Midnight stared silently at the wall of his waiting room as a nurse poured magic into his side. Currently he was being looked over to make sure that no real damage had gotten through the shields that had been put in place during his bout. Absently he noted the slight scent of antiseptic that always came with the cooling touch of healing magic; apparently he had been hit harder than he thought.
While the nurse worked, Midnight’s gaze slid from the walls of his room and over to her. The mare’s appearance practically screamed nurse. Her light pink coat blended with the white of her mane and tail, and even her cutie mark was a generic red cross. It was almost as if she was the idea of a nurse ponified.
After a few more moments, the glow surrounding the nurse’s horn stopped, and Midnight felt the magic fade away as she took a deep breath, somewhat winded from the extensive process of magically probing a pony’s insides.
“Well, it seems as if the shields held up fairly well: you only had a bruised rib, which I fixed up. I would advise you not to do anything stupid to hurt yourself again, but given our current circumstances, I’d say the fact that you’re going to hurt yourself again is a given. Why you ponies feel the need to do this I’ll never understand.”
The nurse continued to grumble to herself as she walked out of the room, slamming the door as she left. Midnight waited for a moment just to be sure no one else was coming before he sighed. His gaze moved up to the ceiling as he contemplated his last match.
“Whatever happened to honorable fighting? Why can’t two fighters enter the ring and test their skills against each other solely for the thrill of it? Now it’s all posturing and posing. Even the minotaur ambassador, a bull from a race known for its warriors, was more interested in looking strong than in actually fighting. If he had actually paid attention he wouldn’t have let me win so easily.”
Midnight allowed his thoughts to drift as he stared at the ceiling and listened to the faint sounds of combat from the arena. Eventually though, the mare who had given him the armor returned.
“Um, Captain Silver, sir, your next match is about to begin, so if you would, um, follow me again.”
Midnight grunted as he got up, and he stretched his legs as he began to follow the mare to the arena gate once again. Soon they were standing in front of the arena entrance once again, waiting for the announcement that would cue Midnight’s entrance. They stood in silence, Midnight stoic and unmoving while the mare beside him fidgeted nervously.
After a few moments, the mare broke the silence. “Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be a beetle?”
Midnight’s ear twitched at the seemingly odd question, but he responded casually, “Often, their lives seem so simple.”
The mare to his side seemed intent on looking anywhere but at Midnight as she responded, “Perhaps, but they work so hard, they must be tired all the time.”
Midnight turned his head to look closely at the mare as he responded, “Well, I’d gladly allow them rest at my home; the doors are always open to weary workers after moonrise.”
The mare finally turned her eyes to him, showing Midnight a brief flash of blue replacing the normal features of her eyes. “Oh really, and where might a worker find you for such rest?”
Midnight nodded to the changeling next to him. “Twenty-three Lunar Way, though I would prefer if the workers used the east entrance.”
The changeling nodded and looked back towards the entrance to the arena. “Well it’s been nice talking to you, but it seems that you’re up now, so I’ll leave you be.”
It was true, the announcer was at that moment revving up the crowd for Midnight’s next fight. Without another word, the changeling turned and walked back into the winding corridors of the colosseum. Midnight shook his head and began to walk towards the light of the arena.
“Judging by how nervous she was, she had to be new at this, so why would Chrysalis send a barely trained agent into Canterlot just to talk to me? I don’t like this.”
Midnight’s train of thought was interrupted by the sound of the roaring crowds as he finally entered the arena. He set about clearing his mind as he made his way to the center, and soon found himself face to face with a tall, heavyset earth pony. The stallion stood a head taller than Midnight himself and was built like a brick wall, which was interestingly enough his cutie mark. His golden coat was marred by a few scars, evidence of many years working a dangerous job, which, by the omnipresent smell of coal coming off of him, must have been mining. His mane further supported this, as even now there was coal dust coloring the otherwise-white hairs.
The stallion--Midnight thought that the announcer called him Dusty but couldn’t be sure, as he had begun to ignore announcer--nodded in respect to Midnight. Midnight grinned and returned the nod.
“I’ll worry about that messenger later; this looks like it’s going to be a fun fight.”
They both lifted their heads and looked each other in the eyes, measuring up their opponents for the fight. Suddenly, as the announcer yelled “Fight,” Dusty charged the short distance and rammed his shoulder against Midnight’s shoulder. The burly stallion grunted in surprise as Midnight dug his hooves in and pushed back, matching him push for push, but that surprise only lasted a moment before he put more of his impressive bulk into the contest, slowly pushing Midnight back.
Midnight dropped and rolled to Dusty’s left, then stomped his hoof as he got up, his hoof lighting up briefly along with his horn. Dusty pivoted and attempted to buck Midnight, but Midnight didn’t give him the chance as he jumped back and away from Dusty’s deadly hooves. Dusty turned back around and began to chase after Midnight, but Midnight’s horn lit up once again, and the place where he had previously stomped his hoof suddenly exploded right under Dusty, sending him rocketing into the air. Midnight watched as the burly stallion fell to the ground with a heavy thud, and waited for Dusty to rise.
Dusty did not disappoint, but instead of charging like Midnight had been expecting, he bowed his head.
In a deep voice that filled the arena without seeming to shout, Dusty spoke, “I yield.”
Midnight blinked, but then relaxed his posture. He watched as Dusty walked towards him, obviously favoring one leg. Dusty stopped in front of him, but instead of anger at losing, there was a twinkle of laughter in his eyes.
“You’d make a good miner, captain. Not many unicorns could hold up against a push from an earth pony like me, even if I did go a little easy on ya at first.”
Midnight chuckled. “And you’d make a good soldier. But I figure that we’re both pretty happy with our lives. It was an honor to contest against you, Sir Dusty.”
Dusty laughed. “I ain’t no sir, and I’d hardly call it a contest, but I’ll take the compliment. It was an honor, and I hope to see you keep fighting through the finals.”
They both smiled and shook hooves before they walked off to their respective ends of the arena, the thundering of the crowd echoing in their ears.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“That’s not possible.”
“Twilight--”
“That’s not possible.”
“Twilight!”
“I’m not listening because that’s not possible! La la la la--”
“TWILIGHT!”
Twilight fell back onto her rump as Luna brought the full force of the Royal Canterlot Voice to bear on her. Her mouth continued to work like she wanted to say something, but no sound came out. Luna on the other hand was standing tall above Twilight, glaring her down.
While watching all of this, Celestia idly commented, “Good thing we sound-proofed this booth.”
Luna was the first to speak after Celestia. “Twilight Sparkle. Listen to me: everything you just saw has a perfectly logical explanation.”
Finally Twilight regained her voice, “Logical? He almost out-muscled an earth pony, and then he somehow cast magic through his hoof. Explain how that’s logical!”
Luna shook her head. “As I was trying to explain earlier, Captain Silver’s time with the changelings has led to him learning some of their magic techniques. Namely, he has learned how to internalize his magic, allowing him to seemingly cast spells through parts of his body other than his horn--which, by the way, he still had to channel some magic through in order to cast the spell. As for his muscle, that’s just a result of guard training. I know for a fact that your brother could do the same.”
Twilight frowned. “But, no matter how strong a unicorn or pegasus may be, they shouldn’t be able to contend with an earth pony’s enhanced strength.”
Luna sighed, “And they still can’t, or did you not notice that after his opponent stopped holding back, Midnight was unable to stand up against his brute strength?”
Twilight had the grace to be embarrassed at the reproach, however that lasted only for a moment, “Well, then what about that spell he used? Explain that.”
Luna glared at Twilight, her frustration beginning to show as she started to slip back into old Equish. “We have already informed thee of how this works. The captain internalized his magic to cast a--”
Twilight shook her head, interrupting Luna. “Not that. I mean, explain why the fire in that explosion was black. I know that there are types of arcane fire that have unnatural colorations, but I’ve never heard of black fire.”
Luna nodded, her ire beginning to fade as she realised why Twilight was confused. “Ah. That would be a type of arcane flame known as abyssal fire.”
Twilight frowned. “Abyssal fire? I’m fairly certain I know all of the arcane elements, and I’ve never heard of abyssal fire.”
Luna was about to speak, but Celestia interrupted her, who had turned from watching the current match between two pegasi to join in the conversation.
“Ah, yes, well I can explain that. You see, Twilight, abyssal fire is normally very hard to control, and is also normally highly illegal to use. The last unicorn able to legally use it died nearly twenty years ago, and she had always attempted to remain outside of the spotlight. As such, any information on it is kept in the restricted section of the royal archives.”
Twilight’s eyes grew wide as Celestia spoke. “What? Why would any form of magic be illegal?”
Celestia smiled. “Let me answer your question with another question: what do all forms of arcane fire and mundane fire need?”
Twilight tilted her head as she considered the question. “Well, mundane fire needs heat and oxygen to ignite, and fuel and oxygen to be sustained. However, the nature of arcane fire allows the heat to be replaced by magic and for the need for oxygen to be surpassed entirely, so then the thing that both mundane and arcane fire have in common would be their need for fuel.”
Celestia raised her hoof to her mouth as she giggled. “While that’s a bit more in depth of an answer than I was needing, you are correct, all types of arcane fire need fuel, and unlike all other types of fire abyssal fire doesn’t use conventional fuels.”
Twilight frowned. “Well, then what does it use?”
“Magic.”
Twilight’s frown deepened. “Well, yes, all arcane fire consumes at least some magic, but what else does it use?”
Celestia shook her head. “You misunderstand; magic is the fuel for abyssal fire, nothing else. Abyssal fire burns magic, and the heat it produces is proportional to the magic power being burned, though the more complex the spell it's trying to devour the more power the caster themselves need to pour into the spell.”
Twilight’s frown slowly turned into a look of open-mouthed shock as she processed what her teacher had told her.
Eventually she regained her wits and spoke. “B-but something like that could theoretically destroy any spell we know of! Assuming the caster had access to enough power of course.”
Celestia nodded solemnly. “Yes, it could do that among other things, but that’s not why it’s illegal, as there are any number of ways to get past even the most powerful or intricate of spells and enchantments that are actually far more efficient than the use of abyssal fire. The reason it’s illegal is because, if used without caution, it can burn through the magic of any living being.”
Twilight paled. “Wouldn’t that mean that--”
Celestia nodded again. “That it could effectively drain the life out of a pony? Yes, and any other creature for that matter.”
Twilight shot to her hooves, suddenly filled with anger, “Then why is he using it?! Nothing good can come from allowing anyone to use such dark magic!”
“Twilight Sparkle! Calm yourself. You of all ponies should be aware that there is no such thing as ‘dark’ magic. Magic, in all of its forms, is just a tool.”
Celestia nodded at Luna as she glared at Twilight, who had gone wide-eyed at Luna’s rebuke. “She is right, Twilight. In fact, the only reason that abyssal fire is illegal is because it would be simply too easy for somepony to make a mistake that could result in disaster. There are at least one hundred fire-spell mishaps a year, and those are bad enough. If abyssal fire got out of control like some spells do, it would be a catastrophe.”
Twilight nodded. “Right, I’m sorry, but that still doesn’t explain why he’s being allowed to use it.”
Luna rolled her eyes as she turned back to the arena, where a new fight was beginning. “Well, other than the fact that it is possible to get a license to use abyssal fire, a fact which my sister didn’t mention, neither my sister nor myself would even try to stop him from using it unless he suddenly became a threat.”
Twilight tilted her head again. “Why?”
As Celestia went to join her sister and Cadance, who hadn’t bothered to join the conversation at all, she responded, “For the same reason we wouldn’t try to stop you from using magic, or your friend Applejack from running her farm.”
Twilight blinked. “Wait, are you saying that the use of abyssal fire is his special talent?”
Luna sighed and looked back at Twilight, clearly tired of this conversation. “In a way, yes. It would be more accurate to say that his special talent is the use of arcane fire in all of its forms, except for coldfire. He just prefers to use abyssal fire in most combat situations, as its draining effects are extremely useful.”
Twilight furrowed her brow as she processed this information. Most of it made sense, but one thing stood out to her as odd.
“If his special talent is the use of arcane fire, why can’t he use coldfire?”
Luna shook her head. “I’m not completely sure, but my best guess is that he can’t cast the extreme cold spell that changes the fire from pure to cold. However, that’s just my theory. Now please, let's just watch the tournament.”
Twilight processed this information as Luna turned back to the fight, and after a moment shrugged and rejoined the other alicorns to watch the rest of the matches.