//------------------------------// // Chapter 6: The absence of magic // Story: Friends like these // by Istaran //------------------------------// "Mom, I'm home!" Zeke said as he stepped into his family's apartment, before retrieving his key from the lock. There was no answer. There often wasn't when he came in this late, but it was the rule. Sometimes she'd hear him and roll over and go back to sleep, or sometimes she'd sleep through it, or sometimes she was still up, worrying. at least he could tell this wasn't one of the times she was still up watching TV. Though it was one of the rare times she left the TV on when she left the living room. That was weird. He went forward to investigate, only to find blood splotches and other signs of a struggle. He reached deep into himself and began to draw on the tiny bit of magic he still had within him, hoping it would be enough of a surprise to tip any dangerous situation in his favor, buying enough time for fight or flight. He opened the door to his mom's room, and sure enough found her lying there. She was laying face down on the bed, in an awkward pose, looking like a rag doll that had been casually tossed there. The blood on her clothing and lack of movement told Zeke exactly what he didn't want to be told, so he moved in closer and tried checking her pulse just to be sure. He didn't actually know what he was doing in that regards, but he expected.. something. Not the cold still of a body that had been dead for some time. Wasteful as it might be, he tried focusing his magic into a healing spell, hoping against hope that he could somehow pull her back from the brink. It was an act of desperation, and quickly proved itself as futile as he had expected. His thoughts were interrupted by an ominous low chuckle followed by a sucking sound from behind him. He felt the mana ripped out of his body, leaving him powerless and a little dizzy but otherwise fine. Looking over his shoulder, he saw a red skinned centaur creature with blood on its hands and horns, and a vicious grin on his face standing in the doorway. Zeke decided that jumping dramatically through the window was the right thing to do right now. It turned out that it was a lot harder to actually do in real life than it looked in the action movies. So in a panicked rush he threw the window open and jumped through the screen instead, half surprised he managed to pull that off before the centaur caught him. It seemed like it was trying to say something to him, but the sound of his own pulse drowned out the words. Zeke was in the park a block away before he started thinking things through again. He pulled out his phone and called 911. "Hello?! Yes! Someone killed my mom! I don't know! I just got home, and found the blood on the carpet, then I found her lying dead on the bed. I heard someone coming up behind me so I fled out the window. I didn't get a good look.. I think maybe they were wearing red?" He continued on with the call, giving details to the dispatcher, like his address, while he kept a paranoid look around him. He tried his best to draw out the mana again, but it wasn't coming. He had gone from the ability to perform neat parlor tricks to the ability to be a perfectly mundane teenager: overall not that big a setback, but that meant he had literally nothing to try against his mother's apparent murderer. The centaur found him again fairly quickly, approaching with a wicked looking grin. So Zeke did the only practical thing he could do. He took off running for dear life. But Zeke had never been that great at track and field. And Tirek's hooves were quite a bit faster. The last thing Zeke heard before those hooves caught up to him was a deep and malicious laugh. Rainbow Dash had thought she was great at track and field. Or rather the airborne equivalents. Now she was huffing and wheezing, barely able to stay on her hooves as she neared the end of the final lap. To her credit, she was a solid third out of a dozen competitors rounding the final bend. And though her muscles felt like they were on fire, she actually managed to keep up her pace to the very end, making a final lunge to get her snout out into second as she fell past the finish line. A few seconds later, Applejack caught up to her, placing sixth but looking a lot less worn out. She dragged her friend out of the way for the remaining ponies to catch up. While years of hard labor on the farm had left Applejack with great endurance, she was feeling the strain herself from this weird environment. A wild cloud blew gently into place above them, granting them some much appreciated shade. It was high, but not quite high enough for the weather pegasi to reach it safely, so it was left to go wherever the wind blew it. At least it wasn't another unscheduled rain cloud. Those were the most unsettling part of Canterlot's now uncontrollable weather system, and promised to be one of the interesting challenges of the new sports leagues forming. "You doing alright, Dashie?" Applejack asked, as she tossed her a nice cold glass of apple cider from the supplies on the sideline before taking one for herself. "I'll.. be.. fine" Rainbow Dash managed between gasps. "It's just.. hard.. racing in.. slow.. motion. No wings.." "Ah reckon it's more of ah change for you," Applejack acknowledged. "But even ah'm feelin' it here, runnin' all out like that." Dash merely nodded. When Celestia had focused the power of the sun to end the Human War, she had drawn into her all of the natural magical energies from all of Canterlot, and a fair bit of its surroundings. The result had been a low magic zone that covered the entire city, as well as the air space above it. In this zone, pegasi were unable to fly or manage the weather, unicorns' horns were merely bony protrusions, and even earth ponies struggled with a reduced strength and endurance that put them more on par with the other tribes. Losing their strengths meant losing much of what made pony culture function, and made the site no longer suitable for a normal city, much less the capital of Equestria. But it made for some unique opportunities, including the new Unity Games League. They were commissioned to develop sports competitions specifically for play within such a low magic zone, where members of the three tribes could face off on even hoofing. And when they put out word that they were planning to include hoof racing, Rainbow Dash couldn't resist the challenge of competing. Now with every muscle in her body except her wings screaming at her in pain, she was beginning to regret her brash decision. On the other hand, she was all the more appreciative of her friend Applejack joining the competition with her. "You did really well back there," Rainbow said when she could speak clearly again. "But why weren't you exhausted?" "Ah'm used to givin' it my all every day," Applejack explained, "and on my hooves at that. Ah figured yer hooves might be outta shape, but how come you were so out of breath? Ah'd reckon with all yer racing you'd have great lungs at least.." "Hey! I have awesome lungs! It's just, they work better at high speeds, and running around on the ground like that is way too slow!" Rainbow Dash explained. Applejack just furrowed her brow, not quite understanding. "Anyways, how'd you place? Are you going to be in the big race next week?" "Ah'm not sure. Ah was sixth in our set, but there's another set about ta run. Only the twelve fastest can be in the big race, so I reckon it depends on them," she said, nodding to the batch of runners lining up as they spoke. Rainbow nodded, and grabbed them each another cider. That meant Applejack was near the cut-off, and would be struggling to avoid last place in the big race. But still, it would be a historic honor for anypony to be good enough to make it into the first ever Unity Games Hoof Race. And there were going to be some big names in the audience. International diplomats, in particular, were expected to come out in droves. "If ah don't make it, ah'll still come out to watch you, Dash. And ah'll be right there at the finish line with a fresh glass a cider." They traded smiles before turning back to the race.