Act IV: Climactic Collisions
Chapter 5: When It Began
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Corey eventually learned how much time he had to spare. As it turned out, he really had used up quite a bit of time. To cut a long story short, as of today’s meditation session, he had just three days left before the final battle to get ready. Seeing as how meditation seemed to be giving him some pretty good gains in terms of magic, Corey decided it was best to stick with it. So once again, Corey would stow away to the dimmed room and meditate. With less pressure on him, Corey would occasionally take breaks to remind himself of what reality looked like. Now that he’d achieved some kind of tangible inner peace, Corey found it so much easier to let meditation come to him.
The center of his mind came to him much easier as well; after a few solid minutes of concentration, he’d find himself there. Though it was usually a dark void when he entered, Corey decided to see if he could do anything to make the void not… a void.
Visualize it… Corey thought, Something simple. Just a green grassland spanning in all directions, maybe some flowers here or there, a few weeds... As far as the eye can see… Cloudy skies, enough to give some shade… Okay. Here we go.
Corey’s mind began to focus on the image, his mind’s eye closing as he did so. Then, his eyes snapped open, and as he did so, he could see it forming. The ground appeared from nowhere; the void suddenly began to light up as the skies became blue; the light of the sun coming down. White clouds began to appear, and in moments, his ideal image finished forming. Corey surveyed the area he made in his mind’s eye, smiling as he took in what he’d accomplished.
“Not bad…” Corey said, “It’s really starting to pay off.”
Corey stood alone in his grassland for a bit longer, his smile fading as new thoughts began to take form. “Now… how is this magical training thing going to work in here exactly?”
“The answer is simple,” said a familiar-sounding voice, immediately catching Corey’s attention. Given the circumstances he’d first heard the voice under, Corey knew he’d know that voice anywhere.
Corey heard a loud creaking sound, and let out a gasp as he stepped back, only to stagger when something popped up underneath him unexpectedly. He fell backwards onto his rear end as he looked all around. There were those bamboo-ish walls and floor again, decorated with the mats, once again. Sure enough, once everything connected, Corey looked towards the front of the room. There Esper sat, in the same position he had been when Corey had met him for the first time.
“However, with everything having come to what it has, I feel it’s finally time that you knew…” Esper said, “Knew the truth of how things came to be, that is.”
“The truth…?” Corey repeated.
“First of all, I must congratulate you. You have found the light,” Esper said, “Now that you’ve found a lasting inner peace, there should be plenty of time now for the answers you want. Especially now that her attention is safely elsewhere…”
Corey raised one eyebrow, wondering what exactly Esper was getting at. “Her attention?”
“The one behind all this…” Esper looked towards the floor; was he ashamed of something? He paused for a few moments to collect himself, before speaking up again. “We will talk about her soon enough. However, if there is any one pony that deserves to know exactly what has brought everything to this point, I believe it’d be you. Are you willing to listen to my tale?”
“I’m ready,” Corey said. He’d wanted to know this for a good long time now, long before his mind had broken. This was his chance to find it all out, “I want to know just how all this could have happened…”
“Very well,” Esper said, “But before I get into that, I need to explain something else. The magic that you…” He paused, lifting one hand to face as his wings opened, then closed. As soon as they did, blue runes began to appear, “And I possess, involving the use of runes from the body.”
Corey leaned forward, looking at the runes with wide eyes. He supposed he shouldn’t have been shocked, yet here he was now.
“It is not just the two of us that have this ability, either. The one behind all this, and several others who are with me right now—“ Esper began.
“Wait, others? With you?” Corey asked.
“In due time. You’ll understand soon enough what I mean,” Esper said, “Anyway, all of us have one major thing in common. We are from a subgroup of ponies known as Astral Ponies.”
“Astral… ponies?” Corey asked, “I haven’t heard of that since I’ve been here.”
“That has a lot to do with what happened to us…” Esper said, “We were called Astral Ponies because of our innate bond with magic; to the point we could cast runic magic from our bodies. As you can probably guess by now, the magic isn’t limited to unicorn ponies. Pegasus ponies and earth ponies can also use runic magic like this, provided they have this connection.”
“Makes sense,” Corey said, “Seems like the magic connection is tied strongly to spirit, then…”
“Hence the name,” Esper said, “Though the ability is unique to us, I recall the rulers of the land at the time being able to use runic magic like us as well, but my memory is not clear enough to tell you if they were able to manipulate runes like Astral ponies were able to… it’s been so long.”
Now that, is something Princess Celestia didn’t do once the last few weeks… Corey thought.
“Over time, as the astrals grew in number among the three pony races, they slowly began to come together. Eventually, we sought to understand the common magic we shared. Race did not matter anymore. Earth pony, pegasus, unicorn; that did not matter to us. If you sought understanding and knowledge, you were welcome to join us.”
“Sounds like a peaceful community,” Corey said.
“Back in those days, race did matter quite a bit to most ponies,” Esper continued, “Our community, as you called it, was quite small in comparison to the villages built back then. But as you said, it was a peaceful congregation. We sought to use our powers for deterrence, at best. No one seemed to mind us, and in turn we did not mind them. Despite our size and simplicity, we thrived.”
“Would it be fair to call you all ‘monks’, then?” Corey asked. Esper paused, sitting up a bit straighter. Corey blinked a bit before realizing he probably needed to explain his position, “You spent time meditating, seeking knowledge for the pursuit of peace. Had compassion for life, that kind of thing?”
“Yes, of course,” Esper said, “That seems about right. I take it then, you understand what our society was like. We were peaceful, and as a community we strove to use our power for good. We didn’t want power just to have it. All of us, that is, but for one exception.”
Corey sat up a bit, waiting for Esper. Esper’s eyes grew distant, and he seemed to be strained. Eventually, though, his eyes refocused, and he calmly lifted both of his hands. Runes began to appear, and a few moments later a blue light came out of Esper’s hands. A blue, holographic image of a young earth pony mare showed up (probably early teens at oldest?), wearing clothes nearly identical to the outfit Esper wore now. Her mane was short cut, barely reaching her shoulders; her tail was also a bit on the short side.
“Who is that?” Corey asked, gazing upon the image.
“This…” Esper said, “This is the source of everything that’s happened. Why no one seems to have heard of astral ponies. Why no one knows of runic magic. Why this has happened now. Her name is Para Norma.”
Corey looked at the hologram, blinking. She hardly looked that different from a normal pony, runic magic nonwithstanding. “She’s the ‘Norma’…”
A memory washed over Corey as the name finally fully registered. The last name in Esper’s book—no, it couldn’t be…
“That book we guided you towards…” Esper said, “It was all we could do in the state we were in, but that book... you read the names in the back, correct?”
“A few pages were missing, but yeah, the names were still there… she was the last name there,” Corey recalled.
“Para Norma was my final student,” Esper said following a short pause, “And she was a special case for an astral pony. Astral ponies, through their innate connection with magic, are usually able to draw power from their surroundings, allowing them their strength. She, however, didn’t seem to have this ability. I do not know what played a role in her situation, but regardless, the fact was that she was weaker than average.
“Her magic matched her coat color—just a dull, lifeless gray, when she did manage to cast a spell…” Esper recalled, “Even her magic was weak. What spells she was able to pull off just weren’t as good as they should have been.”
“Sounds like she wasn’t lucky, if you ask me,” Corey said, “I mean, from what I know…”
“Like I said, I do not know what caused her weakness. Perhaps the force that makes up the magic around us had seen the potential darkness in her and tried to restrict her access to magic so she could learn better…” Esper said, “I do not know, but I can tell you this. She was not always as you and your friends have seen her. She wasn’t always a ruthless monster.”
“Maybe so,” Corey said, “I certainly did not know her.”
“Whatever the case,” Esper said, “It was not long before she began to believe herself to be… behind the others in the community. She felt like she could do more than what she was doing. Maybe her motivations at the time were not impure. Maybe she did just want to live up to what she felt she could be. At the time, I was one of the elders in our community, as well as the main magic mentor…”
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It was eons ago, I know, but I remember my first meeting with Para Norma like it was yesterday. Years to reflect on the things I should have done differently with her, centuries to dwell on how things had gone, and millennia to do nothing else… it ingrained all of it into my mind. Nevertheless, it was a simple spring day when she first decided to start her tutelage under me, together with the others in her group…
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Esper Wisdom had seen a vast share of students in his days. However, he wasn’t quite as prepared as he would have liked. In terms of results, there were the usual suspects—ponies who fell within the average, some who stood out because of their unique spells and scored higher. And then, there was one set of results that didn’t seem to fall within normal parameters, and not in a good way.
“Are you seeing this, Esper?” Esper looked over to his right, seeing Ghost Writer, an Earth pony and fellow elder, who usually helped with the tests. His coat was a silvery color, and his mane was white. He wore an outfit identical to Esper’s. His runic spells were built around processing real-time information. One of them worked to project onto a large, blank, white wall in plain, easily read letters—in this case, the results of the test.
“I do, Ghost,” Esper confirmed, “Of the ten newcomers, it seems Para Norma has scored very low—in fact, the lowest we’ve seen. And judging solely from observation, it is a wonder she hasn’t wound up with a flat zero…”
“What will you do?” Ghost asked.
“What else is there to do?” Esper asked, “The whole point of our test is to see who needs guidance the most, and act accordingly. Para Norma’s low score simply means I’ll have to pay the most attention to her of all of my students.”
“Do as you will, Esper,” Ghost said, “I am not sure how she will take the news, though…”
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When the test was over and the results were announced, I had to request Para Norma come see me once everything was done. It was the first time I had ever done such a thing. She didn’t have the reaction I’d expected to see of someone who had scored so low. I had to make sure it wasn’t a strong front she had put on in the face of the other students there, and to see if she had the drive she would need to make it through the teachings…
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Esper Wisdom had spent the time since the testing ended merely reviewing the situation. He was in a hut made of bamboo with several mats of leaves around him—the primitive form of the buildings the Astral pony community chose to build. Esper’s building was larger, which fit with his role in the community as a leader and the authority on runic magic.
It was currently the evening, approaching night. Esper held up both his hands, which glowed with blue runes, as he slowly, gently eased everything back into its place. Tomorrow morning, he would ease them back to their places, to prepare for another day of teaching students. There were a couple of things he still had to do before retiring for the night.
“Elder Esper!”
Esper’s eyes opened slightly, the last of the mats safely folded and moved to the wall. His hands stopped glowing as he turned towards the doorway of the room. A gray earth pony mare was there, her mane and tail short, eyes vibrant with youth.
“Yes?” Esper asked as he turned. Upon seeing who it was, though, he allowed himself to relax completely, “Oh yes, Para Norma. I asked you to come see me, didn’t I?”
“That’s right,” Norma bowed slightly, “I—“
“Please, step into the room,” Esper said, “There are a few things I must discuss with you regarding today’s test.”
Norma stepped into the room, frowning. “Did I fail?”
“No, no,” Esper shook his head, “The point of the test was not pass or fail, but simply to demonstrate your ability. And well… I first wanted to make sure you were alright with the results.”
“I can not say I’m surprised,” said Norma with a shrug, “I’ve always been behind my peers. I have never been able to replicate what they have been doing…”
Norma lifted a hand, and her hand barely crackled with a few silvery runes in response. She gazed at her hand in disgust, like there was something seriously wrong with it.
“And that is why you chose to enroll in my teachings?” asked Esper, gauging her response.
“That is correct,” Norma said, “I have tried meditating on my own before with no luck. I am not sure where to go from here. I felt as though looking to the top mage in our community would be the best course of action.”
Esper paused, before letting out a small chuckle. This wasn’t exactly anything he hadn’t heard before.
“Listen carefully, Para Norma,” Esper said, “Our society doesn’t seek power for the sake of power. I am not sure what is hampering your magic exactly. There are many things we do not yet understand about our common connection to magic itself. However, you seem to want to know why your magic isn’t working as it should, and to see if it can be corrected. Is that right?”
Norma paused for a few moments. “I suppose… yes, that seems about right. It has felt like I have been doing something wrong, but I have no idea what it could be.”
“Then, you have come to the right pony,” Esper said, “The point of the test earlier today, Norma, was nothing more than a means for me to see who may require more assistance. I must admit, I am not sure how to help your case, but I will try my best to help you along.”
Norma stood straight up with a slight smile. “Thank you—“
“I wasn’t finished,” said Esper, raising one hand to silence her, “There is but one thing I must ask of you, Para Norma. You must be willing to work hard to get to where you want to be. Do you accept this?”
There was hardly a second of pause before Norma answered. “If I wasn’t ready to work, I wouldn’t have bothered with trying to attend your lessons in the first place.”
Esper gave Norma a smile. “That is all I wanted to hear. Go on and head on home. We will begin tomorrow morning, like all other students have before you, and like all other students will after you.”
With that, Para Norma was on her way home. Esper watched the young mare leave, before turning back towards his personal study. There were a few theories he had to double check in his old book…
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An innocuous first meeting, it was. Para Norma did not seem to hold any shades of malice within her. She seemed to be a pony that wanted nothing more than to learn why she was weaker than an average astral pony, and then correct whatever was holding her back. In a community who believed learning of the secrets magic had to offer, this was a goal I could sympathize with; this was a goal worth pursuing…
If only I had seen what had come in the years that followed… perhaps all this wouldn’t have happened. For you see, it turned out that the solution to Norma’s problem was not so simple…