Talking Shop with Sunset · 9:30pm Nov 30th, 2015
This is not really a story. It's got the word count to be published here, but a lot of it is just Twilight and Sunset talking magic shop, and the whole thing is rough-hewn to say the least. Yet it's something that came into my head after watching the S5 finale, and I wanted to put it into writing, to exorcise it from my head.
If you're still interested, please give it a look.
It was near the end of the picnic that Twilight Sparkle -- the one from Equestria, instead of Crystal Prep -- spoke up. "Hey, Sunset... can we talk? I'd like to get your opinion on some of the magic stuff I saw Starlight using. I don't want to bring it up with her so soon, and you're one of the few high-level mages I can talk with about this stuff. I could really use another perspective on this!"
Sunset Shimmer's smile was a little crooked when she replied. "The perspective of a former villain, you mean?"
"Uh... well, there's a bit of that, yes," Twilight replied, looking uncomfortable. "But what I meant was that I went through your school files, and saw that you majored as an evoker. I picked conjuration, but only because the school administration demanded I declare a major..."
Sunset touched Twilight's arm, her smile fully warm now. "It's okay, Twi. I've come to accept who I've been, and who I am. My past doesn't define my future, but it's still a part of me. And," she continued, her smile turning into one of those radiant grins that the Rainbooms had come to know, "I've been hoping for a chance to talk magic theory with someone on my own level again! No offense to you, Sparkle," she finished, nodding at the other Twilight who still wore a dumbfound expression of someone with so many questions to ask that they can't manage to get a single one out.
"And that's our cue," Rainbow announced. "We'll let you two magic horses talk your horse magic thingies in peace." She suddenly fixed a sharp magenta eye on the Crystal Prep Twilight. "Say, did they teach you to play an instrument at your old school?"
Sunset Shimmer looked carefully at the diagram Twilight had drawn in her notebook. It was, to put it very politely, unclear. She tilted her head this way and that, turning the page upside down in the hopes of getting a better idea. It didn't help. "I'm sorry, but I can't tell what this is supposed to be."
Twilight groaned. "It's these stupid hands! I was never good at drawing free-field, that's why I learned those amanuensis cantrips in the first place, and having to use my limbs is even worse!" She thrust the pencil to Sunset. "Here, why don't you try while I describe it?"
With mixed envy and relief, Twilight watched Sunset quickly and skillfully sketch out the bowl of force, even some of the runic circles that had rotated along its surface. "Wow, you're good at this!"
"I've had a lot more practice than you did," Sunset said, adding her fiery sunburst cutie mark into the corner as a signature. "And I liked art classes at Princess's school. Anyway, this looks like some kind of a spell matrix to me. You said she cast it through a scroll, right?"
Twilight nodded. "Yes! She used an ancient scroll containing one of Starswirl the Bearded's time spells as the focus. But Starlight had made a lot of changes to it, adding bits and pieces from other spells, and striking out entire lines of the original. And she anchored it into the Map of Harmony in my palace, which meant she could travel to any point in time and space that the Tree of Harmony knew."
Sunset whistled. "Clever. I'm almost starting to like this Starlight character! I bet that's how she got around the problem of powering the spell the same way, too. I looked into those time spells before I found about the magic mirror, and they drain mana like nopony's business. But if she hooked the spell into the ambient Harmony field itself..." She frowned and drew a complicated circle-and-star diagram, showing it to Twilight. "Probably some variant of Cathedra's Coruscating Concatenation."
"Yes, that looks familiar," Twilight said, sounding excited. "I'm so glad you agree. Spell matrices have always been one of my weaknesses... I mean, even before my ascension, I had so much magical power that I could just chain spells together without having to rework them into a matrix. So I just learned the basics, and focused on the more interesting stuff. But I saw that you'd written a paper on them, and..."
"You did?" Sunset said, raising an eyebrow in a suspicious expression that made Twilight think she'd been learning from this world's Applejack. "I thought I... well. Burned my bridges more thoroughly than that, when I left through the mirror."
"Only the stuff in the school archives," Twilight said. "But Princess Celestia had copies of everything in her personal vault, and her wards blocked the spell you used to burn your writings. But don't worry! She didn't show me anything personal!"
"Huh." Sunset looked thoughtful for a moment. "Actually, I'm glad to hear that. I mean, that she kept copies of my papers and... other stuff." She shrugged and focused back on the diagram before her. "So... what were the other timelines like? You didn't really describe them when you recounted the whole story earlier."
"They were... bad," Twilight said, shuddering. "Our friends wouldn't understand, so I didn't go into detail. But if you want to hear, I can tell you what I saw and heard..."
As she spoke, Sunset listened quietly, her eyes blazing and her face growing pale. "Wow," she said when Twilight stopped, her voice hoarse and hard. "I take it back about starting to like Starlight. If I'd been in your place, I would have zapped those kids when she took you back to her childhood. Nip the problem in the bud, so to speak."
"Sunset!" Twilight looked horrified. "I couldn't- I mean, she wasn't- They were just foals! And think of the paradox!"
"Oh, I wasn't thinking of anything violent," Sunset said. The broad, fierce grin on her face was also one that a lot of Canterlot High students would have recognized, and run away from. "Just disrupt Starlight's past a little, and see how she felt about having her destiny and cutie mark pre-emptively changed. Besides, as long as the spell was active you were shielded from paradox and could always go back for a do-over."
"Wow," Twilight said, looking at Sunset with a mixture of awe and obvious discomfort. "And my friends keep telling me I'm way too cavalier about using magic to solve problems! They should meet you!"
The joke was weak, but it broke the tension, and first Sunset, then Twilight began to titter, then giggle, chuckle, and finally laugh loudly and freely, until their eyes were watering. In the end, Sunset recovered first.
"Whew! I haven't laughed like that since... well, last Wednesday, most likely. You know how it is with Pinkie." When Twilight nodded, chuckling, Sunset continued. "Listen, Twilight. I've really enjoyed this. It's been great to think about high-level magic again, and talk with someone who knows their stuff, and I appreciate you asking me for help. I really do! But I didn't see the spell or get a horn-feel of it, and without the Map or that focus scroll to study, or even a proper arcane research library, all I can really do is to make informed guesses. We're both mages and scholars, Twi, we both know that. So: what was your real point?"
Twilight sighed and looked briefly away, before meeting Sunset's eyes again. Though there was no change in her physical form, she felt older, more serious and powerful than before. Something in her eyes reminded Sunset of the Princess, when she had addressed her not as an ever-patient, ever-kind teacher, but as the demigoddess ruler of Equestria.
"I wanted you to know about what happened, Sunset. Starlight Glimmer seems genuine enough about her change of heart, and I'm going to give her every opportunity to prove that she's a changed mare. But... I cannot forget what she tried to do. I'm a Princess of Equestria myself, now, and I need to start thinking more like one. You're my back-up."
Sunset blinked.
"I've got a couple of chests ready, full of magical equipment, treatises on dimensional travel and time spells and other esoterica, and even a few grimmer grimoires from the Canterlot Archives' restricted section. I will bring them over and leave them in your hooves... hands... you know what I mean! I think they might help you learn more about the magic in this world, and to teach my... twin, I guess? But the real reason is that if something terrible happens to Equestria -- if somepony or something tries to do the same thing that Starlight did, or something even worse -- then you should still survive in this world. And I think you have the knowledge, the power, and most importantly the will to do whatever you can to save Equestria. Even if... if you have to do things I couldn't do."
Sunset swallowed. "I... Thank you, Princess. I hope... I wish that it'll never come to that. But if it does... If it does, then I will try to live up to the trust you've displayed in me. I won't let you or Equestria down, Twilight. I swear it."
What kind of hack school doesn't recognize universalism as a major? Or at least general magic theory?
Aside from that, a wonderful bunch of magibabble, catharsis, and preparation for a frighteningly feasible possibility. I agree that this isn't quite a story, but I grateful that you shared it.
The Red Wizards of Thay from D&D's Forgotten Realms, who demanded specialization. The Runelords of Thassilon in Pathfinder's Golarion, likewise.
Of course, both of those were villain schools full of epic flankholes.
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Yeah, Universalism would be perfect for a pony like Twilight who wants to study ALL THE THINGS. But I decided that PCSfGU wanted to encourage their students to pick a field and master that. Most ponies, after all, can't handle Twilight's voraciously omnidisciplinary approach to studying.
That said, I'm happy you enjoyed this. I guess it could be expanded out, and worked into a story; I might give it a try later!
Why isn't there a way to upvote blog posts?