//------------------------------// // Act Three: Chapter Twelve - Signs // Story: Turning Points // by Slatewings //------------------------------// Act Three Chapter Twelve - Signs “Ah! Watch it!” Lumine cried out as Peridot’s restoration spell washed over him. “Sorry…” Peridot winced. It was the tenth time today she had cast the spell and second time since going to bed that she had been woken to cast it again; try as she might, she was bound to make mistakes. “I’m trying Lumine…” “It’s… okay… Just finished up,” he groaned. She resumed casting the spell and did her best to ignore his various yelps and whimpers. They hadn’t yet figured out the exact mechanism for why her healing magic was causing pain but it was obvious to Peridot that it had something to do with the black spell. For nearly a month now, Lumine had been casting the black spell from Starswirl the Bearded’s ‘Exoranomicon’ constantly, all day, all night, without break. The only reason he was still able to stand, let alone work magic, was Peridot’s healing spell. It was hard to say if the stress of the casting was doing damage that Peridot just couldn’t fix or if the black spell itself was fighting back but it was plain that if he kept it up for much longer it would be the end of him. When she was satisfied with her work, Peridot gave Lumine’s body one last once over with her horn before allowing its blue glow to fade away. She pursed her lips as Lumine’s horn continued glowing black, green, and purple. “Sorry for waking you up again…” He shifted in his recliner, straightening the blanket thrown across his lap. The book he had been reading when the attack struck had fallen to the floor he leaned to one side and scooped it up in his hoof. Peridot scooped it up in her magic and returned it to him. She smiled tiredly. “It’s okay, thats why I’m here.” “You mean it’s not just for the conversation?” Lumine joked weakly as Peridor dabbed the damp rag on his forehead. “You can always move back to your own rooms if you’d rather.” “Don’t be silly.” She poked him in the shoulder. “What will everypony gossip about then?” Lumine let out a strained laugh as Peridot slipped back into her bed. Peridot moving into Lumine’s room had been something of a minor scandal among the palace staff, setting off a firestorm in the rumor mill. Eventually they got tired of explaining that Peridot was just there as Lumine’s live in nurse, an arrangement necessitated by the frequent intense headaches caused by the strain of maintaining the evil casting for weeks on end. Without another word, Peridot drew her blankets in tight and closed her eyes. “Sweet dreams,” Lumine offered. “You too, Lumine,” Peridot answered as sleep took her. Lumine sighed wistfully and reopened his book. They began the day early, the unsleeping Lumine acting as Peridot’s personal pony alarm clock, and headed out into the city to begin yet another day of unceasing work to hold off the changeling swarm. “Is this really necessary?” Princess Benevolentia asked as she surveyed the hasty construction. At Lumine’s insistence, she had employed several hundred ponies to his new project. Lumine lifted his quill from his notes and looked out at the fruits of his careful planning. “Absolutely, princess,” he answered. “I never intended the Heart Prism to be used like this, modifications must be made. Unless you’d rather risk the changelings breaking through, I require these changes to be able to maintain my spell.” “Well of course not, I’ll do whatever I have to protect my subjects. I just hate to see them suffering like this.” Her heart panged with concern for her subjects, unlike herself and a few select others, Lumine could not exclude them from the spell’s effects. Her hoof shot to her mouth in concern as one of the workers faltered and tripped, dropping her heavy load of enchanted black crystal. The first aid staff rushed to her side. “Just give me your promise that this is necessary.” “Of course, Benevolentia.” He started to continue his notes as a grimace seized his features. He dropped his quill and held his hooves to his temples, rotating clockwise in an attempt to dispel the sudden headache. “Peridot...” he groaned. She looked up from her patient. The young stallion had pulled a muscle in his hind leg when he underestimated the weight of a crystal laden cart. “Oop, sorry Lumine,” she said. “Be right there.” She wave over one of the other medical ponies so she could cast her healing spell. Lumine beared down as the spell washed over him. When Peridot was finished his headache had receded enough for him to speak again. He shook his head to clear his mind. “My spell still feels only ‘half cast’, I believe thats the reason why changelings are still managing to find gaps in the forcefield to get into the city. There must still be area’s I can’t reach.” He rubbed his head with a hoof, “It may also explain why I’m still getting these attacks despite Peridot’s efforts. No matter how hard to try to push the spell to completion it still feels like it needs room to grow. I’m hoping that these expansions will give it the room I need.” Benevolentia bit her lip, considering, “What about after this is all over?” “Oh thats the best part!” Lumine said proudly. “With these new modifications we’ll be able to extend the range of the Heart tenfold. We might not even have to run conduits to the planned settlements. It might even reach all the way to Equestria.” The princess nodded, “Well that’s good. At least something will come of all…” She was cut off as a fiery green explosion rocked the construction site, sending ponies and shards of crystal scattering. The cries of the wounded stung Peridot’s ears as she looked up and found the source of the blast. A trio of changelings hovered over the site, their horns glowing brighter as they prepared another blast. “Guards! We’re under attack!” somepony cried. The area erupted into activity. Guards came streaming in from the nearby checkpoint and carried a protesting Benevolentia away. Prince Dutiful’s orders regarding the princess had been explicit, she was to be removed from the scene of any hostile activity at all costs. Benevolentia hadn’t been happy about the order but Dutiful insisted and she eventually relented. Peridot snatched up her medical kit in her magic and rushed to the wounded, trying to stymie their injuries before they became too severe. One of the guards yelled her her to help them repel the attackers but there were other ponies who needed her talents more. “Shh.. shh..” she tried to comfort the wide eyed mare she knelt beside. “It’s okay, I’m here… Miss, you have to pay attention, listen to my voice.” She only succeeded in breaking her of her panic when a guard’s spear struck the ground, quivering in place, a bare hoof width from her face. She shot an angry glare over her shoulder at a guilty looking stallion before returning to her duties. “ENOUGH!!!” a voice roared. The strength of the speaker’s anger touched something in Peridot and despite all her practiced medical professionalism she cried out and jumped back, spinning around to face the bellow’s source. Lumine. The stallion, fragile and unsteady only a moment ago had thrown his cane to one side and was quaking with anger. A vicious sneer distorted his face as he poured more strength into the spell that still lit his horn in shades of purple, green, and black. Everypony, and changeling, went still as Lumine took a step forward and yelled again, “I will not tolerate these INTERRUPTIONS!” He reared up as his horn wrapped itself in a purple and green overglow, flickers of purple flame shown at the corners of his eyes. When his front hooves returned to the ground with a sharp ‘crack’ his horn lanced out with a beam of bubbling black energy that struck the three changelings as they flew. They let out an unearthly scream and fell to the ground twitching. “Now, if its not to much to ask, can we get back to work and get these crystals in place before the REST of the swarm breaks through!” Lumine turned on a hoof and walked back to his work table as if nothing had happened. Peridot saw him stumble and reach for his cane but he waved her away with a frown. She looked back at the fallen attackers, still laying on the ground. Despite everything the changelings had done, and everything they would do if they could, Peridot could not help but feel a sharp stab of pity for them as they lay there twitching while the light faded in their eyes. She wrenched her eyes away and turned her attentions back to her patient as the workers started to clear the debris. Stealing a glance over her shoulder she saw Lumine furiously scribbling his notes, his brow knotted in concentration. “What’s happening to him?” she said to no pony in particular. Prince Dutiful soon arrived with a large contingent of guards and medics to oversee the security of the construction site personally. He insisted he had full faith in Lumine’s plan and intended to ensure it was carried to completion. Somehow, Peridot suspected his real reasons lay in the verbal tongue lashing he must have received from Benevolentia for having her dragged away. He even asked Peridot to go back to the palace to check on her, hoping, she figured, that she might be able to calm the princess down before he returned. Providing, that Lumine didn’t mind her being so far away. She was relieved when he said it was okay. It seems, he explained, that having a chance to release some of the excess magic from the spell relieved the backpressure that was causing him pain. Peridot nodded and began her walk back to the palace. Once he was safely out of sight, she drew her notebook from her saddle back and continued her notes on Lumine’s condition as she walked. “Benny?” Peridot tapped the gilded door to the imperial suite with her hoof. “Benny, you here?” There was no answer so she tapped again. The princess’s angry answer practically shook the door, “Dutiful, I swear, if you haven’t learned yet to leave me alone after ticking me off you had better figure it out!” “No no, it’s Peridot. I just wanna talk,” Peridot ventured. She heard the latch turn and the door swung open a bit. Princess Benevolentia peered out of the gap, questioning, “Are you here to plead his case for him?” Peridot shook her head adamantly, “No. Actualy, I wanted to talk about Lumine.” The princess looked at her skeptically as she opened the door fully. “He didn’t ask you to check up on me?” “Well, um, yes sort of…” Peridot withdrew at the look the princess shot her. “But I’m way too interested in self preservation to do that,” she said quickly. “Honest, I just wanted to talk about Lumine.” “Hm… okay, come on in.” The princess stepped to the side and bade her to enter, gesturing to a pair of well cushioned seats by a small table piled high with just about every snack and treat a pregnant mare could ask for. It had been a while since she visited Benevolentia in her rooms and Peridot looked over the change in decor as she entered. The entire place had been redone. Thick carpet covered the floor, wall to wall, perfect to soften an infants fall. Fresh paintings of fields and animals adorned the room instead of the traditional spare walls. Most noticeably, every sharp corner and edge on every wall, chair, table, and bookcase (filled with ‘how to’ parenting guides instead of the classical literature they once held) had been rounded or padded, a considerable feat considering the typical Crystal Empire architecture. Peridot smiled as she took her seat, “You’ve been nesting I see.” The princess giggled, her mood lightening, “Maybe a little. The carpet was Dutiful’s idea. He told me he remembers banging his head all the time when he was a colt.” Her lips tightened in frustration, “Dutiful…” “He meant well, you know…” Peridot started to say. “Hey!” The princess pointed a hoof at her, “You promised… Though I guess you’re right.” Peridot kept her mouth shut and helped herself to a puff pastry from the snack tray. The princess sighed, “Anyway, you wanted to talk about Loonie?” Peridot set the pastry aside, her appetite gone. She opened her saddle bag and withdrew her notebook, setting it between her and the princess. Benevolentia eyed it warily as Peridot flipped through the pages. “Isn’t there some kind of patient confidentiality?” she asked. Peridot nodded, “Yeah, but you’re the princess, one of his closest friends, and practically his sister. I think I can make an exception.” Peridot flipped the book to the last section where she kept the charts of Lumine’s progress. She pointed to a page, “See this chart here? Its where I keep track of his mood, basically how happy or hopeful he is. A positive outlook is important to any patient’s prognosis, so I track it for all my patients, but it’s especially important for a unicorn suffering from magical burn out. This is when I first started treating him, after the changelings attacked us the first time. See how high his mood was?” Benevolentia nodded, “He was on top of the world, even with what happened.” She smiled, “I think he was just happy to get to play the hero.” “Right, and here’s when we got him back after he used the Prism to cast that forcefield.” The princess frowned, “We almost lost him…” “We practically did lose him,” said Peridot. “I had to practically rebuild his heart just to get it beating again. If I had been just a few minutes later it would have been too late. But still, even after that and all the therapy and treatments he kept his spirits up. He was always trying to make me laugh, telling stories and jokes.” “Lumine’s jokes are terrible.” “He says we just don’t get them… but yeah, they're pretty bad.” It was Peridot’s turn to smile, “He might be the only pony ever who likes jokes that take an abacus understand.” The smile faded, “Then we get to this day, a few weeks ago.” “When he started casting that spell from Starswirl’s book…” “Yeah. He was okay at first but after a day he started going downhill.” “Maybe it’s because he hasn’t been sleeping,” Benevolentia offered. Peridot shook her head, “No, between my magic and his mandatory ‘down time’ he should be well rested. A few weeks without sleep is unusual but not unheard of. Usually the patient just gets giddy. Lumine though…” Benevolentia looked down at the graph and pointed, “Why did you stop tracking his mood?” “Because I don’t know how to characterize it anymore!” Peridot exclaimed. “He’s turned almost stoic. He rarely smiles, never laughs, never talks, but at the same time he doesn’t seem sad or depressed. Its like all the ups and downs have been sucked out of him and now he’s just, I dunno...” “Isn’t that what the spell is suppose to do?” “I don’t know, maybe. He said it’s not suppose to affect the caster. I don’t really understand it that well. Even reading the spell makes my horn hurt.” Peridot looked down. “This spell is effecting him though, I know that much and ...I think we should call it off.” “Call what off?” Peridot took a breath, “The spell, his big construction project, everything.” Benevolentia’s eyes widened, “You can’t be serious, Peridot. Everything depends on Lumine keeping the spell up to keep the changelings from feeding on the empire.” “I disagree,” Peridot insisted. “The changelings are weak. They’ve barely been able to feed this whole time and the force field is much stronger now. With the Prism repaired we should be able to insulate everypony from their attack until we get help from Equestria.” “Peridot, I know you’re worried about him, I am too. I don’t want to sound cold but he’s only one pony. There are thousands depending on him succeeding. The sacrifices he’s made are well spent.” Peridot recoiled, “How can you say that, Benny? You can’t just ‘spend’ a pony. This is Lumine!” The princess grew stern, invisibly taking on her mantle as ruler, “And what of the guards fighting the changelings that have snuck into the city, Peridot? Are their lives not worth as much as Lumine’s? Are you going to be the one to deliver the news to their families if worse were to come to worse? I have to act for the good of the Empire, Peridot. Nopony, not Lumine, not me, not you,” she held a hoof to her swelling stomach, “not even… not even my child can come first.” “I… I understand Benny… I really do… but there has to be a better way.” She shook her head, “Maybe there is. But until we find one we have to stay the course. Besides, I can’t place too much faith in the forcefield. Especially after seeing what happened today firsthoof.” “But thats what I’m talking about! Did somepony tell you what happened?” The princess shook her head. “I assumed the guards were able to take care of things.” “It wasn’t the guards, Benny.” Peridot stamped a hoof in frustration. “It was Lumine. He fired one magical attack and took out all three changelings at once. The things screamed… I almost felt bad for them. Then, he just yells at everypony to get back to work and goes back to what he was doing like nothing even happened. When I asked him how he was feeling he told me he it felt good to use up some of the ‘extra magic’. Last time he took out three changelings he burned himself out and he had to tap into the Prism to do it! It’s like, like he’s getting stronger somehow.” “Is that possible?” “I don’t know! I don’t think so. If there was a way for a unicorn to become more powerful I’m sure everypony would do it. Hay, I would do it.” Peridot gritted her teeth as tears began to well up in her eyes, “Something is happening to him and I don’t know how to help him. I don’t want to lose him, Benny. I don’t know if I can do this anymore. I know there is nopony else who can but...” She looked up her friend, pleading, “don’t ask me to continue healing him… I just can’t.” Peridot watched as Benevolentia rose from her chair and stood in front of her. The princess drew herself up and opened her mouth to speak. “Peridot, I’m sorry,” she started, her tone every bit the monarch. “You are hereby…” Peridot looked up, her eyes red and miserable before she clenched them closed. Benevolentia’s voice caught and for a moment she said nothing. “Oh, hayseed.” Peridot felt her friends wings close around her. “Benny?” “Peridot, you know I have to ask everypony to do as much as they can for the empire if we’re going to get through this.” The princess drew back a bit to look Peridot in her eyes. “But, if you’ve truly given all that you can… I understand.” “Really?” The princess nodded, “Lumine is the smartest pony I know but he does had a tendency to be a little one track minded. He’s going to be disappointed that he can’t play savior anymore but… we’ll find another way. The new foci should be finished by the end of the day. I’ll tell him in the morning, okay? ” Benevolentia gave Peridot a squeeze. “Can you make it ‘till then?” Peridot nodded, “Thank you, Benny. I hope he understands.” “He will, I’m sure. He’s probably going to be so relieved that he gets to go back to tinkering in his lab that he won’t even have time to be mad. Now why don’t you go back to your room and get cleaned up,” Benevolentia picked up with the tables ornate napkins and dabbed the tears from Peridot’s cheeks. “I’m sure my husband is expecting you back with news of his impending doom. If you show up crying he just might run for Equestria rather than risk coming back to the palace.” Peridot laughed, “I suppose that wouldn’t do much for morale, would it?” “Are you kidding? The guard would probably think it was hilarious.” The two friends shared a long and much needed laugh before Peridot levitated her saddle bags onto her back and trotted up to the room she temporarily shared with Lumine. She twisted the latch with her magic, opened the door, and tossed her saddle bag on the bench by the entrance as she walked in.” “Hello, Peridot.” She let out a startled ‘eek’ and spun to face the voice. “Lumine?” she asked as he came into view. “What are you doing here?” He levitated a small book bag in his magic, “I just needed a few things to finish up. I would have asked you to grab them for me but you left in such a hurry I didn’t get the chance.” “Oh… um, sorry.” Peridot stammered. “I just wanted to check on Benevolentia. I figured she wasn’t to happy about being dragged off like that.” “Ah yes. An unfortunate but necessary precaution. I daresay I’m glad not to be the prince.” He opened the door with his magic and walked past Peridot. “I suppose that’s why he insists on organizing the security at the construction sight himself.” He glanced back over shoulder as he closed the door, “It’s either that or face his impending doom back home.” Peridot felt a chill up her spine.