//------------------------------// // III // Story: Excelsi Regis // by Muramasa //------------------------------// LOTUS Breathe in. The Griffonian sky was beautiful tonight, especially. I was told by the very few ponies who visited Griffonia that it always was, and that it was significantly more beautiful than the Equestrian night. There were plenty of nights where I'd sat upon this very chair on the porch of the store, wondering why precisely that was. Luna was the ruler of the night, no? And she lived in Equestria. Thus, by all logic, Equestria's night sky should shine brightly superior, but I've heard differently from so many ponies I simply cannot convince myself that's how it is. It didn't bother me too much, though; I liked pretty things. Breathe out. Hoofsteps, from behind me. It wasn't my brother, because he knew I hated to be interrupted in my alone time; no, it had to be one of the girls. My suspicion was confirmed when Sunset Shimmer, as she had introduced herself, plopped down on the chair right beside mine and gave a deep, heavy sigh. She said nothing at first, merely staring at the sky, before breaking the silence only moments later. "Damn," she began. "I've never seen the night so beautiful. Does it always look like this, or did I catch it at a good time?" she asked, turning to me. I shook my head. "Not particularly. This is it. What did Twilight say her plan was? I'm curious?" I asked Sunset, not turning to look at her. Twilight, after hearing me retell the fable of the axe, explained that she would come to a decision on their course of action as fast as she could. It had been two hours since, and the Princess had not yet talked to anyone to my knowledge, still huddled in her guest quarters with the doors shut. Sunset shook her head. "I poked into her room to see how she was. She told me she was probably going to head for Auster in a day or two, for the negotiations, but after that, she isn't sure. I'm sure she'll know what to do, though; I tell you, that damn mare always does," she said. There was this air about her I couldn't quite explain that led me to believe this wasn't all she wanted to talk to me about. What do you want, Sunset?" I asked her. I was never one to beat around the bush, as the saying went, and my brother had constantly told me that this attitude made me rather unlikeable; Sunset, however, seemed mildly amused. "You got a hint of personality to you, Lotus. You aren't a robot like you were a few hours ago," she said. I mentally rolled my eyes, as she was prolonging the question further, but in reality, I merely rose my eyebrows. "It's the wine, I think. Blaze always told me that something comes out once enough of it's in my system. The sweet nectar isn't so intoxicating, however; you still haven't answered my question," I told her, still not looking at her directly. Sunset let off a little giggle, which irritated me further, though I did my best not to show it; I've been told that it came easy to me. "I've met a few mares like you, Lotus," she began. I almost wanted to scoff at her, but I tried to be a polite pony as much as I could, and so I withheld it as she continued to speak. "There's two types of ponies in this world, and you aren't either one of them. You seem as if you have this mechanical air about you, but deep down, there's a personality in there. I just wanted to get to know it tonight, if that's okay with you. Does that answer your question?" she asked me. I turned to her to see a smile on her face; in response, I gave her a solid glare. "No, it doesn't. You're here for another reason, too; what is it?" I asked her. Sunset recoiled, and the smile she had donned instantly turned into a frown. However, I could tell she wasn't ready to deny anything, because she studied me at great length before speaking once more. "How did you know?" she asked me. I turned away from her, looking towards the night sky again; it was static, as always, but then again, I never expected it to move. "You're digging your left front hoof into the floor, signifying that you're nervous. It's a tell; everypony has one," I explained to her. She immediately looked down at her hoof and saw it doing exactly what I had described. She stopped immediately, and a bit of red began to show through her fur, showing just a tinge of embarresment. That all quickly faded, however, when she looked upon me curiously. "Do you have a tell?" she asked me. I nodded in the affirmative. "You've already seen it," I explained to her. Sunset's countenance became even more twisted in confusion. "So you're nervous right now?" she asked me. I gave a quick chuckle; I did it so infrequently that it almost shocked me to hear myself laughing. Sunset seemed surprised, too, but she also appeared inclined to let me speak, and so I did. "If I'm talking to someone that isn't my brother, I'm nervous. I hate it. The wine helps a little bit, though I don't always have it handy. Care for a glass?" I asked her, pointing to the bottle beside me. She waved her hoof in front of her, signifying that she didn't want any; I merely shrugged. I was just about to ask her what she had come to me for when she promptly did it for me. "So there's this spell that we learn in the final year of Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. It's called "Mana Gauge". Are you familiar with it?" she asked me. As soon as I heard that name, I gave a heavy sigh; I knew precisely where this was going, but nonetheless, I nodded my head. "It gauges the magical pool of a unicorn through a series of pulses throughout the caster's body; the more powerful the pulses, the more powerful the unicorn. It's a highly advanced spell, and quite frankly, I'm rather impressed you know how to cast it, but I'm going to go ahead and assume that you've discreetly cast it upon myself, and I'm going to also assume that my readings--" "--were off the charts. You gave me a more powerful of a pulse than Twilight, Lotus, and I don't entirely know how that's possible, but I came to find out," she said. I became self conscious of how many times I was nodding, but then again, I was self conscious about everything, so I had no qualms about doing so once more. "You're correct again; I'm nowhere near as powerful as Twilight. Her magical pool, as an Alicorn, is under what is called an "idle state". Because the Alicorn form is so powerful, if it were to hold its entire magical pool by itself, Twilight would be magically disintegrated from the inside out. Instead, it acts in reserves; while more powerful than the average unicorn, it's nowhere near her true power, which will only come about in a time where she really needs it so she doesn't exhaust and or disintegrate herself. So no, my magical pool isn't as strong as Twilight's'; it's only stronger than her magical pool in a non-threatening situation. Which is still rather formidable, and something I pride myself greatly in," I explained to her. Sunset whistled. "So where did you learn this? To be that powerful, I mean. Who's you're teacher? Is he or she in Cydonia?" she asked me. I found myself smiling again. "Yes, she is; she's sitting right next to you," I told her. Sunset's eyes widened, though they weren't in disbelief; it was more surprise than anything. "What made you want to learn magic? Really learn it, I mean," she asked me. I turned to her again, and I knew my smile was gone, replaced with an icy glare. She seemed taken aback a bit, which embarrassed me greatly, so I softened my countenance before I spoke. "Because I had to," I said simply. Sunset peered at me curiously, prying for more information, but when it was clear she wasn't going to get any, she laid back on her chair and sighed in defeat. Surprisingly, I saw a grin spread across her face, and I had a vague feeling I knew what question was coming next. As soon as the first syllable came out of her mouth, I knew my suspicions were confirmed. "So, what color is your aura?" she asked me. When two unicorns met each other, it was a sort of an inside joke to ask the other one what color their magical aura was. Nopony really knew how it started--it is one of the many ancient Equestrian traditions that is labeled a "historical anomaly" --but it dates back quite a few hundred years in practice. Even those in Cydonia knew it, and we've been separated from Equestrian society for quite sometime. I've been told that I don't find a lot of things funny, but for some reason, that particular joke always made me laugh, entirely because of the fact that nopony really knows why it exists. I chuckled as she finished the sentence (I was laughing far too often tonight) before answering her. "It's blue," I began. "I know. The color combination doesn't really work like it usually does, but I learned magic rather unconventionally, so I'm not surprised, but I think it's pretty," I told her. Sunset raised her eyes in confusion. "Unconventional? What do you mean by that?" she asked me. I sighed. I was hoping I wouldn't have to explain until I first casted a spell because it was a rather long story and frankly, I was too lazy and didn't care enough to do it if I didn't have to; however, I was trapped into it here. I looked up at Sunset, who had a sort of anticipation plastered onto her face. I supposed I would get some joy out of this, because it always surprised ponies whenever did magic in front of them for the first time, but at this point, it was just getting old. Nonetheless, I turned my attention to the wine bottle beside me and, using my magic, levitated it from the table it had been resting upon. Sunset had been looking at my horn, naturally, but her face quickly twisted in confusion when absolutely nothing was happening. It wasn't until she heard the magic activate that she looked down to the correct location and saw my left hoof glow blue with an aura. Her jaw instantly dropped as she saw it, leading me to roll my eyes. "But...what..." she began. I sighed again. "Are you familiar with Griffonian magic, Sunset?" I asked her. She turned to me and nodded her head, still in absolute shock. "T-The first half of my thesis was on Griffonian magic. But that still d-doesn't explain--" she began, though I'd had enough. "Then I'm sure you know that Griffonians, those who are able to, at least, cast magic from their claws, because they have no horns. I never had anypony to teach me magic, and so I actually lived without it until I knew how to read, and the books I picked up were not Equestrian books on magic; they were Griffonian books on magic. As such, I learned magic the way they did, and as a result, my magic comes from by left hoof, and not my horn like everypony else. My magic isn't really all that different from yours, it just comes from an entirely different place," I finished. Sunset seemed mildly satisfied, as much of the shock had washed off from her face, but it was easy to tell she still had questions. "So, wait. Your horn doesn't work? Like, at all?" she asked me. I shook my head. "No, it doesn't. It's completely useless to me, though I like the way it looks. But really, enough about me," I said. As my hoof was already in the air, I brought the wine bottle to my glass, poured another cup, and took a sip from it. Sunset still appeared a bit fazed by the whole thing, but she was warming up, it seemed. "You have that look in your eyes," I told her. "The one that says you've been to Tartarus and back. The one of regret, the one that tells me that you...you've changed, at some point. Starlight has it. Trixie's got it, too. Twilight does not have it, nor do I ever believe she will. So tell me, what was it? Whatever happened in the past, I mean?" I asked her. Sunset chuckled a bit and leaned back in her chair. "Me? I turned into a demon and tried to enslave a high school. It's extremely lame, upon looking at it, and even lamer, I couldn't even pull it off," she said, smiling. I smiled too, to my surprise. I suppose it was contagious; there were ponies who were like that, but I hadn't pinned Sunset to be the one. "And what of the others? Starlight and Trixie, I mean," I asked her. Sunset nodded. "Trixie brought an Ursa Minor into Ponyville and sent it rampant on accident, and then she wore an amulet of pure darkness and pain and enslaved that very same town after beating Twilight's ass in a magic duel, and then ran back out again when Twilight beat her ass in a magic duel; well, there was some trickery involved, I'm told," she explained, and I nodded in acknowledgement. Sunset gave a drawn out sigh. "Starlight, she's...a bit more intense. She used to rule over this town where cutie marks were eliminated, to make everypony equal; of course, except for hers. After that was halted by Twilight and the gang, she came back around a second time for revenge, and pretty much got it, creating these alternate universes and trapping Twi in a time loop. She's all cool now, believe me; drop dead hilarious, too. Although I'm not sure how much you'd appreciate that," she told me, smiling. I was about to say something else, but the door opened behind me. Both me and Sunset turned to face the door an question, and standing in the doorway was none other than Starlight Shimmer herself, a wide grin on her face. "You guys talkin' shit about me?" she said, the jesting tone clearly evident in her voice. Sunset laughed, while I merely raised my eyebrows, anxious to hear the news I had suspicions she had come to give us. "As always, Starry. What's up?" asked Sunset. Somehow, Starlight's grin grew even larger. "It's Twi. She has come to a decision."