Boundary Point

Xavier closed his eyes and placed his scarred hands atop the herd bed and swept forth, taking in the sensation of the threads that made up its complex. The slight coolness from how smooth it was. The slight heat from friction as the ridges from his fingerprints brushed against the crisscrossing threads. He did this over and over again until he lifted himself up and approached the short sink with pony graded lever handles. Xavier bent over and pulling the right one towards him; he watched as cool water slammed against the bowl and rang out across the bathroom. Thrusting his hands in, the icy cold temperature penetrated his bones. Lifting one hand out, he quickly pushed the lever back into place and pulled the other lever. After a few moments, steam emerged from the faucet as more water poured out. He stuck his hands back in and drowned his fingers in heat. Pulling a lever to the side of the sink, the stopper pulled down and hot water accumulated in the bowl. Thrusting his hands in, the lower part of his jaw chattered, his teeth tap dancing as he embraced the burning heat. The crisp clicking of a door opening and closing were of no concern to the human at the sink. He leaned his head back as he found the middle point, right at the edge of pain where he lay his hands.

“Are you… okay?” Jade said, raising an eye as she walked into the hotel bathroom.

“Shhh,” Xavier hissed, his eyes still closed, taking in the sensation.

Jade looked at the human, then his hands in the sink, then back again at the human. Emitting a smirk, she said, “Am I interrupting something between you two?”

“Could you do me a favor?” Xavier moaned as he swished his fingers in the water. “When you take me back here tonight, can you have a bowl of grapes, some glue, some borax, food coloring, and a few bowls brought up here? Oh, and also some low grit sandpaper would be nice. And a knife.”

“What?” Jade’s confusion popped out of her voice like so much spaghetti on cement.

“Please, if you could get those items for me, you’ll find me a much more pliable human.”

“Are you… okay?” Jade frowned with concern and reared up, trying to get a better look at Xavier’s face.

“Tell me, how much do you know about me? How much did they tell you?” Xavier said, still entranced by the heat.

“They told me enough. Did something happen to the pain in your hands?” Jade could no longer stand on both rear hooves and let gravity return her ground side.

“I don’t know. Right now, there is no pain. And I can feel again. So I’m taking the opportunity to experience sensations that I haven’t felt in a long time,” Xavier turned to look at the green crystal pony. “Please, I don’t know how long this will last.”

“What’s the uh...” Jade shook her head, “What’s the borax for?”

“It’s to use with the glue to make slime.”

“You want to make… Slime?”

“Yes.”

“So that you can… feel it?”

“Yes.”

Jade blinked as she took a step forward, “So you want to create slime just so that you can... Feel it?”

“Look, Jade, imagine you went deaf for an entire year, and then suddenly you can hear again, what’s the first thing you might do?”

The pony shrugged, “I guess listen to music.”

“It’s the same principle here. Whatever that mare did to me, she did something that has allowed me to feel again.”

“What mare?” Jade glowered at Xavier.

Xavier’s eyes shot open and blinked for a moment, “Oh, the gypsy mare at the park I met along the way to the memorial. I insulted her so she cursed me, but it must not work on humans since I can feel.”

“Oh, a joke,” Jade rolled her eyes.

“I am serious about the stuff, I don’t know why, but the pain is gone and I can feel again. I don’t know how long this is going to last, so I would like to get some time with the old nerve endings,” Xavier continued.

“I’ll see what I can do.” Jade sighed as she tapped her head against the wall in exhaustion, “Xavier, something’s come up at the embassy. I’m needed. I know I told you I was going to take you to the Museum, but instead I’m going to leave you with Prof. Quill.”

“Oh? What’s going on?” Xavier asked as he finally lifted his fingers from the scalding bowl.

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know, or you can’t tell?”

Jade looked at Xavier and snorted, “Why would you ask something you know I can’t talk about?”

“Never know when you’re going to get lucky,” Xavier said, as he pinched the fabric on his shirt and kneaded it between his thumb and forefinger.

“You can grab breakfast at the convenience store on our way to the campus,” Jade said, turning towards the door. “I’ll be back in ten, be ready.”

Twilight trotted across the main entrance to Manehatten University, passing under its archway that held the school’s seal for all to see: An Owl with its wing spread atop a shield segmented into 4 parts: A star like the central one on her Cutie mark, a Key, a lit candle and a quill. Once again, Twilight’s marks were both concealed by flank paint, showing only a simple planet as her worn saddlebag shook to and fro. Passing by the cinder block History building, she passed under the Administration building before seeing the large central rectangle that was the University Library. She kept on pace until she saw two Earth Mares in uniform around a blue coated, black maned Unicorn.

“Wha, what is this, a theological monarchy?” the Unicorn let out an enormous belch. “Oh, Oh I’m sorry, I thought this was Manehatten!” the Unicorn shouted in the lane before the University Library. Her brand was that of three rocks, and a dazed look about her betrayed the situation. She magically held a bottle with an apple on the label, swinging it back and forth. Occasionally, she dropped it, only to quickly and magically grab it before it made landfall.

“Come on Honey, let’s go.” one of the two Policemares said.

“Yo-, you can’t make,” again she burped. “I th-, I th-, I thought this was a free city st-st-spate!” the mare magically swung the bottle, nearly hitting the officer on the right of her.

Quickly, the other officer pulled out a small black ring from her uniform and surreptitiously placed it right over the unicorn’s horn. Small arcs of black electricity sparked as the ring slammed its self against the base of her horn. The magic holding the bottle suddenly dissipated, allowing it to fall to the concrete with a single full bounce before hitting it again and shattering.

“Oh, oh come on,” the Unicorn looked at the broken remains of her drink.

“Come on Honey, let’s call your lead mare,” the two officers now flanked the Unicorn. The mare hung her head low, letting them guide her away from the scene of the lost beverage.

Twilight shook her head and then proceeded through an archway of trees, still in full greenery, flanked by red and black cinderblock buildings. Finally approaching her target, Twilight gulped as she stepped through into the large doorway that led into the Manehattan University Library. Immediately to her right, she could see a small green and red café with species of all kinds intermingling. At the forefront was a human, a Pegasus, and a Griffin. They argued loudly, while behind them a unicorn with earmuffs placed over her folded ears just rolled her eyes as she went back to sharpening a pencil. The scent of coffee wafted through Twilight’s senses as she suddenly deviated from the main entrance hall and got in line at the café.

Two Earth ponies, Green and Orange respectively, and a milky tan unicorn quickly worked through the line. The Earth ponies showing abnormal dexterity, as even the most complex orders were but child’s play to them.

Finally reaching the order counter, Twilight began, “Double mocha frappuccino with almond milk.”

“Size?”

“Trenta, wait, hang on,” Twilight gritted her teeth, shaking her head as she frowned. “Sorry, I meant short.”

The Barista nodded to Twilight as she left the line and found an empty hybrid seat. Bending over left to make sure her mark was painted over as a planet, she gazed across the library’s atrium.

In the center there was a giant fountain, with three bronze unicorns each reading a book while water spewed out their horns. Surrounding it were short benches that no one sat on, as the sound of splashing water reverberated across the structure. But even beyond the sound of water, the echoes of hooves coming and going played out like a calm stampede. Twilight slowly looked down as a slight frown curled the edge of her lips. Her breathing slowed, as the sight of students coming and going reflected off her violet eyes.

“Double mocha frappuccino with almond milk!” A voice cried up from behind the counter.

Twilight shook herself out of the trance she fell into and magically grabbed her drink. Leaving the café, she entered the library proper and took a sip. She looked left and right for only a few moments before spying the librarian’s counter to her left. Trotting with drink in magic grip, she found a white Griffin organizing cards behind the counter.

“Hello, I’m sorry for bothering you, but can I get some help?”

The white Griffin raised an eye before returning his focus on his cards, “Depends on what kind of help. If you’re looking to check out an 8 mm camera, you’ll need to put a deposit down first. If you’re looking for a room to practice magic in, you’ll be waiting about an hour before one opens up.”

“Actually, I need help researching humans.”

“Okay?”

“Specifically biology, interpersonal relational structures and psychology,” Twilight gave a self-satisfied smile, only to glance up for a second before continuing. “Actually, let’s tack on a general history book as well.”

The Griffin groaned as he put the stack of cards in his claws down. He gave an empty look to the unicorn in front of him and asked, “Why don’t you just talk to one?”

Twilight’s ears stood on end as she stuttered for a second. “My uh, my assignment is to research them, not interview them,” her voice inflected up as she quickly whipped out her fastest plastic smile.

The Griffin rolled his eyes as he pushed against the counter, his stool rolling the other direction as he got up.

He walked on all fours to the far end of the counter, a bandaged wing on his left side revealed itself to the mare as he snapped his beak twice, clicking throughout the public complex.

“I can show you where human history and psychology will be in the stacks,” he snorted. “We’ll need to go to the card catalog to find where biology and interplanetary trade is.”

“You mean interpersonal relationships, right?” Twilight said with a slight squeak.

“Whatever,” he said. The librarian grabbed a scratch piece of paper and pencil from the countertop. He prodded along, “Come on now, mustn’t dillydally or you’re liable to waste all of my time.”

Twilight snorted as she followed the Griffin. Passing by the staircase, Twilight could see dancing, flashing lights coming out of a hall labeled ‘Greymane’s Rehearsal Hall’. As she moved past it, she could see a giant sign over a room labeled ‘Analytical Computation’. Its letters sparkling as the door it hung above was coated in a dark varnish. Bright white lines and an ‘X12’ written on the door in fine calligraphy flanked it. A simple chain fastened across the door as an ‘out to lunch’ sign written on paper had been taped atop it.

“Its been awhile, but I don’t remember seeing that here,” Twilight remarked.

“The Computer?” the Griffin grunted.

“Is that what’s in there?” Twilight leaned her head slightly to get a better look at the Griffin’s expression as he led her.

“Yeah, something about advanced human tech like semi-whatever or something doesn’t play well in our world. But they apparently still have cruder ways of doing a lot of the stuff they do on their side,” the librarian replied. “The waitlist for using that thing is extensively long. That is, unless you want to try shipping your punch tape across to the other side only to find out you accidentally punched a hole where you shouldn’t have. Though if you’re serious, you’ll just head to the other side. Rumor has it the humans have machines that can think.”

“What?” Twilight raised an eye.

“Something about neural networks and deep learning, though I wouldn’t put too much faith in such claims.” the librarian answered.

Finally, they stopped by the card catalog, freshly perfumed air hissed as the ethereal air cooling system poured new air atop everyone in the main foyer. Twilight looked around and saw students of all kinds hard at work, almost all of them in groups. She could even see a gray and brown dragon in the distance, pointing at something on blue paper and gesturing to the pegasus next to him. But closer to her was an entire drove of unicorns, each one a respectable distance from the other as they parsed through books and took notes. Twilight’s rump sagged for a brief moment as a sullen look slowly took hold of her. Her eyes finally darted away, once again looking at the Griffin writing on scratch paper.

“All right, so I don’t have anything for interpersonal relationships, but you’ll find biology here,” the Griffin said, pointing at the bottom location. “You’ll find history on the fourth floor, right here,” he then pointed at the next coordinates, “psychology is on the sixth floor.”

Twilight turned to the Griffin and gave a curt bow before taking the list in a purple glow.

“If you’re interested in mating with one, Scone runs a demonstration where she displays how Equologists believed ponies used to preform courtship before the advent of language. She uses a herd mate human,” the Griffin said, closing the card catalog. “Something about more endurance makes one ideal for demonstrations.”

Twilight froze in place and slowly turned her head to her guide, her eyes frozen. “Ehhh what?” words stumbling out of her mouth.

“You think you’re the only pony that’s come in here to study humans for an ‘assignment’?” The Griffin cocked an eyebrow. “Just some advice unicorn, they’re just like us. Each one with their own little stories of either triumph or terror, so no matter how much you learn about the genre, until you dive claws first into one, you’ll always be ill-prepared,” the Griffin strolled away from the pony, entering the main thoroughfare and away from sight.

Twilight stood there frozen, her ears twitching while she gritted her teeth. Slowly looking around, she finally exhaled when she determined that no one else had eavesdropped. Biting the corner of her lip, she tucked the scratch paper in her saddle bag and moved towards the stairs that led to the stacks.

“So, what you’re saying is you heard something in a language you don’t understand? And replied with gibberish, maybe even that same language?” the mare Pegasus, with a parchment/quill brand and blue coat, asked Xavier in Prof. Quill’s office. Atop the parchment on her rump, it possessed a musical stave on it. Written atop it, a treble clef, a flat on the middle bar, and 3 notes connected by 3 beams, with a lone note at the end.

“I didn’t exactly reply,” Xavier answered, “It was more like the words just came spilling out. Kind of like how one would simply reply with ‘polo’ if you ever heard the word ‘Marco’.”

The Pegasus raised an eye at Prof. Quill as Xavier sat down on the couch.

“It’s a human game,” Prof. Quill said as he quickly explained the rules to the Pegasus. “The game works because human hearing is much better at determining sound location than ours is Brisk.”

“Hmmmm,” Brisk paced in front of Prof. Quill’s desk as the two watched, her wings occasionally opening slightly and shivering before retracting. “Well, if what you’ve said is to be believed, it must have been bardic in nature. But bardic techniques, while open to everyone, at worst can only impart feelings of dread and despair.”

Xavier shook his head, “I know, I know I know I know, look. I remember feeling warm, like this deep warmth in my chest, almost fluttering, but not despair. Mostly surprise and fear from the fact that I lost control of my speech faculties. I mean, never mind the fact that a Unicorn was barreling towards me.”

“Do you remember exactly what you said?” Brisk asked as her gray mane shifted from left to right.

Xavier shook his head, “I wish I did doctor, but what I do remember is feeling nauseous. Then fear, but that’s because, again, I was being chased by that unicorn.”

The Pegasus’s mouth swished left to right as she began, “Well, the era of spontaneous singing ended during the war. But the fact that you replied at all, and from a creature who can’t be affected by magic makes this entire story really strange. Are you certain you just didn’t stumble with your words?”

“First, the ‘humans are immune to magic’ thing is a common mistake. It’s more complex than that. There are a few variants of magic that affect humans like they would any other creature on Equus. It stems from the fact that we happen to no-sell Unicorn magic, among other things. That is until they decide to make the ground beneath your feet erupt or hurl an icicle at you. Second, I was having an argument with someone who works there, but I wasn’t flustered,” Xavier scratched his face. “And besides, if that unicorn wanted to take me down so badly, like I pointed out, there are at least a few dozen other ways to do it.”

“Well, most unicorns don’t know any magic outside their specialty,” Prof. Quill chimed in. “But if she was a war veteran, she may have had something up her sleeve, but even then, this is way too indirect.”

“‘Up her sleeve?’” Brisk tilted her head.

Quill shook his head, lowering and tapping his foreknee on it, “Sorry, more human parlance, something in her saddlebag.”

“Ah,” Brisk nodded. “I agree, maybe she had a spell that could throw her voice, but that doesn’t answer it being in your voice and the symptoms afterwards. Maybe we are dealing with something ancient and forgotten. If that’s the case, we will have to dig around the archives at the library.”

Xavier nodded to his right as he pursed his lips, “That might be worth pursuing, and since it’s still on campus, Jade won’t get pissed.”

“Are you just looking for an excuse to explore around?” Prof. Quill rolled his eyes.

Xavier turned to Prof. Quill and gave a grin, “And what’s wrong with poking your nose in new places?”

“Only that I could earn the ire of the Crystal Republic if I lose you.” Prof. Quill scowled.

“Please, what I pulled on Jade, I wouldn’t pull on you. Besides,” Xavier got up and stretched his legs, “if I piss you off, who am I going to talk to here?”

“Wait, has he been causing you trouble?” Brisk asked as she narrowed her eyes at the human from afar.

“Only insofar as this curse business,” Quill nodded. “Xavier is quite the compliant performance artist.”

“Glad I could accommodate,” Xavier gave a curt bow of the head to Quill. “It’s too bad that I’m only good at the bow, maybe if I had time I could’ve launched some spears for you. If Xola were here, he would have been able to give you a proper atlatl showing.”

“Well.” Brisk looked at the two males, “Let’s go have a look, if we’re lucky we’ll find something in a few weeks time.”

“A few weeks?” Xavier’s voice pierced the room.

“I mean, the archives are an immense collection of microfilm of various preserved documents. We’re going to have to go back at least 500 years,” Brisk said as she walked towards the door. “Who knows, maybe we’ll get lucky and find something this week,” she turned to Xavier. “Assuming you haven’t sent us on a wild goose chase that is.”

Twilight took a sip of her drink as she turned the page. Sequestered in a tiny hutch of a study area, a large stack of books accompanied her, each one with either ‘humans’, ‘humanity’, or “Homo Sapien” in their title. She stared at the image of a human skeleton and narrowed her eyes.

“Twin bones in the limbs,” she trailed off as she suddenly looked to an adjacent book with a pony skeleton, front and center. “So different, but so much the same…”

Closing the book, she pushed it back and looked up at the clock. Pursing her lips, she looked at the flier she grabbed from the bulletin board after a restroom break. On it, it advertised Scone’s demonstration in the performance complex. Twilight breathed more heavily as she reread the details and wiggled in her seat. The tufts of fur on her chest danced, but her ears remained folded down. Finally shaking her head, she grabbed the scratch piece of paper that led her to the books she currently had and quickly added her own notes. She exhaled as she floated the books on top of the table, and neatly folded the scrap sheet of paper and hid it within her saddlebag.

Twilight folded the sheet advertising the act of academic debauchery. Being careful to only leave the location exposed, she placed it on the table for only a moment in order to put her thick volume of notes in her saddlebag. Slipping it on after carefully storing away her work for the day, she quickly nabbed the flier as she left her study spot in the stacks.

Passing through rows and rows of books, the rudimentary electrical light system occasionally flickered as she made her way past the collection and towards the stairs.

Passing by other ponies on the way down, the stairs seemed to go on forever. That was, until she saw the ground floor sign, along with the arrow pointing down saying: Archives [10 floors down]. She heard the clicking of hooves echoing upwards. For a moment, she felt a tug, as if someone was trying to lead her to continue going down the stairwell. She turned and faced the dark stairs and slowly approached the first step down before once again shaking her head and turning around.

She left the stairs for ground level; her walk turned into a trot as she looked up for the sign pointing to the performance room. She carefully avoided the librarian’s desk and saw a giant hanging sign pointing past the restrooms and signifying the performance complex’s location. Her trot returned to a walk, which itself turned into a crawl as she approached the door to the performance room. Peeking in, she could see a few mares sitting around the stage, a few with notes but others just talking to each other.

Twilight entered and walked down the stairs and towards the front of the classroom. Five steps in, her right hoof froze in midair as she grimaced and retreated. Finding a comfortable corner in the rear row, she put her saddlebag next to the desk and took a seat. Pulling out pencil and paper, she laid it on the table and turned to watch others enter the room. Two griffons walked in giggling to each other, while a mare human came in and took a center seat. Slowly, the room started to fill. Mostly mares chatting with each other, with the occasional member of another species walking in and taking a seat.

“Right so,” a gray mare walked onto the stage with black mane and a cutie mark hidden by distance. She wore thick black glasses, with her mane in a bun. The clicking of her hooves on stage sent the entire complex into silence. “My name is Scone. Many of you are here for the voyeur aspect of this instructional show,” the gray mare narrowed her eyes at the audience. “If you’re here to gaggle or to be caught in a rain shower, do us all a favor and keep it to yourself. For the rest of you who are here for actual educational purposes, I welcome you.”

The mare walked around almost like she was strutting one of Rarity’s outfits to the paparazzi, “A long, long time ago, before the advent of buildings or cooking or even princesses. Our ancestors were larger and less refined than we are now. Our homes were the luscious green fields that lay across the land. Back then, herds would be as large as 20 to 60 members. But as time moved forward, our herds became smaller and methods of mate selection became more refined,” the mare suddenly shifted on her hooves and turned to the audience.

“But back then, all was not well. While we have evidence that their female to male ratio was 5 to 1, the males of that era were significantly more violent, and had no issue killing foals if the mood passed them. But the ancient mare had one trick: by frequently mating with every male in a herd, she could cast doubt on the paternal lineage of her foal. This would’ve forced sufficiently aggressive stallions to reassess if the foal is worth killing, especially if it might be their own. However, to engage in this failsafe, proper procedures must be followed,” the mare took off her glasses and pulled the needle from her bun. Unfurling her mane, turning the obviously educated pony into something more ancient and unrefined.

“As such, a demonstration,” she turned to the left of the stage as a human walked out with brown mane and shorts that he quickly dropped to the floor. “To begin, if this act hasn’t already been established, we start with the sharing of breath, something we still do to this day,” the human got on his knees as Scone approached him and placed her stumpy snout right in front of his mouth.

The two ponies and human walked down the stairs as the sign saying Archives passed overhead. They gently spiraled down the ill-lit corridor, with the sound of dripping echoing throughout the stale air. Finally reaching the nondescript door, they opened it to reveal a tan and beige complex, with a giant map of greater Equus behind the librarian’s desk. To the right were several rows of various maps hidden away in cylinders, while the left revealed storage case after storage case of microfilm.

“Butter,” Brisk gave the tan unicorn with green mane and magnifying glass cutie mark a nod.

“Brisk! What can I do for you on this fine day?” The unicorn was passively holding up three magazines and a highlighter as she looked over.

“I need any ancient documents with respect to bardic magic, especially curse like magic,” Brisk said with a nod.

“Bardic magic can’t bestow curses, you know that,” Butter said as she put down one magazine and picked up another.

“Aye, but what about ancient tales or legends? Anything that might imply using such a force on a being in a negative manner,” Brisk quickly fluttered her wings before retracting them back.

“Well, we do have ancient testimonials that allude to such things, but the academic community has cast heavy doubts on their authenticity.”

“You guys have an authenticity problem?” Xavier asked.

“Well…” Butter said as she turned to the human, “Well well well, we don’t get many of your kind down here.”

The tan unicorn quickly picked up her magazines and capped her highlighter before trotting from behind the counter and circling Xavier. She squinted her eyes at his gloved hands and whispered, “So, they are just blunt claws under there?”

Xavier flexed his fingers three times in front of Butter, “Care for a closer look?” he grinned.

Butter gave off a snort before smiling and returning to the desk, “Anyways, to answer your question on authenticity, what our historians are interested in isn’t so much exercising fake documents from 500 years ago talking about 1000 years ago. But reading what ponies from 500 years ago thought about ponies 1000 years ago. Also, there’s the matter of material used in the forgery, very worthy of study.”

“I see. But surely you have partitioned out the fakes from the legit ones, right?” Xavier asked.

“Ehh not necessarily,” Butter closed her eyes as she waved her highlighter in the air. “Some documents are in that vague area that we’re simply not sure of their authenticity. Which in of itself is worthy of some scholarly work.”

“And those are the documents we are interested in,” Brisk nodded to Xavier. “In the line between fact and fiction, we might find something.”

Butter put down her highlighter and immediately went to the enormous card catalog behind the desk. Opening three sleeves simultaneously, she began floating different indices and putting them back as she also levitated a piece of scrap paper and pencil beside herself, “No, no, maybe?” she scratched something on the ripped piece of paper, “No, no…”

“Huh,” Xavier aired breathlessly. “Four, maybe six points of telekinesis.”

“What’s that?” Quill asked.

“Last I read about The Shift, most unicorns find it difficult to maneuver two things in the air, four however? Very impressive,” Xavier answered.

“Wait, wasn’t that because Sombra did something to magic itself? Or was it when he tried to open the Corridors?” Quill whispered.

Xavier walked away and with his right hand waved Quill over, he bent over and whispered, “No one knows. Intel from Argentum indicates ‌Sombra affected all magic when he opened up the Corridors, but there’s evidence to suggest that he may have done something even before then.”

“Wait, why would ‌Sombra do something to magic even without the Corridors?” Quill hissed.

Xavier shrugged, “We believe that when he had possession of the crystal heart, he did something with it to cripple unicorn magic. Primarily to make sure that Celestia and the other three didn’t possess the ability to directly challenge him.”

“But that would cripple him too,” Quill said.

“It was probably a gambit,” Xavier answered. “To prevent losing to such power, he was probably willing to take some power depreciation himself. That and he had an entire army of slaves to fall back on.”

“That would answer a lot of things.” Quill looked at Xavier, “When the war broke out, we all thought that Celestia was just going to take care of the situation herself. Or at the very least use the Elements to stone him.” Quill raised his foreleg to his chin and rubbed it, “But instead we got drafted and thrown into wartime.”

“Keep the unicorn thing on the down low. The official story is that unicorn magic was accidentally slightly weakened due to Sombra’s attempt at corrupting the Crystal Heart. But it fought back and weakened all unicorn magic to protect itself,” Xavier looked up and watched as Brisk had reared up atop the counter and watched Butter as she deftly negotiated four items at the same time. “The truth is, while unicorn magic is still the most powerful direct source of magic, it now very much has its limits.”

“Like the Day Morning Broke?” Quill asked.

Xavier cocked an eyebrow, “The day what?”

“You know,” Quill shifted his eyes at the two other ponies before waving Xavier down. “The day the sun rose without Celestia?”

“Oh, you mean The Morning of Truth?”

“Is that what you humans call it?”

“No, no, that’s what the Crystal Ponies call it. We just picked it up from them.” Xavier looked confused.

“Did I lose you?” Quill asked.

“No, it’s just that every time the Morning of Truth comes up, it’s generally considered to be a good thing. You said it like it was a bad thing.”

“I mean, you know the details, right?” Quill waved Xavier deeper into an ill-lit part of the archives.

“What’s to get? You all found out that Celestia and Luna don’t control the sun and moon,” Xavier narrowed his eyes, tilting his head.

“Yes, that’s what happened, but that’s not what happened,” Quill enunciated the last word. Xavier just stood and looked left and right for a moment before Quill continued, “Let me ask you a question. Do you know why no city seceded from the Kingdom before that day?”

Xavier shook his head.

“That’s because we were all under the impression that Celestia could control the heavens!” Quill hissed.

“Ohhhh,” Xavier said, nodding his head.

“So you have a leader with the qualities of all three tribes who told you for as long as you live that she controlled the sun and moon, and one day you’re at war with the Avatar of Darkness. And you’re not just shipping wartime stuff to the front lines, you’re shipping your daughters and loved ones to fight. But the war goes on longer than you anticipated, but you don’t entertain the idea of seceding because if you do, that’s eternal darkness over your city. Over your town. Over your loved ones,” Quill trailed off. “And then in the span of twelve hours, the sun lowers and rises itself? And you’ve been living in fear of eternal darkness over a lie? What community wouldn’t be up in arms?”

“I was just under the assumption the cities that left were because they were resource fatigued,” Xavier crossed his arms and looked down, biting his lower lip.

“Manehatten would have never, ever entertained the thought of leaving the kingdom if Celestia could truly choose when the sun and moon rose. Never. But Sombra showed us all. All he had to do was keep her and Luna distracted for half a day,” Quill frowned. He slowly lowered his head as if he were to start grazing on the carpet, “She would’ve drained us down to our last filly if she could,” Quill weakly looked up at Xavier. “She would have dismantled every building for any scrap of metal, grinded every dead unicorn’s horn for any shred of magic, she would’ve probably started drafting colts, and we would not bat an eye because if she was so inclined, she could shower us in eternal night.”

“But it turns out it was just a fake ritual,” Xavier worded.

“A fake ritual for a fake Princess of the Sun.”