//------------------------------// // Chapter 14 // Story: Severed Ties // by Carol Heart //------------------------------// It was getting late. The last rays of sunlight were painting the garage lab in warm red and gold light. Shining had popped up an hour ago to say good-bye and goodnight before he headed off to work. Luckily pony and puppy hearing were better than a human’s so Sunset had enough warning to get out of sight. They had been pouring over Twilight’s research for hours now with barely anything to show for it outside of confirming what they had already suspected. The magic in the world had indeed been fading since the spike back in December, one Sunset couldn’t provide a definite explanation for but reasoned it was related to the breaking of the dimensional portal. They had charted the decrease in magical energy and knew its current level, but none of that provided a reason, nor did it provide any help in getting Sunset home. “Ugh,” Sunset groaned letting her head hit the desk she had been seated at and instantly regretting the action as she remembered her injured forehead. Rubbing the area carefully with a hoof she continued dejectedly, “Every time I think it can’t get any worse, I find out it can.” “What's so bad your thumping had to wake me up?” asked Spike grumpily. “Oh, nothing major,” Sunset huffed, “just the collapse of this world’s harmonic matrix and the dissipation of all thaumic energy in the world. You know nothing that might be problematic to reestablishing a magical gateway back to my homeworld!” Spike just stared at the irritated unicorn before shaking his head, “Look, if you want me to care, you might want to try using words I can understand. It’s not like I’ve had a lot of time to build my vocabulary in the one day I’ve been able to talk.” “Actually,” Twilight interjected hoping to cut off the snark battle between the quadrupeds, “I’m confused too. What exactly is a harmonic matrix?” With a final glare at Spike, Sunset let out a breath through her nose and turned toward the teen scientist, “A harmonic matrix is a buildup of thaumic resonance, the residual magic of the world that encompasses the planet. Ponies, as well as several other sentient species, have inherent magic. It is produced naturally and can be displayed in several different ways depending on the creature’s tribe, cutie mark, or other aptitudes. With that much magical energy, it built up over time and formed a harmonic energy matrix.” Seeing a still questioning look on the girl’s face, Sunset tapped a hoof to her chin and tried again. “Think of it like the Greenhouse effect, but instead of keeping in radiative heat, it keeps in magical energy, reflecting it back into the world and helping to replenish the magical stores of the inhabitants.” “Fascinating,” Twilight breathed as she scribbled down more notes, “So the saturation of magical energy is beneficial and serves to restore your magical…er…batteries?” “Mana pools, but yes, though I wouldn’t say ‘saturation.’ The harmonic matrix helps regulate a healthy level of thaumic energy. Like most things in life, too much something can be bad, magic included. Places that have been saturated are usually places you want to avoid like the Everfree Forest,” Sunset said. “Your world has an Everfree Forest too?” asked Twilight, surprised at the coincidence. “Yeah, and it’s not somewhere you want to see.” Pausing a moment she then continued, “Actually, if I had to guess, I think you may already have.” “What? When? How?” The questions from the intrigued scientist came quickly. “When the portals opened up the other day, I’m pretty sure that they led somewhere in the Everfree.” Spike shuddered, recalling his trip through dimensions and his brief time in the ominous forest. “If that’s what magic does, you can keep all that glowy stuff away from me. That place gave me the creeps.” “I think you’re safe, Spike. Like I said, that’s what comes from extreme magical use and this world doesn’t have anything near the kind of power that was used there.” “Then how did you create these other spikes I recorded?” asked Twilight. “Even if you weren’t around for the one in December, you knew about the others; the one in September and the one in November,” asked the teen as she looked back over the notes she had taken. “True, the amount of magic released at the Fall Formal and then again at the Battle of the Bands was that of possibly the most powerful form of Equestrian magic, which is probably why a harmonic matrix was able to form in an otherwise magically barren world in so short a time.” “Maybe you only think you made that matrix thingy,” said Spike. “Maybe it didn’t stick. Like when I bark at the mailman, no matter how many times I think I’ve gotten rid of him, he just keeps coming back.” Sunset stared at the little dog for a minute silently reminding herself that the Spike in front of her was not her dragon friend from Equestria, but rather a newly sapient puppy. Twilight on the other hand was trying to stifle her giggle with the notebook she’d been using, and was unable to respond to the canine’s observation. Shaking her head, the unicorn continued, “After the first incident, that's what we assumed, that magic left the world when the crown was returned to Equestria and the portal closed. Then the girls who defeated me started to display magic when they played music indicating that there was a functioning harmonic matrix for this world even if it was merely rudimentary. When the princess returned, for the second incident, she confirmed it and trust me, she’s the expert when it comes to magic.” Looking up from her furious scribbling of notes, the teen pushed her thick frames back up her nose and asked, “Then what happened to it?” “I don’t know,” said Sunset. “By all rights, the harmonic matrix that was created should be, at the very least, sustaining the level of magic that was present, if not increasing it, but that’s not what happened. According to the readings and data you collected over the past months, instead of magic in this world growing as it was used and reflected back into the world by the matrix, thaumic levels have decreased to a shocking degree.” “Magic since December has gotten so weak that the harmonic matrix has collapsed as it has nothing to support it. Without the ability to draw on the ambient magic produced by the harmonic matrix, the magic I use has to be drawn from my stores, my mana pool. Something I didn’t realize when I was casting earlier at the school. Initially, with the portals open, I could draw on the Equestrian magic that was leaking through. I could feel the fluctuating thaumic energy but assumed it was due to the interference of your device. I started to suspect something was wrong when I cast the reduction spell on myself and passed out. I had hoped that I was wrong and it had just been a side effect of the head injury, but after levitating Spike’s bowl I knew. Levitation is a minor cantrip, something every unicorn can do. The fact that I could register the mana used for that type of spell means I have to ration my mana pool.” “Ration it? How much magic do you have left? After the portals and the size-changing, you must be almost empty?” “Whoa, easy there, Twilight,” Sunset said waving a placating hoof, “I’m not out of magic. Typically unicorn who uses too much magic will pass out before they can actually harm themselves from overdrawing their mana like I did the other day. Without a functioning matrix, I just have to wait for them to replenish naturally, which can take a while. So no more big spells. I have to limit even minor cantrip use if I want to have anything stored up for an emergency or when we try to fix the portal again.” A smile broke out on the puppy’s muzzle, “So does that mean you’re staying my size?” With a sigh, the tiny unicorn said, “Yes, Spike. As much as I’d prefer to be my normal size, it’s not worth the magic I’d need to undo the spell. Not to mention, if I have to keep hiding from your family, it makes that a bit easier.” “Good,” Spike said, “means I can still keep you in line.” Sunset merely rolled her eyes. She thought she saw a happy smile on Twilight’s face as well, though if she did, it was gone when she turned to address the teen, replaced by a contemplative frown. “But, what happens when a unicorn runs out of magic?” questioned the scientist. “I mean if I had used my device on you and taken all your magic.” The unicorn thought about it for a second. “I was here, in this world, when Equestria was attacked by a powerful centaur named Tirek. From what I heard I’m very lucky I was. He could pull magic out of ponies, using their power to revitalize himself. The ponies he drained were stripped of their magic and left weak and helpless.” “But it didn’t kill them, right? They were still okay?” “They were still alive, but they were far from okay. When I said magic was an inherent part of a pony, I didn’t just mean it as some physical process we’re capable of. Magic is a core component of what makes us who we are. Each pony tribe; earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns, have their own form of magic. Earth ponies have a connection to the land and what comes from it. Pegasi can fly and walk on clouds. Their abilities allow them not only to fly but to craft and control the weather. Unicorns can manipulate the thaumic energy of the world and perform a range of magic spells using our horns. “But more than that, our cutie marks,” Sunset said, indicating again the two-toned sun adorning her flank, “appear when a pony discovers their calling in life. Once it’s earned a pony knows what they will do with their lives. Luckily, it was something Tirek’s magic didn’t take away.” “But without magic, a pony wouldn’t be able to do their given magic to perform their professions?” the scientist ventured. “Yes, but it’s more than that,” the unicorn said, shaking her head. “Tribal magicks are how ponies interact with the world and the magic in it. Our cutie marks are a display of our connection to ourselves. It’s your destiny, something in you that makes you- you. Losing these kinds of magic, yes, you’re alive, physically, but is it really living if you’ve lost all of yourself? As I said, we were lucky he didn’t drain all the magic, I’m not sure what would have happened, but I can tell you that even taking what he did was bad.” “That sounds terrible. How do you stop a monster like that, something that can just steal your soul?” “With the most powerful magic of all,” Sunset said with a smirk, causing Twilight to go wide-eyed in anticipation, “the magic of friendship.” “Huh?” the scientist blinked, “No, seriously, how did you defeat Tirek?” Sunset snickered at the girl’s reaction, “Seriously, Twilight, don’t underestimate the power of friendship. The Elements of Harmony were our most powerful artifacts and allowed us to tap into that magic. It’s that power that was used in the Everfree and part of why it is the way it is now.” “No. No way,” the teen said waving a dismissive hand at the pony. “There is no way I’m going to believe that friendship is magic and powerful enough to warp the magical fields of your world permanently. Do you know how much energy that would take?” “I do,” Sunset said seriously, “and so do you. After all, you did the readings yourself.” Sunset slid the binder with the energy readings Twilight had given her back over to the young scientist and tapped a hoof at the spikes from both the Fall Formal and the Battle of the Bands. “You can’t be serious,” Twilight said looking up from the readings and giving Sunset the most deadpan look she could muster. “You expect me to believe that the most powerful source of magic, the source of the new energy I’ve been tracking for months is friendship? You mean to tell me the solution to clean energy is getting everyone to hold hands and sing Kumbaya?” Sunset couldn’t help but bust out laughing at Twilight as her outburst had left her hair frazzled and one eye twitching behind its thick lens. The sight of the adorably small unicorn laughing so hard she almost fell off the desk chair was enough to break through the teen's frustration. After a minute to compose herself, Sunset was finally able to respond. “Yes and no. It’s the source you were tracking, but no you will not power things from song…well, at least not without a powerful bit of Equestrian magic to act as a catalyst.” “But…but-” “Twilight trust me. As someone who’s been on both ends of the magic of friendship, I can tell you it’s powerful and not something I’d forget…or mistake…” Sunset’s words fell off as something clicked in the mind. “Uh, Sunset?” the teen asked as the unicorn had simply stopped speaking. “That’s it!” the little pony shouted, hopping up onto her hooves. “How could I have not figured it out before?” She rushed over to the computer and, to Twilight’s surprise, started clacking away at the keyboard despite her lack of fingers. “Um, what's it?” the teen asked. “Right, right, sorry,” said Sunset, calming down a bit. “Okay, so the portal connects our two worlds. It used to open once every thirty moons, enough time for whatever latent magic this world possessed to build up thave enough of a resonance to spark the connection between the worlds. Thanks to my meddling and my friend’s genius, a permanent connection was made between the worlds so we could travel through whenever we wanted. But something happened to the magic of this world and with nothing to keep it open on this end, we were stuck and couldn’t get back to this world.” “Okay, but we figured that much out. So what prompted your eureka effect?” “When this all started, I was in Equestria, working on the other side of the portal. Months we’ve been trying to get the Celestia-forsaken thing to work with no success, but then I feel this surge of magic…Harmony magic! Ponyfeathers how did I not make the connection?” “Okay, I’m still confused,” said Twilight, removing her glasses to massage the bridge of her nose. “Somepony in my world loosed a massive amount of thaumic energy the same type and magnitude of the incidents you recorded, and they did it right near the portal I was working on.” “And that energy was enough to trigger the portal?” the scientist surmised. “Not quite," Sunset said shaking her head, "The connection was broken. With that amount of energy, it’s hard to say what might have happened to me with just a magical surge of that magnitude. Maybe I would have just woken up in the lab amongst a pile of shattered glass. Then again I could have been pulled into the portal that may have spat me out Celestia knows where. But then there was you.” “Me?” squeaked the girl. “Yes, you. You’re investigation of the statue. You started siphoning the portal’s magic and reestablished at least partially, the pull on the portal’s magic was enough to direct the flow of that magical surge and reestablish a connection to this world, even if it was only temporarily. And since I was standing in the way when the magic was being pulled into the portal, I got swept along in the magical wake.” “If that’s true, then all we would need to do to get you home is reverse the process. Since Harmony magic is from your world, it would naturally try to return to it. If we use my device to re-establish the connection, all we need is a massive amount of thaumic energy to power it and send you home.” “Exactly! If I had extra magic, I’d give you your first gold star in magic theory,” Sunset said causing the teen to beam. Twilight grabbed her device and her smile fell when she noticed the current level of the energy it contained. “Oh no.” Quickly pulling out a collection of wires and cables while continuing to mutter, “No, no, no, no, no,” Twilight hooked up her device for a more thorough analysis. “How bad is it?” Sunset asked worriedly. “Energy levels are minimal and I’m not seeing any trace of the energy that corresponds to the resonance for what you’ve dubbed Harmony Magic. I’m sorry Sunset when Indigo set it off in the halls, it must have used all the Harmonic energy I had collected.” Sunset’s ears drooped at the news. Taking a look herself, she saw nothing that matched the readings Twilight had collected during the Fall Formal of Battle of the Bands. “Without magic on that scale, there’s no way to open the portal on this end enough to get me back.” “I’m so sorry, Sunset,” “It’s not your fault, Twilight, like I said if it hadn’t been for you things could have turned out a whole lot worse.” “You said the portal used to open naturally, right? So you just have to wait until it opens again and you’ll be home.” “Yeah, probably,” Sunset said, “With the magic fading on this side, though I’m a little concerned this side of the portal might just collapse, though I suppose now that I'm here, I’ll be putting out a measure of thaumic energy that should be enough to keep that from happening.” “You still sound like that’s a bad thing. You said it’ll open in like two years right?” “Yeah, two years here. There’s a time dilation effect in play between the worlds. It was stabilized when we had the portals connected, but now that it’s out of commission…” “How much of a dilation?” breathed Twilight not sure if she wanted to know the answer. “The first time I came through, two and a half years here equated to about twelve and a half back in Equestria, and there’s no telling if our interference with the portal’s natural discrepancy will affect its natural opening cycle. It could be longer or even never.” Sunset’s frustration and worry that had only come out as angry outbursts before, but giving voice to her fears, it was just too much to try and fight anymore. Tears slowly rolled down her cheeks. Not sure if it was the need to comfort someone so clearly sad, or the urge Twilight had been repressing all day at the sight of the tiny pony, but Twilight couldn’t resist and scooped up the little unicorn and hugged her close like the plushie she’d mistaken Sunset for originally. “Well, no matter what happens, I won’t let you go through it alone. We’re in this together,” Twilight assured. “Thanks, Twilight,” said Sunset wiping her eyes as best she could, “that means a lot.” They sat there for a minute before Sunset continued, “Uh, you can put me down now.” Twilight blushed and quickly set the little unicorn back on the floor, “Er, right. Sorry about that.” “No worries. Someone once told me that the first step toward turning someone’s frown upside down is a hug, so thanks.” “Always happy to help someone complete a checklist. So step one is done, what’s step two” “Well,” said Sunset, a hint of a smile playing at the corners of her mouth, “step two usually involves consuming copious amounts of food as you vent your frustrations. Depending on who you ask preferred options range from cupcakes to a gallon of double fudge ripple ice cream.” Twilight thought for a moment, “Mom and Dad left me money for pizza. We could order some dessert to go with it if you want.” “Sounds like we’re moving on to step 3,” the little unicorn chuckled. “What’s that?” asked the teen. “Slumber party.” “S-slumber party…?” “Yep,” Sunset noticed Twilight’s change and continued uneasily, “Unless you don’t want to. I mean, I know things have been weird between us and maybe it’s too soon to… Uh, it’s just what we used to do and…it’s not important we can-“ “N-no, it’s fine, I’m fine. I just…I’ve never been to a slumber party before,” the nerdy girl finished bashfully. “Well, Twilight Sparkle, grab your notebook. Tonight I’m going to educate you on the art of the slumber party.”