Rehabilitation 11.3: Consulting Magic
When Twilight woke one morning, something was wrong.
No, it wasn't just 'something'. Everything was wrong.
She felt... scared. Paranoid. Activated. Like a cockatrice was just waiting around the corner, ready to jump out and- her logical mind kicked in and asked how and why that would ever happen outside the Everfree. But even if that was unlikely, she couldn't stop thinking about other dangers.
Twilight looked out the window and saw Rarity mishandling the weather again – not a thundercloud, so she wouldn't electrocute herself, and not a major blizzard, so she wouldn't freeze, but she might catch a disease getting drenched by all that rain.
Twilight saw Derpy pulling the apple cart to town as usual, and she knew it was inevitable that Derpy's eye problem would cause her to trip and die someday. But no… that's a bit extreme, isn't it?
She left the library and walked through town, suppressing her unusual impulses to stop the townsponies from going about their everyday tasks because they might get hurt.
She tried to calm down and think logically despite her fears, which weren't easy to ignore at all.
Fluttershy might eat too much sugar after throwing so many parties and die of obesity? Maybe, but that's a long way away, and Fluttershy's not that prone to overeating.
Rainbow might get hurt by her animals? Wasn't it her special talent that she was good with animals?
Applejack might cut herself in the middle of making a new outfit? Maybe, but she's a tough earth pony, and she has plenty of practice, right?
Pinkie might get hit on the head with a falling apple while bucking a tree? Now Twilight knows her mind is playing tricks on her.
Granny Smith will die of old age?
Twilight froze. That… wasn't a mental trick. It was a brute fact. An inevitability. The only danger she saw that wasn't a 'maybe'. She looked around and saw it some more. Soon enough, the paranoid fears were replaced with a rational one, that one day everypony she ever cared about would die, and she might or might not even be there to see it.
Twilight turned around and raced back to the library. Riddle had lent her the Stone some time ago, making her take an Unbreakable Vow in addition to the contract she signed on the train just to be told about it.
But she hadn't seen how important the Stone is until just now. HOW could she NOT have noticed something so OBVIOUS? Not to mention pressing and urgent.
She hated to admit it, but Silver can wait. He's not in immediate danger. In fact, he might be the only pony in existence who isn't in any kind of immediate danger at all, if he's beyond Space and Time. It's everypony else that's in danger. Understanding and reverse-engineering the Stone has to come first.
She, as with almost everypony else in Equestria, failed to notice anything amiss with her Cutie Mark. As far as she knew, it's always been a book floating in front of the night sky, opened to its centerfold. The left page depicted a wand producing a green flash, while the right showed an infinity sign.
She still felt a sharp sense of everything being wrong, but the impending inevitability of everypony's death was overriding that sense and focusing her attention on what really mattered.
How had she not seen it before? The final barrier to friendship and Harmony is the thing that always, every single time, prevents them from lasting forever. The biggest barrier to friendship, Harmony, happiness, and even Magic itself, is death.
The previous night…
Riddle detected it very early on.
The biggest barrier to my future happiness is a lack of love.
As soon as that unusual thought persisted in his mind, he knew something was wrong.
It took a trip to a private location, an animagus transformation, and an invisible foray amongst ponies he knew to deduce what had happened.
When he mentioned the problem of swapped Cutie Marks to Celestia and Luna at the dinner table – neither of whom had new marks or mental states themselves, likely a result of their ascendancy – Celestia said that she had already asked Discord about it. Chaos had nothing to do with it, though Chaos was enjoying it.
Celestia suspected that Harmony is responsible, somehow, so she will not interfere unless the problem persisted for longer than a day. Who knows? Perhaps 'walk a mile in somepony else's horseshoes' day had just been invented. Harmony works in mysterious ways, after all; mere ponies often have trouble understanding its design until after the fact.
If not for his knowledge of the Mirror, he would have scoffed at her superstition and lack of concern.
Celestia then proceeded to ask what his temporary talent had become. And how did he figure it out so quickly? Nopony else seems to have noticed.
He said his alien nature gave him an edge, but he declined to answer the first question.
The biggest barrier to my future happiness is a lack of love.
After dinner, while sitting in Night Court with an open and forgotten book in front of him, the thought continued going through his mind, as if on repeat.
The biggest barrier to my future happiness is a lack of love.
A blue, crystal heart, held by gold filigree. That is his temporary cutie mark, hidden beneath his cloak.
The biggest barrier to my future happiness is a lack of love.
Even knowing his mind was being influenced, he couldn't shake the certainty of that thought.
Dumbledore. Potter. Luna. Celestia. All claim they have those they love; all claim they have those who love them; each has an incredibly bright Patronus.
Therefore, he needs someone to love, and someone who loves him, if he wishes to learn the Patronus.
That love does not need to be sexual, and in fact has not been sexual, empirically speaking. Of those who can cast the true Patronus, none of the best have used romantic thoughts thus far.
Nor does that love need to be based in genetics. Luna and Celestia are not sisters by birth. There does seem to be a strong tendency for a requirement of some kind of familial love – parents, siblings, children – but that avenue is closed to him as well.
Two of those three avenues are closed, the thought occurred to him. You could, theoretically…
He shook his head. That left only platonic love, the love of friendship.
But how does he get it?
You do not get platonic love, answered his own mental certainty, an echo of everything he'd heard from Night Court. You give it and you receive it. And you are already receiving some, despite giving none.
He glanced at Luna, sitting on her throne.
How can he come to have enough for the Patronus charm? How can he receive more love?
By giving some yourself.
How can he 'give' an emotion he does not even feel?
Start by going through the motions, suggested that same voice. It sounded like Luna's. All habits start as cobwebs and end as chains. Definitely like Luna's. In order to achieve the mental habits of happiness and love, you must start by laying the first thread of spider silk.
What 'motions' must he- No.
Yes.
NO.
YES.
Riddle sighed aloud. He was tempted to leave and wait out 'Harmony's design' in his human form. But if he happens to be in his human form when the mark swap is undone, and his mark becomes stuck like this… that is something he does not want to risk.
Don't you want to be happy? asked the incessant voice, which now seemed to be Mr. Potter's.
He does not care to pursue happiness. Opening the non-magical empathic pathways in his brain is one thing…
That's not a denial. Do you want to be happy?
Not if it means…
That's REALLY your limit? asked the voice, which now seemed to be his own. THAT? The most difficult ambition ever pursued by the modern world's greatest wizard has ground to a halt due to a mere…
…
…
…
"Luna."
She opened her eyes. "Yes?"
"You wanted to know my temporary talent, yes? I know your sister asked the question, but you also seemed curious."
She raised an eyebrow. "I am."
"If I tell you, will you refrain from telling her?"
She smiled. "I shall, if that is your condition for telling me."
He lifted his cloak, exposing the blue crystal heart.
Luna gasped. "That is…"
He nodded. "It is. And it's informed me of the next step I should take."
Luna's smile widened. "Go on."
"It seems to think that if I go through the motions of platonic love, I will eventually feel it from within myself."
"Not a poor thought," Luna remarked. "What motion in particular?"
"Guess."
Luna's smile widened even further. "If my guess is right…" she stood from her throne and descended to his level. "You've seen and felt the movements, and now you shall do it all yourself, yes?"
He nodded.
"Then you may go through that motion whenever you are ready."
"Even if I don't mean it?" he asked. "Even if it feels like a lie?"
That dimmed her smile and gave her a visible moment of pause. "That is a very good point. Do whatever you think is right. I shall not object either way."
And she stood there, waiting.
After an uncounted number of seconds, or maybe minutes, and after prompting and prodding from his temporary talent, he decided to do it.
He stepped forward, and for the first time, he hugged her.
The first thought that came to Twilight when thinking of the Stone was that it might be the product of a ritual. Or, perhaps, it might actively be performing some kind of ritual each time it's used. Rituals are permanent, and the whole premise of the Stone is applied permanence. Plus it comes from a world where rituals are more common.
She's been looking into rituals recently, for a number of reasons. First, it's one of the few kinds of magic that might actually be powerful enough to affect Time and Space on the scale she needs. Second, it's a fairly new field to her, what with the historical ban. She was a bit worried she might be going down a bad path with how much giddy excitement she felt at the prospect of exploring a new area of magic, and she expressed this concern to Celestia, but Celestia reassured her that it is only natural for one such as Twilight to experience such emotions when learning something so naughty and novel. So long as her moral character remains intact, she will lose her excitement soon enough in the face of what so many rituals require.
That sentence had sobered Twilight, as did some of the sample rituals Celestia sent her to 'understand the field', but Twilight pressed on regardless. If she wishes to master magic, she must understand rituals. It's an area of magic, after all.
The Stone doesn't seem like a bad thing in itself, so if it is the product of a ritual, it would be helpful to know the ritual. Or on the pessimistic side of things, if it is sacrificing something to achieve its effects, it would be extremely important to know what it's sacrificing.
So Twilight began thinking of potential sacrifices to achieve the effect of applied permanence.
One thought was permanently sacrificing an object's ability to be manipulated by magical shape-changing in order to permanently apply one final magical change. Even if that idea was plausible by ritual magic standards – and she didn't know if it was – it's clearly not what the Stone is doing, since objects could be 'permanently' changed any number of times, so she kept thinking.
'Stone of Permanence' is actually a misnomer, come to think of it. It's not imposing permanence, it's imposing a new 'default' state, one that can be changed any number of times by the Stone. Were there any obvious ritual ideas to produce that effect...?
"Is there anything else your temporary talent is telling you to do?" asked Luna as they walked from the breakfast table to her bedroom. "You might never get a better chance to make so much progress so quickly."
"Just one thing," he said. "But I'd rather not talk about it. In fact, if you'll excuse me, I think it's time I consult Twilight Sparkle about undoing the swap."
"How do you stand it?" Twilight asked after the situation had been explained to her. In particular, she asked this question after Riddle pointed out that she currently bore his mark. "I see danger everywhere. I see death everywhere. How do you stand it?"
The edges of Riddle's cloak lifted to expose a bat wing, and he aimed his nose downward, causing his glasses to slide down his nose a bit, which in turn revealed his hidden horn and his thestral eyes. "By achieving immortality, of course," said the alicorn within their established privacy barriers. "Celestia told you I can revive myself, no?"
"How do you stand seeing everypony else's deaths everywhere?"
"Ah." His effects returned to their normal places, cloaking him in the ordinary once more. "I think you would not like the answer to that question."
"Please," Twilight begged. "I have to know."
He furrowed his eyebrows. "Promise to tell no one else, and I'll tell you."
She didn't hesitate.
"Very well. For a bit of background, as you know, I did not grow up in this universe. I grew up in a societal environment that, according to Luna, was comparable to some households that could be found in Equestria a thousand years ago. An example statistic of what that means is that only around thirty percent of adults score zero on what modern ponies call the Adverse Foalhood Experience test, and around five percent score four or higher, with myself falling into that last category, although my own score would be closer to eight or nine."
"Meaning...?"
Riddle raised an eyebrow. "I honestly thought that would mean more to you than most ponies."
She shook her head. "It's been a while since I touched up on psychology."
"Then I suppose I'll have to take the direct route. It means, among many other things, that around one in five adults experienced sexual abuse in youth, with more females experiencing it than males, of course."
Twilight's eyes widened in horror.
"That particular statistic was from ancient Equestria, according to Luna-"
-her eyes widened in further horror-
"-but my own experiences and Legilimency suggest that the rate is currently similar back home, though of course such things are rarely discussed or hinted in polite society, and 'abuse' can mean anything from merely witnessing incautious or uncaring parents in the act all the way to hardcore rape. Not that I experienced that particular abuse, but it should paint an accurate picture of my universe. In any case, your question involves my own mental state, so without going into too much detail, my childhood memories are primarily fraught with shouting, physical violence, and neglect from the orphan mother, though in the presence of visiting adults she was all smiles. For the longest time, and especially during my formative years, I experienced no care from others, and I saw 'goodness' primarily used as a camouflage for evil. Thus I did not develop the capacity to care for others and I came to view all shows of morality as masks for hidden malice. And given that Legilimency can only show you those thoughts which your own mind is capable of comprehending, I was never disabused of that notion. Not until I'd spent a few years here, and even then it took time to witness and understand the undeniable counter evidence. In summary, Ms. Sparkle, I stand my 'special talent' by being a psychopath."
Twilight had been frowning more and more heavily as he explained, but she outright gaped at that last word. She knew of psychopathy, of course, but it was so rare that she'd never personally seen it. Maybe Diamond Tiara had been on that path, but after Princess Luna and Cadence intervened that didn't seem to be the case anymore.
Sombra had been a sociopath, not a psychopath, the same with Nightmare Moon. They still felt things strongly and wore their emotions on their sleeves, negative though they were.
With the exception of a few Crystal ponies – all of whom hailed from a thousand years ago, and thus are in most need of the Princess of Love's personal attention – everypony Twilight's ever met has had an abundance of love and caring within them. Everypony except Riddle, apparently.
To have nothing positive at all… through no fault of his own…
"Though hopefully not an unrecoverable psychopath," Riddle remarked. "How have you been handling my talent?" he asked curiously.
"Research," she said at once.
"About?"
"The Stone."
"Ah. Productive. Have you made any progress?"
She explained the only idea she's had thus far, as she was bound to do if he asked.
"Hm… interesting. Not bad for your first few hours, I suppose. But you are right that it is not the answer. Now about the Cutie Mark situation. If you have any ideas on how, I believe it is time to return everypony's talents to the ones who can handle them."
Twilight didn't need any more prompting. She hated feeling like this. She searched her excellent memory, remembered the half-finished spell she'd read only once, and used a locating charm to find that the ancient scroll from Celestia's private library had somehow ended up in the treehouse of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Twilight sighed and got to work. Once she fixed this mess, she was going to ask some very careful questions about how it had ended up there.
Eventually, after a few more hijinks and plenty of theorizing, she was surrounded by her friends who still loved each other, even if they were uncertain about the paths their lives were taking.
She completed Starswirl's unfinished spell.
"From one to another, another to one. A mark of one's destiny, singled out alone. Does not make the stallion, does not make the mare. What makes us who we are is where we place our care. Change by magic sown, by magic be undone."
Upon the completion of the 'spell', Riddle watched as Twilight Sparkle disappeared in a fashion he had seen before.
He wondered if she would fully ascend…
…but no. She returned with a mundane mane upon her back.
After the ceremony and pomp and excitement of the day died down, after she had settled into bed for the night, Princess Twilight thought very carefully, and very hard.
While under the influence of Riddle's talent, she had reasoned that Silver can wait just slightly longer than her friends. He is younger, after all, and he might be frozen in Time. Or out of Time. She had decided that the Stone must be solved before Time and Space is solved.
She had concluded that death is the ultimate enemy of friendship. Even if every other barrier is removed by happiness and magic and progress, death shall always remain. Unless she does something about it.
Now that she's free of Riddle's strange talent, whatever it is, she found herself asking if that reasoning was wrong. She needed to know if it was wrong.
…
…
…
If there was a flaw, she couldn't see it.
As she came closer to sleep, the filters on her mind disappeared and she grew more certain about where she would be focusing her research.
Tomorrow morning, she would ask Riddle for 'Free Transfiguration' lessons. She would begin studying pony anatomy. And she would try her best to understand the Stone of Permanence.
She would also, after consulting with Luna, give Riddle a hug to hopefully help a little with his psychopathy, even if all the books say it's unrecoverable at his age, which is why it's incredibly important for parents to prevent it by providing true empathy and love. She even decided to go a step further, using her new priorities to let him know that his fear of death was right, proper, natural, and good, but he doesn't have to be so afraid anymore. And not just because he's immortal, but because ponies do care for him.
Then, after consulting with Luna a bit more, and after getting Cadence's and Riddle's permission, she occasionally used Starswirl's unfinished spell to swap their marks – only their three cutie marks – giving to Riddle the talent of love, giving to Cadence the talent of magic, and giving to herself his unpleasant talent of seeing danger everywhere, since she couldn't stand the idea of giving it to Cadence, even for a minute.
She could handle it.
Barely.
She could handle it only because it drove her to save everypony faster. Even still, she could only handle it once a month at most.
On Riddle's end, he could likewise only stand a talent of 'love' once a month. At first.
Unlike Twilight, the more he used it, the more he could tolerate it. The more he tolerated it, the more useful he found it. The more useful he found it, the more he accepted its advice. The more he accepted its advice, the faster he progressed, the closer he got to some unknown destination.
Until one day…
One day he was having a conversation with Luna at the dinner table.
He'd completed his mandatory Changeling sense session earlier and had already deactivated his ability to magically detect emotions for the day, despite the fact that he had begun to use it more at the insistence of 'love'. But 'love' also insisted that he provide regular rest to his empathic mental pathways.
It's his brain, after all; it requires recovery periods after hard work. Like building a muscle, he explored his own limits and gauged when to exercise and when to recover.
So at that particular moment his artificial empathy wasn't active. He felt no love from others, or any other emotion unless he made eye contact, and even then it was only the occasional flicker. Both his magical and mundane methods of feeling the emotions of others were inactive, since he made eye contact with no one.
Luna asked him about the guard's current training, eventually touching upon their portkeys to and from the barracks.
He explained every bit of his original reasoning, since he had not done that before, mentioning both the obvious efficiency aspect of having a guard that is always available and always on time, but also the effect on morale, citing that extended travel time to and from work each day can negatively impact one's mental state, and he wanted his soldiers to have peak mental performance, not just physical. He'd lived with a long commute himself once upon a time (when working at Bourgin and Burke's, commuting from the muggle world without Apparation or Floo for reasons that, in retrospect, were stupid) and he did not like it at all.
In an off-hand comment sort of way, Luna said, "That was considerate of you."
And in that moment, something stirred within him. Something that caused a confused frown to reach his lips.
Luna had tried compliments before as a way of helping his progress, but they were never the right combination of true, motiveless, and meaningful to have any effect on him. His mind had rejected all of Luna's attempts as false, forced, and/or as things he already knew about himself. He accurately evaluated them as attempts at emotional manipulation. His brain had a long history of seeing almost all praise as flattery, and those paths of pattern recognition remained always active. Regardless of the motive behind her manipulations, they were still manipulations – calculated words to produce an effect, not spontaneous speech.
Even Luna eventually admitted, to herself more than to him, that she wasn't being fully honest with that tactic, so she dropped it.
But in this moment, he knew her words weren't forced, he hadn't considered it before, and…
The feeling passed as quickly as it had come. The emotion he had imagined himself feeling went away and his mind settled back into its standard 'desert' of apathy, which now seemed drier and emptier than usual.
But from that moment forward, he began to notice the ways in which Luna was in danger. She did not cast 'taste-testing' charms on her food. She seemed vulnerable to attack. She was utterly at ease around him.
He had noticed these things long ago, only caring about them when he wanted to make a point, or when he considered moves for or against her. Now, from time to time, his mind increasingly and incessantly reminded him about these vulnerabilities.
Receiving Mi Amore Cadenza's talent would bring temporary relief, but when Ms. Sparkle reversed the switching spell, the paranoia would return.
Eventually it got to the point where he couldn't ignore it.
So he began casting his own array of taste-testing charms on Luna's food – as subtly as he'd always done for his own. But that was only the beginning. His brain began to suggest that he act on other ideas he's had as well, things that would require significant effort on his part.
He suggested that Luna adjust strategy entirely for her Night Court: she should not appear as an ascended alicorn princess, lest ponies listen to her for her appearance and status instead of her wisdom. She should open a clinic as an ordinary earth pony with a unicorn assistant, competing with all other talk therapists on the free market without an extremely unfair advantage. He would advertise her services and come up with strategies to spread her wisdom far and wide, which should prove advantage enough.
Luna did not shut down Night Court, but she did jump for his idea as soon as he made it, which meant she was in less danger from assassination attempts for at least part of the night. It took some time to establish, but portkey travel to and from her clinic in Manehattan eventually became a nightly occurrence for the two of them.
Riddle also found himself analysing therapy clients and Night Court petitioners for potential threats. He invented a role that required Luna to allow him to listen in on the sessions, becoming the Night Court 'watcher' and the therapy 'recorder'. He recorded each session and presented the records to the petitioner/client for later review. The petitioners and clients were, of course, informed about this beforehand. For those who desired a completely private audience with the Princess, Luna now informed them that the Court Scholar would be present, but he would not be able to hear. He could still see, and that was enough for safety.
Luna accepted his honest excuse of wanting to be more generally helpful to the causes of Night Court and talk therapy. When the clients allowed their petitions to be made public, more and more clients began to arrive. Riddle had predicted that part in advance – he continues to find her advice very helpful, even when it's not directed at himself. Perhaps especially so. Though he could tell Luna suspected ulterior motives.
He also stopped taking break days. He worked as Court Scholar / Royal Fool / Therapy Assistant for the full seven nights of the week to ensure he would always be present for threat analysis.
This did not conflict with his generalship of the reserves. He did that during the day. He'd never broken his habit of polyphasic sleeping. That full night of respite had only happened once.
The transition to literal full-time work was when Luna asked directly about the change in his behaviour.
He said he wasn't ready to talk about it honestly, but he assured her that he didn't think she would dislike any of his hidden motives if she knew them.
Riddle seemed to have more energy each day as well, despite the increased work load. He looked forward to each new session as Court Scholar – a daily, consistent anticipation that he'd never felt for any other life ambition.
He had looked forward to certain moments as Lord Voldemort, the completion of clever plots and the success of various maneuvers. But those feelings had been fleeting, rare, and somewhat random.
This time his emotions are constant and regular, despite the cause being fleeting and random. He can't predict when Luna would say or do something to produce a phantom feeling of 'love' within himself, but it only happens in her presence, so the logical thing to do is to maximize the time he spends there.
His cynical side pointed out the similarity to a gambling addiction, to Mr. Potter's muggle books speaking of studies about rats trained by random food dispensers to press levers until they die, but this new side of him didn't seem to mind that possibility.
He could feel himself developing a change in perspective, a growing… optimism? No, optimism isn't the right word. Optimism is the antonym of pessimism, not of cynicism. The English language should have a right and proper antonym to cynicism, but it doesn't.
Happiness and faith are two words that come to mind as antithetical to cynicism, but neither properly describe his recent state of mind, even if they're closer than optimism.
The firm knowledge that things are slowly getting better, that the world isn't so bleak after all, despite its many, many flaws… 'high spirits'? No, that phrase often refers to temporary states, not persistent ones.
He presented the question to Twilight Sparkle, since Luna would understand why he was asking, and Ms. Sparkle didn't hesitate to answer that he was describing what she felt every day – the feeling of friendship.
For the first time since arriving in Equestria, he did not roll his eyes at that phrase – externally or internally. He actually considered it for a while, wondering if it might be true.
Since he was already there, Riddle asked Twilight what progress she's made on the Stone.
She replied that it was slow going, so can he please let her use the Stone to heal the elderly? (She's allowed to ask such questions, but her Vow prevents her from using the Stone outside of research purposes without explicit permission.)
"No, you may not."
She begged him, saying that if he was trying to be a 'good' pony, he needs to start acting like it.
He shook his head, told her to stop trying to manipulate him, and then said that even if he was a 'good' pony who shared her desires, he swore an Unbreakable Vow to not destroy the world, and that is preventing his consent to her request, regardless of his personal feelings on the matter. Though his personal feelings would also have him say no.
"Why?" Twilight asked, still in that pleasing tone.
Consider:
Sombra has returned, but chooses to go incognito rather than attack the Crystal Empire. The Dark Lord hears of an amazing magical process that can heal the elderly. He investigates, perhaps pretending to be elderly himself. He sees, understands, and steals the Stone. He uses the power of the Stone to, say, make an armory of dragon-scale armor, recruit foreign mercenaries with Stone-made gold, and then launch a full-scale invasion of Equestria. And that's if he sticks to conventional warfare. Magically self-perpetuating effects, Riddle suspects, would be a world-ending threat with the Stone in hoof – or on horn, rather.
No. Twilight may not test that, not even to find a way to guard against it. Not yet.
Yes, he knows Sombra is in prison. But is Sombra the only evil pony in existence? No? Then the example holds. Replace 'Sombra' with 'any future dark lord'.
Evil on that scale is rare? It doesn't matter. It exists. It seems to be an annual occurrence, even.
And in the unrealistic hypothetical that evil of that scale is nonexistent henceforth, consider simple self-interest. Desiring the Stone for personal gain rather than world conquest is a far more likely scenario. Even if it's for that reason, once someone has stolen the Stone a single time, you no longer have it available for research. If it has limited usage, or is randomly destroyed, then it's gone forever. If she wishes to save the world sooner, she must think better. Just like if he wishes to return to his world sooner, he must feel better.
With a look of great pain, Twilight said that she understood.
Does she 'understand' well enough to not ask again, to not let her mind even consider the thought of cheating the problem in that way?
…
…
…
Yes, she said with a grim look.
Is her anger meant to be directed at him, or at the situation in general?
Both. But mostly the situation. She doesn't like how okay he seems with it, but if he's really not letting the world be healed because he swore a Vow to keep the world safe-
Not to keep the world safe. To not, by any act of his, risk the world's destruction. He knows it is annoying to be interrupted, but that is an important distinction to make. He isn't being forced to save the world. He's being forced to not destroy it. Or risk destroying it. His Vow is preventing him from acting stupidly or recklessly. Allowing the Stone's power to be known by the public would be both stupid and reckless, though less so if there were more Stones, and even less if research had been done into potential Stone-made dangers.
If she succeeds, security of any public Stone business shall still be as impenetrable as he can make it, and he does intend to approve research into potential Stone-produced disasters once Twilight is cautious enough to engage in that endeavour without immediate oversight.
Twilight, after listening to all of this, took a few deep breaths, then finished what she was originally going to say. She's a little angry at him because of his callousness, but she's mostly angry at the situation. And at herself. He's right; if she were smarter, she would have figured it out already and the world would already be saved.
Also, what did he mean back when he said 'return to his world'? And what does feeling better have to do with it?
"That I shall answer only if you promise to keep the conversation between us."
"Done," she said. "But aren't we doing that already?"
He considered her question, then decided to present her with a contract that, not long ago, he had created and presented to Keen Eye.
Luna said he should 'branch out' with his friend group. He still couldn't bring himself to 'open up' without contingencies. He hasn't even told Keen Eye anything important yet, but he could at least be honest.
Twilight, after reading the contract, audibly sighed. "More magical binding?"
He shrugged. "I grew up in an environment of rumormongers," he said honestly. "And an utter lack of privacy before that. Luna believes that's the source of my habits of constant caution and secrecy. And I've already mentioned my caretaker's behaviour. I'm trying to overcome that past and 'open up', but…" He trailed off as Twilight signed the contract with a quill levitated by her magic.
"If it's what you need to believe me when I make a promise because you have trouble trusting ponies in general, then I don't mind," said Twilight. She proceeded to reiterate her question.
So he explained the Patronus situation. He didn't give every detail, but…
"Wait," she said. "Hold on. Silver is trapped outside of Time until you learn the Patronus?"
Riddle shook his head. "Not quite. I am currently trapped outside of my home universe's Time. Silver has returned to that Time. Since I am beyond it, Time should be progressing for me and not him. But yes, that situation will end when I learn the Patronus."
"What happens to this universe when it ends?" asked Twilight, a focused frown on her face.
Riddle hesitated. He had thought of that question before, and in his past ponderings he suspected the answer was that Equestria would simply cease to be. But on reflection...
Updating on more recent information, if Equestria has been around since the time of Merlin, surely it existed long before he and Mr. Potter arrived here, and surely it would persist after he left …
But even if that was true…
If he did leave…
Would he be able to come back?
He was suddenly unsure if he wanted the trap to end.
"I don't know the answer to that," he told Twilight. "But I think I know someone who would."
"By the way," Twilight said as he was about to turn to leave. "Are you going to be attending the Canterlot Conference?"
"The what?"
"The annual meeting of scholars," she said happily.
"Canterlot scholars?" he asked, his tone indicating how he felt about that.
"And others," she said defensively. "Engineers from Manehattan Tech go there too. You should go!"
"I'm inclined to decline."
"But you're the Court Scholar," she pointed out. "Besides, didn't you collaborate with High Riser on his pegasus magic paper?"
"No," he said. "No, I did not. I was unaware of any academic papers on that subject at all."
"But..." Twilight began, then retrieved the study in question, pointed to various parts, and asked various questions.
In the minutes that followed, Riddle's priorities shifted. Consulting Merlin about the nature of the universe was important, but it wasn't urgent, given that he was nowhere near casting the Patronus and escaping the mirror.
The Canterlot Conference, on the other hoof, was happening much sooner, and the situation seemed like it would require his personal touch.
He'd said to Merlin that he would familiarize himself with pony academics and philosophy before returning, and even if he had told Merlin afterwards that he wasn't inclined to add that to his list of obligations... maybe he will do it after all.
Furthermore, it would give him a few more weeks to attempt to figure out the 'What is Equestria?' puzzle on his own, as Merlin believes he can with his current knowledge.
Weighing the costs and benefits, he decided to wait until after the Canterlot situation had been addressed before returning to Merlin.
Stats
Page generated in 0.029 seconds
Total duration
1,022 users online
1,284,085 hits today, 1,960,719 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Oh I like this. It's not "Stone of Permanence", it is "Stone of new default".
Kudo's for understanding this. I read HP:MoR how long ago, and never made this connection.
Pfft. Once a season perhaps :-).
OK, let's (us readers) start addressing this question.
Equestria is, at least as an initial idea, the prison for the Atlantians to remove them from where they could, through unlimited use and abuse of magic, destroy the world be accident.
11552131
I'm not sure if you're forgetting but the exact nature of Equestria has been explicitly stated in a previous chapter lol.
Another absolute banger of a chapter. Seriously, using MMC in this way was utterly brilliant. Riddle and Twi reacting to their new marks is so COOL! Twilight is beginning to step into spotlight! Riddle is slowly healing, piece by piece. Of all the fics I've been keeping up with, this is the one I look forwards to a new chapter from the most. Every conversation is one that feels so real to HPMOR and a rational version of MLP. And the delves into magic are just as fascinating. You really have captured what makes HPMOR wonderful. I can't wait to see what happens next, past or future alike.
It seemed she need to be specifically at the right answer to ascend. Friendship is really hard topic to pinpoint the right answer.
Now thats how you recognise just how good the trap is.
Stockholme class even?
I dont get around much, but maybe a little help to some others, is that the Stone might be roughly equivalent to a Keyblade, in that it can act on the thoughts and beliefs of the wielder, such that if immaginative or knowledgable enough, it can effect the invert the negation of intangibles?
The Keyblade unlocks the ability to live forever, the Stone removes the inability to live forever, while leaving the ability to die untouched?
Nice chapter
11552152
Has it? I do not remember, and I do recall Merlin explicitly telling Riddle that he has the information needed to understand what Equestria is, and for him to attempt to solve it. So, for us, the readers, lets attempt to solve it.
11555058
It has! If you don’t remember I won’t spoil it, but there’s also a chance it won’t be revealed a second time, so keep that in mind
AAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Protective, I like it
Just like Merlin seem to waste his eternally lifetime in a cave, so can Riddle use his time to reach time sensitive matters.
How to copy the stone, how to make Elder Wand copies, perhaps even improving upon them.
His personal growth in understanding and empathy.
Etc etc etc. He is immortal now, time on earth continues once he leaves the mirror.
If this was a game, I metaphorical speaking run all the side missions and optional bonus events, before continuing with the main objectives.