“The blizzard has been going on for nearly two weeks now,” Iron Shield, captain of the guards that patrolled the streets of Harbour and its surrounding, said with his normal high pitched noise. “It’s harsher than any blizzard before it, and the last carts of supplies from the settlements around us couldn’t get here in time, they were as surprised by this as we were. We need to.”
Every eye in the meeting hall walked to Ocean Tamer as he, by raising a wing, firmly cut off his guard captain midsentence. The entire meeting hall grew silent, not even the crowd that had assembled around the council made a sound as their leader spoke up. “We have our magicians working around the clock to fix this situation, led by Advisor Sea Walker and Headmaster Light Touch, as I told you last week. I know, as well as you, that the situation is dire. You are not the only one who have listened to the pulse of the city these weeks, and I know as well as you that the citizen fear what will happen in the future. But you have the same orders as last week.”
I stopped listening to what was said, my eyes wandering over the assembled ponies in the meeting hall. There was a clear difference between how the Phoenix tribe and the Sea Serpent tribe where ruled, something that was easy to understand seeing the size differences between the tribes. Everypony in the Phoenix tribe could speak their mind freely directly to Flame Raiser or Crystal Fire, and if a meeting was to be held would everypony be getting a chance to get their voice heard.
That would not work in the Sea Serpent tribe. Here it was handled completely different, to work up for the sheer number of ponies in the tribe. Each city, and the small settlements surrounding them, was ruled by a council of five ponies. Two of the council members, the captain of the guards and the Headmaster of the academy, were chosen by Ocean Tamer while the other two were chosen by the ponies of the city. The exception for this was Harbour itself.
Ocean Tamer was the leader of Harbour and the council here was no more than a council existing of nine ponies. Two of them, Iron Shield and Light Touch, had been chosen by Ocean Tamer as captain of the guards and Headmaster of the academy. Then there were the three chosen by the people, and the four chosen by the other cities councils so that they could get their voices heard.
Even if the meeting hall was an impressing sight from the outside, with its grand statues and pearl white marble that shone nearly as bright as the sun, was it nothing compared to the inside. The meeting hall was built up around the Chamber, the room that hosted the meetings. There were only one public way in and out from the Chamber, and that was the hallway known as the Path.
The Path was the grand hallway that connected the entrance with the rest of the meeting hall. A sea blue carpet lay on its marble floor, statues of marble and onyx, the smallest of them in the size of a full-grown pony, stood tall along the road the carpet created. Smaller hallways lead from the Path, digging their way into other parts of the meeting hall. In the end of the Path stood two grand wooden doors, created by the same dark wood that my grandfather’s house was built with, with silver fittings around the edges and across the middle. The black and blue emblem of the Sea Serpent tribe, placed directly over the double doors to the Chamber, looked down at everypony that approached the core of the meeting hall.
The Chamber itself was a circular room. Eleven pillars, formed as great sea serpents, held up the vaulted ceiling. The top of the ceiling was painted as an ocean scenery and the pillar seemed to swim out from the scenery and dive into the floor. In the middle of the Chamber were the seats of the council, nine places around a dark wooden table, standing in front of the two seats where the leader and the advisor of the Sea Serpent tribe sat. In a half circle around the seats of the council and the leader were seats open for anypony who wished to listen to the meeting.
Those opens seats were nearly filled to the brim this early morning. The inhabitants of Harbour worried about how they would survive, worried about how the food would suffice to feed the entire city for the days, maybe weeks, it would take to get the weather situation at hoof under control.
The council shared the fears and worry that pulsated in the city, this question had been raised more than once, and every time had it received the same answer. The assurance that the magicians worked around the clock and that the orders they got on the last meeting still applied. Orders that all remaining food in the city’s hooves, food that the city council had bought up from the merchants the day they realized that the blizzard would stay longer than it usually did and that all wagons hadn’t arrived to the city, was to be handed out, under controlled forms, to each citizen in Harbour. Not even the members of the council got more foods on their tables than any of the others inhabitants, and this included Ocean Tamer himself. Each household was each week given enough food to make sure that every pony had enough to feed on until next time it was handed out.
A lot of the nobles, a name ponies with a lot of money or power had given themselves so that they could say that they were worth more than others, had raised their voices at this. Why would they, who had the money to buy the supplies, get as much on their tables as the ones with less money? It had taken Ocean Tamer three meetings, and a complete loss of temper, to convince them that the food supplies would not be sufficient should they all try to buy as much as they had done before.
“Silence!” Ocean Tamer called out, silencing everypony in the Chamber and awaking me from my thoughts. “We will not discuss this further, my will stand fast in this. The food distribution will continue as it have done until this day, and will do so until the blizzard ends, wether it ends from the use of our magic or naturally.”
“But that might take weeks, this is outrageous!” Mystique, an old unicorn who had been silent through all of the meetings, shouted out. “What will it take you to change the way this works? For two weeks have our families suffered and.”
“You have not suffered any more than the rest of Harbour, Mystique,” Ocean Tamer cut him off with a low voice. “What is it that makes you noble ponies think that you are worth more than the rest of the citizens? Is it your money? Is it your power?” he asked as he stood up from his sitting position, looking over all ponies that had assembled in the room before his gaze ended up at Mystique, nailing him in place. “Whatever it is will it not be enough. Every life in here is equally worth in my eyes, and as such will I make sure that every one of the ponies in our city got food on their tables, even if it is less than they are used to.”
“But,”
“No, no objections. This meeting has come to an end. You are all free to leave,” Ocean Tamer turned around and left without any further ceremony. Sea Walker and I lingered for a few more minutes, watching as everypony else left the building. Most of the ponies whispered with somepony else, and a few angry mutters could be heard from the ‘nobles’ as they made their way past the other ponies, seemingly in a hurry to get outside.
Sea Walker and I were the last to leave as we walked the way Ocean Tamer had left, a way that quickly ended in front of a doorway. The doorway was decorated by two sea serpents that seemed to crawl up at the sides, and the door was slightly open. We entered the room, Sea Walker walking before me and letting go of the staff he had been holding in the grasp of his magic.
I looked wide-eyed around the room. It was the first time I had been in this room, Ocean Tamers own office, the heart of the power in Harbour. A desk of dark wood stood at one of the walls, flanked by two large bookcases filled to the brim with scrolls. Ocean Tamer himself lay on one of a couple cushion piles that were laid out in front of a fireplace, his head resting on his fronthooves and his eyes staring into the empty fireplace.
"You did the right thing," Sea Walker said in a low voice. “The people of Harbour needs a.”
"How long time do you need, Walker?" the pegasus asked, interrupting the unicorn. I could clearly hear the tiredness in his voice.
"Sir, it may take days, weeks, to finish the spell. We have barely been able to fix the spell frame. Magic of this magnitude... It has never been tried before! The legend speaks about the lost powers of the Elements of Harmony and Discord, and with that power we could have stopped the blizzard a long time ago. Without such a power? It will take time."
"We don't have weeks!" Ocean Tamer raised his voice slightly as he rose from the cushions he had laid on. "We might not even have days! Mystique wants power to the nobles, a wish that would hurt the commoners, the core, of our city. And he have support," he said with a lower voice, the last sentence barely more than a whisper. “The nobles, they don’t see clearly. They see what the money can do for them, not what they can do for the entire tribe.”
"I will do everything in my power to get it finished, if I so will have every available unicorn working themselves to death," the advisors swore, his voice steady and serious.
"I don't expect any less from you, Walker. But I would like to have some unicorns left when you are done with them," Ocean Tamer said, a faint smile on his muzzle. “You are free to leave.”
Sea Walker turned around to leave the office and I turned to follow him when Ocean Tamer called out from behind me. "Wait, Star. I want to talk with you," he said. "You have been here for months now and I have only spoken to you a hoofful times."
Sea Walker seemed as surprised as I was as he turned around and looked at the tribe leader, but he quickly recovered and a smile started to spread over his muzzle. "I don’t see any problem with that. You know where to find me once you are finished. Take your time, Star, and listen closely to what Tamer has to say," he said before he turned around again and trotted out from the office.
The pegasus smiled at me as he lay down on the cushion pile again, his eyes on me. “Take a seat, Star,” he said as he motioned towards the remaining cushion piles with a hoof.
I snapped out from the surprise and quickly did as I was told to, taking a seat in one of the piles. The cushions were softer than I had expected, and I sunk down in the comfortable pile with a satisfied sigh.
“Nearly six lunar cycles have you been here now, Star. What do you think about Harbour? What have you learned?”
“Harbour is,” I stopped for a second, thinking over what to say. “A big city. There is always something to do, something to see. At first I only thought about it as chaotic mess with all ponies hurrying around have I now realized that they have a daily routine. They interact with each other in a completely different way than I was used to when I first got here. Where you at home could pretty much just ask the neighbor about an apple for your pie do you here have to buy it from a merchant, who himself bought it from a farmer, who himself pay you for the soil he have his crop on. Payment you take from all in the city, the size of the payment percentage equal for all, and use to repair the city and to make sure all are safe at both night and day. All the time using these small silver and golden objects that you call bits,” I paused to take a breath, glancing over at the pegasus.
He looked strangely at me, a smile on his muzzle.
“What did I do wrong?” I asked, shrinking some at the thought that I might have done something wrong.
“You haven’t done anything wrong,” he answered, the smile on his muzzle widening. “I’m just surprised that you have learned how our entire tribe is, if you take it down to the core, built like. How did you learn it?”
“I asked Jest about the strange object I was given by Sea Walker the second time we were out, and he told me that it was bits and how you used them. As we bought the apple I had to ask the merchant where he got it from, seeing that there existed no apple trees anywhere in the city what I had seen. He told me that he bought it from some farmers in the eastern villages. I quickly figured that you used the currency to trade, and that everypony needed it, otherwise they wouldn’t be able to buy food. That made me wonder were the guard ponies got their money from, since they didn’t create anything or traded things they had bought. So I asked Sea Walker and he said,”
“That I founded them so that they could protect the rest of the city, stop the things we call crimes. But how did you get to the point that they pay me?” he asked, one of his eyebrows raised in question.
“Well, I figured that you had to get the money from somewhere, to pay all the guards I mean, so I asked Sea Walker about it. He told me that everypony paid a twentieth of their income, regardless of status or work, no matter where they lived as long as it where in the Harbour region.”
Ocean Tamer chuckled lightly. I felt as that I had heard him chuckle before, but I could not place it. “It seems like my advisor have had a good time answering your questions, Star. But tell me, what progress have you been making with your magic use?”
“None,” I said, my ears hanging low in shame. “Sea Walker has shown me many things, like how to melt snow or how to create a globe of light at will. But even thought I know the basic of the spells I can’t use them, every time I try my power is drained and I end up in a heap, panting for air. After a while we continued to the basics of magic use instead. He says me that I have a natural ability for understanding it.”
“I’m glad that I never have had to learn something like that,” Ocean Tamer said with a shrug. “It is all fancy, and I’m sure it could come in very handy someday, but all that reading… No, I’m happy where I am, and I’m sure that your blockade will be shattered before you are to leave us,” he added with a smile.
“I guess…” I sighed.
”How do you like your time here so far then?”
“It has been a lot of studying, but also much free time that I have been spending with Jest.”
“Jest?”
“A friend, or more precisely a servant to Sea Walker,” I said, lighting up at the thought of my friend.
“Well, it’s always good to have friends. They are the ones who define us. I count many in my tribe as my friends, both among the commoners and the nobles,” the pegasus said, sharing my smile as he rose from the cushions. “It has been very pleasant to speak with you, and I truly hope that I can talk to you soon again, but for now do I have to take care of some matters of great importance.”
“Okay,” I said as I rose as well, a little surprised that the talk would end this quickly. “I thought you wanted to talk for me longer than this, did I do something wrong?”
Ocean Tamer let out a laughter, which surprised me even more. “Something wrong? The only thing you did wrong was to know everything I had thought you should know. I guess I was a little late with thinking about learning you about it was I not?” he said with a wink.
“I’m sorry,” I said, blushing slightly. “I hope you aren’t mad at me.”
Ocean Tamer looked surprised at me. “Why would I be mad at you? You have asked question, you have stilled some of your curiosity. Why would something like that make me mad? The only one I’m mad at is myself, for not asking Sea Walker how long you had come and what you had learn.”
I just stood there, not knowing what to say.
“So, go now. I believe Sea Walker is waiting on you, and I got work to do.”
“Yes, Ocean Tamer. Bye, and thanks for the talk,” I said as I turned around.
“Star,” he said before I had had the time to even take two steps.
“Yes?” I asked as I turned around.
“No need to be formal with me, Ocean or Tamer will be enough, at least when we are alone like this. I have never been found of… formalities,”
“Okay Ocean T… Ocean, I will remember that,” I said as I turned around again.
“Bye, Star,” he said as I left the room, shouting a farewell back to him.
~*^*~
I sighed and rested my head against the cushion in the wagon. The howling blizzard outside made the wood in the wagon creak alarmingly, the cold wind finding its way through the slits in the wooden sides of my conveyance. I could barely hear the talking between the two earth ponies that pulled the wagon over the blizzard, but that was enough to remind me that I travelled thanks to others.
Not that I would have had any chance against the storm without them, it was barely that they could move in the blizzard themselves, and that was when the blizzard was weakened by all the houses in the core of the city. I did not even want to picture how the blizzard hit the outer ring of the city, or even worse the small towns around it. And here I lay on a soft cushion inside a wagon that was, for the weather around me, warm, on my way towards the academy where Sea Walker and the Headmaster worked on a spell to stop the same blizzard that howled around me.
I sighed again as I burrowed my body deeper in the cushions, praying that we would arrive soon, not only so that I could get out of the wagon but so the ponies that drew it would be able to get into the warmth again. I hoped that Jest was at the academy, then I could spend some time together with him and not be in the way when the magicians worked. It was interesting to look at, but it always felt as if I was in the way.
My thoughts came to a sudden stop as the wagon did the same. I rose up and looked out at the window at the side of the wagon and realized that something was wrong. I hurried over to the other side, looking out of that window as well, but was greeted by the same sight as I had from the first.
Snow, all around me was there snow, whirling around in the raging blizzard. I could not see more than a few feet from the wagon, not that it helped seeing that the only thing I could see was the snow anyway. Another thing that I noticed was that I could not hear the sound of the ones pulling the wagon. Had they left me? Or were they still there?
“Why did we stop?” I yelled, hopping that they could hear me.
The only thing answering my call was the wind that howled around the wagon.
“Hello?” I yelled again, feeling the panic rising in my voice. Had they left me? Why would they leave me? Had something happen to them? Were we in danger?
Was I alone? What would happen to me? What had happened to them? Had anything happened to them? Why did they not answer? Was I alone? My mind circled around itself, asking the same questions over and over again. But I did not find any answers to my questions, as they whirled around inside my mind, making me panic more and more. The air in the wagon steadily grew colder and I started to breathe faster and faster, my breath visible around me. I felt to the wagons floor, feeling the cold, hard wood against my limp body. I tried to suppress the thought, started to think about something else, anything else!
The floor, the floor was good. The dark wood the wagon was created by smelled like the forest at home, remembering me of the glade and the waterfall in the late summer, remembering me of the warming sun shining high above me. I felt the warmth spreading in my body, making my head dull. Why was the air growing warmer? It shouldn’t, I could still hear the howling around me. But the warmth nudged me, wanted to get my attention. It felt good, but the sunshine made me drowsy. But that was fine, I could just lay down on the cozy grass. Yes, the grass was good. Why were my eyelids this heavy? Oh well, I could always take a nap in the green grass, with the sun above me. I just had to be careful so to not get sunburned. Slowly I drifted off to sleep, something in the back of my mind bothering me, but what could be any better than a sleep in the green, sunlit grass around me?
~*^*~
I slowly opened my eyes, blinking the sleep away from my heavy eyelids. The violet sky opened up above me, lit up but neither by the sun nor the moon or the stars. Instead it seemed to glow on its own, pulsating as pink and purple started to weave itself around the sky, lighten and darken it simultaneously. I had rolled over to my back during my sleep, but I did not lie on the grass anymore. Cold spread from my back into my body, chilled me slowly. I tried to move, but I could not move any of my limbs for more than an inch before they were stopped by… something, I was not sure what. Above me the sky started to whirl faster and faster, making me dizzy as I looked up at it. I jerked my eyes away, looking around at the place I had awoken at.
Before my eyes a giant room stretched out, continuing for what seemed like forever. Enormous, grey pillars supported the velvet violet ocean above me, whirling around themselves in ways that my eyes could not follow. I could hear laughter around me, feel hungry eyes looking at me, but nothing was to be seen. I tilted my head the other way, and the same scenery met my eyes again.
I turned around at the feeling that something crept up at me, and I could swore that I saw something in the corner of my eye, but nothing had changed in the scenery. Except that it felt like everything was closer to me than it had before.
“Hello?” I called out. Or at least I tried, no sound left my lips as I spoke. I trashed my body from side to side, desperately wanting to get away from whatever held me down and made me unable to speak. After having trying for several minutes I gave up, accepting that I could not get away. This time I knew for certain that the room had become smaller around me. I could now see how the walls had crept in on me.
The walls were completely black and seemingly devoured all light that came close to them. My head was jerked away from looking at the wall without a warning, instead my eyes were met by the violet ocean sky above me. I could not move my head at all now, it was locked in position. A soft laugh was heard behind me, different from the laughs I had heard before.
“What are you doing here, Brother?” a familiar voice called out behind me. “Poking your nose in the hornet’s nest, without knowing the consequences am I not right?”
I opened my mouth to speak, but no words came from my lips this time either.
“As I said, Brother, you don’t know the consequences of being here.”
I felt how my body left the cold floor, and I saw from the corner of my eyes how I was engulfed in a black light. I rose towards the ceiling, but stopped as I was halfway. I slowly rotated in the air until I was eye to eye with the jet black unicorn I had seen in the camp so many months ago.
“But I have to thank you,” he said with a smile, his eyes as empty of emotions as they had been when I first met him. “For bringing the very last piece of this puzzle, making me able to finally, after all these years, release the power needed to alter the past.”
A black void opened up around his horn, engulfed all light in the room until the only thing I could see was his emotionless eyes. It seemed as if the brown eyes grew bigger and bigger, to the point where it was the only thing I could see.
“Mine… Finally is it mine! After all these years can I finally stop you! Finally!” the unicorn shouted out. ”And it’s all thanks to you, my Brother.”
It felt as if something started to pull out from me, forced up from my stomach to my mouth.
“Don’t fight it, Brother. Are you not willing to help the tribes? Are you not willing to give them true freedom?”
I tried to struggle against him, tried to keep whatever it was that made its way up my throat down there.
“Over here. I’ve found him,” a voice I could not place shouted out besides me.
“No,” the unicorn shouted out. “No, not after all I have gone through. I only need a minute! A minute!”
The spell was broken, and where I only seconds ago could see his eyes could I now see him stagger backwards with a furious look on his face.
“No,” he shouted again.
Slowly everything turned black, and the last thing I saw before I lost consciousness was his brown, empty eyes.
~*^*~
I woke up to the sound of singing around me. The hushed, wordless lullaby echoed in unison with my mind, rocking me into a state of peacefulness. I laid in something soft, with a warm blanket was wired around me. But where had I been waking up? I wished for nothing else but to be lying still in the warm blankets and listening to the beautiful lullaby. But my curiosity got the better out of me, and I slowly opened my eyes, blinking a couple of times at the bright light that greeted my gaze.
I lay in a bed in a small room, a window letting in the few rays of the sun that made its way through the snowstorm that still raged outside. A small lantern on a nightstand next to my bed lit up the room, and I found myself looking straight into it. I blinked again, and turned around in the bed. A small door stood ajar, letting in a soft light and the song I had awoken to. I could hear two muffled voices discuss, although what they said I could not make out over the singing. A mare looked into the room, and smiled at the sight of me.
“Ah, you are awake. How do you feel?” she asked with a voice full of concern.
“What happened? Where am I?” I asked as I tried to sit up.
The mare was quickly by my side, gently pushing me down in the bed again.
“You need to rest,” she said as she smiled gently at me. “You are at the Academy. Some guards found you in an abandoned wagon, and you were close to frozen solid at the time you got here. That was two days ago,”
“Two… Two days?” I asked.
”Yes, you have been here two days. Now, try to rest some, I will go after Sea Walker, he begged us to let him know as soon as you were awake,” she said. “Don’t leave the bed, your body is weak. I will have somepony get you some food,”
Two days, I thought as she left the room. What had happened? I had left the meeting hall in the wagon, and somewhere on had it stopped without a sound. The two ponies pulling it had left me, but why?
My thoughts was quickly ended by a soft cough from the doorway, were an old stallion stood with a bowl in a grip. He shared the same smile as the mare had worn earlier.
“I was told that you had awoken, and that I should bring you some soup,” he said as he entered the room and placed the bowl at my nightstand, bringing up the spoon and moving it towards my mouth. “How do you feel?”
“I’m a bit tired but,” I started, but how he had thought that I would be able to answer with the spoon with hot food in my mouth I had no idea. The soup was thick and tasted heavily of fish.
“That is good to hear, you had us all worried when you came in here. You were almost blue from the low temperature. Those guards really saved your life,” he said as he took out the spoon and filled it with more soup.
He brought the spoon to my mouth again, so I did not find it a good idea to start talking just to be interrupted. Instead I opened my mouth when he brought forward the spoon, swallowing the soup.
“You look much healthier now, young one,” the stallion said when the bowl was empty. “Getting some food in you seems to make you good,”
“Thank you,” I said. “It was a really tasty soup.”
The old stallion smiled at me as he rose, taking the now empty bowl from the nightstand. “Good to hear, youngling,” he said. “I’m going to leave you so you can get some rest.”
“Thank you,” I said as he walked out, leaving me alone.
I did not get a lot of rest though, seeing that Sea Walker soon made his way into the room. Jest followed close behind him, his muzzle lighting up in a smile as he saw me. It was first now that I realized how small the room was, with the addition of those two did the room feel crowded, it was as if there was no room left to move in.
“It’s a relief to see you awake, Star. You had us worried there for a while,” Sea Walker said as he looked at me with worry shining in his eyes. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m feeling fine,” I answered with a thin smile. “What happened?”
“We don’t know,” Sea Walker sighed and shook his head. “We hoped that you could cast some light over the situation. The two ponies that should take your wagon here had been knocked unconscious, and when they woke up had you already left with the wagon, now pulled by somepony else. Their quick reaction and loyalty to Ocean Tamer was most likely what saved you, as they quickly found him and he sent out search teams after you. After some hours a search party found the wagon standing in a valley, and you lay inside it as cold as death. One of the guards stayed with you, tried to keep you as warm as he could, while the other guard got medical help. You arrived here an hour later, still cold but alive, thanks to those guards.”
”I can only remember that the ones pulling the wagon were talking with each other. Then we suddenly stopped and they wouldn’t answer me when I asked them what happened. After that I can’t remember anything before now,” I said, not wanting to talk about the strange dream I had had.
“You don’t remember anything out of the ordinary? Nothing at all?”
I shook my head. “No, I didn’t see anything like that, I thought it was the same ponies that pulled as always” I said, hanging my head. “Sorry,”
Sea Walker sighed. “We didn’t want to believe that anything like this would happen, not in the Sea Serpent tribe. What would have happened if we hadn’t found you? How should we explain that to the other tribes? No, we will have to assign guards to you, to make sure that something like this won’t happen again.”
I didn’t know what to say, so I kept my muzzle shut, and only nodded at his words.
“I have to return to the others, we are close to finish the spell that will end this blizzard. Jest, stay here with Star, I think he can use some company. If it is something, just tell the guards at the door. Do not leave his side,” he said as he turned towards Jest, receiving a nod and a smile from the servant. “I’m sure that Ocean Tamer will come by as soon as he can, and until then will I have to ask you to stay here Star, no matter how healthy you feel,”
I can have imagined it, but it seemed like Jest tensed when he heard the name of the tribal leader, but if it had ever been there had it melted away before Sea Walker had noticed. The unicorn left as soon as I had assured him that I would stay until Ocean Tamer had been here.
Jest took a seat on the stool that stood in the room, and we sat there in silence, a silence that was only interrupted by the lullaby that still sounded from the outside and the occasional creaks from the chair when Jest moved. The earth pony sat with his eyes on the wall, the usual smile still on his muzzle even if it seemed weaker now than it had before.
“How do you feel?” I asked him after we had been sitting there for some time. The sound of my voice must have surprised him; he nearly jumped out of the chair as his widened eyes jerked to me, the smile on his muzzle wavering for a second. He relaxed quickly, and gave me a genuine smile.
“No, it’s nothing. I’m fine,” he said.
“Are you sure?”
“Yea, it’s just that,” he trailed of as he looked from the window where the blizzard still raged. “I was afraid of what had happened to you, we didn’t hear from you in a long time. I even asked Sea Walker about it, but he said that you would come after you had spoken with Ocean Tamer. Then, when the night arrived you were brought in here by the guards, cold and not responding. I’m just glad that you are awake, nothing else,” he smiled at me as he looked back at me. “I was just worried about my friend, that’s all.”
“Well, you don’t need to worry anymore,” I said as I returned his smile. “I’m awake and I’m feeling fine.”
“You know, Sea Walker was just as worried as I was, but he didn’t show it to you. We have been staying here since you came back, and he hasn’t slept at all during the time. He has worked day and night on that spell that is going to end the blizzard, working while others have been sleeping. I think he blames himself for what happened.”
“Why would he do that? He couldn’t stop it,”
“That doesn’t stop him from blaming himself. If the blizzard had disappeared before you were left in it, then you wouldn’t have been cooled down so much. I think that is where he blames himself, that it is still here and could damage you like that.”
“If the blizzard had disappeared then they would have found other ways to harm me,” I said, trying to not think about anything they could have done.
“Tell that to him,” Jest said with a snort. “I’m sure he would listen to you.”
I looked out the window, tried to follow the snowflakes which danced on the other side of the glass. If it were not for the speed the flakes moved in would I have believe that it was only snowing.
“How is it going for him then?” I asked without taking my eyes away from the blizzard outside.
“With the spell?”
“Yea.”
“Sea Walker says that they are close to finish it, but Light Touch seems to think otherwise. I don’t really know, I’m not as smart as you or them, and beside of that am I not a unicorn,” he answered.
I didn’t say anything. Instead I sat there in silence, my mind on the blizzard. Jest was for once silent, and the few times I glanced at him it seemed as if he was deep in thought as well. He opened his mouth as to speak a couple of time, but every time it seemed as if he changed his mind, shut it again and looked away. In the end he finally spoke up.
“There is something I want to tell you Star,” he said uncertainly. “Something that I have only shared with Sea Walker before, the words my mother said to me on her deathbed.”
I must have looked really stupid as I sat there. The knowledge that his mother was dead was new to me, I had always thought that his mother still worked on the farm Sea Walker had mentioned that Jest was born at.
“Your mother is dead?” I asked before I could stop myself. “I mean, I’m very sorry for your loss.”
Jest smiled sadly at me. “Yes, she died ten years ago. She was bitten by a snake and the swelling never disappeared. I was five years when it happened, and I don’t have many memories of her. Except one, and it is from her laying in the bed, pale as the sheets she lay on and thinner than anypony I have seen since, telling me who my father was. All those year had she known, but avoided to tell me of him or him off me,” he looked away from me, the sad smile still on his face and tears in his eyes. “Since that day have I tried to build up the courage to talk to him, but I have always failed to do so. Sea Walker took me in when I needed a work, and has tried to encourage me to talk to my father since,”
“Then who is it?” I asked. “Do you want to share it with me?”
“I do, but,” he started.
“Star! Are you alright?” Ocean Tamer shouted out as he nearly galloped into the room. “I hurried here as soon as I heard you were awake, I was really worried about you! How could this happen? Who is behind this?” he blurred out as soon as he stood still in front of the bed, the snow from the blizzard outside still thick in his coat and mane, his eyes sharing the worry, and relief, of his voice.
Jest jumped in surprise, and looked startled at the pegasus that had just entered the room. The earth pony quickly made his way out, and I don’t think that Ocean Tamer even noticed that he had ever been there.
“I’m fine, Ocean,” I said. “And as I said to Sea Walker do I not know who’s behind it. I entered the wagon, was taken out in the blizzard and left there. I passed out and woke up here, I don’t know who did, and neither do I know why,” I said. “But I’m fine, no harm done,” I added, trying to make him relax about the situation.
“No Star, it is not okay! Your security is my thing to make sure off, and then this happens? I thought I knew the ponies in my city, I have befriended with them all over the years, and then this happens? No, it is not okay. I have to talk with Iron Shield, both about getting guards to you and rotting out these… traitors!” he said as he turned around. “I will talk with you later, Star. This won’t happen again, that I will reassure.”
I did not get a word in as he stormed out, talking loudly to himself, his mane whirling and spreading droplets of water on the floor all around him. Sighing I leaned back on the pillow, not realizing I had lent forward in the first place. Sure, I had been left in the wagon to die, but it was the only thing that had happened during my stay here, and I had been alone or with Jest countless of times. No, Ocean Tamer and Sea Walker over reacted about this. I sank deeper in the bed as I remembered that there was nothing I could do to change their minds around this. Especially not seeing that I could not even use magic to help myself or do anything really.
I was still trying to figuring out how I should do about this situation when a smiling Jest came back, carrying two big pastries and a bowl of soup. He gently placed the bowl in my fore hooves. “You should try and eat some,” he said as he placed the spoon in the bowl.
“But I just ate,” I said in return.
A statement that was negated by the loud grumbling that emitted from my stomach. How long was it since I had last ate?
“Sounds to me that you haven’t eaten in a long time,” Jest said with a chuckle. “Now, hurry up and eat, I want to eat this delicious pastry,”
He looked down at the pastries he held in his hooves, his eyes shining as he licked his muzzle. “The delicious, delicious pastry,” he nearly whispered to himself.
“You know, you can eat it if you want,” I said as I stiffened a laugh. “I don’t mind,”
“But what kind of friend would I be if I did that?” he asked without taking his eyes from the pastry, once again liking his muzzle. “I can’t just eat this tasty, delicious treat while you’re having soup, not when I brought a pastry for you as well!” He jerked away his eyes from the object of his admiration. “No, I will wait until you are finished. Besides, I ate one on the way up,”
I laughed as I brought the first spoon of soup to my muzzle. The soup was warm, and tasted of fish and salt. I did not mind, I was hungrier than I thought I was, as soon as I had swallowed the first spoon did my stomach growl for more. But so did my mind, I had had a though in my mind since he had entered the room. A thought I now ventilated.
“You started to tell me about your father before,” I started carefully, bringing a new spoon to my mouth, observing the earth pony as I did.
Jest stiffened, but did not move a muscle. I swallowed the soup and lowered the spoon to take more.
“I did, didn’t I?” Jest asked with a nervous chuckle.
“Do you still want to speak about it?” I asked before I took a new mouthful.
“I do its just,” he started before he looked down, seemingly uncertain how to continue.
“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t feel like it. I’m your friend, and you can tell me when you feel that you are ready,”
He stayed silent, so I continued eating. As I put away the bowl on the nightstand he spoke up.
“I want to tell you Star, but I’m not sure that you would believe me even if I did.”
“You don’t have to worry about that Jest, I will believe you,” I assured him.
He looked up at me, a smile on his face. “I told you that my mother told me the name of my father on her deathbed. The name she uttered was Ocean Tamer,” he said as he looked at me. “You must believe I lie,” he added as he looked down, the smile disappearing from his muzzle. “Sea Walker did as well at first. I don’t know what made him change his mind,”
I shook my head. I knew that I had heard Ocean Tamer chuckle before. “I know what made him change his mind. It’s the same thing that made me believe you directly. I just couldn’t understand that I didn’t make the connection directly,” I said.
He looked up at me, the sadness disappearing from his eyes, replaced with confusion. “Connect what? I don’t understand,” he said.
“Connect you with Ocean Tamer. You have the exact same chuckle! I thought I recognized his way to chuckle as I spooked to him after the meeting, but I couldn’t remember from where. But now it hit me, I had heard you made the exact same sound so many times before!”
“So you believe me?” he asked, his muzzle splitting in a grin.
“Of course I do. You are my friend, I would believe you anyway,” I assured him. “But what are you going to do now? Will you speak with him?”
“I-I don’t know. I want to, but what if he doesn’t believe me? What if he pushes me away?” Jest said, his smile faltering slightly. “What should I do then?”
“I don’t think you will have to worry about that,” I said. “I believe that Ocean Tamer will embrace you as his son if you tell him, especially if both I and Sea Walker is there as well, backing you up.”
“You think?” Jest shone up even more as he asked me that simple question.
“I don’t think, I know,” I assured him. “Now, how about you pass me one of those pastries? They really do look delicious!”
“Of course,” he said as he smilingly gave me one of the pastries before he dove down in his own.
I could not contain my laughter at the sight of him with cream all over his muzzle, and it did not take long before he had joined in with his own laughter, filling the room with the sound.
And Jest was right. When I finally stopped laughing enough to eat I noticed how delicious the pastry was, it tasted like strawberries and pears. I had no idea how they were able to get the fruits here during a blizzard, but even if it piqued my interests did I not linger in that thought for long. Instead I enjoyed the company, and the pastry, while the blizzard raged outside my window.
~*^*~
I woke up the next morning feeling stronger than I had the day before. Jest had stayed with me the rest of the day, just been there should I need anything. Walker had come by in the evening, checking in on me and, after reassuring that I was still alive, telling me that two guards had been positioned outside the door. I had raised my voice in protests, saying that it was not needed, nearly telling him that I did not want them. But he had not been listening. Instead he had placed the guards outside my room anyway, telling me that I was not to leave the room without them. I could hear them talk with each other from the other side of the door as I yawningly stretched myself awake.
The blizzard still whirled outside the window, denying most of the suns light to reach the room. A plate stood next to my bed, the food on its spreading its aroma in the room. My stomach quickly persuaded me to eat, and I dove into the food. It did not take long before I had finished the breakfast.
Spending a day in the bed was not something I wanted to do, so I decided to get up. As soon as I had finished the food I released myself from the grip of the quilt and rose from the bed, firmly planting my hooves on the ground. I wobbled slightly by the sudden dizziness that took a hold over me, and barely caught myself before I fell over. A sigh escaped my muzzle as I leant against the bed, waiting the dizziness out. Luckily it did not take long time before the dizziness disappeared and I could move freely again. I turned my step towards the door and whatever lay on the other side.
A bright hallway opened up at the other side of the door, a few ponies wandering through the doors leading from the hallway. Two ponies stood guard at the door, one of them looking back at me with a smile as I opened the door.
“Good morning, Star,” the stallion said.
“Morning,” I said as I looked over the two guards. “So… you are just supposed to follow me around all day?”
“And keep you from harm’s way,” the other stallion said in a dark tone. “That means that we don’t want you to run away from us, understood?” he snarled as he lowered his head, fixating me with a purple eye.
Surprised I took a step back.
“Y-Yes,” I said, looking wide eyed at the stallion.
“Coins,” the first stallion said with a soft voice. “You are scaring the dear. I’m sure he will be a nice colt and not try to get away, it is for his own good after all.”
The purple eye softened up and the snarl disappeared from Coins muzzle. “Sorry, kid. Didn’t mean to scare you,” he said as he took his gaze from me. “Don’t mind us. We will only be here to follow you without interfering more than should you need it. I’m Two Coins and this here,” he said and pointed at the other stallion with his hoof. “Is Precious.”
Precious bowed slightly, a smile on his muzzle. “I’m happy that you finally awoke. You were as cold as ice when we found you.”
“You are the ones who found me then? I owe you my life!”
“Oh no, Coins was the one who found you. I was the one who kept you warm while he found somepony who could help us. You owe us nothing, Star. We only did our duty as guards, protecting the ones in need,” Precious stated, raising from the bow and bringing one of his legs to his chest. “Protect the ones weaker than you from harm’s way,” he added with a smile.
Coins brought a hoof to his head, muttering something I could not hear. “As Precious here said, you have nothing to thank us for. It’s our job to keep the inhabitants of Harbour safe and sound, no matter what,” he said with a smile.
“Thanks,” I said. “For saving my life.”
They smiled at me. “You’re welcome,” they said in union.
“I guess you want to see the advisor I guess?” Precious said.
“Yes, but I don’t know where he is.”
“He is in the great hall of the academy, overlooking the progress of that spell they created,” Coins said. “It’s not far from here, if you would like to go there.”
I nodded. “I would like that.”
“Follow me then,” Precious said as he began to walk. “I will lead you there.”
I could hear Coins snicker behind me as I followed Precious.
~*^*~
“It’s almost as if this blizzard is created by Windigoes,” Light Touch said as I entered the room, Coins and Precious a step behind me.
Light Touch, the Headmaster of the academy, was an indigo unicorn with a blue mane. Sea Walker stood beside the Headmaster, the two unicorns standing on the balcony overlooking the room below them. The balcony stretched all the way around the room, a door at each side leading to other parts of the academy. A broad, decorated stair in front of each door connected the balcony with the lower part of the room. The only thing I could see from the lower part of the room was the pillar, filled with curves, inscriptions and emblems, which held up the arched ceiling with a night sky scenery. A few ponies walked around the balcony, keeping a keen eye on the shadows around them, others walked to or from the room, often carrying small objects with them.
“Windigoes haven’t been seen since the war. The hatred in the world is not strong enough for them to feed on, not to create a blizzard this powerful. No, this is,” Sea Walker turned around and stoped talking as he saw me. “Give me a minute, Light. It seems that Star is awake,” Sea Walker said as he turned his attention towards me. “Good morning, Star.” He looked like he had not slept for days, but the tiredness under his eyes was not heard in his voice.
“Good morning Walker, good morning Light Touch,” I said cheerfully.
“That would be Headmaster Light Touch for you, young one,” Light Touch snarled at me through gritted teeth. He looked down at me over his glasses with a frown on his muzzle, as if I was a student that had disappointed him.
I took a step back from the surprise of the sudden hostility from the unicorn.
“Y-Yes Headmaster Light Touch,” I stuttered out.
He nodded at me before he returned his gaze to Sea Walker. “I will talk with you later, Walker – when we can have a more… private discussion.” He did not wait for an answer, but turned away and trotted down the stairs.
“As you wish, Light,” Sea Walker said to the unicorns back before he turned to me. “Don’t mind Headmaster Light Touch. He is just a little cranky that you are not one of his students. He has been over both me and Tamer about it since you arrived here. He believes that you should have an academic education and doesn’t understand that we don’t have that time.” The light blue unicorn sighed. “I believe that he blames you for not begging to be in the famous Sea Serpent Academy,” he said as he rolled his eyes.
“What is the academy anyway?” I asked, stepping to the top of the stair to overlook the room below.
Unicorns milled around below, carefully moving around a circle that was marked out with blue lines on the stone floor. The pillar stood tall in the middle of the circle, nine curved lines connecting the two. A circle was marked out at every place that a line met the bigger circle, and unicorns placed out two braziers and a swallow bowl at each of these smaller circles. Light Touch stood at the side, talking with three nervous looking unicorns.
“The Sea Serpent Academy is a place where, mostly, unicorns can come to study the works of others. It is also a place where the members can come and discuss magic theory or experiments,” Sea Walker said as he walked up behind me. “It is a gathering place for ponies who want to acquire knowledge or learn others what they know themselves. This room,” he said and motioned with a hoof to the room before us. “Is also the room we use during the rare occasions we need the power of the pillar.”
“What is it with the pillar?” I asked my eyes following named object, its curved lines, inscriptions and emblems.
“This pillar is a pillar from a lost time, ancient already at the time of the Sundering. We got no knowledge about how it once was created, and neither do we know its true purpose. This room is the true core of the academy, and it is around this very pillar that the academy was built. In the beginning built to find out the purpose of the pillar, but that purpose changed after a series of accidents. Today the room’s purpose is to make sure that nopony can reach the pillar without permission, make sure that no accidents occur.”
“But if it might be dangerous, why would you use it?”
“The only time it might be dangerous is when you try something you don’t know how it work. Before the accidents we found out a couple of things about this pillar. Most important of these founds was that it work as a magical amplifier, powerful enough to spread our magic over a vast area. The pillar is the keystone for use to end this blizzard, without it we wouldn’t reach our entire area. We would end it here but not at other places where it is needed.”
I looked in awe at the pillar. It looked ordinary to me was it not for its size and the sheer numbers of carvings that adorned it. Every line on the pillar were easy to make out even from this distance, swirling around each other, creating a scenery of forests and waterfalls, mountains and lakes, and at the same time creating runes and symbols. I could quickly make out some of the runes, runes for freedom and rebirth, fire and ash, power and control.
“And you arrived just in time, Star. I was just about to send after you,” Sea Walker said as he walked to stand beside me. “It was easier than I thought to finish the spell once the spell frame was finished, and what you see now is the finishing touches before we are going to use it.” He lowered his head to me. “Normally are only the ones involved in the ritual allowed in here when the obelisk is used. We will, however, make an exception for you.”
My face lit up at this. “You have, you will?” I said happily. “But, Jest said that Light Touch… Headmaster Light Touch didn’t think that it would be finished soon,” I added quietly.
The light blue unicorn laughed softly. “Don’t you worry about that, the spell is finished. Light Touch has agreed with me that it is as prepared as it can be, and that it will be performed today. However, he is not happy that you are attending, not even as audience. He worries that it might be dangerous for you.”
“Then, maybe I shouldn’t attend,” I said, my ears slopping. “I mean, if the Headmaster doesn’t want me here…”
“Nonsense, you will attend. It is one thing reading about a spell performed by more than one unicorn and something entirely different to see it. Come. Let me show you where you shall stand during the ritual.” He started to walk on the balcony, and I followed close behind me. I could hear how Precious and Two Coins followed me, and when I turned around to look could I see them smile at me.
He stopped opposite where we had started. In front of the door was two circles lined out as the ones around the obelisk, connected to each other with a thin line. “Here you will stand, protected by a protective spell casted by the unicorn in the other circle. You should be able to see everything from here,” he said, smiling at me. “The doors will be sealed during the duration of the spell.”
“Will you lead the ritual?” I asked as I looked out over the lower floor again.
Sea Walker smiled sadly at me. “No, I will not be a part of the ritual at all. That my blockade will make sure of. I will stand like you, protected by another, to observe the ritual and interfere should the situation get out of hoof, nothing more.”
“Oh.”
“I will have to go and speak with Headmaster Light Touch, see what it was he wanted. Stay in this room, Star, but do not disturb anypony,” he said before he turned his gaze to my two guards. “Precious and Coins, stay with him until the ritual start and then go and wait outside.”
The two guards and I nodded at him as he turned around and walked down the stairs, making his way to Light Touch. I sat down on my haunches and looked on the unicorns below as they finished the last preparations. It was first now I noticed that on this side, close to the pillar, a bigger circle was marked out. This circle was connected directly with the obelisk, and I could see the runes for control and flow being lined out inside of it. Neither brazier nor bowl stood in that circle. The unicorns took a last check on everything, and seemed happy with the result. Twelve of the unicorns stayed in the room, one which walked up to me and one who walked up the staircase to the east, while the other nine left through the doors.
The mare that walked towards me had a beige coat with a green colored mane, and it felt as if her green eyes bore into my skull. She stopped in front of me, and took her eyes away from me as she spoke up to the guards. “Dismissed,” she said with fire in her voice before she once again turned her eyes to me. “I have been ordered by the Advisor to make sure that you are safe during the ritual. Do you know how a protection-circle works?” She sounded irritated.
“A protection-circle works in various ways, depending on which type it is. A circle like this, created through magical means, is used as a spell frame. The user allows the magic to run through the spell frame instead of bending it after his or her will, making the magic implanted in the runes form the users magic instead, this leads to,”
The mare groaned. “I asked if you knew how a protection-circle works, I did not tell you to dissemble it and explain every part of it.” She snapped her head up. “Are you two still here? Did I not say that you were dismissed?” she snarled at Precious and Two Coin.
“The advisors order, Scutum,” Coins said flatly. “We are not to leave Star’s side before the ritual starts.” Precious just nodded in agreement and winked at me.
I smiled at him, a smile that quickly died as the mare averted her gaze to me again. “Listen now, Star. You are going to stand completely still, like a good colt would, inside of your shield during the entire ritual. Understood?”
“Yes,” I said, meeting her gaze.
“Good,” she said, smiling at me. “Then you can take your position. I’m sure that Headmaster Light Torch will be here any minute, and he is not found of waiting.
I quickly nodded at her and walked over to the spell circle, sitting down on my haunches in the middle of it with my eyes on the floor below me. Scutum carefully stepped around the circles, looking over the runes and channeled small flows of magic into them before she seemed satisfied with both of them and took her place in the other circle.
The nine ponies standing around the spell-circle on the ground quickly took their places as the Headmaster and Advisor entered the room. Light Touch slowly trotted around the circle, stopping at each of the unicorns that would be part of the ritual and talked briefly with them as well as checking to see that every rune was in order. He took his place in the big circle as soon as he was satisfied, shooting a glare at both me and Sea Walker as he did so.
I looked over to Sea Walker, who had taken his place at the top of the east stairs. He smiled briefly at me before his eyes returned to the Headmaster.
“Honored members of the Sea Serpent Academy, I welcome you,” Light Touch started to speak, his voice clear even up to me. “For months we have prepared for this, and the day has finally arrived. They day when we end this blizzard and allow every pony in our tribe to return to their daily life, without having to fear if it is safe to go outside or if the food will be sufficient. Are you all ready? Once we being there will be no turning back.”
His words were followed by a strong “Yes” from the assembled unicorns, and I could see how the horns of the unicorns standing in the circle started too lit up. For a second something blocked my vision as Scutum activated the shield around me, but the solid shield soon cleared, making me able to see the circle once again. Around each unicorn participating in the ritual a shield had been raised. The shields cleared before my eyes until each unicorn became visible again save for a faint shimmering in the air around each and one of them. The four entrance doors to the room slammed shut, and the ritual started.
The entire circle started to glow, faintly blue at first but soon stronger and stronger, until the point where the entire room was illuminated by a light blue light, nearly blinding me before it faltered to a darker blue color. Slowly the light started to crawl from the circle towards the pillar through the lines that connected the two. It did not take long before all the lines to the pillar had connected. Save for one, the circle around Light Touch. He stood with his back at me, slowly turning his head from side to side as if to determine if every circle was linked to the pillar. Slowly he nodded, his horn starting to glow.
And with his horn did the circle around him begin to glow as well. But the circle did not glow blue. Instead it glowed red, and it took only a mere second before the line had been lit up and connected with the pillar. I looked in fascination as a red line seemed to race up to the top of the pillar and spreading over the arched ceiling above, before it changed color to blue and raced down the pillar again, changing the line and circle to a blue color as well. I could feel a cold wind hit me hard, snow started to whirl around me, and as I looked up at the ceiling could I see that it had disappeared, instead allowing the blizzard entrance to this room. Some of the braziers in the circles were extinguished by the sudden wind, the ponies in those circles looking around panicked. “Stay calm,” Sea Walker ordered, and a mere second later the brazier sprung to life again. “You have nothing to fear.”
The magic was so thick that I could practically feel it against my coat, each hair on my body stood on end. I could hear music play around me, slow notes that drifted through the air. My own body vibrated in pace with the music without missing a note.
The ten blue lines started to connect to the line that shot out from Light Touch’s circle, linking every circle with him. Slowly it crawled upwards, following the curved lines in the pillar. A few runes started to glow bright blue as the line passed them, for each rune connected a new note joined in the rest of the music. I could see how a shield spread out from the pillar, spanning wall to wall and preventing the snow or the wind to get to us, the magic was now so thick that I should not be able to breath. More and more of the runes started to glow, until the blue line reached the top of the pillar. I watched in awe as the glowing runes seemed to free themselves from their bindings, dancing around the pillar, glowing stronger and stronger for each second. They joined each other, linked themselves together in a long chain that started to whirl faster and faster around the pillar.
Then they suddenly stopped, together with the music, and lost their color, became as white as the pillar they just had been connected to. The entire pillar started to glow, the line that had been connecting the circle with the pillar turning white and slowly started to creep back towards the bottom, the runes following it, starting to spin around the pillar again as it did so. The music started as soon as the runes started to move again. When they reached the bottom of the pillar they spun around it faster than I could follow, the chain of runes becoming a blur, the music they emitted threating to deafening me. The pillar started to pulsate, like a giant pumping heart. The runes floated upwards, still spinning, until they reached the top of the pillar once again, now nothing more than a single streak of white hanging like a halo over the pillar, a halo that slowly started to expand, growing wider and wider until it was too big for me to see from my place.
A thick blue line shot up in the sky from the pillar’s peak, piercing the clouds above. The clouds started to whirl downwards around the line, as if they were sucked in by it. But something felt wrong, the music missed notes and some of the runes seemed to falter. The lines that connected the circles with the pillars seemed to be erased, the circle’s glow started to fade. Many of the unicorns in the circle started to panic, changed the form of their magic to strengthen the protective circles around themselves instead of trying to power the circle. One by one the runes faded away completely, the notes they had played dying out until the music had completely disappeared.
It was then I heard it inside of me. The music still played inside of me, without missing a note, not once playing wrong. I could feel the raging torment burn my veins with its cold, but the strain that normally was there had disappeared. My senses were more delicate than ever before, the time around me stopped down to a near halt. I could see the panic rising in the eyes of a unicorn in the circle, could feel the air grow colder around me, could hear the heavy panting from Scutum behind me as she tried to keep the shield around both me and herself up, could taste the crisp snow in the air, smell it as I took a deep breath. I was alive, more alive than I had ever been. My magic, the burning liquid of pure ice, floated in my veins, enhanced my feelings.
And for the first time in my life I used magic without any restriction. I connected myself directly with the pillar, the pure white light from my horn piercing the protective shield around me and linking me with the pillar, shattering the control that the circle had had over it. I started to hum on the notes that I had heard before, and the pillar started to hum with me as I rose from the floor. I could feel how it vibrated in beat with our melody, each of the runes starting to glow again. The runes floated up and re-created the halo, slowly spreading out over the sky once again. But this time I was with it, I could feel it. I could sense every part of the halo, could feel the cold droplets that touched it as it pushed the clouds towards the center over the pillar. I could feel how the sun started to shine on the outer parts of the halo. I could feel how the clouds were sucked into the pillar.
And then, it was over, every cloud in the sky had been drawn into the pillar. The melody slowly died out as I dropped to the ground, the runes floating back to their place in the pillars, the light of them slowly fading away. My hooves softly connected to the ground again, the raging torment still surging through my veins, burning it with its ice. I raised my head upwards, slowly opening my eyelids. The sun greeted me from a cloudless sky, warming my body slightly as the ceiling started to manifest again over my head. I averted my gaze towards the floor, and was met by unicorns wide eyed staring at me in disbelief. The magic was growing weaker inside of me, but I did not want to let it go, did not want to release it now when I finally had been able to grasp it and hold it without losing all my power doing so. For a minute I kept the hold of it, feeling the sweetness of it against my taste buds as it warmed me and cooled me down at the same time, but in the end I had to let it go. Slowly I released it, felt how it faded away to the back of my mind. But this time nothing was in the way. I could still see the light of it and feel its warmth inside of my mind. I allowed a mental hoof to slide over the surface of the thin layer that separated me with my magic, realizing that I would be able to reach it again if I wanted to.
In the same moment as the exhaustion took its hold over me I could hear how the door behind me slammed open. My vision blurred and the world around me fading away, and the last thing I could hear before everything turned black was Sea Walker calling out my name and Precious yelling “Catch him” from behind me.