//------------------------------// // An Impressive Demonstration // Story: The Ties that Bind // by the7Saviors //------------------------------// Fia and Corona went to congratulate Blue Moon on a job well done and both grew a bit concerned when the light blue filly only responded with a silent and somewhat subdued nod of thanks. They didn't dwell on it however, as Ancient Scroll had decided at that moment to call Corona up next for an assessment. The other two fillies watched Blue Moon quietly trot back to the overturned log where they had been sitting. "Hey," Corona whispered to Fia, "try to find out what's wrong with her." Fia nodded silently, her face etched with concern for her morose looking friend. She followed after Blue Moon while Corona trotted into the center of the large clearing. She looked from Fia and Blue Moon, both of whom had just sat down, to a politely expectant Rouge and an amused Yojimbo, to Ancient Scroll himself. The old stallion stood by near the others and frowned slightly as he observed Blue Moon. "Blue Moon." The filly in question looked up at Ancient Scroll curiously. "I know I said I'd let you choose what you wanted to show," the stallion continued with an apologetic frown, "but I suppose I got a bit too curious to see how you'd do with the Decoy spell, so I apologize about that. If you'd like, you can try another spell." "No, it's okay, Uncle Scroll," Blue Moon replied with a shake of her head, "that was the one I would've chosen anyway." "You sure, little filly?" Blue Moon nodded once and turned back to watch Corona, who was eyeing the filly worriedly. "Alright, I'll let it go then," Ancient Scroll responded before turning to Corona, "as for you, little filly," he called out, catching Corona's attention, "what have you got for me?" Rather than respond verbally, Corona let out a deep breath and lit her horn. The others watched with bated breath as the maroon filly stood stock still -- her eyes closed, her horn flaring, and her face hard as granite. A deep rumble was the only warning any of them got before Corona was suddenly and quickly sucked into the earth -- the ground where she stood seconds before looking completely undisturbed. "Sunset!" Fia cried as they all stood up in alarm. She snapped her gaze to Ancient Scroll, "Uncle Scroll! Sunset is..." She paused, a confused look on her face as she observed the stallion's calm and rather impressed expression. She and Blue Moon looked at each other with bemused frowns before Fia turned back to Ancient Scroll. "Uncle Scroll?" Fia asked, warily, "what happened to Sunset?" Ancient Scroll's reply was cut off by another deep rumble and a shout of surprise. Fia and Ancient Scroll turned to see Blue Moon desperately trying to pull herself free from the grip of Corona. The maroon filly had risen partway out of the ground and latched onto one of the Blue Filly's forelegs with a toothy grin. "Miss me?" "Agh! Sunset!" Blue Moon cried in shock and irritation, "unhoof Trixie this instant!" "Corona," the half buried filly corrected with a cheeky grin, "remember, we have aliases for a reason Blue Moon." Blue Moon growled in annoyance and went to take a swing at Corona with a hoof, but the filly ducked it and sunk back into the ground with a mirthful giggle. A moment later there was another short but deep rumble and Corona shot up out of the ground back where she started. It took a second for Corona to notice the loud boisterous laugh coming from further behind the other two shocked fillies. She and the rest of the group focused their attention on Yojimbo who was doubled over in laughter. "Fantastic!" he cried between guffaws, "she's a natural, Scroll! A real diamond dog in a pony's skin!" Rouge rolled her eyes and Ancient Scroll grimaced at the analogy, but didn't respond. He shook his head and turned back to Corona with an impress smile. "Well done, Corona," he complimented, trotting over to the maroon filly, "I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it certainly wasn't an Earth Swimming spell." "It sounded fun," Corona replied with a shrug, "and it seemed like something that was within my capabilities to do, so I went for it, and I'm glad I did." "That was pretty amazing, Corona," Fia commented as she and a surly Blue Moon made their way over to the filly, "I didn't know you'd gotten that far in your studies of Earth Magic." "Yeah, this was one of the more recent spells I studied while we were traveling," Corona replied with a nod, "I figured it would be useful to know at some point." "Blue Moon, supposes that was impressive," the light blue filly added begrudgingly, "but was that really necessary?" "Yes," Corona replied with a mischievous smirk, "yes it was. Seriously, Blue Moon, lighten up a little," she waved a hoof out at the many trees surrounding the clearing, "nopony that's out to get us knows who we are, so we might as well enjoy the wilderness and being together and whatnot." Blue Moon harrumphed and trotted back over to the log to watch Fia's demonstration. Corona sighed in disappointment as she followed after the brooding filly. Ancient Scroll grimaced as he watched their retreating forms, before turning to Fia. "What do you suppose is going on with that filly?" he asked, "I noticed she was acting a bit funny just after her assessment was finished." "I don't know," Fia replied with a frustrated huff, "she won't tell me, but I think it has something to do with her past again," she looked towards Blue Moon and her expression turned sad, "I thought we were done with all the secrets and hiding things from each other..." "Sometimes a pony just needs their space, little filly," Ancient Scroll responded with a shake of his head, "normally us equines are all about sticking together and sharing our problems, but that can change in the right -- or wrong -- circumstances." "...I guess you're right," Fia replied thoughtfully, "I'll try to talk to her later tonight." "Suit yourself," Ancient Scroll answered before stepping back towards the others, "now then... I'm interested to see what you've got to show us, little filly." Fia gave a confident nod before trotting closer to the center of the clearing. She inhaled and exhaled deeply before pouring mana into her horn. It glowed with her signature magenta colored aura before quickly fading to the frothing black aura of Dark Magic. Blue Moon and Corona looked on in both worry and fascination as that same aura traveled down her horn and passed over her entire body before sinking into her shadow. Fia shuddered slightly and shook her head as she cut off the magic around her horn. "What's this?" Ancient Scroll muttered curiously, "is this what I think it is?" "What?" Blue Moon asked, turning to the old stallion in bemusement, "what did she just do?" Ancient Scroll didn't reply at first. He narrowed his eyes slightly and focused his gaze on Fia before chuckling in amusement a moment later. "Just watch this, little filly," he finally answered, "it'll be a treat, I'm sure." Blue Moon wanted to say something else, but Corona nudged her in the side and when she turned to look, the maroon filly pointed in Fia's direction. Blue Moon followed her gaze and blinked. Fia hadn't moved from her spot, and nothing seemed to have happened, yet the other two fillies could tell something was off. They couldn't put their hoof on what it was -- at least, until Fia took a step to the left while her shadow stayed right were it was. They all stared in wonder as Fia's shadow rose up out of the ground, mirroring Fia in every way. Fia looked at the shadow. It looked back. Fia turned to face the others. The shadow did the same. Both their movements were in complete sync with each other, albeit mirrored. "I found a book in Uncle Scroll's study specifically about Shadow Magic and I was curious to see if I could do this spell," Fia explained -- her shadow mimicked her every gesture, "I'm... not really sure what real use it has, but I still think it's pretty neat." "Huh," Corona responded thoughtfully, "I guess that is pretty neat." "Blue Moon thinks her decoy was better," the light blue filly muttered, "at least you could make it do other things instead of just copy you." "That's not necessarily the case, little filly," Ancient Scroll replied, "Shadow Animation is a very tricky spell with lots of variations on how it's done. Some variations are absurdly complex and at the highest levels, can even allow the shadow to act independently from the caster. Others, like Fia's Copycat variation, are much easier to use and don't require a lot of focus." Blue Moon looked back over to Fia who was making wild gestures and giggling as her shadow copied everything she did. After a moment of observation, she hummed in thought and turned to Rouge and Yojimbo. "What do you think?" she asked, "about the spells we all used I mean?" "I must admit, I don't know anything about magic or how it works so I may not be the right cat to ask," Rogue replied, walking over to where Blue Moon and Corona were sitting, "but it all seems very impressive to me. Even if I can't understand how it's done, I feel that all of you are very talented in what you've chosen to do." "What she said," Yojimbo added, plopping himself down onto the log next to Corona. He lightly nudged the maroon filly and smirked, "although my favorite was definitely that earth... something spell. What'd Scroll call it?" "It was an Earth Swimming spell," Corona replied with a small chuckle, "it lets me move around in the ground like water." "Yeah well," Yojimbo responded, giving a hearty chuckle of his own, "with a spell like that, you could put us diamond dogs out of a number of businesses!" The husky's genuine laugh was joined by Corona's now uncomfortable chuckle. She didn't know whether or not Yojimbo realized just how much of a real possibility his statement could become. "So what do we do now, Uncle Scroll?" The group all turned to see Fia making her way back to the rest of them, her shadow once again normal and stuck to the ground. "Well, little filly," Ancient Scroll replied, gauging the position of the Sun, "it looks like it's just about dinner time, so why don't you, Corona, and Yoji get a campfire started while Blue Moon, Rouge and I get a meal going?" "Sounds good to me," Yojimbo replied with a nod and an eager smile. He turned to the black and light blue fillies, "you girls wanna help me get some firewood?" "Sure, I can do that," Corona answered with a shrug. She looked at the trees around her with a contemplative frown, "we'll need a lot of wood. Birch doesn't burn for very long." "Alright," Ancient Scroll said with a nod, "we'll leave it to you then." With that, Ancient Scroll, Blue Moon, and Rouge headed back to the Vardo to get dinner started. "Are you sure you wanna do this, Corona?" Fia asked, turning back to Corona with a look of concern, "what about... y'know..." "What about what?" Corona asked with a confused raise of her brow. "Your whole thing with... y'know... fire," Fia clarified in a small hesitant voice, "isn't that... gonna be a problem?" "Oh, right," Corona replied with a grimace, "well... fire in general does make me uneasy, but it's not all fire I'm afraid of, Fia. It's mostly just when I'm trying to cast Fire Magic spells. Besides, we're not gonna be starting fires right now. We're just getting the wood for the fire." "But... back in Little Trot--" "That was different," Corona replied curtly, "that was completely different." "Oh..." Fia muttered, "well, if you're sure then, I guess we'd better get to it." Corona nodded before turning to the old husky with an eager grin. "Lead the way, big guy!" she exclaimed, gesturing to the forest before them. Yojimbo gave the maroon filly a concerned frown before shaking his head and smiling back. "Why don't you lead the way, pup," he replied with a smirk, "apparently you're the expert when it comes to firewood." Corona and Yojimbo continued their pleasant banter as they moved further into the forest, Fia nervously following close behind.