//------------------------------//
// Travel 
// Story: Son of the Night 
// by Rafarofa 
//------------------------------//


Son of The Night


Chapter 5 - Travel


A long time has passed since they left. Aster learned the basics of magic, how to channel mana by the horn, how to achieve the desired effect and everything else that a magician should know. When they passed by a city or a village, Aster hid his wings the same way as he did before with the horn to be able to spend his time as an unicorn but when they were traveling he preferred to stay the normal way. Aster and Starswirl went through forests, caves, swamps, deserts, and every kind of terrain imaginable, and all this time made Aster grow a volumous and messy beard, and Starswirl, whose beard was already long, ended up with it almost touching the ground. Finally, four years after they departed from Canterlot, they arrived, around nightfall, in a village that was starting a big party. At the entrance, Aster spoke to a resident.

"Hi, what's going on here? What is this party?"

"Hello, travelers! Welcome to Ferrundia! (no, I'm not gonna make puns with names of real cities) Ten years ago we found large amounts of iron ore nearby and built a mine, which ensured our survival. Today we celebrate the tenth anniversary of the founding of our village. Come, join us in the festivities, all travelers are welcome."

"Well, looks like we arrived in good time, the best thing to do now is enjoy it." Starswirl suggested.

"Really?"

"Yes it is, dear student. After four years of training, you deserve this rest, go there, have fun."

"By Artemis, four years? I really have no sense of time."

"Hehe..."

"By the way..." The resident interrupted. "Where are you from?"

"From Canterlot." Starswirl took the lead.

"Wow! You have come from afar! A skilful Pegasus takes several hours to make the journey and apparently you came walking, that's what I call willpower. But hey, during your travel have you heard anything about the war?"

At this point, Aster had already joined the other ponies, with a mug of cider in his hoof.

"No, normally we just stopped to resupply, but never heard anything, why?"

"It's just that since it started four years ago, we also had no more news."

"So, as far as we know, it may still be going on. Oh, Hurricane, how are the things out there?"

"But today is a day of celebration. Our village is famous not only by its iron of excellent quality, but also the combats promoted in the central area. Because of the party, tonight we won't have any, but tomorrow, with luck, you will be able to watch one before you leave. Or do you intend to stay longer?"

"Hmm... yeah, we're gonna watch a combat or two."





On the other day, after the party, Starswirl woke up early like the rest of the town, Aster, however, was nowhere to be seen. With a little magic, Starswirl found him in a bedroom of a tavern. The bed on which he was laying was very messy and there was a barrel of cider and some empty mugs used, and only one of them wasn't marked with lipstick.

"Yeah, he had a great time, and he's not used to drinking. This will be good." Starswirl thought while slowly poked him with a stick he got from a tree outside the window. Aster grabbed the stick with a hoof, opened his eyes and looked at Starswirl.

“Hey...”

"Good morning, sleepyhead. Nice party, huh?"

"Ouch, speak lower, my head is exploding."

"Good, very good. That's how it's gonna be. Come with me. "

"What?"

"Come with me."

The noise of the crowd around the town square allied to the hangover made Aster want to kill himself, but he remained strong.

"And that concludes the first fight of today, folks. Anypony else out there who wants to get in the ring?" An unicorn narrator spoke on a stage using magic to increase the volume of his voice.

"We do!" Starswirl screamed and Aster put his hoof on his forehead.

"Very well, two travelers who came to enjoy the party, come closer."

"Starswirl, what's go..." Aster, confused, tried to ask.

"Go ahead, it's important."

"ON THE RIGHT SIDE, FROM CANTERLOT, what's your name, young man?"

"Aster."

"Aster of what?"

"Nightkeeper"

And then, suddenly: "AAAAAASTEEEEEEEEEER NIIIIIIIIIGHTKEEEEEEEEPEEEER!"

"Ooooouch..."

"AND ON MY LEFT SIDE, ALSO FROM CANTERLOT, what's your name?"

"Starswirl."

"And...?"

"Just Starswirl."

"Hmmm... STAAAAAARSWIIIRL, THEEEEE BEAAAAAAAARDEEEEEEEEEEED!"

"The Bearded, huh?" Starswirl looked at his immense beard. "I like it."

"AAAAND... BEGIN!"

"Well, dear apprentice, after all that I think I owe you an explanation. That's the deal: This is your first test, you will fight me, no weapons, just bare hooves and magic, and differently from your last test, you MUST beat me. And by the way, until you started drinking like a camel I was thinking how I was going to get you like that. No offense."

"None taken." Answered a camel in the crowd.

“Now, LET'S GO!!”

In one swift motion Starswirl pointed his horn forward, bringing out a beam of light green energy. The scream made Aster dizzy, but he managed to react in time and summon a shield to stop the attack.

Starswirl continued attacking and Aster summonned shield after shield to defend himself, but the screaming of the crowd made each time more difficult to concentrate.

"That won't do it, I need to go on offensive." And so he did. He launched a volley of beams against Starswirl who retaliated with another, and no matter how much Aster strengthened his attack, Starswirl always equaled his own until the apprentice lost his balance and received both direct attacks on the chest, creating a blinding light and making him fall to the ground.

The master approached to check on the condition of his student when Aster launched a surprise attack that almost hit him.

Starswirl made an attack stronger than the others and Aster held it with another shield, he had an almost impenetrable defense in his favor.

"When your cutie mark shows up, I'm sure that it will have a shield on it."

"I've told you already that i'm here to protect the Royal Family. I need no cutie mark to tell me that."

A new collision of magic, but Aster prepared to intercept the two attacks, this time with a shield, creating the same blinding light. When the light faded, Aster was gone. He used the blindness caused by light to remove the guise from his wings and fly into the sky, where there was nopony to make noise.

"Fine, let's see, how am I gonna do that? A direct confrontation won't work... aw, my head, it hurts even to think? Okay, I'll need to finish it in one single attack and I will come from up here, now... What do I do? Wait, I've seen in the Royal Library something that can help, what was the name again?"

And now, a flashback of Aster reading a book.

"Sonic... Boom... when one flies so fast that exceeds the speed of sound. Only a few dragons have been documented as capable, the act was tried by numerous pegasi, but all failed. The explosion releases immense energy. "

End of flashback.

"That's it, and I don't even need to do it, just to get close enough, but first..." Aster created a new shield. "Shield of movement suppression, it will bring the energy to the ground and I'll come out intact. Let's go."

Aster began to descend faster and faster with the shield ready to be used, the pressure on his face was suffocating, he could feel a incredibly hard wall right ahead. Everypony in the crowd watched as a body approached from the sky and were thinking he would crash on the ground. But when he was sufficiently close, he released the shield that was pointing towards the floor, which took the whole inertia with it. The crash raised a huge amount of dust, giving time for Aster to hide his wings again. When the dust settled down Starswirl was stunned on the floor surrounded by a cage of magic.

"So?" Asked Aster. "Did I win?"

"Yeah, you won."

The narrator was still trying to understand what happened when he yelled. "AND THE WINNER IS AAAAASTEEEEEER NIIIIIIGHTKEEEPEEEEER!"

As the crowd vibrated from the outcome, Aster dispelled the cage and extended his hoof.

"But what exactly was that?"

"Well I combined an advanced technique of flight with ..."

"It's over! IT'S OVER! IT'S OVER!!!" A pegasus came flying from the entrance of the city towards the stage. He said something to the unicorn who used the voice magic on him.

"Attention everypony, we just got the news that the war against the draconequi came to an end AND WE WON!" Everypony in the crowd shouted and cheered, including Aster, who had already forgotten the hangover and Starswirl.

"But... our king is not coming back. He, who went in front of the army, leading the troops, was found dead on the battlefield after the last draconequus have fallen."

All the screaming stopped. For a few seconds there was only the deafening sound of silence.

"OUR KING DIED AS A HERO!" He continued. "And as a hero he shall be remembered. His body is being brought back to Equestria along with the body of General Hurricane Sword who was found under the same conditions."

At the same moment, Aster's mind blanked for a few seconds. When he came to himself, he ran aimlessly until he reached an empty place, Starswirl was close behind. Aster muttered to himself, punching the ground.

"No... no... NOOO!!!"

"Aster..."

Aster turned, they look to each other as tears streamed down the faces of both.

"Starswirl, Hurricane..."

"Yes, Aster. Hurricane Sword died. But he will be remembered by the kingdom as the general who stood beside his king to the end. Now you must not disappoint him. Go back to Canterlot and complete your training, make him proud."

"I'm too close now. Hurricane Sword saw potential in me, he dedicated to me and, to make me become the best warrior and succeeded. I owe a lot to him to just let the sadness put me down and give up. We'll go ahead and when we arrive I'll thank him for everything."

"Very well, Aster. Straighten up, we are to depart at noon."

The two were trying to stay strong despite the loss. They were walking in their respective directions.

"And Starswirl... Thank you."

"No, Aster, I thank you."





At noon they were at the entrance of Ferrundia ready to return.

"So, as I said before, your training begins to end right now and you must take us back to Canterlot. I want to be back in half the time it took us to get here. What do you think?"

"It'll be good, I still have a mission to fullfill and right now I want to do it as soon as possible." Aster said while holding the orb that Princess Luna had given him four years ago.

"Then let's go."

And with that they they put the hoof on the road, in the direction back to home.


Chapter 5 - End