//------------------------------// // 2. All roads lead south // Story: The God Talent // by Natdug //------------------------------// Note: In case you want a short recap of the first chapter. Click Here Pain can mean a lot of things. Often it's a sign of danger, that one has been damaged and need to take care of one's body. Other times its a joyous thing, as when new life is brought to the world. To Night Dew, as he slowly regained consciousness, it was a strong indicator that he was still alive. That or that the afterlife was way more painful that he had been led to believe. He took his chances with the first option and opened his eyes. The sun was high in the sky, hinting that he had been out cold for some hours, which perfectly matched the bits of memory he was beginning to recall. He had materialized some distance above ground level, but hadn’t had time to cast his impact nullifier spell before said impact send him to dreamland. He inspected the landscape around him, nothing but barren land. "Well, can't stay here" he said out loud and tried to get back on his legs, an effort that failed with another jolt of pain as his legs gave way and send him face down in the dirt. Looking back, he saw the prime source of his pain; his right hind leg had been pierced before he had managed to teleport himself away, which also had made him lose quit a lot of blood. "Okay. That's okay, Dew" he said, mostly to keep himself from panicking. "Your talent is everything. Healing magic is a part of everything." He took a deep breath. "You can do this." Truth be told, he had never cast a healing spell before. Nevertheless, his horn lit up and sparks began to run along his body towards the wound. The scream could be heard miles away. As it died off Night Dew was left panting on the ground. "New statement." He bit in another jolt of pain from his leg. "My talent is everything BUT healing magic" ----- Leaf Grinder poured the content of his mortar into a box; he had yet to name this blend, but the sweet aroma already filed his small shop. Tea making had never been a very respected talent amongst earth ponies like himself, but for some reason, unicorns couldn't seem to get enough of it, earning him most of his customers. And he had a good feeling that this new one was going to be a popular one. As he placed the box with the others a small bell rang, the telltale sound that somepony had just entered. "Good day, how can I be of ser- Bird Chaser?" "Hey Leaf, long time." The pegasus had entered, wearing a cloak that covered most of his body. "What..." The shop owner blinked a few times, and instead of finishing his sentence he rushed to the door and looked nervously out into the street before he locked it and turned the open sign to closed. "Have you grown suicidal all of a sudden? Showing up in town and all" "Its good to see you too, Leaf." "Sorry;" he calmed down a bit. "But if the Golden Rock saw you go in here, you're not the only pony in trouble." "Relax, if they had seen me I would never have gotten this far into town. And why do you think I went through the trouble of hiding my wings and cutie mark?" "I really hope you're right. But let's at least go out back before somepony does see you." Unlike the shop itself, the office was a mess. Books and papers were spread everywhere and there seemed to be a lot more of them than what was reasonable for a simple tea shop. As if to add to the atmosphere, the windows had been permanently covered, leaving the room with no real lighting. Having closed the door after them, Leaf Grinder took his seat behind the desk "So I'm guessing you didn't risk being able to use your wings just to say hi to an old friend." "Maybe another day," Bird Chaser took the seat in front of the desk. "I'm looking for a young stallion, green coat, purple mane, has a spider cutie mark and goes by the name Spiler." "Sorry, doesn't ring any bells." "He's working for somepony. Somepony that seems interested in Dust Quill." His friend didn't answer. "Well?" "Look, I can assure you that he has no involvement with the rock; they haven't been looking into Dust Quill since that time." "But you know who he is." That was not a question. "Bird. You're way out of your league here. I cannot discourage you enough from following up on this." "I can pay, how much extra do you want?" "I'm not even going to take payment for the first bit of information, I'm telling you this as a friend. Keep your flank out of this." The sincere concern was unlike Leaf Grinder, and it took Bird Chaser several moments before he could answer. "I can't do that. Sorry." "I was afraid you'd say that" He opened one of his notebooks and flipped through the pages. Having found the one he was searching for, he passed it on. "The pony you're looking for is a unicorn by the name Sole Ray." Bird Chaser scanned the page; as usual his friend had been thorough - there was even a drawing of his cutie mark, a shattered ring. He noted down the most important details: white fur and a dark red Mane. Leaf Grinder continued: "He came by about 3 days ago looking for information on Dust Quill." "And I'm guessing you gave it to him." "I'm running a business here, of course I did." He sighed "Bird. He's with New Cosmos." The pegasus looked up from the notes. "The group of rogue magic talents?" "Yes. Compared to them the Golden Rock is nothing more than a bunch of foals." He paused. "If I can't convince you not to follow up on this, at least promise me that you'll look out for yourself, okay?" "Don't worry. I will." After they said their goodbyes, Bird Chaser found himself in the ally behind the shop. Leaf Grinder had insisted that he use the back door in order to avoid spying eyes. He could be a bit paranoid at times, but then again the Golden Rock was no laughing matter. The visit had not proven as fruitful as he had hoped; his initial fear had been ruled out, but only to be replaced with the involvement of New Cosmos. Not an improvement. He sighed. At least he had made some progress, however small it was, and there was still one option left although he really didn't want to go there. On the other hoof, if Sole Ray was on the same track, he had to get there before him if that wasn’t already too late. Luckily his wings gave him the speed advantage - he just had to get out of town first. His train of thoughts was interrupted as he heard a sound behind him; however, turning his head to look he saw nopony - a cat maybe? Or maybe Leaf Grinder's words were just getting to him. In any case, being careful seemed like a good idea. He turned down another ally, paying close attention to his surroundings. No - somepony was definitely following him. This was bad. Had the Golden Rock spotted him anyway? Possibly, but the fact that he was being shadowed instead of ambushed hinted at another motive. No matter what this mysterious pony wanted, he couldn't afford to get caught. He turned down another ally and hid behind some crates, reasoning that the best way to get out of town in one piece was to surprise his follower and put him out of action long enough to get away. ----- A terrible sound went through the entrance hall at Hilltop as a vase was shattered by an energy ray that continued on and added a new entrance through the wall. "I'm sorry, what did you just say?" Sole Ray asked Sun Leaf, whom he had just barely avoided hitting with his attack. Behind him Spiler stood nervously, trying to avoid eye contact with the other ponies in the room, and on the other side, Spring Dancer was busy trying to get the foals to safety. "I said, you are not getting any further in, and we will most certainly not hand over Seedling to you." "Oh, so I did hear that right." He started smiling as he lifted the elderly mare into the air with his magic. "You know, at your age you really should think more about your health." He then proceeded to throw her across the room. A pegasus resident managed to catch her just before she hit the floor. Spiler ran to her side, but an angry glare from the other ponies made him stop. "Now, unless there are any further interruptions..." Sole Ray turned back towards the hallway he was heading for in the first place, this time, however, getting cut off by Spring Dancer. "Oh, come on." "You might be strong." She positioned herself ready to fight. "But there's no way you can take on all of us." "Is that so?" His horn lit up and a single beam hit the earth pony, who collapsed on the spot. "Anypony else feel the urge to stop me?" The room remained silent. "Good. Come on Spiler." He then proceeded down the hallway. Spiler hesitated for a moment, but the unwelcoming atmosphere ultimately made him follow. "Wait!" The other pony ignored him so he started galloping and finally managed to catch up to the unicorn just before the staircase. "Wait." Sole Ray finally stopped. "What?" "Did. Did you kill her?" "No. Of course not." Spiler heaved a relieved sigh. "She should be perfectly fine, as long as she receives medical attention within the next few hours." He started ascending the stairs. "I really don't have time to deal with a murder investigation right now." "Do we have to be this brutal about it?" "No you're right. An idea just hit me." Sole Ray stopped again for a second to emphasize his words. "Maybe one of us could sneak in here at night and foalnap her." Spiler didn't look amused. "All he would have to do then would be keeping an eye on her for a few hours. I mean, who could fail that?" "I told you. I was attacked by a pegasus and a unicorn who-" "Had wild casting as his special talent." Sole Ray finished his sentence. "Yes." "If you were just half as competent as you're gullible we wouldn't even be here now." They continued in silence until they reached the hallway on the third floor where Spiler pointed out a door. As they approached it, they could clearly hear the fillies behind it moving furniture around, probably in an attempt to barricade the door. They tried the handle – locked, of course. "Okay." Sole Ray said while his horn lit up. "Stand back." ----- "Seedling?" Bird Chaser had at the very last moment realized who he was attacking and had thus barely avoided actually hurting her. "Oh, you got me," she cheerfully replied. "What the-" He looked nervously but didn't see anypony else. "What are you doing here?" "I followed you." "Why?.. How?.." Her happy matter-of-fact way of saying that completely threw him off. "Never mind. If you're here, we need to get out of town as soon as possible." He threw away his cloak, grabbed the filly and set off into the sky. "Yay! Where're we going?" "Hilltop." "What?" Seedling sounded somewhere between surprised and disappointed. "Why? I want to go with you and Night Dew." "Night Dew's not here." "We'll go on a search for him. It'll be awesome." Bird Chaser sighed. "This isn't a game. Or one of Dews adventure stories." "But-" The filly started arguing, but was cut off. "We'll talk about this later." ----- "So." Sole Ray was holding one of the three fillies present with his magic. "Where's Seedling?" The other two were doing their best to hide behind the broken furniture that now lay shattered around the room after the door was blasted in. "She. She left." The first filly managed to say between sobs. "So I've noticed." He moved himself closer to her face. "Where to?" "She's going to get Night Dew. He'll beat the hay out of you." "Night Dew?" He turned towards Spiler. "Purple fur, black mane has a cutie mark with a water drop?" The unicorn blinked a few times. "He's the one who attacked me, yes?" Sole Ray smiled and let go of the filly who fell to the floor with with a bump. "It sure is a small world. Come on." He then left the room, shortly thereafter followed by his sidekick. "So where do we find her?" "We don't." He looked back at Spiler who much to his amusement had stopped up in confusion. "If Night Dew has her I think a change in priorities are in order." ----- Night Dew was getting exhausted. He had been walking through the sunbathed barren landscape for what seemed like days, although the lack of nights indicated that it was probably just hours. He sat down to try and regain some strength. His healing spell had, if nothing else, stopped the bleeding, but his leg remained useless. Adding to that, his heart beat seemed unable to slow down and just staying awake had started to become a challenge on its own, making his journey almost unbearable. Sleep. Maybe that was- No. He had to keep on going, had to find some kind of settlement or at least another friendly being. With a burst of willpower he managed to get back up, grimacing at the sudden pain as he instinctively tried to use his damaged leg in the process. He was moving again. Maybe it wasn't so impossible after all. His confidence was quickly crushed, however, when he lost balance only a few steps later and fell to the ground. Maybe he really did need sleep, just a few minutes, just to regain strength. His eyelids closed as he slowly lost consciousness. Just a few minutes. ----- "So?" Spiler broke the silence. They had been walking for some time now after leaving Hilltop. "Night Dew really is strong?" "He's a magic talent," Sole Ray answered absently while clearly looking for something. "So he's stronger than most unicorns." His search seemed to remain fruitless. "So he can wild cast?" Sole Ray sighed and finally turned to face his sidekick. "Look. Every unicorn can wild cast, we just learn from a young age that it's a really bad idea, or most of us do. Night Dew might be a magic talent, but he's not nearly as powerful as he tends to claim. No pony that I have ever heard of have had wild casting, or 'everything', as Night Dew boasts, as their special talent." "Ah!" Spiler blinked as he realized the obviousness of the statement. "But what is his special talent then?" "Fudging." "Fudging?" "Or magical fudging to be precise." Spiler still looked like a living question mark, so Sole Ray went on. "You know, when you don't know how to cast a spell, but you have a good idea of the basic components that make it up, so instead of actually casting the spell, you're using them to try and create a magical effect with the same results. Night Dew is very talented at figuring out the components of spells he don't know and using that." "That sounds powerful." Sole Ray snorted. "It would be, but since he's relying so much on it, he never actually learns the spells. Last time I met him, he could only properly cast one spell. And even though magical fudging is useful, it will always leave you with something along the lines of what you wanted, but never exactly what you wanted. Sometimes, if you aren't careful, you might even end up causing more problems with it than solutions." Spiler nodded. "So all in all he's not really that dangerous?" "No, he's only a C rank." Sole Ray instantly regretted saying that as Spiler went right back to imitating a question mark. He sighed once more. "Okay, to grossly oversimplify think of the ranks as a measurement of how strong a unicorn is. They span from F, which is basically a normal unicorn who can levitate objects and light up their horns, to A who can more or less bend reality to their will. Most unicorns at E and every one above are considered a magic talent. That makes roughly 15% of the unicorn population." Confident that he had answered the question he went back to his search. Spiler thought it over for a few moments. "You're a magic talent, aren't you?" "I am." "What rank?" He smiled, he had been waiting for that question. "A." ----- Bird Chaser landed outside Hilltop, a bit exhausted from carrying the filly all the way. He was met by a crowd of ponies running around each other in confusion. A few of them immediately greeted Seedling with a mixture of "Thank Celestia you're safe!" and "What were you thinking running off like that!?" He stopped one of them. "What happened here?" "We were attacked by Spiler and some other unicorn. Spring Dancer's in hospital and Sun Leaf almost followed." "She's still here? I need to talk to her right away." "Good," another mare interrupted. "Maybe you can talk some sense into her. She refuses to inform the guards." "No. She's right in not involving them." His words earned him some confused looks. "At least not yet. Look, can one of you please take me to her?" "Right. This way," the first mare said before leading him indoor into a room decorated with old photos and furniture, Sun Leaf's personal quarters. On a rocking chair in the center sat the mare in question. Before her one of the older colts was serving her a bowl of soup. As they entered she instantly reacted. "Bird Chaser, please tell me that Seedling is with you." "She is." Sun Leaf drew a relieved sigh. "Oh thank goodness. That filly, sometimes I don't know what to do with her." "We need to talk." She just nodded and, much to the pegasus' dislike, allowed the other two ponies to stay. "About Dust Quill." A long silence followed before the elderly mare finally spoke. "Could you two please leave us for a moment?" After the door was closed, she continued. "So this is about him." "Most likely yes. You were attacked by Sole Ray, right?" "He didn't tell me his name, and to be honest I didn't think of asking." "White unicorn with a shattered circle cutie mark." "You know him?" "I know of him. I also know that Dust Quill was in possession of a magical artifact that boosts your power, which is most likely what Sole Ray is after." He paused for a moment to let the information sink in, as he thought the mare didn't seem surprised. "Now, I thought that we were dealing with the Golden Rock and that they planned to use Seedling as a hostage to get what they wanted. But turns out we're dealing with a much stronger foe; they don't need hostages as they can simply take what they want. So why do they want Seedling?" Sun Leaf shook her head. "I don't know." "Do you know who she is? Last I heard, Dust Quill never had any foals, and her age taken into consideration, he couldn’t had had her since." "No. All I know is that he left her in my protection." "And from what I know about him," Bird Chaser added. "That means from the royal guard as well as thugs." She nodded. "Okay. I know he moved, but not where to. Do you?" She didn't answer. "I know you want to protect them, but Sole Ray is probably on his way there now. If he could figure out Seedling's connection to Dust Quill, and find her here, I don't think finding one little house will be that hard for him, and I really need to get there first." They sat in silence again for a while. Then Sun Leaf sighed. "You're right, of course. I just can't shake the feeling of betraying him. The house is located not far from Dodge City. That is unfortunately all I know, but I imagine it won't be that hard for you to find it from there." The pegasus nodded. "That should be enough. Thank you." Silence once again filled the room. There was one more subject that needed to be discussed, but neither of them wanted to bring it up. Finally Sun Leaf spoke. "We can't protect Seedling." "You can't," Bird Chaser agreed. "Had she been here earlier, Sole Ray would had had her by now, and you also need to protect the other residents." "So what do you suggest?" Bird Chaser sighed. What he was about to say went against a lot of his principles. "I suggest that I take her with me. I might be going the same way as them, but I like my life enough to not confront them, and should we run into them, I'm lucky enough to have wings." "I might not be a pegasus," Sun Leaf argued, "but even I know that it gets harder to move around in the air when you're carrying somepony, and add to that that you need to avoid whatever that unicorn throws at you. Are you sure you can do it?" "I know it's a bit of a gamble. But it's only 'till I find Dew, then we'll stand a lot better chance of protecting her." "How do you plan to find him? He can quite literally be anywhere." "True, and that's why I'm not going to look for him." His words seemed to raise some confusion. "He might be a big foal, but he's not stupid. If he can move he'll ether take up the trail on Dust Quill himself, or come back here where you'll probably send him in that direction. The easiest way for me to find him is doing the same." Sun Leaf took her time considering the situation before replying. "Very well, you've convinced me. I hope you know what you're doing." "So do I." They parted, and Bird Chaser went looking for Seedling, a task that proved a bit more difficult than expected as nopony seemed to know where she was. In the end, she found him, as she jumped out from below a sofa where she had been hiding. "They're everywhere." "Who?" "Them! With all their 'Thank Celestia you're safe, never run off again.' I wouldn't be safe if I hadn't!" The pegasus couldn't help but chuckle. "Please let me come with you. I promise I'll be good. Please, please, please, please, please, please." Bird Chaser held a hoof to her mouth to stop her. "Well, I guess I got some good news for you then." ----- "What is that?" Spiler asked, looking at the blue orb Sole Ray had manifested above the magic circle that apparently had been the object of his search. "A beacon." "What for?" "Me!" Spiler's heart skipped a beat - the last answer had come from somewhere behind him, and as he turned around he came face to face with a transparent unicorn colt who levitated a small distance above the ground. "Hello Ghost," Sole Ray greeted him. "Ray! I was beginning to lose faith that you would ever get your horn out of your hindquarters and actually do something. Who's this?" Ghost had moved himself in a circle around them and was now levitating upside down looking at Spiler. "A new member?" "No. he's just with me. And it's going to stay that way." He looked at the unicorn in question, who seemed moments away from peeing himself. "Spiler, this is Ghost. He is a member of New Cosmos and no, he's not really a ghost, he can just turn himself incorporeal." "Awww, come on, Ray. Don't be such a spoilsport." Sole Ray looked at him a few seconds. "He's also not nearly as young as he looks, he doesn't age in that form. And before you ask, he's a D rank." "Ouch. Are you actually trying to make enemies?" "Just tell me what you found out and then you can get your transparent flank back to headquarters and report on me." "Or I could just do that now and leave you to try and figure it out yourself." Ghost was getting increasingly angry. "You know," Sole Ray remained calm. "I've always wondered if I can actually hit you. I mean in theory, you currently have about the same mass as my rays, it shouldn’t really be that hard." Ghost's pupils shrunk. "Do you think you'll leave behind a body? You being incorporeal and all." "Okay, okay. No reason to get violent." He gulped. "It wasn't easy. Dust Quill knew what he was doing when he cast his protection spell." "Did you or did you not find it?" "Of course I did." Ghost smiled, and a map materialized beside him. Sole Ray studied it "Dodge City? Seems like we're going south." ----- "Thunder Spark, Storm Runner, you two get down here this very instant!" The twins playfully tumbled trough the sky, pretending not to hear their earthbound mother. This was their domain- in the air, nopony could reach them. "When I get my hoofs on you-" the earth pony stopped to catch her breath while her sons just got further away. "Hey Spark! Race ya to that hill." Storm Runner pointed at the proposed goal. They both knew that sooner or later, they had to listen to their mother, but one last race for the day only seemed fair. "You're on!" Thunder Spark replied before using a powerful flap to earn himself a head start. It didn't last long, though, and his brother was soon side by side with him again, trying to make him slow down by leaning in on his front. However, Thunder Spark wasn't about to lose that easily - he rolled around, forcing his brother to follow in order not to collide and thus flipping their positions and regaining his lead. Storm Runner regained his balance; that last stunt had almost thrown him off - almost. He narrowed his eyes. He had already lost once this day and didn't want to repeat that success. Putting his wings to the job he managed to close the gap between them and then passed at a rapid speed as his brother had suddenly stopped mid air. He looked back in confusion. "Hey, what's up?" Thunder Spark didn't answer, but instead descended to the ground where he landed beside a purple unicorn lying in the dust. "Cool!" Storm Runner had joined up. "Do you think he's dead?" "I dunno." He tilted his head "Try poking him." The colt hesitated a moment before following through on the suggestion. There was no reaction. "By Celestia!" Their mother had finally caught up with them. "When we get back you're in so much tro-" She stopped mid sentence when she saw the scene before her, and without saying another word, she rushed to the unicorn, checking his pulse. With a relieved sigh, she once again addressed the twins. "You two, hurry back to Jade Heart and tell her to have the guest bed ready. Seems like we're going to have company."