Sun & Moon Act II: A Crown Divided

by cursedchords

Chapter 29: The Mad King's Magic

“From what I now know, if I had gotten the chance to meet him I might have gotten along better with Star Swirl than I had anticipated.”

- Journal of Princess Luna

Star Swirl’s sobs echoed in the cottage, and Celestia couldn’t bring herself to interrupt him. The memory had been so vivid that she had felt the wind upon her own face, seen the spark of life pass out of Solaris’s eyes, and she could still hear the King’s haunting laughter echoing through her own mind. Star Swirl had run away from the encounter, but clearly he hadn’t gone far. Celestia guessed that there was a bit more to the story yet, but the old unicorn could get to that once he had properly composed himself.

Eventually Star Swirl managed to choke back the last tear. “Sorry about that,” he said, shaking his head morosely. “I knew reliving that memory wasn’t going to go well, but it was the most expedient way of getting the point across, and of answering the most pertinent of your questions.

Celestia nodded. “He's still there then.”

“It is indeed his magic that we feel,” Star Swirl agreed. “Kept alive by a spell of my own devising, one that I had hoped would never be cast. Alas, that wasn’t even the last time it was used.”

Celestia sat upright at the revelation. “What? I’m sure I would have heard if somepony else had refused to die in the intervening time!”

Star Swirl gave her a sidelong look, and then she understood. At least that bit now made sense. “But I can see you. Surely a soul tied to magic shouldn’t be able to take physical form? And how did you build all of this, then?”

Star Swirl picked up the book with the white linen cover with his magic, floating it over the table to where he sat. With a deft flick, he swung the book down, and it passed easily through his neck, emerging out the other side without a single mark.

“Magic can do a lot of things, and while neither of us can take physical form, we can make use of the appearance that we desire. The one thing that we can’t do, thank goodness, is venture far from where we are anchored. Thus Solaris is bound to his hilltop, and I to my cottage, watching and turning away all passersby drawn to the area.” He offered her a smirk. “You must be somepony special, since you’re the first one to get this far.”

She could see that there was an upcoming conflict here, but maybe not. She would try to avoid it if possible. “Why keep ponies away, though?”

“Why?” he said back, flabbergasted at such a question. “Why? Solaris may be dead, but his magic is still very dangerous. There’s no telling what might happen to you if you venture up to that hilltop. Death might even be the best possible outcome, given what other fearsome tricks he might have come up with in the meantime.”

He drew himself back from the table, standing and giving her a firm look. “I know that you said you came here for the magic, and that you have some pressing concern to deal with yourself, but I am afraid that you will simply have to look for your answer elsewhere. Under no circumstances will I let you take another step up that path.” He put his chin up, and in silence he started rearranging the bookshelf.

Celestia sat still for a moment, unsure how to respond. Was there a chance that Star Swirl was right? But it didn’t matter, she had no time to find another source of magic for her spell, and certainly no time to think of another possible answer to the drought. Thus, she stood, despite part of her demanding she not.

“Star Swirl, I’m afraid that I must disagree with you. I need that magic, and there’s no other way that I can get it than to get to the top of that hill. Thank you for the warning, and for the story, but I really have no time to waste.” She realized belatedly that he’d never gotten the tea that he had promised. “Don’t worry about the tea. Perhaps I shall drink it on my way back.”

There was a flash of blue magic at the bookshelf, and then another as the old wizard appeared in front of her, still incredulous. “Did you not hear any of what I said?” he asked, looking a mixture of annoyed and baffled. “I am not going to let that pony deal any more harm than he already has. Even I was barely able to subdue him. What chance do you think you could have?”

“I don’t have time for this!” she snapped at him. “Out there, beyond your hill, the pony nation is starving again, and if I can’t fix it, there will be another war, just like the one you knew. With Solaris’s power though, I could stop that all from happening. So I am not going to let anypony, not even a legendary wizard from centuries past, get in the way of that.”

His eyebrows and his ears came down, and he settled into the dueling stance that he had used so well in the memory. “Impudent foal!” he replied, a crackling edge of power undeniable around his words. “I may not be the unicorn I once was, but my magic is just as potent, and if you will not heed my warnings, then I am afraid I’ll have to evict you from the premises myself!”

Celestia wished that it didn’t have to come to this, but her time was too short. “I’m sorry,” she said, apologetic but still with a bit of iron there. “But I don’t have a choice.”

There was a silence for a moment, Star Swirl standing in the doorway with his head lowered, watching her. Waiting. Celestia realized that he wasn’t going to act first. She was the one who wanted to get past, so she was going to have to be the aggressor.

Wanting to avoid a fight she tried the simple answer first, a teleportation spell that would take her out into the yard. Light and Water, with a hint of Spirit to bind them together.

But the old wizard was too quick. Barely had she started the invocation before he had cast the inverted form on her, and the two spells canceled each other out.

A confident grin tugged at one corner of Star Swirl’s mouth. “Maybe the art hasn’t advanced as much as I had thought.”

In answer, Celestia called up a flurry of spells, over a dozen incantations in direct sequence, as fast as she could cast them. Some teleportations, some stunning spells aimed at him, some shields for herself.

But Star Swirl matched her step for step, countering every one. The air between them was a kaleidoscope of pulsing lights, as spells impacted upon each other and winked into and out of existence. Yet the result was again the same: the two of them staring each other down from across the room. The other books had been knocked off the shelf in the storm of magic.

“Come on,” he said once again. “Relent. You are no match for me.”

“Maybe not,” Celestia replied, doing her best to hold her voice steady and not betray the frayed nerves she was feeling. “But that doesn’t change what I have to do.”

She only had the strength for one more flurry of spells. Casting was hard work, especially with multiple invocations chained together. Star Swirl didn’t have a physical body to worry about, so he could go on all day if he had to. All that meant was this time Celestia had to beat him.

Gritting her teeth, she started into another casting chain. Stunning ray. Teleport. Invisibility. Repeat. Both of them were drawing on the magic of the hill as fast as they could, each impact of spell and counterspell strong enough to lightly rattle the table and the bookshelf. Each of them was going on instinct, Celestia pulling each spell from her memory, and Star Swirl casting the inverted forms of whatever he saw.

As confident as he had been, Celestia saw a mote of uncertainty appear on his brow, and that was when she made her move. She pulled in the energy for a shield and a teleportation at the same time, weaving them in parallel, and casting them both at once. To Star Swirl it would look like one big spell, needing one single counter rather than two. She saw him draw the inverted energies, again without thought, acting on instinct.

This time, the counterspell ricocheted off of the shield as it locked into place around her, rebounding off of the table and dissipating on the ceiling just as Celestia winked out of existence. She appeared in a flash of light out in the yard, and nearly immediately fell to her knees. It required a minute of deep breaths before she could stand up straight again.

Once she had caught her breath, Celestia took a look around. The flowerbeds still sat neatly in their spots on the cottage’s front lawn, but she noted well that the paved path she had been following ended at Star Swirl’s door. Farther up the hillside, the old unicorn had constructed a charming little picket fence, and on the other side of it the forest grew wild, the thick undergrowth almost barring the way. Clearly he hadn’t wanted even to have to think about what lay beyond that barrier, but Celestia guessed that the top of the hill couldn’t be much farther now. Maybe only several hundred paces or so.

And on top of that hill she would find the spirit of a mad King, a unicorn equal or even greater in power than Star Swirl himself. Mercifully, she didn’t necessarily need to subdue him, just figure out how to use his magic and also get out unharmed. But there wasn’t really any way to know what to expect until she got there.

She turned back to give the cottage one last look, and was surprised to see Star Swirl out on the step once more.

“Wait up a moment!” he called. “I won’t try to stop you again, don’t worry.” He walked down the path to meet her, the bells on his hat jingling merrily with every step. Ethereal though he may be, the illusion was very convincing. “If I can’t stop you from seeking Solaris’s power, at least let me go with you,” he said.

Star Swirl looked like he had recovered a bit of his pride, and once more resembled the legendary wizard of the past. “I would love that, Star Swirl, but how? Your magic is bound to this place, isn’t it? The place where you originally died?”

He nodded. “Indeed. But there is still one way that I could accompany you, and indeed it might be the most useful way that I could protect you from Solaris’s wrath.”

“How?”

“Rebinding my spirit to you,” he replied simply. “My magic just needs something to hold onto if I am to stay alive, whether that be a location, an object, or a pony willing to accept it.” He shuffled his hooves, looking down. “It would appear that you have some skill in the magical arts, but I suspect having somepony to watch your back might prove useful, especially in the place where you’re about to go.”

“Sorry,” Celestia said, placing a hoof up on her head as she thought. “You’re going to have to give me a moment on this one.” The offer admittedly was tempting, to have Star Swirl’s magic added on to her own, in theory at least. She suspected that it would be somewhat similar to what happened when she and Luna used the Elements together: their consciousnesses joined, held in unity by their shared power. But right now she couldn’t even really wrap her head around it. “How is that even going to work?”

“It’s quite simple, actually,” he replied, even more of his composure back now. If Celestia hadn’t known better, she’d almost think that he was lecturing her. “Theory of Magic was one of my favourite areas to research. You would naturally still be you, just able to draw upon my magic when needed, or my counsel, if you desired that. And, in case it needed saying, you should know that it’s easily reversible, just in case we ever decide to end the arrangement. The truth is,” he continued, one hoof brought up to his chest, “in all my time of thinking, I never was able to figure out how I would finally destroy Solaris’s magic. But perhaps, together, we could do it. And if we could, then I could maybe find my own rest too, wherever that may be.”

The way he delivered that last sentence, bursting with melancholy, touched a chord in Celestia’s heart. She hadn’t been with him on that night centuries ago, but she’d lived it with him now, and knew what it would mean for him to be able to see this thing through. And indeed, nopony knew more about the evil she was about to encounter than Star Swirl. Put that way, she would be a fool not to take him up on the offer. “Okay,” she said. “Is there anything that you need me to do?”

Star Swirl chuckled. “Just don’t run away.” Then there was a stunning flash of white magic all around his form, bright enough that Celestia had to shield her eyes. When she looked again, Star Swirl was nowhere to be seen. But was his magic part of her now? How could she really know?

Well, all present and accounted for, said a voice in her ear. Of course, it was Star Swirl’s voice. I had experimented with this process once or twice before, but I had forgotten how cramped it all felt. At least there will be stimulating conversation, right?

Maybe, if Celestia could get over the idea of having a stimulating conversation with a voice in her head. Either way, that meant that the only thing left to do was move forward.

Getting over the fence required only a bare flick of her wings, though she did unfortunately knock over one of his planters that was perched up on the boards. Celestia winced. “Sorry about that,” she said.

None of it matters now, Star Swirl returned in her head. Maybe good for an exhibit someday, if this place is ever safe to come back to. Up ahead the forest was already thinning out, the break in the trees that signified the top of the hill somewhere out there on the horizon. You wouldn’t happen to have any smart ideas of what you intend to do with him, do you?

Celestia had to concentrate very hard to avoid answering him out loud. That voice right in her ear, as though he was crouched upon her shoulder, was disconcerting to say the least. She would have to practice this a lot if she didn’t want to blurt out random conversation in the middle of a Senate meeting.

Funnily enough, I do. In fact, I believe that I’ve got just the thing.

---

The clearing looked exactly as it had in Star Swirl’s memory, indeed right down to the trees that had been destroyed during the duel. None of them had grown back, and the area around their blackened stumps was bare, with not even a mushroom pushing its head up to clear away the dead wood. Whatever magic Solaris had used in those spells, it must have been foul. Besides those details, though, the peak of the hill was peaceful, the grass up here growing short and pale but still growing, and the air clean. From the perch, Celestia could turn around and look all of the way back through the forest, to where Harmony Tower’s banners fluttered proudly, and, farther off, where Everfree sat in ruined decay.

Star Swirl’s voice had fallen silent, and Celestia guessed that the old wizard was waiting, tense, for his old enemy to finally show his face again. The pulse of the magic in the air had reached a crescendo, a constant blaring rumble, deep in the earth and in Celestia’s bones. It lifted her up, buoyed her mind onto a new level, where she felt as if she could move mountains with only the barest effort, but now that she knew its cause, that power also frightened her. What had Solaris been up to in his thousand year exile? What new tricks might he have devised that even Star Swirl wouldn’t know about?

The first sign was a breeze that grew out of nowhere, blowing not in a single direction like winds normally did, but instead around the clearing clockwise, bending the branches of the trees in a circle. The net result was that inside the clearing Celestia couldn’t feel even the lightest breath of wind, though it steadily grew in intensity in the forest beyond.

She quickly became aware that the night was growing darker, the starlight fading as if shrouded behind a thick cloud, though looking up she could still see them twinkling away. The air grew close and cold, all of a sudden driving a pick of ice straight into her muscles. At the same time, that air seemed somehow thick, suddenly viscous like molasses. Every breath felt difficult, like breathing in tar, the air coating her lungs from the inside.

A spark of something jumped up from the back of her consciousness, and then suddenly she was surrounded by an orb of silver light, solid and smooth. All of the ill effects from the air vanished, and she could see the clearing outside the sphere as now inky black, oozing with some indescribable darkness. Concentrate! Star Swirl said angrily. You are indeed lucky to have me by your side, it would seem.

Well, a little warning would have been nice, she thought back. Yet still, she had to admit that he was right. Not ten seconds in, and on her own she would probably already have been overcome. Maybe the time for being passive had ended.

“Solaris!” she yelled, amplifying her voice with her own magic. “Stop toying with me and show yourself!”

The darkness outside flowed freely for a moment more, and then it pulled back, marshaling into a form of some sort, though still not quite the tall unicorn with the cinnamon mane that Celestia was expecting. The profile was right, but apparently the old King felt that cloaking himself in shadow was a more apt way to appear. Besides the twin orbs of his eyes, clear and bright crimson as ever, the rest of his form was dark as the night sky, and still rippling slightly, as if the profile were that of a cloak dancing in the breeze.

“So the little one knows my name,” a voice chuckled out of the darkness, the same voice that had chased Star Swirl from the clearing a thousand years ago. “And she knows enough to survive, at least a little. Tell me, what else do you think you know?”

“I know that I need your power,” Celestia answered, as calm as she could, in spite of the whirling tempest of wind outside the clearing. “Without my help, my nation will wither and die, or tear itself apart as I look on. I have devised a spell to prevent that, now and for evermore. But to cast it, I need power, more than I can get anywhere else. I need your strength, Your Majesty.”

Solaris threw back his head and laughed, a thunderous guffaw that drove the winds into a frenzy, and sent the shadows of his form erupting forth again, to cover the whole clearing as the laughter echoed in the sky overhead. “Somepony needs me? I am honoured, little one. But why should I ever help you?”

Celestia drew herself up, standing tall in the midst of the onslaught. “You’ll get something out of the bargain,” she answered. “You’ll get the chance to know that this time, you were able to avert the crisis instead of running from it. You’ll know that this time, instead of watching as civilization fell apart around you, you did something to make it right.” She stared right into the heart of the darkness, picking out the crimson orbs that were the King’s eyes. “You’ll be able to know that Aurum would have been proud of you.”

At once the billowing shadows around her solidified into a cloud of midnight blackness once more, encompassing the clearing as the winds outside blew wildly, his crimson eyes burning like angry coals. “You dare to speak her name?” Solaris screamed, an edge in his voice as wild as the winds. “Shut your mouth, child! You know nothing of what I want! NOTHING!”

In spite of the terror that rose unbidden into her mind, Celestia forced herself to stay calm. She had already faced one legendary wizard today.

She let her voice drop low, calling up the iron of rule that she saved for the moments in the Senate when calm negotiation wouldn’t fix anything. For the moments when a pony needed to be reminded of the power that rested within her authority. “That’s what I am giving you. Take it, or else I will be forced to take your magic without any compensation.”

The darkness around her swirled menacingly as the King’s mad laughter rocked the clearing, once more lucid and cold. “Such ferocity, and yet such arrogance. Do not delude yourself into believing that you have any chance against me. I have been practicing for centuries, and it has been a long time since I last had a chance to take on a real challenger. But if it is a duel that you are offering, then I might take it. I’ll even give you a target to aim at.”

The shadows once again drew themselves in, this time all of the way back, revealing the image of Solaris standing at the edge of the clearing, exactly as he had been in Star Swirl’s memory. The only difference now was those eyes, rimmed with ebony blackness that rippled in time to the pulse of the magic in the air all around her. Solaris offered her a bow, then assumed a ready stance.

Are you mad? Star Swirl yelled in her ear. I told you there is no way to destroy him! The best we could do is fight to a draw, as I did!

Trust me, she thought back. Don’t help me, even if it looks like I’m losing. I know what I’m doing. Or at least I hope so, she said to herself. It was a risky plan, certainly, but based on everything that she knew so far, it stood a reasonable chance of working. So long as the guesses she had made about Solaris’s intentions turned out to be accurate.

And if she was wrong? Well, it wasn’t as if Equestria getting destroyed in some other fashion was any worse than its current fate.

Seeing her resolve, Solaris wasted no time, getting right to the offensive. His style hadn’t changed much over the years, and thus Celestia was able to keep the centre for the start of the fight, deflecting the ranged attacks that he would throw at her from the outside. His magic, she noticed, had taken on a darker shade, tinged with onyx just like the rims around his eyes. But each one of his spells was still a measured, well-aimed bolt of energy, and each one required the full force of her will to deflect, shield, or counter, coming close to breaking her power as she stood in the midst of the torrent.

“Humph! So you can hold your ground! Perhaps you will make me sweat, little one,” he growled, before fading out of existence and reappearing on her left side. One attack from the left was followed by another from the right, faster than the eye could blink, and this time Celestia pushed off the ground with her legs, taking to the skies. She wouldn’t be able to flee, as the winds circling the hilltop had intensified into a howling gale, too strong for any pegasus to fly out of, but at least in the air she would be a more difficult target to hit.

Solaris didn’t slow down if he was surprised, and soon enough it was again everything that Celestia could do to keep herself out of harm, as bolt after bolt of dark magic lit up the sky, in front of her, behind her, above and below. She had to twist, roll and stretch out her turns, moving fast yet always keeping her edge, and always watching out for the encircling wall of winds.

She spared a look down at the clearing, to see Solaris casting up another surge of magic, but this time it wasn’t a direct shot. Instead she heard the howling of the winds outside the circle draw in around her, into a shrinking dome that covered the clearing. Her time was almost up. But at that moment, perhaps she had a chance.

Summoning all of her strength into the shield, Celestia dove, straight down with her wings tucked in, right at the King. He looked and saw her coming in, a wicked grin lighting up his face.

Solaris thrust his horn up at her and delivered another black bolt of energy. The impact on her shield spell was heavy, like suddenly she was diving down through syrup, and the force of it almost ripped the spell right out of her mind. She fought to keep control over it, seeing the ground rushing up, knowing she was almost there.

Get ready, she whispered to Star Swirl. Then, seeing maybe a glimmer of doubt in Solaris’s eyes as the incandescent ball of her magic closed in on him, she let go.

The wall of black magic crashed into her like a boulder, instantly freezing all of her muscles in place. Celestia didn’t feel any pain, not even as the King deftly stepped aside and her body impacted the ground at full speed. In truth, she didn’t feel anything at all, the sound of the winds and the lights of the stars overhead having been replaced by a black, soundless void. She could only feel something out there, seemingly just beyond the edge of her perception, yet hidden. And she could hear him.

“Hah! Hah hah!” The King’s laughter echoed coldly in her mind, like he was talking in a cavern. “As I expected. Nopony gets my magic for free, little one, though at least you’ve gotten the courtesy of learning that before your end.” A light flickered to life in the darkness, followed quickly by another. The deep, bloody red of the twin orbs left no doubt as to who was behind them.

“But maybe, indeed, I can let you live.” Somehow, even without being able to see anything except his eyes, Celestia got the sense of a wicked grin, wide and glistening with perfect, white teeth. “Maybe I’ve thought of something better that I can do with you.” Rather than the hail of laughter that would surely have rocked the outside world, here Celestia heard only a cold, hollow chuckle. “Such a strong will, and the powers of an alicorn, too. Maybe you are fit enough to be a servant.”

Around those eyes, Celestia saw a profile form, but not because any light had sprung up to illuminate Solaris. Instead she became aware of a silky motion in the shadow elsewhere, a shimmering not unlike the smoky shadows that the King had cloaked himself in before. Around those eyes was a silhouette that was entirely still, standing out even as black on black. “Come closer,” he said, beckoning with his horn. “I promise I won’t bite.”

She wasn’t sure whether she drifted closer to him or he came closer to her, but in that instant they were right next to each other, and she knew it because the air all around her had grown as cold as ice.

“Yes, a fitting vessel,” Solaris continued, the spots of red raking Celestia up and down. “This won’t take but a minute.”

And that was when Celestia felt it: a tendril of ice worming its way inside her mind, black as midnight and filled with malice. In an instant, it would snuff her out forever, and she would be but a pawn to the will of the King, servant to him just as Star Swirl was to her.

But it was also exactly what she had been waiting for. “Now, Star Swirl!” she cried, as his blue magic erupted forth from her, driving back the shadows into fleeting wisps of smoke, and revealing the clearing around her again in a brilliant flash of light.

Solaris was there, right beside her, a thin strand of his magic connecting their two horns, with his features twisted into a mess of shock and rage. The force of life flowed back into all of her limbs, and with a single pull Celestia shook herself free of his hold, then took off straight for the heavens.

The winds were still up there, but when Celestia drew on her magic, she could feel the chunk of Solaris’s power that she had taken with her, held in check by Star Swirl’s will. With it, she undid the charm that the King had placed on the weather, and in that instant she was free, soaring south over the forest, still shining like a star brought down from the heavens, lighting up the whole of the forest night, as if the Sun had risen early, and brought Equestria’s hope with it finally.

Over the horizon, she knew that Canterlot still slept, but Luna didn’t have to hold on much longer now. Hold fast, Sister, she thought to herself. I’m coming.