//------------------------------// // 06- Forschung // Story: The Chalk Prince and the Clover // by FrostTheWolf //------------------------------// In the land of Equestria, every creature knew that having a ‘normal day’ was just as much of a rarity as anything else. With the amount of crazy events that transpire on a day to day basis, it’s very rare to have a day where things did not go off the rails. No creature knew that better than Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship and Headmare of the School of Friendship. Whether it was fighting a monster that threatened the town of Ponyville or stopping a villain from attempting to take over Equestria, there were a lot of times where things appeared to be normal, only for everything to rapidly spiral out of control. There were numerous times where Twilight thought that she had seen everything, only to be proven wrong sometime later. Though, nothing could prepare her for when she and Spike returned to the school of friendship today. They had just finished having brunch with their friends and fellow faculty members earlier, only to come back on campus and find that several of the students were crowding the entrance to the library. Which was odd for two different reasons. The first was that the doors to the library would usually be open right about now and would only be closed after hours. The second was that even if the door was closed, a crowd of students wanting to look at what was inside was not exactly ‘normal’ by any means. If anything, the size of the group looked like the crowd you would see at an AK Yearling book signing. Though, before she had the chance to go investigate, somepony caught her attention, “Oh, there you are Twilight!” The alicorn turned her gaze away from the small group outside the library as Starlight Glimmer emerged from a nearby hallway. “Hello Starlight,” Spike greeted her, before tilting his head over towards the library, “Would you happen to know what’s going on over here?” Twilight was quick to notice though that one look over to the crowd had the unicorn tense up. Like she knew the reason why, but was not wanting to say, “U-uh, can I talk to you about something real quick?” Starlight asked, which felt like an attempt in order to distract her from something she was trying to hide. “Starlight, what’s going on over there?” she repeated Spike’s words, putting emphasis on them to try and get an answer. “Well, that’s the thing,” the counselor replied, “What I wanted to talk with you about is… related to that, actually.” “Really now?” Twilight raised an eyebrow, curious but also uncertain. “Yeah, it happened while you were at brunch with the girls this morning,” Starlight began to explain, “Sandbar and his friends found a pair of siblings that really needed help and came to me to talk about it, though… their situation isn’t quite exactly ‘normal’.” “With the amount of stuff that goes on in Equestria, what even is normal?” Spike said jokingly. “Well, you see, the siblings that they’re trying to help, Albedo and Klee, aren’t exactly from here,” the unicorn tried to explain to both the dragon and the princess, “Not only that, but they’re… human.” That statement had Twilight’s heart skip a beat as her eyes widened in shock, “H-how? A-any creature that would try to come here through the portal would-” “They’re not from the other side, Twilight. Believe me,” Starlight interjected before the alicorn could say anything else, “Not only did I ask them where they were from, which is definitely different than on the other side of the mirror, but I even double checked with Sunset as a precaution and she hasn’t heard of them before either.” At that point, Twilight herself was still trying to comprehend what the unicorn was saying. Though, as she was processing everything, Spike decided to ask a question this time, “How different are we talking about exactly?” “Vastly different,” the unicorn answered, before trying to come up with the best possible comparison in order to help the two of them make sense of what she was talking about “Think our world, but overseen by gods that have fought wars against other gods, magic is only limited to those who have gifts from said gods and to them, Celestia is the name of a floating island above the world with no possible way to reach it.” Now both the alicorn and the dragon stared at her in disbelief. Both of them, as well as their friends, were no stranger to weird things given everything that had happened in Ponyville over the last few years. Yet, what Starlight was saying right now sounded downright crazy. Though, the look in her eyes told the two of them that the unicorn was serious. After a couple moments of trying to process all of this, a simple question broke her concentration, “Um, Twilight? Are you okay? You kind of spaced out on me for a moment.” The alicorn could only blink as she looked back at her former student, “S-sorry, I just… the more I try to make sense of everything you told me, the more that I think that this is some kind of huge elaborate prank or something that Discord would try to do for fun.” “Actually, he’s not here,” Spike pointed out. Something that surprised both of the mares as the dragon folded his arms, “Fluttershy told me at brunch that Discord was visiting a friend of his that he happens to know. He wanted to ‘redeem some of his reformation mileage points’, if I remember correctly.” To the princess, she was relieved that the draconequus was not somehow involved in this particular situation. Though, that also meant that there were a few missing pieces to the puzzle that was this conversation as Twilight looked back towards Starlight, “Starlight, if what you say is true, then I have a couple of questions. First off, how did… Uh…” “Albedo and Klee?” Spike then recalled the names mentioned earlier. “Right,” the alicorn remarked, “How did they get here?” “From what they told me, it sounded like Albedo was trying to fix an unstable machine in his world that generated too much elemental energy, their equivalent to magic. When it malfunctioned and and the energy building up inside it exploded outward, Klee and him were caught in the blast and found themselves out in the forest area by Saddle Lake,” Starlight explained as she recalled the information that the alchemist told her during their conversation, “Right now, they have no idea how to find their way back to their world and that’s why they asked Sandbar and his friends for help. Which in turn led to them coming to find me.” To Twilight, that at least made some amount of sense compared to everything else she heard. Though, there was still another thing she had to ask, “Okay, and where exactly are they right now?” At that point, Starlight could only say one thing, “Remember when you asked me what was going on by the library?” A few moments prior… When it comes to that of alchemy and science, experiments are done through a methodical series of steps. One of the first steps to do before going through with any experiment is to ask a simple question. Once the question has been stated, the next step is to conduct background research. Through research and observation, one gets an idea as to what exactly they’re working with as well as the size and scope of the potential experiment that they’re planning to conduct. Such was the case right now with Albedo as he was studying the text of a particular book inside the library of the School of Friendship. Though, when it came to the situation that both he and Klee were in, there were several questions that were in his mind that needed to be answered before any progress could be made. Luckily though, each question he had revolved around one particular subject. Something that equestrians seemed to be fluent in, but was a mystery to an outsider like Albedo. The particular subject in question was that of magic. To that end, Ocellus assisted him by trying to find the best possible books to start reading through while the hippogriff named Silverstream was with Klee. As he read through the pages of each book, there were three particular questions that he was trying to find an answer for. First, how exactly does magic work in this world? Second, what were the practical applications it could be used for? And lastly, what were the similarities and differences between equestrian magic and the elemental power from Teyvat he was familiar with? However, finding the answers he was looking for was not really that simple considering how broad the subject was. Many of the books either confused him with unnecessary terminology or talked about anything but what the alchemist was trying to find. It felt like if you had to listen to Cyrus from the Adventurers Guild share tales about his adventures. He’ll go on and on about his heroics, but anytime you try to ask him for specifics, he ends up dodging the question before proceeding to continue rambling. Eventually though, sometime after Albedo started looking, the alchemist found something that he found as beneficial. It was a large tome that was written by someone named Starswirl the Bearded. A strange name, but Albedo could tell that they were an expert on the subject matter. Not only did the tome provide an answer to his first question, but also added more context that the other books lacked. From it, he learned that magic was something that is mostly learned at a young age and that, like elemental energy, takes time to master. Unlike elemental energy though, how one uses magic is similar to that of a muscle in the body. The more you practice with it, the stronger it becomes… but if you only focus on one specific area, then you only end up limiting yourself. Another factor was that some species have special traits that were natural to them and allowed them to control specific forms of spells. Something that made him a bit curious, before he looked towards who else was in the room with him. “Ocellus? Do you have a moment?” The changeling’s ears perked up almost immediately, before she looked towards the alchemist. “Um sure, is everything alright?” “So far, everything’s going well,” Albedo nodded, before turning the book around and  moving it closer to Ocellus as he pointed at the pages, “Though, if you don’t mind, there’s something I would like to ask you. That way I can understand this particular section I’m on more thoroughly.” At first, she was a little confused. Though, when she looked at the page that Albedo was pointing too and the section he was reading, Ocellus was beginning to piece everything together. “You want to know more about what I can do with magic?” “More like I want to hear your perspective,” the alchemist clarified, “While I do like the author’s writing style and their attention to detail, I thought that it would be simpler to understand it if I asked for your perspective. That way I can see how accurate this information is.” “I guess that makes sense,” the changeling replied, “So, what would you like to ask me?” “Well, as this describes, it says that different species have particular traits when it comes to magic. They list a few examples, but some of them are rather… lackluster. Not sure if it's because of a lack of information or if they wanted to keep things simple,” Albedo explained some more, before he turned the book back around to face towards him, “To start though, which species would you happen to be?” Ocellus was taken aback at first. This was the first time that she heard a creature ask her what her species was. Most of the time, creatures would know automatically just based on her appearance alone. Then again, Albedo wasn’t from here, so he wouldn’t entirely know. “Well, to start, I am a changeling.” The answer had Albedo briefly look at the text in the tome, before looking back towards her, “I see. Right here, it says that Changelings are able to wield magic as exceptionally as Unicorns and other species, but they are most known for their shapeshifting abilities and being able to turn into other creatures.” “Yeah, that’s right,” Ocellus said, before giving a small demonstration as she shifted into the form of a female dragon that was different from that of Smolder. After she moved her arms a bit, the changeling shifted back to her original form as she looked back to Albedo. “I see,” he replied as he folded his arms, taking a moment to ponder what Ocellus showed him before he spoke again, “You can change your appearance into another species at will. Now, is that something more along the lines of an ability you acquired or is it more of a biological trait?” “It’s the latter,” the changeling told him, “It does more than just change how we look, it also changes some functions too. For example,” As she spoke, Ocellus used her magic again to transform herself. This time to look like of a male earth pony, “Appearance is one thing, but I have to use more magic to focus on particular details such as changing my voice or my size if they happen to be bigger than me,” she then switched back to her regular form as Ocellus let out a small breath, “Plus, it’s easier for me to change into forms that are more natural.” “Oh?” Albedo now asked, a little bit curious by how she phrased that, “Care to elaborate?” At first, Ocellus thought about telling him directly. Though, she then got an idea, “How about I show you with an example,” With that, she began to shift forms again. This time, the changeling decided to transform into that of the school’s guidance counselor, Starlight Glimmer, as the unicorn’s voice was heard instead of hers, “Now, do you happen to notice anything different?” At first, Albedo was a bit surprised. Not just by the transformation itself, but by Ocellus’ test. Her appearance to that of the counselor that he only just met moments ago. Any other creature that saw her would think that she was exactly like Starlight herself. Though, as he looked over her transformation, one particular detail stood out to him. “The eyes.” Ocellus was a bit thrown off guard by that at first. Originally, she thought that Albedo would need some more time to figure out and provide an answer for her. However, he was instead rather quick and provided one to her on the spot. “Huh?” “That’s my answer,” the alchemist told her, before he began to explain his reasoning, “When we met Starlight, her eyes were a moderate blue that would be a similar shade of color that's native to the desert country of Sumeru where I’m from. However, your eyes are more greyish blue instead and lighter in color compared to hers.” In an instant, Ocellus changed back, stunned that Albedo was able to guess that correctly. Especially since her disguise was nearly flawless. “H-how did you figure it out?” At first, Albedo was silent. Though, this time around, he decided to answer the changeling's question with one of his own, “What do you think is the one thing that an artist and an alchemist happen to have in common?” he then asked, which only led to Ocellus shrugging her shoulders in confusion, “Attention to detail. Like when an object doesn’t match its surroundings or when a color is out of place. Such details allow me to make note of differences others tend to not pay attention too or ignore.” Ocellus then let out a sigh as she looked at Albedo, “I see. Well, as you might’ve noticed, changeling transformations are not always one hundred percent accurate. The longer you try to use it for, the more magic is needed to maintain the proper appearance of the transformation. In a sense, it’s more or less like being a body double. You can have your form look exactly like some creature, but any creature with a keen eye for detail like yourself can determine which one is real and which one is the double.” “So you prefer to transform into forms that are more natural… in the sense that you picture yourself as that species?” “That’s right,” Ocellus explained, “Not only does it not use up as much magic, but it also allows me to use my imagination. Which is another part of it since I have to picture the form I want to change into in my mind first before I can transform.” To Albedo, he saw this as rather helpful. Not just because of how Ocellus’ magic worked, but how she described using it. All of this was rather informative, especially when he was trying to learn how each of the sentient species of this world differentiated from one another. “I see. Thank you, Ocellus,” he told her, “What you shared was rather informative. I appreciate the help.” “Y-your welcome,” the changeling replied as Albedo went back to reading. Though, after a few moments, Ocellus decided to ask a different kind of question. From where she was sitting, it appeared as if the alchemist was struggling to find something. So, Ocellus decided to speak up and see if there was anything that she could do to help him, “So… how’s the reading going? Are you making any progress?” At that, Albedo looked back up from the text and flipped some pages, “Sort of. What I have read so far has been helpful in answering some of the questions that I have, but not all of them. There’s something I’m still trying to find, but so far, I haven’t had any success.” “Oh?” Ocellus asked, “What would that be?” “Well, I was first trying to learn about how magic works and how it can be applied, which was why I was asking you about what you were capable of doing,” he explained, “Now comes the harder part though. Trying to see if there are any similarities and differences.” “Why’s that?” the changeling raised an eyebrow, “How’s that going to help you find a way back?” “Well, the hope is that there is something between the magic of this world and elemental power from Teyvat that functions the same, despite them being two separate things,” Albedo clarified so that it did not sound as confusing, “Depending on what it is and how similar they happen to be, it may help with trying to piece together the specifics on how Klee and I came here… and more importantly, how are we going to get back.” When Ocellus originally heard that, she thought that such a thing seemed rather unlikely. Just from the brief examples of seeing Albedo demonstrate what he can do showed that what he was able to do and the power he wielded was not like magic at all. So trying to find something similar between them sounded unheard of. Especially if the alchemist was having difficulty with it. Then, a thought came to mind. It sounded a bit crazy when she first thought about it. Though, when looking back at things that she and her friends had experience over the course of the last semester, there was a possibility that it might work. “Um, Albedo? Can I… make a suggestion?” “Oh?” Albedo asked, “What is it?” “Well… it seems like you’re focusing your efforts on how creatures use magic,” she pointed out to him, “I can tell you that magic doesn’t just come from people. It’s all around us. Remember what you told Starlight about the elements in Teyvat and about how they flow and converge? It’s like that, but with magic.” At first, it didn’t seem to do the trick. Though, the more that he thought about it, the more that he began to see what she meant. “Flow… and converge.” Immediately, Albedo flipped all the pages back to the front, before quickly scanning the table of contents. When he found what he was looking for, he quickly began to turn the pages until he found the exact one that was looking for. Yet, before he could share what he found, a violet flash went off next to the two of them as another figure stood next to them. It was an equine similar to that of Starlight, but this one had a coat of fur that was light lavender with a pair of violet eyes and a mane that was purple with a streak of raspberry. She had a horn like Starlight, but also had a pair of wings that were folded at the sides with a mark that resembled a six pointed star. Alongside her was a dragon like Smolder, but had light purple and green scales and was notably smaller. “So, you’re the one that got the whole school’s attention.” Both of them were unsure what this figure meant at first, until they saw the faces of what appeared to be several other students in the small window that was on the door. Shortly afterwards, Starlight Glimmer hastily came in through the door before closing it behind her. “I’m so sorry,” she spoke to the alchemist apologetically, “I tried to tell her that you were busy, but-!” “Not to worry,” Albedo spoke calmly as he looked towards the changeling that was across from him, “With Ocellus’ help, we might’ve found something.” When Starlight looked at the book on the table, the words ‘Ley Lines’ could be found at the top of the page.