//------------------------------// // Chapter 6: The General and the Demon // Story: Chaotic Harmony: Do Over // by shirotora //------------------------------// It turned out, the colt that the manticore attacked didn't die. He was stung, and suffered some damage he would feel for a few years, but he was alive. However, his mother wasn't so lucky. Apparently, the beast attacked him and his mother when they were practicing magic in the park. They ran, but his mother was stung. He didn't notice, and kept running until he was caught, too. His mother passed before the medical team even arrived. “So, that's it?” I asked, quite upset with Twilight. “We just say 'too bad your mom's dead', and move on?” Twilight sighed. “Look, I get where you're coming from, but if we get that upset every time somepony gets killed by a monster, we'd never be happy.” She walked over to a shelf and grabbed a thick book off the shelf and levitated it over to me. It was called 'Bestiary of Everfree Valley'. “This world is full of big, dangerous predators, many of which, like the manticore, have evolved, at least in part, to hunt ponies. Ponies are constantly being hunted. It's a fact of life. We do what we can to stop it, but sometimes it's not enough. “That colt and his family will mourn, and they will move on. Everypony I know has dealt with it. Rainbow lost her aunt, uncle, and some cousins, Pinkie lost her sister, Fluttershy lost her father, and Applejack, Rarity, and I each lost our parents.” That caught me by surprise, as I was pulled abruptly from the book. “You... lost your parents?” Twilight gave a sad smile as she answered. “I was very young. While I still miss them, if it weren't for that, I would have never met all the important ponies in my life; the girls, mom, Nightlight, Velvet, and everypony else at the palace.” “Wait... Nightlight and Velvet? In the show they were your parents, though,” I said. Twilight giggled. “They may as well have been in real life, too. They would always take care of my brother and me when mom was busy, which was often considering she had a nation to run.” “A nation to run? So does that mean Princess Celestia is your... adoptive mother?” I asked. “That's right,” Twilight answered. “Remind me to tell you the story of how that happened sometime. It's kind of sad, though.” “Alright, later. Right now, Ah was wantin’ to talk to you about somethin’,” I said. “When Ah was fightin’ that manticore, the demon sword caught fire with a weird silver fire. When Ah asked Bakura about it, he said the fire had to come from me.” Twilight knitted her brow in thought and confusion. “Yes, one of the ways demon tools are useful is because they can channel one's spells while helping draw out the magic. Basically, one can channel a spell with two-thirds the effort.” “So, Ah cast a fire spell?” “I'm not sure. Without real training, the only way you would cast fire magic would be if it were innate and instinctive, but I don’t know if you have that kind of ability. It’s possible to be evocation if you had a reagent, but even then, it requires intent. Unless you wanted to cast a fire spell, it couldn't be an evocation spell.” Twilight had begun pacing in thought, a habit I noticed whenever she was stumped on a problem. “Perhaps it's an innate racial ability? But if it were, mom would have said something. Perhaps I should write her.” I winced a little. I really wasn't looking forward to seeing her again. “Y-yeah,” I reluctantly agreed. “She does know more about what Ah am than we do.” I just hoped my second meeting would go better than the first. Thankfully, I didn't have to meet the princess just then. Instead, she wrote Twilight back saying she may know what it was. She asked us to try to recreate the spell, and if we could, to contact her again. Thus, we were in a field just outside the West side of town. “Alright, based on what you describe, I believe this was an instinctive spell. What exactly were you feeling, when you summoned the fire?” I rubbed the back of my head. Like Twilight's pacing, it was a habit I did whenever I was thinking hard. “Ah was angry, but Ah don't think that was it,” I said. “Ah felt... angry, but more at the fact that the manticore would hurt innocent ponies. Ah felt like... Seein’ him come to mah home and hurt someone, Ah just snapped.” “Hmm, perhaps it was instinctive? Twilight pondered, scratching her chin with a hoof. “It could be you saw the manticore as a rival, or perhaps it was a protective instinct? You may have seen the manticore as harming your pack.” Twilight turned back to me, horn lit in her magenta fire, and said, “I have an idea. Try-” Suddenly, she was cut off by an enormous winged snake lashing out, grabbing her, and wrapping her in its coils. I was so caught off guard, I couldn't react. It had come out of nowhere. When I regained my senses, I leaped at it, trying to catch it in my claws, but it took to the air, hovering just out of reach. I could only gaze in horror as Twilight looked down with terror filled eyes. That same rage as before filled me, coursing through my veins. “Give her back!” I roared, leaping high into the air as my right paw lashed out towards the flying serpent. I felt power flow through my body. It swirled like a hurricane before shooting up my arm and engulfing my paw in silver fire. I closed the distance to the monster in a second... and passed right through. The scene wavered and faded away, leaving nothing but blue skies. Nearly in a panic, I flailed as I began to fall back to the ground from at least thirty feet in the air. I was saved from eating dirt, though, by a familiar purple glow. “Uh... Sorry,” I heard Twilight say, “but that was the easiest way to test my theory.” I looked at the unharmed mare, blinking dumbly for several moments. “You... but...” It took a moment, but it dawned on me as she set me down. “That was an illusion?! What the hell, Sparkle?!” “I'm sorry,” she repeated, cringing. “If I told you what I was doing, it would have ruined it. I needed you to think I was in real danger to see if it really is your protective instincts that caused your magic to manifest, and it worked.” “You... are an ass hole,” I stated. “A smart ass hole that gets results, but an ass hole all the same.” Scraping a hoof in the dirt and hanging her head in shame, she said, “I know.” She slowly peeked up at me and continued, “Do you at least remember what it felt like? Not the emotion, but the flow of magic. Do you think you could summon that fire voluntarily?” I held a paw in front of my face, studying it as if it held all the answers. “Ah don't know, maybe.” I closed my eyes, trying to remember the feeling. Slowly, I felt something stir. It wasn't the hurricane it was before, more like a gentle breeze. I latched onto that feeling, feeding it, willing it to grow. It grew until I could will it through my arm. The warm feeling traveled to my paw, where I focused on it gathering in my palm. “Shiro, you did it!” I opened my eyes to see Twilight beaming, her eyes locked on what I held. In one paw, a silver flame flickered, yet did not burn me. “Ah did it!” I cheered, a huge grin plastered on my face. “Ah created weird fire! Yes!” “I gotta write to mom about this!” And just like that, the fire vanished along with my smile. I had to admit, I was really starting to respect Celestia. She still terrified me, but I respected her. She was going out of her way to make me feel more comfortable. The mare that arrived still looked very much like the solar alicorn, but if she were just a unicorn. Yeah, she used a spell to seal away a portion of her magic so she could take a form I wasn't soiling myself in front of. I was still nervous, as I summoned up the silver fire again, but I was able to manage. It was actually easier to summon it again, having already felt what it was like, and was only getting easier. Celestia, for her part just observed with a neutral expression, though something about her gave off an undertone of dread. She didn't beat around the bush too much about why, either. “I was afraid of this,” Celestia sighed. “Afraid of what?” I asked, nervously. “Not of you, Shiro, but what your ability means,” Celestia explained. “Normally, Tigirans are orange, like a common tiger. Only one was white, General Mikava, and she was also the only one to display the power you just did. We called it 'silver flame'. It was a very unique fire, as General Mikava seemed to have complete control of it, even so far as its shape and who it burns.” “You're not tryin’ to say Am'm anythin’ like this general, are you?” I asked. “Havens, no,” Celestia said. “Despite her power and ruthlessness, Mikava was not the most dangerous. That title belonged to a creature we called the Black Death. It was solid black, could rip an ancient dragon limb from limb with ease, and had an insatiable thirst for blood and destruction. My fear is that if you show traits unique to General Mikava, what's to say one couldn't show traits of the Black Death.” “But... Ah'm the only chaos tiger after ten thousand years, right?” I asked, my new found fear of a psycho living death machine outweighing my fear of Celestia. “Yes, it is unlikely,” Celestia explained. “However, even if it takes another ten thousand years before another appears in the form of a chaos tiger, the possibility that it could be the same as that monster terrifies me.” “Perhaps we should look into some kind of countermeasure?” Twilight finally spoke, having been content to listen to us up until then. “Both magic and technology have come far since then. There's bound to be some way to contain the creature, now.” Celestia smiled warmly. “Perhaps there is, my student.” “Oh, um,” Twilight blushed, looking away nervously. “I've already told him about... you know.” She flared her wings slightly at that. Celestia beamed, scooting over to wrap Twilight in a loving hug. “I'm so proud of you. I don't think you've ever told anypony so quickly.” Twilight rolled her eyes, but obviously enjoyed the contact. “I told the girls the same day I met them.” “They don't count,” Celestia countered, with a playful smirk. “I wish I could stay longer,” Celestia said, releasing Twilight. “I must speak with my sister, and see if we can get into contact with our brother. Perhaps the elders know of a solution to our problem. “Shiro,” she turned to me, extending her hoof. “I wish you luck in your magical studies.” I tried to will myself to take her hoof, but my body locked up at the thought. Her smile faltered. It was ever so slight, but I noticed it as if it were a blow to the gut. “Until next time, Twilight, Shiro,” and in a flash, she was gone. My body finally moved as I sagged. “Dammit. It was just a hoof shake, and Ah act like it was a freakin’ rattlesnake.” “It's okay, Shiro, we understand,” Twilight tried to comfort me, placing a hoof around my shoulders. “Ah still need to get over it,” I replied. “And you will,” Twilight's tone took a turn for the chipper. “For now, though, why don't you practice with that fire of yours.” I nodded. She was right. I needed to figure out my magic. Seeing as my chaos magic was still giving me trouble, I figured I may as well learn to use my fire. “Twilight,” Spike said from the other side of the room, setting his comic aside. “Message.” He didn't just belch it up, like in the show. He just opened his mouth and breathed out a burst of sparkling green fire. It looked like someone hit rewind on a scroll being burned as it materialized. “Thank you, Spike,” Twilight said as the scroll left the green fire for a magenta one. Her eyes quickly scanned the page before she said, “It's from mom, obviously. She forgot to ask if you've considered taking up a Ranger Reserve post.” “Ranger Reserve?” I inquired. “Are you familiar with the Equestrian Rangers?” I shook my head. “Well, they're the ones responsible for protecting towns from monster attack. It's comprised of the Ranger Watch, and Ranger Reserve. The Ranger Watch is tasked with patrolling borders and is composed primarily of pegasi and unicorns who are skilled in detection magic. “If a monster is spotted, the Watch use a special crystal that alerts any Reserves in the area and attempt to delay the monster to allow ponies to find shelter. At the moment, we only have Fluttershy. She's great as Watch, with her animals helping her, but she needs help.” “Fluttershy's a Ranger?” I said, quite amazed. “So, would that make her-” “-the yellow Ranger?” Twilight cut me off with a cocky smirk. “I've heard that one six times, already.” I narrowed my eyes, spitefully, to which Twilight just laughed. “Ah'll think about it.” I got to my feet and started to the door when something from earlier came back to me. “Hey, Twilight... The princess mentioned she was gonna to try to contact her brother. Who is that?” Twilight's mischievous smirk returned, that smirk I have come to associate with her getting ready to drop a bombshell on me. “That would probably be Thor.” Best God is real!