Twilight and the Volcanologist

by Razor Flake

Fire

Celestia woke with a start. She felt like something had stopped… Being here. She quickly realized that the magical fields that permeated various arcane objects about her room were very, very weak. She smiled at the sight of them, thinking of Twilight's initial fascination of runesmithing. Then she realized another thing; A magical aura on an arcane object only weakened for two reasons. Those being the death of the runesmith, or a vast distance between the runesmith and the device in question. However, something told her Twilight was not dead. The attrition of the fields was more akin to a slow burn, rather than a jarring lack of energy. Either way, the ancient alicorn was still concerned. As if on cue, Luna walked into her room.

“Dear sister, why have you woken?”

“I fear something has happened to Twilight. I can no longer feel her presence…

Ross Island

It was an arduous process, but Jonathan removed the ice layer from Twilight's eye. He was genuinely surprised she wasn't blind in the eye. When he had finished, she had surprised him with a hug. After that, both of their inner scientists took over.

Ross Island, Two Hours Prior

Twilight started the session with many questions.

“What is your culture like? What do you eat? Do you have magic? Do you live here?”

Jonathan thought for a moment.

“We are a generally peacefully competitive people, though, as with all cultures, we have our differences. Nowadays people can live with each other for the most part. To answer your second question, humans are omnivores, a healthy diet balanced between the two. As for the third, no. We have no magic. I'm assuming that's what you used to teleport?”

A nod from Twilight.

“As for the last question, no. I do not live here. This is a base camp at the base of My. Erebus, Earth's southernmost active volcano.”

Twilight suddenly looked worried. She realized she had been at the base of a volcano for hours. As if reading her mind, Jonathan quelled her fear with a chuckle.

“No, it's not scheduled to erupt for another decade. We're perfectly safe. Now… I think I get to ask some questions…”

And so the scientists went. Across race and species, apparently those in pursuit of knowledge change very little. Jonathan became fast friends with the mare, and her with him.

Ross Island, Current Time

Jonathan frowned at the rising sun. He realized that Twilight becoming known was a poor decision, and he decided to keep her hidden in the storage room. Since he was the only one in there, other for equipment or to sleep, it is was a safe thing to do. Jonathan left his new friend for an old one. Charlotte was eating a strip of bacon when he entered the main room turned unofficial mess hall.He sat across from her, taking a bite out of a horseshoe, irony not escaping him. It had been a strange night for sure.

“Where's Max?”

Charlotte answered through the bacon.

“Seismograph room. I’m pretty sure he's attracted to it.”

“The others?”

“Asleep”

And so this cycle continued. For a month, Twilight was confined to the storage area. She wanted to be home, but not for lack of hospitality. No, she missed her friends, and couldn't bare the thought of them in distress at her sudden disappearance. Jonathan had entered as silent as snowfall when the ground shook.

“Huh. That was supposed to be in two days.”

“Well, maybe you'll get some interesting data from the anom-”

Twilight was cut short by a blaring alarm.

Jonathan, to his credit, acted fast. He ran out the door, unlocking every possible door, and looked for a fire extinguisher.

Something must have caught fire when the quake struck.

That's when Jonathan heard the screaming.

Twilight was frightened enough to follow Jonathan through the building. Following the opened doors, Twilight made her way towards Jonathan. As she rounded the corner she heard Jonathan.

“No…”

That word sent a spike through Twilight's heart. The sheer anguish dripping from that single word was so great, Twilight almost didn't see what Jonathan had been cradling this whole time. Twilight realized the air smelled of burnt flesh.

“Oh my Celestia…”

Jonathan didn't notice her, all he saw was what he just seen. He kept seeing Charlotte push Max out of the way of a falling, burning shelf of various equipment. Fate was cruel enough for Max to have ran out of the room, only to realize too late that, in his panic he ran into where they kept kerosene. Jonathan would be seeing that for a while for sure. And all Jonathan knew is Charlotte was still breathing, albeit painfully. Her jacket had caught on fire, covering her in some serious looking third degree burns.

Jonathan put his head to the person’s, and whispered something she couldn't make out. Then, he picked her up in full, and walked back to the storage room, Twilight following behind.

Twilight was horrified by what happened to Jonathan's friend. Upon further inspection, however, she realized the other human was alive. This grimly positive realization gave some hope to the situation. Twilight had noticed that there was a magical field here. It was… Stiff, maybe stale, but still there. Over the last month she had slowly made it more malleable, and thus she was able to cast more complex spells, like shields and teleports with much greater ease than her first teleport. She then came to another idea. Using raw magic, she channeled the potential energy into the area where the exit of the portal was a month prior. She thought that, maybe, since that space was weaker from a recent rift, that it could reopen with far less complexity. So she worked.

Jonathan was unconcerned with what Twilight was doing. All he knew was Charlotte was the last person alive in the facility besides him and Twilight. He only saw one of his oldest friends half dead in his arms, and he had no means of helping her. She had given him the most heartbreaking smile before she passed out in his arms. He suddenly became aware of how warm it was in the room. Then he finally heard Twilight's frantic voice.

“Jonathan! The fire is spreading! Follow me, I reopened the portal!”

“No.”

Twilight was taken aback at his statement.

“What!? You'll die! She'll die! Jonathan, please!”

“She's going to die anyway. No possible help could reach us in time. The fire started close enough to the clothes that they'll be cinders. We'll die die from the cold. How ironic…”

Twilight was horrified by his response. Then, she took answers into her own hooves. Using her magic, she picked up Jonathan and his friend and sent them through the portal. She jumped through and closed it just as a flaming server rack fell right where the trio had been moments before.

Canterlot

Celestia was looking over reports on the progress of the search and rescue operation looking for her student. Luna was heading a team to the Frozen North herself, and just left not a week ago. Just as she was about to resign herself from another day turning up nothing, the various magical artifacts Twilight had created so long ago flared to life. Celestia immediately directed her powerful magical senses to Ponyville. Then, she smiled for the first time in a month.

Ponyville Library

Jonathan was floating in a void that could aptly be described as murky. He felt like he moved through molasses, but could still breath. Then, he saw light.

Heh. Guess I died. Hope Twilights ok. Ii guess there is some sort of afterlife. Time to who was right, huh Charlotte?

The light moved close to him. Then it spoke.

Jonathan Sigurd. You are not dead. And nor is Charlotte. I am a being some may call a god, others, the universe. You are in a strange land, with strange folk . You require a tool in this land to survive.

A warm light split from the larger one. It moved towards Jonathan before coming to a stop a few inches from his chest. Then, it split in two. One moved up to his forehead, the other remaining near his sternum. Then, they moved into him. It was strange for him. He felt warm, but also like he had pins and needles all over him.

“Who are you?”

I am Har-

Jonathan was shaken awake by Twilight's incessant crying and shaking. He saw what looked like roots in the ceiling. Very confused, he got up, stopping for a little to cough. A lot. When he brought his hand down he saw deep red blood, crimson flecks speckling his palm like the first few seconds of rain on the ground. He got his bearings, noting he was not likely dead, that he was still alive…

Charlotte

“Twilight. Where is Charlotte? Is she still alive? How is she?”

Before the small unicorn could speak, Jonathan spotted his friend’s body laid on a cot. Still breathing. He could hear her wheezing and how her skin crackled a little from cooling. He walking over to her, got down on his knees next to her head, and promised he would do anything for her.

“... that's what friends are for, right?”

He brought his hands to his face, covering it, and resting his elbows on the cot. And sat there silent, the only noise being the gut wrenching wheezing coming from his friend.

“Twilight, where have you be-”

Celestia stopped speaking upon getting a whiff of the room after her teleport, and noticed its source.

“Twilight, what happened?”

Twilight was still shaking from what she had seen, but tried her best to convey what had happened.

“There w-was a f-fire and Jonathan ran off a-and I followed him and he was there w-with his friend and she was burned so badly, oh the smell. It smelled like burning fles-”

Twilight could not hold it in any longer, and ran crying to her mentor, burying her head into Celestia's embrace. Celestia comforted Twilight until she was able to separate herself from the princess, and walked to the strange creature near the wall of the room. While she had never seen its like, it was clearly distressed, and she wanted dearly to help. She walked up behind it and put her hoof on its shoulder.

“Stay away.”

Not a second after that action, she found herself blasted by an icy wave of air. Taken by surprise, she flew ten feet back before seeing the outstretched hand from the kneeling figure. It looked up in surprise, as if not knowing it's what it had done.

Jonathan, for his part, was just as confused as the larger, white horse seemed be, if not more so.

“Wh-Wha-”

“Do not fear, young one. You simply had a magic outburst. That is normal in times of duress. Now, let me tend to your friend. Her condition seems quite dire.

Jonathan was more than confused.

Magic?

Author's Note:

Second chapter! The plot thickens, doesn't it? Again, thanks for reading this far.

Special thanks to my sister for feedback, and FireheartThePone for actually expressing interest in my story so early on in both it's life and my own writing experience!

Don't worry, I've still got more lined up for sometime in the next week or two

Comments

[FireheartThePone]

Ooo, Jonathan has ice powers? Cool! (Pun fully intended) I definitely haven't made up a Fallout character who uses cryogenic weapons and is based on this guy. Totally...

[Razor Flake]

You have no idea how much I wanted to call that chapter Ice and Fire.

[GoodwinGamerJack]

8587922
Oh wow....

....It would've worked better in skyrim as a cryomage btw.