Since Before the Stars Swirled

by The Real Darkness

The Evermore Speaks

Pulsar Splash could see stars, galaxies, black holes, everything all around him but yet he stood on no material at all. His unicorn body was turned to him.

He heard of this place in the diary of Celestia and Luna before they removed those pages. This was the Evermore as they called it, where events that changed Equestrian future occurred.

Images zipped in front of him, of his past, of ponies, of himself, of what he has created.

"Next in the cycle."

Words echoed in his head but no voice spoke and as quick as it happened it stopped.

He opened his eyes to find himself still in Sunset's apartment.

"His eyes! They're still doing it!" Pinkie shouted and Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy all came closer, Sunset still sat next to him and she put her head right in front of his face.

Pulsar's eyes were a pure white light, projecting over half of the studio apartment. The mage could only see white but the light vanished with a blink of his eyes.

"Whe...what?" Pulsar Splash looked directly at Sunset Shimmer, who held the most concerned look on her face.

"Pu-Shadow Aura?"

"No, call me by my real name, Sunset."

The mage looked to his hands, feeling them tingle a very familiar feeling, "what happened? I'm...incredibly hungry."

Sunset hugged him with one arm briefly, letting out a sigh. She was always well composed. The fiery haired Equestrian went to her small fridge and opened it, taking an assortment of fruit and vegetables out, all raw, all uncooked.

"You were out for two whole days!" Applejack shouted, throwing her hands into the air.

"Way to tear the bandaid off, AJ," Pinkie rolled her eyes.

"Tw-two days...two days of that," Pulsar mumbled under his breath.

"I'm calling the girls up," Applejack announced, digging her phone our of her pocket.

"Hold on, AJ. He may not look it or sound it, but he's clearly had a shaking experience," Sunset spoke up, "when I was...Princess Celestia's student...I had to act very unfazed by a wide variety of things to keep up an image I had built. Pulsar Splash is from a time where that image mattered even more, where it secured your food, your position, your research materials, your life...everything," she laid out the fruits and vegetables on her coffee table after setting out a large plastic cutting board.

Sunset began fourthing all the fruits she brought out and handed the vegetables in a bowl to Pulsar, "I know how Equestrians eat," she smiled.

"Th-thanks," her kindness was unexpected, even those who tried to court him didn't show such forward care to him.

It made him wonder just how much of those politics were completely unnecessary again.

"Two days, Applejack!" It was Pinkie's turn to freak out as she made dramatic movements, "Can you imagine?!"

"Yes, I can, Pinkie. I still think we should call the others," Rarity stood from the couch opposite Pulsar and gently laid her hand over her phone, "for your farm's sake, AJ! He stayed at Principal Celestia's! He's no delinquent and we have no reason to still be suspicious about him!" Pulsar was already ferociously munching through the vegetables given to him, Fluttershy kept her eyes locked to him.

"Here, you said citrus was your favorite," Sunset handed him a plate full of sliced fruit with hard skin.

"Thanks...I'm um...not used to kindness, apologies if I seem insincere," Pulsar picked up again, eating piece after piece.

Pulsar could still hear everything they were all saying about him, but none of them seemed to care about asking him for his opinion. He'd been in this situation before, voicing his concerns would only ignite a larger problem. Sunset still cared to interact directly with him though, "still hungry?" the last piece was gone before long.

"No...no, that's good. I'm filled, thanks."

"So, what did you see?" Sunset asked him, "you had something come over you when you tried to get your rune back," she pointed to the table, "doesn't seem safe to take it away from you."

"You know how Twilight Sparkle was not always a princess?" Sunset nodded, "Luna and Celestia had their visits, along with Twilight, to this place. They've all called it the Evermore. Ponies don't typically go there unless some giant change is scheduled. Like becoming an alicorn...or having a special destiny."

"You think you're going to ascend?" Sunset asked, sitting next to him on the couch.

"Equestria, no. Me?" He chuckled, "I haven't the publicity skills for that. I do beleive the Evermore has a peculiar fate in store for me however."

"So...how were you able to use magic without your rune, darling?" Rarity directed to him, "I thought magic does not naturally exist in this world."

Pulsar Splash called the tingle to his fingers and began tugging at Rarity's purse, making it levitate and move in opposite directions, "I...I guess I just naturally have a magic energy pool in me, no matter where I go. This body doesn't have as much a developed one as my unicorn body does," Pulsar gripped his head, the world feeling that it was whirring around him again.

"D-don't push yourself," Fluttershy spoke up.

"I'm fine," the mage closed his eyes and reached to his rune on the table, picking it up and slotting it into a lab coat pocket again but not before using it to freshen his clothing.

"Now then," Applejack peered down at him, "jus' what are you hidin'? Your real name is Pulsar Splash and not Shadow Aura?"

"I...I kinda royally fucked up when I cast my immortality spell. I made the base incantation for all dark magics when I did and my actions were not approved of at all so I went into isolation myself, sequestered away from the activities of Equestria. Shadow Aura is how I published my research so Equestria could make use of my findings and enjoy the spells and magics I could offer them along with many volumes of information. I went by it so I could hide."

"Then, why use your real name now?" The meek spoke up once again.

"Well, Luna revealed something to me that I never thought of. Princess Luna could likely still see me in my dreams so she knows that Pulsar Splash still lives somewhere. I also ought to clear away that facade if I'm to...return to Equestria proper," he sighed.

"Ya still haven't answered my real question," Applejack started up again, "why did you use that fake name?"

"To run from my past, Applejack. To hide myself away from everypony who would seek me out and attempt to criticize me or punish me for what I performed. But...I was really just afraid to face ponies again and face that kind of ridicule again. My fellow researcher Starswirl turned his back on me immediately."

"What makes you say that?" Sunset questioned, "didn't you kind of just run away?"

"I later used a scry spell and saw him talking it over with the court for some kind of witch hunt...he was definitely not the pony I thought him to be."

"I remember reading about that. It's in the history of dark magic section in the canterlot library," Sunset Shimmer mentioned, "Starswirl documented that he saw a unicorn become a lich. I'm guessing he was speaking of you as it mentioned it was one of King Bullion's magic advisors."

"Yeah...he did write that down."

"Well, so far he checks out, Sunset," Applejack announced, "knowing that, I'm gonna get on back to the farm and catch the earful Big Mac and Granny have for me."

"Bye, Applejack," Fluttershy spoke before standing herself, "I should probably get going myself, the shelter animals might be missing me."

"Take care, girls," Sunset spoke.

"Safe journeys," he was still a bit of a relic. Fluttershy and Applejack made their way out of the apartment.

Pinkie immediately bounded to Pulsar, sensing it was safe, "sooooo...when's your anni-I mean birthday?!" Sunset gave the party pony a dirty look while she giggled.

"Birthday," Pulsar began to think. Centuries since he gave up on celebrating it, it wasn't important to him when he had forever to live and do whatever he liked.

"Don't tell me you don't know!" Pinkie Pie sat down across from him.

"I..." Pulsar recalled the celebration the court once had for him as a closed doors celebration, where every member of the court could relax and no traitors or power seekers were in attendance. Just the royalty, the mages, the researchers, and their friends, "Yes, I remember now. My birthday is close to a fateful event for Equestria. I was born on the new moon before the day the Windigoes came."

"Huh?!" Pinkie stared openly, "that...that doesn't even make sense!"

"Pinkie...just set that down for the new moon before December 21st, that's close enough."

"O...okie dokie lokie?" Pinkie opened up her phone.

Sunset looked to him, "is that really how you remember it? That's a little dark for knowing which day is your birthday."

"It's not exactly an event I can forget. I lived through it."

"You were frozen solid?!"

"Equestria no, I was kept safe with use of my magic," he proudly declared.

"Soooo, darling. What happened to you earlier? I could of sworn you used magic without your rune," Rarity chimed in, having mulled over the previous events.

Pulsar looked to the fashionista, in ever new outfits, "I did use magic without my rune."

"Wh-what?" Sunset bottomed out her jaw.

"I...I know you and Pinkie Pie won't understand, but I searched within myself for some kind of magic energy pool. Having my rune is my lifeline here and typically words come before attacks," Sunset shook her head.

"Not here, we don't just resort to violence. That's really outdated."

"That's...how I was raised, Sunset," Pulsar cleared his throat, "I found it, thankfully to my intense use and training with magic I could find it and reach to it."

"B-but Sunset can't even do that and she's also an Equestrian! And a unicorn!"

"I...I don't know if she has that many years, but I could test to see if it's possible," Sunset's eyes were stuck to him.

"Uhm, I'm sensing something here," Pinkie Pie spoke up and bounded fromthe sofa, grabbing Rarity's hand and rushing out of the apartment.

"Pinkie! Wait!" Rarity gripped the door frame, "you two be careful!" The last words she got out before the pink menace pulled her off, shut the door and left, their running auidlby heard at the street level.

Sunset's face slowly turned red, "I'm...still in my pajamas."

"That won't be a hindrance," Pulsar placed his hands under hers and looked right into her eyes before closing them.

"Pu-Pulsar! You can't just grab my hands!"

"And why not?" He inhaled deeply before exhaling, "I need you to relax, close your eyes, envision walking through a completely black space. Nothing to see, not even anything to feel. Your feet move you forward, but nothing is under them."

"I-I..."

"Shhh, just do so."

"You're...in my head? I see you there in front of me."

"I'm prodding around, focus on the blackness and surrender to my influence."

The fiery Equestrian inhaled deep before exhaling and relaxing her body, Pulsar Splash felt a mental wall give way and he sent himself to work, searching in Sunset for a magic energy. Many moments went by in silence.

"I found it, this might be something only Equestrian unicorns have wherever they go," Pulsar spoek and Sunset snapped back.

"It feels like you're holding onto a part of me."

"Your hands?"

"No, idiot. Something else, but I've never felt this part of me before."

Pulsar began tugging at it, the magic was locked deep within Sunset and he tugged hard once and felt the magical tingle come to her hands.

"Wh-what did you do?!" Her eyes snapped open and Pulsar slowly opened his, taking his time to exit her conscious safely.

He smiled, "your magic, it was dormant because you didn't know how to use it here or if you could," the two of them stared at each other while a vermillion glow came from Sunset's hands. Pulsar slowly withdrew, "start with simple small spells until you can work it back up again."

"Why did you say I was to guide the future generations?" Sunset asked and began levitating the mage's rune for a couple of seconds before the magic glow disappeared from her hands.

"I-I didn't say that."

"Well, I heard someone then and we're the only two still here."

"Did you see stars? The cosmos?"

"Y-yeah? What's got you so freaked, Pulsar?"

He stood up quickly, holding his rune in his hand, he walked to the window and began transmuting the air into paper and made ink dance onto them in precise words, "look at that," Sunset breathed out, "I've never seen someone use that advanced of a transmutation spell."

"Thanks for stroking my ego, but now is not the time," Pulsar held his hand up to her and had already recorded his notes of the Evermore that happened to him and then the brief mentions that sunset spoke of before giving her ample paper and an ink well with quill, "write down everything you remember seeing or occuring."

Sunset smirked and got up, retrieving a ballpoint pen and writing things down for thirty or so minutes. The clock revealed it was 9am that morning.

"Done," Pulsar teleported all the notes to Equestria, back to his study in his library.

"I'll review them after my week is done here."

"Your mind must be abuzz," Sunset stood and went up to her personal area, the loft.

"So many odd things have happened in a world that is supposedly without magic. I must research it and know," Pulsar responded, still looking out the window, it was silent for a couple minutes save for the bathroom door opening and clossing twice.

Upon the second close, Sunset came up behind him, "this tension is a little much, don't you think so?"

Pulsar looked to see Sunset dressed in similar clothes as the day he was last conscious. A metal spiked leather jacker with a crop top below and a skirt adorned.

"I am tempted to return now...but."

"But?"

"It's not like I have such good company as you back home," he smiled.

Sunset had ruminated on a plan while she changed to proper clothing for the day. She had a grin plastered across her lips with a tinge to accompany it, "was that your attempt at flirting with me?"

"Could be," from what Pulsar saw, teasing and hinting were the cornerstones of a budding romance, "perhaps you'll never know."

Sunset pushed him lightly, "I'll have my ways of getting answers. Hey, so, the girls had scheduled practice for the afternoon today and you're welcome to come and all, but we'll be on Applejack's farm. I get the feeling you're a very free individual."

"I am, I like having the ability to go anywhere at anytime. Thanks for the information," he put his hand to hers again and gathered the information he needed to get there with a memory spell.

He also got some more interesting information.

She squeezed his hand, "suppose you're itching to go investigate something you saw in my head?"

"Oh, absolutely," Pulsar squeezed her hand before teleporting himself away.

"Mmmm...I'll get you, don't you worry," Sunset sang to herself while leaving her apartment.