//------------------------------// // Ch. 2: Saikoro // Story: Oscillation: Back and Forth // by TundraStanza //------------------------------// "What is that thing?" The little girl yawned, flicking her tongue in the process. She blinked as lights and colors slowly took more distinct shapes. Three ponies stared in a mix of confusion, wonder, and caution. She didn't like the taste of any of the emotions. With a whimper, she tried to shrink back into the egg sack. But there wasn't enough of the shell left to hide her mostly white form. "Oh, no... I think we're scaring the poor baby." She tasted concern. It wasn't disgusting like the previous emotions, but it also wasn't enough to convince her to come out. Her tiny, light blue orbs swiveled left and right, back and forth, absorbing information about everything she was seeing. This room was wooden, triangular, and lit artificially. "It's kind of cute, in a weird way." Her gaze transfixed on the little, white pony. Curiosity. That emotion was mutually traveling to and from her. She wiggled her little nubs, warbling for something. But she didn't know what she wanted. --- Ocellus wandered around the ceiling. She thought it fascinating that she could turn the entire room upside-down just by walking all the way up the wall. The mare with purple and white stripes nearly had a heart attack when she witnessed the little bug filly's antics. She pleaded with the infant girl to come down. If the bug filly had suffered so much just from growing out of her larval stage, how much pain would accidental head trauma cause? With four separate plops, Ocellus released the ceiling and aimed her fall toward the mare. "Wheeee!" Ocellus chittered before landing. "Good stars, what am I going to do with you?" The mare shook her head. Ocellus looked straight into the mare's eyes. "Ma... Queen." The mare sat down in bewilderment. "W-What did you just say?" "Mama Queen." Ocellus tilted her head. "Mama Queen... scared." Her little black ears flopped down. The mare trembled as she hugged onto her little bug filly. --- "Mama Queen. Dada King. Shining Armor... big brooder." Night Light rubbed his temple. "She's not even three years old yet. How is she speaking this coherently?" "Never mind that!" Shining Armor rustled his mane. "Are you hearing the words she's using? Evil rulers aren't something two-year-olds are supposed to be contemplating!" Twilight Velvet motioned with her hoof. "Boys, please, let's try to calm down." "How can I calm down, Mom? This is crazy!" Shining slapped a fly away with his tail. "All this loud noise is making her stressed out." Velvet pointed out. Indeed, the bug-like filly was lying against the ground. She looked around, trying to find anything and everything else to focus on. But it was difficult to concentrate through the smells of frustration, confusion, and worry. There were hints of sweet love, but they were hard to nibble without also taking in the bad tastes. "I... ugh..." Shining groaned. "Just once in my life, I want to be right about something." Night Light leaned closer. "Son, what are you saying?" Shining froze before looking away. "It's nothing. Forget it." Ocellus inched toward the white colt. "Shining Armor... big madder?" Shining exhaled. "You're lucky you're cute." He gently patted the back of the bug-filly's neck. "I'm not mad at you. I'm mad that we don't know anything about you. If anything happens to you, we might not be able to do anything to help." Velvet nodded slowly. Night Light gently smiled. "How about we try shortening those titles for now, young filly? You can call us Dad, Mom, and Big Bro." Ocellus flitted her tongue. "Dada... Mama... Bro-Bro." Shining Armor chuckled. "Hey, I like that." --- Canterlot was a much bigger place than the house Ocellus lived. The streets were practically covered in other ponies and stuff. Confident facades, eagerness, small pains, indignation... all of the emotions surrounding her were enough to make the bug-filly dizzy. She was only able to keep her mind anchored by holding a hoof against her mom's side. Her mom smelled of a calm love with a dash of excitement. Ocellus couldn't help but think that was dissonance. Every so often, Ocellus thought she caught the attention of a random pony's eyes. Her worry didn't settle, even when she turned around to see no pony specifically looking at her. Her mother picked up some groceries while chatting with the ponies behind the posts. More than one asked if something was wrong with the daughter. The last one tried to pawn off some ointments with names and side effects with too many syllables to pronounce in one breath. Twilight Velvet paid for some flour, while leaving behind the "all-natural, imported greases". Ocellus was glad to leave the source of predatory glee. Standing at that particular post had been suffocating. --- For everything that made her different from the ponies, learning magic was one thing that made her the same. Her parents and her brother helped her practice during some of their free time. At first, she was only able to lift one or two small objects at a time. But after a few days, she was lifting a full saddlebag with little to no fatigue. She was progressing so rapidly, that Night Light asked if she wanted to attend a school for gifted unicorns, a place that could teach her far more than her family could by themselves. Ocellus's wings carried her into a backward flip in her excitement. --- "That thing is not a unicorn!" Ocellus's ears rang, even from outside the admittance office. Aside from feeling hurt from the accusation, she wondered what the point was of closed-door meetings. She would have thought a prestigious school, where Princess Celestia herself was one of the teachers, could afford something more than paper-thin walls. "Excuse me, that's my daughter you're objectifying!" retorted her mother's voice. "If a horn and magical capability aren't enough to allow some pony to pass as a unicorn, I don't know what does!" There was a sigh. "Mr. Night Light, can you please control your wife?" Her father's voice calmly responded, "I'll let her know if she says anything I disagree with." She snorted, barely holding back a laugh. A passing janitor gave her a weird look before continuing his trek through the hallway. The first voice in the office harrumphed. "We'll see if she can pass a little entrance exam." Ocellus nodded to herself. Basic reading comprehension and simple math had been a cinch to pick up. How hard could a little pencil-and-paper test be? --- The five-year-old felt a cold sweat in the holes of her hooves. This was no pencil-and-paper test. This was a panel of judges and a blackboard. What was she supposed to do? She looked to the side. Her parents smiled in encouragement. Lapping up their extra love tasted good, but it did little to get rid of her own nervous feeling. The custodian wheeled in a cart into the room. It was full of hay, topped with a rather ornate egg. It was purple and covered in green polka-dots. An illustration pasted on the side showcased a rather basic-looking dragon. On either side, the shell of the egg was drawn as being split neatly into halves. "Your time begins now, Ms. Ocellus," said the judge on the far left. This was a timed exam?! Was there a world record for doing the impossible? She patted both sides of her face. She needed to focus. First, she tried levitating the egg, getting a feel for its weight. It was about as heavy as one of her full saddlebags, but the shape felt completely foreign to her. Next, she tried applying magical pressure at two different polka-dots. Perhaps making the egg hatch was as simple as ripping it apart. After about ten seconds of the egg sitting firmly in place, she concluded that it wasn't going to be so obvious. In desperation, she crawled up the cart and tried petting the egg. It remained motionless and completely intact. With flopped ears and a drooping tail, Ocellus's wings carried her back to ground level. "I...I can't do this. I'm sorry." All four judges furiously scribbled on their clipboards of pages. Ocellus grimaced. How could this first step be allowed? Were other students in charge of baby dragons? And if so, why had she seen none of them in Canterlot? Yet, as soon as she thought of a way to ask, something exploded outside. The noise scared her something fierce. Her horn glowed in a bright chartreuse. The burst of magic slammed into the egg, making the entire cart rattle. Before she could really get a good look, more magic burned through her body. Her horn, her torso, and even her wings let loose huge magical blasts. These beams and bolts of green burst through the walls and ceiling of the room. Every pony inside ducked for cover. Ocellus screamed. Her thoughts pleaded for the pain to end. Had minutes passed or had it been an eternity? Whatever it was, the surge was interrupted by a something holding her shoulder. She turned to look, seeing a calming face. She smelled... a type of love that no other pony else possessed. This could only be one pony. As suddenly as the power had pushed her, it faded into more familiar levels. The beams and green lightning shut off. Ocellus found herself falling to the floor on her rump. After a stray tile hit the admittance officer on the head, every pony else peeked out from their hiding spots. Was it over? "Your name is Ocellus, correct?" asked the newcomer. "P-Princess Celestia!" Ocellus shook. She struggled to figure out which hoof was supposed to bend while bowing. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to-" "You have a rare gift, young mare," said the princess. "Not many ponies have such high calibers of magic sleeping within." "Wait, what?" Ocellus looked up quizzically. "I believe those with great power should be taught how to control it and find a constructive focus." Ocellus still wasn't completely sure where this subject was going. "Wait, what?" Princess Celestia held a hoof out toward the desks before bringing it back to her chest. "Ocellus, I propose that you take up your magical studies directly under my personal tutelage." The bug-filly's eyes were threatening to become dinner plates. "Wait, what?!" "Well?" Both her dad and her mom were nodding while grinning like idiots. Ocellus's face finally settled on an excited smile. "Yes! Absolutely! I accept!" The princess glanced over the filly's shoulder. "Your wings are beautiful." "Wha...?" She turned to follow her gaze. Experimentally, she gave her wings a single flap. Their holes were absent, they looked larger than before, and were a nice shade of crystal red. "Whoa..." She blinked a couple times. "But wait, why is the entrance exam about hatching a dragon egg? Isn't that next-to-impossible?" "It's a bit of a relic from a couple hundred years ago," admitted Princess Celestia. "The idea wasn't so much as to hatch dragons. Rather, it was a test of ingenuity and the acceptance of failure. It helps determine which students are willing to accept their limits and which ones need to work on letting go of their pride." "Oh, huh." Ocellus tapped her chin. "I never thought of it that way." "In your case, I don't think those standards are applicable." "Why do you say that?" Princess Celestia pointed her wing at the cart. Ocellus trotted around and looked. A series of cracks had formed in the egg. Green dots and purple shell gave way to a little head followed by tiny claws and a chubby, spade-like tail. The hatchling and the bug-filly stared at each other. This baby dragon was definitely the cutest thing Ocellus had ever witnessed. If any harm was brought upon him, she would strike down every creature in her vicinity, including herself. --- "Hmm... the Elements of Harmony? Where have I heard that term before?" Ocellus scribbled something on a notepad while levitating her book back into her saddlebag. She galloped along a pearly white walkway. She slowed for a quick wave upon passing her classmate Minuette before continuing her rush. Sure, it might have been faster to fly, but she needed her wings to peruse the archives faster than the ladder. She floated her key into the door lock and practically rammed the door open with her magic. "Spike! I need your help to search for 'Predictions and Pro...'" She looked around wildly before spotting her dragon-child on his back at an uncomfortable angle. "'...phecies.'" She was so glad that she never made a crossed-heart promise regarding her 'any harm' dogma all those years ago. Spike groaned as he sat up. "The next time you swing a door in my face, please knock first." "Sorry," said Ocellus. Her eyes wandered over to a ripped box with wrapping paper on it. "What's that for?" Spike leaned over and picked up what was left of the box. "Well, it was a present for Moondancer's party, but..." A teddy bear fell out along with half of its stuffing. "Oh, Star in Yellow!" Ocellus swatted herself in the right ear. "That was today?!" Spike nodded. "You had me pencil it down last month before dinner. You even told me it was impera-...imperi-...uh..." Ocellus rolled her hoof. "'Imperative'? A synonym for 'important'?" "Yeah, that." He made a hand-cannon motion with his claws. "Okay, okay, don't panic!" Ocellus galloped to one side of the archives. "I'll work on a quick fix for Moondancer's present while you look for 'Predictions and Prophecies'. Let's do this!" "Um, alright." Spike grabbed the ladder, slid it to one of the high shelves, and climbed. "Why do you need this book specifically?" "I'm trying to cross-reference my thesis." Her magic pulled together some threads and stuffing to the teddy bear's hole. "I'm fairly certain that's the last place I had read the phrase 'Elements of Harmony'." "Found it!" Spike pulled out the book in question and flipped through it. "Done!" Ocellus put the stuffed toy in the box and cast a quick repair spell on the wrapping paper. "This will wear off tonight, but she'll have opened it long before then. How soon do we have to be there?" Spike glanced up at the indoor sun dial right next to the giant window. "Five minutes." "What?! But the West Courtyard is practically on the other side of the district!" She magically yanked Spike and the book off the ladder and onto her back. "No time for stressing! We've got to go!" "Pretty sure you're the one stressing." Before Spike could add to that snark, the bug-filly's crystal-like wings were already pushing air behind them. Spike stuffed the book into a saddlebag before holding on for dragon's life. To the casual observer, it looked like a black, red, and violet blur rushed out of the royal archives. What neither carrier nor passenger noticed was that the key had been left in the lock. A figure in a dark green hood approached the door. In a faded magenta glow, the key turned completely over. ---