The DESTINY Exploration

Chapter 20: Release! (Part 2)

The glass screen in front of the three of us continued to flash red and yellow, alerting us to the successful location of the captain of the vessel. Tom was found by his DESTINY ship; that bore ill on our mission to usurp the throne from the Gilgar-possessed Queen of the Griffon Kingdom. Starswirl channeled his magic in accord with Celestia’s; for what reason was unknown to me until they began to speak.

Starswirl looked up to Celestia. “Your Highness, what is Tom’s status?”

Princess Celestia, with her eyes closed and focused on her magic, hesitated. “Give…give me a minute, Starswirl. I must collect the images I’m receiving. My reach is great, but it takes time. There.”

The Princess projected an image showing a large arena with tens of thousands of ponies cheering. On the field stood five unicorns channeling their magic, rotating spheres around their bodies at brilliant speeds. There was an enormous video board at the north end of the arena, showing standings in what looked like a competition of some sort.

Five ponies’ names were in green, while one, Colt Rockefeller IV, was in red, indicating he was eliminated. But Tom’s name was not on the board for some reason.

“Princess.”

“Hmm?”

“Why isn’t Tom in this competition? Aren’t we supposed to be looking for ‘him’?”

The Princess took a look at the board and blinked. “Well, there he is! And his name is Starsword now, Giefan; he received his cutie mark when he unlocked his hidden potential from the meteorite.”

Starswirl peered into the floating projection of the arena. “Well, well, well! The first Pillar was Teleportation! I wonder how he managed to pull that one off! And he avoided elimination with one of my worst technical spells, to boot.”

We could see the competition continue as a monitor in the arena displayed another ‘Pillar’, as Starswirl called it. The screen seemed to cycle through a list of names until it finally stopped: ‘Alchemy’.

Starswirl looked dumbstruck. “Alchemy?! They actually have that as an option? I’m afraid my successor won’t win this competition after all, Your Highness.”

The face of the Princess took on a distressful appearance as she paced the room. After a couple minutes had passed, she motioned both of us outside. The frigid winds of the Frozen North were not kind to explorers, and its temperament to us was unwavering. Sudden gusts forced us to bend our knees to maintain our posture outside of the ship, leaving us bracing the frosty death chilling our bodies. Celestia’s horn lit up, encompassing our trio in a transparent golden sphere. The sphere raised us from the ground and we were jettisoned upward and southward.

The Princess moved freely within the sphere. “Gentlecolts, this sphere will take us directly to the gateway to Giwgást. We will be unseen returning to the castle. Please wait for me at the gateway until I return from the site of the competition. Giefan, be ready to receive Starsword into the care of the rebellion, understood?”

“Understood. However…”

“Speak up, Sir.”

I swallowed my hesitation and voiced my concern. “Why shouldn’t we be accompanying you to escort Starsword to the gateway?”

“If I brought a wanted griffon and a deceased unicorn to an arena packed with thousands of on-lookers, what kind of incident do you think will occur? It would reach the ears of Gilda, and she would, in her possessed state, drag Equestria into an unnecessary conflict.”

Her foresight is amazing! I’ve been stuck in the Griffon Kingdom for far too long, Gil. I will definitely make it a priority to leave the country regularly, I can’t continue to be so ignorant like this!

My thoughts were interrupted by the whizzing sound of other objects passing us during our flight. Our sphere and the objects started traveling at the same velocity; there were six identical spheres with antennae on the same flight path: to Canterlot. Lights flashed on the outside of each sphere in red and yellow, the same red and yellow pattern from the DESTINY ship!

“Princess, those are-“

The Princess raised a hoof. “Yes, Giefan, they are indeed. Starswirl.”

The unicorn knelt before the Princess. “Yes, milady?”

“You will be alone at the gateway. Attempt to contact Lord Gent and place the Giwgást sentry on alert. I’m taking Giefan with me to the site of the games.”

“Yes, milady.”

The probes following us took a quick turn toward the direction of the arena. We phased through the castle walls to the gateway behind the throne room. Starswirl remained at the gateway while Celestia and I flew as fast as our wings could manage towards the site of the games. But by the time we made our appearance above the arena, the probes were already…

“Freaking alchemy?! How can I possibly compete in a field of magic I have zero knowledge of, Twilight? HOW?”

“Calm down, Starsword! I couldn’t teach you everything in a month, you couldn’t handle a curriculum decades long in a period of thirty days!”

“O Wise Element of Magic, I’m sorry for ever doubting your teaching ability! I guess I lose two ways.”

“Ugh, Starsword, you’re being difficult! Listen, Alchemy is simple-“

“You are patronizing me AGAIN, Twilight! Alchemy isn’t simple for one who knows nothing about it.”

“Sorry, I-“

The Director called out my name, freeing me from Twilight's telepathy. The task was to transform a parcel of air into water; one thing I recall about earth’s atmosphere is that breathable air is made up of more than just oxygen. Traces of argon, carbon dioxide, hydrogen, and a good chunk of nitrogen make up the rest of the air composition. I had to assume the same was true for this planet as well.

I waved to the small portion of the massive crowd that rooted on the Ponyville entrants. If they weren’t being encouraged, then how could I? Recalling Twilight’s words, that magic is merely controlling or manipulating what occurs in nature, I put my thinking cap on and got to work.

The parcel of air was given to all five of us in the form of corked flasks. My mind hatched a plan to heat the glass flask, allowing the air to condense into water inside. Instead, my magic shattered the glass, wasting my first of three attempts…

“Dang it, what do I do now? This second flask…what if I gradually heat the glass instead of at once?”

The gradual approach seemed to work as the integrity of the flask remained strong. But nothing happened. In my impatience, I raised the temperature dramatically, and once again, glass scattered all over the field below me.

"One more attempt to go, and this isn’t good! I won’t advance like this! What can I do…what can I do…I have to isolate hydrogen and oxygen, and the only way I know how is to heat the air to ex-oh my goodness. What a foolish mistake!  They are gases! Let’s give ‘em a chill!"

All my energy went towards gradually chilling the air around the flask, making certain to not drop the temperature below freezing. That proved to be too difficult, as the flask froze into a block with nothing inside the glass to show for it. I failed, but not only that, Vinyl Scratch was just as unsuccessful, shattering her glass three times.

The Director stepped onto his podium. “I’m afraid both Starsword and Vinyl Scratch are eliminated from this competition. Great effort, both of you fine unicorns. We look forward to your prog-“

High above the Director, several steel objects whizzed down into the arena and spread into a circle dozens of feet above the field. The crowd became agitated and worried as the judges scrambled to their hooves and galloped to the field. The Starborn Siblings, Trixie, and Vinyl charged their magic, preparing to attack, when the objects I at first didn’t recognize suddenly spoke.

-SCANNING FIELD FOR THE CAPTAIN-

So the DESTINY was looking for me after all! Why did it decide to find me while I’m caught in this mess?

-SOURCE OF VOICE RECOGNITION FOUND, CAPTAIN NOT FOUND-

“Jonah, it’s me!” I stepped forward to address the probes. “I’m your captain. Cease your search and return to the ship immediately.”

Aries came up to me in disbelief. “You don’t actually know what these things are, do you?”

“Yes, Aries, I do. These are search probes sent to find the missing captain of their ship. I am that captain.”

-VOCAL PATTERNS MATCHED. CAPTAIN ASSIGNED TO CONTAINMENT FIELD-

-SWITCHING TO BALLISTICS, PREPARING TO ENGAGE CONTAINMENT FIELD-

“No! Stop this!” Jonah must believe that my pony body is a prison! “Everypony, get off this field now, they are preparing to attack!”

Every pony scattered to the exits, and the judging staff was already negotiating the crowd to the exits. Chaos swept across the faces of all the schoolchildren as Miss Cheerilee herded her class to the tunnels. Twilight leapt off the seats and approached the middle of the field when I raised a hoof to stop her.

“Twilight…the probes won’t listen. They will try to destroy the body I have now. I need you to not engage these things, or they will target you.”

“Starsword, you can’t!”

“I can. That’s my specialty, isn’t it? Defense. On my application, that’s what I listed instinctively. Believe in me; I’m having a hard time doing that myself right now…”

The probes began to charge their guns as I revved up my magic, producing the familiar paneled shielding spell.

“Bring it on, you stupid drones! Fire away!”

Blast after blast came my way, and all were repelled one by one thanks to Twilight’s instruction from the beginning. As long as the shield for my spell held, however, I couldn’t burst down any of the probes.

Time to experiment. Go!

A few hexagon panels opened at will as I launched an energy wave at one of the probes, sending it flying in pieces to the opposite end of the field. Quickly restoring my shield, I returned to repelling the various energy blasts coming from the probes. After a few minutes, they began to retract their armament and replace it with something resembling a mini gun. Lasers flew in and demolished the weaker paneling, leaving only the stronger portions available.

“Twilight, what do I do?!”

“Make the shield you made when the star weighed down on you!”

The hemisphere guarded me against every single shot perfectly, but at the same time, exhausted my energy. I had found just a small enough opening to take out one more of the drones, leaving four more to destroy.

I cannot allow these drones to destroy me; I have to stay alive! But my energy…is fading quickly. Think, Tom! What if I tried dodging and hitting them after every dodge? Might that work?

My shield disappeared, and the blasts stopped coming; the drones were charging up for a killing blow! I had to try, now!

I started running towards one of the probes; their attempts to shoot me down landed behind me as I was too fast for them to track me. First dodge, I shot one down.  Rolling out of the way of a second flurry of blasts, I pulled off the second dodge. Another down, two more to go as I tried to get an energy beam off without moving. One blast caught me on the hip; however, I managed to take out a third one before receiving a second blast to the horn, knocking me off my hooves. I couldn’t move after that, leaving me open for the final drone.

Twilight screamed out to me, but I couldn't respond.

No…I was so close…I’m sorry! Jonah…I can’t keep that promise after all…

The final drone charged its remaining energy and was ready to finish me off. Then a blur shot past it, leaving behind an explosion where the deadly probe used to be. It was destroyed!

What? How…who?

My vision blurred as my body began to shut down from the exhaustion. I could make out several figures standing over me saying things I couldn’t discern. Then my rest came.

“…Starsword. Please wake up, we need you!”

Who needs me? Why should I wake up, I’m already dead anyhow…

“Don’t die on us, Tom. Come on…”

But I already did! I failed Jonah! I can’t bring him home.

“Celestia, what if I pinched him with my magic?”

“Try it, Twilight.”

OUCH!

That pinch placed me erect in a seated position on the hospital bed. My hip and horn were patched up with bandages, and I could see several ponies and one lone griffon standing in the room. Twilight was accompanied by Princess Celestia and Luna, and the Starborn Siblings Aries and Andromeda.

Twilight came up to me first. “Star, you made it through.”

“…yeah, I did somehow. Who destroyed that last drone?”

“That was Giefan, Starsword.” Princess Celestia motioned to the griffon standing in the back as he stepped forward.

“Starsword, it is a pleasure to meet you at last. I am Giefan, lieutenant of the Griffon Royal Guard and liaison between the crown prince and Equestria.”

Why is there a griffon here, and from the sound of it, such an important one at that?

Princess Luna took the opportunity to speak. “Starsword, we have discovered many things since we last met in Ponyville. But we will speak of these things in due time. For now, we ask you to rest.”

“I appreciate that, Princess. Thank you…but I have one question that needs answers. Now, Celestia.” I knew I felt his presence when I woke up, but not in a million years did I expect him to actually be here.

Princess Celestia was startled by my direct inquiry. “Wuh…what might that be, Starsword?”

“Why are you hiding him from me, Your Highness? I can sense him. Somehow, he’s here. He SHOULD be dead, yet he lives?!”

*sigh* “I suppose we’ll need to summon him, Luna.”

“But sister, the other unicorns, they can’t-“

Celestia raised a hoof. “It’s okay. It will give them an opportunity to see a pony they normally couldn’t meet.”

Twilight approached the Princesses. “I’m sorry, but who exactly are we talking about, Highnesses?”

The Siblings pondered the same question. Andromeda stood there looking puzzled while Aries appeared irritated at the obscurity in our speech.

“Luna, would you mind bringing him here?”

“Oh, ladies, that won’t be necessary.” Appearing in the room was the unicorn who gave me this brand. The source of the burden I’ve had to carry just because I touched a rock from outer space. Starswirl made his appearance in the flesh.

“Stuh…Sta! Staaaar-” Twilight couldn’t believe the sight. Neither could the Siblings, as Starswirl approached my bedside.

“So, Starsword is it now? I suppose that’s a fitting name. Mine is wrought with a destiny of confusion, thoughts of life and magic swirling inside my head, ha ha! But your name is wrought with purpose, a fight needing to be one; you have a sword forged with a goal. That’s more than I could ask for from my successor, indeed.”

Twilight ran up behind Starswirl, inciting him to turn around and face her.

“And who might this be, Celestia?”

“Starswirl, this is my most gifted student in magic and the bearer of the Element of Magic, Twilight Sparkle.”

Starswirl’s eyes widened. “Element of Magic?! So you had to deck those gaudy looking necklaces again, eh, Celestia? Ha ha ha!”

Twilight ignored his little jabs at the Elements. “Starswirl, how…how can you be alive? You should have passed away long ago!”

The elder magician shuffled around a bit. “Well, I suppose I should explain myself, since my appearance here, according to Miss Sparkle, sounds improbable. If you know my history, you know that I placed an enchantment many hundreds of years ago on that meteorite you found. That enchantment was a projection of my willpower; basically, I placed my spirit inside of that floating rock. Did the prophecy manifest, Miss Sparkle?”

Twilight stuttered, then nodded. “Y-y-yes. The zephyr of change is blowing today.”

“Very good, Miss Sparkle. Then you also know that we have the two spoken of in that prophecy in the room today.”

Princess Celestia interjected with a thought of her own. “Starswirl, from what we gathered, there was only one spoken of in the prophecy.”

“I can see where you might believe that, but that’s far from the truth. I’ll explain in detail now for your benefit. You know the ‘rock of ages past’ is the meteor that contained my spirit, but what you don’t understand…” He looked at Twilight when he said this. “…is that the zephyr of change has nothing to do with Starsword.”

Starswirl continued. “The zephyr of change is the change in the Griffon Kingdom’s leadership. A new king will be crowned someday in that land; but ‘cursed is he who cannot control it; it siphons the life from his marrow’. If Giefan over here cannot control this power struggle himself, his life will be taken.“

“The burden, as I’m sure you’ve guessed, is on Starsword to carry out the last will I gave to Princess Celestia before my ‘death’. However, the rest of the prophecy, again, has nothing to do with him. Giefan…”

Giefan stood next to Starswirl. “Yes, sir?”

“The power that Starsword has now will be yours someday. There was a connecting word ‘and’ in the prophecy. The magic I blessed him with will be given to you; you’ve also sought refuge among the Equestrians unknowingly. As I’ve also written, ‘it’s ponies, his light’; let the Equestrians who have helped you shine a light on your kingdom. My last wish was to unite the Kingdoms of the Griffon, the Equestrians, and the Crystal Ponies under one banner. You can make that happen, and you will.”

Wait, so this griffon is spoken of in this prophecy? It’s not only cryptic, but it makes no sense!

“Starswirl…” Celestia closed her eyes and chuckled. “It seems you still make little sense, even in your wisest years. We would have never guessed any of this had you not returned to us.”

“That’s why I must thank you for keeping my body intact. Nothing is coincidental here, it is all providential. No mistakes were made; the events I’ve prophesied are now set in motion. We just need this griffon and these unicorns to be faithful to carry out the mission. Starsword…”

I took off the bed sheets and staggered off the bed, causing everypony in the room to come closer to give me a hoof.

“Starsword, this is my final blessing. Your name speaks of a sword that the Royal Court has had in its possession for thousands of years. It will be given to you for the coming battle against Gilgar. Please, slay my once dear friend, and free him from his curse! Whoaaa!"

Starswirl shot his hooves into the air, and a vortex appeared above us. Thunder and lightning shot out of it, releasing from the darkness the hilt and blade of a sword sheathed in its scabbard. Princess Luna took hold of the scabbard and unsheathed the sword. On the hilt was an onyx gem and running up the blade were three words: ‘Sol and Luna’.

“Mom…dad…you’ve come back to us at last. We missed you…”