//------------------------------// // Chapter 12: Double Jeopardy // Story: The Tale of Two Sisters // by Underwood //------------------------------// “Mr. Greymane!” a shrill voice called up from outside from Starswirl’s tower, alerting the wizard that his presence was desired downstairs. With a sigh, the old unicorn lowered his current project and made his way down the two flights of stairs to the front door, revealing a very stern mare, looking even more bristly than usual. “Ms. Applecore. To what do I owe the pleasure?” “Custos Greymane, I do wish you would keep an eye on your charges. This one has been running around town all day, holding up her infant sister to every object and window she can reach with her magic! My class finds it quite distracting, and I dare say I agree.” At the feet of the perturbed mare stood a very grumpy looking Celestia, while a bright-eyed Luna was cradled in the teacher’s foreleg. Starswirl sighed, rubbing a furrowed brow. “Tia, you cannot simply leave the house without informing me; especially if you decide to do something as reckless as taking your infant sister with you! I cannot be expected to watch over you every moment of the day.” “Yes, Uncle,” she droned, rolling her eyes as she passed him and entered the house. Starswirl focused his magic on the remaining Princess and relieved his guest of her burden, taking the foal into his own foreleg. “The filly's disobedience could be curtailed if you would consider enrolling her in my class. You may be their carer, but that does not mean you can teach them everything that a growing foal needs to be a productive member of society; the least of which should be some discipline.” “Yes, madam, your suggestion is noted and far from wrong. I believe I shall be contacting you soon in regards to that arrangement.” “Excellent. See that you do. I shall be getting back to my class now. Good day.” With that, the tightly-wound terran left to return to her schoolhouse in the village centre. Starswirl closed his eyes, trying to catalogue this issue among the many others he was currently dealing with. He returned to the living room and closed the front door with his magic. “CELESTIA,” he called, summoning the young filly who had already returned to her room. She begrudgingly returned, sticking her head through the slats on the first floor. “What have I told you about leaving the house? You can not simply run off willy-nilly while I am busy doing research! Must I lock you up there with me?” “No,” she moaned. “It’s just so boring here, and there’s a whole new world outside to explore! How can you expect me to stay here and do nothing my whole life?!” “You are not ‘doing nothing’; our regular tutoring sessions are extremely important for your future, and when you are not in class there is plenty for you to be studying.” She groaned loudly. “It was so much better when Uncle Oosti was here.” “Be that as it may, I am not two ponies, and lest you have forgotten, you are a Princess of Equestria! You have to behave as an example to others.” “But I’m not a princess here, I’m just a regular filly! I should be allowed to go out just like everypony else my age!” He growled under his breath, annoyed that she wasn’t wrong. As far as their cover was concerned, it would make more sense for her to leave the house and partake in the typical activities of foals her age. However, unlike when she used to leave the palace for Canterlot Town, now she would have no escort to ensure her safety—something that Ustiarius would have been ideal for. It was a worrying proposition to leave the most important filly in Equestria unsupervised, but perhaps this was a required part of growing up? Maybe it really was time to enrol her in the local education system, as woefully inept as it may be. She would be far beyond the other students in terms of academic aptitude, but they could offer her something that she had been sorely lacking of late: socialisation with ponies her age. He rubbed his face in frustration. “Fine.” “Oh come on! I never get to- Wait, what?” “As much as I want to protect Your Highness, I cannot wall you off from the world for your entire life, as a certain unicorn might accuse me of. If you agree to my strict terms, I think it is time I allow you to leave the house on your own recognisance.” “For real?!” she squeaked, hardly able to contain her excitement and thoroughly overlooking any mention or implication of 'terms'. “Though you are forbidden from leaving the house with Luna like this,” he continued, ignoring her outburst. “It is bad enough having one renegade Princess, without you endangering another that cannot look after herself yet.” “Pfft, please, Luna was just fine! And she trusts me, don't you?” The dark-blue filly burbled nonsensically in reply, which Celestia triumphantly took as a 'yes'. “Be that as it may, the fate of Equestria's future rests on your back—like it or not—and in turn, mine. I would ask you to please take my position as your guardian into consideration before you do anything this reckless in the future. We cannot afford to lose any more-” He stopped himself mid-sentence, not wishing to remind the Princess of her lost parents, and instead sighed. “Just... don't forget how valuable you are, Celestia.” The young filly remained silent, not really getting his point. “Now take your sister, tuck her in, and do your homework.” She moaned loudly in objection, but complied with the order, eventually leaving Starswirl alone downstairs. He looked down at his hooves, already feeling utterly drained. “This is going to be much harder than I imagined.” The wizard dragged his hooves back up both flights of stairs and slumped onto his stool, brushing aside the needlework he had been working on in favour of the nearest book. He leaned over it, propping his head up on a hoof, but didn't actually feel like reading for once. To think that mere days ago he had sat in this very position, researching how to initiate all of this mess, and now he was doing the very same to try to stop it. A lifetime of study and practical application thrown away in an instant of emotion, and for what, a threat against his life? He should have accepted his fate at the hooves of the King, rather than plaguing the world with this disaster. All of the innocent ponies that have suffered from his short-sightedness... He buried his face in his hooves, wondering if it was truly possible to recover from such an impossible situation. No, there was no point feeding emotion with more emotion. Self-blame would get him nowhere; he had to be methodical—analytical—just like he used to be. He returned his hooves to the desk, but remained deep in thought while staring blankly at the pages before him. What had he researched to open that portal? Could there have been a fail-safe built into the mirror-pool artefact? Something that would suck Discord back into his own dimension? No, that would have negated Gusty the Great's efforts to cast the Memory Stone from this world... Certainly there was the possibility of re-opening the mirror and sealing Discord on the other side, but how in Equestria would he get the creature on the other side to begin with? Some kind of hypnosis spell? Mind-control? They were banned arts, of course, but what did that matter at this point? The Council was already going to have his hide if they ever discovered what really happened. He sighed, swiping the unread book off the table and onto the needle and thread. No, a creature of Discord's strength would not fall under a simple illusion spell, if it were even possible given his unnatural physiology. Like it or not, it seemed to be impossible to remove Discord from their world, meaning that he would need more terrestrial means of incapacitating the creature; something like... stasis! Starswirl jumped to his hooves, knocking over his stool as he scanned the bookshelves, locked onto his target and brought down a thick, recently used tome with his magic. He placed it on the desk and immediately opened it to the correct page, thanks to Celestia's recent history lessons. Here it was, a historical recounting of the imprisonment of Tirek, Prince of the Centaurs. The monstrous four-legged, two-armed creature had stormed Canterlot many years ago, seeking revenge for his father's defeat against the founders of Equestria even earlier. Despite his strength and magical aptitude, he was destined to fall to the awakening of Equestria's first alicorn, Princess Faust, though not even she could defeat him completely. Unable to contain such a beast in a simple dungeon, the Princess used her seemingly limitless magic to banish him to a timeless pocket dimension—rendering him 'inert'—and sealing this energy within a crystal. This crystal was passed down the generations of rulers until... until... Oh no. The ex-courtier 's legs collapsed under him, magically repositioning his stool just in time to safely land on it. Rather than a solution, he had discovered yet another awful, awful problem. With the loss of King Sol, there was no longer a ruler of Equestria to maintain the enchanted crystal, meaning that... the centaur prince was now free. This couldn't possibly get any worse, could it? With any luck the two would meet and cancel each other out, but that wasn't how this week had gone so far, so the worst assumption—that they were now working together—had to be made. He clasped his head, wishing he could wake up from this nightmare. Nevertheless, if Tirek had been imprisoned once, it could be done again; all they needed was an alicorn, and he had two in the making, but did they have the time? A few hours passed as Starswirl sat at his desk studying period scrolls from the Second Age, when a sudden rumbling stirred him from his work. The loud vibration filled the room in bursts, which he immediately recognised the cause of, drawing his attention to the nearby enchanted trunk. Turning on his stool and using his magic, he lifted the chest's lid and reached inside, retrieving a hoof-sized stone that was shivering and pulsating with a blue, glowing rune. It was the partner-stone to the signalling device he had given Little Cobb back at the Prancing Pony Inn, and that meant that something was wrong. Standing up, he brought the stone to his chest and closed his eyes. Thankfully it had been long enough since their meeting that his pool of magic had regenerated, allowing him to perform the long-distance teleportation necessary to answer the distress call, the location of which was transmitted by the sister-stone. White magic emanated from his silhouette as he focused on the distant spark of the arcane device, and as soon as he had channelled enough energy, he disappeared from his study in a blinding flash of light. Some several hundred miles away in Ponydale, Starswirl reappeared, somewhat disoriented and startled by the high-pitched shriek that welcomed him. Before he knew what was going on a hoof pulled him to the floor, attached to a quivering terran hiding in the shadows of a well-built workbench. “Little Cobb? What in Equestria-?” “M-Master Wizard, is that you?” the frail voice whimpered, barely recognising the unicorn in the form he had adopted since arriving at South Sea Post. “Oh.” The unicorn focused on himself, casting an illusionary spell that restored his appearance to the disguise he had used at the inn, ill-fitting beard and all. “Yes, yes, it is I. Why did you use the stone? Has the corruption spread to town?” “Y-Yes Sir, it has, b-but that’s not why Ah used the stone. It- I-It-” He trailed off, curling into a ball as the fearful shaking increased. “What is happening?!” As if on cue, booming laughter echoed outside the drystone storage shed they appeared to be in, encouraging Starswirl to press himself even closer to the dry dirt floor—or at least what he had thought was dirt. Upon closer inspection, though he could barely believe it, the ground appeared to be paper coloured-in to look like dirt. This was not a good sign, but the unknown voice outside was a more pressing concern. “What was that?!” he hissed, now knowing why Little Cobb was keeping his voice low and remaining hidden. “D-Don’t rightly know, Sir. Some p-p-p-ponies fled as the corruption neared, but p-plenty stayed to work on, like Pops. Ah wanted to go, but-” He swallowed, centring himself. “T-Then hecame.” “‘He’ who?!” The wizard was becoming frustrated at the lack of useful information being shared, though the alternative of finding out for himself was less appealing. “D-Don’t know who, Sir. Large fellow he is, black and red like a nightmare, with horns as big as me!” “Tirek,” he spat through clenched teeth. No sooner had he realised there was a threat, and it was already upon him. How was he supposed to repel an enemy that not even an alicorn could ultimately deal with? If there was any justice in the world, he would still be weakened from his encounter with Princess Faust three-hundred years ago, but that didn't mean he stood a chance against him. “Y-You know him, Sir?” “Not personally, but I have read of him.” “C-Can ya help us?” “I do not know…” He frowned, wanting to reassure the colt, but genuinely not knowing how to move forward in this situation. “How many of you are there?” “J-Just me, Sir, and the fallen. Truth be told, Ah ran when he attacked yesterday, but in my haste Ah left behind the stone. Had to come back special for it. A-Ah didn’t think he’d still be here! Only ran as far as the tool shed before mah legs gave out.” “'The fallen?'” “Y-Yes, Sir. Ah ain’t never seen the likes of it before. Ponies just... fallin’ like he was sucking the very life out of them. T’weren’t nothin’ we could do but run!” “Not their lives, but their magic…” Starswirl sighed, recalling all the details he could of his recent studies. “They still live, but their life-magic—or 'essence'—is critically low. Predators like him know not to eradicate their prey, leaving enough to be harvested again later. No doubt he returned to feed on them further, before seeking out the others. Be glad it is only one centaur, and not an army.” “C-Centaur?! W-W-What do we do, Sir?!” “Please, my name is Starswirl. And I do not know.” He lowered his voice further as heavy hoofsteps thudded closer, rattling the stones and metal implements around them. “Equestria repelled the centaurs once, but their King was not truly defeated, only shamed. Any centaurs that may have fallen were mere fodder, but the one out there right now was their Prince, and will not be dealt with so easily. Not even the previous Queen of Equestria was enough to silence his vengeance, instead resorting to a sealing spell...” “But you're a great and powerful wizard, right, Sir?—A-Ah mean Starswirl. Y-You can seal that thing back, right?” Starswirl scoffed, half laughing at the assumption and half at his own egotistical desire to agree. A few days ago he would not have batted an eye at calling himself 'great and powerful', but since then he had learned a bitter lesson in humility. Was he the most capable unicorn in Equestria right now? Probably; but that didn't mean that somepony—or something—else couldn't be stronger. He had never once sat on his laurels, but if only he had planned more thoroughly... If only he had employed more forethought, or had more backup plans... But now was not the time to get lost in his own head; he had an immediate issue to resolve and little time to think it through. “Powerful as I might be, I cannot hold a candle to that of an alicorn. For now, my main concern is your safety and that of the surviving farmers. I have an idea, but you must do exactly what I say, understood?” “Y-Yes Sir—Ah mean, Starswirl.” “Come out, little ponies,” Tirek's deep voice boomed. “Or I'll huff, and puff, and blow your houses down!” The large centaur began to cackle just as Starswirl burst out from the tool shed in front of him, skidding across the paper floor with his legs spread, ready for action. “And what do we have here?” the Prince smirked. “I knew I could smell more magic, but I didn't realise it was all from one pony. Normally it takes a village or two to satisfy my hunger, but you might just be a full meal! Consider that compliment my thanks for bringing yourself to me.” “I know your game, Prince Tirek of the Centaurs, so do not think me unprepared,” the wizard yelled up at the immense creature, who currently stood as tall as the buildings around him. “Well, well, well; finally one of you that shows me a little respect. To think that your unwashed masses have such short memories, that they would so quickly forget the regal presence of a centaur.” He cracked his knuckles and stretched his neck in an attempt to intimidate the unicorn. “Your little magic trick may have allowed your Queen to escape, but your precious little Equestria is threatened by more than just me now. You have been abandoned to your fate, and I shall burn the centaur's birthright to this land deep into your memories, before stamping your pathetic race into the ground.” He scoffed loudly, ensuring that his mocking tone came across. “That 'trick' was not as little as you think, Tirek. Do things not seem different than you remember? The reality is that you have been sealed away for hundreds of years, locked out of time. My kind has forgotten you because you are nothing but a hoofnote in our history books!” The beast's smug confidence drained from his face, tilted by the plausibility of this new information. “You lie,” he growled. “That's impossible! I would know! I-” He trailed off, his thoughts overwhelmed by reluctant memories of Canterlot Palace. Just prior to Discord's intervention, Tirek had made his way to the throne room to confront the Pony Queen herself with little challenge, before being interrupted by a young princess. After a blinding flash of light, he woke up in a bedroom, dazed and confused by what he had assumed was a mere teleportation spell, only to find the palace a chaotic perversion of its former self. It was hard to reconcile how Discord had attacked so quickly and effectively during that brief moment of unconsciousness, not to mention having never heard of such a powerful creature before—one that was almost his equal! As bitter a tincture as it was to swallow, being frozen in time did answer some of the questions he had been asking himself since leaving the capitol. He had chalked it up to not paying attention to the details of such an inferior species, but if he had truly been in stasis for hundreds of years, then what of Taurus? What of his father and mother? What of his right to the throne? As Tirek was lost in thought, Starswirl teleported behind him and shot a beam of white magic at his back, causing him to stagger forward and focus once again on the present. The centaur snarled angrily and whipped around to face his assailant. “You will regret that, worm!” he roared, opening his mouth to siphon the unicorn's essence for his own, just as he had with every other pony unfortunate enough to stand in his path. Ready for this attack, the wizard cast a defensive bubble around himself, nullifying the effect of Tirek's absorption magic. As the two faced off, Little Cobb snuck out from the shed as they had planned, his legs still quivering with fear as he slunk towards the treeline. Despite the specific purpose of Starswirl's barrier, he still found his power ebbing away under the unrelenting assault. He would not be able to keep this up forever, but how could he escape without dropping the bubble and being drained completely? The concentration this shield required made it too difficult to move while casting it, and even teleporting would take too long. At least he had seen the young stallion escape out of the corner of his eye, so his peril was not for nothing, though perhaps he could have planned a better stratagem with just a little more forethought... Sweat dripped down Starswirl's brow as he forced more magic into his barrier, despite its form continuing to waver and fade, now only shielding the single direction of the attack. The smirk returned to Tirek's open mouth as he watched his quarry struggle. His resistance was impressive, but nothing against the might of a magic-gorged centaur. Out of nowhere a rock struck Tirek on the side of his face, causing him to reel back in surprise, cutting off his beam and clutching his cheek. He turned towards the stone's origin with an eruption of fury, seeing Little Cobb as he turned to flee once more, giving Starswirl just enough time to drop his spell and teleport behind a nearby building to catch his breath. The centaur turned back to see his supper gone and roared to the sky with unsettling furocity. “You can't escape me, little pony. I can taste your magic on the air; I know you wilt behind your pathetic shield! It is only a matter of time until you are mine; a drained husk of your petty resistance!” This wasn't good. Starswirl had only barely escaped that standoff thanks to Little Cobb's timely intervention, proving that going one-on-one with this centaur was beyond even his capabilities. Taking down this foe would require allies—the kind of allies you do not simply stumble across in an abandoned farming town. But first things first: surviving the next few minutes. He didn’t have enough magic to teleport straight back to South Sea Post, nor the time needed to scry his destination without the help of the linked stones, but with a little focus he could at least jump to safety. A sizzle in the air alerted him to danger, giving him barely enough time to teleport from the building he was hiding behind to another, just as a beam of raw destructive magic blasted the farmhouse into nothing but stone shrapnel and a scorched hole in the ground. The wizard peeked out from his new position as the centaur stomped forward, blasting more of the farming village's landmarks for no better reason than venting his own frustration. “Run all you like. The thrill of the chase is half the fun!” He cackled, charging up balls of sun-like energy between his horns and launching them at buildings haphazardly, blowing chunks out of the pages of drawn-on landscape, and launching the unconscious bodies of drained ponies left and right. Starswirl could do little but watch, defensively teleporting from cover to cover as the destruction spread closer. He needed to draw the creature's ire away from the village and its defenceless ponies, but had no ideas on how to accomplish this without self-sacrifice. Ponydale would be nothing but rubble and burnt crops before long, and as much as he wanted to visit the relatively near Canterlot Town, he knew it was already in no better condition than this village. As if Discord's corruption wasn’t bad enough, nopony would have stood a chance against this monster in such chaos. What he wouldn’t give for Ustiarius to appear in this moment of need and provide a distraction—an outcome that was impossible, given how recently he had left the frontier. Perhaps he could lure Tirek away with illusionary bait, if he were capable of being fooled by such a rudimentary ruse. Night suddenly fell across the land, replacing what had otherwise been an unprecedented length of daytime. Tirek squinted into the shadow and embers, having lost sight of any enjoyable targets, and his ability to ‘smell’ magic now muddied by the stench of burning paper all around him. Taking advantage of this unexpected opportunity, Starswirl broke away from the wall of one of the few remaining buildings and made a dash for the treeline. As if to spite him, the ground suddenly became slick with oil, immediately causing him to fall on his face and spin out of control. To the wizard’s relief, this also seemed to have affected Tirek, whose legs split below him with an exasperated roar. “Discord!” the enraged centaur cried to the heavens. “Do not interfere, he is my quarry!” “Oh pish-posh, I agreed to no such arrangement,” a hauntingly familiar voice echoed from origins unknown. “We agreed to no interference!” “No, you agreed to no interference. You really need to improve your negotiation skills.” As the two squabbled, Starswirl cast a traction spell on his hooves, allowing him to find purchase on the frictionless floor and edge closer to the meagre shelter that was a nearby clump of trees. No sooner had he slipped behind a tree, the sun bounced back into the sky and the ground appeared to transform into some sort of springy, plush, floral fabric. Had Discord intentionally helped him? No, he was simply sowing chaos in any way he could; there were no allies and enemies to a monster like him, just playthings. Despite securing Little Cobb's escape, his purpose for being summoned here was to defend the town against the horned menace, a task that he had woefully failed at. Ponydale was a smouldering crater of its once idyllic farming huts and vegetable fields, and Little Cobb had only been in danger in the first place because he wanted to contact him. If it weren't for his presence, Tirek might have already moved on, rather than being incited into destroying these ponies' livelihoods. But what could he do? He was a scholar, a theorist, a teacher! He had studied his whole life to formulate spells and oversee their castings, not to use them on the front lines himself! “Come out, come out, wherever you are!” the Prince taunted, his arms wide and backlit by the burning farms. Smoke billowed into the sky, lending an even more apocalyptic air to his form. “Or are you just as meek and docile as the rest of your kind?” As if such obvious taunts would rile him up; please. This was not fear or submission, this was preservation—the preservation of their very way of life! From behind the meagre safety of a tree, the ex-court-wizard mumbled some verses of a spell under his breath, igniting his horn with hot-white magic. “Ahh, there you are.” The centaur's lips curled as his internal radar lit up, turning to face the exposed source of magic. “So you want to do things the hard way? Fine—by—me.” Starswirl shouted the final word of his invocation and fired a broad beam of pure, crackling energy directly at his enemy. Rather than dodging or absorbing it, the bi-horned Prince launched an equally intimidating eruption of yellow magic from atop his head, meeting the unicorn's with a massive explosion halfway between the two. Both channelled their might into the streams, struggling to push the other's back as the ground below the contact point was ripped and blown away. Sweat had already begun to bead on the pony's furrowed brow, while a smug sneer spread across the centaur's toothy maw, far from matching the equine's exertion. “An impressive showing for one so small. You shall make a fine meal!” He cackled once more, steadily increasing the intensity of his beam as the wizard began to buckle under it. Starswirl couldn't help but be overwhelmed against the combined strength of all the pony magic Tirek had absorbed. The violent ball of opposing magics steadily crept toward him, blowing back his illusionary disguise with intense force as he channelled every drop of his reserves into keeping the deadly singularity away. Just as the wizard's magic was about to fail and be consumed by the stronger force, an unseen force rammed him from the side, knocking him out of harm's way as the centaur's blast seared past, carving a mile-long gorge deep into the ground, before detonating far in the distance, shaking leaves off the trees around him. Weak and pained throughout, the old unicorn could only look up at what had thrown him to the floor: a large, four-legged figure standing over him, silhouetted by the distant explosion. “You okay, laddie?” a deep voice asked with an unfamiliar accent. “I've... felt better,” he groaned, unable to steady his hooves to stand. “Aye, ah can see that. Ye needn't worry, the Mighty Helms are here nao.” “The who?” he thought to himself, deciding to wait until a more appropriate time for questions. “So another bug scurries from the floorboards,” Tirek scoffed. “You only delay the inevitable.” “We'll see aboot that,” the now-visible, dusky-aquamarine stallion replied, raising what appeared to be a trowel in one hoof. “Helms! ATTACK!” A whole band of crudely armoured horses charged, converging from almost every angle on the centaur, each throwing spears, axes, and wielding other hoofheld weapons. The orange-haired stallion by Starswirl threw his own implement, before effortlessly scooping the wizard onto his back and making a hasty retreat. Starswirl remained in shocked silence as he was carried from the battle, having so narrowly escaped a sudden end to his long journey. What would the Princesses have done if he had never returned? That was so incredibly reckless and stood against everything he had preached to the guardspony... And yet in the heat of the moment, taking a stand for the common pony seemed like the most important thing in the world. Ustiarius' words suddenly started to make more sense to his jaded mind... Perhaps his perspective had come from a place of sheltered privilege he never knew he had? Now a few minutes from the ruins of Ponydale, his saviour slowed to a halt and carefully set him down. “Who are you?” the wizard finally asked, now just about able to kneel. “How did you know to come?” “Name's Rockhoof! Pleasure to make yer acquaintance. Seems we arrived in the nick of time, eh? Never had much concern fer the troubles of the mainland, but a couple days ago a wing'ed fella flew down to our village and asked fer help. We ain't the kind of folk to turn down a pony in trouble, so here we are. A stranded farmer said his son returned home and was in danger, but we met the lad on the way and he said you needed us more than him. I dare say he was right.” “Then it seems I owe you both a great debt.” Starswirl regained his composure and stood up, despite the shaking of his joints and soreness of his hip. “Dun let it worry ya, Ah make no accounts for favours—Ah good deed is its own reward. Well, was nice meeting ya, laddie, but Ah'll be gettin' back to the fight nao.” Rearing up on his hindlegs, the musclebound stallion turned and galloped back towards Tirek's location, leaving the wizard to stare after him in bemused bewilderment. Starswirl couldn't fathom what a small group of terrans could hope to accomplish against such an overwhelming enemy, let alone one that had utterly bested him. Perhaps there was strength in camaraderie alone, or more to them than met the eye, but it had been made quite clear to him that his participation was not needed. There was nothing left to do but begin the long walk home while he waited for his magic to regenerate, then teleport the rest of the way. The taste of defeat was bitter indeed, but not so sour as to what this spelt for his future and that of the Princesses. It was early evening by the time Starswirl reappeared in his elevated study with a bright flash, blowing away parchment and balls of paper that scattered the floor. He had not expected to have such an eventful day, nor was he grateful for it, but it had given him something to think on. Much like the centaur Tirek's magic, what if he were able to absorb the innate magical properties of ponies all over Equestria and concentrate it into a spell? Surely the combined strength of thousands of unicorns, pegasi and terrans would be enough to topple even Discord. Inspired, the wizard sat on his stool and lifted the quill from its inkpot with his magic, scribbling down the beginnings of a mass-invocation spell on a scrap of parchment in Old Ponish: “From one to another, another to one. A mark of one's destiny singled out alone, fulfilled;” He paused, the nib hovering tentatively above the page, threatening to drip without action. Now what? His inspiration had provided the first line, but this passage alone wasn't enough for a spell. These words could offer a sort of 'network' between the magic of cutie marks, but what could harness this power without draining it, like the very menace he was hoping to combat? He tapped the quill against the paper in idle frustration, splattering an unsightly ink blot over the last period. Understanding that every pony contained unique magic was one thing, but how do you go about connecting so many differing sources? A spectrum can only be seen as a rainbow when every part is arranged in sequence, side-by-side. Perhaps a temporary uniting of cutie marks... A singular magic; shared, spread and funnelled into a single spell-caster. “Together we are strong, our spirits renewed. The harmonious magic between us, distilled. United as one, our cutie marks wrought. Peace by force, a final stand made; From another to one, one to another. A lens of unity, channelling all hope, unafraid.” He leaned back from what he had written and reread it. No, no, that wouldn't work. He magically crumpled the parchment into a ball and tossed it over his shoulder, pulling another sheet from the pile and poising his quill once more. “From one to another, another to one. A mark of one's destiny singled out alone, fulfilled,” he repeated to himself silently, once again tapping at the unresponsive paper. No, this spell would be the likes of which Equestria had never seen before. An unparalleled use of connectivity to release power equalling—if not exceeding—that of an alicorn... Such a spell would not be written in one sitting, or even in a day, or a week. This would be his magnum opus, his defining moment for the history books. This would be how Starswirl saved Equestria.