//------------------------------// // Chapter 8: A Wizard Recalls Events and Preps // Story: Solid Script Equestria // by Garnet Naturea //------------------------------// The train ride back to Canterlot was rather tense for us all. Sonbāsutā, Echo and Emerald were all rather facinated by the train we are on since they never had anything like this a thousand years ago. I can only imagine their reactions to something like a refrigerator, washing machine, or my phone when it plays music. Twilight and Spike were worried about the results of the test since Spike was the one who returned the heart and not Twilight. The rest of the girls, minus Pinkie, were worried about how the princesses will react to Sonbā, Echo and Emerald, along with my new upgrades. Speaking of, I have been mentally using Archive to go over all the new powers I just gained. Turns out, while I do have some of the Lost Magics, like Arc of Embodiment, I lack info or the skills on any of the Dragon Slayer, God Slayer, or Demon Slayer magics aside from what I know from watching the show. Also, while it seemed my mana pool was doubled in size, I only have basic knowledge of each magic style. I would need to actually practice each of them to learn how to use it properly. I could only imagine how difficult controlling Crash Magic will be, considering how Gildarts destroys everything around him and doesn’t seem to care. But I think, since I know how other wizards from the show use each of these types of magic, that will at least give me a reference point for practice. Pinkie wasn’t worried about anything unlike the rest of us. She was just excited to get back to Ponyville and throw a ‘Welcome back from a thousand year disappearance’ party for the three newcomers, as well as a ‘Congratulations on returning to normal from an evil tyrant’ party for Sonbāsutā. I haven’t told any of them I am thinking of listening to Pinkie and establishing an Equestrian branch of the Fairy Tail guild in Ponyville, especially since I still need permission from the princesses as well as the mayor of Ponyville before I can do anything. Though, I will need some help getting the word out once we are ready to open. Some of the others will be surprised by this, but considering I was planning to be an English teacher back on earth, I think I can handle all the paperwork involved, it is just a matter of getting the word out. I sigh, open my eyes and look out the window. The sun was set to set in about two hours and we would be arriving in Canterlot within a few minutes. Shining was right in that the crystal ponies didn’t want Sonbāsutā to leave, even after everything that happened. We spent maybe an hour explaining to the masses why he is stepping down from the throne and Shining and Cadence are ascending to it. It took a long and emotional speech from Emerald Blizzard for the crystal ponies to finally let Sonbā go, and only with the promise he would visit when he could. I look to the others and see Rainbow, Rarity and Fluttershy trying to reassure Twilight that things will be fine, AppleJack telling the newcomers about Ponyville and Canterlot from her perspective and Pinkie is writing things down in a notebook she got from somewhere. I asssume her personal hammer space. Not long after, the train whistles and begins to slow, Sonbā laughing a little at the sensation, comparing it to when he slowed down after sleding down a hill. He is not entirely wrong there. “Echo.” I get the Exeeds attention. “Once we leave the train, I want you to stay right next to Sonbāsutā or me and don’t use your wings. The ponies have never seen anything like you and I don’t want you getting lost or for anypony to get any ideas.” She nods and jumps onto her brothers shoulder. We all exit the train and I see a few nobles I saw the first time I was here and they did a double take at seeing me. I glare at them and they immediately look elsewhere. “Great. I can just smell the corruption in this place. Looks like you weren’t kidding Miss AppleJack.” Sonbāsutā says. “Ah told ya, just call me AppleJack or AJ. Ah don’t really like the whole Miss nonsense.” She says as we begin to walk to the castle again. We walk in relative silence for a while, but I can see Twilight beginning to panic more the closer we get to the palace. “Hey.” She looks to me. “Relax. Even if you didn’t deliver the heart yourself, you still aided in protecting them empire.” I tell her with a smile. She just looks down. “Lex is right Miss Sparkle. If you hadn’t figured out where and how I had hidden the crystal heart, we wouldn’t even be here right now.” Sonbā laugh a little. “I have little doubt that Lex might have destroyed me if you two didn’t find it, so you have my thanks as well as that of my former subjects, both of you.” He finishes. She seems to get a little more relaxed at that, but I can still see the doubt in her eyes. I place a hand on her shoulder and walk next to her the rest of the way. We arrive at the gates to the castle and I see the guards up front are the same ones as before. As our group walks up, the duo see us and do a double take at seeing me. “Miss Justine? Is that you?” The unicorn one asks in shock. I smile at him. “Sweet, you remember my name. And yes. Let’s just say, I got a bit of an upgrade while I was at the empire.” I tell them with a smirk. “Wow. And here I thought you would remain a shrimp for a while.” The pegasus says, making me get a tick mark on my head. He sees my angry smile and looks elsewhere while sweating. I take a breath and calm down. “You know, I never got your guys names before we left.” I ask, the duo looking a little confused for the asking their names. “My name is Bladed Wind and this is my partner, Star Burst.” The pegasus introduces. I nod with a smile and nod to them. After a second they let us all through, though they both raise a brow at Sonbā, Echo and Emerald. We all walk through the halls of the castle and soon arrive at the doors to the throne room. Twilight is beginning to hyperventilate so I quickly use my new Telepathy Magic. ”Twilight, you’ll be fine.” I tell her. Her eyes widen then she looks to me in confused shock. ”Telepathy Magic. Listen, if you need support, me and the others can come in with you, but it is your choice.” she stays quiet for a second before sighing. “Um, everyone?” All their attention goes to her. “Can you all come with me? I am a little worried.” The girls are actually surprised by this request, but nod to her with reassuring smiles. She looks to me with a grateful smile and I just wink at her. The guards at the door, a pegasus mare and stallion both see how she was acting and nod, letting us all in. Walking into the throne room, we see both princesses on their thrones, quietly talking to one another. For some reason, I can hear them perfectly fine. “I am telling you sister, I felt a massive surge of magical energy AFTER the heart was returned. We must ask about it when Twilight and the others get back. For all we know, they may have found a new source of magic we could use.” Celestia says, Luna sighing and rubbing her eyes. “Sister, ever since Lex left with the girls you have been trying to think of new magic to use. What is going on? You never worried about discovering new magic or anything of that nature before meeting her.” Luna says. Before they can continue, the duo see our group as we all walk up. The royal sisters smile at the girls before both of them do a double take when they see me and the other three. “Princess, I am happy to report that we managed to protect the crystal empire from the Tyrant Sombra.” Twilight says. Celestia looks to her with a smile. “I noticed.” She says, looking out the window and seeing a type of aurora in the sky. “However, I would like to know how you managed to save them.” She asks, sitting on her throne. The girls all look a little nervous, while Sonbā and I remain stone faced. Twilight nods and begins to tell her what happened, from us arriving to splitting up to find out what to do, the crystal fair, and then she got to the part that I didn’t know about with her and Spike finding how and where Sombra hid the heart. But she said something I wasn’t expecting. “Though, the entrance to the staircase was sealed behind a dark magic door.” We all raise a brow at her as she shifts on her hooves. “So I may have....used....dark magic to unlock the door.” She says the last part quickly, me and Celestia looking to her in shock. “Which kind of dark magic Twilight?” I ask her with a slightly scolding tone. She flinches a bit and rubs her arm. “Umm, the same one the princess and Sombra used?” She says sheepishly. I sigh and facepalm at her. “Twilight, what did I say about using that type of magic? It can corrupt the user and become addictive if you aren’t strong enough or are emotionally or mentally unbalanced.” I look to Spike. “Did she have the mist?” I demand. Oddly, Spike looks a little confused. “Mist? What do you mean? Sure, Twilights horn and magic went all bubbly and dark, but there was no mist.” He says and me and the royals all do a double take. “Wait what? So, there was no purple mist coming out her eyes?” Sonbāsutā asks, Spike shaking his head no. I look to Twilight in shock, and it seems even she is surprised by this revelation. I think for a minute before opening Archive and doing a magical scan of her, a flat blue screen going up and down her. “What are you doing?” Celestia asks. I ignore her and continue and get the results back from the scan. My eyes widen in surprise. “Well, this is shocking. According to this magical scan, Twilights magic is in almost perfect balance in terms of light and dark.” I say, the unicorns and Alicorns looking shocked, before I chuckle a little bit. “That actually would make sense. You are the Element of Magic, so you wouldn’t be limited to just light and standard unicorn magic.” I say to her, Twilight looking surprised as well. I close the menu and look back to the princess, seeing her contemplative look. “Twilight, please continue your side of the events.” Luna asks, the unicorn nodding and continuing. She explains that she found the heart, but it was rigged with a trap, causing her to stay at the top of the tower while Spike saved the day. “That is all from my side, but I know that more happened with Lex and the others. Can you guys tell me what happened to you all?” She asks. I nod and step forward, Echo jumping to my shoulder. “Before you begin, I must ask, who are those three?” Celestia asks, pointing to Sonbā, Emerald and Echo. “These three are Emerald Blizzard, Echo and Sonbāsutā. They’re some friends we made from the empire that needed to come with us.” I tell the sisters, Celestia looking at Sonbāsutā and Echo curiously. I snap my fingers at her, getting her attention. “Before I talk about my side, I have to ask. How is it you two even heard about what was going on in the empire in the first place?” The royal sisters raise a brow at the question. “We heard about it from one of our subjects that managed to get away not long after Sombra took over. What was her name..?” Luna says and thinks for a minute. I have a sneaking suspicion I know who it was. “Crystal Dust?” I say, the duo thinking before nodding. “Yes, I believe that was the mare name. She was a real piece of work. She was rather greedy and rude to everypony, even us. Some of the maids and guards at the time would say she would mumble to herself about how she should have been in charge, but before we could question her, there was a monster attack and she was killed in the chaos.” Celestia says. The four of us smile a bit and Sonbā and I chuckle a little, confusing the sisters. “That bitch got what she deserved then.” I say, the others flinching at my language. Celestia suddenly rises from her throne and goes to me. “You will explain why one of my subjects that did nothing wrong deserved that fate. Now.” She demands angrily. I stare back at her, both my eyes glowing faintly. “Because she is the reason Sombra came to be in the first place.” At this Celestia goes wide eyed and steps back. Luna is also shocked by this and looks to the Elements, each of them nodding to her. Sonbāsutā walks next to me and bows slightly to Celestia, who looks to him curiously as he looks familiar. “Princess Celestia. Perhaps we should have a legitimate introduction. I am the former crowned Crystal King, Sonbāsutā.” He says, the sisters now recognizing him. “I was Sombra. The reason that corruption came to be was because that mare broke my heart and forced my magic to go out of control and become corrupted.” The sisters look to him in shock before Celestia lights her horn. The others sees she is going to attack and back away, while I step forward. I activate both of my eyes, the darkness of my right and the shining light of my left causing Celestia to flinch back in shock. I quickly activate Archive behind my back and hit ‘enter’, a small progress bar appearing behind Sonbā’s head. For some reason, I feel I need to activate my wings and what happened was odd. The three wings that appear on the left side of me are still dark, but the three on my right are bright gold and white. I look to them in shock, seeing the visible signs of a balance of light and dark, before turning back the the princesses and see their shocked faces as well. I get a determined expression and stand next the Sonbāsutā and light up a matrix below me, letting light and dark energy surround me. They both look to me, then Celestia sighs, dismissing her magic and I follow suit, letting the magic die out, the others all looking to me and the princess with worry. “Explain.” She says simply, returning to her throne. We both nod and Sonbāsutā explains everything he said back in the empire about what happened to him, with Echo and Emerald adding their own bits of info. Luna looks shocked by this and soon looks like she is going to wring someone’s neck. Celestia manages to keep a neutral face, but I can see the anger well hidden in her eyes. Because of one of her own subjects, an entire empire was subjugated to a tyrannical rule and slavery. After Sonbā finishes talking about the past, I pick up from when I seperated from the girls, finding Echo in her crystal, learning of Sonbās past, finding Emerald and defending the citizens. My fight with Sombra and his return from corrupt darkness. I chose to leave out my talk with Mavis for now as I wanted to talk to them later. “Well, it seemed this mission became much more complex then even I could have imagined.” Celestia says, rubbing her eyes. She looks to Twilight with a soft smile. “Twilight, I am proud you were able to find the heart and spread its effect across the land. I am also proud you managed to put your own desire to pass a test behind you to protect the citizens of the Empire. It is much more important for one to understand the meaning of self sacrifice, than one who only looks out for their own self interest.” She says with a proud look. “Does that mean..?” Twilight asks excited. Celestia nods and Twilight cheers, hopping around before being pulled into a group hug by her friends and Spike. I just smile at the group and feel as Sonbāsutā puts his hand on my shoulder. We look to the royal sisters as they walk up to us. “Sonbāsutā, you have our deepest apologies. Because of one of our subjects, you and your empire were hurt and lost to evil. I’m sorry.” Celestia says remorseful. Sonbāsutā just smiles to her. “I wasn’t your fault princess. Besides, the past isn’t something we can change. All we can do now is look to the future and do our best in the present.” He says. I just roll my eyes with a smile and lightly punch his arm. He smirks back at me and winks. Before anything else can happen, I remember something. “Princesses, I would like to speak to the two of you in private please.” I say suddenly, the others being confused. The sisters look to one another before nodding, the others walking out the door and leaving just the three of us. “What would you like to talk about young Lex?” Luna asks, summoning a chair for me to sit in while they sit in their thrones. I sit down and sigh. “I would like your permission to make a guild in Ponyville.” I say, the princesses looking a little confused. “A guild? You mean like a hunters guild like they have in Griffonstone?” Luna asks with a confused brow raise. I shake my head. “No, not a hunters guild, a wizards guild like in Fiore. It is a place where wizards get together and gain work, have a place to stay if they don’t have one and feel like they are family. I would like to open one to teach others how to use Fiore magic and to help protect Equestria.” I tell them. The princesses look shocked by my request. I see their horns lighting up and I guess they are having a mental conversation. I could use Telepathy to hear them, but that would be rude. After a minute their horn die down. “What exactly does a guild do and how would ponies join?” Celestia asks. “You see, wizard guild work by having the members take contracts to earn money for themselves and the guild. These can range from taking care of a pet bird to fighting a volcano demon. However, there are strict rules on contracts and they all have to go through the guild master first. We will not take jobs like thievery or assassination. As I said before, the guild also provides shelter and food to any members or civilian who need a place to stay as well as acting as a first line of defence for whatever town the guild is located in.” I explain, Luna actually taking notes on it. “To join, I have a couple of tests in mind that will decide whether or not somepony gets in as well as their standings in the guild. The jobs for the wizards will be ranked from E to A with E being the easiest jobs to A which will be some of the most difficult jobs. There is also S class which is higher up than A but I think I may be the only one who can be an S class wizard right now.” I tell them. They nod and think for a minute. “Will the guild be limited to unicorns for their magic?” Luna asks. “No. I intend to make it so any creature can join, not just unicorns. Anyone can learn Fiore magic as long as they have internal magic power, and from the books I have read, that means practically every sapient species on the planet can join and learn magic. Ponies, Griffins, Diamond Dogs, Zebras. All of them will be allowed if they pass the tests.” I say. The duo look to one another before Luna nods and summons some scrolls and blank blueprints. “I will send this to Mayor Mare to allow you to use a large section of land on the edge of town by the Everfree forest. Do you have a design in mind for the guild hall itself?” She says and asks. I nod and open Archive again. I grab the blueprints Luna summoned and have a screen placed flat on the paper. After a second I raise the blueprints and it shows instructions on how to make the original guild hall from the show. I smile and hand it to her. She looks it over before nodding. “Lex.” I look to Celestia. “I know we got off on the wrong foot went we met, but I thank you for wanting to protect Equestria. As thanks for that and for protecting the crystal empire, I will have some of my best construction workers working on the guild hall for you. Looking at the prints, it will take about three weeks to two months to complete.” She says and I nod to her, standing and holding out my hand. She smile and takes my hand in hers, before pulling me in for a hug. I am shocked by this turn of events, but get over it and hug the larger alicorn back. “Lex,” Luna begins as I get out of her sisters hold, “while the guild hall is being constructed, what will you be doing in the meantime?” She asks. I pause to think for a moment. “Well, I will probably be practicing my magic as well as testing the tests I have in mind for the guild. Most of what I have planned will not work until after the guild itself is made.” I pause and remember something. “Oh yeah. I will need some employees to work there for upkeep and cleaning. Also someone to keep track of finances and attend the bar and kitchen that will be added.” I say in thought, Luna nodding and thinking herself. “We will contact a few ponies we believe would work well for the guild. Their wages will be covered for and will be respectful and professional.” Celestia says. “Ok, send them two days after the guild is finished, around 9 in the morning, so I can see if they are trustworthy enough to join the guild. After the guild has been finished for two days, I will open it for creatures to join the guild as well as create contracts. I hope you don’t mind if I make some flyers to have drifting around the major towns a few days before construction finishes.” I say to them, the two princesses nodding in agreement. “If that is everything, I believe you the others have been waiting long enough. Besides, I think Laughter is wanting to throw some more parties if her smile is any indication.” Luna says, rolling up the scroll and blueprints. I nod to her and we all head out the door. Walking outside, we find the others just hanging around, Twilight looking worried for me. They turn as we walk out and I turn to the princesses. “Thanks for all this you two. I won’t let you down.” I say to them, the royal sisters nodding to me. I walk up to the others with a determined smile on my face. I have a lot of work to do when I get back to Ponyville.