Red Sky At Dawn

Red Sky At Dawn.

Spinoff of Steadfast Sky.

Chapter 2: The Wizard

Astral

I finished tidying my master's books, fitting the last few back onto the shelf. From the looks of things, he'd been testing out a new theory, something to do with perpetual motion. That was odd; my master usually referred only to books on magic and the ancient arts, as science wasn't really his thing. He had gone out to town in order to pick something important up, leaving me with free reign of the mansion.

I checked all the rooms, hoping to find an open window, and a chance to finally escape from this place. The windows were all firmly locked. That was probably for the best, after all, what would I do after escaping? I had nowhere else to go, and no way of lasting alone in the wilderness. Escape was futile.

I sat down on the plush library carpet, and opened a book, continuing to read where I left off. It was a book created by my master about a group of ancient relics and I must have read it about four or five times in the past 5 months, as the other books were about advanced magic that a filly like me wouldn't be capable of.

Elements Of Harmony, And The Six Bearers.

That was the name of the book. My master had conducted research into the elements of harmony, and over the course of a week had managed to find out near everything about them. There were six elements, each representing a different quality. From what I had read, I decided that if there was any way of overthrowing our ruler, then it was these elements. After my parents' disappearance, laws imposed by the stallion made me a slave. All around, I saw suffering and discontent caused by the ruler, and I saw only one way to end it. Harmony.

As I sat on the carpet reading the book, and waiting for my master to return, I decided that if I ever escaped.

I'd gather those elements.

Crisis

Day four in this stupid cage. I've made little progress with my sparks, haven't heard anything from the cruel smiling pony (who I now know is called Branding), and was in the process of trying to pick the lock with a piece of straw. I was feeling pretty low.

I sighed to myself, listening to the maddening sound of the various animal cries. There had been nonstop noise since I got here, squawking growling and some noises which I couldn't even identify. Here I was, a sophisticated weapon locked up with a bunch of animals. Luminum was right, I was a failure. I noticed Branding approaching my cage, a gloating smile on his face. This didn't look good. He hadn't spoken to me since the first day, so I was surprised when he remembered my name.

"Crisis!" he exclaimed in an overly cheery voice that was quite clearly fake, "How's my little Biomech faring?"

I looked up at him, unspeaking. Four days in a cage does that to me.

"Forgotten to speak again? Well you'd better remember pretty fast, because you've got a visitor!" he gestured to the desk, where a blue stallion was waiting. I was freed from my prison, and bought over to the blue stranger who examined me closely. The stallion was slim, and smart, with a striding black cloak, and a top hat. He finished examining me, and turned to Branding.

"Incredible." he said in a cold, quiet voice that implied high status. He seemed to ignore my presence completely, talking instead to my captor. "And you say it's intelligent?"

Branding kicked me. "Talk, Biomech." he ordered. I thought worriedly about what to say, before settling on something simple. "Hello." damn.. a bit too simple maybe... Ah well, the damage was done, or not in this case.

The blue stallion handed over a considerably large bag of coins to Branding, and announced; "I'll take it." he then turned and strode from the building, leaving me and Branding.

"Off you go," Branding smiled, "Don't leave him waiting." This was it! I was free! But there were still some questions I had.... who was this guy and why was he prepared to pay so much in order to free me? I hurried up to the stallion. "Who are you?" I asked.

He seemed to notice me, but kept his eyes facing forward. "You shall refer to me as the Wizard. I am your new owner."

Owner? But I already had an owner! Or rather, owners... Still though, this guy couldn't just come along and claim me for himself! "Actually..." I began, "I already have an own..." I didn't finish my sentence.

The Wizard turned to look at me and, for the first time, I noticed a long pale horn on his forehead. The horn glowed a sickening blue, and I felt intense pain surging through me. The shock of the energy knocked me to the ground where I lay, dazed. The Wizard kept on walking. "You will speak when spoken to, now stand up and follow." I was about to answer back, but thought better of it, remembering the pain. Okay, this guy was clearly crazy. I got ready to escape, and turned to run... Only to be hit by yet more intense pain. I collapsed again, feeling drained. The Wizard strolled over, and looked down at me. "You will follow me home. Any more disobedience, and you will be punished more severely. My instincts were to attempt escape again, however I couldn't risk more pain like that. It was unlike anything I'd experienced, filling my body and crowding my CPU. I lowered my head and followed obediently, hoping to avoid more pain. This planet was very strange.

It was also cold and emotionless.

Astral

My master returned with someone, or rather something. A small knight, in a suit of flawless armour. I was puzzled about what the thing was, but I knew better than to question my master. He would only get angry at my questions. The creature looked bewildered at the mansion, and i found myself wondering whether or not it was intelligent. My question was answered immediately.

 "This is my assistant Astral. She will help you adjust to living here. You are to meet me in my study in 4 hours." He pushed the metal creature in my direction. "Remember," he said addressing both me and the creature now, "If you obey my commands, then all will be well. If you disobey my commands, then the consequences will be severe. Do not disturb me, I am working."

He entered his office and slammed the door leaving me and the metal creature alone. There was an awkward silence, before the creature finally spoke.

"Uh... Hi..." I could tell just by the way he talked that he was male. "I guess you're Astral..." He looked around the mansion hallway. "Nice place you've got here."

I looked at him blankly, and he on turn looked at his feet. "Don't tell me you're cold too... everyone seems to be cold here..."

"I'm not cold." I replied.

"I don't mean temperature, I mean..."

"I understand what you mean, and the statement still stands. I'm not a cold person, I've just been around cold people for so long."

"Like the Wizard?" Crisis asked.  I saw him recoil upon saying that name, and a wave of disgust rolled over me. My cruel master had used the pain spell on him. I ran over to the creature and pulled him into a hug.

"You poor thing! Did he use that spell on you? Did he?"

The creature seemed shocked at the hug, and stood there blankly, before replying in a small voice.

"Yes."

He broke free of the hug. "But I'm fine." He didn't sound fine.

I led him to the library, where we could talk comfortably, both of us lying parallel on the carpet. I began to tell him my story, the story of my life so far. A sad story.

"My parents were fine unicorns, who were heralded as incredible spell-casters. My father worked on magical theories, and the development of new spells, while my mother was the main doctor at this town's hospital. She could heal even the worst  wounds with magic, and was loved throughout the neighbourhood. When I was born, all eyes were on me from the townsfolk, and I didn't disappoint. Even from just a few weeks old, I was using complex magic that my parents had to control carefully. I grew up under their influence, and was destined for greatness. Then one day, they disappeared. As it turns out, some of the things my father was writing offended the Shadow Stallion, and my parents were never heard of again." I felt tears well in my eyes as I continued the story. "I was taken to an orphanage, but my skills were deemed too dangerous, so I was moved to an institute for unicorns in Stringhalt..." I allowed the tears to flow freely now, "I hated that place, so when I was offered a chance to leave, I jumped at it." I gestured to the room around me. "As it turns out, 'freedom' is worse." I wiped tears from my eyes with a hoof, then looked to Crisis. "What about you? Where are you from? Do you have any family?"

Crisis didn't respond for a while, and just sat there in the flickering of the fireplace. Eventually he spoke, his voice confident and lacking the fear I had heard earlier,

"I'm from a far off place, one you wouldn't know. As for family... Heh, don't need any! Us Biomech have no families, friends relatives or any of that stuff. I had a teacher once, and a unit. I guess they were the closest thing I had to family." he noticed my facial expression.

"Look, where I come from the idea of a family unit just seems pointless. It's not viable! I ended up here by accident, and now it's my job to get back home."

"And you called my people cold..." I replied. "What about a name? Do you have a name?"

"Crisis."

"What sort of a name is Crisis?"

"What sort of a name is Astral?"

"Fair enough..." I sat up. " You know what Crisis, you puzzle me."

"How?" the Biomech replied, looking puzzled himself.

"I've never seen anything like you before, through all my masters books. You call yourself a Biomech, yet I've never heard of a Biomech before!"

"Well I hadn't heard of a pony before either," Crisis replied sounding indignant.

"You... You really don't know what's going on do you?"

"On with what?"

"The world. Current affairs."

The Biomech sat up too and said casually, "Why would I care about your people's problems?"

"Because," I replied angrily, "While you're stuck here, they're your problems too!"

"Good point."

And so we passed the next few hours with me teaching him all I knew about Equestria, and him listening casually. There was something about his carelessness that annoyed me, his blatant disregard for others and his selfishness striking me as prominent in his character, but I didn't let them affect me. For the first time in a year, I was talking to someone my own age...

And they were talking back.

Crisis

Astral taught me all kinds of things about her world. Did you know for example, that there were four types of pony; earth, unicorn, pegasus and alicorn. Did you also know that the vast lands of Equestria were ruled by just one person, an alicorn named the Shadow Stallion. According to Astral, he ruled with evil influence, and was the reason for all trouble in Equestria. She had some dream of one day gathering six sacred rocks, and defeating the Shadow Stallion that way. I had a more reasonable idea:

"I sure I could beat this guy!"

Astral snorted. "You can't even fight off a bunch of guards. What chance do you stand against the Stallion himself!?"

"That's the beauty of it!" I exclaimed proudly, "If I train hard enough, then I'll become more powerful! Flight, awesome attacks... What can the Shadow Stallion do about my awesome attacks?"

"Block them with magic..." she replied.

That stumped me. "Magic. Can all ponies use magic?"

"Nope," Astral replied, "just unicorns." she lowered her head so I could see the horn. I flinched away from it, causing a look of intense pity to wash over her. She hugged me (again!) and tried to comfort me. "There, there...." she soothed. "It's okay..." I pulled free from her.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

Astral looked surprised. "I was trying to sooth you, make you feel better," she said with those wide eyes of hers.

"Well don't. I'm a hardened warrior, not a child. Well... not a young child anyway."

Then I felt something inside my head, a voice pushing painfully into my CPU.

"You are needed in my office."

"Looks like I've gotta go," I apologised while getting to my feet. Astral remained on the ground, her head held low. She muttered some advice sadly, "Don't fight him. You'll only make it worse."

I entered The Wizard's office, and found him standing against a desk. He noticed me coming in, and spoke plainly. "Sit."

I remembered Astrals words, and obeyed without hesitation. The Wizard stared at me, before pointing to an item in the desk. "Tell me Crisis, what this item is."

I looked at the desk, and saw a small stopwatch, coated in copper and ticking gently. "A watch, I replied."

"Good. A watch. But what is a watch? A mechanism. Do you know of any other mechanisms Crisis?"

I shook my head, and felt pain begin to set in, as his horn glowed slightly. "Let's not lie Crisis. You and I are both aware of what you are in fact, a mechanism yourself." He hissed the last two words. "It seems that the Shadow Stallion isn't satisfied with living guards, and he has resorted to creating mechanisms to fulfil his evil deeds. So, mechanism, who is your master?"

"Master?" I replied, feeling the pain increase.

"You mentioned a master on the way to my home. Who is your master? The Shadow Stallion? Tell me!"

I felt the pain steadily increase, and finally succumbed to the agony. "Yes..." I lied, "He is my master."

Satisfied, The Wizard wrote something down. He then turned to me, the glow from his horn dying, and the pain inside my body vanishing. "Was that so hard?" he asked simply. "But there's one more thing I want to try..." he lowered his horn, and it began to glow again. This time there was no pain, only a slight fizzing as the energy charged. He released the energy into a bolt which flew into me, flooding my body with high concentrate GR energy. "There are still a few tests I'd like to make Crisis." he smiled, a cold heartless smile that filled me with dread. "And I'm afraid, they might hurt a bit."

Astral

I stood by my master's office door, listening to the sounds of magic. What was he doing in there, teaching Crisis about unicorn magic? Part of me, a more logical part, understood the reality. I had heard snippets of the conversation between my master and his new possession, and now new thoughts began to circle my head. A mechanism... was that all Crisis was? An advanced stopwatch? As for his previous owner, was Crisis really one of the Shadow Stallions creations? The thought filled me with dread.

The office door opened suddenly, shocking me into attention. My master kicked the curled up body of Crisis into the hallway. "He has been most beneficial to my tests. Take him away, and when he awakes tell him that the meeting shall continue tomorrow at four." he looked down at me, with uncaring eyes. "I will be leaving tonight for a matter of urgency. Keep watch of the house, and of the mechanism, if he escapes I will hold you responsible."

With that, my master strode over the body of Crisis and towards the front door. His horn glowed, and the door slammed open, then he was gone into the night. The door closed slowly leaving me and Crisis alone. I looked at the little metal creature, and began to cry. Why was life so unfair?

Crisis

I awoke slowly, my body cramped into a little ball of pain. I was back in the library, lying on the carpet next to Astral. She was engrossed deeply in her book, but immediately looked up from it as I awoke.

"Crisis! Are you okay?!" She pulled me into yet another hug, which I pulled away from, then looked at me directly. " Crisis, you need to tell me the truth. Are you.. are you a mechanism?"

I nodded, and she replied looking at her hooves. "In that case... your master... is.. is..." she looked up suddenly, "Is your master the Shadow Stallion?!"

"What!" I replied shocked, "No, my master is... Look I think there's something I should have to you from the beginning." I prepared myself for her reaction. "I am a mechanism yes, but that shadow ruler ain't my creator." I pointed to one of the library windows, where the clouded night sky was visible. "I was created by an advanced race from another planet. I crashed here, and I need to find a way off of this rock. In answer to your question, my creators are my masters."

Astral was silent for some time, and I thought she didn't believe me. Then, she spoke;

"Your creators? You... You don't seem like a mechanism." she smiled. "We're still friends right?"

I looked blankly at her. "Friends?"

"Yeah!" the unicorn replied ecstatically, "We're still friends?"

"I didn't think we were in the first place... fine, I guess we're friends."

Astral hugged me again, and I grimaced. Why did she feel the need to comfort me constantly?

"Where's the Wizard?" I asked.

Astral relinquished her grip on me. "He's on urgent business. He'll most likely be back by dawn, and speaking of dawn..." she looked at a clock hanging over the fireplace.

"It's late, we should go to sleep." she nestled down by the fire in a small nest of pillows, and was soon fast asleep, a look of peace on her face. She could sleep all she wanted, but I had other things on my mind. The window on the far wall.

I strode across to the window, paused, then punched it with all my strength. The window held, without any sign of trauma. So The Wizard used reinforced glass... Interesting... I placed a palm against the clear surface, and directed a pulse through the window pane, shattering the glass instantly.

There was more than one way to break a window. I began to climb through the jagged frame, and suddenly stopped freezing midway through the escape. What about Astral? It was her dream to escape this place as well, and she'd been here longer than me, 5 months longer in fact. Could I really just walk out and leave her? My conscience finally caught up with me, and I reluctantly returned though the window and back to the sleeping form of Astral. She has been the only kind person that I've encountered, and also my only friend. Those words felt alien to me, but I did my best to ignore that, instead shaking Astral awake.

"Whaa..." she moaned, then saw me and sobered instantly. "Crisis, what's the matter?!"

I gestured to the shattered window, and she gasped. "Crisis! What did you do!? We'll both be punished for this!"

"Nah," I replied calmly, "You can't punish something that isn't there. Now I'm getting the hell out of here, and you can either join me, or stay. It's your choice."

Astral sat, stupidly staring at the broken window pane, before turning to me. "I'm coming with you."

Great, I thought to myself, now I've got company. It's like I keep saying...

Luck ain't my thing.

Astral

At long last, I was free! The cool night air rustled my mane as Crisis and I ran through the empty streets, ducking at every shadow, and recoiling from every noise. Who would have known that freedom could be so easy to loose yet so difficult to gain. For 5 months I had been imprisoned in my master's home, and I had no desire to go back there.

While jumping through the shattered window, I had gained some small cuts and they were beginning to hurt as I frantically sprinted. I also noted, with  slight envy that Crisis landed with ease, and was completely unaffected by the sharp glass. Not even a scratch tarnished his metal body, and he ran with more stamina than I'd ever have. Maybe being a mechanism has its advantages...

We reached the town border, and there it was stretched out ahead of us; the Phantasm Forest. The grouped trees seemed dark and forbidding, and knowledge of the creatures that lived within nearly made me turn away. The protection that Crisis provided coupled with the fear of punishment from my master, however, were enough to keep me running.

Then I stopped, and fell to the wet grass as pain wracked my body. From the corner of my eye, I saw Crisis mimic my action, collapsing like a puppet with his strings cut. My master stood behind us, his blue glowing horn hitting us with agonising rays.

He was using the pain spell.

"How dare you disobey me!! You insolent little wastes!! I shall punish you deeply for this..." his horn began to glow brighter, and the pain began to increase more and more. All my dreams of harmony, all my dreams of freedom.

Stamped out by a single colt.

Suddenly, Crisis rose and using the last of his steadfast resistance, raised his arm. A shocking line of blue light appeared in his palm, and then shot across to my master, forcing the cruel stallion to lose concentration. For a split second, the intense pain ceased to be, and I didn't waste that second.

I grabbed Crisis, and concentrated as hard as I could pushing magical energy into the pair of us. There was a fizzle of energy, and a burst of light as we vanished from the hillside...

And reappeared in a forest clearing.

All I knew was that the pain had stopped, as I fell into a deep exhausted sleep. The pain had stopped and I finally free