//------------------------------// // Power of Intelligence // Story: With a Shine in His Eyes // by Kotushk Fier //------------------------------// It had been six months since I had run from Princess Luna and been brought to my senses from her dreamwalking. She has not broached the subject of her confession, and I have decided to not pursue it as well. She would tell me eventually, when I was ready. "Novalis, focus. If you pass this test, you will advance in your studies." "Yes, Princess." I turned back to the task at hand. Before me stood the statue of Discord and Luna. Around it shimmered powerful enchantments and shields. My objective was to weave a spell that would either shatter the enchantments(which quite frankly only the princesses would be able to do) or bypass them without triggering them(which would be considered an expert level of proficiency). I gathered my breath and closed my eyes. Slowly I relaxed my breathing, and felt a calm overtake me. Relaxing my limbs and mind, I began the journey into my own consciousness. There, in the back of my subconscious, I found myself. No, I didn't just discover my identity. I didn't finally realize what I wanted to do with my life. In fact, the only epitome I had was that I did look very strange with my eyes. Standing stoicly before me, he regarded me with impassive eyes. His colors differed from mine only in that they were reversed from my own. Looking at him, I bowed respectfully towards my mind-self. After a moment, he bowed as well. When I rose again, I looked him dead in the eyes. "Silavon, I come to you to beseech you to undo the natural restrictions that is placed upon my power by nature." "Novalis, for what reason do you ask me to release the restraints upon our powers?" "To be able to further my own knowledge, and place my power at the service of the most esteemed Lunar Princess of the country of Equestria, Her Royal Majesty, Mistress of the Stars, to whom the stars and Moon bow and adore, to whom the Night has blessed with ancient and formidable power, and Darkness' Consort, Princess Luna." "Again, for what reason do you ask me to release the restraints upon OUR powers?" I paused and looked over my counterpart. His eyes did not give any of his thoughts away. His face was a mask, and not even his body betrayed any emotions. "Very well. Our power shall be used in the service of the princess, and the benefit of all ponykind." "You are not worthy." I stood stunned at his proclamation. Princess Luna had warned me that the mental selves of all magic wielders were fickle. They had been created as a limiter on our power, in order to prevent us from going insane with greed. The ancient order of good unicorns, Altruismana, had dedicated themselves to ingrain the limit into our very DNA, rendering us as we were today. Only the Princesses kept their full power, even though it was still more than the strongest unicorn of old. "Very well. In what way do you want to test my worthiness?" "I have already deemed you inadequate. You think too much." Think too much? What kind of answer was that? What was he getting at? "Silavon, I-" "No." "But-" "No. I know what you are thinking. The fact that I do means you are vulnerable to me. A skilled reader would be able to discern your attacks before you make them, leaving you open to counterattacks. Thus, I deem you unworthy. Begone." Without further warning, he flashed his horn, and I found myself standing before Luna with sweat dripping off my brow. Meeting her eyes, I steeled my resolve for another trip into my mind. This time I entered cautiously. It was not unheard of for a pony to be trapped by their own mind if they were rejected. In fact, most ponies never ventured back. Only Starswirl the Bearded had managed to defeat his own mind in two attempts without help. Twilight Sparkle, I had learned, was able to conquer her own mind on her first attempt when she, and by extension her mind-self, had been shocked by an outside interference as a filly. Luna had proofed my test against outside interference, as she wanted my test to be honest. The only reason Twilight kept the score on her test was because her magical power, which was only supposed to move the magic resistant dragon egg, far surpassed any other unicorn within the past seven hundred years by hatching the egg instead. I journeyed slowly into my mind, sensing out slightly to avoid any surprises. Eventually I made it back to standing before my mind-self, impassive as ever. "Silavon." "Noval-" As he began to say my name, my horn flashed and I launched a torrent of electricity into his body... Unfortunately, he was no longer there. He had moved before my spell connected, lazily smirking at me. "Nice try, barely any thought in that attack. But if you're going to commit to battle, to defending somepony, you need to be better. That time, you weren't thinking enough." Now I was really confused. I had apparently missed the point of thinking too much, believing that I had to ride on instinct alone. Now I had to find a balance, and swiftly. A balance between the power hidden dormant within my primal DNA, and the power of my intellect. This would not be easy. As I returned my focus to my inner self, his horn flashed, and I found myself outside my mind again. Buck, too much thought put into it. "Novalis, this is the second time, do you wish to give-" "No, milady. His power, my power... Our power will be under my control soon." Without another word, I descended into my mind for the third, and hopefully final, time. No such luck. I had to descend ten times into my mind, stubbornly refusing to allow my mind to triumph over me. Each time, I got closer to understanding Silavon, and by extension, myself. I learned how I thought and acted in every conceivable situation, and emerged the tenth time victorious, and enlightened. When I said earlier that I did not have an epitome, I lied. I learned more about myself than I had ever wanted to know. I learned and faced my flaws, many of which I could not overcome. Eventually I mastered myself enough to remove my limitation, but was filled with a desire to better myself and learn all I could. Finally, with my full power at my disposal, I had to go about controlling it. My horn was sparking and discharging randomly, zapping things occasionally and changing them into whatever crossed my mind. Stilling my breath, mind, and muscles, I entered the serene calm that had helped me defeat Silavon. I began to trace the origin of the magical streaks through my horn and body, finding my own reservoir. Concentrating intensely, I managed to dam the flow and keep it in control. OK, Silavon, direct our power. Help me form it as the ancients would. I could feel a slip in my control, but let it pass. Soon, a strong torrent of magic gathered into my horn, where it awaited my direction. I toyed with the idea of smashing through the spells, but ultimately decided that I was far too inexperienced, and likely not strong enough as I was. Finally, I began to give form to my magic, thinning the trickle into a stream no larger than a speck of dust. After coiling it in the air, I let the magic loosely disperse into the air, until the entire room except for the area with the shields was permeated. With the precise control from Silavon, I slowly moved my magic towards the statue. As they got close, I began to attach the magic to the dust in the air, using it as a pathway through the shields. Since the shields weren't going crazy, I figured that dust was not on its list of blocks. And I was correct. I felt the magic falling onto the statue slowly. As it did, I began to gather it over the surface, careful not to trip any alarms. Once I had all of the released magic on the statue, I paused for a moment to savor the moment, and my own ingenuity. With a quick flick of my mind, I nearly shattered the statue when I was interrupted. Not yet, Novalis. I suspect one last obstacle in your way to completing the test set before you. With a quick pull, I brought my magic to a halt, opting to trickle a bit through the stone instead. As I delved deeper into the marble, I found traces of a magical enchantment that was swiftly fading. Once I had determined it was gone, I quickly drew all my magic into the statue, destroying the visage of Discord. I left the Luna portion of the statue still standing, and had even managed to make it a stand alone statue. After all, it was only the Discord section that raised my ire, the statue itself was of exceptional craftsponyship. "Huzzah! You have passed! I must say, your quick thinking to check the statue first was most excellent, and I am touched you left part of it still standing." I smiled weakly at her praise as the drain of my power caused me to collapse. I passed out staring at her smiling face as she walked over to me. The last thing I felt was her magic lifting me into the air.