Chapter Eleven
And the world is rife with adversity.
"Guardian... Magimus, is it true you have been sworn to protect the works of Starswirl the Bearded and his successor, Auburn?" the blue unicorn pressed without delay in spite of the energy being's mention of trespassing. There was a rumbling from all around them, as if the heavy air was rolling like thunder. The Magimus had started to... laugh? If one could call it such, at that!
"Sworn?" Maxim asked rhetorically. The booming that followed made the wagon quake. "Sworn implies it was a charge taken willingly. I was assigned," he said, the disembodied voice of the pony taking on an especially biting edge when he did so. Before Steiner could continue on to the subject of the records, Magimus stated: "You, blue one. You interest me. You are no ignorant savage from beyond my barrier. You have educated yourself."
Klaxon was bewildered. He found it near impossible to keep his senses about him as just looking at the being before him made every synapse in his brain fire off at once. Each one sending the same message: this is wrong. A pony wasn't just shaped like a pony. A pony was flesh and blood. Fur and hoof. Mane and tail. Not... magic. Likewise, Falcon Wing and Alana were stunned into silence at the ghostly apparition which Steiner spoke to so casually... perhaps even with a bit of reverence.
"I make it a point to learn where I find myself lacking in knowledge," Steiner replied. Beyond the comprehension of his peers, he hopped out of the wagon and approached the machination of magical energy regally, looking the Magimus straight in his glowing eyes.
"So fearless. So bold. I can sense how much power you possess. Is this why you stand before me as you do?" asked the Magimus.
"I do not mean to appear arrogant... but as I have told others before you, I act only on the basis of my ability," Steiner answered punctually. The Magimus' eyes flared as that rumbling laughter bombarded Steiner, permeating within his body and mind, forcing him to his knees.
"Such eloquence! Such a way with words! Such confidence!" Maxim growled and then he reared up, throwing his head back. His glowing chest rose and fell to match the disembodied laughter.
Steiner's horn glimmered to life, his scarlet essence swirling around him into a shield which then exploded outwards, vaporizing the top layer of snow around him and for a short moment, silencing the magical entity.
Maxim lowered his sights on the blue unicorn who got back to his hooves, his breath visible in the air. Steiner was breathing heavily. If the energy-pony had a mouth, it would have turned into a wicked smirk.
"Such power indeed! Yet so unrefined! That was such a low level spell that a unicorn foal in my day would have mastered it by time they were in primary school!" Magimus proclaimed tauntingly. "And you claim to seek knowledge where you are lacking? Child, your spell casting in its entirety is lacking! Oh it pains me to think that you may be what passes for a mage in this... pitiful era."
Falcon Wing was galvanized into action at the Magimus' words. He launched himself out of the wagon, mechanical wings deploying and coated in red. He rocketed over to Steiner's side, driving his hooves down hard into the snow and trotting up the Magimus with a fiery glare locked on his face.
"You listen here!" Falcon Wing said during his approach, stopping mere inches away from the radiant pony. "Steiner is a great unicorn! He has done things that other unicorns nowadays can only dream of! He teleported here across the country with the rest of us in tow!" he argued, gesturing back to the wagon with a hoof. "If that is what you consider lacking, I want to see what you consi --"
The air rippled, like a mirage over hot ground. In the blink of an eye the young pegasus' back met the side of the wagon hard, the pain shooting up his body before he realized he had been moved. He bounced off and felt the cold in his nose, face planting in the snow.
"Falcon!" he heard Alana call out and seconds later he felt her hooves on him, the mare plucking him from the ground and holding his head up so he could look at her.
"I'm fine!" he said immediately to ease her mounting worries, but she had been with him long enough to know that was hardly ever the case. Seeing that his words had no effect, he added "... Nothing's broken, at least. Just... lay me back down in the snow. That felt nice."
Steiner bared his teeth, glaring daggers into the Guardian. "Why!?" was all he said, practically snarling.
"He is quite annoying. You should put him on a leash," Maxim replied with a wave of a glowing hoof. "Quite frankly, its an achievement that did not kill him. I assume he's endured similar trauma in the past?"
Steiner did not give Maxim the satisfaction of a reply. His horn flared up and he had projected a beam of raw magical energy at the Magimus, the dancing beam of ruby crashing against a white wall that was less than an inch thick, its edges flickering in and out of existence until the onslaught passed.
"In my day, it was a matter of honor among unicorn stallions to return magical blasts with magical blasts. I was just considering abiding by these long lost traditions, but then I realized: I'm not a unicorn!" Magimus' rumbling laugh followed suit.
Steiner's eyes widened. The pony obviously did not have a horn but he simply dismissed that. His logic was that if a pony was made of magic, then a focal point for it would be redundant. But this new revelation caught him completely off guard. How could a non-unicorn master magic in such totality? How can a non-unicorn be magic!?
"It has been so long since I have seen genuine surprise on a pony's face. Or is that horror? Like I said, it has been all too long. I may be working on faulty memories!" Magimus joked cruelly, advancing forward as Steiner slowly started backwards. His unearthly voice suddenly became grim and chilling when he continued "Now, do you understand Steiner? You are nothing but an insect compared to me. Perhaps something even more insignificant. How can a pony so naturally gifted with magic like you be so completely worthless?"
"We will be going now," Steiner said as evenly as he could against such an apparition, "we are...sorry to have disturbed you."
"LEAVE?"
The avatar of magic's voice blared in the minds of the ponies, overpowering them. Alana clutched Falcon, Klaxon gripped his head and Steiner fell onto his haunches, trying to resist the Magimus' influence.
"You challenge me and leave, whelp? I do not think so!"
One by one, the ponies were whisked away in flashes of golden light. Klaxon disappeared from his seat. Then Alana vanished and before Falcon Wing could fall back to the snow, he was gone from sight. Steiner was given just enough time to register what had happened before he too was sent into the depths of the destroyed city.
"You interest me, blue one. As unimpressive as you are, that remains unchanged. So I will extract as much amusement as you and your allies can provide, you should consider it an honor!" Magimus rumbled in his mind...