Little Star sat on her haunches in the middle of the moonlit room. Her mother’s silvery light sparkled on the crystal floor. Mummy. The thought could have been a greeting or a plea. She held her hoof out. The moonlight played over it. Could her mother see her? Could her mother feel this? A glance out the window revealed the moon high in the sky. She waved and smiled. She had to show her mother everything was alright, just in case she was watching.
The patch of light shifted. It slowly crawled over the floor in fractions of a hoof’s width. The needed spell forms for her best detection arrays efficiently slid into place along her horn. No scrying spells, no recording spells, no stealth spells, no invisibility spells and no Notice-Me-Not spells other than mine. She checked for one last thing. Her ears drooped a little as one unlikely possibility was proven false. No moon-aspected magics… She watched for a few seconds. She saw only the moon and the stars, nopony out there, nopony to see what she was about to do. Her eyes flicked towards the distant peak of Canterlot and narrowed. Celestia had been able to see through her Notice-Me-Not-Spell. The sun was not up, but she might have a telescope or a magnifying spell. Without any more hesitation, she reached out with her aura and pulled the curtains closed.
She moved to the center of the room. Her breaths came and went like a slow tide in time with her steps. She was focused and she was calm. A small tremble sent ripples along her coat. This is just another spell. She knew this was going to hurt just as well as she knew the pain would fade and the harm would be undone in less than a minute. Grey had been clear about why this was needed. There were far too many things that could disrupt external magic. It was a trick the changelings were famous for.
She avoided looking to Grey for more moral support. She was a brave pony, she did not need it, but it was still nice to know Grey was there, to be able to feel the little flickers of magic each of Grey’s movements caused. Really this whole idea was not that different from when she had needed her blood to make the core of her two pets.
Mummy Twilight tasked her to protect their ponies, to guard Ponyville. She was a good daughter. She could do this. She would do this. She closed her eyes and visualised the crimson glow of her blood as it pulsed through her body. With each breath, more and more of the vital liquid fell under her total control. In less than a minute, the beating of her heart became redundant. All of her blood flowed through her circulatory system by her will and magic alone.
With but a thought, some of the vital fluid hardened as it took on a lethal form. A slight feeling of pressure erupted into a freezing fire that left jagged shards of pain to dance along her nerves. The pain only got worse as the long curved blade sliced its way through her flesh. It parted her muscle and fat as easily as her disintegration spell cut through just about anything. Her body tensed, and a pained whimper escaped her.
The blood-blade pushed out as if a new flower bursting from the ground, seeking the warmth of the light. The vivid crimson shimmered with an inner magenta radiance. The effect was beautiful, like a liquid could somehow have internal facets like a gemstone.
It rose like a snake, its dagger-like head trailed by a thick tendril of flowing blood that still wound its way back into her body.
Little Star watched with her best attempt at clinical detachment as the horrible gap in her body neatly knitted itself back together, leaving only the smallest of openings remaining to facilitate her connection to the blade.
She let out a shuddering breath. The tremble of the now-faded pain shook her limbs, but the blood blade held perfectly stationary. The perfect healing was yet another piece of evidence she had the best Mummies ever.
Grey hooted with approval and nodded.
A happy smile broke out on Little Star’s face as pride stirred deep in her chest. Yet another spell she could add to her grimoire, even if this one did not need her to use her horn. Her chain of thought paused. Was it really a spell? Or would this need its own categories? There must be a book on this.
With a slight push of magic to her horn, she pulled both a jug of water and today’s checklist from her dimensional pockets.
Half the water vanished in thirsty gulps as, with a flourish, she ticked off this latest ability. Her eyes traced down to the next item on the list, even as it added the new book search at the bottom.
Test the blood blade.
With a hoot and flap of wings, Grey backed off as her artificial horn was enveloped with her ash-grey aura.
Dust, sticks, chunks of stone and the rest of the water from the jug swirled together in the air. The water expanded and froze, binding the mess together. The next moment it shattered into a dozen twisted monsters.
Defend yourself. Grey’s voice spoke in her mind, so she did. The blood blade lashed out, its motion as natural as if it were one of her limbs or aura.
Even though her breathing was calm, her lungs still felt tired, and her limbs heavy. Dodging had proven much harder when teleportation was considered cheating.
Little Star stared at the plants as she lounged comfortably in her Mummy Twilight’s relaxation garden. Addition was easy, so it was not hard to spot that four were missing.
“Whoo” Four of them, your mother summoned to herself.
That was good, it meant she did not need to track down another thief or bad pony. She turned her attention back to the plants. Each was a unique specimen. She wondered what experiment her Mummy Twilight was running all the way off in the griffon lands.
She rolled onto her back and held her hoof up to the moonlit sky. Past the glass, she could almost imagine she could touch her Mummy Luna’s magic as it illuminated the night. She gave the moon another wave, just in case.
She rolled again to be closer to her mother’s plants. Just being near them brought a calm sense of contentment with each breath. It was made all the better by the fact the cushions still carried her Mummy Twilight’s own scent. She closed her eyes and held the pillow tight. She wished with every fibre in her being that her mother could feel the hug, even being so far away. Next time she would make another set of special plushies, like the ones she made for both her mothers.
Grey’s soft hoot and wooden wing were no true replacement for her mother’s nuzzle and soft coat, but it still brought a smile to Little Star’s face. She let the embrace linger for longer than she probably should have before she turned her attention back to her mother’s prized plants. “Are you sure this is alright?”
“Hoo.” Zero times will your mother mind you taking a few cuttings.
“Alright then.” She lifted the shears in her aura and carefully selected where to cut. A shudder rippled through the plant as soon as the tool came into contact.
Little Star watched in fascination. Most plants were unable to move at any real speed. Now, this shaking, why would any plant do this? With a burst of magic, a fresh enchanted scroll popped into existence and started to take notes on its own.
There had been so many wonderful types of flora in the Everfree. At least there had been before the dark rain changed it all. But these ones were nothing like any of them she had seen or read about.
Most plants that move either did it to acquire nutrients or to protect themselves. Just shaking did not seem to have any way it might lead to it gaining more nutrients, so it must be for defence.
“Hmm.” She tapped her chin. “Maybe it attracts predators?” Anything tries to have a little snack, and the noise and movement draw in a predator. It would likely be easy to notice from above. Perhaps this plant lived in a sort of symbiotic relationship with a type of bird? She could see it now, raptors circling high above or sitting in trees as they waited for this plant’s dance. Living things were so interesting, so complex.
With another soft hoot, Grey reminded her she still had a lot to do before the day started.
A few quick snips, and she had all the samples she needed. With far more energy than she thought she had left, she bounded out of the room, almost prancing with glee. Grey followed her with silent flaps of her wooden wings.
She just had a few more ingredients to get. Her friends were going to love this. Now all she needed to do was to get the magic, alchemy and baking right. Compared to when she created Thorn, it would be a piece of cake.