Fluttershy had promised to arrive at sundown to pick up Talon and the crusaders, making sure they all got home safely.
She trotted along the path to Twilight's castle, followed by the two guards who had decided to accompany her. They had insisted that for the time being, they couldn't let her walk alone after dark. She appreciated the thought, though she would have been more appreciative if it weren't for the fact that the ones insisting had been exclusively stallions. While she was sure they all meant well, she suspected that some of them simply wanted an excuse to look at her flank.
Fluttershy shook her head to clear it as she approached the door of the castle, knocking softly. She waited a moment before knocking again, more firmly this time.
After another few minutes with no response, Fluttershy began to worry. Why wasn't Twilight answering? Had she taken the foals somewhere else?
She pushed the door open gingerly, stepping inside as the guards took up posts outside the door. She almost called out to ask them to come with her, just in case, before dismissing the thought.
“Hello?” When nopony answered her soft greeting, Fluttershy slowly crept down the hall until she heard voices coming from the main room, rising and falling in pitch. She strained to distinguish words as she approached, only able to make out the occasional phrase.
Fluttershy arrived to a strange scene in the main room. The crusaders were huddled around one of the chairs in the corner, trying to get at something underneath. Celestia stood near the doorway, calmly issuing orders to several attentive guardsponies.
Twilight, meanwhile, was alternating between watching the crusaders and apologizing profusely to Pinkie Pie, who sat on one of the couches looking peeved.
“Oh my,” Fluttershy exclaimed softly as she walked over to where Twilight and Pinkie were conversing. “What's going on, girls?”
Pinkie turned to face Fluttershy as she approached. “Twilight broke her Pinkie promise!”
“What?” She looked over to Twilight. “Why?”
Twilight sighed and hung her head, her ears drooping. “I didn't mean to. I didn't think it would be dangerous, or I would have asked Celestia if we could have done something else.”
Fluttershy looked over to where the crusaders still sat around the corner chair, her eyes widening as realization slowly dawning on her. “Did something happen to Talon?”
“Nothing that will do lasting harm, though I fear it may give him yet more cause to be wary of myself, and perhaps magic in general.” Celestia walked over to the group as she spoke, a slight frown forming as she shook her head. “Not that I have given him any reason not to. Do not blame Twilight; neither of us foresaw this outcome, and the test we performed is normally perfectly safe.”
Fluttershy trotted over to where the crusaders chatted among themselves. “Girls, is Talon under there?”
The fillies looked at each other for a moment. “I think so,” Apple Bloom finally answered. “None of us can fit under there, but he hasn't come out yet, so...”
“Huh?” Fluttershy leaned down to look under the seat, seeing only shadowy darkness. “I don't see him under there...”
“He's using his magic,” explained Twilight, who had moved over to sit nearby. “I'm surprised he hasn't burnt out yet. He doesn't have that great of a magic reserve built up, so how...” Her eyes shot open as she gasped. “Oh no!”
The others turned to Twilight, confused. “What is it, Twilight?” asked Fluttershy.
“Well, the scan showed that he can use dark magic, so it's possible that that's how he's avoided burning out. But he's never had any magical training, and dark magic is emotionally powered.”
Fluttershy stared in confusion as Celestia and Pinkie Pie moved to join them.“What do you mean?”
“What she means,” answered Celestia, “is that his magic may be running out of control. The only way to stop it is to calm him. If we do not, his own magic may consume him with despair and fear. He could perish, or...”
Fluttershy hung her head in understanding as Twilight finished her mentor's thought. “Or he could be the next Sombra, and we'd have to be the ones to stop him.”
“There must be something we can do!” The others turned to Apple Bloom as she spoke up. “We can't just give up, right?”
Sweetie turned to her friend sadly. “Apple Bloom, we can't even reach him, how are we supposed to help him?”
Celestia stepped forward as her horn began to glow with a bright golden light. “Perhaps I may be of assistance in that regard. It is the least I can do for him.”
The light of her aura crept outward, each of the assembled ponies feeling a comforting warmth as it passed over them. As the glow reached the edge of the darkness under the chair, however, it slowed to a crawl.
Slowly, the light inched forward, dissolving the chair itself into nothingness as it banished the patch of darkness.
Soon, they could all see Talon, trembling in the corner, tears running down his muzzle while he bore his teeth and growled.
None of them missed the way his eyes were radiating a familiar purple smoke.
Twilight popped out of the door of the castle, looking for Talon. “Good, you're here. Sweetie, there are workbooks in the main room, I need to borrow Talon for some tests, okay?” She turned and trotted off as she dragged Talon along with her magic.
“Come on, Talon,” Twilight said with a smile as she dragged him in her magic. “You don't want to keep Princess Celestia waiting, do you?”
Talon remained silent as he floated along behind her, finally arriving in the Library, where the furniture had been pushed away to make a clear space near the center of the large room.
Celestia turned to face them as they entered, a serene look on her face as she sat on a large chair. “Ah, good. You were able to find him without too much effort, I hope?”
“Actually, he was at the door just as I was leaving.” Twilight placed him on a cushion near the center of the open space. “I asked Spike to help get the girls set up so they can work on their lesson until we're finished with this. He should be back in a minute.”
Soon, Spike walked in, grumbling to Twilight. “I don't see why you couldn't let them at least come and watch. It took me forever to convince them to wait for you guys.”
“Spike, it could be dangerous for them if Talon gets a magic flare. You have natural resistance to magic, so it wouldn't be as dangerous for you.”
Spike crossed his arms in frustration.“Yeah, I guess that makes sense. Of course, you two would be fine, cuz you're alicorns,” he admitted. “Talon's guards were even harder to convince.”
“Well, if we are ready to begin, I should first explain to Talon what we are doing, as well as why we are doing it.” She turned to face him, leaning down to be as close to his eye level as possible.
“Talon, do you remember a few days ago, when you encountered a... strange pony near the castle?” Talon nodded slightly, frowning as she continued. “We think that whoever did that to that pony might do it to others. We need some way to help us find them, so we can stop them before they have the chance to do so.”
Celestia turned to Twilight, who took a deep breath before continuing where Celestia had left off. “We haven't had any success tracking the magical signature from the, er, victim.” Twilight sighed before continuing. “I thought that maybe, if we had a relative of the caster, we could use them to help us triangulate their magical signature.”
Twilight paused as she turned to Spike, coughing gently into her hoof. Spike sighed before jogging away and returning with a spreadsheet on an easel.
“So, this shows the ways a spell can lock onto something. Either using physical characteristics, as you can see labeled on this axis as sympathy, or by using magical characteristics, labeled on this axis as resonance. Some spells can use both, increasing the chance of success, but also exponentially increasing the difficulty. However, between me and the other princesses, we would be able to cast a spell that could potentially get past any attempts to obscure magical signatures.”
Twilight looked over to Talon, who was staring blankly at her. She sighed as Spike struggled to restrain a chuckle, looking over to see that even Celestia had a bemused smile on her face.
Twilight glared at Spike before continuing. “What this means is that, if we have somepony who closely matches the caster, we can use their DNA and magical signature to help locate them. So, if, say, we knew their brother...”
Talon frowned and hung his head. “Is not brother.”
“Talon, listen to me.” Talon looked up, surprised at the forceful tone Twilight had adopted. “If this pony turns out to be your brother, it doesn't mean anything. Look at me and Spike. We're obviously not related by blood, but that doesn't mean anything. I'm as close to him as I am to my brother Shining Armor, probably more.” Twilight looked up to see Spike blushing as she continued.
“Just because you're related to someone doesn't mean you're similar. It doesn't mean you love them, or that what they do is somehow your fault. And it doesn't mean you have to be like them. I think the ponies here in Ponyville are more of a family to you than this pony has ever been.”
They sat in silence for a few minutes, giving Talon time to absorb what had just been said. He looked up as Spike came over and put a claw on his shoulder.
“I had to go through this whole thing when I found out what other dragons are like. Most of them are jerks. I didn't even wanna be the same species as them. But you know what I realized?”
Talon shook his head slightly and Spike continued. “I realized that there are bad ponies, too. But that doesn't mean all ponies are bad. I'm me because of who I am, not what I am.”
Talon nodded slowly. Silence reigned for a few more moments before Celestia cleared her throat to gather everypony's attention. “What this means is that if you are in any way related to this pony, you could help us find them. To help us find out if you are, as well as to help us with our spell in that case, we need to do an induced CTS. A complete thaumatic scan, meant to give us a complete reading of your magical signature. If it matches closely enough to that of the necromancer, we will be able to use it to help locate them.”
“It will include some unpleasantness, but if we succeed, we will help many of my little ponies. I ask if you would do this for me, Talon.”
Talon gulped as he nodded.
“Okay. Talon no matter what, I want you to hold as still as you can.”
Talon glanced to where Twilight and Celestia sat next to each other, their horns glowing and pulsing in sync. Their magic swirled together in front of them, turning a pale peach color as the spell took shape. His gaze locked onto Twilight as she spoke again.
“Okay Talon, we're going to cycle through the major schools first.” Twilight and Celestia's eyes opened simultaneously, glowing the same white color.
The first thing Talon felt was a wave of nausea as the cushion under his front claws changed color briefly.
A series of strange sensations followed as the spell forced his magic to try and perform various feats. Everything from headaches to indigestion distracted him between bouts of his claws lighting up.
“Alright, Talon, we're almost done. Just a few more elemental magics and this whole thing will be over.”
Talon felt something in him being pulled down, hard, but just lay on the cushion, hoping to get it over with.
Then he felt sadness start to well up inside of him. Thoughts of being sent back to Show Stealer popped into his mind. He knew it didn't make any sense, but he felt the tears start to well up as his own dark fantasies assailed him. He couldn't sit still any longer.
Twilight and Celestia watched in shock as their spell ended and Talon bolted from the room, faster than they'd ever seen him run before.