My Little Mages: The Anointing

by Foxhelm

A Failed Attempt

As everyone began to recover from the shattering of the Heart and joined Twilight at the window. “Well, looks like we’ll have to put the Crystalling on ice.” Flash tried to joke, only to earn glares from the other adults. “Too soon?” He asked and was answered with nods. “So what do we do?”

“Without the Crystal Heart, there is nothing to stop the Wendigo, and even though there is not the anger and animosity that would normally attract them, they are starving and desperate for food,” Twilight said as she flew over to the heart.

“Come again?” Shining asked, “But when Sombra ruled and before you and Spike found where he hid the heart, there wasn’t a Wendigo attack.”

“I am surprised that any would still be alive, I know their spirits, they can’t be immortal,” Cadance asked as she looked at Twilight.

“There is much of this world that even Celestia and Us haven’t even the smallest of a clue about. But the Heart, while not empowered was still in existence and still emitting the love and light stored within.” Luna exposed after a moment of thought.

Cadance looked at her baby then to her aunt, “Aunt Celestia, what do you think I should do?” She paused, “I want to see if we can restore the heart, there has to be a way to do so. But I am also concerned if we can't.”

Celestia said nothing at first as she looked out into the gather storm clouds. Soon a stern scowl formed on her face. “Two hours.”

“What?” the other adults asked in confusion.

“I can hold them off for two hours, you have that much time to find a way to restore the heart. During that time, I would advise preparing your subjects to evacuate the city.” Celestia did not look at the others there as she spoke. “I almost failed to protect my sister from them,” Celestia said as she turned to the others, with her focus mostly on Luna. She then turned to look at the baby, “I will die before I let them have any of my children.”

“You shalln’t face them alone, Sister!” Luna declared. “We might not be able to help expand the timetable you presented, but We are not the infant they hunted all those years ago,” Luna said as she stepped forward to look Celestia in the eye, a fire burning therein. Celestia smiled and nodded and the two flew towards the clouds.

Cadance turned to Flash, “Commander Sentry, I know you are on leave, but I want you to prepare the city to evacuate, you have one hour thirty minutes to get all the civilians to the southern gate. You are to wait there for the order to come back for ten minutes if no order arrives then get the civilians to Borealton as quickly and as safely as you possibly can.”

“But to do that..” Flash started.

“I, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, the Crystal Princess, in order to preserve the lives of my subjects hereby declare a state of Marshall Law to be executed by Commander Sentry of the ESM within the Autonomous City-state of Krystalopolies of the Everfree Principality of Mystica in Dream Valley for the next twenty-four hours or until otherwise rescinded by myself, my Consort, Marshall Shining Armor, Princess Luna and/or Princess Celestia.”

Flash nodded was about to fly off to carry that order but his wings glowed purple and refused to move, causing him to fall to the ground. “That’s odd,” Shining said as he looked at the wings. “Celestia just advice for us to evacuate the city..”

“It’s because Flash is no longer a Sentinel to Auntie Celestia,” Cadance said as she walked over to see the wings. She then turned to Twilight. Cadance knew that at something was off, “Twilight, I need not only your help to find a way to restore the heart, but I need someone to head the evacuation. I need to leave the baby in Shining’s hand and Flash is the next highest officer here. Please. I know you don’t like the idea of Marshall Law, and you want Flash’s hands to be clean of that mess.” Cadance pleaded to Twilight.

Twilight sighed and she looked at Flash, “Please be a merciful and civil as possible.” She asked as gave a sad nod. Flash nodded in turn and headed to his temporary quarters to get his armor. Twilight then turned to Cadance, “Let’s get to the library.”

Before Twilight and Cadance left, “Let me take the baby.” Shining said as he took his daughter into his arms. “I’ll keep her out of the library, don’t want to run the risk of her power accidentally destroying the book with the spell you need.” Shining then turned to his daughter. “Hey, do you want to see what your grandparents look like?” The baby seemed to nod.

---

At that same time, Spike was still looking at the list in the notebook, “There's gotta be somethin'...” he asked as he neared the end of the written section of the notebook.

All the while Sunburst and Starlight had seemed to play with there teacups, saucers and teaspoons, not really looking at each other as they seemed to be at a lost of what to do. Eventually, Sunburst spoke after a cough, “I know Princess Twilight is keen on the two of us rekindling our friendship,” Starlight then turned from what she was doing and looked at Sunburst as he finally met her eye-to-eye “but…” Sunburst paused as he thought back to the past, “it's been so long. I don't see how anything on that list is going to help.”

“I know, right?” Starlight said with a laugh as it seemed to her that this was a bust, “It's not like there's some spell that would magically compel us to pick up where we left off.” She then laughed with her eyes closed.

Sunburst then got up from his seat and started to go to the various books he had, “Well, actually, there's several.” He then levitated a book with a stylized cloud of mist rendered on what Starlight thought was the back cover, “There’s Mistmane's Material Amity,” Sunburst said as he opened the book going right to left and found the spell he was looking for and pointed that it was written in another language, mostly characters and written in columns going from the top down.

Sunburst then got another book with a Valknut on its cover and opened it to show that the texts were in a form of runes and opened the book to the spell in question, “Rockfoot's Rapport,”.

Sunburst then picked up another book with a depiction of a blue feather over a rendering of mountain peaks, “Flash Magnus' Fellow... ship…” Sunburst trailed off as he saw the horror on Starlight’s face that there were so many spells and shocked by his knowledge of them. He gave a cough as he placed all the books down, “But I-I get the feeling the princess isn't looking for a spell.” Sunburst and Starlight both laughed nervously.

“Definitely not.” Starlight said after they finished their laugh as she looked at the band on her wrist. She then looked up to Sunburst and was about to say something.

“Got it!” Spike shouted as he found something in the notebook. He cleared his throat before he started to read from the notebook, as he read he looked to the two as he finished, “And if all else fails, ask them to share an embarrassing moment from their past, maybe even something they regret!”

There was a moment of awkward silence as the Sunburst and Starlight looked at each other and then turned away from each other. Sunburst rubbed the back of his head as he looked at the ceiling, “Uh, I don't see how that would help.”

“Uh, yeah!” Starlight strained as she looked at the floor. She then got up and looked towards the door, “We should just get out of your hair. It's pretty obvious this isn't going how Twilight hoped, and I'm sure you have plenty of important work to do…” She trailed off as she turned to look at Sunburst and then to the floor.

“What?” Sunburst asked at first as he tried to understand what Starlight was saying. After a second recalled, “Oh! Right, yes, heh-heh!” Sunburst muttered as he went back to his books and began to organize them. “Uh, no rest for the wizardly.” He then started to look through other books.

Starlight sighed as she looked at the ground again and turned to the door, “Come on, Spike.” Starlight said as she opened the door. Spike groaned as he got up and the two exited the house. After the door closed, Starlight turned to Spike as they began to walk away, “Well, Spike, looks like my biggest fears came true.” Starlight then looked at the ground and away from the dragon, “I wouldn't be surprised if Twilight decides to give up on me entirely.”

Spike tried to comfort Starlight, “Aw, it's not your fault. I'm the one who said all we needed was this list.” Spike tapped on the notebook before he huffed out a small flame.

Starlight didn’t see the huff or notice that Spike was moving a little slower than normal, “It's not the list, Spike.” She then turned her attention from the ground to in front of the two, “Or you. Or Twilight.” she continued to list off, as she wanted to make sure that Spike didn’t feel like he was responsible or unintentionally blame Twilight, “I'm the one Sunburst doesn't want to be friends with.” Starlight sighed as she looked towards the sky.

It took a little longer than normal for Spike to respond but it was not noticed by Starlight or anyone else there, “I don't remember him saying he didn't want to be friends.

“He didn't have to say it.” Starlight said still not looking at Spike and still fairly oblivious to Spike’s reduced speed in his response.

Spike gave a few huff of fire to warm the air around him, which still went unnoticed by most, once it seemed warm enough, “Well, Twilight obviously thinks you're worth being friends with! And I do too!” The dragon declared as he took Starlight’s hand.

Starlight finally turned to face Spike, a small smile forming on her face, “Thanks, Spike. At least I have two friends,” She hugged the dragon and then smelt the air, she ended the hug and tried to brush the air around her nose to get rid of the scent, “even if one of them has dragon breath.”

Spike turned and exhaled a slightly larger and longer flame then he had previously. Once it was done, “That's not dragon breath. I am trying to warm the air. It's got to be freezing because I am feeling really slow.”

Starlight then began to shiver slightly, “Oh, you're right!” Starlight’s eyes then widen in terror, as she began to realize what to what going on, “But I thought the Crystal Heart was supposed to keep the Wendigo and the cold weather out.”

“It is…” Spike said as he thought for a second, “unless something's happened! Come on!” Spike then began to run to the castle, Starlight not far behind him.

---

At that moment, Flash stood in front of the residence, wearing his golden colored armor, “I am Commander Flash Sentry of the ESM, and by order of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, the Crystal Princess, in order to preserve the lives of her subjects has declared a state of Marshall Law to be executed by myself within the Autonomous City-state of Krystalopolies of the Everfree Principality of Mystica in Dream Valley for the next twenty-four hours or until otherwise rescinded by Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, her Consort the ESM Marshall Shining Armor, Princess Luna and/or Princess Celestia. In accordance with that, the city is to prepare for evacuation and gather at the Southern Gate within fifty minutes.”

Flash ordered as the guards began to prompt the crowd to leave there were one or two had to be dragged away but reluctantly they began to head to their homes to collect their thing. Flash could only sigh in sorrow, he hated to do this, but such was a soldier’s charge. He flew down to the ground and looked towards the sky, the clouds had vanished from view but like with the Shadow King Sombra, Flash knew the Wendigos were just beyond his sight and their cold was starting to creep in.

He then turned to see Spike and Starlight walk through the crowd towards him. “What’s happening?” Spike asked.

Flash was not sure how to answer, “Follow me.” Flash said as he led the two towards the castle library.

---

Inside the library, Twilight and Cadance were sifting through a tome on magic after tome. As Twilight shifted through she listed their title, “Bridle Buck's Boat Chants, Hayhand's Intonements, Mystic Maps and Mazes…” Twilight groaned as she went to look at more books, “Anything up there?”

Elsewhere in the library Cadance was also searching through books but was flying as Twilight was closer to the ground, “Not yet! I'm not even sure how these are organized!”

At that moment Starlight, Spike and Flash arrived in the library as the two princesses were sifting through book after book, “What is going on?!” Starlight asked as walked towards Twilight, “Flash wouldn’t tell Spike and me but led us here.”

Cadance turned from the books she was looking at and through to see Flash, Spike and a woman she didn’t recognize but she “You must be Starlight?” Cadance asked and received a nod in response, “Sorry but proper introduction will have to wait.” Cadance then continued to go through more and more books.

“With all due respect, that really did answer my question.” Starlight pointed out.

“May I answer it?” Flash asked as he turned to Twilight. Twilight nodded and return to her search. Flash then turned to Starlight and Spike, “The long or the short version?”

“Short?” Spike and Starlight answered after they took a second to look at each other not fully following what was going on.

Flash took a breath, and as quickly as he could speak, “The baby's a demigod and she accidentally destroyed the Crystal Heart, so Twilight and Cadance are looking for a spell to put it back together and save the city from being lost to the Wendigo.”

Starlight and Spike were dumbfounded at that answer, but before either could say anything for a follow-up or clarification, “Trotter's Tome of Reliquary, if any book would have a spell to repair a relic, it’s this one.” Cadance then started to look through it. “Found it! The Spell of Relic Reconstitution!” Cadance then flew to Twilight and opened the book to the spell in question.

“It's a good thing, too!” Twilight said as she took the book and ran to where the Crystal Heart was, with everyone else following her. Once they arrived at the heart, Twilight’s hands glowed purple as she sent her magic to the heart, Twilight screamed as she cast the spell that she and Cadance hoped would work. The fragments of the heart began to float and collect reforming the heart. It looked solid for a second before it shattered again. Everyone looked at the remains utterly broken again. Twilight fell to her knees in greater shock than the others, “The spell failed.” She then turned to the others, “I don't know what else to do.”

Starlight looked around and tried to think of something, “Is there anything I can do?”

Twilight reluctantly got back up and sighed as she shook her head, “I don't think so. We couldn’t fix the heart, we have to leave.” Twilight then focused her full attention on Starlight, “I'm just sorry about your lesson.”

“Oh, that doesn't matter now.” Starlight brushed aside as she knew that her lesson was much less important now with the whole shattered Crystal Heart, “Sunburst and I don't have anything in common anyway.” Starlight began her … well incomplete explanation, even factoring that this all was from her point-of-view. “He's a big important wizard! And I'm re-learning everything I ever thought I knew.” Starlight declared, “We should…”

“Sunburst?” Cadance asked as she thought about the name, “I don't recognize the name, but if he's an important wizard, as you claim, you must bring him here. Maybe he'll know what to do since the spell failed."

Starlight gasped as she recalled all the books that Sunburst had, “Of course!” she then ran away heading out of the castle and towards Sunburst’ house.

Before Starlight was out of sight, Twilight turned to Spike, “You better go with her, Spike.” Spike nodded and ran after Starlight.

“Maybe if we try more than one demigod,” Cadance said as she turned to Twilight. “And if it works, we can have the Crystalling.” Twilight had to nod in agreement. “I’ll get Shining and the baby.” Cadance then flew to get the two.

Twilight turned to Flash, “If you can, please get Celestia and Luna to return,” she ordered. Flash nodded and flew to get the two princesses. Twilight then sighed, “I hoped that this all works.”

Comments

[Godslittleprincess]

Okay, this chapter was short. I don't know how I feel about it. It was just a bunch of build-up and exposition, not to mention a bit of fixing. I see Twilight isn't comfortable about being politically active. To be honest, I wouldn't be either, but what needs to be done needs to be done. "sigh"

[Comickook]

Again, you did an excellent job on the chapter. Sorry I took a while to get around to posting the review. Nothing to blame except self-admitted laziness. Still, the exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-up were, of course, all quite well done. I particularly liked the explanation concerning the fact the Windigos didn't try anything during Sombra's reign, as well as the efforts to get as many of the civilians as possible to relative safety AND the reactions to the quick explanations .

So, yeah, I will very certainly be looking forward to more of this, but I also know and respect that you have a life outside the computer room.

[ElCazadorDeHistorias]

Short chapter but full of things.

Nice genre savyness on Shining's part. That will speed up the things