The Cult of Amplification

by Burnie

New Beginnings

The purple mare named Twilight Sparkle was a welcoming figure. She trotted through Ponyville, greeting ponies with a nod as she headed towards her home in the town’s library. Twilight had just been to Sugarcube corner to help make cupcakes with her friend Pinkie Pie, and she was definitely ready to get back to studying. She was reading a fascinating book on higher level spells, and she couldn’t wait to try some of them out. There was one spell in particular, an invisibility spell, that she was sure would come in handy, once she could figure out the complex magic required to work it.

Twilight quickly picked up her mail as she walked into her house. Subscriptions to science and discovery magazines made up most of her load, but there seemed to be a few letters among them. Twilight went inside and plopped the mail on her desk, but one letter caught her eye. This letter was sealed with the royal wax crest of her brother and sister-in-law, Shining Armor and Cadance. Twilight quickly tore into the envelope, eager to hear from her brother. She had always had difficulty keeping in touch with Shining Armor, but after the coronation a few months ago Twilight had made an effort to write him more often. She was sure Shining Armor would be writing back about all of his extensive duties as captain of the royal guard. But when Twilight began reading, the document was clearly written in the feminine hornwriting of Cadance.The letter read:

Dear Twilight Sparkle,
I’m writing you today to let you know the most wonderful news. Shining Armor and I are going to have a little foal! We thought you’d want to be one of the first ponies to know, and we’d love it if you could come visit us sometime soon. I know Shining Armor would be very happy if you could be here. I would also enjoy the chance to catch up, since we barely had time to talk last time we met!
Sincerely,

Princess Mi Amore Cadenza

Twilight read the letter over three times in quick succession, her smile widening every time. Twilight was going to be an aunt! She couldn’t wait to tell all of her friends. And the prospect of visiting Cadance and Shining Armor for the first time since the coronation was extremely exciting. Everything had been so hectic and confusing during her last visit to Canterlot with the parades and the festivities that Twilight was sure she’d enjoy a more peaceful get together with her family.

The next few weeks went by quickly for Twilight. In order to protect Cadance's privacy, the only horses in Ponyville who knew about the pregnancy were Twilight's five closest friends. Eager to respond to the invitation, Twilight made plans to visit Canterlot within a month of her receiving the letter. Because Twi wanted to remain subtle while Cadance's pregnancy was a secret to the public, her visit to Canterlot was alone, regardless of the protests of her glamorous friend, Rarity, who whined that Twilight "simply MUST take me with you! I haven't seen the latest Canterlot fashion in AGES!" Twilight upheld her refusal, on the basis that it wouldn’t be fair to only bring one of her friends along.

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Quiet Sting woke in a haze. She felt weak, which made sense considering the outburst of power that she had experienced last night. She noticed one of the lieutenants, identifiable by the blue border on her cloak and the two horn segments missing from her head, standing over her impatiently. She was an icy blue, with a white mane that was cropped short. After Sting shook the sleep from her eyes, the lieutenant began her spiel.

“My name is Glacial Mark. I’ll be showing you around camp today,and then I may begin to teach you how to use your newfound power, as depleted as it is at the moment. Anyway, It’ll be difficult to get used to not being able to move things with your magic, but we’ve all adjusted. Take a second to prepare yourself and we’ll head out.”

With that the lieutenant strutted out. Even though Quiet Sting knew she had been the first to join since the first few dozen, the mare acted as if this was a commonplace occurrence. It was probably for the best; Sting didn’t want any special treatment. She fumbled with her teeth for a minute, finally tying her cloak’s strings together. She noticed the white stripes were gone. She was now a fully recognized member of the cult. Sting also took a look into a small hand-mirror on her bedstand a light layer of skin had grown over her stub, and the glow of the magic underneath shined like coals in a fire. Quiet Sting took a minute just looking at her reflection, getting used to her new look. The cut had been so clean that her horn actually looked pretty good. But there was no more time for vanity, Sting had somepony waiting for her.

Joining Glacial Mark, Quiet Sting began to take in the camp in a new light. Before she was an outsider trying to learn everything she could about a cult she did not understand. Now she was trying to learn the layout of her new home. These ponies were her family now, and they would help her attain vast power. Mark took her first to the cult’s farms, which she had seen before but only at a distance. Greenhoof, the main farmer who directed the other cult members’ efforts to farm up food for the cult, waved a hoof and welcomed Sting over.

“Hello, Quiet Sting. I see your horn is healing nicely. There’s not too much to see here, just dirt and plows at the moment, but say hi to the farm crew. I’m sure they’d all appreciate the chance to greet the newest member now that you’ve recovered a bit.”

Quiet Sting did, and as she went around, trying to absorb names and faces of the ponies she would be sharing her life with from now on, her attention was focused on one mare in particular, a yellow pony with a crimson mane who was clearly blind. The blind pony stared directly at her with sightless eyes with a concerned and oddly judgemental look on her face. Sting was unnerved by her, but at the same time she was impressed that the pony still worked in the fields without being able to see exactly what she was doing. It had to require a considerable amount of skill. When she and Glacial Mark left to continue the tour, Quiet Sting noted the blind pony’s cutie mark was two hands of a clock, without numbers or a circle bordering them.

After she was sure they were out of earshot from the farm, Quiet Sting asked Glacial Mark about the strange mare.

“Oh, Veil Shine? She’s quite an interesting member of the cult. Before she joined her talent was keeping of track of time. She could tell you exactly how long any action took; it was uncanny. When she decided to have her second section cut, she was blinded, and her new access to her powers allowed her to see time in a completely different way. She’s become somewhat disconnected from her place in the timeline, but she can accomplish any normal task as long as she’s focusing. We’re still trying to figure out how best to use her powers for our own purposes, but now she at least serves a good example for how delving into yourself can unearth completely different aspects of our core talents. Graphite Star says cutting out the illusion section of her horn allowed her time-related talent to cut through the ‘illusion’ of time, seeing everything at once. I’d ask him about it. He spent the most amount of time with her while she was still drifting through the timeline.” With that the Glacial Mark dropped the subject and continued the tour.

The tour of the farm, eating quarters, communal tents, etc. blurred together for Sting after that. Veil Shine was an interesting and new facet of the cult’s magic, but on top of that Quiet Sting couldn’t wait to try out her new magic. All this formality was just getting in her way. At last Glacial Mark took her to an empty meadow, the same one the ritual had been performed in. The markings in the dirt had been swept away, and now there was plenty of free space to practice controlling her new power. Glacial Mark explained:

“That outpour of magic that happened when your horn was cut was the reserves of your power pouring out into the world. Don’t worry, it replenishes itself, but you’ll actually be weaker than before for a few days. The tip of our horns serves as a kind of cap, which both holds our magic in and makes it difficult to tap into all that power at once. Now that you’ve removed that inhibitor, with little effort you can call upon the depths of magical power that reside in your horn. Even better, after using up your supply a few times the replenishment begins to quicken, like working out a muscle. This can take years for unicorns who have to work around their horn tip to use up their power, but for us you can achieve quick, vast power in a tiny amount of time. And even as a beginner you can cast very powerful spells, you’ll just exhaust your supply fairly quickly. This is the true virtue of our amplification: magic without limits!

“Now, show me. I want you to harness the magic in your horn and exhaust your energy. I’ll put up a shield, and you try to break through it. Don’t stop till you’ve got nothing left.”

Quiet Sting stood still for a moment, unsure of how to use her new strength. Glacial Mark met her eyes with a level stare for a few seconds, then reared her head back and cast her shield. A blue glowing sphere gathered on the tip of her horn, and when she threw her head back down the ball flew into the ground and burst into a giant barrier of pure ice. Faced with this obstacle, Sting focused on calling forth some kind of projectile. Immediately a rush of energy shot out of her horn in little bullets crashing into the ice. The sudden outburst startled Sting, who wasn’t used to using magic without the ‘cap’ of her horn tip. The force of the sudden burst also pushed her back a few inches. Regardless of this seemingly powerful display, however, the ice shield was barely scratched. Concentrating on forming more piercing magic to get through the ice, Quiet Sting shot more projectiles at the barrier, bracing her hooves so she didn’t fly backwards. These new shots looked like giant arrowheads, and she only fired off six before the red glow on the tip of her horn fizzled and she sat back, exhausted. The first four flew into one spot in the barrier, opening it up for two to go through, but Glacial Mark quickly repaired her shield with a burst of blue energy before any harm could come to her.

“Good, good!” Glacial Mark said. “Most of the people I’ve helped train started out with a very scattered burst of magic, hitting my barrier like a hose across the entire thing and not really accomplishing much. You not only recognized that you would need to make a weak point and hammer into it, but also you were able to act on that idea and sculpt your magic to fit your needs! That’s a very good start. We’ll refine our practice a bit when your magic begins to regenerate at a faster pace, but for now we’ll just work on what it feels like to use and empty your magic at an objective. Tomorrow we’ll work on hitting targets at a distance, if you’ve got the juice for it.”

Quiet Sting had never been so tired. When she had lived her own normal life she had experienced days of hard work in the kitchen she had worked at, but she had never felt so… used up. It was a good feeling, like she had finally started to fulfill her true potential. Quiet Sting was hungry for more.

Author's Note:

I know what "purple mare" syndrome is, so don't think I'm falling into that trap from the first sentence. The purpose is to contrast Twilight and Graphite from the get go, so Twilight's introduction to this story mirrors Graphite's.

Anyway I like this length for chapters, so these should end up to be around 2000 words each. I've got a loose outline and there probably won't be more than ten chapters in the first "Act," and that will be its own complete story. If I've gained any sort of following by then I also have an Act II planned, but I won't follow through if no one is enjoying it at that point.

So far I've got a pretty comprehensive idea of how magic works in my version of Equestria, but if anything doesn't make sense or is unclear feel free to comment and I'll either explain or correct.