Twilight Sparkle - Day 16Twilight Sparkle - Day 16
Solace - The Center
I raced towards the ground, the war-whoops of the Dimorphs behind me getting ever louder. Nyota’s plan wasn’t working. They were faster than gravity assisted twin turbines. If I didn’t know better, I’d say they’d gotten flight training from Rainbow.
We couldn't outrun them. We couldn't outfight them. We were doomed. There were just too many for weapons to overcome.
I gasped as a sudden realization hit me. There were too many for weapons, but not for magic!
I reached down to my belt, hand fumbling for the arcane amplifier. My fingers closed around it as I ripped it from its belt pouch, and jammed it on over my helmet. The flexible material easily stretched to fit over the helmet before into it’s final shape.
YES! I felt it, the power of seven tenths of a me flowing through my veins!
I rolled over, letting myself fall downwards while being able to look upwards at the approaching squadron.
The name ‘beast folk’ couldn’t be what they called themselves. It was too apt. They flew in a rolling-cloud-like formation which made targeting any particular one of the group impossible. Exactly the same impossible coordination and grace a flock of starlings had. Only animals and robots can work together that flawlessly.
And yet each individual one kept themselves focused on Nyota and I, weapons ready, but not firing just yet. You could see the training and dedication they’d put into becoming warriors. That was the person side.
I frowned in concentration as I quickly thought through all my options.
I didn’t want to kill them. That would not only be unethical but make our diplomatic mission impossible.
I could try and use telekinesis to freeze them in place a moment and explain myself… No, no that wasn’t really an option. Rarity could probably have done it, the but there were just too many individual ‘objects’ for me to grab at the same time.
I looked down below me, trying to gauge how much time I had left. Not too much… The ground below was coming up awfully fast. I could see a bend in a river which wrapped around a small mountain poking up out of an oddly rock-spirey jungle. I twisted my shoulders, aiming for the water just incase I got too distracted to pull up in time.
Come on Twilight, you need a working plan, fast!
I could throw a concussive wave into their flock and- No, no that would kill them. Not the blast, but the resulting fall.
A shield would likely have them plow into it and break their necks.
I didn’t know how well they dealt with cold, so a freezing spell would be bad. Also the fall.
The swarming squadron inched closer and closer. My pack’s throttle was already redlining. We wouldn’t make the ground before they caught us…
I bit my lip as I tried not to panic. There had to be something I could do that-
I slapped my face hard enough for my gauntleted hand to make my visor spark.
I HAD MAGIC! Doing ANY magic would show I wasn’t a human. All I had to do was cast a spell to make my aura visible to non-unicorns and then pump a little extra power into it.
I closed my eyes and focused, my horn glowing as the energy flowing through it gave my aura enough energy to shine visibly. Unfortunately, my horn was beneath my helmet. But that wouldn’t be an issue in a moment.
I felt a tingle as the spell completed. A quick look at my body showed a pale lavender glow enveloping my body, almost as if I had been lit on fire with very dim flames. I looked back up at the now very close Dimo swarm. Did they notice?
A crossbow bolt smashed into my right thigh, shattering as it impacted the armor, but leaving a rather concerning dent. The bullet storm earlier must have compromised its structural integrity.
That settled that. They had not noticed.
I smirked. Well… In that case, time to do something I never ever did because the chances of every unicorn within several kilometers wearing welding goggles, was well, negligible.
I tapped into my magic’s reserves, letting it all flow into a single, partially formed simplistic spell matrix. The one they use to teach young wizards what a matrix even is. So simple that it just let your energy bleed out into your aura.
It only took a few heartbeats to make all of that stored energy and get it moving, ready to act. I just let it hang around, ready to go. The energy had to go somewhere, and I could feel it starting to bleed into my aura.
Oooo! I wonder what would happen if instead of just dumping all this power into my aura like emptying a bucket, I tweaked the semi-matrix to be more power efficient? Then I’d have some energy left if this became a real fight.
Gritting my teeth I quickly shifted the mental constructs necessary, resetting the matrix and-
You know, I did want to find out what happened if I used the Roaring Blaze Technique on an efficient matrix.
Eh, buck it. Why not?
I rolled again, turning belly-up so I could ‘stand’ facing them.
“Don’t mettel in the affairs of wizards!” I shouted as loudly as I could, then dumped all my power into the improved matrix.
The world turned purple as I became the new sun.
The Dimo’s cries transformed from war whoops into pained screeches as they flew headlong into my sphere of coherent light.
I had not anticipated becoming so bright that all shadows pointed away from me. I could barely see that awesome sight through the radiant lavender light I was emitting. Everything below me was just that one uniform shade of purple, or an inky black shadow.
I blinked in surprise as I felt more arcane energy left in my system despite the mini-star I’d turned my Aura into. I should be completely dry, but that felt like a large amount of power. I’d never felt it before… Why?
Perhaps because I was used to not having my magic thanks to having been here for a while and hadn’t ever used all of my power in decades? Possibly. Come to think of it, it felt more like Celestia’s magic had when I’d fought Tirek.
OH!
I giggled and shook my head. That was MY Alicorn magic. Celestia did say it would emerge as I aged. It must just barely be there… There wasn’t too much power there at all. I likely wouldn’t have noticed it for another few years. It was just so tiny, small, and well, developing.
What would it do? I was the princess of Friendship. Could I project a bubble of friendship? Literally forcing everything to be friendly? Or maybe I could summon friends! That would be useful here. Let’s use it!
I gave the magic a nudge, hoping it would do its thing. Completely forgetting I’d directed all my magic to go into my aura.
My armor exploded into dust as the mini-sun burned white as my alicorn magic rushed through it. I felt my body twist, bones cracking, muscles burning. Despite not being able to see, I felt my wings regrow, bursting from my back in a way I was glad I couldn’t see.
I felt my hands twist back into hooves, a process which should have been extremely painful, yet was thankfully rather pleasant. Aside from the sounds and feeling...
Apparently, dumping alicorn magic into your aura makes you an alicorn.
Seems legit.
The white light vanished as the tiny amount of power was consumed, allowing me to take a look at myself. I wasn’t in my old body. Not quite.
I was taller now, closer to Luna in hight judging by the length of my legs. I was definitely taller than Cadence. My horn also felt larger and-
My tail swished behind me, the tip passing through my field of view. My ethereal, proper alicorn type tail. Colored the same as the last moment of sunset, deep purple fading to that hint of pink.
I couldn’t help but squee happily and twist to get a proper look at myself.
“YES! I GOT THE MAGIC MANE! WOOOO! I KNEW IT WASN’T THEIR SHAMPOO! YOU OWE ME THREE THOUSAND BITS, CADENCE! HAHA!” I exclaimed joyously.
I’d somehow jumped ahead in my development. Probably no more than a century or so. I’d have to tell Celestia about what I did. Thank goodness I remembered that Spell Matrix, I could be very very usefull.
But more importantly, I needed a mirror! Did I have one? Could I make them? DId I still have my implant?
I twisted my left foreleg to check. Sure enough, the silvery diamond still poked out of my skin. Though it was much more flush with everything else thanks to my leg being shaped differently from a human arm.
I kind of liked it. It was sort of like a bracelet.
“Oh…” I said, my ears drooping and cheeks burning as I realized I that my aura was still a blazingly bright ball of doom in the sky.
Even though the white light had left it.
I could only imagine how badly this would hurt another unicorn’s eyes, given the visible light as well as the arcane spectrum light added together. I’d have to never ever do this again.
And I should probably stop being a miniature st-
Something hard slammed into the back of my head, making bright white stars appear in my vision.
“Stop that, you dick!” An older stallion’s voice demanded irritably.
I dismissed the spell reflexively, as if they had hit my magic’s off button. Quickly flapping my wings to turn around, I looked behind me and saw him.
The gray mane, dark gray fur, golden eyes, and long beard all wrapped up in the ragged purple moon and star patterned cloak, topped off with that bell trimmed peaked hat which was exactly the right ammount of stupid looking to be awesome.
Starswirl the Bearded.
He didn’t look a single day older than two fifty. Just like he had for thousands of years after telling aging to just stop it. With his time magic! Like a badflank!
Starswirl stood there. In mid air. Like he was on the ground. Holding a rolled up bundle of parchment in one hoof, glaring at me irritably.
SO COOL!
“Whoever you are, it’s clear that you could have annihilated my little town below if you wanted to. I’m going to assume you’re friendly,” Starswirl said, looking at me with heavily squinted eyes. “But these are dark times, and this is a dark place. Here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to land, wait for my vision to let me see more than black shapes against whiteness, and then we will discuss exactly what you’re doing here.”
I blinked in surprise. “Y-you don’t know?” I stammered. “But- But you’re Starswirl the Bearded! You’re supposed to be able to see the future! You should have known I would be here, and when, and… And told people to welcome me here… You can’t actually see the future, can you?”
A few members of the Dimo squadron shook off the stupor I’d put them into and began to circle around Star and I. I could see Nyota below, hovering above the river, looking up in what I imagined was confusion.
He shook his head. “No. Not here.. Though I can in Equestria. The field here prevents it. Now seriously, we need to land. I can’t use a flight spell for more than a few moments, and a wing-growth spell is just out of the question here. How the blazes did you even get that much magic?”
“Um, to fly?” I asked, still too shocked to act intelligently arround the coolest wizard ever.
Who was also potentially my biological father… I should ask about that. Or maybe since he’s seen me, he recognises me! I couldn't have changed that much since being a filly.
“No. For that aura blaze. You’re clearly very powerful. Giving yourself wings would be easy with that much energy. As I’m certain you’re aware,” Star pointed out.
One of the Dimos, possibly their leader (I couldn’t tell as he’d dropped his weapon during my stellar moment.), cleared his throat. “My Liege, this mare’s mane and tail are composed of ethereal energy. She’s not a unicorn,” he informed.
Starswirl blinked before smiling widely. “Celestia? Is that you? You’re tall enough to be her,” he asked hopefully.
I shook my head. “No, I’m-”
“Ah, one of the five new ones,” Star said, ears drooping with some disappointment. “I was hoping Celestia’s voice had changed slightly over the last… Who knows how long. It would be very nice to see old friends again.”
“F-five? Um, there’s only been three new ones in the last thousand hundred years. Myself, Cadence, and Sunset,” I corrected.
Starswirl snickered and shook his head no. “Yeah, no. There’s been five. Trust me. I’ve got a massive scrying system set up as part of the escape plan. Theres the two you mentioned by name and also-”
A few golden sparks danced across Starswirl’s body. A spell failing. Star plunged downwards like a lead plated rock.
“-BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCKKKKKKKK!” Star exclaimed as he fell.
I gasped in horror and dove after him, stretching out my hooves to grab him before remembering I had telekinesis. Suppressing the urge to facehoof, I reached out with my magic, grabbing Starswirl then flying downwards, landing on the sandy riverbank with a soft thump before letting him go.
Nyota’s jetpack roared for a second before she landed as well, turbines spinning down as she cut their power.
“Good job, Twi,” Nyota said, giving me a thumbs up before reaching up to awkwardly scratch the back of her helmet. “So um… Is this what you normally look like?”
I nodded twice, then smiled as I realized her chest was at my eye level. I WAS Luna tall! Before my eye level would have been at a human sized person’s groin.
“Mhm! Well, sort of. The mane’s new. I think sort of aged myself up with that star-trick. I was sort of playing with combining a high efficiency matrix with the Roaring Blaze Technique and alicorn magic…” I admitted bashfully.
It sounded exceptionally dumb when I said it outloud… Like, that was a really bad idea. Note to self: No more trying new ideas while stressed out mid battle.
Nyota nodded twice. “It’s sparkly. I like it! Also ye. Ye’re way cuter like this. I just wanna cuddle up and read books with ye right now,” she admitted almost proudly.
I smiled. “Thanks!”
“Now, WHY FOR THE LOVE OF THE GODS DID YE DISINTEGRATE YER ARMOR!?” Nyota demanded angrily. "We worked so much on that armor! Razor almost died for that armor!"
“One second angry marefriend,” Starswirl interrupted, holding up one hoof. “Did you call her ‘Twi’? As in the contracted nickname for ‘Twilight’?”
“Aye, that I did, sir,” Nyota confirmed in the most polite tone of voice she had. “I hate to be rude, but I’m trying to be mad at my mare for destroying a whole heap of work and expensive items which we needed to get out of here after she’d visited ye. Is that alright with you, master wizard?”
I blinked in surprise at how polite Nyota was being despite the obvious anger I could see in her stance.
I could tell she was angry about the situation, and not at me, but why was she containing it like that after-
OH!
OH HOLY BUCK STAR WAS POTENTIALLY MY FATHER!
“That depends,” Star informed turning his head to face me. “Are you Twilight Sparkle?”
I nodded twice. “Yes. I am and-”
Starswirl stepped forwards and pulled me into a tight hug, holding me for several long moments before letting go.
“Hold on,” Star requested holding up one hoof again before turning back to Nyota. “You said a few things which make me believe you are romantically involved with my daughter. Is this correct?”
Nyota nodded. “Yes, sir.”
Starswirl nodded, then trotted up to her, reared up, and grabbed her cuirass with both forehooves to look right into her visor.
“Pretend I gave you a good fatherly threatening demanding you be nice to his little filly!” Star ordered adamantly. “And tell my wife that I gave you one!”
“Yes, sir!” Nyota eeped.
“Thanks!” Star said letting go of her with a smile. “Now Clover will never know that I forgot the one I had prepared incase this ever happened. We’re completely fine by the way. We can be friends. I’m a friendly stallion. I’m well aware Twilight can handle herself. But well, wives tend to worry. Anywho…”
Starswirl turned back to me, and flashed me a cheesy grin. “Sorry, I have a poor memory. I also dislike being yelled at and I promised Clover I’d do that. Now, the questions… I imagine there will be a lot of them. First off, I can confirm that if you are Twilight Sparkle, then yes, you are my daughter. Biologically speaking.”
“Y-you can’t recognise me?” I stammered my ears falling sadly.
How could he not recognise me?
“Nope. Because SOMEPONY decided to transfigure themselves into an arcane star, and my vision is STILL messed up!” Starswirl snapped, definitely more than a little upset.
I opened my mouth to apologize, but Starswirl’s eyes suddenly widened, then he collapsed, smacking his face into the sand.
“OHMYGOSHAREYOUALLRIGHT!?” I yellped worriedly, rushing to his side to check for an arrow, or a gunshot wound, or-
“No,” he moaned. “I meet my daughter after a thousand years of her having been stolen from me and the first thing I do is hit her with a rolled up newspaper…”
I couldn’t help but blush deeply with embarrassment as Nyota laughed once before covering her mouth.
“To be fair, I was sort of blinding everyone… I um, I wanted to prove to your uh, friends that I wasn't a human,” I explained with a nervous smile. “I sort of was humanoid before a few minutes ago. I think tapping into alicorn magic is what-”
“Transforms you into an alicorn. Yes. That’s how the spell works,” Starswirl mumbled into the sand before standing back up.
I nodded twice and kicked one hoof against the ground awkwardly. “S-so uh… I was stolen?” I asked.
Starswirl nodded. “Yes. Long story… Clover and I are able to see bits and pieces of Equestria. I know that Dawn finally struck. Good job defeating him. I’m sorry we couldn’t do more to help,” Star said with an apologetic frown.
“Uh, h-help? How? You’ve been here for ages!” I objected, tilting my head to one side.
“Yes. Spending the entire time trying to escape. At present, we have the ability to see anywhere on Equis we want, send small objects to any destination we can see, and sometimes get a spell to successfully cast through the portal,” Starswirl said with a prideful smile. “Not bad for two hundred years of prison scraps and a trickle of magic if I do say so myself!
“Dawn was an ancient enemy of Clover and mine, Twilight. While we were focused on our escape, we also did everything we could to hinder him. This includes Clover using some of her Queenie tricks to fog his mind. He thought inhabiting a mortal body would protect him. Heh. Idiot.”
I blinked several times. “Wait… If you could do that, then-”
“We have very little energy to work with here,” Star reminded. “We did do other things. Perhaps twenty percent was spent hindering him. Mind Fog spells, hiring mercenaries to chessboard things a bit, that sort of thing. Another twenty percent was spent on improving our portal. The majority of our energy was spent on limiting the harm Dawn was able to do to you.
“But is that really what you want to talk about first? I mean, I’m certain you’re happy to know we cared for you as best we could once we found you again. But, don’t you want to know why you didn’t grow up with Clover and I?”
I nodded eagerly, then jumped forwards, pulling Starswirl into a tight hug. “Thank you!”
“ACK! Alicorns are earth-pony strong and I’m old,” Star yelped.
“Eep! Sorry,” I exclaimed immediately letting go.
“He was faking,” Nyota said with a snicker. “He was smiling the whole time.”
I gave Star and accusatory look, my heart just a little bit crushed.
“I have a thousand years of fatherly pestering and dad jokes to make up for,” Star admitted with a pinkie-like grin.
I rolled my eyes. They say you should never meet your heros… But honestly so far Starswirl was as the history books which went into him as a stallion described.
“Sooo… Can you explain to me why I was adopted now?” I asked hopefully.
Star nodded. “Yes. We watched Dawn’s confrontations with you. He was correct in saying that he stole you from us and banished you through time. What he didn’t mention is that he did so in a place where I couldn’t track your four dimensional movement. I had no idea where you went, he used this to trap us here by claiming he’d sent you here, along with your sister.
“Oh! Clover is so proud of you for finding her spellbook. We can’t see inside the pocket dimension, you’ll have to tell her everything you found inside. If you got access to everything she’ll be so proud of you.”
I blinked. “Uh… S-so you just watched everything I ever did?” I asked nervously.
What about when I was in the bathroom? Or when I was doing sexy things with Flash…
I felt my face turn bright red in mixed embarrassment and anger.
Starswirl quickly shook his head. “You’re wonder about the bathroom, aren't you? Okay, listen, you’re my little filly, and I’m not a pervert… In that respect at least,” he declared with a serious frown. “And we didn’t watch you at all times. We had lots of things we needed to do. We just watched you when we could and ONLY if you weren't doing anything private.
“For the record, we haven't been able to see anything since you were banished. You were our anchor for the scrying spell. So I can’t tell you anything about Equestria after you left, Twilight.”
“Good!” I declared loudly.
“Don’t worry. We really only know things parents could through normal means, and a bit of your adult accomplishments. Uh, not romantic stuff. I mean things you did as an adult,” Star swiftly corrected, clearing his throat awkwardly.
OH NO! Starswirl could have seen the time I tripped and fell UP three flights of stairs…
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! HE PROBABLY KNEW ABOUT THE SCRAPBOOK OF CELESTIA DRAWINGS I’D MADE WHEN I WAS SIXTEEN!
“On to what you want to know,” he continued. “Clover and I were tricked a mere twenty minutes after you vanished. There was no time to track you down. Instead we had to escape this prison. We came close. The forcefield is quite powerful, and we DID breach it. But there’s space outside so well, heh, that was a dumb idea.
“We spent a long time trying to portal back home. Most of that was spent getting a crude array established, converting a massive underground geode cavern into a huge mage gem to store all the energy we could, as well as making it into a passive thaumaturgic collector. We also had to make some more intelligent helpers.
“That would be the Beastfolk. I named them. I’m bad at that sort of thing. You’re probably happy your mother named you. I would have gone with Purple Smart. Anyways-”
“Um, what exactly are they?” Nyota asked eagerly. “I mean, how do you do it?”
“We tame a creature the normal way, I warp it with biomancy as best I can, and then Clover takes an implant we cut out of a prisoner, wipes it clean, resets it, and we implant it into our new friend. They are self programming. We just need to attach one and it’s all good to go. Why do you ask?” Star questioned. “Were you hoping to gain some magic like every other human here?
“Admittedly having sex with a unicorn is a new approach. A much more civilized one than trying to eat one. Heh… Though with you both being mares, maybe you just misunderstood what they meant by eat, eh? Eh?”
My ears and tail raised in pure horror . “D-dad!”
Nyota chuckled. “Actually, I’m from a parallel dimension. I’m stranded here too. I’m really a zebra. Everypony’s a biped where I’m from,” she explained. “I was asking because, well, the wardens put me in a human body for a long time. I got my old one back thanks to befriending Red. For years I’d been hoping that the Great Wizard of Solace could help me out.”
“I totally could have… But it wouldn’t have been pretty. I’m not every good at flesh sculpting. You’re Nyota aren't you? I’m sorry. We um… We genuinely thought you were simply insane,” Star apologised. “Now if you don’t mind, I’m trying to tell Twilight her origin story.”
I nodded. “Yes, and I really want to know it,” I said, giving Nyota an irritated look.
“Sorry! Just, ye know. Curious,” she said, holding her hands up apologetically.
“Now, We’d been searching for a means to establish contact with Equestria,” Starswirl continued. “Eventually, Clover got the idea to use our blood to try some very old magic a sort of ‘speak to kin’ spell. It didn’t work for decades… But then we tried it one day and it worked! We saw you, as a newborn. Just as I’d tucked you into bed that night so long ago, lying in a gutter in Canterlot.
“Naturally, that wasn’t okay. There was very little that we could do to help at the time. But we were able to throw rocks through the portal to make some noise. You weren't crying, you see. We were able to attract attention to you, and the pony who found you took you to an orphanage.
“That really hurt to watch, but we knew you were safe. I spent a few hours doing calculations to improve the portal, hoping we could jump through and get you, but it just couldn’t take anything nearly the size of a pony. Also, we didn’t have the power for any shrinking spells which would work well enough… More on that in a moment.”
“Why a moment?” I asked, tilting my head to the side.
“Because that involves our escape plans, and I’m telling you about YOU right now,” Starswirl griped. “You’re not being arcanely lobotomized anymore, Twilight. You have no excuse to not be smart. Smart it up, please.
“Anywho, I was able to find a way to get the portal stable enough to send letters through intact. Unfortunately, doing so drained the majority of the portal’s power. We could send one roughly every five months in Equestrian time. This was before my massive improvements.
“Using these letters, we searched for proper guardians for you. The end result was our arranging for a kind noble family to take you in. Clover and I refused to allow you to experience a quality of life we couldn’t have personally provided you, you see?
“Funnily enough, you actually were raised by blood relatives too. Twilight Velvet is a direct descendant of mine from my first marriage. This makes Shining your… Cousin of some kind. Biologically speaking at least. True family isn’t blood but deed, as such, I hope you won't dishonor your father by calling me father as well… Uncle will do.”
I shook my head firmly. “I’m sorry, but no. I can’t agree to that. It’s not disrespectful to refer to either of you by any term I choose. While we don’t have any real relationship yet, I hope we will one day. Plenty of ponies have two dads. It’s not a problem.
Starswirl paused for a moment, considering what I’d said before nodding slightly. “One of the problems with immortality is the ever shifting societal norms. Very well. So long as it’s not an issue for you and our family, I won't object. Do you want me to continue? There’s more.”
I nodded twice. “Please! I had no idea that well… You know!”
Star laughed, shaking his head. “Nopony would ever guess that wizards were helping them from another dimension,” he agreed. “We didn’t help with everything. Just the small stuff.Like helping you on your way to arcane mastery by convincing a certain librarian to let you have access to more advanced texts than the average fifteen year old.
“The biggest thing we ever did for you was pull a few strings to get Celestia to notice you. After all, if we had raised you, having her as your teacher would have been a given. Or at least a tutor. She’s your older sister after all.”
I sputtered, almost falling over in shock. “I but, what!?” I demanded incredulously, eyes open as wide as they could go.
Starswirl laughed. “Oh come on! She’s never mentioned that Clover and I raised her and Luna? We never officially adopted them, but that hardly matters when they slept in my tower for twenty years, ate their meals there, did their training there, all that good stuff.”
I felt my stomach churn slightly, remembering the huge crush I had on her as a filly… And the time Celestia got drunk at a party and briefly flirted with me after her wine convinced her I was a stallion.
“This… Um… Awkward,” I mumbled looking down at the beach.
“Huh?” Starswirl asked confused.
Nyota knelt down, leaning over to whisper to Starswirl. Despite her efforts, I heard anyways.
“See that blush? That’s the ‘I had a crush once’ blush,” Nyota informed.
“Ah, I see,” Star chuckled. “Twilight, you were what, thirteen? You also had no idea. Besides you’re not actually related. You’re the biological daughter of the person who raised her from a preteen. Who was in turn adopted herself. That’s about as distant as you can get.
“And again, it was a fillyhood crush on a pretty popular mare. Every foal has one of those. I recall your dragon friend being obsessed with Rarity for a number of years… Didn’t he wind up with the former Dragon Emperor?”
I nodded twice. “Yes, Spike is currently dating Ember. I’m sorry this is just a lot to take in… Can we pause here?”
“Good plan,” Star agreed. “If there’s nothing else you would like to know now, I’ll send someone to fetch Clover and we can have lunch together. With your marefriend included, of course. So she can tell Clover I did the dad thing.”
Grateful for a chance to move on to a different topic, I nodded twice. “Yes. Why are shrinking spells important for escape? I would think an adaptation of a scuba diving spell would be better suited for a space-based escape,” I asked curiously.
“Ah, well, you see, we ALMOST escaped while Clover was watching Cadence,” Starswirl remarked before shaking his head and laughing sadly.
I frowned uncertainly. “You watch Cadence? Why?”
How did that help with an escape plan?
“No, no,” Star replied, shaking his head. “I don’t. Clover does. She can feed just a little bit through the portal, and I’ve never been sufficient to keep her alive and fully powered on my own. We used to simply treat our apprentices like family, or get close with the staff.
“Turns out Changelings can’t feed off Beastfolk, not even Snow. So, she watches Cadence when possible to get what little she can in order to have the use of her magic. Poor mare. That palace like a cooking channel for her.”
Realizing what Starswirl meant by that, I decided to immediately terminate this bunny trail.
“Uh, you said you almost escaped watching her?” I ask-reminded with a shaky grin.
Starswirl laughed. “Oh! Yes, right. I’m sorry. I’m a rambler,” he said with a grin. “Cadence has a talent for size alteration spells. Your brother loves them, by the way. Heh, he’s adorable. Shame Dawn made you hate him… I hope that’s been fixed.”
“It has,” I confirmed.
“Good! Anywho, Cadence has a very, very energy efficient shrinking spell,” He explained. “It’s very impressive and I plan on asking her about I in detail one day. We noticed it in use a while ago, and it would be castable on this side of our portal and reduce our mass enough to pass through. Sadly she hasn’t left her spellbook open to that page yet.
“Well, actually that’s a lie. She did once, but Clover forgot to look at the page as her attention was on the ‘meal’ being made. Can’t blame her. She described it thusly; ‘It was like watching the greatest chef in any universe create a magnificent stew with the scientific precision and artistic grace worthy of a wonder of the world.’
“What’s more, I had been away for a week on an expedition. She got really hungry. Regardless, it will happen again one of these evenings and then all of us can go home!”
Oh sweet Celestia nooooo! I didn’t want to think about my old friend and brother doing micro-macro play! Nope nope nope! MOVING ON!
“Actually, there’s a rescue team coming for me any day now!” I said faux cheerfully. “I came to get you because Nyota said you guys were here.”
Starswirl blinked twice.
“Truely?” He asked with a hopeful yet skeptical peaked eyebrow.
“Yes! I got a letter from Celestia last afternoon outlining the entire plan which outright stated that we had two days before they got here,” I elaborated with a smile. “So, where’s Clover? Do you have anything to pack? Any friends to bring with you? We should get to The Island as fast as possible so we don’t miss the rescue. You know, just in case their way home doesn't last long.”
Starswirl shook his cloak to get the sand off it, popped his neck, and turned to wave down one of the Dimorphs who were still circling us. A light orange one flew over, landing on the sand with a soft plop.
“Yes, sir?” It asked in a female voice, giving Starswirl a polite bow.
“Go to the Crystal Cavern and tell Clover to meet me in the sanctum immediately,” he ordered firmly. “Inform her that in no uncertain terms we have our escape route and must leave now. After you have delivered these orders, I want your squadron to go to each of our bases and deliver contingency orders. I’m certain you know the ones.
“I will inform Aritea she’s to take the crown immediately. Be certain everyone hears she’s in charge now.”
“Yes, sir!” the Dimorph replied, saluting before jumping up, wings flapping rapidly as she flew off.
I raised an eyebrow. “Uh… You know I didn’t think about it too much before but, you sort of made an entire species and are just… Abandoning them here. I mean, I don't think we could take many with us. Not for portal reasons, Sky’s better than that, but political ones,” I admitted with a worried frown.
Starswirl nodded twice. “Yes, Twilight. I did. Which is why we have a contingency plan for this exact situation. They will be fine. The only person aside from Clover and I who absolutely must come with us is Snowbound. She’s my current apprentice,” Starswirl informed, his face and voice taking on a more serious air.
“Wait, wait, wait!” I exclaimed, holding up one hoof in genuine shock. “You made someone capable of casting spells? How!?”
“I didn’t do the real work,” Star dismissed quickly. “The wardens studied my anatomy and made a feral unicorn. Presumably to study our species. Roxie found her and thought she was an ugly equestrian pony, and currently massively brain damaged due to not being able to speak and acting like, well, an animal.
“I fixed what I could with the normal uplifting techniques I created, and she was very grateful. She is capable of very light telekinesis, but she’s actually my apprentice in alchemy.”
“Roxie?” Nyota asked timidly. “Uh… Ye mean that huge Rex girl I shot in the eye after she jumped me that one time I was here?”
Star nodded, then snickered. “Thanks for that. She’d been unbearably smug about her ‘invulnerability’ before that fight. But yes, that’s her,” he said with a grin.
Starswirl looked around the beach, frowning slowly. “Ah, yes…” he murmured sadly. “I’m sorry, Twilight. In my surprise and joy at our reunion, I have completely forgotten about the fact that there’s a war on right now.
“How about we take this conversation elsewhere? Say... The secure bunker within the heart of my fortress across the river?”
He pointed to my left, at the large mountain I’d seen from the air. I hadn’t been paying too much attention to my surroundings at the moment, and hadn’t really seen it before now.
The mountain had been hollowed out, an elaborate Romane style arched fortress cut right into the side of the mountain, wrapping around it like a belt of sorts. The limestone archways were clearly very old, older than I’d expect Star or Nyota to have been here. However, between the arches, fresh metal walls had been erected, and wooden walkways had been constructed to allow people and dinos access to many different entryways within the mountain fortress.
I nodded twice. “Yes, that’s a great idea! We should get out of the open,” I agreed with a nod. “Lead the way? I don’t want to have to go all mini-star again to get your guards to leave me alone. Heh heh…”
Star chuckled, turning around to lead the way to his home. “I don’t want to have to whap you with a newspaper again, myself. Come along, there’s good food and company waiting,” he said happily as he began to trot down the beach.
I took a few steps myself before I felt Nyota’s armored hand gently grab my left shoulder.
“Um, Twi?” She asked hesitantly, her voice laden with worry.
Almost as if… Oh.. Oh, no… She didn’t like quadrupeds. Did she?
Please like quadrupeds! I’d only just become totally okay with the idea of- Just please don't hate me now!
I frowned, dreading what she was going to say, and nodded. “Yes?”
“Soo… Yer kinda tall for a pony, and I’m pretty short for a biped. Yer also earth pony strong,” she said, tapping her fingers together bashfully. “C- Can I ride ye?”
I blinked twice. “Uh… My dad’s watching… We’re in the open… On sand,” I said, face turning bright red.
“No! On yer back,” Nyota yelped. “I didn’t mean like that! I uh, I mean, we can if that’s on yer mind but-”
I facehooved. She’d mentioned our sizes. And my strength. AND I let Spike ride me all the time when he had been small enough… What the hay, brain?
“Yes, Nye, you can ride me,” I said as I knelt down and spread my wings. “How about from now on you ask if you can ride on my back?”
Nye nodded, definitely blushing behind her helmet, then gingerly stepped over to me and swung one leg over my back, climbing aboard. I groaned slightly under her weight, her armor was REALLY heavy… But I could manage this for a little while.
“Thanks. I sprained my ankle landing… Hurts like a son of a bitch. Didn’t want to look weak in front of yer dad,” Nyota whispered into my ear.
“Oh! Well, you stay up there as long as you need, okay?” I offered with a smile, turning my head around to look at her happily.
“Are you fillies coming?” Starswirl called from a good ways down the beach. “Or should I build a box around you two and bring lunch over there?”
“Coming!” I called, quickly trotting after him as fast as I could manage with Nye on my back.
Today was a good day.