Decaying Breeze

Thankfully Zephyr was right. The Crystal Empire had snow, snow, snow, and more snow. The problem for him was the temperature and the feel of it. Sure it was cold, it was soft, but something about it was wrong. Not in the snow itself, but in the area around him. Was the Crystal Empire a place where someone like him, an old man nearing his seventies, could wander around in a light jacket? It sure didn’t feel like it from the letters he had from his sister.

I don’t know, he thought to himself as he looked around at the area he pulled out his tourist guide and flipped through it as he looked for someone who he had exchanged letters with now and then. I don’t know, but hopefully somebody does. Maybe they can tell me what's wrong.

“No, I don’t feel like anything is wrong,” Sunburst said to him across a table as the two of them sat in his private quarters in the royal palace. ‘I think you're probably just hallucinating things to be honest. I mean we’re both old you know? Most creatures generally don’t live as long as we do until your late sixties and my early seventies. You're probably just reminiscing on the past a bit too much these days. ”

“Mhmh, I guess,” Zephyr said a bit unsure to himself as he sipped at a cup of tea that was on the table. “Still though, it feels like something's wrong.”

“Like what?” Sunburst said a bit confused as he idly poured himself a glass through a strainer.

“I uh,” Zephyr tried to word out before collapsing into the mug of tea that he had. “I dunno. It’s just that things feel wrong these days you know? Back in Cloudsdale I can’t help but notice that the weather feels warmer, the smell isn’t the same as it once was, and that things feel different now. And that just…feels wrong you know? Like they aren’t the way that they should be.”

“Oh don’t worry about it,” Sunburst waved off with a hoof. “I’m sure it’ll be fine in time. You're probably just having to get used to the effects of Cloudsdale being industrialized. The smell is bound to come from the factories and whatnot along with the warmth.”

“I mean,” he said waving a hoof off towards a nearby window, “we’re having to get used to it as well. The factories around us chew up so much coal and gems that we don’t even have to use the crystal heart as much as we used to. All we have to do now is just get a few pegasus teams to wrap the city in a heat cloak and we’re fine! No need to rely on the clunky old gem apparatus that we used to back in the empire's early days anymore.”

“And you don’t think anything is wrong with that? ” Zephyr said, a bit unsure. “That your factories are just making so much heat and smoke that you don’t need to rely on the Crystal Heart anymore?”

Sunburst merely gave a shake of his head as he took another sip of his tea, but as he did so Zephyr noticed something about it.

“You're not using your horn are you?” he said as he watched Sunburst take a drink while recalling the earlier days in which they used to talk during the few visits he made to him. “Didn’t you used to use your magic for that?”

“Yeah, when I was younger,” Sunburst said with a shrug, “but not anymore. Now that I'm older, the magic that I have is weaker than it used to be.” Humming for a moment he refreshed his glass with his hoof. “These days I have trouble floating spoons of sugar now, much less a full mug. I’m sure that in a decade or two all I’ll be able to do is just turn pages with it.”

“And that doesn't bother you?” Zephyr asked again, a bit scared at the idea of no longer having any access to his magic. “That you eventually won’t be able to use magic anymore?”

“I mean...no, not really,” Sunburst answered back. “It’s what happens to everyone as they get older. The amount of magic that they can gather and use simply ebbs away. It won’t drain away entirely, but like a muscle in an old stallion, it will grow weaker with time. There have only been a few instances in the world where someone was entirely unable to use magic at all.”

"But what about Starswirl?” Zephyr prodded him, remembering how Starswirl's power only grew as he got older. “What about him?”

“Starswirl is an exception to the rule, he isn't it itself,” Sunburst answered Zephyr. “He was born with the right marks, the right gifts, and at the right time to get to where he was. For the rest of us, it’s just-

“But what about,” Zephyr tried to offer up before he was cut off by Sunburst.

“But what about this, what about that,” Sunburst said, repeating Zephyr’s thoughts before putting a hoof on the table to get his attention. “Look. That’s just the way of life, you know? As time passes, we get older, weaker, and in time to nothing. It’s entirely normal for living ponies like us. Eventually, we’ll all just become dust.”

“That feels grim,” Zephyr couldn't help but snark out. “Where did you get that attitude from?”

“College,” Sunburst Sunburst answered. “Go through enough volumes of someone serenading about death and decay when you're bored in class and eventually even the ennui of the cosmos's feel like nothing. You should try it someday. I’m sure it’ll help you with the mental crisis you're in.”

Zephyr only grumbled as he sipped his tea while Sunburst drank his with a smile. A moment of peace passed as they continued to drink. In time a spark came to the mind of Sunburst as he recalled something that he had forgotten about until now.
“Still though, you do bring up something that’s been on my mind for a little bit,” Sunburst acquiesced as he recalled the memory. “And that's the children.”

“Oh?” Zephyr said, raising an eyebrow. “What do you mean by that?”

“I mean that more than a few creature these days tend to grow up like me, “he said pointing a hoof to himself. “That is having a harder time to use magic, to wield it in an extraneous capacity, and to recover from it than they usually would. Oftentimes now they just get exhausted from a few spells and have to take medication to relieve it.”

“Really?” Zephyr said. “That really happens now? Is it common?”

“Maybe? I dunno,” Sunburst replied, shrugging. “It’s just that it's happened enough times that I think a few hospitals are noting it down, but nothing too extreme or otherwise I think. Probably just something about it with the changing times that's all. With medicine as it is, a lot of foals are now able to be conceived and raised than before and the world has had a population boom since then. I’m sure that a few sick kids like me were bound to crop up eventually.”

Zephyr only hummed in response as he looked at the mug of tea that he had. Sunburst's idea made sense, get a big enough population, and eventually, you’ll be able to find a few anomalies, but still, something about it felt off. Why weren’t their conditions cured then if it was known across several hospitals? Was technology just not up to the task yet? Or maybe it was indicative of something worse.

“I guess, but I just…,I uh,” Zephyr began again. “I just, I dunno, something about that feels off.”

“Something will always feel off, friend,” Sunburst replied, getting up to take a moment to stretch, “but that’s life. It’s honestly just lumpy at times and the only thing we can do is to just keep moving.”

Zephyr refused to budge in response, instead, he just looked at the mug of tea that looked sour now and contemplated things. How could things be going wrong already? They felt small, almost invisible now, but what about the future? What then? Could these problems become so big that everyone would get sick? That the north wouldn't become the frozen place that it was known for and that it would be just as hot as Zebrica? If all they had to do now was just make a magical trap to keep the heat in, then…..then.

“Look Zephyr,” Sunburst said, noticing his sullen demeanor and interrupting his train of thought. “I have a few colleagues in Zebrica, Griffonia, and Hippogriffia. If you want to ask them some questions, then feel free to give me a letter or two. I’m sure that they can answer them and give you some peace of mind if you're that adamant about it.”

‘Really?” he said, peeking up at the offer. “You’ll do that?”

“Yeah, why not,” he said, shrugging. “We’ve been friends on and off for a while now and if it’ll give you some peace of mind then it's the least I can do for you.”

“Plus,” he said looking at the clock, “I have a meeting in about 10 minutes or so and I’ll need to cut our talk short. You can think of the offer as a bit of a consolation prize I guess.”

“Alright,” he said, nodding to himself as he gathered his jacket and put it back on. “I’ll take your offer then. See you around.”

“See you then,” Sunburst said with a smile as he led Zephyr out. “Hopefully the world won’t plunge into total war the next time we meet up.”

“Heh, hopefully not,” Zephyr mumbled to himself as he made his way out the door while he thought of what to write to them. “Hopefully not.”