Chapter 3: To
I felt sorry for Tempora. It seems she tries hard, but it’s always something. I don’t pretend to know what it’s like to be in her position but I know people, or ponies for that matter, aren’t perfect. I don’t think anyone can expect her to be the perfect mother as well as be the perfect ruler. For any of us, even mortals, it was just one or the other. This was a delicate situation but I had trust in her, after all, she was a mare of her word.
“Hey,” I called out to her and she glanced up from her brooding. “I think you should give it a go with Luna.”
Tempora looked torn. “I-I don’t know if I’m ready for that.”
I smiled and grabbed her hoof. “Come on,” I urged, tugging her along towards Luna and Celestia. “Let’s go ask her.”
As I approached with Tempora in tow, the three children suddenly sprang to their hooves and paws. Discord looked nervous, but I was mildly surprised to see Celestia and Luna were too. I tried to put them at ease.
“Hey guys,” I greeted them again. “Your Mum wants to ask a favour.”
Seeing the two fillies shrink away a bit as Tempora reached out, I felt sorry for the awkward Queen. I snapped my fingers and a burst of confetti blew out in front of them.
“Lighten up!” I admonished all of them. “We’re all family now.” With my arms, I wrapped them all in a big hug. Tentatively, the remaining four equines and draconequus hugged me back.
“All better,” I said with approval. “Now, your mother has something very important to ask of you.” I directed this statement to Luna and she looked at Tempora expectantly.
After a brief moment of hesitation, Tempora cleared her throat and dived straight into the issue. “Max, you know as Harmony’s father, is very very sick.”
Luna nodded. “That’s why we’re here, to help him.”
Tempora’s smile was a little strained. “Yes, but I need your help, Luna, my daughter.”
Luna looked a little nervous but nodded once again.
“Okay, Mother,” she replied, straightening.
“It will be dangerous,” Tempora warned. Luna nodded again.
“Luna, do you love me?” Tempora asked suddenly. I resisted the urge to facepalm. Way to be subtle.
Luna paused but smiled shyly. “Yes, Mom.” Her gaze flicked to me briefly as I made some gestures behind Tempora. “I love you.”
Tempora looked like she was on the verge of tears. “Oh, Luna!”
Celestia bounded up as well. “Don’t forget me!” she whined, wrapping her hooves around her mother as well.
Star Swirl, being his usual tactful self, interjected with a sullen cough. “Okay, okay,” he groaned, traipsing to a stack of book squirrelled away in a corner that had gone unnoticed by me until now. He consulted a few volumes.
“Should we get started?” he asked impatiently to Tempora’s annoyance. Her ear flicked, but she stayed silent, only nodding in acquiescence
“Okay!” Star Swirl darted around the circle. He dragged us to various positions around the circle inscribed on the floor.
“You stand here, you here–– “ he pulled me to stand next to Discord “ ––and you’re here, okay Princess Luna you stand in the centre of the circle and Tempora, stand here.”
As everyone and everypony stood around awkwardly at the various positions around the circle, Star Swirl did a circuit around the whole gathering to make sure everything was in place. He swept a critical gaze among the various designs and nodded to himself, muttering all the time. Finally, he grunted and stamped a hoof.
“All right! Everything is goody good good!” he pranced over to a gap between Celestia and Discord. “I’ll initiate the spell matrix. Princess Celestia, Discord, Princess Luna, don’t do anything, just provide power through your primary focus. Tempora and I will construct the spell matrix. Harmony, eh, I think you should boost the spell matrix if you see a particular pony flagging behind.” He clapped his hooves together and danced on the spot.
“Alright, any last words?” he asked. There was silence in response. “Yeesh, okay let’s get to it.” With that the wizardly unicorn closed his eyes, deep in concentration. His horn lit up with a soft yellow actinic glow. The room was suffused with a soft golden light. At some unknown cue, Tempora bowed her head and closed her eyes as well. Her horn glowed a crimson red and suddenly the circle was alight with an orange glow.
The air currents swept around the room and small particulates of glowing light whipped around the circle in a slow lazy current. I watched mesmerised for a moment until I felt a tug on my fingers. I looked down in surprise to see small white strands of glowing magical current flow from the tips of my fingers into the circle. Luna, Celestia and Discord had all followed Star Swirl’s lead. They had their heads bowed and I saw Luna’s and Celestia’s horns glow softly in sympathy, Discord’s claw and paw were both alight with suffused energy.
I realised that my part of the circle was duller and less vibrant than the rest. I struggled to pull at my magical reserves. I was holding the rest of the circle back.
With a sigh, I closed my eyes and bowed my head. I guess I was thinking too much. Just let it flow. I took a deep breath in, feeling the various energies flow around me. Casting magic was strange, it was like dipping my head into a bucket of water and opening my eyes. It stung for a moment before I could adjust to the shock of plunging into the magical plane.
Magic requires a lot of concentration. Sensing magical currents and constructing the matrix requires as much logic as feeling. Simple, but wasteful spells can be done by any unicorn, like forcefully encompassing objects with a levitation field, but harder spells which require mental or metaphysical connections require a solid visualisation of the spell matrix, knowledge of latent ley lines and specific management of power and regulation.
Many unicorns like to close their eyes when a particularly hard spell is attempted, any break in concentration can result in magical backlash. Power is fed back towards the user and they’re left sprawling on the ground for the resulting shockwave as some magical energy is displaced. I focused my entire being into producing matrices to encompass the spell, carefully supporting it and providing it with the auxiliary energy it required.
I felt the pulse of power around the circle slowly strengthen. Things became indistinct and dreamy after that. I felt myself sink slowly into a slumber. At first I fought it, until Star Swirl called out to me from across the room to let it happen. Slowly, blearily, I let myself fall into the cocoon of sleep.
––––
As I came to, I noticed the ground beneath me was soft but stringy. I was on my back staring at a strangely hued sky of deep azure. I glanced down at my hand, it was covered in a layer of something resembling grass but it was too fine. The strands waved about in the wind looking a little like wisps of green cotton. I ran my fingers through them feeling the softness for a while. I snapped out of my self-induced trance as I heard a shout from behind me.
“Harmony, is that you?”
I turned towards the voice and I saw Tempora come into focus. She looked worried.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, getting to my feet.
Tempora looked at me in suspicion.
“Who are you?” she demanded, nostrils flaring. I took a worried step back.
“Uh, Harmony, you just called out to me just then. What’s going on? Where’s the rest of the circle?”
I looked around. ‘Where’s Discord, Luna and Celestia? Where’s Star Swirl?”
Tempora breathed a sigh of relief.
“It really is you,” she cried, wrapping her hooves around me.
Confused, I held Tempora back a bit. “What’s happening?”
Tempora shook her head. “I’m not sure,” she replied nervously. Her eyes darted around. “We were supposed to wake up together, but instead we’re separated.”
“Do you have any idea what could be the cause?”
Tempora nodded slowly. “It’s just a theory, but I believe the spell that has Max is resisting our efforts from the very beginning. This doesn’t look like or feel like Max’s shield. It feels strange and alien.”
A cold breeze whipped around us and I felt a shiver creep down my spine.
“This place is a little eerie, I must admit,” I commented. Around us was just a plain field or that green ‘grass’. There weren’t any trees and the sky was light but there was no sun.
Tempora spread her wings but then retracted them. “I want to look around but I’m afraid of leaving you behind. I don’t like this place and I think we should stick together.”
I nodded. “That sounds like a good idea.” I don’t know, this place was giving me the creeps.
We traversed the grassy plains in silence for a while. I felt lulled by the steady hoofbeats of Tempora’s hoof steps regularly pacing beside me. The scenery was weird but it was placid and with every step I took it felt like I was getting more and more tired.
Tempora caught on before me.
“Harmony!” she shouted, clocking me with her hoof. The pain forced my eyes open and I stumbled, throwing my hands out to balance myself.
“Oh,” I groaned, shaking myself. “Thanks, I don’t know why but I feel sleepy.”
Tempora skittered nervously, casting her head this way and that, searching the horizon. “Something tell me that falling asleep here would be a bad idea indeed.”
My toes curled suddenly as I felt a presence behind me. I whipped around.
“Did you feel that?!” I squeaked, searching around for a hint of life. The plains were just as silent. Tempora grunted softly. I looked back at her and she was swaying on her hooves.
“Snap out of it! Come on, focus! We can’t sleep here!” I urged, shaking the alicorn queen. Tempora staggered around for a moment more before her eyes refocused on me.
“Oooh, that was strange,” she slurred. She shook her head and spoke with more force. “Harmony,” she began, her voice strained and intense. “I think we should leave now.”
I nodded quickly.
“How are we going to get out of here? Should we run?”
“At our current speed I don’t think we’ll make it out on hoof. Get on my back.”
“What?”
“Get on my back, now!” she yelled, and I jolted into action, mounting Tempora and clinging to her neck. With a powerful beat of her wings, she was airborne, although it was far less quickly than she usually was and with far less grace. I glanced back down and gasped.
“Look!” I yelled, pointing below.
A noxious blue fog was sweeping across the plains. I watched in horror as it swallowed the grass and turned in black as anthracite, it crept across below us, insidious and foreboding.
Tempora looked as disconcerted as I felt. “Thank Time we weren’t caught in that,” she said and I simply nodded in response to that. Whatever that was, I don’t think it was a good idea to touch it.
“What was that?” I asked, afraid of the answer.
I felt Tempora kind of shrug, shifting underneath me.
“I’m not too sure, but whatever it was it didn’t mean well.”
“Well we can’t be harmed here, can we?”
Tempora gave me a look that honestly made me feel like I asked her what colour the sky was, well here it was different, but you get what I mean.
“You can be hurt here as much as you can be hurt in reality. The damage, though not physical, could scar you. Touch it, and you may be bid farewell for a very long time indeed.”
I gulped audibly at that. Well wasn’t that just peachy?
“I think we’ve been hovering here long enough, I don’t particularly want to find out what happens when that blue fog thing decides to rise upwards,” I chittered nervously. Tempora didn’t say anything in response but she beat her powerful wings and took us away from the encroaching fog and towards the greener fields further ahead.
To lighten the load I used a simple levitation spell, trying to push against the air. It was inefficient and there wasn’t much to push against, but Tempora thanked me anyway as I probably dropped some of the weight burdening her.
There was nothing for miles around. I couldn’t see anything except the blue blot behind us and the green fields around us. I entertained a dangerous notion.
“What happens if we can’t find them?” I whispered softly. Tempora flicked an ear. Evidently she heard me, even though I had not exactly intended her to hear.
“Don’t worry, Harmony,” she consoled me. “We’ll find them, have a little hope. Have a little faith.”
I laughed at that. “My Dad used to tell me that hope and faith were dangerous things. It was better to deal with logic and facts.” In a smaller voice, I added, “I miss him.”
I felt a cold splat on my cheek. Tempora blinked away a few tears too. “I miss him too, Harmony. I miss him too.”
I was about to reply, but a glimmer in the distance caught my attention.
“Did you––“
“Yes!” Tempora replied quickly and tilted in the air. “What is it, can you see?”
“I have no idea, but it’s better than nothing!” I replied and we dove towards the glinting object in the vast sea of viridescent hues.