//------------------------------// // First Contact // Story: Tales of a Wizard: Passing Connections // by Applechip //------------------------------// Magic is a wondrous, and sometimes terrifying, force of nature. It can bend reality to your whim, creating beautiful sights and sensations for all to experience. However magic, despite its wonders, cannot escape certain logical consequences, such as transformation. Unless the spell is specifically designed to be addictive, there isn’t a painkiller in existence, medical or magical, that can completely block out the pain of your entire skeletal structure shattering and reforming into something completely new. “AAARGGNGH!” a deep masculine tone bellowed into the bright afternoon sky. Out in the stretch of plains in-between the infamous Everfree Forest and Ponyville’s public library, a large collection of ponies of every size and shape were grouped around one particular section of the tree line. I, along with the Elements of Harmony by my side, stood near the front of the group, directly behind the two chief leaders of Equestria. Princesses Celestia and Luna, garbed in their traditional gleaming regalia, headed our congregation. Behind us, a small battalion of armored ponies stood at attention in a neat military parade formation. Each of the soldiers in formation bore pristine plate mail that shone brightly in the light, every one of them decorated with either an emblem of a bright sun, moon, or a silver pentacle. Beyond even them, a significant percentage of Ponyville’s population gathered at the sight of their princesses to sate their collective curiosity; and every single one of our eyes were trained on a single point at the edge of the Everfree Forest. The subject of our scrutiny was a quivering form hidden underneath a large white sheet only a few feet away from the nearest tree and ten feet from the princesses’ hooves. Nopony dared approach the still twitching bundle; operating on the unspoken agreement that Luna’s spell, once begun, must be completed unaided lest we get battered around by flailing limbs. After only a minute or so, the hidden form ceased its flailing and cautiously made its way to the edge closest towards us. A shaking hoof popped out from underneath the sheet and promptly flung it away, revealing a rather large unicorn stallion with a solid lime green coat and a smooth brown mane. His eyes widened slightly as he caught a good look at the entire herd of ponies staring directly at him, and grew to the size of dinner plates when he got a good look at the foreleg he was lifting the sheet with. Understandably, he began taking deep ragged breaths as panic got a good and solid grip on the newly made pony. “N-no,” he stammered, just loud enough for my friends and I to overhear him. “No, this isn’t right. T-they said the warding charm would… They said-“ The stallion’s impromptu panic attack was cut abruptly short as a certain yellow and pink blur darted across the gap between us can came to a stop next to the unicorn. “Don’t worry,” Fluttershy crooned to the distressed pony while sweeping one of her wings across his back, almost exactly like how she calms her upset animals. “You’re alright, just relax, you’re going to be just fine.” The green unicorn visibly relaxed under Fluttershy’s care, albeit only slightly, and forced himself to take several calming breaths while clenching his eyes closed. I could practically see the air around this unicorn thrum with wild energies failing to manifest fully. Whether he was trying to reflexively shoot fire and destruction everywhere or just trying to raise a defensive shield around himself, I wasn’t really sure. I suddenly had faint nostalgic feelings of when I was forced to relearn how to channel magic through my horn. After a few quiet moments the green pony’s heartbeat finally slowed down to below frantic levels and his breathing eased to match. His eyes eased open and he donned a carefully neutral mask as he cast his wide eyes towards the princesses. “Transformation is strictly against the White Council’s laws,” he said in a somewhat threatening and accusatory tone, undermined slightly by Fluttershy busily performing a preliminary medical examination on the unicorn. Celestia took a small step forward and held her head as high as her long neck would allow. The unnamed unicorn focused every bit of his attention on the approaching princess and recoiled ever so slightly under her gaze. “You are an emissary of the White Council?” Celestia spoke loud enough for everypony present to clearly hear her. “I was expecting a larger contingent of guards and diplomats.” “Uh, y-yes, I am Warden Duncan,” the Warden-turned-pony stammered beneath Celestia’s overpowering gaze. “The Senior Council member and emissaries were only a few minutes behind me, I was to scout ahead and report back if necessary.” The unicorn’s eyes turned downward as he moved to inspect one of his new furry forelegs. “I’m transformed by someone else’s power, but still sane? How is this possible?” Senior Council member? I thought to myself. Interesting, I wonder if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. “You have my apologies on that regard, but I am afraid it is quite necessary,” Princess Luna spoke up and moved to stand by her sister, drawing the Warden’s nervous eyes over to her instead. “If you’ll accompany Miss Fluttershy there, she and a few of my finest mages will explain everything. Fluttershy is an exemplary medic and will take good care of you.” The pegasus in question had already pulled together the large white sheet the Warden was changed under and draped it across the unicorn’s back like a huge comforter, and was in the process of filling up a much smaller cloth bag with ice cubes. The Warden glimpsed sideways at the motherly pegasus and wordlessly nodded in the affirmative. With a reassuring smile on her face, Fluttershy immediately nudged the unicorn to his hooves and slowly began guiding him to a small area set aside specifically for this purpose. As soon as the Warden-turned-unicorn was escorted away, a moderately loud roar arose from the population behind us. The residents of Ponyville quickly gathered together in their respective groups or cliques and busily began discussing the actual presence of outside powers inside Equestria. More than a few of the ponies did sound a little worried and distressed in the face of the new and unknown, but the aura radiating from the overwhelmingly powerful dual princesses thankfully prevented tensions from rising too high. Either that, or the wall of pony shaped muscle and steel sitting between them and the newcomer granted them the necessary sense of security they needed. “Were you like that after you woke up?” Twilight Sparkle whispered into my ear, successfully breaking my train of thought, and pointed a hoof at the Warden struggling and tripping over his own hooves like a newborn foal. I let out a short sigh and cast a sidelong look at the lavender unicorn by my side. “Unfortunately, yes. There is nothing quite as bizarre as not knowing how to use your own body, though I did manage to sort it out relatively fast, or at least how to physically move around.” Twilight laughed a bit at the nostalgia and refocused her eyes back on the unicorn Fluttershy was busily teaching how to sit down properly, “We’re going to have to teach them how to channel magic through their horns before they can leave aren’t we?” “That would be the kind, responsible, and moral thing to do I suppose,” I snickered through a small grin, my mischievous side already hard at work with a few plans. No sooner had those words left me than another surge of magic washed over our collective senses. The air directly behind where the first Warden appeared and transformed, rippled with fresh power. Within a matter of seconds, the Veil was torn asunder and a large gate of almost pure shadow sprang into existence. The tear was a billowing mass of smoke taller than even Celestia, and wide enough to allow a small squad through. The moment that energy touched on my horn, several bells began ringing in my head. I knew exactly who was coming through that gate, and I was just tickled at the notion of seeing an old face. The ever present commotion rising from the populace behind us died down to a soft whisper as more and more power creeped through the Veil. Ponies of all shapes and sizes stared on in awe at the new sights, sounds, and in the case of the disparate unicorns, new magical sensations. The smoke momentarily broiled with hidden movement just below the surface, and then parted as multiple cloaked figures stepped through. They were men and women, Wardens of the White Council, each donned in long grey hooded robes that hid their faces and bearing a mixture of long silver blades and ornate staves. The total of six Wardens that stepped through the Veil made no reaction to their sudden shift in environment or company, and instead simply stood at attention in a line before the tear, like a set of grey gargoyles standing guard. Between and behind them, the Veil parted once more for another, much shorter figure. Dressed in a ragged dark brown leather coat and equally unkempt jeans and undershirt, the stocky little wizard stepped in front of his Warden accompaniment. His hair was silvery white with age and his skin was wrinkly and calloused enough that it was sometimes hard to differentiate his skin from his leather jacket. He was exactly as I remembered him. “McCoy!” I belted out with an accompanying bark of laughter. Almost every single set of eyes in the area shifted to stare at me with varying amounts of shock or indignation. Celestia at least seemed to expect something of this nature to occur and merely smiled while standing aside to give me an unobstructed view of the calloused old wizard. Luna, much less used to such interruptions, continually flicked her eyes between McCoy and me, as though trying to discern our relationship through our physical expressions alone. Still chuckling under my breath I took a few quick steps forward to occupy the space that Celestia left vacant, with an intensely interested Twilight following right beside me. Each of the Wardens’ faceless hoods followed my every move and they gripped their respective weapons a little tighter. “Ebenezer you conniving old man,” I gleefully continued on, completely ignoring the tension building in the wardens, “what favors did you have to call in to get the Council to send you here?” McCoy, to his credit, only stared back at me slack-jawed for a couple of seconds before pulling his thoughts together again. I’ve seen the man face a mob of roaring vampiric monsters without batting an eye, but being addressed by an alicorn as though he were an old friend actually managed to stun him. I took a decent amount of pleasure at being able to still get under my old mentor’s skin. “Hoss?” McCoy almost whispered while staring intently at me. “Is that really you, Harry?” “Only slightly different than when you last saw me, a little wiser, a lot furrier, but yeah it’s me. In the flesh, so to speak.” A sudden shifting in the Wardens behind my mentor broke my focus and turned my grin into a sympathetic grimace. “Speaking of which, Celestia, I think your help is needed.” Behind Ebenezer, each of the cloaked wardens began twitching and scratching at various parts of their bodies, as though they had been suddenly covered from head to toe in high quality itching powder. Celestia idly ignited her horn in response and each of the wardens became enveloped in her pain relieving magic while multiple white sheets simultaneously appeared over each of the wardens as well. Each of the grey cloaked wizards collapsed under the minor weight of the white blankets as Luna’s transformative spell well and truly took hold. Ebenezer, still standing straight with his own blanket draped over his shoulders, glimpsed back at the six twitching cloth wrapped lumps that was his escort with only a mild look of amusement. “So, those charms were completely pointless then,” McCoy muttered even while a small smile tugged at the edges of his mouth. “And yet you still insisted on meeting within Equestria,” Celestia responded with a quick glimpse at the soon to be ponies, successfully managing to draw McCoy’s attention onto her for the first time. “Did our emissaries not warn you of the working in place around our world, and what it would do?” Ebenezer took a short moment to straighten his robes before offering a formal bow to the alabaster demi-god. “Indeed they did, but, as I am sure you already know, we wizards are nothing if not incredibly stubborn.” McCoy straightened back up and offered the princess a genuine warm smile, “I am Ebenezer McCoy, member of the Senior Council, the ruling party of the White Council, and first formal emissary to Equestria. On behalf of the entire White Council, I thank you for allowing us entry to your land. I assume you are Princess Celestia,” his gaze shifted left towards Celestia’s dark furred counterpart, “and you, her sister, Princess Luna?” Luna returned McCoy’s smile with her own and a quirked eyebrow, “You are an odd one. Yes, my sister and I are the ruling power you seek.” The dark alicorn’s eyes narrowed slightly and her nose scrunched up as she studied McCoy’s form. “Why have you not begun changing? My spell should have had an effect on you by now.” McCoy thought for a short bit before shrugging and digging a hand around under the neck of his shirt. “Because of this,” he cried as he drew out a small amulet in the form of a silver shield. “We were all given charms to try and ward against magic, and a fat lot of good they did,” McCoy took a short moment to cast a smirk back at the now slightly smaller cloth covered lumps behind him, “but mine was significantly more heavily enchanted. The head of the White Council himself actually laid the ward over this little trinket.” “The Merlin, seriously?” I took a few more steps forward until I was only a foot or two away and leaned my head in to inspect the innocuous little amulet. “I kind of figured the Merlin sent you out here on the off chance that we turned out to be violent and get rid a wrinkly thorn in his side.” “Definitely my old Hoss, but it’s more like the Merlin sent me cause I’m probably the only one in the White Council that knows how to clean up your messes. That’s the story I sold him at least,” McCoy chuckled and let the amulet fall against his chest. His very eyes wrinkled to join in his smile and the hand that held his amulet reached out until it rested on the fur over my neck. “When I heard that you had disappeared, I thought the Reds had finally managed to get you, or worse. But when we caught wind about all of this, I made damn sure I was the one to come and find you.” “It’s good to see you again too, Ebenezer,” I responded with a smile to match the old man’s. Our history together may not have been as smooth as Celestia’s and Twilight’s, but you never quite stop finding some sense of comfort in your mentor. Our rather touching reunion was cut abruptly short by several cries of shock. Behind McCoy, each of the six sheets had been roughly flipped over to reveal six new unicorns of varying sizes and colorations, some still partly entangled within their robes. Most of the wardens merely stared down at their new hooves, mouths agape. Two of the unicorns struggled to lift their staves and frowned in concentration as they tried and failed to channel their magic through the focuses. “It’s alright, don’t worry everypony, you’re going to be perfectly fine,” Fluttershy cried out and zoomed over to hover over the unicorns, every single one of which peered up at her like frightened children searching for stability. “Your friend is just over here getting some water and talking to some of our most accomplished mages. Why don’t you come join us?” The Wardens mumbled among themselves for only a few moments before unanimously grunting an agreement and following Fluttershy’s gesturing hooves. One minute later and I had to really struggle not to laugh at the image the battle hardened wardens, the bane of my existence multiple times during my life, trip and faceplant their way over to the medics’ post. “Wizard McCoy,” Luna spoke up and took a step or two forward, practically demanding that the conversation be directed back on track, “I wish you had not brought that amulet, for your sake more than anything. So long as you remain in your current form, the ambient magic here in Equestria will begin to affect your mind. Your White Council might take it as an affront if their first representative returns without his sanity.” Ebenezer’s eyes quirked at Luna’s words and then began shifting around as though searching for assailants in the breeze or the sunlight. “Is the energy here really that potent?” “Thus the need for the rather extreme transformative working, yes,” Luna responded with vigorous nod. Twilight, who up to this point had remained uncharacteristically restrained in her pursuit of all knowledge everywhere, practically leapt forward and shouted, “The Princess is the founder of Equestrian transformation and wrote all of the ancient Equestrian biology books! Her transformations really are perfectly safe.” McCoy turned his gaze down to the lavender unicorn at my side and offered her a genuine smile. “I’m afraid I don’t have the pleasure, Ms…” “Sparkle, Twilight Sparkle,” she replied at once. “I’ve been working with Harry for a while now.” “I am sincerely sorry for that,” McCoy chuckled and shot me a mischievous smile, to which I gave my best sneer in response. He merely smiled wider and turned his attention back to Celestia. “But your diplomats were a bit vague on this transformation spell of yours. There is an easy way to reverse it correct?” Celestia nodded and responded, “Of course, you merely need to step back into the Nevernever. Luna’s working is bound to Equestria.” Ebenezer’s face contorted in a deep frown and his eyes swiveled over to find me. “Then why are you still here? You’re pretty far from a diplomat, Hoss.” My eyes almost immediately pivoted to track Twilight, a motion I am dead sure McCoy noticed. If the White Council were to learn that their main connection within Equestria was already setting down proverbial roots, then that person’s interests could fairly easily be read as conflicted and counterproductive to the White Council. If that were to happen, then they might just try to remove that conflict, regardless of Celestia’s claim over me. I also knew that was something Ebenezer would never let happen, but plausible deniability is a very useful tool sometimes. “Because of a number of reasons,” I answered after a moment’s hesitation. “The most preventative of which is that I simply can’t. A little while ago when the Red Court presence here began to grow out of control, I was forced to do something incredibly stupid to stop it.” I extended my right wing out in the air to flutter over Twilight, giving the mare some nice shade and reinforcing my point at the same time, “As a consequence of that, this body is now permanent. I highly doubt my presence would go unnoticed in Chicago’s streets.” McCoy’s eyes flicked between Twilight and me once more before he seemed to come to some conclusion and let out a mixture of a chuckle and a sigh. “I’m sorry to hear that, Hoss. Though you if being trapped here is your only repercussion, I’d say you could do worse.” His face turned a couple shades darker and his eyes unfocused as his thoughts clearly drifted elsewhere. “You, you especially, don’t want to go back home right now.” The cheery atmosphere I’d been establishing broke apart at the drop of a hat. My head instinctively quirked to the side as I carefully studied the old man’s face. “McCoy, something wrong?” Instead of answering, Ebenezer turned his attention to the princesses and bowed his head. “Celestia, Luna, we can go over the specifics of Equestria’s treaty with the White Council later, but I’d like to make you aware of something. Most of the other Senior Council members may deny this if you ask them, but they are pretty desperate to make a deal for assistance.” “Ebenezer, what is going on back home?” I cut in, a familiar pit forming within my stomach. “Put simply, the Red Court is only a few bad days away from true insanity,” McCoy answered, a hint of genuine righteous anger creeping into his voice and his gaze. “You were the Red Court’s ultimate price for a temporary peace, Harry. When the option of your head on a platter vanished, the Red Court lost its ability to vie for a reasonable peace and still save face. Even if we were to offer up Harry now,” McCoy lifted his hands defensively into the air as Twilight tried to kill him with her gaze, “which I would never do, they could just claim that you’re some random Equestrian. Unless we’re willing to lose whole countries in negotiations, the most we can do is agree to short ceasefires. So now they’re redoubling their efforts against us. It’s all we can do to keep up.” “Then it sounds like you need us as much as we need you,” Celestia spoke up again, her calming smile and warm aura never wavering for a second despite the subject matter. “If your White Council should fall, I doubt those creatures would be satisfied with only one world. Perhaps if we sent some soldiers to a Red Court supply route we might be able to smooth some worries your people have with us.” At her words the entirety of the battalion behind us snapped to attention with an echoing thud of steel covered hooves on hard ground. I caught a glimpse of the rows and rows of ponies armed and armored to wreak all sorts of medieval mayhem. I couldn’t quite prevent myself from picturing us marching against the Red Court to the tune of the Imperial March. “I would hold off on that for now, Sister,” Luna interjected “If we act without knowledge of the other powers moving around, we could inadvertently make things much worse. And there goes my Imperial army fantasy. “Well said. Now, I do bring more than just doom and gloom,” Ebenezer chuckled and idly scratched at something on the back of his neck, his attitude once again shifting hard enough to cause whiplash. “I’ve been keeping in contact with your little group of friends back in Chicago, and they are still hard at work protecting Chicago in your absence. It’s still not the safest place in the world, but your cop friend and that Knight of the Cross you managed to entangle yourself with have forced a good number of the Red Court goons off the streets at least.” A rush of pride swept through me at those words. While I wasn’t overly happy that my friends were still in peril on a semi regular basis, it was good to know that they were still fighting the good fight. I don’t really know why, but I’ve always seemed to have a knack for finding friends that punch my face in the first time we meet, then join me on my insane little quest. It kind of makes me wonder if my particular form of insanity is contagious. Twilight, as though sensing my nostalgia, energetically tapped a hoof against my side. “Do you think we’ll be able to meet the rest of your friends there? I’d love to learn more about them.” I smiled at the mare and draped my wing down over her in a small feathery hug, “Hopefully, but don’t be surprised if they start laughing uncontrollably at me.” McCoy loudly cleared his throat, drawing all eyes back onto him and causing my right wing snap to my side so fast it practically buried into my fur. Ebenezer’s eyes once again flicked between Twilight and me, a small knowing smile playing at the corners of his mouth. Damn old man and his squirrely little eyes. After a brief pause Ebenezer clapped his hands once and turned to address the royal sisters. “Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, I’d like to ask if we may continue proper diplomatic discussions at our camp just on the other side of the Veil, preferably in a few hours. I’m sure my mind can last at least that long in Equestria.” McCoy’s left hand reached up to tussle the wiry mane on my head while his right reached back to continue scratching at his neck. “I'd like to catch up a little with my old protégé.” “I understand,” Celestia said with a warm smile and a quick glimpse at Twilight. “We will reconvene in the evening. I’ll have a selection of food brought with us.” McCoy released my mane and gave a short bow to the princesses, “I’m looking forward to it.” Then, with a subtle beckoning flick of my head, Ebenezer, Twilight, and I turned to leave the amassed ponies. As we started to depart, I dimly noted that many of the ponies were either likewise making their own departure or discussing what they just overheard. The armored ponies and the remaining Elements of Harmony in particular could be easily seen bunching together in what could only be described as gossiping circles. “So, Ms. Twilight Sparkle, I’d love to get a tour of where you and Harry have been staying,” Ebenezer asked while leaning forward slightly. Twilight, delightfully oblivious to the smugness practically dripping from his voice, turned an amused face up towards the old man. “Oh, how’d you know we were living together?” “Intuition,” he responded and shot me a venomous little smile, with his right hand still scratching away at his neck. Operating off a hunch, I took the opportunity and got a good look at where he was scratching. To my everlasting delight, my keen eyes spotted a patch of light brown fur bristling up over the skin of his neck. The massive smile that spread across my muzzle was only partly because I was about to see something I’d been quietly wishing for a while now, but also because I now knew that not even the Merlin’s potent magic could hold off Luna’s spells for very long. “Hey, McCoy,” I chuckled, my voice practically slithering through my teeth, “you think that intuition of yours could get you some pain-killers?” My mentor’s face turned to genuine confusion as we continued walking on our path and his hand continued scratching away at his neck. “Why do you ask?”