Wandering

Stella Magica

Entry #12

2nd of July, 11:20

Long hall, Clan Winter seaside villa

Temperature 24º C, Wind Speed 6 m/s W

Clear skies

I sat by the fireplace in a bathrobe, shivering hard. Strange you might think, what with the sweltering heat and all, but as it turned out I had made a very bad decision in neglecting to turn on the boiler when we arrived. A cold shower was never nice in the least, even if you had half a sauna to go back to once you were out. Though that admittedly made the deal somewhat less unappealing, it was hardly like having an actual sauna available. Ever since the cold drenching rain this morning I'd been craving a sauna something terrible, and the closest one I knew about and could get into was some three hundred kilometers away, back at my parents' apartment.

Sometimes, life decides to be really, really inconvenient, and there is nothing you can do about it.

My skin felt slick. The cold water being what it was, I had simply mashed whatever conditioner and shampoo was available into some arbitrary witch brew of hair care, and not really bothered rinsing it all off properly. In all likelihood I'd just get it all frizzed up again as soon as we took off, which was bound to happen eventually. It wasn't worth wasting time – and body heat – on something that'd just be undone the moment I left the ground.

The shower had, at least, helped cool off my temper a bit. I wasn't seething with anger at my changeling companions anymore, even though there was a fair bit of irritation lingering still. That much they could obviously sense, but with my seemingly irrational mood swings fresh in their memories I suppose it wasn't all too strange that they kept their distance anyway.

The important part – for me, at least – was that I'd found my thoughts again. Right there in the freezing cold of the shower, icy water dunking me relentlessly as I struggled to get almost a week's worth of hiking out of my system, I realized what had to be done. It wasn't an easy decision to make, and I'd never been happy about making sacrifices; but even so, it had to be done.

Because, if nothing else, I'd made a promise. Well, more like a deal, but still; and as far as that deal went, my part was still unfulfilled, whereas the changelings had been good on their word from the first hour. Now was not the time to break things up. I had given my word, and if I reneged on it now I would at the very least be haunted by a guilty conscience. At worst, I'd find my life – maybe even this entire world, if ambition got the better of the queen again – threatened to the brink of collapse by two shape-shifting aliens with mysterious magical powers, who had already extracted plenty of knowledge from my previously oh so carefully guarded brain. What did they know? What didn't they know? Did I want to risk finding out?

Did I even want to let them down in the first place?

`

I've never had much love for traitors, and becoming one myself wasn't an idea that entertained me at all. Sure, growing all too attached to someone that inevitably would end up separated from yourself by a directional jaunt or two wasn't the brightest idea, but it'd hardly hurt to avoid ending up with a debt you could never settle either.

All possibilities of mind-reading aside, however, it seemed like I had to make the first move. Heaving a sigh I stood up, turned around–

And of course they were both gone.

Cursing my lack of attentiveness I felt for Elytra's presence in my mind, and formed my thoughts. “Elytra. Chrysalis too, if she's there. I need to talk to you both.”

And of course I hadn't even bothered to look around the house, either. Or use my ears, for that part. I heard a pair of giggles from the corridor, and swooped into the kitchen with an unamused face. The changelings were sitting on the old wooden couch wearing equally dumb smiles, and the table was littered with popsicle wrappers, with a few unopened ones spread about. The previously half-full box laid upended and empty in the sink.

“COME ON! MY ICECREAM!”

The changelings burst out in a fit of raucous laughter, but I paid them no heed; instead I dashed forward to rescue as many of the endangered popsicles from their grasp as was possible. Only after I'd managed to gather almost every single one of them up without interruption – aside from the constant assault on my ears, of course – did I realize something was off. Stuffing the sweets back in the freezer I turned around to face them, and took stock of their appearances.

If you've ever seen a far-gone crackhead in the middle of that last overdose that's going to kill him in a few minutes, you know how the changelings looked right then.

It took several minutes before they were back down on the earth again, but at least I managed to figure out what they'd been doing. Faced with the risk of being unable to return to the swarm, and possibly with the threat of me abandoning them, the girls had decided to try their hand at transmuting human food – starting off with popsicles – into forms of energy suitable for their magical metabolism, in case they needed a substitute. While the first few tries gave rather sub-par yield, it turns out that sugar is rather suitable to transmute into the emotional energy corresponding to – who could have guessed – joy. Cue two changelings shooting up with their newfound drug until their source is completely depleted, while I'm busy brooding in the long hall.

I really hope those ponies haven't invented refined sugar yet, or they're going to have an army of changeling hippies bearing down on them before long.

“I'm...really sorry, Martin,” Chrysalis said with a clearly ashamed expression on her face. This didn't stop her from letting out yet another giggle right after, and I sighed in resignation. Clearly the aftershocks from their little trip would go on for a while.

Elytra was even less restrained, and I couldn't sense a speck of shame from her. “We did it forscience!” she blurted before breaking out in an unrestrained laughing fit that made Chrysalis blush furiously, trying her best not to give in to the enormous temptation of doing the same herself.

I simply stood there fingering my beard, waiting for this new storm to pass. A pastime that I, over the last few days, had grownutterly sick of.

Eventually Elytra got far enough out of her sugar high – so to speak – to regain her senses as well. “I'm sorry for taking all your popsicles, Martin. That doesn't change the fact that it was an important experiment, though! I'm not going to apologize for that.”

I figured that was as far as she'd go and accepted her apology with a shrug, before sitting down at the now significantly less messy kitchen table. “Ladies, we need to talk.” I waited for a pair of nods in acknowledgment before continuing. “I think I may have figured out a way to get us back.”

That was of course not what I'd meant to talk about, and quite as expected this resulted in two very surprised changelings staring at me. The truth of it was that I'd figured it out somewhere in the midst of my little outburst, but filed it away; because of this Elytra had never picked up on it, and I'd managed to conceal the fact until now by simply not thinking about it. It was a quite novel way of thought, really, and one I'd come up with on sheer impulse after a few turns of having my every word predicted by either the changeling that could actually read my mind, or the one that couldn't read my mind but could read the mind of the one who could, and besides was experienced enough in reading people's emotions that it wasn't much of a handicap anyway.

Almost like encryption, now that I think about it.

I raised my hand to stop them from breaking out in a million questions before continuing. “Yes, I know, that wasn't the part I was going begin with, but you've figured that one out already, so I thought I might as well go right ahead to the good stuff. Basically, the Mercury Star is what got us here, yes? If we recreate the process that powered it up in the first place, we should be able to reverse the jump and return to your world. Simple, no?”

The girls' expressions – and the feelings I sensed from them – were mixed. Relieved; natural, since I'd just assuaged their fears of getting abandoned in a foreign world. Hopeful, having been given at least a straw to grasp on, a chance of getting back no matter how crude and uncalculated the method was. But also doubtful, because of that same crudeness; and afraid, fearful of the consequences of using the great magical artifact once again.

“But...” Elytra began. “You said your problems were solved, now that you're back in your world. Won't you just be reversing that progress by going back? How are you even supposed to return here a second time?”

That, however, was an argument I'd seen coming, and the answer was as logical as it was simple. “Come now, Elytra, you can do better than that. Now we know that there's a way to return to my world – by using the Mercury Star. Even if me being brought across the first time was a fluke, we now have a method of doing it by choice. As long as we keep our hands on the Mercury Star, I can stay for however long I need to, and go back when I'm finished with my business over there. And for now, that business entails getting you two – and the rest of the changelings – back to your home. I may not be an altruist in any sense, but I willnot become a traitor. That, you can trust in.”

Silence reigned for a few seconds, until Chrysalis finally spoke up. “Well, Martin. I thank you for your encouraging words. I must say, though, that you seem awfully confident in your ability to control an artifact you know next to nothing about. For all you know, the Mercury Star might be as fickle as the element it represents – Change itself – and using it as random as the roll of a dice. What says you'll get the result you wish for?”

I smirked in response. “Maybe so. But as the old adage of empirical science says,you never know until you try, do you?” I leaned towards the table with my fingers crossed, looking her in the eye. “Besides, you're awfully insistent on saying it might be so from whatI know, and whatI do. You're just about saying out loud that you know something about this artifact that I don't and the fact that you're not outright against the idea tells me that it's most likely going to work. You,” I concluded, tilting my head slightly, “are just trying to steal credit for a theory you weren't brave enough to suggest yourself, now that you've got another man's logic backing it up as well.”

For a moment Chrysalis bore an indignant grimace, which looked highly out of place to me where it was, planted squarely on my sister's face. Then her rage was washed away under the tidal waves of her ongoing sugar high – so to speak – and she gave up a defeated sigh. “Fine, Hunter, whatever. I don't feel like even bothering to argue. It's so...pointless.” She sunk down, deflating like a balloon, and lay her head on the table.

Quite apparently changelings become placid creatures in the aftershocks of a sugar high – so to speak – because simply put, nothing can get them excited.

Seeing this opportunity to interrogate the queen a bit – as you might remember, my last attempt ended up going rather south for me because she caught on to what I was doing and got mad – I stood up, planting my palms on the table. “So, tell me. What do you know about the Mercury Star?”

Chrysalis sighed again. “Not much, really.” Her tone was decidedly uninterested, but I urged her to go on. “There's no record whatsoever of the Mercury Star specifically, not in any memories I have. However, the other one you mentioned appearing – the Venus Star – does have a brief mention, in a record of emissaries to the Crystal Empire. It was an old state in the north, that vanished after a conflict between its ruler – one King Sombra, which may or may not have been related to the spectre that you encountered – and the princesses Luna and Celestia. In any case, the Crystal Empire records mention a grand feast in the capital, venerating an object known as the Crystal Heart. Which we now know is also known as the Venus Star.”

Her lethargy gradually lifting as she spoke, she finally raised her head a bit, though only to plant it in her hands. Sensing she was going to keep talking for a while, I sat down again. A rather subtle thing, true, but there is a definite difference inintent between a speaker with a concise point and one that's going to stray into minutes of explanation.

“There's not much about the powers of the Star itself, but we know that unicorns in the Empire were fairly few in number; thus, it seems likely we can conclude that most of the capital's mysteries can be explained by the Star.” She raised a finger. “According to our observation, they were as follows. First, ponies' appearances were somewhat altered within the capital. Light reflected strangely and even penetrated most surfaces, like glass; everything within the capital seemed to gain prismatic properties, to some degree. In short – and this is likely what made them name their little Empire that way in the first place – everything took on a somewhat crystalline appearance.”

Another finger raised. “Second, energy radiated from the heart of the capital – the castle, which can be assumed was the seat of the Star. Astral energy; love, as ponies would sense it. This caused great harmony among the Empire's subjects, since they had little to no discontent thanks to what was likely the power of the Star. Our observer was more than slightly reluctant to let go of something like that, but in the end he couldn't locate the source of the energy...” Chrysalis' eyes narrowed slightly. “If you'd only gotten your hands on the Crystal Heart instead... Well, never mind.”

“Third – and this is the big part – it nurtured the land itself, in and around the capital. Despite its location far in the north the Empire never had so much as a day of harsh winter, and crops were always plenty. From the late end of autumn, almost at year's end, lasted six months of spring. Flowers budded at the new year's coming, and all the trees had sprouted leaves one month after that. My guess,” she said as she finally sat back up, “is that the primary natural element of love-based magic – that of the earth and the living – and the abundance of earth ponies – who by all evidence have further affinity for that element – in the Empire worked as two forces in tandem to create this great prosperity, defying even winter itself from going its course.”

I sensed her realizing that she'd strayed a bit from the topic at hand, and she shook her head a bit. “In any case. The Crystal Empire is mentioned even in the very oldest entries of the Mercurial Archives, which confirms that it predates the existence of the changeling species. Information is sparse after that, but it is mentioned – if only in passing – in a number of entries after that, and the Sombrian War was not until at least a century or two after we changelings first managed to establish our civilization. It seems unlikely that it would've fallen and been rebuilt multiple times under the same name; additionally, the stability that the Venus Star's powers would have offered the state could indeed have allowed it to survive those turbulent times unscathed. Thus, the Crystal Empire existed for a minimum of five hundred years, during which we can assume the Venus Star's powers remained constant. At very least its power of abundance must have, since that is what let the Empire exist so far north in the first place; and seeing that the other two are far lesser in scope, it can be safely assumed they were constant as well.”

She sighed, leaning back against the wall. “Sure, it does seem rather ironic that an artifact embodying the lack of constants is itself – to some degree – constant, but that's the only conclusion I can make from the data we have.”

Yes, she said that.Data. I mean, I had expected – and experienced – some osmosis of traits over to Elytra, but hearing Chrysalis gradually start talking like Elytra, before then slipping over into my own speech pattern was more than just a bit unnerving. Was it because we were isolated from the rest of the hive, and she didn't have any other minds to link with? Either way, it took plenty of focus for me to refrain from bursting out at her in surprise; no doubt that'd have accomplished nothing but to stop my interrogation short.

Gods' twilight, dealing with royalty is bloody annoying.

Shaking my head, I stood up again, gesturing toward the kitchen door. “Well then, what are we waiting for? I don't imagine any of you have any business to conduct in this world, and I'm mostly finished with mine. The swarm is bound to worry if we remain lost, so would do wisely in getting on or way as quickly as we can.” With that said, I sauntered over to the pantry, grabbed a bag of peanuts, and made for the long hall. I didn't need to turn around to check if the girls were following me; which, thankfully, they did without a second thought.

-/-/-/

We were seated on the steps of the black-painted porch, the sun shining mellowly down on our faces. It would've been comfortable, were it not for the fact that we'd been doing so for quite a while now; and strange as it may seem testing mysterious magic, while being a fairly stationary activity, is not exactly very relaxing. Going back into the house wasn't an option either; I'd made very clear to the girls that under no circumstances wouldmy property – well, skirting the truth a bit there I suppose, but still – be put at risk of being blown to pieces or whatever else the Star might come up with. They'd hardly take well to if I left them alone either, so there I was, stuck on the porch in the heat that would only grow as the sun neared its zenith, idly munching down peanuts and chocolate like an oversized squirrel.

Finally, I sensed a change in the tight bundle of concentrated emotions in the back of my head, and I looked up. “I think...” Elytra began, before noticing the beading sweat on her forehead and clawing it away like it was a live viper. Understandable, perhaps – changelings don't sweat – but yet another piece of evidence showing just how alien these circumstances were to her. She shook her head, and tried again. “I think I've got it.”

Chrysalis and I both shone up at this – we'd spent the last hour or so trying to figure out just what had made the Star react the way it had, and how to replicate it. Urged by our emotions Elytra gave a tired smile of her own, before rushing into her customary explanation of her discovery. “I looked through our memories of the flight, just before the crystal activated. I've gone through the exact spell forms used and the energy fluctuations of the Star, and, oh.” Faced with a pair of looks clearly spellingplease not now, Elytra's mood sunk a bit, before shaking her head. “Anyway, I did few experiments, and the initial fluxes are identical in nature. Using this form, we should be able to activate the Mercury Star and get back to the swarm.”

Thankful to her for not mentioning the fact that most likely we'd never have gotten into this mess if I had stopped when Chrysalis had called out to me, I nodded approval to my companions and stood up, putting the remaining half kilogram of peanuts in my pack before slinging it on and strapping myself in. I was just about to tell them to get ready for takeoff, when the small, nagging bit of my mind known asconscience announced its existence to the world, and the necessity of taking a few choice actions before once more leaving this dimension for another.

Namely, reminding the human world that I was – by and large – still well and alive.

I dug through the top flap of my pack and produced my trusty nokia cellphone, and turned it on. Tapping the pin code I spent a moment or two regarding messages I needed to send, before putting my fingers to work on the blessed buttons of the device. I've never really liked touchscreens, to be honest.

Marking all the expedition members as recipients, I sent the message off, blessing the newly erected telephone mast for the reception. Until just recently, phone coverage with most operators had been sloppy at best in the village.

“We're ready to go,” I decreed, and my companions sounded their agreement. I took a few moments to ensure the fire was firmly put out along with any lamps in the house, before locking the door and returning the key to its hiding place. A sense of relief washed over me as I felt the comforting presence of my wings return, and the lessened pull of the earth that came with it.

However, one point of tension remained: the Mercury Star. Elytra had kept it enclosed in a tightly wrapped gray cloth that she'd conjured up, even during her experiments; she for all the theoretical debate we'd had on it she still hadn't at all gotten over the events of last night, and I honestly couldn't blame her. If I knew as much about magic as she did, I'd likely still be shaking in my boots as well.

As it was, she was full of hesitant caution when she handed me the wrapping – it somehow felt metallic, like a very fine mesh of chain mail rather than fabric – and I'm not going to deny that I felt pretty apprehensive in that moment. It was with considerable steeling of my heart that I reached for it with my hands, and undid the wrapping.

The Star was shining again. Perhaps not as brightly as it had been when we first found it, but that may just have the fact that it was now midday rather than midnight. Its light was shimmering, as if coming from below the surface of a calm lake. Shimmering, and somehow...expectant. If it wasn't for the fact that this very emotion was bounding all around my companions' minds alongside their caution and fear, I could've sworn I felt it from the star itself. As if it wanted to be used – as if its magic had a mind of its own.

Shaking my doubts as well as I could, I grabbed the orb firmly in both hands, and raised it into the air. Just like last night, it was almost entirely weightless. Now that I was holding it, I could feel my own feet starting to lose their grip of the ground without a single flap of my wings.

The Star was ready, and I wasn't entirely sure we were – but for better or worse, we had to be. “Hold on to my arms or something,” I mumbled absentmindedly to the girls, trying not to freak out too much about the fact that I was once again defying gravity using a force outside my own control.

Elytra did short work of that, transforming back to her small form in a flash of green and planting herself on my head once again, holding my ponytail in a tight grip. My own fear was rebounding in hers, and while it was hard enough for me to avoid getting too deep into that loop, she was obviously fighting a losing battle.

Chrysalis, to my surprise, wasn't struggling nearly as much. With just a bit of a jump to clear the few decimeters of air already separating me from the ground, she clasped her own hands around mine; only barely avoiding contact with the Star itself. Quite evidently this was far too close for comfort, however, as she instantly drew a frantic gasp and let go, dropping down to the ground again. Humiliation ran deep in her, but she steeled herselfbest she could again before simply taking hold of my legs. A brief look of amazement settled on her face as the sensation of weightlessness spread to her as well, but that didn't bother her for long. Instead, she simply started moving up the rungs, so to speak, before finally clasping her hands around my waist, her body tightly pressed against mine to distance herself from the Star as much as possible.

In this moment, I was fairly certain the situation couldn't get much worse – or more awkward, for that matter. As you all know by this point, I never was a very good judge on that sort of stuff. In full accordance with every paragraph of Murphy's Law but in total defiance of any remaining common sense applicable,my phone started ringing.

A moment of panic was replaced by a sudden urge to repair my half-shattered connections to the world I'd known before, and I let go of the Star with one hand to reach into my pocket to retrieve the device. I gave the screen a single glance, and reading the caller ID felt like being stabbed.

Incoming call from: Winter Freja (Mobil)

I didn't hesitate half a second before accepting the call, and pressing the speaker to my ear.

<”Yeah, hello?”>

A clearly frustrated cry was heard from the other side, before my sister's voice tuned up.<”Martin! What the fuck are you doing? Where are you?”>

As she spoke I realized how disconcerting it was to have her splitting image clinging silently onto my waist while her voice rung in my ear, and just how much I'd relied on the changelings' empathic abilities since I'd got them. I couldn't sense a thing from her across the phone – obviously – and it irked me something terrible. I shook my head, and gave the Star a worried glance; its light shone back at me shimmering faster than before, as if impatient. I decided to keep it brief.

<”I'm okay! Stop worrying! I'm pretty busy right now, though, so keep it short! Did you make it out of the national park already?”>

<”We're still in Sarek – halfway up on Spijkka. Aaron said we could get signal up on the mountain, but the weather was too rough for us to try yesterday. We were just about to get back to basecamp when I got your message. And what do you mean, busy? Where the hell did you go? You just up and vanished after we got across the bridge!”>

The Star was sparkling irritably now, just about holding in its power – whether it was Elytra's magic or the Star's own in control, I couldn't tell – and a slight sense of panic came upon me as the only link to my old reality was about to be washed away.

<”I don't have time to talk about it, I gotta go! Listen, don't waste time looking for me! Don't call the mountain rangers or the cops for that part either! I'm fine, really! But keep yourselves out of trouble! Don't go chasing after fog! Eat and sleep properly, and don't walk down jokks – tell Loa and Osvald I said that! And make sure – seriously! – tokeep an eye on the sky!”>

I just about had time to jam the phone back into my pocket before my hand waspulled back to grasp the Star again, as if by some arcane magnet. With a glaring burst the orb came to life, and we shot into the air like a shining bullet. For a brief moment I saw the ground fleeing from me at a frightening pace, before the world once again was consumed by a dazzling blue light.

-/-/-/

As it happened, Murphy had finally deemed my sentence served. The swarm had coped with our absence better than we – well, mostly Chrysalis – had feared, and thanks to my outburst last night there hadn't been anyone in even remote danger of running low on food. While getting everyone in order to leave naturally took some time, the changelings were efficient; and, perhaps more importantly, nobody wanted to remain in this mysterious place for too long.

It was probably a good thing that nobody told them that we were bringing the real cause of this morning's incident with us, or my plan for a way back home might've come under severe pressure. The Mercury Star had calmed down when we arrived – just short of a hundred meters above ground, this time – but to be safe, I'd returned it to the wrappings Elytra had made for it before putting it in my pack.

Even so, it was with a dark, brooding mood that I took to the skies once the swarm was ready to follow. I had expected the artifact to be powerful, and I had accepted the possibility of it being quite strange. I hadnot expected it to start acting less like a something and more like a someone. A very willful someone, at that, and with more than enough force to enact those fancies.

The Mercury Star had become my one hope and my greatest foe in one fell swoop, and as a man who appreciates clear enemies more than a multitude of friends, I was not feeling happy at all. Murphy may have let me off the hook, but he'd left one hell of a mess behind – and now it was all up to me to clean it up.

And hell knows how much I hate cleaning...