Celestia Trigger

by Thadius0

Chapter 19 - Finding the stone

I had had no plans to interrupt what was likely a very important meeting between pony and...Well I didn't have a name for the other creature. I would have to rectify that politely. He seemed to regard me and my friends with caution at least, and I couldn't blame him. The four of us did just arrive out of nowhere. The pony...not so much.

"Absolutely fascinating!" he said, circling us as he kept up his examination. "The four of you arrived out of thin air! Was it a long-range teleportation spell? Or an artifact that transported you from far away? And what are you?"

Three guesses as to who he directed the last question to. I sighed and shook my head, not really looking forward to the explanations I would have to give to get through the introduction alone. "It's a long story, and you two looked like you were doing something," I said, trying to deflect the attention for now. "Why don't you finish up that before we get into us? We'll just be...observers."

"Ah, quite right," the pony said before turning back to the other...creature. "Scorpan, if you wish to be a part of this land, it's simple enough. All you have to do is be willing to be friends with the ponies here."

"Friends," Scorpan grumbled. "What is friends?"

"Oh, I know we just said we wouldn't intervene," I said, raising my hand. "But I think I can answer this one."

The elderly pony turned to me and nodded. "By all means. I'm not as knowledgeable about friendship as I could be."

"Friends," I said, before indicating Zehan, Copper, and Justice. "Are ponies you trust to treat you right. They're ponies that you believe will always be true to you. They'll be kind when you need it, help you laugh when you're down. And whenever either of you have an excess of something, they're ponies you'll share it with. Friendship can be just like magic, if you're friends with the right ponies."

"I know I wouldn't have come as far if Crono here hadn't given me hope," Copper said.

Zehan nodded before adding his two bits. "And I know that if Crono had not come into my life, it would have been ended because of strife."

"Crono gave me a purpose again," Justice pitched in. "It is my honor to serve with him on our mission."

"This is what a friend is?" Scorpan asked. I merely nodded once, and the creature rumbled as it thought over what we'd presented to it. There was silence in the clearing for a moment that stretched into an uncomfortable one, before he spoke again.

"I...would very much like to be your friend then, Starswirl."

"Fantastic!" the stallion said, before turning his eyes back to me and my friends. "Now, in regards to you four..."

"We actually came here for a reason," I said, cutting off the stallion. "We're looking for a piece of Arcanite, to repair a sword made from the stuff."

"Arcanite?" Starswirl asked as he rubbed his bearded chin. "Hmm, yes. I believe I have some of the stuff back in my tower. But a sword made from it? That doesn't seem likely, I've not heard of such a blade."

"It's complicated," I said, trying to sum up everything in two words. Starswirl wasn't biting, though.

"And where do you come from that you have stories of such a blade, and I do not?" he pressed. "Surely I would have found it by now if it existed!"

I sighed as I tried to figure out the best way to explain it to the mage. "How about...way after the day after tomorrow?"

Whoops, looks like I broke both of them with that statement. Starswirl recovered first though. "Time travel? Impossible! To be able to travel through time for such a long time, without any of you being unicorns...It's just impossible!"

"Believe it," I said. "We've traveled back and forth across Time itself. We could even go to the distant future and tell you tales of Starswirl, the greatest unicorn of the Pre-Classical Era, once we looked you up."

"Stop!" the unicorn said, holding up a hoof. "If you are capable of traveling across time like most travel across a pathway, then I don't want to hear about the future. You'd either create a paradox, or give me some sort of standard to live up to. I'd rather live my own life free of the implications of knowing what my life will lead to."

"A wise sentiment," I said, before turning to Scorpan. "And what will you do now?"

The creature blinked a few times at being addressed so suddenly before looking at Starswirl. "I want to understand friendship better. Will the ponies here help me?"

"Naturally," Starswirl said. "They're quite welcoming and nice, they'll help you understand what it means to be friends with others."

The creature nodded again before walking off, though not before casting us another look. "Thank you," he said, before walking off into the distance. Starswirl coughed to get our attention, before pointing at the forest.

"My tower lies just a short distance within the Everfree," he said. "It won't take long at all to find the Arcanite you require."

The four of us followed after the magus, eager to get this portion of our journey over with.

---

"And here we are," Starswirl said as he showed us the door of his tower that barely peeked through the canopy around us. "Home sweet home. As thanks for helping me with Scorpan, I would be happy to show you around and give you the Arcanite I possess."

"Really?" I asked. "Just like that?"

"Of course!" Starswirl said as he opened the door. "You need it, and I finished studying it a long time ago."

The five of us walked into the tower, where we were met by all manner of...confusing apparatuses. I didn't know the function of half of them and was afraid to ask. On the far wall I could see a set of stairs going both upwards and down.

"Come along, follow me," he said, trotting down the stairs. Our group followed after him, ending up in a laboratory looking place. Beakers and flasks and vials and all manner of tubing and burners. I wondered if he was practicing Alchemy or Mad Science down here. Or if there was a distinction anymore. The bearded unicorn walked over to one of the cabinets and pushed some things around, before emerging with a grayish stone clutched in his hooves.

"Careful," he said, before passing it over to me. "You don't want to expose this to too much magic. It tends to react in explosive ways."

I nodded and held onto the stone with one hand, making a note to not use any Lightning while I held the stone. I quite liked my hands.

"So," Starswirl said with an eager gleam in his eyes. "I have so many questions!"

"Wasn't it you that said you didn't want to taint yourself with too much future knowledge?" Copper pointed out, causing Starswirl to frown slightly.

"True," he said. "If the future is known by those that are destined to live through even a portion of it, then the knowledge becomes invalidated. Maybe just...one question then. How does it turn out?"

"Badly," I said. "That's why we've all banded together, to change it if we can."

"I see," Starswirl said, stroking that beard of his again. "And this stone will help you?"

"If we can repair the sword made from that mineral, then yes," Justice said. "Then we will be capable of revitalizing a warrior's spirit and bringing an end to evil in one age."

"Then take it with my blessing," Starswirl said, bowing to us. "You have helped bridge the gap between myself and Scorpan, and you seek to undo evil wherever and whenever you may be. Heroes you are, and I would help you however possible."

"Thank you for your blessing," I said, bowing in turn, before leading my friends out of the tower.

We had a smith to return to.

---

Once we returned to the clearing with the Gate, we found something we hadn't been expecting.

Namely, Scorpan. He stayed behind waiting for us, apparently. That, or had returned in the time that Starswirl had led us to his tower. Or in the interim when we were walking back. He stood up upon seeing us and nodded.

"I'd hoped to see you again," Scorpan said. "Being friends with the ponies was...sometimes easy, sometimes not. But you, you didn't run at all when you saw me. Why?"

"Another important lesson of friendship, Scorpan," I said. "It's not the outside that matters. What matters most is what's on the inside."

"Inside?" the creature questioned with a tilt of his head. "What do you mean?"

"For example," I said, pointing at Copper. "Inside this mare is a drive to create, to understand, to know, to make things work better. It's part of who she is." I then turned to Zehan. "And this zebra conceals a core as cold as ice. Because when he is crossed, he fights back with all his fury." After that, I turned to Justice. "And this pony...has a desire to set things right, no matter how old the wrong might be."

"Then what do you see...when you look at me?" Scorpan questioned, and I turned to look at him.

"I see a heart of gold, because you just want to love others and be loved in turn, even if you don't quite know how to do that just yet," I said to him. "Go out and find a way, Scorpan, and become better for it. Friends are the best path to finding what you seek."

Scorpan nodded once, twice, and took off again. And yet I felt that this would not be the last time we met the creature.

Author's Note:

For some reason this chapter just did not want to be written.

Comments

[Lycanthromancer]

This chapter really didn't work very well. The dialogue felt stilted, the character interactions were iffy, there was a lot of dialogue that did the equivalent of "telling," rather than letting events proceed and carry the plot, Crono made a lot of presumptions about things that felt awkward, and Starswirl just gave a dangerous mineral to a creature he didn't know for no reason at all. You can definitely do better. Sometimes, a chapter just doesn't work out, and you have to scrap it and start from a different angle.

This one could definitely use a rewrite and complete reconstruction.

I suggest adding a conflict that helps demonstrate to Scorpan and Starswirl that caring for each other and working together builds friendship, rather than having people tell them.

[zooba]

Well, better to have an awkward chapter and move on with the story than let the story get bogged down in side-quests that may have made it work better.

[SilentMech]

There is something to be said of a easy retrieval mission. "When's the other shoe going to drop?" Seriously, I kept expecting the alicornite was going to be stolen, and Scorpan and Starswirl would get dragged along for a bit before they found some ridiculous stash and Starswirl gets annoyed because what is he going to use it for now?

[Frission]

Oh I doubt this'll be the last we see of either of those two.

[Greatazuredragon]

I wondered if he was practicing Alchemy or Mad Science down here. Or if there was a distinction anymore.

That's a very good question...
Nice work.

[Emperor]

Looks like Scorpan will be the Ayla analogue later on. So that's where he disappeared to

[Mr Good Guy]

Ugh, I didn't really like how they "explained" Scorpan's existence in the G4 continuity, personally, the G1 was better, plus he was a king, a human king, and Scorpan and Tirek being brothers could've still been true, because of the Rainbow Of Darkness and so on...

[GigaBowser]

Well, this is definitely an interesting replacement for the unusable dinosaur era (Unless I will be proven wrong, lol)