Chapter 12
So… exploring ancient ruins is dangerous. I knew that, and yet… Sunset Shimmer looked around at the humans laying on the floor, convulsing in a weird mix of pain and relief as the overly saturated magic in the air flowed through their bodies. … and yet I did not expect this. I honestly can’t tell why I didn’t, I spent so much time trying to figure out how this planet works, and going over how magic could play a role, it was downright stupid of me to not think about something like this!
Ok, think, I need to make sure the humans don’t die. First because it would be morally wrong, and secondly because they are literally the only people on this planet for hundreds of miles and I am allowed to be greedy and I need to focus! She moves over to the still form of Gertrude, the heiress shivering as if she was in a snowstorm, her skin pale as sweat dripped down her brow. Alright… I don’t know much about human medicine, but color changing and not being able to talk or stand are probably bad signs… Sunset mused as she leaned down, casting a healing spell on the woman…
Only for Gertrude to jerk back as if she’d been hit. Pushing the spell away, Sunset grimaced, trying to consider what the heck she could do to fix this mess. Alright, so, magic is causing their bodies to react, but magic healing isn’t helping. And, according to a story I am hearing third-hoove, it is possible that the magic going away in less than fifteen minutes will kill them, somehow, not really sure on the details there, but point is that’s a problem, and I need to figure out how the magic is effecting them…
Looking down at the human woman, Sunset frowned as she realized that she didn’t have time for anything fancy. “Gertrude, if you can hear me… this is going to hurt. Sorry.” She said, her horn lighting up again as she prepared to cast a spell that would trace the flow of magic through the humans body. Nearly immediately, she saw Gertrude seize up in pain, and as the spell worked its way through her body, she saw why.
Every part of her is observing magic like a sponge absorbing water, and it’s like… it’s like her body is healing itself, but it’s overhealing with the excess power, and each overhealing causes it to heal itself again, but that causes more… it’s like she’s literally being ripped apart and stitched together, all over her body. And if the magic cuts out… then she won’t be able to heal the damage anymore.
Sunset stepped back, frowning at the realization of just how messed up her friends body was. Well, at least now I know what is causing the damage, and what will… kill them… if I don’t stop it. That’s more than I knew a minute ago. Now, I could wait till the magic dries then use my own reserves to heal each of them… no, with how extensive the damage is, even with gems to hold the extra power it won’t be enough, and what if there’s some other factor, like they get hit with shock from suddenly losing magic and that exacerbates the issue? Just because the human in the story made it out alive, that doesn’t mean they will… worrying won’t help, I need to act, now!
Pacing back and forth, she traced the flow of the magic through the ground beneath her, pulling on the power in the air to rip up solid stone flooring and reveal vast, intricate networks of carved ley lines, gems glowing with magical power, metals of all colors, all designed and operating as one to flood the air with magic. If I had time, I could spend literal years studying this runic network… it’s so different from any in Equestria, which makes sense if it was devised by a completely separate race with no connection to us but… no, focus! She scowled at her wandering mind as she traced the flow to where it left the enchantments and entered the air. In a vast circle, stretching from around the base of the massive shaft as far as she could detect, Sunset felt a huge, irregular break in the flow, and uncovering it she saw the problem.
A vast, twisted array of metal, stone, and gems greeted her, and she could see magic literally flowing out of one of the connections, taking on the appearance of a rainbow before dissipating into the air. That sight brought a smile to her face, not for how pretty it looked, but for what it represented. Her horn alight, she ripped chunks of gem and metal out of the ruined connecting area, grabbing the humans telekinetically and pulling them into a 10 yard diameter circle on the floor, peppering gems around the outside and connecting one edge of the circle to the gem leaking a rainbow.
Here’s hoping this works. She thought, and with a massive push of power, the spell circle she had created around them thrummed to life.
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David Williamson had been through many perils in his life. From escaping the slave dungeons of the citadel of Kraag Barrovar on Mars to a perilous three weeks dodging French gendarmes while attempting to extract a prominent member of a “smuggling ring” that Her Majesty's government took far to much an interest in for him to believe that the man only smuggled goods, he had fought and escaped numerous deadly situations. And so, when he woke up, his body feeling like it was inflamed as his stomach fought to reject his last meal and his head on the verge of splitting open, instead of giving a pithy one-liner like so many amateurs would, inspired by those ridiculous stories that were all the rage back home, he simply opened his eyes a little at a time as he fought to remember how he ended up here.
The sight of the orange unicorn tending to his men jogged his memory relatively quickly, and after he took a few moments to watch and ensure she was not harming his men, he began testing his weakened body, pulling himself upright, the effort causing him to moan with pain.
The Unicorn… Sunset’s head whipped around to see him, and he was taken aback when she… smiled? What the f-
“It worked!” She cried, which did not answer any of his questions.
“Ah… considering how I feel, I am afraid to ask what ‘it’ was if this qualifies as a success.” The mercenary captain replied, finally having pulled himself to a sitting position. We were discussing The Needle, she said it was broken, and then… oh.
“Well, you’re alive, and if you wait just a moment I’ll see about making sure you stay that way.” Sunset chided him as she finished inspecting his men, doubling back to the still form of Miss Bell, who she stood over like a protective guard dog. “And… if I’m being honest, I don’t know if it actually worked. We have about three more minutes before the pulse ends, and while I hope what I’ve done will keep us from running out of ma- thaumaturgic energy, well…” she shrugged at him, causing him to once again marvel at how human her body language was. “The only way to know for certain is to test.”
David took a moment to ponder that as her horn lit up, enveloping him in a warm glow that reduced the pain and weakness he felt across his body. With a sigh of relief, he looked at her and asked “well, for those of us who are not experts in thaumaturgy, would you mind explaining the basics of why that was necessary?”
She nodded. “In very simple terms, for ponies like me, that energy that hit you is part of our lives from the very beginning, so as we grow all the minor issues are passively healed by it. You didn’t have that, so when the energy entered your bodies, it interacted with them weirdly, trying to heal you but messing up, overdoing it, healing things that didn’t need to be healed, and… well, healing something the wrong way or to much can be like injuring it, so that made it heal more. This was made a lot worse by the sheer amount of energy you were absorbing, and it was to the point where if the magic got taken away, which it would have, your bodies would be… messed up, to put it mildly.”
“Well that sounds... unpleasant.” David responds, taking a moment to consider her words. “And now?”
Sunset gestures around, letting him see the circle they are surrounded by. Glowing crystals, each the size of his fist or even bigger, filled the perimeter, as smaller ones were physically embedded into the floor in the middle. “The circle let me taper off the amount of energy inside it, which let your bodies still heal without overshooting and making it worse. At that point, you all passed out, so I grabbed energy from outside the circle and did a basic controlled healing of all of you, although if you woke up hurting then apparently I need to do some more… but the point is, I hopefully figured out how to prevent you from dying… as long as you stay inside the circle until the outside is less dangerous, and as long as the little modification I made to the system beneath us to keep this circle powered holds out when the pulse ends, because otherwise you… well you might be fine now after being healed, although I should try more…”
“I see.” He replied, taking in her long, rambly explanation. Less than 24 hours ago, I was thinking of her as some inscrutable, fae-like creature, and now… well, now she seems more human than many of the men I’ve worked for in my life. I never expected a unicorn saving my life with magic and then going on a speech explaining her magic to make her seem more human, but we do live in strange times I suppose. “So, with that said and done… is there anything else to do but wait?”
Sunset paused for a moment after casting a healing spell over a nearly comatose Patrick, the Irish man relaxing and sighing as he started to recover. “Well… I guess so. The big problem is more of a long term thing…” She said, averting her gaze as if embarrassed.
Raising an eyebrow curiously, David looked over at her. “Something we need to be concerned about?”
The unicorn continues her sweep through the group, the next round of healing leaving all the men, as well as Miss Bell, in a calm slumber, no more signs of pain in the way they laid. “Well, to be honest, I might have torn up and modified a piece of an unfathomably ancient magical construct that had miraculously been continuing to function for thousands or millions of years to make this work, and that sounds impressive but I’m just kind of waiting for it to break and leave us back where we started or worse.” She admitted, which did not put either of their minds at ease.
An uncomfortable silence filled the air as the watch clicked down, both keenly aware of the risks that any part of the ramshackle magic circle they were inside. Looking around, Captain Williamson felt a wave of emotion come over him, letting out a wordless sound of frustration at just how helpless he was to escape. With everything he had gone through in his life, the lack of control was frustrating for him, and he silently swore If I make it out of this, I need to figure out how this thaumaturgy works. Not in the way the boffins back home will pick it apart and write about, but in ways that will let me figure out ways out of messes like this…
He was snapped out of his thoughts by Sunset as she tensed, looking over the group as a strange sound filled the air, as if the entire structure around them was letting out a deep, rumbling sigh. Sunset’s eyes widened as she listened, her horn glowing in the manner that showed she was using her thau- Her magic, I can at least be honest to myself about the abilities. She claims no connection to the devil, and I see no reason to not believe her, however she clearly uses magic. And has used it to save my life. The least I can do is not insult her by engaging in base superstition…
Sunset let out a sigh of relief as the rumbling noise came to an end, cutting off David's thoughts. “Well… how are you feeling now?” She asked, walking through the circle as if feeling the air. “There’s been a big reduction in energy in the air, and… well, it seems like you’re not dying.”
“I… yes, that is the important part of this situation.” David acknowledges, feeling a wave of exhaustion coming on as if the energy in the air was actually what had been keeping him going. Slumping forward, he nearly falls asleep before he feels a warmth coat him, opening his eyes to see Sunsets healing him. “Ah, I take it that was the result of the energy reduction?”
“Yeah,” Sunset replies as she works over the rest of the sleeping humans, her stance tiring w. “But… well, I don’t exactly know about the long term effects that sort of thing can have on someone, since… well, no one knows how humans respond to magic in their bodies. It would, if you were from Equestria, balance itself out and leave you healthier than when we came down here, but I have just absolutely no idea if that’s how humans deal with magic, and then there’s the issues I may have caused with the workings of the enchantments down here and…” She shrugs, a nervous look on her face as she ponders the possibilities.
David looks over at her, an eye raised as a simple thought runs through his mind. Her skills with magic saved our lives and may do so in the future, therefore the best thing to do is to keep her calm and rational. Panicked men make mistakes, and I would bet anything that the same is true for unicorns. “Is there anything we can do now about all that?” He asks, causing Sunset to stop short and ponder the question for a moment before shaking her head.
“No, it seems like the enchantment system is stable enough as is, and until the others wake up…” as soon as the words left her mouth a loud, piercing siren cut through the air, causing David and Sunset to both cover their ears. Looking down, the mercenary captain clinically noted that the other humans were waking up as the sound continued. They were simply in a deep slumber? Well now I feel foolish for not attempting to wake them earlier. He thought as he moved over to his men, inspecting them as Sunset checked on young Gertrude.
Looking them over, he felt relieved as many of the men reported no major injuries or pain, and sighed with relief as he verified that there were no outward signs of harm. Turning to Sunset, he paused when he saw the look on her face.
“What is wrong?” he asked her, and at her confused look he clarified. “Miss, you may not be human, but I recognized that look. That was the look of someone who wants to scream ‘run’ but knows no matter how fast we are we’ll never escape what is coming. Well, I’ve seen it on men before, and I’m still alive, so I know those situations are survivable.” He told her, adding the last part mostly for the benefit of the crew's morale, as it was in truth a not entirely accurate statement.
Sunset appeared to believe his words, taking a deep breath and looking over the humans with a critical eye before speaking. “To save your lives, I broke the magic system here. I hoped it was minor, but with how loud and annoying that alarm is…” A pulsating high note came through the steady background level of the alarm, drawing their attention just as they were able to start tuning it out. “It’s possible that alarm isn’t as bad as it sounds!” She says, clearly not believing it much herself. “But if it is, and if I’m right that these Needles are linked into the planet itself and how it functions… then we’re in a lot of trouble, and possibly the whole planet is.” She says bluntly, biting her lip as her mind runs through options to get them out of this mess.
“Well… what do we do now?” Patrick asks, the young irishman clearly antsy about the situation. Sunset looks at him, blinking rapidly.
“Unless you figured out how to do magic in the last few minutes… but even if you knew Equestrian enchantments you would still be on the same level as I am, able to see some of what this thing is doing but not enough to figure it out, and because I can’t figure it out we’re all going to die-”
“What are the enchantments in this place?” Gertrude asked, causing all eyes to turn to her as everyone wondered, but only Sunset asked aloud, What does that have to do with anything? “Humor me Sunset, this has a point.”
“These enchantments… they’re patterns and lines carved into solid rock, metal, and crystal, and what they’re carved in and what the pattern is means something, but I have no idea what beyond ‘this magic goes here’ and I need to decipher the patterns… myself…” She trails off as Gertrude raises a finger and points out of the circle to an uncovered part of the enchantments, where dim but visible magical energy runs along the grooves and curves.
Realization dawns on the unicorns face. “And you can see the magic flowing through the patterns… and the carvings, and the metal, and crystals… which means you can see as much of it as I can as long as it’s active… and now that I broke it so power is always flowing out into this circle, it’s staying active.”
David gets it second. “Which means this isn’t a one-unicorn job anymore, we can all put our heads together to figure out what is what here.” He said with a grin, exhilarated at the prospect of no longer being a helpless bystander reliant on someone else. Sure, playing ‘figure out the enchantments’ isn’t the most glamorous work, but it beats sitting on our arses and waiting for a unicorn to save us!
Sunset looks at him and nods. “Yes… but if any of your men feel ill, get them back to the circle here, or call for help, and I’ll try to heal them. Otherwise… well, we’ve got an entire floor to tear up, a massive amount of enchantments to look over and decode, and an alarm that might mean things are going to get bad at any moment.”
“What, is that all?” David asks sardonically.
“Well, keep in mind captain this is only my first time on one of these adventures. One must not get into too much danger during ones first time” Gertrude points out, causing Sunset to laugh as David tips his nonexistent hat in recognition of the verbal riposte.
Sunset interrupted before either of them could say another word. “If you want to talk about how easy it is, first you should do a bit of work!” She says, leaping forward and tearing up sections of the floor with magic to reveal the enchantments underneath, the others following her out. The humans felt woozy as they left the circle, but they had been in a moderate magic environment long enough that their bodies were not at risk of death, and they quickly went to work doing the same thing with muscles, eyes, and notepads marking all of the patterns in the ground.
Looking out over them, Sunset let out a sigh. Well, it could be worse. I could have not saved their lives and messed up The Needle… but for some reason I don’t think this is going to be all that easy… She thought, feeling the sheer size of the power reserve they were dealing with. Pushing those negative thoughts to the side, she got back to work. A planet (might) be counting on me, no time to get cold hooves!
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Really enjoying Sunset working with actual mechanics instead of "it happens because magic." The science fiction tag is wholly justified and I'm pleased by the plot's progression so far. The same goes for Sunset's character development; still ambitious but not callous anymore, with a good portion of growing self-awareness of her (past) flaws. Your writing has also improved quite a lot since the first chapter. The roundabout but civil manner of speaking/thinking shown by the humans, even present in their swearing, fits the age of colonialism the setting is based on. I have a guess what the needles are meant to do but will refrain from stating it in case I'm right.
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Thanks! I always love figuring out the mechanics behind things like magic, so this is a bit of a self-indulgent story for me in that regard. And I am glad you are enjoying her character development, if I'm being honest on the re-read I did during the end of the hiatus I was sort of kicking myself for not adding another two or three chapters to make it more explicit what was happening in that regard, but I'm glad it was clear what was going on.
I am really glad my writing has noticeably improved, that actually means a lot to hear, and knowing that I've got the tone down enough that no one is calling me out on "that's not what late 1800's British people sounded like" is also good.
As for your speculation, even if you did post it I could neither confirm nor deny.
You now have fifteen minutes to reach minimum safe distance...