Hope, Imagination, Magic, and Love

by MuffinPonyPoser

Separation

After I helped Apps two days ago, I went to work. I spent all that time I had previously been looking for animals on Terra. I had noticed a distinct lack of animals to help in the forest as of late, but I still look around at dawn.

It was a slow day, with several bears needing massages early in the morning, Princess Luna sharing her coffee addiction, and Terra struggling to form the words she sought.

But even so, Terra was showing definite improvements from when I had first talked with her.

“A-ee am Do-eeng well, yoorself?” She asked. It had gotten easier for her to speak, but she was putting the emphasis on the wrong parts of the words. Terra was also prone to start speaking in what I could only describe as gibberish. Although I knew it was a language of some sort, it seemed to require different sounds than I was used to. Sounds that I didn’t know a pony could make.

“Princess Luna, could I ask Terra something in private?” I asked the night princess.

Luna looked between us with a worried look on her face, but nodded. She stood up and left the room, though I didn’t know if she was listening behind a door.

Before I asked my questions, I took a couple of calming breaths. As excited as I was to help the dear, it was still nerve wracking to be helping with a problem of this kind.

“Princess Terra, I have a couple of questions, some about you. I just want to get to know you a bit better.” I explained with a smile.

Terra looked relieved at this, and gestured for me to continue. As much as her speech was being worked on, she found that she could talk through sign language. It was something I learned a long time ago for a friend, but I was happy to have a use for the dusty skill.

“Princess Celestia said that each alicorn has an unique sort of magic. I was wondering what… your was?”

Terra signed ‘Well, as much as I’d love to tell you, I can’t.’ I opened my mouth, but she put a hoof up. ‘Even if I knew mine, Discord struck a deal with me. He might be… unpredictable, but he’s got a good heart and a strong set of morals.’ She finished.

I chuckled slightly at this, and followed up with “That honestly sounds a little like Pinkie Pie, at least to me.”

Terra looked shocked. She started speaking in her language again, yelling and shouting things I couldn’t understand.

Princess Luna must have heard this, as she came in, glared at her sister, and said “Sister. Language. Pinkie’s mother did no such things, and is a nice, respectable mare. Pumpkin has nothing to do with how she turned out.” She looked my way, seeming to forget I was in the room, as she blushed and closed the door in haste.

‘Sorry about that, Fluttershy, but I was just’ She paused for a while. ‘Surprised is a good word.’

“Pinkie can be very surprising. Would you like to meet her?”

Terra shook her head, tears starting to form in her eyes. Knowing that what she was crying over was probably a taboo topic, I hugged her without a word. We sat on the cold castle floor as she let out some tears.

It seemed that many ponies were emotional as of late.

---

I went through so many emotions as I sat stuck in the sun that I could never have listed them all. Those that I know I went through were shock and outrage, if only because the sun seemed to grow brighter and stronger in my rage.

My mind turned to a conversation between my mentor and I as my mind raced for solutions. She had lectured me on the properties of alicorns after my coronation, as I needed to gain control of some of the more… drastic changes before they came to pass. Is this what Pr… Celestia was talking to me about when she said that I am supposed to embody magic?

My vision still purple, I looked around the core of the sun. It wasn’t as large as all the other parts, but I had a lot of room to move.

I thrashed around my cage, charging the shield in the form I was in. It wasn’t as effective as I had hoped, and I was bereft of the ability to cry or speak. It was frustrating, to say the least. Either way, with or without tears or voice, I was acting irrationally. I had always thought my way through problems, not brute forced them. Starting now would make no difference, especially with how much magic Celestia could make at any given moment.

First I looked at the spell matrix for a weak point, hoping my mentor had forgotten something minor that I could exploit.

Looking around, there were no limits to how far I could see with my magic-vision. I did have to move closer to zoom in on the matrixes, but the hour I spent scanning the walls enforced one thing in my head.

Celestia hadn’t messed up.

I sat still as I began to strain my mind for a solution, when a memory of Rainbow spinning out of control during a high speed stunt sprang into my head.

I don’t know if that would work, but I have to try…

---

It was still late afternoon, as Celestia couldn’t allow the sun to orbit our planet due to
The sun had flared. An hour or two had gone by, but the sun had not moved. It was a lot brighter, and everypony had to stay indoors or risk being blinded. It flashed, blinking over and over again as the Royal Guard were dispatched via a long ranged teleport. They seemed fine, though they had visors with heavy enchantments over their eyes.

Celestia said she could not risk moving the sun further away, as the light energy did not carry any heat with it. It was magical light.

In the midst of everything, I asked one of them to follow me so I could reconstruct the lenses for the citizens of Ponyville. He and his superior happily obliged, though they wanted to travel in pairs in case of emergency. That’s how Electric Burst the pegasus and Shocking Grasp the unicorn ended up at my boutique, right across from me as I levitated several gems that would dim the light naturally while allowing for enchantments.

Obsidian would have worked best, but I had run out of the transparent ones. Black glass was out of the question, as it would break under the strain of the enchantment put on the guard equipment. That left using a more reflective gem, which might counteract the dimming, or a reflective gem that was dark, so that the light reflected would be lesser. I decided on darker shades of sapphire, ranging from navy blue to black. I had plenty, as I had gone to get gems earlier that week.

I got into my zone, where I was able to make something like three or four of these ‘shades’ at a time, when I was snapped out of it by a bright light.

Everything around me dropped in a controlled fashion as I looked around for the cause of this.

“Sorry Miss Belle, I opened the curtain to check for a signal. Looks like Ponyville is hunkered up, ‘sides Sweet Apple Acres and Sugarcube Corner.” Shocking Grasp spoke up from the window of my workshop, the view of Ponyville covered up by a thick, snowcone blue curtain that didn’t clash with the pinks and purples of my workshop.

My lights were mostly off and it was still bright enough to work in my Boutique with all the windows adorned with similar curtains, which was a testament to how much brighter the sun had gotten.

“Mister Grasp, please. I may be a lady, but I am certainly not ‘Miss Belle’.” I admonished playfully.

“Ah. I get it, It’s ‘cause you’re such a rarity, isn’t it?” I chuckled lightly at his response. ”You know, I’ve seen dozens of recruits struggle with what you’re doing seamlessly. Or, well, you get the point. What's your trick?” He inquired.

I smiled, then responded with “Well, I imagine doing each action beforehoof. I imagine each step of making a dress, the stitches I put in, the cloth in the right places. I had to build up that habit, but it became easier to put together plans of any kind because of it!” My thoughts went to how many of my spells worked.

While I didn’t know much about arcane theory, I knew enough to figure out what I needed to do when applying illusions and glamours to dresses. I normally threw things together on the fly, as I had from the moment I opened my Boutique.

It helped that I specialized in Lumomancy, Gemancy, and Electromancy, two volatile magics and one anchor.

“As much as seeing how things work to build something new can be good, there are still downsides. You can easily be outclassed by any specialized mage, and your spells can’t get too complicated.” Burst spoke up in a monotone voice. She seemed bored and lethargic, despite the game of chinese checkers we were playing.

“Well, yes, but where I lack in power and knowledge, I make up for in versatility. I’m not a fighter, either. Aaaand...There! There should be enough shades behind me for a quarter of Ponyville. If you want, you could deliver them for me while I make more.” I made the statement sound more like a question, but I could see Burst’s excitement at getting to do something. She was very much like Rainbow Dash in that regard. “Oh! And if you see a prismatic streak flying around, could you give one of those to the pony attached to it?”

Burst gave a nod and donned her helmet. It was ugly and made me gag internally, but it served its function.

Burst walked over to the pile of shades and stuffed them gently into a saddlebag. There were much more visors than space to hold them in the bag.

“If you don’t mind dear, when you are done with that bag can I copy its enchantment?” I asked her. Being able to carry more around would be a lifesaver for me.

She chuckled and took off before giving me an answer. I DEFINITELY did not pout at her response.

---

I was taking shelter with Apps in Sugarcube Corner. She was pacing with what little room she had to move, mind obviously on her family.

From what I heard from the guard and Rarity’s periodic updates via magic fire, Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, and Scootaloo were holed up in my cottage with Rainbow Dash and Cheerilee. Dash was probably racing around to find those who were still out, and Cheerilee had the foals who were supposed to have had school today.

My cottage wasn’t as close to the schoolhouse as other buildings, but they had been in Whitetail Woods when the sun started being weird.

I felt a crash before I heard it, sure that Dash had gotten back with another pony or two. Lo and behold, Dash came in with Berry Punch and Derpy Hooves. The latter had a saddlebag full of letters, the former had Ruby Pinch under her barrel. Probably to shade her as much as possible.

Although Berry Punch had gotten a bad reputation for being an alcoholic, she was actually a protective mother who had struggled to get where she was. I went over to her for tea and drinks on occasion. The town had stereotyped her after an incident before Ruby was born, when she destroyed some of the Whitetail Woods while intoxicated.

The filly came at me faster than Dash could have, hugging me and throwing me off balance for a second.

“Hi Auntie Fluttershy!” Ruby exclaimed excitedly in her almost-singing-but-not-quite tone. It was endearing to see that she had gotten her Cutie Mark: a gem inside a red circle.

I looked at Berry with curiosity, glancing at her daughter’s Cutie Mark to give her a hint.

“We found out her thaumatic profile, which was Earth, Fire, and Order, and she decided to study. She actually just got that today at the library!” Berry said with a mixture of pride and joy.

I smiled and looked at Ruby. “What do you think it means?” I said louder than I meant to. I blushed lightly, but it passed rather quickly.

Ruby put a hoof to her muzzle thoughtfully. “I was looking up what each of those thome-thingies meant-”

“Thaumatic” her mother corrected.

“Right, when I found out that gems can be made with heat and pressure! I thought about trying to do that, and started looking up how certain gems were made, when I got my Cutie Mark!” She rattled out excitedly.

I hugged her, and noticed Dash looking at me nervously.

“I’m sorry sweetie, but I have to check on Dash. I’ll be back soon, and I’d love to hear what you want to do for your Cute-ceanera!” I said, walking past the pair and through the crowd. When I finally got to Dash, she looked more worried than normal.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“I’m worried about Twilight. Is she causing this? Is… is she getting hurt because of this? I just… I… *sigh* I don’t know.” Rainbow worried and theorized.

I put a hoof on her barrel. “Rainbow, worrying about it isn’t going to change it. Instead, let’s focus on what we can change, right down to the ponies that we can help in here. They’re scared, and I think you can change that, at least for a while.” I said with a smile and a hug.

Dash’s eyes started watering up, but she took a deep breath to calm herself. “While I’m helping here, can you check on Rarity? She’s sending us those letters, but she might be able to use your help with making those gem-shades or something.” She asked, almost pleading.

I nodded, turning to a guard to ask for his visor, when one of the guards Rarity pulled with her to her Boutique came through the doors.

“Yo! Rarity made these for all of you! Distribute these, then give any spares back so I can search for the rest of the groups!” She shouted into the confection shop, emptying her saddlebag of a bunch of visors, some with unicorn holes in them.

The ponies inside calmly distributed them, as they were part of the small community and were sure that everypony would get their fill. I briefly worried about what this would look like in Canerlot or another large city.

“Can I borrow one so I can go to Rarity?” I asked the guard who came in.

She smiled and nodded. “Why not come with me to hoof these out? We can go there together!” She said excitedly.

I must have looked taken aback by her energy, because she said “Sorry for my excitement, I’ve just been locked up all day in one place or another.”

I shook my head and told her “I was surprised, but I shouldn’t have been. Thank you, and yes. I’ll definitely go with you.” I was surprised at the confidence in my voice, as were Dash and Apps judging by the looks on their faces.

I giggled, and waited until the ponies had given any spare visors back.

There were none, and there were still many ponies inside who didn’t have a visor.

“Ponies! I think everypony should get a fair shot at these, but we need ponies who can help more than anything, as well as to get children to their families! Anypony who has a visor, please help the guard out. Anypony who doesn’t want to do that, please pass your visors up so that we can get the foals to Town Hall!” Rainbow shouted to the crowd as ponies started grumbling. A fire lit in each pony’s eyes as those who could help went forward to the guards to ask to help, and those who wouldn’t gave their visors to the guard who came in earlier.

Speaking of which…

“I’m terribly sorry, but what was your name?” I asked her.

“Name’s Electric Burst, nice to meet you.” She said with a cocky grin that reminded me of Rainbow, but kindness in her eyes reminding me of Twilight.

“Fluttershy, and likewise.” I smiled.

We exited Sugarcube Corner, and the visors made everything seem dark blue. But they did their jobs, so it was a small price to pay. What surprised Electric and I, however, was a semi sphere of magic that was reflecting light. It was large enough for a small group of ponies, but the look that Electric and I shared confirmed that this was a medium group of small ponies.

“Fluttershy?” came a harmonious, high pitched voice from inside the semi sphere. It could only be Sweetie Belle, but she definitely didn’t have enough experience or magic to fuel the sphere.

“Y-yes Sweetie?” I called back.

“This is really, really tiring. Is there any room in Sugarcube Corner for us?”

“... No. Sorry. But there is room at Town Hall, and we have some visors for you all that should do your job for you.” I offered.

“This isn’t a normal shield, it’s pass through. Had to be, otherwise we couldn’t have made it this far.” She explained.

We walked in, and it turned out that all the ponies had a hoof on another’s barrel, leading to Sweetie.

“This was actually Diamond Tiara’s idea, and Ms. Cheerilee approved it.” Applebloom explained.

That the any of the CMC was giving credit to Diamond Tiara was surprising, as they had quite the rivalry. It had to be true.

“Well, I got the idea from watching her cast magic, so…” Diamond Tiara responded.

This shocked me quite a bit.

“I’d like to speak with you two later. For now, everypony take a visor and head to Town Hall.” I turned to the schoolteacher. “Cheery, can you get them there and come back to inform the parents?” I asked pleadingly.

She gave a smile and responded with “Of course Fluttershy. Couldn’t very well leave them to cause havoc in the hall for too long!”

There was a chorus of “Heeey”s from the fillies and colts, and Cheery and I giggled.

---

The sun stopped blinking suddenly, and it moved to where it was supposed to have been this time of day. The guards were all worried, I could tell.

As suddenly as it stopped, a light bathed Ponyville, penetrating even the densest of curtains. Anypony without a visor was blinded, though they were told it would pass. I was one of those ponies.

It was honestly kind of ironic. I had all the colors of the rainbow on me, but I wasn’t able to see when I truly needed my sight.

“Hey, why can’t I cast any healing spells?”

“Wait, you can’t either? I thought it was just me!”

“What’s going on?!”

A chorus of voices followed, screaming uncertainty and fear.

These foals, I swear.

“STOP!!!” I shouted louder than I had ever before. I might not have been able to see, but I could feel the stares of all the ponies in the room. “Panicking is not going to do anything! What we need to do is take stock of our situation, and figure out what we need to do next. Those who can see, guide those who can’t over to me, and we’ll figure out a buddy system. Applejack?” I called out.

“Here. Whatcha need me ta do?” She called out in her usual country accent.

“You, along with any earth pony here who isn’t blinded, go around and try to figure out what happened with the magic situation.” I heard her grunt affirmatively, then heard shuffling from her direction. “Guards, we’re gonna need your help.” I called out to them.

I must have rallied even them, cause Split Sword, the leader of the division sent here, called out.

“What can we do, Ms. Dash?”

“I need you all to get in contact with the Princesses, figure out what happened with the sun. I also need you guys to patrol the Everfree, as monsters might be going crazy or decide that they should strike when we’re weak. Pinkie! Pinkie?”

I heard her call from somewhere upstairs. “Sorry Dashie, I’m kinda blinded. I should be good in a couple minutes, but I definitely can’t move around right now!”

Great. The only pony who can race around like nopony’s business and she’s blinded. Go figure.

“When you’re able to see again, can you get Discord to help? I’d ask Flutters to do it, but she’s not here, and probably out in the open.” I called up to her.

“Okie dokie loke!” She shouted from the second floor.

I heard shuffling around me as I was given a buddy.

“So, I’ll assume this is awkward for the both of us?” I heard an amused stallion with the barest hint of a country accent. So faint that it was nearly nonexistent.

“Filthy Rich?” I asked out to the pony leading me into the Cakes’ basement.

“That’s my name. Don’t overuse it now, okay?”

I sighed. “Yes, a little awkward.”

“So, how is Scootaloo doing?” He asked suddenly. My face must have contorted into surprise, as his next remark was “Yes, I know that my daughter is bullying Scootaloo’s friends, but I play no part in that. Spoiled Rich, my wife-to-be only because of Tiara, undermines any attempt I’ve made to dissuade her of that sort of thing. I root for those fillies, honestly.”

“Wow. I didn’t come to you about Diamond Tiara cause I thought you didn’t care. Sorry for making assumptions like that…” I trailed off, feeling guilty.

“I am a businesspony, and many forget that that is only my job. My purpose is to be a parent, not to ruin Tiara’s life by allowing her to push everypony away from her before she gets to know them.” he said irritably, though his irritation wasn’t directed at me.

I smiled. “Rich, I’d like to ask you a favor. It’s fine if you decline.”

“How big is this favor?” he asked, amused.

“I… I want to ask you to let me help you with branding. I can fly around with saddlebags that have your company logo on them or something.”

“If this is… repayment, or something of the sorts, then I refuse.”

“It’s more of a gift, from one friend to another. I do feel bad, but I think mentioning your wares to the Wonderbolts, asking them if I can get them in on spreading your business, is something I could do regardless.” I explained.

I waited a second for his response, and he finally followed up with “Sorry, forgot you were blinded for a second. Yes, I think that’s acceptable. But I can’t just allow you to do something like that, so I think I’ll make you a deal. Fifteen bits for every hour you spend showcasing stunts, like you do during Wonderbolt conventions in Cloudsdale, when you have the logo on your body, and large enough to see before hoof.” He bargained with me.

A chance to get some extra bitage and help out a new friend? Score!

With that settled, I not-so-patiently waited for my vision to come back in the meantime.

---

It had been several hours, during which Rich and I made smalltalk about what I would wear during stunts. We had whittled down the ideas to an outsourced, aerodynamic flight suit and a scarf of some kind. I was leaning towards the suit, but Rich said that they would have to split the cost evenly. As I wouldn’t dream of asking Rarity to be put out of her livelihood, I knew we would have to pay.

With Rares, the price might be hefty, but the material and how it fits its purpose will be optimal. It would NOT be cheap though. Although she could probably get the material somewhere or make it herself, that kind of rubber is still relatively difficult to manufacture due to how toxic the fumes from the machines that make it can get. Princess Celestia, Luna, and Cadance had all agreed that the toxicity would far outweigh the potential benefits.

Rich was practically begging for the scarf, as the design could be etched on multiple times, so that it was visible at every angle. The only downside would be that I might have to run my mane through it so as to showcase the thing. Otherwise, it would be overshadowed by my rainbow locks.

Things were looking up, at least somewhat!

---

My plan didn’t work, but it didn’t succeed either. The barriers were strained, but they were still intact. I needed SOMETHING to push the physical barrier over its limit. I had already tried going faster and faster, even breaking Dash’s speed record by a multitude of tens by now, but it was to no use. I was about to give up, when the finale of her out-of-control spinning took place.

Dash used the spinning to her advantage, by twisting it into momentum that would push her parallel to the ground, thus using all the kinetic energy to fuel her flight.

When I get back, I’ve got to thank Dash for rubbing off on me the way she did!

I twisted, getting ready to pulverise the barrier, when it simply… vanished.

The core was spinning out of control, but an aura returned it to normal as soon as it had spun itself halfway out of the sun. I used my newfound freedom to teleport and ‘fly’ to Equus.

Even outside of the high-energy environment, I still flew much faster than I should have, by thousands of times. My only visual cue of this was Equus getting closer and closer, much larger than it would have gotten unless I had been going 400 times faster than a sonic rainboom.

Then it became that small dot in the distance again, blocked to me by hundreds of millions, if not billions, of kilometers. I flew at a steady pace once again, hoping this was a mirage.

It wasn’t, evidenced by how I continued to do the same flight path dozens of times.

I was tired, a little hungry, anxious over what Celestia could have banished me for, and ready to just… end it.

This stress fuelled a spell I didn’t even know I had been casting, as a bright light filled my vision, and all magic within several lightyears was separated and barred from use from all beings. I could sense that even Discord couldn’t mess with the spell that severed magic, though the spell from earlierwas his doing. I teleported him, wherever he was hiding, to Celestia’s castle.

And then teleported the rest of the way there using the pent up magic that was floating in front of me.

Author's Note:

Meep.
I thank you all for reading

I hope this chapter wasn't too wordy, as I'm making an even wordier one next. It'll be a Bonus Chapter that I almost have complete, so enjoy and see you all next time!

Meep end.