It didn't take long for Krystal to find the source of the cry. Her first impression of Sunset Shimmer was, to put it mildly, abjectly terrifying. The tiny filly was in the center of an etheric vortex that had ripped several things up from where they had been welded down. Her horn was glowing brightly, as were her eyes, and her mane and tail were waving in the air behind her as she screamed in a mix of pain and demand.
But that was just visual impression. Krystal was able to actually sense the strength of the magical field Sunset was producing, and it was orders of magnitude beyond what she was capable of even with all the boosts from her tattoos and gear. If she was to get Sunset under control, she'd have to get her calmed down. She quickly made her staff shrink to the size of a baton before strapping it to her back. She then held her hands out in front of her as she carefully walked forward into the maelstrom, trying to project as much calm and comfort into her aura as possible, desperately hoping to influence the little filly somewhat.
As she watched and pushed forward, the glow started to fade from Sunset's eyes. Sunset stared at Krystal for a time, then let out a happy squeal. The bits of equipment caught up in the cyclone dropped to the floor with a loud clang, and Krystal found herself surrounded in a bright blue magical field before being dragged over to where the little filly hung suspended in the air. Sunset then dropped, landing half buried in Krystal's exposed cleavage as the vixen moved her arms to catch her.
Then Krystal's fingertips touched Sunset's horn.
It took all of Krystal's self control not to vomit from the sensations that shot through her body just from touching Sunset's horn as she pulled her finger back. "...no wonder you're in such a state," she murmured softly. She then turned to Fox. "I need an opening into space with a unidirectional shield, preferably pointed towards the sun with no planets, moons, or other space debris in the way. And quickly."
Fox tilted his head in confusion, but nodded. "Okay, we can do that."
It took about ten minutes to arrange Krystal's request, during which she continuously stroked Sunset's mane to keep her calm. Once it had been arranged, Krystal stepped up to the open gate with the shield. Leveling her staff at the opening, she concentrated and fired a single magical fireball, about the size of a baseball. It passed easily through the energy shield and careened into space for a time before losing cohesion and fading. "Here's hoping this works..." she murmured softly. Keeping the front end of the staff pointed out the opening, she touched the butt of the staff to Sunset's horn.
A beam of pure magical sunfire shot out the front of the staff, roaring out into space like a demon. It was at least a foot thick, and so tightly focused that it didn't dissipate until it was swallowed up by the fires of the sun. The beam maintained itself for a good minute before petering out, at which point Krystal dropped her staff and quickly blew on her hand. The staff was smoking and sparking, and her hand smoked as well. A good amount of fur had burned away, and the skin underneath was burned...though thankfully only first degree.
"What was that?" Falco gasped in absolute terror.
"Magic buildup," Krystal explained as soon as she could talk through the pain in her hand. "Most creatures with magic naturally release the magic they don't use into their environment...but Sunset's magic aura naturally interacts with her environment, causing a recursive loop if her environment is magic-free. That's what caused both the surges and the pain in her horn. I've drained off most of the buildup, but her magical aura is strong. Stronger than anything I've ever seen before." She glanced down at her still smoking and sparking staff. "And I doubt my staff will be up to another drain by the time she needs it. I'm going to need to do maintenance just to use it as a focus again."
"So we need energy collectors attuned to magical energy, and arrange them around Sunset's crib to collect the magic she naturally releases into the environment before she reabsorbs it?" Slippy asked curiously, taking notes.
"Basically, yes," Krystal confirmed. "But I doubt you'll be able to-"
"I should be able to pull it off with some old solar panels," Slippy interrupted as he collated his notes. "The hard part will be attuning them to Sunset's specific magical frequency, and I was able to collect that data between the fireball and the solar beam passing through the shield."
Krystal raised her eyebrow skeptically, but let it pass for now. "We've got maybe six hours before the buildups start up again. During that time, there's a few things I need to tell you about what I've learned so far once Sunset's resting peacefully...and then we need to discuss my fee."
Fox, Falco, Peppy, and Slippy exchanged glances. That was one part of the discussion they really weren't looking forward to.
Once Sunset was curled up in her crib, Krystal sat down with the group to explain what she'd learned. "First I need to give you some background information on the nature of magic, as I was taught," she explained softly. "Magic is a force that is part of reality...but at the same time not. In small amounts, it can be used to change reality but is still bound by physics. It's most readily controllable and predictable this way. In larger amounts, however..." She flexed her burned hand, glad to see her inner magic was already healing it. "Well, it becomes exceptionally dangerous.
"The original understanding of this on my homeworld was the result of the work of a scientist named Professor Harmony(1), including a system for measuring magical potential...the Harmonium Scale. All things in existence have some level of magical field, though it's generally less than one Harmonium. It takes that much to leave a measurable impact on magic. It takes a field strength of five Harmoniums to manipulate the magical field enough to directly influence the world...to 'cast spells', as some might put it. Between one and five Harmoniums simply grants some magical abilities." She sat back. "My base rating is four Harmoniums, granting me telepathy and mystic empathy. My garb and tattoos are designed to enhance my field, boosting it to eight Harmoniums. My staff is designed to collect the magical energy my body doesn't use, giving me a store of power that can boost it to ten.
"The dangerous boundary is at 12.5 Harmoniums," Krystal continued. "Below that rating, magic is still bound by the laws of physics. Above that rating, and magic ignores the laws of physics, and is instead bound by will. Nothing's ever been measured to be above that rating in the history of my homeworld, so everything else I'm about to tell you is pure theory...but you need to know."
She paused long enough to see everyone was paying close attention. "A magical field in an individual between 20 and 30 Harmoniums would allow them complete control of their environment, up to the size of a city. Between 30 and 40, and said being could control everything over which they hold sway, such as a whole country, or even the planet on which they live if its magical field is strong enough to sustain such power. Between 40 and 50, and they'd be able to command the celestial bodies in their system, willing moons, planets...or even the sun to move.
"Above 50..." She paused as she braced herself to explain this part. "Above 50 Harmoniums, and you have a living god, with reality itself bending to their whims, unless a stronger power is present. The only limit being their imagination and mental discipline."
Dead silence greeted this last statement. Fox was the first to finally speak up. "And...where would you rate Sunset?"
"Bare minimum, 15 Harmoniums," Krystal stated flatly. "And a field that strong in an individual is only going to grow as she gets older and learns to control it. Conservative estimate? No less than 25 Harmoniums by the time she hits puberty. And the more often she spikes or experiences buildups, the faster she'll reach that point."
"Then it's a good thing I've finished designing the panels!" Slippy spoke up, carrying a few large black panels with odd circuit patterns on them towards Sunset's room, cables leading from them to large canisters. "Time to test..."
The group followed, watching as Slippy entered Sunset's room. The moment he got close enough to the crib, the circuits on the panels began to glow the same blue as Sunset's magical aura. He carefully arranged them around Sunset's crib, then silently made his way back out. "These are just prototypes," he spoke up calmly, "but they should work for now."
"Someone will still need to teach her how to control her magic once she has some conscious command of it," Krystal pointed out.
"Guess we'll need your services for quite some time, then," Fox murmured with a smile. "I can't say it'll be unpleasant to have you sticking around. Quite the opposite."
Krystal smiled back despite herself. "In that case, it would probably be best now to discuss my payment."
Fox rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah...about that...we don't exactly have a...steady income..."
"Is that what the ad meant by 'pay questionable'?" Krystal asked, feeling her hopes - and prospects - sinking.
"Yeah...we don't exactly have many credits to our name," Fox admitted. "And what we have, we're going to need to spend carefully to take care of Sunset..."
Krystal leaned on her palms, grumbling under her breath. "That's going to be a pain..." she murmured irritably. "My ship's barely flyable as is. How am I supposed to get fuel and repairs to continue my mission if you can't pay me?"
Fox's eyes lit up. "Perhaps we could trade services?" he offered hopefully. "The Great Fox mostly mines fuel sources from stray unclaimed comets and asteroids. We could easily provide you what you need that way. And Slippy's great with all kinds of tech, so he could repair your ship easily."
Krystal thought about that for a time. "Well, he did manage to get the tech needed to prevent Sunset's magic buildups amazingly quickly..."
"And we could help you with your mission, if you want!" Peppy added helpfully. "The Star Fox team is a freelance flight team, ready to offer services when needed, but more readily mobile and actionable than the Lylat Fleet."
Krystal rubbed her chin. "Tell you what. We'll call a refuel, repairs, room and board fair trade for the first few months. I'll see how your team operates in that time, and decide then if I want help with my mission."
Fox smiled widely. "I can agree to that deal," he offered warmly, holding out his hand.
Now knowing how to handle that gesture, Krystal returned the handshake.
(1) Much of the concepts presented in the following discussion borrowed/in tribute to the amazing comic "The Birth of Equestria" by Shieltar. The comic can be found here.
Huh so with this scale Twilight and Sunset based off the show would be within the high 20's at minimum. Would Celestia and Luna fall within the 40-50 range or above due to their agelessness?
The Krystal's fingertips touched Sunset's horn
Here's hoping this works..,
1. Then.
2. Meant to put a fullstop.
Guess we can refer to Slippy as our panel tech specialist for now.
Souldn't Sunsets journal beept at least once by now? As I understand it Celestia wrote in hers at least in the begining of Sunsets exail.
8251408
You're assuming the link between the journals is still quantumnly stable.
8251411
This should prove an interesting way to gauge Andross' power.
8251380 Yeah. Slippy has been upgraded to Useful!
We now have a power scale for our dearly beloved princesses and Lord of Chaos. Given how these things tend to play out, Sunset is most likely going to end up on an equal level to Celestia.
8251443
I'd say he went from waste of space to allowed to live...
8251461 That's taking it a touch too far, i think.
8251443
You mean he wasn't before? I found him very useful for shooting down missiles.
8251608 Yeah, and who knows what he did offscreen. To be fair, the last Starfox game i've played was '64.
I've got the feeling that Krystal is going to be like Celestia to Sunny.
8251452 At the very least
8251461JEEZE! And here I always thought of him as the techy-comic relief but man you have it out for the poor little toad.
Little cutey Sunny is nearly OP Little cutey Sunny! BEST SUNNY THERE IS!
There’s always a catch to everything!
8251477
8251629
Lets say I have... external bias adding to my own fumes of war against, not all toad based species, but Slippy toad in particular...
also, the rating was... quite conservative... I’m sure that croacker will find new, exciting ways to disappoint...
I love that you used BoE to explain the magic measurement. SUCH a great comic series.
And I love how you've presented this story so far. I know nothing of Krystal, so I'm taking her at face value. I'm sure I'll learn more as you go.
8251758 No big just a tad ouch from your original comment though reading this one all I can think of is that oldish cartoon of Bucky O-Hare
Yikes, baby unicorns are terrifying.
Good engineering work, Slippy. I suspect that that is going to end up being the starting point of a lot of tech that Sunset uses over the course of the story. Magic is fun, magitech is even better.
Interesting rating system and some pretty important demarcation lines in it. Is it a logarithmic scale, by any chance?
8251795
that and getting killed because the damned croaker couldn’t defend for himself...
I guess that means Discord's at, if not above 50 Harmoniums.
Also, nice reference to that comic. I haven't read it in quite some time.
Very nice scale for magical ability. I can't wait to see hos Sunset grows with Mamma Krystal and Daddy Fox. Though I can totally see her finding a picture of Piggy somewhere and her magic creates a link to him as she does some imaginary voodoo on him that turns real and makes his life hell until he gets the ending he deserves. Have to wonder how she'll interact with Star Wolf if the two teams ever meet up on the ground, I can see Fox challenging Wolf to take care of Sunset for a day and Wolf giving up half way through, though liking her and becoming another honorary uncle.
so wait...... why is it that there is no 100 on the scale?
8251923
100 means you are the ultimate being with total domain over the entire multiverse and the endless void beyond I'd guess...
8251408
That's assuming the connection is there. Going by what we've already seen, Sunset is in a completely different reality than where the EG universe was. That one was a parallel with humans as the chief race. This one is with anthro animals.
Plus, we don't know if the passage fried the connection or not. I'm going with blocked personally.
8252092
What univers she is in is irelavent as the books are quantum linked, hens what is writen in one is also writen in the other and the cover is a monitor that checks for changes and glows and vibrate when there is one.
Celestia mentions that the mirror will restabelais to its normal self next time it is supose to open and as the book was inside the mirror when it was destableised it stands to reson that the books will re link about the same time.
And I sound overly pompus. Sorry about that.
8252139
And that's why I said my money is on blocked as opposed to destroyed. Even so, just because something is quantum linked doesn't mean it can't be destroyed. You're probably right though.
Thing is, I think the reason that the books aren't working right now is because Tatsurou will likely use that as part of the bridge to get Sunset back to Equestria. Either that, or its a red herring.
8251443 So, WiiU Slippy then?
If anything, the Great Fox won't hafta worry about running out of energy thanks to the extra magic Sunset's pulling off.
8252243 To be fair, i've only played up to '64, as i don't own a Wii or WiiU. Or a DS, for that matter.
So...Sunset is a Grass-Type Pokemon?
Huh... in my story Tartarus Forged, the issue would be reversed. Everyone has a unique signature to their magic, and trying to intake a magic that's not at least similar to your own is like ingesting acid. The magical field of the world would also prevent magic from venting easily due to it's technically wild nature, so the ponies evolved to simply have limiters on their own magical core while young, limiters that release as time goes on and they get older.
I hope Krystal's hand will heal in time.
If I remember my BoE harmoniums, 24 was enough to irreversibly alter reality...
8252174
Actually, I can see it go 'Chamber of Secrets' diery untill Twi upgrades the mirror.
8252755
12.5, actually.
Thus why the device that could measure up to 25 was considered 'superfluous'...until it exploded in response to the magic discharge that Celestia unleashed that fried the Philomena plushy.
Oh, a webcomic? Might as well check it out...
...
Aww, Celly's adorable!
Fully caught up with all PWNY stories! Now to get back to some others I was reading before...
...
Why do I have the urge to reread Fortresshy instead?
So, that would put Discord into the 50+ range... Interesting. Also...
8252760
DAMN YOU! Do you know how many webcomics I'm already tracking? It's going to be ages before I get around to archive-binge this...
8252024
0_o sweet easter that's strong.
hey I'm still taking bets here on how falco reacts.
8251411
This comment has been fermenting in my head for a bit. Is this simply a speed difference between the two Universes (Like with Twi), or is it a Timey Wimey mess (Like with the Crusaders) where the points of connection between the two Universes are out of order with each other?
8257265
Timey Wimey mess.
At the moment, the connection between the two universes is highly unstable, meaning there's very little connecting them...so the journals aren't connected. Eventually, however, that connection will stabilize - at some future point for both timelines - but any messages sent before then will be lost, and the journal on the Equestria side will have visible signs that it's lost its magical connection to its twin.
If Krystals is mention something else that could have come out of Equesria then......
Well nothing against the crossover, but it sounds a bit stupid to me that she should have someone named after somethin that could have come from Equestria, that is just how it sounds to me however.
Well nice chapter and I don't want to sound bad, it was just something that sounded weird to me.
8257864
...did you read the Author's note?
8258042
Probably missed it because it wasn't greyed out as usual if you mean the mlp fan comic or whatever it is that is mentioned there.
However it still has to do something with Equestria directly I believe.
I liked to think that like it was described in the start, that the mirror accidently changed the world he was supposed to show and she endet up in the lylat system. I wasn't exactly fond of the idea that the lylat system itself could have theories that come from a different universe.
I can't explain it better, but I like it more if they are completely new to each other in such crossovers instead of there existing some kind of old connection. I don't have time to read the comic if that is needed to understand even more. However the first page I saw told me it was still about ponies if it was even leading to the right one, which is kind of what I was talking about.
8258084
They are completely new to each other.
The name of the scientist and the magical scale was simply borrowed from the comic as a tribute to it. Nothing beyond that.
The story has nothing to do with the comic. Doing that was simply a way to tap a story I happen to enjoy, using it as inspiration and giving credit where it's due.
8258096
Okay then it is only the name I disliked and nothing more I guess, but I understand your reason. It isn't always something serious, but this time I wasn't fond of it.
Harmonium. Also known as a reed organ. Is anyone else here aware of this or am I just nuts?
Tatsurou, the magical buildup phenomenon more closely matches the definition of a positive-feedback loop than that of a recursive loop.