“Irradiance!” Marigold exclaimed, absolutely lost as to the sudden sickness the stallion was dealing with. “What’s wrong?”

Where to start? “That was the guard.”

“What?”

“The guard! Noctis Steel! The one I thought I imagined!”

“Okay, so he’s not a hallucination,” Marigold clarified for herself, slowly trying to catch up. “Why is that so bad?”

"I don't know!" Irradiance snapped, though he didn't mean to. He slumped over the sink, glaring at his own reflection, frustration bubbling under the surface. “I just... something’s not right.”

Marigold stood in the doorway, eyes wide with concern. “So the guard was home with his family, that’s normal. Or maybe you thought they were the same pony! Maybe it’s just some coincidence,” The yellow pony swished her tail, truly unsure how to comfort her friend, “There are lots of ponies in Canterlot.”

“No.” Irradiance shook his head, wiping his mouth with the back of his hoof. “There’s no way. It’s too much of a coincidence. And the way he looked at me... Marigold, that wasn’t just some friendly dad.” He paused, heart racing. “And what was he doing with a family like that? It didn’t feel... real.”

Marigold leaned against the doorframe, her brow furrowing. “Irradiance, you’re overthinking this. Maybe you're still suffering from heat exhaustion. Let’s just take a minute, breathe, and think this through. Noctis was just... snapping a picture. Being a regular pony. You’re spooked, that’s all.” She had a gentleness to her voice like a mother calming her child. Irradiance chuckled at the connection to the event from moments prior, but the amusement quickly turned back to concern.

Irradiance turned to face her, panic flashing in his green eyes. “What if I’m not spooked? What if this is connected to whatever Twilight’s not telling us? The potions, Noctis showing up in different places. It can’t be random. Something’s happening, Marigold, and I think Twilight’s in the middle of it.”

Marigold hesitated, opening her mouth to speak before closing it again. She’d seen Irradiance worked up before, but this was different. His fear, his doubt—there was an edge to it that unsettled her. He wasn’t just overreacting; there was genuine concern behind his eyes, and that made her pause.

“Alright,” she said slowly. “Let’s say you’re right. What do we do now? We can’t just storm into the castle demanding answers from Twilight. She’s the princess!”

“I know,” Irradiance muttered, pacing now. “But we can’t ignore this either. Noctis Steel isn’t just some random pony, Marigold. He’s involved in something bigger. And whatever it is, it’s related to those potions. Maybe to me. We need to figure out what he’s doing here.”

Marigold sighed, doing her best to remain patient. Irradiance knew he sounded crazy, but was it so crazy to think another villain was rising in Canterlot? With Lilith gone and Luster having been after his magic, it wasn’t insane to assume someone else was going to come after him next. “Okay, fine. But we’re not rushing into this without a plan. Let’s brew the potions first, deliver them, and then we’ll talk to Twilight. Calmly.”

Irradiance nodded, but a sense of unease lingered. “Yeah... Yeah, okay. Let’s do that.”

Marigold offered him a reassuring smile. “We’ll handle it together, alright? For now, let's just focus on what we can control. Potions first, mysteries later.”

A sense of longing washed over the stallion, craving for the rest of his friends to be there while another adventure was building up. Twilight wasn’t stupid! She wouldn’t hide something from Irradiance without reason… would she?

He’d send a letter to Amber and to Leviathan and he’d get in contact with Cobalt and Hibiscus not long after. Potions first, mysteries later.

Having helped the stallion calm down, Marigold turned away from the bathroom and began unlocking her shelves, starting on the potions. A few jars here and there were placed on the counter and the cauldron in the center of the room was filled with water, the fireplace below it already set ablaze in preparation for the potion-making.

“Can you grab some wolfsbane from my garden?” Marigold called to Irradiance, who nodded before remembering Marigold couldn’t see him.

“Yeah, sure thing,” The stallion took a break and stepped outside of the Earth Pony’s door, leaning down to collect a mouthful of wolfsbane for Marigold’s potion. As he lifted his head, he could swear there was the same black and grey Unicorn staring right at him. “AH!” Irradiance dropped the plants.

Marigold rushed outside, eyes frantic, “What? What happened?” She looked around panicked, just barely missing the whisps of shadow that blew away once Irradiance was no longer alone.

Irradiance shook his head, picking up the wolfsbane with his deep purple magic this time,

“Nothing. It’s nothing. I think I’m just… seeing things,” The stallion couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling he’d been harboring since running into Noctis and his family. “Here’s your wolfsbane, by the way,” Irradiance handed the plants to Marigold, who took them in her mouth before retreating back into her home. Irradiance knew he was scaring her but he couldn’t help it! Seeing the same pony over and over again after that strange encounter in the castle? It would shake anyone!

“Okay, well the cauldron is brewing. After I add this ingredient it should only be a little while before the potion is ready to be bottled. Maybe you should take one, just in case,” The yellow Earth Pony half-joked. Irradiance could only muster an uneasy look rather than a laugh (though he was sure the laugh would have been anything but genuine).

Marigold approached the cauldron of boiling water, already a green color after she’d likely added the first few ingredients to the pot. Dropping the wolfsbane into the mix, the liquid slowly shifted to a deep purple color, bubbling ominously. If Irradiance didn’t know any better, he’d think Marigold was brewing poison.

“Can you grab those bottles off the shelf?” Marigold swished her tail, directing the stallion to an inset shelf with a myriad of glass bottles and vials on it. He grabbed several, levitating them all toward Marigold. She plucked one out of the air and ladled the potion into the small container before corking it shut and handing it to Irradiance. After noticing his confused expression, Marigold smiled, blue eyes squinting, “For your Noctis Steel obsession. In case they really have hallucinations and are not real pony, If they don't go away with the potion…” She trailed off. Irradiance didn’t want to think about what the other scenario would imply. Irradiance swallowed, downing the potion in one gulp.

“Okay, yuck,” Irradiance made a face, sticking his tongue out.

“It’s not a drink! It’s a potion!” Marigold swished her tail, irritated. She grabbed a few more bottles and began filling them with the potion, loading them into a wooden crate that was located beneath the shelf Irradiance had gotten the bottles from. “I don’t design my potions to taste good. I design them to cure ails!”

“Clearly,” Irradiance rolled his eyes, smiling. He was only teasing. It was nice feeling normal after so many instances of being scared and anxious this morning!

It was another ten minutes or so before Marigold was finished filling the potion bottles and loading them into the crates. Once she’d corked off the final bottle, she turned to Irradiance with a grin on her face. The stallion levitated the box (it was one of the main reasons he was here. Sure, Marigold could pull the crates on a cart, but having a powerful Unicorn to do it for her was far preferable) and opened the door to the apothecary.

“To the Canterlot castle!” Marigold exclaimed, leading her friend out the door, ensuring it closed behind them.

It wasn’t a path Irradiance was unfamiliar with. Though, as he walked alongside Marigold, he couldn’t feel like something was different. Maybe it was just a side effect of the anti-hallucinogenic potion he’d taken earlier.

“How is the princess?” Marigold was met with a confused expression from her friend. Shaking her head, she rephrased, “Has Twilight been stressed at all? I mean, you told her about Noctis initially, didn’t you?”

Irradiance nodded his head, looking at the ground and his hooves before answering, “She’s been fairly normal. Leviathan and I mentioned the first instance with Noctis to her and she mostly dismissed it, but I know she’s confused.”

The purple Unicorn made a face, missing his partner at the mention of him. Leviathan was always so busy these days.

The pair approached the castle gates soon enough, and Canon Ball and Spearhead were already waiting, hooves upon in a salute as their Princess’s prodigy approached with one of the Elements of Polyphony.

“Irradiance!” Spearhead chimed, happy to see the stallion. Leviathan had once made an irritated comment on how the guards always seemed to be so excited to see him. Leviathan called it a crush. Irradiance called it jealousy. Though he wouldn’t tell Leviathan to stop with the jealousy; it was cute.

“Have you two seen anything– or anyone strange around the castle recently?” Irradiance asked, eyebrow raised. The guards exchanged a glance before responding.

“Twilight mentioned something about an unwanted pony around the halls…” Canon Ball responded uneasily.

“She wanted another word with you about it, though,” Spearhead cut off his fellow guard. “She was pretty strict on how much she told us about the incident you had described.”

Oh, great. Now his only friends in the castle thought Irradiance was crazy! He made a face and nodded in appreciation before walking inside with Marigold, still holding all of the potions with his magic.

“Twilight is a hypochondriac herself, you know,” Marigold tried to comfort the stallion, whose ears were pressed back, face slightly pinker after the interaction. “I’m sure Spearhead and Canon Ball didn’t mean to imply seeing Noctis in the hall was an ‘incident–’”

“They definitely think it was ridiculous,” Irraidiance huffed, embarrassed out of his mind, “They’re guards. They know there's no Noctis Still in their ranks! I had just come back from a traumatizing journey with you guys. No way was I getting enough sleep. I probably saw Noctis out in the streets and imagined he was there because it was the first face I thought of!”

“We should speak to Twilight first!” Marigold insisted, trying to put a positive spin on everything. “You can’t just assume what everyone knows. You know what happens when you assume.” Marigold sent a pointed look at Irradiance, who rolled his eyes and tried not to think so hard.

“You’re the Princess of Friendship’s prodigy, the Element of Enchantment, and a smart Unicorn! I’m sure Twilight won’t dismiss you. If anything, I bet she’ll want to hear all the details!” Marigold seemed extremely excited about speaking with the princess. If he didn’t know any better, Irradiance would assume she’d never met Twilight Sparkle before in her life.

Irradiance took a breath and changed the subject, “Where are we dropping these potions off?” He gestured with his hoof toward the crates of bottles he was currently in charge of, “Twilight or the royal apothecary?”

Marigold opened her mouth to respond but was quickly cut off.

“I can take them off your hands,” A deep voice said.

“Oh, my Celestia,” Marigold’s face dropped. Before her stood none other than Noctis Steel. Grey coat, red-tipped horn, and black mane that Irradiance could swear was swirling with a slight breeze that only seemed to affect Noctis.

Irradiance dropped the crates of potions and prepared for the shatter, but it never came. Noctis was gone in a sudden rush of air, disappearing in a wisp of smoke.

“Oh, thank goodness!” Twilight emerged suddenly, catching the crates with her own magic before they could hit the marble floors of the castle. The princess had bags under her eyes.

“Twilight!” Irradiance exclaimed, shaking his head. “Was that real? Did I hallucinate it?”

Twilight shook her head, expression somber, “It was real, I’m afraid. Which means these potions will do me no good.”

“We hoped that the anti-hallucinogenic potions would mean that this Noctis Steel character would stop appearing,” Luster Dawn came out next, golden mane waving just like Twilight’s did. Her expression was equally as uneasy, “But it appears he truly is a real pony.”

“Pony?” Marigold scoffed, “I’d call that a ghost!” She swished her tail, absolutely flabbergasted at the interaction she’d just witnessed. After her friend had screamed all morning, she was finally seeing what he had.

“I fear he’s closer to a pony than a ghost than we’d hoped,” Twilight responded, exceedingly cryptic. Irradiance and Marigold shared a look before Twilight and Luster Dawn ushered them to follow them through the throne room and into the royal library. “Come with me. I’ll explain everything."

Author's Note

yippee! noctis steel is a sick name. you're gonna love the twist i have planned for you btw :3