Epilogue- Summoned
“Thank goodness you're alright...”
Three times now Sweet Care had said that, and from the look on the mare's face it would be said again before Star Swirl's examination was finished. The mage did his best to sound reasonable when he said, “Yes, I'm fine. Now please stop fussing over me. There are others who need your help more than I do.”
“Nonsense,” she insisted, more firmly than Star Swirl had seen her before. “You were hurt so badly you had to be carried.”
“I simply exhausted all of my magic and needed to rest for a while. Look, I'm standing now.”
“Maybe we should listen to him,” Root put in from the other side of the tent. “If any of us'd know 'bout magical things, it'd be him.”
“No.” Sweet Care's tone would broke no further argument.
Star Swirl sighed in resignation. “Fine. Just make it quick, if you would.”
As the nurse went back to work, Piercing Dash lifted the flap of the tent. “By the Sisters, you were incredible, Star Swirl! When we get back to Cumulonium, I'll buy you a round.” He paused as a thought formed. “Or maybe some tea...”
“I'm not sure that's the best idea.” All Star Swirl wanted was to go home- without the burden of any excess relationships.
“Oh, okay. Well, if you ever change your mind just stop by.”
“On a separate note,” the mage redirected, “what of that strange doctor? Has he been accounted for?”
Root looked confused. “Was he here? Ah was under the impression he was stayin' clear of this fight.”
Star Swirl pulled away from Sweet Care and trotted out of the tent before she could object. Dash hovered along behind him, like a concerned parent after a child. The unicorn wished he would just go away.
“Star Swirl the Bearded.”
The voice was raspy and strained, and it seemed to be coming from some distance away. But when Star Swirl turned to see who was addressing him he found that the pony in question was not more than a couple meters. Dash floated up beside the mage. “Do you know this guy?”
“No, not that I can recall.” Star Swirl could certainly say he'd never met a pony like the one before him. It wasn't his coloring- a light gray- or his stature- for he was entirely average in size for an earth pony. Nor was it the walking stick clasped in his hoof, though the pony didn't seem to need the thing. It was the fact that looking at his cutie mark made Star Swirl's vision blur slightly. His eyes were hardly different, and only barely equine. The mage steeled himself and asked, “How might I help you, good sir?”
“You are required.”
There was no bang or poof, no flash of light or uttered words of power. No portal appeared before them. The gray pony simply turned his head towards the village and the two of them- sans pegasus- were there. So smooth was the transition, that it was as if they were always standing in that little town. Indeed, they might well have been.
They weren't the only ones present, of course. The Sisters were deep in conversation a few paces away- about what, Star Swirl couldn't hear. That talk ended as Luna noticed their new neighbors. “Star Swirl! You made it!”
Celestia didn't share her Sister's cheer. She'd seen that Star Swirl was not alone. “You... You're not real. You can't be.”
“There are more things in this world than are in your garden, little sun goddess,” the not-pony rebuked. “And more still in this universe.”
“'Tia, he stands clearly in front of you. He is real. Or do you doubt your own eyes?”
Star Swirl cleared his throat, perhaps a bit louder than would've been warrant. “If I may ask, why can't he be real? What is he?”
“A Concept,” Celestia whispered breathlessly.
“A Concept?” the mage parroted. “As in, an idea? What do you mean by that? Is he some sort of spirit?”
Luna shook her head. “Not in the least. Spirits may thrive off of certain emotions or actions, and they may even exert some control over them, but they are not those things.”
“And Concepts are?”
“Yes.” Luna nodded solemnly, and when she saw that the unicorn was less than convinced she continued, “Don't be fooled by his body, Star Swirl. It is nothing more than a shell. He is a fundamental force-”
The Concept tapped his staff to the ground. “Lessons can wait. It is time.”
“It's happening now?” Celestia demanded.
“Momentarily.”
“Then you are correct,” Luna agreed. “Forgive us, Star Swirl, but my Sister and I are needed back at the Wellspring.”
“He will not be left behind.”
Celestia blinked in surprise. “You are bringing him with us? The oracle never said anything about-”
“No creature is the master of Destiny, save for my brother himself,” the Concept interrupted, his demeanor turning curt and cold. “The hoofsteps of Star Swirl the Bearded have brought him to this place in this moment. Who are you to deny him?”
Celestia flinched back from the being's chastisement, and Luna- who'd never seen her Sister so cowed- hastily stepped forward. “We mean no disrespect, lord. It's just something of a surprise, that's all. Fate has seen the mage thus far, so of course he will come with.”
“You are very polite, Mare of Dreams, and quite astute with your guesses.” The Concept smiled slightly.
Then the environment shifted again, bringing all four of them to the center of the Wellspring. Transporting one unicorn so seamlessly a short distance had impressed Star Swirl enough already, but including two creatures as magically and metaphysically influential as the Sisters with no additional effort was something else entirely. If Luna was to be believed, the Wellspring was separate from the rest of the world- another layer of being that was only loosely connected to reality. There was no reference scale for the amount of power needed to perform such a feat as had just been accomplished.
“Starry?” In a flash Star Swirl was tackled in an especially spirited hug. “I've missed you so much, Starry. I'm so glad you're okay!”
“Please let me go, Journey.”
The pegasus-shaped spirit disentangled and sheepishly back away. “Oh- sorry about that. It's just- I- You're still wearing my...”
“And it's still reminding me,” Star Swirl grumbled as he climbed to his hooves. “We are not friends, Journey.”
Before Journey could reply, several beings appeared around them. Each of them arrived singularly, with little fanfare, and indeed their entrance would've been missed if not for the fact that the mage was studiously avoiding eye contact. Like the first Concept, these new ones were nominally pony in form, with little things that gave away their otherworldly aspects. A certain charcoal Concept was particularly mesmerizing, and Star Swirl found himself being drawn into the thing's presence, unable look away. His head began pounding.
“Restrain yourselves,” the raspy Concept commanded. “One of the mortals is bleeding.”
The effect stopped. Star Swirl blinked and rubbed his eyes. There was blood on his hoof when he done. The gray Concept's head whipped around to the far side of the clearing. “It begins.”
As one, the Concepts turned in that same direction. A ripple of air spread out from a point roughly head height, followed a second later by a singularity spinning into view. The sphere darkened and expanded, wider and wider, until it erupted into a nova of light and force that staggered Star Swirl. He held a hoof in front of his eyes to shield himself from the brilliance, only returning his gaze when the display finally dimmed. In the previously empty space, there knelt-
“An alicorn?!” Journey gasped.
It certainly seemed as such. The wings and the horn were there, and it was about as tall as Celestia. Its coat was white like the older Sister, but its mane and tail glowed a light pink. Its eyes were two mismatched dark shades that were hard to see in the light it was emitting.
The gray concept stepped forward. “Behold, mortals. Behold, immortals. A new spirit is born.”
The alicorn stood, unfurling its wings, and spoke in a voice both familiar and unrecognizable to Star Swirl.
“I am Equestria.”