//------------------------------// // Chapter. 10 – The Unexpected Visit // Story: My Most Faithful Mortifer // by hamishwarfare //------------------------------// Chapter. 10 – The Unexpected Visit With the dawning of a new day, new problems seem to crop up. Sunset Shimmer was just finishing up a rather relaxing bath when she heard a clear and precise knock coming from the libraries main door. It was too early to be someone who wished to use the library, she wasn’t expecting Rainbow Dash at all; and while it could be the Mayor, Sunset was all but certain she would need to see her at town hall. She debated leaving it alone, but with a resigned sigh thought better of it. She wanted to succeed in this mission; and that involved being accepted by the town, which required a little effort on her part to be approachable. So with a blink of her magic she was dry and now sporting her amber fur with fiery mane and tail look. With another flash of raspberry coloured light Sunset found herself once more on the main floor of the library, with only removing the red barricade separating Sunset from her unexpected guest. Who she saw standing at the door was not someone she was expecting to meet. Ever. “Ah, you must be Sunset Shimmer. It is nice to finally meet you. I am Princess Celestia, please may I come in?” What could she do? Sunset stepped to the side and welcomed the Princess of Equestia into her humble abode with a bow. “I apologise for the lack of décor Princess, but I have been here for less than twelve hours. May I offer you some tea? I also have a pie if you would like something to eat.” “Just some tea would be fine.” Celestia replied gracefully as she sat down at the round central table, after Sunset had brought over some of the leisure cushions from one of the higher storage windows. Giving it a discreet magical dusting and fluff as it was brought over. It did not take Sunset long before a simple porcelain teapot was prepared and brought down from the kitchen, being accompanied by a pair of matching tea cups. The set was placed upon the bright wooden table with one of the delicate cups being presented to the princess. It was filled with a steaming pale green liquid and emitted a light and relaxing scent. “While I am honoured to host the Princess of Equestia, I am just a humble librarian who hasn’t even officially started yet to be honest. Why would you come to see me?” Celestia made no immediate attempt to answer the question, as she made a show of calmly taking a small sip of the tea before smiling in satisfaction; almost as if she had just confirmed something. “This is a very pleasant blend of tea. Where did you get it from?” What, it was just jasmine tea. Well that one was from her old home but she had similar just yesterday. “I brought it with me from Vanhoover. I’m sorry but I cannot recall which shop I got it from. But I did have a similar one in Canterlot yesterday from Donut Joe’s. I’m sure he would be happy to tell you where he get his from.” Celestia just smiled a little more. “Ah you visited Joe yesterday? Yes he does have a very impressive selection of teas and coffee’s. He has one similar to this though? He’s been holding out on me, he keeps giving me Lady Grey.” She took another sip of the steaming beverage and appeared to be in thought, almost as if she was considering her next choice carefully. “You said you haven’t officially started yet? Why is that, I was under the impression you arrived yesterday.” “Yes, I arrived with the seven fifteen train last night; after talking to several of the locals I arrived at town hall a little after seven forty. The place was locked up and there was no one to greet me. I was just lucky that I had been given a spare key for the library or else I do not know what I would have done.” ‘Thank you Rainbow Dash for that idea.’ Celestia nodded in understanding. “Yes, if there is one thing to be certain about, it is that governmental buildings will close when they say they will with no exception; no matter if it is even myself who is asking them to stay open late. But you said you’ve already met some of the ponies of Ponyville? Who were they and what did you think of them?” ‘Why does she want to know these things?’ “The first person who I met was a blue pegasus with a rainbow mane and tail; her name was Rainbow Dash. She was nice and gave me a small tour of the town and made sure I was going to be ok all the way to the library’s door. She said something about the mares in town were all going to be jealous of me, but I don’t know what that was about. “The other person I met was a pink earth pony who I think was called Pinkie Pie? Yes, that sounds right. Anyway she seemed to be rather angry with me about arriving in town so late. Something about a welcome party that she couldn’t get ready that night due to this being mostly a farming community? So she scheduled one for today after one at Sugarcube Corner; which I’m told is the local bakery.” Celestia, it seemed, was happy with these responses; as she had a small smile on her face and took another sip of her tea. “My, it sounds like your making friends already, and as you said you haven’t even been here a day. I am impressed; especially given you have so little experience with emotions.” Sunset’s eyes widened as she realised Celestia knew exactly who she was. “Yes, I was the visitor that you were told to be discreet around two days ago.” She was smiling, smiling is good, right? Better be safe. Sunset quickly got down to her knee’s, “Princess, please forgive me. Had I known it was yourself I would have stayed within the complex.” “It is alright Miss Shimmer. Your disappearance then gave me the chance to see you here and now. I have to admit that I am pleased with what I am both seeing and hearing. For the most part. I know for a fact I did not give you a spare key to this library.” There was a small cheeky smile on her face. That’s good right? “Regardless, your master’s mentioned one of your big tricks and I am very much interested in seeing it. Could you use Polymorph to give yourself wings and just hover with them for me?” Sunset wasn’t quite as eager as a puppy wanting to please their master, but she suspected she wasn’t far off. With barely any thought wings matching the colour of her amber coat appeared exactly where pegasus wings belonged on the body. With only the slightest hint of a raspberry glow to her horn Sunset Shimmer was hovering in place about a meter off the ground, right in plain sight for the princess too see. “That is very impressive use of the Polymorph spell; you really have grown your very own pair of wings using it. Right down to building up the muscles required to use them effectively. I can even see the slight subconscious movements of the feathers compensating for staying in one place. You really have been flying for quite a number of years, haven’t you? May I use Mage Sight on you?” “Certainly Princess.” “Yes, very impressive. Your flow of magic is so natural, I cannot distinguish between what is unicorn magic and what is pegasi; though the lack of pegasus tribal laylines dose give you away to me. Nor can I distinguish the polymorphed wings to your natural body. I dare say, if you chose, you could very well hide amongst pegasi and almost never be found. Tell me, you’ve managed to improve the exchange rate between unicorn magic to the others, are you willing to tell me by how much?” “The Emergency Energy Generation spell that I based my own spell on had a rate that it would take sixteen percent of the unicorn’s magic to produce one percent of the other tribes. I have managed to improve the efficiency to a ratio of seven point eight percent unicorn magic to produce one percent of the other tribes. Or to put it another way I have more than doubled my pegasus and earth magic thanks to the improvements to the spell I’ve made. And I am still working on refining that number even more,” she was still hovering in place, still waiting for the princess to ask her to do something else; honestly she was getting a little bored, not that she would say that to the princess. “That is a very impressive efficiency improvement, but still quite the taxing number. What I do not understand is why you have gone to such great lengths just to do something that ponies have already solved with other spells.” “Because none of the spells other ponies have created actually give you flight. They give you imitations at best. Last night I flew up above all the other clouds in the sky, and by a lot, before settling down onto one of the clouds I had taken with me and just stared at the night sky. For a unicorn to do that they would need to have activated at least half a dozen spells; and that’s if those dew drop butterfly wings could withstand the altitude. “It was so peaceful and quiet up there, and yet I felt fine thanks to the pegasus magic mitigating the ambient temperature as well as possible reduction in oxygen intake. Huh, I hadn’t considered that before. I mean I was really high up and there was bound to be a significant reduction in available air and therefore oxy-” “Ahem” “Oh, my apologies for that Princess. But my point still stands. Not a single spell, or even combination of spells, could achieve what I did last night without failing in one form or another. Oh speaking of last night, I did a little exploring after my time star gazing within the Everfree Forest.” “Oh, so you have started protecting Ponyville already, have you?” “Well it really was just a scouting mission, and only about the first few kilometres or so really, but at the very least there are six less Timber Wolves to deal with. I even double checked with Mage Sight. There wasn’t a single piece of magic left on them. A shame really, I have some ideas that require magical reservoirs, and I thought some of the wood from them could have been useful; but when the magic’s gone, it’s gone.” ‘Does the princess just want me to hover all day? I mean I could but you’d think she would want me to show off or something? She is the princess though and she did get me this position, so she must know what she’s doing.’ “Well I thank you for protecting my little ponies already. Maybe I can help you in return; why did you want a magic reservoir to experiment with.” “Just as an extension to what I’m doing already honestly. Again like last night for example; I stopped making pegasus magic to cast the Darkvision spell and even though it took a quarter of a second at most, by the time I was back to creating pegasus magic I had to squirm my way out of the cloud. If I could just get a buffer of even a second or two it would be so useful; but I have limited funds so plan to experiment on cheap disposable reservoirs to confirm my hypothesis, before I start investing in more expensive materials.” “You are used to a shoe string budget, I see. While admirable I fear what you are considering will require significantly higher quality reservoirs than you will ever find outside of a specialist's forge. Even from within the Everfree Forest you are unlikely to ever find something refined enough for you to even attempt to re-absorb the stored magic back into yourself safely.” Celestia could see the enthusiasm leaving Sunset’s eyes at this news. ‘She really is a scholar at heart; an experimental one but still. Oh how I wish I found you instead of predator.’ “However, consider this. As payment for protecting Ponyville from the Everfree forest, I shall supply you with items that you cannot get for your research; such as high quality magic reservoirs for example. Simply send me a letter detailing what you have done, what you are working on, and what you require. If things sound reasonable, and not a danger to yourself or others, I will send you what you request.” The amber unicorn with wings actually did a backflip while hovering in place. ‘I definitely have her attention then. Even with her stunted emotions she is still this excited about doing research. Perhaps it will be easier to keep her complacent than I thought, a carrot on a stick if you will.’ “You would do that for me? Really? Thank you.” While Sunset was doing the acrobatic maneuverer in celebration; there was not a single breath of wind out of place. ‘I am beginning to wonder if she was a pegasus in a previous life.’ “Oh, Princess last night when I was in the Everfree I saw a house that looked like it was being lived in. There were tribal masks scattered over the place as well as glowing fluorescent bottles lighting the area. What should I do about that? I do not think I could protect the person, or people, living there while I am stationed here.” This news made Celestia blink in surprise. ‘Someone is living inside the Everfree? Even so close to the edge it is very dangerous.’ “For now just observe, if the house is as lived in as long as you claim then it sounds like they have been there for some time. Maybe even try and make friends with whoever is living there.” Strangely this seemed to be the wrong thing to say as her enthusiasm deflated a little. “I don’t know how to make friends. I don’t have many emotions and they are all stunted thanks to an accident I had.” “Yes, I was told the details by Master Crane. However I think you underestimate yourself; after all haven’t you been invited to a party later on today? And did you not have another pony stay with you last night until she was sure you had a place to stay for the night.” “Well, yes, but I had to actually think about what to say and what not to say. Those mares were actually waiting for me to respond and it must have felt strange for them to wait for what probably should have been an obvious response. I-” “I know this might sound strange for you to hear, but those are thoughts that everypony has. What makes you different from others is that you have no previous experiences to compare with. Each interaction is a brand new one for you and you must think about every incident logically. You have been given training to help with this and it appears to be working. If you feel you need more help with this, then again you can send me a letter. It may take time for me to respond but. Hmm.” ‘Do I dare give her such access? No, allowing her to send directly to me is not advisable. Maybe another? The only other that could potentially do this is Spike, but to give her access to Spike? She seems like a good pony, but again that is something I just cannot risk at the moment.’ “I may have a faster means of communicating with each other; however that may take some effort to set up. "In the meantime, you can send them to me by an additional security measure that I shall give you to ensure it does actually reach me in a timely manner; though please keep it secret. Think of it as a test, and if you fail, even once, you will lose all access to me. Succeed and in time you may receive even more access, which would potentially mean more resources for your projects. But when I say no one, I do mean it. Not even your Masters may know about this security measure. Are you willing to accept this?” Sunset was squirming; the fight between loyalty to her Masters, or the prospect of furthering her research. Both sets of hooves were fidgeting as she remained hovering in place. Celestia could clearly see the young mare’s dilemma and relented slightly by giving Sunset a small bone. “It is not as if they need this measure anyway. They already have their own way of contacting me.” Sunset was still fidgeting, however it did lessen somewhat. “They can already contact you? So, they do not need this secret way you’re giving me access to, to get in contact with you. They’re way is probably faster as well isn’t it?” Princess Celestia nodded with a small smile on her face, “then they won’t even ask me for it. So yes, I can keep this secret I believe. Actually I don’t think my master’s gave me a way to contact them. If that is the case, then I really need this measure of yours; if for no other reason than to send messages onto them.” “I will be happy to forward messages to your Masters, provided they are not too frequent.” “They didn’t say anything, so if it is alright with you, I will likely do a monthly report. I can’t think of anything that I’ll be doing that you wouldn’t know already, so I suppose you could read them as well. If you wanted too and have the time for it too of course.” “Chuckle, thank you for the permission. I may have a look if I have the time, and not much else is happening.” The two ponies entered a period of silence; waiting for the other to broach the next topic. Sunset offered the Princess a top up of her tea; curious to see what was about to happen, Celestia agreed to a fresh cup. What Princess Celestia was expecting was for Sunset to stop creating her pegasus magic and to go back to unicorn; regardless of her request to Sunset to just hover in place. However what actually happened was that Sunset, still hovering, gently flew over to the tea pot. She daintily picked it up with her forehooves, ignoring the pots handle, before moving over to where Celestia was sitting, holding her cup in the golden glow of her magic. The hovering mare bowed gracefully before presenting the porcelain pot to the floating cup. With full confidence and the ease of someone who has done this many times before, Sunset filled the suspended vessel before moving over to the second cup sitting on the circular table and topped that back up as well. The tea pot was then carefully set back down exactly where it was resting before being replaced by the once more filled cup in Sunset’s hooves. The whole performance was finished by her taking a delicate sip from the cup. “I take it that was some of Crane Wing’s teachings I just watched. You would never see a unicorn do that willingly; honestly most pegasi now a days either. They prefer to use their wings and for more dexterous tasks and the handle to prevent burns.” “Yes, Master Crane Wing was quite insistent that I learn how to do the traditional pegasi tea ceremony. That was nothing more than using my hooves to pour tea; I’ll need to buy a traditional tea set if I am to properly do the ceremony again. Actually I should buy one, just so I can practice and not get rusty. Master Crane Wing would not be happy if I forgot any of it.” “Crane Wing was always about keeping traditions alive, even when he was your age.” “Did you know all of the Master’s that ran predator?” “No, not all of them; there was a period where I tried everything I could to forget that predator even existed. It was, an unhappy time for me. But I have taken an interest once again, and while I cannot say I am terribly thrilled such an organisation exists; I cannot say that I am unhappy with the results either.” There was silence once again; Sunset did not think it a good idea to speak right now. But then, there was something else last night that she needed looking into and here was probably a first hoof witness. “Princess?” she got a positive response, signalling to continue with her question, “what is the origin to the Mare in the Moon prophecy?” that was not a question Princess Celestia was expecting. “Where did you hear about that prophecy?” her tone was of genuine surprise, though her face remained unchanged with its small smile. “The library at predator.” She answered with a shrug; Sunset began to lazily sway from one side to the other as she remained hovering in the air without a care on her mind; and certainly not noticing the subtle darker tone under the surprise. “Huff, of course predator has a copy of that book. I will have to talk to them; such a book should be in the restricted section at least.” Huh, Sunset is awfully quiet all of a sudden. Wait.’ “It was in the restricted section of their library, wasn’t it? When I saw your masters, they had suspicions that you had access to their restricted section. I guess this just proves it. Do they know this for a fact?” Sunset had the good grace to at least look a little bashful over the situation. “Yes. I was caught reading ’Predictions and Prophecies’ by my mentor, Tempest Shadow. The very day you were there actually. Then I forgot I had it with me when I went straight to the masters, after being summoned. They saw the book too.” “Yes well, why do you want to know about that particular prophecy?” She shrugged “Because it is going to happen.” “Oh, what makes you so sure about that? Because it is in a book that I deem restricted material?” “No, it’s the stars. They’re forming some sort of pattern that’s probably going to be aligned by the Summer Sun Celebration next year.” “The stars are forming a pattern?” “Not just forming a pattern, some of them have actually deviated from their projected path to form this pattern. I don’t know what it is, really, but if you want I can give you my notes on this. I’ve tracked the path of the stars using star charts and over the last twenty years the stars have deviated from their expected path. However the most recent edition I have access to is still seven years old; so I’ve had to work it out using observations. Give me a second.” With both confidence and grace, Sunset used her right hoof to reach over the opposite shoulder. Before the hoof could interfere with her flapping wings however, it disappeared into nothingness; with only a faint trace of the deepest purple appearing where her foreleg vanished. Sunset blinked, her face suddenly becoming confused. She brought her arm around to the front as her face scrunched up into one of concentration, her tongue sticking out slightly as her decapitated hoof seemed to be searching for something. It lasted only a moment before a pleased note escaped the mare, her tongue retreating back into its domain. The right leg was extracted quickly and with it came a thick stack of paper, being held together by course twine. Sunset gave the notes a quick glance over before she was satisfied and presented them to Princess Celestia. “Here you go Princess. All the notes I have made on the Mare in the Moon prophecy. Including sketches of where the stars should be compared to where they are now and the predicted alignment they are going to be in at next year’s Summer Celebration.” “Why are you giving me these notes? Wouldn’t you like to keep them; this is a lot of work.” “Oh, don’t worry about that. I can reproduce them again without a problem. I figured that you’d want to see for yourself that what I’m saying is going to happen. What I don’t know is where it is going to take place or why it is happening. I suppose I know what’s going to happen if we lose. It was kind of clear about night eternal. “I suspect this will be one of the events that my Masters will want me to stop; so if you could help with getting me more information, or any possible leads, that would be really useful.” What could Celestia do? She gracefully took the offered stack of papers in her golden aura and gave them a small glance; just to confirm what Sunset had said about the notes. The aura of magic flared after the inspection, taking the stack of papers away with it to a location only the princess knew. That stack of papers held nearly all of the information Celestia was hoping her student would discover on her own. “Very well, I shall take these and look into the situation further for you. I shall let you know what I find in time.” ‘Maybe I can use these as a guide?’ “Now I believe that is more than what I had originally planned to speak to you about; but I have to admit it has been refreshing to talk shop, as my younger ponies like to say. “Though I have to admit, I am surprised you are able to access your Void Pocket while casting your modified Energy Generation spell. I’d have thought with you constantly casting on that spell, others would become inaccessible to you?” “My Masters and I thought the same Princess, however it appears the magic link required by the Void Pocket spell is its very own connection. Master Bright Lance has worked with me a little and this is the working theory we have. When I have more free time I want to look into the spell some more. See if I cannot –with the assistance of Arcane Sight– pin down what part of the spell matrix's script creates a separate connection to the caster.” Celestia could not help the small smile blossoming upon her face; this has certainly been quite the refreshing change of pace. “Perhaps we may do this again sometime in the future. Here, give me your quill and some paper. When you post letters to me send them to this name and address instead; it is a sure fire way to get them to me faster than simply writing a letter to the castle. Remember this is a secret. Now if you’ll excuse me I must get back to the castle, I have a meeting scheduled at ten thirty.” “Oh, I’m sorry Princess, I wish you had said so earlier. It is a little before quarter to ten right now, actually.” “What? We’ve been talking for nearly two hours? My where dose the time go. Well then I really must take my leave. Thank you for the tea and for the information on the Mare in the Moon. Oh yes, just quickly. You’ve been hovering like that for at least an hour right?” “One hour and thirty two minutes, why?” “How are you feeling? Are you tired?” “Umm. No, not tired at all. Not even winded.” “Ah. That’s good to hear. Though tell me quickly, how long do you think you could hover like that for before tiring?” It was clear Sunset was giving it an honest thought; there was even a small bit of tongue poking out of her mouth. “Probably another three hours? Though it may be closer to four? It’s a little hard to tell really. I think my muscles would tire before my magic would if that’s what you’re wondering.” “So, approximately five hours of constant hovering?” “Yes that sounds quite likely.” “Right. Well I best be off; until we meet again goodbye.” Without any additional fanfare, Princess Celestia left through the front door and launched herself straight up into the sky. “Huh, Ponyville to Canterlot in forty five minutes? It sounds like it could be a possible time. Though I’d imagine the Princess will be quite out of breath by the time she gets there. “Oh well, let’s go see the Mayor now; get that done and then I don’t know what until this welcome party. Oh, I need to remove my wings.” A wave of magic washed over the length and breadth of each wing. As the raspberry coloured light passed over her magically grown appendages, the wings appeared to dissolve into thin air. With her wings now returned to the magic aether, she once again looked exactly as she did the previous evening when she first set hoof into town. At long last she was stepping out of the library for her first full day in Ponyville. She silently wondered what else was going to happen today, and if she was ready for it as she started to make her way over to town hall. Miss Mayor Mare would surely be in by now, right? Meanwhile in the sky flying back to Canterlot –at a much greater pace than she has achieved for a good number of years now– Princess Celestia was thinking back over the significantly longer than planned meeting with Sunset Shimmer. It was quite the eye opening meeting with very reassuring character traits, but also worrying tones and ignorance’s. Strangely it was also quite the refreshing experience for Celestia; the ideas and passion the mare expressed, even in such a dulled emotional state. Who could not smile at the achievements she has already succeeded with? The biggest surprise though was the aerial hovering. “Five hours of constant hovering? Royal Guard pegasi train, trying to reach an almost unachievable two hours of constant hover time as a goal to strive for; then you consider she was converting the magic needed at a rate of basically eight to one. She has the potential to be my greatest asset or biggest hindrance. The magic well within that pony is certainly something to be wary of. “Sigh, but if I give her any more information on the Mare in the Moon, she’ll figure everything out, probably within a few days of receiving it. Oh, and I’ve actually encouraged her to search the Everfree Forest. Just wonderful; and what would she think if I suddenly tell her not to go into the big obvious castle ruins that just scream ‘The answers you seek are here.’ The only logical conclusion would be that I am actually encouraging the prophecy to happen. “Well, nothing more can be done today about this; Sunset Shimmer is going to a party and having a social adventure, which will distract her for at least the day. She will not get a chance to delve deep enough into the forest for some time yet; so I have time to give this problem some actual attention and plan a more successful route through. “Hmm, her Cutie Mark is also quite the enigma; I wonder what streaking stars over a pink backdrop could mean? This Sunset Shimmer is just one mystery after another; I look forward to when I have time available to actually seek out the answers. Sigh, next Summer Sun Celebration cannot come soon enough.” Princess Celestia continued on towards Canterlot hoping the rest of her day wasn’t going to be as stressful as her last meeting.