During the chariot ride back to the ruined town, Coal filled his companion, a snow white unicorn called Silver Beam about the necklace and the glass box and how he acquired them. The wind was playing with his deep blue, wavy mane as the unicorn listened in silence. They sat in a light carriage with two wheels below and one earth pony in the harness. The unicorn nodded understandingly when he heard the part about the box’s possible magic.
“So, you tried to break the glass with your bare hoof first?” He asked, a hint of a smile sat on the corner of his mouth.
Coal shrugged. “I was curious, and it looked like ordinary glass. I didn’t expect it to hurt that much.”
“Well, enchanted containers tend to be magical.”
Coal rolled his eyes. “Yeah, Yeah. Anyway, I’m sure there is something you can do about it.”
The stallion shrugged. “Certainly.” After a little pause, he added, “If nothing works, I will just use my horn.”
Coal couldn’t help but chuckle at that, although he felt slight embarrassment.
They sat in silence, as the first signs of the explosion came in sight. The grass had long regrow since the accident and the trees had some leaves again as well, but occasionally burned ruins of farmhouses and other, small buildings darkened the mood of the vista. After some minutes, the first houses of the town appeared along with their destination, the train station.
They stopped in front of the station building, and the two stallions stepped on the dirt road. Coal frowned as he looked around. The sound of birds and the faint smell of distant flowers were in sharp contrast with the soundless ghost town. He didn’t want to spend too much time here and, judging by his frown, the unicorn didn’t want to either. They were in the radiation zone already, and Coal was sure his companion was already feeling the negative effects. He intended to make the stay as quick as possible.
Silver Beam finished talking with the harnessed pony, and walked to Coal who had taken a few steps away from the cart.
“So, where is your hiding place?” There was no trace of humor in his voice this time.
“This way.”
They walked towards a family house. It wasn’t spared, but it has a fairly high wall with a drawer next to it, surrounded by debris. Coal showed some of it away and opened the bottom door. He pulled out the cardboard box that contained the glass one among from several similar boxes. He had found these in this very house. They were full of old, canned food.
Coal removed the paper cover from the glass box. His talent reassured him about the necklace’s importance again, but he ignored it this time. He held the box in his hooves so the unicorn could look at it.
Silver enclosed the box in a white glow and levitated it close to his eyes. He inspected the edges of the box with care. He shot a quick glance at Coal, and effortlessly lifted the top panel off, then levitated out the necklace.
Coal stared at the open box, which now sat on the ground, along with the top panel.
“Well, that was…”
“It was an enchanted container. Only the right spell could open it.” The unicorn slowly rotated the jewel in the air. “It does appear like something one would protect from unauthorized individuals, although it’s strange that with some experience, almost any unicorn would be able to open it.”
“Why? Is it that necklace valuable?”
“Well, yes, but not because of the gem or the gold. It’s a powerful, magical artifact, might be hundreds of years old. I can feel the magic in it, but it’s like it’s… sleeping. There must be something that triggers it.”
“Maybe you have to put it on.”
“I suppose, but I’m not sure we should touch it at all. I will wrap it in some cloth for you to carry.”
Coal nodded, but was still curious. “Okay. Is there anything else that you can say about it?”
The necklace started fidgeting in the air. The unicorn winced in pain, and didn’t answer. Nothing visible happened, but Coal knew what was wrong. He didn’t feel the magical wave coming yet, but he knew unicorns were more sensible for it. He braced himself.
It was weaker than in the tree, probably because they were further from the source. Coal fought his talent’s confused but not very strong demands, but he saw that Silver took the wave worse.
He dropped the necklace on the ground, slumped down on his haunches and folded his forelimbs across his eyes. His horn’s glow was getting brighter. Coal suddenly felt his saddlebag shudder slightly, and saw the debris on the ground doing the same. He was getting afraid for Silver, as well as for himself.
The wave ceased after several long seconds, and so did the movement in his bag. Coal shook his head and looked at the unicorn, who was still in the same position. Coal stepped closer, worried. He didn’t know the exact effect the magic had on unicorns, and he supposed there wasn’t a thing he could do to help his companion.
Silver took several deep breaths, and slowly stood up.
“Are you all right?” Coal asked.
“That was… different from the descriptions I heard.”
“That’s because the wave affects the pony’s natural magic through their cutie mark, so it’s a different experience for everyone. I’m not sure what does it do to unicorns, tough.“
“I’m fine,” the unicorn said. “That was all you needed, right? Then let’s get back to the station.“ He lifted the necklace and started trotting back to the chariot. Coal took a quick look at his cutie mark, and followed him. It was a small bag in a way of a bright beam. It didn’t clear anything to Coal, so he decided to ask.
“Can I ask what your talent is?”
Silver hesitated a bit before answering. “It’s basically finding stuff. I use it to scan the suspicious luggage at the station. When you felt your bag moving, it was my magic that got… carried away a little.”
“Well, that makes sense. It was a bit creepy, though”
The unicorn smirked, but his voice remained serious. “Sorry about that. Let’s just get away from this place before we get another dose of that thing.”
A minute passed before they reached the carriage with an excited pony in front of it. He was still in the harness, and looked eager to depart.
“Thank Celestia, that didn’t take too long. Did you found anything interesting? And that… thing, did you feel that too? I heard about this effect before but never really experienced one. I tend to avoid these places, you know, they give me the creeps, and then there’s this stuff that actually screws with your mind. Now I got a story to tell my buddies but let us just get the heck out of here first, okay?”
Coal noticed that the stallion didn’t asked about the necklace, but then he saw it, wrapped in the unicorn’s blue tail, concealed from the excited pony’s sight. So much for not touching it... He agreed with Silver though about not involving him in this.
They climbed in the cart without a word. The pony yanked the chariot to turn around, and they were out of the village in seconds.
* * *
Coal watched as the unicorn wrapped the necklace in a small piece of silk he found in the carriage, the same material as the curtains. He levitated the package to Coal, who put it in his saddlebag.
“Thank you for the help, Mr. Beam, and sorry f-“
“It’s Silver. We were past this when we met at the station, remember?”
“Well, yes, it’s just…” Coal gulped nervously. ”I just met you today, and I’m... not that good with strangers.”
The unicorn waved a hoof. As they got further from the town, his mood got better. “Don’t worry, you’re not the only one. Besides, don’t be sorry for the incident. I’d known about the radiation before I agreed to come with you. I also wanted to take a look at those old books in that basement where you found that box, but I just couldn’t bear the atmosphere. Maybe next time…”
“Then why don’t you just go alone?”
The unicorn shook his head. “It’s not that simple… They don’t usually let unicorns wander around in exploded towns. You know, it’s kinda dangerous for us. Besides, we were the ones who supported the idea of those machines in the first place.”
“But you didn’t make them to explode, right? I mean…”
“Of course not. Nopony wanted to harm anypony, and nopony could’ve predicted they would go off. It’s a shame, tough… It was such a good idea.”
They were travelling at a steady pace. The dirt road led beside a forest, following the tree line, circling boulders and lone trees in the way. They could hear birds singing in the distance. Coal had done some research on the matter, but wanted to hear the unicorn’s opinion too.
“I suppose you don’t know whose idea was it, either.”
Silver shook his head. “Nopony knows for sure, but he rumor is that it came from an alicorn with a magic talent, but her name is unknown. She was the one who designed the prototype.”
Coal furrowed his brows. “Are you sure? An alicorn with a magic talent?”
Silver shrugged. “It’s only a tale. It was probably a regular unicorn who had a genius idea and no sense of marketing. It’s unlikely any of the Princesses would bother with such things. They have enough stuff on their hooves”
Coal didn’t answer to that. His mind circled around the rumor about the alicorn. It wasn’t the first time he heard about that tale. Then another question came to him.
“How long have these machines been in use? How old is this idea?”
The unicorn thought about that for a moment. “I’m not sure, but… if I remember correctly, the first device was given to the ponies of Canterlot, about… a decade or two ago.”
“A decade or two? That isn’t much time for an inventor to be forgotten.”
“Well, the fact is that no one knows for sure. There is no official document about her… or him, and no one has come to claim the rights for the idea, therefore it doesn’t really matter anymore. It looked like a good idea and it worked for years, but eventually it was proved wrong. It’s a shame that so many had to die, but it happened, and there’s no one to blame, only the maintenance, who are mostly dead. Maybe that’s the reason the inventor has chosen anonymity.”
“Hmm…” Coal’s thoughts were racing. A legendary alicorn besides the three Princesses, who built magic-conserving machines for the non-magical ponies. Coal saw some of the early designs of those devices in Canterlot. It had shades of purple as decoration, sometimes with a big, purple star. He was sure that none of the Princesses had those colors. Well, maybe Princess Cadence, but she definitely didn’t have a star on her, and she certainly wasn’t enrolled in groundbreaking arcane physics. The things Silver said weren’t very specific, but they fit in his theory. He didn’t have anything about the identity of the inventor that had trustworthy proof either, despite his research. It was unlikely that the inventor was an alicorn and not just a unicorn, but it would make his theory all more plausible. The tales in the old books he saw in Canterlot about Princess Twilight Sparkle, the only pony with the talent of magic itself, might have been correct after all.
* * *
There wasn't much strength left in her body, but she had to keep the spell running. She remembered the last time she gave up the magic because otherwise she would have collapsed on the ground for sure. She remembered the pain in her sides and flanks from the kicks she was rewarded with. The memory of the pain helped her keeping her horn glowing. The purple glow illuminated the uneven cave ground before her hooves.
She felt a disturbance in the magical field she was casting. She stopped and pointed a thin hoof at the side of the cave from where the signal was coming, then slumped down at her haunches. Her companions started digging in the indicated spot. She used the time to stop the spell and let her horn rest a bit. Her whole head felt numb from the concentration. Her stomach growled but she didn't have any appetite, only thirst. She thought about the fountains in her town. The water was fresh and cold, and when she jumped in, the waves of the pond closed above her head. When she got out the towel was warm and dry, just like her blankets in her room, where she watched the moon from her bed, her friend reading his comic books at the light of a small lamp. The picture was torn apart forcefully when her horn hit the ground. A wave of pain ran through her body, yanking her back to her current, unpleasant reality.
She held up her head. She had to stay awake. Her dreams were good enough to at least momentarily make her forget her present suffering, but now wasn't the time. She had to help these bastards find their gems, and she had to concentrate to be able to cast the necessary magic for that. The pattern was simple: she scanned the ground, she pointed, they dug, she got rewarded with a small bowl of water, and then it started over again. She could consider herself lucky for being able to keep up the magic, she thought, otherwise she would probably get killed or let starve to death. At least they gave her water occasionally. She shuddered at the memory of a unicorn skeleton she had found in one of the caves, laying behind a rock, some of her leg bones clearly broken.
There was a clang in front of her face. When she opened her eyes, she saw her bowl of water. She eagerly grabbed it in her forelimbs and emptied it. The water felt cold, refreshing, and delicious. She put the empty bowl down and took a deep breath, gathering strength to continue. She stood up, and lit her horn again.
It seemed being a magic talent saved her life again.