The Next Step
Sunset looked around the cave, now bathed in a deep purple glow. Her magic felt exhausted, and the agitation within it was gone – but it had been replaced by something Sunset couldn’t really describe. It was there, but it felt heavy and cold and unmoving. She tried to pass it off as an aftereffect of the powerful magic she’d just been exposed to, but a small, nagging part of her mind knew that it was far more significant than that. She wouldn’t be able to discuss it with Twilight just yet, though, because Applejack spoke up.
“Does it seem like…there are more crystals all of a sudden?” she asked with a gesture at the domed roof.
The others looked around and Sunset saw that Applejack was right. The cave had already been quite filled with gemstones before, but now almost every bit of rock was covered with a glassy, gleaming crust which softly reflected the light from the Forge.
“It must be a magical by-product of the Forge’s activation,” Twilight theorized. She put her hoof to her chin. “I wonder if the abundance of gems in this mine was caused by the Forge’s presence. If that’s the case, we may be able to use that property to locate the other Forges.”
Rainbow Dash groaned. “You mean all of the Forges are going to be in mines?” she asked in a despairing tone.
“I hope so. This would pretty much be the biggest restaurant trip I’ve ever been on if that’s the case,” Spike said. He licked his lips expectantly.
“I don’t think they will be,” Twilight said. Spike looked rather disappointed.
Twilight gestured at the six crystals beneath which they had just stood. “The energy in the Forge was led from the outside in, from equidistant points on a perfect circle,” she said. “Princess Luna said that that in order to get to the Forge of Magic beneath the Tree of Harmony, all five other Forges had to be activated.” She looked around the group. “The Tree is located in the Everfree Forest, a pretty central point in Equestria. I think that the other Forges would be at equidistant points around the Forge of Magic, along a perfect circle. Thus, if we find the location of one more Forge, we can then calculate the rough positions of each of the other Forges,” she said proudly.
“That’s really cool and all, Twilight, but what if you’re wrong?” Rainbow Dash asked.
Twilight smirked. “I don’t think I am. See, I think I know the location of another Forge, it’s…”
“In the Crystal Empire!” Pinkie interjected.
Twilight jumped from the sudden volume, but then she nodded slowly. “How did you…?” she asked.
Pinkie made a dismissive gesture with her hoof. “Please, Twilight, remember when you taught me to use logic to find the pony who ate the MMMM? I just listened to what you said and it was easy! There has to be a lot of crystal, and it has to be on a circle you can draw on a map around the Everfree Forest, and the Crystal Empire fits right on that!”
Everypony in the group was stumped for a moment. “That’s…right,” Twilight eventually said, clearly still stunned by Pinkie’s sudden display of deductive insight. Pinkie Pie smiled brightly. “But I don’t think that Forge should be our next destination,” Twilight went on, serious again.
“Begging your pardon, Twi, but…why the hay not?” Applejack asked. Sunset was about to ask the same thing. It didn’t make any sense not to go to the one Forge they knew of.
Twilight sighed. “The Empire itself is protected by the Crystal Heart. If my ‘perfect circle’ theory holds, however, the Forge will not be within the effective range of the Heart, but further north. The frozen wastes are quite possibly the most dangerous place in all of Equestria, even more so since we don’t know the exact location of the Forge and we’ll have to look for it and deal with the blizzards and their inhabitants.”
“Inhabitants?” Rainbow Dash said incredulously. “What could possibly live in those snowstorms?”
“Windigos,” Sunset said softly, now understanding why Twilight didn’t want to go north just yet.
“Don’t be daft, dear, the windigos have been gone for centuries,” Rarity said dismissively.
Sunset shook her head. “They’re gone from most of Equestria, but they’re not extinct. Windigos feed on hatred, but as spirits they don’t require sustenance.”
“Even then, aren’t they vulnerable to the magic of friendship? The very magic we represent?” Applejack asked.
Twilight nodded. “That is true, yes. But windigos in real life aren’t as easy to deal with as they were in the Hearth’s Warming Eve play. Do you know why the windigos had such power over the ponies?”
She looked at her friends. Sunset waited for a moment, but when nopony spoke up, she stepped forward. “It’s the cold. The sheer cold of the frozen wastes is hard to describe, but I read a book about them once. The explorer who wrote it said that it’s so cold you can’t think straight. Small annoyances would build up, and even close friends will begin to hate each other, and then there’s the risk of frostbite to deal with.”
Everypony looked a bit paler after that. Twilight nodded grimly. “Exactly. The windigos in real life were far more dangerous than the play suggests because of their ability to use blizzards and cold to sow hatred. It also took the combined power of all three tribes to deal with them, not just six ponies, according to the historical records I went through when I was preparing for the trip. In any case, I hope that activating the other Forges first will allow me to use the magical resonance to locate the one in the frozen wastes easier, so we won’t have to be there any longer than necessary.”
“I…think that would be good,” Fluttershy said softly, and her friends quickly agreed.
“So, what do we do then? What’s next?” Rainbow Dash asked.
Twilight shrugged. “Well, since the Crystal Empire would be the next stop on the circle if we go north, I think we should follow it south. The Forge should be somewhere in the southern reaches of the Hayseed Swamps, I think.”
“A swamp? All that moisture is going to ruin my outfits,” Rarity said dejectedly.
“Not to mention, there are some nasty critters in the swamp too, aren’t there?” Applejack asked.
“Oh no, swamp animals are generally quite friendly,” Fluttershy said, then added, “Well, unless you count that hydra, I guess…”
“It’s likely not going to be pleasant,” Twilight admitted. “But the environment in the swamp is far less dangerous than the frozen wastes, and it would be the closest Forge to our current position aside from the one in the wastes.”
The group shared some uneasy glances, but they did admit that the swamp would be the less dangerous option. With their new destination decided, the group began to head back to the elevator.
Twilight was the first to step out of the magical glow back into the dark passage, and as soon as she did so she froze in place with a jolt, as if something had shocked her.
“Twilight?” Sunset asked uncertainly, stepping closer to her friend.
“Something’s…something’s wrong,” Twilight said.
She was taking short, ragged breaths and swayed on her hooves.
“What is it?” Sunset asked.
She kept her eyes on Twilight as a wave of apprehension washed over her. Twilight locked eyes with Sunset for a brief moment and slowly shook her head. Then, without warning, she collapsed.
“Twilight!” Sunset rushed over, followed closely by the others.
As soon as Sunset stepped out of the cave, she felt like someone hit her in the face with a sledgehammer. Her entire body seemed to suddenly weigh as much as the mountain above her. It felt like her magic did at that moment, only far worse. Judging by the gasps of the others as they, too, stepped into the passage, they were experiencing the same thing.
“What...what is this?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“It’s like my whole body is encased in concrete,” Rarity said through gritted teeth.
“Magical exhaustion, I think,” Sunset said with a strained voice.
She wasn’t sure if what they were feeling now really was magical exhaustion, however. She’d drained her magic countless times in her studies, and every single one of those times had been unpleasant, but nothing had ever come close to what she was feeling right now. Her magic wasn’t so much gone as it was heavy and inert. Even so, given the enormous effort of activating the Forge, exhaustion seemed to be the most logical answer. It would also explain why Twilight was affected more severely than Sunset and the others, since she had been the one performing the actual activation and guiding everypony’s energy.
“Can you help Twilight?” Applejack asked, looking intently at Sunset.
“I can try,” Sunset said hesitantly. She knew a spell which should give Twilight at least the energy to get out of the mine, but with the way she was feeling now she had no clue whether she’d be able to perform it. Still, she knew she had to try. She bowed her head and focused. Usually when she cast a spell, her magic would flow freely and lightly. Now, it was trying to move a viscous liquid. Sunset took a deep breath and tried again. She could vaguely feel the worried eyes of her friends on her, but she kept up her focus. She’d explain later. Slowly, she coaxed her magic into movement and its cyan aura began to surround Twilight.
The glow intensified and then slowly died out. Sunset gasped and opened her eyes. She looked anxiously at Twilight, waiting with bated breath to see if her uncooperative powers had had any effect. When Twilight began to stir, Sunset breathed a sigh of relief.
“You did it!” Pinkie said happily, though rather less energetically than usual.
“What…happened?” Twilight asked when she’d gotten, shakily, to her hooves. “And…this magic…Sunset?”
“It’s just to get you out of the mine,” Sunset said. “I wasn’t sure if it would work, and I can’t guarantee it will last long. My magic isn’t exactly working right at the moment.”
Twilight nodded and tried to take a step forward, but she immediately stumbled. She looked over her shoulder at the worried faces of her friends and grimaced. “This is going to take a while.”
Eventually, the group got back to the surface. Gemdust was eager to hear what they’d found, but Sunset told him that he’d have to wait until morning. Right now, all of them needed to get some rest. They decided to set up camp some distance from the mine entrance. For the first time, this meant they’d have to set up their tents. Normally, this would be incredibly simple with the use of some magic, but right now, that simply wasn’t an option.
“Okay,” Sunset said. “Twilight and I are going to set up our tent a bit away from yours. Since Twilight isn’t going to be able to cast a shield spell tonight, I’ll have to do it and mine are nowhere near as powerful.”
She and Twilight walked away from the group. They were setting up their camp on a bit of a slope just off the path, which became steeper as it went further down. It wasn’t going to be the most comfortable night, but to ensure everypony’s safety they simply couldn’t stay inside the miner’s barracks for fear of blowing them up and possibly collapsing the entire mine. Sunset and Twilight found another bit of slope that wasn’t too steep, and shrugged off their saddlebags. A short time later, the various parts of the tent were spread out on the sandy slope. Sunset stared at it for a moment, and then looked at Twilight.
“Have you ever put up a tent without magic?” Sunset asked.
Twilight shook her head. “I’ve never had to. Haven’t you ever gone camping in the human world?”
Sunset gave her a helpless look. “Yes, but the tents had either already been set up, or else I let someone else do it.” She sighed. “Well, I guess we’ll just…start, and see where it takes us?”
“What is keeping the two of you so long? We’ve been done for ages!” Rainbow Dash said with an unmistakably smug tone and an expression to match. She hovered above Sunset and Twilight, who had still not yet managed to pitch their tent correctly. A number of the ropes lay slack in the sand, their spikes fallen over. The tent poles were mostly assembled properly, but the construction still seemed shaky. As darkness was beginning to fall, both Sunset and Twilight had their horns lit up. It was a strain to even use that much magic, so neither was very happy when Rainbow came over to gloat.
“Well, you could have come over to help us, then,” Sunset said stonily.
“Where’s the fun in that?” Rainbow Dash replied, her grin widening.
“You know what’s also fun?” Twilight asked casually. “That barn party we had last month…”
Before she could say anything more, Rainbow Dash interjected, “But hey, what are friends for?! Let me give you a hoof!”
Twilight smirked at Sunset, who grinned back. It wasn’t like Twilight to use blackmail to get what she wanted, but Sunset agreed with her use of it now. A short while later, the tent was ready and the three of them walked back over to the other tents, where Rarity and Applejack had gotten a small campfire going, with a pot hanging over it.
“Got your tent pitched, then?” Applejack said in an amused tone.
“Yes, with some help from Rainbow Dash, which she kindly and voluntarily offered,” Sunset replied, with a smug look at Rainbow Dash, who grumbled something unintelligible.
“Well, we’ve got some soup going. We’ll need to regain our strength and Granny Smith always says that nothing gets you revived like a carrot and apple soup,” Applejack said.
During dinner, the group was mostly silent. Everypony felt the exertion of activating the Forge in every cell of their bodies, and with their next destination already clear, there was no need for much talk. There was, however, a question at the forefront of Sunset’s mind.
“What do you think our dreams will be like tonight?”
Twilight looked into the fire, lost in thought. “I don’t know,” she said eventually. “I wouldn’t even be moving right now if it weren’t for the boost you gave me, so I can’t really imagine being able to create an explosion of magic right now, but still…”
She fell silent and looked at her friends. Aside from some uncomfortable glances, they gave no reaction. Sunset couldn’t blame them. There wasn’t much to be said. As with everything else on this quest, the effects of their activation of the Forge were entirely unknown.
After an hour of near complete silence, Sunset got up. “I’m going to bed. Whatever may happen tonight…we’ll just have to deal with it.”
She hadn’t meant to sound so bitter, but exhaustion and uncertainty were fraying her nerves. She arrived at the tent she and Twilight shared and closed her eyes to cast the shield spell Twilight usually used. Her magic was a bit more fluid than it had been when she’d revitalized Twilight, but it was still nowhere nearly as responsive as it would usually be.
That was a problem, because the inverse shield spell was a complicated piece of magic all by itself. A cyan orb began to appear around the tent, but after only a few seconds, cracks began to appear in it, and it fell apart into specks of light. Sunset sighed. She’d expected something like this. She took a deep breath and began anew. Once again, the cyan orb appeared around the tent. It began to glow brighter as Sunset painstakingly added more layers of enchantment on it, but after a short while cracks again began to appear in the shield’s surface.
“No!”
Sunset groaned as her work began to evaporate in front of her eyes.
“Come on…” she pleaded as she tried to recover what she could of the spell, but it was to no avail.
The shield disintegrated and Sunset had no choice but to start again. She could feel Twilight’s eyes on her back and knew that her friend felt guilty about not being able to help, so she shot her a small smile, and then turned back for attempt number three. She began shaping the basic shield, fighting her own magic while doing so. Then, she felt a familiar warmth joining her magic. She turned around and saw that Twilight’s horn was glowing.
“Twilight, don’t overexert yourself,” Sunset said.
Twilight gave a strained smile in return. “I’m not going to make the shield. I’m just going to guide you through it. Just keep going, and I’ll help when I can.”
Sunset wasn’t sure if it was smart for Twilight to use magic, but she clearly needed all the help she could get, so she nodded and focused her attention on the shield again. It was a peculiar sensation for Sunset to cast a spell while being guided. Even when Sunset had only just begun her studies she’d never wanted any form of guidance outside of initial instructions. She’d always preferred to tackle spells in her own way.
Maybe it was because her magic and Twilight’s had already mixed before, but Twilight’s magic didn’t feel intrusive at all when it made small corrections in the enchantments Sunset was forming. It was subtle, friendly. It gave Sunset a warm feeling inside her chest, and it even seemed like her weary magic worked a bit better thanks to Twilight’s encouraging presence. With Twilight’s help, the shield was done a few minutes later. Sunset felt strangely cold when Twilight’s magic withdrew. She looked at Twilight, who looked tired but also proud.
“Thank you,” Sunset said softly.
“You did most of the work,” Twilight said with a smile. “I just gave you some pointers. This spell isn’t easy and you’ve never cast it before, but even with rebellious magic you got it nearly perfect the first time. I can see why you were Princess Celestia’s student.”
Sunset didn’t know what to say to that, but she felt her cheeks burning at the compliment. She hastily turned around and said, “Well, let’s just get some rest. We’ve got a long journey ahead.”
Twilight chuckled and followed Sunset into the tent. “Right behind you.”
A short time later they were in their sleeping bags and Sunset was staring up at the canvas above her. As she slowly drifted off to sleep, she thought about Twilight’s compliment. It almost felt the same as when their magic mixed...
Sunset was walking in the forest. The temperature was pleasant and a light breeze ruffled the leaves on the trees. Moonlight shone between the branches. Everything suggested it was just a normal evening, but Sunset didn’t feel calm or at peace. Her heart was racing and her mouth was dry. Her magic was warm, its usual self, and yet she felt an edge to it, thin yet razor sharp. She kept walking. She knew these trees, but she wasn’t sure from where. From a short distance away, she heard voices. The dread in her heart began to increase as she walked towards the voices. As she got closer, the voices got louder, but Sunset couldn’t make out the words. A blinding magenta light burst through the trees and the voices of Sunset’s friends cried out. At the same time, her magic exploded out, fiercer than it had ever done before. Sheer, staggering cold spiked into Sunset’s body and she screamed.
The scream continued in the real world as Sunset bolted awake from the nightmare. She could smell ozone, and she saw the cyan shield spell slowly falling apart after being hit by so much magic. Twilight sat upright, panting heavily. She looked at Sunset, completely horrified, and Sunset knew she didn’t look much better herself.
“It was different,” Sunset croaked. Her voice was hoarse from the screaming. Twilight just nodded, trembling all over her body.
“T-Twilight? Sunset? Are you okay?” Spike’s shaky voice asked.
“Your shield may have stopped the magic, it didn’t stop the sound,” Applejack said softly.
“It sounded like you were in terrible pain,” Rainbow Dash said. She sounded as shaken up as Sunset felt.
“It was awful…” Fluttershy muttered.
Twilight got up, closed her eyes, and took a couple of deep breaths. When she opened her eyes again, she said, “The nightmare changed. This time, everypony was with me except for Sunset. The voice that I heard before was louder now. I couldn’t hear anything except that voice, but I know I was saying something to you, explaining something.” She shook her head. “I don’t know what I was telling you, I just know that that awful, distorted voice, was talking to me, but it wasn’t using words. I don’t know what it was, but it felt evil. I can’t describe it any other way. Then, finally, it said my name, and…” she trailed off and her breathing became ragged.
Sunset walked over to her and put her hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. Twilight steadied herself and gave Sunset a shaky smile.
“It said my name, and then everything just ended. My magic turned cold, bitterly, painfully cold, and I couldn’t control it when it exploded, taking me with it.”
Before anypony could react to Twilight’s story, Sunset took over. “I heard the screams,” she said.
She spoke softly, but she knew she had everypony’s attention. “This time, the forest wasn’t crystallized yet when I was walking through it, but it still felt horribly wrong. I heard your voices but I couldn’t make out what you were saying, and when I got close, the magic exploded. It was so cold, and it hurt, so much, and my magic went right along with the cold and turned against me.”
She shivered, and this time it was Twilight who offered Sunset a hoof in support. Sunset felt a bit of her dread draining away when Twilight did so and she gave her a grateful look.
“So…what now?” Rainbow Dash asked. She still looked uncomfortable.
Before Twilight could reply, Spike belched out a scroll in a blast of green fire. Twilight levitated it closer to her and shot a worried look at her friends. She opened the scroll and read it out loud.
“Dear Twilight Sparkle,
As I write this, I struggle to maintain a shield powerful enough to contain Luna’s magic, as she did for me last night. I have received word from the Crystal Empire that Shining Armor, likewise, had to use a significantly more powerful shield to contain the outbursts of Princess Cadance’s magic. This increase in the severity of our dreams worries me greatly, and I write to you now in the hopes that you and your friends are safe. Please let me know as soon as possible if your mission at the Forge of Generosity was successful, and if you have managed to locate any other Forges.
Eagerly awaiting your reply,
Princess Celestia”
Twilight looked up from the scroll.
“That…didn’t sound too encouraging,” Sunset said hesitantly.
Twilight shook her head. “It isn’t. I was hoping that activating the Forge would make our nightmares less intense, but it seems that it’s just made everything worse,” she said, with a desperate edge to her voice.
“Don’t worry, sugar cube. We’ve only activated one Forge so far. Granny Smith always says that things get worse before they get better. I’m sure that the nightmares will get better when we activate more Forges,” Applejack said.
Twilight didn’t look convinced, and Sunset, too, had her doubts it would be that easy. She feared that the nightmares would only continue to get worse until they either defeated the dark force…or until they came true. No. That couldn’t happen. There was no way Sunset would let her friends suffer that kind of fate, no matter what kind of powers would stand in her way.
“I should probably write to the Princess,” Twilight said. She shook her head in frustration. “I should have notified her the moment we came out of the mine. I can’t believe I didn’t even think of it until now.”
“Don’t be too hard on yourself,” Rainbow Dash said, “We were all pretty beat after activating the Forge, you most of all. I’m sure the Princess will understand that.”
“Rainbow Dash is right, darling. You mustn’t beat yourself up over every mistake you make,” Rarity added.
Twilight nodded slowly. “I guess you’re right. Spike?” Spike smiled and pulled out parchment and a quill.
“Ready.”
The journey back down the mountain went without incident. Twilight had sent a letter to Princess Celestia explaining what they had found, and her theory as to where the other Forges might be located, but the Princess hadn’t sent them a reply yet.
Before they’d left the mine, they had given Gemdust a short account of what they had found, as well as a recommendation to seal off the shaft to prevent anypony from interfering with the Forge.
When they reached the outpost at the end of the day, Sunset’s magic was completely back to normal. Normally that would make her happy, but with the nightmare more intense than before she wasn’t sure if being back to her normal power was a good thing. Twilight evidently felt the same.
“Sunset, can you help me?”
Sunset gave her a questioning look.
“I’m not sure if my shield alone is going to keep our magic in. Since you know how to cast the spell, I was hoping you could help me cast it. As you know, the nature of shield spells means that adding another caster will more than double their power and so…”
“I’ll help you,” Sunset said with a chuckle.
Twilight smiled sheepishly and walked over to the sleeping bags. “Ready?” she asked.
Sunset nodded. “Ready.”
Sunset called her magic into action. Now that it responded properly again, and thanks to Twilight’s help the night before, casting the shield spell was much easier now. In her mind, their synchronized spellcasting was almost like a dance as they traced their enchantments into the shield. Every unicorn’s magical signature was different, even when performing the same spells, and never was that more obvious than when casting the same spell simultaneously. Sunset’s signature was powerful, but a bit rough around the edges, while Twilight’s was refined and exquisitely controlled, wasting no energy at all.
Sunset smiled at the contrast. It showcased Twilight’s focus on learning the theory behind each spell she cast, just like it showed Sunset’s tendency to just try spells out and work from there. Not much later, the shield was done. It was partially magenta, partially cyan. The colors swirled around each other and glowed faintly, the different magical energies empowering one another.
“Thank you, Sunset,” Twilight said.
“No problem.” She smirked. “That’s what friends are for.”
That night, the nightmares did not manage to break down the shield.
Stirrup’s End was basking in a bright orange glow when the group arrived, courtesy of the late afternoon sun. On the outskirts of the village, Twilight stopped walking. She seemed hesitant to go on, and Sunset couldn’t blame her. She doubted that Burning Heart would be very happy to see them after last time. Just when Twilight seemed to have made up her mind, a pony approached them from the village. While Sunset couldn’t make out his features in the bright light of the sun setting behind him, the silhouette of his massive hat left no question about who it was. Rock Breaker inclined his head when he got closer to the group.
“Good to see you’ve returned safely, Your Highness,” he said.
Twilight nodded awkwardly. “Thank you. We, uh, we’re just passing through,” she said.
Rock Breaker cocked his head. “The first train westward leaves tomorrow morning. Surely you’ll spend the night here?”
Twilight shot her friends a helpless look. Had Rock Breaker not heard or noticed what happened to the inn just a few days ago? Rock Breaker seemed to catch on to Twilight’s train of thought.
“Ah, you’re still worried about the inn,” he said.
Twilight hung her head. “Yes,” she admitted, “I still feel awful over destroying the inn and I’d rather not do it again.”
Rock Breaker nodded in understanding. “It’s true, I’ve never seen Burning Heart quite so angry before,” he said thoughtfully, and Twilight’s face fell, “But after the repair crew from Canterlot showed up and fixed everything in the space of an afternoon, he was back to his normal friendly self. I spoke to him and he said he’s fine with letting you stay again, as long as you agree to shoulder of the cost of any repairs that might be needed.”
Twilight looked immensely relieved and Sunset almost laughed. Twilight looked adorable like that.
Rock Breaker chuckled. “Shall I accompany you to the inn? I must admit I’m rather curious as to what happened in the mines…if you’re allowed to tell me, of course,” he added.
Twilight nodded gratefully. “Of course. But I think Burning Heart should know the full story as well. After all, it’s his inn we blew up last time…”
“…and thus the magical refraction would, seemingly paradoxically, aid in the focus of the…”
Twilight was completely absorbed in her lecture. She’d intended to only tell the story of their quest to Burning Heart and Rock Breaker, but the other patrons of the Hobble Strap Inn had been very interested to hear the tale as well, and Twilight saw no real reason to keep it from them, although along the way she had derailed into an in-depth lecture of the workings of the magic in the Forge. Aside from Sunset, nopony had any clue what she was on about. Sunset had been far too amused at seeing everypony’s vacant looks to try and stop Twilight, though.
She remembered that she used to go into a lot of technical detail back when she was still a student of Princess Celestia’s, just to feel superior when other ponies weren’t able to follow her. Twilight, however, wasn’t doing this because she wanted to feel superior, but because she was just so excited about discovering magic this advanced that she just had to tell everypony, to make them share in her amazement of it.
Sunset had a warm feeling in her chest while she was listening to Twilight’s story, the same feeling she’d felt the night before when Twilight helped her with the shield spell. The pure joy that radiated off her now that she was truly in her element was such a strong contrast to the sullen demeanor she’d had that morning that it was hard to believe she was the same pony.
When Twilight began to go on an even further tangent, though, in which she wanted to explain just which magical laws were at work in the Forge, Sunset decided to save the miners.
“Twilight? Perhaps you’re going just a tad too deep with all of this,” she said.
Twilight blinked a couple of times and looked at her audience as if she was only now seeing them for the first time. A blush appeared on her face.
“I’m sorry about that,” she said sheepishly, “I tend to get carried away when I talk about magic.”
The miners, Burning Heart, and Rock Breaker were still staring at her with empty expressions.
“I think you broke them,” Rainbow Dash said helpfully. She’d been exposed to Twilight’s lectures often enough to know that it was useless to try and follow her when she got going, and so she’d tuned out as soon as things got technical.
“In any case,” Twilight said, still with a faint blush, “We’re headed to the Hayseed Swamp next. The next Forge should be there.”
Rock Breaker nodded slowly. “I see,” he said slowly. “Well, I think I speak for all of us when I say that we wish you the best of luck in that quest. In any case, I must now take my leave. I’ll come to see you off at the station tomorrow. For now, a good night to you all!”
He left the inn, and the other miners all returned to their tables. Somehow Sunset didn’t think they’d be discussing all the magical theory they’d just heard.
“Did I make a complete fool out of myself?” Twilight asked.
Her friends quickly assured her that she hadn’t.
“It was a pretty clear explanation, actually,” Sunset said. An image of Princess Celestia explaining a complex spell shot through her mind. “It actually reminded me quite a bit of Princess Celestia’s lectures, at times. Especially the joy both of you have when you’re teaching,” she went on.
Twilight’s eyes widened. “I…remind you of the Princess?” she asked breathlessly.
Sunset nodded and gave a rueful smile. “She’s just as enthusiastic about magic as you are. That changed when I…in any case, I can see why the two of you get along so well,” Sunset said.
Twilight lowered her head. “Thank you,” she said softly, with a slightly trembling voice.
“That was about the biggest compliment you could have given her,” Spike whispered.
“I know,” Sunset whispered back, “But it’s one she’s more than earned.”
Twilight looked up again. Her eyes were glistening. She gave Sunset a watery smile, which Sunset returned. Sunset felt a bit conflicted seeing her friend like this. When she had been Princess Celestia’s student, all that had ever mattered to her was gaining power and prestige, as quickly as possible. She’d known that someday, she would surpass the Princess and leave her in the dust while she would go on to rule Equestria. But her greed had proven too much, and her destiny had fallen away.
Twilight had stepped in instead, so similar to Sunset yet so different. Despite her talent, she didn’t seek power. Despite her abilities, she never felt like she was somehow better than anypony else.
Sunset didn’t really know why she was thinking about Twilight so often lately. By this point, it had long gone past simply being amazed at her magical skill. After all, Sunset wasn’t exactly a slouch when it came to magic either. What was it, then, that kept drawing Sunset’s attention?
“Sunset?” Twilight said uncertainly.
Sunset realized she’d been staring at Twilight and blushed lightly. “Uh, sorry. I spaced out a little. I haven’t been getting much sleep lately,” she said, hoping Twilight would accept the lame excuse.
Twilight nodded slowly. “Well, we’d better ask Burning Heart if he has a two-bed room available. It’ll be easier for us to keep the shield small…and the damage to the inn to a minimum,” she finished with a wince.
Fortunately, Burning Heart had once again kept the top floor reserved for Twilight and the others, this time partially for the safety of the other patrons as well, so Twilight and Sunset had no trouble finding a room to shield.
“Hey, Twilight,” Sunset said hesitantly, after they were done setting up the shield. Twilight gave her a questioning look. “Do the nightmares frighten you? Because I…well, I’m sort of dreading going to bed every night,” Sunset said, looking at the floor. Part of her felt embarrassed to admit that, but for some reason she just had to know if Twilight felt the same fear Sunset was feeling.
“They do,” Twilight said. “But right now, there’s nothing I can do about them, so I have no choice but to face them however many times is necessary to stop this dark force.” She grimaced. “That doesn’t exactly make it more pleasant, though. I’m…well, glad is maybe not the right word, but it helps knowing I’m not alone in this,” she said with a faint smile at Sunset.
“Yeah,” Sunset said softly. “Yeah, it does.”
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Wouldn't an Equestria Girls tag be better than a human tag?
I'm glad to see this story continue, and can understand creative difficulties. We all run into them now and again.
Anyway, one forge down and a lead on where at least one more might be thanks to the power of mathematics. Nothing wrong with that.
8670004
Might be, yeah. It was rejected the first time for not having the Human tag, though.
Hey, a chapter's gone down! What happened?
8706320
I missed some stuff in editing and a friend gave me some more feedback, so I took it down to patch it up. I normally wouldn't, but there was one thing that I had to fix so I figured I'd do a little bit more.
am I correct in assuming ying yang
Vaya, cómo me encantan esas dos
I know it said light shipping in the later chapters, but I'm already shipping them.