Disclaimer: I do not own Hasbro, My Little Pony or any characters, places, or events in the extended cannon, although it would be awesome if I did.
In His Memory Chapter One:
A Change In Methods
I stared at the city of Manehattan as the guard swooped in, combing the rubble for survivors. Rainbow had gone down there, insisting that he survived and was somewhere in the city. I desperately hoped she was right. I hoped that he was alive.
I knew in my heart she was wrong.
The massive skyscrapers that once dominated the landscape lay in ruins. The former titans of steel and glass lay now on the ground, twisted and shattered. Flashes of color could be seen throughout the city as guards and civilians alike searched for survivors. I could see Rainbow circling the city, occasionally shooting down to shift some rubble in her vain attempt to find my father.
I heard hoofsteps from behind me, signaling somepony walking up to speak with me. I kept staring forward as my peripheral vision was filled with white and purple. Rarity it was, then.
“Star,” she began, “I can’t begin to understand how you feel—”
“Then don’t,” I interrupted. She flinched as if struck by my words. “All I wanted was to be normal. To have a normal house, a normal job, a normal family. Now it seems that I will never have that.” I turned to face her, staring her directly in her blue eyes. “I no longer care about being normal. It’s time for a change in methods.”
“Don’t do something rash, darling,” Rarity said. “He did it on his own free will.”
“You told me that he saw it as his penance,” I growled. “Well, someone else needs their own penance. It’s high time I stopped being afraid. Afraid of myself, and what I can do.” I stood up and started walking to where I knew Twilight would be.
“What are you talking about?” Rarity asked, speeding up to walk next to me.
“It’s long past time Starswirl paid for his crimes,” I said simply. “It’s just left to me to make him pay for them.”
“Star, think about what you’re saying!” Rarity exclaimed. “How can we find him, let alone beat him? You saw how much magic he had to build up to cast that spell.” Her face somehow got more somber. “However he turned life into magic, it cost nearly two hundred ponies their lives.”
“Then that is two hundred more deaths he will pay for,” I growled. “I will find him, and I will kill him.”
“Listen to yourself!” Rarity snapped, spinning me to face her with her magic. It took every ounce of my willpower to not lash out at her then and there. At this point we were a stone’s throw from where Twilight was standing. I saw the lavender mare’s ears swivel towards the two of us while she tried—and failed—to look nonchalant. Smooth. “For all your talk about how Streak had the wrong idea about killing, now you want to go down his path?”
“Wait, what?” Twilight exclaimed, snapping her head to look at us. She had a look of shock written across her face, from her perked ears to her dropped jaw.
I snorted, walking up to her. I saw Rarity shake her head in my peripheral vision before she started following me. It took me seconds to stand in front of Twilight. “Magic can kill,” I stated.
“So it can,” she rebutted. “That doesn’t mean it should.”
“Teach me to kill,” I ordered.
“No,” Twilight said simply.
I felt a growl burble out of my throat. “Why the fuck not?”
Twilight sighed. “Look, there are a million and a half intricacies in magic. War Magic requires the ability to fine-tune dozens of these intricacies on the fly, and thus requires years of study. I haven’t even started working on it, so how could I teach it to you?”
I levelled a glare at her. “Find me someone who can, then.”
“Star, you are in no mindset to be making decisions like this,” She announced. “We’re heading back to Ponyville, and if you still want to learn War Magic in a month or two, I’ll find you a teacher.” With her piece said, she turned around to round up her friends.
Over my dead body. A solid wall of orange erupted out of the ground in front of her nose, halting all forward momentum. Twilight’s eyes turned back at me as she cocked an eyebrow. I felt the tingling in my horn—the feeling associated with using magic—fade as I powered down the wall. “I am not waiting a month. Starswirl gets farther each instant I wait. Within a month, he could be impossible to find.”
“Within a month, you could drop this petty need for revenge,” Twilight countered.
I felt my heartbeat speed up. Petty? That stallion murdered my father and she called it a ‘petty need for revenge’? “Twilight Sparkle,” I said slowly, trying to keep my temper under control. “I am learning War Magic. If you refuse to help me, I will teach myself.”
“You would die,” she said with confidence. “Spell modification is one of the most advanced topics taught in the University. Even I had to wait until my sophomore year of high school before Celestia let me touch upon it. It is just too dangerous.”
I kept my glare focused on her. My horn lit up with my own orange light, before being replaced with the natural orange glow of fire. The heatless flame spread like, well, wildfire across my body, until I was coated in dancing, lukewarm plasma. “Candle lighting spell. Harmonic/dissonance ratio switched from one to half, sigil pattern of interlocking squares, and a charging pattern of one. Heatless fire that can be spread over flammable materials like oil over water, all without burning anything.” I flicked a hoof, launching tiny droplets of fire off my body. They landed harmlessly on Twilight’s coat, causing her to flail in instinctive panic. After she spasmed for a few seconds, I powered down my horn. Bereft of its fuel, the fire faded to nothing, leaving not so much as a mark on Twilight or me. “Now, teach me to kill with magic, or I’ll teach myself.”
The two mares stared at me in disbelief. Eventually, Twilight spoke up, “Where did you learn that?”
“Advanced Magic Techniques Part One: Spell Modification by Starswirl the Bearded,” I said simply. “It was very enlightening. I didn’t even know that I was changing sigils when I cast various spells.”
“Most don’t,” Rarity said, coming to her senses. “In fact, I couldn’t tell you the sigil used for levitation.”
“Feather,” Twilight and I responded at the same time. This gave her an idea. She took over for the next part. “Rarity, give us spells, and I’ll test her knowledge on spell theory. If she passes my test, I’ll find her a teacher.”
“If I fail, I’ll experiment,” I said simply. “Lay it on me.”
“Gem finding,” Rarity said.
“Sigil,” Twilight instructed.
“Trick question. It all depends on the type of gem,” I said. “Those with the rare ability to cast a general gem finding spell use a triple diamond sigil unusable to the rest of unicorns.”
“Harmonic to dissonance ratio,” Twilight said.
“Two harmonic per one dissonance,” I said. “In layman’s terms, harmonic/dissonance ratio of two.”
“Another spell, Rarity,” she said.
“Uh.” Rarity thought for a moment. “Invisibility.”
“Sigil traditionally referred to as the ‘cloak and dagger’ modified with a diamond with a horizontal slash through the middle commonly compared to as a closed eye. Harmonic/dissonance ratio of two, and a charging factor of three,” I rattled off.
And so it went. We stayed at it to hit upon spells I had never cast before, and for Twilight’s friends—sans Rainbow, of course—showed up. They sat and watched us, some in interest and others in amusement. We touched upon many topics. Candle lighting? Check. Levitation? Yep. World shattering spells that could make what happened to Manehattan pale when compared to their effects? Of course. Eventually, Rarity and Twilight ran out of spells to throw at me.
“And of course, if you have a high enough charging factor, any spell can become devastating,” I said. “However, I don’t want to have to charge every one of my spells.”
Twilight was silent, staring at me. I think she expected me to fail her little test. Fat chance of that. I spent most of my life in the library, reading up on magic. Even she studied other things as she grew up. Eventually, she spoke up. “Fine, Star. I’ll find you a teacher.” At my victorious grin, she added, “It might take a while. There aren’t many War Magic teachers.”
“Don’t think you can stall, Twilight,” I cautioned. “I’ll give you a week before I start figuring it out for myself.”
“Wait, wait wait wait wait,” Applejack interjected. “What’s this ah hear about War Magic? And what is this War Magic?”
“War Magic is magic specially designed to kill,” I said. “Twilight just agreed to find me a teacher.”
The orange mare turned to look at her lavender companion, face carefully composed neutrally. “Twi?” she asked slowly.
Twilight sighed. “Look, finding her a teacher is safer than letting her experiment on her own,” she reasoned. “She has shown me that she knows enough about magic to prove a danger to herself and those around her if left to her own devices.”
Applejack opened her mouth to retort before being cut off by a small voice. “Uh, hello?" it asked hesitantly.
My head swiveled to look at the newcomer, as did those of the mares around me. A bug trying to pass itself off as a pony was standing at the edge of the former node with a floating object enshrouded in a green aura mirrored around her horn. I felt my brows knit as my heart started pounding in my chest. Changeling.
Before I knew what happened, a ball of pure orange mana bounced off of a purple wall that was suddenly erected in front of the insect. I felt a growl burble up through my throat. “Let me squash it,” I snarled, glaring at Twilight and stepping forward.
Twilight leveled a disappointed look at me that was somehow enhanced due to the shadows created by her horn glowing purple. “Star,” she said, “it’s holding a white flag.”
I snapped my head to look at it. The object enshrouded in green was in fact a white flag once you saw through the emerald glow. My gaze returned to Twilight. “So it is. Let me squash it.”
Applejack frowned. “Tha’ would be a might bit dishonorable, don’t you think?” she asked. “How about we hear it out before we decide its fate?”
“I agree wholeheartedly,” Rarity agreed wholeheartedly. “Let’s at least hear the dear out before we let you. . . ugh, ‘squash it’.”
“My—uh—my name is Mimic,” it said, shifting its hooves in an obvious show of nervousness. “I have something for some ponies from the False One.”
“False One?” Twilight asked. “I’ve never heard of anypony called the ‘False One’ before.” At this point, I was getting bored. I didn’t care about bug culture. Who cares if an ant has a god? It’s an ant. A bug. An insect. It doesn’t matter in the long run, especially when they will all be flattened under the horseshoes of Equestria eventually.
“The False One is a pretender to the Deathless One’s position.” A look of sadness passed over its face. “If only the Queen had listened to our hive, much death could have been avoided.”
“Explain yourself succinctly, bug,” I threatened it. “It will take me but a moment to remove your stain from this world.”
“Star,” Fluttershy scolded softly. “Be polite.”
I snorted, but remained silent, allowing the bug precious moments of my time to explain itself. “The Deathless One,” it began, “is one of our gods. He is a mortal who cannot die of unnatural causes, and will always arrive to help when he is most needed. He will save the world in its darkest hour.”
I scoffed. “Please, do you expect me to believe that one of your gods is mortal, and actually exists? I helped tear down one that placed herself upon that pedestal once already, and I am prepared to do it again.”
“Star,” Pinkie sighed, shaking her head. “Please, don’t.”
“I don’t expect you to believe, none but my hive do,” it said. I narrowed my eyes. This thing was wasting my time. Seeming to pick up on my intention for it to hurry up, it continued. “The False One gave me a message for one named ‘Star’. Do you know where I might find her?”
It was slammed into the ground and held there by an orange glow. I walked up to it before growling in its face. “What do you want with me, bug?”
“Star!” Twilight snapped. Her horn flashed, and the thing vanished from under my spell with a cloned flash. Another burst of light informed me that Twilight had not come to her senses and erased any and all traces of this creature from existence, and instead teleported it. “Assaulting a diplomatic envoy is a serious crime. I won’t turn a blind eye again, do you understand me?” When I didn’t respond, she yanked my head to force me to look into her eyes. “Do. You. Understand?”
“Fine,” I snapped. “I’ll avoid smashing this one bug, if it makes you feel that much better about yourself.” I looked back at it. “You said you had a message from your false god for me?”
It nodded. “He wanted you to know that he loves you, and doesn’t want you to hold any grudges for his death.”
Only Twilight’s perfectly timed teleportation saved the bug from being flattened. I turned to its new location and growled, “Don’t you dare fucking speak for or about my father again, pest.”
“Wait, wait wait wait,” Applejack said, holding up a hoof to stop whatever was going to happen. “Yer tellin’ me that Streak is one of your gods?”
It nodded. “As I said, he is a pretender to the Deathless One’s title. He fakes many deaths, when in reality he is immortal. In the end, he seeks to bring the world to its knees, to be controlled or destroyed how he sees fit.”
I snarled at her speaking about my dad like that, but Twilight stepped in front of me. “And who is this ‘Deathless One’?”
“You know him as Starswirl the Bearded,” it said. “He seeks to reset a fundamental imbalance with the universe, and we intend to help him.
“Explain,” I demanded.
It obliged me gleefully, as it should. You should always make sure your superiors were happy so they didn’t crush you like the bug you are. “The Deathless One is there to stop death, doom, and destruction from befalling the world. The False One pretends to be the Deathless One in order to bring about the collapse of the world society. It was prophesied that Equestria would be the first to fall under the False One unless the Deathless One was able to stop him.” The solid blue eyes of the creature drifted to the ruins of Manehattan. “The False One has already begun stopping things that are needed for the greater good.”
"That's all well and good," I said, getting frustrated again. "But what does that have to do with anything? You could just be spouting nonsense at us."
“I don’t ask for your trust,” it said. “I know I won’t have that for a long time, if at all.”
Twilight narrowed her eyes at the insect. “You have something wrapped in that flag, don’t you?” she asked suddenly.
The bug nodded. “I was instructed to give it to the one named Rainbow Dash,” it said. “I was told I would know who she was when I saw her.”
Twilight opened her mouth to respond when suddenly the bug wasn’t in front of her. She blinked twice before looking to her left, where Rainbow was standing above the thing she had just tackled. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” she growled at it. “Stay away from my friends.”
“Rainbow Dash, I assume?” it coughed. “I was given something for you.”
“Rainbow!” Twilight exclaimed, pulling her friend off of the bug. “I just had to explain this to Star. Assaulting a diplomatic envoy is a serious crime!”
“It’s a bug,” Rainbow said, deadpan. “They lie, they hide, they observe, then they hit you when you least expect it.” She turned to the insect. “Isn’t that right? That’s how your kind act.”
“We act as we wish, Rainbow Dash,” it replied calmly. “We are creatures, just like ponies and griffons.” The cloth being used as a white flag started to unwrap inside its magic, slowly growing in size. And growing. And growing.
“Is that. . . a tablecloth?” Fluttershy asked quietly.
“That looks like a tablecloth,” Rarity confirmed.
The bug seemed to blush, shrinking in on itself. “It was the only thing that I could use as a flag that I found on the way over.”
As it said that, it finished unwrapping the tablecloth, dropping it and pulling out the object inside. She floated it over to Rainbow, who took it in her hooves and just stared at it. After a moment, a sob forced itself out of her throat, and she spread her wings and flew off. The rest of us stared at her retreating form for a moment in confusion.
I took that moment to take a shot at the back of the bug’s head.
Its eyes rolled to the back of its head as it dropped, unconscious. The group stared at me in shock at my deed, and I just shrugged. “What can I say? It dropped the flag.”