Chapter 77 - Aftermath
I sat at the small wooden desk in my room on Sweet Apple Acres, a scowl across my features. I was hurriedly flicking my way through the pages of ‘Treatise Upon the Darker Magicks’, scanning each for the key phrases I sought. Thankfully, as it was in my possession also a few weeks ago, it had been spared the destruction of the library. The only permanent victim of Tirek, I shall forever miss that old place. So many books had been lost, turned to cinder by that overbred leech. Still, at least some had been spared, and many could be replaced.
I knew I had previously read something which sounded like Tirek’s unusual ability. To forcibly remove magic from another being is no easy feat. I know in my own case I did not let that dog take what is mine without a fight. Whilst my memory of that day remains hazy, mainly due to the delirium imposed by the loss of what we might call my ‘life force’, I do remember a few key details. I certainly remember that I was fairly sure that Twilight and the girls would prevail, though there was the odd doubt. I also remember, upon my magic returning to me, standing up, looking at the defeated Tirek, waving my hat in the air and yelling the phrase ‘Yippee kai yay, motherbucker!’ in his general direction.
Anyway, I continued to speed read through the fairly familiar text of Sombra’s writings. I doubt dark magic would have been any more useful in the crisis in any case. And personally, regardless of his own claim that he was not corrupted by his magic, when a stallion writes ‘I shall not bow before Death. Death shall bow before me.’ You know something isn’t quite right.
It was then though that I finally came upon what I was searching for. A small passage which described a spell identical to Tirek’s ability, as well as providing a few insights.
The final spell though, is by far the worst of the lot. Found in the same text, I honestly do not understand what its designer hoped to achieve. We termed the ability the ‘Siphon Spell’. Its application is similar to the spell discussed previously, in that it is bound to a practitioner’s own magic relegating it to beings capable of using active magic. The spell does precisely what its name suggests. It has the ability to siphon off magic from other users and funnel it into the practitioners own reserves. On paper, this sounds like an incredible tool.
In practice however, it was found to be severely limited. Firstly, the spell could only be used on beings weaker than the practitioner. A unicorn could not simply walk up to an alicorn and siphon them of their power, as the spell could easily be overridden, just as any other spell can be via stronger magic. To begin with then, the only viable targets were unusually weak unicorns, progressing to more powerful specimens and up through the various equine species as more power was acquired, with the alicorns presumably being top of the food chain.
Naturally, a lone practitioner using this ability would be quickly picked up. Whilst deadly in principle, without some way to speed up the absorption process, it was next to useless. For that reason alone we chose to discard it.
Sombra was, in a way correct, when he disregarded this spell. Had it not been for Discord helping him get about, a pegasus foal could have restrained him. I mean, he was loose since before the Royal Wedding and only recently gained sufficient energy to target even the frailest of unicorns. Alone, the spell was like a fire; if tackled in time quite useless. But, given the unpredictable variable that is Discord, this judgement was proven false. I do take comfort from this though. Many feared what would happen if he gets loose again. The answer is simple; nothing. He will find no ally in anypony as he has shown himself to be something of a sociopath, seeing others only as tools for his own ends. Without aid or power, he is harmless and he will not be able to so quickly take magic as he did before. As I continued to read though, I came upon something else that interested me.
However, some experiments were conducted, flagging up a more serious issue.
Now, I currently possess a level of power on par with a weaker alicorn, though I lack the inherent abilities of such a being. Whilst I am significantly more powerful than any normal unicorn, I rarely use such power. In my own experience it is how the power is used, not the amount of it that determines victory. Dark magic is intended to be a scalpel, particularly when you gain the ability to summon razor sharp crystals from the earth.
By contrast, the siphon spell had a severe handicap. Whilst with each absorption, the level of power the user had increased, there was also a correlative drop in overall intelligence. However, there were no signs of actual corruption as with the previous examples. Through study, we found that for every weak unicorn whose magic was absorbed, weak unicorns being limit of the experiment for our own safety, approximately 17 points of the practitioner’s IQ were lost. Thus absorbing too much would render a practitioner a dumb hammer, who would forget the majority of spells and become easily distracted. In our final experiment using five unicorns the practitioner became obsessed with destruction and rather than be concerned about the Royal Guards sent to restrain him, blasted every wall he could with a limited, though powerful, fire spell. As a result of these two flaws, we ceased research and returned the book to its original location, since everypony agreed that the spell was quite harmless.
It was interesting to read about Sombra prior to his takeover of the Crystal Empire. He had been something of a respected academic in his day; one of the first ponies to experiment with dark magic as a natural user. He had quickly garnered the attention and praise of Starswirl himself, though the two later fell out when he left Canterlot. It is one of the many reasons I admire him, despite his actions.
What was more interesting though was this handicap he had identified. Tirek did appear to grow increasingly aggressive as he gained magic. When he briefly took Twilight’s alicorn magic, instead of anything constructive or useful, he merely blasted the ground. And of course, like all foolish villains, he turned his back on his not-yet-defeated opponents. Hence how it came about that he, you’ll forgive the pun, ‘tasted the rainbow’. It also explained his apparent lack of knowledge regarding magic.
Discord, with his own abilities, is somewhat similar to Q and just as imaginative. Tirek on the other hand, with far more potential power, used nothing but a fire spell, levitation, and the occasional blocking technique. I grabbed a bookmark from one of the drawers in my desk and marked this section. I would bring this information to Twilight’s attention next time I had a lesson with her.
I must confess, whilst her new tree castle has an excellent library, I do not think it will ever replace the cosy wooden confines of the Golden Oaks library. Still, it is a new home yet, adjustments take time, and I am a conservative stallion, very set in my ways despite my lack of years.
Luckily, it was at that point that Applejack interrupted my wistful and nostalgic thinking.
“There ya are, Bones!” she said happily, trotting up behind me and wrapping her forelegs around me. “Ah thought ya might still be up here. Ya got that bottle of moonshine yet?” I quickly got up and reached under my bed.
AJ, Big Mac, and I were all going to Twilight’s new tree castle for a little house warming party. A lot of other ponies were going too; it was to be quite the big shindig. In line with pre-existing social customs, we had to bring a gift with us. To that end, I elected to part with some of my carefully hoarded moonshine. The party was also of course, a celebration of the most recent victory of harmony over the forces of evil, or something like that.
Grabbing the moonshine, carefully holding it in my magical grip, I quickly threw on my hat and followed Applejack downstairs. This wasn’t a fancy do, so it was just our usual get up tonight. Of course, I still had that very nice waistcoat sitting in my wardrobe, just in case. From downstairs, I heard Applejack calling me again.
“C’mon, Bones, or we’ll be late!” she called a little irritably. I’d only just managed to work my way out of the doghouse, and not wanting to get thrown back in, I quickly hurried downstairs.
Ah, yes, me in the doghouse. I suppose I should explain that. In another big step in our relationship, Applejack and I had our first fight not long ago. As was to be expected, I lost. To quote a certain cowboy; ‘I just know that there are two theories to arguing with women. And neither one works’. For a few days our relationship had been a little frosty, but AJ seems to have forgiven me now.
The argument came about because of something I did whilst dropping by Ponyville elementary. Now, I have known for some time, as we all have, that Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon make a habit of picking on the Crusaders, Apple Bloom included. For the most part, they don’t let it get to them; my mom has even been helping them out a little, giving them advice here and there. However, the last incident went beyond the pale.
I’d realised, as I was cleaning the upstairs hallway, that AB had forgotten some of her homework that was due in today. Having been in the same boat a few times myself, I decided to take it in and give it to her at lunchtime. When I’d got there though, I found poor AB, in tears, with her friends doing the best to comfort her. In a low blow, even by her standards, Diamond Tiara had made some remark about her parents. Well, that doesn’t fly with me.
I wasn’t entirely stupid; I didn’t do anything to harm her in any way. I planned merely to scare her in order to stop her doing that kind of stunt again. Using an illusion spell, I mimicked the effect of dark magic use, though I didn’t actually use such magic. I then sprang out and grabbed the spiteful filly in my magic and did the upmost to put the fear of Nightmare Moon into her. Not the best course of action.
The upshot of that was that AB, Applejack, and I had to attend a conference along with Diamond and her jackass of a father. The two of us sparred a little, but we managed to get a settlement out of it in the end. I got lectured by both my mother and AJ afterwards. I was after all quite lucky Filthy didn’t ask to take the matter further.
When the two of us got home, the arguing began. AJ was quite embarrassed about having to go into school like that. I argued that I was merely sticking up for Apple Bloom. AJ retaliated by saying AB could look after herself. I then called her out over how protective she could be of the youngest Apple. In the end, it was Big Mac who came in and stopped us fighting like cats.
The next morning, the mood had been frosty. AJ took the typical female approach and kept the dispute going. As such I had to reciprocate. I was certain I was going to be the first stallion to win a fight with his marefriend. Of course that didn’t happen. Neither of us liked the way things were going, and I was genuinely concerned about how this was affecting our relationship. As a result, after three days of AJ not speaking to me unless necessary, I waved the white flag and came down from my battlements, with my tail between my legs.
Luckily though, at the same time, she had begun to cave and we were able to kiss and make up on even terms. Things had been settled for the better part of a week now. With any luck, this party would be a chance to put it behind us.
We found the large double doors already open when we arrived at the steps of the tree castle. Walking into the large open hallways, we were quickly greeted by Spike and Twilight herself. We all exchanged greetings, glad to see the other again with the continued existence of Equestria no longer in jeopardy. The rest of the girls were already here, as was Lizzie and both my parents. Twilight was doing her best to keep the party relatively small in size, rather than throw a grand banquet party. Still, the place was quite busy. I passed our gift off to Spike to put with the many others that were piling up.
The two of us stuck together for a fair while, before splitting off to go and see various ponies alone. I did my upmost to seek out Twilight, and then later my parents and Lizzie. Twilight, I merely wished to offer my congratulations to, and also to check on how she was feeling. The loss of her old home had after all hit her quite hard. I distinctly remember her redoubling her efforts to put Tirek in a box when his inaccurate attack destroyed her home, and more importantly, her books. To Twilight, and me I must confess, such an action was a sacrilege. Twilight’s books were like the animals Fluttershy cared for, and we’ve all seen what happens when you harm an animal near her.
I found Twilight regarding the large chairs in what we then were calling jokingly, her throne room. It was interesting in and of itself. This building was magical, created by the Tree of Harmony itself. We understand so little of such magic and this new building raised more questions than it answered.
“Hey, Twilight,” I said as I entered, catching her off guard for a moment. “Ah figured ya might be in here.”
“Oh, Blade Star,” she said, a little surprised. “Sorry, you startled me there.”
“Didn’t mean to, honest,” I replied, giving a disarming smile. “Ah just wanted to talk to you; see how you and Spike are holdin’ up.” I didn’t care much for moving house when I was a child, but to have your home destroyed was a whole other matter. Twilight, nevertheless though, smiled.
“It was hard when we first got here. But we’ve been lucky. A lot more stuff than you might expect was salvageable. And most of the stuff in the basement was completely unharmed. Besides, Celestia always said to try and focus on the positives. We’re all okay and I’ve got a wonderful new home.”
“Now that is true, Twilight. Ah gotta admit, Ah’m a mite jealous of this place. You have a whole library section just for just your personal books.” Twilight blushed adorably. Castle or no castle, she is still very much sticking to that tightrope between princess and book worm.
“Why don’t we head back to the party, maybe open that bottle of Luna’s moonshine you gave me?” That I was more than up for.
Returning to the main hall where most ponies were happily mingling, I sought out my parents to chat to for a bit. I needed to patch things up with Mom anyway. Like Applejack, she was pretty annoyed over the whole incident at the school. Still, I think she was also quite glad to be able to put the issue of that insufferable filly to bed.
I also had the chance to talk to Dad about a few things. Intriguingly, he told me that along with Discord, he had paid call upon the imprisoned Tirek in Tartarus. Unlike Discord though, there seems to be little hope of reforming him. Discord is chaotic, whereas Tirek is simply evil. He even seems to take pride in that fact. A typical villain, such as Sombra justifies their actions, but Tirek does not. His case is a very curious one and apparently has a great many minds in Canterlot buzzing. Even Chrysalis can be sympathised with to some extent, but not Tirek. I guess it is true when they say some people are just born plain evil.
I then bumped into Lizzie and Fluttershy, who are of course, still riding the high from their recent success with the tornado. With the addition of Twilight’s new ideas, as well as the improved communications, this year was incredibly successful. Jokingly, I’d had Rarity make up a pair of WAAF wings for her as a gift. Still, I was very proud of my little sister; even if I still had my own wings, I doubt I would have been much good in a tornado. For all my interest in flight, it was not something I enjoyed doing.
As I met up with Applejack again, Twilight called for everypony’s attention, and conversations steadily tapered off.
“Firstly, I’d like to thank you all for coming here and throwing this great party. I know it hasn’t been that long, but this place is really starting to feel like a home to me and Spike. I hope you’ve all had a good time here tonight.” There were of course, a chorus of approvals from the assembled ponies. “You’ve also been very kind with all the house warming gifts you’ve given to the two of us. Rarity, I can’t thank you enough for salvaging some of my dresses. And Pinkie, I don’t think anypony else could have helped set up the kitchens better than you and Applejack. And Blade Star, thanks for the moonshine.” I smiled and bowed.
Using her magic, Twilight poured everypony a small glass of the clear, shimmering liquid. Like most of the ponies I know, Twilight doesn’t drink heavily, but does like to indulge every now and again. Spike of course, was omitted, as was Lizzie. Rather sensibly, the legal drinking age in Equestria is twenty one, not eighteen as it was back home.
“Well everypony; a toast. To peace, prosperity, eternal harmony and most importantly of all, to life!” Just before we could all drink though, we were interrupted by Equestria’s jester.
Discord appeared in front of Twilight and Spike; dressed in a peasant’s outfit, with a prayer shawl and kippah, and burst into song.
“To life, to life, l’chaim!” he sang.
“L’chaim, l’chaim, to life!” my dad sang back. That is why you don’t show Discord musicals. Twilight quickly stepped in, the introduction throwing off her well thought out plans.
“Discord!” she exclaimed. The draconequus turned away from the assembled ponies to look at her.
“What? Can’t a fellow make a grand entrance anymore?” he enquired innocently. “Come, now, Twilight. As the good book says…” I quickly cut him off.
“The good book can wait!”
He then thankfully jumped down off the table and returned to his normal form. Twilight merely raised her glass a second time and we all downed the moonshine. The exceptionally strong moonshine. I heard more than few ponies quietly choke.
The party continued for a little while longer. I took the opportunity to talk with Discord. Even though the guy does get on my nerves sometimes, he is still no villain. Pretty much everypony has forgiven him for his indiscretion now. Personally, I think he had some kind of plan of his own. I mean, this is the guy who was content to wait in stone for just over a thousand years for his chaos spreading plants to sprout and cut off the Tree of Harmony. He isn’t one to go for the quick obvious approach; he always plays the long game. Equestria needs Discord just as much as it needs the elements.
Applejack, Mac and I decided to head home about an hour or so later. We were now getting well on into summer and the apple trees and our other crops were starting to show signs of bearing fruit. A couple months from now and we would have come full circle, having arrived here in September last year.
It was completely dark by the time we reached Sweet Apple Acres. Luckily, the moon was high in the sky and was accompanied by hundreds of stars. Our forms cast lunar shadows as we walked through the farm back to the house. We were all quite tired when we got back; Applejack and Big Mac went straight up to bed. I however, chose to stay up a little while longer and do a spot of stargazing. With the warm, clear nights, it was now much more enjoyable to stay out and look at the moon and the stars, at Luna’s work.
However, the warm temperature, combined with the moderate amount of moonshine flowing in my system and the lateness of the hour also made it quite easy to nod off. And nod off I did; I’d chosen to lie down to look at the stars and at some point rested my head on my hooves. I was quite quickly out like a light.
I found myself in the lobby of a small multi story office building. The place was fairly run down and had definitely seen better days; the paint was peeling, a few of the lights were out and everything looked as though it could do with a good cleaning. Certainly an odd place to find yourself, even in a dream.
I was partially lucid, recognising the strangeness of my new location; it certainly wasn’t Equestria. Outside, car horns honked and traffic lights clanged irritably. I could smell petrol and oil easily. I was definitely in a city, and possibly on Earth. There were two choices for me really; either I could go outside into the street, or I could head up the nearby stairs. Given that I was inside already, I elected to choose the stairs.
Working my way up, I searched for any more clues as to where I was. I was definitely on Earth, and in some period in the past. The design of the building was at least sixty years older than me. An old coin operated telephone sat in the corner, next to the stairs, the currency in use was dollars, so I was in America, and from what I could see, it was most likely some point in the early twentieth century.
I too had also changed; my Stetson was gone, and in its place I was wearing a relatively formal suit, with a trench coat and hat over it. Even more oddly, feeling inside the coat’s inside pocket, I heard my hoof tap against cold steel. Using my magic, I found a small, but none the less deadly .38 revolver. This was very odd.
Coming to the top of the stairs I found another door, just across the hall. Quickly trotting over, I regarded it curiously. It was wooden, cheap, with frosted glass panelling in the upper half. On the glass in gold lettering, was the legend ‘Star Investigations’. I assumed that was me.
The moment I opened the door, a great many blanks were filled. I was aware that this was my office. Small and tacky, just a bit run down, but nevertheless where I chose to do business, and occasionally drink. It was comprised of two rooms. In the back was my office itself where I could talk things over with prospective clients. But before that, I had something of a waiting room. I couldn’t afford a secretary, so I left it unlocked in case I had a client and the client cared to wait.
I had a client; and the client wore an obsidian crown. As soon as I saw Luna I became lucid.
“Hey there, Luna,” I said kindly, taking a moment to remove my hat and coat. “What brings ya out here?” Luna smiled and got up from where she sat.
“My duties have finally begun to ease off these past weeks, Blade Star. It has been a while since we did this, so I thought I might pay call on you. I apologise for interrupting your dream though. I had planned to contact you when you fell asleep, but your sudden collapse prevented that.” I quickly remembered that I had neglected to go to bed before ending up here.
“Sorry ‘bout that,” I replied. “But Ah was admirin’ your night at the time, princess.”
“An interesting locale you have chosen to visit, I must say. I believe this is a city on your world, something along the lines of Applewood in Equestria.” That certainly sounded about right, and given the time period I was in, it appeared I’d stepped into someone else’s shoes.
“Los Angeles, Luna. The city of angels. It seems Ah’ve inadvertently borrowed a location from the world of crime noir.” Luna raised an eyebrow.
“Yes, that would explain the…unusual attire I found myself in when I arrived here,” she said. Oh hay, my bad I guess. I blushed slightly both at the embarrassment for Luna and the nature of my own thoughts.
“I’d be happy to take you somewhere else for the night if you want,” I offered, but Luna respectfully declined.
“No, Blade Star. I merely wished to talk with you; the forum does not matter to me. Besides, I believe there is an office beyond that door.” Hastily fumbling in my jacket pocket I fished out a key and unlocked the far door. The interior was a little more taken care of, and there were a few personal touches here and there. But otherwise, it was a typical office. I settled myself in the swivel chair behind the desk and Luna took one opposite.
“Well, Ah can tell this ain’t purely a social call, Luna. What can Ah do for you?” I enquired. This was quickly followed by “Drink?” I’d found a half empty scotch bottle in the lower desk drawer.
“I’ve been kept busy as of late, Blade Star. Recent events have left many a pony with the odd nightmare to conquer. You though, have been relatively calm. There has been the odd dream here and there, but nothing requiring my intervention.”
“Perhaps Ah am calm?” I offered. “Maybe Ah’ve got faith that ya ain’t gonna be caught napping twice. That and Ah’ve got reason to trust Cerberus. Or maybe Ah’ve simply done the most logical thing, and put Tirek from my thoughts. He’s defeated and incarcerated, and the circumstances of his escape ain’t likely to repeat themselves.”
“I would have thought that, based on your previous actions, you would be demanding his head. Your father certainly is to my sister.” Luna countered.
“That achieves nothing. Now Chrysalis, on the other hoof, remains a threat for as long as she is free. Tirek does not. Even if he escaped he is quite harmless now. Such revenge would achieve nothing.” Luna then smiled contentedly.
“That is good to hear, Blade Star,” she replied.
“Oh?”
“Yes, your fixation on justice and revenge towards the changeling queen worried me for some time, particularly when my sister informed me of what happened a few months ago. It reminded me far too much of my own feelings once upon a time.” I got up from my seat and circled round to Luna.
“Luna, since Ah got here, Ah learned a lot of things. Most importantly, to focus on what matters to me, and not get all caught up in past, and maybe open up a bit to love. But don’t tell your niece Ah said that.”
“I’d say such a lesson was hammered home last week,” she added, referring to my incident at the school. I blushed and scratched the back of my neck.
“Yeah, not my finest hour.” Luna chuckled lightly.
“There is another reason I came by this night, Blade Star. I have some news which might interest you.”
“What news is that?” I asked curiously.
“My sister has chosen the location for the Summer Sun Celebration; Ponyville. It seems she views it as something of a good luck charm.” I smiled happily. I would hopefully be able to see Luna in pony soon.
“Sensible enough, considering the last time it was held there, her long lost sister was returned to her.” Luna blushed a little. “It’ll definitely be nice to have the celebration come our way again, and to have a more balanced celebration too. Ah look forward to it, princess.”
Luna and I stayed where we were for a little while longer, chatting and catching up. The office by chance happened to have a chess set in the far corner, and the two of us enjoyed a game or two. Naturally, Luna easily demolished me, but on a few occasions I managed to last for a fairly long time and I even managed to get her sweating once. Eventually though, the time came for us to part ways and return to the waking world. In my case, that meant waking up with stiff joints on the ground and Winona licking my face. Still though, we now had a lot to prepare for. I hurried inside to tell the others.
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21 is a terrible legal age for drinking. It should always be 18.
Sequel? Plz?
All good things...
If it's the final arc of the story... Are you going to make a sequel and put also the season 5 episodes? Or the story is going to really finish without sequel?
Another good chapter.
this is a true art work and it should be treated as such.
but and I must agree with the masses if not a full sequel a side story would be nice.
as to a sad ending we have ben warned.
personally I think a wedding is called for.
Harts Fire
5980861 I agree with this guy (vvvv)
5980664
5980861
5980731 Sorry to disappoint the masses, but I do not plan on writing a sequel. The story will end a little way into Season 5, between 'Castle Sweet Castle' and 'Tanks for the Memories'. There may very well be more story to tell, but the ending I have reached is as far as I wish to go. The story will end the day after the Summer Sun Celebration. And I remind you all, that FiMfiction is not a democracy, it is a dictatorship.
I already have two story ideas to contend with. The first, I have already mentioned; a biography of King Sombra, which has actually been referenced here. And the second is more of an adventure; a sort of ponified Battle of the Alamo, set during the Lunar Rebellion (or the War of Solar Aggression if you're a bit of a rebel like me
). It places a small contingent of Lunar Guard to hold off a vast Solar army to allow the thestrals to flee Equestria into exile. I'm sure you can all work out the ending. 
But let me assure you, the romance will all be wrapped up as will the underlying theme of family. In any case, you still have roughly a month of story left.
5981420
I understand how your plans are and I can agree to that with no problem.
5981420 Democracy!!!!!!!!!!!!!
5981420 Well, I can only hope that maybe in the future you change of idea and think about making more chapters.
Good luck in your other stories when you finish.
Well, you know what can be said once the highlight of the year, the Summer Sun celebration is over and pased.
Winter is coming.
Been searching for days for a good HiE story. This looks very promising can't wait to get started!
5990112 Glad to hear you're enjoying it. Feel free to drop a comment on any of the chapters, I always read them.
I think the opening was a reference to The Maltese Falcon.
Here in the USA legal drinking age used to vary from state to state. In Pennsylvania it was 21, in Ohio it was 18 for 3.2 beer. + Driver's licenses didn't have a picture. So, you could always tell where the state line was because there would be some bars just over the line.