After Life

by Silverness

Magic (Under Revision)

After Life

Magic

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Princess Celestia’s horn lit up through the empty darkness and took a step out of the room, placing a hoof on the ground. When it seemed stable, she nodded that it was safe and walked out into the abyss. I reluctantly followed after her, also checking the ground in case I stepped off the trail. Thankfully, the Princess told me we were free to move anywhere just as long as I stayed by her side. I took another step forward, now completely in the shadows, and glanced back at my safe haven. A small doorway stood wide open and marked where we had just left. Inside, the books still lay out on the floor in a messy manner. It was then that the clearing slowly grew smaller as the darkness surrounded it until it was no more. For some reason, I felt I would see that room again.

I moved through the dark misty wilderness, feeling a sudden chill go over my head that sent shivers down my spine. I wasn’t sure what to make of it, but realized from my shivering body that it was getting colder by the minute. I rubbed my hooves together and blew into them, letting my breath warm up my forelegs. It didn’t last long, leaving me cold again as the intense feeling gradually built up. I wasn’t supposed to feel this cold because Pegasi were used to the chilly atmospheric temperatures, but I guess this mist had something to counter that. I continued onwards and followed after the Princess while the chills gradually increased.

“Geez, when did we walk into a blizzard,” I murmured, my teeth chattering between each word.

I trudged forward, my legs moving slower after each step until they finally couldn’t move another foot. I looked down at my legs, and barely noticed the icy frost covering them. I tried to push my limbs out from under me, grunting as I strained my muscles, but my hooves felt numb and wouldn’t budge. Before I could try anything else, a radiant wave of energy burst forth from the darkness blinded my view and all I could do was close my eyes. It had a similar effect as the wave of cold, but this time it brought needed warmth and the chills slowly dispersed from the heat. When it faded, Celestia stood in front of me, a warm smile on her face.

“Feeling better now?” she asked, her horn providing a light source.

I lifted a hoof to my cheek, only feeling my warm fur bristle with each touch and no sign of the cold. “Much better, thanks,” I said with a grin, flashing my teeth.

We fled the area before either of us could suffer the same frozen prison I had almost endured. The shadows continued forming around us and we would have been overtaken if not for Celestia’s magic. I made sure not to stray too far from her and followed along at her pace. Before long, the dark wilderness brought a new surprise. A wave of black mist swirled around us and came from the shadows themselves. I remembered reading something about this from my books back at the haven. There were two kinds of mists. One was white, which preserved the good nature of ponies and supposedly held the magic of the righteous. Then, there was the black, which preserved the bad nature of ponies and held the magic of the wicked. I’m not sure if there is any truth in what I read, but this seemed to perfectly match the description of the black mist: a ghost-like mist, almost the color of charcoal.

“I see you’ve noticed the black magical mists,” Celestia said, walking over to my side and looked at the roiling cloud of sable fog.

I nodded, and watched the mists’ performance as strands of it intertwined with each other and danced around us. “Yeah, they seem vaguely familiar from a book I read. A guide about mystical magic or something, I don’t remember.”

“You must mean the Ancient Book of Magical Mysteries,” Celestia answered, apparently surprised, judging by the tone of her voice. “It is a tome of great knowledge written by Starswirl the Bearded himself. The book has been hidden away from the eyes of ponies for many reasons, one for what the book contains. Apparently, it wasn’t hidden well enough or perhaps I misplaced it. I blame Luna.”

“Oh! You mean that old wizard guy Twilight always talked about?” I asked, remembering the countless times Twilight had told us about the ancient wizard’s greatness and power. To be honest, she was exaggerating his legacy.

Twilight looked up from her book on her desk in the Golden Oaks Library and looked shocked at what she just heard. “But Rainbow! How can you say he isn’t a great wizard? He created most of the spells we use today!” Twilight argued, raising her hooves as emphasis to prove her point.

“Right, and I think you’re making this too difficult,” I had muttered from the book I had grabbed from one of the library’s shelves. It was the sixth of the planned eight books in the Daring Do series. Of course, I had to read it because who doesn’t love Daring Do?

The argument was about whether Starswirl the Bearded was a great wizard or not. Quite frankly, he didn’t seem as great as a unicorn Twilight made him out to be. How did I know this? Well, a month before this conflict, she gave a large book Spike didn’t want and asked me to read it. This book had a large blue cover, adorned with a golden trimming to go along with the font. It was “Starswirl the Bearded: A History,” written by Slight Stroke or something, I don’t even remember anymore.

Why did Twilight give me such a large book without even considering whether I’d want to read it or not? I’m not sure to be honest, but I decided to give the book a try since Twilight kept going on about how awesome he was with magic and how she wanted to give me more books to read. At that moment, Spike had returned back from his errand, giving me time to escape with my heavy cargo before she could give me anymore reading material. When I got back home, I went through the book slowly and read until I fell asleep on top of it. I was on page twenty-seven, which ended up covered in drool thanks to my nap, but Twilight didn’t need to know about that. I continued reading over the next two weeks, and tried to overcome one of my greatest challenges since learning the Buccaneer Blaze: Finishing this long and boring book.

After a number of long and frustrating days, I finally finished the book and went back to the library, hoping to return it. When I went inside, Twilight was reading a large book and it took her a moment to realize that I was there. She smiled, and we chatted for a bit, talking about our mornings until the conversation turned to the book in front of her; it was about Starswirl, much to my annoyance. That’s what ended up starting an argument between me and my egghead friend.

Twilight grumbled and stomped her hoof on the wooden floor. “Are you even listening to me?”

“Nope, I’m kind of reading right now,” I said nonchalantly and turned to the next page. That’s when my book was suddenly pulled from my grasp and lifted itself into the air by a purple aura. Twilight stood next to it, and stared at me with a frown on her face.

“Can you please answer my question now?” Twilight asked, narrowing her eyes on me.

“Ugh, fine,” I grumbled, crossing my hooves. “I think he isn’t a great wizard because one wouldn’t abandon friends over their own work. They wouldn’t use them for personal gain and self-entertainment.” Twilight’s mouth hung open, and stared at me in shock. “Yeah, I read that History of Starswirl the Bearded book you gave me. You didn’t think I’d read it because of how huge it was?” She replied with a slow nod before blushing slightly, causing me to sigh. “Well, you’re technically right, Twilight, but I read it and you know what I think. I think you’re a better unicorn than he was, and you know why? Because you care about your friends and always try your best to solve problems, even if they aren’t your own.”

“Rainbow... You really mean that?” Twilight asked, her eyes brimming with tears.

“Of course I do! What would you expect from the most loyal and awesomest pony you know?” I replied smugly with a grin. “But please, don’t ever make me read about him again.” Twilight nodded and smiled, quickly rushing over and to give me a huge hug. I was taken by surprised for a moment, and felt a few tears drop from the unicorn’s face, but returned the hug a few seconds later.

That was a few years ago, if memory serves me right. It felt great remembering these amazing events, but they only worsened the situation I was in.

“That’s why black magic affects the magical boundaries tha-” Celestia stopped speaking. “Rainbow? Are you alright? You seem... distracted.”

I didn’t look directly at her, and kept my gaze towards the ground. My eyes began stinging slightly and my head began hurting severely for some odd reason. I clutched my temple, gritting my teeth in pain. I had to withstand this or else the princess would know that something was wrong with me. I didn’t want to look like a sap in front of the princess; not to somepony THAT important. If that ever happened, then I might as well turn in my Daredevil’s license. “Yeah, I’m fine, Princess. Nothing to worry about,” I lied, standing normally while I continued gritting my teeth. I didn’t want to worry the Princess over such troubles. It’s my problem, not hers.

“Are you sure?” the sun alicorn asked, not entirely convinced. By the tone of her voice, she sounded worried about my condition, but I really didn’t want to seem like a burden. Sure, it’s great to have the attention of other ponies, but to have that because they’re worried about me? No, I didn’t want anybody to feel bad about me, especially the Princess. Besides, I was fine, right?

“Yeah, totally fine,” I responded, lifting my head up and gave her a weak smile. No, something wasn’t right. Ever since we moved through these dark mists, I had been receiving terrible headaches that only brought back amazing, yet painful memories of my past life. That was the only logical reason I could think up on the spot without making my brain hurt.

Celestia didn’t say another word on the subject and moved on ahead with me following right behind. By now, we moved away from the mists, watching as they faded from their dark charcoal color to a smoky gray. Also, my headaches slowly withered away, but held a constant throbbing once in awhile. The Princess began explaining more about the evils of the dark mists even though I had missed most of her previous explanation. She said that when you conjure dark magic, your regular aura will turn a darker shade or simply become black.

Another memory popped up: an image of King Sombra, highlighting the moment when he tried to get the Crystal Heart. His steel armor and robe made him look even more sinister, but that wasn’t the point. It was the horn, which glowed a dark black.

“This is easy to notice when a unicorn tries wielding dark magic. With pegasi and earth ponies, however, it is difficult,” Celestia went on with her explanation.

“How exactly?” I asked, interested to learn more about magic from all three races.

“Well, you see, unicorns have a horn which is the main source of their magic. They channel it through the air, which the living can’t see, and use either the white or dark mists to help them. Basically, magic is divided between the light and dark side, but there are a few simple spells that are balanced in-between, such as teleportation and levitation,” Celestia explained, which jogged a memory from one of those books I read. It was something about the elemental schools of magic, but I hadn’t paid much attention since I found it very boring and had grabbed a book on pegasi instead.

“Anyway, since pegasi and earth ponies don’t have horns, they channel magic differently. For example, you have your speed and agility in flying as most pegasi are known for. Just like horns, your wings channel magic by helping you speed up or perform tasks such as aerial tricks, and manipulating the weather,” Celestia continued, extending her own wings as an example. “They won’t glow, but you can still feel when you’re using magic. The same goes for the earth ponies, who use their strengths in most of the hard-working jobs. These are the jobs such as agriculture, construction, medicine, education, and whole lot of other jobs all over Equestria.”

I nodded as Celestia closed her wings. “That makes sense, but I have one question: How do I control the magic to do what I want?”

“An excellent question, Rainbow Dash,” Celestia answered, slowly making her way through the remaining gray mists and into a newer area filled with white mists. “You see, you’ll have to study these spells thoroughly in order to use them properly unless you want to teleport yourself through a wall, be my guest then. It has been quite some time since somepony has done that. Funny how Luna ended up doing that on her first try, but that’s not important. Now,” She came to a halt, turning to face me. “Watch what I do.”

I watched attentively as Celestia’s horn lit up, glowing a familiar golden color. Her eyes were closed, concentrating while swirls of white mist moved towards her channeling source. At first, it seemed as if the mists were gradually forming to create one gigantic ball, but I realized that they were slowly fading away from magical usage. If Twilight was here right now, she’d had been ecstatic to see magic in its true form. She’d probably take some notes down and write at least an entire an entire journal of them. This was an egghead’s dream to find out how magic worked.

“Wow, so that’s how unicorns use magic?” I said, impressed by the performance Celestia had given. “I always thought they had some within their own bodies. You know, an energy?”

“Indeed, you are correct. Both unicorns and alicorns have a special gland that helps us gather more ‘energy’ or else we’d tire ourselves out and collapse. I assume Twilight Sparkle told you about this specific function,” Celestia replied, smiling while she said that.

“Yeah, Twi said something like that too... She would always go to great lengths to tell me every single little detail about stuff. Then again, what do you expect from an egghead unicorn who has probably studied every single book known to ponykind,” I chuckled, remembering the way Twilight would explain things. Another memory to dishearten myself even more than I already was.

“Do I hear sadness in your voice? If so, you may speak your mind freely,” Celestia said, the same worried tone and expression appearing once again.

I shook my head in protest. “No... it’s fine, Princess. I’ll manage.”

Celestia narrowed her eyes, and stared hard into my own. I kept my composure, trying not to look discouraged.. If I had failed to hide it, the Princess didn’t say anything. All she did was give a slight nod in respect of my wishes and continued onwards into the mists. I sighed, and knew it was getting harder for me to control my emotions, but for a pony who recently found out that she had died and wouldn’t be able to reveal herself to her friends, I thought I was doing pretty well. I hoped that I would slowly get used to this and I’d be able to accept my new situation. If not, then I promised myself I’d be strong until the end.

Before she could get too far ahead, I followed after Celestia. She didn’t speak another word through the rest of the trip, only glancing back and giving me a once-over before we reached a door. It was a dark gray with a hint of red rust in between the hinges. There were some weird ancient designs inscribed all over the surface, but what they meant was beyond me.

Celestia titled her horn towards the lock, whispering a few words that didn’t make any sense and the door suddenly swung open. She motioned me inside, but I stayed frozen in place, peering into the unlit room. When she motioned again, I reluctantly stepped inside, feeling the cold air swirl around me. As soon as I did, the lights flickered on, revealing a small cauldron in the middle of the room surrounded by vials of clear liquid. Great big banners of two alicorns, one symbolizing the moon and the other, the sun, draped the walls in honor of Celestia and Luna. The Princess entered after me, the door shutting behind her as she made her way towards the pot.

“Well... here we are, my child. This is the place where your journey will begin.”

“Alright, I won’t complain, but why is it so cold in here?” I asked, rubbing my hooves together to warm my shivering body. It wasn’t just cold, it was freezing in here! Even the Great Blizzard that froze my wings and left me stranded in the Everfree Forest didn’t compare to the rigorous winds in the room.

“The low temperature is required for time teleportation spell in the cauldron. If it isn’t just right, then the liquid will dissipate and the entire process will be ruined,” Celestia answered, her horn lighting up for a moment. “There, that should suffice for now.”

A wave of heat slowly warmed up my body, but I was still slightly chilly. “Thanks Princess, that feels much better.”

Celestia smiled. “Anytime my child. Now then, what you see on this table are vials. They may seem like ordinary vials, but they are filled with magic or liquid mist, two essential components of the delicate process.”

“Oh really?” I asked, my interest piqued at how this specific type of mist was liquefied. It was almost like a raincloud filled with water. I grabbed one of the clear vials on the table, examining its contents thoroughly. There was nothing interesting about the liquid other than how it was moving around the space it occupied. “I don’t see anything special about it. All I see is another type of mist.”

“Allow me to demonstrate then, Rainbow.” Celestia took the vial from my hooves, pouring it into the cauldron. I lifted myself up, hovering up to her eye level and examined the results. The liquid already inside of the cauldron combined with the newer one, emitting an eerie glow that shone brightly and seemed to match the temperature of the air. When most of the glow subsided, the liquid seemed to shimmer somewhat, but otherwise looked like ordinary water. I reached inside to poke at it, only for my hoof to be slapped away by Celestia.

“Hey, what gives?” I rubbed the red mark on my hoof, grumbling about a similar event between touching mysterious and strange objects just to have somepony such as Twilight or Applejack slap my hoof and tell me not to touch it. I can’t help it if I have an adventurous personality; it’s just who I am.

“Just a moment, Rainbow. I know how eager you are, but please, wait patiently this time?” Celestia asked, narrowing her eyes. I weakly chuckled, grinning. “Good, now let me add a few things.” She turned away, levitating a few vials and bowls over her head and onto the table. One of the vials came up to her face and she squinted at the name before throwing it off into the abyss. She levitated another vial to her side and repeated the action until she came up with a bright blue bottle. I watched quizzically as she worked, but my mind still rested on why she didn’t let me touch the cauldron. Maybe she wouldn’t mind if I took one small peek without her noticing?

Celestia looked busy, throwing vials aside and grabbing new ones, pouring some of them into whatever she was making. Making up my mind, I slowly sidestepped my way over to the cauldron, unfurling my wings and flapped upwards to get a better view. The water still shimmered the same as before, untouched. I glanced back, making sure the Princess wasn’t watching. She wasn’t.

I grinned down at the cauldron and outstretched my hoof, breaking the surface of the liquid. Nothing interesting happened. I felt the water licking my hoof, sending a cooling sensation all over my body. There seemed to be nothing wrong with the liquid, other than being the right temperature even though it was very cold in the room. It was just like ordinary water.

Just as I was about to remove my hoof, something grabbed onto it and I was suddenly pulled forward, falling head first into the cauldron. I opened my mouth to scream, but the words were garbled in-between gulps of clear liquid, filling up my lungs. I tried swimming upwards, but my body didn’t move and only sank lower. Sure, swimming is one thing, but when you’re pegasi deep underwater, then that’s a huge emergency. Going underwater is a common fear for many pegasi because our wings won’t operate properly, and we’d have to rely on our leg muscles. I had amazing, powerful muscles, but I only kept sinking faster. More water filled my lungs, my vision fading from consciousness as I watched myself float around and flailed my arms in the cauldron.

The space around seemed to expand, the black walls growing outward. I continued trying to swim out to no avail. A bright light appeared up top and I pushed my way towards it in hopes of getting out. My body moved slightly upwards, but I still remained where I was, drowning. I knew I couldn't die, but did that also mean I couldn't drown? I didn't know, yet I did know I had a filly to protect. I took in one last gulp of water, using whatever strength I had left to push myself. It wasn’t enough.

“I’m sorry Scootaloo...” I thought before looking up at the light shining down above me before finally losing conscious.

Author's Note:

Here's Chapter One. I'm actually surprised it took this long to get it posted up instead of the long months of waiting .-. Oh well, hope you guys enjoy this one! I enjoy and appreciate feedback when you guys do leave comments.

Comments

[truthaura]

this seems a bit loosely jointed i get lost as to where certain lines start. like when it switched to the flashback of twi..

[Silverness]

2433003 fixed! (Flashback scene)

[SolidFire]

This has started off really well. I can't wait to see what else it is that you do with this story. Keep up the great writing!

[TigeR]

Seconded, this story started out great! Please continue