-Five Days Before the Summer Sun Celebration-
~Twilight Sparkle: Pupil of the Princess~
Every year, there was a traveling market that visited Ponyville. It was their only stop in Equestria; all the other stops were in different countries. The merchants always set up shop within the plains east of Ponyville, and this is where Twilight found herself early in the morning this fine Wednesday. A small city of tents now populated the usually-barren plains, and ponies from everywhere in Equestria flooded the streets between tents.
Twilight wandered throughout the near-endless expanse of tents, not necessarily looking for anything specific; she was simply window shopping. Of the hundreds of tents, however, few were actual shops, highlighted against the usual tan fabric tents by their extravagant designs, materials, and bright, eye-catching colors. The rest, she assumed, were for storage and bedding and any other things a trader could possibly need.
Most of the traders’ wares looked unappealing – a fake golden ring there, a cheap hot-dog there, impractically expensive diamond-studded horseshoes there. All in all, the majority of items available for purchase were either too expensive, or too exotic. Twilight considered heading home for the day until a purple glint appeared in her vision. A pair of beautiful earrings, in a deep purple tent run by a zebra mare. She seemed to have an affinity for jewelry; she was wearing more of the stuff than she was selling. Twilight thought it was befitting for a pony running a jewelry shop. The earrings that had caught Twilight’s eye were cut in the shape of stars, and they were implanted within a silver shell. The gems themselves were of outstanding quality, they were clear as glass, yet it was the color that truly dazzled Twilight – she could lose herself in the deep purple expanse within the gemstones. They were simple; not too obnoxious, but not boring either. They were perfect.
Twilight let her eyes rest on the earrings for a good, long while, before catching the dark brown eyes of the zebra. “How much for these earrings?” Twilight asked. The zebra mare approached her from the other side of the tent’s ‘counter,’ if you could call it that.
“A fine choice, young unicorn. These, a purchase that you will not mourn. Sixteen-hundred bits you shall pay, be it now, or at the end of the day!”
Twilight grimaced, looking between her purse and the earrings, but failing to notice the white unicorn who had ‘snuck’ up on her.
“Oh, do yourself a favor, darling, and buy the earrings. They’ll look absolutely marvelous with your coat.” Twilight jumped in surprise. The white unicorn smiled at her apologetically, which did little but confuse Twilight more. However, her mind was soon changed after seeing the white pony’s own jewelry. Twilight thought that it would be wise to take her advice.
Twilight sighed, and with a shaky sigh, forked over the bits to the zebra mare, who produced a jewelry box from her tent. She gingerly placed the earrings within the velvet padding, then proceeded to wrap the box in several layers of fine papyrus. The zebra then gave Twilight the box, and wished her a good day, which Twilight happily reciprocated.
The white unicorn – who had been intently watching the whole time – tapped Twilight on the shoulder, “I’m Rarity, by the way, and if you ever need any fashion advice – or a new dress – then come over to my boutique in Ponyville!”
“Oh, well I actually moved into the old library just a week ago!” Twilight levitated the gemstone into her bag, “I’ll be sure to come by!”
“Oh!” Rarity’s eyes widened, “the old library, you say? I think we’ll meet again much sooner than you think, darling.” Rarity’s words failed to form a coherent thought in Twilight’s mind. She made a mental note to buy some triple espresso coffee beans whilst she remained here.
“Well, I’ve heard that there’s a trader here selling fabric at an outstanding price,” Rarity said, "I should really get going, ta ta!”
“Good-bye Rarity, I’ll see you later!” Twilight watched the glamorous pony disappear into the bustling pathways in between tents, before resuming her brand-new quest for coffee.
She fought through the crowds, an army of ponies going from place to place as her enemy, ducking, weaving, squeezing, and hurtling through them in record time. Breath running out quickly, Twilight stopped to take a short break, where she was greeted by a glorious gilded glow: the captivating glow of knowledge. A bookstore. Twilight’s hooves were quivering from excitement, suddenly reinvigorated from the depths of sleep deprivation. Twilight was so ready for the adventures that would take place within the pages of each and every book.
Twilight went to the light, the bookshop swallowing her whole. Within, there were many adorned leather bound books, many of which were books about magic. Twilight chuckled quietly, ignoring them in reverence to Aevum’s journal, which is the best magic book she had ever seen – or even heard of – especially compared to newer ones. There was no reason to buy such an incredibly expensive book.
Twilight, laid down under a tree’s shade, was now out of the majority of her shopping money – new earrings and book in hoof – and brought her attention to the beauties of the day. Both of them. As Twilight was enjoying the warm sunlight, which refracted upon the dewdrops on the grass, casting colored light everywhere within the realm of the ants. Even the Everfree Forest looked joyful today: in the distance, dark green leaves were shining in the sunlight, happily dancing along with the wind. The icy tops of the mountains which walled Canterlot away from the world glimmered from the north, casting a warm, yet imposing silhouette overlooking Ponyville.
The second was the Princess, who was in front of her, staring into Twilight’s soul. “Knock, knock, anypony in there?” She said, gleefully, “I’d hate to go and get a search warrant for your head!”
“Good morning princess!” Twilight scrambled to her feet, “funny meeting you here!” Celestia’s glowing figure was hard to look at with Twilight’s tired eyes, so she looked slightly ajar from the sun princess’ face.
“Twilight, do I see bags under your eyes?” Celestia’s joyful expression was gone, replaced by a more concerned one, not all that different from a worried mother. “I thought I told you to get more sleep! Also, it’s the afternoon!”
“Oh!” Twilight gasped, “sorry about that, I haven’t been getting enough sleep lately.”
“Please do better Twilight. Regardless, you should come with me, I want to show you something,” Celestia beckoned Twilight to her feet and started walking, Twilight close in tow, “Have you wondered how the merchants get from continent to continent with such speed?” Twilight tilted her head to the side. While she might not be concerned with the habits of these traders, Celestia’s interest was of utmost importance. She was the ruler of Equestria, after all.
“No, I don’t believe so, princess.” Twilight struggled to keep up with Celestia’s large strides, “I always thought that they sailed… on… ships.”
Twilight saw a huge wooden boat, sitting on a cloud. At about 200 feet, the boat easily dwarfed any other boat she had ever seen. On each side were three metal tubes protruding from the middle-decks, leaving Twilight to imagine whatever they could be. On the underside, there was one coil pole that reminded her of a lollipop. She would have easily missed it if the rod hadn’t pulsed with a soft, yellow light every few seconds. Condensation constantly emitted from the device, leading Twilight to realize that the ship was constantly forming its own cloud to sit on. A true feat of engineering, if ever there was one.
“Twilight, the merchants have a small fleet of three or four of these ships, and with a little bit of help from the wind, they fly across the world, buying and selling wares as they seem fit. Those cannons are for their own defense, but at the moment, Pinkie Pie has swapped them for confetti cannons and has been shooting them periodically.”
Cannons, that’s what they were, Twilight thought, she remembered about cannons now, from Celestia’s history lessons. However, the name ‘Pinkie Pie’ eluded her.
Ska-DOOSH!
Twilight froze. A cannon had gone off, raining small bits of confetti upon the city of tents. Celestia’s face lit up
“I’m considering building a few to help with trade around Equestria,” Celestia said, “Caravans are too slow when it comes to things like Natural Disaster Relief. That’s why I wanted to show you this, my student. You are free to go now.”
“Hold on, you said the cannons were for defense?” Twilight inquired, “but from what?”
“Oh, many things,” Celestia said, some lilt to her voice, “Dragons are quite bad for their stock, and pirates just love to steal from them.”
“But I thought that pirates had disappeared?” Twilight shuffled her hooves.
“Well, you wouldn’t see any pony like that in Equestria,” Celestia said, “A very long time ago, L- I made sure to kindly persuade all the ponies involved with criminal gangs and piracy and such to… leave Equestria. However, my sovereignty ends at Equestria’s borders, and ponies like that still do exist, Twilight."
After Celestia’s little lesson, and a tad more shopping, It was midday, and Twilight bought a sandwich and a small piping-hot cherry pie. The hot food felt good after such a long morning. She ruefully licked the sticky syrup from her hooves, wishing for more, then sighed and took a bite of her sandwich. Spike would be mad at her for not bringing him anything back, but she was too tired to care at this point. It would be a long journey home, and she was not looking forward to it.
~Aevum: Alicorn of Time~
For the second time today, Aevum was deep in thought, however, it was for a very different reason than before. While gaining the sun monarch’s trust was a major issue all on its own, regaining his full magic abilities was a much more pressing matter, and that required practice and progress, which required time and patience, neither of which he had. So, he would attempt to make some quick progress in his attempt to summon a prismatic blade. However, the spell would become unstable should it fail, and Aevum did not want to test the stability of the stone brick structure which Celestia once called home.
Before he could go into the woods, however, he had to pack a few things. In comparison to his werelight, these blades required a staggering amount of energy; he struggled to summon the werelight a mere three days ago. If he didn’t die from this spell, then he could very well possibly fall into the trance of magic exhaustion. Aevum shuddered, death would be preferable. Unfortunately for him, dying wasn’t really an option, so Aevum would have to prepare beforehand.
Aevum went over his own entry on magic exhaustion in his head. It would occur when a magician casts a spell that is just barely not taxing enough to kill him. It would leave the mage in a trance, conscious, but unable to make any major movements. This all meant that Aevum would have to bring a few day’s worth of food and water with him into the forest, to prevent starvation.
He gathered together a week’s worth of bread and water. The traveling merchants east of Ponyville had many food items, but bread was the longest lasting, and the most worth the price. He walked over to the sunny window on the other side of his little area, and picked up his dark green emerald, which he had gotten made into a silver chain necklace. Despite the trivial amount of energy within, it would still act as a buffer between his life and death’s icy embrace. Aevum put the necklace on, and with all of his things together, he abandoned the safe stone brick of the ancient fortress and entered the harsh jungle terrain.
After a nice ten-minute walk, Aevum made it to a small clearing. It was about as large as the cave he had awakened in, and was sparsely lined by trees. A large stump inhabited the center of the clearing, it came up to his chest, thus, it would make an excellent lectern for the time being. To the west was the imposing structure of Celestia’s old palace. In Aevum’s day it would have been a revolutionary castle design, while it was of cold, gray stone, it had the perfect angle to prevent any land assault. Aevum suddenly decided to thank whatever higher power gave him the opportunity to reside within the castle. In every other direction lay nothing but endless expanses of jungle.
Aevum slowly walked to the massive stump – anticipating his future endeavors – and amidst the orchestra of the Everfree’s ecosystem, placed his journal on the stump, and opened it to his page on his prismatic blades.
Summoning Magic: Page 7
Prismatic Blades
This spell will summon as many prismatic blades as the summoner is able to summon. The result is a shifting multicolor broadsword. It is made of a visible material that is incredibly thin, yet indestructible. This makes the blade incredibly sharp, and it can cut through anything that isn’t protected by magic, (See: Wards) and many things that are.
Aevum backed away from the stump, and surrounded by the lush foliage of the Everfree Forest, prepared to utter the incantation. With a deep breath, he focused his mind, channeling his magic into his horn with pure determination and intent. The air crackled and popped with magical power as he delved into the depths of his energy reservoir, pulling forth the energy needed to support the intricate spellwork required to summon the prismatic blade.
Here goes! Aevum took a deep breath, steeling himself, knowing the possible outcomes of this feat. After possibly taking his last look over the beautiful overgrowth of the Everfree Forest, Aevum read aloud the incantation for his spell. Amidst all this, a nearby finch took alarm and fled the scene with brazen calls, flying off into the air. Aevum, however, was too focused on his magic to take notice.
Colorful sparks swirled around him, forming ethereal patterns that danced in the air. Despite the wondrous spectacle, Aevum's brow furrowed in worry as the spell ate up more and more of his energy. Beads of sweat formed on his forehead as the strain of the magic began to take its toll, a struggle which would remain until the spell was complete. Filled with determination, and driven by necessity, he pressed on.
The sparks of energy focused on a single point in front of Aevum, forming a pearlescent orb of energy. This was good – the spell was almost complete. Unfortunately for Aevum though, he was running out of energy fast.
The ethereal orb of energy began to shrink, and Aevum’s world got that much brighter; he might as well be a sentient lighthouse. As this was happening, Aevum began to slip, and with every second that passed, the physical world became further and further away. The void whispered his name, and the world became shrouded with night. The only light was the condensing orb that floated above him.
Emerging from the fog within his mind, a younger version of himself had his nose stuck within a book.
“Mommy, Mommy! The young Aevum cried out into the darkness, “Look at this! Can I, can I?”
Oh, it’s this memory. Aevum cringed, as he had never been able to lose this one, despite many attempts. He was young and foolish, and although Aevum had gotten stronger and smarter, not much else had changed.
At first, nothing happened. Aevum simply noticed the fog was getting closer to himself and his memory, forming a ring around them. Young Aevum’s cries went unanswered, until a much larger mare burst through the fog.
“Oh Aevum, dear,” Aevum’s mother looked at his younger self with worry, “please don’t try those spells, you could hurt yourself!” Young Aevum ignored his mother, casting the aforementioned spell anyway. Immediately, the colt fell to the floor. Aevum solemnly looked to his mother, but to his alarm, his mother did not react at all.
“What?” Aevum whispered to himself, “that didn’t happen at all!” To Aevum’s horror, his mother turned around, facing the real Aevum this time. He took a step back, tail grazing the encroaching fog. The colt version of himself was swallowed by the fog, fading into nothingness.
“Aevum,” His mother said, with kind eyes and soft voice, “It is not your time to join me quite yet. Do not forget.”
“I love you, mom.” With tears in his eyes, he took a few shaky steps forward.
“I wish you could stay, I do,” Aevum’s mother looked at him with pride, “but you must return to the realm of the living before it is too late. The eternal night is coming, and you are needed for Equestria to survive. Look for the six-pointed star, Aevum.” She held up a silver necklace with a small green gem embedded into the bottom.
“Don’t forget, my son.” Her voice faded away, and the fog engulfed her, leaving an emerald pendant floating in the void for a second longer, before it dissipated too.
The emerald! Aevum snapped out of his delirium, casting his mind to the emerald, and funneling its meager amounts of energy into himself. This energy would not last for long. The darkness slowly crept away, and the world came back into focus. He had to finish this now, or the Everfree Forest would become his tomb, and this time, he wouldn’t wake up three-thousand years later. This was a really, really bad idea, he thought to himself.
After what had seemed like an eternity, the orb crunched down to a single point. Everything went silent as the draining of Aevum’s energy finally screeched to a halt, animals and insects gazing upon the magnificent spectacle before them: before Aevum’s staggering form, materialized a magnificent prismatic blade. Its elegant movements were coldly beautiful, fitting for potentially one of the most ruthless and efficient spells out there.
With the spell now complete, and mind in turmoil, Aevum decided that it was the perfect time for a nap; he would have lots of time to think about his mother’s cryptic message. He buckled at the knees and fell to the side, having a single thought before giving in to sleep, “find the six-pronged star.”
~Twilight Sparkle: Pupil of the Princess~
The library she lived in was usually quiet, tidy, and peaceful. When Twilight arrived home in the evening, every single one of those traits were proven false. She could hear quite the commotion as she walked up the stony path that led to her front door, her footsteps fading into the constant noise from within her home. Her thoughts were racing, shifting erratically from fear to curiosity and to anxiety, before settling on worry, worry for Spike. There were ponies she did not know within her home. There was only one way to deal with that, she thought.
She called upon her magic, and with heart racing, and horn ablaze with magic, she kicked down the door.
“What?”
Blue, yellow, and red streamers hung from the ceiling, and there was a balloon anywhere that anything could be tied to. Every pony wore a party hat. Twilight let the magic concentrated in her horn dissipate, noticing how quiet it was while doing so. The peace and quiet was usually a blessing for Twilight, however this time, it unnerved her. Her ground floor was full of all kinds of ponies, all of which stared at her.
“What exactly is going on here?” Twilight raised her voice, “why are you all in my house?”
After a few moments of confused looks from every-pony in the room, a bright pink earth pony burst out of the crowd, bouncing over to Twilight with a ‘boing’ sound that could be in a comedy film. She had hair as wild as could be, and never stopped moving. When she spoke, it filled Twilight with pure joy, yet the pink pony simultaneously made her anxious.
“Heya!” The pony bubbled, “I’m Pinkie Pie, and this is your party!”
“What?” Twilight said, “I didn’t set any of this up, though.”
“Of course ya didn’t, ya silly filly!” Pinkie Pie was bouncing circles around Twilight, who tried to turn with her, but promptly gave up. “I did it for you!”
“Why?” Twilight was getting dizzy, even just standing still.
“Because you’re new of course!” Pinkie gushed, “Everyone gets a welcome party,” – Pinkie’s expression shifted, becoming dark and serious – “whether they want one or not.” She resumed her joyful bouncing, leaving Twilight more confused than when she had first arrived. After Pinkie Pie bounced away, Twilight took an actual look around her home.
Around her dining table, several ponies were playing cards. Rarity, the fashionista she had met earlier that day had her cards face-down on the table, hoof on her chin, with a slight frown adorning her expression. Applejack was in her kitchen with several large barrels, presumably holding cider? Twilight couldn’t tell, but regardless, she was getting another pony something to drink.
Not wanting to disturb either pony, Twilight decided to pick a direction and walk. Through her house she walked, slowly getting through the crowd and inching towards her back door. To her delight, not a single book was out of place. There was Pinkie Pie, dancing with a few ponies Twilight didn’t know. She turned to the right, there was Applejack, serving a drink to… Pinkie Pie? Twilight quickly turned back to the left. Pinkie Pie was not there. Looking back to Applejack, Pinkie was not there either. Applejack, however, noticed Twilight’s presence and gave her a friendly wave, which Twilight reciprocated. She continued her search for Pinkie Pie, but her search bore no fruit.
With a resigned sigh, she made her way over to Applejack.
“Hey” Twilight said wearily, “what exactly is going on here?”
“How’d you do, Twi!” Applejack said ecstatically, “We’ve been waitin’ for you to show up!”
“Well I was gone all morning,” Twilight set her bags down atop one of the empty barrels, “but I would have never gone if I knew this was going to happen.”
“You should try to enjoy the party, Twilight! I know you’ve been stressed lately, you’ve needed this for a while, I’d reckon.” Applejack poured a mug of cider and handed it to Twilight, who grabbed it with little hesitation, “plus, all your friends are here! Rainbow Dash is flying around out back, I’m selling some cider, and Pinkie Pie… you’ve met Pinkie, have ya not?”
“We’ve met,” Twilight said, “But she’s kinda…” Twilight made a circular motion around her ear with her hoof.
“Yeah, I get that,” Applejack replied, “Pinkie’s great, but she takes some gettin’ used to, that’s for sure!” She let out a warm, merry laugh, which proved to be contagious, as Twilight joined right on in.
After conversing for a while, Rarity saw fit to insert herself into the group. “Oh Twilight! I was wondering when you’d finally arrive!” Rarity’s voice came from behind Twilight and Applejack, “Oh, but you should always dress up for your own party, darling. It makes you seem complex and interesting, and ponies like that.”
“Oh! Hi Rarity!” Twilight exclaimed.
“I didn’t know that you two were friends,” Applejack said, with undertones of surprise.
“Oh, I only met her this morning, Applejack, “Twilight took a swig of cider, “I’d say that we’re more of acquaintances, if anything.”
“Oh, and Twilight,” Rarity raised her front-left leg, giving it a little shake before setting it back down, “I just wanted to say that my exquisite decorations for the Summer Sun Celebration are finally complete, whenever you want to inspect them.”
“Oh, I was going to check on all of that stuff tomorrow!” Twilight said, shuffling her hooves. She had completely forgotten that she was in charge of the setup for the ceremony. She would go check on those preparations with Spike later.
Wait, Spike! Twilight had completely forgotten. With a bright flash of her horn, she teleported upstairs, rushing past her own bed and down the short hallway to Spike’s room. Quietly, she pushed the door open. Spike was asleep in his bed, just where he should be.
“Good night Spike,” Twilight whispered. She shut the door behind her, and with a sigh of relief, she returned to the party.
This was going to be a long night.
End Chapter 4