Boundary Point

Prof. Quill adjusted his saddlebag as he meandered down the circular tunnel covered in grey rock. Turning around to make sure that his cargo was secure, the pale gold light of the bulbs overhead buzzed as he snorted, then faced the dark pit ahead. The sound of dripping rainwater echoed as he continued to move forward. Double checking his rear, he pushed forward, finally emerging from a round opening, discovering the bent figure of a disheveled human with brushstroke in hand, ‌scribbling on the concrete floor like a lunatic.

“Xavier?” Prof. Quill hissed.

The human suddenly let out a yelp, echoing through the tunnels as he leapt upwards, dropping his writing instrument and turning towards the professor. “Jesus Christ,” Xavier said with his hand over his mouth. Breathing in and out for a moment, Xavier finally spoke, “You could show me a thing or two about moving stealthily, I thought I’d hear your hooves from at least 50 meters away in here.”

The professor lifted his right leg and revealed one of four rain boots that adorned him, “Sorry about that, but I hate getting my hooves wet.”

Xavier nodded as he bent back down and picked up the brush he was writing with, “Give me a few more seconds, it’s almost done.”

The professor tilted his head away from the human and noticed that the walls of the room were like a dome, and they had been adorned with the graffiti of pony skulls. They were almost stacked on top of each other like someone trying to pack small candy in the smallest space possible, each one staring at the center of the room where Xavier was working, lit up by soft yellow light.

“What in the- ”

Xavier dipped his brush into a jar, then continued to scribble along the floor, “Don’t look at me, I just found the place.”

Prof. Quill approached the walls, and looked at the empty artistic eye sockets that glinted lightly back at him. Tilting his head for a moment, he then glanced over to see what the human was writing. The floor in front of Xavier was packed to the brim with symbols, sigils, and glyphs. They circled each other, some with several rings of concentric symbols, while the occasional line of text jetted out of one and attached itself to another ring. The stallion’s eyes widened as he looked at the entryway at the other end of the room where the writing had started.

“It’s a simple seal. Don’t have the room or writing materials for a tight one but I was able to find a closet full of gallnut ink in the theology department. Its iron binding should be more than enough to perform the task at hand,” Xavier said, as he continued his work.

“Pilfering from the Theology department? That’s not very sagely of you,” Quill chuckled as he turned and found a dry spot. Carefully tucking his tail between his legs, he sat and watched his friend continue his work.

Xavier stopped writing and slowly turned to look at Quill, a goofy expression plastered on his face, “Wise guy, eh?” His brush flourishing only twice more before Xavier put a cork on the vial of ink near him and dropped the brush in another vial. “If I wasn’t so lazy, I’d punch you in the snoot!”

“But you are lazy, right?” Quill continued, smiling.

“Oh, don’t get me started!” Xavier stood up and walked over to Quill. He sat down next to the pony and looked at his work from afar.

“So, gallnut?”

“I doubt you’re interested, so…” Xavier waved his left hand towards his work on the floor.

“Humor me,” Quill said.

“Well, here in Equus, magic is fundamentally feminine,” Xavier answered. “Hence the need for gallnut ink.”

“What do you mean fundamentally feminine?” The stallion said, raising an eye.

“What I mean is it has a tendency to favor the feminine over the masculine. This is why copper is such an important material in the creation of artifacts. Of all the metals, it’s the closest to the feminine. But that doesn’t mean that the masculine doesn’t have a role,” Xavier said as he reached over and picked up a black ink bottle from a row of other vials placed next to the wall and shook it. “While a copper bound ink might be more powerful in almost every other circumstance, if you pick the right glyphs, and since I’m looking to capture a unicorn mare, the usage of iron in the inscription material serves to counterbalance the advantages she naturally has.”

“I don’t understand,” Quill said as he looked towards the line of letters on the floor. “So being a mare and a unicorn gives her an inherent advantage, and you’ll be striping it away by using iron to negate it?”

“Exactly,” Xavier said, putting the ink bottle down alongside its brethren. “Furthermore, the seal uses the unicorn’s magic itself to power it. The more she magically struggles with the fetters, the stronger it becomes,” Xavier let out a chuckle. “It’s a Chinese finger trap for Unicorns.”

“So, what’s your big plan?” Quill asked, raising an eye.

“Oooh oooh, if you’ll give me a moment to indulge?” Xavier smiled, wiping the sweat from his brow, parting the front part of the malformed mop of hair atop his head.

“Dazzle me.”

Xavier picked himself up and double checked the wrappings on his arms. Walking atop the seal, he danced around the inscription work on the floor and out the entryway opposite of where Quill was sitting. Poking his head out for a moment, he saw Quill motion him with his head. Xavier jaunted into a jog and ran across the seal again.

“When she chases me again, I’ll lead her down here and past the inscription. When she lays her hooves atop it, the aforementioned effect begins and the seal activates,” Xavier said, looking around for a moment before grabbing a thin dirty dish set off to the side.

“Where… did you find that?”

“Down a few of the halls I have booby trapped on the very, very off chance this fails,” Xavier said, wiggling his eyebrows.

“R, Right… continue…”

“When she is bound, she will be dangling in midair and will be at my mercy,” Xavier said, dusting the plate off, looking at Quill, and raising a goofy eye. “Then, I’ll begin my performance…”

Xavier’s countenance firmed up as a sharp angry look emerge, “It starts with me taking a fake drink from the plate here,” he lifted the plate close to his lips and pretended to tilt it, making it seem like he was pouring something into his mouth. “Then I’ll toss it to the ground, letting it shatter, and finish off by telling her,” Xavier extended his limbs, welcoming the pretend subject with open arms, but as if in question.

“Welcome to the Ossuary. Made from the magic stolen from a thousand baby unicorns, I present to you, your eternal resting place… that is… unless…” Xavier stopped, and glanced over at Quill, “You talk.”

Quill raised his eye at Xavier and slowly repeated, “A thousand baby unicorns?”

Xavier returned the eye, “Hey! It’s a work in progress!”

“It seems a bit much,” Quill swished his mouth from side to side.

“Never underestimate the importance of presentation! A blue supervillain turned hero and that blue unicorn up near Saddleton taught me that.”

“Indeed, is that why you came to my lecture poorly shaven?” Quill chuckled.

“Honestly, I was wondering when you would grill me over that,” Xavier answered.

“Well, next time,” Quill paused, “I’d prefer you perform clean shaven.”

Xavier grimaced as he turned away, the dripping of water far away echoing throughout the chamber.

“Doc, I don’t think there is going to be a next time,” Xavier answered.

“Why not? Once this mess gets sorted out, popping by once every four months or so should be a welcome change. Especially since the pain in your arms is gone,” Quill said.

Xavier turned to his friend and exhaled, “Something is wrong with this entire scenario. I can feel it in my bones.” The human turned to look at the graffiti of pony skulls surrounding them, then touched his wrapped arms with his gloved hands, “I’m also worried that we only made things worse over here.”

“Worse?” Quill tilted his head. “We were in the middle of a war and -”

“Yeah, yeah, I know, we turned the tide, whatever. What I’m trying to get at is what happened. You’re all split up and now half of you are paranoid the other half is going to do something, while the other half is worried about the effects of long humanity,” Xavier swished his mouth.

“Long humanity?” Quill chuckled. “Let’s see, the symptoms are a significant expansion of knowledge, access to human tech when we venture to the other side, advances in medical procedures, and freedom from the cultural stagnation of the last few hundred years. Oh, and don’t forget the human tech that does work on this side.”

“In exchange for what?” Xavier gave off a mournful look. “Cultural stagnation, yes, but you could have broken free of those chains yourselves. You would have come up with the academic knowledge and medical procedures eventually. Oh, and the human tech that does work here? Congrats on your ability to bombard a region with artillery. That’s less human ingenuity and more ‘what is the simplest way I can blow up the other guy?’.”

“Xavier, you hold us to too high a standard,” Quill frowned. “Ever since I met you, you’re constantly surprised and disappointed when you see one of us act in a way that contradicts your assumption that our conduct should be exemplary.”

“You all are better than us,” Xavier said.

“Oh, cut the crap Xavier,” Quill looked up at the human and grumbled. “If the Perfidari haven’t proven that we’re not better than you, then you are willfully deluding yourself.”

“Subjugation one way or another, is still coercion. They had no choice.”

“Yes, they did, Xavier!” Quill cried and turned to the human, stomping his front hoof, echoing throughout the chamber. “To avoid being mind controlled, they mind controlled their fellow ponies! Elysian Fields Xavier, they were the only ones who had a choice! At any point, they could have turned on Sombra, but they didn’t.”

“One did.”

“Yeah, but only after she saw where the winds were changing!”

“He was on the verge of victory, Quill! We got that Hail Mary, whatever the hell that was. But I doubt we could realistically go another round with him,” Xavier sneered, looking away from his friend. “It was only because of her that the path to victory was revealed.”

“You’re cherry picking,” Quill stood up and faced the human across from him.

“And you haven’t seen the depths we will sink to,” Xavier countered, turning to Quill and pointing his gloved index finger in the air at him. “You gush about humanity in lecture, but have you ever told your students about the things we do in the dark?”

“We do things in the dark too Xavier,” Quill verbally pushed back, taking three steps towards his friend. “Did you forget Celestia’s little lie?”

Xavier turned away from Quill, grunting.

“Oh, how about our caste system? Shit, Xavier, without human intervention and secession of the city states, no matter how educated I got or how many papers I write, I would either be taking care of foals or plowing the fields,” Quill spat away from the human. “Probably both. No way in Tartarus they would let a stallion do any kind of real research!”

Xavier remained silent, a hollow gaze crusting over his face.

“Don’t get me wrong Xavier, I appreciate ‌you seeing the best in us. I really do. But if we were really that good, you wouldn’t be running away from a unicorn trying to do… whatever,” Quill said, circling around the human.

Xavier looked down and lowered the lids of his eyes halfway, “How’s Scootaloo?”

Quill froze, raised an eye and nodded, “You departed back to Earth quick at the end. She wanted to give you something, but you were already gone. She was furious when she found out. Other than that? Last I heard, she was in the Badlands trying to stop the violence.”

Xavier breathed out a sigh of relief, and took a seat on the floor, “At least one thing has gone right.”

“What does that mean?” Quill asked. “Pissing off someone who commands the wind?”

“I got out of there before I could make things worse, I would hav-”

“Okay stop, stop just stop. I could let the ‘long humanity’ opinion pass, but disappearing on Scootaloo and the others like that ‘because you would have made things worse’.” Quill looked at Xavier, “Whats going on here? Tell me, Elysia knows I deserve some answers after getting chewed up by that crystal mare.”

Xavier looked away, towards the center of the seal he crafted. “Something,” Xavier paused and grimaced before starting again, “Something you might not realize Quill is that I was raised with stories that imparted the value that a culture should live in accordance with how it was meant to evolve.” Xavier lifted his gloved hands and lightly balled them up, leaning his forehead against them, “Contact with us has irrevocably tainted not just Pony culture, its politics, its economics and society, but Griffin, Dragon, Diamond Dogs…”

“Yeah, but you didn’t open the corridors and invade us like some Maximum Mare pulp fiction. Our war got so bad it spilled onto your doorstep. Any culture here would tell you that’s carte blanche for your species to react the way it did, with the sole exception of the Unicorns from Canterlot, but that’s because for the first time in centuries, they have to deal with a species they can’t just threaten with turning out the lights, so they hide behind their Princesses.”

“You know we have had a history of interfering in other cultures when there are resources to be drained Quill,” Xavier growled and raised his voice. “When the stories of humans massacring ponies, or worse yet, us convincing other ponies to do that for money, start to bleed out onto the papers, of us taking what we want while leaving‌ you with literal dust, don’t come crying to me when I tried to warn you that this was going to ha-”

“I. CAN. TEACH!” Quill screamed at Xavier.

The human looked at the Earth Pony standing on all fours, glaring at him, tears streaming down his eyes. Xavier looked away, turning his head and crooking it down.

“I can teach now,” Quill tempered off, eyes still wet. “Xavier, before your kind arrived here, I only had three things I got to do. I took care of my mares when they needed me. I looked after my foals, protecting them from the harms of Equus. And, when lead mare thought it was a good idea, I got to go plow the fields.” The pony turned, showing Xavier his brand, the single scroll tied in cloth, “Now do you think any of that had anything to do with the mark I got, Xavier?”

“No, but-”

“No, but what?” Quill said.

“No, but you must have had time to do research at some point,” Xavier stammered.

Quill shook his head, “You think my first herd wanted me in the library when I could be watching the little ones? Foal care is a full-time job Xavier. Especially with 5 of them. Xavier, before the war, my world was a small home made for 4 adults and 9 foals. My world was 10 acres of land to pull a plow, when lead mare felt like one of my other mares could watch the youngsters for a while. My world was lead mare pressuring me to vote to kick out another mare because their fighting had gotten so bad that expulsion was on the table, despite her first foal, my daughter, being 6 months old and even though I loved them both.”

Quill looked up, and lightened his tone, “Now? My world is Manehatten University, with an office of my own and peer-reviewed papers under my hoof, and correspondences with respected anthropologists on both sides. My world is 5 classes a semester with beings of all kinds who come to listen to my lectures on humanity. My world is 3 Mares that understand that I’ll put my hoof down if they try to drag me into one of their fights, and I’ll slam it down if they drag one of our foals into it. My world is 15 wonderful sons and daughters, with my first grandfoal coming in a few months time. Since humanity has arrived, my world has been growing.”

Xavier was quiet, staring into nothing, as Quill continued, “Now what I am about to say is going to sting, not that you don’t deserve it after the absolute mess that’s been the last few days, but you need to hear it Xavier. If your goal was to preserve our culture and way of life, letting Sombra have his way with us, you should have stayed on the other side where you could have consoled yourself with the knowledge that, despite the fact that we’re dead or enslaved, that ‘you didn’t make things worse’. But I’m going to let you in on a little secret Xavier.”

Quill slowly approached Xavier, pulling his snout close to the human’s ear, “Thank you for not staying home. Thank you and thank you to every other human who came to our aid. Thank you all for turning a mare grinder into a contentious peace. My children thank you, especially Blueberry, who lost a wing and would have been put back on the front lines, fighting on the ground if you all hadn’t forced Sombra’s retreat. Thank you all for ignoring the effects your kind might have on our culture and way of life to save us. Thank each and every one of you for getting your hands dirty. And I’m not the only one who thinks that.” Quill took a step back. Xavier’s shoulders relaxed, but now his fingers were interlocked as Quill started, “Now, do you still feel guilty about the interaction between ponies and humans? Because if you want me to, I’ll sit right here and tell you how things have gotten better on the independent side of things. Maybe the Kingdom is still holding onto the old ways, but everywhere else has experienced a new lease on life.”

“What about the Union and Crystal Republic versus the Kingdom?” Xavier mumbled.

“Those events started before you even arrived on Equus,” Quill mumbled, sitting next to Xavier. “When the Elements of Harmony returned, it was a joyous time. With both the defeat of Nightmare Moon and Discord over the course of two years? There were whispers of the six being successors of some sort to Celestia. With the arrival of Princess Cadence, a new Alicorn? The future was uncertain but bright, but… with the failed wedding? And then months later, with Sombra’s return?” Quill shook his head, “That dried up as we geared up for war. The early days were optimistic, they,” Quill let out a nervous laugh. “They had this thing where stallions were encouraged to give mares a white lily, to shame them into joining in the war effort. Some of the smarter stallions used it to get rid of mares they didn’t like or got tired of. All fun and games until your own filly receives one right after she came of age.”

Quill turned to Xavier, “Have I ever told you about Cherry Berry? She’s my first daughter. Her cutie mark was pancakes.”

“Pancakes?” Xavier turned to Quill.

“Yes. I remember every breakfast she made. The one she made for Father’s day during her 13th year was especially wonderful. The taste of waffles and the scent of blueberry muffins and banana nut bread. Freshly squeezed orange juice, and omelet au fromage. She knew her way around the Kitchen. We planned on sending her to Sydneigh to get her real chef’s training. Then as she spent her gap year with us, enjoying her youth, a stallion she took an interest to gave her a white lily. In front of everyone at the market. She signed up the very next day and… I only got to see her twice more before I got the notice.”

Xavier looked at Quill, as he was staring into the seal on the ground, “I’m proud of her service Xavier. But if I could find the stallion that did that to her, I would buck him in the skull to snap his neck, then present his corpse to his herd and tell them to keep the rut away from my loved ones, or it won’t just be the perpetrator next time.”

Xavier started to say something, but stopped as the dripping of water echoed throughout the chamber, the pale light reflecting off the graffiti. Xavier adjusted himself, pushing a chain, rusted and broken, towards the seal with his feet and looked down.

“Go ahead, say your peace,” Quill said.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know,” Xavier said. “You never talked about your kids when you were helping us out with research.”

“That’s because we had a job to do,” Quill tilted his head, looking down. “And I wouldn’t be respecting any of their memories if I just spewed it out for all to see. And slowing down to talk about them, that would just put the foals that were still alive at risk of being drafted when they came of age.”

Xavier grimaced, glancing over at Quill, “I, I have moments where I miss the war Quill. Everyone working together against a common enemy. I miss my bunk. I miss Solstice’s drills. I miss Thunderclaw and the games of Perch he and the others let me in. I miss the research we did. I miss the other six.” Xavier’s face was streaming with tears, held back by sniffs and a tightened face, “I miss almost everything we were trying to end. It was the only time in my life I felt that I made something of myself. And then, it was over. And all I got to keep was the scars on my flesh, the pain in my bones, and some light correspondence with you and Solstice. Austin wanted to pay me to guest lecture about Inscription Magic but the pain was too much and I was too drugged up to make the most of it. Not that I would want to go there, three rejection letters and all,” Xavier’s lips melted into a deep frown. The human lifted the thumb and forefinger of his right gloved hand, splotched with ink, and pinched the bridge of his nose, “Quill, why was I happier back then? Why was I happier in the middle of a war?”

Quill looked at Xavier, then looked down, “I hate to be honest, but I feel you came into your own during it. I remember you were shy, and a bit reserved when I met you and the others in the research group, but as you and the others learned more, well,” the Professor paused for a moment. “You all began to take more risks. You, towards the last few months, you would disappear for days and Solstice kept covering for you,” Quill stopped and looked up at Xavier. “You never told us where you went off to.”

Xavier exhaled and crossed his arms, “After I made contact with Ziznir, it, for lack of a better term, put me to task. It,” Xavier paused and looked up. “We were already looking to make contact with Thorax and the Kirin for their help. The wind guided me through the wilds and I got Thorax to agree to come help us, but not the rest of the fae rebellion. The Kirin, under no uncertain terms, told me to fuck off. Hippogriffia was abandoned as far as I could tell,” Xavier teetered off and hugged himself. “Then it showed me that there were worse things on Equus than Sombra. Horrific things. Old things. Before I left Hippogriffia, it guided me to take a book. I read it. We went to work. I gathered what resources I could. It guided me to Preyton.” Xavier dabbed the cheek under his left eye. “I…”

“I remember that. Solstice and the others dragged you back maimed and in critical care for weeks,” Quill said. “Then they all took a leave of absence.”

Xavier looked away, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Quill blinked, “I understand.”

“It charged me with another task. Find it one wind kissed I deemed worthy of wielding Xiphyr. Hippogriffs were off the table because they went extinct as far as I know. The griffins I knew, sans one, were either too immature or had different priorities that would serve them poorly,” Xavier looked at the graffiti on the walls. “Plenty of pegasi to choose from. After looking at who I had on hand, I narrowed it down to Spitfire, Lightning Dust and Scootaloo.”

“Why not Spitfire?” Quill cocked his head.

“She was going through some kind of midlife crisis at the time. Canterlot discharged her honorably, but came to us for a chance to fight again on the front lines. From what I could gather, however, if Canterlot did let her fight, she would fly back as soon as she could. So she’s too loyal to Celestia,” Xavier bobbed his head.

“But Scootaloo?” Xavier turned to Quill, then looked away, “She knows what it’s like to be weak. To crawl on her belly. She’s been down here in the dust with the rest of us and is cognizant that power corrupts. Maybe she has a hero worship issue, but as far as I can tell, she keeps it under control, and she doesn’t let her ego get in the way when it counts. My only genuine worry was that I was putting too much weight on her to bear. But she has bore it well from what you’ve told me.”

“What are the qualifications if you don’t mind me asking?” Quill pursed his lips.

“None,” Xavier shrugged, looking over at Quill. “Just find one of the wind kissed to become the new Ephor. No list of personality traits to search for. No ‘find only the of pure heart’. Just find one and vet them.”

“That’s a lot of leeway…”

“You’re telling me,” Xavier rolled his eyes. “It took me weeks to make my candidate list, and start narrowing it down. I was down to those last 3 when the situation demanded I make a choice,” Xavier said. “Another round of cuts and it was down to those two, but I kept delaying it.”

“Could you have picked, say, a unicorn or dragon?” asked Quill.

Xavier rolled his head back and forth, “Maybe if I made a case for them, but I think the wind wants to go back to the old ways. And even then, a good number of viable Unicorn candidates would cry blasphemy, and the only dragon, well…” Xavier turned and raised an eye, chuckling. “He was more worried about his art and winning the war than reestablishing old traditions. Now that I think of it, a Zebra might have been an acceptable choice as well…”

“So it doesn’t even care if the candidate is ‘wind kissed’ or whatever you call it?” asked Quill.

“The wind is… very elastic with its requests. It even made me its Emissary, an alien from beyond Equus,” the corner of Xavier’s lips raised. “Though I think that was more out of desperation than anything else.”

“So, how has the wind been since you got back?”

“Well,” Xavier started. “It was kinda pissed at first that I left for so long. Gave me the cold shoulder. Then it gave me an opening to escape Jade.”

“She’s a piece of work,”

“Tell me about it,” Xavier rolled his eyes.

“You know she grilled me when you ran off from the library?” Quill snorted. “Chip on her shoulder the size of the Union, that one. Got on my rump for not protecting you, threw a fit that I didn’t do her job for her, threatened to drag me in front of a Union tribunal or some such nonsense and skin me alive.”

“Knowing you, you’d just spit out some minor detail in a treaty from eons ago and make them chew on letting you go and ignoring it or being forced to deal with the repercussions of it,” Xavier chuckled.

“I know a few old laws they scooped up in the haste to build a government, though once I use one, they will probably spend the next few years pruning it and the others,” Quill pursed his lips.

“Well, getting back on track, it was the one to encourage me to go into that bookshop, then twice it tried to get me to stop,” Xavier lurched over. “Finally, when that pony caught me, I begged for its help and because of it, it caused a minor dust storm over the university.” Xavier slouched over, “Hunting for rabbits with a Bazooka.”

“Maybe you should ask for its help more often?” Quill said. “Maybe it’s upset that you don’t ask it to help out.”

Xavier turned to Quill with an eye raised, then turned away again, “That said, it was a nice dust storm, almost like a haboob.”

“A haboob? What is that, like something a human child would call one of your women’s teats?” Quill chuckled.

“Oh, you’re in for a treat,” Xavier looked up and smiled, “A haboob is a beautiful thing to behold. Imagine looking up, and to the west is a giant curtain of reddish brown coming your way,” Xavier began. “And it slowly comes towards you. Depending on where you’re at, your first inclination might be to get home ASAP, which is not a bad idea. But then the curtain sweeps over your position and you are surrounded by nothing but wind and dust.” Xavier’s head slid to the left and looked down, “If only I wasn’t running away, I would have enjoyed the storm.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me, you like dust storms?” Quill croaked out.

“I’ve only ever been in two. And both times I went out to face it. The sun is blotted out, visibility is cut, you have to wear whatever you have on hand over your mouth to prevent yourself from breathing in the particulate matter. It’s like being transported to a new world. Then there is the bellowing. The aching of air and dust all going in one direction.”

“Well, I’m glad you accepted my invitation to come here, despite the lack of dust storms in Manehatten,” Quill chuckled. “Though I’m worried, was your plan really to use the Crystal Republic’s Pioneer Act to get land in a forest and sequester yourself away?”

Xavier shrugged, “My country really has no post-war rebuild your life law, except maybe the VA and Hazlewood. They were offering me free land, and they already had a bank account in my name that they kept sending bits to in appreciation. I already have enough money to buy an army of Crystal Ponies to build me a shelter.”

“Eh, I would be careful with that if I were you,” Quill chortled. “They keep sending me bits too, but it keeps getting drained with the Manehatten prices.”

“Still, I’d make a trip here three times a year to change up things and touch base with you, or at least that was the plan,” Xavier mumbled. Silence suddenly bellowed between the two males. Dust motes in the air danced as from far away, the sound of giant metal mechanisms clicked and banged as their vibrations trembled throughout the tunnels.

“I vomited again, just like last time,” Xavier uttered.

“Yeah, I saw that on my way out of the library. You holding up okay?” Quill said, frowning.

“It feels more like a practical joke than a curse now,” Xavier answered. “Speaking in tongues, projectile vomit, this warmth deep in my chest, the curing of the chronic sharp pains in my limbs,” the human trailed off. “At least she did that much,” Xavier turned to look at Quill. “From that I’m holding up okay, but I haven’t been holding up ok since before I got here. I still get these moments where I want to run and hide, then curl up as my inner voice screams, ‘please! I can’t’, pleading to no one for help that won’t come.”

“How long?” Quill asked.

“Since before the war,” Xavier answered, hugging himself. “I don’t get it, it just crops up sometimes and, well…”

“How did you deal with it back when I met you?” Quill asked.

Xavier rested his forearms against his knees and bent over, “I guess during the war, I was able to rationalize it away by reminding myself that the price of failure was better than the price of doing nothing. But now that’s said and done, I feel like I’ve regressed. Like I’m diminished, I’m in the epilogue, but the writer won’t simply end the fucking story.”

“But now that the pain in your arm is gone…” Quill said.

“Now that the pain is gone, I do feel a little less diminished. But what good am I? Half of what I know is useless and the other half I never want to use ever again.”

“I’m sure the others would appreciate what you’re doing,” Quill said, giving a conciliatory nod.

“No one should have to go through that pain,” Xavier said, turning to Quill. “The medication regimen itself was enough to dull the senses. Thinking took longer, and frequently I felt like I was lost in a fog. And then there was the ever present fear of addiction.”

“When was the last time you took any medication?”

“Not since the day of my little escapade, a few hours after I let slip my leash. That actually concerns me now that you bring it up, those painkillers are a highly addictive substance,” Xavier scratched his chin.

“Maybe the effects of whatever that mare did?” Quill wondered out loud.

“Well, maybe? What if whatever she did, it caused a sort of soft reboot on my brain and nervous system?” Xavier grimaced for a second, before looking at his gloved hands.

“Maybe something like the subjugation enchantment? Those ponies did fight longer and harder than they should have,” Quill pointed out.

“Yeah, but they were in a trancelike state. As far as we know,” Xavier flexed his fingers and rolled his head, “I’m not currently in a trance, though we can’t rule out I’m hallucinating all this,” Xavier slowly turned and gave a goofy eye to Quill.

“You’ll have to talk to somebody in the veterinary sciences or biology department about that,” Quill chuckled.

“Might as well get the ball rolling on that Fisher’s principle inquiry while I’m at it,” Xavier said, swishing his lips.

“I can only assume it has something to do with fishing?” Quill said as he continued to look around the room.

Xavier shook his head. “It is a principle in biology that says that all things being equal, the gender ratio of the population should roughly be one-to-one. If, for some reason, this isn’t the case, then there are likely external factors affecting the species.” Xavier continued.

“Oh, and ponies don’t follow Fisher’s principle, right?” Quill turned to look at the dilapidated man.

“Exactly, Fisher’s principle holds for nearly every creature on earth. And nearly every creature on Equus as well. Diamond dogs, griffins, we’ve even confirmed that dragons have an approximately equal female to male population, despite almost always only seeing a male. But you guys break this principle,” Xavier picked himself up and carefully stepped over his work, only to bend back down and continue scratching onto the worn concrete. “On average, the ratio is 4 to 1. In some regions, the ratio goes down to 3 to 1, like here in Manehattan. In the more isolated regions, you can expect to go as high as 5 to 1. With the sole exception of one town in the Kingdom, which is not isolated, but has an astounding 8 to 1 ratio,” Xavier paused and looked up at the ceiling.

“8 to 1? I didn’t know it got that bad,” Quill raised an eye. “Thornback prices must be high there…”

“The math cleanly shows that ponies from every tribe break Fisher’s principle. Our current hypothesis is that the reason that the species violates this law is that the population gains an inherent advantage of some sort from magic itself, possibly derived from its inherent feminine nature.” Xavier paused and looked back down the seal he was working on, “Though what that advantage is, well, it’s currently beyond our understanding.”

“But that doesn’t account for my kind at least. We don’t have any kind of magical advantage beyond our strength and endurance,” Prof. Quill countered.

“That’s what the unicorns want you to think,” Xavier stood up and turned to the professor. “You’re ignoring your hooves and the tendency to just grow plants better than the others. Also, haven’t you found it strange that the Zebra Coalition has been able to hold out against the kingdom since it began?” Xavier asked coyly. “They’re just an Earth Pony variant who’s adapted to their environment.”

“As far as I know, Celestia has adhered to her treaty with them and let them be,” Quill answered. “Though I have a feeling you are about to burst my bubble.”

“Long ago, Earth ponies and pegasi possessed magic on par with their unicorn counterpart. The crucial difference between them and unicorns were simply that unicorns were able to better maneuver items with their telekinesis and the speed at which they could cast. But…” Xavier started maneuvering around his work and, with a slight jump, left his labor and returned to plain concrete. “If a tribe of Unicorns were to say, try to exploit a group of Earth ponies or pegasi, they had their own tools at hoof,” with open arms, Xavier waved towards his handiwork. “Inscriptions, music, channeling, rituals, potions, and even summoning. Heaven knows what else we haven’t discovered. A group of unicorns may be able to waltz into an earth pony town and take their goods, but the moment the Earth ponies found where they were hiding, it wasn’t uncommon for them to use a summoning circle to absolutely devastate the gang. That was until…” Xavier lowered himself onto the floor and sat cross-legged.

“Was it Zelhor that told you of this?” Quill raised an eye.

“Zelhor was able to provide proof. But the documents we found at Argentum corroborated his claims,” Xavier hunched over with his chin resting on his thumb and forefinger. “Celestia has spent the better part of the last few millennia scrubbing what she could of such magics, like an Inquisition from Holy Terra.”

“Holy Terra?” Quill raised an eye and smirked.

“Sorry, it’s a human pop-culture thing.”

“I know what you’re referring to. I couldn’t get Staff Sergeant Rodriguez to shut up about it,” Quill laughed. “So much imagination poured into such a dark story. A nearly dead God Emperor, an actively hostile Universe…”

“They made it to sell plastic figurines,” Xavier rolled his eyes. “If they ever started drifting away from their tone, they would lose an enormous chunk of their audience.”

“Understandable, I remember reading the smarty pants stories to all my foals, and buying the toys of course,” Quill wiggled his eyebrows. “And of course, Smarty Pants always had a new adventure, another magical mystery to be solved.”

“Ehh, one is to sell toys to adults, another is to sell toys to foals,” Xavier murmured.

“Same difference,” Quill flexed his left front leg. “The story gives both audiences something to give their items context and meaning. And just a heads up, there are plenty of Mares and Stallions that are still reading and buying the Smarty Pants stuff. Bluegrass said he is going to attend a convention in Baltimare in a few months.”

“Wait, you guys have conventions now?” Xavier exhaled and pushed his upper lip towards his nose.

“We’ve had conventions for a while now. Well before your lot showed up,” Quill smiled.

Xavier’s eyes widened, “Ponies doing cosplay…”

“Oh, so that’s the corruption you’re worried about,” Quill burst out laughing.

“Next time you go to the other side, search up failed and discontinued conventions and enjoy the schadenfreude,” Xavier exhaled. “I will not touch one of those with a 100 kilometer pole.”

Quill got up and shot a side-eye towards Xavier, “There you go again, passing judgment on something you haven’t even seen yet. Send me a letter when you get proven wrong, preferably with a photo of your visage at the moment you eat crow.”

Xavier rolled his eyes, “Moving on regardless, she exercised almost anything that had to do with those kinds of magics. But of course, the tighter her proverbial grip, the more that slipped through her figurative fingers. She was never able to completely snuff out bardic magic. Even if she managed to, a generation or two of Earth ponies later would rediscover its effects and start implementing it to help with their daily labors. The Zebra clans, of course, preserve what they could, but she did something to strengthen unicorn magic that has only recently come undone. Last I heard, they were finally making progress with communing with Levenir, able to avoid a nasty Tidal Wave thanks to their work…”

“So you’re saying I can do magic?” Quill cocked his head.

“Not to touch a nerve, but you’ve plowed fields, right?”

“Of course.”

“Then you’ve done magic,” Xavier said. “The more hooves that touch a field, the better the outcome.”

Quill blinked, looked left and right before his mouth dropped open. Slamming his hoof on the ground twice, the sound echoing throughout the chamber, he cried out, “Summer’s Dawn!”

Xavier turned to Quill, blinking in surprise.

“Summer’s Dawn! Start of summer, we have this tradition, every pony goes out to the fields in the town and we tread on it! Where I came from, we had sporting events, but other places have different traditions like the community coming together to roll a rock across all the fields or a Maypole dance!” Quill looked at his hooves, “I didn’t even realize…”

Xavier nodded, “The more Earth Pony hooves, the better.”

“I didn’t even think to ask why until you brought that up!” Quill said. “It was just something we did. Momma Bronze said it was to give thanks to Celestia for helping us overcome winter, but,” Quill just sat and blinked for a few minutes.

“Momma Bronze?”

“Sorry, in the herd I grew up in, Bronze Bastion was this giant Earth Pony of a mare. Lead Mare and all that, but she wasn’t my mom, but we all called her Momma Bronze.” Quill smiled and looked at Xavier, “But it seems she was as misinformed as I was on the purpose of Summer’s Dawn.”

“Look, point is, you are not totally helpless when it comes to magic.” Xavier answered as he pointed to his finished seal. “Look at it. Sigil 12 and 14 to mitigate the more painful effects of the binding, Cloud’s glyph and Clover’s diagram to ensure the magical circuit doesn’t just burst at the first sign of a surge, and then,” Xavier stepped into the dried portions of his work. “To top it off, the Wandering Star of Arion in the middle,” the human pointed at a sort of oblong star surrounded by a circle of inscription work.

ᛡ

“With the right tools and time, you could have done this as well.”

Quill looked hard, then said, “I’ve seen that before, isn’t that the same symbol as the element of magic?”

“It’s the runic formulation, yes. Very, very rare symbol to find. Ponies branded with it are said to hold great promise. While the symbols in the other elements keep showing up from pony to pony, the Star of Arion has only been documented cropping up on a handful of ponies since the practice of recording marks began. Thirty-six in total if memory serves, with only number thirty-five and thirty-six showing up in the last two decades, though I’m sure you know who they are.”

“Twilight Sparkle obviously,” Quill pronounced. “Though I’m not sure about the other one…”

“Her brother. While she had the star of Arion front and center with other stars flanking it, his was plastered on a shield. And both master unicorn spell casters in their own right,” Xavier trailed off.

“So, what’s the purpose of it being here?” Quill lifted an eye.

“It is simply the fulcrum of the inscription. Nothing more, nothing less. Of course, I could’ve chosen Zephyro’s Lightning or Sterope’s Strings, but then I would have to account for random surges in the former and instability in the latter,” Xavier waved a hand at Quill. “Regardless, it’s very rare I get the chance to use Arion’s star. Last time I got to see it in action was–”

“When you and the other five activated the seal,” Quill uttered.

“I wasn’t originally supposed to even be one of the six, but he didn’t give us much choice,” Xavier trailed off. “Look, did you get the stuff I asked for?”

“Right here, but you know how hard it is to get human clothing here at an affordable cost?” Quill grunted, turning to his saddlebag and opening it with his mouth. “You need to send me the money as fast as possible before lead mare finds out that I’ve been pilfering from the treasury.”

“With what the Republic keeps sending me, it should be no problem to cover you. Well,” Xavier rubbed his hands, and dug into Quill’s backpack. “So long as Manehattan decides to remain independent.”

“Even then, you’ll have months to give me the money before the transition takes place, so don’t hide behind that,” Quill chuckled.

Xavier pulled out a thin black cloak and hood, along with a stubby knife. He looked at it, flourishing it for a second before posing with it in front of Quill and giving a coy smile, “For me?”

“Just in case something goes wrong.”

Xavier then pulled out a deck of oversized playing cards, his eyes widening, “Oh shit, I did promise you, didn’t I.”

“You up for teaching me another one of the card games you know?” Quill asked.

“I think I’ve got the time, yeah,” Xavier said, taking a seat next to Quill, pulling out the oversized cards and shuffling. “Of the games I haven’t shown you yet, Speed is problematic because you don’t have the dexterity to keep up, and Bullshit between only two players is degenerative.”

“Degenerative?”

“Perfect play on both sides leads to long, drawn out games where it becomes less about the social aspect and more about deducing what they put down based on what’s in your hand. And that computation is way too easy.”

“Ah,” Quill murmured, watching Xavier shuffle.

“How about Gin Rummy?”

“Sounds fine to me,” Quill said, turning to face Xavier on the ground.

Xavier dealt the cards and quickly explained the rules to Quill. The stallion looked at his cards, then suddenly asked, “What’s your plan anyways?”

Xavier looked over his hand, then looked up at Quill, “Whoever that mare is, she’s caught me unawares twice. And her spellcasting is obviously infantile if she hasn’t even tried to stop me with it. Hell,” Xavier said, pulling an Ace from the pile, “She had to get a friend to even stand a chance of catching me. But if we keep playing this game, sooner or later she’s going to win. Whether it’s through my own incompetence or her luck, she need only catch me once to begin whatever her machinations are. So I need to go on the offensive.” Discarding a Queen, Xavier continued, “So I’m changing the game to one where I have the advantage.”

“Oh? So what’s the game now?”

“Bait and switch. Since she will start chasing on sight, I’ll bait her by getting near, and lead her down here, where the switch will take place,” Xavier said as Quill took the Queen.

Discarding a Jack, Quill swished his mouth for a few moments, then asked, “And your advantage?”

“Simple,” Xavier said, taking the Jack on the pile and tapping his covered knuckles on the concrete floor. "I know where she works."