A harsh light fell onto Princess Luna’s eyes, and she grudgingly awoke. She realized with a start that she had fallen asleep in the first place, and that it was now nearing on noon time. Looking out, she noticed that the car was stopped underneath a large canopy. To her right, she noticed a large sign standing next to the nearby road which said ‘Shell’. There was a small thumping sound as the door lock came up, and Adam opened the driver’s door.
“Morning Princess,” Adam said with a smirk, as he slipped into his seat, his arms full of processed foods and water bottles, “Never thought I’d get a chance to say that without irony.”
“When did I fall asleep?” she asked groggily.
“Around four in the morning,” he replied as he offered her a pack of six donuts and two honey glazed cinnamon rolls, “you sorta conked out right in the middle of talking. I figured you needed it, since you’re mainly going to be the one confronting all the guards where we’re headed, so I kept quiet and inhaled coffee.”
The Princess was suddenly struck by how absolutely ravenous she was, and she eyed the food in her lap longingly. She glanced at Adam, “Did you already eat something?”
“Yeah; ate as we filled up,” he waved his hand absentmindedly, “Go ahead.”
She then ripped open the first cinnamon roll, and finished it in three bites; making short work of both the second one and the six pack of donuts as well. She then ripped the cap off the plastic bottle of water, and chugged down all twenty ounces of it in one go. Adam gawked at the Princess even as he tried to keep an eye on the road while merging into highway traffic. “What?” she asked as she wiped her mouth with her right hand, “You’ve never woken up hungry?”
“I guess not,” he muttered, as he still couldn’t believe how quickly she had downed all her food, “This is probably not what you want to hear, but if we go through any more toll roads like we have been, we’re going to need to find more money; what little I had with me is all but spent, and I’m pretty sure they won’t take gold bars as currency.”
Princess Luna groaned quietly, “Wonderful.”
She then felt out with her senses for the collection of magical artifacts and Lyra, and tried to find their location. For some reason it seemed harder to achieve now than it had a few hours previous.
Perhaps they are beginning to resist my reach? she asked herself.
Take a look in the mirror, Nightmare Moon’s voice echoed back to her, We have a problem.
The Princess hesitantly reached up to the rearview mirror and angled it towards herself. She brushed away her hanging hair and looked at her face; everything looked fine. Then she slowly looked back at her hair: the edges weren’t flowing starlight anymore, but were hanging like limp streams of purple and silver. She began to nervously run her hands through the falling strands of her hair.
“What are you doing with your hair?” Adam asked hesitantly.
“When did this start happening?” Princess Luna asked with consternation.
“When did what start happening?” Adam glanced back over to her.
“My hair!” her voice began to rise, and she shoved a lock of limp hair near his face, “When did my hair start changing?”
“I don’t know,” Adam splayed his fingers across the steering wheel and went on the defensive, “I’ve been busy following the road!”
“Males,” Princess Luna seethed as she brought the offending hairs back in front of her eyes, “Always the least observant sex, no matter the species!”
“Hey Princess,” Adam tried to keep his growing frustration from entering into his voice, “Why not explain to me what the problem is before you curse me for lacking a uterus?”
“I’m losing my magic!” she angrily blurted.
The car interior became very silent for the next few minutes, as each of them tried to cope with this pronouncement in their own way.
“Wait,” Adam began, drumming his fingers as he thought, “How can you be losing your magic? Lyra never had any trouble with her magic when she was with me.”
“You cannot compare unicorn and alicorn magic so easily,” Princess Luna sighed as she covered her face, “My magic is my life force; I am made powerful and near immortal because of it. I have powers that the average unicorn couldn’t imagine, let alone tap. I don’t need to sleep, or eat, or even breathe to continue existing.”
“Then why is that changing now?” Adam asked as he merged into the fast lane to get around several slower vehicles.
“There is no magic in this world apart from that which is created by those who already have it, correct?”
"I guess so.”
“In Equestria, it’s easy enough to draw ambient magic from one’s surroundings to quickly replenish one’s own supply of power,” Princess Luna explained, “But if the world has no magic to draw from, the power must be found by more mundane means; sleeping and eating for instance. The more magic I expend, the more-“ she stopped and became silent.
“The more vulnerable you become?” Adam finished as the conclusion dawned on him too.
“Yes; more mortal,” she murmured quietly, “And if I expend too much, I cannot make a return trip across the universal streams. I will be stuck here forever, and then neither Tia nor I can be of help to anyone.”
The car became quiet as the grave once again for five minutes, then ten. Adam figured realistically their odds of success were not all that great now, as he had hoped the Princess could have played the juggernaut to give them easy access into the think tank’s facilities.
“What you said earlier, about unicorn and alicorn magic being different..Could it be the same as human created magic being different from both of those?”
Princess Luna looked out the passenger window with melancholy into the barren rocky lands of southern Colorado beyond the highway, “I suppose.”
“We need every edge we can get,” Adam continued matter-of-factly, “If we can at least get a noobie’s understanding of the stuff behind the Dominion Gauntlet,” he flexed his left hand, “I’d be able to take a little stress off of you.”
“Very well,” Princess Luna sighed, “I will try to teach you the basics as I can. First, it is not enough simply to force magic to be: Willpower, while one of the necessary constituents behind arcane power, is not enough.”
“Well that’s a start,” Adam sarcastically declared as he rolled his eyes, “I already know that Willpower and Belief are behind magic, but it’s not clicking for me for some reason.”
Princess Luna lifted a finger, and Adam fell silent, “The source of your trouble is that there is a third pillar to understanding magic, and that is Harmony.”
Adam set the cruise control, and relaxed a little in his seat, turning to her, “What do you mean by ‘Harmony’ exactly?”
“Harmony’s concept is something that has become so ingrained in ponykind for so many years that it is almost intrinsic knowledge. The reason Miss Heartstrings may not have mentioned it is that she is so accustomed to others knowing about it, she may not have remembered your ignorance.”
Adam’s skepticism was very apparent when he looked at the Princess, “Am I gonna have to meditate or something to understand Harmony; go all ‘crouching monk, hidden magician’ or something?”
She shook her head, “No, Harmony is not something that is taught: it is a state of mind. Striking the balance between one’s primal desires and one’s higher consciousness is the point where Harmony is reached; your appetite and your mind must be in synchronous when you are attempting magic.”
“And how do I manage something like that?”
“Focus on a goal, some lasting purpose. If there is anything you find serenity in that is where you will find Harmony. Most unicorns use their Cutie Marks as guidance for their magic; thinking about what you take great joy from provides the direction, and the fuel is the Will and Belief.”
Adam had never had a stable life when he was young. His only goal when he had been on the streets had been to survive to the next day, so he had never considered anything profound like ‘What will you do with your life’ when more pressing matters like ‘Where is the next meal coming from’ were decidedly more immediate. As he thought, though, there was one source of joy and stability in his life, and that was his Lyra. She was absolutely crazy, and he loved her for it. Her flirtatious attitude always gave him a chuckle as well as a sense of longing. She understood him even when he couldn’t understand himself, and the best part about it was that she believed in him. No one had ever given him that, not even himself. She was pleasing to all the parts of his mind, from the primal part of him that loved the smell of hair, to the refined and intelligent part of him that loved her ideals, her wishes, and her dreams. Unconsciously, the Dominion Gauntlet whirred to live with a grey spark of energy, and the discarded packaging for the donuts and cinnamon rolls began to float into the air, surrounded by their own aura of grey.
“Excellent!” Princess Luna smiled as she lightly prodded the empty water bottle now floating above her lap.
Adam looked over at the Princess, and noticed the floating objects which promptly fell to the cabin floor, and began to laugh in exhilaration, “I did it! I finally did it!”
“We’ve only just discussed the philosophy behind the magic,” Princess Luna chided even through her smile, “We still have much to do.” She paused, and the smile left her face: Nightmare Moon was prodding her consciousness once again.
The cargo we seek has stopped, she declared coolly, But before you continue any further with your new best friend, we need to talk.
What is it? The Princess replied.
You spoke the truth when you said magic needs a union of all parts of the mind, Nightmare Moon pointed out, and as much as we may hate to admit it, we need each other if we wish to survive and return to our home.
I..agree. Princess Luna finally yielded; We cannot avoid this any longer. We must accept each other, and remake the shattered pieces of our mind into one whole.
Nightmare Moon shifted in her monochromatic shackles, If you really mean that, you must release me.
What promise do I have that you will not try to take dominance once again? Princess Luna thought grimly.
Nightmare Moon sighed heavily, and she put her armored gloves in the air, I swear on our mother’s spirit that I will seek reunion, not supremacy.
“Princess?” Adam asked worriedly, “You alright?”
“Fine,” she murmured more to herself than to him, “We are..I am at peace.”
Lyra was shoved into an isolation cell by one of the many security guards in the facility, who quickly shut the door behind her. She immediately attempted to reopen the door with her magic, trying to reach outside the room to shove the door open towards her. The door didn’t budge; it didn’t even show her distinctive golden aura manipulating it.
“What the hay kind of metal is this?” she yelled to no one in particular, “Is anyone going to at least have the decency to get me some food? I’m starving!”
The door opened, and an assault rifle poked into the room, which was followed by the guard holding the weapon. An older female scientist entered after the guard. The woman had already begun scribbling notes onto her clipboard as the door was shut behind her, “Don’t bother trying to escape: the doors are lined with lead.”
“Why did you kidnap me?” Lyra blunted accused the scientist, “What did I ever do to you?”
“You’ve been brought here because you are special,” the scientist declared as she stopped her writing and looked up at Lyra, “and because we want what you have: complete biological access and control of Heisenberg radiation.”
Lyra shook her head in confusion, “What in Tartarus is 'Heisenberg radiation?' ”
“You will become a part of history,” the scientist continued, almost like there was no one else in the room to hear her monologue, “the greatest achievement of the 21st century.”
“I don’t give a Manticore’s backside what you want,” Lyra yelled as she strode towards the scientist, “I want to-“
The soldier at the scientist’s side stepped forward and rammed the butt of his gun into Lyra’s head, knocking her to the floor.
The scientist momentarily looked down at Lyra's crumpled form and then shrugged as if nothing had changed, “Get her into an examination suite; I have work to do.”