Understanding Connections
I woke later the next morning, feeling more tired than I had wanted. I probably would have slept in had it not been for Starlight shaking me awake eagerly.
“Come on Dawn! You’re gonna be late! Don’t make me get a guard to splash water on your face!”
I groaned and stirred out of my bed, rubbing a leg on my eyes to help them clear up.
“Ugh, I’m moving, I’m moving! What are you so excited for anyway…”
“I want to fight Silver.” He said insistently, “we could trade off or something, but I want a shot at him too!”
“Geeze,” I say as I start to head out the door, passing on breakfast and intending to head to the garden hedge maze area Silver mentioned right away, to avoid being late. “I haven’t heard you be this eager. Was I really that into sword-fighting?”
“Not really.” He admitted as I walked outside, Starlight disappearing into the shadows and continuing to talk in my ear by magic. “It’s just really draining being out in the world with you right now, and if you’re going to be using magic as well as swordfight, I really want to join it. It’s been incredibly boring while I have to twiddle my thumbs watching you enjoy Stalwart’s company.”
“Oh please,” I blushed, understanding his intent, “We’ve already had that discussion!”
“Yeah, you keep fooling yourself.”
I sighed, frustrated before trying to picture being in his shoes, being stuck without a body, reliant on someone else to experience the world around me. My only other companion being this other person or thing in this ‘void’ he keeps mentioning. It was hard to imagine it as a pleasant experience, but I had to ask the questions that started to come to mind.
“Hey Starlight?” I asked quietly, instinctively knowing I had his full attention, “do you know why it’s so draining for you to stay out and about with us in this world?”
“Not really, it likely has to do with not having a body. I don’t really know how that even happened, and thinking about my ‘origin’ gives me a headache something awful, but you can bet I’ve already asked my teacher and it boils down to power. It takes a lot of power to keep me physical, and we don’t generate enough to allow that. He can’t help me stay in your world, and I’d be tied by distance to you anyway.”
“So when you run out of power, or just low, you just fade away?”
“Kind of. Basically your ‘world’ just fades away for me and I walk back into the void, mostly just listening through your ears just to keep from going insane. Sometimes, I can even manage to look at your surroundings without getting tired.”
“It must be tough.” I said, walking around the outside of the castle, trying to find this hedge maze, “so, what’s the ‘void’ like then?”
“Really really empty. Remember yu-gi-oh when you used to watch it on tv? Or when you played Kingdom Hearts and Aqua got stuck in that black area? Somewhat like a mix between.”
“Geeze. No wonder you want to fight silver. I’ll see what happens first. After yesterday with Stalwart, I want to have my turn first. I get the feeling you won’t take it easy on him.” I smirked as our conversation stopped abruptly when I walked through the garden area to see the hedge maze.
I looked up at a solitary cloud hovering in place like a white, fluffy bean bag just above head height. I looked around for anyone else, but didn’t spot anyone. Slowly, I approached the cloud until I saw a light grey tail poking out from the side.
“Silver?” I asked, not entirely sure where in the world he got this cloud, or why it was just sitting there.
I waited until he peeked over his cloud and looked down at me and waved.
“Good morning!” He called out.
“What are you doing on a cloud Silver?” I asked right away, “How did it get there?”
"Pegasus perk," he laughed, “We can walk on clouds remember? Turns out the weather around here is all controlled by Pegasi. Even the seasons."
“Wait what? Really?” I pull back surprised. It was one thing to have the sun and moon rise and fall by magic, but all weather controlled by magic and ponies? There was bound to be repercussions for that somewhere, right?
"That doesn’t really surprise you does it?" Silver chuckled, "I mean, we're in world of talking animals, where even the rising and the setting of the sun revolve around the whim of magic." He gave a lazy stretch and glanced down, and I then noticed he had a vest on as he zipped it up before hopping down.
“True…” I agreed, squinting at him as I looked over the apparel. He was now wearing a brown vest that almost seemed to have the sheen of leather, along with a fluffy fur neck outline on the hem. “Wait, you didn’t have that before, did you?”
“I had it on last night Dawn.” He snickered, “Didn’t you notice?”
I took in a sharp breath, surprised that I could miss something so obvious and thought back to the night before, but I couldn’t remember much other than him being present, the food we ate, and a general concept of what we talked about.
‘He was wearing it.’ Starlight said, ‘Just goes to show you don’t pay attention unless it’s Stalwart!’
“Sorry, no.” I shook my head, just as much to clear starlight’s voice out of my head.
‘Do you want to fight him or not?’ I mentally said to Starlight as a threat. I didn’t want to have him pestering me about Stalwart as is, let alone with Silver present. I took his silence as an agreement to behave.
"You were pretty focused on that trinket of yours," Silver laughed, shooting another one of his smiles in my direction.
“Yeah, sorry. I’ve been told I can be pretty self-absorbed.” I apologized, rubbing the back of my head. I couldn’t exactly pin this on Starlight. He’d been too tired out for the most part since we fixed that relic, aside from last night’s dinner.
“No worries." Silver said.
I watched as he gave the cloud a slow kick, and I watched in amusement as it floated away, almost like a balloon. I heard a small sound back down on the ground, only to see Silver standing next to a wooden sword that was stabbed into the ground.
“So,” I started, wanting to make up for my lack of attention before, “where’d ya get it?”
"You remember Breezy?" Silver asked. "Lemon Bloom's husband, you met him once a few weeks ago?"
"Yeah I remember him." I smiled, remembering how gentle and supportive that pony was.
"He gave it to me," Silver smiled as he looked down at the vest, "It was his when he was a wonderbolt. He said someone like me deserved one, so he gave me his." He started to shift his stance a bit, for the first time in a while appearing shy. I had to resist the urge to giggle.
“I see. Well, congratulations then!”
He cleared his threat before replying. “Thanks, it’s hella soft."
I watched as he walked backward, leaving the sword between us. I looked at the sword and then back to him, Silver grinning confidently at me.
“So, ready for some fun?”
“I’m not quite sure I’ll call this fun, but I’ll do what I can.” I said, nodding and remembering what I had done with Stalwart before. Using my magic to attempt to grab hold, I soon discover this training sword was not as light as the one I used with Stalwart yesterday. It quivered in the dirt at first before it rose up and floated its way to in front of me.
‘This thing’s heavy.’ I mention to Starlight. ‘does he really want me to hurt him?’
‘Nah.’ He replied quickly, ‘More likely he’s just taking this seriously. Probably one of those types where if it isn’t going to hurt, it’s not good enough. You going to be ok on your own?’
‘I’ll let you know…’ I said before my thoughts were cut off by Silver’s voice.
"Just relax, get a feel for it first off," Silver assured, "Just swing it around a few times and see what you can do."
“Of course! Last thing I want to do is whack you in the head.” I smirked, thinking about that possible outcome, if he really was insistent on it being able to do damage.
I lifted it up with my magic a little way, feeling how resistant it was to the motion, then tried to reach out with it as far as I could. It wobbled slightly at first, then a bit more as it floated almost thirty feet from where I stood, but it felt really heavy out there. I could almost compare it to holding a weight in my hand while it’s outstretched and trying to keep my arm parallel to the ground. I pulled it back not nearly so slowly and put it in-between Silver and myself, with enough room that should I lose control of it, it wouldn’t hit me at least.
I gave it a few swings, trying to go through the motions like I would have back home. Try as I might, I couldn’t just do a ninety-degree swing. Each time, I nearly swung it around in a full 360-degree arc. This was not going to be easy, but I couldn’t help but marvel at that simple idea. I could see that motion being very useful if it was intentional. As it currently stood, I wasn’t intending it, meaning I’d be left wide open.
“Not gonna lie, this feels really weird and good at the same time.” I managed to say.
"I can imagine it'd be different than a good sword arm," he said thoughtfully, "But the range of motion is clearly superior."
“Yeah, It’s gonna take some getting used to. Are you sure this is going to help? I’m no swordsmare,” I replied, then smirked as I remembered Stalwart’s encouragement last morning, “at least not yet.”
"You've already helped more than you realize," Silver said honestly, "And I have no doubt you'll only continue to do so."
“If you say so.” I shrugged, trying not to doubt him. I kept my focus on the sword, attempting to get it under better control.
‘Try holding it at the balance point, just above the hilt there.’ Starlight suggested.
‘Wait, what?! That’d cut-’ I started to say, when I realized what he was saying. I wasn’t limited to where I could hold the weapon, because I wasn’t holding it with my hands anymore!
I shifted my grip on the sword, or at least, I pictured shifting my grip. I didn’t see any visible change in it as I did, but I gave it a few more swings. Each time, those swings became much easier to control, and the sword didn’t feel quite so heavy in my grasp.
‘Thanks Starlight. Keep that up for me, k?’ I said thankfully to him.
I smiled as I started making the sword swing in the way I most remembered when I played with the foam padded versions back home, swinging it on both sides of myself before holding it in front of me in midair in the traditional ‘en garde’ pose. By the time I finished, I had taken a deep breath and let it out and looked at Silver, eyes slightly narrowed.
“Are you ready?”
I watched as he rose up to his hind legs, appearing to be slightly taller than me this way, and adopted his own pose, left arm held out toward me. “I am. Try and hit me.”
I nodded before calling out, “Then, lay on!” It might have been out of place, but it was something we had always said in my group to signal the battle’s start.
I moved the sword close to silver, daring to take a couple steps closer to keep the responsiveness better. Figuring he didn’t want any punches pulled, I quickly moved the sword to swipe at his head, only to pull it back and swing at his right side instead.
My sword made a small ‘ting’ sound I could barely hear as it made contact with his arm as it moved quickly to block, the other one having already moved to protected his head from the initial feint.
"Harder Dawn!" he called, "Don't hold back! If I get a welt, it'll be my own fault for not dodging!"
I looked at him, concern rising as I realize I didn’t want to hurt him, but I realized what Starlight said was true. He really must want this to play out no holds barred. I gave him a quick nod, deciding to trust his decision and attempted to move the sword in to swing the sword once again, attempting to push past his guard or pressure him into moving.
Silver didn’t budge at all, and no matter the effort I pushed into it, I couldn’t change that fact. Clearly, this called for a change in tactics, and I rushed to swing the sword around and over his head to try hitting him on his exposed flank.
Without warning, he dashed straight at me. I pushed with both of my right legs and tried to move to the side as he closed half of the gap already. I pulled the sword back to me, only barely getting it alongside me as he was almost within arm’s reach.
I watched as he continued his sprint until he was closer to that twenty-five-foot range, and eyed him cautiously. I wanted to keep my sword nearby, and I wasn’t sure what he was up to. I knew that was close to my limit of reach with this. His dash was bound to be able to close the gap faster than I could make the sword move.
I paced to the side, trying to gauge his intent, while also subtly trying to close the gap, see if he was waiting for some trigger in particular. Yet, for each step I took, he kept his distance, matching my movement. It was clear he didn’t want to stay close.
I started pacing back to my original spot, trying not to growl in frustration. I realized I was going to have to take a risk here, if he refused to. I moved my sword out to almost halfway between us and kept it there, waiting for his next move.
Without warning, he flapped his wings and flew around in a tight circle around me! Moving clockwise, he kept his distance as winds whipped around me and made my grip falter slightly on the sword at first. Thinking fast, I started moving the sword toward the circle he was flying in, giving it a swipe against the current so his own momentum would work against him. I knew that he struggled with his turning in the race, so if he was going to turn, it’d have to be away from me.
Right as I made my swing, silver’s path changed. He had flown to a mere five feet away before I realized what had happened! My eyes opened wide as I realized I was about to be hit, pulling my legs up to let me fall down onto the ground, intending to roll over and away from him to my left. Simultaneously, I pulled the sword back.
I barely managed to get back up on my feet in time to have my sword be ready to make a swipe at him, but Silver veered away and continued his miniature tornado.
Clearly, I wasn’t going to make any progress if I had my sword too far out. I had to keep it close! I put the sword at my most vulnerable side, my rear, while watching for any changes to his motion. Staring straight ahead and letting my eyes stop focusing on anything specific, I let myself watch for motion, and waited.
"You ready for something a little more close to home Dawn?" He called out, still flying circles around me
“Not really!” I said, already expecting him to try something. I shifted my weight, trying to get ready for another dodge, should he come up with something else unexpected.
"Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you!" He called.
Almost as soon as he said it, I noticed the circle stopped and started to turn my head in time to see Silver dashing in at my sword with his arms crossed. I knew I couldn’t move at this angle and gaped as he easily battered my sword away and stopped.
I felt a giant gust of air whipping about me and I closed my eyes, starting to cringe as I expected a punch. The sword clattered to the ground as I lost my grip from the wind and the fear of being hit.
“Boop!” I heard as my nose felt something firm make contact.
I instinctively pulled away from it, taking a step back until I realized I wasn’t punched at all. I opened my eyes, finding my arm halfway up to touch my nose and make sure it wasn’t hurt. Starting to realize he didn’t do anything, I stared at silver in confusion.
"What's with that expression?" Silver teased, "I told you I wouldn't hurt you, and I didn’t, did I?"
I stood in astonishment as he lifted his hoof up to tap my nose a second time and leapt back to the same distance as he had prior. I shook my head and took a couple breaths as I picked up my sword from where I dropped it in surprise earlier. I let a small snort escape my nose as I realized he did indeed tell me he wouldn’t.
‘Mind if I step in?’ Starlight said eagerly.
‘Sure. Should I step aside cause you’re coming out?’
‘No. I want to try something else instead. You focus on the positioning and watching his moves, I’ll take care of the sword. Deal?’
‘Deal. Let’s see how much he plays around this time.’
I took a deep breath, taking a moment to calm down, as well as to enjoy not having asthma in this world, then stared at Silver, watching the sword float nearby.
"Oh, what's this now?" Silver smirked, "Ready to stop trying to hit me and actually hit me now?" He rubbed his hooves together and grinned. "Let's see who boops who first then."
“I’m done playing with the blue pill.” I replied, motioning my sword in a ‘come at me’ motion twice.
Silver laughed before calling out more eagerly, "Let's see what you can do then!"
I watched as he dived toward me, arms held upright and reminding me of the rare boxing commercials I saw. I kept my eyes open as wide as allowed at first to watch everything around me, then narrowed them as my focus was on Silver’s movements.
I moved to the side, making sure he couldn’t use his dash forward as a part of a punch or jab and Starlight followed with the word, keeping it between us in the process. Then we started our assault.
We swung multiple times at him, being indiscriminate on whether it was a feint or a direct attack. A smile crossed my lips as I realized he wasn’t sure how we were going to attack. Using this to our advantage, I pulled the sword back, noticing it being much more responsive with Starlight handling the ‘power’ of it. Together, we started spinning the sword quickly, moving it into range when we were ready to make a swipe, only to have that swipe be a feint as well, using the spinning momentum to try and hit him from below.
Despite all our combined efforts, he blocked every attack we tried to make until that very last one, just barely managing to catch his vest. I smiled as I watched him retreat. Our partnering up was working really well.
Sensing a lull in our sparring session, we pulled the sword back, slowing it significantly as it danced around my body one more time before slowing down to hold it in front of me, like we had when we first started.
‘Nice job there Star.’
‘You too. I haven’t had this much fun in years!’
‘Took us a bit, but if we can do it once, we can do it again.’
‘I’m ready when you are. Let’s do this.’
“You know,” I smirked at Silver, realizing the progress we were making together against him, “I could see learning some proper swordplay when all’s said and done here. I’m only doing whatever comes to mind. It’s way better than swinging it with my arm.”
I hoped I didn’t sound too arrogant, but I felt good, really good. To get contact with him after his tapping my nose was a great feeling of equalization, and it was really hard not to laugh as Star’s confidence swelled and reached me.
"I can see the advantages," Silver smirked, “It's a whole different dance to fight against, that's for darn sure."
I nodded, flourishing the sword and having it make a sheathing motion to rest at her left side before giggling.
“So, you had enough, or you ready for another go?” Silver asked, still standing with his arms crossed.
“Well, I suppose we could keep going. I just felt like being fancy.” I laughed, narrowing my focus on Silver as I drew the sword, getting ready for the next round.
"Nothing wrong with that," Silver commented with a small head tilt, "You ready?"
“More than I was before. Let’s do this.”
‘You ready Star?’ I quickly asked.
‘Better believe it! I’m not ready to call it quits with just a few minutes!’
Together, we moved the sword out a few feet, holding it at a diagonal at Silver, trying to be prepared for a rush or another tactic again.
We watched as Silver hopped back and forth, almost imitating our impression of a boxer before he began his tornado move again, moving faster than before.
‘Hey Star, watch behind me, I have an idea and I need to know the moment he comes at me!’
‘You got it!’
My breathing shallowed as I felt all the winds angled at me. It was really difficult to focus on the motion. Silver was getting really hard to track and I could barely hold my sword in place without star’s help. I stood my ground, and braced myself for an attack from behind, knowing Silver was bound to notice my difficulties.
‘Dawn!’
I started shifting all of my weight to my front legs as I looked back and smiled at the now charging silver. Just as I hoped, he charged at my back. I know that what he neglected, was that we weren’t human anymore. I prepared to give him a sizable kick he’d have to avoid, and his momentum would have carried him either into it, or alongside me to where my sword was waiting.
I watched as Silver flung his wings out and put his hooves on the ground, barely stopping in time. As soon as I landed from my kick attempt, I started turning to face him while Starlight maneuvered the sword between us and started striking him wherever he saw fit.
‘Time to finish this. Let’s push him back!’ Star called out loudly in my ear.
We pulled the sword back, attempting to stab his left shoulder. Right on cue, silver deflected it, and we used the momentum to swing down at his leg, then his neck. Each time, he barely managed to get his arm guard in place, and then leapt back a few feet.
I knew something was different, and I narrowed my eyes at him, trying to figure out what it was, until he dove straight at me with his arms crossed. I frowned, not liking his need to dive headlong, but if that’s how he wanted it, that’s how he was going to get it.
I pointed my head down so my horn pointed more at him, the sword already moving into place. I knew Starlight wanted to use it as a shield against his dash, and he was going to need all the support he could get. Together, we pushed the sword against his gauntlets as soon as they made contact and gave it all we had.
‘It’s not working!’ I called out to Starlight.
‘Push harder! We got this!’
‘I’ll… try!’ I grunted back to him, starting to feel beads of sweat start to form on my brow.
I glared at Silver, hoping to intimidate him with our combined will as I redoubled my efforts to push him back. His progress to me faltered, then slowly pushed toward me once again.
‘I… will… not… lose!’ I thought to myself, clinging to that feeling.
I started to close my eyes, trusting that Starlight would notify me should anything about our circumstances change, and started pushing even harder. A pressure started to build, even greater in my horn than what I was feeling from Silver pushing so hard against my sword. I felt Silver start to be pushed back, very slightly and smiled.
Right as I felt him start to shift, presumably to gain better footing, I gave it one final push of everything I had from my horn, feeling all that combined effort and how it was channeled through the sword. Without warning, all of that energy shifted. Instead of feeling a pushing sensation, I was now being engulfed in a feeling I couldn’t describe. All of the magic was pouring out from my horn, like it was being drained entirely. It lasted only a second, and then it was gone.
I started to breathe heavily, feeling dizzy as the sensation passed and I heard a clattering sound of something falling to the ground. Quickly, I knelt down on the grass right as I started to feel light-headed. The last thing I wanted right now was to faint and fall down like that other time.
“I… I don’t feel so good.” I managed to say as I started to lay down, almost feeling nauseous as I start to open my eyes. I looked over to where I thought Silver had been, then looked around for him “Wait… What just happened?”
"Uhh..." Silver started to say, letting me locate him by sound and gave him what attention I could manage. “I can't really say. You, I don’t know, fired off a laser beam from your horn?"
“Wait… what?” I managed to ask, my panting getting lighter as I got my breath back, still feeling very confused. “I don’t know that spell… How’s that even possible?”
"You tell me!" Silver said with a nervous laugh, "You did it! Look."
I turned to where he was pointing, and saw the lawn, or what had been left of it. Burnt plants and scorched earth spread from where I was for a good fifteen feet. I laid there in stunned silence at the scene, then spotted the training sword I had been using, fractured into several pieces. A couple of the smaller pieces had dark wisps of smoke floating from them still.
“Oh god…” I gasp quietly in horror. I looked over to silver wide eyed, very glad I didn’t hurt Silver with this.
“Yeah, that was definitely not intended.” I heard Starlight say from somewhere behind me. Since it wasn’t in my ear, I knew he had taken the effort to appear, but I couldn’t find the energy to look back at him right now. “Sorry about that. I’m glad you got out of the way. I don’t think either of us will be up for any more fighting for a bit though… that drained both of us really good.”
"No worries. " Silver said with his usual smile, though I saw in his eyes he was still worried, "I think I'm good for now too.” He paused briefly before asking, "Are you two alright though?"
“I don’t know.” I replied, not sure what to make of this predicament. I still felt lightheaded, and particularly weak, almost as badly as when I had repaired the bracelet with Starlight a few days go.
“I think we’ll be all right. I can’t say I know how we did that exactly, but I know I at least feel like nearly all our magic’s been drained… again. If it’s like when we fixed the relic, it might take us a couple days to recover.” Starlight added. “I’ll have to ask my teacher if he knows what happened.”
“But, I don’t get it.” I said, turning to look at Starlight. “Magic isn’t tied to a muscle or to anything inside us that I’ve read about, so how can we run out or get tired like this?”
I tried to relax myself, taking in a deep breath and letting it out slowly. Whatever happened, it wouldn’t do for me to panic and make things worse.
"Is everything alright?" A voice asked rather abruptly from behind.
I turned to look for the familiar voice, only to see Celestia standing and appearing to be very concerned about what she saw before her. I swallowed hard, concerned that I may be in trouble for damaging her lawn, even if it wasn’t intentional.
After a couple seconds, when I realized Silver didn’t want to speak up, I knew I had to take responsibility for this outcome.
“I… don’t know?” I said, feeling myself hesitate. “We were practicing and then suddenly, well-” I faltered, looking back over to the grounds and hung my head a little bit, looking back over at Celestia apologetically.
She looked between each of us and the lawn with the most serious look I had seen her give in our time together, and then saw as she let out what sounded like a sigh of relief.
“So long as none of you are hurt.” She said, a smile starting to return to her face. “Would you care to explain what you were trying to do when this happened, Dawn?"
“Well,” I paused, thinking heavily about what it was we had done and what my intent was, “we were trying to practice our fighting, and I was using that sword to try to fend Silver off. He dashed at me, and I did what I could to keep him from touching me again.”
“What she means to say,” Starlight said impatiently, “is that we were fighting with Silver to help him practice, I tried to help her out mid-fight because I really didn’t want to be left out. She let me help her. Silver made a dash toward Dawn, we tried to push back with the sword as hard as we could, and then right when we put everything we had into it, Dawn had her eyes closed but we somehow shot a laser out of our horn….”
Near the end, Starlight started to sound halfway between concerned and self-doubting, and I wondered what was crossing his mind, only to hear him add, “I don’t really know what happened there.”
I felt a little annoyed at him for overriding my description, but I couldn’t help but appreciate it too. I had a hard time explaining what exactly happened, and if it helped her understand, then it was fine by me.
"I see," Celestia said thoughtfully. "and what did you see Silver?"
"Me?" Silver said surprised, "Well… Dawn was struggling to keep her guard up, then her horn started to glow brighter than usual. I didn’t know what to expect, but when the light all moved the time of her horn, I felt I should move. A second later, she fired off a laser and dropped."
"This is most interesting," Celestia said, nodding to herself, "And most impressive."
“Wait.” I said, brows narrowing in confusion. “How is that… what?!”
I ignored starlight’s quiet snicker from nearby, presumably directing it at my very eloquent expression of confusion and listened for her response.
"What you have done is a very advanced magical technique," Celestia explained with a smile, sitting down on the grass, "It is typically used as a powerful Unicorn’s last line of defense in dire circumstances. It is a technique that channels a vast portion of one’s magical energy into their horn and condenses it. Once condensed, it is then released in a beam of magical energy. Such a beam can be very dangerous, to both the user and whatever the user releases it towards. If channeled incorrectly, on can run the risk of severely injuring themselves. You are fortunate to have released your magic as you did and not panic and try to hold onto it."
“Wait, powerful unicorns?” I said, feeling the need to correct her, “That doesn’t sound like me.”
I’m sure I misheard her. I wasn’t able to keep up with silver during that fight without Starlight’s help for one. For another, I didn’t do that intentionally, it just happened. To try to say I was powerful because it happened once would be too premature. If I had managed it consistently, then I could believe her.
“Yeah, even combined we couldn’t push back Silver like we hoped.” Starlight nodded, affirming my thoughts.
Celestia continued to smile and appeared thoughtful for a moment "You are still new to your magic, Dawn," she began, "As such, you know very little about your true abilities. What power you may or may not come to possess is still unknown. You have no doubt felt the difference within from when you first arrived until now, yes?"
“Well,” I started to say, getting the feeling I knew where she was headed, “yes.”
"Your magic is still in its infancy," Celestia continued, "Typically, by the time a Unicorn reaches adulthood, its magic has already developed. Yours has not. You may still possess what we refer to as 'Foal Magic'. This is most likely due to the effect the Mirror of Worlds had on you. "
“What’s foal magic?” I had to ask, not having heard that term before, “What would that have to do with the mirror?”
"Foal magic is a term used to describe the magic infant Unicorns possess. During the first few years of their lives, a foal's magic runs wild, like their imaginations. Though they do not have the stamina to reliably perform magic, foals have been known to manage some of the most difficult spells that exist, completely by accident. These sorts of things are rare, but they do happen from time to time."
“I see.” I said quietly, seeing why she brought it up. “So it could also just be a fluke.”
I thought for a moment, trying to figure out how I could tell whether it was a fluke or not, seeing as her first reaction was power, not a form of ‘wild magic’. Very suddenly, my vision grew hazy for a split second and I took another breath and steadied myself, looking back to her as I realized something else prudent to ask.
“So why do I get tired when using magic? I didn’t read anything about a magical stamina of sorts…”
"It may very well have been just that, a fluke." Celestia said, "Only time will tell. Though I would not recommend attempting to learn that particular spell until your magic has matured. As for why you have not read anything about magical stamina, the answer to that is quite simple. Have you ever read in a book that you will get tired when you exercise?"
“I… well,” I hesitated, realizing what she was getting at. I couldn’t escape it, it was a given that you got tired when you exercised, so why wouldn’t everyone here know that about magic? “touché.”
I felt a shy happiness surface as Celestia giggled at my response.
"I would not concern yourself with needing to counter an attack of that sort at your Demonstration," I heard her say to Silver, "It is not a spell we use lightly."
I looked over to Silver, who let out a very loud sigh. Only then did I realize he was worried that it’d be something he’d have to face in his fights. Considering the damage we did to the lawn, I couldn’t blame him for getting worried.
“Well, I know I won’t be in any shape to use magic for the most part for the rest of the day… That was more draining than I know how to describe.” I said, slowly starting to stand up.
"You will no doubt feel tired for the next few days," Celestia said, standing up as well, "You should take care and rest until your strength has returned."
“Well darn. Guess that means no more swordplay for us for a bit huh?” Starlight smirked, “Out of curiosity, what had you around in time to see us use that magic? That was some pretty crazy timing you had there.”
Celestia smiled down at Starlight knowingly. "I wouldn't be a good Princess if I couldn’t tell when someone used a great deal of magic, now would I?" she said, pausing for effect, "But, if you really must know..." She nodded towards the palace, where a large balcony protruded. "A guard informed me when the two of you first began your sparring. I've been watching you the whole time."
I smiled in amusement at Celestia, who had laughed and was smiling at us both, only to hear silver groan in what I could imagine as disappointment that his fighting ideas could be leaked out to others.
"It has been a most enlightening display," Celestia said, glancing thoughtfully and Dawn, "And it has given me some deeper insight into your connection with Starlight.
“What do you mean?” I asked. I had thought we had already established the connection I had to Starlight. I felt his interest in the subject too as he laid by my side and looked up at her as well.
"I believe Silver would be better able to explain." Celestia said, glancing to Silver.
"What?" Silver stammered.
"Tell me Silver, did you not notice a change about Dawn as your fight progressed?"
"No..." Silver said unsurely, "Not really."
"Are you sure?" Celestia asked, "Think about it carefully. Did you see anything out of the ordinary at all?"
"Silver grew thoughtful for a moment, then his eyes jerked to Dawn as something came to his mind. "Yeah actually, there was something. Her horn changed."
"How so?" Celestia sked, thought it was clear by her expression she knew all of this already.
"Well..." Silver said, explaining as best he could despite his lack of knowledge on how magic worked, "The glow her horn gives off when she uses magic changed. It got darker. Like a deep green."
Celestia smiled knowingly. "That was due to Dawn and Starlight combining their individual magic's together as one and working together."
“Wait, you really could tell when we were working together?” Starlight asked surprised, sounding half hopeful. I was glad he spoke, since I had the same thought in my mind as well, even in spite of the magic color changing.
"Oh yes, it was quite apparent." Celestia stated.
I felt more than saw Starlight feel quite pleased with himself, settling in on the grass for some reason while I stood at his side, feeling slightly confused why he was so pleased.
"Tell me Silver," Celestia asked, "Did you notice anything else during your fight with Dawn. Anything that may have seemed out of character?"
Silver was quite for a moment before starting, “Well, she was getting a lot more confident as things went on?”
"Correct, and do you know why she became that way?"
"No." Silver replied, almost seeming to give a shrug with one of his shoulders.
Celestia turned to Starlight and myself, asking "Do either of you know?"
“I’m not sure.” I replied, looking over to Starlight. I had thought during the fight it was because we managed to nick Silver, but now, I wondered if she was implying something else regarding the two of us. “I’d rather hear it from you if you don’t mind rather than just guess in the dark.”
"As the two of you focused and worked together, you began to bond as one," Celestia explained, "The closer the two of you got, the more potent your magic became. This is why Silver noticed a change in your magic. But that is not the only change that took place. As your magics fell in line with each other, your personalities started to merge as well." she smiled at Dawn a moment, then continued, "Starlight’s pride and confidence swelled up inside you, pushing your fears and concerns from your mind, didn’t they Dawn?"
“Well… now that you mention it… yeah.”
"While this day was intended to aid Silver in his preparations, it seems to have aided you just as much," Celestia smiled, "Do not forget what you've learned today."
“I won’t… but I’m not sure I understand the significance.” I said, still feeling confused.
"You will," Celestia said, "In time."
Celestia turned to Silver and smiled. "I look forward to seeing you fight seriously, Silver Wing. I am expecting quite a show."
He laughed a little and shook his head. "So long as I don't have to deal with any more magic laser beams, I'll be sure to give you something you've never seen before."
Celestia gave a polite bow of her head to us and took to the sky, sailing back towards the balcony.
"So... At what point did helping me out turn into you two tag teaming me in a two versus one match up, hmm?” Silver asked as we stared after her flying away.
“I… now wait just a second!” I started to protest, “Last I could tell, you were the one asking us to be serious about it!”
He frowned heavily at me for a moment before suddenly bursting out laughing
"You're fine, you're fine," he said, making a gesture I didn’t recognize with his leg, "Though I will admit, it's nice to know I can hold my own against the magic of two Unicorns."
“Well that makes two of us.” I said, sitting back down as I took another couple deep breaths, once again feeling a little light headed, but trying to act casually about it. “I don’t want to face you again anytime soon.”
Silver chuckled, smiling. "Guess I won't get to boop you again for a while then, eh?"
I let out small sigh, shaking my head, though I couldn’t help but smile shyly at that memory.
"Well, guess I should help you get back to your room so you can rest," Silver said, standing up and stretching, "Would be rude of me to just leave you here.”
“I’ll be fine Silver.” I say, rising slowly to my hooves again with starlight joining me. I started to stretch like he had, only to wobble too far to the side and had to spread out my legs to catch my balance again. Only afterward did I see his hoof offered to help me stand up. “Really… I should be ok. I just need to rest.”
"And you can, just as soon as you're back in your room. You can barely stand, so stop being so stubborn and let me help."
“I can stand, and besides, I have Starlight here to…. Wait, where’d he-” I started to look around only to see he disappeared from my side.
‘Sorry, I’m exhausted and you didn’t have any more magic to spare to keep me going. I just need to rest for a minute.’
‘That’s fine… once I’m in bed, that should help us both.’
"I'ma guess he's as tired as you are," Silver continued, "So let me help, since of the three of us, I seem to be the only one that can stand straight."
“Fine… if you have to.” I replied begrudgingly. I started to walk along to my room, assuming he’d keep up along with me, trying to ignore the shaking feeling in my legs and hoping I was walking straight.
We arrived at my room, where I promptly walked in to lay down in bed.
‘Hey Dawn? I’d like to borrow a little bit more power to talk to Silver alone, any objections?’
‘I don’t care, as long as we don’t get more tired…’
“Thanks for the help Silver.” I say as I settle in. “If you’re not busy, Starlight wanted to talk to you about something… I need to sleep.”
Silver paused at the door and titled his head a little. "Uh, sure?" I said, "What about?”
I shrugged, already having closed my eyes and laid down, quickly starting to fall asleep.
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Fun Fact: "Lost in the Mirror World" is a reference (Accidental or no.) to the second Alice in Wonderland. "Alice in the Mirror World."
6600302 Unintentional, but beyond trying to fit correlation while ignoring the distinctive 'of' in the title, what did you think of the story?
So Dawn's magic has yet to stabilize at it's proper levels, huh? That's pretty cool. I'm not sure if I should be worried about Dawn and Starlight bonding though. I'm still in the 'get him his own body' camp.
The down side of their education (all three of them) is that the author's of the books assume the readers already know the common knowledge facts. Magic can make you tired, pegasi control weather and such. Makes for interesting gaps in their understanding like the two we found in this chapter.
6601762 The gaps in knowledge are not intentional all the time, nor do we assume our readers know this information. Dawn growing tired because of using magic is something that we haven't encountered often, but by Dawn experiencing it, she ends up learning along with us as the readers (well, you as the readers I suppose) that one can get tired. It being the second time it happened (since repairing the anklet/bracelet thing) it's now not just a one off deal.
As far as information that our readers might know as common knowledge, like weather manipulation, is something that our characters don't know, but we'd assume our readers know if they watched the show. Adding this is character development, as they start to really grasp just how much of the world is influenced by magic.
This Starlight/Dawn 'bonding' as you put it, is them working together, in tandem. It's been said that ponies used to work together, unicorns specifically, to move the sun and moon until Celestia and Luna came along (or something to that effect). they didn't 'bond' as you fear. The outcome of Starlight has been determined, but naturally, is an end chapter spoiler.
6601074 I will not deny, my first chapters were my roughest. Perhaps I will revisit them here at some point. It was my intent to make it clear and easily readable, but I'm also torn on wanting to get to the real 'action' and plot of the story. Considering the progress Silver has made, I may have to postpone that kind of correction. Still, I appreciate the effort you put in to let me know how I'm doing, and I hope you enjoy it in the long haul.
Ya know.,..A real historical sword isn't really all that heavy...even a great sword on average is 2-3kg. a long sword at its heaviest is around 1.5 kg. And that is lighter than a freaking AK which is around 2.9 kg to 3.8 kg
6603248 Yes... and I've struggled to wield it properly even before medication. I can control my swings, but i can't even hit with any real degree of pressure.
6603473 Long sword is a two-handed weapon.
Great sword is a two-handed...you can't wield it in any other way.
Bastard sword is a one-and-a-half-handed weapon.
Arming sword, gladius, spartha and the likes are 1 handed.
I'm a city kid with rather poor physical condition and i can still swing the AK around decently enough...
Also...You don't swing a sword around like how media usually led you to believe...
Edit: Though if you truly find it hard then something must be wrong.
6603490 Speaking from experience with the Society for Creative Anacronisms (I hope I spelled that right) in the central Illinois area for using padded weapons to fight, total weight averaging between 3-5 lbs, and having my father's katana that he purchased for sentimental reasons, I understand the weights involved in wielding these weapons.
How to swing them? I understand, as mentioned above. I don't rely on the media because of my learned experience that way.
I don't wish to argue, so let's suffice it to say that I write and have my character speak from my own experiences and your experiences may differ. It doesn't help that I can attest that the medication I'm on to help my hormones did weaken me. Before, I could lift a 40 lb bag of salt. Now, I barely can carry 30 very well. I could go on but we're starting to go beyond the story comments so I would encourage the mail system for this conversation moving forward.
6603521 Ok then. Just getting that out. So many people created their character as some super good swordmen but the guy's move barely make any sort of sense.
6603490
I've done sword fighting for quite a few years and I am genuinely curious. How exactly does swinging an AK, (By which I am assuming you mean the semi-auto Rifle) compare to swinging 3 feet of sharpened metal in a controlled and precise fashion?
6603777 I'm talking about being able to control the momentum when swinging an object.
Try swinging a 10-12 pounds stick and tell me it is easy to do so
The swords are much lighter than that. True, a newbie would have a really hard time but it is still much easier to control its momentum or from what i have seen in this chapter...picking it up..."Picking it up", this is not even about swinging around with it.
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I'll agree that the heavier an item is, the harder it is to control. However, in Dawn's case, she is using magic, not standard arm strength. In terms of the strength of her magic, her limits are both unknown and untested. The heaviest thing Dawn has ever moved with her magic so far was a small chair, and even then she only managed to lift it a few inches into the air. She has very little actually practice lifting anything beyond her own dinner. So having some issues with the first few minutes of using a sword makes sense in that light. And as the fight progresses, her issues fade considerably. Unless she over extends herself by moving her weapon some twenty plus feet away.
The way it reads to me, it makes perfect sense.
Think back to the show. Even Sweetie Belle struggled with moving a basic broom at first, and that would be even lighter than Dawn's training sword. Just because one can lift something with their arm easily, doesn't mean they can with magic, not without some practice first. Which is what was trying to be conveyed in this chapter.
6607267 make sense, i guess.
lol, as fate would have it, Dawn saw my views hit 666, and now, I see her hit 666 XD Dun Dun Dun!
So, how would you recommend I read the stories? first chapter of one story then the first of the other?
Edit: After reading the descriptions of both stories I've got the song "Man in the Mirror" stuck in my head, made worse by the fact that I only know part of one line. "Something something Man in the Mirror"
6702043 You can go back and forth if you wish, or read one side and then read the other. They're meant to be able to stand on their own merits, but supplement each other in a nice way. I personally still love reading Silver's nuances to things Dawn misses often!
6725303 Thank you. I certainly try to keep all the writing smooth and so my readers understand what's going on, and if there's travel, you know that's happening even if our characters are doing something at the same time. Any other thoughts about the story thusfar?
6726935 Both of us are writing more or less what we would do in that situation, which does mean that yes, we are more separate. This does mean there's a wider view of equestria in the meantime, but they both have their own struggles because of this. To be frank, if they were together, silver and dawn, then we'd only need one story as it would be too boring to read them both go through the same things consistently. By contrast, when our characters do converge, the differences in how things are viewed is very visible.
We will be having our storylines split very soon, only to reconverge at a later point, only to split and so on until the final convergence.
Is there a order that I shod read the 2 stories ?
2 chanpter of this one 3 chanpter of the other one... ? you know what I mean ?
6780808 I echo what Silver mentioned to you. Both of our stories can be stand-alone, but it's still enjoyable to read them and see what it's like for both sides. We were trying to keep it more one-to-one but now we're realizing it just doesn't work that way, especially when our characters split. Read whichever side you want however you wish! preferably not reading ahead of the story you're familiar with though =p
6836931 I appreciate the thought, but I have recently been working on fixing those things on my own, at least in the first chapter, while I wait for silver to finish his stuff so I can write my character's perspective on it. He's a proponent of not changing things unless it's minor fixes, and ever since I changed the first chapter, it's had more of those issues you mentioned. I think I was too ready to change it to be more detailed and didn't think of the basics. I'm working to rectify that.
6837075 Okay. Thanks.
Will she be meeting other characters from the series or is it just Celestia and Luna? Do hope to see the next chapter
6941746 Yes actually. There's going to be someone new here coming really soon. Whether it's the next chapter or not, i'm not entirely sure because I'm needing to determine how much of my chapter goes into describing watching Silver's Demonstration or not. But yes, there will be an appearance soon.
For a second there, I thought I was having a stroke, there I am about to read "Trapped in the Mirror of Worlds" and here in the Also Liked section is this one. Both titles near similar and the cover pic is the same, just with some adjustments on the background.
Until my eye caught the bottom of your description
So now I got two stories for the price of one, and one where two characters intersect in the same setting, very rare (Those Displaced fics can suck it). Yay~
6980928 Well, thanks for the comment! You sound eager, though I will admit I'm at a bit of a loss as to what it is you're enjoying about our stories thusfar. Care to elaborate what you've read or enjoyed thusfar and hope to see if that's the case?
6980950 Oh, no, I haven't read either yet, I was wandering around for interesting "human" tag stories till I stumbled upon the other one, then saw yours and confused myself before spotting the difference
So I'm interested in both yours and the other and will be diving into them with enthusiasm
*Edit: As your first chapter is senior by a few days, I'll start with you, then alternate to the other every few chapters as your descriptions says both cross each other from time to time.
Congratulations to us! Silver Wing's story has now reached the 100 likes mark, and a mod of "The Good HiE List" has approved submitting both of our stories (to the sumbmission folder) once one hits it as it is the same tale told from two perspectives. It's been submitted and we're awaiting our results!
Are you seriously collaborating with another author putting two stories into one?
Don't get me wrong, it's a good idea but like,
Wow... that takes guts...
7084061 Yep... We're doing in tandem storytelling, and I'm halfway done reviewing the most recent chapter for a final publishing. Once Silver gives the A-ok, it's published!
Though I still suspect we're going to have a tale that's a good 200-300k words long.
7084061
.....And a Lot of Patience XD
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7084305
lol