When Celestia was cataloguing some of the strange artefacts that the necromancers had collected, she immediately summoned Sharp when an object had caught her eye. The old dragoness was not happy to be dragged from her post-battle slumber and had been camping out in Canterlot near a security management branch of all places.
Chalking it down to the unusual dragoness’ behaviour she just dismissed the thought and asked about the small silver ring that had floated into her possession. A quick discerning eye from the dragoness had revealed nothing to her knowledge. Celestia acknowledged the sincerity of the ancient being but that made it all the more puzzling as to how the artefact came to be.
The only three things that had outlived the dragoness and the two royal pony sisters was Discord, the Tree of Harmony and the Elements and the world itself. She figured it could just be a lost item forged eons ago. However, she could neither decipher the strange writing inlaid on the inner ring nor magically date the item with any accuracy. Strangely, the item seemed to act like a crystal, simply absorbing and storing the magic she pumped into it. It had fidelity higher than the flawless of diamonds, which seem to speak of unimaginable order to smallest of scales.
Celestia had trouble imagining what sort of artefact would require such intricacies or the effort required to produce such an object. Sharp had left, no longer interested in the matter but Celestia needed a second opinion. Her sister may not have been the greatest purveyor of the fields of esoteric magic, however she was always one for the strange items of mystical appeal…
She sent a telepathic thought over to Luna, beckoning them to arrive.
With the necromancer threats dismissed, Celestia can concentrate on dealing with the political fallout. As to explaining the existence of a null being... She could probably chalk it up to a failed necromancer experiment.
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Twilight and Luna were already packing just two days after we had our little party. We said our goodbyes to Shining and Cadence who were happier than ever since I’ve given Cadence that advice. Shining apparently considers me a ‘bro’ now, even though I was completely inexperienced in the bro department. Whatever.
I had made only slight progress on magic and to be totally honest, I was bored out of my skull. Nothing interesting had happened since I had gotten stabbed in the middle of the Crystal Empire and although getting stabbed was scary, it at least occupied my time.
There were moments where I would catch myself in dark humour and wonder why my mind chose to visit those routes of consciousness. I would blame my subconscious but that typical statement leads to the part of everyone’s brain that receives the most flak. I mean be honest, your subconscious is always right, right?
After packing the necessities and heading back out I felt like I hadn’t really achieved much after setting foot in the Empire. The whole reason of me being here being political, that really did nothing to stem my frustration during periods of inaction.
The necromancers, Luna had reported, were wiped out for good.
I shuddered slightly upon hearing this, thinking about how simple and matter-of-fact the princess had relayed this piece of information. If this was how quick Equestria dealt with their internal problems, I didn’t want to become one.
The trip back to Canterlot was fairly animated though and this time I got a proper look at the scenery and lay in my compartment without random griffons trying to snatch me out of the window. Twilight and I chatted about mundane things, Luna and I chatted about deep and meaningful things, whilst Pinkie and I chatted about inane things. We got along pretty well.
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Getting to Canterlot, Celestia was quick to summon us to the throne room. You could practically see the telepathic signals that Celestia and Luna were sharing as we crossed the floor. A tray was set at a small table to the side, Luna snapped to the tray as Twilight, Pinkie and I stopped a respectful distance from the throne.
As Luna was inspecting whatever it was on the tray, Celestia and Twilight had a side-conversation about the first-hoof accounts of event leading up to and after my stabbing. I lost interest almost as fast as Pinkie. Yes it was rude, but hey when Twilight and Celestia were speaking it was like listening to mothers getting together and chatting about gossip. I felt like a child sitting the room and expected to play with my toys quietly.
Apparently, Pinkie had a pack of cards and was waving it behind her back. I just smiled and shook my head. Tuning out was one thing but actually going off and doing something else while royalty was holding an audience with me? I was fair, but not outright disrespectful.
With nothing else to do I let my gaze wander around the room, eventually settling on Luna. She was fiddling with an object that looked familiar to me.
It took me a while to figure it out but when I did I gasped, drawing everyone’s attention.
Rushing over to Luna, I snatched the silver circlet out of her hoof, much to her displeasure.
“But this… this is impossible!” I exclaimed, fingering the engraved inside and gazing at the imprint on the outside.
Synch™, © 2037 Grooble corporations
“It’s my Synch”, I breathed, almost reverently.
Twilight, Luna and Celestia gaped at me. Pinkie just cocked her head.
“What’s a Synch?” Pinkie asked.