Chapter 5
As the sun rose, Shining sat in his tent, polishing his chestpiece. The metal already shone like a mirror, but he still continued rubbing it with a cloth in gentle, circular motions. The tension through the camp was palpable. Fairweather, he knew, would be in his own tent, scraping away at lumps of soapstone with a file. Even Luna had confined herself to her tent, refusing to talk to anyone.
With most of the ponies in the camp, it was simple impatience. None of them were used to waiting. Shining’s restlessness, however, was the result of something completely different.
He’s not fully sapient.
Shining scowled and spat on the gilded chestpiece again, scouring the cloth over it with more force than was really necessary.
Blaze is a lot of things, but wrong isn’t usually one of them.
She had to be wrong here. What she said made no sense. How could a pony be capable of overpowering Princess Celestia and leveling her chambers, and yet possess the intellect of a deer or dumbox?
Are we doing the right thing?
You just want to keep her safe.
I’m not asking you to agree with me. But I am asking you to trust me.
Gritting his teeth, Shining threw down the piece of cloth. As if to add insult to injury, his headache was coming back with a vengeance. Before it could get any worse, he went over to his pack and crammed a bundle of dried herbs Patchwork had given him into his mouth. They were no replacement for unicorn healing, but the combination of willow bark, rosemary and aspen leaves did the job well enough. Fifteen minutes or so, the medic had said, and a headache will just be a bad memory. Gagging at the vile taste, Shining was unsure if they were actually worth it.
While he waited for the herbs to take effect, Shining went back to polishing his armour. I don’t even know who to believe any more, he thought morosely.
I wish Twilight was here, he mused. She was always better than me at muddling things out. Besides, if she was there with him, she’d be safe. Just like Luna had said he wanted.
“That breastplate looks polished enough to me.”
Shining looked up, meeting Fairweather’s eyes. The pegasus still held a few small files and a half-carved figurine under one wing. “And I would have thought that after all this time, you’d have gotten better at that,’ he shot back. “Nopony’s perfect.”
Fairweather scowled. “I came here t’ talk, not argue. My carving abilities aren’t really in the picture.”
Shining took a deep breath, reining his temper in hard. His headache, which had begun to recede, came roaring back. “All right. So talk.”
Fairweather looked him over for a moment. “How much sleep did you get last night?”
“Not much,” Shining admitted.
Fairweather grunted. “It shows. Straighten up. Look at me.” He nodded. “Better. Ye don’t look like you’re about to fall on your face any more.” He glanced at Shining’s bandage. “You’re bleeding again.”
“Luna seems to think that whatever we’re chasing has to be destroyed, whether it’s an actual threat or not,” Shining said abruptly.
Fairweather blinked. “So you did get something out of ‘er,” he grunted. “Figures she’d ‘ave told you.”
Shining shook his head. “I just don’t know who to believe. I don’t know if it’s the head injury, but I… I’m just so confused.”
Fairweather eased himself down onto Shining’s camp stool. “If I were you, Ah wouldn’t listen too closely t’ what Luna has to say.”
“It’s not just what Luna told me,” Shining said. It’s not just what Blaze thinks either. I’ve gotten to a point where I almost don’t care what they think any more! I’m sick of hearing theories and speculation! All I care about now is that Twilight, who’s completely unaware of the situation, is in the same town with something we know nothing about!
“There’s just a lot on my mind right now,” he said instead.
Fairweather let out a heavy sigh. “You realize you ‘ave nothing to prove, right?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Shining retorted.
“We both know what that means,” Fairweather replied. “Any other soldier would be in the infirmary right now. Frankly, the only reason you’re out ‘ere is that we’d have to tie you down t’ keep you in Canterlot.”
“You want me to leave,” Shining said. “You think I can’t handle this. Is that it? Is that what this is all about? Because if you think I’m going to crack, you’re wrong.”
“It has nothing t’ do with your ability to handle things,” Fairweather snapped. “You’d keep a cool head e’en if the sun was about to explode. Ah just… there is nothing about this situation that I like. My gut’s telling me things are going to end badly for everyone involved, and… you ‘ave a wife to worry about.”
“And a sister,” Shining shot back. “You think I’m just going to abandon her?”
“Ye wouldnae be abandoning her,” Fairweather said. “The rest of us would be there for her.”
Shining shook his head. “I couldn’t. At my wedding, at the Crystal Empire… Twily’s always been there for me when I needed her.” He thumped a hoof against his chest. “Now it’s my turn. And if things are going to go as badly as you think they are, I’m going to regret leaving for the rest of my life.”
Fairweather smiled and gently punched Shining’s shoulder. “Ye just had to prove me right again, didn’t you?” He stood with a grunt of effort. “Ah’ll go fetch Patches. E’en if he cannae do anything about you bleeding, that bandage could probably stand changing.”
Shining watched him go. Now it’s my turn. He hadn’t actually thought about it that way before he’d said that. In the end, what he wanted boiled down to two things: the truth, and to keep Twilight safe. And the only way to make that happen was to go to Ponyville by himself, against orders.
He wouldn’t be court-martialed. Since the Royal Guard was a separate division of the Equestrian military and possessed its own ranking system, him and Fairweather were technically equally ranked, so he didn’t strictly have to follow orders.
Shining stood there for a moment longer, weighing his options. Finally, with a muttered obscenity, he bundled his armour together and slung it over his back. He could say he was going out to check the perimeter; something routine. They wouldn’t think to look for him for a couple hours. He could be in Ponyville before anyone figured out where he’d gone.
Thankfully, nopony accosted him as he walked out of the camp. And why would they? He was a superior officer to everyone there except Luna and Fairweather. As long as neither of them saw him, he’d be fine.
Shining let himself relax a bit. I might actually be able to pull this—
“Going somewhere?”
Shining froze as Blaze stepped out from behind a tree, munching on an apple. “I’m checking the perimeter,” he said lamely.
“With your armour all slung over your back?” Blaze remarked. “Please. You’re going to Ponyville, aren’t you?”
Shining took a moment to look the pegasus over. He outweighed her by a good hundred pounds, but pegasi were often capable of surprising bursts of speed and strength. Honestly, he wasn’t sure which would come out on top if it came to force.
“Thought you might be,” Blaze said, grinning. “I would have left an hour ago, but I don’t have a good excuse to wander off.”
Shining blinked. Of all the responses he was expecting, that certainly wasn’t one of them.
Blaze took another bite of the apple. “Go ahead,” she mumbled. “I’ll see if I can throw the rest off your trail.”
Shining opened his mouth, but she cut him off. “Don’t thank me. You’ve saved me some trouble. Just answer me a question.”
“Anything,” Shining replied.
“Why?”
Shining paused. There was a lot left unspoken in that question. “Luna told me some things last night,” he finally said. “I’m… starting to think you might be right.”
Blaze smirked. “I usually am,” she said smugly. “But if I might ask… what are you looking for? Do you have a plan?”
Shining sighed. “I don’t know,” he said honestly. “I have absolutely no idea what I’m looking for, or what I’m going to do when I find it. I’m still not sure what side I’m on.”
Blaze smiled sadly. “So there’s already sides in this, are there? Us versus them.”
Shining paused. He hadn’t wanted to think of it like that. “Looks like it,” he finally said.
“Luna’s going to come after you,” Blaze said suddenly. “When she learns you’re gone… she won’t stop at anything.”
Shining nodded. “I know.”
Blaze swallowed. “Something bad’s going to happen,” she said quietly. “I can feel it.”
“I can too,” Shining sighed. “I think everyone here can.”
With a heavy heart, Shining continued on, focusing on the small, quiet town in the distance.
Either I’m making a huge mistake, he thought, or Luna is. And I really don’t know which.
----------
“Twilight? You all right?”
Twilight lifted her head, cold sweat beading on her brow, hating the taste of vomit on her tongue. “No,” she groaned. “I’m not all right.”
“What just happened?” Applejack asked, directing a cautious glare at the stallion in the corner.
“Magical backlash of some kind,” Twilight said through gritted teeth, fighting the urge to retch again. “He caused it. Don’t know how.”
Applejack nudged her head under one of Twilight’s forelegs, supporting some of her weight. “Come on,” she said. “Let’s get you inside.”
“No!” Twilight said, shaking her friend off. “I’ll be fine. I’m feeling better already.” Her nausea was already starting to recede.
“Are you sure?” Applejack asked.
“I’m sure,” Twilight said, swallowing. “I’ve never felt anything like that.” Hesitantly, she spun out a few hair-thin tendrils of magic, and slowly extended them toward the stallion. Just before touching him, the magic started to writhe, almost like something alive, trying to pull out of her grasp. Shivering, Twilight yanked the magic back before it could collapse entirely. “That makes no sense,” she whispered.
Applejack frowned. “Uh, Twi? Hate to interrupt your musin’, but I’m feeling a bit left out of the loop here. What the hay just happened?”
“I’m not entirely sure myself,” Twilight replied. “Magic just flies apart around him. It’s like he not only doesn’t have any magic in him, but he makes it collapse around him!”
“Ah don’t follow,” Applejack said.
Twilight winced. “Sorry. It’s tough to explain. If I were to, say, lift you with magic, I’d feel you. I’m not talking about an aura or anything like that, but I’d know I was holding something. With him, I feel absolutely nothing.”
“So what happened with you just then? You still look like you’re going to be sick.”
“When magic falls apart like that, it’s not usually pleasant. It falls into whatever it wants to.” Twilight swallowed. “I think I was lucky to just feel sick from it.”
Applejack sighed. “So what do we do? I’m stumped.”
Twilight shook her head. “Keep him here. I’ll see if I can find anything in the library, maybe send a note to Princess Celestia. I need to find out exactly what he is, and how he got…” She trailed off. When she’d stumbled off to throw up, the stallion had clambered to his hooves, ears laid back. He still seemed on-edge, but that wasn’t what had attracted Twilight’s attention. There were several dark spots on the straw below him.
She quickly looked over the stallion for any sign of open wounds. After a moment, she saw that he was favouring his right foreleg. Applejack noticed it at the same time she did, and swore. “He’s hurt,” she muttered. “Ah thought he was limping last night, but Ah paid it no mind. Just wanted to get him out of the rain.”
Twilight knelt down and examined the stallion’s leg, ignoring his soft snorts of alarm. “Looks like he’s got a piece of glass stuck in there,” she said. “Poor guy. It started bleeding again every time he shifted.” She got back up. “All right. Change of plans. We take him to the library. I’ve got a couple dissection tools there I should be able to fix him up with.”
Applejack frowned. “Uh, I hate to point this out, but… ain’t Fluttershy way better than you at this kind of thing?”
“Maybe,” Twilight agreed sheepishly. “But until I figure out exactly what our friend is and where he came from, the fewer ponies that know about him, the better.”
She glanced at the stallion, who was still standing passively near the back of the stall. “Uh… any ideas on how we’re going to move him?”
Applejack nodded thoughtfully. “Ah’ve got one or two.”
----------
Luna’s eyes flew open as the wards around her tent alerted her. I am not accustomed to being disturbed this often, she thought as Fairweather pushed through the tent flap without so much as a word.
“Can I help you?” Luna asked, withdrawing her awareness from the dreamscape. It had quieted some, but there were still some late sleepers whose dreams might hold information.
“What did you tell ‘im?” Fairweather barked.
“I am afraid you will have to be more specific.”
“Don’t give me that!” Fairweather spat. “You know perfectly well wha’ Ah’m talking about! Shining Armour’s left the camp, and you were one o’ the last ponies he talked to.” He stepped closer, his tone becoming low and dangerous. “Now you’re going t’ tell me everything you told him. Because if you went and manipulated my friend—”
“Must I remind you who you are speaking to?” Luna hissed. “You are upset, and understandably so, and in light of that I will forget what you have just said. Now compose yourself and address me as your Princess, and not as a criminal!”
Fairweather shut his lopsided jaw with a click, nearly shaking with the urge to start shouting again. “I will not disguise the fact that Shining Armour and I discussed some sensitive matters last night,” Luna said. “But I can assure you that I did not, as you said, manipulate him. His choice to leave was his and his alone.”
“And what exactly did your conversation last night have to do with ‘is decision, Princess?”
“I am afraid I have no answer to that,” Luna replied. “It may have, or it may not. You will have to ask him yourself. However,” she continued, cutting off Fairweather’s retort. “I see no reason why we cannot use this situation to our advantage.”
“My friend and Captain of the Guard is striking out for Ponyville with severe injuries and no idea what he migh’ encounter,” Fairweather hissed. “Pray tell how that’s advantageous.”
“Ten Guards and a Princess scouring a town on an unknown mission is cause for uproar,” Luna said. “One Guard, on the other hoof, is simply a curiosity. Assuming that Shining Armour maintains discretion, he could make an effective scout.”
Fairweather’s eyes narrowed. “If Ah didnae know better, Princess, Ah’d say you were planning this from the beginning.”
“It is a good thing that you know better, then,” Luna replied. Oh Fairweather, you are a dangerous pony indeed. It’s not often I find I have underestimated someone.
“In that case, you wouldn’t mind if Ah moved the camp closer. To come to our scout’s aid if need be.”
“Of course not,” Luna replied. “You are in command, after all.”
“Ah appreciate your time, Princess Luna,” Fairweather said. “It’s been quite enlightening.”
As soon as Fairweather left the tent, Luna allowed her face to melt into a scowl. It seemed that her second knight intended to take himself off the board.
Well, if she now had to sacrifice a few pawns, so be it. This was a game she could not lose.
----------
“All right,” Twilight whispered, glancing around the front of the library. “We’re clear.”
Applejack emerged from behind a house, a rope in her teeth. The other end was looped around the stallion’s head in such a way that pulling on it encouraged him to move without cutting off anything vital. It had taken some creative maneuvering on Twilight’s part to get them through town unseen.
Twilight reached the library’s back door and held it open, glancing anxiously around as Applejack hauled their quarry closer. The stallion nickered quietly in protest, but plodded along calmly enough. That’s a good thing, I guess, Twilight thought. I don’t think me or Applejack could restrain him if he decided to get a bit ornery.
Slowly but surely, the two inched forward. Come on, come on! Twilight thought. We don’t have time for this!
Sure that someone would see that at any moment, she all but shoved the two into the library, taking a last furtive glance around before ducking inside.
She closed the door and rested against it, heaving a sigh of relief. “You want to tell me what’s going on here?” Spike asked from the stairs.
Twilight gave a yelp of surprise and leapt to her hooves. Spike! I’d completely forgotten about him! “Spike, I promise I’ll explain everything. But I can’t now. Just… hold down the fort. Don’t let anyone in. Say I’ve got the flu. Heck, say I have the plague!”
“Is something wrong?” Spike asked. “Who was that with Applejack?”
“I’ll explain later,” Twilight said. “Please, Spike. I need you to trust me on this.”
Spike hesitated, and nodded. “All right,” he said. Then he fixed her with a startlingly intense glare. “But you’d better tell me what’s going on at some point.”
Twilight winced. She knew better than anyone how much Spike hated being out of the loop. “I will,” she promised.
Twilight snatched her dissection kit off her workbench and, after a moment’s consideration, went to the icebox and filled a bowl with greens. While a couple of them might be useful for poultices in a stretch, she really just needed something to distract the stallion with. With that floating behind her, she ran downstairs. “How is he?” she asked Applejack.
“Not happy,” Applejack replied, tugging on the rope. “Takin’ those stairs put some strain on his leg, and he didn’t seem to like that.”
Twilight knelt down in front of the stallion, who was snorting in agitation. “Relax,” she told him, taking a pair of tweezers out of the kit. “Everything’s going to be fine.”
The moment the metal touched the wound, the stallion nickered and stepped back. Twilight bit off a curse and stood. “Fasten that rope around his leg. I can’t get the glass out if he keeps moving.”
Applejack quickly obliged, undoing the rope from the stallion’s head and retying it around his powerful foreleg. Twilight knelt down again, ignoring the stallion’s hot breath on the back of her neck. She tried not to think about what would happen if he decided to bite her. His jaws were a lot heavier than the average pony’s; they could probably do some severe damage.
“Just hold him still,” she instructed Applejack, carefully manipulating the tweezers. After a moment, she fastened the ends around the shard. “On three,” she said. “One… two… three!” With a quick motion, she yanked the small shard out.
The effect on the stallion was immediate. He let out a whinny of pain and jerked backwards, yanking the rope out of Applejack’s mouth. Twilight scampered backwards, getting away from those jaws — and froze as the stallion turned around, aiming his rear hooves right at her. She swore, diving out of the way, and the kick that would have caught her in the face instead caught Applejack full in the chest. She was sent flying backwards into the wall with a strangely hollow thud.
“Applejack!” Twilight yelled, glancing anxiously at the stallion. He was suddenly docile again, the flash of temper gone as suddenly as it had come.
Applejack’s eyes opened, and focused blearily on Twilight. “Big Mac, Ah don’t wanna play tag with hay bales no more,” she moaned.
“Look at me Applejack,” Twilight said. “What’s the square root of two hundred thirty seven?”
“Square what?” Applejack replied, frowning. “There ain’t no tree with square roots that Ah know of.”
“Good enough,” Twilight said with a smile. “You all right?”
“Good enough,” the earth pony echoed, blinking a couple timed to focus her eyes. “That stallion’s got one heck of a kick. Ah think Big Macintosh might have a rival in the strength department.”
“Let’s not test that,” Twilight said, helping Applejack to her hooves. She suddenly remembered the bowl she’d left on the stairs and floated it as close to the stallion as she dared. He let out a happy nicker, buried his face in the bowl and started munching.
Applejack shook her head to clear it and looked at the stallion with new wariness. “Now what?”
“I…” Twilight closed her mouth. She had no idea. “I guess… let me grab some books. I don’t know about you, but I want to find out exactly what he is, and where he came from. Maybe then we can figure out what to do with him.”
“Any idea on what he is?” Applejack asked.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Twilight admitted. “I mean, he could be some form of primitive equine. A living fossil sort of scenario. But that doesn’t explain how he negates magic.” She glanced back over at the stallion again, who was peacefully investigating the basement. “Think you can watch him for a few minutes?”
Applejack chuckled. “Ah’ve learned my lesson. Ah’m knotting the rope around something heavy this time.” The mirth faded from her face. “Just, uh… don’t take to long. I don’t really like bein’ around him.”
Twilight paused halfway up the stairs. “Why not?”
“Forget it,” Applejack said, waving a hoof. “It’s silly.”
“Any observations you have could be potentially useful,” Twilight countered.
Applejack sighed. “Whenever Ah get too close, I just… start feeling a bit weak, is all. I can’t really explain it.”
“That’s perfectly natural,” Twilight replied. “It’s a primal response to an unfamiliar situation. Don’t let it bother you.”
“That’s not what I meant,” Applejack protested, but Twilight was already gone.
Twilight stepped out into the library rotunda, compiling a list of titles. Equine Morphology’s a definite, and I’ll need something on evolutionary history… and that guide on writing journal articles is always helpful. Who knows? Maybe I can get my name out there for something beyond being an Element bearer.
She glanced at her workbench, tapping her chin thoughtfully. Maybe The Nature of Magicks would be a good idea, too. Or it might be a little too archaic.
She’d been reading it the previous day. It had made some very fascinating points, focusing on innate magics that permeated every corner of the land. It didn’t just manifest in unicorns, as most scholars of the time had thought.
Twilight blinked. Then her jaw dropped. “Oh my,” she said quietly. She snatched the book and began leafing through the pages, looking for a particular excerpt. At the front of the library, someone knocked on the door. She ignored it. Spike would take care of it.
Finally, she found the passage. As she scanned it, her heart sank. Stupid, stupid, stupid! she berated herself, slamming the book shut and turning toward the trapdoor. Why didn’t I think of that?
She flung the trapdoor open and barrelled down the stairs. Applejack glanced up at her. “Well, that was quick,” she remarked. Her easygoing expression melted into a frown. “Something wrong? You look like you saw a ghost.”
“Don’t go near him,” Twilight replied, refusing to taker her eyes off the stallion, who was currently rubbing his jaw against the edge of a table. “Don’t touch him, just… keep as much distance between him and you as you can.”
“Why?” Applejack asked. “What’d you find out?”
Twilight lit her horn out of reflex, and dulled it in the same moment. Magic was worse than useless in this situation. “I was stupid. Magic is magic. If he negates my magic, then he negates all magic.”
Applejack frowned. “Ah’m not sure I follow.”
“Magic doesn’t just appear in unicorns,” Twilight said, forcing her voice to stay even. “It’s everywhere. Pegasi use it to fly and change the weather, you use it to grow things, and it gives you your strength and stamina. It’s in the plants, it’s in the ground, it’s everywhere. If he’s negating whatever magic he comes into contact with…”
“Let me get this straight. He’s sucking the magic out of everything he touches? Stars, Twilight, what the hay is that going to do?”
“Picture a lake,” Twilight said. “Now, let’s take that lake, and put a bottomless hole in it. The hole moves around at random, but the lake’s constantly draining. Wherever the hole is, the surface gets disturbed. That’s what’s making you feel weak. That’s why the weather team lost control.”
Applejack was silent for a long moment. “What happens when the lake drains?” she asked weakly.
Twilight shook her head. “It shouldn’t. That’s not actually a great analogy. Magic’s just a type of energy. By its very nature, it can’t be created or destroyed. Only converted.”
“Converted? Twi, that ain’t much more promising.”
“Twilight?” Spike asked from upstairs, jarring her from her reverie. “We’ve got a bit of a situation.”
Twilight glared upstairs. “If it’s not a life-or-death scenario, I’m going to make it one,” she growled, stomping up the stairs.
“This had better be important,” she started. Then she saw who was standing in the rotunda, and her jaw dropped.
“Hey Twily,” Shining said, his face drawn and taut. “We’ve got a bit to talk about.”
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Love this so far.
Oooooh
This is on Equestria Daily, right?
You know you're doing something right at 220-1 votes...
The smart thing would be to stab it immediately and burn the body. Come on guys, it's a magical singularity. Toss ethics out the window before your world is irreversibly screwed up.
I wonder if & when Luna will realise that not only is her opponent not playing by her rules, but he's not even at the board at all & she's been playing against herself.
4205544
And then maybe Pinkie could throw an "We killed an innocent creature!" Party & Twilight can write a letter to the Princess about how you should just flat-out murder things that are different from you and/or make you afraid.
4205544
Might be easier to just put the horse in a box, slap a [return to sender] label on it and have Derpy deliver it.
4207235 Oh!!! So that's where all the mail she looses goes.
...you can save the day Derpy--we believe in you!
4206957
That was kind of my point. It'd be wrong ethically, but also necessary if my hunch is right. Think of the foreshadowing; Twilight said magic has no limit, so the longer they keep this poor horse alive they'll gradually learn that there is. And just like a real singularity, once you start feeling the effects it's already too late to escape. In this context, the life of one animal is worth the lives and livelihood of millions of innocent people.
It's not going to be that easy, obviously, or we'd see the next two chapters probably being the last. But I see them hard pressed to find a way to send it back, or at least somewhere else, if it's not affected by spells of any kind. I doubt Celestia wants to get close to it again.
shit gets real
4205544
That may not even stop it.
Great chapter!
Honestly every chapter is an improvement, for your story and its writing. I especially love the dialogue, it feels very crisp and natural, with excellent description of thought and facial/body language. It's a breath of fresh air.
Oh dear.
This can end only badly.
Oh boy things sure are getting worse