Launching the Last Star

by The Real Darkness

A Full Week

Author's Note:

This covers over Arctus' abilities that had not been mentioned in a while through scenes and contains some slice of life scenes.

As a result, there are multiple timeskips represented by horizontal rule line breaks. Timeskips are either a single day or two and will be explained, so if that's not your thing you can skip this chapter and still grasp the full story without issue.

"As oddly matched as you two are, you make a cute scene," Cadence gestured to Celestia who still had her head laid upon Arctus' shoulder, his hand was already deep in her mane.

The Master Scout decided not to address her comment, "Twilight, I'll stop by your library tomorrow night along with Celestia."

"I look forward to it and some immediate sleep," the student yawned before trotting away, "goodnight princess, everypony."

Silence accompanied her departure.

"Hmmm, I get the feeling I should leave you two be," Cadence was next to trot off.

And the Princess and Master Scout Arctus stood in the dark night, all candles out above them, ponies returned to sleep.

"You should get some sleep yourself, Art. It's bad enough you've robbed Strong Stitch of hers," she turned her muzzle up at him with a playful smile.

He looked all about them again, not a soul in sight, even Asarele stayed in his room as he commanded.

"Something amiss?" Celestia lowered her head back down, attempting to peer past his expressionless face to find his current thought.

Arctus didn't respond, he only drew his hatchet, slowly and carefully before he whipped about and sent it into the woods near the training yard, a low pitch whistle accompanied.

A howl of pain followed, something that was definitely not a pony. The MAster Scout gave chase within a second of zipping the hatchet into the trees.

"Who dares trespass?!" Celestia shouted in an uncharacteristically harsh tone.

He already caught whatever this humanoid creature was, having shoved his hunting knife past its fur covered kneecap and severing many tendons and muscles.

"Nobody gets to spy and get away with it."

Now that things were less of a blur, Arctus could make out the creature that had collapsed in front of him, it held a metal shield and spear, an actual sharp weapon.

He had never seen this black furred creature, but it reminded him of some sort of primate, he made note of the symbol on its cape before he leaned down and reclaimed his hatchet.

His lips drew close to where he assumed the ear would be, "Hazth sent you, didn't he? He didn't tell you, but you were a test meant for me."

He slipped his hatchet and knife away again, hearing Celestia slowly trot over, "Arctus! Are you okay in there?"

He continued to whisper to the creature, "if you made it home alive, Hazth would know I am an easier target than he anticipates."

"So you were never going to make it home. Find peace in your swift death," Arctus slung his greatsword from his holster and with a single heavy downward chop.

Lopped the head of the creature off.

The unfortunate matter was that he was not nearly strong enough to move such a giant beast on his own. He left the thin woods and shrubs, returning to Celestia.

"A spy sent to inform Hazth on Equestria. It was dealt with," he coldly responded, still feeling the breeze of battle try to ready him through his veins.

She nodded with no smile to be found. This would be a matter that would need an almost constant hand.

"I'll hire some more ponies to be on watch and security until you can deal with Hazth."

---

That next day, he had arranged for Strong Stitch and himself to cart the corpse out of Canterlot, unceremoniously throwing it to the rocky spires of the cliffs below the castle, where it would rot without bothering anypony.

Having been made a Scout, Arctus did give her a copy of his personal journal, "burn it when you finish reading it. Share these secrets with no other soul. You'll learn how to kill with incredible efficiency, don't become a monster with that knowledge."

"What's exactly in it?" She stood in his chambers, holding the book.

"Secrets, tactics, survival techniques, recipes to cook, make, poison things. It's a trove of knowledge that will serve you well in this station. You'll also learn things of Aeternia that I have not disclosed to anypony, please keep them that way."

She nodded, "Arctus, uh, Master Arctus?"

He stepped away from her, heading to his desk, "yes, Scout Stitch?"

"Did you ever think I would have this potential?"

At first he smiled, then he frowned, and then he laughed.

"You never know the acts a being is capable of committing until you see them, even if you've ehard of it. In that sense, you never know how much war someone can breathe until they are made to inhale it."

"Is that some kind of Aeternian proverb?"

"No, it's something you learn when you've seen a lot of people you know die or fight for their lives."

Strong Stitch stood wordlessly as Arctus began to perform one of his many routine checks on his tools and equipment. She left quietly and allowed the woodsmaster to maintain his kit for the rest of the day before he met with Celestia and Twilight that evening on Twilight's library balcony.

"Right, so...magic!" Twilight had a paper and quill levitated in front of her, "are you taking notes, Celestia?"

"I see no need, your notes will be kept private as you agreed, right Twilight?" The unicorn nodded at her mentor's words, "well, show off , Art."

He held the rock he had in his left hand along with the wood bat he brought with him in his right.

"I'm not sure where this is going," Twilight was already writing away.

"Aeternian magic, there's a couple different ways of casting a spell and each has to deal with its power. When you get familiar enough with a spell, you can even cast without using any verbal intiation. You can also use incantation circles drawn in the air, they usually empower and augment spells. There are longer spells which involve chanting and physical markings, rituals. Those spells are incredibly strong. There are, of course, godhoods but I don't intend on explaining or showing those," he cleared his throat.

"You did see one godhood in my battle against Strong Stitch that made my physical body immaterial.," Arctus slung the rock in his left hand far above their heads. A black fuming ball formed in his now emptied hand.

"And this spell is?"

"One of my favorites for dealing with groups of opponents or the swift that are also heavily armored," he brought the ball to the bat and the wood turned a dark shade before going completely black, the wisps floating up from the sporting equipment.

The rock had almost reached them and he swung the bat with little form to the sport, but plenty in regards to combat posture. A boom reverberated through the air and the rock shot off at a speed their eyes could not catch at first, soaring far from Canterlot.

"It's a force enchantment. Force is a simple spell meant to move things or the living, it becomes especially violent when it's imbued in an object though."

"Twilight, did he ever mention the ursa major and knocked into the ocean with it?" Celestia boasted on his behalf.

"You...what?!"

"Moving along, I can do the same with flame spells and can even upscale them to explode holes in walls or battlements to accomplish my goals. I can use them with incantation circles," he conjured a simple flame, "but just sending a stream of it or throwing it is enough for me most times."

Twilight had started to take notes again, "can you show me one of these incantation circles?"

"Only one, the others would damage your library," Arctus held a hand up, pointing out his ring finger and index while the other digits remained closed.

"Pusher of knives. Cover me in your chill," he spoke while his hand quickly traced a circle, slotting a symbol into it. His body disappeared shortly after.

"I remember a certain somepony crying to me when they found out you could do this," Celestia commented, "sometimes I wonder if you're walking the halls of the castle like this."

He had moved behind Twilight, "I try to rely purely on my stealth and instincts, but this spell comes in handy to dispatch enemies swiftly or to make it past a constantly monitored point," the unicorn jumped ans shivered at his new location.

"You know that's a pretty advanced unicorn spell," Twilight commented.

"So I've been told before," the parallel's were a bit disconcerting. Arctus stopped flowing his mana and his body slowly came back into view, "it's a tougher spell to cast, so I have to use an incantation with it. I'm not a mage."

"Yet, you're this impressive," Celestia chimed, "makes me wonder what mages in your world are capable of."

"What other spells do you know?" Twilight continued her notes.

"I can manipulate lightning but rather horribly. I only just copied from Kanna, so I'm not fully fluent with it. I believe you...or some other unicorn may have seen me use this."

He stepped up onto the balcony railing, "laiptelis oro skraidyti," he stepped off and a yellow transparent platform caught his foot where he tended while he walked over the open air.

"Ooooh, I've seen this one," Celestia smiled up at him, "I think it's your most impressive spell."

Twilight was scribbling away before she inquired, "how do you do that? Are those platforms solid?"

Arctus pulled his spear out and swiped it through one of the platforms with no resistance, "only for my physical body. I'm very experienced with this spell, though, a lot of Scouts use it to reach vantage points or climb walls with little sound."

"Are there any other spells you haven't mentioned?" Twilight asked.

"This one was used on a pony long long ago. I'm still not sure how chronology differences work here, seeing as Savus is aging and I am not...and that our lifetime lengths seem to differ," Arctus cleared his throat, "I digress. Celly, could you summon a shield?"

"Mhm," a yellow transparent film gathered around, "making me a part of a live demonstration?"

"Yes," he exhaled slowly and then inhaled, his face losing expression. Celestia grew a little terrified at the coldness and calculatory look her gave her.

It was not unlike the Red Night of Screams that he conducted in Canterlot so long ago.

The yellow platform gave out from under him at his will and he began to speak, "pradingti ant pikiruoti," he spoke plainly.

He body had fallen below the balcony a little before he vainished and appeared above Celestia, his foot and entire body was sent into her shield with shocking velocity. He did only slide off her shield, landing on the stone next to his lover.

"That's...that's faster than you were initially falling, is that a single spell?"

"Yes, it's lovingly called the panther's pounce, though the spell translates something longer. The place of appearance and direction can be augmented upon the words used," his normal demeanor reappeared, "sorry for that, Celly."

She hummed, "it's fine, I stood against an attack from legendary Arctus and lived to tell the tale!" And somehow earned a laugh from them both.

"There's only one other spell I could show you," Arctus lifted his spear, "all scout weapons, through their forging technique, create wounds that will not heal by magic. My spear absorbs magic, but I've been able to use only this spell on it. I believe the Eight designed it that way," he lifted his spear behind his head and threw it into the open air.

"Plienas karka savininkas," he called with an outreached hand and his spear flew back into his hand.

"Similar to a levitation spell," Twilight mumbled as she wrote.

"That's all I can show you beyond spells that are not safe to perform lest in a combat situation."

"Thank you, Arctus, I have plenty of information to review for now and I don't want to take up your full evening," Twilight nodded to him, trotting back into the library with a few inches between the paper she was writing on and her muzzle.

"Does that mean I can finally seek my reprieve of the day?" Celestia eyed the Protector who still stood in the air with a familiar sinful look.

He was the finish line and the reward of every day for her. He had not issue with it either.

---

Twilight had left him alone for an entire day, her obsession with his people, magic, and culture was contained with her notes she had taken of him. That entire day he worked with Asarele to see what commands would be the simplest to issue and all the while he could feel the mother of the bird stir in his body, as if its very essence was poured into his spear and him for the sake of her young.

That was the conclusion he's come to time and time again. It attested to the intelligence of the creature he defeated all those years ago in the volcano. The Frozen North still raged with snow and ice without the legendary Glacégere.

Today marked three more days until the fateful event. The bird had grown a little thanks to the fruits, vegetables, but mostly meat that Arctus hunted for his new ward. And it began to learn a specific vocalisation, a specific trill to signal its hunger.

Arctus delivered each time he heard it as well and the results were substantial, Asarele was as big as him, as big as his lover. That's what lead him to where he stood on the balcony railing this evening, Asarele flapping its wings above him.

"You know...you had a mother, you came from an egg, so surely you have your own reproductive sex," he commented as he stared directly down and the castle's courtyards, "are...all of your species asexual? Or do you just lay eggs on your own without the need for fertilization? Are all your kind female?" He voiced his thoughts.

Asarele hummed in response.

"You tell me. Boy?"

Silence.

"Girl?"

It hummed again. The only reason it could likely understand his words was because of the soul that sought refuge in him like a ghost with reasons tying them to the world. That reason hovering above him with massive wings of course.

"So, let's test this, maybe you can, maybe you can't," he held his hands up and gripped a digit of each talon. Asarele closed her talons complelty around his hand, maining a tight grip without digging icy daggers into him.

He inhaled and then exhaled, making sure the spell to save him from a fall was on the front of his mind, "I'm ready."

The large bird dived down, flapping its wings every now and then to maintain their height. If she could really carry him like this, then she could hunt for the large prey she devoured twice a day on her own.

Though that might put some sentient creatures as risk.

Arctus' grip stayed tigh while he hung and Asarele leveled out even after a while, holding his weight without falling out of the sky.

"Shitting. Stars," the Master Scout looked out of the city as he flew with Asarele above it, "I'm going to have to take you into battle with me."

She screeched.

"And you're eager about that idea, too."

Asarele flew him over Canterlot before he tugged on her left talon, "circle back to the castle."

She cried out again, pitching her wings and flapping to maintain height. They must have been hundreds of feet in the air. As they approached the spires, a familiar figure had already taken to the skies to greet them.

"Good evening, Asarele, Arctus. Is it a good sunset to fly in?" Celestia smiled wide.

He tugged on both her talons, "maintain," Asarele stopped gliding forth and instead hovered.

"I never imagine you'd try to fly without me," she almost chastised, "but this is quite a spectacle to see. Small ice shards falling from the sky while you're holding to your beloved pet. I doubt I could do this with Philomena, phoenixes don't get this large."

"If her mother is anything to benchmark by, Asarele will be a massive powerful avian."

"Then it's good that it has such a tender caretaker."

"She," he corrected, "Asarele informed me just before we took flight," he could feel his arm muscles begin to stew in lactic acid.

He tugged on both talons again, "home."

Her high pitched shriek echoed, very akin to a hawk, and Asarele flew right back to Arctus' balcony where the Master Scout let go and she also released.

His feet pounded the stone floor, "I'm going to have to do this again with you. Never imagined flying would be in my future," he looked to Asarele who took a perch on a decorative strut atop the tower roof.

Celestia landed next to him, "the Summer Sun celebration is in two days," she had begun lowering the Sun below the horizon, "I know I can count on you to attend."

"Of course, Celly. This one is special, the thousandth occurence?" Celestia sighed at his words and nodded.

"I see...then I'll be ready. She'll come back. I'll make it so."

"Please, if you have to make any decision, Arctus," Celestia looked with watery eyes, "protect my little ponies, protect my subjects."

"I will never forget the title you bestowed upon me," he hugged her tight, "everything will turn out fine."

"Protect Twilight."

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[f0st3r21]

Queue the cool theme song. Here it comes.