//------------------------------// // Power Beyond Understanding // Story: The Sun and the Clover // by BG9 //------------------------------// Anon trailed behind Sunset back to Kindness House and to her room. Once inside she sat on her bed, pulling out her wand and tapping it lightly against her knee. "I'm going to teach you the four basic spell schools every mage must know:" she said "illusion, manifestation, encasing, and manipulation. Nearly every school of magic will draw upon one of these four basics. Allow me to demonstrate." Sunset placed her wand against the front of his head, just above the nose. Suddenly his eyes began to see all sorts of colors and the room distorted. It was as if he had taken a hit of LSD. The moment she drew her wand away, his vision returned to normal. "That was illusion. The process of changing one's perception of reality. This is manifestation." Sunset pointed her wand up and a large ball of warm light filled the room. "Next, encasing." Sunset turned her want to herself and her body began to glow a brilliant amber. "Now encasing isn't always that obvious. But it is very useful in the way that it can strengthen objects and shield your own body from magic attacks, illusion included. If you ever plan to fight, this skill is essential. Finally I'll show you manipulation." Sunset pointed her wand to the desk and a book flew straight of the top and into her hand "Eventually I'll teach you how to mix and match them and at some point, use them all at the same time. We'll start with encasing as it's probably easiest of the bunch." Anon pulled out his wand "Alright. Let's do this." "Actually Anon, and try not to take offense to this, but I think we'd be better to start with a kids wand." "A kids wand?" "Yes. These wands are really good for beginners. It's an A-circuit so the magic is easy to flow. They're also made in such a fashion as to provide ample strength to your latent magic." As much as he didn't want too, he couldn't help but take exception to that. Sunset reaches into a trunk under her bed, pulling out a rather small, pain wooden wand, handing it to him. "Now I want you to channel your mana around your body in a tight weave." Anon points his wand forward, causing Sunset to immediately slap his hand down. "Hey! That hurt!" "Never, ever point your wand at someone or something you don't want to hurt." she said, annoyed "That is rule number one of wand safety." "That's just like gun safety." "Gun safety?" "Have you never heard of guns?" "Are they the mortal equivalent to wands or something?" "Not quite. But they are quite dangerous. generally used to take the lives." "How very mortal-like. So obsessed with taking lives." Anon just shrugs off the comment and tries to concentrate. He could feel power welling within him, almost like a pressure growing within his chest. "Anon relax!" He opens his eyes and is surprised by the seen. It was as if a small explosion had taken place. Books were against the wall, sheets ripped from the bed, and papers strewn all over. "What happened?" "You mana got a bit hectic. I'm not surprised. Clover's power must be incredibly difficult to control. Even I'd struggle to do that." "Any tips for controlling it?" "Sort of. It mainly requires meditating and practice.You sit down and focus your mana on a single point or a wide area depending on what you're going for. It's like a muscle. One that you need to train in order to control. Unfortunately for you it's like the muscles of a heavy weight champion." "Seems simple enough." "That'll be your homework then." she said "By the end of this week I want you to have your mana under control and encasing down. Then we'll work on the others." "Will do. Thanks Sunset. Do you want the wand back?" She smiles sweetly "Keep it for now. It'll be a lot easier for you to learn basic magic with that." Anon nodded and made his way to the door "Thanks for the lesson, Sunset." "Anytime. It's what I'm here for." He walked down the halls and towards the exit. Upon closer viewing. he could see Kindness House. Rather than the thick marble walls of Generosity, this house had simple green wall paper and was lined with large windows and beautiful paintings of nature. It was a lot more homey than Generosity House was. He wondered what all the other houses looked like. Where they all unique? Now it was a question of what to do next. He didn't particularly want to start his homework, but Eclipse didn't seem too fun either. He was just starting to walk back towards Generosity House when a loud siren began to ring through the entire campus, making him nearly jump out of his skin. It was like an air raid siren. He heard footsteps running behind and and hardly had he turned around did a hand grab his shoulder. It was Sunset. "We need to get inside. Now." "What's going on?" "I don't know, but it's not good. That particular alarm means we're being invaded by a hostile force." They both couldn't walk more than two steps before being surrounded. A circle of people in black robes and face masks aimed their wands at you. Except they weren't people at all! Behind their masks was nothing but milky black, as if they were shadows that gained sentience. Sunset pulled out her wand. "Stay behind me." she said As Sunset pointed her wand a hand grabbed her wrist. A woman in a long, blue, hoodless robe stood before them. She was absolutely magnificent, like a queen. She stood tall, her face almost stoic and her hair seemed as if it were made from the universe itself. It almost seemed intangible as it waved in the win, it's black background full of tiny white lights. It was as if he was looking at a goddess. Before either of them had a chance to react, the woman placed her hand over Sunset's mouth, knocking her out. Whoever she was, she was far more powerful than anyone he had ever seen before. Maybe even more powerful than the headmaster. He disposed of Sunset without so much as blinking. He was entirely at her mercy. She turns her head to Anon, her expression not altering in the slightest. "Are you aware of whom I am?" she asked in a gentle, yet thundering voice Anon was so afraid he couldn't even form the words to reply. Instead, he merely shakes his head. "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Nightmare Moon, the Mage in the Moon. You have something that belongs to me." Anon felt a large bead of sweat run down his face. Now that he thought of it, she did seem familiar. It then hit him like a ton of bricks. She must have been the third person in the flashback, the one with the blue hair. Her face was the exact same. But how was she alive? "Aw don't give me such a terrified look." she chuckled "I have not yet fully formed. I'm merely a projection. My seal has begun to weaken and fray." "Then... why are you here?" For the first time, the woman smiles "To find the successor of Clover's bloodline. And I finally found him." "How is that possible? There's no way you could've known." "Oh you poor naive boy." She placed her hand on his own and like that, the crest glowed. "For a mage like myself, I can sense the power in that crest light years away." she said "It's no coincidence it's appeared now. Clover thinks she can stop me a second time. Well both you and her are about to see what a miscalculation she made. Prepare yourself boy. I will be back. Next year during, Nightmare Night, you'll see me when the sun and moon collide. I hope you're prepared." And like that she vanished, along with her gang of ghouls. Anon fell to his knees. Even as just a project, Anon felt so much power coming of her it was as if her mere presence was exerting force. He shuttered to think how strong she would be fully manifested. Sunset quickly awoke. "Anon! Are you ok?" Anon took a deep breath, finally starting to get a hold of himself "I'm ok." "We're in trouble. Major trouble." "I can tell. The Nightmare Moon person's power is ungodly." "The first mage of the Shimmer clan, along with Clover the Clever, fought her and sealed her away into the moon. Apparently that fight was just barely a win. She is powerful beyond measure. Like Celestia, Nightmare also made a pact, but with the moon instead. It was a huge mistake. Since the moon is the sign of masculinity and she was female, it corrupted her, turned her completely mad." As he feared. She was the third person in the flash back. Meaning she was just as powerful, if not more so, than Clover and Celestia. He climbed to his feet, helping Sunset up. "Sunset." "Yes?" "Is there any way we can access specific memories within my magic crest? I want to know more about this firsthand." "There may be." she replied "But lets go to the headmaster first and report to him what happened. They're probably still scrambling to figure out what just happened. The last time something like this happened was over half a century ago." They both rush to the headmasters office as quickly as their legs would take them. The second they entered, four black robed students had their wands at their necks. "H-hey take it easy!" Anon said "Scan them." One of them said forcefully Another ran a long line of light down each of their bodies "They're real. Let them through." They hurry down the hall to find an extremely distressed Rom pacing back and forth across the room. Sunset bows. "Headmaster." He stares at them for a moment, a look of relief filling his face "It's good to see the two of you alright. But you are in grave danger." he said "Did she tell you anything? Mention any plans?" "You already know what happened?" "Yes. That magic energy is unmistakable. I knew it the second she entered." "She did mention a plan." he said "she said that I should expect her on Nightmare Night of next year. When the sun and moon meet." "We will make the appropriate counter measures. Though given the circumstances I fear nothing we do may be enough. Until then I'm assigning two of the strongest mages we have on campus to be with you at all times." Rom lifts up two of his long hands and claps twice, two more black robes enter. One was tall with mint green hair while the other was rather short with pink, blue, and white hair. They looked like they meant business. The one with tri-colored hair had four long staffs inside a hug satchel connect to her back. The staffs were as long as she was tall, each with a unique color and gem at the top. The green haired one had a belt full of wands of all different sizes. "Anon, Sunset. I'd like to introduce you to two of the strongest mages we have here at Canterlot: Lyra Heartstrings and Bonbon." The two both did a little curtsy "For the foreseeable future, these two will not let you out of your sight. So you better get antiquated." Rom said Sunset interjects "Headmaster. If I may speak." "Please." "Won't this just draw more attention to him? It's a secret for now about his magic crest but if he has two body guards at all times people are going to get suspicious." "I wish there was an alternative. But the rune I placed inside him had no effect. If I had to guess, the rune registered the amount of power in Anon's crest and assumed he was that strong in turn. Meaning I haven't any other choice." "I trust your judgement, sir." "I am thankful for your trust. You are dismissed."