the risk.”

“Of course.” Celestia smiled. “I’m well prepared for the risk. In fact, I am counting on it.”

“So is me shooting a lightning bolt a spell?” Live Wire asked.

“Occasionally, but not always,” Sunburst replied. “You have a lot of electrical energy, and simply moving that around doesn’t count as a spell.”

“I can shoot a beam from my horn,” Bastion said. “And I can make rough spying orbs. Does that count?”

“Technically, yes, but I wouldn’t want you to start practising this with a simple beam. You can do better, I’m sure,” Sage said. “How about those goop shots? Can you do those?”

“Umm, sure, but I don’t think that counts as a spell, either. It doesn’t take any effort.”

“You’re materialising something with that, though, not just spitting it?”

“No. It comes out of thin air.”

“Sounds like a cantrip, then, and a cantrip’s still a spell, even if it’s a minor one. Try it, I’ll see what it is.”

Bastion whipped his horn in a simple motion, making a small green flame spiral around it. When he brought his horn down, the flame grew and shot out, becoming a fleck of green slime that impacted on the dummy.

“Interesting. Let’s see how that works.” Sage made a motion with his hoof, and a blue flame came out, shooting a ray of ice.

Another attempt, and he shot a blast of green goop, identical to what Bastion had learned in the Hive. Sage gestured to the boy to come inspect it with him. “No firing on the range, please.”

Bastion blinked in confusion, and poked the green stuff Sage had shot at the dummy. It was exactly the same: colour, density, stickiness.

“Is that it?” Sage asked.

“Yes. That looks like it, exactly. How did you do that?”

“One of the perks of understanding chaos magic. Anyway, it is only a cantrip, but it’s something you can work with and develop.”

“So that’s a spell? That counts?”

“Yes. Don’t worry about definitions and what makes a spell a spell: it’s a scholarly debate that’s been going on for centuries and missing the point anyway. Just do what you did and follow along, we’ll fill in the blanks when we do solo practice.”

They both went back to the firing position after Sage got rid of the goop with a wave of his hoof. “Okay, so, start with quickening it. Make the motion faster, go through the same mental hoops, but add some nervous energy to speed it up. Follow my lead, my rhythm. Neutral position, and: one, two, fire!”

Clumsily, Bastion whipped his head around to fire again. The shot went wide, missing the dummy by two paces.

“Not like that. Swift and calculated motion, still, keep your focus on the target, the spell is an afterthought. One, two, fire!”

Again, the shot went wide, and not faster at all.

“Okay, try getting into the right state first. Think of something that triggers your adrenalin, that gets you pumped up. Then start to do the spell and release the tension at the same time.”

Bastion sighed and closed his eyes. “Okay. One, two, fire!”

He didn’t feel the shot leaving him. It was over before he knew it. He didn’t even move his head all that much.

Still, there was the goop shot, direct hit on the eyes.

“Excellent,” Sage said. “Now that the warm-up’s done, let’s do the actual exercise.” Sage walked away. “All yours, Sunburst.”

“Okay, get ready, Bastion. The aim of the game is to hit an approaching target before it gets to you.”

“I have to whatnow?”

There was a whoosh, and Bastion shot again, quickened as before.

The dummy had stopped after impact, but it had nearly barrelled right into him.

“Oh. You’re moving the dummies.” He looked to his sides. “Is this what you always do?”

“Sunburst animates the dummies for us when he needs to, yes. It’s good practice for other stuff,” Doldrum said. “I’ve never done quickening spells, though.”

Coming from a Pegasus, that wasn’t a very comforting thought. Bastion braced himself for the next try. Again, the dummy rushed him. He tensed up his whole body and let the spell fly.

The thing got tripped up by the ball of goop hitting its front leg, and it tumbled harmlessly to the ground.

Bastion caught his breath. He reached up to his ears. No ringing, no feedback. “I… I did it. I actually did it right that time.”

“You sound surprised,” Live Wire said.

“Sorry, it’s just kinda new. I don’t usually learn new stuff like this.”

“There’s no wrong way to learn, Bastion. Remember that.” Starlight said.

“Exactly. Pay attention to how the others do it and you’ll get even better,” Sunburst said. “Doldrum?”

Bastion’s ears perked.

Doldrum donned a familiar chest piece Bastion had seen on him the other day: a belt that was modelled to look like a wreath of laurel leaves. He’d worn that on his belly then, though. Once that was on, he put on an a pair of odd shields for his arms. The shields were vaguely leaf-shaped, but more triangular.

They also looked sharper at the edges, and pointier.

The longer he looked at them, the more Bastion started to think those weren’t really supposed to be shields.

“He has arm blades?” Starlight asked before Bastion could. “You let him play with arm blades. His parents let him play with arm blades?”

He pouted once he was done putting on his things. All of it was child-sized, but even so it looked genuine. “They’re not arm blades: it’s called a leaf shield. It’s how I’m learning magic.” He huffed and put his chest forward. “They give a little boost to my Wind Belt. It’s a traditional weapon.”

“Exactly,” Sage said. “Not a popular tradition anymore, but which one is these days, right?”

Starlight inspected the boy’s things, and gestured for him to raise up the arm blades. “Double pins, with a bracer design… ah, right, that is a leaf shield, the colours are a little unusual, is all. If I didn’t know any better I’d say you got that design right out of Maple Leaf’s book.”

“It is,” Doldrum said.

Starlight let out an impressed whistle. “Okay, right, I forgot: big reader. And those purple lines on the edges, those dull blade things, that’s Dragon Bone, right? And you make these yourself?”

“Uhuh. It’s one of the advanced kits, though, I’m not supposed to have these until I’m fourteen.”

Starlight rolled her eyes. “Yeah, that sounds familiar. Unicorn foals have the same issue with learning spells.”

Bastion narrowed his eyes as the Pegasus stood ready. With a gesture and a gentle breath in, Doldrum activated the belt, making the leaves rustle. A swish of his right hoof, and the magical energy concentrated into his leaf shield to form a swirling gust of wind that hit the dummy a little too wide.

Doldrum grumbled and tapped the chest piece. “I still can’t get the aim right. Can I use my other one, please?”

Bastion gulped and looked towards the equipment bag. His other one? He has more?

“Not today,” Sage replied. “Use the wind stuff first. The point of this exercise is fine control, you don’t need to break out the professional gear on the first try.”

He has better equipment. He’s wearing his training wheels.

Another breath and a swish, and this time Doldrum hit the dummy square in the face. The thing’s neck bent backward like it had been hit with a brick, then it was blown back to land on its side.

“Okay,” Sunburst said. “Now quicken it.”

Unlike Bastion, Doldrum didn’t need any practice to get his attack quickened. He got it firing rapidly without missing a beat, always aiming for the head as Sunburst rushed the dummy at him.

“Umm, Miss Starlight? Are artifacts like that… common?” Bastion asked.

“Good question,” Starlight replied. “I know Ice Arrows are pretty common; you need those for the Equestria Games. Wind Belts aren’t common, but I’m pretty sure ponies in Rainbow Falls use those from time to time, and weather managers in places withouth Pegasi. But in general, that whole arsenal? I kind of doubt any of it is really common.”

“They’re not common anymore, no, but they used to be,” Sage explained. “Artifice is a bit of a lost art, but the EEA is taking steps to preserve it, at least.”

Again, that name. “EEA?” Bastion asked.

“Equestria Education Association. Nopony you need to worry about, but folks I’ve had some interaction with, let’s say,” Sage replied. “Their head is very interested in artifacts, for good reason. It’s where Equestria’s most potent magic is. Not that that’s saying much, these days.”

“Okay, Doldrum, repulsor blasts now!” Sunburst called out.

“Re-rep…” Starlight practically choked on her words. “He has whatnow?”

This next skill didn’t rely on conducting anything out of the chest piece, from the looks of it, but rather a stored charge inside Doldrum’s shields. Once the dummy came close enough, Doldrum raised a shield and tensed up, as far as Bastion could see.

The blast that erupted from the shield knocked the practice dummy clean in the air.

“Again.” Sunburst lined up the dummy for another rush.

Another attack, another blast, and Bastion started to see why Doldrum had no problems quickening his spells, if indeed spells were what he was doing. Those repulsor blasts had a precise range where they were effective, and they drove their target back a set distance, too. A skill like that would be useless if it couldn’t be timed just right.

“Now twinning, show us how it’s done,” Sunburst said. “Air cleave, two targets, go!”

It was with mixed feelings that Bastion watched his bunkmate struggle. Whatever magic was in that Wind Belt, it was not something ready for precise aim, not when it was shot with a swiping cleave motion. Doldrum could make it shoot two projectiles easily enough, but controlling the trajectory was not Assault’s strong suit.

Bastion’s mind reeled. He was already doing the calculations in his head.

“Curve it a little more, about a hair down,” he said before even realising it.

“What?” Doldrum asked.

“It’s a curved shot, isn’t it? Technically, even if you’re shooting straight ahead? If you’re using the same amount of force as your last shot, you want to turn your hoof down as it passes right… there.” Bastion gently took the hoof in his magic and pointed it.

Doldrum let out the shot, and both of the wind cleaves hit the dummies in the face. “Oh. Thanks.” He looked down at the Wind Belt again. “It’s this thing, really. I’m better with ice and lightning, air is kind of my weakest one.”

“Sure, but your Ice Amulet shoots hailstones that can knock a pony’s head clean off, so let’s just stick with this safe one for now, okay?” Sunburst said. “Speaking of which, Live Wire, you’re next.”

Doldrum sighed and stepped back to let Live Wire start.

“You really make all that stuff yourself?” Bastion asked. “Do you have your own forge or something?”

“No, some stuff I have to order out, I can’t make everything myself. You can get the parts for some of the kits pretty easily, though,” Doldrum replied, his ears down as if he were embarrassed about his skills for some reason. “And they send you the crystals to charge up and scratch in the magic you need.”

“And… how does that work, exactly?”

Doldrum shrugged. “Crystal carry a charge. Ponies have a charge, like lightning in a cloud. Ponies can put magic into crystal. Crystal can scratch magic into other things. Pegasi used to do it a lot with weapons, Unicorns used to do it a lot with amulets and mirrors, to write things in.”

“And Earth ponies used to do it a lot with potions.”

“Oh,” Doldrum said. “You do know about that.”

“You might say I have a friend who dabbles.”

“Well, I only dabble, too, really. I’m not that good compared to a Unicorn.”

“Don’t say things like that. Magic is magic, and you shouldn’t be ashamed of what you can do. You’re already leagues above anyone your age,” Sage insisted. “And artifact magic is where the real power lies, that’s what the EEA says, so no holding your head low.”

“I’ll say. You must be quite the tinkerer if you can make things like that,” Starlight said. “And a good reader.”

“I guess.” Doldrum looked away.

Bastion pondered, watching Live Wire take his time with the quickening and twinning practice. Sure, the Unicorn was powerful, but he was born powerful, there was nothing to gain or learn there. Doldrum, though, offered a real chance at becoming stronger.

Artifact magic is where the real power lies.

Ponies can put magic into things.

I’d have to get a pony to get their magic into something, then, if I wanted to.

Or just use someone else’s artifacts.

“Hmm?” Doldrum shot him a surprised glance. “Did you say something?”

Bastion quickly looked away. He flicked his ears, the sound of Live Wire’s electrical buzzing distracted him from his thoughts.

“No, nothing, nothing, just thinking.”

“About what?”

Snap out of it. I’m not seriously thinking of stealing somepony’s artifacts, am I? No, that’d be horrible. I can’t do that.

“Nothing. It’s nothing. I’ll have to see if I can order some parts for myself sometime. Is it difficult? Making artifacts, I mean?”

“Not really, if you take your time to learn.”

Bastion felt the blood drain from his face.

Time.

Right. Making artifacts takes time.

And Chrysalis is coming.

“Sounds like a neat idea. I’ll have to look into that sometime.”

Starlight lay awake that night. As before, Sunburst passed by once it seemed the boys were quiet enough and asleep.

Okay, day 2 went fine, first full day at camp went fine without a hitch. Now you can get some alone time with Sunburst… or find out what he’s been up to all these years. Who knows, maybe he’s got his own cutie mark conspiracy going on, and we can do a little merger?

She pushed the thought aside and snuck out after him. He went into a bunk on one of the lower levels of the hillside, and she waited patiently. The lights in the room were already on.

Just go back. Sunburst said it was a teambuilding exercise. He would tell you if it was something bad, or something special. He’s your friend, after all, he wouldn’t keep this a secret, would he?

With a minor spell of silence to cloak her hoofsteps, she inched closer and closer. Eventually, she got to the front door, and put her ear to the wall.

“Okay, I say we burn them,” she heard Sage say.

Burn them?

“Yeah! Smoke those things!” another voice called out.

Bulk Biceps? Who are they going to burn?

“Nah, we can’t, bro,” a female voice replied. “That’ll, like, draw way too much attention.”

And that’s Tree Hugger. Oh, no, what’s Sunburst got himself into?

“Well, I can take care of this, no problem,” Sage offered, “But all of you are fresh out of luck if this keeps going.”

“I agree,” Sunburst said. “You’d better make up your minds quickly, before it’s too late. Do you kill them or not?”

They’re… they’re talking about burning and killing? Killing whom?

Starlight slapped herself.

Snap out of it, Starlight. There’s a logical explanation for this, there has to be. Just think. Who are they planning to burn, and why isn’t it a big deal?

She thought about it, but nothing came.

Okay. Worst-case scenario, these are all enemy changelings and I have to get everyone to safety. Best way to do that is a delayed flare: that’ll wake up the whole camp in one go if I have to. But I won’t have to, because this is just me misunderstanding things again. All I have to do is walk in, and I’ll see: this isn’t as bad as it sounds.

She concentrated and cast her spell: a simple burst of flare energy that was set to launch into the air and explode. With that set, she moved to knock on the door.

Then her flare fizzled. Someone had switched it off. She didn’t even have time to react as the door opened and Sage motioned her in. “Ah, fresh blood for the altar. Come on in, you’re late.”

Slowly, carefully, Starlight walked in.

At the center of the room, there was a table large enough for ten ponies, at least. On her right she saw Tree Hugger, brandishing what looked like a blood-stained club. Starlight would have worried, if behind that she didn’t also see Bulk Biceps wearing the tiniest little knight’s helmet she’d ever laid eyes upon.

Sage sat down at her left, and motioned to her to join him.

Sunburst was at the head of the table. “Starlight, hello! Come to join us at our little team building exercise?”

She took a few tentative steps forward. “This is what you’re doing? This is the ‘good stuff’?”

Bulk Biceps and Tree Hugger nodded.

Sunburst shrugged from behind a screen made up of a piece of cardboard folded in three. “Yup. My terrible, dark secret is revealed. I am a Dungeon Master.”

“Ogres and Oubliettes? You’re playing Ogres and Oubliettes?”

“A homebrew version, with mods thanks to our DM over there,” Sage explained. “He likes to keep things interesting, and accurate.”

Sunburst rolled his eyes and adjusted his glasses. “Well, I mean, someone has to, right? The official material gets things wrong by at least three levels per spell, and don’t get me started on categorisation. I mean, who in their right mind calls ‘Wish’ an evocation spell? It’s clearly a divination spell. Speaking of spells, you’re still all caught in the blood-draining mosquito trap. Unless you want to join in, Starlight?”

She finally sat down. “Umm, can I? I don’t know how.”

“Here, you can have my character sheet from last year.” Sage cast a few spells on a sheet he had lying around and levitated it to her.

She scanned it quickly, but she got the gist of it. “Well ‘o Wisp, spirit points, umm… okay, and my spell list at level one…” She slammed her hoof on the table. “Okay, I cast level 1 Chill on the cloud, and spend one spirit point to empower it with selective frostbite.”

Sunburst nodded and smiled. “Okay. As you are all caught and swarmed by the mosquitoes, a cold wind washes over you. You feel it touch your hides, but take no damage. Instead, the insects all start to creak and stop, falling dead on the ground. When you look up, you see...” He gestured to Starlight.

“What?” she asked.

“You’re supposed to describe your character now: what they look like, clothing.”

“Oh. Umm, sorry, I thought I was supposed to keep playing.”

“This is playing,” Sunburst replied. “So go on.”

Right. Playing. You’re playing with Sunburst again. Make it count, Starlight.

A Prelude of Things to Come

Starlight read the description of her character. “Err, well, before you stands a… young filly with, I guess I’ll just say pink coat and purple mane, done up in big ponytails like when we were little.”

“You used to have ponytails?” Sage asked.

“Big and heavy ones,” Sunburst said. “Sire’s Hollow tradition.”

“Right. So a filly like that is standing before you. And she asks what in the blazing saddles she walked in on.”

“Now, now, Starlight, since you are playing a Well O’ Wisp, you also have three glowing orbs around you,” Sunburst said. “Two, now that you’ve spent one. Oh, which one did you spend, by the way?”

Starlight ruffled the papers some more. “Umm, I have no idea. I don’t know how any of this works.”

“Spoken like a true Well O’Wisp,” Sage joked, before giving her a book to read. “Here, you can catch up while our party introduces themselves. I am, of course, the great and noble Bamboozalix, an Eastern Unicorn Druid of some repute. You may have heard of me, or your character would, I mean.”

Sunburst snickered. “There’s not enough dice in Las Pegasus for her to make that Reputation roll. Bamboozalix is a shapeshifting mage from a foreign circle, he has the ‘Glorified Troublemaker’ background, which means he can use the name and clout of his faction to get out of trouble, but actual faction members won’t help him.”

“Sounds simple enough,” Starlight nodded as she compared the notes from the book and her character sheet. “Okay, I’m gonna say I spent a single Crystal Wisp on that spell, and I still have one Frost and one Crystal channeled, if that’s okay.”

“Defensive build, fair enough for the early levels,” Sunburst said with a nod. “I think our rugged hulk of a barbarian is next.”

Starlight listened intently for Bulk Biceps’s character description.

“I’m Kettle Belle. I like to rage and stuff.”

Starlight then turned her face slightly to the right, as apparently Tree Hugger was playing the barbarian in this game instead.

“Oh. Okay, did not see that one coming. Although that does explain the bludgeon.”

“Barbarians are physical,” Sunburst explained. “Kettle Belle is a kangaroo Barbarian, most of her attacks involve pouncing and punching in some variety. She took the Storm Totem option, too, which gives her some elemental surges when she rages.”

“Uhuh. And that would make Bulk...”

“Oh, I’m, like, the palomin known as Silver Buckler. I’m on a noble quest.”

Sunburst, noting Starlight’s confusion, added, “A palomin is a magic knight, basically, one that uses all the magic that isn’t restricted to just Unicorns. Bulk is playing an Oath of Endurance paladin, also known as a blue knight, dedicated to preserving knowledge.”

Shapeshifter, storm rager, and a… palomin? That’s awfully familiar. “Yeah. So, small question: what are you all doing here?”

“We were investigating the disappearing deer in these woods. Apparently whoever’s responsible set up a mosquito trap,” Sage replied.

“No, I mean, this game. What is it for? I heard you say it’s a teambuilding activity?”

“I mean, technically it is.” Sunburst shrugged. “We get together and discuss some of the kids and their progress. And we experiment with challenges.”

“Sunburst experiments with challenges,” Sage added. “We guinea pigs are the ones judging the results.”

“Speaking of which: anything on the rentals?” Tree Hugger asked.

Starlight’s ears twitched. “Rentals?”

“As far as I know, they’re underway, but you know B.T.: likes to wait ‘till the last second to jump into action. I’ll know for sure tomorrow.”

Sunburst nodded. “Guess there’s no point in announcing anything yet, then. Any more questions?”

“Just one: why aren’t the other camp counsellors here? The twins?”

Sage snorted. “The twins aren’t the gaming type, and they’re not particularly fond of me in general. It’s nothing personal, just different perspectives. Wouldn’t be any point to including them in this. You, however, are more than welcome to stay. I’d love to hear your thoughts on the boys so far, and we do need another arcane caster to balance out the group.”

Sunburst nodded. “I agree. Anyway, your character’s got the ‘Young Exile’ background, so don’t worry too much about making your saving throws early on. So, after you’ve all introduced yourselves to each other, the party turns to this new arrival and...”

Starlight kept her eyes on Sunburst as he narrated. He seemed so happy, happier than she remembered. But then, he’d always been a little bit of a dork, head stuck in books all day unless he got to try a new spell.

Something nagged at her, though.

She was playing Sage’s old character.

Old character. As in: one from another session.

One of many sessions, going by how easily it came to them all.

They’ve done this before, numerous times.

I never made any friends after Sunburst left, but Sunburst went to Canterlot.

Of course he made new friends.

I can share, though, right?

“So, if you’re up to speed with that, on with the game, then?” Sunburst’s voice snapped her out of her reverie.

“Yes, please, don’t let me stop you,” Starlight said with gritted teeth.

All in all, the game was fun, and Starlight got the hang of her character quickly enough, blasting through traps and helping negotiate passage towards some house on chicken legs, she didn’t catch the details.

Eventually, Sunburst made the call as Dungeon Master and called it a night, so they went back to their respective bunks.

She suppressed a sigh as she walked between Sunburst and Sage.

Still can’t talk to him alone. Patience, Starlight.

“You did well for a first-timer,” Sage said.

“Thanks. I guess I just have a knack for… playing. Even if I was a little caught off guard. Mind if I ask what that rental thing was all about?”

“A little surprise for the camp, one our guest lecturers is taking care of it. A group exercise, with the whole camp, or most of it, at least. Won’t be for tomorrow, but the day after, at the earliest. And the day after that, we can do some more fun stuff with it, hopefully. We’ll see how the kids like it.”

“And for training our boys? Any ideas there?” she asked.

Sage thought for a moment. “Might as well tell you now: once we’re sure everyone in camp is mostly at the same level, we like to organise some big events here. You know, war games, teach’em battle tactics, but not actual violent fighting.”

“Meaning we try to keep the actually violent ones out of it,” Sunburst added.

“Right. So, bottom line: once we start doing those, we split up the boys, especially this year. Two in each event, and one separated to get some quality tutoring. We’ll do the same during some of the breaktime activities, depending on what’s scheduled. We’re still working out all the details. Organising things in a place like this, with all the other things going on outside of camp, it can get a little tricky.”

“Ah. But if there happen to be a lot of activities by the water one day, you’ll take Live Wire aside for some lessons. Like that, you mean.”

Sage nodded emphatically. “Yes, definitely like that. He needs to get some swimming lessons, and I’m all for him getting them, but I can’t ask him to swim in some full-body rubber getup, and I can’t expect every single foal in camp to get an anti-shock treatment. Even we have our limits.”

“Tell me about it,” Sunburst said.

“You know, I could just make that problem go away for a little bit,” Starlight blurted out.

She froze. She wanted to slap herself, make up an excuse.

She wanted to die right on the spot.

“By removing his cutie mark for a bit?” Sage asked, pondering. “Hmm. Yes, that is a viable option, theoretically.”

Wait, what?

“However, that would teach him how to swim without his cutie mark. He’s still going to have to learn to swim with his cutie mark, and we can’t be sure if he’d lose any of his physical fitness with his mark, so I’d rather not risk it in our big lake. But a good idea in case of an emergency, I will admit, hadn’t thought of that.”

“No problem,” she croaked. “So… will I be teaching one of the boys separately?”

Sage nodded and yawned. “All three, at some point, probably wanna start with Bastion. Anyway, we’ll get to that tomorrow. Morning is break time, so we can discuss then. In the meantime, try thinking about what you want to start with, for the solo sessions. You’ve seen the boys in action now, so to speak, use your best judgement.”

They arrived at their bunks, like clockwork. Time to say goodnight. She still hadn’t gotten her talk with Sunburst, but at least she’d had fun with him.

“Okay. See you tomorrow.”

“Good night, Starlight,” Sunburst offered. “Good game.”

“Good night, good game,” Sage added.

“Yeah, good night.” She chuckled to herself. “Good game, I guess.”

The boys were back to the relaxed morning sessions after breakfast. Doldrum was doing tai chi with Tree Hugger’s group, Bastion and Live Wire were doing some games with light kettlebells under Bulk Biceps’ supervision, and Starlight found Sage alone, overlooking the lake. He had a book in front of him, but it only half kept his attention.

“Hey. Mind if I join you?” she asked.

“Go right ahead. Have you thought about what to do?”

She sat down by him and took a glance at the pages of the book. It didn’t take her long to recognise one of the pictures in it: it was one of the standard texts on chaos magic, probably something by Foxtail, or Master Chant. “Something like that. I thought I’d run it by you first, just to make sure.”

“I’m all ears.”

“Okay, so Live Wire’s easy to figure out: he has a talent for electricity. That talent hasn’t been developed into any serious spellwork, he’s obviously worried about that. I would assume you’ve already worked on his finer control before, and that’s why he wants to learn conjuration next. His talent is destructive, he wants something creative.”

Sage nodded in appreciation.“Pretty much in line with what me and Sunburst have observed, not bad for a quick look.”

“So I was thinking I’d just teach conjuration. I know how to do it, I’m pretty good at it myself, I think I can explain most of the theory behind it. Is that okay?”

“Sure. We’ve been trying, starting with teleportation, but Live Wire’s got too much of the thunder in him, we were thinking of starting him on a dash spell first. If you can get him to summon something, that’d be progress.”

“I look forward to trying. Then Bastion. Bastion’s… hard to read. A lot of his knowledge and training was planted, supposedly: conditioned thinking, cult indoctrination techniques, stuff like that, at least that’s how I heard it. Except now that he is thinking for himself, he’ll lose a lot of it. It’s hard to tell which parts are him and which parts are conditioned responses, but it looks like most of it is him now, especially after a few meditation sessions. He’s a bit of a worry-wort, though, over-thinks things too much for an emotional caster. Questions of identity, along with the legacy of his uncle, that’s the big issue for him, not to mention he’s at an extremely high risk of Eighth Grader Syndrome.”

Sage snorted. “You’re tellin’ me. I had that once, it was not pretty.”

“But he can grow out of that, and I think any amount of training should suffice. He wouldn’t even need to learn magic itself, just enough to be able to learn on his own.”

“And your plan?”

“I figured evasion might be best for him to learn first. Start him off on cloaking spells, something that buys time to think.”

Sage chuckled. “Yeah, not a bad idea. And Doldrum?”

Starlight took a deep breath and sighed. “That’s the one I don’t quite get. He’s physically fit, technically capable, too, judging from his toys, but he’s so…”

“Meek?”

Starlight’s ears flicked. “Not even that. He’s neutral a lot of the time, empty almost. He’s so quiet, so turned inward, it’s hard to explain. He doesn’t speak up much, he doesn’t run, he hasn’t gotten excited once. Why, I’m willing to bet if you checked his heart rate, it hasn’t gone up even once since he got here. There’s something off about him, something missing, and I can’t tell what. Did he get his cutie mark during some sort of… I don’t know, traumatic experience?”

“You could say that. Doldrum only looks complicated if you don’t know his history. He lives in Bogsdown, you see, I don’t know if you’re familiar.”

She winced at the mention of that name. “Ooh, yeah, I know. Sire’s Hollow pony, remember? We have a long and ugly rivalry with that place. Oof, that’s swamp country, that’s jock central.”

Sage nodded. “Well, Doldrum wasn’t always a jock, is the thing. Actually, he never was, and probably won’t be. He got picked on a lot, the local little league stars enjoyed tormenting him in, um, the usual ways kids torment each other down there. And so one day he decided enough was enough. He started looking into building his strength.”

“Weightlifting?”

“If you consider weaponry to be weights.”

“I still don’t see it.”

“He found a book, at the Trader’s Market. A few books, actually. One was by Chuck Boulders.”

“That one I know. Very big on positive thinking, but not effective in building muscle, unless you happen to have a-”

The stallion smirked. “A talent for it?”

“Yeah. Technically, I guess that would fall under Doldrum’s talent, wouldn’t it?”

“Yup. But then one of the other books turned out to be even more interesting: the one where Chuck Boulders got his ideas from in the first place. The old masters aren’t that popular these days among ponies, but pandas and elephants keep the old texts very much intact, and you’d be surprised what you can find if you ask the right pony for a catalogue and express delivery.”

“Oh, so he’s just copied training methods from a book, then. Okay, makes sense, so, what, Mighty Helm training, then? He has the build for it.”

“Not quite,” Sage replied.

“Right, not an Earth pony. The Order of Netitus?”

“Older.”

“The Siegelords of Midnight Castle?”

“From before the unification of the tribes.”

“Ah, the shinobi of the Eastern Isles, then.” She furrowed her brow. “He’s got a little too much firepower and not enough stealth to be a ninja, though, doesn’t he?”

“Not the Hearth’s Warming unification: the earlier, actual unification, before Hearth’s Warming. You know, the one that saddled all three tribes with each other in the first place. Back when Pegasi didn’t have Unicorns to ask for magical assistance.”

Oh. Oh, no. Starlight rubbed her temples when she realised. “A Stormcrafter. You are instructing an underage bully victim on Stormcrafter magic.”

“Technically, we are. And yes, that’s the one. Not a lot of ponies know their history that far back.”

She looked up, mind racing to find all the information she had on the topic. “My dad’s an antiquarian. I think I know what book Doldrum read, then.” Her eyes went wide. “Oh, seabiscuits, he probably ordered it from my dad’s store in the first place.”

“Does that information help you at all?”

“Oh, umm, yeah, I guess it does? Stormcrafters used artifacts to get their magic out, but they did so by honing their bodies, by trying to embody the things they gifted onto their weapons. Three elements they mastered above all others: wind, ice, and lightning.” She thought for a moment. “And, in hindsight, that does fit Doldrum’s inventory, I suppose. Umm, they used the same Iron Saddle physical conditioning the pandas use, the stuff that piles magic under your skin to harden your body, but they didn’t stop at making themselves stronger. Once they reached a certain level, they would purify themselves and their magic, like metal ore, and then put that magic into weapons and armour. Their craft was focused on what to become first, before they learned how to pass that on. To make a Belt of Strength, they had to become strong first. To make a Ring of Lightning, they had to master managing storm clouds, that sort of thing.”

“And of course, once the Pegasi tribes started going to war with the Unicorns, you got those spell-storage wands and things showing up in cloud cities and the whole thing escalated even further.”

Starlight nodded. “Basic transition of invocation to evocation. The practice, not the school of magic.”

“Exactly.”

“Okay. If that’s what he is, he’s focused on… purity, I guess? He still thinks he has some weakness he has to get rid of?”

“It’s not a thought: he does have some weaknesses,” Sage explained. “And by purifying his magic, so to speak, we’re hoping to help get past that. In the meantime, all of his stuff is a little flawed by ancient standards, but very powerful by modern ones. So is he, by the way. Stormcrafters perfected the concept of putting yourself in your work. Doldrum may use weapons now, but he’s dangerous when he’s unarmed, and I do mean dangerous.”

“Come on, a nice boy like him?”

“He has anger issues,” Sage explained. “The bullies back home, they got under his skin, so did his teachers, coaches, everyone around him, outside of his family. He’s used to being in a hostile environment, that’s part of the long-term issue. He was always sensitive, both in the good and the bad sense. He got his cutie mark after a fight, and the talent he got out of it made him even more sensitive. It’s clouded his judgement over time. It doesn’t show often, but you don’t want to be around when it does. All the things he makes have a hair trigger, and they hit hard. So does he.”

Starlight furrowed her brow. “I thought his talent was the exact opposite of that? Staying calm in the eye of the storm?”

“Yeah, sort of. He doesn’t flail around angrily when things get too much. He turns inward, and he focuses.”

Her heart sank. “Oh. He’s one of those types. The kind that doesn’t get mad, but gets even.”

“Yeah. It can get real ugly, real quick. And to make matters worse: thanks to his talent he’s got pretty good reflexes, too. You can’t catch him in a little force bubble: he’ll punch his way out of it before it forms. If you have to restrain him, cast a wide net and shrink it down around him. Do not give him enough room to push off and punch, and do not form the barrier where he can punch it before it’s finished.”

“Okay, so behaviour-wise, he has to learn not to slip into kill-mode so easily. Got it.”

“A bit crudely worded, but in a nutshell, yes, that’s the challenge. When he got his cutie mark, he had sort of an emotional overload. His brain is all messed up, his joy reflex doesn’t work the way it should. He doesn’t feel anything most of the time, and he feels happy when he feels strong, which is when he’s in combat.”

“Sounds almost like magic addiction,” Starlight noted.

“That’s because it is, technically: he feels at ease when he slips into an altered state. His default doesn’t feel right anymore, and that’s gonna end up biting him hard once adolescence kicks in. Me and Sunburst have been working with him for a little under a year now, on and off, and he’s gotten better, but in the grand scheme of things, he’s blacklisted by a lot of ponies, considered a lost cause by some. Still think you’re up to it?”

“I’m going to have to think about what to show him, and how, but I have a few ideas.” She squinted, thinking, then nodded. “Yeah, I have a pretty good idea of what a Stormcrafter is, what they’re supposed to be capable of. I’m sure I can think of a few tricks he hasn’t read about yet.”

“We’ll see.”

“Come to think of it, does Fight Camp have a weapons locker? I mean, child-proof safe ones, obviously?”

Sage Cracker smiled and gestured to the spot. “Fifty paces uphill, behind the cafeteria. We keep it locked and cloaked at all times, only available with a password. The password is ‘Pactbreaker.’”

“Oddly appropriate,” she remarked. “Oh, and one more thing: if we are using camp trinkets or stuff like that, would it be okay for me to show Bastion some tricks with artifacts, too?”

“Sure, why? Has he asked?”

“I’ve noticed him looking at the stuff our little Assault has in his bag.”

“If you were a boy his age, wouldn’t you?”

“Probably, but still, I think he’s going to ask. And if little Mister Assault only has flawed artifacts with a hair trigger, that might cause some problems.”

“Check the stock, make sure you know your way around it, and if he asks, feel free to use anything in there, it’s all safe.”

Bastion held his magic in easily but tightly.

“And release!” Sage called out.

With a simple thought, he detonated five bundles of green goop at once, coating a squadron of enemies in one go.

“Good job, Bastion,” Sunburst said. “Looks like you have a knack for it.”

He smiled. It did feel nice to find something he was good at just like that.

His smile faded, though, when Live Wire took his turn. The Unicorn had struggled with the exercise of delaying spells right from the get-go, something Live Wire blamed on a heavy lunch eaten too quickly. That had been two hours ago, though, and the excuse wore thin.

Live Wire gestured with his hooves to make a ball of lightning, then tossed it into the field. He tried another, and the first one fizzled. He tried again, and again, and again, but the result was still the same: he couldn’t hold the lightning in long enough to make a trap, or even let it detonate when he wanted it to. From what Bastion could see, the lightning had a mind of its own, and no intention to follow directions.

The same could not be said for Doldrum’s weapons. For this exercise, the Pegasus had resorted to using his lightning ring, no doubt only adding insult to injury for his Unicorn bunkmate. Doldrum made the same motions, did the same toss, but he managed to get three ball lightnings out before being forced to detonate.

“Still no change there,” Sunburst said. “Three’s a good number, Doldrum. Live Wire, we’re gonna work on that issue the next couple of days.”

Bastion wanted to speak up at that. Maybe Live Wire could try using a Lightning Ring too? Surely a small session with magical training wheels was all it took? Or perhaps Doldrum could at least pretend to be struggling like Live Wire was? At the very least, using lightning for practice seemed a bit uncouth, as Apple Bloom would say, or unfair.

He never got around to voicing his objections, though, because a scroll appeared in front of Sage Cracker.

“Ah, word from Canterlot.” Sage quickly read the letter, then grinned and called out. “Okay, we can call it for today, boys! Gather around!”

The three boys went to sit in front of Sage, ears perked.

“I just got word from our guest lecturer: we’re going to get a little surprise.”

“When?” Sunburst asked.

“Two days from now. B.T.’s made the arrangements, E.E.A.’s cleared it, so the day after tomorrow we’ll start our big group games.”

For the first time since arriving at camp, Bastion saw Doldrum smirk, almost evilly. “Great. I can’t wait to see how we do.”

Weirdly enough, even that sentence, confident as it should have sounded, came out in that same hushed husky whisper. Bastion idly wondered if maybe Doldrum and Miss Fluttershy were related.

“So no need to change the schedule, then.” Sunburst floated a scroll of his own over, along with a quill to mark a few things. “Okay, we’ll start with the solo practice tomorrow, then. Bastion, you and Starlight will have the field to yourselves tomorrow morning. Live Wire, you and me will be here in the afternoon during break time.”

“Unless, of course, the young changeling insists on joining tomorrow morning’s tournament?” Sage asked.

“What’s the tournament?”

“Tug of War,” came the reply. “We figured it would be best to keep you aside from that, since you have the shapeshifter size factor going on. Some of the campers might object, but we can always step in if it gets too much.”

“Oh. Umm, no, that’s fine,” Bastion said. “Tug of War really isn’t my kind of game. I wouldn’t want to accidentally turn into something too big and win.”

“Why not?” Doldrum asked. “If it works, it works.”

“Well, yeah, but wouldn’t that be… you know, unfair?”

Doldrum quirked an eyebrow at him, and it almost seemed like the Pegasus was going to pout. “I guess, if you wanna look at it that way.”

“Doldrum and me are pretty good at it, so we have a title to defend,” Live Wire explained. “Although I’m pretty sure it’s just him doing all the work.”

“Not exactly,” the Pegasus said, back to his quiet monotone. “I’m stronger, but you have a better grip on the ground.”

Bastion didn’t press the issue. He turned to look at Starlight Glimmer instead. “So it’ll be me and you alone, then?”

“Yup. I’ve already prepared a little lesson on something I’m sure you’ll appreciate. Nice and strategic, not too difficult, good basic skill to start learning advanced magic with.”

“Okay. That sounds great, then. And what about the other big games?”

“The day after tomorrow, B.T.’s going to show up in the afternoon.”

Live Wire gulped.

“So we’ll take Live Wire separately for that one, too. Starlight, you’ll be on call for that session.”

“Who’s B.T.?” Bastion asked.

“Restraining order number eight,” Live Wire replied.

“And five,” Doldrum added. “Number three for me, too, technically.”

Live Wire tilted his head, tapped his chin with a sparking sound, then nodded. “Oh yeah, I forgot about that one.”

Sage continued undisturbed. “The day after that, we’ve scheduled a fitness test for the whole camp, under the supervision of the E.E.A.”

Now Sunburst gulped.

“So I’ll give Bastion some pointers during that time, stay out of the way for that. It’s a fitness test geared towards ponies, Bastion, and horribly standardised at that. You wouldn’t get anything useful out of it anyway,” Sage added.

“That sounds reasonable.”

“Alright, that’s the schedule for now. We’ll fill in the blanks a little later on, so you know when to follow the group and when to head back up the hill.

Around four, before the last of the evening training sessions would begin, Sage was off by the lake, the boys were back to playing normal, non-violent camp games, and Starlight finally had a moment alone with Sunburst.

“So you really are going to let them compete against the other campers?” Starlight asked.

“Sure. They have before. Why not?”

“Because the boys think they’re top bunk. Don’t you think that might be a little… arrogant?”

“Not really. I mean, it’s true: they’re leagues ahead of anyone in the other bunks, even most older kids.”

“Yeah, but Doldrum and Live Wire sounded almost… eager.”

“And?”

“They’re eager to beat other ponies. They want other ponies to lose. Isn’t that bad?”

Sunburst stopped. “Neither of them gets to have fun most of the time, any fun at all. So we try to give them enough freedom here. Live Wire’s got some obvious problems when he cuts loose, and Doldrum has a tendency to fly into a rage sometimes.”

“Yeah, Sage told me: his talent makes for a nasty cocktail with his anger issues, apparently. All the more reason not to let him compete, then?”

“If we keep him out of it, if we exclude him completely, he’s never going to learn how to handle himself. Besides, he’s been getting better. You haven’t seen him angry yet, have you?”

“No, no I haven’t. In fact, I’m not sure I know what the big deal is: he looks fine to me. I suppose if all that’s true, then getting him to stay calm down under stress, maybe guiding that talent into something constructive, is a good thing. But still, is it fair to put those boys in the same competition as everyone else?”

“Where else are we supposed to put them?” Sage asked.

How the stallion managed to sneak up like that, she still couldn’t tell. She’d seen him appear out of nowhere on the first day of camp, but there wasn’t any sign of magic. Even up close, she couldn’t divine what sort of spell he used to get around. “Oh, hi, Sage. Didn’t notice you there.”

“I noticed.”

“Starlight was just wondering if it’s a good idea to keep the boys in the same competition as everyone else.”

“It’s a fair question, no harm in asking, but yes. I think they should play with kids their own age.”

“But that’s hardly fair to the rest of the campers, right?”

“Depends on what the game is,” Sage replied. “Most kids here are Pegasus foals, and they like to race, that’s hardly a fair game against Assault or Battery. Close quarters combat, it depends on the rules: wrestling favours the strong, but anything involving counting hits favours the quick. None of the three have an obvious advantage there, although Live Wire does pose the obvious safety risk. But as for Doldrum: he doesn’t get to use his artifacts around the other campers, if that’s what you’re worried about. We were thinking of having a biathlon in a few days, but Doldrum’s going to have to use camp equipment for that if he wants to join in.”

“Oh. Well, sure, that makes it a little more okay, I suppose. I just meant…”

She looked at Sunburst then.

“What? We should separate them into their own league?” Sunburst asked. “Might as well toss Bastion in there too, then. Wouldn’t be fair to ponies to compete with a changeling.”

“No, you’re right, I’m being silly.”

“I would call it overly cautious, but that’s not a bad thing, either,” Sage suggested.

Starlight looked at the ground as they entered.

“Hey, don’t worry about it, okay? We appreciate different perspectives around here. Stars know we can’t prepare for every surprise the kids might throw at us. It’s good to consider the different results you might get.”

“Thanks,” she said, lowering her voice as Sunburst went into the cabin to set up his game screen and books. “I can see why you and Sunburst are friends.”

“Heheh. We’ll see how friendly he is when we get to the chicken leg house. I think he’s got plans for the hag encounter. Speaking of encounters, have you considered my offer?”

“Which one?”

“The one for the sparring match. You know, do a little demo for the boys? We both have the same skillset, more or less, I’d be very interested in comparing notes.”

Starlight snickered to herself. “I look forward to it. But maybe after a few one on one sessions with the boys. See where they’re going, see what they still want. See what they might still need after the first few lessons?”

“Sounds good to me.”

Stealth and Strength

Bastion followed Starlight to the training area once breakfast was done. Live Wire and Doldrum went in the other direction, towards another camp site outside the little lake valley.

“So what are we doing today?” he asked when they reached the firing range.

“Well, I was thinking what sort of magic might suit you. You’re a big thinker, right? Strategise, plan ahead, win the fight before it starts?”

He blushed. “Umm, yes, Ma’am. I don’t think there’s any magic that helps for that, though.”

Starlight grinned. “I was thinking this might.”

Then she vanished.

Bastion blinked and looked around. He didn’t hear a teleportation, no snap crackle pop or anything. “Starlight?”

He walked over to where she’d been standing, perking his ears.

“Gotcha.”

He jumped and went into firing position right away, horn alight. Starlight had somehow made her way behind him. “W-what was that?”

“Cloaking spell,” she explained. “Depending on how good you are, you can conceal things from sight, make them soundless, even odourless. That particular one is an old favourite of Star Swirl the Bearded, and according to what I’ve heard from the higher-ups in academia… it’s a spell even changelings haven’t worked around. So, in theory, this would hide you from enemy changelings, even from Chrysalis herself, if you ever needed to. It’s a good way to set up an ambush, get the drop on someone, but most importantly: it lets you get out of the fight, at least for a while. It gives you time to think, which is what a boy like you needs, right?”

“Time to think.” He nodded excitedly. “Yes, please, that’d be perfect, how do you do that?”

“First you clear your mind. Then you start off by picturing a light, white mist...”

Live Wire was limbering up and swinging his arms around as everyone got into position. “Okay. Tug of war reigning champions, ready to go. Who’s up first?”

Sunburst came by with a clipboard in his magic. “Stormy Night and Dark Moon? You’re up against these two.”

The two boys were apparently facing off against a pair of Pegasus fillies. One was a greyish white all over, with a yellow streak of lightning in both her mane and tail. The other was more of a deep dark blue, but both of them had clearly been reading the Wonderbolt magazines when asking their barber for a manecut.

Doldrum took a deep breath in and stood up. He liked to meditate before a match, Live Wire knew, mostly to make sure he had his magic nice and packed, as if it was really needed at this point.

It also helped his friend stay calm, which was definitely needed in situations like this. Not at first, obviously, but after a while things tended to escalate.

“Great,” the blue girl said. Live Wire presumed this was Dark Moon judging from the crescent cutie mark. “We get to go up against the camp’s biggest blowhards.”

Doldrum went to the rope, picked it up, and waited for Live Wire and the girls to do the same. “I don’t waste my breath bragging. You shouldn’t waste yours with girly gossip.”

“Hey, we are not gossips!” the grey girl, Stormy Night, replied. “Everyone knows you’re a no-good cheater.”

“Girls,” Sage said. “Don’t go accusing ponies of something they didn’t do. Doldrum doesn’t cheat, and neither does Live Wire. Now, are you going to play or are you giving up before you start?”

The girls both grabbed the rope. “We’ll show’em.”

Live Wire looked back. The other teams were already squaring off. With a shrug, he grabbed his end of the rope and waited for the signal.

“Everyone ready?!” Sage called out. “Three, two, one, go!”

Live Wire dug his hooves in on a reflex as the girls pulled with all their might. His muscles tensed, his horn sparked.

No, no, hold it in. No magic.

His whole body seemed to clench, rigid as a statue.

“Is that all you’ve got?” Doldrum asked.

For a moment, Live Wire felt hurt. Then he realised the question was aimed at the now huffing and puffing girls. They were dragging their hooves into the dirt, fruitlessly trying to get the boys to move even an inch.

There was no reply.

“Don’t call me a cheater just because you’re weak.”

Live Wire felt the tension in the rope grow, and he took a step back. Digging in again, he gained a step on the girls. Then another, then another.

Before long, the two had dragged their opponents over the middle line.

The fillies panted.

“Assault and Battery take the win,” Sage said. Sunburst wrote down the result.

“How is that fair? That’s like trying to pull an anvil!” Stormy Night objected.

Live Wire felt his bunkmate’s eyes twitch, even if he didn’t see it.

“Stronger ponies are gonna win at this, girls. That’s how the game works. Doldrum is a strong pony, so he won.”

Live Wire snickered. “Sure, he won.”

Doldrum smiled, a little crack in his bashful exterior. “It’s weird how no one ever thinks you’re the one beating them.”

“Better to be invisible than invincible, right?” Live Wire made a show of stretching his neck and flicking his limbs to warm up for the next round.

“Spoken like a true wizard,” Sage said.

The girls took their loss with a complete lack of dignity, not bothering to shake the hooves of the winners.

“Guess that’s what our afternoon is gonna be like,” Live Wire said. “You okay?”

Doldrum pouted again, ears down. “I just hope the rest are a little more quiet when they lose, is all.”

It took a few tries, but the changeling got it. He was blinking in and out of plain sight like a pro, and ahead of schedule, even.

“Great,” Starlight said. “That’s a basic cloaking spell. That can get you out of a lot of bad situations.”

“What’s next?” the boy asked.

“We’ll try some metamagic on it. Quicken first, then twinning, which is kind of like extending.”

Bastion blinked. “You can twin a cloaking spell?”

“Of course. What’s the point of making yourself invisible if you’re only going to abandon your allies with it? Now, there are two ways to extend a cloaking spell: basic twinning and a blanket spell. One’s for getting a friend out of trouble and sneaking around in pairs, the other is a little more crude, not that good for moving around, but great for hiding in plain sight and getting the drop on someone. But you’re going to want to quicken it first: a fast opponent can catch you before the cloak’s finished, and that’s not a fun thing to have happen.”

Bastion braced himself. “Of course. What do I do?”

“I’m going to toss a mild beam at you, a little powder conjuration. That’s what an opponent will do if they know you can cloak: that’s how you work around it. Your job will be to cloak before it hits, and roll far enough out of the way to stay hidden. Once you get that down, we’ll see about letting you do ambush attacks with some spells.”

“Okay. I still don’t know that many spells, though. Not to attack with.”

“We have artifacts in stock,” Starlight replied with a smile. “That’ll do just fine for this.”

Round 2 had a Unicorn on both sides. Live Wire kept his eyes on him, and it only took a few seconds for him to notice the glowing horn. “Hey! No magic allowed!” he called out.

“He’s right, keep that horn under control,” Sage said.

The Unicorn grumbled. “Like you’re not cheating with your souped-up buddy over there.”

“Don’t call me a cheater,” Doldrum said, irritated.

“Don’t worry,” said the winged colt on the other side. “I’ve seen how they do this in Ponyville.”

The Pegasus colt then beat his wings in a powerful motion and took off straight up with the rope his grasp.

“Well, that’s just dumb. You can’t beat somepony at tug of war by flying up.” Live Wire looked over to Doldrum.

“On three?” he asked.

“One, two, three!”

With a firm and violent yank, they dragged the Pegasus down. He ended up taking a mo!uthful of dirt for his troubles, and the Unicorn he was with winced.

“You don’t have any grip in the air,” Doldrum said. “And I’m pretty sure flying is against the rules anyway.”

Sage snorted. “It is. That’s a loss and a disqualification, you two. Tree Hugger will not be happy when she hears about this.”

“Whatever,” said the Pegasus. “Not like you’d have won in a fair fight.”

“Excuse me?” Doldrum hissed.

“Hey, easy, easy,” Live Wire quickly went to stand in between him and the retreating foals. “They’re just sore losers. No need to let that get to you. Who cares what they think?”

Doldrum gulped. His hide was starting to show those telltale twitches of his again. “No, I guess you’re right.”

“Two more rounds to go. We can do this. Don’t let them bait you into getting disqualified.”

The Pegasus took in a deep breath and smiled. “I won’t. I’m okay. I’m calm. And we’re gonna win, fair and square.”

A quick trip to the supply closet, and Starlight had some trinkets for Bastion to try. “There we go. Little Lightning Ring to throw sparks with, Wind Belt, and the Ice Amulet. Let’s start with the rings first.”

“Great. How do I use these?”

“You attune to them first, that shouldn’t take long. Just reach out with your senses, feel out the rings, feel out the magic, you’ll know when it’s working.”

Bastion closed his eyes and did just that. He felt out the weight of the things, the feel of them against his skin. An electric thrill went through him, and suddenly he knew. He knew how to use these things, at least on a basic level. It felt like looking into a pond, and only seeing the fish in the shallow end, knowing larger ones dwelled at the bottom.

He opened his eyes, flexed, and focused on the rings. He felt something hunger for his magic, so he fed it into the things, then let go. A simple, but firm lightningbolt was the result, a little bit off-center but a good hit on the training dummy’s shoulder regardless.

“Wow.” He thought for a moment. “Why don’t the Royal Guards use these?”

“They probably do, just not the Royal Guards you’ve seen. To tell you the truth, I’m not entirely sure why the normal ones don’t use it more myself.”

Bastion tried another shot, with the Ice Amulet this time. He could only produce a soft snowball, but a hit was still a hit. “I think I’ve got it.”

“Good. Now cloak up and try to hold your invisibility while you fire.”

Now came the tricky part. He cloaked himself, as he had been doing before.

“Now hold, hold, and fire!”

The lightningbolt flew way off, but the shot was decent enough, and the cloak didn’t drop.

“There, see? Told you you could do it,” Starlight said. “Keep practising and once you get a proper spell under your belt, you’ll be able to do it in ambush, too.”

He blushed. “Right, training wheels. I guess that works. This isn’t what Doldrum uses, is it?”

“No, his weapons are his own, these are camp property.”

Bastion mulled it over.

Starlight noticed. “Why, are you interested in artifact magic?”

“Not especially. They’re nice, but I don’t think they’re what I really want.”

“You don’t know unless you try it, I guess. Let’s take a little break for now, I’m going to go check on Assault and Battery, see how they’re doing. The tournament should be wrapping up right about now.”

The final round of the competition was about to start. Doldrum had worked up a mild sweat by now, and Live Wire was starting to twitch. Still, they were both eager for the last bout.

“One more round and we’ve got it in the bag,” Live Wire said.

“Yeah,” Doldrum droned. “Great.”

Live Wire sighed. His friend had gotten at least one remark or accusation thrown his way every single round so far. It was starting to get a little ridiculous.

“Brick Wall and Ironclad, you’re up,” Sunburst said. “You’re the only two who’ve gone undefeated, so this one’s for the title.”

Live Wire could see why. Brick Wall was an orange colt with a blonde mane and tail who was about as bulky as Doldrum, though lacking the tautness in the hide. Whoever had named him knew how he was going to turn out, cutie mark fitting the name and everything. Ironclad was more blackish, with a greyish mane and tail, and a weird yellow helmet thing for a cutie mark, nothing Live Wire recognised.

They were both bulky-looking, they were both undefeated.

They were both Earth ponies.

“This shouldn’t take long,” Ironclad started.

“You can’t beat Earth pony strength,” Brick Wall added.

Doldrum tilted his head. “What makes you think we haven’t beaten Earth pony strength before?”

“Don’t let them distract you,” Ironclad said. “Everyone knows Earth ponies are the best at raw power. Even these two can’t match that.”

Live Wire dug his hooves in as he grabbed the rope. “Untrained, maybe not. But in case you hadn’t noticed...”

Doldrum smiled. “We’re a little higher level than most ponies. And you might be Earth ponies, but you’re still low-level Earth ponies.”

The four all grabbed their ends of the rope. Sunburst rolled his eyes and looked around to see if everyone else was ready.

“On your marks, get set, pull!”

Doldrum started stepping back, Live Wire kept the tension on the rope up. Creaking and groaning filled the air as step by humiliating step, the two Earth ponies were pulled over the line.

“Guess that settles that, then,” Sunburst said. “Assault and Battery defend their title.”

“Cheater,” the Earth ponies muttered as they went back to the rest.

Doldrum snorted and stifled a growl. “If I have to hear that one more time…”

“You won’t,” Sage interrupted. “You won. The game’s over. Come on, I’m sure Bastion will want to hear all about this.”

Starlight arrived to find a distinct lack of rope-pulling. “All done?”

“All done,” Sunburst replied. “How’s the tutoring going?”

“It went fine. Bastion managed to learn a cloaking spell, he can quicken it, twin it, even do a blanket and an artifact shot without dropping it.”

“Really? I’ll want to see that.”

“Likewise,” Sage added. “Good job, Starlight.”

“How are things here?”

Sunburst gestured to the colts behind him. “Doldrum and Live Wire won, as you might expect.”

Doldrum was drinking some apple juice, alone. He looked pouty, though, sad, even.

“And why is Doldrum…”

“It’s nothing,” Sage said. “Other campers getting under his skin.”

When the campers had finished their little trek back to the lakeside, Assault and Battery arrived to find Bastion doing some more target practice with the trinkets.

Bastion’s ears perked when he noticed them arriving. “Hey, guys. Look, I think I’ve got the aiming down now.” He fired off a ball of lightning and a snowball in quick succession, before cloaking and repeating.

Doldrum didn’t look too impressed. “Oh. You’re using camp’s rings? Be careful, there’s one with a dent in it, that one flies everything too far to the right.”

Bastion uncloaked and took off the rings. “I probably won’t need them soon, anyway. So how’d it go?”

“We creamed’em,” Live Wire said.

“Yeah. We won,” Doldrum added. “It was fun. We’re strongest, everypony knows it.”

“And we’ve got someone who cast invisibility now,” Starlight said, smiling proudly at the changeling.

“On me and a friend,” Bastion added.

That got a smile out of the Pegasus. “Great. That’ll come in handy tomorrow for the big game.”

Bastion chuckled. “Well, I mean, I’m probably not going to use that?”

“Why not?”

“It wouldn’t be fair to the other campers.”

Doldrum’s jaw clenched. “Oh. Right.”

“I mean, it’s hardly a fair fight if anyone tries to go against you as it is, I’m not going to make that even worse by making you invisible.”

Doldrum’s expression shifted back to its usual neutral look. “Of course not. Gotta fight fair.”

Sage and Sunburst were busy discussing something, but they finally noticed the friction. She waited until the other boys were out of earshot to speak up.

Starlight looked on as the boy walked past her. “Are you sure he’s okay?”

“He’s fine,” Sage said. “For now. Might want to talk to him a bit, see if he doesn’t mention anything you know more about than we do. Like I said, there’s been some debate about him, a second and third opinion wouldn’t be a bad idea, necessarily.”

The boys came back out, smelling like Wonderbolts. Granted, they were a little young to be needing deodorant, but better safe than sorry.

She curled her nose. “Yeah, after lunch, once the smell wears off, maybe.”

Lunch was a quiet affair after the contest, and something told Starlight that would probably be the case for every contest going forward. She didn’t follow Doldrum out during breaktime immediately, preferring to keep an eye on the lakeside just in case anything happened with the swimmers or flyers.

After a while, though, she went looking for him, and found him sitting under a tree. His ears were flicking this way and that, his eyes were mostly closed, but he kept opening them every few second and sighing.

“Trying to meditate?” she asked.

He nodded.

“Mind if I join you?”

He shrugged.

She went to sit next to him and crossed her legs. “So, umm, about that contest. I heard some ponies called you names. Do you want to talk about that? I mean, I asked Sage, and he said it was nothing. Was it nothing?”

“Yes. It always happens. They call me a cheater, because I’m stronger than everyone.” He shrugged again, eyes closed. “So I just kinda got used to it after a while. Doesn’t make it any more fun, though.”

That sounded simple enough. “Have you considered that maybe ponies would stop doing that if you held back a little?”

“Yes.”

“Do you think maybe you should hold back?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t want ponies like that to like me. Ponies like that aren’t my friends, and they never will be.”

That calm, hushed response sent shivers down her spine. “So if Bastion asked you to, you wouldn’t do it?”

“No. I only listen to grown-ups who tell me to.”

“So if I did, then?” she suggested.

He waited a few seconds to reply. “I’d do it. But I wouldn’t like it.”

That was a clear signal he meant he wouldn’t like her. “Okay. I won’t ask you to, then. But maybe see things from Bastion’s perspective? You could make more friends that way?”

The boy let out a quick gust through his nostrils. “It doesn’t matter how he sees it: I’m the one doing it, and he’s not me. And I can’t make friends like that. They wouldn’t be friends.”

“They might be if you made artifacts for them to use?”

“I can’t.”

“Because you’re still not pure enough?”

He opened his eyes and looked at her then. “You know about that?”

“Sage told me you’re into Stormcrafter magic. I’m not too familiar with it, but I know the basic rules: you work with your own energy, your own magic. You refine your own power so you can infuse that power into something else, and amplify it. If you think you can’t make artifacts for other ponies, then that can only mean you don’t think you’re pure enough.”

She’d managed to get him to smile, if only for a moment. “That, too. But they wouldn’t be friends, either. They’d just want me for what I can give them. They don’t want me, they just want any strong pony, or any crafty pony.”

“You mean they wouldn’t. Past tense.”

“What?”

Starlight gestured with a hoof. “You said they wouldn’t be friends, in the past, or conditional, but then you said they don’t want you, which would mean they don’t want you now. Are ponies pressuring you into anything?”

He nodded. “Back home. Before I started stormcrafting, nopony liked me. Nopony cared. Everyone was on their own team, teachers would let them get away with anything, I couldn’t fight back. Now that I’m stronger, they all want me on their team.”

Standard jock country fare, as far as Starlight knew it. “To craft?”

“To fight, to wrestle, to be a goalie. No one cares what I want. So why should I care what they want? They never fought fair when I was the weak one, why should I?”

She leaned back and sighed.

It’s always the same thing, isn’t it?

Sunburst, Alherda, now this kid?

It always circles back.

“Yeah. I can understand that, I guess. There’s a lot of inequality in ponies. But you’re one of the ponies with the skills to help fix that. Artifacts let Earth ponies and Pegasi use magic just like Unicorns do.”

“No, they don’t. It’s nothing compared to Unicorn magic,” he argued.

“It’s closer than you might think. But, if you do think your magic isn’t pure enough, you shouldn’t force it, obviously. Just think about it for a little while.”

“What would you do?” he asked. “If I was on your team, I mean. If you were my coach, what would you do?”

“I was thinking maybe to help out with that purity issue, but judging from your posture and your breathing rhythm, you seem to have that down pat. It’s going to take time and practice, is all. The only thing left is helping you master more of your artifacts.”

“I think right now I’ve mastered all of the ones I have.”

“Have you, though? Have you really?”

He pouted, thinking.

“Think about it. We’ll get to that soon. In the meantime, you don’t want to be pressured into making anything or doing anything for other ponies, I understand that. Do you understand you shouldn’t pressure Bastion into using his new tricks?”

“I don’t have to. If he wants to win, other ponies will make him. If he doesn’t, then he doesn’t care about winning, and I’ll just have to do it on my own.”

“You’re going to be on his team, like it or not. Just because he’s a changeling-”

“That has nothing to do with it,” he said, wiping his eyes. “And that’s not fair. I don’t care if he’s a changeling or a pony or a griffon. He wants to hold back, fine. I’ll let him. But then he doesn’t get to blame me when he loses, either. Does that sound fair?”

She nodded. “Yes, perfectly fair. Sorry to disturb your meditation. I’ll make it up to you.”

“How?”

With a thought, she conjured up a pink bubble of energy around them both. “Silence bubble. You can sit right here, perfectly quiet, I’ll even silence myself. You go nice and deep and get your practice in, no distractions.”

Finally, he gave her a genuine smile, before closing his eyes again. “Thank you.”

Starlight finally saw her chance to talk to Sunburst once the boys were in bed and the Ogres and Oubliettes session was about to start.

You have him alone again, Starlight. Make it count this time.

“So, Bastion can turn invisible now?” Sunburst asked.

Or just talk about your day like a normal pony would. That might end up working in the long run.

“Yup. I cleared it with Sage beforehoof.”

“I’m sure you did. Good job on teaching him the advanced applications, too, that’ll help out a lot for what I’ve got planned.”

“Thanks. Our Assault and Battery duo seemed to enjoy themselves today, too, mostly.”

Sunburst nodded. “Yeah. I saw you talk to Doldrum when he was off meditating. Was he upset?”

“Kinda. But we talked, and I think I got through to him, sort of.” She thought for a moment. “Hopefully. It’s hard to tell with that one. He’s technically very proficient, though: I’ve seen professors in Canterlot who couldn’t do that bellows breathing technique like he does.”

Sunburst chuckled and stopped as the cabin came into view. “He’s got a knack for that kind of thing.”

“You don’t think he’ll get in trouble tomorrow, do you? With Bastion on his team, I mean.”

“If he does, he does. But Bastion’s going to have to step up his game if he wants to measure up. I’m sure he can, though. I mean, he’s a smart kid and he has shapeshifting powers just like that. That alone should give him an edge.”

Starlight blinked.

Shapeshifter? Oh yeah, he is, technically.

That’s weird, though, has he changed shape already?

Don’t think I’ve seen it.

Eh, probably nothing.

“Okay, who’s ready to fight a runaway mimic house on chicken legs?” came a voice behind them.

“Right with you, sir Buckler,” Starlight joked. “If our esteemed druid companion can show up, that is.”

“Sage is probably still sending messages back and forth to B.T. about the game tomorrow. He’ll be around in a few minutes.”

Again, her train of thought went off the rails. “I just realised you never actually told the boys what the game is.”

“We like to surprise them,” Sunburst said.

“You never told me, either. And I also don’t know who B.T. is. Is it a Canterlot pony? I might know them.”

Sunburst rolled his eyes. “Yeah, that’s Sage Cracker for you. He kind of expects ponies to ask if they don’t know. Really annoying, if you ask me. Anyway, B.T. is a museum curator in Canterlot. He’s also a fairly powerful Unicorn, friends with a few folks in the E.E.A., and with the changeling scare going on, he prefers to be addressed by his shortened name. He’s one of those ponies with a bloodline, you see: his name betrays his power.”

“Ah, that’s why Live Wire said he was one of the restraining orders: he made a mess in B.T.’s museum, I take it?”

“Accidental discharge, almost started a fire.” Sunburst entered the room and got his things out of a chest in the corner. "Doldrum got into some trouble during a few class visits, early on after he got his cutie mark, when he couldn't handle crowds at all. So he got slapped with a similar restraining order."

“And what is B.T. like, then? Another super strong pony like Doldrum, then? Or a powerful innate magic like Live Wire?”

Sunburst set up his D.M. screen and tapped his chin. “You know, technically? Kinda like both, but right down the middle.”

Author's Note

Massive technical difficulties uploading this one. Whole sentences added last-minute or fixes to errors I hadn't caught in the original document aren't coming through, changes I thought I made and saved, and double-checked after saving, end up getting reverted. So yeah, no way of knowing if I actually got everything right, that's fun.

The Forest of Brightly Coloured Paint Splotches

Live Wire was off for his lesson with Sunburst, and Bastion and Doldrum followed the rest of the campers to one of the small woodland areas that belonged to the domain. Neither Starlight nor Sage had given them any indication of what to expect, and Bastion suspected Starlight wasn’t even in the know about today’s plans. Everyone gathered in front of the path leading into the woods, and Sage took centre stage.

“Okay, everypony!” he called out. “In a couple of minutes, we’ll be starting our first camp game. For those of you who are new: we do these things in pairs, usually bunkmates but not necessarily. So if you haven’t picked a partner yet, now’s the time to do it.”

A few foals went back and forth to form pairs, Bastion stayed with Doldrum for the time being, no need to break up the strongest bunk, after all.

“As for the details of today’s game, I’ll leave that to our game master for the day.” Sage smirked.

Bastion noticed Starlight’s ears perk, and he turned his head to see what caught her attention. He heard it only a moment later, and realised Doldrum had already spotted the incoming figure.

What came in was a blur of motion, stopping right next to Sage Cracker. The blur, once standing still, turned out to be green Unicorn stallion with a purple mane, and light violet eyes.

“Good morning, Fight Camp!” he called out. “Everyone ready for some fun?”

“That’s B.T.?” Starlight asked.

“Yup,” came the reply next to her. Bulk Biceps had joined her. “One of Sage’s buddies in Canterlot. Fastest Unicorn in the city, really good at-”

“Acceleration spells, of course,” Starlight said. “And I think I can guess his real name, too, then, judging from the cutie mark.”

Bastion tried to get a good look at that mark, but he didn’t recognise it. It looked like some sort of metal rod that came to a point, with motion lines surrounding it.

“Alright,” he said. “My name is Bullet Time, and I’ll be your game master for today. Today’s activity is going to be a simple game of tag. You all start with a basic score, you get points for tagging other ponies, you lose points when you get tagged, and if you’re tagged, you are out and unable to tag anyone else. At the end of the game, we tally the points for the round, whoever has the most points wins.

Bastion contemplated those rules for a moment. In a situation like that, the winner wasn’t necessarily the pony who lasted the longest, but whoever got the highest amount of cheap shots and weak targets before being dispatched.

He pouted. This game was going to favour a dirty style of play.

None of the other campers seemed excited by the prospect, either.

That is, until Bullet Time produced his surprise. In a flash of light, he teleported six boxes around him. He opened one up and rifled through it. “Oh, and perhaps I should mention? Getting tagged means getting hit, with one of these little gems, courtesy of the E.E.A.”

Bastion saw him pull out a crossbow, but Doldrum was the one who gasped, almost giddily. “A bellythrower? We get bellythrowers?”

“What’s a bellythrower?” Bastion asked.

“It’s a particular type of crossbow, also known as a gastraphetes,” Starlight replied. “Very popular back in the day, especially for Pegasi. You reload it by pushing it against your stomach. That activates a mechanism that pulls the bow back, hence the name ‘bellythrower.’ Looks like it’s a modified version of it, though, one for pellets instead of arrows. I’m pretty sure that’s an airtube in there.”

“These are genuine bona fide bellythrowers,” Bullet Time explained to the crowd. “So the name of the game today is paintball. You’ll find plenty of supply drops in the forest, along with opportunities to boobytrap them.”

Bastion smiled.

“However, this also means your ammunition will be limited. These weapons are enchanted with a basic recognition spell, they will know when you’ve taken a hit and they will refuse to function as a result. Oh, and if anyone was thinking of hacking the system, the paint reservoirs are linked to the hit detection spell, so even if you did manage to pull it off, you wouldn’t be able to use them in combat anymore. These things are certified and viable for competitive use, so they’ll give you a good idea of the basic mechanics, even if they don’t quite have the feel and impact of a real crossbow.”

“So we’ll want to find a supply drop as quickly as possible,” Bastion said.

Doldrum nodded. “Can you turn into a blood hound and sniff them out?”

“No.”

“Big eagle for a bird’s eye view?”

“No.”

“What about a squirrel to scout?”

“No, I can’t shapeshift,” Bastion said.

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t realise.”

“Well, I mean I can, but this is a game. It wouldn’t be fair. Right?” Bastion looked up at Starlight.

“He’s right,” Starlight replied. “You have to play fair in these things, otherwise there’s no fun in it. I’m sure Sage would agree if he could hear us.” She nodded to the stallion as he started floating the paintball crossbows over in his magic.

“I guess,” Doldrum grumbled.

“Oh, and one more thing,” Bullet Time said. “To keep the game interesting, there will be a hunter tossed into the mix after the first half hour. You know, just to make sure we can end the round in a swift fashion.” He took out a larger, adult-sized bellythrower. “And that hunter will be me. If you see a blur, or hear a whizzing sound, you’re welcome to try your luck, but you’re gonna have to be mighty quick if you want to get the drop on me.”

“But that’s not fair!” Bastion cried out.

Everyone in camp stared at him.

“I-I mean,” he stammered. “How’s anyone supposed to beat a grown-up like you? With super speed and everything? Do you even have an ammo limit?”

“Of course,” Bullet Time replied. “I’ll be playing by the same rules, with the same restrictions as you. But as for fairness, the object of the game is to teach you to be on guard. Being on guard can mean evading an enemy by hiding, or preparing an ambush in advance, or even moving to counter-attack before the enemy realises they’ve been detected. I’m sure the more strategically minded among you will enjoy such a challenge. Who knows, you might get a lucky shot in.”

Doldrum snorted. His bellythrower came floating by, then Bastion’s.

Sage walked to them and nodded. “Get ready, you two. You’re gonna have a big target on your backs, and you’ll want to have a plan.”

Doldrum and Bastion snuck through the forest at a leasurely pace, never going into more than a quick trot so as not to make too much noise. Carrying their weapons on their backs, it was slow going, but at least they had the comfort of knowing all the other campers were likewise encumbered. Everyone had split up and circled around the edge to give every team a fair chance of finding ammo, so they hadn’t run into any sudden ambushes yet. With the high number of Pegasi at camp, Bastion kept one eye on the sky at all times, even if the canopy kept them mostly hidden from such attacks.

Doldrum had taken the lead right away, his light gait and silent breath letting him move undetected. Even with his blue hide contrasting against the browns and greens of the woods, Bastion would have been hard-pressed to find a pony who could hide as well as his artificer buddy did. Every step he took was with a glance to the right and left, a perk of the ears, and a set goal to whichever tree trunk looked like it would obscure them best. Bastion didn’t object to the Pegasus taking the lead, since this was clearly not his first rodeo, to borrow a term from Apple Bloom.

Eventually, the two found a box in a clearing. It was a normal-looking box, no labels or anything suspicious about it aside from the location.

“There’s a supply drop,” Doldrum whispered. “Doesn’t look like it’s opened yet.”

“Could still be a trap,” Bastion said.

“You could just turn into a squirrel and find out. I’m pretty sure most of the booby-traps aren’t gonna trigger on anything that’s not pony-sized.”

“No,” Bastion insisted. “Stop asking me to cheat, I want to do this fair and square.”

“Fine.” Doldrum groaned and gave Bastion his bellythrower. “Wait here.” He lowered his body into a pouncing position, spread his wings, then jumped.

The motion was unlike anything Bastion had seen from a pony so far. On one hoof, it looked like a short-distance flight, with Doldrum’s body never touching the ground. On the other, it looked like a dive, body stretched out like a plank and wings pulled tighter to the body than usual.

Doldrum only touched the ground when he was directly by the box, then pressed his back against it. He peeked around the left side, then the right, then scanned the canopy and beckoned Bastion to come closer.

“All clear.”

“You sure?”

“Positive.”

The Pegasus turned his back on Bastion and opened the box. Bastion gave him the crossbow back and looked inside.

It was a treasure trove, to be sure. Full clips of paint ammunition, disks that Bastion presumed were some sort of land mines, and little spheres with muzzles on them.

“Wow, they even got us base turrets.” Doldrum gave Bastion a sheet of paper with instructions.

Bastion looked at them for a full minute, absently loading up his crossbow, then gave them back to the expert. “Do you know how to set these up?”

Doldrum was already slotting clips into the ball. “Uhuh. Here, give me your hoof.”

Bastion did so, and Doldrum placed it alongside his on the turret’s barrel, before muttering a phrase in what Bastion guessed was Old Ponish.

“There. Now it won’t fire at us. And we’re loaded up.”

“Okay. What do we do now?” Bastion asked.

“Why are you asking me? You’re the strategist, don’t you have a plan?”

“We should probably set up these turrets somewhere,” Bastion said as Doldrum kept loading them up and speaking their command word for safety. “And we can’t carry those mines too far, they’ll slow us down.”

“We could boobytrap the box with them? Make sure no one else gets whatever we have to leave behind?”

Bastion looked around, thinking. “Not a bad plan, but a little predictable. I think we can do better. Besides, most of the kids in camp can fly.”

“We’re in a forest, though. If you hide in the ferns, no one can see you. And the canopy is so thick you can’t really dash around that far.”

“That’s what I thought. Think you can get those things up for a little killbox?”

For the first time that day, Doldrum smiled at Bastion. “Well, I am good at heavy lifting. What do you have in mind?”

They found the second ammo drop easily enough, given that it was placed right on one of the walking paths through the woods. They’d left the trail a few minutes earlier, at Doldrum’s suggestion, though Bastion couldn’t be sure why. Deeper in as they were, the ferns and bushes of the forest floor created ample opportunity to hide, but making their way through without making noise was more difficult as a result. Both Doldrum and Bastion looked around carefully as they approached the clearing.

“Looks like it’s not defended,” Doldrum said. “So it’s probably a trap.”

“Yeah,” Bastion replied. “Only question is if it’s a trap with ponies guarding it or of it’s one that’s set to go off.”

“I can defuse it if it’s supposed to go off, but I don’t see any turrets around.”

They both jumped at the same time, dodging a paint pellet. Bastion barely had time to process what had happened when another shot came their way, driving them back. A third nearly clipped him in the wing, but Doldrum managed to pull him back in the nick of time.

They hid behind a tree, away from the clearing.

“Three shots,” Doldrum whispered. “So three shooters.”

“Probably a fourth one, too, if we’re all working in pairs,” Bastion concluded. “I think I can hear them walking closer. What’s the plan?” He looked where his bunkmate had been, and found nothing.

Bastion blinked. He’d only turned his head for a second.

“Doldrum? Assault? Where’d you go?”

Another hiss of a shot came from his right. Out from the cover of the bushes came a whining green Pegasus colt.

“Aww, come on!” the colt whined. “How’d you know where I was?”

Bastion heard Doldrum reply, even if he couldn’t see him.

“You stomp too much, River Dancer. Anypony could hear you from a mile away. No offense.”

Three more shots fired, hitting the tree trunk Bastion was hiding behind.

The hiss of a single shot of return fire, then another cry of objection, and Bastion still couldn’t tell where Doldrum had snuck off to.

“He’s on your left!” a filly cried out.

A single shot, a yelp, then one more shot to finish it.

Doldrum came gliding past the tree, bellythrower on his back. “There. That’s all of them.”

“You could have left me one,” Bastion suggested.

“You didn’t want to use your magic to beat them,” the Pegasus replied. “So I wasn’t going to make you.”

“Yeah, Assault can pretty much solo anyone in camp.” River Dancer groaned as his compatriots came out of the proverbial woodwork. “We thought maybe we could get you if we grouped up.”

“Sorry,” Doldrum said, without any hint of apology. “Maybe next time.”

A rustling sound caught the ears of the foals present. All six turned their heads towards the source.

“Hey! Assault’s over here!” One of the Pegasi called out. “We got caught, but you can still snipe him if you want!”

“Thanks a lot,” Doldrum grumbled. “Come on, Bastion, we’d better get moving. We don’t wanna get caught out in the open.”

Bastion snorted at the foals. “You shouldn’t cheat, you know. Just because you lost, doesn’t mean you should try to get us to lose.”

“Hey, he doesn’t play fair either,” the colt replied. “So why should we?”

Bastion didn’t reply. He followed Doldrum into the bushes, keeping low as more rustling sounds started to get closer.

Doldrum held up a hoof once Bastion was close, a signal for the changeling to stop.

“I don’t like this,” Doldrum said. “I think we’re getting herded.”

“Do you see anypony?” Bastion asked.

“No. That’s what I’m worried ab-” he was gone in a flash, and in his place was three small specks of paint on the ground.

Bastion shook his head; “Wait, that was a rapid fire. Is that Bullet Time shooting at us?”

Doldrum sighed. “No. That’s the Unicorns trying to gang up on us.”

Bastion looked up at the canopy. He barely caught a paint pellet’s trajectory as it came towards him, then returned fire. His shot hit the tree trunk, and he was fairly certain he heard the sound of magic, probably a levitation spell of sorts, judging from the sound.

“They’re cloaked,” Bastion said.

Doldrum nodded. “Still think we should fight fair?”

Starlight stood at the edge of the forest, Sage and Bullet Time behind her.

“Are you sure this is an appropriate exercise for them?” she asked.

“For the campers? Of course. Paintball’s a perfectly serviceable exercise, I hear they even do it in Silver Shoals retirement homes,” Sage replied.

“I don’t mean for the campers. I mean for Doldrum and Bastion.”

“I wouldn’t know,” Bullet Time replied. “I never met the little changeling before today. But Assault should do well in this thing, I imagine.”

A beeping came from Bullet Time’s custom bellythrower. “And speaking of which, we have our first casualties already.”

“Doldrum and Bastion?” Starlight asked.

“Well, Doldrum, at least, he got the shots off. Judging from what it says here?” He tapped on the side of the weapon, producing a projected display. “Everyone’s managed to find some ammo, a few have set up traps, and a couple of them are smart enough not to mess with anything they can’t use. But we do have the usual cliques forming, looks like.”

“Time to go play predator?” Sage asked.

“Might as well. End the first round nice and quick, give’em a chance to learn something for round two.”

Starlight furrowed her brow. “Maybe you should give it a few more minutes? Just to make sure the kids have some fun with each other and not, you know, get all traumatised from getting shot by an adult?”

“If you insist,” Bullet Time said, putting his weapon aside. “I will defer to your wisdom. I’m not that familiar with handling foals, so I will take whatever advice you’re giving out.”

“Really?” Starlight said. “Oh. In that case, mind if I ask you something? About our boys?”

“Go right ahead.”

“Is it true Doldrum and Live Wire have restraining orders?”

Bullet Time chuckled. “As surprising as it may sound, yes. Sage may have mentioned it, but I’m a museum curator back in Canterlot. My particular set of skills makes it easy for me to manage a larger building on my own. Unfortunately, that also means I have to make a lot of the more painful decisions on my own.”

“Of course. So, umm, what happened with those two, exactly?”

B.T. looked at Sage, Sage shrugged. “She’s a former nurse, she can use the information, probably more than I could.”

Bullet Time shrugged in kind and nodded. “Well, they didn’t get it at the same time, for starters. But they are both banned until further notice from any museum in Canterlot. They both came in one day and they both, well, had a little accident. Separate from each other, that is.”

Starlight winced at the prospect. “What kind of accident, exactly?”

At least eight enemies had honed in on them. Up above, random single shots would harry Bastion and Doldrum as they slowly snuck back through the undergrowth, while at ground level they had to contend with rapid fire that came from unknown origin.

They’d been ducking from tree to bush for fifteen minutes now. Bastion glared at the forest, as if it were an enemy in itself, which technically it might as well have been.

“We could try and get a shot off once they target us again,” he suggested.

“I doubt it,” Doldrum replied. “Even if we get one, we’d have to get all of them in one round.”

“The Pegasi would go down easily.”

“But the Unicorns can reload too quickly.” Doldrum sighed. “And they’re still invisible. So unless you want to turn yourself into a fruit bat?”

“I am not shapeshifting for a game. Maybe we should just let them have this?”

The air around the colt went cold. “Fine. You give up if you like,” he whispered tersely. He got up and checked his ammunition clip. “I’ll deal with them myself. Try not to get hit in the meantime.”

“Wait, don’t-” Bastion wasn’t quick enough. With a single beat of his wings, Doldrum leaped up into the trees and flew a circle around where Bastion suspected the other campers were.

Great. Okay, how do I think my way out of this? They haven’t found me yet. If I just lay low and wait for someone to stumble nearby, I can pick them off one at a time.

“He’s behind us!” someone shouted, before getting pelted.

No way.

Up ahead, the forest exploded with the din of battle. Colts and fillies shouted, little puffs and slaps of paintballs punctuated the outcries as one by one, the enemy forces dwindled, unseen by the changeling.

“I got him!” someone called out.

Another single shot, another bit of protest mixed with language he’d once heard Apple Bloom describe as ‘nautical terms,’ and it was clear they probably hadn’t hit their mark.

“Okay, every Unicorn around! Keep your guard up!” A voice called out. “Doldrum’s flying from tree to tree, you know what to do. Keep your eyes peeled for anything blue, and don’t move! He can’t see you if you don’t move!”

That was most likely one of the foals who’d been taken out of the game, directing the rest.

Silence fell.

Then a shot came, and another, and another. Silence again, and another shot.

Finally, there came a big ‘fwoomp!’ followed by at least four voices whining.

Bastion tensed.

Doldrum appeared out of nowhere in the treetop to his left, then jumped and glided in a mad dash towards their hiding spot.

“There,” he said, panting. “It’s done. They fell for their own little landmine.” He let his head hang, putting his crossbow to the ground. “Are you happy now? Was that fair enough for you?”

The changeling blinked. “Umm… seriously? You just took out eight foals on your own. There’s no way anyone would go up against you in a fair fight. You can’t honestly think this is fair, do you?”

There came a ruckus up ahead, where the other foals had been.

Voices joined the sounds of the fallen, and Doldrum groaned. “Not again.”

Bastion’s ears perked. “That’s… that’s gonna be a lot of enemies to deal with.”

“Great. Guess I’ll go back to sneaking around.”

“Wait, don’t. Look, you don’t have to take them all out on your own.”

“Are you going to shapeshift? If you just turn into a bird, or a squirrel, anything-”

“No. That would be cheating.”

“Then what do you suggest?”

Bastion looked back. “We can get them to the killbox. We can make it if we run.”

“No. No running. They’ll catch us if we run.”

“They’ll catch us if we don’t. They’re getting closer. Even if they don’t know where we are yet, they’ll have us surrounded soon. And unless you want to go ninja on every single pony in camp, we need a plan.”

“Alright. What’s the plan, then?”

Bastion closed his eyes and thought. “I do have one idea, but it’s gonna be risky.”

“Risky, how?”

“It’ll cut down the number of enemies, but we’ll be sitting ducks once that’s done.”

Doldrum pouted, but nodded to the path and started walking, head and body low to the ground. “I’m listening.”

Phase one of the plan was in motion: retreat to a section of the forest that was familiar terrain. Phase two was underway: lure the enemy to said section. Phase three required a minor effort from Bastion.

“Ready?” he asked.

“Ready,” Doldrum replied, before flying up silently into the trees to get a good vantage point.

Bastion whipped his horn around and let loose a ball of energy, before detonating it above the treeline. The loud bang was sure to draw the attention of all the campers, and it wouldn’t be long before a few dozen of them would descend on their position, if Bastion’s estimate was good.

He ducked in the bushes, waiting for the next stage of the plan. Soon enough, the first two campers came into view: two Earth ponies. He waited patiently. Step by step, the pair went further toward the killbox he’d set up. They came into range. Grabbing his bellythrower, he took aim and let loose a shot. The first pony didn’t know what hit him, the second one could only stare in shock as Doldrum got the follow-up shot.

Of course, since this was paintball and not actual combat, there was still no real way of keeping the casualties quiet after they had become casualties.

“They’re over here!” The two called out.

Bastion moved quickly, quietly, before lying down and pressing the weapon against his stomach to reload. Already he could hear shots being fired, ponies getting trigger-happy at the prospect of getting a shot on Assault, no doubt.

Then he heard a blurring sound, and he grinned.

One pop, two pops, five, ten, twenty.

Bastion retreated further. The next stage of the plan was when the real challenge would begin. They’d managed to dispatch most of the opposition, though there wouldn’t be much of a score to it with the way he’d done it.

Up above, he barely caught the sound of Doldrum moving about, and he suspected that was only because Doldrum wanted Bastion to know where he was.

Once they were in position, Doldrum set down. “Did you see him?”

“No. Did you?”

“Yup.”

Their final opponent strode towards them, taking the regular path through the forest.

Exactly as planned, Bastion’s little emergency flare had drawn the predator to their location.

“Alright, boys,” Bullet Time said. “You got my attention, and you got me to take out a lot of the opposition. Sound strategy, I must say. But I have to ask: what were you planning to do once I was done with the other ponies?”

Bastion chuckled. “Well, for starters, sir, we were thinking of getting you into our killbox.”

“Uh oh.”

The turrets the boys had set up sprang into action, coating a trail of green paint over the ground. Bullet Time was already gone, though, whizzing across in a blur. He skidded to a halt right in front of Bastion and raised his crossbow.

Doldrum had taken the shot before the Unicorn could pull the trigger, forcing a retreat. While his winged friend reloaded, Bastion took another shot to drive Bullet Time back towards the turrets, almost making him trip on one of the mines.

“Not bad, not bad,” Bullet Time said. “I can see why Sage wanted you on his team, little changeling. But you’re still outmatched. Static defences don’t work against super speed, you should know that.”

“Maybe not,” Bastion replied. “But they can keep you distracted enough.”

Bullet Time quickly turned to dodge another shot from behind. “Excellent positioning, little Stormcrafter, but you’re no ninja, unfortunately. And unlike you, I don’t have to have keep my hooves free to fire.”

The volley that erupted from that crossbow was monstrous. Paint pellets pelted against tree trunks, forcing Doldrum out of sight. Bastion took the cue and hid himself, not even bothering to try and get a shot out on the move.

He circled around the stallion and took aim only when he knew he had a steady hoof for it. He missed, and got another volley out of the stallion for his efforts.

He rolled over the ground to safety and reloaded again, panting. “Okay. Rapid fire, and super speed. I can handle that.”

“Can you, now?”

Bastion’s blood froze. On instinct, he ducked out of the way before anything could hit, but he felt the wind of the projectiles whizzing past him. This time, he fired back clumsily, hoping it might get the pressure off somehow.

No such luck. Bullet Time was on his trail, and locked on. Before he could blink, Bastion found himself face to face with Bullet Time and no time to reload.

The crossbow stared him in the eyes.

“You know, you could have used your magic to reload, too,” he said. “All the Unicorns who play this game do it like that.”

Bastion smiled. “I know. But I didn’t need to. I just needed you to get trapped.”

“How so?”

“Look at your ammo: you’re empty. And I’m not.” Bastion pressed the crossbow against his belly and took aim.

Bullet Time, for his part, nodded in respect. “A sound observation. However…”

The hiss and pop of a paint shot made him jump back.

“Slippery little sniper, you’re a lot more mobile than I gave you credit for. Sneakier, too.” He landed easily, unharmed by Doldrum’s long-range shot. Where the colt was, neither Bastion nor Bullet Time could see. “But I know you’re smart enough to realise what your buddy doesn’t.”

The crossbow raised in his magic, Bullet Time took the shot.

A light twinge of pressure hit Bastion’s forehead, followed by wetness.

“But, but…”

“Even if the clip is empty, there can always be something in the chamber. Remember that.” He grabbed another clip and dashed off.

Bullet Time came to a skidding halt. He turned around, hoof on his chest, and blinked as he looked at the green spot on his coat.

“Nice one, Doldrum!” he called out. “How’d you manage that? Didn’t think you were speedy enough for that kind of snap shot.”

The Pegasus floated down, face wet with sweat from all the excitement. “I’m not. But I’ve been working on making some Sandals of Arrow Snaring. The, umm, the reflex action you need to have for that? It’s kind of the same.”

“Ah, of course. I wouldn’t have thought of that. Very clever. Come on, we’ll round up the other campers and get ready for round two.”

“We’re doing another round of this?” Bastion asked.

“Of course. A second round, we might even get a third one. And I will not be cleaning up your mess a second time. But, now that you know the lay of the land, I’m hoping you won’t need to, either.”

Doldrum looked at Bastion expectantly.

“Well, no.” Bastion rubbed the back of his head, shaking. “I-I think I can come up with something to get everypony off our backs, probably? Congratulations, Doldrum. You won. I… I lost.”

Doldrum shrugged and followed Bullet Time out. “Don’t feel bad. At least it was a fair fight.”

Author's Note

Two big things this chapter was meant to convey: one, the central conflict and theme with fairness as Doldrum and Bastion see it. One of the big issues in re-using and re-writing Doldrum like this is that, no matter how many changes I make, anyone who knows the character will know not just that something is coming, but what is coming, too.

Secondly, it was meant to add more of the feel of Orcs Must Die to the setting. Doldrum's trinkets are taken from that (while the rest of him is D&D, artifacts from that aren't as recognisable, except maybe a certain deck of cards...) but it needed a little fleshing out to feel as more than a simple single reference.

Also, Bullet Time plays an important role in part 3, so I needed a reason to foreshadow his involvement and introduce him early on.

The Progress, and the Price

Bastion followed Sunburst to the training area after breakfast. Live Wire and Doldrum went in the other direction, towards another camp site outside the little lake valley. Today they’d be playing hide and seek, and the changeling had long since decided he didn’t like that game very much, so he was glad to be getting tutoring instead.

Getting some time away from Doldrum after yesterday’s mixed bag of a paintball game was an added bonus.

“So, have you thought about what sort spells you want to learn next? What is it you’d like?”

Bastion’s ears splayed. “Umm, I don’t really know.” He thought back to his first day, and found that something had changed. He wasn’t sure what, though. “I kinda want to get stronger. Just to fight better, if that’s okay?”

“Okay, just fight better, a little vague but it’s a start. And your conjuration’s good, so how about… evocation today? Some blast spells sound good?”

Bastion’s hearts fluttered. “Yes. Blast spells sounds perfect.”

“You can already make a blob of goop, that’s a few weeks worth of practice we can skip. Can you project an image of something? Purely an illusion?”

“Umm, I can try?” He concentrated and squinted, trying to form an image of a bush in front of him. A green shimmering glow formed, but it quickly faded into nothingness, blurred and unstable. “No, I don’t think so.”

“Hmm, no, but you’ve got some light down, at least, and if you can cloak, you should be able to do other light stuff.”Sunburst thought for a second. “What about just that: a simple light spell? Can you make a ball that glows in the dark?”

Bastion nodded. “I hardly ever do it, though. It just kinda comes naturally, I guess.” With a mere thought, he created a ball of bright white light to rest on his horn.

“And can you move that at all?” Sunburst gestured with his hoof in a circle motion.

A silent breath in, and Bastion twirled the ball around. “It doesn’t do anything, though. There’s no power behind it.”

“It doesn’t need any. Illusion magic or anything involving light is a solid stepping stone. This is a good start, we can work from there.” Sunburst made his own ball of light and brought it before Bastion. “Now follow my lead. Try making the light redder, and brighter.”

Bastion mimicked the hue and heat of Sunburst’s orb. “This kinda hurts my eyes...”

“It’ll do that at first. Focus your awareness outside yourself, on the point you’re holding it, that’ll cool you down.”

Bastion smiled. He was still doing it right. He could taste his own happiness. It felt oddly alien to him.

Sunburst held a hoof up to Bastion’s light and nodded. “There we go, you’ve got it. Simple heat orb, good for survival situations if you need to make a fire quickly. It also keeps the mosquitoes away, since they’re not attracted to red light.”

“It’s a good signal if I need help, too.”

“Exactly. You’ve got the motions down, so now we’re going to practise that until you get the spell for it right. Has anyone explained the difference between a trick and a spell yet?”

Bastion shook his head.

“We can be brief about that. When you have an ability or a trick, you simply give your body the command to do something, and then it does it. Sometimes you have abilities like Pegasus flight that are enhanced by emotions, or Unicorn magic beams that fire off at random.”

“Or Earth pony strength that flares up when they punch you,” Bastion remarked.

“Yup. But those are innate, those are reflexes. A spell is something rehearsed: it has a rhythm to it, a motion. Abilities like your shapeshifting are simple and quick to do, if you have the ability. If you need a spell to do it, you have to break it down and think about it, before you can then cast it in a reflex. Does that make sense?”

“Sort of?”

“Better to show than to tell, I suppose. Try to think about how you made the red orb. Break it down, do it slowly. Every spell has three steps: intent, execution, and release. What is the intent when you make the orb?” Sunburst asked.

“To make a red orb.”

“Good. Then the execution. How do you make a red orb? Do you feel it out, do you see it in your mind’s eye, do you pull or push it out from anywhere? Whatever you do, it’s all good, everyone has their own approach to these things.”

“I feel the red swirling inside of me,” Bastion said, circling a hoof in the air. “I feel the warmth.”

“Alright. And then release. Let it come out, then shift your focus to something else.”

Bastion did as he was asked. “How do I shift my focus?”

“It’s a hard trick to explain, but we can start by taking that red orb and making it something a little more offensive: a flashbang.” Sunburst gestured with his horn, and the red sphere exploded with flash of light and a solid ‘pop.’

“I think I know that one already, too.” Bastion clenched his eyes shut, covered his ears, then poured more power into his ball of light, as well as holding the energy in on the edges. Then he made it pop like a balloon.

Sunburst whistled, impressed. “Okay, that was really quick, too. A flashbang’s a good way to get used to switching from one spell to another, to work on that release. It’s also a good way to get out of a fight without hurting anyone. I guess we can move on to the really advanced stuff, then: the fundamental evocation spell, the basic technique every blast mage has to know.”

“Fireball?” Bastion tried.

“Ye-No. No, not fireball.”

“Lightning blast?”

“No.”

“Ice cannon?”

“No! No: prismatic spells. It’s simple in principle, but most ponies… never bother learning this one, even though it opens up the path to many more abilities. No, you start by making the same ball of light as before.”

With a nod and a horn flick, Bastion made another flare.

“Now make it white light, brighten it.”

Squinting, Bastion did as he was told.

“Now picture the light hitting a prism, and turning into a swirling rainbow. Red, green, blue, yellow, orange...”

It was a difficult mental image to get, but once he fractured the white light into blue and red, something clicked in his mind. Orange, yellow, green, they all started flowing freely in the sphere he’d made, only half under his control. He’d never felt magic click quite as much, that odd sense of anticipating something and willing it at the same time.

“And now?”

“Now you pick one colour, and picture it hardening into its corresponding element. For example: green acid.” Sunburst splashed a target dummy with a green sphere. “Red fire.” Another one was burned with red. “Blue ice, white lightning.”

Bastion stared in awe at the repeated blasts.

“This is a basic skill, in the sense that you learn a lot of other skills by mastering it. Some evocation wizards specialise in one element only, and they tend to get physical problems as a result.”

“Like Live Wire and his heart.”

“Well, yes, but he didn’t do that to himself; he was born with that. A lot of ponies acquire that weakness by their own mistakes. This technique lets you bypass it a little bit. You start by making light, which is neutral, but already manifested. Only afterwards do you convert it to fire or acid or lightning.”

“You don’t do the converting before it’s out of your body, so your body doesn’t have to work so hard. You do that part during the release, not the execution,” Bastion reasoned.

“Now you’re getting it. Mind you, you’re still relying on your body to do the converting, but it’s a lot less stressful this way because you’re sharing the burden. Because you start with white light, it’s a full-body skill, so you don’t risk a heart attack if you use a lot of lightning spheres.”

“And Live Wire can’t do this yet?”

Sunburst shook his head. “Can’t do the light without making thunder, not yet, anyway. But don’t get ahead of yourself: higher-level prismatic spells are a lot more strenuous than the regular elemental kind. If you overdo it on these, it’s your whole body that’s going to be hurting. So, think you can give it a shot?”

Bastion stepped up and let loose a red prismatic sphere on the nearest dummy. It scorched the thing alright, exactly the same damage as Sunburst’s had, maybe veered a little to the left.

“Good. Now try acid.”

Bastion closed his eyes and evoked the ball of light again. He let it go into its swirling rainbow state, then willed it to turn green. He fired, and when he opened his eyes, there was another scorched dummy. “Huh, that’s… not what I was going for.”

“That’s weird. Try cold next.”

Bastion repeated the process, this time shooting two at the same time. More scorched dummies were the only result.

“I can’t get the other colours to work. It always comes out red. Why does it come out red?”

“I think you have what ponies would call a ‘talent’ for it.”

Starlight had noticed Doldrum and Bastion developing some frictions all day, so it was probably a good thing that the changeling would be off with Live Wire in the afternoon. She took the Pegasus to the target range after lunch and sat down beside him.

“Okay,” she started. “what’s going on between you and Bastion?”

“Nothing,” he said, still in that whispery voice. According to Bulk Biceps and the twins, apparently Doldrum had an uncanny resemblance to one of the Elements of Harmony, at least in his way of speaking. Said Element was that of Kindness. While she hadn’t gathered any information on them yet – she’d barely planned out the first stages of her national equality plan, after all – she had seen a yellow mare in the newspapers from time to time, so she could put a face to it, at least. Doldrum’s resemblance to any Element of Harmony definitely ended at the vocal part, since right now he was tense and angry-looking.

“Are you sure? Because if there is, you can talk to me about it.”

He shook his head.

“Really,” she insisted. “It doesn’t matter if you think you’ll get in trouble, or if you think it’s something bad either one of you did. I won’t judge. I’m not like most grown-ups you’ve had to deal with.”

He sighed. “We were doing the game yesterday. I told him he could use his shapeshifting to help. He refused. So I ended up having to do almost everything on my own.”

“Wow, really?” She shook her head in surprise. “You won completely on your own?”

“Aside from the planning, yes. I had to do all the shooting, all the dodging, all the hard work.”

Starlight bit down on her first instinct and hoped to all celestial bodies in the sky he wouldn’t notice. Clearly this was another injustice brought upon by the curse of cutie marks and the difference in talents. Poor Doldrum was expected to pull all the weight because he was stronger. He couldn’t formulate his own plans because he lacked the talent for it.

“That’s pretty impressive. But not fair to you, you mean.”

He nodded. “It’s okay. I’m kind of used to that sort of thing.”

“Well, you shouldn’t be, and while it may be hard to believe, I can relate.”

Much to her surprise, he nodded at that, too. “Most Unicorns do. The strong ones, at least.”

“It’s part and parcel of being powerful, unfortunately. Other ponies take you for granted, or simply expect you to be able to solve any problem with a flick of your horn. Or, in your case, I guess a good punch or a nice little sprint.”

He let out a snort that, in context, sounded far too adorable to be effective. Despite his strange build, there was no getting around the fact that Doldrum was still a child. Even with his hard musculature, he clearly wasn’t fully developed into a young stallion yet, and wouldn’t be for several years to come.

“Is that going to keep being a problem?” Starlight asked.

“It depends. No, I don’t think so. Bastion’s not bad, I don’t think? He’s just… umm…”

“Not very smart?”

“No, he is smart. Just not very tactical.”

“Hmm, fair enough. As long as you don’t let it escalate, it’s fine. And you know you can tell him you have issues with how he behaved, right?”

“It was only one time,” Doldrum replied. “And I don’t think he’ll do it again.”

“Perfect. So, now that that’s out of the way, let’s talk about today’s lesson. You’re an adept at stormcrafting, yes?”

“That’s right.”

“And you have your Ice Amulet, your Wind Belt, and your Lightning Rings.”

Again, he nodded, before gesturing to the bunk. “Should I go get them?”

“What wands do you have?” Starlight asked with a smirk.

“Charged up today? Magic Missiles, Frost Shot, and Flare Shot. Those are the ones I’m allowed to buy. I got a little carried away with a couple of the other ones I brought.”

“Three different ones will do. How often do you use a bunch at the same time?”

“Never,” he replied. “They take too long to switch. I only ever use one.”

She pointed at his chest. “How about we make that today’s lesson? You go and get your wands, and that fancy home-made sheath I saw you carry around. I’ll go get some camp equipment, and I’ll teach you the proper way of using wands in a sheath.”

Finally perking up, he trotted towards the bunk while Starlight teleported to the storage closet. She unlocked it with the password, found what she needed, and donned the wand sheath with three magic wands for herself.

She poured a little bit of magic into the sheath and did a few test shots, just in case.

Magic missile, Spark Ball, Snow Cone. These were low-level spells, to be sure, lower even than what the boy had brought, but they would do for this sort of simple exercise.

She teleported back to find Doldrum ready and waiting, two sheaths and six wands at the ready.

“Let’s start with singular shots first. How do you usually fire a wand?”

He puffed up his chest, made a small gesture with his right hoof, and out from the left-most wand in the sheath there came a threesome of arrow-shaped energy bolts. “Reach out with my magic first. Pegasus magic, like when I’m on a cloud. Then let the magic run into the wand, focus on what I want it to do, and let go.”

“Perfect spellwork, better than a lot of Unicorns your age.” She was happy to see him blush at that compliment. “Yes, artifact magic like yours typically only requires power from the wielder: the skill you’d need to cast a spell is what’s inside.”

“Except I had to get the skill first, too. For some of them.”

“Well, yes, to make the trinkets.” She narrowed her eyes. “Remind me: you didn’t have any Gauntlets of Strength lying around, did you? Or any belts?”

“N-no. But I kinda turned like, you know, this, from the other exercises. Bellows Breathing, Forge Feeding…”

“And the Hammered Skin exercise, right, just checking. Anyway, using wands like that is good if you need to quickly get a spell out without too much mental work, or if you’re under some kind of pressure. All the routine of getting a spell locked into your memory, that routine of splitting it up into steps and then putting it back together as a reflex, that’s what you want to skip with a wand. But it also comes with a big disadvantage.”

“I can’t really switch from one to the other that easily.”

“No, exactly. I’m sure Sage Cracker has the same problem: chaos magic has that little issue too. Now, that’s not a bad thing in and of itself, mind you.” She raised a hoof. “Far from it. The fact that you can work with a wand at all is pretty rare for a Pegasus at any age, never mind someone as young as you. But you might end up getting into some bad habits.”

She waited for him to guess. He waited for her to tell him. “Such as?” he finally asked.

“Such as getting into restricted thinking. Doing the same thing over and over again, for example. Getting more trouble with learning new things. It won’t be an issue with your other weapons, since they’re covering different parts of your body, but wands don’t get used for practice much these days because of the side effects. And that’s what sheaths are for.”

She pointed her hoof at a target dummy, made a point of making the sheath glow without activating any wands, and then let fly. “Magic Missile, Spark Ball, Snow Cone, Snow Cone, Magic Missile, are you getting the point yet?”

Doldrum nodded. “That does sound like a good trick. How do I do it?”

“First you withdraw your magic from the wands. Shut them out of your awareness.”

He closed his eyes and opened his wings, relaxing visibly. “I think I’ve got it. Then what?”

“Then reach out for the sheath, and only the sheath. Try one at a time first, you don’t want to overload yourself.”

Another deep breath, and another nod. “And then?”

“Now comes the hard part. You have to run your magic into the sheath, without touching the wands yourself. You’re using an artifact to control another artifact.”

He clenched his eyes shut. “And then I just point and fire?”

“Yup. Do a quick Magic Missile and then switch.”

He clumsily flung his hoof at the target once, and to his credit, he had a solid grasp of the Magic Missiles. Then he repeated the motion, and got nothing.

He grumbled. “Didn’t work.”

“Nope,” Starlight replied with a smile. “But that’s why we explain things first, and why we practise. A lot. Try again, sheath attunement only. And, one, two, three, fire! Reload, fire!”

Bastion was trying to focus on where the group was heading, rather than the unfinished business he had with his bunkmate. From afar, it looked like another forested area, but one that was less thick than the one they’d used for the paintball game. Not as many chances to hide, but also a clearer shot, he concluded.

Live Wire didn’t seem to care either way. He merely grinned in anticipation when Sage let Bullet Time take the stage again.

“Alright, kids, the name of the game today is treasure hunt. You’re all going to be carrying treasure. Hunt each other,” he joked.

Bastion gulped.

“Okay, but seriously, though: today we’ll be focussing on protecting resources and managing defences, as well as piercing them. Like yesterday, you’ll be in teams of two. Every team gets one pouch, like this one.” He held up a little bag closed with a string in his magic. “This pouch contains a set of marbles. The object of the game is to collect as many marbles as you can. The rules are simple: if you get hit, if you have any marbles on you, you must surrender them to whomever claimed the shot. We’ve asked Sunburst to add a little adjustment to the magic of your bellythrowers, so we will know when you get hit. The marbles also have tracking on them.”

Bastion nodded. “So the idea is not to get caught with your treasure in hoof,” he whispered.

“How you protect your treasure is up to you. You can try to bury it, but then you may run into trouble if another team stumbles across it.”

Bastion tapped the ground.

“It’ll be pretty hard to bury anything in this, anyway,” he said to Live Wire.

“Thought so,” Live Wire replied. “The Royal Guard uses this as training grounds sometimes, too. There’s a lot of places where they practise gravity spells, the dirt’s all hard and compact there.”

“You might try to carry it around,” Bullet Time added. “But then what happens if you take a shot? On top of that, you need to be aware of what can happen while you’re securing the enemy’s treasure. It might be a good idea to let someone else try first, empty out their ammo.”

Live Wire grumbled. “There’s a catch. There has to be. As it is, all anyone has to do is take out the other teams, and they win by default.”

“Now, one big difference with yesterday is that being hit does not permanently take you out of commission. We’ve set up several cleaning stations on the edge of the forest, so you can wash off the paint and get back into the action. You will be unable to fire any shots while you’re hit, though, that hasn’t changed. Turtling up is a valid strategy, and one that you will not be punished for. At least, not by the camp counsellors.” Bullet winked at the crowd.

All the foals got his meaning at that, and Bastion didn’t need long to figure out the full consequences of the rules. It didn’t matter if you took out everyone, you still had to secure points. Stay low for the whole game, and you may not lose anything, but everyone preying on weaker teams would win.

On top of that, if enough time passed, with the rule of returning to the fray, anyone could deduce where a big haul was located if it never moved. All anyone had to do was watch where the foals raced off to after scoring a hit, or blanketing a search area for long enough. Leave the treasure undefended, and you wouldn’t draw attention, but anyone smart enough to figure out where you hid it would be after you. Carry it around, and you could defend it yourself, but at the same time you increased the risk of losing it to a stray paint pellet.

“Now, as before: we will be making sure everyone plays by the rules. If you’re hit, you are out of the game until you are cleaned. No hitting anyone with sticks, no bodyblocking for other ponies. And if you’re carrying treasure, you have to pass it over. No funny business. I will be making sure you follow that rule myself.” He glared at the crowd of foals. “Do I make myself clear?”

No sounds came from the foals. Bastion’s mind was reeling with potential strategies, escape plans, considerations of how to go about dealing with Pegasi in this less sheltered environment.

Live Wire, again, seemed unfazed, and went to get the bellythrowers and treasure along with the rest of the kids.

Everyone spread out, to the point where no one could tell where the next group would be, and the signal was sounded. Bastion and Live Wire immediately galloped into the forest, Live Wire carrying the treasure pouch on his neck. Once they were in deep enough, they found shelter behind a tree.

“Okay, so first order of business is ammo,” Live Wire said. “I’ve got twenty shots. You?”

“Twenty, like you.”

“Just checking. So what’s the plan? Do we bury our thing here?”

“Bad idea,” Bastion said. “Even if we could find a spot with soft enough dirt, we wouldn’t be able to hide it.”

“Hang on.” Live Wire looked up and gestured for Bastion to brace himself against the trunk. Sure enough, there was a pair of Pegasi up above, flitting from tree to tree.

With the two boys staying as deathly quiet as possible, they could barely make out the winged pair arguing about something, before they dropped off a little bag in a tree and flew off.

“Guess that’s our first score,” Live Wire said.

“Seems kinda unfair,” Bastion offered.

“Okay. So you’re not going to go get that pouch, then? I don’t think they had time to set up any traps or ambushes yet. Everyone’s just kinda scattered right now. We’re gonna want to move quick if we want to win.”

“I know. The longer we wait, the more chance they get to prepare. It’s fine, I’ll go get the pouch. They shouldn’t be hiding it up in a tree anyway, some pony might get hurt climbing up.”

“Don’t try to fly too much, if you can,” the Unicorn suggested. “Someone might hear.”

“Got it. I can stick to a trunk, no problem.”

Just like that, he vanished.

“Bastion?” Live Wire whispered.

“What? I’m invisible, that’s all. You know I can cloak, don’t you? I learned from Starlight the other day.”

“Yeah, just… I guess I wasn’t expecting it to work that well up close. It never does when I try it.”

“I’m gonna go up and find that pouch.”

“Here.” Live Wire gave him their own pouch, which quickly faded from view as well. “Empty it out into ours, leave it like that so no one will know.”

Without another word, Bastion was off. He kept his gastraphetes on his back, just in case, but he had no intention of firing it while cloaked. His changeling hooves stuck to the trunk easily, and he walked up to where the enemy treasure was with no issues, no sound, no indication of anything untoward. He checked for any traps or trickery and, finding none, undid the cord on the pouch and poured the marbles into his own pouch.

It was a clean swipe, no problems at all.

And he hated doing it. Still, those foals should have known better, and it wasn’t right to exclude everypony but Pegasi from this game. They’d learn their lesson about playing fair now, he told himself.

He jumped down and flapped his wings once to land quietly, then trotted over to Live Wire.

“I got it. They were careless.”

“Yeah, but now we have to be more careful, remember? We’re worth more. Did you see anything up top?”

“A few clearings, good defensive positions for a big group but nothing we can use with the two of us.”

“We could try sticking to scouting only. See where everyone is, wait for the right moment.”

Bastion nodded. “That would be the best strategy. This game is built to reward patience: whoever strikes last wins.”

“If they can keep what they take.”

“Yeah. If they can do that. I’m still trying to think about how we should do that.”

“Deeper in, then?” Live Wire readied his weapon.

“Deeper in. And watch out for any rustling bushes.”

“Why?”

“Funny thing I learned yesterday: I’m not the only camper who can cloak.”

Twenty swings of the sheathed wands, and Doldrum still wasn’t getting it. Sometimes he fizzled, other times he only got the first shot off and failed on the second.

Even an untrained instructor would have been able to tell he was struggling.

“Okay, let’s stop for now,” Starlight said, before sighing. “This isn’t working. You’re sure you’re reaching out your magic to the sheath and not the wands?”

“Yes.” He looked down, lost in thought from the looks of it. “I don’t know what it is.”

“Well, magic is usually pretty reactive to thoughts and emotions, especially artifact magic. You get what you project, the old masters used to say.”

“But I’m projecting control,” he argued. “I’m doing it right. I’m doing everything right. Aren’t I?”

She smiled in sympathy. “I’m sure you are, but there’s no way to be completely sure without getting into your head, and that’s something neither of us should want. No, your form is fine, and I doubt you’d be doing anything wrong that you don’t know is wrong, so that just leaves mental blockages.”

“Umm, what sort of blockages would that be?”

“You tell me.” She patted along her neck, back and belly to illustrate. “Do you feel any knots along your neck or spine? Any stomach cramps, nerves?”

He shook his head. “No more than usual.”

She chuckled. “Then it might be the fact that it is usual that’s the problem. You’re not relaxed enough, too rigid instead of flexible.”

“I am flexible,” Doldrum argued. “Just because I bulked up, doesn’t mean I can’t reach or flex.”

“Not physically inflexible, but mentally. That’s that bad habit I was talking about earlier. I’m surprised Sunburst would let it get that far on you. Sage Cracker, I can understand, but Sunburst should have noticed.”

“So… I can’t fix this on my own, then? Are we gonna do something else?”

“We could, but that wouldn’t fix the problem. I could temporarily remove your cutie mark, give you some time without whatever compulsions you’re getting from that.”

“Really?” His ears perked. “You can take away my cutie mark?”

Starlight immediately regretted blurting that out. Stupid, stupid, stupid… “Yes, but that’s not a good thing. You shouldn’t be so eager to get rid of your own talents.” Not without being coached or conditioned to, at least.

“Why not? It hasn’t done anything good for me yet. Every problem it fixes, it just replaces with something else. And it never fixes the problems I want fixed.”

She sighed. “Getting a little sidetracked here. I’m assuming you’re good enough to know basic visualisation exercises at your level. Have you ever done anything like the White Flame meditation? Any of the ego depletion remedies?”

“I don’t know what those are. Maybe?”

“That’ll be the next option, then. It’s a technique used by wizards who find themselves a little too… self-important. It puts the focus back on you, without blowing up your ego in the process and turning you into a maniac. Basically, it’s an antidote to counteract all the things that make you forget about yourself and distance yourself from what’s happening.”

“Oh.” He winced. “Yeah, I do that one a lot.”

“Good, that’s part of the practice. But like any practice, you need to be careful not to overwork yourself. This isn’t a new thing, Doldrum, you’re not the first pony to have this problem.”

“I know,” he said. “I’m not the first pony to have a lot of problems. That doesn’t make it any easier to fix them, though.”

He kept his head down, ears splayed back again. Strange how a boy who was basically a forge incarnate could look so vulnerable.

He really needed some proper attention, and from what she knew of Stormcrafters, Starlight could guess how numb he’d made himself to certain things.

“Just wait here for a second, and I’ll go fetch us a pair of mirrors. I’ll talk you through it, and we’ll try the sheath thing again. Trust me, you’ll feel better after this is done, and you’ll get that trick down pat before dinner.”

“We have a problem,” Live Wire said. “Looks like the other campers have turtled up.”

Bastion poked his head out from behind the tree to look.

The ponies had set up a border line through the forest, almost. Forty paces ahead, there was a pair patrolling around a spot he presumed contained their treasure pouch. Thirty paces to the East, another pair was doing the same. Up above, several squads of little Pegasi were doing rounds to survey the area.

“What do you make of that?” Live Wire asked.

“Pretty easy to see the goal: make sure no one gets the upper hoof on anyone. If everyone keeps their base close together, there’s no way to raid any one base without the others getting the range. The Pegasi are sharing the patrol duties, so I’m guessing only two or three foals are out on the offensive right now.”

“Probably those invisible Unicorns, too.”

“That is so unfair,” Bastion said. “This is supposed to be a fun game, and they’re treating it like it’s a war or something. I thought ponies were supposed to be nice to each other?”

Live Wire blinked. “You… you really don’t know anything about pony history, do you?”

“I think I know enough. Hearth’s Warming Eve is when you banded together and fought off the Windigos. It’s doing stuff like this that’ll get them to come back.”

“Hearth’s Warming Eve is not all it’s cracked up to be. Ponies have been nasty to each other since before then and way after. You’re from Ponyville, so you wouldn’t know, but there are still places in Equestria where you can be hated just for how you were born.”

Bastion’s ears twitched. “Like Alherda?”

“You heard about that, huh?” Live Wire motioned for them to sneak due East, to try and get a better view of the defences.

Once they found another tree trunk to hide behind, Bastion whispered, “I heard the grown-ups mention it a few times. What’s wrong with Alherda?”

“Nothing’s wrong with it. They have a really famous hospital for Unicorn foals.”

“Have you been there?”

Live Wire’s ears drooped. “Almost. But the EEA decided I should probably try private tutoring first.”

“So you don’t know what the big deal is, either?”

“I know a little bit. Apparently Alherda celebrates Hearth’s Warming Eve a little differently. They make the Unicorns out to be the only ponies who were really bad. And they kinda keep Unicorn magic down, I heard. No teachers, no books, no help if you have a magic problem, except for the hospital.”

“That sounds awful. Why would they do that?”

“Because they think it’s the right thing to do, I guess. Something about how it was first settled, is what I heard. Any pony will tell you: Alherda is where Unicorns fall apart.”

Bastion looked up, making sure to stay out of sight of another Pegasus patrol. “That’s not fair, either. Are there a lot of Alherda ponies here?”

“Mister Sage used to go there,” Live Wire said. “And a few of the Pegasi and Earth ponies here are from that city. But no Unicorns, no.”

Bastion took another look to survey the area. “Sunburst taught you how to dash yesterday, right? While me and Doldrum were at the paintball thing?”

“Yup. It’s a pretty cool spell, even if it’s not real teleportation.”

“How fast can you go in your dash?”

“Really fast. In and out in a second if I have to.”

“And how far can you go?”

Live Wire narrowed his eyes. “What are you thinking?”

Bastion snorted. “If they want to be unfair about it, then I’m not gonna play fair, either. I say we clean them all out in one go. Think you’re up for that?”

“I’m all ears.”

“And feel the white flame…” Starlight started. In hindsight, she felt she might have started with this exercise first. It would surprise her if the likes of Tree Hugger didn’t know this one.

“There is no mirror, there is no eye. There is no swan, only words,” Doldrum said.

Opening her eyes, she was pleased to see his mood looked better.

His body, however, was all atwitch and shaking.

“I think that’s enough for now,” Starlight said. “Are you feeling okay? That might have been a little heavy.”

“It’s fine. Just my talent, I guess.”

Made sense. After stretching out and putting the mirrors away, Starlight demonstrated the proper wand sheath use again. “So, again: reach out to the sheath, block out the wands. One, two, magic missile, spark shot, frost shot.”

Doldrum nodded and repeated the motion. “Magic missile, spark, frost.”

It was only after he’d fired three times that either of them realised he’d done it correctly that time. Three bolts of magic, then an electric spark, then a small wave of frost, all impacting on the dummy.

He looked down at the sheath, confused.

“There you go, now you’ve got it,” Starlight said, “Told you you could do it.”

He smiled, then wiped his eyes.

“Getting teary-eyed?” she asked. “Yeah, it can do that if you’re used to pushing down your emotions too much.”

He nodded and let out another deep breath, then repeated the switched shots again, and again, and again. “I think I’ve got it now.”

“Looks like. That’ll be a good skill to have once you start working with armour enchantments: it takes a lot less effort to attune to the thing holding the weapons than to every single weapon in it.”

“Thank you,” he said. “And sorry for, you know, before.”

“No need to apologise. You had trouble with the exercise, you worked through it. That’s what learning is.”

“I don’t mean that. I think maybe Bastion just got under my skin. I’m… I’m not used to having to deal with ponies like that. Usually they just try to fight me and that’s it.”

She winced in sympathy. “Is it really that bad for you back home?”

He nodded. “Some days it’s worse than others. The grown-ups just want me to take a hint and join their team, so they don’t mind if the kids try to fight me. They think if they can humiliate me enough, I’ll sign up to get better.”

“Huh. And here I thought you looked big and strong enough to scare off anyone. They must be pretty brave if they’ll challenge you just like that. Or foolish.”

He looked away. “Maybe. It’s complicated.”

“Bastion hasn’t challenged you, has he?”

“Not like that, no. But he’s so busy trying to make things fair he doesn’t realise not everypony fights fair in the first place, and you can’t make them. Besides, he just uses ponies to get what he wants, same as everyone back home.”

“Hey now, you don’t know that. Bastion’s a strategist by nature, he’s a planner. That doesn’t mean he uses ponies, it just means he makes plans on what they should do to win.”

“I guess.” he said, in a completely unconvincing tone.

“Would it make you feel better if he fought you fairly sometime?”

“I don’t think that’s possible.”

“Not right now, perhaps. But if he got stronger, on his own, just like you did. If he was your equal, would you still feel bad about him?”

“Maybe,” he blurted out, before thinking. “No. No, I guess not.”

“There you go, then. See if he’s your equal, wait until he’s strong enough to be on your level, and you’ll feel better about it. In the meantime, let’s make sure you can do this exercise properly, without having to meditate beforehoof.”

“Sounds good.” He pointed the sheathed wands at the target. “Oh, umm, Miss Starlight? One more thing.”

“What?”

“I’ve heard ponies talk about a place called Alherda. They said you worked there for a while, and it’s a bad place. But they never talk about why it’s bad.”

Her ears drooped. “Why do you want to know?”

“Because Mister Sage is from there, too. And he doesn’t talk about it, either. So I just thought, if he’s been teaching us, and he got it from there…”

“No, he would definitely not get it from there. Alherda is…” She fired thrice again. “Complicated. It’s a place where ponies aren’t that friendly to Unicorns, basically.”

“But they have a hospital just for them.”

“Not just for them: technically it’s for any foals with cutie mark problems, which in that town are usually Unicorns. And part of the reason they’re often Unicorns is because of how they’re raised in that town.”

Doldrum repeated the triple shot. “And how’s that?”

“Cut off from what they need to know, and taught that they were born wrong.”

“Oh,” Doldrum said. “Yeah, I guess that would make you feel pretty bad.”

“They had a few cases like yours back there, you know. Back when I was working in the hospital, I mean.”

Doldrum barely smiled as he shot more spells at the targets. “Cases like what?”

“Well, using spells a lot means you think differently a lot. You have to relax, sink into an altered state. Sometimes it gets tempting to stay in that state.”

He stopped firing. “It’s not like that.”

“Oh?”

“It’s not tempting, I mean. I, umm, I got into a fight a while back. And it’s like you said: I went deep, to channel my magic. Except I didn’t have my weapons with me, so it was just the magic I have in my body. I went deep, really deep. I never felt so alive. But eventually I stopped feeling so alive. And now… I don’t really feel anything when I’m up again, if that makes sense.”

“Yeah, it does. You have the effects of an acute overdose, not the chronic habituation.” She sighed as she thought out loud. “That one’s harder to spot. Sometimes when you go really deep, things get a little stuck in your head. The energy rush, it burns it into your nerves, sort of. Usually it’s harmless, like a showtune or a memory that keeps playing out. Other times, it’s crossing some wires you don’t want touching.”

“How do you fix that?”

I’ll let you know when I get my own thoughts unstuck.

“Well, seeking out happiness and joy is a good start, in moderation. Take ownership of your thoughts and feelings, that’s what the old masters would say. If I had to make a suggestion: find a hobby where you don’t go too deep, and still feel happy.”

“Crafting’s kind of that hobby for me.” He blushed. “So is, umm, wargames, fighting, stuff like that. I feel like myself again when I’m fighting. But that’s probably bad.”

She took aim and demonstrated the shots again. “It really all depends. There’s no point in beating yourself up over what goes on in your own head. Seriously, better wizards than me have tried, history’s full of those failures. No, wean off of it, if you can, try small doses of what you know works, and it’ll come back. It’s not common, especially not at your age, but it’s something ponies know about, at least in some circles. If you really feel down in the dumps and need a pick-me-up, a little bit of combat practice probably won’t hurt.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” he said, smiling as he resumed the shooting practice.

The lead-up to the heist was what took the most time. Bastion had calculated the angles, double-checked all eventualities, and he’d plotted out a course for Live Wire.

Bastion’s job would be to make sure neither of them got caught.

“Okay. Ready?” Live Wire said, bracing himself.

“Ready.” Bastion did the same.

“Three, two, one.”

Lightning crackled over the colt’s fur. His horn glowed, arcs sparking off as he charged up. Then, a peal of thunder catapulted him forward. Bastion opened up his wings and followed suit, buzzing at top speed to the spot he knew he needed to be.

Another crack of thunder marked Live Wire’s first stop. The two foals guarding the spot barely knew what hit them before their pouch was taken. Second target was slightly due West, up in a tree. With a mighty leap, Live Wire was on and out with the bounty secured.

Bastion readied his bellythrower. Two Pegasi had turned from their patrol and were making their way towards the ball of noise.

With all the distraction going on, they didn’t even notice the changeling sniping them from behind. He was gone before they could betray his position to their allies.

Live Wire had already scored two more treasures, even with the kids ready and firing in his direction. Bastion flitted from tree to tree, straining his wings. That dash was too fast for anyone to keep up with, but he’d already anticipated the flaw in the Battery’s new trick.

At that speed, turning on a dime was not an option.

So Bastion made sure to get into proper position at one of the turning points while Live Wire emptied out the coffers of two more opposing teams. It wouldn’t be long for the away parties to notice something was going on at their base, so time was of the essence.

He clipped one Earth pony on the flank from ten paces away, making his companion turn.

Unfortunately, he turned right at the moment a mass of thunder, lightning, and coffee brown fur skidded to a halt right by their treasure. Another shot to the back, and Live Wire could take the pouch uncontested and unmolested.

Three more bases lay on their trail. Bastion nodded and rushed over to the third one, the end point of their raid. Live Wire got past the first, the second, but he rushed ahead too far for the third.

The last stand was where the crowd had formed, at least a dozen foals of all three tribes. The Pegasi up above started peppering the ground as Live Wire approached, while some of the Unicorns were putting up shields.

“Plan B!” Bastion called out, hoping his bunkmate would hear in the thunderous cacophony.

The sudden barrage of flashes of light seemed to indicate as much.

Grinning, Bastion joined in and fired off a salvo of light orbs, all coloured to match Live Wire’s coat. None of them were proper elemental explosions, he was still stuck on pure red for that, but he could make coloured flashbangs easily enough.

The distraction worked, even on that big a crowd. What was a concentrated effort to form a killbox moments earlier had become a frantic and random pattern of paint shots, easily dodged by the Unicorn at top speed.

Bastion landed a good fifty paces away from the bunch, at the spot where no other bases would provide cover. He looked around carefully, to make sure none of the roaming foals would interrupt his plan. None came as Live Wire practically flew over the ground, still covered in crackling light. He stopped in front of Bastion and gave him the pouches.

All of them felt full.

“We did it.”

“Yup,” Live Wire said, breathing heavily. “We… we did it.”

He collapsed against Bastion’s body.

For a moment, Bastion panicked, because Live Wire had made a point not to get close to any pony, lest he shock them on accident.

There was no shock when he touched Bastion, and that thought sent a brand new kind of panic through the changeling’s thoughts. He touched Live Wire’s neck, and felt a throbbing that was definitely not in any normal rhythm for a living creature.

“You didn’t tell me your heart was gonna blow,” Bastion said.

“Eh, didn’t think it would. Kinda new to this dashing thing, remember?” Live Wire groaned in pain and clutched his chest.

Bastion snorted and looked past the colt to the oncoming group of enemies. Then, closing his eyes, he twinned a cloaking spell and started carrying Live Wire off.

“Heh, utility casters,” Live Wire managed to say between panting. “You never know how much you miss them until you have one. Good job, buddy.”

“You too,” Bastion said. “Just don’t die over this, okay?”

“Relax. I’ve been here before. A bit of rest, and some lemony heart medicine and I’ll be fine. I don’t go all the way on a game.”

Starlight was smiling, and so was her student for the afternoon. After a few more brief sessions with the mirror exercise, he’d loosened up considerably, even in his movements. He had the technique down pat, just like she’d expected, just like she’d promised. He looked content, which was a fine sight given the circumstances. They were comparing notes on what they knew about the different types of magical armour when Live Wire and Bastion returned with Sunburst and Sage.

Live Wire was down, on a stretcher held up by Sage’s magic.

She checked the faces of the stallions first, so as not to overreact around Doldrum. She stayed quiet next to him, and motioned for him to get his gear off.

“What happened?” she asked when the procession of colts and stallions reached her.

“Our resident walking Battery decided to push his limits,” Sunburst said with an annoyance in his voice she’d only ever heard him use around his mother. “So his limits decided to push back.”

“I overloaded a little, doing my dash. But we did win, so lemon tarts for dessert tonight!” Live Wire chuckled, before coughing.

Doldrum came walking to them, his sheath and wands back in the bunk. He glared at Bastion. “You let him overload himself?”

“No,” Bastion replied. “He volunteered.”

“And you couldn’t think of any plan that didn’t involve nearly making his heart explode?”

“Doldrum, that’s hardly fair,” Starlight said. “You weren’t there, you don’t know what happened.”

As soon as she said it, she regretted it. She could see his jaw clench up again, wings bunch up against his sides, and a little tremor went through his front legs.

He let his head hang and let out a long, quiet sigh. When he spoke, all emotion had drained from his voice again, and that tired whisper was right back. “No, you’re right. I’m sure there was a good reason.” He turned and walked off towards the lake.

“Where are you going?” Starlight asked.

“To meditate, if that’s okay. I think I need to loosen up again.”

From what she’d seen, that was probably an accurate assessment. “You don’t want to hear how it went?”

“Not right now. It’s breaktime now, right? Until dinner?” he asked Sage.

Sage Cracker nodded. “You can go to your usual spot if you like. Make sure we know where you are, though.”

“I will!” He called out, before taking off with a gentle flap of his wings and gliding away.

“Is Live Wire going to be okay?” Starlight asked.

“Yeah, this isn’t the first time he’s done that sort of thing. Usually he causes way more damage to things beforehoof, though,” Sunburst noted. “And usually it’s an accident, so… progress, I guess?”

“I’m okay,” Live Wire croaked. “I have my meds with me, and I can rest up. You know, as long as I don’t try any more magic for a little while.”

“A day or two is usually his recovery time,” Sage said. “It’s nothing out of the ordinary, standard elemental overload, is all.”

“Okay, good,” Starlight said. “If it’s elemental overload, then you should be good to do more physical stuff in a little bit, at least. Maybe some martial arts practice, or yoga? Something that’s a little less stressful, perhaps?”

“Ooh, maybe you could show me some of those changeling fighting drills, Bastion,” Live Wire suggested.

“I don’t know that many, but sure, I can show the couple I know. Is, umm, is Doldrum upset with me again?”

Starlight sighed. “Hard to say. I think you hit a nerve with him because you’re too much alike, is all.”

Bastion blinked. “I don’t get it.”

She chuckled. “Never mind, we’ll see how things go. Let’s focus on the immediate problem first?” She nodded at the de-volted colt.

Live Wire, meanwhile, did his best impression of a dead cockroach with his limbs in the air. “Yeah, I’m not supposed to walk for at least another half hour, so… a little help, please?”

Author's Note

The conflict grows a little bit here, in the midst of some hopefully genuine progress for our upset Pegasus colt. Changing up what was wrong with him compared to Flight Camp was another challenge, and because it was central to his character in that canon, I couldn't make it an unknown factor in this one. Hence why it's just spelled out, and tied in with Starlight Glimmer's experiences in the matter.

Starlight really pulls the first two stories in this series together, honestly. She's a useful character, when used properly.

Put to the Test

Tensions were high all over camp that morning, Bastion could practically taste it in the air without eating any of the emotional energy around. After a few re-schedules and some kerfuffle regarding Canterlot security, the EEA had finally settled on a date. Today was the day the EEA would come by and do one of their official tests, under the watchful eye of a high-level Unicorn. Everyone at breakfast was nervous, every single Pegasus was asking their neighbours if their wings didn’t look too tight, if maybe another wriggle of the legs might help warm up, it was uncanny.

More uncanny, though, was the silence that came with the tension at Bastion’s table. Live Wire didn’t say a word during breakfast, and neither did Doldrum. The Unicorn made a point of chewing his food slowly, carefully, and breathing at a steady rhythm. Bastion noticed him looking at the clock on the wall every few seconds, too, as if to count the number of breaths per minute. Doldrum, on the other hoof, didn’t look up at all. Doldrum kept his head down as he ate, and he drank an extra glass of grapefruit juice, which Sage Cracker fetched for him without even asking.

The grown-ups didn’t pay it any heed. Sunburst and Sage kept on talking about monsters and encounters and special powers, but Bastion wasn’t sure what to make of it all.

Eventually, they got up, and Starlight and Sunburst left.

“We’ll call you when it’s your turn,” Sunburst said. “That might take a while. In the meantime, don’t get too riled up, okay? You’ll be fine. It’s just a little refresher test.”

Almost morosely, Doldrum nodded, and Live Wire hopped off the chair to go outside. Doldrum followed not long after, leaving Bastion alone with Sage Cracker as the rest of the campers filed out.

“It’ll be just you and me for the morning session,” Sage started, stretching out. “Don’t mind Assault and Battery: they don’t have the best relationship with the EEA. Neither do I, by the way. But we’ll get some good progress, you and me.”

With his belly full and his bunkmates off to be tested, Bastion found himself alone for his tutoring session from Sage Cracker.

The stallion stood before him, a friendly smile on his face but an intense glare in his eyes that struck Bastion as being more wizardly than usual. “So, Starlight taught you how to turn invisible, Sunburst taught you the basics of evocation. What do you think I’ll teach you?”

“Umm, Sunburst said you’d help me get the other elements of prismatic spells?”

“Okay. And what would that entail, do you think?”

Bastion drew a blank. “Umm…”

“Different question: if your parents asked you what you learned at camp so far, what would you say?” Sage asked.

“I learned some new magic.”

“Good.” He nodded. “Define ‘magic’ for me.”

“What?”

“You heard me. Define the word ‘magic.’”

“Umm, magic is… spells? Sunburst explained spells.”

“He would, but Pegasi walk on clouds and don’t need spells,” Sage explained. “Doldrum’s artifacts use magic, no spellwork involved.”

“Magic is something inside of you, then,” Bastion tried.

Sage nodded in appreciation. “Fair enough. How do you measure it?”

“I don’t think you can measure magic, exactly.”

“If you can’t measure it, how do you know you’re getting better at it? There must be some way of tracking progress, no?”

Bastion fell silent.

Sage chuckled. “Don’t worry, I’m not grilling you or anything. I just want you to consider for a moment: we always talk about learning magic, or doing magic. Sometimes we speak of monsters capable of stealing magic. You yourself come from a tribe that specialises in stealing love, yes?”

“Yes.”

“There you go. Most ponies wouldn’t know what that means, either, would they?” Sage remarked. “So, for the sake of clarity: when I’m talking about magic, I’m talking about altering your world as you desire through the medium of directed thought. That’s why we start with meditation practice: it’s important that you can go from magical to non-magical thinking fluently. Otherwise any random thought might cause a misfire.”

Bastion nodded.

“Now, for today, we’ll be focusing on modularity again. We’ll try to teach you to direct your thoughts into the specific changes you want, and we’ll use Sunburst’s prismatic spells as a basis. Which colour can you do already? Red, yes?”

“Uhuh.”

“Good. Demonstrate for me, please.”

Bastion closed his eyes and conjured up the rainbow orb. Another bit of concentration, and he felt the orb turn red and hot. With a flick of his horn, he shot it down the range at the middle dummy, where it immediately exploded and left a good scorch mark on the chest.

Sage nodded in appreciation. He waved his hoof at the thing and mended the dummy. “Good form for a beginner, nice and concentrated blast, that’s the accuracy you want. Now try green acid.”

Again, Bastion closed his eyes and brought forth the ball of light, charging it with magic and adding the rainbow spectrum to it. He got the colours to swirl, and tried to make them all green. He squinted, his body shook. Without looking, he knew he was failing, but he still let loose.

It came out red, and the target dummy was scorched, not doused. He grumbled. “See? That doesn’t work, for some reason. I can do fire just fine, I can make flashbangs of any colour I want, but I can’t do a prismatic spell that isn’t red.”

Sage rubbed his chin, thinking. “Yeah, I think I know why. Try green acid again, and this time suck on this fruit for me.” Out of nowhere, Sage gave him a slice of what looked like a citrus fruit, but a green one.

Bastion did as he was told, sucking on the fruit slice. It was sour, almost unbearably so, he could feel it in his gums, his eyes, even his nose and ears were filled with the sourness.

He tried to make the prismatic sphere green again, eyes clenched shut. The gums of his teeth felt raw as he concentrated and tried to force the acidic energy into being. Green light formed behind his eyelids, and he held it to let it build up. He did it the same way as he did the red orb, like he’d been taught: intent, path, release. When he let go, he heard a ‘splash’ instead of a ‘fwoomp,’ which he took as a good sign.

“Good job.”

Bastion opened his eyes. The dummy was giving off little wisps of vapour now, not smoke. The front of it was covered in thick liquid, and in some areas the liquid looked like it was dissolving the thing, like a paper maché falling apart in the rain.

Again, without any effort beyond a wave of the hoof, Sage repaired the dummy.

I did it. I actually did it. I can do this. Bastion took the slice out of his mouth and stared at it. “Is this some kind of magical fruit?”

“Oh yes, it contains a very potent magical substance, named ‘Vita minsie.’” Sage chuckled and made the fruit disappear with a bit of magic. “No, I’m joking, of course. It doesn’t need to be magical to be useful in magic practice. It fills your mind with the concept of ‘acidic.’ That is what separates a true wizard from a dilettante: the ability to let your mind fill with what you need. The biggest problem every wizard has is the initial stage, to refine your intent. I don’t suppose you know what the suffix ‘-mancy’ means?”

“No. Is that a druid? Suffix sounds like a druid.”

“It’s a vocabulary thing. Words that end in ‘mancy’ are ways you get knowledge, usually magical knowledge. You don’t know what acid is, you do not know the experience of acid, so you have less of a grip on how to form it in your mind. Heat, clearly, you don’t have a problem with. And I can take a wild guess and say you’re probably not going to struggle much with cold, either.”

“Really? I couldn’t do that one, either.”

“Try going beyond mere colour. Form the sphere, make a white light this time, no need to muddle it with a rainbow visual. Simple white, neutral, that will suffice. Now let your thoughts focus on cold. Numbing cold, icy cold, biting cold. Don’t force it, let it happen. Pure willpower doesn’t come from tension. Once your sphere starts to change colour, you’ll know you have it.”

Bastion closed his eyes again and concentrated.

“Don’t clench up like that, you’ll only make it harder for the energy to travel.”

He exhaled, and tried to force himself to relax. As soon as he did, the sphere in his mind turned a light blue. A few more seconds of building it up, and he shot out a ball of ice. Bastion took a moment to check, but the dummy had been hit with snow, from the looks of it. The wetness was already fading, but the spell had done what he’d intended it to. “That works. Just like that,” he said with a gasp.

“Of course it works. You know cold, you are familiar with the sensation. I’m sure Live Wire will have shown you the lightning variety often enough to replicate that. Be careful you don’t let that energy form inside your body, though. You don’t have a talent for it, so you won’t do it automatically, but you can still do it on accident. Focus on the tension of a held charge, the moments before a lightning strike. If you feel your heart skipping a beat, you’re doing it right, but you don’t want it to do that too often, so release when you feel you have to. Stay with the process: white light, neutral light. Let the colour shift on its own, in response to your thoughts.”

Eyes closed, Bastion sought out the image. This one came quickly, crackling energy shooting up into his horn.

The dummy was scorched after that shot, and a few sparks of static flew off of it seconds later.

“Wow. That’s awesome. I got it! Why didn’t Sunburst explain it like this?” Bastion narrowed his eyes. “And, if it’s okay to ask, why do you never cast with your horn? Every other Unicorn does, but you wave your hooves instead. Why?”

Sage chuckled under his breath. “Sunburst isn’t a papyromancer, nor is he a chaos mage. I am both, so it comes more easily to me to, well, see magic as an external force, as an object of its own, rather than a part of me. I don’t use it that often these days, but paper magic has you visualising things on, obviously, paper. From that practice, you develop ways to focus your thoughts on words, but more importantly: tie words to concepts. Chaos magic has similar benefits: it revolves around controlling your own thoughts on a more primal level than most branches. It’s not a school like abjuration or evocation, but a set of techniques. That’s why I don’t use my horn that much: techniques of chaos magic are aided by the presence of a horn, but they do not require one. Besides, I, um… ” He gulped. “I prefer not to rely on my horn. Horns can burn out, they can be broken, they can be cut.” He shuddered. “They can be sawed off or ground down, and when that happens it’s quite difficult to keep your concentration going long enough to cast anything. Power that can be lost so easily is no power at all, and I like to keep the power I earn, you understand.”

It didn’t take Bastion long to put two and two together. Clearly Sage’s time in Alherda had involved some more invasive bullying than anything the changeling was used to from ponies. “So I could learn chaos magic, too? Doldrum could learn it?”

He snorted. “No. The horn is optional, sure, but Unicorns have a lot of other things that aren’t. An ability to think magically is the most important one, and that’s something that can take a long time to develop if you’re not born with it, or it can take a few days, there’s no way to predict it. Chaos magic is closest to, I suppose, wish magic, you might say. And we all know simply wishing for things typically doesn’t work very well. You risk hitting a wall and getting demotivated with a practice like that, at least if you lack the fundamentals. No, chaos magic has too high a skill floor for a novice, you don’t want to start out with that. The techniques I prefer only make it a little more palatable, is all. As a result, I hardly ever cast through my horn, I can shoot a spell from anywhere I like. I also don’t have any tells in combat. There’s no glow or gesture that betrays when or what I’m casting. I can toss out a spell from complete standstill, which makes countering me a lot harder.”

“But I’m guessing there’s a big weakness to it, too, right? If it’s not that popular and all?”

“Very astute. Can you guess what?”

“Umm, maybe… you can’t switch from one type of spell to the other very quickly? I think Starlight mentioned that the other day. I mean, if you’re basically wishing for something, and you’re constantly wishing for the same, then suddenly switching to wishing something else could be stressful?”

“A sound analysis indeed. Yes, my combat capabilities are somewhat limited by that. Once I get going into a rapid fire, I can’t teleport right away. And vice versa: if I’m blinking from one spot to the other, I can’t retaliate.” He leaned in closer, ominously. “So I have to pick my fights very carefully.” He chuckled and backed away. “As for your question about Sunburst? Something you’ll learn very quickly about ponies, young changeling: we all walk around with blinders. Some things right next to us, we never see.”

“You saw it, though. You knew exactly how to fix my prismatics.”

“I see lots of things others don’t, yes, it’s part of both my talent and my upbringing. Unfortunately, in return I don’t see things most ponies do. More to the point, most ponies don’t listen when I try to explain something, even when it’s important. Especially when it’s important. As such, I prefer to spare my voice for those that do listen.”

“Umm, I’m listening.”

“That much, I can see.” Sage waved his hoof at the dummies, lining them up. “You’re doing well, let’s take it to the next level.”

“What’s the next level?”

“Learning how to shoot different prismatics with your eyes open. You won’t get a chance to do it blindly in combat.”

The boy’s ears splayed back. “Oh. Right.”

Starlight suppressed a sigh. Today would have been a perfect opportunity to talk to Sunburst. Sage was off tutoring Bastion, the boys were playing with the rest of the campers, she finally had her wish: she and Sunburst were alone.

She really should have specified a length of time to be alone with him, in retrospect.

“So when does the guest arrive?” Starlight asked. They were both standing on one of the hills near camp, not one of the big ones but a flatter one that made for a comfortable entry point in case of visitors.

“Should be any second now,” Sunburst replied.

Right in front of them, a swirling vortex of arcane energy opened. It stabilised into a portal, from which there strode a slender but intense-looking Unicorn stallion. He was grey with a black mane and tail, his body almost entirely covered by a red cape. He tapped a golden medallion around his neck, and the portal closed.

“Chancellor Neighsay,” Sunburst greeted, surprise in his voice. “Thought you’d be sending a delegate, to be honest. Still, good to see you again, how is Canterlot?”

“Hello, Sunburst,” the stallion greeted. “Canterlot stands firm, as it always has. How goes the tutoring?”

“It’s going well. We’ve seen some good progress from all the foals so far.”

“And our troublemakers?”

Sunburst stopped. Starlight’s ears twitched. “Troublemakers?” she asked.

Neighsay looked her over, and she almost swore he cast a detection spell for good measure. “One Live Wire and one Doldrum, Madam. I believe you refer to them as Assault and Battery. How are they doing?”

“Well, Live Wire’s learned some metamagic, so has Doldrum,” Sunburst said. “Live Wire can do a dash now, and Starlight’s gotten him some basic conjuration lessons, too, haven’t you?”

“Yu-err, I mean, yes. He can summon water now, and he’s up to solids already, but small fry first. As for Doldrum, I thoughtmaybe giving him some training in using wand sheaths might help. You know, as a stepping stone skill.”

Neighsay’s brows raised ever so slightly. “Ah. I suppose that would make it easier for him to transition towards armour, yes. Still maintaining their high level, then, that’s good. I apologise, Starlight, was it? I thought I recognised your face from somewhere, but I don’t think we’ve officially met yet. You are not from Canterlot, are you?”

Uh oh. “No, I’m not. I’m Starlight Glimmer, an old friend of Sunburst’s.”

“From Sire’s Hollow, I presume, then.” His nostrils flared with annoyance when she nodded. “I can’t say I’m familiar with your name, either, I’m afraid. But you must have some skill to be teaching conjuration to a boy like Live Wire. Where did you get your training?”

“Mostly in Alherda Foals’ Hospital.”

Again, Neighsay’s nostrils flared. “You’ll have to be more specific than that. Patient or orderly?”

“Orderly. Wizard-in-residence, though they skirted the rules a little bit, so I don’t know if it really counts.”

“Hmm. We shall have to see your results, then. Speaking of results, where is Sage Cracker?”

“Solo tutoring Bastion, our new changeling addition.”

Neighsay froze. “You let the changeling consort with Assault and Battery?”

“Yeah, it was Sage’s idea.”

The stallion groaned. “I didn’t doubt for a second it was. Has he been behaving himself? No unfortunate incidents?”

“No, he gets along fine with our two other colts,” Starlight replied. “A little bit of friction with, umm, Assault, as you call him, but nothing major. They respect each other.”

“I wasn’t referring to the changeling.”

“Sage is his usual self,” Sunburst replied. “Toned down a little bit compared to usual, I suppose.”

Starlight looked confusedly at her friend.

“It is a long and dreary history, Starlight Glimmer,” Neighsay explained. “One I hope you do not become too intimately familiar with in the coming days. Suffice it to say Sage Cracker has had his run-ins with myself and the governmental body I represent. But enough about that, what level are the children on, on average?”

“They can all put up a good fight, they’re well within the margins of the EEA. Well, most of them. Tree Hugger has two Pegasi who are a little too timid, they’ve got some flight problems because of that, and one Unicorn who’s got the jitters, nothing serious. Bulk Biceps has three Earth ponies he’s working on getting some more general strength and stamina, and one Unicorn with balance issues, so he’s working on purely core strength there. Everyone else, pretty standard group.”

“Alright, then.”

“What’s on the itinerary for today’s test?” Sunburst asked.

“A standard Junior Royal Guard drill shall suffice: an obstacle course.”

“Oh,” Starlight said. “We didn’t set up any obstacle course.”

For the first time since his arrival, Starlight saw Neighsay smile. He tapped his amulet. “You did not tell her about me, Sunburst? I don’t know if I should be flattered or insulted.”

“We just need a wide enough open space,” Sunburst said to her. “You’ll see.”

They descended the hill about halfway, and Neighsay sat down, before cupping his medallion in his hooves. A bright, golden light erupted from it, followed by hard green shapes.

“Illusory terrain,” Neighsay intoned. “Conjure implements. Triple tribal test.” He made a casting motion around the trinket. “Record. Process. Produce.”

The golden energy hit the ground, and snaked over it in a rectangular pattern before rising up to form a box. Then it was split in three, and the green energy distributed itself evenly between the sections.

In one, the green took the form of dirt that coated the soil, as well as a set of five plows. In another, it took the form of a set of giant fans and rings floating in the air. In the last, it took the form of a set of clay pigeon launchers.

Starlight’s jaw dropped. “Wow. That’s impressive. Illusory terrain the size of three hoofball fields, enough light constructs to supply an army… Does that all come from your amulet or is part of it just you?”

“I am a mix of conjuration and evocation wizard by trade, so the skill required to operate these things is mine, but the power comes from my medallion, yes.” He rubbed over the thing, lost in thought. “This is more than a mere trinket. It’s more than merely a powerful artifact, even. It contains knowledge, and the means to preserve that knowledge, as well as test it. What you see before you is a pre-prepared installation, to be deployed when needed. In ancient times, such an artifact would allow masters to train pupils beyond the limits of a tower, or when on the run from the more covetous kingdoms.”

“That’s an archmage’s amulet, the kind warlocks would fight over,” Starlight said. “Is that Midnight Castle design or the Phoenix Feather variant?”

Neighsay gave her a dignified nod of respect. “Your knowledge of history seems to be in order, at least. It is neither: this is a Ponos Bank design.”

Starlight let out an impressed whistle. “Ponos river amulet? That’s an antique, then, a museum piece. I thought they were all lost when the old continent froze over?”

“Oh, they were. The design is ancient, but the fabrication is recent: this particular trinket was fashioned shortly after our tribes arrived in Equestria. It is, appropriately enough, as old as our proud nation itself. So, let’s see how the little ones fare against it, shall we?”

Sunburst sent out a flare, and in short order the first group of campers where brought before the illusion. Little Earth ponies got hitched to the plows, Pegasi readied themselves at the starting line, and Unicorns stood ready to fire.

Starlight squinted, and noticed that the little foals were waving their hooves in front of some sort of floating paper.

“Are they… are they filling out a form?” she asked.

“Of course,” Neighsay replied. “The test needs to be recorded, does it not? If the result cannot be tied to a pony, why bother taking it?”

“Of course,” she said. “Gotta know which children are better than the others, right?”

“Exactly. Now, if that’s all in order: begin!”

At the starting signal, all three groups began their test. Five Earth ponies raced to drag their plows through the fake ground, five Pegasi flew through hoops against the gust of the fans, and five Unicorns took potshots at clay pigeons.

Once they were done, Sunburst sent out another flare, and the next group came, and then the next, and another, and another.

Pretty soon they were out of Unicorns, and Earth ponies. It only took a minor effort from Neighsay to get more Pegasus tracks into his evaluation box, and once they were out and done, he looked down at his amulet.

“The medallion will pass a final judgement, but at first glance that all seems in order,” he said. “No one too far under the acceptable margins. So, Live Wire and Doldrum, fetch them, please.”

“Uh, what’s going on?” Starlight asked, whispering to Sunburst. “Sage mentioned this guy once, but he didn’t really share any details. Why is our bunk being singled out?”

“Neighsay has a bit of a previous interest in our boys.”

“Excuse me?”

Sunburst rolled his eyes. “Like we said on day one, they got into trouble back home. They still get into trouble back home, actually. Their teachers didn’t really know what to do, so they kept appealing to a higher authority, who also didn’t know what to do. Doldrum and Live Wire’s cases both went up and up the chain of command, and...”

“Now Chancellor Neighsay is the one evaluating them.”

“Yup.”

“The head of Equestrian Education Association. Who wears an archmage amulet like it’s a bow tie. That guy’s going to tell two small children how well they’re doing?”

Sunburst nodded, if reluctantly. “To be fair, they’ve been getting better.”

Bulk Biceps came walking to the box with the boys flanking him. Even from that distance, Starlight could hear him yelling encouragement at them, hyping them up so they’d do well.

Oh, boys. She suppressed a chuckle.

Live Wire stepped into the box. He went right into the middle of it, well in view of the adults. All the children of the camp had already cleared off, but whether that was because they were asked to or if they weren’t taking any risk of electrocution, Starlight couldn’t tell.

The only colt watching was Doldrum.

A dragonfly made of green light appeared out of the ground and swooped at Live Wire with the speed of a crossbow bolt. He rolled out of the way and zapped the thing once it was clear.

Two more came up, faster this time. He blew them out with a twinned thunderbolt.

“Hmm, twinning his cantrips now, good. Husbanding his power better, that’s promising,” Neighsay said.

Three more came for the boy, then four, then five, on and on, wave after wave he deflected and destroyed.

When he got up to ten, he conjured up a thundercloud to do the blasting for him. That lasted another five rounds.

“Conjuration, I see now,” Neighsay said, nodding in appreciation. “You used a thundercloud as a stepping stone. Very shrewd of you, Starlight, I wouldn’t have thought of that.”

Around the twenty-mark, the colt was starting to sweat.

Starlight almost said something, but then he threw up a ball of lightning, which quickly dropped back onto his horn. The thunderwave that resulted slammed every light construct back and dissipated them in one blow.

“Not bad, not bad,” Neighsay said. “His control is certainly better than last time. He has more variety, and the cleverness to know when to use it. That’s very good progress overall, he’s getting more efficient with his bursts of power.” A black screen appeared next to him, one with a wavy pattern in green. “His heart is still a little erratic, though, has been since the start.”

“Well, we did want him to be safe while he mastered his magic,” Sunburst said. “But he learned that dash the other day, and, well, you know boys and new tricks.”

“He overdid it a little bit.” Neighsay smiled. “As any healthy young colt would, testing his boundaries. It seems as though he is coping with the aftermath well enough now.”

One final dragonfly, a tiny little thing, jumped up behind Live Wire. It was met with a zap that surprised both it and the boy.

Starlight’s heart wept for him.

A misfire. He still can’t switch it off.

The Chancellor snorted. “But I wouldn’t rescind those restraining orders before year’s end, still. As much as I appreciate the progress, he can do far more damage now before his heart gives out. Doldrum is last, send him in.”

The Pegasus flew past his bunkmate and into the box, landing lightly and easily.

“What kind of test did you have in mind for him? He doesn’t have his weapons on him.”

“Weapon skills are tested separately, Miss Starlight. If a pony is armed, they can be disarmed, after all. Power that can be taken away so easily is no power at all.” Neighsay made a circular gesture over his amulet and intoned another incantation. “Case file Doldrum, Pegasus. Simulate Royal Guard scenario 1410, full power.”

“Wait, 1410? That’s the swamp. You’re putting him in the swamp again?” Sunburst asked.

“Umm, what’s scenario 1410?” Starlight asked. The box had already taken its commands, filling with gas and obscuring most of the view, except for the three ponies with a higher vantage point.

“1410 is part of the reason Doldrum is, well, the way he is now,” Sunburst said. “It’s his trauma.”

“I’d hardly call him traumatised at this point,” Neighsay replied. “I want to see how his self-control has progressed. If you have a better means of evaluating that, Sunburst, I’m all ears.”

Starlight felt the presence ahead before she heard it. Even from that far away, she felt an irritation in her lungs.

The figure that approached Doldrum in the box was more realistic than the other illusions. It was bipedal, and looked like a thin-limbed devil made of branches, which were then covered with green mossy plates of armour. In one of its hands, it carried a curved blade, nicked and dented.

“A water devil.” Starlight coughed. “You’re making him fight a water devil? With their enchantment up? Can he even breathe when it’s that close?”

“Barely, but that didn’t stop him the first time,” Neighsay remarked. “Begin!”

Doldrum ducked out of the way of the first swing of the blade, it hit the ground with enough force to spray up dirt and grass. A second swipe went for his legs, he evaded it with a single flap of his wings, straight up.

Starlight’s chest hurt, and looking next to her she could see Sunburst was having trouble breathing as well. Even if it was only a simulation, at such a long distance, the breath-stealing magic felt very real.

The thing moved unnaturally, suddenly accelerating from complete standstill. Doldrum was pushed back on the defensive, Starlight could see the quiver in his ears, the tears in his eyes as he coughed.

“Are you sure this is necessary? It seems a bit harsh,” she said.

The water devil snapped at him, reaching for his throat before anypony really knew what was happening.

Then came the smashing.

Starlight turned her head just in time to see the colt shatter the arm reaching for him. With one attack deflected, he flew up and slammed a hind hoof into the thing’s helmet, denting it. When he landed, he swooped the thing off its feet and jumped up to pummel the illusion in the face.

Armour cracked. Bones shattered.

But more than that, lungs wheezed.

He can’t breathe. He’s fighting, but he can’t breathe. He’s moving on pure adrenaline.

Never mind Live Wire’s heart problems, if Doldrum keeps this up his heart’ll just explode!

“Terminate test,” Neighsay said to amulet. “Process data.”

The field vanished, the mist cleared. Doldrum kept on punching the ground even as the demon armour faded into nothingness. When it was gone, he pounded the grass. His right hoof thumped and thumped, always in the same place. When the grass was gone, he mashed into the ground. His right shoulder started to twitch at the base, fledgling muscles pushed to their breaking point.

Starlight rushed forward. “Calm down! It’s okay, it’s over, the test is over.”

There was a moment where he looked at her.

His eyes were not empty, she would later realise, but part of her wished they were. There was willpower in those eyes, willpower fed by pain, and unencumbered by notions of mercy or even empathy. It was an animalistic need to survive behind those eyes, one set to kill.

I know that look.

It was only a moment, and in that moment she barely threw up a shield before he punched at her.

It shook, it shuddered, but it held.

Doldrum stood, ears splayed, hoof out in striking position. His breath still came in ragged. He blinked, and that killer look in his eyes faded. “I’m sorry,” he croaked.

“It’s okay,” Starlight said. “You’re right to be upset. That was a harsh test, and coming down from that kind of thing is tricky, for anypony. No harm done. I had my shield up. No harm done, okay? You didn’t hurt me.”

He looked away. “That doesn’t make it any better.”

Neighsay grumbled, coming closer to inspect the damage to the soil. “No real change there, I see. Still a hair trigger right after a fight.” He rolled his eyes.

“He didn’t hit me, though. He only tapped my shield, that wasn’t a full strike.”

“I noticed. Striking power is far above average, on dangerous levels, even. Reflexes and speed are maintained much more consistently now, none of the highs and lows it used to be. Slightly longer time frame, too, if my count isn’t off.” He shot a glance at Doldrum. “Your skills are progressing admirably. I’ll make sure the dealer in Sire’s Hollow stocks up on the next few artificer tomes you’ll want. You’re quite close to the level of making strength belts and speed bracers now. Remarkable for your age, but not exceptional within historical context.” Neighsay shook his head. “Ability to operate under respiratory stress remains higher than average. Hair trigger is still a problem, but at least your self-control is improving.” He nodded to the boy, before looking at Sunburst. “See that it continues to do so, please. I have more important matters to concern myself with than to have to deal with two problem children.”

“Will do,” Sunburst said.

“Thank you. It’s good to know proper masters still exist in Equestria, even with your unfortunate circumstances.”

Starlight’s ears perked. “His whatnow?”

“I’ll come by in a few days with a full report.” Neighsay tapped the amulet, and another portal opened. “As convenient as this trinket is, it still requires time to process and print. Oh, and Sunburst?”

“Yes?”

“Try not to leave Doldrum and Bastion alone unsupervised, please? We don’t know how their magic interacts.”

With that, Neighsay was through the portal, back in Canterlot or wherever his business might take him.

Sunburst sighed. “Well, that was unpleasant.”

Doldrum was still wheezing, panting, clutching his chest with a look of agony on his face.

Starlight looked at him, mentally checking for any signs of deeper injury. “Is… is that how you got your cutie mark, Doldrum? That’s the fight you were talking about? You fought a water devil?”

He nodded.

“Okay.” Starlight sat down in front of him. “I’d ask you to tell me what happened, but I’m guessing it went a little like it did just now, huh?”

Again, he nodded.

“And you feel bad about that. Because you’re scared you might hurt someone? Because you don’t feel alive unless you feel like killing something?”

Another nod, without a word.

“And did that fight happen before or after you started working with artifact magic?”

“After,” he finally replied, wiping his nose. “I was just starting to get stronger, making my body harder.”

He certainly did a good job at that. After the exertion of that fight, his muscles looked swollen from the effort. He didn’t have the sculpted look of an athlete now, but he looked like he’d been poured from molten metal, a telltale sign of magic-enhanced physique. And that shoulder was already starting to recover, she recognised the vague aura of Pegasus magic around it.

“Who else knows about this?”

“My family. My teachers. My friends.”

She waited, before asking, “Does it hurt?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“But we could fix-”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” he insisted.

Live Wire’s ears twitched. “Umm, Miss Starlight, you might wanna...”

“But if you’d just explain it maybe we could-”

“I said: I don’t want to talk about it!”

The shout was louder than anything that had come out of that boy’s mouth so far. His eyes shifted back to that intense, almost murderous look.

It definitely looked familiar to Starlight now.

He’s hurting. He’s hurting deep.

She didn’t have time to ponder it, as Doldrum walked right past her, wings out. “I don’t want to talk about it. I don’t want to explain it, I don’t want ponies to try and fix me. Just leave me alone, please?”

Sunburst gestured with his horn towards the lake. “You’re excused, Doldrum. Head back to the cabin at your own pace, rest up. Lie down for a while if you have to. When you’ve calmed down again, we’ve got a little section of the lake all to ourselves today for swimming lessons. You can head down whenever you feel like it, make sure you bring your goggles and flippers, just don’t go off the grounds.”

“I won’t.” With a slow flap, he took off and headed towards the bunk.

“Should I go with him?” Live Wire asked.

“No. It’s better to leave him alone for a bit. You get to the lake.” Sunburst cringed when he saw the glare Starlight was shooting his way. “I think the grown-ups need to discuss a few things.”

Bastion had taken a few tries, but he managed to switch his prismatics fluidly now. He could cast with his eyes open, twin an orb, detonate one from behind a target, even hit one while it was careening towards him.

“There we go, that wasn’t so hard after all, was it? Just needed to figure out the trick for it,” Sage said, putting the dummy upright.

“Yup. This’ll be great. I can’t wait to try this out back home sometime. I can start a fire when we’re camping, put out a fire safely, I can scare off a Craggadile with that acid…”

“Don’t go looking for trouble, though,” Sage warned. “Or start to tunnel vision. Prismatic spells are mostly a stepping stone, they’re a step in between mastery, not mastery itself.”

Sage’s horn twinkled.

“Oh, that’s Sunburst sending a message.” He gestured with a hoof, and out popped a scroll. He took it in his magic and quickly browsed over the contents. “Starlight wants to discuss something. Alright, I suppose we can call it here. Head back to the bunk and get out your swimming gear. We’ve got part of the lake today. You know how to swim, right?”

“Umm, kinda? Not very well, though. Not in this form, I mean.”

“We’ll work on that, then. You brought your swimming goggles?”

“Goggles, a snorkel, and I think I packed flippers.” Bastion tapped his head. “Not sure where, though.”

“Well, don’t take too long. Meet back at the lake and we’ll see about getting your wings wet proper, maybe do some rescue exercises while we’re at it, you’ll like that.”

“Yes, sir.” Bastion saluted the stallion excitedly and hurried to the bunk.

He turned, and found Sage Cracker had disappeared. No teleportation sound, no pop, nothing.

“I really need to ask him how he does that sometime,” Bastion said to himself.

Sage came trotting by to the pair of Unicorns. “Okay, what’s the problem?”

Sunburst winced. “Starlight has some questions about Doldrum’s… condition.”

“You finally saw him fight barehooved, huh? Yeah, that’s nasty,” Sage joked. “That colt can end you at three paces.” His expression turned grave. “He didn’t attack anyone, did he?”

“Me,” Starlight said. “Almost. He hit my shield.”

Sage turned to Sunburst. His jaw dropped a little bit, a look of genuine regret on his face. “Oh. I’m very sorry to hear that, I thought he was getting better at controlling himself.”

“He is,” Sunburst said. “Even Neighsay thinks he’s gotten better.”

Starlight bit her lip. “That’s not the point. You knew about this, both of you. You knew and you didn’t tell me.”

“So did you. Or at least, I figured you would by now,” Sage retorted. “Everyone will tell you: Doldrum got his cutie mark after a fight. We went over this: he has a magic addiction, or a gnostic addiction, if you want to get technical. It’s getting milder now, but it’s still a problem.”

“Yes, I know that, but you never mentioned he fought a monster! That was a water devil, that’s terror incarnate, they can choke you just by standing too close. Why didn’t you mention that part?”

“It’s camp policy,” Sunburst said.

“You mean it’s Sage’s policy.”

“Pretty much the same thing, really.” Sage said. “Why?”

“You don’t think it’s useful to tell me what sort of problems he has before I try to fix them?”

“Sure it’s useful.” Sage shrugged. “That’s what the nurses and doctors do for him back home. That’s what his teachers do. That’s what everyone who knows him tries to do. And look where that got him.”

Starlight frowned. “I don’t understand.”

Sage came closer and sat down on the grass. “Think about it for a second. What is the difference, practically speaking, in terms of outcome? What would have happened if I’d told you right from the start?”

“I’d have… I’d have been more careful, more gentle.”

“You would have treated him differently,” Sunburst concluded. “And he would have known that you were treating him differently. A boy his age will pick up on that. And then you stop being a teacher in his eyes. You end up being another reminder that something is wrong.”

Starlight sighed in defeat. “You want to break the feedback loop. Of course. Did you know, Sunburst? Right from the get-go?”

“No, I found out because he told me, and he told me because, at the time, he trusted me. He was lot more scared when I first met him. Sage knows him longer, though. He’s been working with him ever since the, well, the incident.”

Sage nodded. “Doldrum likes to try and look normal, at least when it comes to that part. If he can fake being, well, not completely messed up, then he can start believing he really isn’t as messed up as he thinks he is. Of course, that does make it more painful when he’s found out.” Sage rolled his eyes. “Neighsay tried 1410 on him, again?”

“Maximum settings,” Sunburst replied. “It went about as well as you’d expect.”

“Great.” Sage let out an annoyed grunt. “Well, silver lining, at least: now you’ve had a proper look at what we’re dealing with with our little Assault. Anything else you noticed?”

“He’s dissociating,” Starlight said. “It looks like he gets stuck with the memory in his head, and that keeps stressing him out. He got this weird look in his eyes, I didn’t recognise it at first, but I’ve seen that look before. We had patients like that in Alherda all the time.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t bring it up sooner,” Sage said. “It’s pretty normal for a boy in his situation.”

“So, what, he doesn’t feel alive unless he’s losing himself in a trance, and what he does feel like becomes murderous before he wakes up?”

“That’s the long and short of it. That’s why we’re working on his self-control: he has to learn to stay conscious when he loses himself, keep all the focus and still maintain lucid thoughts when the adrenalin kicks in,” Sage remarked. “That’s the only way he’s going to get past this.”

“Well, that or get into a fight that lasts for so long he’s completely exhausted and his mind and body just reset,” Sunburst suggested.

“It’s the only reasonable way, with minimal damage to himself and others,” Sage clarified.

Starlight scoffed. “Great, that’s not a tall order for a child at all. What else haven’t you told me?”

“What else hasn’t he told you yet, you mean? You’re a teacher here, not a doctor. If he doesn’t want you to know, you have no right to force him.”

She opened her mouth to protest, then bit her lip. “I suppose I can understand that, a little. I don’t agree with it, but fine. I just hope he’s okay.”

Sage looked around. “Is Doldrum by the lake now? If he had such a bad time, we might want to get him into the meditation bunks again.”

“I sent him to our bunk. When he gets like this, he needs time alone,” Sunburst said. “The memories and thoughts become so loud he can’t really hear himself think. As long as no one gets in his way, he’s fine. Why, where’s Bastion?”

“Probably by the lake by now, waiting for us. You’re right, as long as no one gets in his way when he’s upset, he’ll be fine.”

Bastion had pretty much turned his luggage inside out by now, looking for his swimming gear. The flippers were easy to find, his snorkel was tucked away to the bottom and the side of his bag, so that took a while to track down, but the goggles were downright gone.

Turns out he’d put his them in a little pocket in the top of his backpack so he’d have easy access to it.

Of course, once he’d made a mess trying to find his swimming goggles he decided he’d better clean up after himself, which he did as quickly and calmly as he could. There wasn’t a lot of shelf space in the bunk, and he wasn’t about to get in trouble for being sloppy.

He turned, and there stood his bunkmate.

“Oh. Hey, Doldrum. Didn’t see you there,” Bastion started. “How did the test go?”

Doldrum took a deep, slow breath in, and glared at the changeling.

Bastion flinched. “Uh, are you okay?”

Author's Note

Hoo boy, lots to say on this one. The show's poor definition of magic always made stories like this one needlessly complicated. But Bastion needed alone time with all three adults, and he had to learn something new each time, so this is the progression I settled on. Prismatic spells tie into Sunburst's background, and they make the D&D connection a little more fleshed out.

Adding Neighsay made sense, and the amulet he has in-canon didn't need much tweaking to fit into the paradigm of artifact magic becoming a thing, so in he went. He also shows up in part 3, so I had to get him in there somewhere and show that Sunburst and him know each other.

I don't know if I mentioned this yet, but the Alherda thing isn't a reference to anything specific. I remember there being a genetic deficiency that basically makes foals fall apart that kind of sounded like Alherda in abbreviation, but I can't recall the details right now. And yes, I do practise chaos magic myself (not often anymore, but hey, new year), but my own backstory is nowhere near as tragic. It just made sense to have a pony city that hates Unicorns, because the fandom seems to enjoy painting them as villains while completely ignoring established canon about the sacrifices.

As for the whole 'power that can be taken away' thing? That is from the Order of the Stick webcomic, page 657, paraphrased. I should also note that Sage never confirms whether his horn was ever damaged. He doesn't need to: ponies like Fizzlepop Berrytwist are enough of an example. And they would end up in Alherda.

One more chapter, and this story will be done.

Bottled Up

Doldrum’s flight back to the bunk was slow and sluggish, mirroring his thoughts.

Nopony cares.

It doesn’t matter.

No matter how strong I get, it’s never enough.

No one really wants me.

He set down once he got to the bunk, ready to plop down on his bed and hopefully sleep off those darker thoughts. He usually felt better after a nap.

I gotta stop thinking like this.

Even if it is true.

He stepped through the open door. Bastion stood in front of him.

“Oh. Hey, Doldrum. Didn’t see you there,” Bastion started. “How did the test go?”

Doldrum took a deep, slow breath in, and glared at the changeling.

“Uh, are you okay?” Bastion asked.

Doldrum let out a deep sigh to try and calm himself down.

Don’t freak out. He doesn’t know. It’s not his fault. He shouldn’t know.

“No,” Doldrum replied. “But the test went okay, I guess. Just not okay enough. What are you doing here?”

“Getting my things for swimming class.”

Doldrum tilted his head. “Can’t you just… turn into a fish for that?”

“Well, yeah, but… I don’t want to.”

For a moment, Doldrum’s thoughts lightened, and he wondered if perhaps he’d been misjudging the changeling. “Oh. You mean like a handicap for training?”

“No, I just don’t think I should do that kind of thing in front of ponies.”

No. No, he had accurately judged the changeling. “Right, of course.” He walked forward, out of Bastion’s way, and moved towards the bed.

“Aren’t you going to go swimming, too?”

“Not right now,” Doldrum replied. “I need a nap. Maybe I’ll come down later.”

“Did you cheat at the test? Is that what’s wrong?”

Doldrum froze. “Excuse me?”

“Look, it’s fine if you can’t do some things, you know. There’s no shame in admitting it. But that’s no reason to break the rules or make it unfair to everypony else.”

Doldrum’s hooves quivered as he touched his bed.

I’m not gonna get any sleep now.

No one cares.

He thought back to what Starlight had told him. Perhaps he needed a little pick-me-up. “You really think what I do is cheating?”

“I mean, nopony else can do what you do,” Bastion argued. “It’s not really fair to them. And nopony in camp can change shape, so why do you keep asking me to?”

“Because you can.” Doldrum turned around to face him. “And if you’re not going to, why are you even here?”

Bastion winced. “Well, I… I wanted to make some new friends, on my own. And I wanted to get stronger.”

Doldrum narrowed his eyes. “You really want to fight better?”

“Yes.”

“And you don’t see the problem with what you’re doing? At all?”

“No, what are you talking about?”

Doldrum snorted.

He doesn’t know.

But he has to. He’s supposed to be super smart, right?

Maybe he can’t see it. Maybe he’s like me.

Maybe he needs it.

“How about a fair fight, then? You and me, right now?” Doldrum asked. He grabbed his bag and walked outside, gesturing to Bastion to follow.

“What do you mean?”

“You saw me and Live Wire fight on day one. Wanna do the same thing? We can settle once and for all whether it’s fair to fight me or not.”

“I don’t think that’s possible,” Bastion said.

“No? Here, take your pick.” Doldrum tossed the bag of trinkets on the ground, unzipped. “Grab whatever artifacts you want, you know how to use them already anyway.”

“And you?”

“I’ll fight unarmed. Does that sound fair?”

Bastion took a step back, but the boy’s eyes betrayed his thoughts. The changeling was already scanning the weapons, calculating a plan based on the terrain, estimating strategies.

He wanted this, and it showed.

“Fine. I’ll take the Lightning Rings, the Ice Amulet, and the Wind Belt. I don’t need wands. But don’t complain when I beat you fair and square, okay?”

“I won’t.”

Bastion was decked out to full capacity with the trinkets. He made sure to test them all, to make it fair. Then he braced himself, and thought long and hard about his first move.

Okay, first thing I have to do is create some distance. He’s three paces away from me, so I’ll use the Wind Belt to make that five. Then I’ll pelt him with the Ice Amulet to make him flinch as he rushes back into range, and that’ll create the opening to zap him with the Lightning Ring.

He tensed.

Fwoomp.

He felt the air on his ears, and his body shook.

Doldrum was already in striking range, arm extended. He’d punched the air right next to Bastion’s ear. “You get three hits for free. I’m going to start hitting you for real after that.”

Bastion quickly jumped back, readying the belt. “W-what the… you weren’t that fast before!”

“Sure I was. But I have to pace myself, so I go slow when there’s a crowd. I can’t take on dozens of ponies just like that. But one on one? In a fair fight? I have a lot of power to spare.”

Bastion shivered. The way Doldrum was talking at the start of a fight, that bragging, it didn’t sound right. It didn’t sound like a brag, it sounded friendly, almost. Taking the hint, Bastion took a deep breath in and let loose a wind blast.

Doldrum had a hind hoof to his gut already, but at that close range, Bastion was forced to let the shot go. It drove his opponent back a step, but more than that, it allowed Bastion to ride the blowback and create more room.

Okay, I’ve got the distance. I can start pelting him from here, even if it doesn’t go perfectly to plan.

With that, Bastion started shooting ice balls at the Pegasus, aiming for the head, the chest, trying to clip his wings, anything.

Doldrum dodged every single one. The ice wasn’t quick enough at ten paces, too much of a wind-up and a predictable angle of attack.

The third lunge from Doldrum, Bastion saw coming. He lowered his body and pounced with one single flap of the wings, closing the distance like a crossbow bolt and rolling into a kick aimed right at the head.

Despite his better judgement, Bastion flew up to dodge the attack, purely on instinct.

Looking down, he saw Doldrum smiling.

He made me fly up. He wants me to fly up.

Trying to go for fifteen paces this time, Bastion set back down. “Why do you keep trying to make me change shape? Why do you want me to fly? Is this some sort of trick?”

“I told you why. It’s because you can. Why don’t you want to use the power you have?”

“Because it’s not fair to other ponies! Look at you! You’ve got Pegasus super speed, you’re stronger than a lot of Earth ponies, and you’ve got artifacts for magic! I’m surprised you haven’t sprouted a horn yet!”

“So?” Doldrum asked. “You’ve got wings, and a horn. You can fly, and you have magic. The only thing you don’t have is Earth pony strength, and you can change shape to get that. You can do way more than I can. Besides, I don’t have any artifacts on me right now. You do. Do you think it would be fair to use them against me, if I can’t defend against that?”

Bastion growled. “Yes. You’re a cheat, and a bully. And it’s about time someone showed you what it feels like.” Bastion revved up the Lightning Rings and let fly.

One bolt went wide, Doldrum easily sidestepped it. Another went too high, barely grazing his mane. The third one connected, though, hitting him right in tip of a wing.

There. Right there, that’s the opening.

Bastion rose up and stood on his hind hooves to keep up the pressure, firing at double time. Bolt after bolt, lightning ball after lightning ball, he kept on peppering Doldrum’s hide with the magical assault.

He kept on firing, even when Doldrum started to twitch, even when the rings around his arms started to feel heavy. Even when his magic was starting to feel depleted, he kept up the pressure.

Doldrum was still up, gritting his teeth but not buckling in the slightest. Lightning magic was faster, easier to land a hit with from afar, but it didn’t do a lot of damage against a Pegasus.

There was only one option left: a continuous stream.

Doldrum was already back on all fours when Bastion unleashed a single beam of lightning. It hit, but Doldrum blocked it with a hoof and started walking awkwardly towards him, fighting the current.

Bastion’s breath started to grow short, the exertion was getting to him.

Then he heard a squeak.

Wait, what?

Something stabbed into his back, three spots in between the shoulder blades ached and burned, and it wasn’t long before Bastion started to feel dizzy. The lightning onslaught hadn’t fazed Doldrum at all, but something had damaged Bastion in the process.

What? A booby trap? How? I checked it.

He tried to ignite his horn, and found it working, but his lungs ached and almost clenched in his chest, denying him air.

“W-wha… c-can’t… breathe…” Bastion collapsed and rolled onto his back, wheezing for air.

He didn’t see his opponent approach him, but he heard it: slow, calm hoofsteps, not even a hint of a wobble.

“You wanted a fair fight,” Doldrum said, looming over him. “You got your wish. This is what happens to me every time I try to fight fair. This is why I don’t run. I’m not strong enough. I’m… impure.”

Bastion saw the hoof rise up, right above his snout. From that perspective, it looked like a killshot about to happen.

Doldrum shook his head. “And so is everything I make. You should have been paying attention to how I pace myself. You might have noticed I never shoot faster than I have to.”

Bastion kept his eyes open, even as he gasped for air. “I-I’m… sorry…”

“Good.”

Down came the hoof, and thunder filled the boy’s world.

Doldrum wiped his eyes. The blast had knocked him back.

“Live Wire,” he greeted. “What are you doing?”

The Unicorn had appeared with a flash of light and a peal of thunder, and with enough force to drive a wedge between the two colts. He’d even gone right into a battle stance.

“Well, it’s swimming lessons today, and I forgot my goggles were still back here. So did the grown-ups, I guess. What are you doing? Did you try to fight Bastion?”

Bastion merely wheezed in response.

“What did you do?” Live Wire asked. “Did you infect him or something?”

Doldrum growled. “I am not contagious. He wanted a fair fight, so I gave him one. Now he knows how it feels. I let him use my trinkets, and he overdid it.”

“Not cool, Doldrum,” Live Wire said, ears crackling with static. “You have no right throwing that in his face.”

“He threw it in mine first,” Doldrum retorted. “He doesn’t belong here if he wants to keep this up.”

Live Wire shook his head. “That’s low, dude. Just because he’s changeling-”

“No. Because he’s a pretender, a fake.”

Bastion wheezed and coughed, barely getting out a “Stop” before rolling clumsily over the grass, the fits of coughing making it impossible to even stand up at this point.

Doldrum looked on. It was all too familiar: too fast, too much, and that curse of his kicked in. “Think about it. He keeps saying he wants to get stronger, but he never uses his strengths. He never shapeshifts, he never flies and casts, he wants to pretend to be an Earth pony and I’d bet he wouldn’t even use super strength if he had it. Instead, he uses you and me to do the dirty work, and he just tells himself he’s getting better. He’s not a strategist or a warrior: strategists use everything they have, and warriors build up what they don’t. You wouldn’t put up with that kind of thing from me, no one would. So why should I put up with that from him?”

Live Wire looked at Bastion, who was still struggling to breathe. “Take it back.”

“I can’t,” Doldrum said. “He got himself into this, he can get himself out.”

“I’m not kidding, Doldrum.” Live Wire took a step forward. “Take it back. You can’t do this.”

Doldrum snorted. “You can’t stop me, even if you wanted to.”

“Normally, no. But you’re not thinking straight. I can take you on easily right now.”

“Is that a challenge?”

“No. That’s a warning,” Live Wire took another step. “Take it back. I’m not gonna ask again.”

“Okay, then I won’t have to tell you again: I can’t.”

Doldrum’s ears perked at the sound of metal hitting the grass. The low whine of a magic discharge started to come from Bastion, and much to the Pegasus’s surprise, Bastion got back on his hooves.

“I said: stop!” He coughed, and a single blobby blast of green erupted from his horn. When it was passed, Bastion was breathing normally again. He was a bit wobbly, but he was standing. “He’s right, Live Wire. I started this. I was gonna prove a point. I wanted a fair fight. And I’m gonna get it.”

“See?” Doldrum said, smiling. “Just a friendly match between the two of us. Get out of the way, Live Wire.”

“You’re crazy. This isn’t you talking, either of you.”

“Then stop us,” Doldrum said.

Live Wire grunted and pointed his hooves at the pair, standing right between them. “Don’t think I won’t. I can take on both of you if you’re this nuts.”

“Suit yourself.” Doldrum lowered his body for a pounce.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

He froze. That was Sage Cracker’s voice, and it had come from close by.

The stallion walked to Live Wire and gestured for him to lower his hooves. “Alright, let’s all calm down for a moment. Obviously something’s going on here, someone probably touched a nerve and said some things they shouldn’t have. Are we going to work this out like reasonable ponies, or are we going to make this into a problem?”

Sage tossed a glance at each boy, one at a time.

“Well?” he asked when he’d taken in the situation. “You should know by now I’m pretty good problem solver. Is this going to be a problem, or are we going to talk?”

Doldrum’s ears twitched when he heard the noise of the other two counsellors galloping towards them. With a resigned grunt, he sat down on his rump.

“Fine. I guess we can talk.”

Bastion was in trouble and he knew it. He’d agreed to fight, he’d pretty much instigated it. All three of them were kept at a reasonable distance from each other for now, each with a grown-up next to them. Starlight was the one with him, Sage was with Doldrum, leaving Sunburst with Live Wire.

“Alright, so…” Sage asked. “How did this start?”

“It was my fault,” Bastion said. “I thought Doldrum was cheating, or being a bully, and I called him out on it. I didn’t know he had a breathing problem.”

“Did he tell you?” Starlight asked.

“No.”

“Then how were you supposed to know?”

“I should have noticed.”

Starlight Glimmer shrugged. “Honestly, I didn’t notice it, either. I guess in hindsight it makes sense. Magic-linked respiratory difficulties, huh? Can’t get rid of that without getting rid of your… well...”

“It’s tied to my cutie mark,” Doldrum said. “I, umm, I feel things, and some of the things I feel, my body can’t really handle. It’s psycho-something, my head tells my lungs some bad things, basically. It’s triggered by speed. Any speed, really. It’s pretty mild when I’m on a train, I’m really fast on the short range, but anything on my own power faster than a trot and longer than ten paces, I just shut down. I’ve had breathing problems since I was five, and, well, the doctors said they couldn’t fix me. They said it’d go away with time, if I didn’t fix myself first.”

Starlight took the hint, and shot a glare at her colleagues. “Right. That’s why you wanted to do artifact magic. That’s how you can fix yourself: by refining that weakness out. But because you haven’t yet, anything with your essence in it has those… problems.”

“Exactly.” Doldrum nodded. “I started the fight. I got angry about the test thing, and, you know, everything. I said some things I shouldn’t have.”

Silence fell.

“You were right, though,” Bastion piped up. “I have been holding back. And I really shouldn’t, not if I wanna win.”

“Then why do you?” Doldrum asked.

“Chrysalis, I guess. I mean, I thought I wanted to be ready to fight Chrysalis if I have to, but now that I think about it? Turns out I’m more scared of turning into her.”

Sage nudged the boy. Reluctantly, Doldrum nodded. “I… I can understand that, kind of. I’m sorry I made you choke.”

“Don’t be. I should have paid more attention to how you pace yourself: you’re more efficient than I am. It was a good strategy, I’m gonna have to remember that.”

The Pegasus’s wings flared up. “And I wasn’t gonna land that last hit, you know. Honest. I just wanted to… I just wanted to feel a little better, and make Bastion see things the way I see them.” He looked at the adults, head down in shame. “I wasn’t planning for him to choke, either, most ponies can’t get that far once their throat starts tickling.”

“I know,” Bastion replied. “I saw your hoof coming down. I know where it was gonna land. If you really wanted to hit me, I probably wouldn’t have seen it coming in the first place.”

“Good, so that’s cleared up. Live Wire, do you have anything to say?” Sunburst asked.

“No,” said the Unicorn. “I think you’re both crazy, and I was right to get in between you when I did.”

Sunburst arched an eyebrow at him.

“But… in hindsight, I probably should have tried to keep my cool a little more, especially when I’m already a little de-volted from that test.”

“That was a good Thunderstep, though,” Doldrum said. “I couldn’t even dodge that one.”

“Thunderstep?” Sunburst asked.

“Well, yeah.” Doldrum pointed to Live Wire. “He teleported right on top of Bastion, and he blew me back with the same spell. I’ve seen Royal Guards do that, I know what that is. That’s a Thunderstep, isn’t it?”

Sage Cracker nodded in appreciation. “Congratulations, then, Live Wire: you managed to teleport. That’s some good that’s come out of this, I suppose. Alright, if we’ve all cleared the air here, I don’t think we need to drag this out any longer than it has already. I suggest we all get our things, head to the lake, and get started on that swimming lesson already before someone snatches our spot. Can I trust that there will be no more fighting without supervision or permission?”

Bastion nodded, Doldrum followed suit, and Live Wire soon joined in.

“Good. Let’s go then, boys, daylight’s burning.”

Starlight watched on as Sage was coaching the boys through some basic swimming lessons. Bastion had learned to swim in Ponyville, but he was definitely late in that department. Sage Cracker was in the water with the three boys, keeping a close eye on any errant twitches, wheezes, or electric shocks, or any combination thereof in any of the colts. He was distracted.

Starlight had Sunburst alone, pretty much.

And they had just gotten past a bit of a scare involving children. There was no better time to talk, and there likely wouldn’t be.

“I think I need to make a confession.”

“What?” Starlight’s ears perked. She hadn’t said anything. Sunburst was the one confessing.

“Umm, about before. Way before, when we were kids. Do you remember what happened the day I left Sire’s Hollow?”

The day her heart broke, the day she lost the only friend she’d ever had, the day she’d sworn to make sure no one would ever have to feel that pain again? “Maybe? It depends on what you mean.”

“What do you remember?”

“I remember we were trying to flex our magic that day. You were, at least. We stacked a few books on top of each other, and the tower fell. You stopped them from hitting me. And then you got your cutie mark in a bright flash of light. Your parents sent you away that very same day.”

“Sounds about right,” he said with a groan.

“It hurt, you know. It hurt a lot,” she said. “I think I ended up a little…”

Sunburst blinked. “A little what?”

“Damaged. After that, I mean. Things didn’t go so well for me after that. I got caught in my own head and, well, not to break up your confession or anything, but…” She sighed. “I’ve been in a bad place for a long time because of what happened. I almost did some pretty monstrous things, in fact.”

“I can imagine.”

“Wait, what?”

“I didn’t end up in a good place, either. Canterlot, it didn’t work out for me. I couldn’t keep up with the rest of my class.”

“But Princess Celestia called on you.”

“For my grasp of theory, yes, but not practice. I never got my degree.”

Starlight’s mouth fell open. “But your cutie mark, your talent! I heard your parents say you had a talent for solar magic, that you had the same kind of power as Princess Celestia!”

“Well, that might be true, but they forgot to mention Princess Celestia’s power isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.” He snickered mirthlessly. “I’m good at buff spells, making others stronger. On my own, I’m nobody.”

“But you taught Bastion how to do prismatic spells?”

“Yeah, a light-based spell. Those are easy with my talent. Animation magic, bringing stuff to life, that’s easy with my talent. Everything else?” He leaned back. “I’m book smart, Starlight, and that’s it. I can do magic just fine if somepony can just explain it to me.” He took off his glasses and wiped his nose. “But in Canterlot, everypony does magic, but no one can explain magic. I’m not so sure if anyone in Equestria can explain it, come to think of it.”

Starlight’s heart was pounding. “I can’t believe what I’m hearing. But you were a prodigy, everyone in Sire’s Hollow knew you. You were gifted, you had so many friends.”

“Ah. So you don’t remember, then.”

“Remember what?”

He looked her right in the eyes and smiled. “You were my only friend, Starlight. I wasn’t gifted: I was a gift. That mare who owned the dress shop? She asked me to teach her son magic, so I did.”

“Oh, yeah, that painter kid. What was his name? Green Door?”

“Durian Green,” Sunburst corrected. “And his talents were about as overrated as mine.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Starlight joked. “He never made anything too bad. It’s just that his paintings always looked uglier every time you looked at them.”

“Then there was that silver-haired girl, I forgot. Silver Tina?”

“Argent Tina,” Starlight said with a chuckle. “Oh, her I remember. She cried when you left, too.”

“She cried over everything, Starlight, she was a drama queen. And her parents wanted her to go Canterlot, too, so they got me to be her little prep school.”

“Right. Everyone wanted to get better with your help. They didn’t want you, just what you had to offer,” Starlight concluded. “Sounds kind of familiar.”

“Everyone except you. To everyone in Sire’s Hollow, magic was a path to power, to Canterlot, to fame and riches. But not to you. You never cared about how popular a spell was or how prestigious it was. You only ever wanted the spells that suited you, and you played around with them like toys. You’re the only pony who kept magic fun for me. You’re the only pony who wanted to do magic because you liked magic, and the only pony who liked me, and not my magic.”

Starlight blinked, and wiped her eyes. “Darn mosquitoes flying so close. Why are you telling me this?”

“Because we haven’t seen each other in so long, and the way we bumped into each other was a little dicey. I don’t want you to think I’m something I’m not. You’re more powerful than me, you always were.”

“Maybe. But you were always smarter.” She chanced a look at the water, where Sage Cracker was showing the boys a proper backstroke. “Is that where you met him?”

“Canterlot library,” Sunburst replied. “He was doing research on the theory of pure will magic and psionics.”

“Oof, the really weird stuff.”

“You’re telling me. We were thirteen, I think, fifteen tops at the time, and I was struggling hard with my studies. He was one of the few ponies who could explain to me what I was doing wrong, and how to correct it. Unfortunately, by then I’d already fallen behind a lot, so it didn’t bring me up to the same level as the other high wizards.”

“He was supposed to be in my place, wasn’t he? In Canterlot, I mean? For the meeting?”

“Yup.”

“So what’s Sage’s story, then? Do you know?”

“You mean why does Princess Celestia consider him ‘inadequate’ for her purposes?”

“That, too. But more importantly: how’d he get that way in the first place?”

“Same as me, you might say. He was good at the theory, but not the practice. Ponies came to him for advice, he gave it, and then he, well, he burned out. His horn got a little scorched from exhaustion. So he didn’t get sent to Canterlot like me.”

That didn’t take much figuring out. “He was sent to Alherda.”

“Yeah, and that did not go well for anyone involved. The hospital’s okay, the staff are fine, but when you stay there, you end up with Alherda teachers, too, and they tend to make things a lot worse. I think Sage saw some things and heard some things that made him retreat back into himself. He’ll tell you he was always a loner, but I don’t think that’s true. What I do believe when he tells me: after a while, by a stroke of luck, he found one form of magic that was well-documented but not very popular, something he could work with and expand upon.”

“Chaos magic.”

“His horn got better, but by then he didn’t need it anymore. He decided to drop most of pony magic entirely and focus on what he knew worked. As for Celestia, well, Sage and her don’t see eye to eye on most things. She asked him for advice, he told her some things that, allegedly, he’s been trying to tell her for years, but she doesn’t think he’s right about that, so she kind of ignores the other stuff, too. Personally, I say it’s overblown: he turned out okay, I think? It could have been worse.”

“A lot worse, yeah.”

“Like you?”

She froze.

“You said you almost did monstrous things. What sort of things did you do?”

“Nothing monstrous, not yet. But I got close, a lot closer than I’d like to admit.”

Sunburst shuffled closer to her. “Look, Starlight, it’s okay. I kind of figured there might have been some frictions. I heard from your parents that things didn’t go so well about a year or two after I left.”

“You contacted my parents?” she asked.

“I didn’t, but my parents and yours, you know how it goes. They let me know a few things, but, obviously, I wasn’t in any position to really help. I didn’t want you to feel worse because of me. I figured you were stronger than me, so you’d work it out in the end.”

“Well, I did, kind of.” She chuckled. “You know, it’s funny, but I wouldn’t even be here if it wasn’t for Sapphire Gaze. She’s the one who offered to join you for this thing, in my name.”

He shrugged, in that dorky way she’d missed for at least a decade. “I’m not complaining if you aren’t. And you haven’t answered my question. What monstrous things?”

Starlight covered her eyes with her hooves.

You have to tell him.

“Promise me you won’t be mad?”

“I promise, whatever you’ve almost done is nothing compared to some things ponies in Canterlot have actually done.”

“Okay. Here goes. How do you feel, in general, about, umm, stripping away cutie marks?”

The rest of the day had gone by peacefully. The boys had enjoyed their swimming lesson, Bastion was getting the hang of the back stroke now, even if his light and webby wings got in the way a bit.

Still, as the day wound down, worry crept in.

By the time they’d gone to bed, he’d resolved to deal with that worry, rather than let it grow any more.

“Hey, guys?” he asked.

Doldrum yawned. “What?”

“I’ve been thinking about something, and I’m not sure who to ask. Could I run something by you for a little bit?”

Live Wire sat up in his bed and lit up his horn. “Sure. What’s wrong?”

Bastion sat up, and waited for Doldrum to do the same.

“About the whole, you know, me holding back thing. And Chrysalis and all.”

“You don’t have to explain it, you know,” Doldrum said. “We understand.”

“No, you don’t. Not really, I mean, because, umm, I don’t think I really understand it either. There’s something going on with me and her, and I think it might be important.”

“What is it?” Live Wire asked.

“There’s this dream I’ve started having. We did this class project in school, a lemonade thing. I think the sound of the bottles might have made me remember something, or make me dream something. Does that make sense?”

Live Wire looked to Doldrum, who nodded. “Sure. I get nightmares, too.”

“That’s the other weird part,” Bastion said. “I’m not sure if it’s really a nightmare, either.” He clenched his eyes shut and sighed, thinking. “It always starts the same: I’m down in the Hive, but it’s a room I don’t know. There’s glass bottles filling holes in the walls, which is impossible, because we weren’t allowed to have glass in the Hive. But I’m standing there, looking at the bottles, and there’s this weird swirly stuff in all of them. Then Chrysalis comes up behind me.”

“Does she hurt you for breaking into the room?” Live Wire asked.

“No. She pats me on the head, and tells me it’s okay. She says my mom is gone, but that doesn’t matter. Three other drones show up.” He gestured to his left, eyes still closed. “On my left, I don’t know from where, because there’s only one way in or out.” He opened his eyes, and felt a shiver go through his wings. “But then in the dream, Chrysalis grabs one of the bottles and uncorks it. She tips it over and this swirly stuff gets stuck on her hoof. The drones put their heads back, open their mouths, and they all get a little drop of that stuff.” He shivered harder, and he hugged himself. “And then my mom’s there. My birth mom. Three times.”

“You mean they turn into your mom?” Live Wire asked.

“No. I mean they don’t look like her, they don’t smell like her, I remember they’re not her, but they are her. Everything I’m seeing tells me they’re the same, but everything I remember tells me they’re not. After that, Chrysalis tells me I can get more moms, new ones, better ones. I don’t know what I say to that, but whatever it is, she never likes it. I start crying, and Chrysalis, she… she just rolls her eyes at me. Then she grabs me and points to another bottle. An empty one.”

Doldrum’s ears folded back. “Oh. Yeah, I can see where that’s going. That’s rough.”

“What?” Live Wire asked. “What’s wrong with the empty bottle?”

“The empty one is for you, isn’t it?” Doldrum asked. “Chrysalis threatens to bottle you next.”

Bastion nodded anxiously. “I don’t know why that dream showed up. We never had glass at the Hive, I know that didn’t happen. But I’m still scared. I don’t want her to bottle me. I don’t want her to bottle anyone.”

“You don’t want to think everything you are can be bottled, you mean.”

He blinked, and nodded at Doldrum. “Yeah, that too, I guess. I mean, there has to be more to me than just some swirly stuff in a bottle, right? I can think for myself, not like my… not like my mom did.”

“Of course,” Live Wire offered. “I’m not just a cutie mark, nopony is. It’s the same thing: even if you take away what’s inside, you still have experience and memories. Those change who you are. Whatever’s in the bottle is more like a picture, tops, a freeze-frame that never changes. You’re different now than what you were a few days ago. If you were in a bottle for those couple days, it’d be something different in there.”

“You can fight better, for one thing,” Doldrum said.

“Yeah. I guess that’s true. It’s just weird that it got in my head like that. I didn’t even notice what I was doing.”

Doldrum snorted. “Are you really worried Chrysalis will come around and bottle you or something?”

He shivered. “No. Maybe, not exactly. But I think whatever she plans to do, she’s going to want to hurt me while she’s at it. My uncle got under her skin, and I’m the closest thing she has to payback after she killed him.”

“Then that’s settled,” Doldrum said. “If Chrysalis comes after you, if you can’t beat her, we’ll do it for you.”

Bastion blinked. “Wait, what?”

“Sounds like a plan,” said Live Wire.

“But she’s a monster,” Bastion argued. “You can’t just fight a monster and hope to win.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time,” Doldrum replied.

“And it would help get me into the Royal Guard,” Live Wire added.

Bastion looked back and forth at the two colts. “But…”

“You don’t get stronger just so you can fight alone, Bastion,” Doldrum said. “You get stronger so you can help when someone else has to fight, too. You’re one of us now, and you shouldn’t have to worry about that kind of thing. We all have issues, but yours is the only one we can punch when it shows up. So, umm, I’m up for punching, or blasting.”

Live Wire nodded. “Exactly. There’s three of us, and only one of her. I’m sure we can handle anything she might try.”

Bastion chuckled. “Thanks. Maybe I am just being silly. I’m not that important, not anymore. My uncle was way smarter than me, and she killed him. She probably doesn’t even think about me anymore. And even if she is, as long as I’m pony country, I’m safe. You’re right, there’s only one of her, and lots of ponies who would fight her. I guess I shouldn’t be worried.” He lay back and sighed. “Sorry I woke you up for that.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Live Wire switched his horn off. “We’ve had bunkmates with nightmares before. It usually goes away once they figure out we’re scarier than anything they dream of.”

Doldrum chuckled. “Uhuh. Usually.”

Bastion closed his eyes and let himself drift off to sleep.

She can’t take away everyone.

She won’t take away anyone.

Everything will be okay.

I can relax.

The End.

Author's Note

Well, that's a nice, hopeful ending, isn't it? No need to worry at all.

Yeah, I think I've said enough times how many difficulties were involved in this, and the final fight between Doldrum and Bastion wasn't written and re-written as often as some of the other scenes, but it did need to be re-thought a lot.

The main issue is I wanted it to be a fight, and both characters have good reason to not want to fight. So it had to escalate from a sort-of ideological difference, mixed in with good old-fashioned denial.

The bottle dream was initially going to be its own story, and operate under different mechanics. But that one involved a proper assassination attempt, and an Invisibles reference to Jim Crow (the superhero) that absolutely no one in my audience would have understood, so I scrapped it. There's still traces of it in the first story, though, fanatic readers may try to find it.

Anyway, that's this done. Not happy with it, but glad it's done, hoping to finish the series at a good pace after some rest. This whole trilogy has... been a learning experience, to be sure.

Arrival

Bastion’s hearts skipped a beat when he got off the train. Following the two mares to the camp site, he had to stop himself from hyperventilating.

“So I just go there and sign up, right?”

“For the eight thousandth time: yes,” Flitter replied. “It’s just a summer camp, like any other.”

“Well, not exactly like any other,” Cloud Chaser added. “I mean, Fight Camp is kinda special. For fighting ponies and all.”

He gulped, then nodded.

Fight Camp. I’m going to Fight Camp. To make some new friends, and get better at fighting, so I can beat Chrysalis. That’s the plan.

“And what do you do at Fight Camp to get better at fighting?”

Flitter rolled her eyes. “The same thing you do the last five times you asked: basic fitness, exercises and drills. It’s gonna be mostly Pegasus ponies, but there’s all kinds there.”

“Stop worrying,” Cloud Chaser said. “You’ll be fine. Just follow us, we’ll introduce you to the other counsellors, and we’ll make sure you’re in the right bunk, okay?”

Perfect.

“Okay. I just wanna make sure I’m getting good and strong, is all.”

“Oh, you will. Fight Camp’s got lots of great counsellors and instructors. Real professionals, you’ll see.”

I still can’t believe Sapphire blind-sided me like that.

Starlight Glimmer trotted up the green hill towards the camp site, following close behind Sunburst. He was carrying some pretty hefty bags, and she made sure to lighten the load with her magic as much as she could without letting him notice.

“I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this, Starlight,” Sunburst said. “Fight Camp’s great, but it can be a really tiring experience sometimes. To be honest, I didn’t think you were the type to volunteer for that kind of thing.”

I didn’t. Sapphire did, while turned into me. Who would have guessed having changeling friends means you can get shanghaied?

I should try that shapeshifting sometime. It’d be fun to turn into a filly again.

She quickly stopped that train of thought. “Oh, well, I did have that little stint at Alherda’s paediatric ward. So, umm, how many kids are we talking about here? I kinda forgot to ask in all the excitement.”

“It shouldn’t be too many,” Sunburst replied. “I’m more of a specialist instructor, and most likely you’ll be, too. Instructors don’t deal with the fun and games side of camp, we just make sure our bunks are well-trained, and mine’s pretty small.”

“So no handling big groups of rowdy foals?” Starlight picked up the pace and used her magic to help levitate the giant mass beside him more openly.

“Oh, no, no, that’s for the general camp counsellors, or the guest lecturers. Specialists like us only have to worry about the higher-level kids.”

She stopped. “So that’s, what, five or six kids, max?”

“Mmm, could be, but probably not even that. The past few years it’s only been two regulars for my bunk, everypony else left after their first run. Still, high-level kids can be difficult to handle, you can never have enough specialists to take proper care of them.”

For a moment, Starlight found that hard to believe. Then she remembered growing up in Sire’s Hollow, where half of the foals went to Canterlot and the other half to the Equestrian Games, or at least aspired to, with varying degrees of success. In context, it made sense. “Uhuh. And the main thing I’ll need to worry about is?”

“Make sure they don’t get the wrong idea in their heads, keep them happy and motivated.” Sunburst stopped and smiled. “Try not to let them blow up anything, and teach them some new things.”

She squinted, thinking. “You mean teach them how to fight. This is a Fight Camp we’re talking about, after all.”

He brushed that remark away with a wave of the hoof and a roll of the eyes. “That’s just a name. Combat application of magic is a good way to measure yourself, and most foals who come here tend to like a little action anyway. But we don’t encourage violence here, more like conflict management, really. And magic management for… mostly the Unicorns.”

“Okay, mostly Unicorns? What if I have to talk to an Earth pony or a Pegasus?”

“No ‘if’ about that, you will. But when that happens, you can use your knowledge of magic and work from there.” He tapped his horn. “Unicorn magic comes with its own focal point, so we avoid a lot of problems the other tribes can’t. Stick with that angle and you’ll be fine.”

Starlight suppressed a wince. Yeah, psychological problems like getting obsessed over how you want to make everyone equal and how cutie marks should be ripped away from everyone to make a perfect society. That kind of problems. “Okay. So the basic reframing and imagining exercises.”

“Or the more advanced ones, if you do end up in my bunk. And hey, even if that fails, just do whatever you did in Alherda, it’ll work out.”

Her stomach knotted at that. “Right, do what I did in Alherda, of course, that’s a perfect plan. Sorry, I guess I’m just a little nervous. Working with children and all, one little mistake could scar them for life.”

If she’d tried to throw a hint without realising, at least Sunburst did not catch it. “Don’t worry. The foals here are great kids, perfectly friendly once you get to know them.”

Bastion stayed close to the mares, but he was already eyeing the other children nearby. Near the bottom of the valley the camp had been built around, Bastion could already see some foals practising various sports: tossing balls over a net, hitting tethered balls at a lower court, no combat he could see as of yet.

Like his moms and companions had said, most of the children here were Pegasi, presumably because of their tribe’s military history. He’d never seen so many boys in one place, either, but there was the occasional group of fillies around to break things up in that regard.

His ears perked. He looked left, right, and up at the hill with its log cabin built clumsily into the side. Nothing was showing any promise yet, except maybe the path up. There was a bright yellow path heading towards the lakeside down below, but he noticed it split around halfway, snaking around the hill. He could barely make out the scent of ozone coming from that direction, and hoped it wouldn’t rain. It didn’t seem likely, with the small amount of clouds around.

“Hey, Flitter!” A voice called out.

Bastion’s eyes widened when he spotted the source. A massive hulk of muscle wrapped in white fur approached them, fluttering tiny wings that held it aloft in an impossible, almost comedic fashion. This was clearly a stallion of great strength, and no doubt a fine instructor to gain more power.

“Hey, Bulk,” Flitter said.

“Who’s your friend?”

“This is Bastion,” Cloud Chaser replied. “You should know him: he’s from Ponyville, too.”

And this was a Ponyville stallion? Bastion hadn’t encountered this one in the flesh yet. And quite a lot of flesh it was, hard flesh, too.

“Oh, cool, little buzzy bro looking to get tougher? Well, you’re in the right place.”

“Don’t get too excited, Bulk,” a mare’s voice interrupted. “You wouldn’t want him to get overwhelmed on his first day. Hey, girls. How’s it hanging?”

Bastion noted the apprehension in the two Pegasi as this Earth pony mare approached them. Her mane was done up in a sloppy long braid, and her green coat seemed to be, to put it nicely, cleaned with all-natural products only. Still, she carried herself with an uncanny calm, and Bastion knew from personal experience not to underestimate the strength of an Earth pony. There was a strange taste in the air around her, too, a piney sensation that spoke of magic beyond a normal Earth pony’s capacities.

“Tree Hugger, nice to see you, too,” Flitter said. “How’s the reserve?”

“Comin’ along nicely, thanks. I just got done setting up my boys, you two are a little late. Your bunks are already out on the court.”

“We’ll round’em up once we get Bastion settled in,” Flitter said. “Is everypony here already?”

Bulk nodded. “Everypony’s ready, except-”

“Sunburst!” Tree Hugger called out, waving a hoof.

Bastion’s ears perked again, sticking straight up. This latest candidate was a Unicorn, a pair of Unicorns, even. The stallion was orange, with whitish beige markings on his face and lower limbs. More importantly, though, he wore a wizard’s cape that hid his cutie mark. That was certainly a good sign, since only true masters wore capes, as far as he was aware. The mare beside him was average-looking, about as well-kept as Flitter and Cloud Chaser, but her cutie mark stood out on her light pink fur.

She had a magic wand with a swirl for a cutie mark. That meant she had a talent for magic, which clearly trumped any other option on the table for the moment.

“Hey, guys,” Sunburst greeted as he approached. “Everyone settled in already?”

“Almost everyone,” Tree Hugger said. “I don’t think our new visitor has signed up yet.”

He gulped. “Umm, where, uh, where do I sign up?”

“I guess the train got us here a little late, so you’d have to catch some of the others to join them. But it’s your first year, so it doesn’t matter that much. You’ll wanna pick a bunk that suits you, and everyone here’s got their own strengths. Bulk’s got the High Lifters, they do a lot of athletics stuff, mostly strength training,” Flitter said. “Then there’s Tree Hugger, she’s got the Lean Greens, they’re more into, err...”

“My bunk mostly does calmer yoga and breathing exercises: flexility and calm is what we’re good at. It’s perfect for kids who have trouble with anxiety, or high flyers that need more lung power, or the little wizards who want to expand their mind. Speaking of which, Sunburst, did you bring the good stuff?” Tree Hugger poked him in the ribs.

He chuckled nervously. “D’err, yeah, don’t worry. I got enough for you and Bulk.”

Flitter’s nose curled. “Right. And there’s Sunburst, but he’s with-”

“Me.”

Bastion would have jumped if his body hadn’t frozen. This last Unicorn came out of nowhere, literally. He didn’t teleport, either, at least not by any technique Bastion knew. No sound, no movement of the air, nothing, not even the taste of energy, and then suddenly he was behind them. The stallion quite simply did not exist, and then suddenly he was there. This one was definitely promising.

He reminded Bastion of Featherweight, actually, at least in colours: beige coat with brown hair, but the resemblance stopped there. This stallion was of a lean build, sure, but he had some ropey muscles, at least. His eyes were his most striking feature, though: very dark blue, almost to the point of being black pits.

“Greetings and salutations, little changeling.” The stallion bowed his head. “I’m Sage, I’m in charge of the top bunk here.” He turned to the other ponies. “And given the boy’s background, I think it’s only appropriate he signs up with me this year.”

“Are you sure? After what happened last time? And the time before that?” Flitter asked.

“And every single time before that?” Cloud Chaser added. “I mean, Bastion’s not exactly the hardened warrior type.”

“Yes, I am,” he objected. “I’m the heir to War Engineer Faux Pas, I can handle anything.”

Sage smiled. “Glad to hear it. Now then, if that’s in order, let’s get going. You two need to round up your little ones and get them installed.”

Cloud Chaser winced. “You’re positive you wanna put him together with Assault and Battery? He doesn’t even have any physical training. I mean, do you?”

Bastion shivered. He blinked as flashes of memory shot over the backs of his eyelids. He’d been getting that a lot lately. “Yes, I do. It’s been a while, but I did get some physical training back in the Hive. A little bit, I mean.”

“See? That’s a positive. Now,” Sage said, lowering his voice and leaning in with an impish glare. “Do I need to repeat myself?”

Straight away, Flitter and Cloud Chaser backed up and took off from the ground. “No, no, we’re fine. Bastion, you have fun, if anything happens, just come find us or find an adult to get us. We’ll be right there. Seriously.”

“Nothing will necessitate such an intervention, I’m sure,” Sage said.

Flitter nodded, before leaning in close to whisper, “Be careful. Don’t start anything. Be good, okay?”

He nodded and smiled nervously. “Okay. Why wouldn’t I?” Bastion wasn’t scared. If anything, the prospect of having a scary teacher was exciting: what better way to get stronger?

“Now, then, Sunburst, I have to ask: did you bring the good stuff?” Sage asked with a smirk once the two mares were off.

Sunburst rolled his eyes, before patting his bags. “Yes, I have it all right here. The good stuff, homemade. You don’t need to worry.”

“Perfect. We’ll start on that tonight. Bulk, Hugger?”

Without another word, the two other counsellors left.

Sage looked behind Sunburst, where the pink mare had been standing. Bastion had been wondering why she stayed behind, but he figured she, like him, was new, and therefore hadn’t signed up yet. Again, this was perfect: another pony who was out on a new experience.

“Why don’t you head on up, Bastion. Our bunk is named Assault and Battery. You’ll find it on your right, uphill. You should keep the water on your left side, and when the ground evens out, you’ll be on our turf. Just follow the sound of combat.” Sage smiled at Sunburst. “The boys have already unpacked, but they were itching to get started, so I let them have a little tussle to warm up in private. Our resident arsenal has some new toys.”

“Ho boy. What did he bring this time? A rocket launcher?”

“Nah, just working down the list, he’s thinking about wand work at the moment. No progress yet, though.”

Bastion blinked, confused. “Rocket launcher? There are rocket launchers here?”

Sunburst chuckled and turned to Bastion. “No. Not for two more years, at least, anyway. What Sage means: if you see a fight going on, don’t try to step in and don’t startle either of the colts.”

Sage rolled his eyes. “Yeah, you don’t wanna startle Battery, or Assault.”

Bastion’s brow furrowed. “Wait, so Assault and Battery are ponies?”

“You’ll know them when you see them,” Sunburst said. “Go on, run along. We need to take care of something here first, I think.”

Sage waved to the mare, and Bastion took that as a cue to let the grownups talk.

He trotted off, then started running, excitement brewing in his little hearts.

Assault and Battery, huh? This is going to be perfect.

Author's Note

So, uploading this in pieces now, probably going to do it in threes. Still not finished at the time of uploading, but...

I'll be honest, I'm not going to be happy with how this turned out no matter what I do. The story trilogy is based on old concepts, things I don't use anymore, and rooted in rules and behaviours I've tried to shed over the years.

Basically what I'm trying to say is: I hope this trilogy is the last of my 'bad' stories. I hope you all enjoy it, I've done my best, but this isn't what I intend to pursue further. Lump this whole thing in with all my subpar R-rated stuff and consider it a relic of the past.