//------------------------------// // Barriers // Story: G5: A Spell Recast // by HibiscusStitch //------------------------------// The two paused at the cliff side overlooking the beach. Izzy wanted to take everything in from the waves to the foals playing on the shore. “Alphabittle used to tell all of us foals stories from all around Equestria. I always loved the beach stories. He never told us about the breeze or the smell. It smells kinda like salt but not in a bad way. He said it was like a giant lake but with more sun. Seeing this, I really don’t think he had any idea what he was talking about.” Izzy giggled. “It’s beautiful. You guys get to live here? You’re so lucky.” Sunny looked down at the beach. She hadn’t thought of that. She never really appreciated the beach that much having lived above it for so many moons. “I guess I am. Well let’s not just stand here and look at it. Come on!” She motioned for Izzy to follow and the two galloped toward the sand. Izzy stopped short and touched the sand cautiously. She had never walked on sand like this before. She gently applied pressure to her hoof, only it sank more than she intended. “Woah!” She shouted, pulling her hoof back out. A foal that was playing nearby giggled at her. “Hehe, I meant to do that.” She grinned sheepishly, looking around. “Okay, Izzy, let’s try this again.” She set her hoof down again and it kept sinking. She quickly set down her other and it was sinking too. She tried her best to scramble along, but tripped, sending her hat flying off. “Opps,” she said in a small voice. The foal gasped and ran toward her. “What’s that!” She asked, pointing to her horn. “Oh this? Well, it’s…uhh… SUNNY!” Izzy yelled for help. “Oh no! Izzy!” She galloped forward and shoved the hat back on her head. “It’s just a party hat. You see we’re, uhh, celebrating my friend’s birthday!” The foal did not believe her one bit. “That wasn’t a birthday hat.” “How come adults never tell us the truth?” A purple earth pony with mint hair and a pink bow on her tail grumped. Izzy lowered herself to be eye level with the foal. “I always wondered that when I was your age. Where I’m from, our town leader Alphabittle loves telling us about history and things that go on in other towns, but after seeing this beach, I don’t know if he always knows what he’s talking about.” “They think we’re too young, but we can tell! Yeah!” The foal paused. “Wait, who’s Alphabittle?” She looked up at Izzy. Izzy looked around and put a hoof to her lips in a shh motion. She then lifted her hat to show her horn. “Oh my gosh!” The foal exclaimed, and then quieted looking around. “You’re a unicorn! I’ve never seen one before!” Izzy nodded. “I’m Izzy Moonbow! I’m on a secret mission so you can’t tell anyone I’m wearing a disguise.” “I won’t! I’m Seashell!” She reached out a pink hoof but was interrupted by the the sharp voice of a mare. “Seashell! Where are you? It’s time for a snack!” Sunny looked toward the voice to see Dahlia prancing down to the shore. “Oh, hey, Dahlia,” Sunny grinned awkwardly. “I’m sorry about yesterday. I had baked you cookies, but I kinda ruined them when I fell on them, heh.” Dahlia rolled her eyes. “You always fall, I’m not surprised. It’s no hard feelings, but you are always causing some sort of weird disturbance. And if people stop coming in, I can’t sell books and my mom is going to be livid if she finds out her bookstore is closing.” “Yeah, I know,” Sunny sighed. Dahlia gathered her niece and then looked up for the first time to come eye to eye with Izzy. She stepped back quickly, unsure. “Who…?” Izzy reached out a hoof. “I’m Izzy Moonbow!” “Izzy…” Dahlia looked at the hoof, then noticed the color of the gems in Izzy’s bracelets. “Oh! These look like flowers!” Dahlia stomped a little hoof onto the dirt and a small brilliant colored dahlia flower bloomed. “I like to mix up the colors of the petals when I grow them! Most earth ponies use their magic to encourage produce from the land, but I always liked making colorful flowers!” It was like popping a wine cork, the words kept coming like bubbles. “I didn’t realize you could do that!” Sunny beamed. “Well, you never asked to be fair,” Dahlia sniffed, “but it’s not your fault. I keep it to myself. I have to run the bookstore now that my mom’s too old. And Seashell will probably take it over when I’m too old.” Seashell did not look happy at that. “So what’s the point in growing a bunch of crazy flowers. If Ms Cloverleaf doesn’t complain, Posey will. It’s just not helpful.” Izzy looked really sad. “Is everyone here like this? Just doing things because they have to? Hitch’s dad was a sheriff, your dad ran the lighthouse, and Dahlia’s mom ran the bookstore. Hitch likes his job, but he couldn’t ask questions, and Dahlia wants to grow flowers. This isn’t right.” Dahlia turned. “Who is this mare? Why is she acting so new to everything? I haven’t seen anyone with a cutiemark like that and I’ve seen everyone. Something is wrong here.” “Well, so much for keeping a low profile for Hitch,” Sunny grumbled under her breath. She took the hat off, showing off Izzy’s horn. Dahlia’s eyes widened and she took a few involuntary steps back. “She’s a unicorn!” Seashell said with a little hop. “Sunny, what did you do?” Dahlia accused immediately but with a tone of quiet awe. “I didn’t do anything, Izzy found us.” “Well,” Izzy interrupted, “you did send a lantern that led me here.” “Not helpful!” Sunny gave a quick glare. “We’ve been in a daze in this town, doing the same thing day in and day out.” She motioned to the flower. “You’ve felt it, too. Everyone is too afraid to speak up about it. There’s a whole world out here with other ponies we’ve never seen. And for some reason we’re sealed off in a bubble. It’s why there’s never ships that come to dock or new books written that aren’t by people in town.” Dahlia shook her head. “This is too much. You’re always doing something weird. You spread weird stories in school I got in trouble for being excited about but then I thought your dad’s a writer so that’s probably what you’ll do so I hired you but then you never wrote anything and instead made scenes or sang weird songs or or,” Dahlia was struggling with words. “I don’t know! I don’t need you corrupting Seashell with this stuff. You need to figure yourself out, let the town leaders deal with this, and leave me out of it. I have responsibilities to attend to. Come on Seashell.” She stomped away, the foal looking mournfully back at Izzy, waving. Izzy waved back and felt a tear come to her eye. She sniffled, wiping it away. “Oh, Izzy, I’m so sorry. This town is very set in its ways and you appearing dismantles everything we knew.” Izzy took a deep breath to steady her voice. “It’s okay. I wouldn’t have walked through a void in time and space if I wasn’t prepared to deal with the consequences. Actually no, that’s a lie. I didn’t really think at all. I am extremely unprepared.” Her stomach let out a loud growl. “See? I didn’t even bring food!” Sunny let out a small chuckle, she helped Izzy put the disguise back on. “Come on, let’s get some food. We can think about all of this with a full belly.” … Twilight marched grumpily behind the four alicorn. Celestia and Luna would shoot her apologetic looks and Opaline would look back to sneer. King Calathea didn’t perceive her at all. Surely not all alicorn were like this. Were they? But judging by the decadence of the town around them, that was looking to be the case. Every building put Canterlot to shame. Even the Crystal Empire would be indistinguishable from Ponyville to so,Rome who grew up here. She always held sadness that Luna and Celestia were severed from their family before they even had their cutiemarks, but now she found herself feeling rather glad they hadn’t. “Over here is the play grounds. You two used to beat Opaline here in every game of tag, checkers, chess, hungry hungry hippos, tiddlywinks, horse carts and ladders, three winged races, tic-tac-toe, hop scotch, eye spy, prance—“ “I think they get the point, your majesty,” Opaline growled. “—that the three of you played. It was a delight to see,” King Calathea laughed. He paused and then redid his laugh to sound more regal. Any nearby alicorn citizens joined in with the laughter, stomping their hooves to clap along. “Oh! And here is where you two first showed an aptitude for the sun and moon in this very observatory! Oh we were so proud.” The observatory was brilliantly gilded with an emerald inlay that wrapped around the building like vines reaching toward the diamond dome at the top. “Oh I do remember that moment. We two were so happy, we were bounding around in excitement,” Luna giggled at the memory which caused another round of laughter from the citizens. “While I do appreciate the tour, King Calathea—“ Twilight began but was interrupted. “The appreciation is expected, but this tour is not for you,” he corrected. “Right. We are here for a very particular reason. Your city is standing still in the sky and visible above Equestria’s capital kingdom. It’s how we were able to make it here. We’ve come to offer assistance in case there was trouble. To our knowledge something like this has never happened before.” King Calathea laughed, “You? Provide assistance to us? Oh I see why you keep the purple one around. It is quite amusing. What a tale this one weaves. I might seek to steal it from you as a jester of my own.” He turned dismissively. Celestia stepped protectively in front of her former student. “We don’t seek to raise alarm, and perhaps this conversation will be best had in private, but Twilight is right. Skyros has come to a stand still and no longer passes as a comet above. Which makes it accessible to anyone. We assumed this was due to some trouble that had befallen the citizens, but it seems you are unaware and everyone here is fine.” The King gasped as if he had just heard this for the first time. “Skyros has come to a stand still?” The town gasped around him, melodic screaming happened around. “That can happen? Oh, the banquet we had prepared for you must wait. We must gather the council at once!” He stomped a hoof gently upon the marble path. “Oh but sire, the chef’s worked so hard,” Blueregard motioned to two alicorns with hairnets that whimpered. “Well, I suppose it’s a shame to waste a perfectly good feast and it is late. Alright banquet, nap, and then council.” The crowd cheered. “Oh and Opaline, lead this one to the hay stocks. It can eat there.” He motioned to Twilight. “Twilight Sparkle is our dear friend. She should be allowed among us.” Celestia stood firm. “No, no, it’s okay. I could use a moment to clear my head. And I wouldn’t want to trample your traditions.” Twilight said flatly. “Oh Celestia, you have grown to be such a gracious and generous leader. Alright, come along, the banquet hall is this way.” They disappeared from view and Twilight sighed in relief. She had had enough of the alicorn for one day. “Ugh, come along, then.” Opaline turned, not looking to see if Twilight followed. She trotted after her. They did not speak the entire way back. The silence gave Twilight time to mull over and digest everything that had happened since they arrived. “There. Don’t eat too much of it and you better make sure you thank the King for his generosity.” Opaline has almost left the room when Twilight spoke. “You seemed really unsurprised when we arrived, Opaline.” Opaline turned to face her. “Care to explain?” Opaline had a brief face of a foal caught with its hoof in the cookie jar. “You know nothing of our customs or my position in this community and have no right to demand any explanations from me.” “Cut the act, Opaline.” Twilight galloped over and stood her ground, horn crackling with magic waiting to be unleashed. “It’s clear to me you are an errand mare for the king at best. And if he was surprised you had visitors, then there was no reason for you to have expected them either.” Opaline laughed a quiet, deep rumble. “You’re a smart one, aren’t you? Too observant for your own good.” Twilight felt vines, hard as emeralds, grab her and pull her down. She fell with a shout. The vines felt as if they were burning her skin. She groaned in pain as she struggled. The magic was too strong. Was this the power of a born alicorn? “Why don’t you stay here in time out while the big ponies discuss our affairs. Perhaps this will teach you to ask questions.” Opaline slammed the doors and melted the locks with her fire. “No!” Twilight shouted as she struggled, the last thing she heard was Opaline’s cackle as she felt her vision go hazy and the world spun into darkness. … Two hay burgers later and Izzy and Sunny felt in much better spirits. They had received some stares, but luckily no confrontations. “How about we have a smoothie for desert? I know just the place!” Sunny galloped with Izzy following her, the two laughing in content. They didn’t go far before Ms Cloverleaf blocked their path. “Of course it’s you. Follow us.” She was flanked by two stallions dressed in suits. One of them was Sprout wearing sunglasses and holding his head high. Ms Cloverleaf was not only a school teacher but the town’s leader. Though there was not usually much to lead so the title was more a formality than anything. “Oh! Ms Cloverleaf! I had baked you cookies but they kinda—“ Ms Cloverleaf did not turn and instead marched dutifully toward. “And you’re serious, wow, okay.” The two trotted toward the giant town hall building situated on a hill that could perfectly overlook all of Maritime Bay. The words Canterlogic Academy adorned the signed atop the gate leading up. As the walked, Sprout leaned toward her and whispered, “So what happened to the cookies?” “Sprout!” Ms Cloverleaf shouted. “Yes mommy!” He trotted quickly back into place. They walked into the building and up several flights of stairs to Ms Cloverleaf’s office. She took her seat at her desk, motioning for the two to sit in the chairs in front of her desk. She nodded to the stallions. They closed the door, one talking point outside and Sprout standing inside. “So, care to explain yourself?” Ms Cloverleaf turned to Izzy. “I’m Izzy Moonbow! And I’m a perfectly normal earth pony who likes to go to the beach.” She said firmly. “Yep totally normal.” Sunny nodded. Ms Cloverleaf just stared at them flatly. “Hat off.” She said. “Oh no, I’m okay. Hat on.” Izzy pulled on the brim, but it just caused the horn to pierce through the straw. “Aw, I liked that hat.” Izzy sighed and took the hat and glasses off, setting them on the ground beside her. “Tadaa,” she said meekly. Ms Cloverleaf sighed, rubbing her temples with her hooves. “A unicorn!” Sprout gasped pointing. “What?” Came the mumbled voice of the stallion outside. “Sprout, here,” Ms Cloverleaf tossed a cup with a ball on a sting tied to it, “Mommy needs this ball to go into the cup, it’s very important.” Sprout saluted and begun try, and failing, to get the ball inside. “Unicorn, what are you doing here? Do you know the trouble you’ve caused by coming here? This town is not for you.” Ms Cloverleaf hit her hoof against her desk. “Who sent you?” Izzy jumped at the sound of the hoof on desk. “I just wanted to make a friend.” She pulled the letter from behind her ear and showed it to Ms Cloverleaf. She took one glance and sighed, “Oh Argyle.” “I was feeling down that night you came to our house and told my dad I was too excited at school so we made this and he put it on a lantern and sent it into the sky. It was just for fun. I sent another one yesterday after the, well, incident, because I was feeling so alone. Don’t get mad at Izzy.” Ms Cloverleaf spoke softly. “I’m not mad at either of you. Argyle’s the one that should have known better. No, neither of you could have known the issues you were causing.” “What issues are we causing? No one ever wants to answer questions around here.” Sunny scowled. Ms Cloverleaf inhaled deeply. “I suppose it is your rightful job here, Sunny. You see, Argyle Starshine was our historian. He kept the history of what happened in our town and also the history of Equestria. I had assumed once he died you would come to me for answers with all his writings I assumed he had strewn about, the man was a mess.” “I couldn’t look at them. If I kept them all how they were, it was like he was still there with me; like he could prance through the door at any moment.” A pang of grief paused her words. “I guess I never really worked through his death.” “I’m so sorry, Sunny. There are a lot of ways we could have handled things better.” Ms Cloverleaf said with a tone of regret. “You may have figured this our already, but our town is sealed.” “Sealed?” Sunny repeated in disbelief. “Yes, long ago, Twilight fought a powerful foe and the battle was all but lost. We don’t have the exacts as not too many history books go into this and I doubt any pony even knows the full story, but desperate times call for desperate measures and magic was separated from ponykind. It was put into magical artifacts, one for each of the three pony races, and those artifacts were sealed away to be protected by the brave mares and stallions who were up for the task. Magic could not be taken from the ponies so long as the artifacts remained hidden. Not even the ponies in those towns knew what the artifact was inside their invisible walls. It was best no one knew and risked things. With magic sealed away, Twilight was able to keep an evil force from stealing it and made the ultimate sacrifice to send her foe flying and create a bubble of protection around all of Equestria to keep the foe out.” “I never knew Twilight sacrificed herself. The history books always stopped at her defeating a great foe and bringing peace to Equestria forever.” Sunny was mesmerized by the story. “There’s a lot history doesn’t teach and it’s by design. As time continued forward, life moved on for the ponies inside the sealed towns. The barriers did their job to keep ponies in and to keep ponies out. Life flourished and communities were created. Only a select few trusted ponies know this story so as to not disrupt our duties and keep things at peace.” “Is Sprout one of the trusted ponies?” Sunny asked. “Huh, what? Did someone say my name?” Sprout looked up, the thread tangled around his hooves. “No, dear, you’re doing a good job!” Ms Cloverleaf praised. This made Sprout beam and continue his task. “Something bothers me about that story, though,” Izzy spoke up, “it says that magic could not be taken from the ponies.” Ms Cloverleaf nodded. “Yes, that’s right.” “Well, I don’t mean to burst anyone’s barrier, but outside this place, magic is a whisper when it used to be a ROAR!” Izzy made a face like a lion. “Us unicorns can only do a few basic spells and Pegasi can flitter from a tree to the ground or maybe across a pond, but that’s about it. It’s slowly grown weaker and weaker. Except in here. In here I can do way more like this!” Izzy picked up a paper weight shaped like a bunny and concentrated on it. It began bouncing around in her hand before freezing back as a paper weight. “I could never do that out there!” My Cloverleaf pushed back from her desk and trotted back and forth in worry. “I had heard this could come to pass. It means something has happened either with one of the other two sealed settlements or the great Equestrian barrier itself. This could possibly mean the great foe Twilight fought is back or it could mean with so many hundreds of moons since her sacrifice her spell has weakened. Either way, this is not good.” “I did it!” Sprout exclaimed, showing off the ball in the cup proudly. Everyone glared at him. “What?” “Sprout, go fetch us some tea.” Ms Cloverleaf asked nicely. “Right away!” Sprout saluted and trotted out the door. “What do we do?” Sunny asked, worried. “We do nothing. I can’t leave this town. With the artifact still here, we have full magic, but it sounds like the reach across the barrier is weakened. Which means your magic will be weakened out there as well. And there is only one way to get across the barrier.” “Walk across while blindly following a star?” Izzy offered. “Uhh, no, your head may be full of hot air, but most of ours aren’t. That is the only way across. Your father found that out awhile ago with the lanterns he made.” “I saw that paper on his desk! It said something about a hot air balloon test.” “Yes, a long time ago, your dad was trying to find ways to pierce the barrier should we need outside help. There were some concerns arising in town. I won’t bore you with the details, but he traveled out by hot air balloon. He was gone for awhile and returned with your mother in tow. We strictly forbid the use of hot air balloons from that point onward. The danger he could have put all of us in. Apparently time moves slower in our barrier because he wasn’t gone long at all to us and the two had, in that greater amount, of time fallen in love. Duty brought him back. He never said anything about weakened magic, but he never said much of anything that wasn’t about the history of Equestria or your mother. Beyond the story of our duty, there’s not much we know about Twilight and her friends. It’s an intriguing mystery most foals grow out of.” “So then we have to take a hot air balloon to find out what happened to the other sealed towns!” Sunny exclaimed jumping up. “Did my dad put it somewhere?” “No, but we did to remove the temptation.” Ms Cloverleaf beckoned for them to follow her down to the basement. Sprout ran into the room with a tray of tea and cucumber sandwiches. “Where did everyone go?” He asked, looking around as he set everything down. He shrugged and shoved all the cucumber sandwiches into his mouth. … “We kept it here. It still works as far as we know.” Izzy and Sunny were huffing and puffing down the last bit of stairs as Ms Cloverleaf motioned to a purple balloon decorated with dark purple swirls and a gold base and a pink basket on the ground. “My dad rode in this? Sunny asked looking at it. It didn’t look very fit for travel, but then again the only traveling she had done had been by skate or by hoof. Ms Cloverleaf nodded. “We kept it down here just in case it was needed in the future. And I suppose now is that time. I suspect you’ll be the one making this journey?” Sunny nodded, inspecting the basket. “Hitch had wanted to come with us if we left, but didn’t feel like he could leave town with his duty.” “That doesn’t surprise me. He’s a strong, caring leader. He’s too good to be tied to a post like this. Why don’t you talk to him and gather your things before you set out?” “Will the town be okay without him?” Sunny asked, knowing that would be his first protest. “You’ve seen this town. It’ll be fine. All of you will be back before we even miss you two and the chaos you can cause.” Ms Cloverleaf chuckled. The thought of coming back sat like a lump in Sunny’s mind. The thought of leaving felt similar. She had never known it was possible though she had often day dreamed about it and now the moment was here and it felt strange to her. Ms Cloverleaf placed a hoof on Sunny’s, sensing her racing mind. “Go on, no sense sorting your thoughts out in this dusty basement. We’ll prepare the balloon for you.” … Sunny paced outside the sheiff’s station. Her mind was racing and her mouth felt dry. Izzy had run off, disguise back in action. Sunny barely noticed with her mind so full. “Here,” Izzy tapped her shoulder startling her out of her thoughts. She handed Sunny a smoothie. “I don’t know what your favorite flavor is, but this one’s orange like you.” “Oh Izzy,” Sunny felt emotion welling up as she accepted the cup. Hitch opened the door and saw both of them standing right outside. “Alright, what’s going on? I’m suspicious.” Sunny shook her head. “We’ve got a lot to talk about, Sheriff.”