//------------------------------// // Chapter 52 - Hollow Shades // Story: The Last Descendant // by Cup of Coffee //------------------------------// It was early afternoon when Magnus woke with a start. Sitting up and scratching his head, it took a few moments before he recognized his new surroundings. The bed, the room, and the old flower pattern curtains covering the windows all didn’t register before the events of the day prior came flooding back. After getting his clothes on, he walked over to the window and pulled away the curtains, getting his first glimpse of Hollow Shades by day, and was not disappointed. The forest was green and bright, and the sunlight danced through the leaves. The garden below still looked overgrown, but now that the sun was up, he could see the many colours in it. All in all, the garden looked free and untamed by any hand or hoof. After finding his toothbrush, soap, and towel, he made his way out into the hallway in search of the bathroom. Before doing so, he paused in the hallway to listen for any sound. Perhaps Brilliant was awake. But after a good minute of listening, he concluded that he was the only one up and promptly walked down to the end of the hall for the bathroom. And as he suspected, the bathroom was in the same style as the rest of the house. A polished stone floor and walls was set in white stone, a large stained glass window, a marble sink, and a large ornate copper bathtub against a wall with steps leading up to it. And it all seemed to belong to the same age, Victorian era or older. While brushing his teeth, Magnus wondered how wealthy the Galaxy family was in their heyday to afford all of this. Castles, an army, ships, luxury, rubbing cheeks with the finest, and probably a whole lot more. The Rockefellers of Equestria or perhaps closer to King Croesus? After finishing his morning duties, or midday duties as they now were, he decided that now was a good time to find something to eat, and so he went down in search of the fabled kitchen. However, he made sure to walk silently in order to not wake up Brilliant, a feat not easily accomplished when one has hooves. Luckily, the carpet in the hallway helped him out. After finding his way to the downstairs living room, he easily found the door that led to the kitchen, and there he found another surprise. It turned out that the kitchen was much larger than his entire living room, kitchen, and bedroom combined back on Earth, painted in black, white, and light blue colours. There were a few modern appliances, such as a magic-powered stove and fridge. There was also a wood stove as well, similar to the one the Apple family had. After finding some bread, butter, milk, and jam, Magnus sat down at the kitchen table for his breakfast. Although a bit uncomfortable to sit at such a low table and wooden bench, he felt at peace. Just like home, he would have breakfast at the kitchen bench, usually standing, and reading through the news on the Internet. Those days seemed so long ago. He pondered the idea that perhaps he was already fitting in so well that he began forgetting about his old life. Sitting there, he had to take in his surroundings, imagining how it must have been hundreds of years ago. Cooks working on preparing food, perhaps for a banquet or some other high-end event, maids preparing the plates, handling hot meals, while other maids kept the kitchen clean and tidy at all times, and perhaps a servant or butler fetched bottles of wine from the wine cellar. Couldn’t have been nice for the staff. As far as he could remember, the maids back in the day weren’t treated very nice and their pay was also crap, if they got paid at all. Their workload was also enormous compared to what they were paid. Lastly, the masters of the castle or mansion usually never treated their staff with respect. To them, the staff was inferior in all ways, simply because they weren’t born with a silver spoon up their asses. Was the Galaxy family the same way back in the day? Did they even have a—oh yes, there was a door in the kitchen with a sign that said "wine cellar". What an interesting place. After eating and cleaning up after himself, Magnus began searching for something warm to drink, preferably with caffeine. Back home he always began the day with coffee, and that was a habit he had no intentions of quitting. Figuring out the magical stove was easy enough; he’d seen Spike using the one back in Twilight’s castle enough to understand it was almost the same as electrical stoves. Finding a pot to boil water in was easy too. Sadly, it seemed as if Brilliant wasn’t a coffee drinker; all he could find was tea. On the upside, the smell of the dried tea was both inviting and sweet. After pouring the hot water into a teapot, he returned to the living room with his tea. A newspaper lay on the coffee table, and seeing it was better than nothing, he took it and began reading. To his surprise, it was the same newspaper that revealed his existence, the press conference with Celestia and Twilight, and the lengthy interview with him and Luna as moral support. After leafing through the paper, Magnus noticed how worn the paper was. Someone, or somepony, had used this paper a lot, and the most wear and tear was on the pages about him. Brilliant had probably been reading about him after she found out she was related to him. After putting the paper away and sipping his tea, he surmised that he’d probably do the same. Why not know as much as possible about someone after getting such news? *** The sun was just about to finally set for the day when Brilliant appeared in the living room door and saw Magnus sitting there. “Good afternoon,” she smiled, announcing her presence. Magnus was engrossed, nose deep in a photo album, and looked up when he heard her. “Oh, hey, good afternoon. I, uh, hope you didn’t mind looking through your photo album. It was just sitting there and I—” “No no, I don’t mind at all.” She chuckled as she walked closer and took a gander at the album. “Oh, that’s a good one. Most of those pictures are from… I think, six or seven years ago, before my great-grandchildren arrived.” “I noticed some differences here,” Magnus said with a nod. After looking through the album, he had found out quite a bit about Brilliant’s stepchildren. However, one mystery remained. “You told me last night that your herd consisted of you, a bat pony stallion and mare, and one earth pony mare. How come your stepchildren are all bat ponies?” Magnus asked; he didn’t rule out adoption. Brilliant sat down on a chair, letting out a strained sound as she got comfortable. “We ponies either come out one way or the other. One unicorn and one pegasus can’t create an alicorn; it’s one or the other.” Magnus nodded as he digested the info. It was easy enough to understand, but somehow didn’t add up. However, by this point, he understood that ponies—and this world for that matter—worked by different rules altogether, and so further inquiry would be fruitless. This world was so different from Earth. Brilliant looked over to the teapot and lifted it with her magic. Magnus hadn’t refilled it after emptying it. The old mare stood up on shaky legs. “Let’s have breakfast and then we can go into town to buy some groceries. The castle will be full tonight.” “I can help,” Magnus stated as he stood up and followed Brilliant. “If I’m gonna stay here for a while, the least I can do is help.” *** An hour and a half later, Brilliant closed the castle doors with her magic. Draped around her neck and back, she wore a white wool knitted shawl. Now that the sun was setting, the chill of the evening, and later night, would set in. In her magic, she carried a small purse as opposed to a bit bag. Magnus too was leaving with her to go into town. He wore his signature short black pants and his jacket. Just in case he saw something in town he’d like, he remembered his bag of bits. “So how long will it take to get to town?” Magnus asked as he and Brilliant walked away from the door. “When I was younger, it would take me around twenty to thirty minutes. But these days, I can’t manage the walk,” Brilliant explained as she reached the fountain, but instead of continuing forward, she turned to the right. “These days, I have another way to get to town.” Magnus followed, and standing beneath a large tree, covered in its shadow, he noticed a shed with double doors he hadn’t seen the night before. Using her magic once more, Brilliant opened the double doors and sent a small magical orb of light to hover just below the ceiling. “Is that… a ~car~?” Magnus asked, thoroughly surprised at the oddly specific car-shaped wagon standing in the shed. All this time, he was under the impression that Equestria, and no other country in this world, had cars. “A what now?” Brilliant asked as she once again resorted to her magic, pulling the heavy looking car out of the shed effortlessly. Magnus now realized that it was in fact not a car, but some type of covered wagon that resembled an old car, perhaps something from the turn of the century. It was bright blue in colour with a white canvas roof on four wooden posts, tires made from thick wood, and reinforced with sturdy wooden spokes. It had a single oil lamp at the front, and lacked the hood that actually cars usually possessed, being nearly completely flat at the front. Furthermore, it didn’t have the same riding height as opposed to a car; its bottom being mere inches above ground. “A ~car~, it’s a type of self-propelled wagon from Earth,” Magnus explained. “Never heard of a ~car~before,” Brilliant said as she lit the oil lamp at the front with a spell that produced a flame the size of a candle. “Woodchuck and Blizzard, two of my grandsons, built this for me some twelve years ago when my legs started to get bad. They got the idea from the foals participating in the Hollow Shades Derby and asked me if I knew a spell to make a derby cart move on its own, which I did. So they made this cart for me, and ever since then, I can go to town whenever I want. It made my life so much easier,” Brilliant explained with a smile as she used her magic to lift herself into the cart’s driver seat and positioned herself behind the wheel. As she did so, Magnus noticed Brilliant’s cutie mark for the first time. While he was told by Twilight during his stay with her that ponies often looked at each other’s cutie marks, he himself made an effort not to, as it was a bit close to whatever they had under their tails. Nevertheless, he would often find himself sneaking a look at ponies’ marks in order to understand what their talent could be. Brilliant’s cutie mark was a pair of scrolls, crossed like the bones in a classical pirate flag, and the cutie mark also had four stars; one above, one below, and one on the left and right. He could only guess at its meaning. Magnus then climbed into the cart. Space, however, was a bit difficult as the cart was made to hold four ponies at best, so he sat in the back, almost taking up the entire back seat. Brilliant’s horn began to glow crimson, and this time she maintained the glow around her horn for a few seconds. Then the crimson magic flowed from her horn and enveloped the cart before seemingly melting into the wood. Without sound or warning, the cart began slowly inching its way forward until it reached the middle of the courtyard. Brilliant steered the cart like a car, turning the wheel to the right with her magic at the fountain and heading towards the gatehouse, and as soon as she got past the wall, she turned to the left and onto the road. “There we go, it’s all smooth sailing from here to town,” Brilliant said, peering over her shoulder at her human relative. Magnus was enthralled, a normal occurrence when he saw a new type of magic in use for the first time. The cart produced a pretty good speed, faster than a jog and slower than a sprint. “What kind of spell is this? I’ve never seen it before or heard of it,” he asked, leaning out of the wagon to see what was actually happening. He noticed the wheels had a faint red aura surrounding them. “It's called a “Come-To-Life spell”,” Brilliant answered, carefully turning around a small bend in the road. “Not a lot of ponies use it because honestly, it’s more of a novelty.” “Okay?” Magnus answered, pondering carefully. “So how come carts and other things aren’t powered by spells like this one?” In Magnus’ head, this was one of the more useful spells he’d seen since coming to Equestria. Why wasn’t there more spell powered carts and wagons around? “This spell requires a lot of magic to cast, and even more to sustain it,” Brilliant explained. “I can hold this spell just fine for a couple of hours or so. Most unicorns usually don’t train their magic as much as they did back in the old days, unless they have a job that needs their magic. And it gets harder the heavier the object you want to move. This little cart is light for that reason alone. A train and wagons would need many unicorns trained in the use of magic to sustain the spell, and even then they might not make it move for more than half an hour at best.” Magnus sat upright again, satisfied with the explanation he was given. It made sense; like a heavy car needing a stronger engine to move it. His old Ford was heavy and had a strong engine, and it wasn’t like he could make it move with a go-kart engine anyway. Even magic, amazing as it was, had some limitations to it. With the lamp shining ahead, illuminating the road with its weak light, Brilliant drove and talked about various topics, specifically about her children arriving later during the night. They would come with the night train from Fillydelphia, Manehattan, and even Canterlot later. Some even lived in Hollow Shades as well, and Brilliant explained to Magnus that he might meet some of them in town. The deeper into the forest they delved, Magnus noticed that the trees became taller and thicker at the trunk. The forest around Brilliant’s castle was pretty tall, perhaps ten to fifteen meters in height, but now the trees were getting closer to twenty meters, and the number just grew. The short drive soon came to an end as the town came into sight and Brilliant’s cart began to slow down to a walking pace. By Magnus’ estimation, the trip took around eight to ten minutes. The first few buildings were normal houses like the type one could find in Ponyville, but they were also built with stone as well, and some even had decorations made out of carved wood. And the closer to the town centre they came, the more the houses changed; from wood and very little stone to almost the entire houses made from stone held together with mortar. And above, among the treetops, there were entire tree houses and homes carved into the thick trees, some at the trunk and some further up. Wooden walkways went from one tree to the next, like a street high above ground level, and lamps lit the way. As exciting as it was for Magnus, he soon found his eyes drawn to ground level and the myriad of ponies wandering about. Nearly every single pony was a bat pony, and despite the few bat ponies he had seen in Canterlot, here he saw that the bat ponies were far more diverse when it came to their colours. Grey was the primary colour of their coats, but until now he didn’t realize just how many shades grey came in. Their mane colours were also much more diverse. Then the first voice spoke up; an elderly bat pony stallion with a cane and hat came walking towards the cart and saw Brilliant and was about to say hello when his facial expression shifted to one of surprise. “Good evening, Brilliant,” the stallion said carefully, tipping his hat to her with the help of his wing, his eyes shifting from Brilliant to Magnus and back again. “Are you aware that there is something strange in your cart?” “Good evening, Whittler. Yes, I know; Princess Luna and Princess Celestia sent him to me for a visit,” Brilliant answered plainly as if she was talking about the weather. “The princesses did? What an odd thing to do,” the elder stallion replied perturbed. “No, not at all. You see, he is family.” There was a slight pause from the stallion, followed by one of his eyebrows traveling slightly upwards. “Oh. I see. Well then, Brilliant, have a good night.” “Thank you, Whittler. And a good night to you as well.” And with that Brilliant and Magnus continued on. Just as they passed the old stallion, Magnus heard him mutter something about old age and the mind. He let it slide, more focused on the thought that Brilliant already referred to him as family. Didn’t she do the same last night? He was already well aware of ponies growing strong bonds of friendship in a surprisingly short amount of time, but did that extend to family as well? In the case of Brilliant, did that even extend to people she hardly knew? As Brilliant drove into the town centre, she and Magnus drew more and more attention from the ponies. It became so silent that Magnus could hear a mosquito fart. Then the whispers and hushed voices began as had occurred in Canterlot and Ponyville. Ponies of all ages and genders flocked together in small crowds to observe their passage through town. He couldn’t wait for the day to come that he became old news. The town centre which they drove into was just a bit larger than Ponyville’s market square, but there were fewer houses one could see. Lights further into the forest revealed more houses there, and some houses up in the treetops, and there were plenty of paths leading into the forest, acting as streets. At regular intervals, lampposts illuminated the streets and surrounding area with a soft glow, artfully made out of cast iron. A large four storey building at the southern end of the square was obviously the town hall, seeing that it had a very ‘official’ look about it. Brilliant parked her cart near the town centre where ponies had set up their stands. The usual sounds one would hear from ponies all chatting had all but ceased as Magnus got off the cart. He looked around, seeing nothing but equine eyes staring at him. “Oh, pay them no mind, they are just curious,” Brilliant said as she levitated herself off her vehicle. “But if you want them to stop, you can just try to stare back at them.” Magnus chuckled at the ‘advice’; he wasn’t about to make ponies feel uncomfortable, no matter how tempting it was. “So, where to first?” he asked. “Butter Dough’s bakery. When you get to be my age, there are always foals about craving sweets.” Brilliant led the way through the crowd that parted as she approached them, heading straight for a two story house, the lower half made of stone and the upper of wood. A sign containing the name “Straight From the Oven” hung outside in the shape of a breadbasket. As soon as Magnus walked inside, he was hit by the scent of freshly baked bread and other goods. A few ponies were already inside, patiently waiting in line at the counter, not having noticed him yet. Like any customer, Brilliant went to stand in line and Magnus followed her, standing behind her. In contrast to Sugarcube Corner, the interior of this bakery was somewhat subdued when it came to colours, but it had a rather homely feel to it, as if he’d just walked into someone’s kitchen. There were a few shelves with different types of baked goods packaged in paper bags, and the glass counter had sweet pastries on display. A scream suddenly sounded through the store as the first customer had gotten what she wanted and turned around, only to spot Magnus standing there. The mare, a diminutive bat pony mare, dropped her bag, flared her wings, lowered herself into what looked like a pouncing position, and hissed at him with fangs bared. Of course, the scream had drawn the attention of the entire store, and suddenly Magnus found himself once again as the centre of attention. The customers began to back away from him, acting like they’d just noticed a bear had wandered into the store. But again, Brilliant proved herself to be quite nonchalant about the whole thing. With a path to the counter cleared, she walked right up to the confused bat pony stallion manning the cash register. “Good evening, Butter, do you happen to have flour today? My family is coming to visit and I need to bake. I also need two boxes of mango tarts.” She glanced over her shoulder at Magnus. “Magnus, would you like something? I recommend a slice of blueberry cake. It’s crunchy and has the finest sugar and cinnamon flavour.” Magnus was still dumbstruck at how Brilliant handled the situation. She ignored the crowd, the stares, the silent whispers, and even the mare, whose wings were slowly lowering back to their place, having a very confused mien on her face. She didn’t even try to speak to the ponies, to reassure them that everything was okay. “I…uh, the cake? Yes please, I’ve some bits so—” “No no, I’m buying,” Brilliant quickly protested. As soon as Brilliant was handed the wares, she levitated the flour bags to Magnus. “Thank you, Butter. Magnus, could you carry these to the cart? We still have some shopping to do.” After thanking her for the cake, Magnus took the flour sacks and followed Brilliant, sacks under one arm, and a paper napkin with a slice of juicy cake in the other. Brilliant still didn’t say a word as she walked outside. At the door, Magnus turned around; the ponies still stared, mouths wide open and visibly confused. Even the mare, formerly scared, now looked like she was trying to figure out what the hell was going on. Any and all traces of fear were gone. Magnus came to the conclusion that either Brilliant didn’t care what the inhabitants of Hollow Shades thought about him, or that she liked to confuse them. So why not join in? He bit off a large piece of the cake, chewed, and swallowed. It was crunchy on the outside, and soft, sweet, and juicy on the inside. “Oh wow! This is good. I might come back for more. Thanks, and see you around.” He chuckled as he closed the door behind him. The second the door closed, he heard voices from within, the most common phrase spoken asking, “What the hay?” Even the ponies outside still stood in groups, their attention fixated on Magnus as soon as they spotted him. But Brilliant didn’t say a word; she just smiled as if she was on an early morning grocery shopping spree. After leaving the baked goods at the cart, Brilliant then headed for other stores as well as the market square and the various stands. The same scene unfolded at each one. Some ponies backed away, some were curious enough to stand their ground, while some ponies took to the sky and branches in order to get a bird’s eye view of the drama unfolding below. Of course, the ruckus inevitably drew the attention of the town’s highest authority. After leaving a store that sold candies, a stallion waited outside for them. He was a bat pony with impeccable combed long mane, a white and black collar with a red tie, and a cutie mark depicting a book with the word ‘law’ written on the cover. “Brilliant,” the stallion asked with a tired expression on his face and a small shake of his head, “what are you doing now? Why do you have the human here? I had ten ponies storming my office just minutes ago. Would you please care to explain?” Despite the pony’s grouchy attitude, Brilliant greeted him with a smile. “Good evening, Mayor Wordsmith. I was simply doing my usual grocery shopping with Magnus here. I don’t see what all the fuss is about.” “The fuss is,” the mayor continued, sounding even more exasperated, “why is he here?” “Because he is visiting me,” Brilliant answered plainly. “Is it against the law for a human to visit his relative?” Mayor Wordsmith crooked a brow at the statement. “Did I hear you right? Relative?” Magnus was now sure that Brilliant was of the more playful and pranking variety of ponies. To answer a question with an answer such as hers without elaborating was deliberate trolling. “Why yes. He is my relative,” Brilliant continued. “I don’t see what all the fuss is about. We are only shopping. It’s not his or mine’s fault if ponies get jumpy around him. He’ll be staying for quite some time at my castle, and like it or not, he can go wherever he wants to, even in town.” Mayor Wordsmith sighed and rubbed his head with a hoof. “Okay, okay, I know, you don’t have to recite the law to me; I know it word by word. I was only checking; it’s my responsibility after all.” “And a fine job you are doing, keeping us all safe,” Brilliant assured. “Oh, by the way; please don’t mention it to everypony around town, at least not until tomorrow. My family is coming to visit, and we’re making it a surprise for them.” “A surprise too? Well, far be it for me to ruin a surprise,” the mayor added, looking a bit more relaxed as he looked from Brilliant to Magnus, regarding him for a moment with curiosity. “Well then, I guess there isn’t much to be said from me, other than to welcome you to Hollow Shades, Mister Powell. I am Wordsmith, the mayor of our little town.” Magnus bent down to shake the stallion’s hoof. “Pleasure to meet you, Mayor Wordsmith. I’ll try to keep the riots to a minimum by sneaking around instead of walking plainly,” he said jokingly. “Sneaking? Here? Good luck with that. You might get some kids to think you’re playing hide and seek if you do that,” Wordsmith added, laughing. “Now then, to clear this up.” Wordsmith turned to address the numerous ponies that had assembled behind him and gave an impromptu speech about Magnus being a visitor to town who would stay for a while. After his speech was concluded, he left to return to his office. Despite his speech’s briefness, Mayor Wordsmith’s name was true to his golden tongue. He was a fantastic orator; he could probably tell people to go to hell and they would look forward to the trip there. After the speech, a few ponies were brave enough to approach Brilliant, asking her why the human was with her especially. Brilliant’s reply was simple and honest: “He’s helping me with my shopping.” But she never mentioned to anyone their relation. This made Magnus wonder. She told the old stallion—why not the rest of the townsponies? Well, they would find out soon enough. By tomorrow or so, when Brilliant’s family had met him, word would soon spread. That little fact didn’t especially bother Magnus. *** Bumping along the dirt road, Brilliant’s spell-powered cart made its way back to the castle. In the back, Magnus sat thinking. He had learnt a lot in town. For example, the bat ponies were wary towards newcomers. However, they were more curious than their earth, pegasus, or unicorn brethren, and also bolder. While initially keeping their distance, by the time Brilliant and he made their way back to the cart, they didn’t actively avoid him. Hell, some bat ponies even made low flying passes right over his head and he never heard them coming. All in all, his first foray into Hollow Shades was a success. No riots, no pitchforks, and no cages. It went well, all things considered. Brilliant had mentioned that he might meet some of her children and grandchildren in town. That unfortunately didn’t happen. Nevertheless, they’d be in for a surprise later on. Upon their return to Stargard Castle, Magnus helped Brilliant with her groceries and carried them inside. Just as he helped stow away her goods, he noticed Brilliant’s cutie mark again; the crossed scrolls and the stars. What talent could they signify? The scrolls could be knowledge or magic spells, or maybe even a pair of rolled up maps. What then did the stars signify? Twilight had stars on her mark, as did Shining Armor on his, and both of them excelled at magic. Could stars represent magic in some form? “Brilliant?” “Yes, dearie?” "Dearie?" “What does your cutie mark mean?” Brilliant closed the fridge and turned her head towards her flanks, watching her mark. “It means that I have a talent for understanding and casting ancient, archaic spells.” “How did you get it?” Brilliant put the kettle on and lit the fire in the oven with a small magical flame. “When I was young, I loved to go exploring this old castle,” she began, taking a seat by the kitchen table, Magnus joining her. “I went high and low from dusk to dawn, exploring the basement, the attic, all the old rooms. This house was a playground for me. Then one day while exploring the basement, I accidentally dislodged a stone and uncovered a secret compartment. In there, I found an old and dusty tome, and overcome by curiosity, I decided to read it. Although the pages were old, worn, damp, and covered with mould, I managed to decipher a single spell with the help of some of the old books in the gallery. At that moment, this mark appeared on my flanks,” she finished with a happy beam. Magnus smiled; what a surprise for her. A new spell, her mark, and finding a secret room on the same day. “So what did the spell do?” Brilliant leaned back, thought for a second, and then began laughing. “Oh, it created a ball of lightning that I couldn’t control. It burned the grass, the trees, and nearly melted the gates before my parents discovered what was happening and got it under control. I was grounded for a month because of it, and my father sent me to Canterlot so that I could learn control from an archmage. I was only there for a few months before I was allowed to return, and by then I could control the spell.” "Did Brilliant just tell me she summoned a ball lightning?" He’d heard of the phenomenon—one of the strangest, unexplained, and potentially dangerous electrical phenomena to exist. No one was really sure why they formed or even how they could exist in the first place. Safe to say, he was officially impressed. “That’s amazing. But what happened to the spellbook you found?” Brilliant chuckled as she used her magic to take the whistling kettle off the stove, floating it and two cups over to her and Magnus. “The original was donated to Princess Celestia, who asked her experts to analyze the book and the writings therein, and to preserve it in the Canterlot archives. I was later given a brand new copy of the book by Celestia herself. It sits locked behind glass here in the castle.” Magnus nodded, but was puzzled. Who wrote such a spell, and why? What was its purpose? Brilliant tilted her head to the side slightly, regarding Magnus with curious eyes. “You look as if you want to ask me something.” Magnus was impressed; how could she tell so fast? Even the ponies he’d known the longest had a hard time interpreting his facial expressions. “I was. I was wondering what uses does such a spell have?” Brilliant smiled again, but this time her smile faded quickly and she adopted a more serious visage, cradling her cup of tea. “Most likely a war spell. This one was probably meant to disable large rank and file formations or perhaps break open a hole in formations. Faust knows, some unicorns ages ago created terrible magical spells for use in wars. Thank Celestia and Luna that we have not seen a war in centuries. War spells are terrible creations.” Magnus nodded; he couldn’t agree more. Wars are terrible, yes, and even though some weapons are meant to be a simple deterrent, everything had its limit. But then, what limits did magic have when it came to wars? Best not to think about it. Brilliant cradled her cup, sloshing its contents slowly while gazing out the window. “The family should arrive sometime later, and I will have many mouths to feed. I will need help.” Magnus stood up. “You don’t need to ask.” *** Brilliant and Magnus worked for a few hours, well into the night preparing dinner for the many expected guests. Brilliant once again showed another talent of hers; cooking. With magic wielding a knife, she peeled and chopped vegetables at blistering speeds and deposited them into a pot of water and herbs. With magic, she mixed flour, water, yeast, and salt, and kneaded the dough to make fresh bread for them to eat with the soup. While Brilliant did all this, Magnus did his best to help: mixing butter and garlic to make garlic butter, and chopping up fruit and whipping cream for dessert. Compared to the speed Brilliant displayed, he was hopelessly outclassed. Still, upon seeing the multitasking Brilliant was capable of with her magic, and doing all this while seated at the kitchen table sipping tea, he couldn’t help but admire her exceptional skill at magic. Her control was perfect as far as he could decipher, honed over god knew how many years wielding magic, and not once did she slip. Although Magnus had seen Twilight use magic several times, he now knew that experience was a better teacher. Twilight might be an alicorn and a powerhouse, but she just couldn’t bring decades of experience to the table. Power did not trump a century of living. When dinner began nearing completion, Brilliant asked Magnus to set the table in the dining room. He happily obliged, and after being told where the dining room was, he went to the west wing of the house. And as the rest of the house, the dining room was, for lack of a better word, magnificent. It was long with four large windows at the far end, and had several old, Persian-styled rugs covering its stone floor. The walls themselves were covered with aged wallpapers that must have gone out of style at least a century ago, yet that did little to diminish its splendour. An ornate table large enough to seat at least fifty ponies, and the fine chairs pushed up to it was of the same style as the table itself, looking Victorian age or even older. On the walls hung paintings of previous generations as well as some landscape paintings, and below stood several cabinets filled with plates, glasses and cups, cutlery made of silver and gold, and embroidered napkins. This ancient castle simply impressed him more and more. Yet even with all this finery, he did notice a few minor holes in the carpets, the worn wood on the cabinets, and notches in the table and the chairs. Yes, the castle’s interior was beautiful, but the closer he looked, the more flaws he noticed. They were, he assumed, signs of the family’s fall and lack of funds to repair or replace them. A terrible shame, to let such fine things deteriorate. Finally, after hours of work, everything was ready for the ponies to arrive. While the soup was kept warm on the stove, Brilliant and Magnus sat in the living room, chatting about various topics while waiting for Brilliant’s family. Then, somewhere around four in the morning, there was knocking on the door, echoing around the entire castle. Brilliant was out of her chair in an instant, eager and with a wide and happy smile on her face. “There they are,” she stated. “Now you just wait here, I want to surprise them.” Magnus remained seated in the living room as Brilliant headed out into the hallway. He heard the door open followed by joyous voices and greetings in the entry hall. From the sounds of it, it sounded as if there was a crowd; many voices, from elderly mares and stallions to the very young. It was around this moment that Magnus began to truly feel nervous. He knew well by now that Brilliant was perhaps the most welcoming pony he’d met in Equestria so far, but what about her children and grandchildren? "Well, too late to change my mind now. All I can do is wait and see what happens." What felt like minutes passed, and still the ponies were in the hallway, greetings and well-wishes being exchanged. Magnus sat in a chair, patiently waiting, his eyes focused on the doorway leading to the hall. Then the door was slowly nudged aside ever so slightly and a pony appeared in the doorway, but not an adult. A bat pony foal in diapers, sucking on a binky, and staring right at Magnus with huge, inquisitive purple eyes. The foal had an inky dark, almost black coat, and a short dark blue tail, and atop his head was a small mop of hair in the same colour. Magnus was surprised at seeing the foal, who was just about the cutest thing he’d ever laid eyes on. Slowly he scooted himself off the chair and down onto the floor, sitting cross-legged. “Hey there, little guy,” Magnus said softly with a smile, making himself appear as non-threatening as possible. The little foal’s binky fell out of its mouth as it turned and sped off as fast as those short legs could carry him. “Great; just met a little foal and now it’s running to its mom to cry,” Magnus muttered, feeling a bit disheartened. But just a few moments later, the foal returned to the door, this time walking backwards towards Magnus, dragging a book in its mouth. The foal dropped its book, turned around, and after seeing Magnus was still there, began dragging its book back to him, obviously struggling a bit. The foal stopped just inches from Magnus and dropped the book. Staring up at Magnus, the foal tilted its little head from side to side. “Ga-ga,” it said, stomping a hoof onto the cover of the book. It was a children's book with the cover of it looking very similar to The Very Hungry Caterpillar. “Ooh, that’s a nice book you have there. Is it yours?” Magnus asked the foal. The foal nudged the cover, managing to flip over to the next page and once again stomped the book. “Ga-ga!” “Do you want me to read it for you?” Magnus asked again, amused at the little one’s antics. “Okay, I can read.” He grabbed the book from the floor and held it open in one hand, low to the floor so the foal could see. The foal, however, had other plans. First, the foal ran back to the door to get their binky back, and with said binky in place, ran on short legs back to Magnus. Then came another surprise! Struggling mightily, the foal began climbing into his lap, even utilising the tiny claws in the thumb of his wings for a better grip. Despite it feeling like a kitten's claw on skin, Magnus was much too amused to even wince as the little claws dug into his skin; he just smiled as the foal finally got comfy on his lap. “Ga-ga,” the foal uttered, looking up at Magnus, pawing at the book. Magnus had to smile at the little adventurer. “Well, aren’t you a fearless kid, hm?” “Ga-ga.” “Okay, okay, I’ll read. Ahem! Once upon a time there was a little caterpillar,” he began, feeling amused at the foal on his lap. If he was told half a year ago that he’d read a story to a bat pony foal in a castle on another world, he would probably just laugh and ask what they were smoking. Now, however, it was happening and he enjoyed it immensely, laughing on the inside at the absurdity of the situation, but also of how adorable the black ball of fur, mane, tail, and wings was, the way he or she just sat there, sucking on a binky, completely engrossed with the story of a caterpillar instead of the fact that he or she was sitting in the lap of an alien. And he kept reading page and after, reading slowly so that the foal could follow and even see what was happening on each colourfully illustrated page. He only paused when he heard the voices in the hallway suddenly draw closer and then cease in an instant. He looked up, finding a crowd of ponies there, all staring at him with obvious surprise and mouths wide open, with Brilliant standing in the middle, happily smiling at the sight of a foal on the lap of an alien. The foal looked up at the assembled ponies and plucked out its binky with one of the wing claws. “Ga-ga.” “Mhm, you’re right, kiddo. They look a bit ga-ga,” Magnus agreed with the baby before looking back at the ponies. “What? Never seen a human read a foal a story before?”