//------------------------------//
// Scatter 
// Story: Book 1 - The Behemoth came to Canterlot 
// by Equimorto 
//------------------------------//

Twilight walked over to the edge of the magically delimited area near the centre of the Empire, Starlight following along with her. Trixie had stayed behind for the time being. She'd looked rather shaken by everything that had happened, at least to Twilight, and it was hard to blame her for it. A guard gave them a salute as they walked by, stationed there to ensure no one unauthorised got too close. Inside the area were only a few other ponies, looking around and jotting down measurements.
"The readings are all scuffed," a unicorn said as the two walked closer to him. He was intently looking at a magical measuring device he held in his magic, barely turning towards the new arrivals. Twilight recognised him as one of the researchers from her laboratory, likely he'd gotten there as soon as the news of the end of the battle had spread out. "I guess it's to be expected, but we're still writing it all down." He pointed with a hoof to the side, still without looking away from his device. "Scales over there, and what I'm told was your weapon." There was a strange hint of curiosity in his last words.
"Thank you." Twilight nodded, and headed in the direction he'd pointed them towards. Even while approaching, she could see the black box she'd worn and used in her fight against Nightmare Moon. "It detached after I shot her the second time, when I almost crashed into the ground," she explained to Starlight. "Good thing it did. It would have been a problem if I'd channeled all that magic while still wearing it."
They arrived where the tool Sunburst had created was lying on the ground, and Starlight carefully picked it up, interested in it. "How many are in here?" she asked, turning it around in her hooves. She didn't dare to use her magic on it.
"I shot two, so there should be five more," Twilight said. "Realistically, I probably could have gone with just five, maybe even four, but I thought I might as well try to get lucky. Seven is a nice number."
"You're not the first pony I'd expect to believe in something like that." Starlight slid the entire thing on her back and foreleg, and it clasped onto her, adjusting its size slightly. "Not even the tenth." She sounded a little distracted, mostly focused on looking at the weapon as she stretched out her leg.
"Desperation breeds superstition even in the least inclined minds. What's the risk in a meaningless change after all?" Twilight walked a little farther, tracing a path she'd followed already. The darkness had gone, but bloodstains still marked the spot where Nightmare Moon had stood in her last moments on the planet. Starlight followed her, and Twilight continued, "I'd considered using the scales as weapons too, once the portals failed. She was close enough to one for me to do it."
"Why didn't you?" Starlight asked.
Twilight stopped right in front of the second scale she'd shot, still lying on the ground where it had fallen. "I didn't trust myself to calibrate the spell properly, and I was too close. Any reaction big enough to actually damage her significantly would have done far worse to me, given the state she was in."