The Continued Adventures of Tyro

by RainbowsAreMagic

The Cost of Success

Chapter 12: The Cost of Success

Princess Celestia groaned, opening her eyes to see her sister standing above her. "Are you alright, Celly? You collapsed when Tyro started throwing those big spells around."

"How long..."

"You were unconscious for almost eleven hours, my older sister. Much longer than last time. You should stop watching Tyro like this. I don't think it's probably a good idea to watch him when he uses that thing, even for us."

"Luna, I value the friendship between us. That said, get out of here before I, uh..." Celestia faltered, unable to come up with a threat, and Luna laughed.

"Get some rest, Celly. I'll wake you in an hour to raise the sun, and then we can check on our friends throwing magic around the Everfree Forest.

* * *

Somewhere in the Everfree Forest:

Applejack stirred as the sun rose, opening her eyes to a strange sight. Fluttershy was missing from her blanket. Instead, she was sleeping with a manticore (also asleep) curled up protectively around her, her head lying on its shoulder.

"I know I run an early schedule, but I am absolutely not ready to deal with this, this early in the morning." She got up, and went outside the cave for some fresh air.

Applejack was outside when she heard a familiar-sounding pop from nearby, then another. Twilight and Tyro must have woken up. She turned to head back into the cave, then turned again when she heard her name.

"Applejack? Is that you?" That voice belonged to nopony who had come with her. No, that voice was Princess Celestia, walking towards her. Princess Luna followed, ad the two stopped. "Where is everypony else, Applejack?" Luna sounded worried.

The earth pony quickly reassured them. "They're in this cave, but sleeping, so we should be quiet." The princesses nodded, and the only sounds were hoofsteps. As the three turned the corner into the room with the Tyro's black dome in it, Luna giggled.

At her sister's inquiring look, she pointed to where Fluttershy was sleeping with the manticore around her. "Only Fluttershy could turn a manticore into... Into whatever that is." Celestia giggled for a moment as well, but quickly moved on.

"Luna, I'd like to take a look at this spell Tyro has wrought. I haven't seen anything like it before."

"Celly, it's his containment spell. The same one he trapped me with the other day, remember?" She reached out with her magic to touch the surface, then recoiled. "No, this one is different. I wouldn't want to be whatever is trapped in that thing. The more it struggles, the tighter the bonds become."

Applejack answered her unspoken question. "That would be Primus, yes. The primordial spirit of nature unbidden, he called himself, or something like that. Rainbow Dash just called him a giant, which he was too."

The princess of the sun looked thoughtful for a moment, almost sad. Her counterpart, however, rose and gave the dome no more thought.

It's a shame, really, thought Celestia. There are so few of us immortals, and so many of those there are who must be locked away. And now Primus will lie here for all of time.

Her horn glowed, magic spilling out from it. The stone before her shifted, rising up to form a pedestal with an inscription.

Here lies Primus:
Primordial spirit of nature unbidden.
Under this shell of magic and darkness,
Forever he must be hidden.

Satisfied, she stepped back to examine her work. It would do.

As Celestia created her stone pedestal honoring the fallen power, Luna returned to the ponies sleeping by the entrance. Most had awoken. Fluttershy was feeding bread to the manticore. Rarity was clearly unnerved by the creature, and Pinkie Pie didn't seem to care. Twilight had woken up, but Tyro remained motionless, despite Twilight's attempts to wake him.

"I just don't understand it!" Twilight cried out. "Why won't he wake up?"

Luna rested a hoof on her shoulder. "Twilight, be calm. I can help him." As Twilight moved away, Luna knelt before Tyro's body. Her horn glowed, and she lowered it to touch his head. For a minute or more, nopony moved. Then Luna raised her horn, dismissing her magic, and Tyro shifted in his sleep.

"I've done what I can to ease his dreams, but you must understand, his body needs time to recover from the magic he used."

Twilight protested. "But Luna, I had to recover, too, and I'm awake!"

Celestia had returned, and now she spoke. "Twilight, he delibrately activated the Element when it was at its most powerful. Then he used a ritual to amplify his already-boosted magic. You need to understand that the amount of magic he used last night would have killed any other pony. Tyro only survived because the Element of Balance protected him."

Twilight didn't like where this was going, and said as much.

Celestia looked at the unicorn with sympathy. "I'm sorry, Twilight. Even I don't know how long his body will need to recover. It could be days, a week, maybe more. But he will wake, in time. That at least I can promise you.

Luna added her own encouragement. "I calmed his dreams, and he is more relaxed now." She paused. "Celly, I'd like a moment alone with Twilight."

The white alicorn nodded and walked away to join the other ponies in their own discussion.

Luna turned to Twilight. "Twilight, I have something for you. A gift, of sorts."

Twilight's ears perked up. "What kind of gift, Luna?"

"A gift of knowledge. Do not take it lightly, for such a gift as this is not easily come by. Dreams, you see, are reflections of their dreamers' emotions. If you know what lies within somepony's dreams, you know their deepest desires, and their greatest fears."

The princess of the night went on. "I know what happened to Tyro, and I know what happened to you. Your Nightmare took over, and hurt the very pony you care about. And when morning came, you convinced yourself that Tyro would leave you."

"And so I have a gift for you. I will tell you what lies in Tyro's dreams. Your Nightmare is not among them."

Twilight felt relieved. "Luna—"

Luna wasn't done, however. "Tyro's happiest dreams are of times he's spent with you, Twilight. The only nightmares he has are his fears that he might lose you."

"Speak not of what I have told you. It is a private matter, between the two of us alone. Simply know, and let your heart be at ease."

Comments

[jamie9897]

390999 NP Thought it was a little off just glad to be helpful

[RainbowsAreMagic]

391032 If they are, it's an error. Where did you see that?

[jamie9897]

393453 It's an April Fools Day joke that the entire site is doing for example I will type Fluttersh0y added the 0 so it wouldn't change and it would change into Fluttershy or Posey edit they got rid of it i know what i saw though they changed it in the comments too it was really weird but no worries now EDIT LOOK AT THE TAGS FOR THE MANE 6 scroll over them and look at the names

[RainbowsAreMagic]

393487 Oh wow. I never even saw that.

Also, I fixed up Chapter 3.