The Company We Keep

by Ice Star

Chapter 17: Catching Stars

In each of my hooves I held one of Queen Sapphira's 'Eyes'. Balanced in my left hoof was the Ice Star. It looked like a carved piece of ice, with beautiful patterns of frost. It's companion, known as the Reflector Star looked completely different. While it also resembled a contact lens, the patterns were different. Instead of all things winter-y, threading the surface were misty whorls of blue, lavender, gold, and white. It wasn't as ornate as the Ice Star, since the very piece itself wasn't criss-crossed with complicated designs and intricacies. It was a translucent and pleasant spring green and stands out greatly against the mountain environment.

I sat in the snow outside the chamber where I found the Reflector Star and was perched on a rock, overlooking the surprisingly tame looking slope that descended into the treacherous - at least for the Crystal Empire - mess I had just come from, where Opal Charm still was. My mane, tail, and vision had been returned to normal now that the Ice Star was no longer in my eye.

Next to me was... umm, well I guess I'll just have to call him Sombra now... there wasn't much of a reason not to. He was a few paces away, watching my out of the corner of his right eye, over the course of a few minutes he had become more transparent.

"So, what do I do now, Sombra?"

"What I said. There. That's your brilliant answer."

"But-!"

"Pink Princess, your goal is to get your magic back. The Ice Star is going to complicate that and the other one isn't going to help you much, they don't emit the same magic."

"How can you tell...? Last time I checked, ponies can't feel magic like that and they never have been able to. Even the Alicorns can't. I know that I may not be Twilight-"

"I'm a spell," he said tersely, "It goes without saying I would know this."

"Yes, I know that you're a spell - a replication of Sombra when he was younger - but that still seems weird. I don't think that a spell version of me would be able to sense magic, would she? Or it?"

"Did anypony ever ask you what you thought?"

I sighed. "So, if I shouldn't use either of these," I hold the Stars higher, "then how am I supposed-"

"Goof grief, I'm not a mentor," he snapped, "here to hold your hoof through everything, solve your own damned problems. I'm not even going to last much longe-"

He didn't; there was a sudden 'pop' and a small burst of crimson sparks. They hit the snow with a sizzling noise. I bit my lip and looked away, staring down at my hooves.

I wish I had pockets, I thought as I took one last look behind me before heading down the mountain. I wanted to remember this spot so I could teleport here later and fetch the book Sombra had, it seemed important enough.

Since I no longer wore my jacket, it felt much colder and I shivered slightly, snow had begun to fall.

It was almost peaceful, and took my mind off of dark magic and ghosts at least for a little while.

...

Mid-way down the mountain, I stopped, finding that I wasn't alone anymore. In the middle of snow stood a mare so pale I almost hadn't noticed her.

She wasn't anypony I knew, and it was rather hard to make her out since she wasn't close, and wasn't really standing still but walking very slowly. I could see that her coat was an extremely soft blue, and it almost seemed white. Her mane and tail seemed to be styled quite elaborately, with elegant ringlets falling in her eyes and around her face. The rest was loosely pulled back and tucked into haphazard bun. The color, was most unusual, it looked pure white but was flecked with bits of pale colors that looked like reflected light, greens, purples, blues, and even rare bits of gold that shone so brightly I could see them even from up here.

I had to go down and tell this mare she couldn't be in the mountains! I rushed down the slope, careful not to spill the Stars that I had cradled in my wing.

...

The jeweled snowflake earrings could be ignored, as could the gold hairpiece, silk slippers buttoned with pearls, and the glittering cape as transparent as glass that revealed her coat was unmarred.

There was a silver tiara in her mane, studded with white diamonds. I looked down at her eyes which were the brightest and most vivid emerald green imaginable.

Her cutie mark was a tarnished silver key, the bow of it was an opal sprouting petals of light so it resembled an an exotic flower. In her hoof there was a necklace of silver swirls, linked together drawing my eyes to the the very same gem in the middle. However what she was wearing around her neck was the bandanna.

She stopped walking when she saw me and the necklace fell from her hoof and landed in the fresh snow.

"O-O-Opal Charm-?"

Opal Charm blinked her thickly lashed eyes, and looked down, she seemed to have a hard time recognizing herself, and gods, though I'm about as straight as they come, she really looked pretty. If I wasn't looking at her for myself, I would never believe that such a pretty mare could be so... vivid. There was an enchanting air to her doll-like innocence, but that was only if I ignored what she had done to me because she saw what I was carrying in my wing and her typical homicidal craziness returned to her eyes.

"Where did you get the other one?" she hissed, her vicious tone corrupting what was once a soft and whispery voice.

"It was on Mount Opaline."

Her eyes were on the mentioned mountain in a heartbeat. "Was it now?"

"Yes," I said nervously, eyeing the fragile and petite looking ball of murderous ghost anger with shock. Her transformation really was... drastic.

"It was hidden," she stated rather than asked.

Well, yes. I don't think that you just leave stuff like this lying out on Market Day, at least, I wouldn't.

"And that gods-awful excuse of a 'friend' of yours was there."

"Yes..."

"That little brat is always hiding things!" She stomped her hoof in the powdery snow.

You make him sound like a spoiled child as opposed to a mentally unstable... I don't even know what. Does anypony know exactly what Sombra is?

She gazed hungrily at the Stars. "What does the other one do?"

"I-I don't know," I stuttered truthfully.

"Is that so, dear? You may be just a little filly who thinks wearing a crown makes her a ruler, but you've proven yourself to be quite troublesome. Sweetie, it takes far more than a crown and an empire that loves you to rule."

I'm the troublesome one?! You're the one who was in my house!

She smiles at me again, but due to her current appearance she doesn't look all that menacing, just somewhere between bitchy and sugary-sweet. "Your silly little book may have mentioned that I have an object that will, how did it put it...? Pacify me, yes, that was it. After I found your jacket, holding this little treasure of mine, I thought pleasantly, 'Well won't it be the kind thing to let the little filly see the face of the one who killed her?' After all, I saw the face of the one who killed me... so there you have it," she said, waving her hoof in front of her almost benign grin, "I think that wraps up all the talking. You should feel honored that I'm giving you this privilege, especially since we know each other so well!"

Opal Charm unties the bandanna, and it too falls in the snow without a sound.

The next smile she gives me is her sickening corpse-grin that clearly spells 'murder'.

...

I soared up to a nearby ledge - which like everything else around me was doused in large quantities of snow - to avoid the magic fireball that had been hurtling in my direction. The Stars were safe, securely held in dark magic, which was faltering slightly. Of course, my magic was weaker now that I had a magic that I could barely control without anything to amplify it.

Opal Charm scowled at me from below. "Oh come down here, little bird. It isn't like I will hurt you. I only want to end you, little candle, and snuff you out. I seek to extinguish the stain you are to my Empire."

Having no horn to channel magic, Opal Charm radiated with the power she had been granted in death and stolen from me. I didn't respond. What was I going to say to her? She's done nothing but try to kill me and I felt no personal grudge against her, since I had never wronged her in any way. All I wanted was my magic back, and I had to figure out how to get it before she sent another set of magic blasts in my direction.

She's shown that my magic is inside her, but in what way? Is it like putting coins in a jar, where all I need to do is find a lid and take out however much I want?

I see the spell coming faster than she thinks I'll react, and fly to another outcropping I manage to locate quickly enough.

Or is it like certain enchanted amulets where only the caster can remove it? Could it also be like a chest where I'll have to sort through other things to find it?

I wish I had a better way to catch a glimpse of my magic from up here. She's too far away for me to see clearly.

Oh, it looks like she's going to shoot another ball of fire at me, I'd better move. This time I find higher perch and try to strengthen my hold on the Stars. It's almost a shame that I can't control dark magic as effortlessly as Aunt Celestia or Twilight, I was made for the light stuff, which means I can hardly cast any kind of spell as it is right now, despite being an alicorn.

I just need to be able to see my magic. If I can see the magic that belongs to me, wouldn't I be able to assess things much better than I am now.

My eyes catch sight of my reflection in their concave surface. Sombra told me that I shouldn't use the Ice Star, but I still wasn't sure what the other one did... perhaps it was a shot? Even is he said it wouldn't help me much - weren't those his exact words? - It would still help me, maybe only a little bit, but I could really use even the slightest bit of help right now.

I scooped the Reflector Star from the green and purple aura and glanced in Opal Charm's direction. She wasn't doing anything.

...

I blinked my right eye a few times and tried to determine what exactly I was looking at. There was nothing discreet about the visual effects that the Ice Star produced, but I wasn't quite sure what I was looking through here. A broken stained glass window, maybe?

The vision in my right eye was divided into over half a dozen different fragments, that looked very much like glass shards... that all happened to be reflecting at least two different things. Some of them showed something I recognized: the thick snow which was still falling, although much more lightly, as well as the setting sun. Opal Charm stood, ready to cast another spell, looking as she had most of the time I had known her: a ghostly corpse that was marked by more holes than cheese, and that was putting it lightly. Even changelings were whole compared to her.

However, the others showed something different: the mountainside was hardly covered in snow, only a few piles lay about. Pale clumps of thick spring green grass overwhelmed nearby stones. Sprouting from the ground like wildflowers were puzzling clusters of sandy rock whose surfaces were marked by sparkling rainbows of color. In these, Opal Charm was not depicted as a phantom but as the mare she was.

Unlike the images I knew to be true, these had an overall faded look to them, as if the entire vision was, well, a ghost itself.

It was strange, in one was Opal's forehoof clad in finery standing on grass that surely wasn't there, while right next to this piece of the puzzle was an image of a tattered cape gray against the snow, its wearer glowing with blue and malicious looking red magic.

Soon the false, happier looking images felt as if they were fading even if I could see they weren't, it was an affect of my mind. When I looked harder I could see that beneath the layers of roaring flame-like aura I saw what I had been looking for.

My magic was there: a floating blue wisp against tumultuous waves of red, struggling against the derangement of Opal's own magic.

Well, now I know.

But just how was I supposed to get it?

I looked up. Opal Charm shot another fire ball, and I evaded once again, and tried to ignore her shouting and focus.

...

The next time she aimed magic in my direction, I refused to keep hopping ledges and waited until she thought she had me, the spell getting closer to its mark: me.

I nimbly flew above it and quickly and soared down to meet her. Opal Charm's face showed her shock.

I stood here before her, with the Ice Star bobbing safely out of reach. On Mount Quartzite she had shown just how afraid she was of dark magic, and she continued to do so here, flinching at the sight of it.

I charged another spell, my horn flaring to life with as much dark energy as I could muster, like when I had turned into a shadow. It worked, and was just as taxing as before, although Opal Charm didn't appear to contain herself, looking as if she wanted to run away and cry.

All the awful feelings returned, and I had to struggle to keep my mind on track and focus on that soft blue light I saw, that sweet and gentle blue light that was me, I needed it to complete myself, to get my energy back. I didn't want to feel this tired forever.

Opal froze, her quivering had stopped as did the magic surrounding her. Everything around us was still, and as I struggled to stand and keep my eyes open, I saw it: a thin aura of such wonderful sky blue beginning to form around her, evaporating and flowing into me.

That's were everything went wrong. I was drawing powerful magic - mostly light magic - into myself while currently wielding dark magic, and worse my magic recognized the dark magic as an enemy, like medicine does towards a cold.

It was like every bit of me were dissolving from the inside out, and even though I was simply standing there, it felt like I was fading. I couldn't feel myself at all.

Then the reverse happened and it felt as if all the pain I'd been through wasn't enough: the magic had to make more, like it was trying to cause its own little apocalypse inside me to get rid of all the corruption. Even my horn was racked with so much pain, I swore that it felt like it was cracking.

Opal was as still as the statue she wanted to turn me into as she watched it all unfold. Magic was going crazy everywhere green and purple mixing with sky blue, converging into a sick and venomous shade of violet that engulfed us both in the only calm part of this storm, I could hardly see anything, my eyes were glowing with indeterminate colored energy.

I was still in all the chaos, as unable to move as she was. However through it all I could see was the edge of a bright orange flame cutting its way through the raging power, through it there was the brief glimpse of gray and gloom.

Tartarus.

I glimpsed a small white glimmer out of the corner of my right eye. Even though the effects of the Reflector Star had been negated due to the magic storm, it had not forgotten its companion.

Neither had Opal Charm. I saw her outstretched hoof reach out and grab it before I was overwhelmed.

...

Fresh flakes of now were falling, I felt them tickle my muzzle. When I opened my eyes, I could see sunlight reflecting off them, and blinked at the sight. Between blinks images of what happened danced behind my eyes.

My first question was why I felt so at ease, and of course, a little cold. The pain really was only a memory now. Despite all that had happened in the past few days I was completely spotless, their wasn't even a scratch on my coat and my mane was unsettled and in its natural curl.

I stood up and blinked in confusion, the fact that the Reflector Star was still in my eye didn't help.

I lit my horn with magic, relived to find not only was my energy back but that the magic was mine. As for the feeling of dark magic? It all felt so distant, and I wondered: had it even happened at all?

With my newly returned magic I gently removed the Reflector Star from my eye and fitted it in a bubble of aura.

I looked around, the sky was clear today and the sun was just coming up. I stretched my wings and readied for a brief flight back to the castle, I didn't feel like using my magic just yet.

...

There weren't any other ponies, crystal or tourist, at the Crystal Heart's plaza this early in the morning. I trotted up to the Crystal Heart, which was looking slightly translucent as light flurries of snow swept around it.

Once more I lit my horn with magic and closed my eyes, only opening them when I felt the still and chilly air of the ice webbed Inner Heart. I placed the Star on the center of the frozen floor, since there was nowhere else to put it. Slowly, the floor and walls began to thaw, and a crystal dias sprouted up under it.

Six glowing orbs of lights returned, and I watched as the opal colored one faded, until there were five. It had never shined as brightly as the rest, now that I think about it.

The Heart was restored, even if I had lost one Star the other was still here for me when I'd need it next.

It was time to go get that book Sombra had given me on Mount Opaline.

At least I could teleport for this.

Comments

[Word Worthy]

Huzzah! The magic is restored!

[Kaleido]

"Goof grief, I'm not a mentor," he snapped, "here to hold your hoof through everything, solve your own damned problems. I'm not even going to last much longe-"

He didn't; there was a sudden 'pop' and a small burst of crimson sparks. They hit the snow with a sizzling noise. I bit my lip and looked away, staring down at my hooves.

oh
well that's unfortunate

Opal Charm scowled at me from below. "Oh come down here, little bird. It isn't like I will hurt you. I only want to end you, little candle, and snuff you out. I seek to extinguish the stain you are to my Empire."

that quite sounds like it would hurt