The DESTINY Exploration

Chapter 8: Serendipity

Steadily, I stood up off the ground, and gathered my thoughts. My entire body was absent of the intense pain I experienced earlier, and every muscle and pore was in a state of perfect bliss. There was no trace of the ailment I suffered earlier, and so I wept and laughed where I stood. Examining my hooves and my horn, I just kept laughing.

This is incredible! I have never felt more alive and excited in my entire life! Is this what magic does? Oh my God…

My thoughts then shifted from my joyful disposition to inquisition. The Princess had referred to me as “Starswirl” moments ago. I had to understand what she meant by saying that.

“Princess, you called me Starswirl when I got my horn, but I’m not him. Why did you call me by that name?”

The Princess’ head tilted upward, and she kept a formal address. “Tom, you now not only possess Starswirl’s magic, but you also embody the ideals and heritage of his legacy. His blessing is now on you to complete the task that he never saw come to completion in his lifetime.”

“Your Highness, what was Starswirl’s ultimate goal?”

“Unity. He was in the middle of a grand, ambitious project to unite three great nations: Equestria, the Crystal Empire, and the Griffon Kingdom.”

She wants me to unite these three countries? I hardly know a thing about this world in the first place!

The feeling of peace and jubilee was disconcerting; Princess Celestia just dropped a mission bomb in my face, and I felt GREAT! Not to mention the distress that lingered about needing to find Jonah before his time comes. All of this sudden responsibility to keep me from saving my friend, it wasn’t right, but I had to work through it all.

“P…Princess. What do I need to do for you?”

Princess Celestia paced the room again, thinking intently and glaring at the ground as she moved. Applejack and Twilight watched her face twist into different expressions of acceptance, sadness, anger, and contentment. Then she had finally considered something.

“Twilight Sparkle.”

Twilight stood forward. “Yes, Princess?”

Celestia smiled gently, and placed a hoof on Twilight’s chest. “You will return to Ponyville with Applejack and Tom, but before that, I need you all to head to the Royal Guard’s barracks, and meet your brother, Shining Armor. He has a right to know what exactly you will be doing.”

Twilight suddenly perked up and ‘squee’d in delight. “Shining Armor is here?! But shouldn’t he be with Cadence in the Crystal Empire?”

“Shining Armor has been filling in for my new captain of the Royal Guard while he is on extended leave. Every other week, Shining commands the guard and maintains the city’s security. He should be at the barracks waiting for you ponies, since I sent him a dispatch.”

Celestia walked over to me, a concerned look appearing on her face.

I stood forward and stared up at the Princess. “Yes, Your Highness?”

“Your friend, Jonah, will be on the top of my priority list of ponies to search for, and it should be yours as well. But I’m asking you, as hard as it will be, to leave the search to us for the time being. I know what your ship looks like now, so I can give a more detailed description to my guards.”

The idea of abandoning my search so abruptly, I could hardly handle her words. I started to tear up and dip my head downward, holding back my sadness. But fortune has been on my side, and this power could be the key to finding him and saving his life.

“Twilight.” Princess Celestia beckoned her forward.

“Yes, Princess?”

“You will instruct Tom in the ways of magic. Teach him as much as possible in one month’s time, and then return to my castle in Canterlot. Understood?”

I gave Twilight a grin, and she returned it. “Princess, I will accept my apprenticeship under Twilight, and leave the search to you. As a condition, however, I have to make something known. Jonah will be released from isolation in eight months…”

I choked up and forced back my sadness again. None of this was easy; I continued my response to the Princess.

“..After his release, his internal functions will begin to decay back to what they were before I stuck him in there. If you don’t find him a month before his release, I will join the search myself, regardless of your instruction. Is that fair?”

The Princess was taken aback at the authority with which I spoke. This was my friend, my dear friend, and I could not let him sit there and rot while I fooled around with magic tricks.

“Tom, your friendship with Jonah must be really strong. If Twilight has taught me anything about friendship, it is that its power cannot be abridged when it comes to life and death. I will relinquish my search to you if we cannot find him by then.”

Applejack suddenly pointed directly at my hips, and began to ask the Princess about it.

“Princess Celestia, shouldn’t there be a cutie mark, now that he’s a unicorn?”

The Princess pondered for a second, and responded. “Well, Applejack, that’s a very good question. It seems the meteorite didn’t exactly grant him that, unlike Starswirl. Maybe it has something to do with it reacting to the clear liquid.”

Not having a cutie mark like most ponies my age and over was a little disconcerting. It was a fact of this life that I had to live with, regardless of the looks I will receive. Not having your special talent at this point must be a cultural oddity, perhaps even impossible. Maybe my special talent isn’t directly related to magic?

We said our goodbyes to the Princess, and began to make our way to the opposite end of the royal palace, where the Royal Guard called home. The western gates opened to a large open field with sets of barracks lining either side. A large tent stood in the center of the pasture, with a large sun sitting on top of the roof. A blue shield with a purple, six-pointed star in the center adorned the top of the entrance.

Twilight galloped gleefully towards the tent, and flung the curtain open, with Applejack and I following close behind. Inside was a large table with a map of the continent of Equestria and a layout of the castle grounds adjacent. Standing on the far right of the table stood a colt with contrasting blue streaks in his mane, and a white coat of hair. His cutie mark resembled the shield we saw at the entrance, but with three stars above it on his hip.

The colt shot a look over to us, and jumped up with delight, seeing Twilight approach. “Twily!” he shouted. Both of the ponies caught each other in an embrace, and that’s when I noticed something important; both Twilight and this colt shared the same star on both of their cutie marks.

“Hey, are you two perhaps…husband and wife or something?”

The colt shot a look of displeasure, while Twilight giggled, and soothed the blue-haired pony. “No, Tom! This is my brother, Shining Armor. We’re from the same family!”

Shining Armor approached me at once, and turned from a look of discomfort, to friendliness. “Hello, you must be a new friend of my sister, Twily. What’s your name?”

“I’m Tom, I’m new to Equestria.”

Shining stood back a couple steps, and glanced over at Twilight, who nudged him forward to continuing talking.

“Not from Equestria?! Where are you from, exactly?” His guard went up immediately.

Twilight placed a hoof on his shoulder, and he stopped his intensity.

“Shining, I think we need to have a conversation about that. Now.”

Twilight, as best she could, relayed the basic gist of how I came to be in Equestria, and what had transpired with Applejack. Applejack threw in some pieces of our time at the apple orchard intermittently. Twilight then talked about finding the meteorite in Galloping Gorge, and traveling to Canterlot to see the Princess. Finally, Shining heard the part with the Princess invading my memories, and digging up solid evidence that I had told the truth, and she had sent us here.

Shining’s jaw dropped at the revelation that not only was I from outer space, but I was a completely different species before becoming a pony. My being transformed into a unicorn proved to be the last straw for him, as he stomped his hooves in protest.

“Twilight, you expect me to just BELIEVE all of that nonsense?! That he’s somehow this destined, unrelated successor to Starswirl the Bearded? That he has a prophecy about him-“

Twilight corrected him. “About Starswirl’s Meteor, Brother, not about Tom. He just happened to be the one to touch it!”

“Whatever, Twilight! He could still be a threat to Equestria, this prophecy could be-“

“Shining ARMOR. I wrote the prophecy down, now read it.”

Shining took Twilight’s notepad from her and began to read. As he read it, his face softened, and he saw the last line.

“…’Equestria will be his refuge, its ponies, his light.’ Wow, Twily, that is the opposite of what I thought was going on. I’m sorry I doubt you like this…”

Twilight comforted him, and directed him to my horn. “The Princess has asked me to train Tom on how to use his magic, since he has never done it before. I wanted you to know what I’m about to undertake before we head back to Ponyville.”

“Well, Twilight, if that’s what she wants you to do, then by all means, go for it. And Tom…” He walked over to me, and placed a hoof on my shoulder with a worried expression. “…promise me that once you learn that magic, you will protect my sister from harm, ok?”

I smiled, and took his hoof off my shoulder. “Shining Armor, I have my own sister at home. I’m right there with you, ‘brother’.”

Relieved, Shining Armor, led us out of the tent, and he began our trek back to the train station. This time, I received more strange looks than I did previously as a few of the ponies that passed us on the way to the castle spotted us. A few of their eyes widened at me; this was a bit of a problem.

Twilight knew what I was thinking. “Some of them probably saw you walk in as an earth pony. I was afraid of this. But as long as nopony else catches on, we should be-“

A female with a diamond ring as her cutie mark charged up to our party and barraged us with questions. “Hey! I saw you all in the palace! How did you become a unicorn? Does it hurt? Weren’t you one of them ‘mud ponies’ before?”

Applejack shouted at her after that last comment. “What in the HAY did ya call us? MUD ponies?! I have my right mind to knock the tar outta you!”

The diamond ring pony bailed on us, and we started to increase our pace towards the train station. It wasn’t helping that many of the vendors caught sight of us, and started to whisper frantically as we passed. Our trot turned into a light gallop as we began to make the last stretch to Canterlot’s train station.

Twilight ran up to the ‘Ponyville’ booth, and shouted, “Three for Ponyville, A.S.A.P.!”

The pony at the booth scrambled for tickets, and handed them to Twilight. We made our way on the train just as they completed boarding, and we were on our way. The tunnel darkened the train car for about a minute until we had finally exited the tunnel, with Ponyville in the distance ahead. Applejack started to kick her legs up back and forth, looking forward to being home. The sun had begun to set to our right; its light disappeared behind the crest of what Twilight informed me was Smokey Mountain.

The train stopped in Ponyville as the moon started its glow and the stars blossomed from underneath the dark canopy of the night sky. We exited our train car, and walked through Ponyville; it was my first time being here for an extended period of time. Twilight walked Applejack and I to the library where I had first met the unicorn. I figured out pretty quickly that this was her home; must be a true bookworm, living in an oak tree library.

Twilight, turned to me immediately, and issued a command. “Channel your magic, Tom.”

“What? I don’t know how to do that yet.”

Twilight shoved me, and Applejack jumped in front of Twilight. “Girl, just what in tarnation are ya thinkin’? He’s probably exhausted.”

“Applejack, if Tom can’t find out where his source of magic is, then he can’t fulfill his destiny. Tom, channel your magic.”

“But…” I stood there motionless for about a minute, straining my eyes closed, and flexing every muscle in my body. After a while, I stopped and gasped for air, noting the completely lack of magic being passed into my horn.

What had she said to me earlier about magic’s source…? “Oh!”

“Twilight, how do you expect me to find a source that even I can’t discover by brute force?”

Twilight perked up, and a grin stretched across her entire face. “That’s your first lesson, Tom! Unicorns cannot unearth their magic by brute force. It must come from a source that they discover as they mature. Same with you; the source of your magic is unique, and only you can tap into it.”

But I already found my source: the meteorite! What else is there? I hate this philosophical soul-search crap…

Applejack insisted that I return to the farm with her, but Twilight reminded Applejack that I had a month to train before being summoned back to Canterlot

“Are ya sure he should be livin’ at yer place, Twi?”

Twilight reassured Applejack. “Yes. It is pertinent that he dedicate as much time to magic as he can; this isn’t astrophysics, you know!”

Applejack scratched her head. “Uhh, sure Twi, whatever ya say. Tom, be safe, don’t strain yerself, ya hear?!” She waved goodbye, and left the tree house.

Twilight continued by demonstrating her magical abilities; she juggled books with her magic, organized her bookshelf, turned flower buds into fruit, wrote notes with her quill, levitated me into the air as I protested. She performed a wide range of tasks, but with a limited amount of spells, usually using levitation.

She began to recount her adventures, examining how she overcame obstacles and helped her friends along the way.

“When I first came to Ponyville, Princess Celestia tasked me with an odd mission: to make friends. I later learned that making friends was the key to defeating Nightmare Moon, as it brought all the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony together. And I thank her every day for sending me here, as that is how I discovered the magic of friendship.”

Oh my God, friendship, really? Now I KNOW I’m in the mind of a little girl…

“My friends have been my power for a long time, and I know that I can count on them when circumstances seem impossible to overcome. However, your source of magic is unique to you and you alone.”

Truth bombs kept dropping from her lips as I questioned myself. I had no idea where my power was hidden, or where to begin searching. Was it friendship, as cheezy as that sounds? Or was it confidence? It had to be something spiritual or mental; it couldn’t be that I had a big lump in my knee that somehow gave me superpowers…

Jonah, I hope you are okay, buddy. I know I couldn’t do anything more, but I feel like I should have. For your sake, for your family’s sake. You have people that care for you and your well-being. I care. Jonah, I need the strength that you had. Please. HELP ME-“…WOW!”

All of a sudden, my entire body flexed, and a ring of glowing energy formed around my hooves. My eyes began to glow bright, and my horn surged with a hot, white aura. The magic I had released shook the entire foundation of the house, and Twilight leapt away. She was skipping around in a circle, shouting with joy at my success.

The magic slowly dissipated, and I returned to my normal self.

Wow! That was amazing! I felt all of that!

Twilight approached me, smiling. “Tom, what did you use to channel the magic from within you?”

“My thoughts drifted to Jonah, and I earnest sought him with my mind. After a while, the magic built up and erupted into what you saw. Jonah caused it.”

“Tom, the source of your magic is the same as mine. It’s friendship.”