Chapter Three - The Road to Canterlot
Big Hat had always said that magic was merely a key that opened doors. It was just a tool, a mere method. It was not a lifestyle. Of course, Twilight vehemently disagreed with the notion that magic was just a tool. To her, magic was everything. It was life. It was blood. It was her very soul.
Of course, she certainly agreed that magic was also a key. Case study: Teleporting through the Equestrian border checkpoint.
With a zip of magical energy, she was on a hill overlooking the dull gray checkpoint, and in the next, she was on the other side. There was no way she was wasting so much time waiting in that ludicrously long line. Besides, that border checkpoint wasn't there over ten years ago. Why put it in now?
She did feel a little bad about skipping it in hindsight. Rules were often there for a reason, but she simply did not have the time to waste. The date of the wedding was closing in soon. On Celestia's name, she would not miss it now!
"Finally, Equestria at last." Twilight looked out over the landscape before her. It was obnoxiously green. She could see birds flying in the distance, but for the most part there was scarcely a thing in sight other than scattered scraggly pine trees. Relative to the rest of Equestria, she was still very far north. There probably wouldn't be very many structures out here.
The sun overhead beat down upon her, causing her coat to itch. With a sigh, she created a fragile bubble around her to cool down the temperature. Really, the sun may be necessary, but it was certainly annoying. She was missing the far north already. The night here was much more tolerable at the very least.
Speaking of the night... there had been something she noticed about the moon during her month of travelling. It was missing a common lunar structure commonly known as The Mare in the Moon. Also known as Nightmare Moon. It was a scattered formation of craters on the moon which happened to resemble a mare in profile. There were legends about it being a mare who came down during nightmare night and ate foals unless they gave her candy, but those kinds of tales weren't her expertise.
Her best guess was that Celestia had decided to turn the moon on its other side. Like flipping a burnt pancake. However, just in case the mare in the moon was actually around here, she had prepared a spell to create enough lollipops or candy corn to fill her hat. She was still deciding between the lollipops or the candy corn.
Twilight started forward once again. Her hooves and entire body were completely numb at this point, and she hadn't slept in nearly three days. A spell running in the back of her mind kept her awake and running and her body numb to the pain, but she was entirely sure when she crashed it would be cataclysmic. Hopefully that crash would happen after the wedding. Until then, she just had to keep moving.
Right. Where was she again?
Twilight opened up her saddlebags and withdrew a map. She quickly found her relative location based on the geography.
"If I came in from north of Luna Bay, then crossed the border here, then directly south should be Vanhoover." She muttered, tracing the route with a hoof. Thankfully she was using this half of the old map, because the other half had been ripped into shreds when her tower exploded. "From there, I can take the train to Canterlot."
The train was the metaphorical key. If she could get access to the train, then she could save herself many more draining casts of teleportation. With her current reserves, she estimated she may be able to cast just one more teleport.
Charging up her completely numb horn, she prepared to teleport once more. Target: Vanhoover. Unfortunately, she had never been there before, so getting the exact location right would be a little tricky. Teleportation required a large portion of magical energy, a good visualization of the target location, and a proper spell.
Of course, even this spell was of little consequence to a magus such as herself. Or wizard. Now that she was thinking about it, she kind of preferred wizard more. The term wizard was just so iconic that-
Her mental spell matrix completed subconsciously mid thought, and she vanished from the field.
Twilight was standing in front of a foal she vaguely recognized. They were wearing a pointy blue wizard hat adorned with golden bells. On their body they wore a blue robe of similar color. Attached to their face was a fake white beard. It was obviously a Star-Swirl the bearded costume. Honestly, the details of it were all wrong. The bells were in the wrong places, and that wasn't the right shade of blue.
The foal looked up at her with wide eyes, his mouth agape. "Star-Swirl the Bearded? Is that really you? Where is your beard?"
Murmuring came from behind her. Now realizing that she wasn't standing on a field anymore and instead standing on wooden boards, Twilight concluded that she had indeed teleported without noticing. Had three days without sleep really affected her mental concentration to such an extent? It was nearly impossible to tell through the haze of the numbing spell.
Twilight raised her head. She saw fake painted trees, a stunned filly wearing cardboard knight armor, and stage lights blaring down at her. To the right, she could see a small band paused mid performance. It looked like a stage set up for a school.
Slowly, she turned around.
A theatre full of ponies was staring at her in shock. For a moment, no one said anything.
It seemed that this had happened... again.
Letting out an awkward cough, Twilight mentally checked her magic reserves. Thankfully there was enough for a short-range teleport.
She tried to say an apology, but all that came out was a strangled squeak. Before they could say anything, she teleported once more.
This time she appeared in an alleyway. Or more accurately, above the alleyway.
Twilight started falling before she could react, and landed on a pile of closed trash bags that miraculously didn't explode. It cushioned her fall, but she still went tumbling down the pile and onto the hard cobbles. In a frenzy to catch herself, she fell off balance and slipped onto her side. Wheezing, she clutched her bruised ribs.
For a moment she just laid there, utterly defeated.
"I hate ponies." Twilight groaned. "What are the chances..."
It was just her luck to appear right in the middle of a school play. Her mentor had always said that a wizard was bound to end up in strange situations when travelling. And as always, he was right. It reminded her of the time she teleported into a gryphon's private bathroom stall. That was a moment she would rather purge from her mind.
She pried herself off the cobbles and onto her hooves. Then, she collected her hat which had fallen nearby and secured it to her head.
This was absolutely exhausting. Even with the numbing spell she felt slow already.
"Just get to the wedding Twilight. Get to the wedding. Then you can go back home." She could feel the numbing spell take effect on her freshly bruised ribs. Soon, the pain faded to the same buzz as the rest of her body.
With a sigh, she took a look around her. She had landed in an alleyway stacked high with bags of garbage. Taking a look at her hooves, she noticed a brick shaped blue object. It was a foal's building block.
Her gaze wandered towards the trash bags. One of them had spilled open, revealing a wave of similar building blocks. Apparently, this was behind some kind of toy store.
Never before had she been happier for the numbing spell.
Something else in the alleyway caught her eye. Stuck to the wall was a large poster. It depicted two alicorns standing tall, unnerving smiles across their faces. On the left was an alicorn that looked similar to Princess Celestia in build, with a white coat. Instead of having hair for a mane though, there was a streak of billowing fire. Golden armor covered her.
The other alicorn was depicted only a little smaller in the poster. She wore bluish silver armor and had a coat black as night. Her mane was more like a cloud of dark mist. Trapped inside it were thousands of tiny stars.
Both of them stood atop a black mass filled with holes. Twilight recognized it as a love-starved changeling. Which was strange, because Changelings were quite an exotic race when it came to Equestria.
The words, "BURN THEM OUT" were written at the bottom in bold white letters.
Whatever that encounter was, it must not have been good. That, or it was just a changeling villain inside the story.
It was certainly a strange poster, but considering she was behind a toy store it made a little more sense. These were obviously comic book superheroes of some kind. The white alicorn was supposed to look similar to Princess Celestia to appeal to a wider audience. It was a style in a little darker in tone than normal, but there were some more mature audiences for superheroes as well. At least from what she could remember.
Well, that was enough staring at a wall. The date of the wedding was getting closer and closer. If she had the time right in her head, it would be within the next two days.
Mentally apologizing to the store owner for scattering trash everywhere, she stepped out of the alleyway.
Immediately, the previously muffled noises of the city assaulted her ears in full force. She pulled back into the alleyway, wincing at the sound. It was a far cry from the serene silence of the far north. Peeking out once more, she saw hordes on ponies walking the streets. They were going about their daily business, as all ponies do.
The sheer amount of them was terrifying. But there was no other way to travel. If she wanted to find the train station, she had to make her way through the crowd. Without the comfort of her tower, it was a daunting prospect.
"Remember. They don't care about you. Why would they care about you?" Twilight muttered. "This is nothing for a wizard."
Steeling herself, she pulled her hat down over her head and stepped out of the alleyway. Pulling on dregs of her magic, she muffled her hearing as she walked, desperate for some relief from the noise. Head down and hooves quick, she made her way down the cobbled street.
Immediately she bumped into someone. Muttering an apology, she scurried away only to realize she didn't know where she was going.
Taking a deep breath, she raised her head just enough that she could peek out from beneath her hat.
Simple streets were revealed to her. Tall buildings lined the sides with tiled rooves. Though most pony settlements had a vibrant display of colors, the ones here could best be described as blah. A welcome color for Twilight, considering it wasn't obnoxiously blinding her, but it certainly wasn't how she imagined Equestria. It was monotone, which made the ponies on the streets stick out extraordinarily well.
For a moment Twilight stood in the eye of storm. Seeing that no pony was looking her way, she relaxed a little. One pony was fine. She could handle them with a little review from her books. More than that though and it always seemed to fall apart.
"Ok. Train station." Twilight started moving before somepony ran into her.
The bits of color in this monotone city stood out, which made the flags flying from nearly every house easy to notice. The flags were all of the same thing. Which was a flag composed half from fiery orange, and the other half a dark blue. In the middle was a black orb with a little white along the edges.
It was only because of a single passage in an ancient textbook that Twilight recognized the orb. That was an eclipse. At least, she thought it was. Why fly flags of an eclipse everywhere? Most ponies probably wouldn't even know what that was.
The two colors reminded her of the poster. Perhaps there was some correlation she was missing. Either way, she was quickly realizing she was seriously out of the loop.
The feel was strange here. While she remembered Equestria as a place full of smiles and endless cheer, there were little to no smiles on the faces of ponies passing by. Actually, she got more looks of suspicion than anything else. Not that many ponies were looking at her anyway. If they looked at her, it was usually at her hat. It made her uneasy, and she couldn't help but hide further beneath it.
It took her only twenty minutes to find a billboard which allowed her to orient herself in the direction of the train station. Along the way she passed more posters plastered to walls, and a ridiculous amount of the same flag. As she started to relax a little, her curiosity began to grow.
The two alicorns weren't comic book superheroes. There was too much of their influence across the entire city. They had to be real.
The question was, who exactly were they? She could ask one of the ponies roaming around the street, but her social energy for the day had been thoroughly drained. Besides, there was no guide in her book for such an action.
Eventually, she found the train station. There was a massive crowd of ponies on the stone platform. Two lines lead up to the platform. At the end of the lines, two grim-faced stallions in gold armor stood. Behind them, a mare in shining silver armor was situated, her hooves crossed.
"Line up for departure to Canterlot, straight to the celebration!" The mare called out. "Unicorns to the left, Earth Ponies in the middle, and Pegasi to the right!"
A train to Canterlot? Without the train even stopping? How wonderfully convenient!
As Twilight watched, she saw one of the stallions put a small band on a unicorn's horn. Runes too small to make out at this distance started to glow white. Then the ring was removed, and the unicorn was let through. The process was repeated over and over. There was a similar procedure for the other tribes of ponies. Only, it involved bracelets around the hoof.
From what she could deduce, it was measuring magic. As for what reason, she couldn't tell.
Did she really have to go through that checkpoint? Her magic had recharged a little, but not enough for a teleport. She had enough for a cast of invisibility, but not enough to maintain it for very long. Besides, even while invisible, getting through that crowd would be near impossible. Sighing, she went to the back of the unicorn line and waited, thoroughly displeased. Waiting in lines was a serious waste of time.
It seemed like an hour passed before she was standing in front of the guards. It was long, boring, and she would very much rather not do that again.
"Take off your hat." The guard rumbled.
"Will that ring restrict my magic?" Twilight eyed it with suspicion. Without time to study the runes, it was impossible to discern its purpose.
"No. Have you not done this before?" His eyes narrowed at her, and he clutched his spear tighter.
"I'm returning from a long trip." Twilight tried not to glance at the very sharp weapon.
"Thats what a changeling would say."
That practically confirmed it. There had to have been some sort of conflict with changelings.
"I'm not a changeling. Why would you think that? Just cast a reveal spell on me and be done with it." Twilight said.
"Reveal spell?" The guard raised his brow.
"It's a simple spell really. A push of magic disrupts the illusion around the changeling by unbalancing their projected field. Their concentration will switch to repairing the spell, but in the process, they drop their disguise and-"
"Just put on the ring."
Really, there were so few ponies that could appreciate an explanation of a spell. Huffing, Twilight hesitantly grabbed the ring from his waiting hoof. She quickly read some of the runes. They weren't carved very well. Disappointing. Seeing none that were harmful, she slipped it over her horn. It began to faintly glow, so dim it could scarcely be called so.
"Is this good?" Twilight frowned pointedly at him.
"...You have very little magic for someone dressed as a wizard. Ironic. Especially after all that talk." The guard took the ring back with a smirk. "But it's not changeling magic. Go on through. A word of advice, try using your horn for once. Its healthy."
Before she could retort, the line had already started moving again and she was pushed through. Fuming at the suggestion that she- a future Archmagus - didn't use her horn, Twilight had half the mind to turn back around and give the guard a piece of her mind.
The crowd quickly consumed her before she could, forcing her to fight her way to the outskirts. Bumping and shoving ponies out of the way, Twilight emerged on the other side, gasping for clean air. In the struggle, she had nearly lost her hat.
Today had been terrible. Just absolutely terrible. Voluntary lawbreaking, and even worse- social interaction.
"Everypony back! The train is departing!" The mare in silver armor yelled. "The train is full, the rest of you will have to wait!"
"What? But I paid for this ride!"
"Give me a refund!"
An explosion of angry ponies erupted on the platform. Which is also the moment Twilight realized she didn't have a ticket. Glancing over, she saw the ticket booth halfway down the street. Which was outside of the checkpoint.
No. She was not doing that again. That line had been terrible. Not to mention, without this train ride her chances of making her brother's wedding plummeted. Twilight remembered the words on the letter, asking if she was even still alive, if she even still cared...
Twilight tightened her focus.
She mentally checked her magic reserves. Maybe...
Squeezing through the crowd, Twilight crept towards the edge. When she was against the railing, Twilight eyed the train which was already starting to move. With the angry mob of ponies acting as a distraction, this might just work. It was time to break just one more law. This would be the last one.
...Probably.
Mentally apologizing, Twilight silently cast a spell using the magic she had regenerated. A hexagon of translucent material appeared on her forehead. Then, it began to unfold. Each side unfolded into another hexagon, which unfolded into another. Each one was clear as a summer sky and completely see through. In moments, they had folded over her entire body.
Invisibility had always been one of her favorite spells. The unfortunate downsides were that it took a long time to cast and became more draining the longer it was channeled. Teleporting was usually the better option when available.
Carefully, Twilight climbed over the railing. Slipping now would not be good to say the least. When she had successfully vaulted over it, she stepped onto one of the spaces between train cars. It was a metal grated platform, with doors on either side. As she huddled in the in-between space, her invisibility faded, the magic spent.
Her horn fizzled with sparks, signifying it was thoroughly and utterly done with everything. Twilight patted it.
"Sorry." Twilight whispered, half apologizing to her horn and half to the owners of the train. She really should have paid for a ticket. "But I've come too far to not make it to the wedding."
Soon, the train started picking up speed. The little cubby sheltered her from the winds which were rapidly growing fiercer.
Sighing in relief, Twilight settled down on the grate. It was cold now, and without magic to shield her it was only going to stay that way. Shivering, she pulled her robes closer to her body and sheltered beneath her hat. It was a miracle that she had made the train.
From her bag she withdrew a well-loved doll of a gray stitched pony and hugged it tight. The threads were frayed, and its button eye had nearly fallen out. It was well stuffed however, so it would help warm her up a little.
"Why does this place feel so different, Smarty Pants?" Twilight asked the doll, as if it might understand her.
There were so many questions she had. What had happened with the changelings? Who were the two alicorns in the posters? Why didn't Shining Armor include any of this in his letter?
Why did interacting with ponies always drain so much energy?
Yet these questions would have to wait. Without magic to fuel it, the spell to keep her awake and numb everything began to fade. Despite her efforts, Twilight's eyes began to close.
The wedding was just around the corner. Tomorrow, she would deal with it. All of this wouldn't even matter anymore. She could go back home and get back to her research.
Then, she slept a deep and dreamless sleep.
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This is a good chapter we get some nice setup but the one thing I'd always have to disagree with when it comes up is how changeling magic works and how it's explained in the D&D book and some of the media is it's a physical transformation not technically magical so most magical detection would most likely fail. And the device only measures how much magic you have like in Twilight's example it could look low just because I've been using it all day or I have been casting powerful spells.
12142506
Small details the author may have overlooked for the sake of the script. I wonder if this AU follows the same timeline as the show, what happened to Discord? He should be free by now, with all the chaos of Daybreaker and Nightmare Moon.
I just found the image that best represents Twilight in this story. (Just change Trixie to Twilight and it would be perfect.)
pbs.twimg.com/media/FwwY_JQWAAAzzud?format=png&name=small
Bigger Hat = Bigger Magic
Art by: @Jargon_Scott
quality writing.
I love it! I love it all! I can't wait to see more!
12142546
I can already picture the alicorns' confusion when they look down to see a talking hat asking to see Heartache's fiancé
12142506
I did not know it was completely physical. For the sake of the story though, it will be at least a little magical. As for the rings, they certainly are not a perfect design. More will be revealed in time. Thanks for the input!
12142763
Oh write whatever you like the story's good and if you need it to be magical can be I'm just a nerd who read too much of the My Little Pony Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook. But because you're trying to make a detailed magic system I thought it would be cool for you to know.
With how hard the predicted crash is I expect her to wake up in a morgue.
Because a lot of things can change in ten years
Bags of toys..... this has some depressing implications
Well, this just keeps getting more and more concerning doesn't it
It's also what someone returning from a long trip would say
Nice nod to the idea that since the Sun and the Moon move because An Alicorn Says So, most ponies wouldn't even know what an eclipse is, with those that DO know probably wanting to check the Canterlot Castle Gardens to see if a certain statue is still there.
Welp, waiting for more stuff...its really really confusing world xD
'Those are obviously just superheroes'
static.wikia.nocookie.net/spongebob/images/3/36/Back_to_the_Past_134.png