A giant Amongst Ponies

Chapters

First Lessons
Welcome to Ponyville
Seeking Answers
Fall of Equindor
Experimenting

First Lessons

Fall of Equindor

In the assembly hall of Equindor Castle were gathered row upon row of ponies dressed in battle armor. They bravely stood their ground, waiting for command, even despite the terrible screeches coming from the outside.

A male alicorn wearing a crown burst through the grand entrance and galloped to the front of the room as his soldiers stood to attention. Upon reaching his destination, he turned to address the crowd, casting a spell of voice magnification.

“We don’t have much time. Any moment now the cravers will be upon us, and even Equindor’s last sanctuary will have fallen. My actions as your king were meant to be the good of all, and indeed, magic is stronger than ever in Equindor, giving all ponies equal opportunity to exercise its power. However, in so doing, we have brought the cravers upon ourselves, and we have lost the only weapon that could have overcome. I am not worthy to be anypony’s king.”

He stopped speaking for a moment to gauge the reaction of his audience, most of whom had looks of shock or were whispering to one another. He continued.

“It was far too late by the time I decided that we could not survive alone. While I have done my best to see that-“

His speech was interrupted by the sound of the grand entrance bursting open behind them. Some of the soldiers were casting shield magic, but the king knew it would be futile. He spoke once more to the assembly, even as he himself began casting a spell.

“We need more time! I can only hope we will see each other again one day!”

The magic took effect and all of the ponies, including the king, froze in place. From their coats to their armor, they had all taken on a grey color. The air became as silent as a graveyard as the cravers swiftly left, having no interest in the stone ponies.

On a farm beyond the outskirts of Ponyville lived a small family of earth ponies. The crops that grew that were not nessasary to feed the family, they would stack into several wagons and sell them in Ponyville when enough had accumulated.

It was well into the afternoon, and all of the work for the day had been finished. A yellow colt with a black mane was outside playing, and the husband and wife had engaged in an argument inside the farmhouse.

“I tell you, our colt is a perfectly healthy young foal!” said the father. “Just because he has a horn on his head doesn’t mean we aren’t raisin’ him right.”

The mother was close to tears. “We certainly try our hardest, I don’t mean to imply otherwise. But when a unicorn takes a look at him and tells us that there is something we will never be able to give him, I think she might have known what she was talking about.

The father huffed. The day before, a stranger had come to the farm, claiming to be lost and willing to pay for food. He had not liked the mare, especially when she had taken an interest in Dayspring and made that remark. He wasn’t one to turn down a sale, but he was quick to see the mare on her way.

“We may not be his birth parents,” he said quickly, “but we’re the closest thing he’s got to a family. He’s just a little colt, and he’ll be worrying about his cutie mark before he even knows there’s such a thing as magic!”

“He needs friends!” shouted his wife back at him, anger now present in her voice. “We can’t keep him cooped up here, what will become of him when he decides to leave on his own? We should move to somewhere in town so he can have-“

“You know why we can’t do that!” yelled the husband, almost losing his temper.

As soon as the sentence left his mouth, he heard Dayspring give a terrible scream. He rushed out the door with his wife right behind him. What he heard put fear into his heart.

“No!” he said aloud. “What are they doing all the way out here?”

A pack of timberwolves was surrounding Dayspring, snarling and growling. Dayspring saw his parents galloping toward him and screamed “Help!”

The wolves’ attention was drawn to the two adults. They leapt away from the colt, who took the opportunity to run.

Celestia was holding court, barely listening to a periodic report from one of the guards in boredom. Suddenly her head felt as though it was cracking open. She cringed and fell to the back of her throne, grasping her head. Everypony stared at her in supprise.

“Princess, are you alright?” asked the guard with great concern.

As quickly as it had come, the skull-splitting headache disappeared. She opened her eyes and looked the guard in the face.

“We shall cut this report short for now. I must speak with your superiors at once.”

A mare was cautiously making her way through what little remained of the farmhouse. She was wearing a black cloak, which had a hood and a hole cut out for her horn. What little of her coat that showed was dark burgundy. She was looking to see what remained of the strange blast, but all she had actually found was scorched earth, ashen remains of planks, and a shallow, wide crater.

She did not see any sign of the wolves or of the colt or his family. Cursing to herself, she galloped away in the light of the setting sun.

She grumbled to herself as she ran, imagining what the others were likely to say about the incident. They would not be happy about losing the colt. One of the others had been to the farm just the day before, and when she had returned, she insisted that the colt had incredible potential, and that no time should be wasted in “recruiting” him.

It was supposed to have been a simple job. She would use her unique ability to take out the colt’s parents. That way, when the ponies inevitably discovered what had happened, the blame would be upon the wolves. Meanwhile the colt would fall into her hands and the Assembly could instill the true ideals into his head.

She fearlessly ran right into Everfree forest, but she did not go far. She stopped and looked around. Satisfied that she was alone, she opened a hidden trap door and stepped down the crude ramp. When she got to a door at the bottom, she heavily beat on it with her hoof.

“Hey!” said a stallion as he opened the door from the other side. He wore a cloak similar to that of the mare. “What’s the big idea, you trying to break the door down?”

The mare said nothing and squeezed past him. She approached the table in the center of the room, around which were seated several cloaked ponies, apparently engaged in a card game.

One stood up and harshly said, “What are you doing back here? Where is the colt?”

“Boss, hear me out,” said the mare. “The plan would have worked perfectly, had it not quite literally been blown to hell!”

“I don’t have time for games!” screamed the pony that the mare had called “boss”. “What happened?”

“I don’t really have any idea!” yelled the mare defensively. “The timberwolves were running down the parents, I heard them scream as no doubt their miserable lives flashed through their eyes, it probably didn’t even take that long. But, then the entire farm, it just... exploded with magic! I was keeping well out of sight, so I didn’t get hit too bad, but when it was over there was nothing left at all! The colt was gone! And my pack, the damn pack has been wiped out!”

“Shut up about the wolves, Nel!” shouted the boss, earning a glare from the offended mare. “You can go get more! But, right now, we have more important things to do!” She motioned for everyone to get up.

“Come on, we’re going after him, right now!”

“What?” asked Nel in disbelief. “What makes you think he’s even still alive?”

“Thanks to you, he may very well not be,” hissed the boss at her. “But if he somehow did that in self-defense, he might very well have not been hit at all, and we can’t afford to let a pony like that slip through our hooves. Now lets go, we can’t waste any time!”

Dayspring had indeed survived the magical explosion, but he was now nowhere near the farm. He barely took note of this however, as the events that had recently occurred and the fact that he was alone as the sun was going down kept him glued to the spot, too terrified to do anything.

An orange stallion appeared before Dayspring. Dayspring had seen the stallion before. He would appear at times when he was feeling sad and try to cheer him up, and occasionally play with him.

“Dayspring,” whispered the stallion to the colt, loud enough for him to hear. “You need to leave this place. There are bad ponies looking for you, and your home isn’t safe.”

Dayspring barely listened to this. He asked the question that had been eating his mind ever since he had found himself alone.

“Where are mom and dad?”

The stallion lowered his head. “You won’t be seeing them again, Dayspring. They are gone forever. I need to take you away from here before you get hurt.”

Of course, the colt didn’t understand and tried to protest, so the stallion had to carefully explain how he needed to find somewhere else to stay.

“Where are we going?” Dayspring asked.

“I’m taking you into Ponyville,” the stallion replied. “There will be lots of other ponies around to look after you. You need to get help from a mare who lives at the library there. Her name is Twilight Sparkle.”

He looked into Dayspring’s face and saw confusion. “I promise you that everything will be alright, but if we stay here for much longer, we will be in danger.”

He took the Dayspring by the hoof, and the colt didn’t try to resist. With a glow of the stallion’s horn, they disappeared.

Welcome to Ponyville

First Lessons

Rarity was out for a walk when she saw the colt, nervously wandering through the town. She did not recognize him, but he looked very young. Eager to help him, she started to approach him, but then stopped.

Something in the air didn’t feel right. It had to be magic. This young unicorn was outputting a good deal of unfocused magic. “He must be very upset or angry.” She thought.

“Dear,” She said to him. The colt turned his head to her. “Are you feeling alright?”

The colt took a moment to consider. “I think I’m fine, it is just that I am lost.”

“Where are your parents, dear?”

“I don’t know!” answered the colt, suddenly very distraught. “They were coming to save me from monsters, but I don’t remember what happened!”

Rarity was taken aback. It sounded as though the colt was in shock, and that meant that his mind might be repressing the worst. He must be too young to understand. In a much more concerned tone, she asked, “Where do you live?”

“On a farm, far away from Ponyville. But one of my friends told me that I couldn’t go back because I was in danger. He told me I need to stay here in Ponyville, but first I need to find a pony named Twilight sparkle, because she can help me control magic.

“Well,” Rarity thought, “That certainly explains the magic haze.” Then she realized something else.

“Who is this friend of yours?” she asked.

Dayspring looked confused. “He’s my friend. I’ve known him forever, but I don’t think my parents ever saw him.”

“He told you about Twilight?”

“Yes.”

Rarity decided to drop the subject of the “friend”.

“What is your name, dear?”

“Dayspring.”

“Well Dayspring, why don’t you come with me and I’ll take you to Twilight.”

Dayspring nodded his head. As she turned to the opposite direction, she looked back to make sure he was following. He trotted over beside her and they set off.

As it happened, Twilight’s library was just down the street. They walked up to the door and Rarity knocked on it a few times. There was no reply.

“I’ll bet that she is busy with research or some book…” She knocked again, more forcefully. “Twilight, please come out!” After a moment the door opened. Behind it was Twilight, who was levitating a thick book at her side.

“Rarity,” she said in a grumpy tone, “whatever you need, does it need to be done right now?”

Rarity looked a little concerned, but didn’t inquire about her mood. “I think it would be better if we didn’t wait, Twilight. I believe this young colt could use your help.”

Twilight only then noticed the colt beside her. A dark grey unicorn with a red mane.

She was about to ask what could be wrong with him that they needed her help, especially right now, but then she noticed the magical haze in the air.

“That’s incredible!” she thought. “He’s such a young colt and already showing such prodigious signs of magic!”

“

I think I see what the problem is.” She said. She looked the colt in the eye. “You are emitting very powerful unfocused magic. It is far stronger than it should be, and if you don’t learn to contain it, it can cause weird things to happen around you.”

The colt thought for a second, then said, “Like turn the floor blue?”

Twilight hesitated a moment, then slowly said, “I suppose it could… But it also might cause something dangerous to happen, and nobody wants that.”

“Then what do I need to do?” asked Dayspring.

“You need to learn to get a feel for your horn. Right now, it is involuntarily casting a lot of magic, so you need to just… tell it to stop. It is like making yourself stop breathing.” Dayspring got the idea, and in no time the magical haze faded away.

“Wow…” said Twilight. “He sure caught on fast didn’t he?”

Rarity didn’t understand just how amazing it was herself, but she nodded and said, “He sure did, didn’t he?” Then she turned directly to Twilight.

“He says his parents have died and he has no home. When I found him, he was looking for help with his entire magical education, not just to keep it under control. I don’t suppose you would find it in your heart to…”

Twilight started to say something about how she wasn’t running a school for magical education, she started to consider. The colt was very prodigious in the field of magic. He was surely destined for something greater than your average unicorn, and would likely require special training. If she were the one to provide it, it would give her a great deal of influence, and give her the chance to help shape Equestria’s future.

In any case, she had also taken in Spike, a baby dragon, who acted as her assistant. While dragons do have some special magic of their own, it was not like that of a unicorn. It might be useful to have a fellow unicorn to directly assist her in her work.

With sudden enthusiasm, Twilight said, “I would be happy to give you magical instruction, young…” She looked to Rarity.

“Dayspring.”

“Dayspring.” repeated Twilight, looking back to the colt. “You can stay with me, here at the library.” After thinking for a second, she added, “Just please do not touch any of the books or equipment without asking me first.”

Rarity rolled her eyes. Then she motioned to Twilight and started whispering into her ear. Twilight’s eyes went wide and after a while, she nodded. “Well,” said Rarity. “I believe it would be best if I were to leave him all to yourself. Do you need anything more from me?”

Twilight thought for a moment. “I don’t believe so. I will send a letter to Celestia about this, but I think first I will properly assess his potential. Thank you for your help, Rarity.”

After Rarity had left and Twilight took Dayspring inside, she gave him a quick tour of the house, ending in the actual library room.

“I suppose this is as good a place as any to give you a small test.” She said. She levitated a quill from a desk onto a table. Dayspring watched with interest, as he had never seen anyone use a spell before, though he had heard of it from his parents.

“I am going to teach you one of the most basic of spells. All unicorns learn this, even those who use magic only once and a while. The spell is called telekinesis. It means to move things using only magic. In fact, I used the spell just now to bring this quill over here.”

“Now, to cast this spell, you need to... know what it is that you want to move. You need to know where it is, get a feel for how much it weighs, and know where you want to move it to. Then you direct your magic at the quill, and, sort of shape it into a force of motion, up into the air. I want you to see if you can raise it up to my eye level, and then keep it held in the air.”

Dayspring looked confused. Twilight expected this, but waited patiently for him to do something or speak. Soon he did speak. “Can you explain more?”

“I’m sorry Dayspring, trying to explain it further is like trying to teach you how to move your legs. We know how to move our legs, but we do not know why. I’m afraid the only way to learn is through experimentation. That means that you try anything you can think of and see what gets you what you want.”

She hesitated for a second, then softly cried out, “Oops!” Her horn lit up as she cast an all-purpose containment spell to ensure that Dayspring’s “experimentation” would have no unwanted effects.

Dayspring turned to the feather and started to channel magic at it. Twilight watched and waited, and then realized that her protective spell was broken without her even feeling it. She quickly tried to recast it, but the feather seemed impervious to it. In a panic she tried lifting it, which did work. Dayspring looked excited, but Twilight quickly said, “Sorry, that was me, I was… just making sure nothing is wrong with it.” Dayspring looked disappointed, but he carried on.

Twilight was now very worried, but just as she was considering asking him to stop, the feather suddenly shot right up in the air, hovering at her eye level as she had requested. Dayspring looked elated.

Despite her hopes for him, Twilight was quite surprised. Normally foals were a bit older before they attempted this, and although instinct helps them learn the how-to of magic quickly, without practice and study, the spell that they create for any form of magic would be very highly inefficient, and all most foals managed was for the object to shift from side to side. She herself had been an exception, but she recalled the mental anguish it required at the time.

And then she realized that neither the feather or Dayspring’s horn seemed to have lit up at all. It had taken him virtually no effort at all! She was utterly bewildered for the moment. She double checked to ensure that he had no cutie mark, and indeed, there was none. Dayspring had been watching her curiously, and now he spoke.

“Have I passed the test then?”

Regaining some composure, Twilight softly said, “Yes, Dayspring. That was very good!” He put the feather down. “Actually,” said Twilight, “I think you can lift even more.” She plopped the book she had been carrying down on the table.

Dayspring understood what was expected of him without a word. Twilight watched in awe as he again lifted the heavy book without breaking a sweat or any noticeable shine from his horn. She grabbed more 5 more random books off of nearby shelves and stacked them atop the levitating books, having no effect.

“Put them down for now Dayspring.”

He complied. As soon as the stack had come to rest on the table, she took all of the books out of the stack and set them on the table separately.

Struggling to hide her excitement, she said, “Lift them all again.”

One by one, the books rose into the air. Before they were all even up, she had ran to a shelf.

“Here, catch!” She cried, throwing another book into the air behind her. She would normally be appalled at the way she was treating them at the moment, but she had great faith in Dayspring’s ability’s, and was more concerned with the test at the moment.

Dayspring caught the book out of the air, and without warning another one followed, and another and another. But when another went sailing through the air, half of the books he had been levitating fell to the floor, and he failed to catch the additional one.

Twilight winced. “Ok,” she thought, “Maybe I got a bit carried away.”

“I could have had it,” moaned Dayspring. “But I just couldn’t focus on all of them at once!”

“No no no Dayspring, you were fantastic! This is supposed to be an exercise to stretch you to your limit!”

Dayspring frowned. “I can do more.”

Before Twilight could even get a word out, she froze as she saw that about a dozen of the bookshelves were levitating well into the air.

Twilight would have been dumbstruck again, but fearing for the safety of all the books in case the shelf tipped forward, softly said to Dayspring, “Ok Dayspring, you can put them all down now, gently please. You’ve passed the test.”

Twilight had a spare bedroom for Dayspring, which until now she merely used as an occasional study, despite his insisting, “I’m not tired.”

“Come now Dayspring, everyone needs their rest, whether they feel tired or not.”

He didn’t argue, so she quickly cleared the room of a bit of equipment that was leftover, but she left a telescope pointed out the window. “After all,” she thought, “I don’t think he can get into any trouble with it, and I do have extras.”

She then noticed that the hazy feeling had crept back into the air. “Dayspring, make sure to not let your control slip. You are emitting unfocused magic again. You don’t want it causing things that you didn’t ask it to do.”

The feeling quickly faded. After she made him promise not to get into trouble, she left the room and went to write her letter to Princess Celestia.

Dear Princess Celestia,

I am writing to you with urgent news, but also because I need your advice. Today an incredibly prodigious colt named Dayspring has come to my doorstep, displaying unbelievable magical potential. He came seeking knowledge of magic, and I was only too happy to help.

I could not believe how quickly he was able to learn the telekinetic spell, so I decided to give him a test to determine the limit of his abilities. He did not cease to amaze me throughout the entire test, seemingly having no limit to his magical strength. When he started lifting several tons of my bookshelves, all filled to capacity with books, I deemed the test was unsafe to continue.

Evidently, his home was attacked and his parents killed, although he does not understand what happened. It occurs to me that Dayspring himself might have been the target of an attack. I request that you send a patrol east of Ponyville to investigate.

I have sent him to bed for now, but I have no idea what to do with him. I am the element of magic and I myself can clearly see that he is one of the most powerful beings in Equestria! Now that I have written it down, I am starting to wonder if I am over exaggerating. He is clearly potentially dangerous, but also not a pony to be left out of check. I ask for your advice on this matter and eagerly await your reply.

Your Faithful Student,

Twilight sparkle

She rolled up the letter and went to find Spike. When she found him, she held out the letter to him and said “Spike, I need this sent to Celestia right away.”

He eagerly took and replied, “Your number one assistant is on it!”

After the letter had been sent on its way, Twilight said, “Actually Spike, you need to know about this too.”

He looked up at her, confused. Usually she just gave him the letter left. Once she saw that she had Spike’s attention, she said, “I have decided to let a young colt stay here with us at the library. Only he has a very… unstable magic potency, so he might accidently cause… an accident.”

Spike looked worried. “Well, how long is he going to be staying here?”

“His parents are dead, Spike. He needs a home and someone to help keep him under control. I was thinking, he could maybe, be another assistant?”

“Now WAIT a minute, I thought I was your number one assistant?”

She suddenly gave him a hug and said, “Of course you are Spike, nothing will change that. But, after all, isn’t it silly to call you my number one assistant and only have one assistant in the first place?”

He looked uncertain. “I guess…”

“But,” she said, releasing him, “That doesn’t change the fact that it’s time for you to go to bed.”

“Awwww…”

Seeking Answers

Welcome to Ponyville

Twilight only managed to sleep for a couple of hours that night, her mind full of worry. Before the sun had risen, Spike had cracked her door and discovered that she was awake.

“I thought you might want to see Celestia’s reply as soon as possible.” he muttered.

Twilight quickly took the letter and unrolled it, still lying on her bed. Spike quickly excused himself, his stomach growling, but Twilight didn’t notice. The moment she had settled, she had begun to read intently.

Dear Twilight Sparkle,

I am very grateful for your letter. Yesterday I sensed some painfully strong magic being released uncontrollably, and I believe that this colt might have something to do with it. Anypony near the area would likely not survive. I have already attempted to investigate this, but when I received your letter, I redirected the search east of Ponyville as you suggested.

Such a pony is every bit as dangerous as you believed, yet I do not wish you to discontinue his instruction. As unstoppable as he will be should he attempt anything ill-disciplined, it is very essential that you deal with him in words of persuasion and reason. He should not be isolated in fear, yet he must remain under careful watch at all times. I suggest that you take him with you into the town and let him get to know some of his neighbors, but be sure that he is ready for it.

This may seem to you to be a daunting task, and you would be right. However, even with the mistakes you made along the way, you have never let me down, and I know you will exceed expectations yet again. I cannot think of anypony better suited to this than yourself.

Sincerely,

Princess Celestia

Twilight wished that the Princess had given her more direct instructions, but she never received letters like that unless it was about an immediate crisis. Groaning, she pulled herself out of her bed and went to prepare breakfast.

As she was finishing up, she remembered something important. “I’ve gone and forgot about Dayspring, and after all those hours of weary worry!”

She discovered that he was wide awake, currently occupied with the telescope. Since he didn’t see her come in, Twilight said “Good morning Dayspring.”

He turned around, his eyes full of excitement. “Good morning Miss Twilight!”

“Please, Dayspring, you don’t have to call me ‘Miss’. You may simply call me Twilight.” She considered him for a moment. “Didn’t you get any sleep last night?”

“Well, actually I think I did fall asleep right after you left.” Dayspring replied reluctantly. “But my parents always made me get up this early so I could help them out around the farm before it gets hot.” He turned back to the telescope. “This machine here is great!” he exclaimed, his tone taking a dramatic change. “When I look inside, it is like I am much closer at what I am looking at! I spent a lot of time looking at the moon! Well,” he began again, his expression dampened, “until it disappeared behind the trees.”

Twilight nodded her head a little. “It’s called a telescope, Dayspring.”

His face brightened. “Oooh, is that like that spell you showed me, telekenisis? Does it use magic?”

Twilight considered. “I suppose the words partially mean the same thing. ‘Tele’ means ‘to move’. Telekinesis means to move with magic, but telescope would mean to move your vision.”

“That is exactly what it does! But...” Suddenly the colt flipped about and pushed his face into his bedsheets.

Before twilight could react, he said, “When I get this close to stuff that is really close, it doesn’t help me see it much better.” He extracted his face. “And the telescope doesn’t help much either.”

Twilight was lightly shaking her head. Clearly, the colt had a curiosity rivaling her own. “Well, I’m sorry to take you away from your fun, but I wanted to tell you that we have a few small things to do today in town. Are you coming to breakfast?”

He frowned at her. “Do we have to right now?”

“Oh come now, you need to keep your energy up.” She motioned with her hoof and said, “Come on, I made something special just for you.”

Dayspring didn’t argue any further. She led him into the kitchen. With further encouragement, he uncertainly put some of the fruit salad into his mouth. The dish consisted of many things that he had never seen on the farm. Quickly deciding that he liked it, he swallowed.

Dayspring wolfed down the rest of his fruit salad. As soon as he had finished, he asked Twilight, “Are we going to get to see the rest of Ponyville now?”

She had not finished her own breakfast yet. After swallowing, she said, “Not until you put that plate in the sink.” Seeing his pouting face, she quickly added, “If you leave it out it will attract really gross, flying bugs.”

Dayspring didn’t know exactly what she was talking about, but he did as he was told. However, he was secretly hoping to find one of these bugs later.

Twilight wasted no time in finishing her plate too. Just as she was about to put it in the sink alongside the one Dayspring had used, Spike walked in.

“Oh no,” she thought, “I completely forgot to introduce them! Oh, this is so embarrassing. But there just hasn’t been a good moment to!”

Spike broke the silence. “Is this your new assistant Twi?”

Dayspring looked at Twilight, who quickly said, “He isn’t my assistant yet, and doesn’t have to be if he doesn’t want to! Oh, umm, Dayspring, this is Spike. He stays here with me too. And Spike, this is... Dayspring.”

“Sorry,” began Dayspring, “but if you came here for a bite to eat, I think it’s all gone.”

Twilight suddenly threw Spike a suspicious look. She looked toward the freezer, and then back at him. He looked away and took a step to the side.

“Spike,” Twilight said in a warning voice, “I am taking Dayspring with to show around Ponyville. I suspect I will be gone for most of the day. I want you to go down to Rarity’s boutique and make yourself useful, and if you start to complain of a stomach ache, I don’t want to hear it.

Spike didn’t look like he was ready to complain. Determined to hide his feelings, he kept his face blank, but congratulated himself in his head. Saluting with a hand, he said, “I’ll get going right away!”

A moment after Spike had dashed out, Twilight said to Dayspring, “And we ought to get going too. But Dayspring,” she said as she put on her best serious face, “Promise me that you won’t use any magic without asking for my permission.”

Dayspring’s head tilted to a side. “Oh, why not?”

“I’m sorry Dayspring, but you don’t know your own strength! Without further training, you might cause an accident and hurt somepony!”

“Alright then, I promise.”

A couple hours passed of Twilight touring Dayspring around Ponyville. She had taken him to the train station and to the Apple farm and several places in between. Applejack had given Dayspring a small basket of apples as a gift. At Dayspring’s insistence, Twilight had given him permission to carry the basket.

On the way back through the heart of Ponyville, Twilight remembered that Sugar Cube Corner was just a bit further ahead. “I bet Dayspring would like a special treat,” thought Twilight. “He could use one to ease up.”

As soon as they had set foot in the shop, a pink blur nearly knocked Twilight over.

“Oh Twiiiiiiiiiilight, my Pinky sense is-“ Pinky Pie stopped as took notice of Dayspring, who was recovering from recoil.

“Oh boy oh boy oh boy, who’s this? Is this your new friend Twi?” Pinkie actually did a full spin on the spot.

“Yes Pinky, this is-“ Twilight cut herself short when she realized that Pinky was still jumping up and down in excitement and might not be listening.

“Pinky!”

Pinky stopped jumping and looked at her again. “This is Dayspring. He has just arrived in Ponyville, so I was thinking-“

“Oh oh oh!” exclaimed Pinky. “We totally need to have a ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party and it will be the most awesomest party ever! We can have it right behind your place!”

“Pinky, I was just-“

“You’ll have to tell me later Twilight! I just remembered I need to go and deliver a whole bunch of invitations to everypony in Ponyville!”

Another blur later and Pinkie was gone, one of the door slowly easing its way back to the closed position. Twilight looked over to Dayspring to find his mouth agape.

“Well Dayspring, I suppose we have a party to attend later.”

As soon as Twilight and Dayspring had returned to the library, they saw that Pinkie Pie had already started preparations in the back.

Pinky “Twilight! You’re here! I need you to come here and tell me if you like where I’ve put the snackies!”

“Alright, I’ll be there in a second!” shouted Twilight back to her. She turned to address Dayspring. “Why don’t you go inside and put those apples on the dining table, and then you can play with your telescope for a while.”

“Okay!” he replied excitedly. He ran to the front door and was inside in a flash.

It seemed Pinkie had impeccable timing. As soon as Twilight had approved everything, guests began flowing in.

“Hang on a minute Pinkie,” said a startled Twilight. “When is this party supposed to start?”

“Oh, silly me! I went to deliver invitations and the only pony I missed was you! I’m sorry that I don’t have one for you right now. Anyway, I’ve got this awesome firework thing that when it goes boom, the sparklies that come out are shaped like ‘Welcome to Ponyville!’, so it starts right before sundown.”

“I should have expected as much,” said Twilight aloud to Pinkie. “I had better go fetch Dayspring then.”

It took some time to tear Dayspring away from the telescope again. When they stepped through the front door, their faces froze at the sight waiting just outside.

“Welcome to Ponyville!” A wave of confetti flew into the air. There was a crowd of ponies right behind the door. Dayspring had jumped, and quickly tried to conceal himself behind one of Twilight’s legs.

Twilight could barely believe how quickly Pinky’s parties attracted guests, with everypony more or less showing up on the minute. “Come on Dayspring,” Twilight said, “A surprise is all a part of the fun. Let’s go see what everypony has in store for us.”

Dayspring tried participating in some of the games, but when it was his turn, all of the ponies stopped to watch and encourage him, making him feel uncomfortable. He was happy when Pinkie announced that it was time for a special surprise and everypony stopped to watch.

He didn’t understand what Pinkie was doing. She was on the ground fiddling with something, but he couldn’t see what. Suddenly a ball of light shot into the air and his eyes followed it instinctively. The ball seemed to explode, but it was left shapes in the sky for a few seconds.

Everypony around him was cheering. He saw Twilight and ran up to her and brushed against one of her front legs.

She looked down at him with a reassuring smile. “I know you can’t read yet, but Pinkie was welcoming you to Ponyville again. She likes to put on a show.”

When the cheering stopped, the rest of the festivities resumed. Dayspring didn’t feel like playing more games, so he decided to go sample from the snack bar. “Uh oh,” he thought upon reaching the table, which was higher than he was. “I can’t get anything down without using magic.”

He stood still for a couple of minutes. “Oh, Twilight won’t mind if it’s just a little, and I can be careful.” Happy with this conclusion, Dayspring levitated down one of the treats. After he had gobbled it down, he ears detected movement coming from under the table.

He poked his head through the tablecloth that draped over the edge of the table to discover three fillies, about his own size. They quickly scuttled out from under the table through the other side. He followed them and found that they had stopped and were looking at him.

“What were you doing down there?” He asked them, his voice filled with curiosity.

“Nothing!” shouted one of them. “Nothing at all, we weren’t being bad or anything...” She paused. “Hey, you’re the colt aren’t you? I’m Sweetie Belle, this here is Scootaloo, and that’s Apple Bloom!”

Dayspring felt suspicion toward the three, but he said, “My name is Dayspring.”

“I heard that you’re Twilight’s new helper,” said Scootaloo. “That must be all kinds of fun. I bet you can do all kinds of amazing magic-“

“Ah don’t think he can,” interrupted Apple Bloom. “Otherwise he’d have a cutie mark for awesome magic power!”

Dayspring was taken aback. Why were these fillies saying that he couldn’t do what he knew he could?”

“I can do awesome magic,” he said in a low voice.

“Oh, neat!” said Sweetie Belle. “I’ve tried over and over, but I can’t even lift a feather.” She turned to her companions as she said, “But it’s more fun trying to get our cutie marks together!”

Sweetie looked back at Dayspring. “But maybe you can do it! I bet if you do some amazing spell, you’ll get a cutie mark that tells everyone how amazing you are!”

A look of determination crept into Dayspring’s face. His turned his head to the supreme object of his fascination while playing with the telescope. He reached out with his magic and seized it.

“If I can bring the moon just a little closer, it will be easier to see it with the telescope. I’ll have to be careful, I can’t just apply all of the force in one spot, I’ll have to-“

Suddenly there was a brilliant flash. “STOP!”

Princess Luna herself had teleported on scene, her posture and expression utterly terrifying. A few ponies screamed, and most of them were hunched over. Otherwise, there was silence.

“Why?”

Luna’s eyes quickly found Dayspring, who was standing all by himself. It was as though he had slapped her in the face. Luna conducted a dispel at him, but discovered that she could not break the colt’s hold on her moon. In a panic, she tried forcing him to sleep, but again, the magic was inexplicably having no effect.

In a flash, she had her face almost pressed up against his. From Dayspring’s perspective, she was gigantic, and clearly very angry. His face changed to morbid fear.

“Thou shalt listen to me, thou must put a stop to this upon the instant!” Luna’s voice was on the brink of hostility. “My moon is a finely tuned relay for dream magic, without which, nopony would be safe in the night!”

Some confusion wormed its way onto Dayspring’s face, but he had released his grip on the moon and was now waiting in fear for whatever happened next.

Luna lost some of her panic, relieved that the colt had not actually shifted the moon off course, but said in a menacing whisper, “I knoweth all about thou. My sister has told me all about thou. There is a reason why none such as thou hast arisen in Equestia. Thou hast no place in this world. Thou art an abomination that-“

Luna was cut off by a popping sound and discovered that she was looking at bare ground. She quickly looked all around, but all she saw were other ponies watching her in horror.

Dayspring found himself in complete darkness. He was scared to move, but he realized that he was completely alone.

“Where am I?” he cried aloud. He received no answer.

He had been hoping to hear a pony’s voice say something in response, anything at all, but after listening and hearing nothing, he was on the verge of tears.

He noted that his horn was starting to get out of control again, but he conceded that there was nopony else around to hurt.

He screamed and screamed, throwing a temper tantrum. He could feel raw magic fly around him, but he didn’t care.

But when he opened his eyes, he was greeted with one of the last things he might have expected.

He was no longer standing in void. His feet were planted on firm ground, and the land was uneven, stretching out as far as he could see. But everything was dark and grey, and there was no sign of sun, moon, or stars.

Dayspring was still afraid to move. He wanted to go back to the library, but he didn’t know how.

Eventually, curiosity overcame fear and he took in more of his surroundings. There was a single, gigantic building with towers all over it in the distance. It seemed to loom over him and generally feel uninviting, much like the land itself. All around it there were very many smaller buildings, but it looked like many of them were falling apart.

Upon close inspection of a nearby lone tree, he discovered that it felt and looked like a rock. Moving to the top of a hill, he was able to see seemingly forever in all directions, except in one direction where there were large mountains. The rest of the land was completely empty of anything significant.

Dayspring thought about his next move. He didn’t want to stay where he was, and there was nothing for him in the wasteland. Maybe there was somepony in the big building that could help him, even if it did look really scary.

Dayspring only made it about halfway. Without warning, the magical sensation returned, and he vanished again with a pop that nopony was around to hear.

Dayspring had returned to the library, and as it happened, Twilight was looking in his direction as he appeared.

“Dayspring!” She cried, embracing him. She had tears in her eyes. She let go of him and cried in a half shout, “I was so worried about you! You’ve managed to get on Princess Luna’s bad side and then vanished for about half an hour! I’ve had my friends out looking for you! Luna left to shout it out with Celestia! I only hope she can calm her down. Luna was enraged when you suddenly teleported away! Where on Equestria did you learn that?

After a moment Dayspring realized that Twilight was expecting him to say something.

“Oh! Um, I don’t actually know. I don’t think I could do it again. I didn’t even know where I was when it was over.”

Twilight, still upset, asked, “Where have you been?”

Dayspring shifted uncomfortably. “Well, I told you, I don’t know. It was somewhere dark and scary. There was almost nothing as far as I could see, and there was no sun.”

Twilight gave him a confused look. “But,” Dayspring suddenly remembered, “There was one really big building. There were other buildings around the big one, but I think they were falling apart.”

“Can you go there again?” said Twilight urgently.

“I don’t know how I got there,” said Dayspring. “I wasn’t doing anything!”

“Dayspring, I think we need to find a way to go back, and I want to go with you. A pony can’t teleport to any place they don’t know the location of, and it certainly wasn’t in Equestria. For all we know this might be where your mother was from or something. I think we might find somepony or something there that can help us understand what to do with you.”

“I don’t understand,” said Dayspring, his face reflecting his words.

Twilight thought to herself before speaking. “I shouldn’t try to teach him the spell after all that should I? It might be worse than giving a monkey the key to the banana plantation! Look what he almost did with a simple levitation spell! But I’m sure I need to, and it will only be a matter of time anyway...”

Fall of Equindor

Experimenting

For the next three days, Twilight had attempted to teach Dayspring the teleportation spell, but much to her dismay, he had not yet managed it. Twilight was certain that it was impossible for anypony to learn the spell in such a short period, but she was now uncertain what to expect from the colt.

The spell was enormously complex and would need to be built upon previous knowledge. Twilight had taught Dayspring illumination and thermal manipulation, as well as how to cast enchantments upon objects that would serve as relays of magic without having to focus.

But now Twilight had gotten herself wrapped up in her own experiments. She would not be able to teach Dayspring much until it was over, so she had set up some magic exercises for Dayspring before locking herself away in her study. Dayspring had asked about her research, but she had insisted that he wouldn’t understand.

Dayspring was outside. He stood beside a large tub of water that Twilight had provided for the assignment.

He sent a stream of magic into the tub. “Uh oh,” he said after peering inside. He lifted up the tub and turned it upside-down, but the block of ice inside was stuck inside.

“That won’t work,” he thought to himself, “Hmm... I wonder...”

Dayspring melted the ice back to its original state. He kept heating it, and soon it was boiling. “Argh, no that’s not right!” He quickly cooled it down again.

An idea occurred to Dayspring. He started to cast another levitation spell, but he couldn’t get a ‘grip’ on the water.

After some more thinking, he turned it all back into ice again and flipped the tub upside-down. He heated it up again, and water had started to flow from the sides where the ground didn’t quite meet the lip of the tub. But after a moment, it stopped. Hesitantly, he turned the tub over again.

A giant wisp floated out of the tub and started to drift away. Seeing the sight, Dayspring found himself saying “Whoa!” and quickly tried seizing the cloud with magic. While it was awkward to hold, it was possible, as it seemed to hold itself together.

With a look of wonder on his face, Dayspring started to cool the cloud. “This is amazing!” thought Dayspring. “When Twilight first taught me this spell, I didn’t think I would ever actually want to use it!”

The cloud darkened and compressed, and to Dayspring’s astonishment, white specks were suddenly floating down from it and into the tub. They were quickly coming down at an alarming rate. Dayspring held out a hoof and caught some of it. It melted into his hands and returned to water again.

Twilight groaned as she heard hammering on the door, accompanied by Dayspring’s voice calling her name. She laid down the book she had been studying and swung the door open.

“Um, you know how you wanted me to practice by making ice?” asked Dayspring.

“You’re done?” asked Twilight, annoyed.

“Well, I don’t think so, but I think you better come see...”

Twilight threw her hooves into the air and asked, “Did somepony get hurt?”

“No...” said Dayspring, “but something happened that I don’t think was supposed to.”

“Alright, fine!” exclaimed Twilight as she walked Dayspring out the door. “I’ll come see.”

Dayspring led her to the back of the library. She stopped at the sight of a small cloud hanging over the tub she had given Dayspring. “Oh, Celestia’s sake!” she cried as she ran to the tub and peered inside.

“Dayspring, this isn’t what I asked for! What did you even... snow?”

Dayspring didn’t say a word, but maintained a look of guilt.

Without warning, Twilight burst out laughing. Dayspring’s expression changed to confusion.

“I can’t get even an hour of time to myself without you stirring up some kind of trouble, can I?” said Twilight after catching her breath. “It’s been ages since I’ve actually seen snow, the weather team usually doesn’t let any near Ponyville.”

Using her magic, she gathered some of the snow together and lifted it out in a ball shape. With a grin, she flung it through the air at Dayspring, hitting him in the face before he could react.

“Aahhhh!” he screamed. “Don’t I’m sorry! Sorry!”

Twilight felt a sting of guilt, but she decided to blow it off. “Come on, Dayspring, this is what ponies like to do with this stuff. It’s lots of fun!”

“It’s fun to throw it at other ponies?” asked Dayspring incredulously.

“Yep! Here, make a ball like I did.”

After hesitating, Dayspring tried gathering up the snow like Twilight had done, but the stuff just slid away as he tried lifting it up.

“No, not like that,” said Twilight. “It isn’t the same as lifting most other things. If you only grab it at one point, it’s going to fall apart. You have to spread the magic out, stretch it across what you want to grab.”

Dayspring tried again, having similar results. “Look,” said Twilight. “watch.”

Dayspring watched as another ball lifted itself from the tub. He could see the glow of Twilight’s magic encompassing the whole thing.

“Here,” said Twilight, “take this one.”

Something in Dayspring’s head clicked, and when he took the snowball from Twilight, it held together.

“See!” exclaimed Twilight. “You can do it!”

She squealed as she suddenly felt the snowball explode on her face. She got snow out of her eyes and looked at Dayspring, who was looking at her nervously.

“Well,” she said, forcing a laugh, “now I think we are even. I really should get back to my book now, so if you want, you can keep on playing with this stuff. Snow is very interesting, you can make it into all sorts of shapes.”

Dayspring’s face lit up with curiosity. “Really? Like what?”

“Whatever you can think of,” replied Twilight. “If you can think of something, give it a try!”

Twilight put down the now finished book and went outside to check on Dayspring. Dayspring was staring at a pile of snow in frustration.

Seeing Twilight coming, Dayspring shouted, “Nothing I try to make turns out right! The only thing that doesn’t fall apart is ball shapes!”

Twilight didn’t know how to respond to that. An idea popped into her head.

“Come on Dayspring, let’s forget about the snow for now. I just remembered that I never did get you the present I promised, so I think we should go and find you one. It doesn’t have to be from Sugarcube corner. I also need to talk with Rarity, so we can take care of that while we are out.”

Dayspring looked intrigued. “Alright, lets go!”

“Hold on,” said Twilight, “Before we go, put all of that snow back into the tub.

After the snow was returned to the tub, Twilight had another idea.

“Let’s see if you can cast an enchantment properly. That snow will melt back into water if you leave I out. So, try enchanting it to maintain its temperature.”

Dayspring was a little surprised at the request, but he confidently started casting the spell. When he was done, nothing had seemed to changed, but, then again, the purpose was to prevent change.

“Are you done already?” asked Twilight. Dayspring nodded. “Well, I guess we will find out if it is working when we get back.”

After they had set off, Twilight suddenly had a thought that she voiced to Dayspring. “Enchantment’s get the energy that they need from the pony who created them. But the further you get from the enchanted object, the more energy it will take from you.” She looked at Dayspring thoughtfully. “Somehow I don’t think that will be much of a problem for you though. But, if for any reason you want to stop an enchantment, all you need to do is sever the connection between yourself and the object.”

Dayspring nodded and noted the information for future use.

“Here we are,” said Twilight, stopping in front of Rarity’s boutique. The sign indicated that it was open, so she opened the door.

“I’ll be right down!” said Rarity’s voice from upstairs. After a short wait, Rarity was came down the stairs. As she was walking down, she saw who her visitors were. “Twilight! So good to see you again! And I see that you’ve brought young... Dayspring with you.” Her voice had lost its excitement at the end.

Before either of her guests could say a word, Rarity said, “I’m terribly sorry, it’s just that, after that party incedent...”

Twilight now understood. She said to Rarity, “Don’t worry, he didn’t know what he was doing at the time. He isn’t going to cause any trouble.” Twilight hoped very much that she was right.

“Well,” said Rarity, putting on a more businesslike voice, “what can I do for you, Twilight?”

“I just need to ask you a couple of things and then we can be on our way,” said Twilight. “Somewhere private,” she added, indicating Dayspring.

“Oh, I see,” said Rarity, now solemnly. “We can talk upstairs.”

Twilight walked over to Dayspring, whose attention was currently occupied by a dress that was on display. “You aren’t thinking of buying that are you?” asked Twilight playfully. Dayspring flipped around to face her with a blush.

“Miss Rarity and I are going upstairs for a minute. There’s no need to do anything more than look at the merchandise. No touching alright?”

Dayspring quickly nodded. As Twilight and Rarity started up the stairs, he quickly moved away from the dress. He searched for something that he wouldn’t mind Twilight catching him looking at. A tuxedo caught his eye. It came complete with a top hat.

When Twilight and Rarity came back, he was still examining the suit.

“Twilight,” said Dayspring. “can we buy this hat?”

Twilight was clearly surprised at this request, but she walked over to look at the top hat.

“Dayspring, I’m sorry, but I think it will cost rather more than I’m willing-“

“Twilight,” Rarity cut in. “For you, you can have it without charge. Consider it a gift.”

“Oh, Rarity, that isn’t nessassary,” said Twilight. She turned to Dayspring. “Are you sure you want a hat? It would be a bit big on you. You wouldn’t rather have a toy or a treat or something?”

Dayspring was eyeing the hat with an expression of longing. “Yes, I’m sure.”

Twilight had tried to insist that she pay for the hat, but Rarity insisted that she not pay. Then Twilight tried to compromise and pay half, but Rarity wouldn’t negotiate. Dayspring wore the hat out of the shop and all the way back to the library, their business in town complete.

Twilight went inside, but Dayspring had asked to stay outside and play with the snow a some more before dusk. However, when he went behind the library, he did not approach the tub.

Seeing the top hat in the boutique had given him a moment of inexplicable inspiration. He couldn’t explain where the idea had come from or just how it would work, but the idea was unbelievably simple, and anypony ought to be able to come up with it. The hat seemed to be a perfect item to enchant with the experimental spell.

He focused on the hat and started sending magic into it. The spell was strange, and was not something he could rush by forcing it, but after only a minute or two, he was done. He examined his handiwork.

The hat definitely had a great deal of magic embedded in it, but even Dayspring was astonished at the magic. He didn’t understand why it had come out quite the way it had done, but the only way to see if it would work would be to test it.

Dayspring ran into the library and into the kitchen to retrieve a special item he would need.

Dayspring had, much to his frustration, been unable to shape the snow like a pony. He settled for stacking three larges balls of snow and making a crude face on it. The carrot nose didn’t actually look like a nose in the least, but somehow, it didn’t look right without it. Dayspring called this creation “Snow Buddy”.

“And now...” thought Damien as he fidgeted with the top hat in excitement. He placed it upon Snow Buddy’s head, and there was a blinding flash of light.

When Dayspring opened his eyes, to his astonishment, he discovered that Snow Buddy had inexplicably become much more realistic, and the bottom of it had somehow changed into a pair of legs. But most shocking of all, it was moving. Dayspring could barely restrain himself from laughing aloud to the world in triumph.

“Hey!” exclaimed the snow creature, looking at Dayspring. “Follow me!”

Dayspring stopped his dancing around to stare at Snow Buddy in confusion as it started walking off. He hadn’t been expecting it to start telling him what to do. He ran to its side and asked “Where are we going?”

“Why, to the fun of course! We go to spread joy to everyone we meet!”

This puzzled Dayspring even more. This was supposed to be his buddy, who would do what he wanted it to. However, he didn’t say a word more. It was leading him to the street in front of the library. Dayspring stopped following, afraid of leaving the library.

Snow Buddy stopped on the edge of the street and turned toward Dayspring. “Come on!”

Dayspring wasn’t sure what had happened at first. Snow buddy started to cross the street, there was a blur, a ‘smack!’, and snow went flying through the air.

Dayspring ran to what was left of Snow Buddy in horror. The thing was lying on the ground, most of his lower half now missing. It was reaching one of its stick arms up toward Dayspring in desperation, but didn’t say a word. The top hat had been thrown off its head from the collision and was now lying on the ground, leaving Snow Buddy inanimate and frozen in place.

“AH AH! COLD!” shrieked a pegasus behind what was left of Snow Buddy, shaking snow out of her coat. “I’m so sorry, I don’t know what happened, are you alright?”

Dayspring looked at the frantic pony. He was taken aback by her face, but he figured she was probably in shock. “Everything is fine,” he assured her. “I was just...” Dayspring recalled the word Twilight had used. “having an experiment with the snow. But I don’t think it was working out too well anyway, so-“

“Oh, what a relief!” interrupted the pegasus. “Sorry, normally I would love to stop and chat, but today I’ve got an urgent letter that needs to be delivered, so I’ll see you later!”

Dayspring watched the strange pony leave, but when he started to turn around to the dismembered Snow Buddy, another pony caught his eye.

It was a mint green unicorn. A mare, he was sure, even at this distance. She was approaching him.

“I saw that,” she said to Dayspring when she stopped. “Were you the one who made the snow come alive?”

Dayspring hesitated, but eventually said, “I guess I was.”

All he got for a reply was “Why?”

Dayspring stopped to think. He hadn’t thought about why he wanted to make Snow Buddy come alive. Snow Buddy.

“It’s just that,” Dayspring began, “that I can’t leave the library without Twilight, and there is nopony to have fun with. I thought...” He didn’t finish.

“Ah,” said the unicorn, “you wanted a helper who would do your bidding?”

“I suppose so...” said Dayspring slowly.

“Your spell needs some work, I think,” said the mare in a matter of fact tone.

“Yes, it does, I didn’t even get to tell it what I wanted before it started walking off!”

The mare laughed at this. “It wasn’t so different from real ponies after all then. Do not worry, you will find the way.”

When Dayspring said nothing, she spoke again. “Is it not grand to wield the gift of magic?”

Dayspring wasn’t prepared for this change of subject, and he did not know what she meant. So he simply said, “I guess.”

“It is, you know. Consider an earth pony. No magic. So many problems they have, that could so easily be rectified with just a little magic, yet they cannot. If something is out of reach, the best they can do is go through a lot of effort to drag a ladder to where they need. I don’t see how they can even get by.”

Dayspring had never thought about this, but he was thinking about it now. The mare did have a point. Life as an earth pony must be hard. A thought hit him.

“But what about-“

“Pegasi?” finished the mare. “They make all sorts of problems. Oh, they can fly, sure, but they abuse their gift. They parade through the sky, flouting those of us who are stuck here on the ground. They have an entire city all to themselves in the sky, you know. There may as well be a great big sign over it that says ‘PEGASI ONLY’.”

“But why don’t you use magic to make yourself fly?” said Dayspring. You could pick yourself up into the air!”

“You can do that?” asked the mare in astoundment.

“Oh, well, I’ve never tried it actualy. I only just thought of it.”

Dayspring was eager to put this new idea to the test, so he started to channel his magic. Confusion became apparent on his face as he realized that, no matter how hard he tried, it always felt like something was pushing back.

“I can’t do it!” cried Dayspring in frustration.

“Nopony can, I’m afraid,” said the mare, clearly disappointed. “But do not let that get you down. In the end, you are better than them all. Especialy you.

Dayspring was shocked at this statement. The mare turned about and started to walk away and he did not say anything or react in any way. After Dayspring recovered, all he could think was “Is that true?”

After he watched the mare leave, he turned to Snow Buddy, who had naturally not gone anywhere throughout the entire conversation. Dayspring shook his head and dispelled the freeze enchantment that he had placed on the snow earlier. He didn’t figure he would want to play with it again soon.

Without thinking, he placed the top hat on his head, but it didn’t cause anything to happen to him. He slowly began walking toward the library door.

When he opened the door, Twilight, who was only a few steps away from the door herself, stopped in surprise.

“Oh, there you are Dayspring,” she said. “I was just coming to get you, dinner is ready.”

Dayspring was silent throughout the entire meal, and he was clearly forcing himself to eat what little he did.

“Dayspring, is something wrong?”

“Huh?” said Dayspring as he snapped out of his thoughts. “Oh, no, I’m fine.”

Twilight decided not to pursue the matter. She considered telling him that one does not usually wear a hat indoors, but, it was his special present after all.

“I’m not really hungry though,” Dayspring continued. “I think I’m just tired.”

“Why don’t you leave your plate here and get to bed early?” offered Twilight.

Dayspring almost refused, but realized he had nothing else to do that day. “Alright,” he said.

When he got to his room, Dayspring removed the hat, set it on the table, and threw himself onto his bed.

He couldn’t bring himself to actually close his eyes, so, at a loss for what to do, he looked around the room.

He noticed a scratching noise coming from the hat. When it didn’t subside, he slowly rose from the bed and peered inside.

With his magic, he pulled a bunny out of the hat’s depths.

Experimenting

Seeking Answers

When Twilight awoke the next day, the first thing she did was check on Dayspring. He was still asleep in his room, but she was shocked to discover that his bed had a second occupant. A small bunny had nestled up against Dayspring and was sleeping next to him.

Twilight almost decided to wake Dayspring up to ask him about this, but a part of her said that it was too cute to interrupt.

“Maybe I should find myself a good book for now,” thought Twilight. She left the room to do just that.

Before she even reached the shelves, there was knocking on her front door. She quickly ran to it and opened it.

Behind it stood a very red eyed Flutteryshy. As soon as the door had come open, Fluttershy wailed, “Twilight! You’ve gotta help me!”

Twilight was astounded at her friend’s attitude, but she asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Well,” said Fluttershy, calming down a bit, “I noticed it last night. When I was doing headcount for the bunnies, I turned up one short!”

Her tone changed to despair. “I don’t know where the poor thing could have got to! They’re never gone for this long! I have Rainbow helping me look, but everyone else is too busy. But would you please help?”

“Fluttershy,” said Twilight slowly, “You probably won’t believe it, but it just happens that I think I know exactly where the bunny is.”

“Oh!” squeaked Fluttershy. “You do?”

“Wait here,” said Twilight. She closed the door and went into Dayspring’s room.

Neither occupants of the bed had stirred. “When this is over,” thought Twilight, “I’m going to have to have a talk with him.”

She tried to carefully scoop up the bunny, but it woke up anyway. It didn’t struggle much. She carried it back to the front door.

The door had barely swung open when Fluttershy threw her hooves around Twilight and said, “Thankyou thankyou thankyou!”

Fluttershy quickly released Twilight, suddenly very embarrassed. “Well, I would love to stay and chat, Twilight, but I’ve been up all night and I need to get the little guy home. Everyone is so worried. Oh, and I have to find Rainbow Dash and tell her the news too.”

Fluttershy ran off before Twilight could think of a response.

“Well,” thought Twilight, “Time to go wake that colt and find out what that was all about.”

Before she went inside, she noticed something white in front of the library. She trotted over to see what it was. It was Dayspring’s melting pile of snow, but he had made a kind of face on it and given it stick arms. The whole thing was drooping as it melted, as though it was being pulled into the ground, but one arm was reaching up, as though begging for help.

“Ok,” thought Twilight as she turned away, “that’s kind of creepy.”

“Dayspring, wake up,” said Twilights voice. Dayspring groaned and eventually sat up.

“Would you care to explain how one of Fluttershy’s bunnies came to the library?” asked Twilight in a firm, though not quite stern tone.

Dayspring was still groggy from being forced awake. “What? The bunny? Oh, um, you probably won’t believe this...”

As Dayspring’s voice trailed off, Twilight recalled how she had said the same thing to Fluttershy.

“Well, the truth is, I found him inside my hat.”

“What?” asked Twilight, confused. “How could it have gotten there?”

“I... cast an enchantment on the hat,” said Dayspring with difficulty. “But not to find bunnies inside...”

Twilight didn’t say a word. Instead, she walked over to the table where the top hat was laying and lifted it up, examining it. She cast a spell to reveal the magic of the hat, but she found that she could make no sense of the enchantment Dayspring had placed on it at all.

“What did you do to it?” whispered Twilight as she set it down. “I don’t know what you were trying to achieve, but experimenting with magic almost always has unintended side effects!”

Dayspring said nothing, but hung his head. He walked over to the hat.

“I’m really sorry,” he said as he picked up the hat.

“It’s alright, nobody was hurt in the end, but next time you should-“

Twilight cut herself short as she saw what Dayspring was doing. He had stuck a hoof inside the hat, and it had disappeared far deeper into it than the space inside ought to allow.

“What in Equestria! Dayspring, stop!” Twilight shouted.

Her warning came too late. Suddenly, Dayspring was struggling against the hat, as though it was pulling him in. In an abrupt movement too quick for the eye, the hat swallowed Dayspring whole.

“Dayspring!” shouted Twilight desperately. There was no answer. With wild abandon, she dove into the hat, which somehow managed to eat her whole as well.

“Well,” Twilight thought to herself, “I don’t think I’ve fallen unconscious, or I wouldn’t be thinking right now.

“Dayspring?” she asked uncertainly as she illuminated her horn. This revealed Dayspring to be standing right next to her, but her light failed to penetrate the darkness any further.

“Are we inside your hat?” she asked him.

Dayspring shook his head. “No, I think this is it! Everything is... hiding, I think. We’ve been trying to figure out how to get here all this time, and here we are!”

“What?” said Twilight, taken aback. “Why would jumping into your crazy hat take us here?”

“Well, actually I don’t know for sure,” said Dayspring uncertainly. “It was supposed to just bring the snow to life. It did too!” he finished proudly.

Twilight was utterly bewildered at this. “Hang on, what? You brought snow to life? That should be impossible for a pony, especially one with as little knowledge as you!”

“Well, it didn’t work the way I thought it would,” replied Dayspring sadly. “I thought he would play with me, but it just walked off and got run over.”

“Oh...,” Twilight said in a low voice. She recalled the disturbing scene left in front of the library. “I’m sorry you don’t have anypony else to play with you, but you do have to remember that the plain fact of the matter is, most everypony is scared of you after you made... Luna upset...”

“Oh...” said Dayspring slowly. He thought to himself, “Can’t I do anything to show them I’m sorry?”

“I tell you what, when we get back, I’ll help you do just that,” Twilight said to him.

“If we can get back,” she finished more ominously.

“Ok,” replied the colt confidently.

“So,” said Twilight. “How do we make this big, scary land of yours come out?” The question lacked sarcasm.

“Oh! Um...” Dayspring knew that Twilight wouldn’t like this. “Last time, it came out of nowhere when I released a whole lot of magic into the air.”

“Oh,” said Twilight. “Well... I guess you had better do it again, but don’t let it hit me!”

Dayspring backed away from Twilight a bit before releasing the magic. When he did, Twilight gasped. She had believed everything Dayspring had told her about this place, but it was still unbelievable to see it with her own eyes.

The land was barren and dark, with not a sun, moon, or star in the sky, although, she noted, it was still inexplicably lit enough to see. She saw the big building that Dayspring had undoubtedly been referring to.

“Oh Celestia...” she said in awe. “Dayspring,” She turned to him. “That big building. It looks very much like the royal castle in Canterlot, only it’s as scary as you had said.”

Dayspring vaguely knew what she was talking about, having once been shown Celestia’s castle by Mentor. “What can that mean?” He asked, feeling very confused.

Twilight wandered over to the same lone tree that Dayspring had discovered himself the first time he had arrived here. Twilight knocked on it with her hoof. “Why is there a statue of a tree out here?” she asked.

She scanned their surroundings again, and something caught her eye on the ground not far away. She ran to it to discover it was a small patch of lone grass, also made out of stone.

Twilight looked toward the sky and gravely realized the significance of the missing sun and moon.

“Something horrible happened here,” Twilight said in horrified awe. “Come on, Dayspring. We need to get inside that castle.”

Twilight and Dayspring had been walking through the castle for about a long time without speaking a word. There was no light in the castle, so Twilight and Dayspring were both casting light from their horns as they explored. Eventually, Dayspring broke the Silence.

“Twilight?”

“Hmm?” she responded, grateful for a distraction from the hurried thoughts running through her head.

“Where are all of the ponies?”

Twilight lowered her head. Maybe it wouldn’t be a distraction after all. “I don’t know Dayspring. I have a dreadful feeling that something horrible happened to this whole place, but I can’t find anything here that gives me a clue! All I know is that there is probably nothing left alive without the sun.”

“Do you know where we are going?”

Twilight nervously looked to Dayspring. “I have certainly never been her before, and It isn’t the same layout as Celestia’s castle. So, no, not exactly”

She had no idea if they would find anything important in the strangely empty castle. All of the rooms that they had looked in before were empty.

Suddenly Twilight cried out, “Aha!” and trotted over to a large door in the hallway they were walking through. She couldn’t get the door to budge.

“Dayspring,” Twilight said slowly. “Can you... see if you can get this door open?” She flung herself against the wall.

She was expecting the door to fly apart. She did not expect the door to ease itself open for Dayspring, which is what it did. Feeling a little silly, she got away from the wall and led the way inside.

There were a few book shelves in the room, and Twilight eagerly plucked one from a shelf, but was quickly discouraged by the foreign title. She opened the book and confirmed that none of it was Equestrian. She tried another book, but had identical results.

Besides the book shelves, this room was as empty as the others. Grumbling, Twilight led Dayspring out of the room. Instead of checking another room only to doubtlessly end in nothing, she walked straight to the end of the hall and looked up at giant double doors. She tried to open it.

“These are locked too,” she told Dayspring.

Dayspring took a look at the doors, then magically tried opening them.

He felt an unusual resistance. He pushed harder. The door held, although a loud, deep creaking could be heard. Dayspring started to worry. If he pushed much harder, the very wall the door was embedded in might come apart. He glanced over and saw that Twilight had taken cover again.

Without warning, there was a roaring ‘SNAP’ followed by a loud crash. The doors had violently flung open, bashing against the wall on the other side.

Twilight had been thrown off of her feet from the unexpected momentum of the doors colliding with the wall she had thrown herself against on its opposite side. Feeling embarrassed, she quickly scrambled to her feet to investigate.

There was no indication that anything had been bracing the door on the other side. “That had to have been magic,” she thought.

Suddenly there was a loud, horrible noise. It seemed to be a combination between a roar, growl, and a moan. Twilight instantly thought of a huge monster waiting to devour them.

Neither pony had moved. “Twilight,” asked Dayspring, fear in his voice, “what was that?”

Twilight quickly thought up an explanation. “It was probably the castle... settling. Actually, we should move, it might collapse on top of us here.”

“Oh!” said Dayspring as he ran after Twilight into the room he had opened.

It was fairly big, and circular in shape. It too was almost bare, but it featured six short pedestals around its center, spaced out in hexagon fashion. Twilight approached the pedestal closest to her and saw the object it was displaying.

“Oh no...” she said in miserable and loud, yet restrained voice.

Dayspring rushed over to see what she was looking at. “What is that?” he asked Twilight in an anxious tone.

“This can’t be... It’s not right, how could...” Twilight turned away from the pedestal and looked Dayspring in the eye.

When she didn’t say anything, Dayspring repeated, “What is it?” urgently.

“It can’t possibly be... I think... it’s an element of honesty! But... its dead! It hasn’t a shred of power left!”

“What?” asked Dayspring, confused. But Twilight had already shot off to one of the other pedestals.

“Yes!” she cried in horrified voice. “And this here is an element of generosity!”

She turned to Dayspring, who was still expressing strong confusion.

“This place must have had its own whole set!” she shouted.

“I don’t know-“ Dayspring started, but she shot off again.

“They are all here,” thought Twilight franticly. “And they are all dead! What HAPPENED here?”

She stopped at the last pedestal. It was empty. Her head flooded with suspicion.

Her horn lit up. “Dayspring!” she shouted to him.

“Yes Twilight?” he asked uncertainly.

“This wall here? Knock it down.”

“You want me to knock it down?”

“Yes! You don’t have to knock the whole thing over, just make a hole big enough for us to get through.”

A moment later, bricks went flying. After Twilight heard everything settle on the other side, she came to the new opening in the wall and peered through. She couldn’t make out anything important, so she scrambled through, Dayspring close behind her. She stopped and gasped.

It seemed that as far as her eye could see, there were stone statues of ponies. Every single one of them was dressed in a strange, foreign armor, and they all had a posture of attention.

She started walking again, examining the statues. There were subtle differences in them all, but almost all had some degree of fear upon their face.

It turned out that the statues were not stretched out much farther than about one hundred statues per row. However, Twilight had already forgotten the statues in favor of one last statue in the in front of them all.

The statue itself was not actually particularly impressive. The alicorn it depicted wasn’t wearing any armor, and Twilight thought that its face was a little sad. Twilight checked it to see if it bared any resemblance to Dayspring, but to her disappointment, it did not.

“What’s wrong with that weird hat it’s wearing?” asked Dayspring.

Twilight did not turn to Dayspring. She kept her gaze where it was and said, “It’s called a crown. It contains the last element. But it is entirely out of balance. While all of the rest where dead and drained of power, this element of magic is utterly engorged with it.

She finally turned to Dayspring and said, “It’s yours. I don’t know why, I don’t know what your connection with all of this is, but I can tell you with certainty that it is yours.”

“Wh... what?” asked Dayspring.

Twilight sighed and asked, “You don’t even know what these are, do you?” Dayspring shook his head.

Without warning, there was a very loud noise, as though it was coming from the room they were in. It was the same horrible noise that they had heard earlier. Both Twilight’s and Dayspring’s magic lights went out.

Both ponies screamed. Twilight started to run away from the noise, but then more noises came from all around. Twilight felt sure that she could sense something coming at her.

She felt a sensation of magic, and her eyes were flooded with blinding light. As her eye’s adjusted, she saw that she and Dayspring were safe in the library. Dayspring was on the verge of tears.

She embraced him and simply held him without saying a word in effort to calm both Dayspring and herself.