//------------------------------//
// Moonblade 
// Story: The Child of Sun and Moon 
// by Darkest Night 
//------------------------------//

This last week had shown her just how special Starjumper really was.
Floating along in the brisk cold of the early winter morning, she looked down and saw him walking towards campus with his breakfast, a donut and a cup of coffee, heading for the class.  They’d been in class for the last week, back for required lecture and more or less just waiting for the chance to test out.  Ponies were starting to joke that they could set their clocks by Starjumper’s movements, that he had become so predictable that Donut Joe had his order and cup of coffee on the counter before he even walked in the door.
A week.  She’d known his secret for a week, and it was that week that opened her eyes not only about who he really was, but how well he hid it from the rest of the world.  She knew he was smart from the tutoring, she knew he was skilled, even gifted, as a magician, but hadn’t appreciated just how impressive that stallion really was until she could see the true motivations behind the things he did.
For a week now, she had come to tutoring knowing his secret, knowing who and what he was and what he could really do, and he had not said a word about it.  Just like when he stonewalled her about being able to teleport, he pretended that his secret didn’t exist, he never mentioned it, never even hinted or alluded to it, and that made her understand just how disciplined he was.  He wouldn’t even make mention of it to a pony that already knew.  It was like…like he convinced himself that he was just another unicorn stallion, and that self-delusion held right up until the moment that he couldn’t possibly deny it, that moment he changed into a thestral.  It was a great example for her to follow when it came to keeping a secret, to not only not ever talk about it, but not even think about it unless she had a true need to do so.
The secret did not exist, right up until the instant that it needed to exist to come in line with the real world.
But, things had changed between them, she could tell.  He was still terse, still abrupt, still not all that talkative, but he didn’t seem quite so aloof now.  When he looked at her, there wasn’t that guarded hood behind his eyes.  He seemed much more comfortable with her now, and there was no doubt why.  He didn’t have to lie to her.  He didn’t have to keep his distance from her.  He didn’t have to pretend with her, even though he did to maintain the illusion, his grand masquerade that he was just another unicorn.  She knew, and even if she said not a word about it, he knew that with her, he didn’t have to pretend.  She knew his truth, and she was still there.
He really was something else.  All the burdens on him, all the responsibilities, and he managed to carry them without a single word of complaint.  He was a hunted pony, reviled and despised by an entire race, and yet he walked with calm distraction, as if that fact didn’t exist.  She had respected him before she learned his secret, but now she admired him.  He had managed to carve out a life for himself despite the crushing weight pushing down on him, managed to not only maintain his dignity, but also his compassion, even though he had to be hard and maybe a little merciless, because his life may someday depend on him being able to fight against ponies that wanted to kill him.
The biggest example of that was what she remembered of his story about who he was.  He could see things from the side of the thestrals, understand and even empathize with their irrational fear, even though they wanted to kill him.  It said a whole lot about who he was deep inside, that he could understand them, even if he was opposed to them, almost like he didn’t see them as his mortal enemies, more like misguided children who didn’t understand that what they were doing was wrong.  He didn’t hate the thestrals, even though they hated him.  And while he may have to fight them someday, he didn’t hate them. 
To be able to take that kind of moral position, it showed just how strong he was.  He was a pony that stood in the face of almost overwhelming adversity since the day he was born, and he still had the strength of character to pity those who called him enemy.
Well, there was one thestral he did hate.  She could tell that his animosity towards the deposed Night King was entirely personal, because of what he did to Starjumper’s aunt and uncle.
The thestrals.  They were supposed to be here next week, and from what Starjumper told her, he would be restricted to his apartment in just three days, and Princess Twilight had cast a spell over the tower that wouldn’t allow the thestrals to get in. That would keep him safe, but only so long as he stayed inside the apartment.  They were restricting him five days before the thestrals were scheduled to arrive just in case they came early, and he couldn’t come out until the day after they left.  He’d be stuck inside the apartment for ten days, and he’d told her that the Princess had a plan of some kind to explain why, to keep ponies from thinking about why he wasn’t in class.  He was supposed to break school rules, on purpose, and the Headmistress was going to suspend him for two weeks and the Princess was going to restrict him to his apartment as further punishment.
She descended and landed beside him, the aura of magic fading from around her, fidgeting a bit with her scarf.  She was wearing a winter saddle, snow boots, and a scarf against the winter cold, where Starjumper wore nothing, and yet seemed entirely comfortable in the biting cold without a coat.  Then again, she’d learned, he never let anything look like it bothered him, it was part of the stoicism that was quickly becoming almost a legend in Canterlot.  To many, Starjumper was the kind of pony that could stroll  through a raging forest fire as if it were the Promenade.  There was a kind of temperance about him that ponies noticed, like the discomforts of the world were for other ponies to endure, not him.  The cold that had other ponies walking with greater urgency to their destination was of no moment to Starjumper Astra.  But that temperance wasn’t serenity.  The calm about him was a pregnant one, a charged one, as many who had been the victim of one of his malevolent stares could attest.  His stoicism wasn’t the quiet calm of a pony who had not a care in the world, but the tight control of a pony that kept his negative emotions in check.  Nopony could look into Starjumper’s bat pony eyes and not be a little intimidated by the subtle hostility that lurked within them.  At least no pony except her.  She knew why that hostility was there, knew that it was there not because he hated other ponies, but because he wanted to protect them from the danger he posed, and it did not frighten her.  To the contrary, she admired it because it showed his true compassion. 
Their breath misted in the biting morning air, and snow crunched under their hooves and boots.  The pegasus ponies had held off on the first snow of the season for a few days after bringing the winter cold, which was a bit unusual, so the snow was pristine and unpacked.  “Morning,” she offered, glancing over at him.
“Morning,” he returned without looking at her, taking another sip of his coffee, steam wafting up over the cup.  “Did you practice last night, or waste your time at another party?”
“Both, thank you very much,” she replied primly, almost putting her nose up as she looked towards him.  “I’m pretty sure I have spherical shields down.  What’s next?”
“Angular, but those aren’t very hard,” he answered.  “Once you learn the trick of joining the sides together, it’s really just creating two different planar shields.  Given how fast you’ve gone through this, we may be done with shields by Friday.  And your graduation will be assured.”
“Pft, like I care about school now,” she said dismissively.
“Said like a pony that knows she’s going to pass,” he said evenly.
“Well sure, but I learn way more from you than I do them,” she scoffed.  “And don’t think you’re going to stop tutoring me after I learn shields.  I want to know everything you know, Star.  And I’ll keep paying until I do.”
“You’d better,” he countered, which made her grin at him.  She glanced to the side, where Nova was standing with three of his friends, the four of them all in coats and talking in a loose circle.
“I do have something to pass along,” she said.  “Nova’s not grounded anymore.  He was at the party last night, and I think he’s doing his dad’s bidding.”
“How so?”
“He’s been saying some pretty nasty things about you,” she replied.  “And I mean it goes way beyond just the normal party gossip.  He was telling ponies last night that you’re a criminal.  Like a real criminal, that you were in jail in Baltimare.”
“I guess North Star wasn’t dissuaded by his investigator’s final report,” Starjumper noted dryly.  “This must be Plan B.”
“You said he wouldn’t be.  You were right, it must have just made him even more convinced he’s right.”
“The mind of a zealot is easy to understand,” he said calmly.  “So, speaking as a Canterlot snob, what’s his angle here?” he asked, looking down at her.
She stuck her tongue out at him, which made him smile ever-so-slightly.  “He’s trying to poison the school against you.  If he can get enough students’ parents complaining about you to the Headmistress, she’ll have no choice but to do something about you.”
“Death by a thousand cuts,” he grunted.
“So, were you in jail in Baltimare?” she asked playfully.
“Yes,” he replied evenly.  “The investigator must have dug that up.”
She gave him a surprised look.  “What happened?”
He glanced around, to make sure nopony was close enough to hear, then lowered his head down to speak in a low tone.  “About a year ago, I got into a…confrontation with an obnoxious stallion from Manehattan.  He was in our shop, being a complete jackwagon, you know, complaining about how low-brow our merchandise was and whatnot.  When my brother told him to leave the shop, he got belligerent and deliberately broke some glassware.  Well, I put a stop to that, then threw him out of the shop.  Literally.  He came back an hour later with the city constable and claimed that I beat him up.  I had to go to the constable’s office, explained what happened, and he decided I was justified and let me go.  Then he threw the Manehattan pony in jail overnight for breaking those mugs and not paying for them,” he chuckled darkly.  “I was technically arrested when the constable came to the shop, and I spent about ten minutes in a holding cell after I gave my statement.  So yes, I was in jail…for ten minutes.” 
“Well, I can’t blame you for that,” she declared.  “And I’m glad things got sorted out quickly.  That might have gotten…complicated.”
He looked down at her with an even stare, then nodded calmly.
“Now that I know what’s going on, I can throw a bit of a wrench into North Star’s scheme,” she said confidently.  “In fact, I can turn this back on him quite nicely, since you were wrongly accused.”
“I think you’re a little too sure of yourself.  Besides, like I told you before, I don’t really care what Canterlot ponies think of me.”
“This isn’t to make you popular, Star, this is to keep the Headmistress from throwing you out of school,” she replied brusquely.  “This scheme could work, especially if there’s nopony pushing back against his rumors.  I don’t think you appreciate the power a well placed rumor can have.  It’s ruined ponies with much better reputations than yours.”
“I don’t have a reputation.”
“Everypony in Canterlot has a reputation,” she told him, glancing up at him.  “You don’t want to know what yours is like.”
He gave a snort, which made her giggle.  “Luna’s moon, you Canterlot ponies are ridiculous,” he complained.  “Ponies getting ruined over a rumor.  I have never in my life seen so many ponies who spend all their time standing around talking about everything, yet doing nothing.”
“Hey now, you’re getting a little personal here, Star,” she said primly.  “You’re getting dangerously close to insulting my friends.  I am a society pony, you know.”
“Truth is only an insult to those without the character to face it,” he stated bluntly.
“I believe we’d better move this discussion to another topic,” she said, a bit frostily.
“I can agree to that.  Ruminating over the silliness of Canterlot society ponies will no doubt ruin my breakfast.”
She raised a foreleg and elbowed him in the side.  She was not gentle.
He wheezed a bit, then looked down at her with a slight smile.  “Point proven.”
“Oh, drink your coffee!” she snapped shortly.
Celestia’s grace, Starjumper sure hadn’t acted any differently with her since telling her the truth.  He could still drive her crazy sometimes.
When class started, so did the interminable boredom.  There was nothing that Frostmane was lecturing about concerning transfiguration spells that she didn’t already know, didn’t learn from Starjumper.  She and him were ready to test out at the first opportunity, for that matter, she’d mastered all the required applications of the spell and was ready to earn more than enough bonus points to not even have to take the written test.  She couldn’t really pass the time the way he did by reading, so she ended up just sitting at her desk and daydreaming through the morning…daydreaming about being able to cast the spell.  Seeing Starjumper do it, that one time and one time only, had lit a fire under her to learn it herself.  It had just been this nebulous goal until she saw it, saw exactly what it was he was teaching her to do, and now she was more determined than ever to cast that spell.
And she could admit, a bit of petty revenge was part of it.  The best part of her daydream fantasies was casting that spell in her finals and seeing the looks on the faces of her teachers and schoolmates who had always laughed at her behind their hooves because she was such a poor student. There was no sweeter revenge in her mind than to stuff those tittering giggles right down their throats when she cast a spell that none of them ever believed her capable of using, a spell that they would never be able to cast themselves.
Yes, it was a bit immature and petty, but she was allowed a few unladylike thoughts once in a while.
When the lunch bell rang, she walked with him outside, but as usual, she didn’t plan to eat lunch with  him.  She spent that time with Crystal Bell and her friends, and her learning the truth wasn’t going to change that routine.  She gave him a nod of farewell and trotted over to Crystal Bell and Berry Cream, falling in beside them.  “So, how about the Corner Café today?” she offered.
“We went there yesterday.  Let’s go to the Millstone,” Berry Cream countered.
“Ooh, that sounds good.  I could go for a banana muffin,” Crystal Bell agreed.
“Then it sounds like I’ve been outvoted,” Summer Dawn admitted, which made her friends laugh.
They went to the bakery that was right across from Starjumper’s apartment and sat at the table by the window, enjoying some muffins and good coffee.  “I’m not sure I’m ready for the test on Friday,” Crystal Bell frowned.  “These transfiguration spells just have me stumped.  I don’t get them at all.”
“I hear you, Crystal,” Berry Cream agreed.  “I haven’t been able to change my stick into anything yet, except an even angrier stick.”
Summer Dawn had to laugh at that analogy.  “It’s not as hard as it seems, girls,” she said, taking a nearly lecturing tone.  “The important part isn’t the spell, the important part is the image you have in your mind of what you want the spell to do.  If that’s not right, the spell will fail even if you do cast it properly.  Here,” she said, looking down at the napkin holder.  Her horn blazed with pink magic, and it transformed into a salt shaker in a flash of magic, an exact duplicate of the one already there.  “See, it’s not that hard.  If I can do it, I’m positive you girls can do it.  You’re just as good at magic as me.  Maybe even better.”
“Wow, I didn’t know you learned it already, Summer!” Crystal Bell blurted.
“I learned it last week,” she admitted modestly.  “Star walked me through it, through all the required variants too.  I’m hoping I test out on Friday.”
“Maybe you can teach me what Starjumper taught you,” Crystal Bell said hopefully, looking at the new salt shaker on the table.
“Well, have you learned the spell?”
“I think so,” she replied.  “Lemme try.”
“Not on the napkin holder, you can’t cast another spell on an item already under the effect of the spell,” she warned.  She turned her head and opened her saddlebag with her magic, then set an empty ink pot on the table.  “Now, look at the salt shaker, Crystal.  See everything there is about it.  Its size.  Its shape.  How many holes are in the top.  What the design around the sides is like.  The color of the design.  The more detail you put into the image you build in your mind, the easier the spell is to cast.  Got it?”
“Yeah, I do,” she said seriously, looking at the salt shaker.
“Okay, cast the spell.”  She watched as Crystal Bell’s horn flared with soft blue light, and she could sense the flow of magic.  “Stop!  Wait!” she called.  “That’s wrong,” she warned.
“How did you know that?” she asked.
“Star taught me how to sense magic so I can tell how a spell is being cast,” she said absently.  “It’s how he makes sure I’m casting the spells right.”
“Oohhh, can you teach me that?” Crystal asked quickly.
“I think so,” she replied.  “It’s not that hard, you just have to pay attention to what the magic is doing.  Star said that he doesn’t understand why all unicorns don’t do it, because it’s an integral part of who we are.  Anyway, you weren’t forming your spell right.  I, um, hold on.  He didn’t exactly teach me how to do this, but I think I can do it.” She bit her tongue a little bit as she built a spell with her magic, then she gave a smile when glowing lines of magical energy appeared over their heads.  “Yes!” she exclaimed.  “I remembered it!”
“What is that?”
“It’s a visual representation of a spell you’re about to cast,” she replied.  “This is how he teaches me, by letting me see the spell as a visible matrix of magical energy, rather than reading an incantation formula written on a page where the words form the thought that translates into the magic.  I’m really bad at trying to learn spells by incantation, but I can pick them up when I can see them like this.  He says this is the way I learn, and I guess he’s right, because I remember spells when he does it this way.  When I learn how to do the spell, I don’t need this image anymore.  Okay, so this is a basic transfiguration spell,” she said, then she staged the spell within the image over their heads, and the magical lines of force swirled into being.  She then turned her head a little bit, then created a second one.  “This is what you did, Crystal.  See how they’re different?”
“I…I do,” she said, looking up at the two staged spells.  “So, I’m not doing the incantation right.”
“I suppose.  There’s a word in there you’re thinking differently than the spell expects.  But if you look at this way,” she said, pointing up at the lights over them.  “Just reshape this area right here to match this.  And boom, the spell’s correct.”
“I’ve never done it that way before,” Crystal Bell said speculatively.
“I think that’s why I do so well studying under Star,” Summer Dawn mused.  “The way he teaches me magic is so different from how they teach us in school.  I never read a book when he teaches me.  I sit down and I’m either casting spells or watching him cast the spell he’s teaching me the minute I get there, and I’m doing it til the moment I leave.  And everything he teaches me is always like this,” she said, waving her hoof upwards again.  “It’s never words on a page.  It’s magic in action, where I can see the magic and see how it moves, how it flows, how it behaves.  Learning spells by incantation may work for other unicorns, but it doesn’t work for me.”
“Can you teach me how to do it this way?” Crystal Bell asked, looking up.
“I suppose so, but do you really want to learn from the worst student in class?” she asked, which made both of them laugh.
“No way anypony thinks that anymore, Summer,” Berry Cream told her.  “Not after you knocked everypony’s horn off when you tested out of the freezing spell.”
“Yeah, Nova’s like ultra-mad at you now,” Crystal Bell added.  “He never expected you to be upstaging him in class when it comes to magic.”
“He can keep on being mad, because I don’t care what he thinks one way or the other,” she said firmly.  “I’m not trying to impress him.  I’m just trying to get Frostmane to let me test out so I can study the magic I want to learn, not what she’s teaching us.”
“I’d settle for getting this spell right,” Crystal Bell fretted.
“I tell you what.  Why don’t you two come over to my house after sunset tonight?  I’ll try to teach you what Star taught me, but I’ll warn you now that I may not be very good at it.  It’s kinda hard for me to explain what he’s taught me in words, when so much of what we do is about things like this.”  She pointed up at the visual spells over their heads.
“Right now I’ll even take help from you, Summer,” Crystal Bell said with a playful tone, which made Summer Dawn laugh.
“So, did you get the shield spell to work?” Berry Cream asked curiously.
With a big smile, she dismissed the staged spells over their heads, then her horn blazed with pink magic.  A shield formed around the table, a few currents of darker pink magic shimmering across the surface as it stabilized.  “Amazing!” Berry Cream gushed, reaching over and putting her hoof on the spherical shield.  She’d built it as a solid shield, so it prevented her hoof from going through.  “I can’t believe you learned a spell like this!  Teach me, Summer!”
“Teach me too!” Crystal Bell added excitedly.
“It’s not that easy,” she laughed in reply.  “There’s a lot you have to learn before you can do this spell.”
“Well, teach us that too!” Crystal Bell declared.
“I guess I can.  Let’s see, my going rate will be thirty gems a week,” she said playfully, which made both of them snap their gazes towards her.  “One hour a day maximum, five days a week.  And I charge extra if you ask me questions outside of tutor time.”
They both gave her surprised looks, and when she began to laugh they did too.  “You had me going there a minute, Summer!” Crystal Bell said in relief.
“But seriously, girls, I don’t think you’ll learn in time to use it on the final for bonus points, given I won’t have all that much time with my own studies.  But if you don’t mind that, I guess I can teach it to you.”
“I don’t care about the finals, I just think this is super-cool, and I wanna learn how to do it,” Berry Cream declared, tapping the shield again.
“Wait, you should have more time.  Didn’t you hire Starjumper to teach you shield spells?  Well, you can cast it now,” Crystal Bell realized.
“He knows other spells, and I’ve hired him to teach me every spell he knows, teach me everything he knows about magic, as well as teach me the spells in the curriculum,” she answered.  “Since he’s way better at teaching me than the teachers are, I’m gonna keep him as a tutor so he can teach me through the rest of the school year.  I’m gonna need his help, because when I graduate, girls, I’m going to be a full time magician.  I want to know everything there is to know about magic, so I’ve decided to dedicate myself to it.  So, Star’s teaching me everything he can so I have a good foundation when I start studying on my own.”
“That’s so cool, Summer!” Crystal Bell told her.  “I thought about trying that, but I don’t think I have what it takes.  I’ll just take the safe path and get a job in the palace or something.”
“I’ll never be good enough at magic to make a living off of it,” Berry Cream laughed ruefully as Summer Dawn dismissed her shield, which made Berry Cream’s hoof lunge forward when what it was pushing against disappeared.  “But one thing’s for certain, Summer. You don’t have to worry about passing your finals now!”
“I know, and you have no idea how giddy that makes me,” she grinned in agreement.  “This time last year, I didn’t know if I’d even still be in school by now.  I was afraid they’d kick me out for bad grades or something.  And now I want to devote my life to learning everything there is to know about magic, to be as good as the pony who taught me.”
“Is he really that good?” Crystal Bell asked.
“Star?  He knows more about magic than Professor Frostmane,” she answered honestly.  “He sees things in the magic, things I’ve never even considered could be there.  I’ve never seen anything like it before.  When he casts spells, girls, he’s not building a spell so much as he’s creating a work of art, and the magic responds to him in a way I’ve never seen it respond to anypony else.  He can take the most difficult spell you can imagine, and he casts it with such effortless grace that you’d think it was the simplest thing in the world.  I hope someday to be half the magician he is,” she declared strongly.
“Wow,” Crystal Bell breathed.
“I’m honestly not sure why they even put him in school.  He’s far beyond anything they teach in school,” she proclaimed.  “But I’m not complaining too much.  If they wouldn’t have put him in school, I’d never have met him, and I’d never have realized what I want to do with my life.”
“Ooooh, so we’re getting to the center of this muffin,” Crystal Bell said with animation.  “That was the sound of a mare who’s going to miss a stallion when he leaves.”
“Of course I am, he’s a great teacher,” she countered.  Crystal Bell gave her a steady look, and she almost gasped and rose up in her seat.  “Crystal Bell!” she accused.
“Come on, he’s cute, don’t deny it,” she said winsomely.  “All that time you two spend alone together, I’d almost be upset if he didn’t look at me once if I were you.”
“I—You—Oh, hush, you!” she said, her cheeks burning.  That made the other two mares laugh.  “He’s my teacher!  And if you knew him, you’d know exactly how ridiculous that statement really is!”
“And why is that?  Does he not like mares or something?”
She gave her a flat look.  “He already has a marefriend, Crystal.  It’s called magic,” she replied tartly.  “He’s completely devoted to studying magic.  I don’t think he’s even noticed I’m a girl yet.”
“So, you have considered a few things,” Crystal Bell grinned impishly.
To her intense pique, she blushed furiously.  “Well, I guess somepony’s not going to learn how to cast a shield spell after all,” she replied tartly, which made both of them explode into laughter.
They left the bakery and started back for class, Summer Dawn walking maybe a little too quickly to be entirely innocent of Crystal Bell’s accusation.  Of course she’d considered Starjumper that way.  He was cute, even with his eyes and fangs, and she knew him better than any mare in Canterlot, so she knew that he was a gifted, intelligent, compassionate stallion who had more strength and conviction than half of Canterlot society put together.  But, she also knew that because of what he was, he would even think of going on a date with anypony, not even her.  He wouldn’t expose a mare to that kind of danger…not from him, but because of what might happen to any mare that got close to him.  The threat that the thestrals would use his marefriend against him kept him alone, because he would not put another pony in danger because of him.  He cared too much.
It was almost prophetic that she would be thinking of the thestrals.  She saw several other students running across campus, all of them seeming to converge on the green outside the main academic building.  The three of them were going in that direction anyway, so they headed in that direction as well.  They reached the edge of a crowd, and unable to see, Summer Dawn used levitation on herself, lifting up and over them to see what had everypony so excited.
She nearly felt her heart leap out of her chest when she saw what was drawing the crowd.
Starjumper was standing out on the campus, not far from the steps up to the door to the academic building, and he had placed a shield around himself.  Standing around it were thirteen figures, all of them wearing black armor.  And when she looked at them closer, she almost screamed in fear.
They were thestrals.
The thestrals were early!  They were over a week early!  And they had caught Starjumper out in the open!  He was low on his front hooves, his eyes narrow and a snarl on his face as he turned his head to watch the armored thestrals that had him surrounded.  They weren’t trying to come through his shield, so they were just holding him there.
They didn’t know, and in that moment, she understood why Starjumper kept what he could do a secret.  If they knew he could just teleport away, they wouldn’t be toying with him now.  They would attack him, and it would put every unicorn watching on in danger.  And he wasn’t going to reveal what he could do unless he had no choice, because once he showed them his tricks, their surprise value was gone.  She quickly approached them from over the others, getting close enough to hear.  One of them, a mare, she was speaking, but she was speaking a language Summer Dawn had never heard before.
As the mare spoke, her voice taunting and malicious, one of the thestrals behind Starjumper moved, looked about to try to come through the shield.  She saw that while he was wearing armor, he also had armor over the leading edges of his wings that extended out over the tips of them as sharpened blades.
Weapons.
It was everything she could do not to attack that thestral to protect her friend, but she knew it was not a good idea.  They didn’t know that he was her friend, and if she tried to intervene, she’d be revealing that…and that would make her a target.  Besides, Starjumper was inside his shield, and he was such a good magician, they’d never get through it.  He had everything under control, and if things got out of his control, he could escape them with a single spell.
Thank Celestia, somepony intervened before she had to make that choice!  In a circular burst of purple magic, Princess Twilight appeared between Starjumper and the mare that was talking, her wings spread out and a furious look on her face from what Summer Dawn could see.  “Stand down, Moonblade!” she shouted, her horn absolutely blazing with magic.  A split second later, Princess Starlight appeared in a burst of blue magic behind the thestral mare, and her horn too was almost afire with magic, so much magic that Summer Dawn could sense it from where she was.
They weren’t kidding!  They were going to blast that thestral with everything they had!
“Princess Twilight Sparkle, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” the mare said in an oily voice, dripping with scornful mockery.
“You stand on Equestrian soil, Moonblade, and are subject to Equestrian law while you do!  You will stand down now, or I will send you back to your mother in a small box!” the Princess threatened.  And to prove it, the magic around her horn coalesced into a shimmering globe of immense magical power.
The thestral mare gave her a measured, narrow-eyed look, then turned her head enough to look at Princess Starlight from the corner of her eye, who was directly behind her and had her charged horn leveled on her.  She then looked over to the other thestrals, six stallions and six mares, and gave a nearly imperceptible nod.  The other twelve took a must less aggressive stance, all of them taking a few steps back.  But they didn’t move from their circle around Starjumper, keeping him fully surrounded.  And Starjumper certainly didn’t miss that either, because the shield around him didn’t come down.  “I told you to stand down, Moonblade!” Princess Twilight said hotly.  “That means you tell your guards to withdraw!  You will order all of them to report to the Royal Palace’s main gate immediately!”
She gave the Princess a cold look, then folded back her bladed wings and said just two words in that strange language.  The other twelve then took off from the ground and flew the short distance to the palace.
“Starlight, could you make sure they stay there, please?” the Princess asked.  Princess Starlight didn’t answer, she simply disappeared in a circular burst of blue magic.  The Princess took a less aggressive posture and folded back her wings as well, but she stayed firmly between the thestral and Starjumper.  The thestral said something in that other language in a harsh voice, clearly addressing him.
In response, Starjumper stood fully erect and dismissed his shield.  “Here I am, jaikla. Are you thestral enough to take a shot at me without your guards to hide behind?”
She gave him a savage look, her bladed wings snapping out.  Princess Twilight stepped to the side to get completely between them, breaking the thestral’s line of sight with Starjumper.
“Starjumper!” the Princess barked, glancing back at him.  “You are not helping!”
“Why don’t you come out from behind your mommy and we’ll see who’s standing when it’s over!” the thestral mare nearly spat in reply.
“Both of you, SHUT UP!” Princess Twilight screamed.  “Headmistress Roseglass, teleport Starjumper to a secure location.  And you, Moonblade, we are going to have a very long talk in the throne room.  Now!” she snapped, opening her wings and lifting up off the ground, hovering over the thestral’s head.  “Follow me!”
The thestral mare glared unholy death at Starjumper as she opened her wings.  “Magra va,” she intoned savagely.
“Dosai va doe,” he answered, obviously speaking Thestralla.  Before the thestral could respond, the Headmistress stepped up to Starjumper, and they both vanished in a circular burst of ruby magic, robbing the thestral of seeing in which direction Starjumper went.  That was a very smart thing for the Princess to order, Summer Dawn realized.
But still, that whole scene was not good.  Now everypony was going to do nothing but talk about it for the next week, and all they’d talk about was how the thestrals tried to attack Starjumper.  That would make ponies wonder what was going on, and they might find out the truth.  And it would just add on to the rumors Nova was spreading about Starjumper.  She wouldn’t be surprised if there weren’t parents in the Headmistress’ office by the end of the school day, demanding to know if their foals were safe with Starjumper on campus and the thestrals in Canterlot.
She landed beside Crystal Bell and Berry Cream, and her two friends looked both perplexed and a little, well, excited, like it was some grand performance.  They had no idea just how real that was, and how it almost turned into a war!  “What was that all about?” Berry Cream asked.
“That was—“ Summer Dawn started, then cut herself off and shook her head.  “That was for real.  I could feel the magic, the Princesses were going to blow that thestral up if she didn’t back off.”
“Why were the thestrals surrounding him like that?” Crystal Bell asked her.
“That’s a good question,” she deflected.  “I need to talk to Star.”
“The Headmistress took him somewhere.”
“But I know where he’s gonna be,” she said firmly as the afternoon first bell rang, bringing her back to reality.  She was in class, she couldn’t just run off to Starjumper’s apartment.  That’s where she knew he would be staying while the thestrals were here, so that was where Roseglass was going to take him.
That afternoon was torture.  All she could do was look at the clock and wait for it to move, and every minute turned into an eternity as Frostmane droned on and on about transfiguration.  She found herself unable to sit still, fidgeting constantly, as if moving around would somehow jar the clock and make it speed back up to normal, and she paid absolutely no attention to the lesson or to Frostmane.
This, Frostmane did not fail to notice, and she paid for it.  Summer Dawn was almost startled out of her wits when a heavy book slammed onto the desk in front of her, and she was still keyed up over what happened to Starjumper.  She reacted with magic, her horn blazing with pink energy as she almost instinctively, unconsciously took the desk and chairs around her into account.  A spherical shield formed around her, nearly startling Crystal Bell out of her seat beside her, the shield anchored to the floor, desk, and tier wall behind her, completely enclosing her in a protective shell.
Frostmane raised one of her white eyebrows as the rest of the class gawked a little bit.  “Miss Summer Dawn, you will pay attention,” Frostmane ordered.
“I—I’m sorry, Professor,” she replied, feeling completely stupid, the aura of pink magic around her horn fading, which caused the shield to shimmer and vanish.
“A question,” her teacher said, coming out from around her desk and walking towards the tiers.  “Was that directional?”
“No ma’am,” she replied.  “Solid magical spherical.”
“Anchored?”
“Yes ma’am.  I’m still working on making a free-floating shield that’s intersecting a solid object, I haven’t quite learned the trick of it yet.  It’s easier just to anchor it.”
“Reproduce it.”
“Uh, yes ma’am,” she said, her horn again limning over with pink magic.  A second later, the shield returned around her.  She gave a bit of a startled sound when Frostmane lowered her head, her horn blazing with silver magic, and a bolt of pure magical power raged across the space between them and struck the shield.  The entire class jumped a bit at the sudden spell, then there were a few gasps.  She’d used a mana bolt spell!  She’d attacked the shield to try to bring it down!
“Well built,” she said, her voice a tiny bit impressed, then she returned to the blackboard
Finally, mercifully, the bell rang, and Summer Dawn was out of the room before the other students even so much as packed up their books.  She broke school rules by galloping down the hallway before the other students could fill it. She managed to get out of the building before the hallway filled up, and she forced herself to slow down and walk calmly towards Starjumper’s apartment.  She knew she wasn’t supposed to come to his door without him inviting her, but darn it all, this was an extenuating circumstance.  She came up the steps and knocked on the door carefully, almost cringing when it made too much noise, and the door opened almost immediately.  She stepped inside and saw him sitting at the writing table downstairs, his horn glowing with golden magic as the door closed behind her.  “Thank Celestia!” she said in relief, hurrying over to him.  “I was so worried!  Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” he replied calmly.
“What happened, Star?”
“I wasn’t expecting them this early.  Nopony was,” he grunted.  “One of them pretended to try to take my head off while I was walking back to class after lunch.   They surrounded me out on the campus, and I think you saw everything after that.  I saw you rise up over the crowd.”
“That’s awful!  Did you get hurt?”
“Of course not,” he replied calmly.  “I saw him coming.  It was nothing but a trick, anyway.”
“How can trying to kill you be nothing but a trick?” she asked, a bit strongly.
“How he did it,” he replied.  “He missed on purpose.  You saw them, right?  Did you see the black gems mounted into the chestplates of their armor?”
“Yeah.”
“Those are spell dampeners,” he told her.  “They cancel magic that touches them.  He took the shot at me to make me think that I can hold them back with magic.  So, when they try again, I’ll make a mistake that may get me killed,” he said evenly.  “So keep that in mind, Summer.  Magic doesn’t work on them directly.  You have to be creative to use magic against them.”
“So, I couldn’t grab one with levitation and hold them in place,” she said, to which he nodded.  “But, I could pick something up and throw it at them.”
“Exactly,” he nodded as he stood up and faced her.  “Those spell dampeners behave the same way a magical shield does, Summer.  The same rules.”
“Ohhh, I get it,” she said, nodding.  “Okay, now that you answered that question,” she said, then she reached over and gave him a quick but fierce hug.  “I was so worried!  I almost ditched afternoon class to come make sure you were okay!”
“Well, I’m glad you feel better,” he said, a bit awkwardly, patting her on the back.  “But as you may expect, I’m stuck in here until they leave.”
“Roseglass teleported you here?”
He nodded.  “So the thestrals have no idea where I am.  Nor does anypony else, really, except you.”
“And I’ll keep it that way,” she promised.
“You need to.  As in, you need to leave, and everyone needs to see you leave.  And you won’t come back to the tower until the thestrals leave,” he told her.  “The Princess doesn’t want anypony to see anypony coming and going from the tower while the thestrals are here.”
“But, but my lessons!” she blurted, then blushed and felt stupid almost immediately.
He gave her an amused look.  “You’re not getting out of your lessons that easy,” he told her, turning his head.  His horn limned over with golden magic, and a mirror lifted up from his writing desk and floated over to her.  “Take this home with you and set it in your room, and make sure you set it so the face of the mirror faces the room.  I know a spell that will let me see through a mirror from another mirror.  I have to be able to see the room.”
“You’re going to—here?” she said in sudden excitement.
“Of course I am,” he chided with a slight smile.  “I only need to know exactly where you are, and that’s what the mirror is for.  When you hear a chime come from the mirror, Summer, stand in front of it in an open area, so I can see you and the room around you.  I’ll take care of the rest.”
“From halfway across town?”
“You seem to have this preconception that you have to be right there to use the spell,” he told her.  “I already know where you live, and the mirror will let me home in on you.  So, I think I’d better explain how it works when you’re back over here.”
“Oooh, that sounds awesome!” she said in sudden enthusiasm, placing the small mirror in her saddlebag.  “Give me about an hour, okay?  I need to talk to my parents and make sure they don’t knock on my bedroom door while I’m gone.  If they find out I’m not there, it may make them freak out a little bit.”
“One hour,” he nodded, looking over her and towards the door, which opened from his magic.  “Remember, face the mirror towards the room.  I’ll take care of the rest.”
“I will,” she nodded confidently.  “I’ll see you in a little bit.”
He nodded without replying, then turned and sat back down at the writing desk.
She hustled out of the apartment and down the stairs, deciding that she shouldn’t attract attention to herself by floating from the porch like usual.  She got all the way to the Promenade before she did so, rising up over the wide avenue and the buildings, then starting towards home by floating quickly, so fast that the wind in her face stung a little bit from the cold.  She was so glad he was alright, it was such a relief!  But, she could tell that he was rattled.  She knew him better than he thought she did, she could tell that the experience had unsettled him just by the way he was talking to her.  He usually didn’t talk like that, both from the tone of his voice and the way he was speaking.  He was trying to be calm and confident for her benefit, because he didn’t want her to worry, but she knew he’d been shaken by getting caught out in the open like that.
That stallion was just too noble, trying to make her feel better just so she wouldn’t worry about him.
She landed at the rear of the house, at the kitchen entrance, then hurried inside.  Withers was behind the counter starting on the preparations for dinner, and her mother was sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of tea and the Canterlot newspaper hovering in front of her by her magic.  “Mom, what are you doing in here?” she asked as she closed the door.  “Why aren’t you in the parlor?”
“I can’t sit at the table and enjoy a hot cup of tea, silly girl?” she countered.
“Given Dad’s not here…yes.”
She laughed.  “Your father’s in town,” she replied.  “And I don’t like to sit in the parlor by myself.”
“Well, glad you’re here, now I don’t have to hunt you down,” she said.  “I need to talk to you about what happened today.”
“Oh, I heard all about it,” she said, putting the paper down, the aura of magic fading from her horn.  “You know Starjumper, daughter, maybe you can explain what that was all about.  It has everypony quite confused.”
“I…can’t really say, Mom.  He made me promise to keep it secret,” she hedged.
“Then what do you need to talk about?”
“They have him in a hidden place while the thestrals are here,” she began.  “But I’m still going to be taking my lessons with him after school.  I’ll be doing them in my room, and he’s going to be using magic to talk to me.”
“Well, that’s fairly clever.”
“Yeah, I thought so too.  But what I need is for you to promise that you won’t try to come into the room while I’m taking my lessons,” she said.  “When I close the door, nopony knock on it.”
“That’s a strange request,” her mother noted, looking at her.  “And why is that?”
“Because he doesn’t want to take any chance that somepony that walks into the room sees the magic he’s using and figures out where he is.  He said the Princess will murder him if he reveals where they have him hidden, and he had to talk her into allowing him to use the spell to keep tutoring me.  So, he’s taking no chances.”
“That sounds almost like a bad spy novel,” Fleur de Lis mused.  “But I guess we can manage that, daughter.  I’ll tell your father when he gets home.”
“Thanks Mom, you’re the best!” she said, advancing up and hugging her from her seat.  “I’m gonna go up and get started, he’s waiting for me.  I should be out around the usual time.”
“I’ll have dinner ready at sunset, Miss Summer,” Withers promised.
“Awesome!  Thanks, Withers, you’re the best too!” she said, giving him a smile.
She rushed up to her room, then realized once she closed the door that she had a long wait before the hour was up.  She expected it to take much longer to track down one of her parents and arrange things, because they were usually out of the house this time of day.  They attended a lot of small social functions during the early afternoon.  She set the mirror on her desk and made sure it faced the room, then ended up pacing around the room waiting impatiently for the mirror to chime.  She didn’t even think to practice her shield spells in the time she was waiting, too anxious and eager to see Starjumper use his secret magic.
The mirror finally gave a loud chiming sound, and she quickly rushed over to stand in front of it.  She then thought she was too close and backed up a few steps, then felt she was too far away and took a couple of steps forward.  When nothing happened, she backed up again, and after nothing happened again, she took a single step forward, giving the mirror a quizzical look.
It startled her.  There was no warning, no sense of magic.  One second she was looking at the mirror, and the next second all she could see was golden magic all around her.  She felt a strange sensation, like a hot wind blowing over her, and there was a definite sense of motion, but she wasn’t the one moving, it was everything else that was moving around her.  It was like she was sitting in a carriage and seeing the city moving by the window, even though all she could see was the golden magic.  But before she could move or react, the magic evaporated, and she found herself standing in Starjumper’s apartment, right beside her cushion.  She gave a gasp of surprise, then laughed in delight as she looked around.  “Oh my gosh, you really did do it!” she blurted.
“I would have done it earlier if you’d have stood still,” he chided.  “I can’t do that if you’re moving.”
“You didn’t tell me where to stand, I kept thinking that you couldn’t see enough to find me,” she said in defense of herself.  “But still, that is so cool!  And I’m going to be able to do that?”
“Eventually,” he answered.  “You have a lot to learn before you can pull that off.”
She hopped to the side, onto her cushion, and plopped herself down energetically, giving him an eager, expectant look.
He gave a laugh, a laugh that seemed much more normal for him, like he was starting to relax, to calm down.  “You’re not ready for that lesson yet,” he told her.  “But I’ll explain the basics before we start practicing.”
“Okay,” she said.
He took a couple of steps back, giving her room, then he sat down.  “Teleportation,” he began, “is a simple spell to understand, but it’s a very hard spell to execute.  At its core, it’s as simple as taking an object and moving it from one place to another.  But it’s how you do it that’s tricky.  When you teleport something, Summer, you don’t make it disappear and reappear somewhere else.  What you’re actually doing is moving it completely out of our world, moving it through another one, and then bringing it back in the location you want it to.”
“Huh?”
“You just got over here, Summer.  Was it instantaneous?”
She gave him a look, then her eyes widened when she realized what he was saying.  “No.  There was this split second where I was surrounded by magic, and I had this feeling that something was moving.  But it wasn’t me.  It was…it was like I was sitting in a carriage and watching the city go by in the window, but I couldn’t see anything because of the magic.”
“Precisely,” he nodded.  “When you teleport something, Summer, you’re sending it to a place I call the otherspace, then you bring it back.  In that other place, distances don’t mean the same thing they do in our world, so you can move something miles in a split second.  It’s this other place that’s responsible for the resistance I told you about.  It doesn’t like us taking things and sticking them inside it, so it resists your magic.  But we’ll come back to that some other time,  because you’re not ready for that yet.  What you need to consider, Summer, is that it’s not a spell restricted to just you.  You can teleport yourself, sure, but you can also teleport other objects, and it works both ways.  You can teleport to another location, teleport an object from where you are to somewhere else, but you can also teleport an object from somewhere else to you.  You just have to know exactly where it is.  That’s the most important thing about teleportation no matter how you use it, Summer, you have to know exactly where something is, and where everything else is in relation to the object.  And the more detailed your knowledge of the landing point of the spell, Summer, the easier it is to cast and the less chance you get burned in transit.  That’s why I’ve had you practice paying attention, so you start learning what you need to know to use the spell safely.  Understand so far?”
“Yes,” she replied.  “You brought me here by teleporting in reverse.”
“More or less,” he nodded.  “I just needed to know exactly where you were and be able to see the place in detail so I could grab hold of you.  I’ve never been to your room before, so I needed to see it through the mirror.”
“So, you wouldn’t need the mirror to do it again if I was standing in the same place?  I mean, you saw the room, so you know what it looks like.”
“Yes I will need the mirror, and I’ll explain why when I teach you the spell,” he corrected her.  “So you’re going to be keeping the mirror for a while.  Just turn it towards the wall or cover it with a cloth when I don’t need it, that way I’m not peeking in on you in your room.”
She gave him a look, then burst out laughing.  “Well thank you for warning me about that,” she grinned.
“I thought it was only fair,” he drawled.  “Now, teleportation involves three aspects of control to use properly, Summer. Remember what they are from the book?”
“Location, position, and motion,” she recited.
“Correct.  You have to define all three of those aspects to use the spell without hurting yourself. And like I once told you, if you do it really wrong, this spell can kill you, Summer,” he warned.  “So I can’t emphasize enough that you learn how this works before you have a near-death experience.  Trust me, they’re not fun.  At all.”
“I wouldn’t think they would be,” she agreed.
“Well, some ponies are just flat out crazy, so you never know,” he drawled, which made her laugh.  “Location is the simplest of the three to understand, it’s where you reappear, and the one you have the most control over.  It’s your landing spot, the place where you’re going to reappear, and the more detailed your ability to envision that place, the less energy it takes to get you there.  Position is how you reappear.  For example, when I brought you here, I didn’t change your position.  You were standing in your room, and you reappeared here standing.  But I could have made you reappear sitting down the way you are now, or made you reappear reared up on your back hooves, or laying down, or whatever I wanted.  So long as your body is physically capable of assuming that position without injuring yourself, I could have made you reappear in any way you can reasonably imagine.”
She gave him a surprised look, then gave a sudden fierce blush and burst out in awkward laughter.
“Hey now, keep it clean, sassy mare,” he chided, which made her laugh harder.  “It’s a lot harder to change another pony’s position without burning them, so you won’t be doing that until you have some experience with the spell.  Motion is the hardest of the three to control, because you’re very limited in what you can do with it, and it’s the most dangerous of the three if you get it wrong,” he continued.  “It’s how fast you’re going when you reappear.  You can disappear standing and reappear walking, but you can’t reappear at a dead run.  That goes beyond the capability of the spell, and you’ll all but give yourself third degree burns if you try.  But, if you do that in reverse, if you disappear at a dead run, you can reappear standing still.  Simply put, you can slow yourself down in transition far more than you can speed yourself up.  Why, I have no idea, that’s just how it works.  But even slowing yourself down has limits, so don’t ever try to fall from a great height, build up a lot of speed, then just think you can teleport to the ground and cancel out all that momentum.  That’s a very fast way to get very dead.”
She gave him a slight blanch, then nodded vigorously.
“There are some tricks to getting around those limitations, and I’ll teach them to you.  But they’re advanced tricks, so you have to learn the basics before you start pulling those off.”
“The falling thing,” Summer Dawn interrupted.  “What if I was falling with my hooves towards the ground and reappeared with my hooves towards the sky, so I was falling up?”
“Well reasoned,” he said with an impressed look.  “Yes, that’s one of the tricks you’re going to learn, how to change your orientation, which is an aspect of your position.  Very observant question.”
She beamed brightly at him.
“What you can do with it depends on how creative you are,” he continued.  “Like you just realized today, it’s not limited to just you teleporting yourself to another place.  You can teleport other objects or even other ponies to another place, or bring them to you.  For example, if you forgot something in your room, you could teleport it to you from all the way across town, then send it back when you’re done with it.  But those are very advanced applications of the spell, and you’ll need a lot of practice with it before you can do things like that safely.  Using the spell like that is extremely hard, it may take you years to learn how to do it.  I wouldn’t ask anypony that could cast it to even try it.  Not even Princess Twilight,” he told her.
“But you said I could do it.”
“Because I’m going to teach you,” he replied.  “This spell is my special talent, Summer.  Not to brag or anything, but I know this spell like no other spell, and other ponies don’t understand just what it can do the way I do.  I’ve practiced with this spell for years, hours and hours a day, this spell and this spell alone, so I have much more experience with it than, say, Princess Twilight.  This spell is a part of who I am, and it’s as natural to me as levitating a teacup is to you.  And given how powerful you are, Summer, I know you have the potential to use the spell the same way I do.  You just need me to teach you, somepony to show you how to look beyond the limitations that other ponies put on the spell because they don’t truly understand how it works.  When I’m done, Summer, you’ll be able to do everything I can do with this spell.  It may take you a few years to master the most advanced applications of the spell, like what I did to get you here, but if you’re diligent and you’re determined, you will be able to do it.”
“I’ll learn,” she assured him in a strong voice, giving a single nod.
“I’m sure you will.  So, in a nutshell, Summer, that’s the basics of how the spell works.  You have three aspects of the spell you must define with as much precision as possible, and you have to learn the most basic use of the spell, teleporting yourself to another place, before you learn how to branch out from there.  And what’s the first rule of teleportation?”
“Mistakes hurt,” she recited.
“Mistakes hurt,” he nodded.  “Now then, it’s back to boring shield spells,” he declared.  “You still have to learn angular and irregular before you’re ready for teleportation.”
“You did that on purpose,” she fumed a bit.  “Got me all excited about teleportation and then drop that on me.”
“If you don’t hate me, then I’m being a bad teacher,” he said dryly.  She gave him a short glare, then laughed despite herself.
She had a reason to learn the last two versions of the spell now, so she buckled down and knocked his horn off by learning both of them in a matter of hours.  Angular shields really weren’t hard, it was just creating two different planar shields and then joining them together at their edges…sort of.  And irregular shields were just more than two planar shields that she joined together in succession.  By the time the clock went off, she was fully comfortable with angular shields and was working on getting irregular shields down, mainly because it got kinda tricky once she built a shield with  more than four faces.
“Not bad.  You may have this down by tomorrow,” he said with an approving nod as he stood up.  He’d spent the entire tutoring session sitting in front of her, and that was a bit unusual.  Usually he did schoolwork or read a book and just kept a passive eye on her.  She could tell that he was rattled from the close call, so maybe he just wanted to be near a friend, moral support, but he’d never admit it.  Not because he was prideful or arrogant, but because he wouldn’t want her to worry.
He really was such a thoughtful and brave pony.
“I don’t have to leave at three bells,” she offered impulsively.  “They’re not expecting me until sunset.  I have a little more time.”
“You don’t need me to watch you,” he said dismissively.  “Just practice your irregular shields on your own tonight, and you’ll be ready to put this one in the books by tomorrow.”
“I want you to tell me more about teleportation,” she lied a little.  Really, she just wanted to stay because she didn’t want him to be alone.  Being there for him was what being his friend was all about.
His only friend.
“Best not to tempt fate,” he said evenly, standing up.  “Just be patient, Summer.  Odds are, you’ll be starting on it in a couple of days.  Maybe even tomorrow, if you can prove to me you have all the forms of a shield mastered.”
“Well, what about food?  Do you have enough food to hold you over?  Would you like some dinner from home?” she asked.  “I can have Withers fix you a plate, and you can zap it over here, then zap the plate back when you’re done.”
He gave her a measured look.  “I’m fine, Summer,” he told her in a warm, reassuring voice.  “But I appreciate your concern.”
“Well…well, if you want to talk, just make the mirror chime.  Now that you’re not hiding your trick, you can bring me over here to talk any time you want to, even if it’s the middle of the night.  I know you don’t sleep much.”
“Stop being a nervous nellie, silly mare,” he chided.  “If you want to try to comfort me, or whatever it is you’re doing, then be ready to start teleportation tomorrow.  If anything, this is the perfect time to get you started on it, when I’m more or less a captive teacher,” he drawled.
“Well, I’m worried about you!” she flared a little.  “You’re my friend, Star!  I don’t want you to be over here feeling lonely, or scared!”
He gave her a gentle look, an expression she almost never saw on his face.  And it made him look so…handsome.  “Just keep your eyes open tomorrow,” he told her, backing up a couple of steps.  “And remember, be silent.  They don’t know who you are, and I want you to keep it that way.”
“I…I will,” she answered.  “Just promise me that if you need to talk, you chime the mirror.  Even if it’s the middle of the night.”
“And how will I do that after the moon rises?” he asked pointedly.
She spluttered a bit, then blew out her breath.
“Forgot already, did we?” he teased lightly.  “Well done,” he added with a smile.  “It proves you’re being serious about obeying the saying.”
“It will be unspoken,” was all she said, looking up at him with a smile.
“That’s my girl,” he told her with pride in his voice, his horn flaring with a bright surge of golden magic.  “Listen for the chime around an hour after school lets out.  And stand still next time, for Luna’s sake.”
“I will,” she promised with a giggle.
“Off you go,” he declared.  A second later, there was nothing but golden magic around her and that hot wind blowing over her coat as she moved without moving, and then the magic winked out and she found herself back in her room, in the exact spot in which she’d been standing.  She blinked and looked around, getting her bearings, then she blew out her breath.  She didn’t want to leave him, but Starjumper was Starjumper.  All she could really do was make sure she was ready for tomorrow, make sure he knew just how seriously she took his lessons, how important they were to her.
She glanced at the mirror over her vanity, holding a picture of her, Crystal Bell, Berry Cream, and Strider.  It was from six years ago, in their first class in the academic building holding the upper classes, the first time they felt like grown-ups.  That was about when her troubles in school started, she recalled, but it was still a good time.  They were all happy, looking forward to learning more than just how to levitate balls and conjure globes of light, and they all had such hopes for the future.  Like any unicorn that managed to get into their school, their heads were filled with dreams of being the next Starswirl the Bearded—just without the beard in the case of the fillies—and so looking forward to that first day of not feeling like foals.
Things had come full circle, she mused.  She’d given up on her dreams of being a dedicated magician as her grades got worse and worse, as the lessons depended more and more on books she couldn’t understand, until it got to the point where she was just hoping and praying that she wouldn’t flunk out of school.  But now…now…wow.  Who would have thought that she’d be looking forward to graduating not just to get school over with, but so she could study the magic she wanted to learn on her own time, without being on somepony else’s schedule?  Who would have thought that she, Summer Dawn, wouldn’t even be worried about final exams?  With all the magic she could use now, her graduation was basically a guarantee.  If Starjumper could teach her how to teleport before finals, she’d pass finals with one spell.
Celestia’s brilliant sun, how lucky was she that he crashed into her life out of nowhere?  And it was all thanks to the fact that she wasn’t intimidated by his grumpy demeanor, had the courage to talk to him after he squared off against Nova.  That started her down this path, where she knew what she wanted out of life and now was on the road that led to it.  She was going to learn everything he could teach her, learn magic the way he knew it, and then build on that foundation when he went back to Baltimare and pursue her dream of being a dedicated professional unicorn magician.  And she would do it her way, which would not involve her spending her life trying to read a book.  She would learn by doing, she would learn as much as she could about magic and then learn how to use it by experimentation, not reading books.  Yes, it was going to blow up in her face more than once, but she had the determination and the courage to just clean off the soot and try again.
All thanks to Starjumper.
It hit her.  He was going to leave Canterlot.  She knew he would, he was only here because the Princess was making him go to school.  She…she didn’t like that idea.  It wasn’t just because he was the best teacher ever, it was simply that she would miss him.  He was grumpy and abrupt, but he was the smartest unicorn she’d ever known, he was thoughtful and compassionate, brave and noble, and he was the best teacher ever.  He’d taken the hopeless cause and turned her into one of the best spellcasters in class, and he did it while doing so much of his own work.
Really, that stallion was just amazing.  Totally amazing.  She wanted to do something for him before he left, do something that would show him how much of an impact he’d had in her life, both as a teacher and as a friend, and how grateful she was for both his help and his friendship.  But she really didn’t have a clue what to do. 
Wait.  There was something she could do for him, but it would take her getting some help herself.
She came downstairs and made her way through the lower floor to reach the parlor, and saw that her mother and father were there waiting for dinner.  It was their favorite place in the house, a room filled with warm, bright furniture and decorations, a thick Saddle Arabian rug on the floor that all but massaged the hooves when one walked over it, and the dominating feature of the room, a giant fireplace with a marble mantle that had a cheerful fire burning within it.  “Well, you’re back earlier than I expected, my dear girl,” her father said as she came in.  Both him and her mother were reading, her father from a newspaper and her mother from a book.  Her father was sitting in his favorite chair, and her mother was laying on a divan next to the fireplace, her favorite spot in the whole manor.  “How was your tutoring session?”
“It went pretty well, Dad,” she replied, coming over to him.  “Can I talk to you and Mom about something kinda serious for a minute?”
“Why certainly,” he replied, using his magic to close the paper and set it on the stand by his chair.  Her mother closed her book and slid off the divan, coming over to stand by the chair as well.
“I…I think I’m gonna need your help,” she began.  “Nova’s dad is trying to get Starjumper thrown out of school, and I don’t exactly know what to do to help Star put a stop to it.”
Fancy Pants’ expression turned serious, as did her mother’s.  “You’re certain of this, Summer?”
She nodded.  “He hired an investigator pony to follow Star around and dig into his past, looking for something he could take to the governors to have Star expelled.  And he’s had Nova spread rumors about Star at parties and gatherings since his punishment ended, things Nova couldn’t possibly know unless North Star told him.”
“And you’re sure of this?”
“Yes,” she answered.  “Star found out about it when he realized that the investigator pony was following him around.  And I saw him too, Star pointed him out to me.  He did follow Star around every time he came out of his apartment, for over a week.  And he was always hanging around the bakery across from his apartment, watching it.  They don’t know how good he is at magic, Dad, he was able to use his magic to find out what they were up to.”
“I wouldn’t put it past North Star,” her mother said darkly.  “He was embarrassed by his son being suspended, and you know how far he’ll go to answer a slight.  If he thinks Starjumper sullied his reputation, he would try to retaliate.”
“He did harp about the stallion a little too much for it to be idle gossip at the Three Colt’s Club,” Fancy Pants mused.
“I told Star I’d help him get North Star off his back…I’m just not quite sure what to do,” she said.
“I dare say that we’ll give you a hoof with that, my dear girl,” Fancy Pants replied.  “I’ve never seen you do so well in school since you started your lessons with him, and by Celestia, North Star’s pettiness is jeopardizing your academic future.  I won’t have that,” he declared firmly.  “You leave this to us, Summer.  I think it’s about high time that North Star realized that if he’s crossing your tutor, he’s crossing us.”
“Just do me a favor and do it quietly, Dad.  Starjumper doesn’t want a giant brouhaha over this.”
“Never fear, my dear girl, we’ll take care of it,” he promised.
“Thanks, Dad, you’re the best!” she said, leaning over and kissing him on the cheek.
“You’re welcome.  Now, I’m not sure you’ve heard yet, but the Princess is hosting a state dinner for the thestral emissary, and we’ve been invited,” he said.  “So I need you to finish your tutoring early tomorrow so you can get ready in time.”
“Really?  After what happened, she’s throwing her a party?”
“It’s established protocol, daughter,” Fleur de Lis told her.  “All diplomats of her rank are given formal state dinners.  She is the daughter of the thestral ruler.”
“So she’s a Princess?”
“Thestrals don’t have Princes and Princesses,” Fancy Pants told her.  “I learned about their government today, after the Princess invited us to the dinner.  The Night Queen’s daughter is the leader of their Royal Guard, which are called the Night Blades, and it’s their tradition that the eldest foal of the ruler serves as the leader.  Moonblade isn’t even her real name, she assumed that name when she was appointed to the post.  In a way, it’s both her name and her official title.  Her actual name is Moonshade. Which, I guess, wouldn’t be that hard for her to adjust to Moonblade, given how similar they are,” he chuckled dryly.
“Weird.”
“I know.  It seems that the thestral way is quite…well, it’s both barbaric and a bit chaotic.  The ruler of the thestrals can be challenged at any time for the throne by any other thestral in a duel.  And there’s little family loyalty involved in it,” he snorted.  “The current ruler took the throne from her father, and from what I heard, nearly killed him in the process.  The combatants aren’t allowed to surrender.  It goes on until one either kills the other or incapacitates him, rendering him completely helpless,” he said, disgust shimmering in his voice.  “Really, I don’t see how they establish a functioning government if the ruler can be deposed at any time by anypony in the realm.  And I don’t see how the government runs efficiently if the ruler of the realm is determined by who has the biggest muscles, not who’s the most qualified.”
“So, the current ruler took the throne from her father while serving as the captain of his Royal Guard?  Wouldn’t that be a bit, well, a bit traitorous?” Summer Dawn speculated.
“They’re not unicorns, my dear girl, even if they’re ponies,” Fancy Pants said.  “They have their own way, and I suppose it works for them.  It would never work here, though.”
“I…I’m not sure I want to go, Dad,” she said.  “She tried to attack Starjumper, and he’s my teacher.  I may not be very nice to her.”  And what she didn’t tell him was that she didn’t want to talk to her for fear that her anger would get the best of her and that thestral somehow would find out that she and Starjumper were friends.
“You don’t have to strike up a conversation with her, daughter, but you do need to be there,” Fleur de Lis told her firmly.  “If she tries to talk to you, just be polite and then excuse yourself.  You know how to manage a situation like that.”
“Mom, Dad…maybe it’s not a very good idea to mention that he tutors me,” she said, realizing the potential problems that the situation may cause.  “I don’t want her pestering me, or even worse, trying to find out where the Princess hid him because she may think I know where he is.”
They gave her a long look, then her father nodded.  “A wise precaution, my dear girl,” he agreed.
Withers stepped up to the doorway.  “Dinner will be served in a few minutes,” he announced.
“Excellent timing, my good stallion,” Fancy Pants declared eagerly.  “I’m quite famished!  Shall we remove ourselves to the dining room, ladies?”
As they made their way to the dining room, Summer Dawn was considering what her father said, and it made what she overheard Nightsong saying make more sense.  Most thestrals think that her father lost on purpose so she could succeed him, she remembered Nightsong saying about the new Night Queen.  Was that a set up?  Did they game the thestral system so Moonblade’s mother could take over from her grandfather?  Did her grandfather allow his daughter to beat him to within an inch of his life just to make it look convincing, or did they fight for real and he was outmatched?  And if so, how would that affect the rest of the family for Moonblade’s mother to turn on her father that way?
And would Moonblade someday turn on her own mother, her desire to rule overcoming her family loyalty as it had for her mother?
Dear Celestia, how did thestrals even manage to function with that kind of potential hatred and paranoia boiling through the Night Queen’s family?
It seemed almost ridiculous to think that Nightsong would be from a society like that.  She’d only met her once, but she seemed a spry, chipper, upbeat, very funny mare.
Well, maybe life was much different for thestrals that had no desire to rule.  She really didn’t know much at all about thestral society, and that seemed kinda strange given she was friends with a half-thestral.  But he never really talked about his thestral heritage, even if he seemed quite proud of it.
Yet another paradox that defined her friend.
One thing was for sure, she wasn’t starting on teleportation tomorrow.  They wouldn’t have enough time.  Tomorrow, she’d impress Starjumper with how competent she was with irregular shields, prove she was ready to move on, and they could start on teleportation on Friday…including talking him into giving her some weekend tutoring time so she could learn the spell matrix.  He didn’t allow her to practice spell matrixes by herself until he proclaimed that she was competent enough not to blow her mane off if the spell went wrong.  And given how hard teleportation had to be, no doubt if she messed that spell up, it would be both spectacular and painful.
Thursday.  She could hardly wait.  She was finally going to learn how to teleport.  She was almost there!



The halls of the Royal Palace in Canterlot took on a slightly ominous feel late at night.  The lights were turned down but not all the way out, turning the pristine hallways into dark, shadowy passages that had an ominous silence about them.  A single hoofstep echoed up and down the hall, as if the darkness ahead and behind amplified the sound and then sent it back, and voices carried when spoken, causing most ponies to speak in whispers.
North Star had never liked the palace that much, truth be told, mainly because it put his own manor to shame…and North Star did not like anything that was grander than him, his holdings, or his family.  He held a particular disdain for Princess Twilight and Princess Starlight, which he felt weren’t worthy of assuming the roles of the Royal Sisters.  He would have accepted Princess Cadance and Princess Flurry Heart, for Cadance had ruled the Crystal Empire long enough to have experience and Flurry Heart was born an alicorn, which meant that she had been raised to rule, had been taught everything she needed to know to be a judicious ruler.
Not those two.  Twilight had been a librarian before becoming a Princess, and Starlight had been a…a criminal!  What insanity had possessed Celestia to ascend that reprobate to royalty?  It took every ounce of his willpower and discipline to smile in that mare’s face and treat her with deference, when she wasn’t worthy to clean his spats!
So, since he held no true respect or loyalty to the Princesses that had been installed in place of the Royal Sister—even if the Royal Sisters had installed them—he felt no particular guilt over this meeting.  Moonblade had gone after Starjumper before even reporting to the Royal Palace, and North Star both wanted to know why and possibly make arrangements for her to be…more successful if she had another chance.  That stallion, that half-blood mongrel, had stained his family’s reputation, and what was worse, he was a better magician than his own son!  And if that wasn’t bad enough, he had turned Fancy Pants’ filly into a competent magician!  Really, that was what infuriated him more than anything else, that his son was being upstaged by the incompetent daughter of his greatest rival in Canterlot society!  It made his son, and his family, look like laughing stocks that the ditzy, air-headed waste of space that was Summer Dawn was outperforming his son in school!
“Moonblade,” he said with a graceful bow as she opened her chamber door.  She stepped back to allow him to enter, and he did so.  She was alone in the chamber, he saw, her guards sleeping in other quarters, and had removed her armor.  What it revealed was a slim, long-legged mare with a dark blue coat, black spots on her back legs, and a cutie mark comprising a white crescent moon with a flower in profile inside the arc of the crescent.  He wasn’t quite sure which flower, he was no florist.  She had yellow eyes with vertically slitted pupils, tufts on her ears, and fangs.  Her leathery bat wings were folded to her sides, the tips of them spreading over her cutie mark to partially conceal it.  “I’m honored you agreed to this meeting.”
“You’re here to get to the point, unicorn,” she said in a strong voice as she closed the door.  “You said you had information about him?”
“I can’t tell you where they’re hiding him, nopony in the palace knows.  I can, however, tell you who might have that information,” he offered.  “But, I’d like to know a little bit about why you want him.”
She gave him a direct look.  “I can’t,” she answered.  “The treaty between Equestria and the Nightlands forbids me from discussing him in any way.”
“I see nopony here that’s going to care if you violate the treaty,” he said calmly.
“You really have no clue, do you?” she said acidly, which made him quell a sudden surge of anger.  “The treaty was sealed with magic.  If I violate it, the Princess will know.  And the penalty for violating it when I stand on Equestrian soil doesn’t make it worth it, not just to satisfy your curiosity, unicorn.”
“So, what you’re saying is that if I can read the original treaty, I could find out?  If it was sealed by magic, then the conditions of the treaty have to be spelled out quite explicitly.”
“Actually, you could,” she mused.  “Now, who knows where he is?”
“He’s been teaching magic to a mare in his class, a mare named Summer Dawn,” he answered.  “She’s the only unicorn in the city that he lets anywhere near him.  If anypony knows where he is, she does.”
“That’s it?  That’s all you have?” she asked.
“I can tell you where he’s been living.  It’s actually right outside the Royal Palace, a small tower on the school grounds directly across from the fence on the south side of the palace.  Perhaps you or one of your guards could find something there that might tell you where the Princess has hidden him.”
“They wouldn’t be that obvious,” she said, mainly to herself, turning and walking deeper into the room.  “Damn that alicorn, having that unicorn teleport him away.  That doesn’t even leave a scent trail to follow,” she complained.
“A…what?  Scent trail?”
“Do I look like a unicorn to you, unicorn?” she said, looking over her shoulder at him.  “Thestrals have much sharper senses than you do.  I could track him by his scent if not for them using magic to move him.  And no doubt he warned the Princess about that, so she’s ready for me if I try to track him down,” she said sourly.
“Then I believe your best lead will be the mare,” North Star urged.  “If anypony knows where he is, she does.”
She didn’t answer, turning halfway towards him.  “Fine.  But I am curious, unicorn, why you’re so willing to throw him on the fire.”
“He doesn’t belong in Canterlot,” he replied stiffly. “He’s an unclean, tainted mongrel, a desecration of the purity of noble unicorn blood   He’s an absolute savage, uncivilized and violent, and he threatened to harm my son.  This city is defiled by his hooves on its cobblestones.”
“Mongrel, eh?  You have no idea how close that description is to the truth,” she said lightly.  “Thestrals would call him an abomination, because he’s contaminated by unicorn blood.”
“We can disagree which half of him makes him a mongrel, so long as we agree that he is one, and has no place in Canterlot,” he replied simply.  “And I want him gone from my city.”
“And if he dies?”
“It removes him from the city,” he answered steadily.  “And I dare say that I’d find that to be a much preferable outcome.  I would guess that that’s your preferred outcome as well.”
“Not for your trivial reasons,” she told him shortly.  “I’m protecting my race and my realm from the threat he poses.  I’m not trying to kill him because he revealed that your son is a coward and made your family look bad to all the other stuck up snobs in this city.”
North Star raised his head harshly, giving her a cold, malicious look.  “My reasons are my own. All that matters is that our interests coincide,” he replied frostily.
“In one way and one way only,” she answered.  “But I will say this.  After meeting you, now I fully understand why it’s long been thestral custom to have nothing to do with unicorns.”
His eyes flashed, but he held his composure.  “Then I believe we are done here, Moonblade,” he said in a tightly controlled voice.
“We are.  I would suggest that you never ask for another private meeting,” she said in a strong, direct voice.  “Else my thestral savagery get the best of me in the face of a pony as petty as you.”
Without another word, North Star turned and walked out of her room, maintaining his dignity even as he seethed beneath that cultured veneer.  That…barbarian!  The gall to think that she was in any way even close to being in his league!  Now he knew where all of that hated stallion’s bad manners came from!  He was right to believe that his thestral blood made him sub-pony. She was right, he wasn’t just a mongrel, he was an abomination!  All thestrals were!
He swept regally down the passageway to the nearest alcove, stepped into it, and then focused all his concentration and summoned forth every bit of magical power he could manifest.  It would take everything for him to cast this spell, and when he was home, he would be exhausted almost to the point where he would pass out, just as he had very nearly fainted getting into the palace without being detected.  But it had been worth it to get in and get out without the Princess knowing.
It would be worth it.
He very carefully built his spell, and then, gritting his teeth against the pain and exhaustion that he knew was coming, he released it.
In a circular burst of magic, North Star vanished from the hallway.



Back in her guest chamber, Moonblade conferred with her lieutenant, who had been in the room the whole time and simply hadn’t been noticed by that arrogant unicorn.  Like most groundbounds, he had never thought to look up, where her trusted subordinate and friend was on the ceiling directly over the door, his body hidden in the dark shadows up by the ceiling.
“Can you believe that unicorn?” she asked him in Thestralla.  “And I thought those stuck-up unicorns in Unicornia were bad!  I never want to come back here again!”
“He did bring us some useful information,” Saber noted.  “Now we just have to find this mare and see if she knows where they’re hiding the Lykan.”
“I can find out,” she said, glancing at him.  “Luna’s detachment knows a whole lot about the ponies here in Canterlot.  If this Summer Dawn has ever been to the palace, that’ll be a name they know.”
“It’s a good thing their loyalty is to the Night Queen, not this Equestrian Princess,” Saber said with relief. 
“Count yourself lucky Luna isn’t here,” Moonblade grunted.  “If she was, they wouldn’t talk out of respect for her.  But they don’t have the same loyalty to this Princess Starlight, even if she is standing in Luna’s stead and is raising the moon.”
He was quiet a long moment.  “With all due respect, Moonblade, we may have missed our chance.  We should have killed him this morning when we had him surrounded.”
“We can’t do that until after I officially void the treaty, Saber.  You seem to forget just who the retribution spell bound into the treaty will strike if it’s triggered.  And I for one would not want to go home to face my mother after dropping that on her head.  She might kill me.  She might kill all of us,” she growled.  “We got him to show us some of his magic, and that’ll help when the time comes.  We probably got into his head, too, and scared ponies make mistakes,” she added.  “Just keep the Night Blades ready.  Once we find out where he is, I’ll void the treaty, and we can do what must be done.”
“And if it starts a war?”
“Better to be at war as thestrals than at peace as earth ponies,” she declared adamantly.
“Amen,” he agreed.