//------------------------------// // 6. Check // Story: Darkest Hour // by Twilight is Magic //------------------------------// Sparkling Sky stood before the desk with Star Swirl’s treatise rolled open atop the other papers. His mind buzzed with activity as he neared the end of the scroll, subjecting his apprentice’s theory to all kinds of mental tests. His caution screamed for him to stop and look for something more useful, but was left unheeded, pushed back by his burning curiosity and the instinctive urge to clear the nervousness from his mind. The more he read, the more plausible the theory seemed to get. There were records of different experiments, analyses and examples, all pointing towards the veracity of the main statement of the paper—that while molded gemstones’ properties were largely determined by what kind of gem was used to make them, their shape and size could alter them considerably. As the results of the experiments demonstrated, they could lead to unintended behaviour, such as the normally spell-reflecting molded diamonds not affecting select types of magic when shaped into squares, or circular sapphires failing to dissipate a stunning spell where square sapphires worked as expected. Sparkling Sky was glad he’d given his apprentice all the resources he needed for his work, including his own small collection. The gemstones were rare and precious, and a failure of one of them to perform as intended could be attributed to many different factors, from the jeweler’s error to random magical fluctuations, so nopony had attempted to study those occasional malfunctions in earnest. Star Swirl had gone down to Hornton to stay with one of the few craftsponies capable of molding gemstones, observing his work, testing the newly created gems and even attempting to make one himself. Sparkling Sky had to give it to his apprentice—the colt could focus on his work. There was, however, one resource he could not give him access to, despite his requests; the Chamber of the Cycle, a marvel of the unicorns’ mastery of their innate powers as well as the single largest collection of magically molded gemstones. The amount of gems required for its construction was so staggeringly great that it spanned two generations, with the Circle of Day and Night working side by side with master jewelers to create the bewilderingly complex array that was the reason of its existence. As one of the builders, Sparkling Sky also knew the gemstone array’s intended purpose—to amplify the innate magic of a unicorn, enabling them to wield incredible amounts of power and giving the kingdom a tool for virtually any purpose. It could’ve been a fearsome weapon, a workshop for unique, perfect items, and a centre of magical research that had the potential to advance the Unicorn tribe’s understanding of magic by orders of magnitude. Instead, it did not work. Any attempts of using the system to cast a spell resulted in a beam of raw, distorted energy that could serve practically no purpose. The wizards tried many different spells, but the result was always the same, and the web of enchantments and various gemstones that the array had become was far too complicated for anypony but the unicorn who’d devised the Chamber in the first place, long dead by then. The ponies did not dare unravel the spells of the array, afraid of complicating the problem further, and without that, there was little they could do. The grand project was about to be abandoned as a failure when one of the Keepers—Sparkling Sky’s own mentor—attempted to raise the moon using the Chamber array and succeeded. This unprecedented feat impressed King Silver’s father enough to ignore the loss of time and resources to such a one-trick project. He subsequently gave the Circle the exclusive right of using the Chamber for the maintenance of the Cycle, with the added task of continued investigation into the reasons of its limited function, but while it certainly simplified the Keepers’ job by eliminating the need for the old ceremonies, nothing new had been gleaned over the decades since its completion. Looking at the treatise before his eyes, Sparkling Sky was beginning to think that they weren’t looking in the right place. If the gemstones behaved like Star Swirl’s research suggested, then the Chamber’s system, with its vast number of gems of all types, sizes and shapes, could be rife with their properties clashing with each other and cancelling out. He raised a hoof to his chin and rubbed his beard. A pair of diagrams near the end of the long, long scroll drew his eye. The working sketches of the new royal crowns, made for the coronation of King Silver and Queen Amethyst by the same jeweler as Star Swirl stayed with, were depicted amid a cloud of notes in script so small that Sparkling Sky had to lean closer to read them. Both crowns had been encrusted with multiple gemstones, and some of them were of the magically molded variety, meant to make the crowns useful as more than just regalia; all of them were represented in the pictures, and a line connected each of those gems to a part of the word cloud surrounding them. He quickly scanned the notes for anything potentially valuable. According to the ones for the King’s crown, which had been decorated with molded amethysts, diamonds and sapphires of various cuts as well as several large rubies, the gems’ newly discovered properties clashed and interfered with each other. Next to it was the result of much deliberation and numerous calculations—the crown, designed to provide a degree of protection from any and all hostile magics, could be vulnerable to spells that affect the mind and a few of the more common cantrips, such as knockback spells. A much denser circle of notes around the Queen’s crown with its intricate patterns of diamonds and amethysts and four immense multi-faceted sapphires, laden with measurements and yet more calculations, presented an even more alarming conclusion: if Star Swirl was correct, then should the crown or whoever is wearing it have been affected by one of several types of magic, such as paralyzing and freezing spells, their energies would be distorted and amplified through the gemstones’ overlooked properties, resulting in a considerably greater amount of barely focused power with nowhere to earth itself but the crown and its owner. Now this was useful indeed. Sparkling Sky glanced at the remaining part of the scroll, but nothing stood out nearly as much as the analysis of the crowns. What could it mean if he was right? Maybe those weaknesses facilitated the changelings’ attack? The elderly magician shook his head, reminding himself of the importance of knowing everything there was to know about any potential weaknesses— There was a loud knock on the door, followed by several more. Snapping out of the thoughtful refuge his mind had holed up in, he glanced at the door, realizing with absolute acuity that he’d wasted all his time reading this and the enemy had come for him. His brain felt like it had been doused with icy water. The gemstones! No matter the new uncertainties, he needed that edge! He bolted away from the desk and up the stairs, nearly skidding as he turned sharply to a chest at the end of his bed. Heaving it open with a hoof, he reached inside with his magic, and a small, beautifully crafted wooden box floated out. There were locks, but they clicked open after a few nearly automatic movements of his hooves and magic pressing the right spots. Inside was his collection of magically molded gemstones, lined up neatly in their nests of velvet. He was about to grab them all, but paused as Star Swirl’s treatise’s warning flashed in his mind. What if taking all of them at once would produce a freak side effect, one dangerous to himself, at the worst possible moment? His caution pushed at him hard, and, leaving the rest of the box behind, he picked one gem, a flawless, perfectly spherical sapphire. He levitated it into one of the very useful small pockets lining the inside of his large wizardly cape. The knocking on the door downstairs, which had turned into hammering, suddenly stopped. There was a moment of silence, followed by a soft wavering whine distantly resembling that of magic being performed, and a dry, crackling ‘boom’ rang out. Then there were the wooden creak and crash of his study’s door falling onto the floor and the sounds of several sets of hooves walking on stone. Sparkling Sky backed away, trying to get a clear line of sight on the stairs’ top. The invaders had started ascending already, and in a few moments the crowned head of Queen Amethyst appeared above the floor. The old wizard hadn’t yet prepared any spells to cast, and the regal mare’s eyes had locked onto him the moment she came into view with an expression clearly saying ‘don’t try anything stupid’. He stood with his back against one of the windows as the Queen fully entered his bedroom. She was followed by two royal bodyguards with absent, unseeing looks about them, even more so than the usual. They stopped right after stepping off the stairs, in perfect synchronicity, while the tall unicorn mare walked slowly and purposefully towards him. “Good day, my loyal subject,” she intoned in a sing-song voice as she came closer. “I trust you are well? Why have you locked your doors, pray tell? Were you, perhaps, afraid of something?” Sparkling Sky stared up into her normally kind face, now twisted into a mocking grimace, as she stopped in front of him: “Your Queen has decided to pay you a visit. Do you know to what do you owe this honour?” There was a malicious glint in her eyes. ‘She isn’t even bothering to pretend,’ he thought. He focused on those eyes and replied dryly: “You really need to work on your disguise, changeling. Amethyst is nothing like this, even if you look identical. Oh, and my Queen wouldn’t blow up my door.” Her cruel smirk became sharper, more crooked. “You’re the last one. Think yourself clever if you wish, but you have lost all the same.” She lowered her head very close to his and hissed: “I’ve taken care of both those foals outside and the rest of you prideful mages. Don’t make this hard for yourself.” His eyes rose to the top of her head, towards the crown perched near her horn. He felt momentarily glad that he stumbled upon Star Swirl’s treatise when he did. Sparkling Sky summoned his power and strung together a freezing spell meant for quick casting. “How about... no.” The flare at the tip of his horn came only slightly faster than the changeling’s reaction. A bolt of red energy leapt off it and at the crown, striking it just as one of the mare’s hooves rose into the air and slammed into his chest with unexpected strength. There was a bright flash composed of many distorted colours, and the Queen’s crown flew off the disguised changeling’s head and across the room in a high arc, while the changeling itself yelped and shrunk down away from the small explosion. Sparkling Sky stumbled back from its forceful kick and prepared to fling a more powerful spell at his unbalanced opponent, but there came a sharp, unpleasant sound akin to that of a unicorn’s horn discharging magic yet much more discordant and wavering, and his vision was filled with a burst of green light erupting right under his horn. He felt his consciousness slipping and tried to hold on to it with all the willpower he had, but his body immediately gave way. Through the sudden numbness of his senses, Sparkling Sky could just make out a faint voice saying “Fool. Say goodbye to your free will,” and then there was only blackness. And almost immediately he felt himself waking up. He forced his eyes open and blinked blearily, trying to take in the surroundings. His head felt as if something had cracked it open and scrambled the contents. Sparkling Sky groaned, trying to think or remember anything but finding himself floundering like an unskilled swimmer in a fast-flowing river. A lavender hoof appeared before his face. He lifted his eyes up the leg of its owner and found himself looking at a tall, beautiful lavender unicorn mare. He called out to his memory once again, but it drew a blank—and then he felt a metaphorical light guide his way to the answer. It was his Queen, Amethyst, who’d come to visit him on his post. So kind of her. Slowly and clumsily, he managed to get back onto his hooves. He felt compelled to say: “What is your bidding, Your Majesty?”. His Queen smiled, and the smile was answered by a spark of warmth inside him. “You’ve passed out for a moment. You need some sleep. Do not worry, we can take it from here. Your help is no longer needed.” He nodded, looking at her awkwardly. Yes, he remembered... he didn’t sleep at all last night. How embarrassing of him to faint like that in the presence of Her Majesty. He definitely needed to take at least a short nap. His Queen was right. He had to listen to his Queen. “Now I will excuse myself. There are duties I must perform,” she finished in her ever-pleasant voice and turned to leave. On her way, she lifted her crown off the floor with her magic and placed it back onto her head—it had fallen off by accident, as he suddenly remembered. He watched her until she and the two other ponies who he did not remember walking in disappeared down the stairs, then looked at his bed. It seemed irresistibly inviting, as if he hadn’t slept in a week, and so he started towards it at a very slow and unsteady trot. A tiny part of him, however, was still trying to think, despite the very clear orders his Queen had given him. It struggled against their straight, definite borders and attempted to call up some other thoughts, but it was like wandering away from a warm, welcoming light into all-consuming darkness. Why would he want to do such a thing? She commanded and he complied. It was perfectly sensible. He placed one hoof atop his bed, stifling a yawn. Yes, he had to— fight, resist, he was needed— sleep, he was so very tired, he couldn’t even make another step— stop listening to it, it was not his own will— he needed a rest more than ever— stop it, it was an enemy, a— a changeling... A piercing pain split his head. He had to stop, stop— struggling— listening— stop whatever was causing the pain. It was clearly his attempt at disobeying his Queen— the changeling— The pain flared up like a bonfire, so intense that Sparkling Sky clutched at his head with both forehooves. He collapsed by the bed, hitting the bedstead face-first, but did not notice it at all. A small bubble of lucidity had floated up to the surface of his disorganized mind. In a flash, he saw it —or rather felt it—in its entirety, as well as a presence within his head, clouding it and wrapping it in strands of an alien will like a spider creating a cocoon around its prey. In turn, the presence seemed to become aware of that, and the pain grew once again. This time, however, Sparkling Sky knew that it was there, that it was not just himself, and fought back against its influence. Memories began to reappear one by one as he struggled to stand against the intrusive power pushing his mind back into disorder. The day before, there was an attack. A haggard patrol coming back. Monsters. Then, searching for information. After sunrise, a call from the King, and then the speech, the plan, the ponies’ departure. The changelings. As each of the thoughts resurfaced, Sparkling Sky’s mind became clearer, the pain lessened and others returned more quickly. The tide of the mental battle had turned. Realizing this, he tried to dredge up as much as he could. The Keepers. Star Swirl. The ponies going away, and then the changelings attacking the castle, and the wizard on the roof falling to a spell. A changeling spell. That was it! It all came back to him. The Queen was lying, she was a changeling and the castle had been overrun. He had to do something! The kingdom needed him! Everypony needed him! He pushed back at the alien presence with all the mental strength he could muster, and it faltered, gradually shrunk to an infinitely small size and broke apart, dissipating along with the haze it had put his mind into. Sparkling Sky felt like he’d broken the surface of a deep lake in which he’d been drowning, shuddering and gasping for breath. He became aware of the fact that he was staring at a leg of his own bed, lying on the floor by its side, drenched in cold sweat and tangled in his robes. Slowly recovering from shock, he sat up. There was a faint tinkling sound from his garment as he did so. He lifted its side and peered at the pocket it was coming from, recognizing it as the one where he’d put the sapphire sphere, and reached inside with his magic. What came out, however, was not the sphere, but several shards of the molded gemstone, split from the core. ‘It did what it was meant to,’ he thought matter-of-factly as he placed the remains of the gem on top of the nearby chest. The sapphire had definitely cracked because of the spell, most likely weakening it by absorbing as much of its power as it could. Perhaps he had it to thank for his escape from the changeling spell. Sparkling Sky was grateful that none of Star Swirl’s undocumented properties manifested themselves, or, at least, none of the weaknesses did, and that his trusty protective charm had saved him one last time. Perhaps the jeweler in Hornton could get it mended. He tried to stand up, but his head swam. He managed to take a few groggy steps, but had to lean onto the corner of his bed for support. Sparkling Sky felt that he needed to act, to stop the changelings, but his mind did not seem to have recovered entirely, and neither did his body. He did need some rest, although not the way the changeling would’ve had him get it. Instead, he slumped against the bed’s side and tried to steady and clear his mind. Sparkling Sky felt drained, shaken and shocked. He needed a new plan of action, and the situation was more dire than anything he could think of. But at the very least he was able to actually think for himself. With luck, that was something the changeling did not know. ~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~ The wine cellar was one of the last places where Golden Bracelet would’ve chosen to spend the day, but it was not without its advantages. He pushed an empty bottle aside towards others of its kind, causing several to fall over with a glassy clatter. "Another!" he barked, and his serving filly obediently began to push her way through the thick crowd of ponies towards a half-depleted wine rack. It was far too uncomfortable, being stuck with all the uncouth servants and his long-time rival, that despicable curmudgeon by the name of Crown Jewel, but the wine and staying far away from that snooty old imbecile helped make it almost tolerable. King Silver might’ve objected to such liberal consumption of the castle’s stock, but what he didn’t see wasn’t going to hurt him, and besides, Golden Bracelet believed he had just as much right to call the wine cellar his own. After all, his ancestors were the most powerful of the mages of old, frying Pegasi with lightning for sport, when Silver’s were attendants of their warriors, at best! No, they were attendants of those attendants! And his family dared to call themselves nobility, hah! Such insolent upstarts! The old aristocrat cast a gaze around the cellars while he waited for that insufferably slow serving filly to bring him the next bottle. They were packed full: every single pony in the castle who did not have a role to play in that grand plan the King and his advisors had cooked up had been herded inside, much to the dismay of Golden Bracelet and the other nobles. While he understood perfectly well that the cellars were one of the safest and most defensible places in the castle and that it was in the interests of their own security, neither he nor the others were happy about the lack of basic comforts such as furniture and sitting pillows, the permanent chill of the cellars and, of course, the fact that everypony else, including all the lowly servants and the rest of their ilk was there with them. Nevertheless, the nobles, including Golden Bracelet, had complied, but sitting on the cold stone floor next to a bunch of unwashed ponies from that hamlet outside, he was wishing he could take his words back. The hum of worried conversation all around him was wearing on his nerves, stretched thin enough as they were, and he was beginning to lose his patience. Him, a member of the most ancient of the unicorn bloodlines, deprived of the privileges that were his by ancestral right, having to put up with crude commoners and even eat their horrible food to stave off hunger! He had to eat hay! Hay! Just thinking of it made Golden Bracelet livid. How dare Silver force this upon him! There was definitely going to be a lot to discuss afterwards. The noble shifted his wine-fogged eyes towards the only entrance into the cellars. Even the pair of guardsponies flanking the door were of common blood. Muttering half-coherent things under his breath, he thought of the days of old, of the reign of Silver’s grandfather, the only one of his line truly worthy of respect. Although he was born long after the honorable stallion died, Golden Bracelet had been brought up on the tales of that glorious age, and back then, such things simply wouldn’t have been allowed. No, the times had definitely changed for the worse. In the exalted past, only those of noble blood and valorous deeds were considered worthy of becoming the protectors of the realm, and now Silver, just as big a disgrace to his family’s honour as his father was, was employing a bunch of misfits only chosen because of how well they could hit things. There was absolutely no regard to their pedigree. Worse still was the fact that some young scions of the noble bloodlines still opted to serve the kingdom in such a way, but were often forced to do so under the command of dirty commoners. Taking orders from filthy peasants with the gall to call themselves officers! Unthinkable! Of course, Golden Bracelet was not going to simply let it stand. Shortly after young Silver’s succession, he’d approached him about changing that senseless order of things his father had instituted. The silly foal proceeded to callously turn him down, replying to his concerns with senseless claims of it possessing “greater effectiveness” and being “easier to maintain”. After a heated debate with other aristocrats of the same opinion, Silver even said that this unnatural state of things was “better than when everypony was out for their own gain”. Preposterous! Such disrespect towards the nobility was simply unacceptable. Just remembering that conversation made Golden Bracelet’s temper flare up. After this travesty was over, he thought, he would try and persuade the others to raise the complaint once again. At least those two lowly brutes by the door were keeping out of the proper unicorns’ way. There didn’t even seem to be any need for them: not a single sound had come from behind the door ever since it was locked. Golden Bracelet tried to raise a hoof to his chin, but missed thanks to the wine’s influence. What if Silver was playing a big practical joke on them all and there was nothing to actually fear? No monsters attacking anything, no danger to the kingdom. If that was so, then... then... His serving filly appeared in front of him, levitating another bottle of wine by her side. The sight of the blessed nectar pulled him out of his already quite inebriated reverie. "Ah, splendid," he said, yanking the bottle towards himself with his own magic and gesturing for the filly to go somewhere else. Golden Bracelet wasn’t going to go and voice his discontent just yet. Not until after finishing that bottle. And maybe another after that.