A Disparate Bond

by the7Saviors

A Problem Worth Investigating

Aeon was a powerful mare.

She knew exactly how powerful she was, and not once had she ever taken that power for granted.

On top of being naturally gifted in certain aspects, she had done quite a bit to earn the power she had now. She had also suffered quite a bit for it as well.

More than any pony should have to.

Still, even with all this power, she never looked forward to trekking through the desert whenever she decided to cross the Celestial Barrier into the Equestrian mainland.

It took less than a fraction of the time it would take the average Outlander, sure, but crossing such a distance in so short a time was draining—both physically and magically.

While a long distance Teleportation spell wasn't beyond her, one jump wasn't even close enough to make it all the way to the Barrier from the Grey Asylum.

It would take at least three, and while Aeon could accomplish such a feat, it would leave her utterly spent to the point of magical burnout.

Aeon was a very powerful unicorn certainly, but she wasn't all powerful.

She knew her limits, and relied not on her power so much as the knowledge, finesse, versatility, and overall knack for finding the most mana cost efficient and effective methods for her spells.

All of this honed over countless years of experience made her a force to be reckoned with. Having said all of that, Aeon also knew potential when she saw it, and the two fillies that wound up on her doorstep so to speak, were practically drowning in it.

Rare was it for Aeon to take on any kind of student or apprentice, but there were exceptions to be made for fillies of that caliber.

Sure, a lot of her teaching would be hooves off and delegated to other teachers—even now, she had left the fillies to their own devices for the next couple of days—but after everything she'd observed of the two, she was confident they'd be able to handle themselves.

It was important that they got used to not having her around all the time, because she wouldn't be around for a lot of the time.

Of course, that didn't mean she didn't have a few of her more trusted underlings discreetly watching out for them in case the worst did happen.

They were still foals as well as fledgling unicorn mages after all, and were prone to the certain mishaps and misadventures all foals learning magic were.

The problem with that, was that such mishaps and misadventures could get really deadly, really fast in a place like the Grey Asylum.

That of course, didn't mean she'd allow those shadowing the fillies to hold their hooves either. Only in the event of a fatal injury would her shadows reveal themselves, but until that time, the two fillies were on their own.

If Aeon wanted to draw out that potential to the fullest, such harsh methods would be required. It didn't matter if they hated her for it, it didn't matter if they tried to bring her down once they had decided they were ready to do so.

They wouldn't have been the first students she'd taken on to try such a thing.

But no, none of that would matter as long as Aeon could bring them to heights not even she herself could reach—and these two fillies together could most definitely reach such a peak, given enough time and experience.

As long as she was able to successfully pass on what she knew—pass on all of the power she had accumulated over the many, many years she'd been a mage, she'd be happy to give up everything.

All she wanted in the end, was an heir worthy of her name, knowledge, and power, and she saw that in both Twilight Sparkle and Starlight Glimmer.

She had however, taken on a few unexpected problems when she decided to take Twilight Sparkle in particular, under her wing.

Upon sifting through the fillies memories during her and Starlight's initial arrival, she discovered who it was that'd slain her family. While she hadn't been able to see the whole event due to Twilight's residual trauma, Aeon had seen enough to recognize the vile ponies.

Ponies that were rather infamous in many of the smaller towns around the Outlands.

Why they were in the Equestrian mainlands, she had no idea, but curiosity had driven her to do some digging of her own.

Through a combination of magic, intuition, and good old deductive reasoning, she managed to find out a few things.

If it had just been the two ponies working alone, Aeon wouldn't have bothered looking into the matter any further, but she'd found the killers hadn't been working alone.

They'd been working under someone. That meant someone either wanted Twilight and the rest of her family killed, or wanted Twilight to themselves for some purpose Aeon hadn't yet figured out.

Whatever the case, this meant that whoever had been desperate enough to attack Twilight's family smack dab in the middle of the Equestrian capital hadn't gotten what they wanted.

That meant they might be itching to finish what they started.

Twilight had escaped through a Dark Portal, which could be tracked quite easily if the caster hadn't properly prepared the spell.

Twilight hadn't properly prepared the spell, and though Aeon found it unlikely, there was still a chance that the pony who'd been the cause of all of this would try to either send somepony out into the wastes to find her protege, or search for her themselves.

How successful they'd be remained to be seen, but Aeon didn't want to take the chance. Aeon couldn't care less about what their plan was, but she, at the very least, wanted to find out just who it was that orchestrated the murder.

And so it was that the mare had left the Grey Asylum on her own to find out. Rather than cast multiple long distance Teleportation spells, she opted to take a page out of Twilight's book and use a Dark Portal spell to reach the edge of the Barrier.

How Twilight managed to warp through the Barrier was still something that confounded the mare, but for all she knew, it could've very well been due to the filly's affinity with the Darker Arts that was the cause.

To Aeon, it was just proof that the filly would one day be in a league of her own, far beyond what even the cobalt mare herself was capable of... if she was lucky.

Whatever the case, all she really needed to do was reach the Barrier. Though she'd be exhausted upon her arrival, it wouldn't be nearly as bad as if she had attempted multiple Teleports, and from there things would only get easier.

Once she reached the mainlands, it shouldn't have been too much of a hassle to find the culprit. She'd just have to be careful about drawing too much attention to herself—especially the attention of the Princess.

That was the last thing she needed.

For the moment, she only planned on observing their movements and deciding whether or not the pony was a credible threat to the filly where she was now.

She'd make no moves unless she absolutely had to, and if Aeon was being honest, she really hoped she wouldn't have to.

Sure, she could've delegated this task to one of the many Hunters in the city, but the expedition would've taken far too long, and she didn't want to devote too much time to this mystery.

Besides that, it wouldn't have been the first time she took matters into her own hooves—far from it in fact, and it certainly wouldn't be the last time either.

That said, she hadn't been to the mainland in she didn't even remember how long. Stepping through that Barrier after so long would be an odd experience for sure.

Though she kept tabs on certain areas within the mainland, she hadn't bothered to pay much attention to the rest of Equestria over the years.

Standing before the large, shimmering, and barely visible Barrier, she found herself wondering just how much the mainland had changed during her absence.

She wondered how much that sleepy little hamlet near the Everfree Forest had changed. She knew it had become a thriving little village, but not much more than that.

She might have to visit at some point while she was in the mainlands. Six hundred and thirty five years was quite a long time to be away from her original home, after all.

That particular visit could wait until she'd completed her task however. Right now, she needed to get in, find out who this pony was, and get back to the Grey Asylum before those two got themselves into a situation that was way over their heads.

With the knowledge that they'd most likely do just that, Aeon stepped through the Celestial Barrier and into the mainlands.

It was time to find the problem plaguing her student, and if need be, put it down for good.

Author's Note:

I'm not gonna get too much into what Aeon does in the Equestrian mainland... at least, not right now. This was more to give you guys an idea of what the mare is up to, as well as a tiny bit of insight into her thoughts and past.

Comments

[Venerable Ro]

Hmm, the thing about true archmagi, is that after a certain point of magical power and understanding, age becomes little more than a number. Looks like Aeon figured out one of the secrets. Honestly, basic immortality isn't all that impressive in the grand scheme of things. immutability, now that's something noteworthy.

[Biker_Dash]

Okay... I've seen cougars, but Aeon is a saber toothed tiger!
Also, that "sleepy little hamlet that became a thriving village," would that be Ponyville? Only issue with that would be the age of the town. Granny Smith was one of the founding ponies.

[the7Saviors]

9219956
I'm aware of the canon origins of Ponyville, but I've already opted to more or less throw canon out the window with this story and the story it spawned from.

[Biker_Dash]

9219977
Legit. Some writers try to stick with as much canon as possible even when they have an AU fic like this one. Was not certain whether or not this was the case.