The DESTINY Exploration

Chapter 17 – Showstopper

Seven and a half days ago…

Our visit with the Princess was made worthwhile thanks to a sun that needed to set on the horizon. Twilight and I watched as Celestia gently lowered the ball and Luna raise the moon behind us. Having the opportunity to witness the simple process of transitioning between day and night before the Royal Sisters was, apparently, a rare occurrence. Hardly anypony accompanied them during this necessary part of each day.

Returning to the inner halls of the castle, Celestia motioned me to wait outside of the throne room. She told me there was some personal news that she didn’t want me to hear spoken to Twilight. I trotted out of the room and shut the doors behind me, sitting patiently off to the side of the staircase.

Ten minutes had passed before I grew anxious about what the Princess and Twilight were actually discussing. It was time to abuse the power that Starswirl gave me; a simple eavesdropping spell would suffice. I focused on making my hearing acuity increase without generating a large-scale output of energy. My horn slowly glowed and the vibrations in my head became louder and more distinguished. Pretty soon, I heard Celestia and Twilight clearly; what they had to say shocked me.

“…but Princess, are you sure? That was what I saw that night?”

Cool, I can hear them! This is awesome!

“Yes, Twilight, that meteor was shot down by a beam of light. It was not the meteor you and Tom discovered almost a month ago.”

Wait, that meteor wasn’t the one Twilight had observed?!

“So you sent me to a different one? How did you know two had fallen that night?”

“The observatory in Canterlot picked up on both occurrences that night. The strange light you observed hit an object that crashed in the Crystal Mountains. I’ve sent for one of the griffons from the eastern part of the Kingdom to investigate the crash site. Very few creatures can survive more than a week in those mountains alone, and griffons are one of them.”

“What do you think he’ll find up there, Princess?”

“…I have a sneaking suspicion that is where we will find Tom’s Jonah. For all we know, he might already be…”

JONAH! There was a second meteorite? Why didn’t they tell me?! I can’t let them hide this information from me! I-

There was a noise, and the door swung open; the Princess and Twilight walked calmly outside of the throne room. I quickly shut off my magic, and walked over to their hesitant gaze. I didn’t want them to suspect I had eavesdropped on their ‘covert’ conversation, so I gave each of them a friendly smile.

“Are we ready, Twilight? I have a Show and Tell to train for, you know.”

The Princess’ right eyebrow rose. “Show and Tell, Twilight?”

Twilight chuckled. “Well, you see Princess, Starsword promised Applebloom, Applejack’s sister, to perform for her class tomorrow. We’re using this opportunity to do a little ‘combat training’ for his journey to the Griffon Kingdom.”

“I see. Well, in that case…” Princess Celestia gave me a vanilla envelope. Written on the front was one phrase: ‘Invoice for Secret Order’

I stared at the Princess with a dumb grin. “Uhhh, what is this, Princess?”

“Give this to Granny Smith, and nobody else. It’s for my…moments of weakness.”

Okay, this is weird, but whatever.

After our goodbyes were said, we took the next train out to Ponyville and returned to the library. The night was still young, so instead of remaining at Golden Oaks, we decided to pay a visit to Sweet Apple Acres again. I did contract myself to a certain filly for a show and tell assignment tomorrow; rehearsing my ‘demonstration’ seemed like a good idea.

Applebloom’s idea for my demo was to juggle apples with my magic, which would not have been difficult by any stretch. Twilight, however, thought of this as an opportunity to train me and teach me more complex magic.

“How about instead of juggling, Starsword can demonstrate his ability to combat magic attacks?” Twilight was pacing back and forth in the living room, considering the idea.

Applebloom looked excited at the idea. “Yeah! That’ll show ‘em! Do a combat thingy, Starsword...what’s combat?”

I lifted my head up and responded. “Well, combat is basically when two or more peopl-uhh, ponies fight each other in war. I have to go into combat at some point in the Griffon Kingdom, so this would be a great way to prepare for those circumstances.”

“Ah, I see. Thanks fer the explanation, Starsword!”

Twilight stepped forward. “Okay, Starsword. I believe I am ready to train you in magical combat. Let’s head out into the pasture land to train. Applebloom…” Twilight pat her on the head. “…you can tag along if you want!”

Applebloom skipped ahead with joy as we made our approach to an open field outside of the orchard. Twilight motioned for me to stand about 30 feet from her; she channeled her magic into her horn as she talked.

“Now, Starsword, the first lesson will be on defense. You have to maintain steady levels of magic while being assaulted by projectiles or mental invasions.”

“So is this what we will demonstrate to the class tomorrow? And you are expecting me to master defensive magic by that time?”

Twilight nodded firmly. “Yes.”

What is this mare thinking?! Then again…I have continuously doubted myself this entire time, thinking I couldn’t master anything. Yet Twilight proved me wrong time and time again by instructing me. It’s time I took myself seriously for once.

“Okay, Twilight. Let’s do it!” I stood my ground, trying to picture what a defensive spell would look like. Twilight took notice of my quizzical stare.

“It’s very simple; all you need is some type of barrier to shield yourself from my attacks. I’m about to start. Ready?”

Twilight launched several beams into the air, each of the projectiles staying in place in the air. I charged up my magic and maintained control of my energy output; timing the defense was crucial, but I still couldn’t picture a good defense. The blasts that were hanging in the air shot at me with incredible speed. I couldn’t stop them; all of them made contact with my skin, as I cried out, falling to my knees. The world faded to black…

“…Starsword…”

“Tom, get up!”

I rose up slowly from my fallen state on the ground; it had only been about 10 minutes since I was hit with her first attack. She readied her projectiles again as I recharged my horn. Then I strategized.

How am I going to block these attacks? Do I simply fire at all of them? They move way too quickly for me to counterattack. Crap!

The beams began their descent again, coming from all directions.

All directions…!!!

I shut my eyes, and I felt nothing. No pain, no energy blasts, nothing. I opened my eyes to the sight of a polygonized sphere surrounding my position. The blasts then hit the sphere and exploded, disappearing like wisps of smoke. The sphere was a collection of hexagon-shaped panels, with the vibrations of the blasts washing over them sequentially.

Twilight trotted towards me with a happy grin on her face. “Great work, Starsword! You countered my magic, that’s a huge first step. I want you to continue trying that spell again and again. Can you handle that?”

“Yes! Let’s do it!”

I was absolutely pumped that I could now defend against that type of attack. We performed similar routines for the next hour, with each series of blasts focused from different directions. I eventually learned how to shift defensive power to various sides of my shield; very similar to how the EM barrier on the DESTINY ship works.

Right then, I was reminded of the blast that hit the side of the ship I commanded the computer to fix. That impact changed my life and all but condemned Jonah to a fate that I didn’t desire for him. All the emotion from that event swelled inside me; I needed to confront Twilight right here!

“Applebloom.” The little filly looked my way. “Could you please go to the cottage and grab us some water. Take your time getting there, okay?”

Applebloom gave me a weird look, but nodded and obeyed. Twilight tilted her head in confusion.

After Applebloom was cleared from our immediate area, I began my interrogation.

“Twilight, why did you and the Princess hide the second meteor from me?”

Her jaw dropped and she blushed something like a tomato red. “Tom, I didn’t know that you knew…”

“I heard the conversation from outside of the throne room. Jonah is there, isn’t he?!”

“How could you have heard us, Tom? The Princess has wards that alert her of any eavesdroppers in the throne room. She would have informed me if you did hear-“

I became very furious and loud all of a sudden. “What is there to HIDE from me, Twilight?! What, did you think I was going to just leave and try to find him by myself?”

“Well…yes.” Twilight sat on her rear, dipping her head in shame.

No…I shouldn’t be like this. That’s exactly what I would have done, and I know it.

“Twilight…I really don’t appreciate being left in the dark, especially when it comes to my friend who is rotting in an aluminum coffin!” I breathed in deep before continuing. “He could be dead, he needs me! I…I-I’m going!”

“Tom, wait!”

Disregarding everything, I ran as far as my legs would take me. I knew my way to town, so galloping to the train station was a simple task. During my sprint, I realized just how much stronger my body had become since I arrived in Equestria; moving around was effortless, galloping at high speeds was simple, and turning corners was child’s play. I felt alive and strong, perhaps strong enough to face the infamous canyons of the Crystal Mountains.

I found my way to Ponyville, and slowed to an inconspicuous trot through the town square. Making my way to Ponyville’s North Station, I stumbled a bit and fell to the ground. My knee had caught onto the leg of a squash stand and assisted in my fall. I got back up and walked up to the station. On the departure boards, I zoned in on the correct train:

CRYSTAL MOUNTAINS – BOARDING NOW – CONNECTION TO GALLOPING GORGE

My legs froze at the first step onto the platform. My body had stood still, and my heart started pounding; I couldn’t comprehend what emotion flooded my whole being as I fell to my knees. The sobbing had begun, and I just let it go.

I want to go home, I want to go home, I want to go home…Jonah, why can’t I just go home? Why did you have to try and fix the conversion unit? Why didn’t you just ask the computer to do it? We could have been on our way home, Jonah! I can’t do this anymore…

“Tom…” I had heard a flash behind me, and stooping low to comfort me was Twilight.

“Twi…light? I can’t do this anymore; this is too much for me! I could have been on my way home and me and Jonah could have been with our families, and he wouldn’t have been hurt from his injury, and we would be celebrating our successful mission with a feast and barbeque and everything…I want that! Please, let me just go home! Aaaah!”

It happened again. I felt like a young child who lost his dog to a freak accident. There was nothing I could do for Jonah when his appendix burst. The damage done to his body was rare; it almost felt like it was meant to happen, and in a way, it was. The prophecy, the meteorite, the magic, and the nature of my landing: all of these events are now part of mine and Jonah’s DESTINY, our mission.

How fitting a name, DESTINY. It was as if the project team knew something like this would happen.

“Tom…” Twilight rubbed my back with her hoof. “I know none of these events happened to you because of the choices you made. So stop beating yourself up…and fight. Jonah needs you to be strong, to carry this burden; not only for his sake, but for ours as well. This is something I cannot do because destiny has already selected you to accomplish the deed.”

It was something I had to accept. “Okay, Twilight. I won’t board the train. But as soon as I accomplish the last will of Starswirl, I’m going to bring my friend home. Is that fair?”

Twilight embraced me tightly. “Of course, Tom! But for now, we need ‘Starsword’ to be our light…” Then she gave me a hard slap on the shoulder. “…and that light needs to suffer some more energy blasts. Let’s get to it, soldier!”

Great, more punishment; it sounds like she’s enjoying this! Ha ha ha!

The sunrise, and the reality of my burden, came to bear on my heart. It would not be an easy task to train, fight, and strive for the unity of entire nations, but it was something only I could do (apparently). Spike’s impressive cooking greeted my nostrils, lifting me from my bunk and down into the dining area. I don’t think I felt a single stair step as I hovered down to my seat. It was then that I realized I had levitated myself to the table; anti-gravity magic spontaneously guided me to my prized breakfast.

Twilight seemed more shocked than thrilled, however. “Holy Celestia, Starsword, you used an anti-gravity spell!”

“Huh. I guess I did. Maybe Starswirl is leaking from me everyday, but I merely smelled Spike’s cooking, and thought of nothing else on the way down.”

Spike flexed his arms and stood proud. “My meals do have a knack for knocking ponies off their hooves, heh heh!”

Twilight rolled her eyes and directed her gaze at me. “So, do you feel like you can to this Show and Tell adequately? I’ll be with you in case things go south.”

“I believe I’m prepared to go through with the exercise. Let’s not go too crazy, unless you believe I can handle what you can throw my way.”

She simply nodded as we cleaned off the table and finished our breakfast.

The schoolhouse was buzzing with activity as we made our approach to the front of the building. There were multiple older mares and stallions waiting outside of the schoolhouse, probably parents and relatives here for the big day. Twilight and I walked towards a blue pegasus with a rainbow mane and tail, sitting next to a small, orange filly with a magenta mane and fail.

“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight waved to the rainbow-maned pegasus we spotted.

Rainbow Dash…dashed to our position and greeted us. “What’s up, Twilight?! Are you here to do some stunts for the big show, too?”

“No, my friend Starsword is here to do that, actually.” She motioned over to me and introduced us.

Rainbow Dash scanned me and presented a hoof towards me. “The name’s Rainbow Dash, but you can call me ‘Dash’!”

I gave a hoof bump in return, and she seemed pleased with the gesture.

“I’m Starsword, Twilight’s apprentice. I’m here to perform for Applebloom’s show and tell.”

Dash looked at me with a bit of apprehension. “Uhh, for Applebloom? She usually juggles apples every year, and really well, too. Why did she go with you of all ponies this year?”

Twilight shoved Rainbow Dash away from me. “Now, Rainbow, that’s not very considerate!”

“What, Twilight, I was just wondering why a stranger was suddenly doing a Show and Tell when Applebloom already does something!”

I raised a hoof and responded. “It’s fine, Twilight, I’ll explain. I had lived with the Apples for a little while, and I developed a rapport with Applebloom and Applejack. So we know each other quite well from working the apple orchard.”

Dash shrugged her shoulders. “It at least better be cool. What is it exactly?”

Twilight and I looked at each other, a bit flustered by the question. We both said at the same time: “It’s a secret.”

“Whoa, then I better back off!” Dash blew her mane from in front of her face. “Hey, if it’s that cool, don’t sweat it!”

Then she flew right up to my ears, and whispered something. “If Twilight came up with it, it’s probably something totally uncool. She’s an egghead-“

“I heard that, Rainbow Dash! Now go!” Twilight nearly cooked Dash with an energy blast to her tail.

“Twilight, don’t burn the tail, I need it for my aerial moves! I’ll go, I’ll go!”

Twilight sighed as Dash left to be by the orange filly. “Don’t get too rattled by her, she’s just been uptight ever since she’s started mentoring Scootaloo.”

“Scootaloo? Is that the young filly she’s with over there?”

Twilight nodded. “Yes, that filly hasn’t had someone to look up to until Rainbow Dash started making waves as our town’s weather pony. Now they are almost inseparable, and all Scootaloo wants to do is spend every moment around Dash. It’s cute, but sometimes unhealthy…they’re working on that, haha!”

“Everyone, time to enter the schoolhouse; all adults, please file to the back of the classroom when you enter the room!” The teacher, whom Twilight informed me was Cheerilee, guided everypony into the school and began her introduction.

“Welcome to our annual Show and Tell day, everypony! I am Miss Cheerilee, and today we start off our day with Mr. Filthy’s-“

“AHEM.” An older brown pony gave Cheerilee a piercing stare as she quickly corrected her remark.

“Sorry! Mr. Rich, Diamond Tiara’s father…” Filthy Rich looked pleased with the correction as he walked forward. “…will be doing a presentation on his business, Rich’s Barnyard Bargains, and its relationship to the Apple family’s zap apple jam.”

I heard a ton of moans about how this presentation was the same as last year, with the exception of a young filly wearing a tiara clapping and cheering on Rich. I could only assume that the young one wearing the diamond tiara was, in fact, Diamond Tiara. I could be wrong, though.

The presentation had lasted for about ten minutes, and all the adults respectfully watched Mr. Rich’s exposition on how both his business and Sweet Apple Acres laid the foundation of Ponyville’s economic boom. For me, it was a very interesting look into the history of a town that was foreign to me; for the children, however, it was an opportunity to catch a nap.

I coughed loudly as all the kids simultaneously jerked their heads up and began to clap their hooves together, pretending they had heard the whole thing.

“Thank you, Mr. Rich. Now we have Sweetie Belle with her newest song about penguins in the Hoofarctic…”

The show and tell projects went on well into the afternoon as each member of the class went up one by one to introduce either themselves or a friend or relative. Rainbow Dash’s flight demonstration wowed everypony in the class, as she stitched together a complex series of corkscrews and loops, ending with a nosedive and halt before touching the ground.

A filly named Twist brought her father, Peppermint, to the front; her father was responsible for shaping the candy canes that the town ate and hung on their Hearth’s Warming Eve trees every year during winter.

I guess that’s their Christmas. Interesting…

Applebloom elected for Twilight and I to go last, as we had our names called to the front.

Cheerilee motioned for us and explained to the class the nature of our routine.

“Class, with Applebloom today is Twilight Sparkle and a new resident in Ponyville, Starsword. Applebloom informed me that because of the nature of this next show and tell, we will be exiting to the field outside of the schoolhouse, just as we did with Rainbow Dash’s performance. Please, follow me!”

The entire group made it to the field as Twilight and I prepared ourselves for the exercise we did yesterday. All of a sudden, a flood of doubt reached my mind as Twilight began to explain our routine.

“Everypony, today, Starsword will demonstrate his proficiency in using defensive magic. I will attempt to harm him using my magic, and he will block my attacks. Ready, Starsword?”

I don’t feel so good. “Ready…Twilight.” Gulp.

Her horn erupted with power as similar energy blasts hovered in all directions around me. The crowd of ponies looked upward and back at me with mixed looks of awe and fright. The beams shot in my direction, provoking me to summon my shield. Each blast exploded and brushed against the panels; the crowd received the first flurry of attacks with subdued excitement.

Twilight continually intensified the attacks, increasing in number and complexity. I kept twisting towards every direction, trying to maintain alertness for whenever a greater stress was placed on a specific point in the shield. I had moved so fast, I completely neglected how the class was reacting to the ballet of violence taking place. The crowd remained unmoved by the act, almost anticipating how this would all play out; they were yawning!

“Twilight, why don’t we give them something to remember this by?”

She gave me this odd look, and so I winked at her, raising my hoof high into the air. Her response was to create what appeared to be a giant ball of hot gas; she created a legitimate star about 50 feet above me. The crowd looked up and gave a mixture of screams and wonderments.

“Twilight, that thing is going to kill me!”

“Starsword, you asked for something they’ll remember, right? This is it!”

“But a freaking star?! It might even destroy this field and everyone on it!”

“Something this size can’t be that dangerous! Starswirl even said this was-WHAT?!”

Twilight’s gas giant started to expand, and the trees and benches right below the star were torn from their foundations and absorbed by the ball’s gravity. It began to descend towards earth, removing the grass from its roots in the soil until a barren patch of dirt remained. The star’s descent was rapid, and everyone began to scream in terror.

“Twilight, you fool! If only you knew how stars actually worked! I have to stop this!”

She freaked out and scrambled around thinking of a solution, but none came.

“I don’t know how to stop this thing, Starsword! I need more time.”

“There is no time, Twilight! It’s going to hit me-aaah!”

The star stopped dead in its tracks; the shield defending me turned into a smooth dome instead of the collection of panels it used to be. The gas giant pressed down on me, and I felt its strain collapse my legs to the ground. The ball became more volatile, whipping lashes of fiery gas onto the ground, causing a set of small earthquakes to happen around my shield.

Fillies and colts began to rise from the ground and levitate toward the star, and their parents cried out for their helpless children.

I have to stop this, or they’ll die, too! Come on…come on…oh, help me, somebody!

A purple aura began to twist around the gas ball, and it eventually neutralized the gravity it generated, sending the kids plummeting to the ground. Most of them got away with no injuries, but the problem remained. Twilight ran up to my side and casted a barrier around the aura surrounding the gas ball. She hyper-condensed the sphere and placed it inside a glass test tube, sending it with a scroll to somepony I didn’t catch right away.

After the crisis was under control, everypony rose to face Twilight and I, as we prepared for a beating. But it never came; all the children erupted in cheers, and the parents stood their half-dazed at what had just occurred.

“You both were amazing!” “That magic was unreal! “Can you both come to my birthday party and do that? Flying was fun!” “It’s just smoke and mirrors, all of it was fake!” “Diamond Tiara, then why were you crying like a baby filly?” “Shut up, Silver Spoon!”

I sighed with relief and flattened my body on the ground. “Thank you, Twilight! That was close…”

“I’m sorry I made that, Tom! I didn’t know-“

Cheerilee walked up to us and shouted to the group. “Class is dismissed! Thank you everyone for coming out.” As everypony exited the field, the teacher gave us a furious tongue-lashing. “Both of you should be ashamed that you tried this with my class! What were you both thinking?!”

I struggled to respond. “I wasn’t strong enough to stop anything, and I-“

“All the blame rests with me, Miss Cheerilee.” Twilight stood forward with tears draining from her eyes. “I-I didn’t know any better, and I created that monster. I didn’t think I was capable of doing something like this; please don’t blame Starsword at all. He didn’t know I would make a star appear out of thin air!”

She wept at Cheerilee’s feet, and the teacher gave Twilight an empathetic look.

“Twilight, my students are safe and, for the most part, unharmed. And the parents seem to believe it was all part of the show. Nothing is too extreme nowadays coming from you, dear, but that was over the line. I’m responsible for those students, do you understand?”

“Yes, Miss Cheerilee, I apologize.” Twilight joined her place next to the teacher and I, and we watched Celestia’s sun depart from the sky, towing with it Luna’s radiant moon on the opposite horizon.