The Archmage's Last Bow

by Rytex

The Way Forward

The Archmage’s Last Bow
Chapter 08 - The Way Forward

---

He was standing alone in an empty black void. Although it felt as though there was a floor beneath his hooves, when he looked down there was nothing. Every which way he turned, there seemed to be no light. He was alone in a void.

Nova Shine turned around, perhaps there was something behind him. His jaw fell open.

There, suspended in midair and floating eerily, was a mare with a green coat and a maroon mane and tail, the latter just barely dragging on the ground. Her eyes were closed, her face was despairing, even her orange cutie mark seemed dull. But Nova Shine could never forget Summer Blossom.

With a cry, Nova dashed forward, running toward her. He had barely gone three paces, before he collided with something, driving the wind from his lungs, and sending him to the ground. There was a wall between them, invisible until he approached, but a strange magical red barrier had suddenly materialized between the two of them.

The same color as the ruby on the pendant her captor wore.

Nova Shine began to hammer away at the wall with reckless abandon, first with his hooves, and then with his spells. Yet no matter how hard he attempted to break through, nothing seemed to even weaken the barrier between them.

“It’s no use,” came a mare’s soft voice from behind him.

Nova whirled around. Shimmer Silvermane stood there, her right side being the only part visible to him. She, too, had her eyes downturned, looking forlorn.

“Let her go!” Nova yelled at her, his horn sparking dangerously.

“I can’t,” Shimmer whispered.

“I will MAKE you, then!” he roared, before charging.

Shimmer’s horn sparked red, and Nova was catapulted back into the barrier, sliding down into a heap. Her attack had seemed effortless and had come out of nowhere. Even on this mental plane, she was well-trained and dangerous. He would have to be careful.

“And why can’t you?” he asked, staggering to his hooves. He was tired, from everything that had happened so far, from the battle going on outside this plane… he needed rest.

Shimmer Silvermane began to laugh, a mocking cackle as she threw back her mane and howled to the empty world around them.

And then she turned to face him properly.

The side that had been facing him, her left side, looked completely normal. But the right side of her face was instead that of a smoky-grey unicorn, with a shaggy black mane, a red eye, and trails of dark smoke emanating from it. Her entire right side had been supplanted with Sombra, and it almost looked as though Sombra’s half was slowly trying to spread, to consume her entirely.

It felt as though he had been punched in the gut.

“This is why,” she whispered, before trying to turn away. “I’m just as much a prisoner as she is.”

“How… how long?” Nova asked, his mouth going dry as he processed the horror in front of him.

“Almost from the moment he made me his ‘apprentice,’” Shimmer spat, turning away. “Forcibly stuck a shard of his soul in me. Now I’m just his little puppet.”

Nova stared at her, feeling that same sensation of sickness and pain well up in him that he had felt when Shimmer had gleefully revealed Summer’s fate to him. It was surprising. He had never considered Shimmer a friend, not even before he knew she was Envy. But now…

“Shimmer... “ Nova began to edge toward her.

“Don’t pity me,” she snapped, looking back with her Sombra half to give him a scathing glare.

“Shimmer, please,” Nova approached, reaching a hoof out to touch her on the shoulder. “Let me help you. Let us help you.”

She snarled, whirling around, her horn crackling. Nova was prepared this time and managed to block the attack, but that didn’t stop him from still reaching out.

“You can’t help me,” she stated, the faintest of sobs being choked back. “No one can. Don’t waste your time.”

“We can,” he replied. “We have the Elements.”

“The Elements made me like this, remember dipshit!?” She attacked again, and Nova blocked it and continued to approach her. She began to back away, seeming to trip over her own hooves in her haste. “Me, pretending to be her, they made me into an immortal shadow monster because your precious Spirit of Harmony isn’t quite as infallible as she’d like to think she is!”

“And we can still help you if you would just let us!” he pleaded, still trying to reach out.

Shimmer’s snarl deepened, and her horn began to glow even brighter than before.

“GET OUT OF MY HEAD!”

The scene changed.

He was in a different void now, surrounded by statues, all staring down at him. The sixteen previous Archmages looking down their noses at the cowering failure of a successor.

Meanwhile, a worthy heir to the title floated gracefully down from his own plinth, wanting nothing more than to drive the depth of his failure further into him. To make him know he wasn’t worthy.

“I was not gifted the position as you were. I earned it. I proved I was deserving of the mantle and could hold my own against even Celestia herself. You were given the position because they needed some excuse for keeping you around. They took pity on the helpless unicorn who refused to change with the world around him, and elevated him to a redundant position because of their charity.”

Each word plunged a knife deeper and deeper into his heart.

The scene changed again.

Sombra now loomed large over him, staring down with a satisfied smile.

“Congratulations, Lord Archmage,” he gave a sarcastic bow of his head. “Such achievements, in such a short time. Straining your relationship with your beloved, revealing your true self to your own apprentice, failing to defeat either myself or my apprentice, struggling with some of my weakest shadow-creatures, failing to pass the Trial of Black and White, and now learning that you’re going to die young. Truly, you have the makings of one of Equestria’s greatest mages. I think this calls for a reward, don’t you?”

His horn began to spark.

“You can’t protect her, Nova Shine,” came Envy’s voice, as she materialized next to her master, utterly devoid of expression.

“Protect who?” Nova demanded.

He blinked, and Gleam appeared in front of Sombra, bound in chains, neck presented.

“What-- no!” he yelled, and sprinted forward, horn brimming with magic. But every spell he fired just seemed to fizzle out entirely. What is more, with each step he took, cracks began to appear along the skin under his coat, glowing with a bright blue light. It was as if his body was tearing itself apart.

“I have no intention of harming your apprentice, Nova Shine. After all, you are the one who is going to kill her.”

The cracks were spreading, but they didn’t seem to be growing ever closer. Nova began to feel a massive spike of energy within him, growing larger and larger with each second. It was becoming too much, he had to expel the energy within him.

Desperate, he looked around wildly and found Twilight, Celestia, and Luna standing far away, looking at him with sad, but steeled expressions.

“Help me!” he shouted, holding out a hoof. “I need to save her!”

Twilight seemed to step toward him, but Celestia and Luna held her back.

“Leave him, Twilight.”

“No, let me go!” Twilight yanked herself free and began to sprint toward him.

But she never grew any closer, no matter how fast she ran, and she slowly came to a halt

“You can’t help him anymore,” Luna bowed her head. “All you will do is die with him if you try. He will drag you down with him.”

Twilight stared at him, all while he continued to hold out a hoof, desperate for someone to save him. The magical energy was becoming too much, he could almost feel it breaking through.

And then she relented, stepping back with Celestia and Luna.

“I’m sorry, Nova,” she bowed her head. “But ever since you said those things in the Crystal Empire… you’ve made me realize, you wouldn’t be a good husband, you wouldn’t be the pony I’d need at my back when I ruled.”

Nova let his hoof drop, despair overwhelming him.

Something brushed up against him. He looked down, trying to see past the nearly overwhelming light emanating from him now. Gleam had curled up next to him, looking terrified.

“Master, what are we going to do?”

“I don’t--”

“You swore you’d protect me, Master. You promised my parents.”

“I--”

“You’re going to die, and you’re going to take us all with you.”

“Gleam, please--”

But then something changed. He wasn’t pleading with Gleam anymore. He was staring at a young filly, no older than six or seven. Her coat was immaculate white, her mane and tail were a deep navy blue, and she stared at him with hopeless violet eyes.

“We’re already dead,” Glimmer shook her head. “We can’t run, we’re caught up in the great game, and now it’s over.”

“Glimmer, I’m begging you,” Nova fell to his knees. “Run. Just run away. Save yourself.”

“I can’t,” she responded dully. “I’d never get away. You’ve kept me-- you’ve kept all of us too close, and now we’re going to die because of that.”

His breath hitched.

“Goodbye, Papa.”

The power began to burst out of him, and Nova could feel himself begin to tear apart. Then, it all came exploding out--

“Gah!” Nova bolted upright in bed, throwing the covers off and making a mad dash out of his and Twilight’s bedroom and out onto the balcony, feeling himself hyperventilate with each passing moment, each gulp of the night's chill feeling like a harsh gasp for air after nearly drowning.

Behind him, he could hear Twilight mumble sleepily, but the images, the threats, everything played over in his head again, as he found himself slumped over the balcony railing for yet another night in a row. He tried desperately to remember his training with Luna to banish stray thoughts in his mind, but it was to no avail.

Make it stop make it stop make it stop make it stop make it stop

He kept it together for only a few scant seconds, but then he leaped off the balcony, falling freely toward the ground, the rush of air only a tiny comfort to the memories that played in his head. A reflexive spell fired when he was near the ground stopped him in his tracks, allowing him to step down onto the dirt as if he were simply a few inches above it.

Once he had traction, he began to canter toward the Poisoned Apple, still struggling to keep the images from overwhelming him. He bumped into buildings, into lamp posts, he stumbled over rocks in the ground, he accidentally ran into Time Turner, who was out on a late-night stroll, and he eventually shoved his way through the doors of Ponyville’s local pub and practically dragged himself into a seat, his bits purse appearing in a trice and spilling onto the bar as he collapsed over it.

Hearty Brew stared at him from behind the bar, a pitying expression on his face, and a glass tankard he had been filling sat abandoned and overflowing nearby.

“Nova…”

“What’s the strongest stuff you’ve got?” Nova asked in a low voice, in no mood to play this little game.

“I’m not giving anything to you,” Hearty shook his head. “I can’t let you keep doing this to yourself.”

“Give me something, now,” Nova lifted his head and gave him the angriest glare he could muster. “That’s an order, dammit.”

“I don’t answer to you, Lord Archmage,” Hearty shook his head again, his voice infuriatingly soft and gentle. “This won’t help you at all. You know that.”

“I don’t fucking care,” Nova whimpered, lowering his head again and clutching at it tightly as everything played in his mind once more. “I just need to forget… I can’t get them out of my head…”

Makeitstopmakeitstopmakeitstopmakeitstopmakeitstop...

Something warm wrapped itself around his back, and he jumped. His energy-sensing was going haywire all of a sudden. One moment, it couldn’t sense anyone near him, the next it sensed everything, but he still couldn’t make head or tail of it. He hadn’t even noticed that he couldn’t sense a thing since he’d woken up.

He looked back and found Twilight hugging him from behind, tears streaming down her cheeks. Turner was there behind her, watching him with that same pitying look as Hearty. Somewhere behind him, there was Big Mac running up with Pierce and Thunderlane with him. A moment later, Trixie burst in too, pushing past all of them, having clearly only just gotten out of bed. All of them were watching him.

They were trapping him inside the bar.

Nova Shine, just stop and take a breath! the omnipresent voice of King Imperius rang. You are not in your proper state of mind!

“GO AWAY!”

Nova teleported out of Twilight’s grasp, but he only went a few paces away, stumbling and falling onto his face, before he staggered back to his hooves and made a break for the staff exit.

Twilight tried to chase after him, but she wouldn’t stop him this time. He flung the first thing he could back at her. She yelped and dodged it, and it provided him with just the opportunity he needed to barge through the door, taking it off its hinges, and sprint back into the night.

Away, away, away, away, AWAY!

There were shouts behind him, they wanted him to stop, to let them pity him some more.

Someone landed in front of him, causing him to trip and fall face-first into the ground. He could feel the gravel of the ground tear into his skin, causing him to momentarily drip blood, but the overwhelming energy within him healed those wounds instantly. Ironic, that which was killing him was also healing him.

Luna was in front of him now, blocking him from continuing.

“Nova, please, let us--”

“GET AWAY!” Nova screamed, a raw blast of energy erupting from his horn and catching Luna by surprise. It didn’t hurt her, but it gave him another opportunity to dart past her and continue running away.

He didn’t even know where he was going. All he knew was that he needed to get away. Away from Twilight, away from Luna, away from the Archmage, away from the voices, away, away, away…

He ducked past a building and made a break for the end of an alley-- no, Trixie was there. He turned around trying to go back the way he came-- no, there was Luna again. He whirled a different way and started to dash, only for Twilight to land in that exit.

He was trapped on all sides, and two mares with flying capabilities were there to keep him from trying another aerial stunt. He turned every which way, trying desperately to find another way out.

Oh Nova Shine, they only want to help. Don’t flee from those who wish to bring you aid.

“Please, calm down and come back to us,” Trixie reached out.

“GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME!” he roared, twisting and contorting and snarling at whoever tried to approach. “YOU CAN’T HELP ME!”

“Nova, please…” Twilight just stared at him pleadingly.

“You’re not thinking right., You’re frightened, confused, and defensive. Please, take deep breaths,” advised Luna.

They were all seeing him for what he was, now. There was no other possibility. They were seeing him for the wretch that he so desperately tried to hide. They weren’t here to help. They were here to lock him away.

“Stop…!” he warned them, backing against the wall, his horn glowing blue.

“Master?”

Nova’s heart stopped. No… anyone but her.

Bright Gleam stepped out from behind Luna, watching him with that same loathsome pitying expression. The moment their eyes met, Nova could feel his heart shatter into a thousand pieces. Luna, Twilight, and Trixie he could tolerate seeing like this, but not Gleam… not Gleam...

The two of them stared at each other, his maddened blue eyes being met with her calm green ones.

“Please,” she whispered.

She took a step forward, reaching out, just like Trixie had done.

Then another.

Then another.

An image flashed in his mind. A memory of the night on the Canterhorn peak, where she did this exact same thing.

“Nova Shine… you’re dying.”

MAKEITSTOPMAKEITSTOPMAKEITSTOPMAKEITSTOPMAKEITSTOPMAKEITSTOPMAKEITSTOPMAKEITSTOP

Nova clenched his eyes shut, and with another explosive blast of sound and energy, he disappeared completely once more.

When the world returned to him an instant later, he was lying in a clearing of trees, the moon was high overhead, an overgrown jungle surrounded him, the quiet trickle of a stream sounded from somewhere nearby, and two graves sat peacefully near the water.

Nova felt his legs give way beneath him, so he was forced to crawl toward them. To the last resting places of his two friends from an age long gone…

And as he crawled, as the dream continued to play in his head, as everything once more washed over him, he broke down and began to sob once again, one more time after these last several days, and he collapsed in front of the headstones.

As he lay there crying, he could only whisper one last thing as darkness overtook him.

“What is happening to me?”

---

A military escort chariot descended out of the clouds, coming in for a graceful touchdown as four flying ponies managed to land in perfect sync, bringing the chariot down onto its wheels as smoothly as silk.

It was a military chariot, meaning that unlike Luna’s and Celestia’s more ceremonial carriages, open-faced, comfortable, and gilded, this chariot was shielded from the front, designed to land Very Important Ponies in the middle of a battle zone, allowing them to exit from the back with no concern of being taken out from the front. It was hard and angular, made out of lightweight wood and enchanted with all sorts of protective spells, it had only peephole windows, and it stood relatively tall compared to a normal chariot.

As soon as the chariot came to a complete stop, the two ponies strapped in the second row began to unbuckle themselves from the harnesses, sliding out of line and doing some quick stretching to alleviate some of their sorer muscles.

Lieutenant Aegis gave a tiny yawn-- he’d been up since 0545 to make preparations to come down here-- and glanced over at his fellow on the other side of the harness.

Knightmare Frigoris was rolling his shoulders now that they were free from the straps and braces that kept him fastened to the chariot’s drawer, and looked more than a little happy to be free from it.

“That wasn’t so bad,” he said cheerfully, before unbuckling the harness to be tossed back into the chariot’s back so it could be flown back up to Canterlot without it interfering.

“The trip down’s not the hard part,” Aegis replied with an amused smile. “You’ve got gravity helping you out. Try carrying three ponies going up on your own.”

“Yes, well, you used the enchanted chariot for that one, as I recall,” Frigoris reminded him. “No such luck today. Still, I do see your point about traveling downward versus upward.”

Aegis looked back toward the chariot itself, noting that their escortee hadn’t yet stepped out of it. He trotted up to the back and pulled a lever on the side. There was a rumble, and a wooden ramp fell open, revealing the sparse interior of the chariot to the outside world, as well as the sole occupant.

The mare in question was hunched over, hoof firmly stuffed in her mouth. Aegis let out a bark of laughter; not everyone was made for carriage or chariot flight, it seemed. Air-sickness was a little too common among non-flying guardsponies.

“For future reference,” he stepped in and offered a hoof to the mare, “ginger pills work great at combatting air and seasickness.”

The mare shook her head, before pushing herself up, completely disregarding his offered hoof.

“I thank you for the advice, lieutenant,” she replied in a curt voice, before descending the ramp.

She stood just a bit taller than he did, though was undeniably far more muscular. Her armor was a bright powder-blue, the color of the Crystal Guard, and the uniformity enchantment on it left her coat as a shade of purple not far off of Princess Twilight’s own coat colors. Her mane was kept hidden beneath her helmet, her tail was long and braided, and most curious of all, she had an eyepatch and a nasty and fresh-looking scar that ran underneath it.

“You didn’t need to wear your armor, ma’am,” Knightmare Frigoris approached from the opposite side. “Aren’t you on leave?”

“That is the official status on my file,” the mare replied with a slightly distasteful look. “However, I believe I am here for a similar reason to the two of you.”

“Oh, you know about that,” Frigoris grinned. “Orders from the top. Keep an eye on Mother’s favored subject. Those your orders too?”

“No, my lord Knightmare,” the mare shook her head again. “By order of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza as of this morning, while I am officially on leave to recover from the loss of my eye, I have been politely asked to serve as a protector for Apprentice Bright Gleam here in Ponyville.”

“Well well,” Aegis observed, with a tiny smirk. “All three of us received bodyguard orders this morning from our respective top authorities. What’s that idiot gone and done this time, I wonder? Thanks, lads,” he added, calling back to the ponies up front, who were shifting impatiently. Aegis pushed the wooden ramp back up with Frigoris’ help, latching it back into place, and then gave the sides of the carriage a couple of solid thumps. “Safe flight back.”

“Thank you sir!” one of them called back, with a salute.

With that, the two pegasi spread their wings and took off, leaving Aegis, Frigoris, and this new mare alone in front of the giant crystal tree castle.

“We’ve been here for a solid minute and a half now, and no one has come to greet us,” Aegis huffed. “Normally Princess Twilight sends someone to make sure visitors know she knows they’re here.”

“Maybe they’re on their way?” the mare asked.

“Unlikely,” Frigoris frowned. “This is Twilight Sparkle we are talking about. If they aren’t ten minutes early, they’re late, and that is unacceptable. She would have known we were coming, even if it was short notice, and she would have had someone waiting on us.”

“I think that means something is very much the matter, then,” Aegis immediately went into high alert, straightening up and beginning to scan the skies. “Eyes open, see if we can find someone to tell us what’s going on.”

Just as they were about to head into the town, Sharp Eye emerged from beside one of the buildings, and he looked, in Aegis’ humble opinion, a bit frantic.

“Oh, you’re all here.” He skidded to a halt, before stopping to take deep breaths. “Okay, so… Nova’s gone missing again. Everyone’s out looking for him. That’s why no one was here to meet you.”

Aegis felt his insides go cold. Beside him, Frigoris’ normally cool and stoic expression gave way for the briefest of moments to show some unease.

“Missing again?” the mare turned her one-eyed gaze toward him and Frigoris. “Does the Lord Archmage normally disappear?”

“Unfortunately,” Aegis rubbed at his left temple. “it has become an alarmingly frequent occurrence over the last couple of weeks.” He could feel a migraine setting in, and it wasn’t even lunchtime yet. Hooray.

“I wasn’t around when it happened,” Sharp Eye turned to look back into the town, “but to hear Big Mac and Princess Twilight tell it, Nova woke up sometime just before midnight, made a mad dash for the bar in a cold sweat, ran away again when everyone showed up to try and give him proper support, had a breakdown in an alleyway, and then teleported away. Search parties are combing the areas around the Everfree, but no sign of him yet, and we think he’s somewhere in there. Your marefriend’s already gone in looking for him, by the way,” he added, giving Aegis a meaningful look.

Aegis sucked in a breath, and let it out slowly through his nose. He loved Bea to death. He loved her larger-than-life personality when she was really hamming it up. He loved her wit. He loved the cute little way she would giggle after a successful performance when she knew she had rocked it. He loved how she always stood up for those she cared about. He especially loved how she fought for something she knew was right. Yes, she made mistakes, such as when she could let her vindictiveness and her rivalry with Princess Twilight get in the way, but she was, deep down, a good pony.

He did not love how reckless she could be sometimes. It was a small thing, but it was extremely concerning. He would have thought that after the adventure four years ago, she would have learned to be much more careful when it came to uncontrollable forces of chaos and/or evil, like the Everfree.

Before they could continue their conversation, there was a bright flash of white light and a brief pop! just a few paces away from them, and when it all cleared, Lord Star Swirl the Bearded stood there, dusting off his non-belled robe and looking as though he hadn’t just poofed into existence from somewhere far off.

“Lord Star Swirl,” acknowledged the crystal pony, immediately kneeling.

“Aah,” Star Swirl noticed the group and gave them all a small smile. “A welcoming party. Did Princess Twilight know I was coming here today?”

“Welcoming party?” Frigoris glanced at Aegis, who shrugged. “No sir. We only just arrived on orders from our respective princesses.”

“Did you?” Star Swirl frowned. “Then… why are you here if not to greet me? Surely Princess Twilight would have made sure that her idol was properly greeted.”

“Archmage Nova Shine has gone missing again,” the crystal pony answered. “We were ordered to come in and keep an eye on him and his apprentice, only for him to be missing the moment we got here.”

“Well, Knightmare Frigoris and I are to keep an eye on him directly, and she’s assigned to guard Bright Gleam,” Aegis clarified, gesturing at the still-genuflecting crystal pony.

“You may rise, Captain Cinnabar,” Lord Star Swirl gave her a courteous nod of the head, and she rose to her hooves. “How was the surgery?”

“Went well,” she dipped her head. “No complications in removal and cleanup. The doctors offered to magically heal the wound so that a scar wouldn’t develop and to replace my lost eye with a magical one, but I declined. I will wear the scar of my failure humbly as a lesson learned from defeat.”

“But what of your eye? Surely it would be an advantage to replace it?”

“I will adapt,” the captain shrugged.

Lord Star Swirl grunted. “And… correct me if I’m wrong, but did you say he’s gone missing again?”

“Yes, my lord,” Cinnabar nodded. “Though, I believe they would be more familiar with the first time.”

As the memories of what he’d found out about the first time rose to the surface of his mind, Aegis could feel anger start to simmer beneath the surface. He had sworn an oath of service to Equestria, but to hear that Princess Celestia and Princess Luna had withheld the knowledge that Nova Shine was dying from him made him feel sympathetic anger for his friend.

Aegis was no stranger to the concept of information sensitivity and confidentiality. He was, after all, a military servicepony. But when he had finally learned exactly what Nova was dying from, namely arcane oversaturation, as well as the end result of crossing the max capacity threshold, he had found himself quadruply angry at the two diarchs he was sworn to serve.

It was one thing for Nova to have it kept hidden from him that he was going to die of something none of them knew much about how to stop. It was another thing entirely to hide the fact that Nova Shine was a literal walking catastrophe with a fuse who knows how long.

“Lieutenant?”

Someone was shaking his shoulder. He blinked, returning to full alertness. Frigoris was giving him a light jostle, though he could see understanding and sympathy in the thestral’s eyes.

“Would you prefer I tell him?”

Aegis sucked in a breath, letting it out slowly, the winter mist dissipating inches away from his face as he fought to keep his anger in check. He was on duty. He could vent his frustrations later.

“Princess Celestia and Princess Luna failed to disclose to Nova Shine that he was suffering from arcane oversaturation, Lord Star Swirl,” he stated, perhaps a little bit too forcefully. “To hear Princess Twilight tell it, Nova Shine has been made aware that he is dying.”

The moment he said the words “arcane oversaturation”, Lord Star Swirl let out a long breath of his own.

“...I see,” he finally said. shutting his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Did you know, sir?” Aegis asked sharply.

“I did not,” Lord Star Swirl gave a light shake of his head. “When I was brought back from Limbo along with the other Pillars and Stygian, I could sense that Nova Shine had grown exponentially more powerful than when we parted ways over a thousand years ago, but when I learned it was because he was being trained as the Archmage, I believed that was the explanation. However…” He frowned deeply, turning his gaze toward Canterlot. “Now, some of the small inconsistencies with that explanation make more sense.”

“You do not seem troubled by this,” noted Frigoris, his yellow eyes narrowing somewhat. “Nova Shine suffered a full breakdown and fled Canterlot entirely when he heard the news.”

“How long has he had this condition?” Lord Star Swirl did not look back from the silhouette of the mountainside city off in the distance. “And how long has he known about it?”

“Sir,” Captain Cinnabar spoke up. “I believe he first learned of it after the scuffle on the path to Mount Glacia in the Crystal Empire. Nova Shine was lightly wounded in a battle against three Nuckelavees but all of his abrasions were gone within seconds, having completely healed themselves.”

“Aaaah,” Lord Star Swirl nodded slowly. “Advanced arcane oversaturation. And now more things make even more sense. Yes, I think the Princesses and I are due a little conversation.”

Aegis shivered. There was just something about how he said that.

“But to address your observation, Knightmare, no, I am not troubled by this,” he shook his head and returned his attention to them. “Arcane oversaturation that has advanced to the point of a healing factor is dangerous, but it is treatable. More importantly, there are also ways of removing the condition, depending on how he got it in the first place.”

“Where have you been?” Aegis asked, glaring suspiciously at the Pillar. “The Archmage’s breakdown has been big news for the last several days. He’s been formally issued a censure by the House of Nobles for no-call-no-showing two sessions, the tabloids have latched onto this story a little too gleefully, and now he’s gone completely AWOL twice in the span of two weeks! This is hardly something easily missable.”

“I have been out of the country entirely, Lieutenant,” answered Lord Star Swirl, his tone still patient despite Aegis’ seething. “If you must know, I have spent the last several days in the Old Lands, excavating my old aeries from the magical ice that still covers Dream Valley. I have, quite literally, only been back in Equestria for a few hours at most.”

Captain Cinnabar tilted her head.

“Correct me if I am wrong, my lord, but does a voyage by sea to the Blasted Lands not take several days anymore?”

“With modern ships, no,” Lord Star Swirl shook his head again, the sunlight glittering off of his dancing silver beard. “Even so, I did not need such a ship. Instead, per Princess Celestia’s request, I hired an airship captain, an avian by the name of Celaeno, to fly me into teleportation range, and when it was time to journey back, I contacted her again for the return trip.”

Captain Cinnabar grunted in acknowledgment.

“I believe we have dallied long enough,” Lord Star Swirl turned to the Everfree Forest. “Let us go and find our wayward Archmage.”

“Can you not teleport all of us to him, my lord?”

“No, captain, I cannot. Teleporting one pony across such a vast distance is already quite the task, even for one such as myself. To teleport four across a great distance, without even considering the wild and unpredictable magic that the Everfree Forest houses, is beyond my capabilities.”

Aegis felt the tiniest flare-up of energy from Lord Star Swirl at that, and he couldn’t help but give him a sideways glance. Why wasn’t energy-sensing standard training procedure? With Lord Ray Novus’ help in learning the technique, he had himself quite the leg up from the average guard in terms of environmental awareness compared to others. He wondered, though, if his sense was quite as attuned as Nova’s was. If it was, then it meant that Lord Star Swirl had lied just the tiniest amount. If it wasn’t, then it was probably a greater lie that he had noticed.

Lord Star Swirl noticed. “Something the matter, Lieutenant?”

“Permission to speak freely, sir?”

“I am not your superior, but granted all the same.”

“You lied,” he replied curtly.

“I did,” Lord Star Swirl conceded. “I do have that capability, but only after several steps have been taken to prepare.”

No flare-up that time.

“I see.”

The five of them set out after that. Aegis couldn’t help but wonder how odd they looked. One of the most powerful unicorns in history, a Lieutenant of the Peacekeepers, a Knightmare, a Crystal Guard, and an unaffiliated bounty hunter, all trekking toward the worst place in Equestria that didn’t involve imprisoning eldritch abominations.

They passed through the town before finding themselves on the path that led into the forest. Miss Fluttershy’s cottage sat in the distance near that animal sanctuary Sharp Eye said she’d been working on with Discord, and Aegis frowned at the sight of it.

“Sharp Eye?”

“Yeah?” the bounty hunter looked over. “What’s up?”

“How did you and Miss Fluttershy break up again?”

“Amicably,” Sharp Eye shrugged. “We wanted different things out of life. She had this desire to ‘tame’ me, to get me to settle down, and be a stable coltfriend. Problem is, that’s not me.” He shook his head. “I like the hunt too much to settle down. We talked about it, we realized we were at an impasse, we agreed to end things there, and that was that.” He eyed Aegis curiously. “Why do you ask? Troubles with Trixie?”

“No,” Aegis shook his own head. “It’s just… you two did seem quite in love. And now you aren’t together. Nova and Twilight seem to be in some kind of rocky ground right now--”

“That’s putting it mildly,” Cinnabar muttered, eliciting a bark of laughter from Star Swirl. Aegis ignored them.

“--and I can’t help but wonder if there’s even the slightest chance it happens to them too.”

“Nah.” Sharp Eye’s response was immediate and assertive. “It’s a rough patch, sure, but they’re made for each other. Now, they may need a break,” he admitted with a shrug, “but who doesn’t need time to cool their heads every so often?”

“Bea and I,” Aegis replied immediately.

Sharp Eye snorted. They had entered the forest now. The dry trampled dirt paths had given way to damp muddy ground almost instantly, and all five of them found themselves reflexively lifting their hooves even higher with each step to free them from the muck.

“You mean to tell me that never once has she gotten on your nerves and you’d needed your distance for a moment?”

Aegis grit his teeth behind his closed mouth. No, Bea hadn’t done that, but she had come close a few times. More so in the earlier days of the relationship, before they’d felt each other out and she’d started spending more time in Ponyville around Starlight, Maud Pie, Mudbriar, and now Sunburst.

“Your silence speaks volumes,” Sharp Eye turned his gaze back forward.

“Forgive me,” Cinnabar spoke up. “You are the bounty hunter Sharp Eye, yes?”

“I am,” Sharp Eye nodded. “Good to know my reputation precedes me.”

“Your cutie mark suggests that your talent is finding ponies, correct?”

“Finding anything, really, but yeah,” Sharp Eye dipped his head.

“Then why are you not involved in the search for Nova Shine?”

“‘Cuz Princess Twilight and Trixie wanted to look for him alone,” he replied. “Though now you mention it… they didn’t tell me where they were going, or where they expected Nova to be.”

“Not to worry,” Lord Star Swirl took the lead of the group. “I’ve sensed him. I believe he is… hmm.”

“Where is he?” Aegis asked, scanning the forest around them.

“In his old house, I believe. Or rather,” Lord Star Swirl amended, “in the place his old home used to be. One of his last places where he felt safe and at peace before his life changed.”

“I don’t understand,” Captain Cinnabar frowned.

“No, I don’t expect you will,” replied Lord Star Swirl somewhat airily, “but then, few can quite understand the mind of Nova Shine. He is a complex and yet fragile creature, easily upset, and will often flee to someplace he feels he is safe when he has been disturbed. However, he is also strong, intelligent, and above all else, devoted to those he cares about, and he will fight to the bitter end and beyond for them.”

“How can he be fragile and strong at the same time?” Aegis asked, snorting.

“My dear Aegis,” Lord Star Swirl gave him a critical look, “surely with you courting my descendant you could grasp that sometimes, apparent contradictions aren’t truly contradictory?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means,” Star Swirl was infuriatingly patient about all of this, “that despite Beatrix’s aloof stage personality, despite her braggart nature, and despite the petty grudge she carries against Twilight Sparkle, she is utterly devoted to those she cares about, far less self-aggrandizing than it would seem, and above all, willing to make peace. All of those traits seem like they shouldn’t exist in the same pony, and yet they do.”

He turned back and gave Aegis a searching look.

“Nova Shine is much the same. I have seen it myself. His severe lack of self-confidence is concerning, and it is something I believe we all see, but when Nova Shine has even the tiniest amount of belief in himself, he can do wonders.”

They walked in silence for several more paces, Lord Star Swirl leading them off the roads and into the forest proper, guided by something best known to him. Aegis could never sense anything in these damned trees. Too much latent magic in the air, nothing but false alarms, phantoms, and the occasional leftover plunder vine that snapped at them before Lord Star Swirl drained it of its chaos energy.

After nearly half-an-hour of trotting, during which time Aegis had been completely befuddled by the appearance of snarling angry trees, a seemingly docile manticore that ran forward and received some happy rubs behind its ears from Sharp Eye, and a strangely-flamboyant sea serpent, Lord Star Swirl led them completely off the trail. They were in the deeper parts of the forest now, getting close to the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters, and Aegis couldn’t help but wonder what fresh horror awaited them.

The next fresh horror on the scene, it turned out, was a white unicorn sitting with his back to them in the middle of an uninteresting clump of trees and bushes, his blue mane a disheveled mess and his tail splayed out behind him, with Princess Twilight Sparkle on one side, Apprentice Bright Gleam on the other, and Bea sitting in front of him, all three of the mares hugging him tightly while he shook under their tangle of limbs.

At the sight of him, Lord Star Swirl bowed his head.

The moment the five of them entered the area, they could all see Nova tense, before his head snapped around.to glare at them all, nearly catching Bea’s face in the process.

Aegis felt dismayed at the sight of him. His eyes were bloodshot, with dried tears, mud, and other detritus caked or caught in the coat hairs on his face, his mane was far more of a mess than usual, his eyelids were drooping, which rendered his attempts to glare at them completely undermined, and he just looked so tired.

Not just physically exhausted, but tired of living. Nova Shine looked ready to give in and die.

“What the fuck’s happened?” he shoved his way past Star Swirl none-too-gently.

Nova tensed and made to extricate himself from the mares’ embrace. His horn sparked dangerously, which caused all of them to flinch back or in Star Swirl’s case, even conjure up a shield just in case, but fast as lightning, Aegis’ hoof shot forward and grazed Nova’s horn right at the tip, where a unicorn was at their most sensitive.

Aegis hadn’t struck to hurt Nova at all, and he doubted this would do anything more than what it was intended to do, but the fact that he still had to defend himself like this against his best friend was enough to cause him to start shaking too.

Nova let out a gasp as the hold over his magic faltered, and he shuddered. At once, Aegis grabbed him by the shoulders and held him at eye level.

“Don’t make me do that again, you blithering idiot!” he shouted, giving the damned fool a shake. “Do you have any idea what I’m capable of?”

“Aegis!” barked Bea, and both Princess Twilight and Apprentice Gleam moved away.

“If you go berserk again, I’m going to have to resort to far more painful ways of getting you to calm down,” he pressed on, Nova wincing and cringing with each syllable he yelled, “and do you have any idea how much it would hurt me to have to hurt you!?”

“Aegis, stop!”

“You have to go and scare us all to death, not once but twice, and now I’ve been assigned to keep watch over you, and I’m starting to wonder just who it is I’m supposed to be protecting!”

Bea shoved him away, causing him to stumble into the other four he’d come with, but he pushed past her once more.

“Do you have any idea what it would do to me if I had to actually hurt you?”

Aegis fell into his friend, pulling him close and hugging Nova with every ounce of strength he had.

“I’m sorry for shouting, I really am,” he whispered, giving Nova a squeeze, but Nova remained tense underneath. “I’m just so fucking worried about you, and I’m trying to stay calm and level-headed, and then you prepare a spell to do who-knows-what in the Everfree Forest, and my instincts kicked in. Nova, don’t scare me like that again!”

Gradually, Nova Shine relaxed, but before he could try to worm his way out of Aegis’ grasp, suddenly all three of the mares in Nova’s life had descended on them and were hugging him just as fiercely as they were before. Nova, however, seemed to have had enough of this, and with a tiny pop of light, he teleported away.

For the briefest of moments, Aegis panicked, wondering where he had warped off to this time, only to turn around and see that he was staggering to his hooves and wiping himself off. Nova didn’t look the least bit comforted, but the fact that he wasn’t running away was a baby step in the right direction.

Lord Star Swirl approached him, his posture infinitely more gentle than Aegis’ particularly aggressive dash had been.

“How are you feeling?” he asked softly, looking Nova up and down.

“Like sunshine and butterflies, how the fuck do you think I’m feeling?” Nova spat, looking away.

Aegis could feel Princess Twilight cringe slightly when he’d said it, but Lord Star Swirl looked neither surprised nor offended by this.

“Tell me, Nova Shine,” he sat down, letting Nova’s barb go unchallenged, “what has gotten you into such a state?”

Nova let out a growl but didn’t answer.

“He learned that he’s got--”

Lord Star Swirl held out a hoof toward Princess Twilight to stop her response. “I know what he’s learned, but I want to hear it from him, Princess. Oftentimes, the way one answers a question can be infinitely more illuminating than the answer itself.”

“Fuck off,” Nova growled again, reflexively curling up. “Just leave me alone.”

Lord Star Swirl again didn’t so much as blink.

“I see,” he finally said, bowing his head in understanding. “You are afraid to die.”

“Fuck off!” Nova snarled back, baring his teeth this time, and his horn sparking dangerously. Aegis felt instinct kick in once more and he at once leaped to a combat-ready position, but Lord Star Swirl held a hoof out to stop him before he could act.

“No, Lieutenant,” Lord Star Swirl shook his head, his eyes never leaving Nova’s.

“But sir, he’ll--”

“I said no, Lieutenant,” he repeated, giving Aegis the briefest of warning looks. “Archmage Nova Shine is in my care.”

“Stop trying to help me!” Nova shouted, his mane and tail beginning to be tossed about by an unseen wind. “I don’t want your help! You CAN’T help!”

“Do you know so little about arcane oversaturation, Nova Shine?” Lord Star Swirl tilted his head, his eyebrows briefly twitching downward. “You do know that if you expend more magical energy than you replenish, your Source will eventually right itself, don’t you?”

“Oh wow, I never thought of that, everything is all better now!” Nova jeered, putting on a mocking smile before it dropped to be replaced by pure scathing venom. “Do you really think we hadn’t considered that!?”

Now Lord Star Swirl looked completely confused. “Are you suggesting that your arcane oversaturation is different from a typical variety?”

There was a blur of pink, and all of a sudden, Bright Gleam had taken up a position between Lord Star Swirl and Nova, as though she were shielding her master from the elder.

“It was Harmonia,” she stated, giving her master a piteous glance. “She called it a ‘gift’.”

Lord Star Swirl’s mouth parted, and his eyes widened, but after a long moment, even he seemed to sag by a fraction. “...Ah,” he finally grunted. “Now everything falls into place.”

He strode forward, stepping around Gleam, and offered a hoof to Nova Shine.

“My Lord Archmage,” he lowered himself down to Nova’s level, where Nova was shying away from him, “I apologize. I understand the cause of your pain now. Would you kindly allow me to help you?”

“Y-you can’t.”

“Not how I’d thought, this is true, but I can.”

“It’s terminal.”

“And what are you going to do until then?” Lord Star Swirl asked. It was mostly gentle, but Aegis could hear the edge in his voice. It was a challenge. “Is this how you want to die, Nova Shine? Is this how you want to be remembered?”

Nova hissed, but Lord Star Swirl pressed on.

“Would you rather die this way, piteously and pathetically, throwing away the possibility? Or would you rather try to save yourself, even if it won’t work?”

Aegis, having known Nova for far longer than Lord Star Swirl, fully expected Nova to tell him to fuck off yet again and go right back to moping. After all, this was the same Nova who’d spent ten years obstinately refusing to see reason that his father wasn’t snooping through their exchanged encrypted letters,

But Nova didn’t do that. Instead, Nova surprised him.

He still looked like a total mess; it wasn’t like he had a complete 180 and suddenly looked ready to take on the world. But he still nodded glumly, he still wiped himself off as best he could, and he still started to trot ever so slowly back the way the five of them had come, not even acknowledging anyone as he did so.

Twilight and Gleam immediately trotted after him, with Frigoris and Sharp Eye on their tail. Captain Cinnabar followed suit, hurrying to fall in step next to Gleam, who seemed quite pleased to be reunited with someone she knew. Lord Star Swirl watched them all go, while Aegis and Bea hung back.

“You shouldn’t have been so harsh with him,” Bea immediately poked him in the side with a hoof none-too-gently. “He doesn’t respond well to getting shouted at.”

“He could have done anything with that spell,” Aegis defended, letting her be mad at him. She did have a point, considering how well he’d responded to Lord Star Swirl. “I was just doing my job, protecting everyone here from him, and him from himself, but... “ He clenched his teeth for a moment. “I’m… afraid, Bea.”

“You, afraid?” Bea asked. Aegis wasn’t sure if she was actually making fun of him or trying to play it off. “You’re never afraid of things. You getting angry just now is about as much emotion as I’ve seen out of you in years, Aegis.”

“Guard training calls for keeping a level head,” Aegis shrugged. “But what if he goes off again? I’ve been sent to keep an eye on him. But the part that isn’t being said out loud is that I’m also out here to protect everyone from him. And… what if I have to?”

“Nova is a lot of things, but he’d never hurt anyone if he could help it,” she shook her head. Aegis wished he could have Bea’s confidence about this.

“A little firmness is needed from time to time,” Lord Star Swirl stated, watching the crowd of ponies make their way back toward Ponyville, “but never underestimate the power of a gentle touch at the right time. Beatrix, Lieutenant, should we return to the town?”

“Um… it’s Trixie, Mister Star Swirl.”

“Hm? Oh, my apologies,” he tipped his hat toward her, “as long as you remember that it’s Star Swirl, not Mister Star Swirl.”

Aegis snorted. “Yeah, let’s get out of here. Bea hates this place.”

“Aegis does too.”

“Dealing with murderous shadow ponies will do that to you.”

Lord Star Swirl chuckled, something that just seemed to give Aegis a lot more of a reason to relax after the last several minutes. “Very well then. Let’s be off. As it happens, I’ve been meaning to have a nice conversation with the two of you…”

---

About two hours later back in Ponyville, Nova Shine had done as asked, and the change in his demeanor, while not a total 180, was still apparent. Where before, he had tensed and fled when ponies were getting too close, here he seemed indifferent to Starlight, Spike, Trixie, and Twilight constantly trying to encourage him. Lord Star Swirl patiently waited in the Cutie Map chamber, watching Nova plod his way through, while Aegis and Frigoris took up positions outside.

It wasn’t even close to a return to normal, but it was a start. Recovery would come with time.

When he was finally finished and ready to hear what Lord Star Swirl had to say, he stepped into the meeting room, leaving Frigoris and Aegis at the door. Twilight could still see a distant, forlorn look behind his eyes, and she wondered how much attention he was going to pay in this meeting.

“Ah, time to talk about the reason for my visit,” Lord Star Swirl said as the two of them entered to find Gleam already in the room, sitting at Rainbow Dash’s seat and looking equal parts nervous and excited (what was it Pinkie had called this mood? Nervous-cited?). Twilight suppressed a chuckle, it must have been a dream of hers to speak with someone like Lord Star Swirl alone, considering how much Gleam looked up to her and Nova. “I hope you do not mind, but I am commandeering your cutie map, as it has the most delightful ability to display what I need it to,” he grinned, tapping the map, which shifted and shimmered, before settling on an image of an older, beautiful, and powerful Bright Gleam wearing a Supermare costume, cape mane and tail billowing behind her as she flew through the air. “Now then, what we will be discussing today is something of paramount importance, and as I said,” he inclined his head to Nova, who only seemed to be half-paying attention, “it brings with it a slim hope for your survival.”

His horn glowed white, and the image of SuperGleam faded. In its place was a replica of the charts that Gleam had found in Sombra’s laboratory.

“I have been able to piece together what Sombra has been aiming to do, and I have managed to discover what his true goal is,” Star Swirl said, a grave note in his voice. “The Shadow-King intends to assemble the Crown of Life and use its power at the epicenter of Harmonic Convergence.”

Twilight shivered, a faint chill appearing at the base of her spine. She had heard those names before, even earlier than when they were in Canterlot several days ago. They danced just beyond the limits of her memory, perhaps half-forgotten from a book or an off-hoof mention from a professor at the School for Gifted Unicorns.

“Ominous,” observed Nova, brow twitching.

“Quite,” Star Swirl inclined his head again. “Know you, what these are?”

“Aside from the Crown on a conceptual level, no,” Nova shook his head. “Is it an Eternity Peytral sort of thing?”

“I’m sorry, I don’t understand,” Lord Star Swirl gave him an odd look. “An Eternity Peytral, what is that?”

“Silver peytral that can harness the six Eternity Stones,” Gleam answered automatically, a look of geeky delight crossing her face. “It’s from Marevel Comics!”

“Is it a piece of armor that means next to nothing on its own, but when imbued with several artifacts of power, its wielder becomes perhaps the most powerful being in the universe?” Lord Star Swirl asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Uhh, yeah actually,” Gleam nodded slowly. “Why? Is that what the Crown of Life is?”

“In essence, yes,” Lord Star Swirl nodded. “As its name implies, it is a crown, and it was crafted by one of the arcanosmiths of the ancient Alicorn Empire.”

The charts vanished, replaced by the black circlet Ce-- she had shown them before revealing the terrible truth to Nova.

“It is forged of orichalcum, one of the most valuable metals in the world. What do you know of orichalcum?”

“It’s the perfect arcane conductor metal,” Twilight recited off the top of her head. This had definitely been something she’d heard at the school. “Unlike typical metals, which conduct arcane energy but lose energy to ambient radiation, orichalcum does not radiate any magical energy away, making it the perfect channel for any magic-powered tools.”

“Correct,” Lord Star Swirl gave her an approving smile. “Most of the orichalcum in use today was salvaged in some way from alicorn ruins. It was they who mined and shaped the metal, and because of their sheer saturation with magical ability, orichalcum was as common a material in their buildings and crafts as marble is in Canterlot. So it should be no surprise that orichalcum was used to craft this crown as well. The crown is designed to harness the power of all three of the Gems of Being at once.”

Three eerily glowing jewels appeared in the hologram. One blue, one green, and the red gem of the Alicorn Amulet, before each gem floated into a socket. Green on the wearer’s right, Red in the center, and blue on the left.

“Now,” the crown continued to slowly spin in midair for their gazes, “Bright Gleam, a test of your knowledge.”

Gleam sat up a little straighter and faced Lord Star Swirl more attentively, having been staring at the crown with a distant expression. “Yes sir?”

“What are the three Aspects of Life?”

Gleam scrunched her nose, before sliding out of Rainbow Dash’s throne and starting to pace around the room, reaching up and rubbing around her horn. Twilight suppressed a chuckle at the sight of it. How long had she been mimicking that particular tic of Nova’s?

“I know this, I know this…” she muttered to herself. “Professor Witty talked about it.”

“Do you need a hint?” Star Swirl asked kindly.

“No, I… I think I know.” She scrunched even harder, before giving him a glance. “It’s… body, mind, and soul, right?”

“Correct!” Lord Star Swirl beamed. “Now, let’s look a little bit deeper. Body, mind, and soul are easy enough names to remember, but they aren’t entirely accurate descriptors. Think a little beneath the surface, beyond what is readily apparent. Beneath body, beneath mind, and beneath soul, there is something else that they each represent. What are they?”

Gleam scrunched her muzzle again and resumed pacing, still massaging around her horn. Twilight chanced a glance in Nova’s direction to see him watching her every step, his eyes glued to her massaging hoof, an oddly misty expression on his face. She snuck over and draped a wing across his back, and when he leaned back into her, she couldn’t help the mushy smile.

“Mind is… Thought?”

“Or Reason, but yes.” Lord Star Swirl nodded, giving her an approving smile. Gleam seemed to gain in confidence at that.

“Body is Strength.”

“Mm-hmm.”

“And Soul is Will.”

“Yes,” Lord Star Swirl clapped his hooves lightly. “You have yourself a fine apprentice, Lord Archmage,” he cast Nova an affirming grin. “Yes, Bright Gleam. Strength, Thought, and Will. It is these aspects, these components, as it were, that we search for to determine if something has life. If a creature has Strength and Will, but no Thought, then what are they?”

“A golem,” Gleam answered, now radiating confidence in her education. “It cannot think for itself. It recognizes its own existence and has many wants, yet possesses a total desire to follow any given instructions completely.”

“Now, what about Strength and Thought, but no Will?”

“An automaton,” Gleam replied. “It can think and it can act, but it typically has no sense of self and no desires of its own.”

“Precisely. And finally… Thought and Will but no Strength?”

“A spirit. Unable to interact with the world of the living, yet it exists and can speak, think, and recognize itself.”

“Quite the apprentice indeed,” Star Swirl beamed even brighter. “Put all three together the right way, and you have life as we know it. Now, how is this all relevant?”

“The Gem in the Alicorn Amulet is called the Gem of Soul, right?” Twilight raised a hoof, feeling a slight tinge of jealousy that Bright Gleam was earning a lot of praise from her idol. “And when Trixie used it, it granted her tremendous magical ability, but it made her mentally unstable. This would imply that the other two gems are the Gem of Mind and the Gem of Body, and that they similarly enhance one of these aspects about the gem’s wielder while corrupting another.”

“Astute extrapolation, Princess,” Lord Star Swirl gave her a nod, which gave Twilight a nice, warm, giddy feeling. “Yes, the three Gems of Being all interlink with each other in this way. Soul enhances magical ability and causes madness. In short, it strengthens the Soul and weakens the Mind. The Gem of Mind grants its wielder great and terrible knowledge and mental acumen, but the body withers away as the knowledge overwhelms the beholder, whose body is so limited. In short, it strengthens the Mind but weakens the Body. Finally, the Gem of Body grants its wielder immense physical strength, health, and a multitude of other benefits, yet it eats at its wielder’s soul until they are nothing but a husk of a being, untouched and untouchable by the magics of the land. It strengthens the Body, but weakens the Soul.”

“So what happens when someone wields all three of them at once?” croaked Nova, turning his gaze back to the rotating crown.

“The strengths of the gems nullify any weaknesses, but the weaknesses do not counteract the strengths. The whole is greater than the sum of the individual parts,” Lord Star Swirl answered, turning to face the crown as well. “In short, the wearer of the Crown of Life becomes immensely powerful physically, magically, and mentally. They are able to wield the raw, destructive power of these gems in their entirety, reap all of the benefits, and suffer none of their drawbacks. And with the power of all three gems at their disposal, they become a walking god-like entity. On its own, this makes it terrifying enough to even think about in Sombra’s hooves, but then we consider the second portion of his plan: Harmonic Convergence.”

The crown shimmered, and then faded away, replaced instead by the charts again. The one depicting the seven planets of the Celestian System, orbiting the star Celeste for which it, and she, was named.

“Harmonic Convergence is an event that happens precisely every ten-thousand years, as the planets of the Celestian System enter a natural alignment--”

“Seems awfully convenient,” scoffed Nova. Twilight nudged him, hopefully getting across a point of not being rude.

“Yes, I suppose it does seem like a perfectly round number making it seem quite unlikely that the universe could work that way, doesn’t it?” admitted Lord Star Swirl. Twilight then felt the strangest sensation, the same she usually did whenever Pinkie went off on these long tangents about whoever these mysterious “readers” were, as if they were being directly addressed. “But then, perhaps you are looking at it the wrong way, Nova Shine. After all, we still use the dating system the Alicorns invented, even though our years are out of alignment. The Elysian Standard was devised by the astronomers of the Alicorn Empire, and was oriented specifically to subdivide the time between Harmonic Convergences in such a way that they were equivalent and easy to keep track of. Year One of the Elysian standard, at least from what modern-day archaeologists have been able to piece together, was implemented nineteen-thousand nine-hundred-ninety-nine years ago.”

Nova blinked, his mouth parting suddenly. “But that… that would imply that--”

“--Harmonic Convergence is this year!” finished Gleam.

“Yes,” Lord Star Swirl nodded, frowning. “Harmonic Convergence will take place on the Date of the New Year, according to the Alicorn Calendar, which is just under one year from now.”

“Okay, so… what is it, exactly?” asked Nova, frowning. “Sounds like it’s a pretty big deal if the Alicorn Empire oriented their entire calendar around it and it involves planetary alignment.”

“Because it is quite the big deal, Nova Shine,” Lord Star Swirl turned to the table once more. The planets of the Celestian System replaced the charts, and the planets started in a position where they were all in alignment, and then they began to orbit Celeste at a high speed. “When the seven planets are in alignment, a surge of cosmic energy is generated from the arcane ley lines on each planet being in sync. The point of impact when it arrives at Equus is a place known as the Wellspring, a veritable fount of mana that reaches directly into the manastream that encircles the world beneath its crust. As we all know, mana is simply condensed and liquefied magical energy, and so when this great surge of energy comes barreling at the planet...”

The planets stopped spinning in perfect alignment, and the hologram began to zoom in on Equus, the second planet in the system, as a massive cloud of energy began to fly from the furthest planet toward Celeste, growing in density and intensity as it grew closer to Equus. The illustration zoomed in close to the planet’s North Pole, where they saw a large city, built on an icy plain, sitting on a cliffside that overlooked a large hole in the world’s surface at exactly the magnetic pole of the planet.

The cloud of energy began to approach. However, from the hole, there came a great rush of magical energy from within the planet itself that blasted outward, meeting the cosmic energy directly and creating a massive explosion of light and color that spread out over the area of the icy flatlands.

Lord Star Swirl continued, watching the scene unfold just as raptly as they were. “The magical energy that moves within our planet rushes out to protect this world from the harmful energy rushing toward it. The two opposing energies clash above the Wellspring, and this clash causes a massive burst of energy to blanket the region for hundreds of miles in each direction before the cosmic energy has passed the planet and continues its movement toward Celeste. The energy that has now blanketed the planet is eventually absorbed into the manastream and becomes even more of the planet’s natural energy. In a manner of speaking, every ten-thousand years, the world becomes even more magical than it was the previous cycle.”

“Okay, I think we see the ‘convergence’ part,” Nova frowned. “What about the ‘harmonic’?”

Lord Star Swirl chuckled. “For two reasons. First, the two energies that meet are drawn to each other. On meeting, they clash with each other, blanketing the world with their effects, before the cosmic energy eventually harmonizes with the planet’s magic. Second, because all of the mana within the world, all of the planet’s reserves of harmonic energy, converges on the North Pole in preparation for this event. And now, how is this relevant?”

“That much mana in one place…” Twilight felt a mixture of dread and exhilaration well up inside of her. Imagine, to be in a place with that much magical energy! “It must be like… like…”

“Like what?” Gleam looked between her and Lord Star Swirl, confused.

“Having that much magical energy in one place magnifies the power of all spells that are cast,” Lord Star Swirl explained. “A unicorn that could lift up a boulder with relative ease with their telekinesis would discover that they would find crushing rocks to be nothing short of a breeze. They could take hold of a mountain and throw it into the sea, and be none the worse for wear. Under the effects of Harmonic Convergence, a normal unicorn becomes a juggernaut. And a master, or perhaps… an Archmage?” Lord Star Swirl added meaningfully, staring straight at Nova, who had his eyes locked onto the city at the edge of the Wellspring.

“An Archmage could become a god, for so short a time.”

Nova said nothing, continuing to stare at the city arrayed out in the hologram before he finally looked up.

“That city… that’s Elysium, isn’t it.”

It wasn’t a question. Twilight remembered seeing the map in Sombra’s laboratory. Now she knew why it was there.

“It is,” Lord Star Swirl nodded. “It was given many names and titles in its time as the capital of the Alicorn Empire. It wasn’t the original capital, oddly enough Canterlot now stands where their city of I Yesse used to be, but once the Alicorns declared themselves to be the Masters of the World in their pride and hubris, and built themselves a city near the Wellspring itself, it only made sense for a race such as they to have their seat of power be in so sacred a place.”

The hologram changed once more, zooming in on the city itself. Twilight had never seen architecture like this. Buildings were geometrically impossible, made into twisting shapes, the products of intricate designs, weaving in and around each other like a tapestry of its own.

Each building reached high toward the heavens, but nothing matched the centerpiece, what could only be the city’s palace. A truly imposing structure, it had to be at least twice as tall as the Crystal Spire, maybe it was even tall enough to reach Lower Canterlot from ground level. There were no additional towers, no walls, just the one singular spire, the artistry of its exterior literally carved into it.

“This city looks so detailed,” Twilight trotted over to the hologram and scrutinized it. “It’s almost like... “

“Like I’ve seen it with my own eyes,” Lord Star Swirl nodded, his voice going low. “And I have. The Crown of the World is a difficult place to journey to, much less to survive in, and Elysium was built at its heart. The seas are icy and treacherous, with glaciers and bergs so thick that not even Equestria’s most powerful icebreaker ships could carve a passage. And over land the only way there is to pass through the Frozen Maw, the perilous mountains that form the northern border of Yakyakistan. The peaks reach so high that no dirigible could ever hope to ascend beyond them without freezing from the sheer cold. Modern technology has made it a possibility,” he inclined his head to Twilight, “as airships equipped with a Dragonfire Ring could ascend above the peaks for a short time while counteracting the cold inherently, but it is still a fool’s errand if one does not know what they are doing.”

“So how did you do it?” Nova asked.

Lord Star Swirl smirked. “It turns out, Lord Archmage, that being magically accomplished has its advantages. It is a trivial matter for one such as I, or you and Twilight, to warm themselves and to create a bubble of breathable air when climbing up to such a height to find a pass between two peaks. However, the journey through the mountains must be made on hoof, you cannot simply teleport your way across. All magic must be conserved because merely crossing the Frozen Maw or the seas is only the beginning.”

Lord Star Swirl’s smirk vanished and his gaze became distant, almost as if he were staring right through everything in the room.

“It’s like a barren alien world up there,” his voice grew deathly quiet. “The winds are always blowing, bringing the wind chill down to well below Zero. There are no plants of any kind to forage. The sky blazes with the light of three suns, with a halo of light calling to you from the wild blue yonder. In the winter nights, colorful dancing lights decorate the skies. The magnetics and the magical energy saturating the air are so intertwined and so volatile that traditional compasses can no longer be trusted, and magnetic north could be anywhere. The landscape is barren and featureless, save for the horizon, which never grows closer no matter how far you trot. You could leave hoofprints in the ground, and they would be gone in seconds as the wind and the snow filled them in. You may think you know where you are, but you will always be lost. The Crown of the World is a hopeless, desolate plain of ice, cold, and fear. And I have journeyed across it several times.”

The distant look grew a mix of somber and haunted. Twilight shivered. Never once had she even imagined she could see Lord Star Swirl, the most influential pony in all of magical history, look so scared.

If this was how he was reacting to the mere memory of this place, how terrifying was it in reality?

“I have been to Elysium,” he whispered. “It was there that I witnessed the fall of my second apprentice. It was in that haunted city that Prince Luxius of the Crystal Empire, the half-unicorn half-crystal pony son of King Crystallis and his unicorn wife Amore, driven mad with grief over the coup that murdered his father and exiled him, turned his magic upon me when I went after him. In his madness, he had chased after a vague whisper of power kept within this forbidden city. I came to him to try and turn him from this course, to try and rescue him from the horror he was chasing.”

He shut his eyes and bowed his head.

“Our battle was cataclysmic, yet the city remained untouched, protected by alicorn stasis magic that remained strong even millennia past their civilization’s collapse. And in the end, corrupted by his rage and grief, Luxius threw away his name, ‘light-bringer’, and assumed the name Sombra.”

He took a deep breath, and Twilight was startled to see the tiniest of shudders as he inhaled, before he opened his eyes and turned his gaze toward Nova.

“Nova Shine, this is the danger of what should happen if Sombra acquires the three Gems of Being,” he continued, his voice now carrying a grave edge. “He will assemble the Crown of Life, journey to the city for Harmonic Convergence, and use the combined power of both the Crown and Harmonic Convergence to enact his will upon the world.”

Twilight released the breath she didn’t realize she had been holding. So this was it. This was Sombra’s grand plan. An artifact of immense power, combined with an event like Harmonic Convergence, the possibilities were endless...and utterly terrifying. He could enslave billions...

“The mission I have for you, Nova Shine, is this.”

He straightened himself up and his gaze took on something… more. Something grave, with finality.

“Sombra wants to unite the three Gems of Being to assemble the Crown of Life. I shall attempt to unite them as well, and I would like your aid in doing so.”

Nova stared at him for a long while. He had to be considering this. It was his only chance of survival if what Lord Star Swirl said was true, and she had no reason to doubt him. But something was niggling at the back of her mind. Something that Nova was possibly pondering as well.

She was, fortunately, right. He was pondering this.

“If we’re trying to prevent Sombra from acquiring the gems, Lord Star Swirl,” he began, the tiniest hint of a biting edge in his voice, and Twilight winced, “then why are we seeking them out, to begin with? I mean,” he frowned, ”Envy gave us one of them! She couldn’t possibly have done that if Sombra didn’t allow her to do so. Sombra wants us to assemble the gems. He’s fed us this information, and now you want to play right into his hooves, scuttling after the gems as if Equestria were the safest place in the world for all three of them, but we aren’t.”

He grit his teeth.

“Tempest Shadow and the Storm King’s invasion proved that. If we want to keep the gems away from Sombra, then I think the best course of action is to leave them be.”

Twilight couldn’t help but smile to herself. His earlier breakdown had done nothing to dull his perception.

“I have considered this, yes,” Lord Star Swirl nodded. “This is where I must make my admission. You see, I, too, have my own reasons for assembling the Gems of Being.”

“May I ask what these are?” Nova cocked an eyebrow.

“Shall we make a bargain, Nova Shine?” Lord Star Swirl smiled affably. “You retrieve the second Gem of Being, the Gem of Mind, from its hiding place and bring it back to Equestria. In return, when I return from my second foray into Dream Valley, I shall explain everything. All cards on the table. Then, you may decide for yourself if you wish to aid me in pursuing the third Gem of Being, or if you would wish to simply lock the gems away once more.”

Nova stared at Star Swirl, his eyes narrowing.

“You want us to do the hard part, so when you don’t need us and I refuse, you can do the easy part yourself, is that it?”

Lord Star Swirl, as patient as ever, inclined his head. “Perhaps, if you choose to think that way. There is also the possibility that I genuinely care about a friend’s wellbeing and wish to help him live a long and happy life rather than dying young, while also respecting him and allowing him to make his own choices.”

Nova flinched at that one. Twilight couldn’t help but wince as well. It seemed Lord Star Swirl wasn’t pulling his punches today. Still, at least he had said it in a way that seemed pleasant enough, must have been trying to make sure Nova understood it wasn’t an insult, but actual truth.

“You just got here from Dream Valley,” Nova changed the subject. “Why are you going back?”

“I came back to recruit you,” Star Swirl replied evenly. “Regardless of your answer, I shall return to continue my business there once we have finished here. I have been working to excavate my old tower in the Enchanted Forest. Thus far, I successfully have managed to thaw out the port city of Canterlot on the Southern Sea. Windigo Ice is thick and resistant, but not impossible to destroy. Now that one of the major cities of the Old Times has been excavated, perhaps we can bring in teams of mages to begin thawing out the rest of the land to make it suitable for living.”

“If this quest is so important, Lord Star Swirl,” Nova’s eyes narrowed again, “then why are you working on something else?”

“Who said I’m not doing two things at once?” Lord Star Swirl’s smile turned mysterious.

Nova stared at him some more.

“You know where one of them is,” he finally declared.

“I do,” Lord Star Swirl nodded. “In fact, I know where both of them are.”

“If you know where the second one is, the one you’re asking us to find,” Nova grit his teeth, “then why not tell us where? It sounds like time is of the essence here!”

“We have more time than you think, Nova Shine,” Lord Star Swirl didn’t even seem slightly bothered by Nova’s belligerence. Perhaps he, like Twilight, couldn’t really blame him. “There is a method to my mystery. The goal is for you to piece it together yourself. When you do, you will understand why.”

“Oh for the love of--”

Lord Star Swirl’s horn shone white, and Nova Shine found himself unable to make any sound, which caused him to scowl and begin making rude gestures at Star Swirl. Star Swirl, and Gleam oddly enough, seemed more amused than anything by this.

“I understand your distrust, Nova Shine,” Lord Star Swirl continued quite calmly, still watching as Nova Shine mouthed something that made Twilight devoutly thankful that there were no foals in the room. “Too many things have been hidden from you for no good reason. I have now promised to give you two pieces of information. One, I will point you in the direction for you to discover yourself. The other, I have promised to reveal when I return and you have acquired the Gem of Mind. I am not hiding these pieces of information for the sake of keeping you in the dark, Nova Shine. I am hiding this information until the time is right for you to know of it. In one of those cases, I hide it because it would better help you, better make you a more powerful spellcaster, if you were to realize the implications of it on your own.”

Nova Shine slowly stopped mouthing obscene things and throwing rude gestures, choosing instead to give Star Swirl a suspicious glare.

He opened his mouth, paused, then pointed at his throat. Star Swirl’s horn glimmered.

“Really expect me to buy that you’re doing this because you’re looking out for me?” Nova arched an eyebrow.

“Oh, I’m not going to pretend like this isn’t at least partially due to some small selfish desire to have you aid me in my endeavors,” Lord Star Swirl shrugged indifferently. “But I find that aligning our goals, offering an ally a reason to be invested, is a powerful motivator. I can’t think of a more powerful motivator than survival and helping you grow stronger. However…” his expression darkened, “understand that offering you a hope of survival is not necessarily a boon.”

His expression again grew haunted, his eyes once more seeming to stare past everyone, glossing over as images of his mysterious past must have begun to replay themselves within his head.

“I once knew a pony like you, who believed himself to be doomed to death, who believed there was no hope,” he said softly. “When there seemed like there was even the slimmest chance that he may be able to save himself, he threw himself at it and… and it changed him.”

He closed his eyes and let out a long breath through his nose, before opening his eyes and returning to the present to give Nova a warning look.

“Hope is a balm, Nova Shine. But to a doomed stallion, hope for survival? It becomes a drug. It drives desperation. A being who is not yet ready to die may do unspeakable things to cling to life. They may throw away everything they once held dear, they may compromise with their own ethics, their own morals. I have seen ponies throw away everything just to stay alive because there was no other way. And when you have the three Gems of Being brought together?”

His expression hardened.

“A pony as powerful as you, with the three Gems of Being? You would have everything you needed to assemble the Crown of Life yourself. With it, you could have whatever you wanted. You could not just save yourself, but make yourself immortal as the alicorns did. Become the ultimate spellcaster in the entire multiverse. Rule the world, if you truly wanted to. Twilight could create the perfect ordered society, functioning and maintaining itself with little input from her, the ideal clockwork mechanism of a nation.”

Twilight blinked. She hadn’t really thought of it that way, but… with power like that, would she even need to be a princess at all? As Star Swirl said, she could just write the world to work perfectly. None of this needless bureaucracy or inefficiency, just a well-oiled machine of a state, spreading her message of friendship everywhere it went.

But it couldn’t be that simple, could it?

“The Crown represents the true final temptation. It offers you near-absolute power, the power to rewrite the world to your liking. It offers you everything you could ever want,” Star Swirl continued. “But all power comes at a cost. With the power of the Gems of Mind and Soul at your disposal, not even a pony’s free will is safe. If you truly wanted, you could brainwash them yourself, make them see things your way. Or,” he gave the tiniest of wry, humorless smirks, “threaten them with the sheer power of magic you carry. You could have everything you ever wanted. All it would cost is any respect you held for a pony’s agency.”

Twilight shivered. And Sombra wants to craft it.

“How far would you go to save yourself if you believed it was the only way forward, Nova Shine?” asked Lord Star Swirl, giving him a meaningful glare, all while Nova stared at the ground, frowning.

Twilight watched him for a long while. What could she do with that kind of power? Make the perfect society as Star Swirl had mentioned?

A brief vision flashed through her mind as she considered it.

She sat upon a throne in Canterlot, as regal and as poised as Celestia herself. The black circlet stood atop her head, gems glinting in the sunlight that filtered in through the stained glass windows behind her throne. Her beloved husband living a leisurely life, loyal to her and her alone, while their daughter would grow up to become a wise, powerful unicorn filly, every bit their pride and joy. The world would be a world without banners and flags, where harmony, love, and friendship reigned supreme.

It was a perfect world, a golden world of peace.

But as she considered it more… she realized that, no matter what, so long as that crown sat upon her head, everything was coerced. After all, who could say no to her? Who could refuse the whims of the all-powerful Twilight Sparkle?

With that crown, she would be beautiful and terrible as the dawn. The world would bow to her whims. There would be no inefficiency when she could enforce perfection. There would be no conflict, for none could stand against her. The magic of friendship would be spread… or else. All would love her, under threat of pain.

She would never harm her subjects, never, but… but would anyone truly test that? Would anyone dare to stand against someone who wore such a crown upon her head even in the most trivial of matters?

The moment anyone put on that crown, they became the world’s supreme ruler, whether they wanted to or not.

She swallowed and let out a shaky breath. It was easy to say she could resist the pull of the Crown for now, but what if Equestria found itself at war with the Griffons? What if Equestria had their backs against the wall? Would she still resist? Would she resist if the House of Nobles enacted a terrible policy that brought harm to millions of creatures while she could do nothing about it?

Would she resist if she were Nova’s only hope?

Lord Star Swirl let that hang in the air, an ominous silence filling the room and feeling like it was pressing on all sides. It almost felt like it was restricting her very ability to breathe, with how uncomfortable it made her feel.

“What…” Nova licked his lips as he finally spoke up, his voice barely above a croak. “What about Gleam?”

Gleam blinked over from her spot. Twilight had almost forgotten she was there, given she had been nearly silent this whole time. Nova did have a point, though. If they were going to be hunting down these gems, what about her?

“Yes…” Lord Star Swirl began to pace. “Gleam, no offense, is a problem.”

Gleam’s expression shifted instantly to a combination of indignation, confusion, and the tiniest bit of hurt. Nova himself seemed to puff up at that as well, but Lord Star Swirl raised a hoof.

“That is not to say that she herself is a problem, but more the unpredictability she represents.” Nova let out a quiet hiss. “After all, Gleam has found herself the latest chosen vessel of Harmonia. Harmonia has a will of her own, and none of us will be able to control her or harm her until Harmonia’s will is done. Thus," he let out a long breath, “there is no way of keeping Gleam out of things. What Harmonia wills, Harmonia will see happen. And whatever Harmonia whispers into your young apprentice’s ear, Nova, she would be wise to listen, as would you.”

Twilight closed her eyes and felt the hitch inside of her again. They could no longer keep their promise to Timber Feller and Golden Glow. They couldn’t keep Gleam safe.

No matter what, Gleam was now in the line of fire.

“I wouldn’t be so dour, Twilight Sparkle.”

A hoof draped herself over her withers and gave her a gentle squeeze of reassurance.

“Harmonia will protect her,” Lord Star Swirl promised. “She has done so already, and not even Sombra could stand against her.”

It was reassuring to consider that, but Twilight already didn’t trust Harmonia now with the condition she’d put Nova in. After all, Harmonia was beyond their anticipation and control. What if Harmonia led Gleam into unimaginable danger and then didn’t protect her?

“Now, your way forward,” Lord Star Swirl removed his hoof and turned toward the door. “The front of your castle should suffice, but I would advise not to do this in front of prying eyes in the future.”

“Do what?” asked Nova, already starting to follow him, Gleam hot on his tail.

“You’ll see,” replied Star Swirl cryptically, before striding out of the meeting room, and after a few turns, out of the castle entirely, with Nova, Twilight, and Gleam stepping after him.

He made his way to the middle of the lawn between the castle and the school, and began to survey the surroundings. The school looked as busy as ever, with Smoulder apparently racing Silverstream above the building while their friends watched from down below.

“This looks like it should be a suitable place, though in the future, perhaps a modicum of secrecy would be best,” Lord Star Swirl noted, surveying their surroundings. “For now, it will have to do. We need some space.”

“So what are we doing, exactly?” Nova asked.

Lord Star Swirl held up a hoof directly in front of him. The air seemed to shimmer and wave, and before their eyes, the Alicorn Amulet appeared in his hoof.

“Wait,” Twilight stared at it, her mouth parting. “I thought… I thought it was up in Canterlot!”

“In the event that it is stolen away again,” Star Swirl frowned at it, “I have enchanted the orichalcum casing around the gem to be taken anywhere from around the world at my beck and call, and returned when no longer in use. Until such time as a proper vault with the required enchantments can be built, this will have to serve as a necessary countermeasure.”

“If it’s our way forward, does that mean it’s staying here with us?” Nova asked, staring suspiciously at the pendant that was innocently sitting in Lord Star Swirl’s hoof.

“Indeed,” Lord Star Swirl dipped his head. “If it is stolen away, immediately alert me. Although, if you could rework my own enchantment in the orichalcum to allow yourself to summon it at will, perhaps that would be better. But be warned,” he added sternly. “You know what the gem does to a pony. I don’t recommend using it under any circumstances unless there is absolutely no other option. Now...”

He stamped a hoof onto the ground, and at once, an earthen pillar erupted right in front of him, stopping about at breast height. It was a crude thing, nothing more than compacted dirt with a patch of grass on top, but Twilight had to admire Lord Star Swirl’s prowess. It seemed he was an Earth Elemental, given how little actual magical energy she was able to sense from him in that casting.

Lord Star Swirl placed the amulet atop the pillar, then motioned for everyone to step back.

“Stay about five meters away from the pillar, for your safety,” he advised. “I will stay here to make sure everything goes well and will step in if needed. If more help is required, we may need to bring in Starlight Glimmer as well.”

“But what are we actually doing?” Nova punctuated this with an impatient stamp of his hoof.

“Why, you’re destroying the Alicorn Amulet, of course!”Lord Star Swirl grinned.

Nova blinked, and even twilight sat there dumbly for a moment, before letting out a nervous chuckle.

“We’re… we’re destroying a Gem of Being?” Nova asked, staring at Lord Star Swirl as though he’d lost his mind. “You make it sound so casual.”

“Oh, you’ll find that the problem isn’t destroying the gem at all,” Lord Star Swirl replied with a dismissive wave of his hoof. “The problem is keeping them destroyed.”

Nova mouthed the words “keeping them destroyed” to himself, blinking several times in rapid succession as he tried to process what Star Swirl was suggesting. Twilight, however, realized what was happening almost at once.

“So you’re saying if they destroy one gem, it’ll repair itself?” Bright Gleam asked. When Lord Star Swirl nodded approvingly at her, she protested, “B-but that goes against the Second and Third Fundamental Laws of Magic! ‘All magic is directed by an outside force and cannot act independently’, and ‘All magic bound to an object is released when that object is destroyed, and cannot independently continue to function or repair the object that was broken’!”

“Indeed,” Lord Star Swirl beamed at her. “Broken enchanted objects cannot repair themselves or otherwise continue to operate, and the magic bound to it cannot simply spontaneously decide to repair the object in question once released. And yet, as we will demonstrate, the Gem of Soul here will continue to do just that. Quite the conundrum, isn’t it, Bright Gleam? A little puzzle for our Archmage to ponder. And as I said, when he realizes what is happening, well...” his smile grew proud as he looked over at Nova, who was already scrutinizing the amulet. “I cannot wait to see his growth.”

“Obviously this means that when we destroy it, something’s gonna force it to repair itself,” Nova noted, with the hint of a smirk. “Sounds like all I need to do is sense where the magical energy forcing it to repair itself is coming from.”

“Were it so simple,” Lord Star Swirl, replied airily, “but I shall let you see for yourself. Now, step far enough back to be safe, and do exactly as I say.”

Everyone retreated from this pillar, and Lord Star Swirl ushered Nova and Twilight forward.

“Twilight Sparkle, place a protective shield all around the pillar, even into the ground. About two full meters in diameter should be sufficient. It should completely envelop the pillar because we cannot allow too much energy to escape all at once.

Trivially easy, though Twilight had to wonder exactly how strong the shield would need to be maintained once the gem blew. There had to be a tremendous amount of energy kept inside. A glow of her horn later, and a perfect magenta bubble encased the gem and the pillar.

“Now Nova Shine, fire your own energy as a beam through her shield, and strike--”

“I’m sorry, what?”

Lord Star Swirl tilted his head. “What do you mean, ‘what’?”

“I can’t just fire a beam through her shield. Magic can’t go through other magic, remember?” Nova stared at Lord Star Swirl as though he’d just said the most inexplicably dumb thing Nova had ever heard.

“Under normal circumstances, yes, but have you two never merged spells before?”

“Merged…” Nova began.

“...Spells?” finished Twilight, sounding confused. “I’ve never even heard of that.”

Now Lord Star Swirl actually laughed, which made her and Nova look at each other, just as confused as ever. What was going through his mind right now exactly?

“Pardon the laughter, I promise I was not laughing at you,” Lord Star Swirl assured them, though he couldn’t stop smiling. “But… your,” he gestured at Nova, “surrogate sister, and your,” at Twilight, “sister-in-law is the Princess of Love, and yet you don’t know about merging spells? I just find it ironic, and quite amusing.”

Twilight wasn’t sure how to react to that. Was that meant to be a jab at her education, or…

“Well, for starters, what is love?” Lord Star Swirl asked, before glancing back at Bright Gleam. “Bright Gleam?”

Gleam thought about it for a moment, before Twilight noticed the tiniest smirk cross her face. “Filly don’t hurt me?” she asked.

Now Nova started laughing, and now it was Star Swirl’s turn to look completely confused. “‘Filly don’t hurt me’?”

“No more,” Gleam finished, looking quite pleased with herself. “Well, we almost got it right.”

“Got what right?” asked Lord Star Swirl, now looking to Twilight for rescue. “I don’t understand.”

“She quoted a song, and somehow, you quoted it back at her,” she replied, but she couldn’t help shaking her head. Oh Nova, what a silly student you’ve picked.

“Yes well,” Lord Star Swirl let it slide, before shaking his head and returning to his more serious demeanor. “Very well, I shall explain. I suppose my question was rather vague. From a conceptual standpoint, love is many things. But from a magical standpoint, love represents two souls joining in union, be it a familial bond, a friendly bond, or most strongly, a romantic bond. And this has tremendous implications on how magic works. If two unicorns’ souls have truly joined together, if two have become one, they would find that their spells could not only pass through each other, but also bolster each other, and reinforce each others’ spells. Their magic would recognize the other’s magic as, in a manner of speaking, being one and the same. I believe Twilight and Nova should be more than capable of performing this.”

“Oh,” Twilight said. The feelings from the last several weeks started to creep in now that he’d mentioned this. Her guilt at leading Flash on, the pain she felt when Nova said those things…

Nova looked away from her the moment Lord Star Swirl had mentioned that. She knew he had to be feeling the same.

“I don’t… think we will be able to,” he admitted softly.

Lord Star Swirl stared at them both for a long moment, and Twilight could feel the disappointment in them. Could he sense what was going on between them? The distrust, the lies, the pain?

“In that case,” his voice was mercifully even, “simply make a tiny gap in your shield until I give the signal, Twilight. Nova will fire the smallest and most focused beam of energy that he can. Aim for the gem itself. You will know when it is about to give out, but I will signal you all the same. When I do, Twilight should fully enclose the shield and hold on tight. Understood?”

Twilight’s horn glowed, and a small round hole appeared in it. Nova took a deep breath. With a surge of energy, he fired a beam of light straight through the hole, and it struck the gem in the dead center.

It could have been Twilight’s imagination, but there almost seemed to be something musical in sound from the beam he was firing.

The moment the beam struck the gem, there was a loud clink! sound, almost like metal hitting rock, and the gem began to glow so bright with red light that it almost hurt to look at. There was a sudden disturbance in the energy around them. Twilight could feel it the moment Nova’s energy struck it. Nova was pushing against something that did not want to be pushed against.

Seconds ticked by, and the light show was now drawing in some observers, mainly from the school. Smoulder and Silverstream had stopped flying and had settled down to see what was going on, and a couple of Ponyville Residents were now looking over. Twilight’s shield held firm, though it hadn’t really been tested, and Nova continued to fire away with the energy.

“Almost there, be ready,” warned Star Swirl, his horn glowing white as he prepared to shield them all in case it was needed.

Finally, there came an ear-splitting shriek of noise, as though something was scraping two pieces of metal together pressed as firmly against each other as they could. Star Swirl waved a hoof at Nova, who was already on it, his horn ceasing the beam at once. Twilight instantly closed the gap in her shield and began to concentrate, not entirely sure what to expect.

For a moment, the gem in the center of the amulet continued to glow with light, before all of a sudden, it shattered.

There was an explosion of red light, and Twilight immediately felt the strain in her shield. She channeled her magic and fired as much energy as she could into it, trying desperately to keep the bubble held together. The energy roared and crackled inside, but Twilight continued to hold on.

How… much… longer?

But then, she felt it. Her energy started to slip away. Cracks began to appear in the shield the moment she realized this.

Star Swirl tensed, but another beam of blue light shot itself at the shield. Twilight would have to time it perfectly to prevent any magic from escaping.

But rather than start to encase her shield in one of his own, the beam struck her shield directly. At the exact point that it did, her magic started to change color, neither blue nor magenta. From the point of impact, the shield began to change to bright white light. As the new energy washed over the cracks, the cracks mended. Twilight could feel the relief as they both strained against the explosion.

Twilight chanced a glance back at Lord Star Swirl. His eyes were wide and his mouth slightly parted as he watched this, but the moment he caught her looking, he smiled and nodded.

But after a time, the red light within began to fade. At this, Star Swirl motioned for them to cut the magic. They both let go as one, and the shield vanished. The excess energy that hadn’t yet expended itself harmlessly blew outward, ruffling their hair and rustling the grass beneath it. As the light faded, the entire circular area around where the amulet had been destroyed was gone completely, as though the earth had been scooped out in a perfectly spherical cut.

“How much energy is in that thing?” Nova asked, staring at the spot on the ground.

“As you may guess, quite a lot,” Lord Star Swirl replied, walking over and touching at the edge where the undisturbed earth met the sudden scooped-out section. “I don’t know the exact number, but I would wager that if it were to explode in the center of… say, Canterlot Market, it would cause extensive damage, but not enough to knock down any buildings. Still, any ponies caught too close could be seriously hurt. If Twilight’s shield had faltered at that moment, and you hadn’t reinforced it, you probably could have been blown all the way down the road, with all the injuries that went with it.”

“Is this really the only way to figure out where the Gem of Mind is?” Nova asked, still staring at the empty space. “Doesn’t sound very safe.”

“Unfortunately, for you, it is,” Lord Star Swirl nodded. “Any moment now, you’ll feel it, and you’ll know exactly why I delegated this task to you. Again, I could tell you where the Gem of Mind is hidden, but I’d be robbing you of the knowledge you will gain this way, meaning I would be making you less effective as an Archmage in the long run.”

“How did you do that?” Twilight asked, now sidling up beside Nova herself and scrutinizing the cut-out ground.

It was just so… so eerie, how the ground went from grass and dirt path to just a perfectly-round scooped out section.

“The shield thing?” he asked, giving her a quick glance. she nodded. “I don’t know,” he shrugged. “I intended to surround your shield with mine, but… something deep down was telling me it’d work. So I hit your shield with my shield spell and it strengthened it.”

“You both should give yourselves much more credit,” Lord Star Swirl smiled. “That was spell merging, and only two ponies of united souls could ever perform that. Yes, there will be times of conflict,” he admitted before Twilight could protest. “But I think it speaks volumes to the bond between the two of you, that even despite your conflicts, your souls are still joined at such a level.”

Suddenly, Twilight felt it, a sudden surge of energy from the exact spot that the gem had been mere moments before. It was like it had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, as though it had just… popped into existence!

The energy in question was invisible… at first. After a long moment of seemingly nothing happening, Twilight began to feel a rush of air from behind her. As they both watched, a great coalescence of red energy was pulled toward the center of the energy surge, and as they watched, it all compressed and condensed on that singular point. After that, there was a cloud of dust that seemed to collect and rush in as well, before it, too, all was pulled into the area of the energy. After a long moment, even the ground itself seemed to repair itself, with the dirt and grass reintegrating itself after having been completely atomized.

After several seconds, everything was like it had been minutes before. The Alicorn Amulet sat on the earthen pedestal, as though it hadn’t been blasted apart, glinting benignly in the sunlight. The pillar Star Swirl had made looked just as it had, with nary a single grain of dust misplaced.

The Amulet had somehow rewound time on that point and pieced itself back together!

“This is impossible...” whispered Twilight, staring in awe at it. “How can it just defy the Fundamental Laws of Magic like this?”

“That is for me to know,” Lord Star Swirl backed up to give himself some space, “and for Nova to find out. Destroying the gem and observing its re-forming is your path forward. I apologize for my swift exit, but now that you have been given your path forward, I’m afraid I must return to my mission in Dream Valley.”

“So soon? But you’ve only just arrived!” Gleam stepped forward.

“I’m sorry, Bright Gleam, but unfortunately, this is a matter of paramount importance. However, I am not unreachable,” he added before she could pout. “If you wish to speak to me, have your master connect to my Scrying Orb in about… oh, four days. I shall be working, but if I miss your call, I have enchanted my Scrying Orb to take a message. I would love to have somepony to talk to. It does get rather lonely over there, all by myself.”

“We’ll contact you if we need your help,” promised Twilight, giving him a thankful bow of the head. “Safe travels, Lord Star Swirl.”

“And Nova Shine,” Lord Star Swirl frowned, “one last thing.”

“Hm?” Nova looked up from staring at the gem that was still sitting on the crude earthen pedestal. Twilight figured he must have already been pondering what the cause was.

“Live your life,” Lord Star Swirl tapped the ground with each word. “You only have so much time, and this is the way forward, but do not throw yourself at the task to the exclusion of all else,” he warned. “You must find a balance. Train Gleam. Grow as a mage. Grow closer to Twilight. Perform your duties as the Archmage. Enjoy yourself. Work on this when you can, but give yourself time to rest and to think. Live your life normally, Lord Archmage. That is my final order to you. Do you have any objections?”

Nova shook his head. Where before he had looked dead on his hooves, and oh so tired, now, he looked… well, not energized, but he had that little spark in his eye that he always did whenever he’d met with an interesting puzzle to solve. Twilight felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude toward Trixie, Aegis, Gleam, and Star Swirl the moment she saw that. He wasn’t going to be right as rain, but this was a start. And hopefully, this would save him.

“Then I bid you all farewell, and I shall see you again when I return.”

And with a swish of his cloak and the tiniest of “pop”s, Lord Star Swirl vanished, leaving the three of them standing there to ponder the new way forward.

Author's Note:

Took me a while, but I got it done. One of these days, I'm gonna get back to working on ASC 15 and 16, but I had my muse strike at the right time for this chapter.

Lemme know what you think. A lot of exposition, but hopefully it wasn't a complete infodump.

Rytex out. Have a good day!

Comments

[RTStephens]

A lot of the early chapter felt like an intervention. Though it looks like things are finally working out for Nova Shine. Only at your lowest can you finally pick yourself back up.

These gems sound like a combination of The One Ring and the Infinity Stones. Three sparkly McGuffins to rule them all!

I always enjoy a round of magic craft and theory. And it's nice to see Nova given a project to work on rather than stew in his situation. That boy has a potty mouth when upset.

Looking forward to more!