“Is everything alright?” Luna asked her quiet sister sitting in front of her in the flying chariot. They were on their way to the capital, just about an hour ride away from Ponyville. In a sky chariot, that is.
Celestia looked up at the disturbance in sound, meeting the gaze of her worried sister staring at her with the eyes she had so long wished to see once more, even if only to apologize for what happened between them.
Apologize for neglecting her only sister when faced with the praise coming from their subjects for becoming a hero.
She shook those dark thoughts away and smiled genuinely at her sister. It doesn’t matter anymore, she had her back now and she would never give her away again. Not to the darkness, not to anger and certainly not to his twisted mind games. He was encased in stone now and hopefully stayed that way for a long time.
“Everything is just fine, dear sister,” Celestia answered back, a tear trickling down her cheek in happiness. “It’s just... these two young mortals intrigue me.”
“Young Sol and Lux?” Luna verified.
“Yes.”
“What about them?” she asked curiously, wanting to know what caught the eye of her sister so. It happened rarely in such a way that her sister retreated into her mind that much when she met someone new.
“I don’t know, sister. There is something in them that radiates something mysterious. I can’t say what it is, though,” Celestia explained, her brow creasing in thought. “They have their necklaces and can touch them without being harmed, sister.”
“Surely they are just replicas of the original ones?” Luna asked. Celestia looked from her and then out of the window, with her gaze on the distant rooftops of Ponyville.
“No, I don’t think so,” she told her sister, her hands rubbing the pendant around her neck with the beautiful gem in the center. “I could feel the pieces of their soul and ours, still as strong as they were the time we had made these with them.”
Her sister held her own necklace with the jewel in the shape of her beloved moon. Luna’s eyes followed the gaze of her sister, now also in thought.
“It seems peculiar that she wields a bow and he a sword, don’t you think so?” Luna looked back to her sister as she voiced her observation. Peculiar indeed, she thought.
“Do you think they would be able to wield the weapons they forged so long ago?” Luna asked her sister after they fell into a comfortable silence.
Celestia looked back to her sister and smiled slightly. It would be a grave omen, they could. And if Starswirl was right about what he said, everything would depend on the shoulders of two young souls from then on.
That thought made her frown.
Everything...
“Celestia?” the voice of her sister brought her back to reality once more. She shot her a smile again, hoping she wouldn’t worry. Because, now that she had thought upon it, she couldn’t keep herself from worrying even more.
“I want you to tell me how they do during your training session,” she told her little sister, her voice barely masking the foreboding tone she almost used. “I have a feeling they will become more important to this world than anyone could imagine.”
“If you’re sure... It would probably for the best to continue their training in that case then... Should we do so?” Luna asked her uncertainly. This training would take up much time for certain.
“Yes, in that case, the Elements should also get some training in, if only just to make sure they stay alive when they get dragged into the dangers they will surely find themselves in.”
“Very well,” Luna acquiesced to the judgment of her sister, looking forward to the first time she would get to know these two young saviors a little bit more. And to thank them once more for holding her dark side’s attention during the fight. She dared not imagine what could’ve happened had she gone for the young bearer of the Element of Magic. Or if she had gone and used her full power.
“There is one confusing thing about them, though...” Luna mentioned as she thought back on the conversation between them and Sol and Lux. Celestia hummed, waiting for her sister to elaborate.
“What did they mean their mother apologizes to us?”
“It didn’t seem like they wanted to say mother...” Celestia said thoughtfully. “And if they are descendants of Sunfire and Moonlight, they could have held on to a message for us.”
“Sister...” Luna said slowly, thinking back mournfully to the time where they learned to fight under their guidance. To the time they lost them due to their inability to save them in time.
“I know, I know...” Celestia heaved a heavy sigh. “They had no children... I know.”
“We couldn’t have done anything at the time. It was either saving our kingdom or them. What the sick bastard did with their bodies, though... The blood boils just thinking of it,” Luna said, grimacing. “But one would like to think young Sol and Lux as descendants of them, they look just like them. Even though the gender is switched around.”
Celestia laughed as she too imagined their deceased mentors in the opposite gender. Sol and Lux did look like younger versions of Sunfire and Moonlight, so much so, that she dared to imagine it was no coincidence. She smiled when she imagined Master Starswirl next to them, also in the opposite gender.
Strangely, they might have been mistaken as Sol, Lux, and Twilight Sparkle.
She wondered what she would look like as a man and laughed out loud with a belly aching happiness and a wide mirthful grin. She needed this laugh just as much as her sister, as she too wondered the same thing and begun laughing with her.
“Oh, sister. What I wouldn’t give to have them back with us,” she said reminiscing in her memories. Luna nodded her head, understanding what she felt. To be young again, back in a time where everything was new and exciting and having their teachers at their side.
Meanwhile on the next day back in Ponyville one librarian was about to go crazy because of the person that has locked himself in the bathroom, intent on using all the hot water by taking a long and admittedly unnecessarily lengthy shower to cause a bit of mischief.
Or in other words, my revenge strikes back for kicking me in the private parts. I think I’m being a bit too childish in this case but right at this moment? I don’t care. My body demands a relaxing hour or two, so that is what it will get. Right now.
So... if you could excuse me for a moment? I’ll be right back.
“Lux! Get your brother out of there! Please...” Twilight asked me as I passed her outside the hall with said body. If she knew she was talking to the same person, I would not have survived her wrath, I’m sure.
“No can do, Twi,” I said to her, hoping she wouldn’t take her anger out on me too. “Sol will take as long a shower as he can if he has a say in it. You will have to wait or go find another bathroom in the meantime.”
She pouted angrily for a moment there and that was my cue to flee to the kitchen, lest she find a way to blame Lux for this ridiculous indulgence of mine with Sol.
Now then, where was I?
Ah, yes. Breakfast, the most important meal of the day. Grabbing two slices of bread from the cupboard as I enter the kitchen, I trudge towards the toaster and popped them in for a moment while getting some cheese, lettuce, and one tomato from the fridge. I am so glad that this world had the wondrous technology of the toaster as I caught the slices out of the air in a little flourish and promptly threw the cheese and lettuce on them. Slicing the tomato in somewhat mishappen rings, I put my little sandwich together ready to be devoured to appease the growling God of Hunger called my stomach.
“Morning,” greeted Spike as he shuffled through the doorway, followed by a loud yawn. I ignored his usual adoring looks focused on Lux hoping it would deter him from his silly crush on my female half, but I was fighting a losing battle against his growing feelings.
I really hated that I couldn’t just say fuck off, kiddo. I’m... not that heartless. At least, I would like to think so.
“Good morning, Spike.”
“So, what are you doing today?” he asked me eagerly, ready to offer his assistance in the matter, no doubt.
“Let me see...” I mumbled absent-mindedly after forcing the remaining chunk of sandwich into my tummy. The resident God inside it awarded me with a well-satisfied feeling, as per usual.
Do not doubt in him, for He shall bring down his wrath on all who defy him.
Looking at the calendar I found the information I must have scribbled on it sometime last week under the blot from yesterday where one could identify ‘under no circumstances get out of the house’ if you squinted really hard and had an overly active imagination.
“It seems like I will have to make a tour to the post office to get the shipment of books from Manehattan about the magi-tech textbooks. Just my luck that they won’t deliver them until next week, because of some accident one of their workers had yesterday,” I mutter a bit miffed. “I mean, the guy could have at least offered to help by sending the delivery guy directly to the library instead of sitting on his lazy ass during the celebration and putting them in a corner, or... I don’t know.”
Spike looked at me like I was crazy thinking that people could work on the day of the Summer Sun Celebration.
“Can I help you with that?” he asked me and I gave him a flat out no and focusing primarily on Sol in the shower for the next minute or two as Spike tried, and failed, to use the puppy dog eyes of doom on me.
Maybe I really should let Twilight in by now... Nah.
“Well, I guess I can always go and help Twilight and Applejack over at Sweet Apple Acres,” he glumly sulked for a moment before the moment passed away like nothing ever happened and he got to work on the stove cooking some eggs for him and Twilight, as soon as she was in the mood to actually get in here instead of waiting on the availability of the bathroom.
“I didn’t think Twilight would be the type to go out of her way to work on a farm,” I said, thinking on the strangeness that was her happily offering her services to Applejack just last evening before everyone packed away their things and went home to bed.
“Well, normally she would be studying all kinds of things, but Princess Celestia’s assignment has her worrying about the weekly reports. Also, I guess she wants to get to know all of our friends better,” he answered while throwing in some salt and pepper into the pan. I must say, he sure knew how to handle himself around a kitchen. Kinda made me a bit jealous of his prowess as a cook. Even though he was just making breakfast eggs, they smelled like divine food.
I swear, I wished I hadn’t eaten by now, seeing him create that masterpiece with the basest of ingredients.
“That’s nice of her, I suppose. Anyway, I better go get that shipment so I can reorganize the library... again.” Spike nodded at my goodbye as I went out into the town thinking back on the craziness of the last day.
We all met for a common goal. A goal that so conveniently included a crazed spirit infesting an innocent princess going on a rampage trying to bring night eternal, so that I could learn to let my fears of the future not hinder or control me from taking action to protect my newest band of misfits I called friends. On the plus side I came somewhat to terms with my situation as a Chosen One and the fact that I have two bodies now. Although, on the one hand I had a feeling that this was just the start of something even more... I don’t know, sinister? This was a crazy ride already, but I had a feeling that it was about to get more insane. Insane like who would give Pinkie Pie an energy drink (I certainly wouldn’t do that, if I were you).
Now, one might imagine why it would have been a good idea to go under the pale light of the moon on a never-ending night into the most dangerous forest of all time under the pretense that you might come out alive after barely surviving the first time wandering around in there, but I would say that it was all for a good cause. Who would have done that if not our merry band of wannabe heroes? Certainly not the guards of Ponyville running around like headless chickens, if you were to ask me.
The point is, we did what we had to do and came out on top of a stupid situation we had no rights of surviving. But whatever you might want to call it, whatever deity may have assisted us or fate smiling on us for a rare change, we endured because of our bond in friendship. However cheesy that may sound to you.
And you know what? I was badass with those illusions I learned because they seemed to be the easiest for me to cast. Even though it left me quite exhausted from never having casted such an intricate illusion. It was nice having the Elements heal my body just after they vanquished the evil spirit possessing the lunar princess. I felt saddened though for the loss of the two guards that stood in her way and gave their lives in a foolish attempt to stop the crazed goddess.
Either way, that was then, this is now. Arriving at the Ponyville Post Office, I made my way inside only to be stuck in a queue. Apparently, everyone had some letters to send today for whatever reason. Probably to inform loved ones of the crazy events that transpired not so long ago and assuage their fears.
“Why, hello darling!”
The sound of Rarity’s wonderfully voice catapulted me out of my musings and I turned to greet her with a smile. And a flutter in my chest. You could barely tell she went through anything by the way she looked.
“Here to send a letter?” I asked her curiously as I spied a rolled-up scroll in her hands. We shared a brief hug as the line went forward, a person previously at the front having finished their turn at the desk.
“Yes. It wouldn’t do to not let my family now my sister and I are safe. What about you, my dear?” she asked and I explained my purpose for being here. Seeing that the library lacked any kind of technology before I arrived, it stood to reason there were zero books detailing the topic. And as a librarian, I could not stand the thought of an incomplete assortment of knowledge being offered in the majestic tree.
It was merely a bonus that I was also interested in the subject myself, seeing that there was no magi-tech on Earth. I was wondering what could be accomplished through the combination of technology and magic and how it would work.
Once we were through the queue and I had my package out of storage and Rarity send her letter, we went to the café for a quick tea seeing that it was just in time for lunch. I could relax for at least a moment before having to go back to the library and reorganize the shelves after the chaos that was unleashed by the pink menace and Twilight in their search for the book containing the information on the Elements of Harmony.
“How are you and your brother settling in, dear? What with Twilight and Spike now also living in the library?” Rarity asked me while taking a dainty sip from her camomile tea. I myself was nursing an earl grey tea at the moment.
“Oh, you know... Twilight was miffed by Sol taking up the whole morning in the bathroom. But we came to an agreement pertaining to the organization of the library. I would handle the sorting of the books and acquiring new ones while she handles the legalities, like ensuring books are returned on time, taxes and the like,” I told her while smiling gleefully into my cup at the thought of Sol having taken too long for Twilight, causing her to go to Applejack early and shower there.
I can’t help myself with these urges to tease her endlessly with my male part. Nothing sexual, though, I’m not a creep.
“My, I do hope they get along. It wouldn’t do to have tension brew between our friends,” she sighed disapprovingly and I felt a pang of guilt at that. Maybe I actually took it too far with riling her up so much. On the other hand, it was funny as hell. Perhaps the solution to the problem would simply be to reign it in a bit? Keep teasing but don’t drive her mad while doing so seems the better alternative.
That I even had to think about it so much was a sign of how bad a friend I had been to her. Perhaps I should actually apologize to her, not only for the teasing but also for punching her teacher in the face. The fact that I didn’t regret that particular part didn’t have to be mentioned, though.
Hearing a crash from down the road in the direction of the pink demons workplace caused a stop to our conversation. We both agreed it was probably for the best to see what caused the disturbance. Knowing Pinkie, she was being her usual eccentric self and roped someone into her antics.
What we actually found was her singing about something called the Grand Galloping Gala. And that caused Rarity to go all starstruck, go figure.
“Whatever, I’m outta here before I get roped into convincing Twilight of giving those to Rarity,” I muttered to myself as I got ready to depart back towards the library to start on my work. But then I heard it. The most heinous sound.
A woman swooning over a rich prick. And it was Rarity that was doing the swooning.
I felt my eyelids twitch in a fit of jealousy. A tear actually managed to wet my cheek as I silently slunk away in rejection. I didn’t care if anyone saw me looking miserable, apparently, I was mistaken of ever having a chance at her heart, to begin with, when she wasn’t even into other women. Should have figured that out, to be honest. She is way too perfect, I let my masculine part of my mind convince me I had a chance.
I didn’t realize that there probably never was an actual chance in hell we would end up dating and now it caused me to feel this mess of emotions.
What did that prick have, that I don’t?!
Slamming the library doors shut a bit too loud, I set to work in drowning myself in the mindless labor of reorganizing the books on their shelves. At least while doing so I could ignore the ache in my heart. Wow, I’m really pathetic lamenting the loss of someone I hadn’t even entered a relationship with yet.
It certainly wasn’t the best thing to do, bottling my feelings up in a little tantrum, but it was the only coping mechanism I was comfortable with right now. I couldn’t go confess to her now, not that I knew she had her eyes on someone. So even if I were to do that as Sol, it probably would also end up in more heartbreak.
I didn’t even have the desire to enter a relationship with Rarity on my male part for some strange reason. Perhaps it was this body of mine that invoked these feelings in the female half of me. I had no other explanations for this phenomenon that plagued me. And it bothered me very much.
It was bad enough I barely had any memories left from Earth, now I also had to deal with these confusing feelings. Was it the different hormones that did that? I seem to remember that people going through hormone therapy were prone to experience heavy mood swings, was it similar with me having two different genders now?
Around the time of evening, I was interrupted from my work by someone entering with her white pet rabbit. Both Sol and Lux stopped at what we were doing and stared at the white pest that accompanied our friend into the library. Don’t trust the rabbit, Horse God said, right? I could see it now, that thing getting on my nerves. I had no intention to follow it anywhere.
My eyelid began to twitch as it stuck its tongue out at me and hopped into the kitchen. Whatever was going on here? This had to do something with those tickets from Twilight, didn’t it?
I sighed in despair as Fluttershy began to dust the shelves I meticulously sorted the last few hours. Hopefully, she doesn’t decide that they needed ‘reorganization’, too. At least she had a calming singing voice.
A groan escaped my lips as she opened a window and let a few animals in to help her. God help me if my sanity isn’t intact at the end of the day.
The rabbit returned with a few vegetables and a bow and began to chop them up to a salad. The little chef’s hat was a little over the top if you asked me.
Some minutes later our resident magic expert arrived, looking stressed out and a little too hungry for it to be a coincidence that the rabbit decided to whip up a salad. You know, at most times I would agree that food is the key to love and whatnot, but if it is a bribe, it just leaves me feeling cheated. I had no idea how Twilight feels about it, but seeing her expression standing there at the door I would hazard a guess that it was about the same.
So, yeah. She was disappointed that Fluttershy was apparently also obsessed with the ticket. Seeing me also here, I could assume she thought I also wanted the tickets. So I gave her a suffering sigh and rolled my eyes.
“Whatever it is you have that everyone is so crazy about, I want no part in it. I just want my library free of this drama, so please do something, before I decide enough is enough,” I said on Sol. She gave me a surprised look, before grimacing herself.
“I’m sorry about this, Sol. I shouldn’t have assumed that you were also after the tickets for the Gala,” she told me and returned her attention to Fluttershy. Said woman’s excuse of doing a little spring cleaning was promptly ripped apart by Twilight and me telling her it was summer.
Fluttershy was apparently the only one that freely admitted to only be after the Grand Galloping Gala ticket, not that it helped in any way. A growl escaped my lips at the little white abomination offering Twilight the salad, causing her to get even madder and cause a mess on the floor with the discarded bowl, even though she was pretty hungry if I could her stomach grumbling from my position at the shelves.
At least she agreed with my sentiment that I wanted peace and quiet in the library and asked her to leave as she opened the front door. Too bad that backfired spectacularly as soon as she did so. You have three guesses as to why, and the first two don’t count.
The fluffy-haired eldritch horror dragged the poor woman out of the door in a strangely similar way you would expect to see in a cheap horror movie and left me once more alone with Fluttershy. Giving her an expectant look towards the door, she wilted a little bit with pouty lips.
“Just... don’t go and cause any more unrest and I’ll allow you to stay...” I said rubbing my eyes and she smiled at me gratefully giving me a hug. Lux meanwhile finished sorting the last books in her hand, placing them in their appropriate places.
With my work done for the day, I took one of the new books on magi-tech and guided Fluttershy up to the apartment. We settled down in companionable silence as we began reading to learn more about the topic that caught my eye.
Now, magi-tech, as the name suggests, is the combination of technology and magic, but what I now understood was, that it was a lot closer to programming to cause desired effects like powering machines in specific ways. You could for example create a machine to sort expired food from still fresh food. Or sort impurities in minerals like gemstones.
The maintenance of such machines was high in cost, though. So no worries about running people out of their jobs. Also, the machines needed a constant influx of magical energy, not anyone could operate them for any given length of time. Probably also the reason why most people still used horse-drawn carriages for transport, instead of the cars that slowly made their debut over the last few years.
Besides the abnormally high cost in producing them, you also kinda... needed to have a high pool of mana at your disposal if you wanted to drive them for more than a few miles at a time. The magical batteries that could store some mana were in no way enough to reliable use them for cars in a meaningful way.
So that left cars as an expensive toy more than the go-to transport that it was on Earth. It left me curious, though. Could I power one of them? I had no idea how high my mana pool was for me to try to operate one. And considering I barely remember how a car is supposed to work, there was no way for me to invent a ‘magic-less’ version of one. Even though it would leave me more than rich if I were to accomplish such a feat.
It didn’t mean I could study the workings of the magic version of an engine and figure out a way to make them more reliable for the everyday person. Maybe I could even work out a way to integrate those magi-tech engines to work for motorcycles. It couldn’t be that hard with a little help from Twilight, right? She was an expert in all things magic, she could know of a way to rework the engine without making it dysfunctional.
Lux began drooling at the mental picture of having a magic version of a Ducati, even though I probably never would have the necessary money to buy the parts or even make them from scratch. But one could dream, don’t they?
I was perhaps a little too engrossed in reading about magi-tech that I didn’t even notice the other girls arriving and chatting amongst themselves. By the time nighttime rolled around, I was getting concerned about the whereabouts of Twilight and Spike.
Until a loud crack interrupted our conversation about this and that and a frazzled Twilight appeared with a slightly singed Spike. She ran around slamming doors and windows shut as she and Spike turned off all the lights. A flicker of my magic returned the light in the room we were in, so I could at least see my hands in front of my eyes.
That caused the exhausted woman to scream out loud in a way too stressed way as she began rambling about not having found a solution to her problem with the tickets. I kinda felt bad for her at the moment, even though I had no part in making her this crazed about it.
So, I did the only thing I knew that would work in calming her down from her mental melt-down.
I gave her a hug with Sol.
And, you know what? It felt good. No idea how she felt, but she slowly melted into my embrace as the girls smiled at the sight. I could tell that she had no idea how to react to a hug, as she awkwardly hugged me back. She would probably need a lot more help in getting out of her nerdy social anxiety induced shell.
“Calm down, Twilight. We’re all here for you. Even if it may seem like I don’t like you with my special kind of teasing, we all want what is best for you. And I’m sorry for how I treated you this morning... forgive me?” I told her as I squeezed her shoulders lightly. “I didn’t mean anything by it and I could never hate you, even though I might have been tempted to do so after you kicked me in my... you know.”
“I forgive you, Sol. Although, I would like to see you also apologize to Princess Celestia for treating her so badly, mister.”
“That might be able to be arranged, my dear,” I said in my sophisticated voice to tease her just a little bit. She saw my smile and returned it with a roll of her eyes as we parted from our embrace.
Afterward, Applejack came over to also offer her a small hug as she apologized for pressuring into making a choice. I was slightly surprised to see her telling Twilight that she didn’t want the ticket anymore. The other girls all followed suit in their apologies, besides Rainbow Dash.
The ego of that woman...
I gave her a whack to the back of her head as she turned to me with a ‘Hey!’, she saw all of us giving her a look.
“You know... I haven’t perfected my signature move for the Wonderbolts, anyway...” she said rubbing the back of her neck. “I don’t need that ticket, either.”
“We all got so gung-ho about going to the Gala that we couldn’t see how un-gung ho we were making you,” Applejack admitted. “We’re sorry, Twilight.”
“Well, at least you could admit that what you were doing was wrong. How about some relaxing tea and we talk about what to do with those tickets of yours?” I told them, already going to the kitchen with Lux to prepare a calming blend of camomile tea.
I led Twilight over to the couch and came back in with the teapot and some cups a few minutes later. I gave her the cup with the tea and offered her some sugar to go with it.
“Thanks, Lux. I needed that,” she told me as she gave a satisfied sigh at the smell and feeling of the tea in her hand. I nodded to her and took the tickets from her hand and put them on the coffee table.
“We could go about this in two ways, Twilight,” I said to her with Sol and Lux continued. “We either give them back...”
“Or...”
“We...”
“Ask...”
“For...”
“More,” I switched back and forth with Sol and Lux, making most of the girls stare at us.
“That was seriously creepy, dude,” Rainbow said giving us a stare. “But totally cool! How do you do that?”
We just gave a grin at that and Rarity gave a small titter at our antics. Pinkie erupted in full-blown laughter, causing us all to laugh with her.
“Spike, could you start a new letter?” Twilight piped up after we all had our fill in laughter. The aforementioned dragon boy pulled out a quill and parchment. Huh, would you look at that, you don’t see quills used that often anymore on Earth. For that matter, why would he use those, when pencils are available here in Equestria?
“Dear Princess Celestia,” she dictated as he began to scribble away on the parchment. That he could write even though he was holding it in his hand instead of writing on the table was very impressive.
Considering I gave her the idea of asking for more tickets, it shouldn’t have surprised me that she instead went with returning them. I mean, sure I could see her reasoning with not being greedy as I was sometimes wantonly able to be, I would have expected her to at least try. Maybe it was her unique relationship of being the student of the ruler of this land that made her do what she did, instead. Either way, I was a bit more proud of her for being able to not give in to greed. I could learn a thing or two from her.
What I know of the dragonkin living in this world, and that wasn’t much, mind you, I watched in a fascinated way as Spike burned the rolled-up scroll and sent it away in a sparkling cloud of smoke. Presumably to Celestia in her Castle in Canterlot. It wasn’t the instant massaging I was familiar with on Earth, but it came close to it, judging by the speed of that smoke.
It was a bit sappy as she gave us her speech, and indirectly Celestia in the form of her letter, but it warmed our hearts. It wasn’t long after Spike sent the latter that he got a queasy feeling as he held his stomach. Applejack gave him a tirade about not being able to handle all the feelings floating in the room, but certainly didn’t expect him to barf up a scroll.
Well... that was awkward and disgusting as all hell, man.
He caught the scroll as it fell out of the sparkling cloud in a way that showed us that he had to do so many times in the past. Can’t imagine how it must feel to be abused as the magical mail courier. After the confusion settled down, he began to read the letter out loud and promptly showed us the eight tickets in his hand.
Whelp, it seems I do get to go, even though I wasn’t as excited about going. Not with Rarity swooning over that prince. I mean, had I not known about that I might have been ecstatic about going there and have a chance on a dance with her.
That won’t ever happen now, I feared. I should get over these feelings fast if I was to stand the oppressive feeling of staying near her now. It probably was for the best.
The Gala could still be a great reprieve, even considering that roughly in half a year everything is going to go to shit. I haven’t forgotten the warning I got from Horse God and quite frankly, it scared me.
The grumbling stomach of one Twilight Sparkle brought me out of my musings and we all decided a nice meal at a restaurant was in order to finish this day off. And so we found ourselves all sitting at a big table in the restaurant that I had frequented a few days ago.
We all gave the waitress our orders and began conversing with each other. Applejack and Rainbow were talking about the approaching autumn season and with that the race through the woods on horseback. They were already boasting that they would win against each other, causing me to get interested in the tradition. Apparently only Ponyville held the race, seeing that most other cities used magic to bring about the change of seasons. It was actually the equivalent of the formula one race on Earth, with many celebrities and athletes attending. It seemed Ponyville wasn’t just the quiet hamlet it appeared to be. Who would have thought?
“Hey, Twilight?” I asked her with Lux, seeing that she was sitting next to her at our table.
“Yes, Lux?”
“Would you know of a way to store magic better than the magic batteries used in magi-tech?” I asked her. “I have a project in mind that I want to see through at some point in time.”
“I’m not so well-versed in the workings of magi-tech. All I could help you with is figuring out a different way to hold magic if the batteries aren’t enough for you. What do you even need something like that for?” she questioned me as she was curious now and some of our friends actually started listening in to our conversation now.
“Well, you know... I was thinking while reading up on the new books we have now on magi-tech. Most of the cars are powered through the mana pool of the operator of the vehicle, meaning you need to have a high reserve to be able to travel further away. There must be a way to make them more available to the everyday person,” I explained and saw her nodding along to my words. “And to make that possible one of two outcomes must be worked towards. Either by lowering the requirement of operating the vehicle or by substituting magic with something different.”
“I don’t know about a good substitute that would work with the magi-tech engines. As far as I know, those engines are very complex in design. It would take too much time to rework them into something able to use a substitute energy as fuel,” she reasoned, thinking hard about the proposition. Too bad she had no idea about gasoline. Not that it would help us any, seeing that I had no idea of the composition of the mixture due to my brain coming up with a blank spot.
“And as far as increasing the magic storage on the magi-tech batteries, we would need to find a way to alternatively store magic in a higher capacity,” she told me with a shrug. Bummer, it would have been to easy to have her know all the answers to my problems.
“Darling, do you know how these batteries are made?” Rarity interjected from across the table.
“I think I have read that it stores magic in a gel-like substance within a chamber of magical steel, releasing the charge through the outlet. Do you know of a different way?” I asked her, a bit skeptical knowing she was a seamstress and not an engineer.
“I have no idea how much they could hold, but gemstones are notoriously known for soaking up ambient magic. The problem is, there is no way to actively charge them, as far as I know,” she answered back. Hmm, that might be one possibility. That left us with the question of how to reliably use them if they could hold more than regular magi-tech batteries.
“Actually, there might be a way...” Twilight began to mumble and began to draw a few runes on a napkin. By the looks of it, I could only identify a few, but one that stood out to me was the one used to distribute magic to other runes in the runic circle. But that rune could also be interpreted as a conversion rune.
Basically, it could be used to converse different types of magic into other types with nearly no loss. Now considering that ambient magic needed to be processed first by the body to make it usable as what our body recognizes as mana. Now, if the ambient magic were to be converted to something the batteries, and therefore the engine, could work with, there might be a way to better power the car and other things using magi-tech.
And with it also being able to distribute the magic, it would be able to draw the ambient magic out of the gemstone and convert it while it was distributing it back to the engine or battery.
“What rune is that, I don’t recognize it,” I said to Twilight as she worked out more runes and equations. Some of the symbols in the equation I didn’t recognize, either. Considering she was working on magic here, it stood to reason they were measurements for the energy.
“That is the thaumic rune for amplification,” she told me absentmindedly as she squeezed a few more numbers into the rapidly dwindling space on the napkin, so I offered her mine, which she gladly took.
“Amplification, dear? Whatever for?” Rarity asked what I also had in mind. I mean, I could take an educated guess and say that it amplicates the output of the battery, but I’m not certain on that part. You can’t make energy out of nowhere, after all.
“It is used in this case to make the gemstone draw in more ambient magic. It would work better if we could actually tap into the leylines, but the matrix for such a thing would exceed anything we could reliably use in order to account for the movement of the vehicle to the different parts of the world. For that to be viable, the car would need to be as big as a warehouse district. That would defeat the purpose of a vehicle that could travel on regular roads, though,” she explained, most of that went over the head of Rarity, but I nodded along, as I actually understood what she meant by that.
A runic matrix was a way to combine different runic circles to reach a greater purpose. And the runic circles to draw from one specific part of the leylines would already be massive enough, making the matrix absurdly big if you wanted to account for the whole world. You could limit the matrix to one country, but even then, the matrix would still be bigger than a small neighborhood.
Using the ambient magic and converting it was a way more reliable way in that regard, seeing that the ambient magic actually is the bleed-off of the local leylines. Experts in magic were still undecided on how the ley lines provide the magic energy, seeing as there was no way to know how it produced the magic. One would argue it produced it from nothing, but that would go against the rules of the universe. There must be an undiscovered variable that would explain how the ley lines work.
Anyway, Twilight finished her equation and with an exuberant cheer she told us that ‘It works!’. She did a little dance in her seat, all of us watching her mirthfully. My dream of a magic Ducati became suddenly more possible, even though I still had to find a way to rework the engine part to make it usable for a motorcycle. That was a worry for later, though. First we needed to actually make the engine not reliable on the operator.
Considering we had the most difficult part done, it was easy peasy.
Well, first we actually needed a car to experiment on. Not even considering any complications that could arise as we tinkered with it. There was the possibility that we could break the engine as we worked on it, making the process even more grueling.
“Now put that aside, dear, the food is here,” Rarity said as the waitress arrived with our food, my ‘brother’ and I have ordered our usual dish, pasta with spinach. Rarity went with a salad and fish, Twilight had some kind of eggplant dish, as did Fluttershy, both Applejack and Rainbow had a dish with a lot of different thing on it, some of it unfamiliar to me. Pinkie got herself dessert instead, go figure, and Spike had a burger with fries.
We all made some small talk while eating and I got to recount some parts of the story I spun about myself moving from, ugh ‘Manehattan’, to Ponyville and my experience in the Everfree Forest ‘camping’. Considering I woke up in there, I had no actual idea how Manehattan looked like, but seeing that Manhatten and Manehattan were basically the same cities, I went with the picture I had of Manhatten in the eighties. Judging by their reactions, I was completely right in my assumption in how Manehattan looked, seeing that Applejack actually lived there for a time, as she told me.
And considering she didn’t call me out on my bull-shit, I was reasonably sure she wasn’t a walking lie detector, as one could assume with her being the Element of Honesty. It seems the Elements corresponded only with the person themselves and didn’t give them superpowers. But considering she knew when people were honest about themselves, it was easier for herself to guess if someone was lying. Seeing that I didn’t technically lie about having lived in Manhatten for a while, she didn’t seem suspicious of my story. The fact that I mentioned my parents were dead gave me some sympathy points from her and the others. Applejacks parents were also deceased for quite some time now. Applebloom, her sister, didn’t even remember them.
On another note, Rainbow began to retell her story of how she got to be the weather captain of Ponyville. She managed to break up a rogue storm from the Everfree as she coordinated the other Pegasus-Blessed. The old weather captain was about to retire anyway, so she got the job.
We chatted on for a while after we were done eating, but it was just things we wanted to do in the next days. I told them with Sol that I wanted to see if there was a job available at the local school, considering I didn’t actually have to be at the library with both my bodies at the same time. Twilight and Lux, as well as Spike apparently, would be able to handle the library just fine.
Rarity also asked if Lux and Fluttershy wanted to go with her to the Spa, so there was also that. We agreed to go there regularly on the weekends. The relaxation offered would do me some good, even though I would be constantly around Rarity with my confused feelings in that case.
Fluttershy was the first to leave after a while, citing that she would have to take care of her animals. That caused Rarity and Applejack to also leave, considering they had little sisters to look after.
And after that, we all left the restaurant, Twilight, Spike, and I making our own way back home. It was an interesting day so far and the bed sounded very tempting now. Although, I was pretty sure I would experience some weird nightmares that night.
And boy, was I right about that.
So, my fears of rejection from Rarity were what plagued me that night. Sometimes I would be at the Gala and watch as she danced around with somebody I assumed to be a prince, looking at me smugly. At one point I had a dream of Rarity being together with a friggin’ chicken of all things.
Yeah, something was wrong with my mind constantly being mocked by chickens in my dreams.
“Do you always dream of such... weird things happening?” Luna’s voice came suddenly from my side. For a moment I had a heart attack, considering I was here with both of my bodies, but it seemed she didn’t notice that this was a ‘shared’ dream.
So, the princess was a dream walker, huh? I wanted to say that it was a neat thing to be able to do, but considering my dreams? I feared what she might find someday. I had no intention to let her see some of the night terrors I had in the previous days.
“Luna?” I asked her a bit confused. Considering I had no idea why she was here, I wanted to know.
“Yes, my subject?”
“Why are you in my dream?” I asked. “And for that matter, could you change it? I’m tired of this damned chicken reappearing every time.”
“Perhaps you should tell us why it appears in the first place. A chicken is commonly associated with the fear of acting upon something,” she explained. Was that actually true? Was it my fear of being a coward that brought me these images? I mean, on one hand it seemed like a logical explanation.
“I...” mumbling incomprehensibly was the only thing I could muster myself to, due to embarrassment.
“Speak louder, or we can’t help you in your fears, young Lux,” she reprimanded me. Gosh, why did she have to barge into my dreams, I couldn’t tell her, right? It... What would she think of me? Were there even people that were attracted to the same sex at her time? I mean, most likely, but how did people view that a thousand years ago?
“Only if you won’t judge me...” I screwed my eyes shut as she gave me her promise. She seemed genuine in that regard, so I hoped she wouldn’t do as I feared. Maybe confiding in someone would actually help. And she didn’t seem like the type that would mind which kind of person I was into. Okay, no time like the present, here goes. “I... I have a crush on Rarity.”
“And you fear for her rejection over your feelings, are we correct?” Luna asked me, seemingly accepting me for who I am. I should have known better than to fear her judging me harshly, seeing what she went through. Her being more accepting of people was likely a side effect of her long isolation. And you know... being possessed by a being akin to a demon.
I just nodded as an answer, not being up to speaking right now. My hands were so sweaty right now, I swear I was creating puddles.
“Are you so certain that is the case?” Luna put a hand to my shoulder and gave me a gentle smile. A long-suffering sigh escaped my lips as I told her of the events of the day and how my jealousy left me feeling hollow inside. She listened as I spoke of how I admired Rarity and her work, how she spoke, and what I liked about her as a person. I admitted to my faults of sometimes being a little too greedy and how I put Rarity on a pedestal for being the most generous person to have ever lived.
Normal stuff, you know.
“It sounds to me more like love than a crush. We know how it feels to be jealous, but do not let it control your thoughts, dear Lux. All we can tell you is to treasure these feelings, even if they never come to fruition,” she consoled me, embracing my female half while my male half looked on from the background. “And do not hold it to the person that manages to win her affection, they are certainly not deserving of the wrath a jealous woman can bring to bear.”
Sniffling, I nodded to her, even though I felt somewhat justified to feel this burning hatred towards the person that dared take her away from me. But her words rang deep within me, I wouldn’t want to get in a similar position as her a thousand years ago.
Saying that you were over the woman you loved was one thing, but actually following through with that was another.
So, I gave up on the notion of being together with her, this time actually meaning it. It felt like a burden lifted from my shoulders for that and the chicken in Dream-Rarity’s arms vanished.
“Have a pleasant night, Lux. And remember, even though it looks like you won’t gain her affection, there is always a chance you are wrong.”
And with that I was left alone by her, as my dream around me turned into the blackness that I associated with Horse God. And there she was, holding me in her embrace as we floated in the seemingly endless expanse.
“Do not forsake your feelings for her entirely, my child,” she told me. I looked up at her and her serene smile.
“How can I hold onto these feelings if they won’t ever be returned?” I asked her and she shook her head.
“Does it not feel invigorating to feel this way, even though it might not be returned?”
“I... guess so.”
“Then worry not about it being unreturned,” her gentle voice lulled me to sleep, despite my desire to ask her more questions.
“Sleep, my child, tomorrow is a new day with new challenges.”
Omake:
In short, it was a poorly disguised attempt from Celestia to liven up the shark tank that she called the Grand Galloping Gala just for the purpose of having a laugh at the nobles once they saw what disasters my decidedly not-so-well-behaved group of friends could unleash upon it.
Fed up with this childish attempt from Celestia and the behavior of our friends, I took the tickets from Twilight, ignoring her groan and muttering that I also ‘wanted’ to go to this event, and tore the fucking things in half to the horror of everyone present.
“Spike, write as I dictate, please,” I said, grinning a bit from the mischief I was about to unleash. “Dear Celestia, we’re so honored to attend this so-called noble event that we took it upon ourselves to spare the fighting between our friends by tearing them graciously apart so everyone could have a piece of them. Sadly, we ever so foolishly forgot that you need a whole ticket to attend, so we have to apologize with a heavy heart that we couldn’t make it. Please, don’t send more. Yours truly, Sol and Lux.”