//------------------------------// // Act II – Fallen Gods – Chapter 3 // Story: Sunset in the gods // by red-sun //------------------------------// It was a night like any other in Griffinstone, Gruff said to himself as he stood in front of the statue of one of the ancient kings, but Gruff had not gone to see the statue. He had gone out looking for a little pony that he was taking care of, one of his neighbors told him that Sunset was in the old Griffinstone library, although the old griffin had to pay a couple of coins to get the information. After searching for a long time, he was able to find the little filly trying to read a book. "What are you doing little girl? I've been looking for you all night, dinner is getting cold…” Gruff noticed that the filly had been crying. "Did something happen girl?" "I had another surge of magic this afternoon." Said the little filly. "I almost hurt another griffon." "Is that why you came here?" "I came here because I want to find a book that will help me control this." She said as she pointed at her horn. "I'm sorry girl but there is no book that talks about unicorn magic in this old library." Gruff told Sunset. "I know, I've been looking all day and the few unicorn books I've found are almost ruined." Says the frustrated filly. "Then why are you still here?" "Because if I can't find something to help me control my magic, I'll use another type of magic to control it." And the filly shows him one of the books that he found to the old griffin. The old griffin reads the title of the book 'Griffon Wizards'. “Listen little pony, griffon magic works much differently than unicorn magic. Why do you think this will help you? Then the old griffin noticed the sad face of the filly. "Because I have to start with something no matter what it is as long as it's a learning base that helps me control my magic it's enough not to hurt anyone by accident!" Then the little unicorn realizes the outburst she had. "I'm sorry for yelling at you grandpa." The old griffon looks at the book again. "You should know that there are no more griffon wizards since the death of the last king, the last wizard died in the Arimaspi war." "I know". she whispered. "And griffon magic is harder to control because griffons don't have horns to absorb outside magic." "I know". She returned to answer the filly. The old griffin sighed and went over to an old shelf with books and began to go through them. "What are you doing, Grandpa Gruff?" "I think there were more magic books around here, if I help you find some, we can go home faster so we can have dinner." Then the griffin feels something on his leg. "Thank you Grandpa Gruff." She said as she hugged the old griffon. PRESENT Sunset and Discord were walking through the woods until they came to the area where they always trained. In that place, Applejack was training his aura. "Whenever I see Applejack train it seems like she's just trying to hold the air with her hands. Can you explain that to me?" Sunset asked. "As I told you before, I don't understand how it works exactly but I have met great masters of the aura, they have told me how they learned and trained." Discord replied. "What Applejack is doing is exactly what you just said, trying to take on the air mass." "You mean what you explained to us on our first day." "Yes, and your pink friend is also doing the same type of training." Then Sunset approaches Applejack. "Hello Sunset." "Hello Applejack. Is that where the air mass is supposed to be?” "Yes, Discord only told me that he tried to hold her and that when he managed to hold her firmly I would know what the next step in my training is." Then Applejack notices that Sunset is trying to do the same thing. "What are you doing?" "I try to take the air mass." Sunset replied even though she couldn't see the same as Applejack. "Is he supposed to be here?" “Eeyup, but don't try so hard. I can see the dough but I still can't take it”. When Sunset put her hand over where the air mass was supposed to be, she closed her eyes and concentrated and for an instant she felt something. "Sorry to bother you Applejack." She said as she withdrew her hand. "I'll let you train quietly." But before leaving she remembers something. "Take this, one is for you and the other is Pinkie's." She said as she hands Applejack two armor breastplates. "Thanks sugar cube, this will be very useful for training with Fluttershy." After saying that out loud, you both felt a small chill when remembering those moments. After saying goodbye, Sunset continues talking with Discord. “I could feel it”. "Feel what girl?" "I could feel the aura, I can't see it but I could feel it, it looks like magic but at the same time it's something very different." “Do you think you could learn to use it?” "It would not be the first time that I learn something that does not go with my nature." "That's the spirit!" "Applejack, would you let me stand right in the center of the mass of energy?" the redhead asked. "No problem Sunset, plus I can easily find another one." "Snooty". Sunset tells her with a smile because even though Sunset doesn't want to admit it, she has come to respect Applejack. "Was it always easy for you to find him?" Discord asks curiously. “Not really, I used to see those as little distorted images of the landscape but…”. After thinking a bit the girl answers. "I have begun to see it more clearly since they took us to the mines." "Thanks for the information". "There is no problem. I leave them alone to train." As Sunset sat where the mass of energy should be, she spoke. "Discord, do you know what magic is in my world?" “The truth is that I am a little curious” As Sunset sat down she began to explain. “Where I come from, magic is... the very source of the energy that moves the world. All living creatures have magic to some degree but…” "But...?" "...not everyone can use magic freely." She sadly said. "Because?" "Because not all creatures have a means to channel magic, unicorns are one of the few beings that can, and to a lesser extent pegasi and earth ponies" "But you are a unicorn in that world, you would have no problem using magic." "Actually I had a lot of problems because of that, as I told you before I was raised by griffins and no one could teach me how to use my horn so I had no control over my magic and I hurt many griffos because of that." Sunset settled into a meditative position. "So since I couldn't learn unicorn magic I decided to try griffon magic." "Could griffins use magic too?" "Yes they can, but the last griffin wizards died in the last Arimaspi war, that's why I had to look for a book that would help me." Then Sunset remembered that she had to get into context. "The Arimaspi war was a moment in history that meant the collapse of the griffon government, maybe I'll tell you the whole story one day." Discord had to settle for that explanation. "And what did you learn?" "It's simple and complicated at the same time... I must first have an image of my inner magic, then I must try to visualize the magic coming out of me and finally I must try to mix it with the magic that is in the air, but this world lacks magic, so I must find a substitute". “You mean the mass of energy? Do you think the materialization aura can be a substitute for magic?” “Energy is energy, it doesn't matter where it comes from, you just have to know how to process it”. "But basically you use your body as a medium and you condense the natural energy of your body and together with the energy that you find outside of your body... it's curious." "What thing?" Sunset asked. "It's almost the same concept that the masters of the aura have." Discord replied. "I saw the fight between Filthy Rich and Chrysalis, they were both impressive in their own way but there is something I don't understand." Sunset sees that Discord is waiting for her to ask. “Why do they say 'divine power' or 'materialization aura' before attacking? Is it really necessary to say it out loud?" Discord chuckles a bit. "The answer is yes and no." Discord notes that Sunset didn't understand the answer. “That is simply a decorative sentence, the words have nothing to do with the aura or divine power, many even the gods with their divine power say it out loud because that helps to visualize their attack. The divine power or the aura depending on which one you use have a different definition of control but both are based on the user's desire. But controlling energy through desire is difficult to achieve. For that reason, many say or shout the attack they are going to launch, in order to mentally reinforce themselves in the attack. Of course, when you get to a high enough level you can use it without saying it out loud, although many still say it out loud out of habit." "Chrysalis was one of the great gods but she heard her saying her attacks out loud." "It's because she wasn't fighting seriously." Those words scared Sunset a bit as she understood the level that the gods could have. "Do you understand aura enough to compare it to divine power? I thought you said that a god can't teach how to use aura?" "And you have a reason but I can show them how they can learn, from that point they have to learn on their own." "How come you know so much about aura?" "I met many great masters of the aura." Discord said with a sad face. "Many of them were my friends." "What happened?" "I do not want to talk about that". Discord stands up and starts to leave. "I'm going to see how Applejack is training, then tell me if your method works." Sunset wondered why Discord suddenly changed his mood. "Discord doesn't really like to talk about his past with the aura masters." Sunset then notices that a girl was next to her with orange skin and short magenta hair. "And you are?" Sunset asks. "Hello, my name is Scootaloo." The girl replied with a wide smile. "And what are you doing here?" “I like to explore the surroundings of the camps since we are constantly on the move. I want to be like my parents, they explore and verify which areas are safe for when we move the camp”. So Sunset decides to get back on topic. “You said Discord didn't like to talk about the subject of aura masters. You know why?" At that moment, Gloriosa appears. “Scootaloo! What did I tell you about escaping your duties?!” “Hello Gloriosa, any problem?” "No problem, just trying to catch that little girl who still has homework to do." Then Gloriosa notices that Sunset is alone. "I thought you were training with Discord?" "Yes, but he got a little sad and went to see how the others were." "They were talking about the friendship he had with the aura masters." Scootaloo said. "Is a delicate topic?" "A bit, Discord had a very good friendship with the pillars, it's not that it's a big secret since it's something that all the gods know but they avoid talking about it in front of him, and I had stopped being a minor goddess during that time and I didn't know all the details until later, besides it happened when Discord was still the priest of the divination faction”. Gloriosa replied. “Did something bad happen at that time?” “Discord was the one who proposed that the aura masters be purged.”