//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: Something on the Horizon // Story: Hey, Wait a Second // by Erie_Entity //------------------------------// It was a rather uneventful day. Celestia’s sun was high in the air and the birds were chirping and their little bird songs... as usual, seeing as that’s what happens everyday. At least the gardens looked especially nice today, mostly because the ground’s keepers had passed through an hour ago. Sunset’s turquoise colored magic slowly turned the page of her book as she finished reading the last few words on the other page. She had found herself reading the book again. It was chock full of information about magic theory and the like, stuff that would help a very studious unicorn. “Phew,” Go away stupid hair. Another page turn. Sunset leaned a little closer to her book and examined the diagrams with mild interest. The way Radiant Hex managed to model the spell matrices was impressive, especially in a time without the tools to study them properly. His work was really under appreciated. She hummed merrily, glad she had asked (well, ordered, but no one was going to call her out on it) for total privacy in the gardens. Being the personal student for the resident absolute authority in your country can lead to a lack of quiet- “WOO! Finally!” The magic holding up her book vanished as she jumped to her hooves. Didn’t she ask for privacy?! What in Equestria does this idiot think they’re doing?! Why did it have to be during her scheduled- “Hell yeah! I’m a winner!” The shouts continued. She could at least identify the voice of a colt, definitely around her age. At least she knew why they were being so obnoxious. Her teeth grit and she made a quick gallop over to the location of the disturbance. Some choice words that would have made even Celestia blush and ground her to her room in the castle for the next few months came quietly out of her muzzle. When she got her hooves on this stupid moron she was going to- “WHAT?!?! Nononononono. C’mon I just had it!” The voice was a lot closer now, albeit more desperate and pleading sounding. It should be just around this- “AHA!” She yelled, jumping around the corner. The annoying colt let out a startled yelp and jumped what looked to be a solid 3 meters into the air, before landing stiffly on his hooves and staring wide eyed in her direction. “What do you think you’re doing here?” Sunset asked in a very accusing manner. “I-“ “You do know this place is off limits to ponies who don’t live in the castle, right?” She continued, feeling her anger rising. “I didn’t-“ “And why in Equestria are you being so loud?! Some ponies are trying to be productive with their time unlike you!” The colt opened his mouth to speak, but then stopped, huffed and glanced at something to his left. As he did so, Sunset got a decent look at him. He was a unicorn, if his brown fur and horn poking through his mane was any indication. Speaking of his mane, the locks of it were thick, similar to a Zebra mane style she read about ages ago. Dreadlocks, if she recalled correctly. The locks were a strange cacophony of color. As if someone poured several buckets of paint, mixed them together and then dumped them onto his mane. Blue was the most prominent, with swirls of other colors mixed in. Sunset was reminded of the rainbow effect that appeared on soap bubbles. She’d forgotten the word for it... Iridescent. That’s right. His cutie mark appeared to be a pinkish-red rising sun surrounded by a rainbow of colors similar to his mane. Sunset wondered if it was a magic related mark similar to her own. “Can you stop staring at me? Kinda creepy.” She drew her gaze toward his face, noticing his slightly tilted head and amber colored eyes. He wasn’t too bad looking if she said so herself. Though the effect was ruined by the fact that he was trespassing and also making an annoyance of himself. Her gaze hardened into a glare. “Considering that you’re trespassing on royal property and that I am the personal student of Princess Celestia, I’d say I can stare at you however I want.” “Yeah. Right,” The colt snorted, like he was holding in a laugh. Then he paused, a flicker of nervousness on his expression. “Wait. Did you say personal student of-“ “Princess Celestia, yes.” “Oh,” He traced a circle in the grass with his hoof, his body tensed as if he were getting ready to run. “In my defense... it was pretty easy to slip past those guards.” Of course. When did she ever encounter a competent guard during her time here? Whatever, she’d be sure to tell the princess of their failure in due time. But first... “Why are you here?” “I was practicing,” The colt blushed, once again tracing circles in the grass. “Practicing what?” “Magic.” Sunset blinked. What? “What?” “It’s pretty embarrassing. I was uh,” another flicker of hesitation, as if he didn’t understand what he was about to say. “I... I was the only unicorn in my village, so no one really taught me magic.” Her eyes went wide. No way in Equestria would this idiot expect her to believe that. One look at his face told her everything. He totally did. “HAHAHA!” The colt flinched at the sudden laughter, taking a step back as he watched the orange unicorn laugh her flank off. Why were all the ponies in this city so weird? “Uh... Okay. Right. Well if you don’t mind, I’ll be going-“ He said, taking a few more steps back. Below him, his legs tensed up as he got ready to get as far away from here as poss- There was a flash of turquoise magic as Sunset appeared right in front of him, still snickering to herself. “No...,” She chuckled again before calming herself down. Her expression went to a more accusatory one, though a slight grin was still present. “No. I don’t believe you in the slightest, but let’s say I do. If you were practicing your magic, why come into the royal gardens of all places?” “I overheard the guards talking about them being empty for the next few hours... well that’s a lie. I was totally eavesdropping.” His mind was still reeling from having watched her teleport. Is that really what magic could do? “I figured I’d sneak in for some privacy and then sneak back out when I was satisfied.” His horn lit up with an amber light and so did a bag on the ground next to him. The aura flickered for a moment as his face scrunched in concentration. He had almost brought the bag a meter off of the ground before it fell back down into the grass with a low thump. “I’m still kinda new at this and I don’t really want to go to anyon-... anypony because it’s embarrassing.” Sunset’s small smirk was long gone, replaced by a look of complete and utter confusion. So... he actually wasn’t lying? What in Equestria? “So you weren’t making that up?” “No? Why would I?” Sunset began to respond but cut herself off. Right then. That’s... very interesting. Maybe- “So what’s your name?” He asked, noticing the look on her face. His mother had told him never let a girl finish a train of thought, especially when he was in trouble. She was usually going to cook up a way to make him suffer. Yes, yes. “Sunset Shimmer, personal student of Princess Celestia,” The reply was effortless, almost as if it was scripted. “Cool,” He replied just as she had finished. He was obviously in a hurry to leave. His horn flickered again but the bag he had been trying to lift earlier didn’t move at all. It was honestly kind of pitiful. “Dammit.” “Hang on a second!” Her own magic snagged the bag away and hovered it next to herself. “I still have more questions, and you never even told me your name.” “Oh,” The colt glanced at the bag, and then at their surroundings, and then back to her. His amber eyes were shining with uncertainty. “I’m J- erm. My name is uh, Iridescent Horizon.” Oh. That’s the word. Iridescent. Sunset’s head tilted curiously and Iridescent looked away, trying to hide his expression. He sounded really unsure of himself. She also could have sworn she heard him start to say something else. “Iridescent Horizon.” “That’s me,” He muttered. “Okay then. You said you were the only unicorn in your village?” Glancing back toward the filly, he gave a slow nod. “Yeah. Me and my mom just moved here to Canterlot. She’s a pegasus.” Once again with the hesitant tone and body language. Maybe he was just a shy pony. Actually, this could totally play into her hooves. Maybe she could teach him some magic stuff and show him off to Celestia for some sort of magical extra credit or something. Maybe even mold him into her minion for when she became princess. “Tell you what,” Iridescent had opened his mouth to try and interrupt her thoughts again but was cut off. “How about I teach you magic?” “What?” That was sudden. Like. Really sudden. “Well? What do you say?” “I- Um.” Should he? He obviously didn’t have a reason to refuse. He also kind of did need to learn magic and she could probably teach him a lot. “Alright. Sure. Yeah. Just uh, don’t tell anyone I snuck in here. My mom’s stressed out enough about moving into a big city and I’d rather not have been thrown in jail within the first week.” “Whatever.” Sunset waved a hoof dismissively. If she had been paying more attention she’d have noticed his hesitation again, almost like he didn’t believe himself. The bag she had been holding in her magic floated over and dropped itself on Iridescent’s back. “Show up tomorrow. I’ll tell the guards to keep an eye out for you and let you in when you ask.” Iridescent glanced at the bag on his back and gave her a small grateful smile. Little grouchy but maybe she wasn’t so bad. “Thanks.” He genuinely meant it, too. “Mhm. Now get out of here. You’ve wasted enough of my time for today.” “Aye aye, Princess.” The colt did an about face and began walking toward the exit. Though she did hear him mutter some choice words under his breath. Sunset watched him go for a moment, a million thoughts running through her head. Then, her mind went blank. She glanced at his cutie mark. “Iridescent Horizon. Well at least it’s fitting.” *** Iridescent snuck past the guards again, muttering to himself. How could they not even see him with his kaleidoscopic hair? It was almost ridiculous. He idly wondered if that girl- filly, he corrected himself, was even Celestia’s student and had also snuck into the royal gardens. Then he shook his head and snorted. Knowing how things were in this world, with a name like Sunset Shimmer, she was totally Celestia’s student. Celestia’s student who was going to be teaching him magic tomorrow. He couldn’t stop the genuine smirk forming on his face even if he tried. He was finally managing to get somewhere. Wait. The clopping of his hooves slowly halted and he stood in the middle of a busy Canterlot street. She didn’t give him a time. “Bondye modi li.” He cursed under his breath.