Chapter One: Physical
The dark Unicorn made his way through the underground tunnel, a few small stones set in the walls lighting his path in a soft blue light. Looking around at the walls, he noted that they were almost completely smooth, as though they had been carved with the most delicate of strokes as they came to a curve as they leveled with the ground.
Before long, the Unicorn came to a sliding door with a fountain-like recess in the wall that had accumulated a natural collection of clear, clean water that showed his reflection. Taking a moment to view himself in the pool of water, he straightened his dark-and-darker red mane as his horn alighted in the black glow of his magic. Now finished with his preening, the deep-gray coated Unicorn looked the reflection in the mismatched red and blue eyes as he steeled himself.
The door began to open as it glowed with the blackened touch of his magic, revealing the slightly brighter room ahead with a domed ceiling and a few stone columns, some natural and some carved. As the door behind him closed, a ball of fire hurtled towards him.
The dark Unicorn leapt into the air, his horn alighting as he spread his magic around him, an imperceptible field of the aura dancing across everything in the surrounding area as the fireball crashed into the door as it barely managed to close in time.
Through the field of his magic, the dark Unicorn could feel something moving around the cave, though it was moving in such a way that it could not be traced as it appeared and disappeared in a seemingly spontaneous pattern. As he was trying to predict the movements of the creature who had attacked him, a voice echoed through his mind.
’I have been waiting for you, Ace. I do hope that you do not mind that I have taken the initiative in this lesson…’ the female voice reverberated in his mind before another fireball pulsed through the air towards him, seeming to materialize out of thin air.
’Not at all. ‘Tis the sign of a great teacher to allow their student to learn at their own pace,’ Ace called back through the telepathic link as he used his horn to harness the magic of the slow projectile, causing it to fizzle out just before it would have collided with him.
Using the energy from the absorbed spell, he waited until he felt the opponent’s gaze fall upon him before releasing the energy in a blinding flash of light as he closed his eyes, using only his magical senses to feel around the room as they flooded his mind with details of his aggressor, as well as their surroundings.
In light of his effort, the enemy was blinded and stumbled for only a few steps before it again disappeared from his magical sight. Ace attempted to trace the spell his opponent had used to escape, but could not as there was no magical residue – excess magic that is normally left behind as too much magic is used to cast a spell.
Ace again opened his eyes as he looked around the arena of a room for sign of the creature, but even with his magical senses, he could not detect the foe. However, it was quite apparent that they could see him, as Ace felt a spell being cast behind him.
Out of reflex, Ace jumped and spun around to better view the spell, though he had jumped too soon as the spell that was cast had a homing element mixed in with it, causing it to turn towards him as he was propelled helplessly in the air. To evade the blow, Ace flash-teleported away, causing it to lose track of him as he appeared on the other side of a pillar, making the spell collide with the ceiling.
Before Ace could even finish releasing a sigh of relief, another spell seemed to appear out of nowhere in front of him. Taking no time to assess the spell, Ace absorbed the magic into his own, and used the energy to cast a revealing spell around the area from whence it came.
The spell had succeeded insomuch that it allowed Ace a small glance at a pair of lavender hind-hooves that were accompanied by a disembodied gasp of shock before the entity flash-teleported away again, though Ace could now track the pony in his magical senses.
Doing exactly that, Ace flash-teleported himself behind her and cast the revealing spell once more, this time hitting directly. Whatever glamour spell the lavender Unicorn had been using dissipated almost immediately, revealing her lavender coat in full, as well as her dark blue, violet and rose mane and tail. Not only her body came into view, but her amethyst eyes and glowing horn revealed themselves, the latter being used to teleport a single-bladed sabre to hoof with a rosy flash of light.
Muttering a short curse under his breath, Ace teleported a short sword of his own to block her coming attack as she leapt at him, sliding back a few inches as his hooves scraped along the stone of the cavern. Once he had come to a stop and regained his footing, he sidestepped the attack as he used his blade to guide hers to the ground before turning with a flourish to strike her from behind.
As his sword whistled through the air, his foe pivoted on a back hoof to evade the blow as Ace’s momentum set him off-balance before he could recover, creating an opening as the sabre made its way towards him in a circular motion.
Ace discarded his weapon and rolled to the side, dodging the attack but leaving him unarmed as he snarled at the foe with an animalistic growl that shook her nerves for the slightest of moments. Making use of this, he charged at her and rammed his shoulder against her chest, knocking not only the wind from her lungs, but also the sabre from her hoof as she backpedaled.
As swift as he could, Ace took the sword from her weakened grasp before sweeping around and reclaiming his weapon in his other hoof. A look of fear crossed the Unicorn’s features as Ace prepared to dive at her in another violent assault.
The opponent’s eyes winced shut at his approach as her horn alit once more, teleporting herself elsewhere in the cave. Ace’s hooves slid across the floor once again as he assessed his surroundings in his magical senses, finding the mare as his horn glowed black in a flash-teleport of his own.
Ace appeared in front of her, just over her head, as he swung down upon her with both of the blades. However, the mare had teleported another weapon to hoof – another sabre – and blocked the attack as her horn began to glow. Ace kicked off the Unicorn’s chest just in time to watch a flurry of icy needles soar past his head as he flipped backwards through the air.
When he had landed, the mare was already charging at him, blade first as her horn continued to glow. With little time to react to the attack, Ace quickly erected a barrier with his magic as he prepared to counter the physical attack with his own weapons. The mare leapt into the air, her hoof raising above her head as she neared him, but as Ace rose a blade to parry, she flash-teleported.
Ace’s horn was alight again as a curse escaped his muzzle. The barrier that surrounded him become much denser, deflecting the physical attack as the mare collided with it. Turning around, Ace watched as the mare climbed to the top of the solid shield, taking a deep breath and closing her eyes as her horn started to glow.
Ace continued to watch, confused, as the enemy Unicorn leapt into the air; his expression changed to shock as she pulled back her blade and started to fall horn first into the obstruction. Ace quickly pulled back one hoof as he prepared an attack of his own, the other sword awaiting by his side to counter hers.
The mare landed horn first against the barrier, causing a loud thundering sound to crash through the cave as the shield began to crack and shatter beneath her horn, enhanced and strengthened by her magical power. As she broke through, she started to swing her blade in a wide arc that threatened to decapitate her foe.
Ace blocked her sword with his spare as his knees buckled under her strength and her weight, now suspended only by their swords fighting for dominance as his weapon began to crack beneath the force. With her exposed, Ace swung his sabre and laid the blade against her throat.
“You have grown strong, dearest Twilight, but your aggression leads you only on the path of defeat,” Ace said as Twilight swallowed hard against the sword that threatened her.
Ace discarded the blade as gravity finally caught up with Twilight, Ace catching her as she fell, causing all three of the blades to clatter against the stone floor of the cave.
“Nevertheless, that was a very impressive maneuver, my student. I don’t remember teaching you such reckless behavior,” he said, half-impressed and half-scolding.
Twilight Sparkle landed into his hooves before lowering herself to the ground with a nod of thanks, a soft blush and a smile gracing her features. “I didn’t intend to use it, really… I learned the technique for using one’s horn to breach barriers in one of the books from your library, and it just sort of… fit the situation.”
Ace nodded with a smile as he teleported their weapons away. “Well I can definitely support the idea that it fit the situation, but your primary concern should have been disarming me, as I had you at a disadvantage,” he said before the smile faded and his tone became that of a mentor. “I would not have had the advantage if you had not faltered and lost control of your weapon, however.”
Twilight shied away with a nod as she reflected on the short moment of weakness. “I know, it’s just… that growl of yours is incredibly imposing, and it always catches me off-guard. It wouldn’t work for anypony else-“ she managed before Ace placed a hoof over her muzzle.
“Your opponent will use any weakness you allow, my student,” he said as he lowered the hoof and started making for the door at the far end of the arena. “I know that I can make you hesitate, and so I do so when I need. You must always be wary of any trick your foe will employ, and my voice is a very simple one; anypony else may do the same thing.”
Twilight started to follow behind him with a soft sigh. “Maybe, but still… We’ve been together for nearly three months now, so I have a hard time remembering just how… imposing you can be.”
Ace shook his head once as Twilight came alongside him. “We have discussed this matter while we were making this small arena, remember?” he said before looking at her. “Here in this cave, we are not one another’s special someponies: we are enemies - only for the sake of training, of course.”
Twilight nodded that she remembered as her horn lit in her magic as she opened the door at the far end of the cave, which revealed a small spring of water they had found as they were excavating the cave, now serving as their own personal bath after their training sessions.
The soft, blue lights that lit the cave danced across the surface of the water elegantly as it rippled from the droplets of water that fell from the small stalactites overhead. Twilight started to move towards the edge of the water, wishing to take a small drink before wiping the sweat from her face after the brief battle.
With little warning aside from a short chortle of laughter, Ace body checked her, causing her to gasp sharply before submerging into the water with a loud splash, her hooves landing on the floor of the pool moments later, the cool water rising up to surround her as her coat and mane fanned out. She pushed against the floor of the pool, leading her back to the surface. As her head breached the water, she took in a sharp inhalation of air before glaring at Ace.
Ace, still laughing lightly, had taken the sleeve off his left hoof and was already leaping into the water as he tucked himself into the shape of a ball. Twilight had only enough time to close her eyes as she looked away before he splashed into the water.
Once Ace had come up, Twilight looked at him with a playful glare as he laughed all the louder. “You looked like you could use a short dip,” he said before Twilight’s glare melted away into a smile at the small trick. “Wouldn’t want to show up back in town all sweaty, would we?”
“No, I suppose not,” she said with a laugh before splashing him in the face, causing a long battle of splashing to ensue.
After they had finished playing around in their private pool, they both crawled back onto solid ground as Ace teleported a fluffy white towel for them to share, taking only a moment to dry his own face before helping towel her down.
While it was true that either of them could dry themselves with their magic, Twilight admired that Ace often preferred to take a much more… personal approach to things, his hooves carrying the thick fabric over her body to collect the moisture. His gaze lingered for a moment as he admired her cutie mark – a large, violet six-pointed star with white points at each of the corners in the center of five smaller, white six pointed stars.
Twilight took the opportunity to steal the towel from him as she started to repay the favor in kind, her hooves carrying the dampened fabric over him as well, though her gaze mimicked his as she lingered over his cutie mark as well. His emblem, as he called cutie marks, was that of a dark-gray hoof grasping a white one, as though somepony had fallen and needed help, the pair silhouetted by the full moon.
When Ace noticed her staring at his flank, the towel pausing over his body, he smiled and playfully nudged her with his left hoof, causing the black mass that covered it to brush over her as she budged. In response, she took the hoof into her own as she caressed it.
Twilight felt sad that Ace always had to wear the sleeve over his afflicted hoof, though she understood it was for everypony’s safety. On its own, the pre-magic that coated him was harmless – adhering to him after a failed experiment some months ago, attempting to drain the magic from him as it started to glow with a few white lights.
However, if somepony else were to use magic too close to the black goo when Ace did not have the sleeve, crafted from fibres treated with anti-magic stone powder, then the goo would leap from him and latch onto them, preventing them from using magic altogether.
Twilight’s hoof traveled up the amorphous mass that felt a bit like gooey, uncooked batter until she came to the scar tissue that separated the pre-magic from his flesh. Where the pre-magic touched there was just a solid, straight line all around the hoof that acted as a barricade to protect the runic words beyond.
The words were not the common Equestrian Twilight had grown up with, but rather the Al Bhed language that Ace knew as a foal. The intricate curves of the language made the scar more alluring than grotesque as the letters did not resemble common Equestrian, yet she had learned to read them all the same: ‘Hu sykel ouhtan’, or ‘No magic yonder’ in her language.
The runic letters were not the only signs of his heritage as her eyes wandered up to meet his multi-colored gaze, his left eye being a solid red as the pupil swirled from the center out to the edge, making a spiral through the red iris. The spiral was the trademark signature of an Al Bhed – a technology driven race who shun magic. Normally, an Al Bhed’s eyes were green, but Ace’s one red eye denoted him as a half-blood who carried powerful magic.
Ace leaned towards her, pressing his muzzle against hers in a tender kiss as their eyes slid closed. After they parted, Twilight helped Ace replace the sleeve as his horn alighted, preparing to teleport the two of them away, out of their private, softly lit cave.
Ace and Twilight emerged from a dark flash of light in the upstairs bedroom of their small little home in Ponyville, the first floor being a library that had more books than shelves. No sooner than Twilight recovered her senses after the teleport, a pink pony with a tangled mane of a darker pink poked her head over the top of the stairs.
“Hey Acey!” the pink pony said when she caught sight of the pair. “Did you two just get home? That sure is lucky; I just got here!” Ace nodded with a smile as he and Twilight turned to face the manic pony.
“That we did, Pinkie,” Ace said as she started to bounce around the room, looking over the single, circular bed the pair shared. “Did you need something?”
Pinkie picked up a doll that looked remarkably similar to Ace and started to play with it before turning to answer the question. “Well actually I wanted to ask what you were going to do about the Acey-going-away-tomorrow-night party,” she said as she made the toy dance around on a pillow stage. “I mean, we haven’t even discussed how many balloons we’re going to blow up, let alone what shapes they should be!”
Twilight’s face took on a sad countenance as Ace wrapped a hoof over her back. “Pinkie, we’re not having a going away party…” she replied to the easily excited party pony. “You and the others are welcome to come by and see him off, but… We’re not doing anything big, okay? No parties. Please.”
Even the ever-happy Pinkie Pie started to look a bit sad at the idea as she dropped the toy, causing it to sprawl itself over the small pillow. “Are you sure? I mean, it might be the last party Acey gets to go to...”
Ace walked over to the bed, reaching a hoof under their friend’s muzzle as she started to droop, making her look him in his unshielded eyes. “Pinkie, we’re doing our best not to talk like that. Besides, there’s only a three in seven chance that I won’t be back.” The odds made Pinkie smile a sad smile, but they only made Twilight all the more nervous.
Ace was soon going to be leaving to perform a secret ritual in private. The ritual would take him far away from Ponyville, but it could only be performed each year on the night of New Year’s Eve as the old year fades to the new. The ritual was important, as it allowed Ace to renew his life, making him an immortal – at least as far as time was concerned; anything as simple as a high fever could kill him as easily as anypony else.
Pinkie let out a soft sigh as Ace allowed his hoof to fall away from her muzzle as he straightened the cloth doll so it stood on its hooves. “Well, just Pinkie Promise me that you’ll come back safe, okay?”
Ace nodded solemnly as he crossed a hoof across his chest, “Cross my heart and hope to fly,” he said before raising the same hoof and placing it over his right eye gently, “stick a cupcake in my eye – I will do everything in my power to return to Ponyville.”
Pinkie Pie shook her head with a forlorn smile, “You always leave an escape for yourself, don’t you? Well, it’s definitely not your worst quality…” Pinkie shook her head more rapidly for a moment before she bounced in place for a moment. “Well, it’s your last night together, so I’ll leave you two alone. Tell the princesses I said hi!” she said before bouncing down the stairs and out the door.
Twilight was watching her leave as Ace stifled a laugh for a moment. When Twilight turned to look what he was laughing at, he half-lidded his eyes as he wriggled his eyebrows at her. Twilight froze, blushing for a moment at the insinuation before recovering as she nudged him, making him laugh a bit more.
“Alright, alright,” he said as his features set back to his casual smile. “Still, we never decided if we were going to sleep here at home, my mansion, or at Mom and Dad’s house.” Twilight smiled a bit, remembering how her dad, Night Light, told Ace to call him and her mother, Twilight Velvet, Mom and Dad.
“Well, we need to visit the princesses before you leave, and my parents are going to want to say goodbye as well. Just in case, you… you know…” Twilight started rubbing her hoof anxiously as she turned her eyes to the floor for a moment.
Ace wrapped a hoof around her shoulders as he reassured her, “I’m not going to go without a fight, my dearest Starlight.” Twilight smiled softly as he used his own special nickname for her, calling her the light that guided him in his darkness. “Just as I promised Pinkie, I’m going to do everything in my power to come back to you,” he said as he wrapped his hooves around her in a warm, but melancholic embrace.
As they parted, Ace pulled his glasses from the bedside nightstand in his magic, bringing them to rest before his eyes as they changed colors, the red Al Bhed eye turning bright sapphire blue as the opposite brightened to match.
Whenever they were alone, Ace left the enchanted lenses on the nightstand, but whenever they went out, or would be seeing somepony who was not close to them, he would wear them to hide his secret heritage. Twilight was glad that Ace felt comfortable around her and her friends, but wished that Ace did not have to hide his lineage from everypony else.
Once his glasses were in place, he walked over to the window for a moment as he looked up at the sky with a sad, worried look on his face. Twilight came up beside him as she did the same, noticing that he was once again looking at the tiny sliver of light that betrayed the waning crescent of the moon.
“Are you sure everything is going to be okay?” Twilight asked as she turned back to look at Ace, who looked as though he was reciting a prayer in his mind. On no small number of occasions, Ace had told her that he and the moon bore an unusual bond – whenever the moon was wan and weak, so too was his fortune. Likewise, whenever the moon was wax and strong, especially full, so too was his luck.
Of course, Twilight had at first dismissed such unscientific thoughts, but Ace had made it a point to lecture her that in their world of magic, not all things can so easily be explained. Ace did seem to have an affiliation with the moon aside from his cutie mark, and often reminded her that they had met on the night of a full moon. Regardless, Twilight had witnessed a number of other situations that befit his argument as well.
After several moments, Ace finally turned to her with a tilt of his head as though he only just heard her speak, though some time had passed. “I am afraid that I cannot be sure of anything, my Starlight,” he said with a frown before moving away from the window. “The only certainty is what will happen if I do not at least attempt the ritual.”
Twilight nodded as she thought of the situation for perhaps the twentieth time that day; Ace had lived for thousands of years through a ritual meant solely for Alicorns – ponies with the horns and magic of a Unicorn, and the flight-granting wings of a Pegasus. Since Ace is not an Alicorn, the ritual could fail, causing trouble with his magic.
At present, Ace has failed the ritual two times in a row, causing him to be unable to properly control his magic, resulting in misfires every few spells. Additionally, if he did not use his magic constantly through his magical senses or other means, then it would overflow and cause a magical-equivalent of an Electromagnetic Pulse, draining all of the magic from anything or anypony caught in the blast. Both of these things caused a tremendous strain on both his body and his magic. If he failed a third time, his magic would devour his body from the inside out.
When Ace had noticed she was brooding, he promptly nudged her with a hoof, a tell-tale false smile on his face that betrayed his own fears on the matter. “Come on, cheer up. Mom and Dad are going to get mad at me if you show up all mopey when we visit.” Twilight nodded once as she playfully nudged him back before his horn alit in the teleportation spell.