//------------------------------// // Chapter 11. Bitter metal // Story: Learning to see Luna, the story of Vivid Colour. // by Hope //------------------------------// Vivid walked into the small farming town, with a line of guards behind her. It was clear she was not welcome. A stallion hurried his two children away and into one of the buildings before drawing the curtains, and a group of mares in dirty farming clothes watched them warily from a copse of trees next to the pond that seemed to mark the middle of the town. The cluster of buildings formed a ring around the pond and park, and then two half circles around the inner circle, with farmland spreading out beyond as far as the guards could describe. Vivid wasn't certain if the wary reception was due to her horn, as most if not all the locals were earth ponies, or if it was because of her guard escort. But it mattered little to her. For the first time she was on orders from the crown. Orders to investigate, determine the cause of several farms' reduction in yield, and ensure that the responsible parties were brought to court to answer for their actions. The first thing she noticed were the cloud banks. Stored precisely over the hills, and in neat fluffy stockpiles, they were not short on water. It looked as though rains had been scheduled recently, as the grass and trees were vibrant and small puddles still stood in potholes. The second thing she took note of were the roads leading out to the farms. There were two main roads, and the disparity between them was striking. One was well maintained with clear tracks from the wagons, shaded with trees, and lined with fencing so that even a half asleep pony would pull a cart straight. The second road had stones in the path, led towards rocky hills, and looked rarely traveled. No fences, and no wheel grooves. Next to the path was a marker sign, but whatever it had once said had been scraped clean leaving only a wooden plank on a post, askew. Vivid could guess that the lesser used path was the way to the local unicorn's farm. It was squeezed up against the hills whereas the other road led out into plains, rich farming lands with likely a dozen different farms. It was interesting to see the racial politics so far from Canterlot or Bitain. In Bitain there was a slight scorn of Earth ponies, but it was politely hidden in public. In Canterlot, it was almost impossible to find Earth ponies, they were welcomed if they were rich, or if they held some significant political post such as Prince or Governor. But otherwise they were shunned with enough force that they had their own sections of cities, and their own towns. But now to be in one of those towns and to see how the Earth Ponies defended the few places where they were in control was a little jarring. Vivid wondered if this was what Earth Ponies felt when they entered Unicorn cities. Except they did not have much power even when they retreated to their own towns. She supposed, as she walked to the small store that advertised fertilizer and nails, that she deserved the sort of mild shunning she was experiencing now. Not for being a unicorn of course, that would be as unfair as the way earth ponies were treated, but for never having rebelled against the system that had allowed all of those Earth ponies to be treated as though they were not ponies at all. But a job to do was a job to do. So she opened the door and walked in while the guards waited outside. There was a cowbell over the door, letting out a soft low tone when she entered and made her way to the counter at the far wall, behind which an earth pony mare sat and watched her approach. "Greetings," Vivid said as she nodded to her respectfully. "I am seeking Shade Blossom, I understand she operates a farm nearby?" "If you could call it a farm," the pony behind the counter retorted with a smirk, leaning heavy against the counter and looking right at Vivid's horn. "Unicorns don't farm. They water plants and hope they grow. Nothing like what a real farmer does." Vivid bristled, but maintained her calm. She was an intruder here, and she reminded herself that the locals would be treated far worse in Canterlot. "Regardless, I have come to ascertain her role in the loss of crops in fields nearby, claimed to be her fault. So I would appreciate some direction to her location." There was no point in going down the road she had thought of as the road to Shade's farm, if she did not know for certain it was the right path. Every minute spent on the wrong path was a minute wasted. "Ascertain..." "Tell me where she lives," Vivid interrupted. The mare behind the counter snorted, shaking her head in disgust. "Won't do you no good, you're clearly blind. Where's your caretaker?" Vivid grit her teeth as she lit her horn and sized every object on every shelf in the store, lifting them slightly before letting them settle. "I assure you, good madam, that I am capable of perceiving my surroundings just fine. Now unless your directions consist entirely of colour, I would like to have them." The mare was rattled by the display, almost cowering behind the counter as she nodded. "Well... if you go back out and turn left, down the old Mill Road... there's a blank sign at the start of it. Half a mile down the road there's a stone on the left. A thin path through the grass is behind it. That'll take you there." "Thank you," Vivid said with a small courtesy before dropping a silver coin on the counter. "For your troubles." She then turned and left the shop, the guards falling into step behind her. But before she could even get to the road, she was stopped. "Hey! Hey you're the court mage, yes? Why won't you come look at our fields? Going to go see the hag before even seeing her handiwork?" It was the Pegasus who had come to Luna's court to complain, and started the whole process. Vivid sighed before turning towards the Pegasus with a smile. "I thought to ascertain this unicorn's skill first, to see if she was even capable of such complex magic that it would take to prevent crop growth. Unless that is not satisfactory--" "By the moon, of course it's not satisfactory!" The Pegasus flew down to stand uncomfortably close to Vivid, the cool night air from his wings washing over her as he landed, bringing back uncomfortable memories of two Pegasus Colts flying by her head. "She'll just pretend to be daft, unable to use magic like she always does! But we know better! She left a magic powder on our land, it's good as seeing her do it herself!" He shouted as the guards stepped closer and interrupted him. For the first time he seemed to notice them, and backed away as he calmed down. But he'd gotten Vivid's attention, and she suddenly wanted to know more. "Magic powder, you say? Take me to your crops at once," Vivid said as she gestured as though to shoo him away. "Finally," he huffed. "Some urgency to the matter." He took to a hover and led the small group down the much nicer road and then immediately to the right, cutting behind the small town's houses and out into the fields. They didn't have to go very far before he stopped and gestured. "The dust is heaviest in this field," he said as he pointed out past a fence. "It shines in the moonlight." But he did not have to tell Vivid. In her magical sight she could see each speck as though it was a star in the sky. It was not just his field either, but spread out across the ground for hundreds of pony lengths. She jumped over the fence to land in the soft tilled dirt on the other side. The glittering dust immediately clung to her hooves and she peered close at them, unable to discern the dust itself beyond the glow it gave. As she realized that she could not perceive crystalline structures or the signature of a unicorn on the dust she began to feel a pit in her stomach, uncertainty clawing at her. She looked up and spread her magic out until she could see a pattern to it, an area where it was denser. She began to walk, each step sinking her clean hooves deep in the soft dirt, but her mission and her curiosity drove her forward. Eventually, she came to the epicenter of the spread of specks. A spot of disturbed earth that looked just the same as every other tilled row. But she could feel something beneath it. Something as wrong as a broken bone. She had trouble breathing, as she used her hooves to force up the dirt, to dig until she uncovered a metal object. The slight touch with it sent a shiver of revulsion through her, and she recoiled to gag before trying to use her magic to pull the metal from the ground. When her magic touched the metal though, it was as though she tried to touch a twig to a massive bonfire, expecting to move the fire. She was sent reeling and  away, shaking her head violently to try and dispel the horrible feeling of having been overwhelmed by the object. "Madam Colour, are you well?" One of the guards asked as he gave her a shoulder to lean against. "No," Vivid croaked. "There is a thing in the ground over there which must be removed but my magic cannot touch it. Fetch... anything, anything to carry it securely." The guards quickly emptied the chest used to carry their camping supplies, dumping it's contents onto their cart before walking in a group of three out to the spot Vivid had indicated. There, they dug up the object with their swords before putting it into the chest and then loading the chest back onto the cart, now with its strange cargo. "Is... that what she put in our fields? To make them wither?" The Pegasus asked as Vivid tried to still her racing heart. "I know not, whether it is the cause or if it was placed there deliberately. The investigation will continue," Vivid barked angrily in reply. She turned away from the farmer, and for the first time he seemed to believe her as he watched them leave with the cart carrying it's odd cargo. They made their way back through town and then down the run down path, avoiding speaking with any other ponies. Vivid felt tired already, despite the night having just begun. Her horn ached from the feedback she'd experienced when trying to grab the metal from the ground. She almost walked past the rock she'd been told about, and marveled for a moment at how tiny the winding path through the trees was. It certainly didn't look like a path to a farm, more like a trail to a campsite or small cabin. "Stay here," she told the guards. "Make sure nopony opens that chest, I shall return as swiftly as I can." She then set off down the path, the cool grass sweeping her legs as she walked. It took nearly five minutes for her to realize she was walking through a crop, not just a swath of overgrown vegetation. The neat rows weren't visible from the road, but along the path she could see them. The dirt in between each row was damp and dark, clearly fed with a stream somewhere nearby. Some sort of long grass with little tufts at the top filled the whole field, growing higher in some places than Vivid was tall. But she turned a corner and was suddenly no longer among the grass. Instead she was facing a small building constructed against and around an old willow tree. The stream flowed right past the structure and a small roughly constructed bridge allowed her a way across. But in order to get to the bridge she had to cross through even more crops, but luckily these were small and quite varied. A garden about ten by five pony lengths held every herb and vegetable that Vivid could imagine, even Tomatoes which she'd heard a rumor were poisonous. Finally, she reached the door and knocked. "Hmm? A moment!" a feminine voice called from within. Vivid waited patiently, until the door opened. The mare who was revealed when the door opened was a bit of a surprise to Vivid. She was very small, short enough that she had to look up to look at Vivid. She was a unicorn indeed, with bright eyes that gleamed with magic and a dark mane which draped along one side of her head and neck like a curtain. She wore a cloak, and a wide brimmed straw hat. "May I help you?" "Yes, I have come to investigate the blight that has befallen some of the other farms," Vivid explained as she took a wave of dizziness in stride, refusing to let it show. "I am here to ascertain whether you are responsible." "Oh!" Shade replied simply, eyes wide in shock. She didn't appear to be faking her reaction, as she looked around and tried to come up with a response to the declaration. "Well, I have nothing to hide. You are welcome to my home," she told Vivid as she backed up to allow her inside. Vivid took a step before the world swam around her, and she felt her legs collapse. The world grew dark, and she felt somewhere far away the mind of her princess becoming aware of her fitful dreams. Princess Luna suddenly looked to the side in the middle of a sentence. Though none in the room knew it, she was looking through walls and floors, down to the valley floor so far below. To where she had just felt an odd sensation of fear and confusion before feeling Vivid's mind entering the dreamscape. "Your highness?" Luna looked back to the griffin. She was small, barely adult by their people's standards, but already a military commander. The first military commander to reside on the same continent as Equestria in near to five hundred years since their king had led them into a fruitless war. "I apologize," Luna said with a steady smile. "I became aware that my court mage may be injured. Now, before I leave I would like to say I agree. The settlement of Starcross at our borders is disconnected from both our peoples, which prevents it from growing as quickly as it could. But I do not feel that it would be efficient to arrange shipments from across the sea. I believe that as part of our new treaty we could arrange open trade and support for Starcross. At the very least, seed and weather patterns can be sent South to assist. Is this agreeable?" "The treaty would include provisions ensuring that no more ponies would attempt to settle in the area?" the griffin pressed. "Of course, and punishments would be given if they were to cross the border improperly," Luna nodded as she stood and signed her name in ink at the bottom of the provisional document. "Then I agree, I do hope your mage is unharmed," the griffin said as she signed as well. "I will stay in Canterlot until you return to sign the final version." "My thanks to thee," Luna said with a bow of her head. "Farewell, and please have dinner at the castle, our chefs pride themselves in having a wide variety of dishes for visiting dignitaries," Without waiting for a response, Luna vanished in a small pop of stardust, and reappeared in flight over the farming community where Vivid had been sent. She began a wide circular glide as she tried to feel where Vivid was. It was difficult to associate a dreaming pony with a physical location, but she’d managed to do it once before with Vivid so she hoped to do it again. Under the moonlight she found herself drifting towards Canterlot mountain. Away from the wide open fields and towards the smaller farms that were squeezed against the base. She quickly noticed the glint of armor, and flew down to the guards who were standing around their cart. Two of the guards seemed to be unconscious, while two of the others were trying to revive them, shaking them and trying to get them to drink. “What has happened?” Luna asked sharply as she landed within a few steps of the group. “I don’t know!” the leader said as she looked up to her princess in horror. “They said they felt warm, and then they collapsed! It must have something to do with the stone Mistress Colour had them dig up!” “Stone?” Luna frowned. “What stone?” “It’s in that chest,” the lead guard said as she pointed to the cart. Luna backed away before casting a spell which enhanced her sight far beyond what even Vivid could see. It gave her the ability to trace the movements of magic itself around her, as well as the ability to spot on sight many toxins and dangerous substances. What she saw chilled her to the core. A fine powder of magic itself was scattered across the two sick guards, but this magic seemed to sap the life energy from the ponies. Like a siphon that was turning them almost visibly grey as they were slowly killed by the insidious substance. Luna could see some of it on the chest as well, and she could see all the magic in the area being slowly drawn into the chest, like a whirlpool drawing in tiny ships. “What did you discover, Vivid?” Luna whispered in horror before looking back to the guards who were in most need of her help. “Step aside.” Once the healthy guards were away, she began casting every cleansing spell she knew, trying desperately to remove the substance from the guards. Physical effects did not help, and neither did magical attempts to blow them away as the little specks simply absorbed the magic. Then she noticed during the casting of yet another spell, that some of the motes of light had winked out once they absorbed enough of her energy. Cursing, Luna bathed the guards in as much raw magic as she could muster, watching the motes flare out and vanish. Eventually, the guards seemed to be stable. They were still weak and unconscious, and some magical burns on their hooves would have to be tended to, but they would live. “Where… Is Vivid,” Luna asked the others, gasping for air after the exertion. They pointed down a path, and Luna took flight, shooting above the grass fast enough to send a wave of air rippling through them behind her. She landed in front of an open door and peered inside the small hut she found. Vivid was laying on the floor, but there was a smaller mare in the hut as well, hunched over a stone bowl on the ground as she rapidly pounded a poultice out of a green goop and several powders. She was mumbling something frantically, as she worked. “Who are you, and what are you doing?” Luna asked as she entered the building, not even tall enough to raise her head without piercing the ceiling with her horn. The little unicorn looked up and gasped, dropping the bowl and spilling some of the mixture. “Stars! Stars and curses, I am sorry, your highness, but I am attempting to heal this mare! It must be ground fine enough to seep through her fur, and to be consumed!” the unicorn declared frantically. Seeing the motes of light almost completely covering Vivid, and knowing that she was already dangerously low on energy, Luna seized the mass of goo in her magic, and used a spell to quickly turn it into a smooth paste. She then applied it to Vivid everywhere she could see the motes, which nearly covered her whole body. She was shocked to see the lights winking out as the goo contacted them. “More,” Luna demanded. The mare nodded quickly, measuring out the ingredients into a bowl and then letting Luna grind them before resuming her work. “She should drink a quarter of it, your highness,” the mare suggested, still frantic in her expression. Luna picked Vivid up in her magic and carefully fed her the goo. Vivid didn’t even resist, which frightened Luna more than any threat she could have been facing. Any dragon or war. She fed Vivid the rest of it before sitting down and sighing, closing her eyes. “Your name, good mare. Please.” “Shade Blossom,” she said as she sat as well, watching Vivid with palpable fear. “How did you know how to treat this, miss Blossom?” Luna asked. “It’s… It seemed like magic poisoning,” Shade said, biting her lip. “Something that I’ve seen Minotaurs suffer from, if they fight a pony. But I’ve never seen a pony succumb to it. Never.” “You have treated minotaurs?” Luna asked incredulously, examining the small mare in a new light. “Where did you come from?” “I lived far to the West for many years,” Shade explained. “Across the sea, there was a small community of minotaurs near the village where I was born. It is treated by boiling seawater until you have a white powder, mixing it with very hotly burned charcoal, rinsing it, drying it, then mixing it with clay and seaw--” “I believe you,” Luna said as she held up a hoof. “But I am no alchemist, so the recipe has no meaning to me. I may have you provide it to our alchemists indeed as it is so effective. You said that Minotaurs could become sick like this after fighting a pony, why?” “Well, we produce magic,” Shade explained as she gestured to her horn which she hadn’t used the entire time Luna had seen her. “Passively, we are a sort of… font of magical energy. This energy can be toxic when in the blood of some creatures.” Luna frowned, this was the first she had heard of such a thing, though it was not surprising that minotaurs would be reluctant to reveal this information to ponies, especially as they were such a small nation now. But the question remained of what could cause a similar effect in ponies, who thrived on magic. What could that stone possibly be made of? She looked down at Vivid, her spells quickly assessing her as no longer being contaminated by the mysterious lights. She was dangerously drained of magic and energy, but she was breathing and she was alive. Luna picked her up in her magic, laying her across her back without worrying about the goo that smeared on her. She was thinking only of Vivid. As she turned to leave, Shade stood. “Your highness… I am certainly going to be blamed for this. All of this. Could I come with you so that I am not assaulted?” Luna sighed before shaking her head. “I need to travel quickly, and I need to leave many of my guards here to protect the object that may have caused this. They will protect you as well.” “Of course, your highness,” Shade said softly, nodding. Luna then left, walking through the gardens and back to the cart where she lifted the two sickened guards before turning to the others gathered around. “Protect this cart, let none touch it or get near it. Protect Shade Blossom as well, at least prevent harm from coming to her. I shall return soon with additional assistance and troops.” “Of course, your highness,” the lead guard said as she saluted. Luna charged her horn, and again vanished, this time appearing in the Archway chambers. “Gah!” As Luna appeared, a small midnight lunch was interrupted, the mages gathered around the tables looking up in shock and a few of them hiding behind the tables. Noone was supposed to be able to enter the chambers so easily, much less using magic to do so. “Luna! What has happened,” Wishing Star asked as she stood and quickly swept over, lifting Vivid and the others off her back and examining them. “It is as though they’ve cast spells beyond their means, but this guard is a pegasus…” she mused. “They were poisoned, by some material found in a farmer’s field. These two, I scorched with magic to remove the particles, but Vivid was healed by the unicorn she was there to investigate. With seaweed, charcoal and other ingredients. She is being guarded so you can interview her,” Luna explained as Wish squinted at Vivid, and cast several spells. “We will have to see the material, do you have some of it?” she asked. Luna shook her head. “It drains magic from its surroundings at an extraordinary rate, I would not want to attempt a translocation while in possession of even a minute amount of it.” “Sunlight, Posey, come with me,” Wish said as she grabbed several things and shoved them roughly into her bag. “I would like to come,” Clover said, as they stepped forward. Everyone paused. It wasn’t like Clover to volunteer to leave the Archway. But Wish nodded after a moment. “Very well, Sunlight and Clover will come with me. Posey, you can stay.” Posey was clearly relieved as she returned to her seat. “You will travel by chariot, speak with one of the flight commanders, I authorize you to bring equipment and a dozen guards. Whatever this is, we can’t have it spreading,” Luna spoke quickly. “I will stay here to observe their recovery, Have any others afflicted treated by Shade Blossom then immediately transported here.” “Of course, Luna. We will take care of this,” Wishing Star said quickly before waving for the others to follow her. They left immediately, and then Luna sighed while she picked up the three unconscious ponies. “Here, let me help,” Posey offered as she easily took the guards from Luna’s grip. “I know she’s important to you, your highness,” she continued quietly as she followed Luna, walking back towards the Archway that allowed them to exit. “Word spreads faster than a pegasus,” Luna chuckled quietly, but then she paused just before they would pass through the portal. “Deep Sheen?” “Yes, your highness?” he replied quickly, standing from his seat. “You and Posey are Vivid’s friends. Please, stay by her side until she recovers.” The last two members of the Archway quickly nodded and followed so the group made their way through the hallways and back into Canterlot Castle, headed for the infirmary.