//------------------------------// // New Home // Story: A World of Colorful Feathers // by The Psychopath //------------------------------// "Runes are objects that are placed within a pony's body." He looked at the stairs where BasKas had gone. "They tend to be a single rune, or sets of runes on a single 'coin' of clay or some other substance." He paused a moment. "As far as I can recall, there's several types. Not all are made of the same thing, and the higher the quality the stronger the amount of mana the rune can maintain and direct." "So, they're coin-sized tablets?" Luster asked. Fizzy nodded. "Is it like any alchemical spell where the rune needs to be made of one substance?" "I have physical examples upstairs. It would be easier to show you in person than talking about it," Fizzy said. Fizzy climbed, and Luster followed, but she was taken aback by the room above. She was certain that there was no floor, but she could feel the hints of enchantment, and sconces hung about the air. The room was fully open to the bright sky outside. She could see everything as far as the height allowed. Several dozens of bookshelves filled with books she had never seen before hung over the emptiness, ready to fall to the ground below, but they stood in place, precariously held aloft by magic. A desk covered in neatly rolled parchments and papers, quills, and ink bottles sat against the solid staircase wall that lead ever higher. It was the only solid part of this area, save the furniture and the opening to the floor below. "Why is this place transparent?" Luster asked. "Uhhh." Fizzy casually scratched his neck. "Decorative. I like looking down onto everything." He took a deep breath. "Very relaxing," he hushed. "Now come. The runes are on the next floor." The student followed and found herself briefly gagging on a stench of ash scratching at the back of her throat. Fizzy poked the walls with a crooked stick on the ground, revealing a large, uneven, and somehow hilly room covered in fresh grass and shrubbery. Luster almost tripped over one of the hills, and kicked open several shelf compartments. The hills were filled with ingredients; From simple things like plants and fruits, to more meaty ones like claws and eyes. Several semi-transparent orbs of various colors and size floated in and out of existence around the room. They, along with several mushrooms and parts of the grass and bushes glowed in the dark. "What are these things?" Luster asked. "It looks like someone threw rave tubes all over this place." "They're plants that grow in dark areas," Fizzy explained. He shook his head at the mare. "It's better to have this kind of dim light during work than to have bright, yellow lights burning and tiring my eyes. Blues and whites and greens and purples. The best lights for working." "Uh huh..." Luster mumbled absent-mindedly. "Here," Fizzy said. Several of the larger, sky-blue orbs floated above a circular table with an opening to its center. Several tablets and 'coins' were laid out on its surface. All had strange symbols on them, each acting like an assortment of glowing worms wriggling on their surfaces. "These are runes," the stallion said. "I thought you said they were the size of coins," Luster complained. Fizzy looked at the larger tablets and nodded. "Not all of them. Some can be embedded into houses and machinery. Essentially pooling mana and giving it the shape and instructions it needs to perform its task." Luster stared at the stallion apathetically. "They cast a spell on the object." "Yes," Fizzy half-yelled and grumbled. "But the strength comes not just from the material used to make the coin or tablet, but also what is ground up to make the base for the rune paint. If you mix up random ingredients together, nothing happens." He raised his head from the mortars filled with various colored powders to look at Luster. "What's wrong with you? You seem disappointed." "I...was expecting something bad to happen with that if the ingredients were wrong," Luster explained. She sat down. "I've read that alchemy can be disastrous if the wrong ingredients are used." The grumpy stallion scoffed and rolled his eyes at the same time. "That's because alchemy functions on a principle of equal exchange. Not all ingredients have the same strength in alchemy." "How does an alchemist know--" Luster started but was cut off by Fizzy. "What do I look like, an alchemist?!" he yelled angrily. "I don't know. I'm a sorcerer. I can do many things, but I'm not interested in the ridiculous principles of the alchemists." He grabbed one of the coins and analyzed it with narrow eyes. "I prefer fields that aren't limited by ridiculous notions." He slammed his hooves on the table. "Now can I continue explaining runes? I've never had the opportunity to talk about them with anyone other than that tar bird up there." "Okay. Sure. Geez. So grumpy," the mare complained. "Thank you." Fizzy spat venom wit his words. "On their own, runes can't do anything." "Because you said they can only channel magic and shape it into what is required," Luster said. "So they would need an active source of magic." "That's right. You listen!" Fizzy said with astonishment. "Like I mentioned earlier, these need to be constantly run through with magic. Some machine can get around that with magic pumps injected into containers that run through them, but these coins." He raised one with his magic. "They're implanted directly into the body." Luster became perplexed. "That...doesn't sound too bad." Fizzy smiled. It seemed so unnatural for a face like his to contort in such aberrant shapes that Luster flinched back instinctively. "Pony bodies aren't made to use magic like this," the stallion explained with a sly grin. "They change you from within," BasKas added. The two turned around to see the avian's head poking out from a hole in the ceiling. "The rune doesn't adapt to the body. The body is the one that adapts to the rune." Luster felt herself getting stressed, like a grip held her heart and was squeezing harder and harder. She didn't want to know. She didn't need to know. "What...happens?" Luster internally slapped her forehead. "Why did I ask that?!" she thought. BasKas stuck his giant 'fingers' in front of his face and wagged them. "Stufffffffff." There was a moment of silence while the avian got to enjoy a moment he was proud of and the two ponies stared at him, unimpressed and very annoyed. "What he means is that their bodies get destroyed, regenerate, get destroyed, and so on and so forth until it's done," Fizzy grumbled as he rotated his hoof in the air. "The weakest of coins tend not to do anything special." "They're hardly even a full rune," BasKas chuckled. "So, what? Fur color change or something?" Luster guessed. "Y-yes. Pretty much." Fizzy rested his chin on a hoof. "Either you're smarter than you're letting on, or your Princess Twilight is very competent indeed." He nodded to himself. "I'm growing more and more curious about her. But, I have more to explain to you." "Why do you want to explain all of this to me?" Luster pried. "Because your body and the knowledge you possess don't exist in our world." Fizzy chuckled. "Faking knowledge as deeply as you are is somewhat possible, but your horn is another story. Plus, I want to know if anything sounds familiar to you." Luster shook her head. "So far none of this is familiar to me." "Hm. Back to what I was saying, then." He raised a paintbrush with thick bristles in the air and started waving it in the air, painting an invisible piece. "The tiniest, weakest of coins only change minor elements of a pony. Hardly anything significant." "But they sometimes boost their attractiveness," BasKas laughed. "Would you shut up?!" Fizzy screamed at the top of his lungs. "I figured adding some comedy would make your grumpy lectures a tad more interesting and tolerable," the avian said. The grumpy stallion groaned and threw the paintbrush angrily behind him. "The stronger the runes, the worse the effects! Bones twist, eyes melt, fur becomes spikes. And--!" Fizzy reflexively clenched his mouth shut. Luster could tell that he was trying to say something with how much his jaw was trembling. "They...they get addicted to the power and want more." "And more and more and more," BasKas added. "Have you seen anyone covered in really thick robes?" he asked Luster. "N..." She paused, thinking back to her hyperactive day. "Yes. Actually, in the castle, in the throne room, I think there were a few ponies like that standing in front of the crowd." Fizzle and BasKas looked at her, and the atmosphere in the room became strained and hot. "What?" Luster asked. "Then they know firsthoof that you're a pony with magic unlike others," Fizzy explained. "How? With what you said they might think I have runes in me. What, they can sense the runes in each other?" Luster mocked. "Nothing so cliché. Runes can be seen on your fur, like a cutie mark," BasKas added. "But only the strongest can be seen." "And the most commonly used rune amongst several of same strength shows itself," the grumpy stallion added. He shook his head while BasKas hung from the ceiling and dropped down with a loud thud. "Of course, the most powerful runes use the most illegal of ingredients," Fizzy lamented. "Sounds like one of the Princess' many more dramatic books that she likes to talk about," Fizzy chuckled. "What, she reads too?!" Fizzy gasped in shock. "Of course she does. Any ruler needs to be able to read," Luster said. Fizzy tapped the table in front of him and started rearranging the various containers he left around. "King Daegcandel and Queen Heofoncandel might be able to read, but they never read anything more than missives and contracts and what-have-you." The stallion dragged his hooves across his face and groaned loudly. "They're so uneducated that it's, quite frankly, very painful to see them trying to found new schools and libraries. They're not even the ones that take care of the planning. They just take the credit." Luster tapped the ground several times, seemingly lost in thought. "Are you okay? "It's just that, with you mentioning the king and queen, that they remind me of the princesses that ruled before Princess Twilight," Luster explained. "Really now? Were they both avatars of the sun and moon?" Fizzle asked as he leaned in. "Oh, I don't think they were avatars. They just controlled the cycle of the sun and moon while they were reigning. Princess Celestia controlled the sun, and Princess Luna controlled the moon." BasKas dug into his left wing, cleaning it out. "A duomatriarchy? That's a strange system of rule. Did they have to adopt your 'Twilight' to have an heir?" he asked casually. The mare looked at BasKas with confusion. "What? They were sisters ruling together," Luster explained. "Oh." The avian coughed awkwardly. Fizzy shook his head. "They moved the sun and moon? With what? What machines did they have?" Luster shook her head. "No machines. Just their magic." The two stared at her like she just admitted to destroying an entire world. "What's wrong?" "That's it. You don't come from this world," Fizzy declared. "Far too many differences, and then you declaring that two ponies are capable of such a feat is...They're celestial bodies! How?!" the stallion screamed at the top of his lungs. "Well, they were alicorns..." Luster trailed off quietly. The stallion slammed his hooves on the table angrily and stood up. "That doesn't matter!" he rebuked. "To have such tremendous magical potential means you're not from our world! How you're even able to still use your regular magic is a feat in of itself though." "But then how did she get here?" BasKas asked. "Well, I tried to do a portal spell using a magical artifact, but it activated, something went wrong, and then I fell through a hole into this place." Luster dropped down onto her rear and grabbed her head with both hooves. "I was only trying to check if the artifact could still hold magic, and now I'm stuck here?" Fizzy watched as Luster started to tear up and passed a hoof through his goatee. "I think I have an idea of what happened, but I need to know what the artifact did. I might even know of a way to get you back home, and only you will be able to go there." "What happened, then?" Luster asked between sniffles.