The last few days before my ‘transfer’ to Magiville were spent tying up loose ends, so to speak. I had progressed far enough with my magic to be considered proficient with its usage, so I spent my remaining time fostering my few social connections. One of the first things I did in that respect was to visit Octavia for a friendly meet up at one of the local coffee shops and notify her that I was being sent southwest on ‘Royal Business’. It may have been dressing the actuality up a bit, but it was more or less the truth. She seemed a bit downtrodden and nodded in understanding, but cheered up when I assured her that I would visit the city now and again, she did ask for one last thing however.
“Do you think we could…?” She trailed off, uncertain of her inquiry.
“What’s on your mind?” I asked as I set my iced mocha on the tabletop.
“Would it be asking too much if we could go to my place and…?” Again she trailed off, as if she was going to ask something scandalous.
‘I hope she’s not asking what I think she’s asking’ I worriedly thought.
“Please Octavia, don’t leave me in suspense” I spoke in a gentle but urging tone as I looked her in the eyes.
She steeled herself before making her request, “Would it be alright if we were to go to my home and perform a duet together?”
‘Oh good, it was a false alarm’ I almost sighed in relief, feeling as though I had just dodged a serious bullet.
“Of course we can!” I replied with a positive grin, “What brought this on if I may ask?”
“Ever since that one night at the lounge, the idea of being part of a harmonious sync event has been lingering in my thoughts. Its incessant tugging at my mental faculties has become quite bothersome, and I felt the only way to banish such desires would be to entertain them. You seem to be able to bring them about with casual ease, so I thought it would be reasonable enough to ask if I could share one with you…if that’s acceptable with you” She timidly added, even after I had just agreed.
“Yeah that’s fine” I brushed her worries aside with a short sweeping motion of my hand, “I remember you telling me that you didn’t have a piano, but is an acoustic guitar missing from your inventory as well?” I inquired with utmost contemplation, the clouds of thought concerning what sounds I was going to mix with her cello coalescing in my mind.
“I believe I do actually. That spark in your eyes tells me that you already have something in mind?” She correctly assumed as she flicked her satiny hair.
“Yes I do, and I think you’ll like it too… so long as you don’t mind singing along”
“I am unsure about that stipulation. I’m much more of an instrumentalist than a vocalist”
“Nonsense, you have a lovely voice” I countered with complete sincerity as I sipped at my delicious drink. I wasn’t much for caffeinated drinks, but I was a sucker for iced coffee.
It wasn’t until then that I realized that my comment had elicited a massive blush from the musician, who had visibly withdrawn into herself at the compliment and absentmindedly began caressing her long dark strands of smooth hair.
“You really think so?” She tentatively said, looking as if she was not expecting my positive opinion on her honey sweet voice.
“I know so. Why do you look so surprised? Has no one ever told you this before?” I remarked in confusion, one of the first things I noticed about her was her melodic voice after all.
“No…you would be the first, the only praise I would ever receive would be on those rare occasions where I would perform solo” She explained.
“Well that’s an outright travesty!” I exclaimed with gusto. There’s nothing quite as frustrating as having an under-appreciated talent.
“It doesn’t bother me really. I’ve just never had someone ask me to sing with them in concert”
“Well these harmonious sync events don’t seemed to be concerned with that, just pour out your heart into the words and the magic behind the music will take care of the rest” I explained, remembering what little I could of those near hypnotizing moments.
She seemed incredulous at my description of what was needed, “Is that really all that it takes? It’s so…simple” I couldn’t tell whether or not she was let down by its unchallenging requirements.
“Disappointed?” She slowly shook her head in response.
“Not at all, I just wasn’t expecting it to be so straightforward”
“Do these things not happen in the orchestra?” I asked with a raised brow.
“There are moments when I feel that the harmony we achieve is similar, but I suspect the lyrics sung in the sync event are the final component needed to reach complete euphony” She hypothesized as she looked upward in deep thought.
“Well I’d be happy to bring one about with you” I gave her an enthusiastic grin.
“Thank you, this means a lot to me” She smiled back at me.
“Shall we be off then?” She nodded and we departed the café after leaving the barista a nice tip for her diligence in remembering our specific orders.
The walk back to her place was spent wordlessly blending into the crowds, made much easier by my recently acquired formal attire in the form of a black suit jacket and slacks. I wasn’t much for that kind of fashion, but at least there were no more haughty remarks about my clothing from the local snobs. One of the reasons I had to be grateful for the upcoming change of scenery was that I’d no longer have to put up with the conceited crowds of Concordia, although the local newspaper’s reports of strange events occurring almost once a week down in Magiville was cause for some concern. I guess it wasn’t much of a stretch to believe that the odd happenings of the equine oriented countryside town would translate over into its Arcanian counterpart. Still, I wasn’t someone who handled crazy small town hijinks very well, but with my impending ‘assignment’ I would have to adapt quickly if I wanted to prosper. In my musings, I had hardly noticed that we had arrived at Octavia’s place until she started waving a hand in front of my face to get my attention.
“Zenith, are you alright? You’ve been standing there with that pensive look on your face for the past minute” She expressed with slight concern.
“I’m fine, just thinking is all” I brushed away her misplaced concern.
“Is it about your business in the valley?” She astutely inferred.
“Indeed” Was my short response.
“Would you feel better discussing it?”
“It’s nothing I won’t be able to handle” I did not feel like imparting any more of my thoughts on the matter, she looked unconvinced but after seeing my insistence on keeping it to myself she let it go. We ascended the stairs and entered through her apartment door, the fragrance of burning autumn scented candles greeted my olfactory senses this time.
“Do you always buy scented candles?” I asked, remembering the lilac aroma from the last time I was here.
“It’s one of my guilty pleasures, with the added benefit of being one of my sources of inspiration whenever I feel like making use of my cello” She explained as she rummaged through a closet before dredging a dusty acoustic guitar from its depths and handing it over to me.
“This thing hasn’t seen a lot of use has it?” I rhetorically stated, wiping away the thick skin of dust that had accumulated over the body surface with a dampened rag that I quickly borrowed from the kitchen.
“I’m afraid you’re correct in that assumption, one of my old academy acquaintances in the orchestra thought it would make for a good gag gift” She said with some disdain, clearly not amused by the notion.
“This was considered a gag gift? This is a decent guitar!” I exclaimed with disbelief, the guitar itself was a concert style cutaway with a rosewood fret board and a solid laminated maple tone wood body. This well-made instrument would have sold for more than a few hundred dollars back home.
“Something that I also have no talent for playing, therefore I think that its grievous state of disuse can be forgiven” She said as she strode over to the stand where her precious cello was kept and began tuning it.
I followed suit and gave the guitar a soft strum, the twang of standard tuning greeted my ears and informed me that I needed to adjust the turning pegs until it was appropriate for the song I wanted to use in the sync event. Octavia finished with her pre jam session inspection and was awaiting my input as she sat on the couch beside me.
“So how do these events usually occur? Are there some kind of preparations that I must undertake to achieve the state of Harmony necessary for our duet?” She inquired with expectant undertones in her voice.
“Leave it all to me. When I initiate the song, the surrounding magic will automatically flow through you like a conduit and you’ll know musical synchronicity like no other” I explained this based on my earlier observations on the subject.
“Okay then. I’ll let you take the reins and trust you completely on this” She let out an anxious sigh and relaxed her posture.
Without further words I began plucking at the strings of my instrument, filling the room with its rich tonal qualities. I didn’t even realize that I was tapping my foot against the floorboards in a steady rhythm. Something about the smooth progression of single notes ringing together with a wistful and almost melancholy impression struck a chord in me (No pun intended). Fingerpicking wasn’t something that I was excessively good at, but the ambient magic in the air didn’t seem to care. I strummed and picked at the strings like I was a professional pizzicato player. I didn’t even need to look at Octavia to see that she was being equally drawn in by the hypnotic feeling of the music permeating the atmosphere.
The lyrics to the song were desolate and beautiful at the same time, about leaving someplace close to you but making a promise that you might come back someday for those who would wait for you. It was also fitting given the time of year, knowing that soon that ‘Winter shall howl at the walls’ before too long. When it came time for Octavia to lend both her voice and the voice of her instrument to the music, she performed her role masterfully. Her vocal pitch complimented mine in a sort of dance, swirling and meshing together to create a mood filled with emotion. I couldn’t decide which one was more pleasant to the ears, her soft voice or the resolute firmness of her cello’s chords. The last notes of the song ended with a hopeful cadence as we hummed its final moments in contentment. It wasn’t hard to believe that we formed an even closer connection together after our duet, having established some manner of an unspoken mutual agreement.
“That was incredible” The musician spoke in an awed tone, having finally experienced her first musical sync event with me as its instigator.
“Happy to finally provide you with the experience you’ve sought for so long” I sincerely stated as I handed the guitar back to her.
She held out her hand in a stopping motion, “Keep it, you’ll make better use of it than I ever will”
“That’s most generous of you Octavia, you have my gratitude” I expressed my appreciation with a slight bow and a hand to my chest, something that I emulated from the Sith council’s demonstration of respect.
“On the contrary. You have mine, that was a duet that will forever be imbued in my memories” She smiled at me as she put her cello back on its stand and the bow in some kind of attachable sheath.
“May I ask what the name of that particular piece was?” She inquired further.
“A song called Promise, written by a man who had a fondness for the fall weather” I told her as I folded the strap of my newly acquired guitar over my shoulders. I was about to excuse myself and take my leave for the castle when I felt a hand wrap itself around my arm. I turned around to see Octavia with a rather vulnerable look in her eyes.
“One last question before you go” Her scrutinizing gaze bore into my very being, “Who am I to you Zenith?”
The way she phrased it to coincide with the lyrics that we just sang was not lost on me, but I had no time to mull it over since she was anxiously waiting for my answer. So I did the only thing I could in that situation, I spoke from the heart.
“Octavia Philharmonica, ever since I’ve met you in that Jazz restaurant that one night when I first arrived in this city, you have been nothing but an absolute joy to be around. From the way you generously offered your home to someone you hardly even knew, to just imparting me with this guitar. I know that you didn’t have much use for it but it was still a magnanimous thing to do anyway. You are also quite charming and dare I say, stunningly beautiful” There was that adorable blush from her again, “Those times where we spoke about life’s various foibles in the castle gardens were a much needed and appreciated reprieve from my exacting obligations in the palace. When I leave this fair city for the valley below, you will be one of the very few people I can honestly say that I will sorely miss” I genuinely explained, Octavia was practically hanging on every word I said, but still looked unsatisfied as evidenced by her next statement.
“That’s very touching of you to say Zenith, but how would you label our relationship?” Her bluntness was not making this easy for me.
“Before I tell you that, may I return the question of who I am to you?” It may have seemed like a ploy to buy some time, but I was legitimately interested in what she thought of me. She didn’t even have to give it time to quantify how she saw our relationship.
“I’ll admit that when I first saw you approaching that stage, I wasn’t expecting much more than you to make a fool of yourself in front of everybody” Her face went flush with embarrassment at the deadpan stare I gave in response to that, “But then you started playing that magnificent music. It was so charged with passion that I couldn’t help but yearn to discover more about the man who brought it about with such emotion as to put the entire audience quite literally under its spell”
She fidgeted in place a bit as though she was ashamed of something, “Did you know that I approached you on a whim?” I shook my head in response, “Well I did, of course that may have just been the chardonnay speaking for me that night”
“You were inebriated the first time we spoke? You certainly didn’t seem tipsy” I remarked in confusion. I was also a tad disappointed that both the working class women I had come to know recently both had a penchant for being intoxicated in my presence. A small egotistical part of me insisted that they were intoxicated by my company, but I slapped it silly and shoved it in the iron maiden that was known as humility.
She nodded, “I hide it well, it’s a skill I’ve refined over years of entertaining the musty lot that considers themselves the aristocracy of this city” She punctuated her opinion of the high born by giving a contemptuous sniff and folding her arms together, I would considered her pout cute but I realized that I was getting off topic.
“Is that all? I was just some guy who your mind deemed to be interesting under the influence of alcohol?”
“Of course not! You make me sound so callous when you look at it that way, I was still coherent enough to pick up on the fact that you were flirting with me in the first ten seconds we conversed” She almost accused, but she didn’t put enough ire in it to make it sound like genuine distaste.
“That was just me breaking the ice, I really wasn’t expecting anyone to find me intriguing enough to engage face to face contact with. Besides, I was nothing but honest with what I told you the first we met”
“I know. Another one of the things that I truly admire about you is your sincerity, which is free of any ulterior motives. You are one of the few men in this city that can look upon me not as someone they could coerce into taking advantage of using their status or wealth, instead you see me as an actual person. And the morning when you soothed my worries about you being yet another insufferable noble who would have seen me as a tool that could simply be disposed with like a piece of common rubbish only reinforced my belief that you were someone special, you even expressed your desire to know me further and establish a genuine relationship with me… something that no one has outright told me before” She glanced down before looking me dead in the eyes, “That was when I realized that I was falling for you”
‘This just got more complicated than I would have liked’ I groused, who in their right mind would ever want to be with a sardonic cynic like me?
“I’m extremely flattered by how you feel for me, and had I not just established a romantic relationship with a certain intrepid explorer, I would have been more than happy to connect myself with you in that respect”
At that she visibly sunk, slumping into a disheartened pose that I knew all too well, “So you’re one of the monogamous types then” Her wording confused me greatly.
“What do you mean by monogamous types? I thought that’s how most traditional relationships naturally occurred?”
“I keep forgetting that you’re actually from another land, do you really not know about Arcania’s socio-relational norms?”
“Enlighten me”
“It may be less pronounced here in the grand capital, but there’s a distinct deficit of eligible men for every woman to have to herself throughout the Kingdom. While there are indeed some individuals who prefer to fully devote themselves to one partner, the vast majority of men are all but compelled to take on multiple partners. This means that there won’t be as many lonely women out there with the additional benefit of also ensuring that the population stays at stable levels” She explicated, sounding as if she had memorized the line out of some schoolbook.
“Wouldn’t that mean that a lot of people here are closely related?” I let out, the biologist in me was mulling over the idea of such a homogeneously mixed society.
‘Then again, Vsauce taught me that everyone back home were at least fiftieth cousins in kinship to each other’ I immediately derailed the next line of thought, knowing that the implications involved were a tad unsettling.
“There are a lot of people here who have many half siblings because of this, yes” She affirmed for me.
“So men here can form an assemblage of paramours and its not frowned upon?”
“I believe the polite term would be a harem” She corrected with a huff.
“I have so many questions regarding that subject, but I’ll have to hold off on them for now” I’d never imagine that aspect crossing over here, so this whole revelation was an eye opener.
“Does what you know now change your stance on what I said?” She implored with a hopeful spark in her eye. Instinctively I would have said no by default, having been raised to find that ‘special someone’ and spend the rest of my life cherishing them, but I couldn’t in good conscience just flat out refuse Octavia, I’d feel like a heartless asshole. As it was, I was very conflicted with myself, so I settled for a compromise of sorts.
I sighed in indecision, “I need time to give this some thought, even if I said yes I wouldn’t be the only person you’d have to convince. And from what I know of Daring, she seems like she wants me all to herself”
Octavia’s eyes widened once I mentioned her name, “You’re in a relationship with the Daring Do? The one with her own book series detailing each and every one of her fantastic adventures as she braves strange and exotic dangers in the name of recovering ancient and mysterious relics from times long since passed?”
Despite myself I chuckled in amusement, “That’s her alright, are you a fan?”
“I absolutely love her adventure novels!” She gushed, complete with the whole balled fists held at neck level. The Brony in me thought she was going for the ‘so awesome’ face for a brief moment.
“Be sure to check out her next addition to the series, it’ll be a good one” I suggested with a somewhat self admiring grin.
‘And not just because yours truly is a supporting character’ I thought instead of speaking, I’m not quite as modest on the inside but I have to keep up appearances.
“I most certainly will, and to think that you actually know her! I have so many questions that I want to ask you about her, but I suppose I’ll also have to put them on hold won’t I?”
“Yeah” I then took her hands in mine, “Listen Octavia, I’ve got to go deal with some other things before I leave the city. But I want you to rest easy knowing that I’ll definitely be thinking about your proposal and discussing it with Daring” I engaged in one of those cheesy romantic novel clichés and gave her hand a kiss, eliciting one last blush from the flustered woman.
“Farewell, my lady Octavia”
“Goodbye Zenith, may fortune and fate smile upon your endeavors” She spoke with a longing tone before whispering to herself in a voice that my sharpened senses could still easily pick up on as I made for her door with my new guitar in tow.
“And may it bring us together as well”
The latch shut with a click that resounded throughout the silent hallway. My mind was working like clockwork trying to fully digest everything that had just happened, I always had a faint inkling as to what Octavia had felt towards me but hearing it for myself did not do much to soften the shock. After the initial daze had worn off, it then came time for tense rumination. I hadn’t the exiguous idea that men here were dutifully expected to take to having more than one spouse, and I still had some trouble fully believing it. That’s when Fancypant’s words of advice recited themselves in my head and reminded me that Octavia was not duping me in the slightest. I mean, how was a guy supposed to reconcile the wants of the gal he was in a relationship with, to the wishes of another who’s eye he had somehow caught? I shook my head in an exhausted motion; this was just too much for me to process all at once. So after forcing all of my doubts and insecurities to the back of my mind, I made my way back the castle’s entrance gate.
This was the last I would see of Concordia for a while, so to guarantee that I got the most out of it, I took the long way and kept my pace sedate. I may have gotten a few stares from the locals as always, although I imagine that the guitar did clash with my current attire somewhat. But given how much I valued the opinions of the bourgeois patrons of the city, I continued on as if I was blissfully unaware. It was a lovely morning for a Tuesday, this high up meant that the cloud cover was minimal and the Sun’s rays beamed down upon the pristine buildings that made up the infrastructure of the metropolitan surroundings. I returned every friendly wave that was sent my way by the city’s more modest denizens who were going about their business or just ambling about like I was.
Sadly, all leisurely strolls had to eventually come to an end and I found myself staring at the gates of the palace once more. The gatekeepers had memorized my face at this point and automatically let me pass. I saw a couple of newer and less stolid guards trying to stifle chuckles as I progressed inside, ever since the ‘incident’ with their liege, I had become something of a inside joke slash celebrity within the ranks of the guard. I heard terms like ‘Sun kissed’ and ‘Shooting star’ being jocosely passed around, I doubt they’d find anything about the situation funny had it been them being chased by a millennia old Sovereign with absolute power over the big ball of fire in the sky.
‘Then again, they also haven’t seen their Highness’s other heavenly body’ I snickered in amusement, knowing that most men would die for that chance.
Since I’ve been around for a while and they had apparently been filled in on my status as their first and only Trifect Prince, the guards had become a lot more open towards me (Minus a couple who were still bitter from the whiny voice incident). Either it was because they saw me as another ‘one of the guys’ or because I wasn’t an obnoxious prick like Blueblood, but they spoke to me from time to time and even invited me to participate in card games in their R&R bar and lounge. This was further evidenced by one of the men standing vigil by the base of my tower greeting me in a friendly manner.
“Hail Prince Zenith! Get chased by any other Princesses lately?” He announced with a chuckle, its tonal quality sounding tinny from inside of his helmet.
“Thankfully not, the first time was harrowing enough” I humored him as I readjusted the strap of my guitar so it sat on my shoulder more comfortably.
“I imagine so! My family has had a tradition of protecting her Royal Majesty going back centuries and has seen many a strange thing occur within these grounds, but I’m the first to ever see the Princess pursue someone so vigorously throughout the whole of her castle!” He burst into full blown laughter, it may not have been entirely at my expense but I just didn’t have the heart to join in, so I settled for an awkward smile. Once the man had a nice long laugh at my misfortunes, he sobered up a bit and informed me of something I had not wanted to contend with in the slightest.
“All fun aside, I felt it prudent to warn you that Blueblood has decided to officially challenge you to that duel today. I bore witness to many of your attempts to evade our mutual thorn in the side, in fact my personal favorite was that illusion of his female counterpart you summoned to lure him away from you in the dining hall a couple days ago”
After a full week or so of cleverly avoiding and hoodwinking him (Not excessively difficult since the guy was about as complex as three week old unrefrigerated cabbage, and about as spoiled too). I guess that I’d riled him up enough for him to invoke some ancient and obscure rite to oppose me. And because it preceded the rule of the Princesses, there wasn’t anything much Celestia could do to revoke its usage except keep it from becoming an actual duel to the death. As it was, I wasn’t terribly concerned. Though I was far from complacent regarding the issue.
“You liked that one huh? I call it the Blue-belle conjuration, very useful when you want to appeal to your narcissistic enemy’s baser desires”
“Very clever sir” He chuckled, “What will your course of action be?”
“Do you know anything about the rules of engagement for this duel?” I asked, curious as to how duels of honor took place here.
“I believe it’s the best of three strikes that determines the victor” He explained.
“What about magic?”
“No combat spells allowed, this will be hand to hand only” He replied, punctuating the statement by tapping his gauntlets together with an audible clanking noise.
“Fisticuffs huh? I could work with that, what actually keeps us from using any magic other than our sense of honor?” My tone made it clear that I did not expect Blueblood to actually fight fair without some kind of assurance.
“I think they make you put on some kind of ring that disrupts your inherent connection to magic, however a true warrior does not need to resort to petty spells to give them the edge in a fight in the first place”
“I can share that sentiment, relying too much on one single asset turns it into a crutch. And that can become a serious liability should that crutch somehow prove no longer able to support the load required of it in the thick of things”
“I’m sure the Stellar Mage division of the Royal Guard would disagree, but I personally find that ideology to be most reasonable. One should win their fights using their wit and skill, magic has its uses but can just as easily backfire in the heat of the moment”
“Is this spoken from experience?” I asked of the guard whose name eluded me.
“I’ve never had to deal with anything more pressing than rowdy crowds or the occasional thief or two, but my ancestors who have seen battle before recorded in their memoirs that it was shrewdness and a keen mind that ultimately won the day, fancy magic can’t ever replace the need for that” He firmly asserted with complete faith and pride in his predecessor’s achievements.
“I’ll certainly keep that in mind mister…?” I trailed off, waiting for his response.
“Valiant” He introduced himself with an extended hand, which I shook in good camaraderie. “Of house Goldenshield”
“A pleasure, Mr. Goldenshield” I inclined my head to him.
“Please sir, just Valiant will do” He requested modestly.
“Very well Valiant, do you know when and where I am to be expected at this duel?”
“My guess would be before noon at the sparring ring at the northwest end of the castle. The drilling grounds I believe, it’s the best place for settling matters such as these. And I have full faith that you’ll show ol’ Blueblood what for!” He extolled me enthusiastically.
“Just between you and me, there wouldn’t happen to be a betting pool regarding the outcome would there?” I inquired out of idle curiosity.
“If there was sir, I would most definitely not tell you that the overwhelming whole of the guard is putting their money on you” He explained with a conspiratorial chortle.
“Good to know I have the full support of the guard and their purse” I remarked as I summoned my wings.
I bid Valiant farewell with a wave before ascending up to my open balcony to add my new guitar to my set of things, wrapping it in protective coverings that acted as a makeshift gig bag. I also changed into something more flexible and casual in preparation for the sparring match and everything afterwards. I figured that a pair of grey cargo shorts and my black T-shirt with a red star emblem would have to suffice. I also set about placing all the books I had by my nightstand back to where I found them, all while munching on a bagel I had snuck from the dining hall the other day (In order to avoid Blueblood of course). I had learned a good deal about this world from the various texts in the observatory-tower, topics such as the various other kingdoms and sovereign states occupying the known world; including the exotic Minosian isles to southwest and the imperial lands of Gryphondria that lay just across the sea of tranquility to the east. I didn’t bother with anything like a shower since it would just be a wasted activity with an upcoming tussle in the cards, speaking of which I had to think of some kind of strategy.
I had gotten a good deal better in close quarter situations thanks to the shadow opponent spell that Luna taught me, but I never had fistfights using it. I was shocked that Prince Blueblood would actually stoop to getting his hands dirty to begin with. I shrugged to myself with indifference; did I really need a legitimate reason to feed that annoying jackass a knuckle sandwich anyway? He’d been hounding me for the past week! I’ve not said two words to the guy and he considers me the greatest threat to his hegemony as the most eligible bachelor Prince in Concordia, further substantiated by the many times he has tried to decry me as an actual member of the Royal family in front of the day court. I wasn’t there for the proceedings since I was busy doing my own thing (and not giving a damn), but Celestia had placed a suspension on his court privileges until he had given up on the matter. In typical Blueblood fashion however, he did the opposite of that and had one of his many lackeys look into ways he could strike at me personally, this duel being the most preferable.
After much internal debate, I decided I would just wing it and deal with it as it came. I wasn’t exactly disadvantaged here; with my Trifect conditioning I could probably mop the floor with the guy using minimal effort. The only thing I had to keep an eye out for were any nasty tricks the contemptible Prince might employ once he realizes how one sided this conflict could turn out to be. I stepped out of the shower as I finished reflecting on the various ways I could show Blueblood why that would be a bad idea. I then realized that I put myself on autopilot and did exactly what I didn’t feel like wasting time with and promptly face palmed. After drying myself off and redressing myself, I swan dived off of my balcony and made for the sparring ring that Valiant informed me of.
As if it were a location specific quest, I spotted the field of honor and none other than the crown prince of snobbery himself waiting for me with an impatient sneer plastered on his face and his arms crossed over his chest. His various well-dressed aides standing to the side and looking as if they really regretted their career choices whenever they thought their charge wasn’t looking. I touched down in an unintended dramatic fashion, kicking up a large cloud of dust and clipped grass before stepping onto the wooden floorboards that made up the sparring platform. Bleachers lined the area surrounding the staging grounds and were full of plenty of spectators. They consisted mostly of off duty guards and castle staff and those few sycophants that were ‘fans’ of Blueblood.
‘Something about this reminds me of a DBZ setup’ I vaguely reminisced as I drunk in the entire scene.
“I see that the charlatan who dares to call himself a Prince has decided to finally heed my challenge after a week of avoiding me like the coward he is. Of course, he has every reason to be afraid of me, I’m more handsome, stronger, and superior in every respect to this waste of space who dresses like the common street rabble” He haughtily jeered at me, probing for a response of any kind.
I merely stood there with an impassive face, slowly taking in my opponent and assessing his threat level. Blueblood was entirely what you would have expected, he was a blond pretty boy who could have made a decent Fabio impression were it not for his radically different coiffure. Physically he wasn’t terribly impressive, sculpted but not much in the way of muscle definition. His focal gem was the same color as his eyes, a light baby blue that was somehow fitting for him. Were it not for his rotten personality, the guy could have easily passed as your nineteenth century heartthrob of a European Prince. He certainly had the outfit befitting one; a snow-white waistcoat adorned his chest along with equally immaculate looking slacks and dress shoes.
“Well? Does the sham in front of me have anything to say in defense of his pride? Or is he cowed by my no doubt magnificent poise?” The overgrown man-child asked of me, growing frustrated by my apparent lack of acknowledgment.
“Yeah, when are we gonna get this over with? I’ve got an appointment with destiny in an hour or so and I don’t feel like wasting time dawdling here with the likes of you” I flippantly inquired, not paying Bluey any mind.
He sputtered in vexation, “H-how dare you consider me to be a mere trifle knave! I demand satisfaction at once!”
“Oh, blow it out your ass!” I shot back with a disrespecting gesticulation, receiving raucous laughter from the stands and paroxysms of angered embarrassment from Blueblood. He clenched his knuckles and glared aggressively at me, he looked ready to charge but one of his aides who was apparently his second in the duel stopped him.
“Sir, if I may. The rules of the duel must be officially stated before it can begin”
“Hmmph! Very well Unworthy. Read him his last rites so I can pummel him into the dirt where he belongs” He conceitedly declared with a vainglorious flick of his hair.
“Its Noteworthy sir” His second mumbled to himself, before walking to the middle of the twenty five by twenty five foot dueling platform and spoke aloud.
“Today we are here to witness a Royal settlement via an honorable duel. The arraigner in this case being his most noble Prince Blueblood…” The man expressed with no small amount of sarcasm, to which Blueblood seemed completely oblivious to; busy as he was grinning like an over fluffed peacock at the praise.
“…who feels that the new Prince Zenith is unfit for his title and is a mockery of Royalty everywhere. His unknown origins are also particularly concerning to my liege, who has found no indication of his Arcanian citizenship having existed until less than a month ago. Acting in the best interests of the Kingdom, he utilized his various connections to look into ways to have him removed from his position. So imagine his elation when he found an ancient law dating back to the founding of Arcania where two rival Princes could duel each other for their status of power and all the benefits held within” Blueblood’s malicious smirk grew even more at the last stipulation.
‘That conniving filius a canis! This is not just some glorified beauty pageant, it’s a power grab!’ I realized with intense anger and outrage.
“The rules of the duel are simple, the best of three debilitating or downing strikes wins the match, being knocked out of the ring counts as well. Additionally there is to be no usage of magic in this duel, the both of you will be settling this matter using your physical prowess alone” Noteworthy ended his oration as he stepped off the stage. I meanwhile was positively seething at the sheer profundity of my opponent’s hubris.
That really grinds my gears, not only was he an asshole but he was a greedy asshole. I committed myself to making sure he knew that he was making a grievous mistake in targeting me. I balled my hands into fists with such exertion that my knuckles crackled and popped. I was wholeheartedly ready to kick some ass. Two servants of some kind approached us with dark metal rings in their possession, Blueblood took off his expensive looking coat (Revealing yet another pure white undershirt) and handed it to the servant before grasping the object and placing it on his ring finger, while I had something more impudent in mind. I brought up my right fist and extended my middle finger, the servant looked confused at first but realized who I intended it for and slid the ring on. Blueblood saw the gesture and visibly snorted in response, either it was in vague amusement or indignation was lost on me. I lowered my hand and tested the effects of this magic ‘nullifying’ ring. Sure enough, my connection to my magic was cut off and whatever I could feel was severely scrambled. Satisfied with my findings, I brought myself into a fighting stance and kept both eyes fixed on my adversary who did the same.
“Begin!” Noteworthy signaled the duel to begin.
Blueblood made a beeline straight for me faster than I would have expected from the likes of him. I sidestepped around his diving punch and delivered a quick jab to his ribs, getting a grunt of surprise and aggravation from Blueboy. He threw several punches my way that I was nimble enough to dodge or deflect with a slap. Growing frustrated with my vigorous defense, he then switched tactics and tried to bear hug me and wrestle me to the ground to win the first point; I swiftly ducked under his lunge and planted my elbow square onto his back. This caused him to stumble back and glare at me with vexation in his feature and furrowed brows.
“And here I was expecting this to be over quickly. You’ll fall to me soon enough you cur!” He spat at me.
“Shut the hell up and fight” I shot back, sick of his melodramatic nonsense.
He indulged my request and attempted a wild haymaker with his right arm. I blocked by shoving my elbow into the crook of his arm while delivering another jab to his exposed throat. I only managed a glancing hit but it made Blueblood stumble back yet again and clutch his throat as he coughed in response to the strike. I didn’t allow him time to recover and dropped him on his back to the floor with a quick and forceful leg sweep.
“First score goes to the defending Prince” Noteworthy announced over the cheers of the audience.
Blueblood hissed in annoyance and charged me yet again. This time I used his blind aggression against him and met him head on as we caught each other in a grapple. I put my thick skull to use and gave him a nasty head-butt, loosening his grip as he recoiled from the blow and allowing me to grab his right arm and heave him over my shoulder, resulting in a downing move and another point in my favor.
“A second point goes to the defending Prince, he needs only one more to win the match” Noteworthy actually looked excited, perhaps at the prospect of officially being rid of Blueblood if he was stripped of his title.
Blueblood was starting to look nervous, knowing that I only needed one more win to relegate him to obscurity and shame. This is where I fully expected him to start fighting dirty, and I was not disappointed. He twisted the ring off his finger in a subtle motion and his focal gem briefly glowed, he then blazed his way over to me like a bullet train and slammed into me with excessive force. I was thrown on my back with a grunt till I was sliding dangerously close to the edge of the ring. Noteworthy opened his mouth to make an announcement but the Prince continued with his assault. I rolled to the side to avoid a fist that actually broke through the floorboards of the ring and expeditiously got back on my feet. The people in the audience began to voice their protests at the unbecoming conduct but neither Blueblood nor I paid them any attention. We circled each other in a counter clockwise rotation while studying each other for openings. My brain was currently channeling a tactically minded Holmes.
‘Opponent will undoubtedly make first move; his increased speed will make it difficult to skirt around. So perhaps I’ll take the full on brunt of another charge, worse case is that I’m downed and the scores are evened. Best case is that he will expose an opening that I can exploit and begin landing a flurry of debilitating blows that will take him out of this fight for good. Execute with precision and ferocity’
The raging Prince barreled towards me once more, I planted my feet firmly on the ground and stopped his charge in its tracks. This reduced his mad rush to a slow halt as we struggled against each other. My idea may have been a little dishonorable but all respect for my opponent went out the window once he began to augment himself with magic. So I brought my left knee against his open groin and traumatized his goodies, his strength immediately left him as he attempted to clasp his injured merchandise but I didn’t give him a single second to recover. I clapped my hands over his ears and discombobulated him, blocking a weak feral left and hammering him in the gut repeatedly. I grabbed him by the shoulder and attempted to uppercut his jaw, his feeble backpedal saved him from a knockout and only allowed me to glance off his face and bloody his nose. I pressed my offensive and proceeded to wallop his face with unceasing fury before landing a final heel kick to his sternum that probably fractured a few bones in his chest and downed him one final time.
The area around me was dead silent, a kind of tension hung in the air like water pressure in a hose that was waiting to be released. I slowly approached my dazed and bleeding antagonist of the day and knelt by his side. I grabbed him by the collar and lifted him so that our faces were inches apart, his being a good deal more bruised than mine.
“Don’t ever resort to underhanded and treacherous methods like cheating to undermine me ever again, or I will falcon punch you so hard there will be Blue blood everywhere. Am I understood?” I clarified with a harsh voice bordering on a growl, the craven coward weakly nodded his head and whimpered.
Knowing that I made my intimidating point plain to see, I released my hold on him and let him stew in his resounding defeat. At this point the crowd erupted into cheers as they saw their least favorite Prince receive an overdue and well-deserved beat down. Any who were fans of Blueblood immediately jumped on the bandwagon once they saw my triumph over the object of their shallow devotion. Noteworthy walked to my side and held my arm up, signaling my victory to everyone in the arena, which only increased the volume of their enthusiastic shouts and hollers. Once it was over, he shook my hand and congratulated me with a smile.
“Well done Prince Zenith, you’ve won the duel with nary a scratch on you!” He exclaimed with avidity.
“It wasn’t difficult since Blueblood not only underestimated me, but he didn’t even form a cogent plan for combatting me. He foolishly thought that I was going to be an easy target and it proved to be his undoing” I wasn’t expecting much of the idiotic Prince, and I wasn’t let down for doing so. What kind of Trifect would I be if I let somebody as low as him best me?
“He was never the type for thinking ahead, no” Noteworthy agreed with a chuckle, “So what does the victor intend to do with his spoils?” He half asked, already believing that he knew the answer.
Truthfully, I was severely tempted to actually take away that which Blueblood valued most, but felt that my original scheme for him was far more effective in the long run.
“I will show some leniency to the man who deserves it the least and let him keep his title and holdings. But make no mistake; I expect him to earn his station as a Prince of Arcania. I’ve compiled a list of changes beforehand that need to be made and conducts to follow that Blueblood must adhere to if he wants to keep that which I have decided not to take from him. I’ll have it sent to you personally since you seem to be his attendant, in addition you will now also act as his new supervisor and direct him as such as enabled by me. Can you do this for me and make sure he does everything the list says?” I elucidated to the confused looking man, who soon composed himself and spoke.
“That’s incredibly magnanimous of you Prince Zenith, and if your highness wishes that I reshape Prince Blueblood into something befitting a proper gentleman. Then it will be so” He bowed to me, which I was quick to discourage.
“One other thing mister Noteworthy, I will not show or be shown obeisance is that clear?” The meek man gulped nervously at the seriousness I projected into my commanding stare, but nodded in agreement none the less.
“Of course, my sincerest apologies my Prince”
“You should probably go check up on your charge now, make sure he doesn’t have anything else irreparably damaged beyond his pride” I pointed behind me with a thumb to the defeated Prince who lay groaning on the floorboards.
With my business here concluded, I left Noteworthy to attend to his injured master slash probationer while I made my way back to my tower. Valiant was standing vigilantly in the same spot that I left him. Once he saw me, he voiced his ardor.
“Based on the roar of the spectators reaching all the way over here I assume your highness has emerged victorious against that over groomed swine?” He rhetorically asked, letting out a snigger of amusement.
“Rightaroony. Defended my title and my good name, even got to rearrange Blueblood’s face a little bit too. Can ya’ believe the fool even had the gall to cheat once he realized that I had the upper hand?” I said in a faux incredulous tone.
“You speak truly!? That would be grounds for being tarred and feathered back in the old days, how did you punish him for his vile deceit?”
“I’ve punished him sufficiently to be honest with you, I figured making him earn his Prince hood is recompense enough for me”
“You did not wrest away his title and holdings? Why ever not? I can think of none other more deserving of it than the Blueblood house, especially it’s latest in a long line of mollycoddled progeny”
“I’ve read into their history, did you know that they once were the embodiment of what it meant to be noble? In the chaotic times following the banishment of the Night Terror the house of Blueblood brought together a splintered aristocracy and greatly aided in restoring order throughout the Kingdom, whether it was by funding recovery efforts or even financing the move of the official capital from its old holdings back in the Neverfree to Concordia” I found the variation of the forest’s name to be another one of those interesting and understated differences between my conventional perceptions of this world and its equine counterpart.
“Aye, and the Princess of the Sun was grateful enough to elevate them to prestigious power within her government. But in the long period of time following that exodus, their house has stagnated with each and every one of its heirs raised to believe that they should be handed the world on a silver bloody platter. They might have been noble once, but they’re rotten to the core now” The guard spat with disdain, his opinion of house Blueblood wasn’t terribly high it seemed.
“Which is why I’m trying to reform him to be more like his upright ancestors and less like a selfish pig. Holding his title over him like a carrot on a stick if you would, should prove enough of an incentive for him to at least try to be better” I reasoned.
He shook his head and shrugged, “You’re certainly an ambitious one I’ll give you that, but who am I to question the wisdom of true Prince like yourself?”
“Don’t sell your own self short, I happen to value any and all constructive criticism. It keeps me from developing that ‘do no wrong’ complex that some people sink into without realizing it”
He gave his input after mulling it over for a moment.
“I think… that if there was ever a chance to redeem the imprudent Blueblood, your plan has the best shot”
“I’m very grateful for your faith in my ideas, Valiant of house Goldenshield. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to retrieve my things and hopefully speak to the Princess one last time before I go”
With that I took off into the air and back to my vine strung balcony overlooking a pristine city that was bathed in the light of the midday sun. I gathered my things and took a second shower for good measure. I gave the list that I mentioned to Noteworthy earlier to a servant waiting outside my doors to be delivered to him alone. I wasn’t much for sentimentality but I paid my last respects to Twilight’s observatory-tower by standing next to the man sized hourglass in the middle and committing the layout of the room to memory; this also served to provide a mental picture for whenever I found the need to teleport here for whatever reason. I almost found it shocking how simple it was for someone to perform a teleportation spell, all you needed was a crystal clear image of where you wanted to go in your head, the vast amounts of energy needed to travel the distance near instantaneously (which increased exponentially the further the distance), and just willing the energy you summon to carry you there.
I spent a few hours trying to figure out ways to remove or mask the flash and popping noise that accompanied the traditional teleport so it could become a practical tool for more clandestine activities should the need arise. In my trial periods just hopping around the training room, I found that by enveloping one’s own body with a trio of spells, one for the jump, one to render oneself invisible, and a muffle spell; it was indeed possible to make it stealthy. However, the incredible amount of mana energy needed to do such a thing took its toll and I was completely drained for the next few hours.
I gathered the energy necessary for the jump and clutched my belongings close to me before letting it wash over me and sweep me away to the destination that I had in mind. After the still somewhat disorientating feeling of phasing under and throughout the fabrics of the world subsided, the many stained glass murals of the throne room greeted my vision. It was also devoid of any of the usual court attendees that loved to fill the hallowed walls of the chamber with their incessant bickering. Which meant that I had timed my jump correctly and was in between court sessions, Celestia acknowledged my sudden presence with a warm smile from her standing position on the dais. She looked awe-inspiring as always, maybe it was the flowing hair thing or the way she carried herself.
“Good afternoon Zenith”
“Good afternoon your most radiant majesty” I announced with a flourish as I inclined my head so as to show some respect but to still be able to look her in the eyes.
“What have I told you about being formal with me so often?” She softly reprimanded.
“Not to do it” I answered with a coy tone, “But I can’t help it if I treat you like a figure of authority in the very chamber that represents said authority” I replied with an excusing tone, when I was really just teasing her.
“It’s not necessary for you to do so, even in here. I’d like to have at least one other person besides Luna and Cadence who acts like I’m their friend, not the lady in charge of the whole Kingdom”
“If that be your desire, then I shall humbly acquiesce dearest Celestia” She let out a quiet giggle at my antics before asking about my morning.
“It went well, I got myself a new guitar and soundly defeated that nuisance that pompously labels himself your nephew in a duel that he challenged me to”
“Oh? And what do you aim to do with his title and chattels?” Her tone was curiosity mixed with something else, something else underlying her inquiry that gave me the distinct impression that I was being secretly tested.
“Nothing” I shrugged, “Since I didn’t take them from him. I figured it was best if I used it as leverage to try and shape him into a better person, in fact just before I got here I sent out the checklist that Blueblood had to meet all of the requirements for if he wanted to earn his Prince-ship back. And before you ask, I made the list very specific and thorough in its requisites”
She looked satisfied by my response; that trademark knowing smile adorning her features. I tried not to think of Celestia as being the (for lack of a better word) manipulative type, but it would be naïve to kid myself into thinking that she ruled this kingdom as long as she did and not play shadowy games of administration. But whenever she wore that smile, I couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable, like I was drenched in ice-cold motor oil. Not knowing in what context she was looking at me, or if she had some kind of secret agenda in mind for me. It’s a kind of notable irony that I’ve observed with the sisters of Night and Day, Luna is outright and honest with her inner thoughts and feelings while Celestia does not reveal hers as readily. For all I knew, one of the reasons why she had unofficially declared me a Prince was so that Blueblood could challenge me for the title and allow me to refashion him into something actually befitting his role as an Arcanian Prince.
‘Gak! The more I think about it the more unsettling it becomes’ I was no one’s pawn, not even for the Princess I’ve come to know and genuinely admire.
“That is a most wise decision Zenith, not only have you displayed personal integrity and withheld yourself from seizing that which was Blueblood’s, but you even sought to reconstitute him into becoming a better person” She lauded my actions and foresight.
“It’s not like I’ll be there to hold his hand through all of it Celestia, but I did make sure to entrust his reformation to his attendant mister Noteworthy”
“I know of him, his family has served the Bluebloods for generations. It will be interesting to see their values of gentlemanly conduct being finally imposed on my poor excuse for a nephew”
“Out of curiosity, why do you call him nephew?” I knew for a fact that he wasn’t related to the Princess.
“It’s a moniker that’s been passed down to every first born male heir of house Blueblood, I had a good relationship with the first Blueblood that I entitled with Prince hood. Sadly, over time I have borne witness to each and every Blueblood since then becoming a shameful parody of their noble ancestor”
She finished with a sad sounding sigh before perking up, “Which is why I look forward to seeing what kind of progress your plan for reshaping Blueblood makes. But enough about his upcoming reeducation, are you finally prepared to begin learning about the Arcanian values of friendship and harmony?”
“As I’ll ever be I suppose” I spoke in a flat tone that perfectly reflected just how unenthused I was. Celestia cheerfully continued as though she didn’t even notice how un-amused I was at becoming an apprentice in something as immaterial to me as what the best drinks to get smashed with were to a non-drinker.
‘Speaking of alcohol, I’ll need to speak with Daring again too’ I tuned back into the virtues of friendship that the Princess was most definitely not preaching about.
“…- and you will be more in touch with just how profound and enriching friendships can make your life” She concluded with wholehearted belief.
“That’s really something” I dryly commented.
“You had your attention focused elsewhere didn’t you?” She remarked with a raised brow and an equally dry tone.
“Wha..? Nah, I was hanging on each and every word to pour out of your infinite well of wisdom so intently that I started to daydream about how monumentally magnificent the woman uttering them was” My tone was that interesting mix of sarcastic sincerity that I’ve found myself utilizing more often.
“You’re lucky that I have a weakness for such poetic flattery, otherwise that could have been a short exile on the moon young man” She let out an absolutely sinister giggle that told me that she actually meant it.
“Yikes, that would be quite the desolate fate to befall one such as I. Do you actually have a spell that insta-banishes people who gravely offend you like that?”
“No. I do not posses such a spell, as it was a one-time occurrence only. And the last time that I ever held a connection to the Elements of Harmony” She said in a very neutral tone, sapping the atmosphere of any previously existing humor. I briskly changed the subject for both of our sakes.
“By what means will I be traveling to this Magiville?”
“The train lines leading there are as good as any, but I’ll leave the travel logistics up to you”
“Do you want me to leave right now? Is your precious protégé and her cadre of friends expecting me right this instant?”
“Of course not, you need only be there for the beginning of one of Luna’s favorite nights” She clarified with a growing smirk.
“Cool, I’ve been meaning to say farewell to one last person before I go” I nodded.
“A close acquaintance?” She inquired, a sizable grin on her face.
“More than that” Was my brief response.
“Before you go, I’ve some gifts I’d like to bequeath to you”
“Oh no, don’t tell me that its dangerous to go alone!” I passionately exclaimed, holding the back of my hand against my forehead for additional effect.
“I’m afraid I don’t understand”
I waved a hand dismissively, “It’s an inside joke that relates to an old video game that I use to play when I was very young”
“I…see, well in any case I’ve finally received a return letter from Cadence that was written by one Crystal Clear?” She pulled out a rolled up scroll with a fancy looking emblem sealing it up.
“Oh, that’s wonderful. Hand it over please?”
She floated it over to me and I popped the seal open to take a gander. It did not take me long to realize that Crystal’s fancy cursive writing was a lot more refined than mine.
Dearest Zenith
It’s sounds as though you’ve already had quite the trip! How come you haven’t mentioned this companion of yours to me sooner? She sounds like a real keeper if she’s able to stay composed while on adventures like yourself, perhaps you’d consider getting to know her better?
‘Way ahead of you there Crystal’ I grinningly mused to myself before resuming my reading.
I’ve never been to the capital of Arcania before; I imagine that it must be quite a marvelous sight to behold! And why would I presume anything about your activities with a cellist that you formed an acquaintanceship with? And your friend Daring was jealous? I think your companion might feel more than just protective of you if that was the case. Somehow your last point does not surprise me in the slightest, though I don’t need to remind you of your promise to watch out for yourself for me do I? As for myself, I’ve been keeping busy with my various hobbies and outings with my sewing group friends. The Krystal Kingdom has been getting more and more busy with the upcoming Athletic events. Once they repaired the rail lines we’ve been getting an ever increasing and steady flow of people from all over who wish to spectate at the games. It has done wonders for the local economy, and I’ve heard talk of various businessmen who saw commercial potential in our humble home give consideration to setting up shop and expanding our fair city. A trio of rugged looking gentlemen actually asked me about you a few days ago, saying that you were pivotal in their success in hunting the snow dragon that had plagued us for some time. They seemed a bit downtrodden to discover that you had left before they had the chance to really show their appreciation, but were placated by the assurance that you would return someday. I know that you did not stay for very long, but I certainly miss you as well. I’m not entirely sure what it was, but there was something I could sense about you that was truly special, something that went beyond the fact that you were not a native of Arcania. But I digress. The house certainly feels emptier now, I’ve grown used to being alone these days… but I do eagerly await the time when you can grace all of us with your presence yet again.
Always keeping you in my heart
Crystal Clear
“It warms my heart to know that I’m sorely missed even by people who barely know me” I didn’t know if I was being honest or cynical about what I said.
“You sound as though the concept itself is hard to follow” Celestia observed.
“Just not used to it is all, is there anything more?”
“Indeed, I’ve corresponded with Cadence and we’ve set up a means for you and Crystal to exchange letters without having to rely on us to relay them” She levitated a jar of bottled dragon fire over to me, its flickering flame burning a bright neon blue.
“Cadence has sent a similar jar to Crystal Clear, you can now keep in contact with each other more often”
“That’s very thoughtful of you Celestia, can you make sure to thank Princess Cadence for me?” She nodded in affirmation.
“Along a similar vein, should I ever need to send a letter to you personally, am I to make use of the unique ability of your student’s assistant Spike?”
She expression became suspicious, “And just how did you know this?”
“I have my ways” Was my cryptic reply, “So can I assume that’s a yes?”
“Verily” Was her short response, gazing upon me with reevaluating scrutiny.
‘She doesn’t really think she knows everything about me just because she’s stepped inside my head a few times does she?’ I cynically ruminated. I shifted the conversation topic yet again by taking out a couple useful cylinders from my backpack.
“Let’s make this gift giving mutual” I levitated both over to the Princess, who looked at them with curiosity before taking them into her hands.
“And just what are these?” She asked, examining them closely.
“Devices for stunning people and enshrouding them in a cloud of smoke, I was thinking you could get some professionals to tinker with them and reverse engineer them for mass production”
“More inventions from your world? Why would you want them in circulation?” She asked with doubt and a wrinkled brow that creased her otherwise flawless countenance. She was eyeing them as if they were live grenades that could go off at any moment.
“Well think about it, these are more things that won’t exist in any other country save for yours, giving it a slight advantage. Neither of them are lethal like some of the other things I’ve shown you, so your conscience remains untarnished. Granted they’re not as generally helpful as that pen I gave you, but I imagine that the constabulary could find great aid in their usage” I explained with some reasoning, it also meant that I could restock on them if necessary.
“If you believe that they could prove useful to my nation, then I can have their components and duplication looked into”
She set them aside before turning back to me, “If that is all we have to discuss” I nodded to confirm that it was, “Then I would bid you a fond farewell Zenith, and the best of times during your stay in Magiville”
“Fare thee well Celestia” I returned with a humble nod before powering up for another jump, letting the tingly energy envelop me and carry me someplace anew; namely the docks where Daring’s precious ship was moored.
The ‘flash and pop’ startled a few of the agrarian dockworkers going about their jobs, but they collected themselves fairly quick; no doubt this happened often enough in a city primarily consisting of Stellar Magi for them to have grown used to it. I noticed that many of them were finishing loading the last crates of supplies and other materials onto the Magnificent Maverick for its next journey. Again, my recurring and impeccable timing both amused and confused me greatly. As did a certain adventurer’s hands covering my eyes and smooth voice speaking softly into my ear.
“Guess who Tiger” It said.
I held my hand to my chin in faux deep thought, “Hmm…do I get a hint?” I inquired of my playful captor.
I felt a pair of velvety lips repeatedly peck me on the neck and travel upwards towards my cheek, “How about now?”
“With kisses as delectable as those, I’d say its the most amazing swashbuckling woman I know. The one and only Daring Do” I answered with gusto aplenty, I was then gently spun around and rewarded with an incredibly passionate kiss on the mouth.
When we broke from our embrace, Daring beamed me a most enchanting and heartwarming smile. She was still wearing her cherished pith helmet but with a vaguely familiar brown leather jacket covering her torso and taupe khaki pants over her legs. With the exception of the headwear, she looked like Indiana Jones now more than ever. I of course kept this little opinion over her choice of wear to myself. We talked as we approached the gangplank to her trusty ship and embarked subsequently.
“Thinking about tagging along on my next expedition? It sounds like a real good one this time around. Increased rumors over something called the ‘shards of sheol’ appearing in far off lands and causing strange events were prevalent enough that my orders to investigate them came down from the very top” She explained with a ‘hush hush’ tone of voice.
“You mean Princess Celestia?” I whispered back as I set my belongings down on the deck.
She nodded, “The very same, she expects me to exercise some discretion on this one. Telling me that I’m to report in what I find and if possible, secure these shards in the name of the crown. Surely if we’ve heard these rumors…”
“Then other nation’s will have heard them as well” I finished for her, “I wish I could join you, but I also received commands from the same monarch”
“Oh…and what would they be?” She inquired, sounding a bit dejected that I couldn’t join her.
“You’ll think its silly” I responded in an abashed manner, rubbing at the back of my hair.
“I won’t laugh, promise” She held a hand over her heart and another in the air to back up her vow.
I sighed in exasperation, “I’m being sent to Magiville to learn more about the power of…friendship” I histrionically muttered the word as if it tasted foul on my tongue.
True to her word, Daring did not laugh. But she did have to suppress a few chuckles upon hearing that.
“Wow, that’s really corny. The Princess is really making you do that?”
“Yeah, she feels as if I need to have more of its boons in my life”
She wrapped her arms around me and held me close, “I’m sure you’ll do great, you’re a really charming person you know? Once you get past the phlegmatic and critical exterior anyway” She smirked at me, her kind words were touching to say the least.
“Right back at you” I gave her another kiss, with her moaning in delight at my caress. When we pulled away from each other, she gave me a mischievous smile.
“Want a ride?” Was her brazen question.
Even though I knew it was a deliberate double entendre. I looked around furtively as if making sure no one was watching us before gazing back at the sly woman with a rakish grin.
“Right here and now?” I saucily replied, winking at her and watching a fierce blush grace the sides of her face.
She gave me a halfhearted slug on the shoulder, surprised that I turned the tables on her and embarrassed her instead.
“You know that’s not what I meant…unless you really feel like it” She countered, wearing an admirably hard to read smile and eliciting a chortle of mirth out of me.
‘Oh how I’m going to miss these contests of innuendo once we’re apart’ I thought with some melancholy, it must have manifested itself on my face because Daring began to look concerned.
“Something wrong Zenny?” She asked in an uncharacteristically worried voice.
“I’m just going to miss you is all, you’ll be out there doing what you do best while I’ll probably be bored to tears down in scenic nowhere” I’ll admit that it was a bit harsh of me to say, but I get a little crotchety when I’m rueful.
“Then let’s make the best of the time we still have together, I’ll even set the Mav’ to take it nice and slow”
One of the dockworkers approached us before speaking, “Everything’s in order and you’re all set to go miss Daring Do. Need anything else before you head out?” He asked with a polite and professional tone.
“Thank you mister Hands, and that’ll be all” He nodded before leaving us to tend to other matters requiring his expertise.
Daring took to the helm before inserting that quatrefoil ignition key into the wheel and firing up her mighty vessel. The engines roared to life and once the dockworkers un-moored us; we eased out of the docks before rocketing into the sky on a southwest village bound heading. Once we had cleared the relatively busy air traffic saturating Concordian airspace, Daring cut us down to half speed and we began cruising almost lazily towards my destination. She joined me by the rails that I was leaning against in silence and watched the surrounding vistas alongside me. The spectacular sight of a floating city in the clouds became a slowly passing image as we descended closer to the valley floor. Its name wasn’t Cloudsdale as I had originally expected, instead this city of clouds was named Stratopolis. I quietly wondered if I would ever get the chance to visit the city suspended in the heavens someday and be absorbed by its classical Greco-Romanesque style architecture. We spent twenty minutes like that, before I decided that it was time to discuss a sensitive topic that was rather uncomfortable for me but had to be done regardless.
“Dee dee?” I spoke without hesitation, tightly gripping the rail and steeling myself for whatever reaction I was going to receive.
“Yes Zenny?”
I wasn’t going to beat around the bush on this one, “How open would you describe our relationship?”
“And what do you mean by that?” Her neutral tone making it difficult to get a read on her.
“What I mean is, how would you feel about not being the only special woman in my life?”
“Are you implying that there’s someone you’re seeing on the side?” Her voice was laced with an edge that would make weaker men’s knees buckle from fear.
“Not in that context no, but she does want a more intimate role in my life” I kept my cool, knowing that even the slightest hint of doubt could set my resolve aflame and end this negatively for both of us.
“Are you saying that I’m not enough for you?” I expected her to be angry, but this insecure tone of voice she was using was unanticipated. I took her hands and held them in mine before finally looking her in those beautiful raspberry red orbs of hers.
“Not in the slightest! You’ve introduced a sense of fulfillment to my life that I haven’t known in a long while, and that means the world to me. And don’t forget the solemn promise that I swore to you the day we first came to Concordia together, I will always be a part of your life no matter what” I reassured her, fully engulfing her and holding her close to my heart.
“Alright, but why do you want another then?” She tentatively asked, her eyes were misty with barely contained emotion and dampened the fabric of my shirt.
I shook my head, “This isn’t about what I want, and I’m doing this so that the both of you could end up happy. If that means dividing my attentions between the both of you or letting her down gently because it upsets you, then so be it”
“Sometimes you’re too selfless for your own good ya’ big lug” She embraced me again and buried her face in my chest; the robust and sweet scent of jasmine from her gray scale hair wafted into my nostrils and stimulated my senses. She then looked up at me and spoke from her heart.
“What you want is important to me Zenith, if you want to be in a relationship with myself and this other woman for both our sakes… then I’ll allow her access to you as well”
“Aren’t you curious as to her name?” I mentioned with slight befuddlement mixed with relief.
“Yeah, tell me who my harem mate is going to be” She asked with genuine interest.
‘Its going to be a while before I get used to that word being so casually thrown around’
“You’ve met her” She gave me a flat stare at the lack of information, “Does a certain cellist’s name ring any bells?”
“You’re saying that the esteemed musician Octavia Philharmonica has developed a romantic interest in you?” She expressed with some skepticism as she glanced back over the rails to the horizon.
Daring was well aware that she wasn’t the only person that I fraternized with during my time spent at the castle since I’m the one who told her. Strangely enough, she didn’t think much of it at the time, which was odd given how she reacted when she found me at Octavia’s place that fateful morning.
“I was equally astounded by this revelation, which was also personally admitted to me by her. I think it has something to do with my latent abilities concerning the realm of music and how I treated her differently from the usual priggish citizens of the Capital by seeing her as a regular person instead of some kind of sensual object that I could take advantage of simply by tossing the weight of my family name around”
“Are you sure that this isn’t some passing fancy? Is she as serious as I am with my desire to be with you?”
“I peered deep into the depths of her eyes as she told me all of this Daring, and there was no trace of doubt that I could find whatsoever. She really does want to give this thing with the both of us a shot. She’s also a huge fan of yours by the way” I mentioned offhand.
“Pfft, who isn’t?” Daring remarked with ample amounts of humility.
‘Typical Daring’
I rolled my eyes and briefly snorted, “You know Dee, when we first met, I only partially knew of you. I couldn’t really call myself a fan since I had only skimmed some of your novels. That and your first impression wasn’t particularly endearing” I said with a slightly teasing tone at the end.
“Oh, cry me a river. But now that you know firsthand how amazing I can be, what are your thoughts in the present time?”
“Daring Do, I think that you’re an incredible gal. You and I share a propensity for jeering in the face of danger, we both don’t really care for the uppity folks of the Capital, and we can keep calm in tense situations. The times that I’ve really gotten to know you have been real swell… and I’m honored to share a relationship with you” I genuinely explicated as I looked deep into her serene eyes.
“Stop it Zenny! You and your honeyed words are making me blush” She giggled and retreated into herself in that girlish manner which I found incredibly adorable.
“Hey, you did ask me after all” I shrugged, “So how’s your injured shoulder?”
“Not injured anymore!” She happily exclaimed.
“That’s wonderful, so you can summon your wings again?” She nodded.
“May I see them?”
She obliged my request and a beautiful pair of light golden ethereal wings sprouted from her back and fanned out in a wondrous display. Their majestic form wavering and billowing in the light breeze that swept over the deck. I observed them with barely concealed awe, other than my own pair; I hadn’t gotten the chance to observe a Valkyrian’s wings up close for myself. Even though I knew they were physically intangible, it still felt as if they were legitimately feathered wings as I slowly ran my hands across them. I was so caught up with their mesmerizing warmth that I hadn’t noticed the soft cooing noises that my actions were engendering out of Daring. It was right then that a crucial sliver of information popped into my mind reminding me that while a Valkyrian’s wings were insensitive to their own selves, another being’s touch could be clearly felt and was seen as a highly intimate gesture; especially if it was from a member of the opposite sex. I snapped my hands back to my sides and decided to pretend like I didn’t just give her a massage with pseudo erotic undertones.
“Why’d you stop?” Daring whined, she was clearly enjoying herself but I wasn’t ready to go that far just yet.
“I saw what I needed to see. Incidentally, you have very lovely wings with a good span and bright luminescence” I then promptly face palmed. For in my haste to appear nondescript, I had also done something akin to complimenting her rack by admiring her wings.
‘Stupid Valkyrian culture idiosyncrasies!’ I chastised myself for not remembering all of this before my faux pas. Daring didn’t seem to mind; instead she donned a near predatory grin as she slid closer to me.
“That’s awfully sweet of you to say. How bout’ you return the favor and let me see those wonderful crimson appendages of yours hmm?” She asked with a salacious (and admittedly sexy) tone of voice.
I exhaled in forbearance and brought out my wings, the ghostly sensation of their swaying in the breeze assaulting my senses with their mysterious allure. That was before an even more alien sensation of someone caressing a limb that I couldn’t even physical feel breached my mental fortifications and caused me to let out an imperceptible internal rumble that was a groan in reaction to the disarming comfort that Daring’s touch brought. The feeling travelled up and down my spine as if it were electrically charged, something that only intensified as Daring brought both of her hands on my shoulder blades and began massaging them. I didn’t know what it was she was doing to make it feel so relaxing, but I was adrift in a sea of rapturous sensations that took any and all worries I had for the future and evaporated them away like fog in the light of the morning sun. Before I could completely lose myself, the feeling stopped and Daring withdrew her magical grip on my shoulders.
“That feel good?” She asked with a smug voice.
“That was easily the best back massage I’ve ever received” I admitted with a shudder, silently wondering if those areas where the wings projected themselves counted as some kind of quasi erogenous zone.
She brought herself up to my ear and whispered huskily, “Then next time you start something like that, you’d better finish it mister”
I nodded and spoke slowly since I was still reeling from a serious case of the feel goods, “Understood”
“Great!” She clapped her hands together, “And it is definitively nice to have my wings back in action, you wouldn’t believe how many tight spots they’ve gotten me out of”
“Yeah I can believe it, maybe now you won’t have to use me as a carry all anymore” I jested, holding back a few nostalgic chuckles.
“I wouldn’t have counted on it, if it wasn’t for your little errand down in Magiville then you’d be the perfect manservant for my next novel worthy adventure!”
“If that’s the case then I suppose being pressured into learning about this Friendship thing wasn’t all bad” I murmured to myself, “Speaking of which, did you get your latest story to your publisher?” I inquisitively asked, curious as to her next book in the series and how I’d be portrayed.
‘Hopefully not as some kind of butt monkey’ I cringed at the thought. Dee wouldn’t do that to me would she?
“Course I did! Hard Cover really liked this one, spouting something about how it was an interesting change of pace given the radically different environment than my usual treks. And since you were pivotal in our venture’s success, I figured that you deserved to read the first copy”
She fished out a book from the inside of her jacket and handed it to me, I gave the cover a once over and smirked at the image of us dangling over a slippery slope as the train we were on recently derailed and we had to clamber our way back up. It title had the distinctive two tone orange and yellow coloring that only served to remind me just how similar Daring was in aspects to Indiana. She had indeed taken my advice to heart and named it ‘Daring Do and the chase for the Crystal Chalice’. I opened it to find that the inside cover was signed by Daring herself, a few lines of annotation written just below.
To the best boyfriend slash pack mule an adventurer could ever ask for. XOXO, Daring Do.
‘Daww, and here I thought Dee wasn’t the sentimental type’
“What’aya think?” She asked.
“I think… that you’re an incredible girlfriend” I showed her my appreciation with another affectionate kiss, something that was cut short by the sudden ring of the ship’s bell; signaling that we were fast approaching my drop off point. I put the book in my bag and looked over the rails to examine Magiville from up close.
The thatched roofs of the town in the shortening distance reminded me of one of those fairy tale rural German villages of lore. If I wasn’t feeling currently confounded by the bad timing, I would have found the quaint village to be idyllic. The Maverick settled to a stop somewhere over the middle of the town, its inhabitants stopped to gawk at the vessel that momentarily eclipsed the light of the afternoon sun.
I let out a short sigh and turned back to Daring, “I guess our last few moments together are coming to a close”
“We’ll see each other again before long” She said with a soft certainty, “I’ll try and send you letters to keep you apprised of this next quest”
“I’d offer to send return letters, but I don’t believe you have a bottle of dragon fire for that huh?”
“I wouldn’t be able to receive them even if I did, the leylines along which the magic travels outside of Arcania are too weak for it to successfully relay”
“Shame” Was all I could say.
I was about to say goodbye when Daring silenced me with a finger to my lips, “Shh… I don’t do farewells”
She gave me one last kiss, “Keep me in your thoughts okay Zenny? And one last thing before you go”
She whispered something in my ear that I won’t repeat, but it made me recoil in embarrassed shock. My foot got caught in some loose rigging and I tumbled overboard with a shout, stopping in midair with a jerk as I dangled just dozen feet shy of the ground, suspended with only the roping around my ankle preventing my fall.
“Uh…Daring? A little help here?” I meekly uttered back up to the deviously smirking woman.
“Don’t worry, I would never leave the great Zenith hanging” She echoed before she took out a machete like blade and cut me loose with a swift hack.
I fell to the ground with an ‘oomph!’ before the impish woman tossed my stuff overboard and elicited another string of ‘oomphs!’ out of the poor sap lying dazed on the floor, that also happened to be me. She chuckled to herself at the schadenfreude she left me with before departing for lands far beyond the familiar verdant pastures of Arcania. Egressing the skies above Magiville rapidly with full power being sent to the engines. Meanwhile I was content to just lie flat on the coarse gravelly road with my inventory strewn about me, reflecting on the unexpected event that had just transpired. I heard a chorus of concerned sounding voices in the nearby proximity coming closer and closer until it became a cacophonous ring of noise encompassing my prone form.
“You guys see that!? He just fell over the side!” A raspy and tomboyish voice exclaimed out loud.
“Goodness! I hope he’s not hurt” A soft voice spoke in concern.
“He did take quite the spill didn’t he?” A refined and calm mid Atlantic voice said.
“Wowie Zowie! That’s the first time my Pinkie sense went off for a falling person…and it’s somebody I haven’t met before! Do you think he likes parties!?” One of the voices excitedly asked the others, apparently assuming that I was physically okay.
“He looks fine to me” ‘This one’s concern for my well being is touching’
“Hey Twilight, isn’t he the special guest the Princess told you to expect today?” The uncaring younger sounding voice then suggested to the one named after my least favorite book and movie series.
‘Geez, can’t a guy take a dirt nap in peace around here? I mean… the ground has crappy lumbar support, but I’m still processing what that naughty little minx left me to mull over’ I groaned in discomfort, the pebbles of the ground I was lying on were digging into my back.
“I think he’s conscious…” Twilight astutely observed.
Deciding that the time for lazing on the ground was over, my eyes snapped open and were treated to the sight of the main six, sans Applejack and substitute one very human looking Spike staring down at me in various states of interest. Or in Spike’s case, complete lack of interest.
‘Well… so much for first impressions’ I mentally mumbled to myself.
“Are you alright there? You took quite a tumble out of that airship” Twilight spoke to me with care and concern evident in her voice. I responded with my usual flippancy.
“Heh, I see stars” I emitted with an entirely loopy sounding voice.
“I think he might have gotten a concussion from his fall dearies, it certainly didn’t help that whoever this gentleman was traveling with felt it prudent to simply toss his belongings out and leave without checking up on his state of health” Rarity spoke, some derision manifesting in her tone at the end towards the one who she saw toss me out along with the bathwater in her opinion.
“I find it amusing to no end how none of you save for the pink haired one have offered to help me up yet” I said as I took the dainty hand so kindly offered to me by Fluttershy and got back onto my feet. The aforementioned woman blushed and hid behind her long hair as soon as she was mentioned.
“You were perfectly fine!? Why didn’t you tell us that first?” Rainbow Dash angrily demanded, yet instead of immediately answering her; I was caught with how similar she looked to Daring. Were it not for her much lighter skin tone, obvious hair color difference, and casual light blue hoodie and runner’s shorts she was wearing; I could have easily mistaken her silhouette at a distance for my girlfriend’s.
“Well..? We’re waiting” She said with narrowed eyes.
“Because I was legitimately seeing stars” I answered with total truthfulness. Just not the forthright type, since I was stringent like that.
She snorted, clearly not buying it for a single second. “The nerve of this guy! Are you sure he’s the one mentioned in the letter Twilight?” She directed toward the librarian who was reviewing the scroll and casting quick analytic glances my way as she did so.
“He might be, the Princess was awfully vague on this one. ‘Expect him sometime today my dearest student. He will most likely not be what you’re envisioning, but he means well and is most eager to learn about the virtues that friendship entails’
I scoffed to myself at that, earning a few reproachful gazes while Twilight continued reading.
‘In a way his situation was most similar to yours, before you arrived during that fateful day of the Summer Sun celebration. Know that the task I have in mind for you is less harrowing than what is ordinarily expected of the Element's bearers, but will be no less difficult in its undertaking. I have full faith in you my dear Twilight that you shall show Zenith the wonders that you yourself have learned in the past few years’ She lowered the scroll and addressed me.
“So are you Zenith? The one personally sent by the Princess to learn about the values of friendship?”
“Indeed I am, humbly at your service I might add” I gave them the Sith salutation with a slight bow. The gesture seemed lost on most of them minus Rarity, who wore an appreciative smile at the display of propriety.
“Charmed, well I’m going back to the library to finish reorganizing the book shelves Twilight. Lemme know when you finish showing around our latest arrival to crazy town, Fright Night is tonight remember!?” The tweenage looking Spike said with excitement at the end, before excusing himself in the direction of a massive tree that must have been the Magiville public library. Leaving five element bearers with one very bemused Zenith.
“Aren’t there six of you? Where is the one named Applejack? I believe she’s the one who’s fond of always wearing a Stetson hat?” I asked, feigning my ignorance at their names and appearances. I was also a little disappointed that I did not receive the full welcome wagon, the figurative kind that is… Pinkie’s still probably has a tendency of launching cake into people’s faces.
“AJ? She’s busy setting up Magiville’s decorations and activities for Fright Night like she does every year” Twilight explained for me.
“Not to mention supplying all the apples needed for the bobbing tanks” Rainbow added.
“Don’t forget the pumpkins for the catapult and jack’ O lanterns carving contests!” Pinkie energetically added on top of that, a literal bounce in her every step.
‘Maybe she’s wearing moon shoes?’ I humorously mused.
“You’ll meet her later darling. For now, how about we show you around our lovely home and you can indulge us more about yourself in the meantime?” Rarity suggested with a casual flick of her meticulously crafted coiffure.
I shrugged noncommittally, “I’m game. Shall we be off then?” They all voiced their agreement (except for Fluttershy who merely nodded) and they began to corral me about town. With Twilight carrying my things using her magic, which had a lavender colored aura similar to her irises.
Given that it well into the afternoon, there weren’t as many people out walking since most of them were probably preparing to don their costumes for the upcoming celebration. Those that were (the vast majority of them female), started sending inquisitive looks our way, no doubt curious about the latest arrival to their town and my business with the element bearers. They were content with showing me the grand tour and replying to my random questions, while occasionally asking me questions of their own. Although it was clear that they were trying to make small talk with me based on the banality of some of their inquiries. Such as Pinkie’s endless sequence of questions involving whether or not I was a party person and all things involved, telling her that I was more of a person who valued tranquility did little to stop her verbal assault. Which is why I was thankful for when we came across the first part of our jaunt across town, which required Twilight to calm Pinkie down for me.
“This is the Golden oaks town library where I reside and conduct my research, as well as write down the results of my various studies and observations” Twilight explained as we passed the behemoth of a tree-brary, where Spike was currently cleaning the shelves with a duster as seen through the window.
“Regarding what?” I asked, interested in knowing just how into learning this girl was.
She looked at me with an inexplicable gleam in her eye, “Everything” She answered me.
“Yeah yeah, it’s where egghead here does all of her fancy smancy sciencey stuff” Rainbow said dismissively, “Its not nearly as cool as my place though!” She boasted as she stretched in midair, having been afloat the entire time we had been walking.
“I don’t doubt it” I idly commented, already having an idea beforehand as to what her abode looked like.
“Please, you’d need a castle to contain that massive ego of yours Rainbow Dash” Rarity teasingly censured the aerial athlete as we approached another building in a clearing that was shaped like the lovechild of a carousel and a boutique. Lo and behold, it was indeed the Carousel Boutique with its shiny violet and pink-checkered surfaces and other decorations that grated a little harshly on both my eyes and my masculinity.
“This Zenith darling, is both my home and place of business. The Carousel Boutique is an accommodating place where our motto is ‘every garment we sell is chic, unique and magnifique!’ Feel free to stop by anytime you wish to commission an outfit befitting a dashing gentleman such as yourself” She offered with a fluttering of her (totally not fake) eyelash extensions. I slowly wondered if she acted this flirtatiously with all the potential male customers to attract their coin or if she was really that playful.
“I will most assuredly bear that in mind, lady Rarity” I said with another polite inclination of my head. My response prompting a nearly indiscernible squeal of delight out of the classy woman that only my honed Valkyrian hearing could pick up on.
“Oh, how I do look forward to the pleasure of your company! So long as you do not mind standing in one spot while I take your measurements. I like to think that I can measure someone’s size with only a glance, but I also like to make doubly sure and see for myself” She said with plenty of implied double entendre as she bit her lip and peered at me with a sideways peep. Her excess and coquettish body language was to be expected, but seeing it for myself was something that I still wasn’t quite ready to accept, so I played the oblivious man card and pointedly ignored it.
“So what’s next on the tour?” I asked of Twilight, who was unofficially leading this little group of ours.
She was giving it some thought, “Well Sweet Apple Acres is out of town and Fluttershy’s cottage is just as distant” She tentatively explained.
“Ooh ooh! Pick me next! I bet he’ll love to see Sugarcube Corner” Pinkie pounced on the opportunity once Twilight agreed and grabbed my arm before hurriedly dragging me towards her home and workplace. I kind of just tuned her out once she started speaking and focused on not making as much of a scene as I was unceremoniously paraded throughout town by the pink haired energizer bunny. It wasn’t too hard to do since I was normally accustomed to walking fast anyway.
It wasn’t long before I was staring at the building that easily could have been taken right out of the Hansel and Gretel storybook. I knew that it couldn’t have actually been made of candy since that was not only impractical, but structurally unsound as well. Imagine leaving a gingerbread house out in the rain and see if it lasts as long and as in good of a shape as when you started.
“Well, whataya think? Do you like it huh huh!?” The slightly pudgy girl with hot pink cotton candy for hair repeatedly asked me.
“I feel like I need insulin shots just from looking at this place. Do you work here?”
“Uh huh! The Cakes hired me a long time ago!” She enthusiastically nodded.
“How did you know?” She asked, devoid of any suspicions.
“Call it a hunch” I responded with a deadpan delivery as the other girls caught up with us.
“Well, I suppose for now that shall serve as the conclusion to my introduction to town. Did your mentor tell you where I was to be staying during my sojourn here?” I directed to Twilight, who reviewed her scroll once more.
“She commissioned the construction of a residence for you here in Magiville, a cloud house actually. But until it’s built, you’re welcome to stay with us as we educate you about the Arcanian values of Friendship and Harmony. Isn’t that right girls?” An affirmative chorus of ‘yep’ ‘Why of course!’ ‘You betcha!’ and ‘I would love to’ answered her.
“Your welcoming hearts are a refreshing change of pace from that of Concordia. Once more I salute you” I extended my appreciation with another flourish, to which Rarity had to good grace to copy.
“A cloud house huh? So you’re a Valkyrian?” Rainbow Dash guessed as she gave me a look that was telling me that she was appraising me for something.
“Partially correct, I must ask that you keep this particular tidbit of information between us for now. Can you do that for me?” They looked at each other briefly before agreeing. I leaned in towards them like I was about to spill a rather juicy secret.
“I’m not sure why the Princess neglected to notify you of this, but I’m actually a Trifect” This was met with a series of gasps that thankfully did not attract any attention from any bystanders.
“What? No way! The only Trifects are the Princesses!” Rainbow spouted with reasonable disbelief evident in her features.
“Want me to prove it?” I proposed with a knowing smirk.
“Please do” Twilight articulated as she crossed her arms together, clearly she was skeptical of my claim.
“T’woud be my pleasure”
I gathered my mana reserves and commanded it to engulf us all before unleashing it and teleporting us into the interior of the Golden oaks library with a flashy display that was further enhanced by the summoning of my wings, which for some reason had taken on a streaming tendril effect not unlike the angels from the Diablo universe. The five of them, caught off guard by the intensity of the action, had fallen back and were looking upon me with something that bordered fear and awe. Spike, who was also surprised by the sudden activity in the library, lost his balance and fell off the ladder that he was using to dust off the shelves. With swift action, I caught him with my magic and set him down gently before returning my attention to the element bearers.
“Still doubtful?” I asked with as much modesty as I could muster, even though my showmanship was anything but.
“No… I think its safe to say that we believe you now” Twilight hesitantly spoke as she got to her feet along with the rest of her friends, her magical aura on my things was absent and they were once again dispersed about on the floor.
“So Princess Celestia wants me to educate the first male Trifect in history on the wonders of Friendship?” She said with anxiety beginning to seep into her voice.
“Think of it as a once in a lifetime opportunity for the both of us” I nonchalantly remarked as I set about picking my belongings up and dusting them off. Satisfied with their condition, I set them against an empty portion of wooden wall close by. Meanwhile her friends, who were practically shell-shocked from my exhibition, recomposed themselves and decided to speak up.
“My word! This whole time we have been entertaining a Prince and we haven’t shown our proper respects!” Rarity rushed to curtsy but I stopped her from doing so with a raised hand.
“Please don’t, you aren’t any more inclined to pay homage to me than I am to Celestia” I humbly asked of them.
“Princess Celestia” Twilight tried correcting me.
“We’re on a first name basis miss Sparkle, she honestly prefers it that way” Getting a low frustrated growl out of the disgruntled librarian, knowing that I had a point but wanting me to pay full reverence to her beloved teacher despite this.
“Now that I think about it” I held a finger to my chin in retrospection, “So does Luna for that matter, but you have to brave and bypass her abundant wrath first. Afterwards, she’s quite the pleasure to know, definitely the best dreamscaping partner to have in your head”
“You’ve dreamt of Princess Luna?” Spike spoke for the first time since I caught him, no longer sounding as apathetic as when I first met him.
“I’ve done no such thing, I’ve dreamt with Luna. Semantics are important you know?” For some reason Rarity smiled upon hearing that.
“The letter was right about one thing, you really were not what we were envisioning when the Princess told us about you” Twilight ruminatively commented as I made for a conveniently placed beanbag chair and plopped down on it.
“Good to know that I can still subvert most people’s expectations of me” I off handedly remarked as I beckoned my backpack closer with my magic and removing a certain letter and calendar from its contents. I put them down on the coffee table in front of me and called out to Fluttershy, who was busy trying to avoid my line of sight by hiding in a nice corner by one of the bookshelves.
“Oh Fluttershy! You’ve got mail!” I did my best impersonation of the AOL chime.
“Doesn’t Derpy deliver the mail around here?” Rainbow Dash commented, still eyeing me rigorously. I’d have to earn this one’s trust it seemed.
“Derpy doesn’t service the capital city does she?” Rainbow shook her head, “Then she also wouldn’t have been asked by a certain chaotic and discordant bureaucrat to deliver his mail for him as a favor would she?” I rhetorically asserted.
Fluttershy perked up once I emphasized her friend’s name and shuffled closer to table. “Discord asked you to deliver something to me?”
“Yeah, a letter and the extraordinary gift of calendar to one kindhearted animal caretaker” I clarified with a rare smile, which eased her fear of me and she drew near with less hesitance in her step.
Something about Fluttershy and her tenderhearted personality just brought that out in me. This human version of her was not excluded from this unique attribute; in fact I dare say that she amplified what I felt just with her graceful presence. But I would not dwell on those feelings… not now, as it was simply too soon. At any rate, Fluttershy returned my smile and took the items before murmuring a quiet ‘Thank you’ and returning to the background.
Pinkie, who had been oddly silent and motionless, abruptly sprang into the air as if she had made an important realization. She happily let us in on her thoughts… the coherent ones anyway.
“I just realized something! I need to plan your welcome party and make it super duper special! Gotta go!” With that she rushed out the door with a speed that actually shut the wooden portal behind her with its force.
“And I have to put the finishing touches on my costume for tonight’s festivities, ta for now darlings!” And so exited Rarity.
“I should return to my animal friends and read what Discord sent me. Maybe we’ll see each other again later?” Fluttershy asked with that tractable and timid voice.
“Do you partake in Fright Night? I hear it can be quite unsettling for the faint of heart” I asked, with her nervously scraping a foot against the ground as she responded.
“Well… I used to skip out on it every night since I’m easily frightened, but this year the girls convinced me to accompany them and enjoy myself. Even though I’m still scared of Fright Night, I just couldn’t bring myself to say no to them”
“Well that’s very courageous of you. Good on ya’ Fluttershy!” I complimented her, eliciting another furious blush and an ‘eep!’ as she exited out the door in a hurry. Rainbow Dash however must have assumed something untoward of me since she started glaring at me from her spot on the beanbag chair across from me.
“And just what was that? You’re not hitting on Fluttershy now are you?” She angrily interrogated me with a sneer.
“Nope, just giving credit to where it’s due” I paid her as little mind as possible as I took out the hand signed book Daring gave me and began reading it. I could actually see Rainbow’s eyes widen in surprise as she caught hold of the cover.
“Oh my gosh! How did you get your hands on an early copy of Daring Do’s latest adventures? Those don’t hit the shelves until next week!” She exclaimed fervently, clearly dumbstruck with the book that I held firmly in my grasp.
“I’m very well connected” Was my curt yet accurate answer, occupied as I was with reading it. For some reason, Rainbow decided to scoot closer so she could read what I was reading without me noticing. I would have found it cute had it not been so obtrusively nosy.
“I’m a huge fan of Daring Do, she goes on so many awesome adventures and defeats all the villains who try to stop her or get their grubby paws on artifacts of mysterious power and try to take over the world” She said as she was all but pressed against me in order to get a peek into the novel.
“Believe me, I know” I said as I flipped a page with leisure, deliberately stuffing down the memory of what I did to the last villain she faced deep into the recesses of my mental vault. Rainbow seemed frustrated with my lightning fast reading speed because she kept letting out these annoyed sounds every time I flipped a page.
Right now the story was her briefing on an urgent message sent from the Krystal Kingdom detailing the pilfering of the Crystal Chalice. Twilight must have left the room at some point to retrieve something because when she came back, she was carrying a sizable stack of paper to write down notes with.
“Don’t you have somewhere to be Rainbow? I’ve got to use the remaining hours before Fright Night to ask Zenith here some important questions and scour the library shelves”
“Gah! Fine… I need to make sure my costume for tonight is a perfect replica anyway. I guess I’ll see ya’ later egghead!” She said as she zipped out of the door and into the sky blue yonder.
“You’ll have to forgive Rainbow’s temerity, she’s slow to warm up to newcomers” Twilight explained as she set the pile of paper down on the tabletop.
“It’s quite alright Twilight” I said as I closed the book and put it away in order to prepare myself to answer the librarian’s inevitable storm of questions.
“You don’t mind if I ask you a few questions do you?”
“A few?” I dubiously asked as I eyed the large stack of papers she had put together.
“Don’t be fooled by the size of the pile, I’m really only going to ask a few questions or so”
“Ask and I will answer to the best of my ability then”
“Okay then, so while I’m admittedly curious about your status as the most recent Trifect to join the Royal family. My assignment comes first, so I need to ask a few preliminary questions to determine how far along you are in your progression in friendship” I rolled a hand as a signal for her to continue.
“So how many friends have you ever made?”
“In my life?” She nodded, “About as many as you can count on both hands once”
“That’s significantly lower than the average, but it’s still higher than mine when I first came to Magiville. Is your lack of friendships due to being socially awkward or another reason?”
“Lack of interest” She looked genuinely shocked to hear that.
“…Okay… and why would that be?”
“A whole range of reasons, many of them personal. But suffice it to say that I’ve felt like I could live without them for the majority of my life” I explained as I tapped a finger against the fabric of the beanbag.
“It’s certainly…surprising to find someone who legitimately feels that way. We naturally strive for friendships as a way to nurture ourselves and so that we don’t become lonely, and so we can feel like we belong” She reasoned as she lectured me.
“I’ve spent much of my time striving for other things. And there just wasn’t much room for friendships in my life to begin with, something that’s only been compounded with the fact that I am naturally a very taciturn and reserved person”
“Well so is Fluttershy, but she still makes friends a priority in her life” Twilight countered.
“Fluttershy is also terrified of winding up alone. Tell me, does she have many actual friends beyond you and the other element bearers?” I questioned her.
“Well, erm… none that I know of” She shook her head, “How would you even know that anyway!? She hasn’t told anyone outside of her friends and family”
“I could see it in her eyes” I answered enigmatically, ‘That and you just confirmed it for me’
“We’re getting off topic here. If you’re really not interested in making friendships then why did you come here? Surely you must have felt some inner need to reach out and connect with others” She spoke with an almost pleading tone.
“I came here because your precious mentor all but forced me to… and don’t call me Shirley” I added as I crossed my arms together in a defiant pose.
“It is becomingly increasingly evident that I have my work cut out for me” She exhaled with a tired sigh before getting up from her seat.
“Well now that I’ve asked you what I needed to, I need to finish cleaning up the library with Spike before joining the girls for Fright Night. Since you don’t seem have a costume, I guess you can just stay here and read whatever you feel like”
“Is Spike a hybrid by any chance?” My unanticipated question stopping the librarian dead in her tracks.
“What?” She automatically ejected.
“If I recall correctly, he has an ability that allows you to send letters directly to the Princess, like the dragons yes? So then why does he appear to be human instead of a drake?” She gave me a strange look before finally answering me.
“Well… to make a long story short, when I had to hatch an egg to get into Princess Celestia’s school for gifted Magi; I kind of had a magical outburst that must have somehow fused the substance of my being into the egg because when it hatched there was a newborn child in its confinements”
“Huh… so does that make you his mother or his big sister?”
“Err… both. Spike is one of the most unique humans to ever walk this planet because of the events of that one momentous day. Which incidentally is also when I earned my mana mark along with my friends” She showed me, the image of a bright starburst with five smaller stars emblazoned on each hand.
“Neat. So is there anything I can do to help speed along the process of cleaning up the library? I wouldn’t want to come off as some kind of lazy bum you know?”
“That’s very considerate of you to offer, but you’ve no need to help out. Besides, Spike and I have this work synchronicity that can be easily interrupted by the introduction of a third member”
I shrugged, “Suit yourself then” I retrieved my book and resumed browsing its pages. The next few hours passed by in what felt like half the time as I was drawn into the story, Twilight and Spike having left long before to go out and have fun ‘trick or treating’. Despite having been there in person to experience most of it, there was something about the third person point of view that made it feel like watching a movie with luxurious descriptions paid to all details. It was also uplifting to see Daring’s thought processes as she adjusted to me and eventually developed a respect that she felt could blossom into something more. From the way she embellished my mediocre deeds in the story, you’d think that she was doting on me through the pages themselves. I swore to myself that the next time I saw her I would properly show her just how mutual the attraction was. Eventually the story ended on a hopeful note as she sailed back for the capital city with her new partner at her side.
I looked out the window to see that darkness was beginning to settle on the town of Magiville as people and their younger siblings or offspring prepared to go around collecting sweets to satisfy their gullets, while also saving some to offer to the statue of the Night Terror in order to fend off any ill fortunes. While I found it to be incredibly superstitious just like Halloween’s origins, I also liked the prospect of potentially stuffing my face with sweets. And I wasn’t about to let a small aspect like the lack of a costume stop me, but first I needed to find a mirror. I shut the book and put it away along with my things before I ascended the curved stairs leading to Twilight’s room. Sure enough, there was a large mirror right next to a dresser in the proximity of Twilight’s bed on the loft. It didn’t take much thought for me to come up with a blood chilling idea for what I would go out into the night as. I brought out my magic and cast an illusion spell on myself, the afterimage from the spell’s flash slowly fading away to reveal…the dark knight.
“You know something? This costume only inspires fear in the bad guys. I want something that could cause people to cry tears of blood at the sheer dread it’s image will provoke, just not too literally”
I poured a lot of magical energy into this next spell before I recast the illusion charm on my body. It didn’t cause any physical changes since it was only a perception altering spell, but the form before me turned jet black before elongating into something that was gut wrenchingly spindly and very tall, stretching beyond the reflection of the mirror. I angled the mirror up and stepped back so I could see gaze upon the sickening creation I had brought into the world, it wore a professional looking suit with a blood red tie and had tendril like projections protruding out of its backside. These blackened tendrils actually turned out to be my wings taking on that fluttering effect again. I was indeed looking at the split image of the slender man of creepypasta mythos, except for one minor alteration… it had no mask. Instead the grotesque pallid face of a monster not unlike a necromorph stared back at me, its jaws were unhinged and its rotted tongue slithered over needlelike serrated teeth.
It may have been my imagination, but I could have sworn that its eyes were gazing upon my very soul as if it were something that it desperately wanted to devour. I shrugged it off as mild paranoia (although my illusion did not copy this gesture) and began my second set of spells; one was another perception alteration that caused a feeling akin to the noise of buzz saw to assault one’s senses while the other played the ‘twenty dollars’ song. I modified it so whoever dared looked upon the illusion would experience one or the other or even both depending on how resistant to scares they were. I figured that the combination of scary and uncanny would be enough to have even fully grown men wet themselves in fear. I gave myself a once over by rotating in place, with the illusion drifting in a way that gave it the impression of phasing in and out of existence.
Satisfied with the appearance of my ‘costume’ I set out to cause some horror and wreak some terror … and maybe obtain a few candies while I was at it. After hastily scribbling together some haunting and unsettling pages from memory, I opened the door to Twilight’s balcony and stepped outside, the chill breeze of the nightly autumn air rushed over my skin and would have given me goose bumps were it not for my Valkyrian resilience. I stood on the balcony deck and observed the going on’s below.
Fright Night was in full swing, children scampered around while knocking on doors and holding their candy sacks out before uttering the mantra ‘Fright Night, what a night! Give us something sweet to bite!’ instead of the ‘trick or treat!’ from back home. In the town square was a whole compilation of recreational stands having been set up to receive people and engage them in interesting activities such as bobbing for apples, jack o’ lantern carving, pie eating contests for some reason, and my personal favorite; the pumpkin launching catapult range.
‘Aww man, they have pumpkin chunkin’ here!? Maybe… after I’ve had my fun from scaring the piss outta people’
I did spy a small gaggle of people being led into the fringes of the Neverfree forest, (presumably to visit the statue of Luna as the Night Terror) consisting of younger adults instead of the usual kiddies. I maniacally rubbed my hands together before taking flight, my newly blackened wings carrying me with an urgency to play some sinister prank scares on some unsuspecting sheeple. I landed by the forest’s edge and shadowed the group for a few minutes before being led into a forest clearing with the statue of an armored woman with a nearly blank face mask, save for the midnight black eye slits that served as the eyes, standing silently as if lording over the foggy emptiness. They stopped close to its base before the one leading them, a woman wearing a rather sexy looking devil costume complete with pitchfork came to the fore of the gaggle and began to speak. I half listened while I stuck the pages to the trees surrounding them using their sticky sap as adhesive.
“And this my fellow Magivillians is the statue of the feared Night Terror,” The crowd gasped as they gazed upon the intimidating looking statue with barely concealed unease, as if there was a sense of foreboding emanating from its stony surface. Given what I was going to put them through, they may very well have been correct in that assumption.
“On every anniversary of this night, we bring offerings to this stone effigy of the Night Terror so we can appease it and keep other evil spirits from invading our lives and consuming us” She lay down a small bag full of sweets at the base of the statue in accordance with her words, her actions were mirrored by the rest of the group as they each offered up a sum of sweets to the indifferent sculpture.
Knowing that my time to stalk was now, I rapped on the bark of a tree nearest to the clearing’s occupants and slapped another paper to a sticky surface on its exterior before cloaking myself. The sudden noise caused all four women in the group of six to jump in surprise and for the two guys in the group to look around themselves in serious apprehension.
‘God, this will almost be too easy’
The bravest member in the group slowly walked towards the tree and tore the paper off the tree before reading it aloud ‘Don’t look, or it takes you’. I smiled and summoned the sound sphere to play the ambience theme to Slender in the background, its ceaseless and rhythmic pounding beat setting their hearts aflutter and testing the integrity of their mental fortitude. This served to further spook the group who started huddling together as more pages began manifesting themselves in their line of sight where the forest wasn’t as shrouded by the fog. And just like a trail of breadcrumbs, they began to gravitate towards them, doing their best to stay together and not get separated. I grinned to myself at their admirable effort, but it wouldn’t take much to break them all up and pick them off one by one. I started uncloaking in the peripherals of their vision and recloaking just as one of them would notice me, intermittently at first, but I upped the frequency once their morale started to crumble with every page collected.
One girl in a mummy costume figured that her nerves were frayed enough and broke off from the main group in a mad sprint out of the forest and straight into the thickest sections of fog. I froze her movement with a paralysis spell before phasing behind her and turning her around to look upon me, the blood all but drained from her face as she gazed up into the ravenous eyes of my apparition and the second spell set took effect. She let out a bloodcurdling shriek of fear before I teleported her out of the Neverfree and somewhere back in Magiville. I revisited the main group to see that they were visibly sweating and hyperventilating from hearing their companion’s wail so loudly before being suddenly cut off.
Normally my mana reserves would have been stretched to their limits by now, but I still had plenty of energy to spare. Perhaps I was actually feeding off of their distress? I had no more time to think on it before another member tried to make off into the fog, I caught her and did the same thing as I did to the first girl; making her scream like a banshee before silencing her. The remaining four anxiously chattered amongst themselves before prying as many of the pages off the trees as they could find, as if believing that it would somehow save them. In response, I merely intensified the daunting magnitude of the ambience enveloping them and turned their normally cautious movements into frantic scurrying.
They couldn’t collect all of the pages as a group since I spread them appropriately, which allowed me to single them out one by one and flash them away until only the devil costumed chick was left. She found a pit in between the two thick roots of a tree to curl up in and began to cry softly, talking to herself and apologizing to her friends for leading them to their supposed deaths. I should have felt sympathy for this poor girl and cut my nefarious prank short, yet something in the back of my mind was entreating me to persist and finish this little game of cat and mouse. I used my magic to disperse the surrounding fog near the tree and revealed myself to the petrified girl, who slowly looked at the sinister moonlit shadow that I cast on her and hesitantly spoke, choking back a few sobs.
“W-why did you still take them? Didn’t we c-collect all of the pages?”
I leaned in closer to her before speaking in a bone rattling voice that should have set off some alarms of my own.
She looked into my ‘face’ and screamed with all of her lungpower, I would never forget the primal fear that I saw in those eyes, nor would I ever forget how delectable it was. I sent her away like the others and made my way back to the clearing where a large dropped pile of candy that was left behind was awaiting me. I was about to give myself a pat on the back for prank well played and reward myself to some sugar when I heard rustling in the foliage far behind me, along with some hushed but wary voices.
“Are you certain this is such a wise idea Twilight? From the way they were frenetically describing it, this sounds like a monster that we are woefully unprepared to face. Not to mention that I always feel the need to bathe for weeks afterwards every time we enter this positively dreadful forest”
“Relax Rarity, the elements haven’t failed us before and they aren’t about to start doing so now. This could be a serious threat to the town and it’s our job… nay our duty as heroines and defenders of Arcania to go out and vanquish it” Twilight justified as they came closer to my position. I could have included them in my little game of hide and seek but there was something holding me back, anchoring me to that spot and waiting for them to come find me.
“Now hold on an apple pickin’ second, what did they say this critter looked like again Twa’light?” An accented voice I recognized as Applejack’s spoke up.
“Not a critter from the sounds of it, they said that it looked more like an extremely tall and slender man” I couldn’t hold back a spine tingling chuckle at hearing that.
“Did you guys hear that!?” Rainbow Dash exclaimed and alerted the others, leading the group into the clearing where I was standing... menacingly.
“Oh look, the scary monster likes candy! That’s so funny!” Pinkie pointed out before giggling loudly to herself.
I joined in with her, vocalizing a soul rending, deep flanging laughter that pierced the night and shut Pinkie up quite expeditiously. I twisted in place to leer upon my newest prey. Applejack was dressed up as a scarecrow and was wielding a large claymore, which looked very out of place on her person. Twilight was dressed as some other historical figure that nobody in town would recognize. Fluttershy, who was hiding behind Applejack the whole time, was wearing a tree costume and shaking so hard that the fake branches were rattling. Pinkie Pie was dressed up as a candy pirate for pinkie reasons. Rarity was wearing something that made her look like a sultry version of the grim reaper (Reaper Rarity is sexy Rarity). And Rainbow Dash was dressed up as Daring Do in her usual safari outfit. She had put on a gray-scaled wig to cover the difference in hair color; again I found her bizarre resemblance to my girlfriend to be almost eerie. One thing they all had in common however, were those colorful necklaces and Twilight’s tiara. The Elements of Harmony could put a permanent ban on my fun and were probably even the reason why my terrorizing spells had no visible effect on them. I growled at this new threat and rigidly prepared to dispose of it.
“Sweet Celestia! What is that abomination!?” Rarity screeched and pointed at me, or my mirage’s mangled suit and tie (it was hard to tell with her).
“I don’t know and I ain’t keen on finding out, ready to activate the elements gals?” Applejack communicated with her friends as she stared at me in defiance and poorly hidden disgust.
They all voiced their readiness in a chorus of affirmatives and stood firm (even Fluttershy, who was emboldened by the bravery of her friends). I prepared to strike but that mysterious and yet intimately familiar entity at the back of my mind kept me anchored to that very spot, I snarled in fury at my inability to trounce my opponents and bellowed into the forum of my mind.
‘Why am I being held back!? I must consume them lest they destroy me!’ The ghoulish voice beseeched.
‘You’re not consuming anybody, this act has gone on long enough’ My real voice responded.
‘You would betray your own self and let us both be obliterated!?’ It roared in vexation and bewilderment.
‘You are NOT me. I was never a malevolent being that would continue to play mind games with someone who may very well be scarred for life, this little charade is over. I don’t know how you came into existence without me noticing sooner, but I do know that the cleansing powers of the Elements will rectify all of this… so I believe I’ll take my chances’ Was my cold response, revolted with just how far gone I had let myself become.
The six women formed up and closed their eyes in focus. When they opened them again, their eyes were blazing with power so potent that searing white light poured out of them, bright enough to make a searchlight look dim in comparison. They were lifted off of the ground by that same power and the magical energies swirled and coalesced around them before being sent towards me in a tidal wave of colorful light.
‘I just wanted to reap the fear we had sown’ The other hellish voice whimpered.
‘You succeeded’
Whatever it was that was possessing me let out a final howl of despair before the harmonic wave of pure magic collided with us and we knew no more.
⁂
I was only half awake or half aware of the flowing tingly energy suffusing into my psyche and splitting off into aspects of alternating colors that represented my personality and memories as I stood in an endless void of white. It was a lot like being immersed in an ocean of feeling and emotions, only these emotions were not mine, instead they felt like the distinctive sentiments of other beings; particularly those of the six women who had inundated me with the full might of Harmony.
I perceived the academic dedication and childlike wonder of Twilight, who was forever indebted to the five friends who had changed her life in ways she still couldn’t fully comprehend even after years of knowing them, how they inspired something in her that was so powerful that it could only be described as magic. I experienced Pinkie’s endless glee and the desire to spread it across all realms. I felt Applejack’s humble love for family and home and her unequivocal belief that you should be true to yourself and others around you. I glimpsed Rarity’s vision for better and brighter world and her aspiration to share that vision with everyone. I was made to understood Rainbow’s unwavering faithfulness to her friends and every person who had done right by her and who she would respond to in kind. Speaking of kindness, I could sense it pulsing off of Fluttershy like a life saving beacon in a sea of uncertainty and doubt; holding me in its warm embrace and promising me that everything would be okay in the end.
I saw myself for who I was, who I currently am, and who I could be. I saw myself undergo various shifts in spirit as I reviewed the many experiences in my life that made the person that I was at that fixed point in time. I saw myself at my worse… and I saw myself at my best, I even saw myself through the eyes of others. I envisioned myself releasing my true potential, and the six people who would assist me in achieving that goal. All of this passed in the blink of an eye, my reviewing the contents of my heart of hearts, my resolution to become more than what I am, and my willingness to face this new life of mine with a new fire burning strong in the core of my being.
And with that, I stepped out of the light and into the waiting world once more.
⁂
I emerged from the brilliant light of Harmony a changed man, whereas before I wasn’t exactly avid on being educated on the finer qualities of friendship, I wasn’t as resistant to the idea anymore. Especially if it meant finding myself unexpectedly enfolded in a couple of cushiony hugs, graciously provided by the two pink hairs of the main six. I stood there with an ambivalent grin that resulted in wrinkled lines on my face, as both Pinkie and Fluttershy smothered their faces with the chest fabric of my shirt.
“Ladies, while I know that some could consider my charms to be magnetic, is there a particular reason for this entwinement?”
“I’ve never met anybody who hasn’t flashed a genuinely happy smile for so long in my entire life! And I Pinkie Promise you that I will do everything in my power to fix that mister!” She unlatched from me to do the gestures and show just how determined she was to get me to smile again.
“You’ve been alone for so long despite being surrounded by so many people, all because so many have spurned you that you’re afraid of opening up to anyone ever again. No one should ever feel that way… I’m always here if you need me” Fluttershy informed me with a smile that could melt the coldest of hearts and resuscitate new life into the dead tissue underneath.
“I… appreciate that… both of you” I ditheringly uttered, taken as I was with their phenomenal selflessness.
“Who is this fella Twa’light? I could’a swore that were facing a monster not two minutes ago” Applejack confusedly remarked to Twilight who was staring at me.
“He was the guest that was mentioned in Princess Celestia’s letter”
“Call me Zenith!” I said with a wave, “I wish the circumstances of our first meeting had been a little more favorable, but I’ve been flubbing first impressions all day today”
“What was that awful thing beguiling you anyhow? Its suit was all manners of atrocious!” Rarity exclaimed.
“Ugly too” Rainbow added as she began circling me while airborne, making sure I wasn’t still a threat I guess.
“You don’t want to know, needless to say that we shouldn’t dwell on it ever again” I answered, wanting to put that failing of mine in the past where it belonged.
“That creature was using some kind of trepidation evoking magic, I’ve never seen anything even remotely similar except for Sombra’s mental trap door in the depths of the Crystal Citadel” Twilight noted out loud.
“That’s because I was the one responsible for casting the spells involved in its creation,” I held up a hand to quiet their shocked outbursts and let me continue explaining, “I got a little bit bored in the library after I finished reading my book and the sounds of every person outside frolicking about and just having a great time were just too enticing for me to ignore. However, since I was lacking in a costume I decided to create one of my own using an illusion spell of my own making before going out to have some fun”
“If that was just an illusion, then why did you let us utilize the elements on you instead of just dropping the act?” Twilight questioned my actions.
“Because my illusory ‘act’ had taken on a mind of its own, I wasn’t even aware of this until my Fright Night pranking scheme had went too far for my tastes and I couldn’t get myself to stop. I figured that keeping myself immobile and being rinsed with the power of the elements was as good a plan as any to restore control over my own actions”
“Don’t you know that you could have just as easily been turned to stone as cleansed!?” Twilight harshly reprimanded with a stamp of her heel.
“Well it was either that or slowly become an unwilling passenger in my own body while some monster uses my powers to cause havoc” I shot back.
“Wowie, it was scary too! The creepy way it laughed back at me when I tried to giggle it away made my heart rate skyrocket!” She punctuated the statement by jumping higher in the air than should have been possible for a non-Valkyrian.
“All things considered, what I do know is that I’ve had a long day, what with giving Blueblood a royal beat down, moving to a new town, being possessed by my own illusion, and bearing the full brunt of being blasted with the friendship cannon… I’m quite exhausted” I heaved a fatigued sigh.
“You did what to Blueblood!?” Rarity exclaimed with a shout.
“I beat the stuffing out of Blueblood, the guy forced me into a duel with him in order to seize my title and all the privileges that come with it. That blew up in his face and now I’m extorting him into becoming something resembling a decent human being by holding his lost title over him and making the wretch earn it back” I explained with an amused smirk, proud of that one achievement.
“Oh you must tell me more about it later! I absolutely abhor that pathetic excuse for a man! Let alone a Prince!” Rarity enthusiastically implored of me, to which I agreed with a nod.
“Heh, any guy that would whale on the scumbag that mistreated Rarity is fine by my standards” Rainbow said with an approving thumbs up.
“What about all those people that you- I mean the illusion frightened?” Twilight inquired of me next.
“I think it’s a bit too soon to go find them and apologize doncha’ think? I probably scared them half to death! Especially the girl in the devil getup” I murmured at the end, feeling ashamed at the suffering that I caused her.
“Her name’s Golden Harvest, but most people just call her Carrot top!” Pinkie told me as we walked through the forest and back in the direction of the town.
“Then I’ll be extra certain to make it up to Carrot top in the future, just not tonight” I assured them all.
“Okay then, just so long as you do it. I’ve never seen anyone look so haunted before” She muttered mostly to herself, inadvertently rubbing salt in the wound while she was at it.
Once we got back to town, the element bearers escorted me back to Twilight’s place. Of course, that meant cutting through Town Square where I saw the painful image of Carrot top being surrounded by her group of friends as she bawled her eyes out. People around them were warily murmuring amongst themselves as they saw only the element bearers return, while I had cloaked myself again to avoid arousing the people’s ire. Whispering to the others that it was for the best that no one beyond the one’s I’ve wronged know who it was that terrorized them so thoroughly, to which they hesitantly agreed. An initially reluctant Applejack eventually relented too once she realized that putting this whole sordid affair behind us was in everyone’s best interest. We reached the entrance to the library and the group said their farewells while Twilight and I crossed the threshold inside. She led me to her basement where she had set up a guest bed next to her jumbled laboratory equipment. I flopped onto it and was about to drift off without another word when Twilight spoke up.
“Only Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie were granted a veritable window into your life, but I was able to sense a change in your overall mood once the elements finished doing their work. Mind telling me what changed?”
“I’m actually willing to give this friendship thing a shot” I answered as I drew the sheets over my body.
“Really? That’s great!” She exclaimed happily.
“M’hmm” Was my eloquent response.
“Well, good night then Zenith” She said as she climbed the stairs and just before she shut off the lights.
“Goodnight Twilight”
I lazily bid her farewell with a yawn before gradually drifting off to sleep, my last thoughts being about the poetic irony of becoming the latest crazy thing to happen to the town of Magiville.
