> Age of Equestria
>  by EdofJville
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Beginning Anew
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

His bed was as warm and comforting as ever, as he eagerly snuggled under the blanket and rested his head on the pillow. The moon shone brightly through the bedroom window beside him as he anticipated the arrival of his father and the usual bedtime story. What seemed like ages finally gave way to the telltale sounds of father’s hoofsteps coming from the hall as the bedroom door opened. Father walked in with a warm smile and his favorite book of assorted tales in one hoof and his glowing horn carrying the trademark stool with which he always sat on during his readings. 

Father levitated the stool down on the wooden floor and made himself comfortable as he opened the big folktale book to a random story. 

"Tonight's story is quite a good one, Ethereal. Its one of my favorites, although I guess I say that about most of these stories, don't I?"



He smiled at his father knowingly, while he let out a small chuckle in response. As father began reading the night's story, mother came into the room, smiling and bidding him goodnight with a light kiss on the cheek before exiting as the narration continued. His eyes slowly drooped, soothed by father's calming deep voice. Before he knew it, he was asleep in a peaceful state of bliss as the quiet night outside enveloped the house. 

Suddenly, a loud commotion from outside could be heard. At first, it seemed somewhat distant, as if from several blocks away from home, but it gradually grew louder and louder, until a violent thud and screams forced him awake as his eyes opened with a start. Something else was amiss. It smelled like smoke. Something was burning inside the house from downstairs. Another loud thud and then a succession of bangs, loud voices, and panicked hoofsteps filled the area, scaring him.

The bedroom door flung open as father appeared, a worried expression carved on his face. The sense of fear intensified then. 

"Ethereal, come with me! We have to leave now!"

 Before he could muster a reply, father scooped him out of bed with his magic and ran down the hallway and down the stairs. He was freed of his magic hold as he found himself plopped on father's back. They ran out of the house into the brick-paved alley, only to find mother surrounded and trapped by several hooded ponies. 



"Mother!"

 Father pressed his hoof against my mouth, silencing my cries. The hooded ponies turned their gaze towards us, moving in formation and pushing us back against the front door. Fire started spreading from inside the kitchen and quickly consumed both stories of the house as thick smoke billowed out around us. There was nothing but fear and intense sadness that consumed everything. 

It was not only home and the immediate surroundings that was caught up in turmoil. The whole city appeared to be under siege with fires blazing and shouts and noises in various directions. Through all of the chaos and carnage, only the sight of mother and father being swarmed by the mysterious attackers stood out. Father turned desperately to me and shouted as we got separated. 



"Run, Ethereal! Run away!"



Struggling at first, legs wobbling in fear. No, I don't want to leave. I can't leave without them. 



"No! You have to come with me father! You too mother!"



They shouted back in unison. 

"Please, do as we say! Leave! We'll catch up with you! We promise!"



The struggle grew harder. Run. Run now! But..... mother and father are in trouble. Those bad ponies are trying to hurt them. But.... fear. He was too scared to try to help them even though he felt he should. Mother and father know best. They always know. They've never been wrong. They said to run, so run it will be. With one last effort, he forced himself to turn and run away before the hooded ponies could grab him. As he ran with all his might, a strange sound followed by the pained screams of mother and then father made him glance back, only to see a weird device pointed at them as they appeared to slowly slump over onto the ground.

Crying and screaming while shaking his head and closing his eyes, he kept running away, as far away as his legs could carry him. Flames engulfed various buildings left and right. Screams and loud struggles were everywhere. More hooded ponies. More weird devices. Some of them saw him running by and gave chase. 

"No! Go away! Leave me alone!"



Running and running, legs growing tired by the second. He tripped on a cobblestone path and fell. Their shadows lingered over him in a dark huddle. He tried to scream as he looked straight up at the full moon.

Ethereal Divide found himself lying flat on the grass drenched in sweat as he stared at the night's full moon. It had been yet another dream. The same recurring nightmare that seemed determined to plague his sleep night after night for some reason in recent weeks. He slowly relaxed his heavy breathing as he rose up and gazed at his woodland surroundings. His chocolate brown mane and tail glistened in the silver moonlight as its dim rays cast shadows of the nearby trees on his sandy white coat.

How long had he been asleep, he thought. He stood up on all fours and sighed. It didn't seem likely that he'd get any more sleep tonight after that damn nightmare. Just my luck... Now, what? Guess I should carry on traveling for a bit until morning and see where I end up. Maybe I'll finally end up in the next town or city. Its been too long since I last crossed paths with civilization. 

Indeed, it had been at least a few weeks since he had passed through the last town. The desert landscape surrounding Appleloosa had been challenging to navigate, especially when food and water was always uncertain. Fortunately, it had since given way to the more merciful terrain of a vast forest which offered substantially more resources. He had been able to eat roasted wheat and grains with the aid of a campfire he started and fresh water was plentiful thanks to several streams and creeks that meandered throughout the area. Aside from one or two encounters with a bear and a Timberwolf, things were going relatively well and danger seemed to be a distant risk. The nightmares were currently the only real nuisance he had to deal with.

Putting his thoughts to rest, Ethereal Divide trudged onward for the better part of the night. As usual, he had no real sense of direction. He had learned how to survive and fend for himself on his own over years of living the stray solo life. The odds should have been against him all these years considering he was probably the only unicorn in existence that couldn't use magic, not to mention the fact that he was still lacking a cutie mark as a young adult stallion. But despite this, his will to live had pushed him to keep going, albeit aimlessly across the land of Equestria. He had no family or friends. It had been himself and his inner thoughts for many years, only occasionally stumbling into cities where his reserved and awkward social interactions with other ponies often led to being branded a deviant, thief, or even a lunatic in some cases.

He didn't care though. What others thought of him was not important. He could and would live life without them. Of course, there were times where the pangs of loneliness plagued him. He would always manage to shake them off in due time, however. But it didn't keep his mind from wondering how his life would be different had things gone better for him in the past. Perhaps that was the reason behind the return of those cursed nightmares. Apparently, he hadn't fully put his past behind him as he once thought. 

The hours went by and soon the first light of the morning sunrise began appearing over the horizon, briefly illuminating what appeared to be a town in the distance. He couldn't be sure, but it seemed a towering structure similar to a castle or fortress was situated in that town. He was finally drawing near to the next stop in pony society in his never-ending travels.

However, the rising sun soon revealed a narrow canyon divided by a raging river lay before him. In order to reach the town, he would need to find a way to get across that canyon. Without magic or wings, it would be a difficult challenge. However, he was no stranger to ingenuity and adapting on the fly. His time in the wilderness over the years forced him to learn various methods of survival and trail-blazing through sheer necessity. And he wasn't about to give up and turn back now. Civilization was near, and he'd be damned if he was going to accept being denied delicious food, comfortable shelter, and some modern conveniences because of a little gorge and river with an attitude problem.

He scoured the vicinity of the canyon for any possible bridges, either natural or ponymade. Despite an extensive search, he found none. With that option off the table, Ethereal Divide headed downstream where the canyon gradually ended abruptly as a long, steep waterfall. Looking at the lake and long, winding river below him, he spotted a large collection of wood pilings, likely gathered by a group of beavers. There was his solution. It would be a long trek getting down there, but if he could round up that wood, he should be able to fasten it together with some vines and branches into a rudimentary bridge over the river gorge. If he started now, he was sure he could finish the project by day's end. With his mind made up, he set out to get things done. 

Hours later, an exhausted Ethereal Divide collected and dropped off the last of the makeshift lumber beside the narrowest gap of the canyon that he could find. The sun was nearly setting, but he pushed himself to tie the wood pilings together via several long strings of vines from the forest. Tethering them together to his side of the canyon, he gripped the other end with all his might through his teeth and threw it across the gorge to the other side, where it luckily latched onto a stone outcropping and hanged steady. The hard part was now done. All that remained was to cross the makeshift bridge. He couldn't be sure that it would hold his weight as he crossed over it, but he had no choice but to attempt doing so. 

By that point, the sun had set and night had fallen. He deemed it too risky to try crossing the bridge now while it was so dark and he was also quite tired. It was time to call it a day. After all, he had been awake for 24 hours now. Sleep was necessary for whatever lay ahead. He knew it would be foolish to push himself any further right now. Surrendering to sleep, he found himself dreaming again. It was that same damn nightmare. However, something was different this time around. A sense of lucidness that wasn't present in any previous incarnation of the nightmare was troubling him. He was a colt again. He was tucked in his bed as father came in to read a story. But as he looked out the window at the moon, a faint shadow of a mark appeared on its surface. It seemed somehow sentient, yet not part of his dream. It was something of an intruder, and in fact, he felt he was being observed by something or someone from far away.

He fell asleep in his bed, and as usual, father returned to snatch him away and run out the door of the house, finding mother surrounded by those same hooded ponies, wearing all black clothes. Father yells to leave and run. Mother does the same. A sense of reluctance as he struggles to run as they command him. Finally, he runs. As he does so, he stumbles and trips and the shadows of other hooded figures hover over him, ready to catch him. As he looks up, he sees the moon again. What is that? Eyes in the moon? He tries to run, but then he stumbles again.

Ethereal Divide woke up in a shock, realizing he'd been sleepwalking and happened to cross onto the bridge. The bright light of day stunned him as he covered his eyes with his right hoof. A loud snap fully wakes him up as he instantly realizes what just happened. A sinking sensation fills his stomach as the bridge breaks from underneath him. Somehow, through a stroke of luck or maybe last minute reflexes, he managed to grab onto a jutting stone pillar and wrap his hooves around it as the bridge tumbled down, crashing into the raging river below.
> Trail Of Change
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ethereal Divide clung to the edge of the ravine as the raging waters of the river far below him threatened to be his final resting place. As he looked down, jagged rocks along the water's edge only served to amplify the danger of the area beneath his dangling body. His two front hooves were tightly wrapped around a small and narrow jutting piece of the rocky edge of the small canyon that divided two forests. His two hind legs were helplessly dangling in the air, as he struggled to maintain his composure and physical posture. One wrong move is all it would take to send him plummeting to his likely demise.

He cursed himself mentally for sleepwalking into this precarious situation, especially after all of the effort that he had put into building a makeshift bridge that would have allowed him to safely cross the gorge and get to the other side. Since when did he ever sleepwalk during his recurring dreams? He couldn't recall a single time before that this had happened. Why now? But of course, this was no time to analyze that. He changed his train of thought and focused it into surviving and getting out of this dangerous scenario.

He couldn't simply levitate himself up to the ground away from the ravine. Magic was out of the question. He had to improvise through observation of his immediate surroundings and persevere through sheer determination. He'd gotten this far on his own over years. He wasn't ready to give up now and perish. He tried gripping the rocky outcropping a little bit better with his front hooves while positioning his lower body closer to the cliff wall so his hind legs could make contact with it. Putting all of his strength into his upper body and chest area, Ethereal Divide shimmied up a little, bit by bit, until he managed to position his hind legs firmly onto the cliff wall. Then, he slowly but surely started climbing upwards, using the grip he had on the rock outcropping to hoist himself upward gradually, being careful to avoid slipping and losing traction.

After what seemed like the longest few minutes of his life, he managed to very slowly lift himself up and out of the narrow river gorge, completely drenched in sweat and scuffed over various parts of his furry coat and mane and tail. Ethereal Divide sat back on his haunches and caught his breath. The sun shined brilliantly over him and the wind suddenly picked up as if nature were trying to sooth him after such an arduous ordeal. He just sat there trying to recover his energy and shake off nerves for what must have been at least an hour before he finally got up. I must continue on if I want to have a chance of reaching the nearby town before nightfall, he thought.

His gaze turned toward the forest in front of him. Though he had just traversed a vast forest in the past few days, something seemed subtly different about this one. It was darker and had a foreboding sense about it. He almost dreaded going inside it, but quickly shook off any hesitation in his mind. As he entered this mysterious and eerie forest, the sunlight started to fade through the tall and dense trees that covered the area. The tree canopy here was suffocating just as much as the grass and plants were thick and overgrown. Trotting through it, he felt a vague sensation of being watched by someone or something, but he didn't see or hear anything. In fact, aside from the crunching leaves beneath his hooves and the low rustle of the wind blowing through blades of grass and leaves on the tree branches, it was otherwise very quiet. 

He kept his guard up at all times, just in case. Normally in woodland regions such as this, he felt no need to be on the defensive, but for some reason he wasn't certain of, it felt necessary here. The dark woods seemed to stretch on forever in all directions by this point. It was very easy to get lost in such a place, but Ethereal Divide simply pressed forward in the same direction he had been going in since he had entered. Hours passed by, and with it, the impression of not being alone gradually increased to him. His guard was still up, but deep down, anxiety and dread filled his mind. It had been a long time since he had felt such levels of insecurity and vulnerability out in the wilderness. He found this surprising. Regardless, he had to press onward. Civilization was on the horizon. He reminded himself of the towering spire he saw earlier from what must have been a castle or fortress of some kind. This dark forest was the final obstacle between him and a long awaited rest among modern society and conveniences. 

A sudden rustle among the nearby brush stopped him dead in his tracks. He tensed his body up and listened closely, his ears twitching. Nothing could be heard for a few seconds, but then, the sound of rustling returned. It was different from the wind that had been blowing through the grass earlier. This had more weight to it. It was a definite and concise imprint of sorts, such as that of a living creature. Then, more rustling, this time emanating from his other side, followed by the snap of a twig or branch. His eyes rapidly gazed around his perimeter, but he couldn't spot anything. Was it a rabbit? Raccoon? Or possibly a bear? It wasn't a bird, considering it was definitely ground-level impressions. 

Standing absolutely still in the same exact spot, Ethereal Divide continued to eye his surroundings, but to no avail. After no more sounds were heard in the span of a few minutes, he began moving again, increasing his pace as he wanted to leave this forest sooner rather than later. It was impossible to tell if it was still daytime or if night had already fallen. He eventually passed something that caught his attention. It stood out among the many trees in a small clearing. A majestic tree covered in masks and adorning decorations and antiques. It was clear that it was some sort of treehouse. Someone lived or had lived there, in the middle of this expansive forest. Why someone would choose to do so was beyond his understanding. It appeared to be well-kept and in good shape, which implied that someone was indeed still living inside it. 

Pressing on, he resolved to reach the town and leave behind these cursed woods before his next sleep. There was no way he'd be sleeping here, that's for sure. There was probably some lurking creature or creatures in the forest, though what kind they might be, he had no idea. And sure enough, as he thought that, the sounds of rustling and snapping twigs returned to his ears. Immediately tensing up again, he scoured the vicinity for any creatures. A bright yellow light flashed and darted away out of the corner of his right eye. Now he was certain he was being stalked by something. Suddenly, he spotted another yellow light to his left, followed by yet another further away in the dense brush. The clanking of what sounded like wood tapping onto wood was clearly audible. Don't tell me its a pack of-.., but his thought was interrupted by a set of loud clanging noises and vocal chants of some unknown language. This was followed by whimpers and low growls as several creatures dashed away into the forest away from him. The clanging and gruff feminine sounding chants also seemed to follow the fleeing creatures, fading away as it got less and less audible, eventually disappearing and being once again replaced with the common absence of noise that he had grown accustomed to in these ominous woods.

Shrugging off the encounter, Ethereal Divide trudged forward for hours more. The rest of the journey was uneventful, and soon, the trees began to give way to the sky, revealing that twilight had set in. It was a sight for sore eyes when he laid eyes on the edge of the forest and the quaint looking town that was before him. It was a lovely sight, being quite picturesque with a farm, large windmill, and town square situated under a starry evening sky. The pink and orange hues of the late setting sun cast mystical rays of light that reflected off of a large castle that was shaped like a giant tree. The castle confidently stood tall as the sole piece of the town's skyline.

Reinvigorated at the beautiful sight, Ethereal Divide couldn't help galloping into the town like a child eager to open presents on Hearth's Warming Day morning. He began looking for the nearest obvious hotel or inn that he could spend the night in. Of course, being a traveling loner, he had no bits with which to pay for a night's stay, but he usually found some money working temporary odd jobs while staying in a town or by doing favors for the inn keepers. The town, though small from the outside looking in, was like a maze while in the middle of it. He stumbled onto a large central building that had signage indicating it was the town hall. Engraved on it was the simple but cordial message, "Ponyville Town Hall". Next to that was a plaque that read, "Ponyville" and "population 358". Next to that, one more plaque that read, "Founded in..." but the latter part of that which stated the year was smudged by worn material, much like the final plaque, which read "Mayor Mare, mayor of Ponyville---" with the years also not being legible.


This wasn't what he needed right now. He couldn't sleep at a town hall. He had to locate a hotel somewhere and soon. He was tired and his mind was starting to fail him, not to mention he hadn't bothered to eat in over a day. His energy reserves were depleted and it was quickly catching up with him. He couldn't think straight as he wandered around clueless about this town called Ponyville. Half awake and half asleep, he found himself subconsciously drawn to the magnificent castle on the outskirts of town. Upon arriving at the front entrance of the grand structure, it dawned on him that this was no ordinary castle. It seemed important, as though it were reserved for lavish ceremonies, elite meetings, or perhaps, even a royal summer home for the princesses of Equestria. He couldn't be sure though, as he struggled to raise his hoof to the door in order to knock and make his presence known.


Lights were on inside throughout the castle, so it was pretty evident that somepony was home. However, he hesitated just before knocking on the door, wondering if he'd even be allowed to stay in such a regal looking abode. It wasn't a hotel as there was no signage indicating it. I should probably stay somewhere else tonight. I doubt I can get inside this place. Backing away, Ethereal Divide slumped along and eventually gave in to sleep as he collapsed down onto the front lawn of some schoolhouse and drifted into unconsciousness, leaving the long day behind him. 


The bedtime story. Father. Mother. Escaping the terrible hooded ponies. Tripping on that cobblestone path. Being surrounded by them. Closing in. Screaming in sheer desperation and fear towards the night sky and the full moon. The eyes appear again in the moon. Why? That's not part of the normal chain of events. What is that? Who is that? "No! Don't touch me! I don't want to go with you! LEAVE ME ALONE!!!" Their huddled masses close in. I have to escape.


Whispers all around. He could hear them. They sounded like children. A mix of colts and fillies. 

"WHOA! He doesn't have a cutie mark!", a loud filly's voice emphatically yelled. 

At this, Ethereal Divide jumped awake, hastily eyeing the scene as a group of at least a dozen school ponies laughed at him gleefully. The memory of where he was and where he had fallen asleep the previous night rushed back to him as he tried to process the dozen or so faces of curious fillies and colts that were gawking at him and his cutie mark-less flank. Three of them in particular seemed especially intrigued: a yellowish earth pony with a red mane and tail and a bow, a white unicorn with light purple mane and tail, and an orange pegasus with a dark pinkish mane and tail.

It was quite apparent that he was causing a big scene when who appeared to be the teacher arrived. She was a pink earth pony mare with flowers as a cutie mark. "Now now everyone, its not polite to stare at and gossip over a stranger, even if he is erm... well.. an adult pony without a cutie mark. Everyone come inside! Class will be starting soon!" She gave Ethereal Divide an odd look of concern and curiosity combined as she guided her students inside the schoolhouse. 

Capitalizing on their departure, he darted away from the school's campus, but didn't get very far before bumping into someone and falling back on his rump. 

"Oof!", exclaimed a female voice upon their collision.

He looked up to see a beautiful lavender mare with a mane and tail imbued with a gradient of purple hues and a striking streak of pink. Even more striking was the fact that she had both a horn and a set of wings. She was undoubtedly a rare breed of pony: an alicorn. How is this possible!? Only Princesses Celestia, Luna, and Cadance are alicorns. And they're all royalty! But who is this!? She can't be a --..

"Hello there", she said with an awkward but warm smile. "I'm so sorry for bumping into each other like that, but you seemed to be galloping in quite a hurry and came out of nowhere. Are you alright?" 

She outstretched her right hoof to him. Ethereal Divide grabbed it and she pulled him up to his feet. Before he could reply, she spoke once more. "I'm Twilight Sparkle. And you are?"

Less than a day spent in this town known as Ponyville and I've already experienced my share of unusual encounters. First being startled awake by school ponies and then crashing into some random alicorn! What kind of place is this!? His mind raced with questions as he locked eye contact with the curious mare named Twilight Sparkle.
> Of Friendship & Magic
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I'm Ethereal Divide. Sorry for running into you like that".

Ethereal Divide looked back and forth between Twilight Sparkle's face and the ground at his hooves awkwardly. Though she seemed friendly enough, he couldn't help but feel a tad bit uncomfortable at her gaze and question. After all, he rarely conversed with other ponies and was accustomed to being alone. Socializing was definitely not a strong attribute of his.

The lavender alicorn mare followed up on his response. 

"Yeah, about that, Ethereal Divide. Why were you in such a hurry anyway? I mean, I'm not one to pry, but it seemed to me that you were fleeing someone or something. Is everything okay?"

She looked at him with a legitimate expression of interest and curiosity. 

He pondered for a moment over how he should explain things and if it was even necessary to do so. The longer he took to reply and remained silent, the more it seemed that Twilight Sparkle grew more intrigued and simultaneously impatient. 

"Well, you see, I was running away from the school after I was woken up by the school ponies. I fell asleep in the front lawn by the entrance steps last night. I'm.... not exactly from around here. I travel a lot by myself and... well... came across this town of yours. I couldn't exactly find a hotel or proper place to stay and I don't have any money on me, so I just ended up at the school. I meant no harm to anyone."

She tilted her head and frowned upon hearing this. "So, you're passing through Ponyville and don't have a place to stay? When did you get here?"

He rubbed his left front hoof with his right, fidgeting uncomfortably at her inquisitive nature. He tried his best to maintain eye contact with her as he explained himself. "I just arrived in town last night after going through the forest nearby. Its been a while since I've been in or near a city." 

Just then, his stomach growled loudly, much to his embarrassment. He hadn't eaten in over a day and it was starting to take a toll on him. Twilight smiled slightly at this. "I'm guessing you haven't eaten much lately as a result."

She suddenly grew wide-eyed as something clicked in her mind. "Wait a minute. You traveled here through the Everfree Forest, all by yourself!?"

"Uh... yes, assuming that's the name of that dark eerie forest I had to pass through in order to get here" he replied matter-of-factly. "What? Is that so unusual?"

Now it was Twilight's turn to go quiet and process things. She looked at Ethereal incredulously, sizing him up before ultimately stopping her gaze at his quite blank posterior. Ethereal took note of this and winced slightly before instinctively covering his flank with his bushy chocolate brown tail. The brief, uncomfortable moment of silence was broken by the growl of his empty stomach rearing its head again.

Twilight snapped out of it and regained her usual air of friendly openness. "Well, before we bumped into each other, I was on my way to the food market to buy groceries for myself and Spike. He's my number one assistant and a close friend. We live together in the same home. If you like, I can take you there so you can rest and gather yourself while I head to the market. Spike can whip up something for us when I get back. He's a pretty good cook. What do you say?"

Ethereal was caught off guard at her genuine kind offer. Never before had anypony ever offered him a place to stay and a meal, at that, for free. Surely, there must be some sort of catch. Who is this mare? A kind-hearted alicorn who happens to live in a small town such as this who casually offers a stranger lodging and food without requiring any sort of payment or favor. This is new.

He smiled and nodded. "I appreciate your generous hospitality, Miss Twilight. I'd like that. But, are you sure I won't be a burden or hindrance to you? I don't have any bits to my name right now, but I'm sure if I look around, I'll find some sort of employment with which I can earn some money to pay you for your efforts."

Twilight shook her head. "Don't worry about that. There's honestly no need. I'm happy to help. Besides, its not often that we get visitors and new faces here. I'm sure my friends would be interested to meet you as well."

"Your friends?", Ethereal inquired cautiously.

"Yes! Come on, I'll show you to my house!" Twilight exclaimed cheerfully.

She led him through the center of town several blocks over, trotting at a steady pace. As he followed close behind her, he watched the local ponies gallivanting all around them. Compared to his initial arrival yesterday evening, Ponyville was much more lively now during the middle of the day. Ponies of all ages passed by, mares and stallions alike, though it seemed there was a disproportionate amount of mares here compared to stallions, which he found quite curious. A red-maned mare was busy selling flowers to a line of ponies from her botanical stall, while a white unicorn mare with a blue spiky mane and tail wearing shades and listening to loud music on headphones obnoxiously cruised by, barely avoiding colliding with a klutzy looking mail mare with bubbles as a cutie mark as she flew through the crowds carrying a full bag of letters and packages. 

It felt strange to be among such a crowd of ponies like this. Months and years of near-constant solitude and endless travels through the wilds of Equestria fending for yourself will do that to you. Chancing upon civilization was an infrequent occurrence for him, and it never lasted for a long duration of time. He was still surprised at the kindness that this Twilight Sparkle showed him today. Wasn't she naive to trust him and bring him into her home? They only just met after all. This just wasn't the norm. He should be doing chores for her as payment, or perhaps finding an odd job on a temporary basis. He felt spoiled now and somewhat guilty.

"You're awfully quiet back there" called Twilight from up front. "Not much of a talker huh?" 
She gave him a friendly smile and chuckled a bit.

Ethereal shrugged. "I was just looking around. Its been a while since I was last in a city. Pony-watching, you could say."

"I see. Well, we're almost there. Its straight ahead." She pointed at the towering tree castle at the edge of Ponyville. Even during the day, it still looked splendid. 

Wait, she lives there!? Ethereal's mind was blown. He continued to be surprised again and again by this mare. First, it was the fact that she was an alicorn. Then, her heart of gold. And now, this. An alicorn living in a regal home like this. He started to wonder if she was more important in stature than she cared to admit. She was the only one who lived in such a luxurious abode. The rest of the townsfolk all lived in standard houses with stone exteriors, plain windows, and thatched hay roofs.

As the two of them reached the front steps and door of the castle, Twilight paused and glanced at Ethereal. 
"Welcome to my home! Well... my new home, that is. Please excuse the lack of furnishings and furniture inside. I just moved in recently and haven't had much time to establish myself yet. Its a big place, as you can clearly see." 

She flashed a nervous grin and then proceeded to push open the large front doors. They walked into a tall and wide hallway with crystal walls and a shimmering crystal ordained ceiling. The floors were a glossy crystal tiled mosaic, cold to the touch. It was indeed sparse on furnishings and decorations as Twilight had said, giving it a solemn and imposing atmosphere. It seemed the home of a powerful king, rather than the home of a friendly, cute pony and her humble assistant friend.

Speaking of whom, the pattering of feet on the cold crystal floor could be heard echoing throughout the area as Twilight called out to her friend. "Spike! I'm back! And I've brought a guest too!"

A little purple dragon with green scales and green eyes appeared before them from around a corner room. "Back already? Oh, a guest? Is it Rarity?" He stopped a few feet away from Twilight and Ethereal and looked up at them with a mix of confusion and disappointment.  
"Uhm... who's that guy?"

He pointed a claw at Ethereal and looked at Twilight intently.

Twilight smiled and motioned with her hoof at Ethereal. "This is Ethereal Divide. We met by accident... quite literally." She let out a dorky sounding laugh. "He's visiting Ponyville and kinda travels from town to town, but he doesn't have any place to stay and hasn't eaten in a long while. He's low on bits too, so I figured I'd offer him a room here for the duration of his stay."

Spike raised an eyebrow. "So, he's a hobo."

Twilight glared at him. "Spike! That's rude! He's not a hobo. The proper term is a nomad. But I suppose you could also call him a gypsy, or a wanderer, a loner... so many different names for it really..... but the point is he's an independent stallion who just needs a place to stay for a few days. This castle is huge and seeing as we just moved in, we can afford to spare a little space for our guest here."

"Hmm yeah, you're right I guess" replied Spike. "Sorry, I was just kinda surprised. I thought you were done shopping and I'm hungry. Our pantry is looking pretty empty right now. I ate all of the jewels and nachos from the past week. And no offense to you, dude." He looked over at Ethereal. "Its just that Twilight and I have always lived alone together and we just moved into this crazy big tree castle after losing our old home. Its a lot of change to deal with plus sharing it with another pony now is something else to get used to."

Ethereal glanced over at Twilight, then at Spike. "Yeah, I didn't really plan on this happening. It just sort of turned out this way. Twilight was so kind to allow me into her home and offer me both lodging and food when I have nothing to repay her with. But I promise I won't be a burden or get in anyone's way. I'm normally on my own, living off the land."

Twilight flexed her wings and stretched a little. "Show Ethereal to his room, won't you Spike? I was thinking of the second room on the second floor, next to the future library and den room with the fireplace."

"Sure thing!" Spike gave her a quick salute and motioned for Ethereal to follow him towards a long spiraling staircase. 

Meanwhile, Twilight started to head out toward the front doors. "I'm going to the market now, okay? I'll also go and fetch a bed for Ethereal so he can sleep well tonight. See you guys in a bit!" With that, she opened the doors and trotted off before taking off in flight toward town.

Hours later, Ethereal lay in bed in his temporary suite, having eaten a delicious dinner prepared by Spike. Twilight was right. That little dragon could really cook. He may be a young kid, but in some areas, he seemed quite ahead of his years. It was easily the best meal he'd had in a long time. Flame-roasted corn-on-the-cob with a nice helping of glazed yams, apple sauce, and fresh daisy salad with walnuts. Truly a feast fit for royalty.

However, after the dinner, Spike had insisted on following him up to his room where he proceeded to bombard him with lots of questions about his travels and lifestyle and any details he could squeeze out of him. It was like the little guy almost viewed him like some cool rebel who lived alone and fought creatures in epic battles for survival in the wilderness. Later on, he showed him some of his superhero comics, much to his delight and Ethereal's disdain. Something about Power Ponies and the Mane-iac. By that point, he was tired and ready to call it a day. And what a day it had been.

He was finally alone in a nice new bed that Twilight had so generously bought for him. He'd finally managed to escape Spike's attention and gain privacy when Twilight literally yanked Spike away out of the room via magic levitation as he was asking Ethereal about his lack of a cutie mark. Thank Celestia for that. That would have been the last straw. He'd had enough of others focusing on his lack of a mark after the morning with the school fillies and colts and the awkward encounter with their teacher.

He drifted to sleep quite peacefully under the warm covers with a full stomach. But, like clockwork, the usual dream haunted him again.

Father reading the bedtime story. Falling asleep. Loud noises outside. Father returns and scoops him up. They bolt outside from their burning house, only for father and mother to be surrounded by the hooded figures. Run! You must run!
Not wanting to leave them. But he must. Looking back. The hooded ponies attack them with those bizarre weapons as they slump over lifeless. Keep running. Must escape. The whole city is on fire. Commotion and struggles all around. Some of the bad guys see him. Surrounded. Cowering in fear and looking up at the moonlit sky. A face appears in the moon. Its like last time. Transparent. It calls out. Ethereal. Ethereal! Ethereal Divide! Its you, isn't it? The one who slipped through the cracks.
You can't.... escape.... your past. Face it... confront it.... seek out.... your full potential. ETHEREAL DIVIDE!!!

"WHAT!?" Ethereal was drenched in sweat as he jolted up in bed. Looking out the window of his second story bedroom, he saw it was morning outside. Birds chirped happily as the sun's rays shone light into the room and the charming visage of little Ponyville calmed his racing mind a bit upon viewing it in the distance. After getting up, he somehow managed to find the bathroom on the same floor through exploration of the castle and washed himself wide awake with a warm shower. Upon drying, he trotted down the staircase to the main hall on the ground floor and headed toward the source room of a multitude of voices. 

There were many, but he only recognized two of them; those of Twilight and Spike. As he ventured closer to what looked like a dining room area complete with a long table, he overheard the ongoing conversation.

"So darling, we're all curious to know about the new arrival to town and current guest of yours. I hear he's a stallion. How coy of you Twilight. Is he cute?"

"Hmph, he's just some random stallion dude. Nothing special. But I guess he's kinda cool. He lives in the wild but has no cutie mark. I even showed him my comics last night. I think he digs the Power Ponies and---"

"Yeah yeah, we get it Spike. But even if he IS some loner surviving in the wilderness for all these years, he's no Daring Do, so I doubt he could be that cool."

"I'm just so totally excited to meet somepony new! Cause like, that doesn't happen too often here! I gotta show him around Ponyville and throw him an awesome super special WELCOME TO PONYVILLE COOL VISITOR PARTY EXTRAVAGANZA!!! WOO-HOO!!!"

"I reckon he'll pass on that fer' now sugarcube on the count of him being new to the area. He probably just wants to rest and relax for a while before moving on to his next destination. I figure we could at least stock him up with some juicy, healthy apples and some thirst quenching apple cider so he'll be prepped for the journey."

"I can't believe he made it through the Everfree Forest all on his own. I still hesitate to go in there even when I visit Zecora for some tea and herbal remedies for Angel and my other little buddies. Its startling...."

"Honestly girls, he's just some ordinary looking stallion. I'll admit, he is odd in that he doesn't have a cutie mark as a full grown adult, but other than that, he's just down on his luck and wandering around Equestria without a true home. I find that sad. The poor guy probably doesn't have friends either."

"Uh, hello?" Ethereal Divide slowly peered his head into the dining room. Sitting in front of him at the long rectangular table were Twilight Sparkle and Spike, along with five ponies that he didn't know, all mares. There was an elegant looking white unicorn with a dark purple-ish and blue mane and tail that were clearly well-kept. Next to her was a cyan colored pegasus with a full-on rainbow spectrum going on in her mane and tail. To the right of her was a cream colored pegasus with a pink, silky mane and tail. Next to Twilight on her left was an orange earth pony wearing a stetson hat and bearing an obnoxiously obvious apple-centric cutie mark. And lastly, to the right of Spike sat a bright pink earth pony with a cotton candy-like mane and tail with balloons as a cutie mark.

They were all gathered around at the table, having evidently just finished breakfast. Now, all eyes were glued on him. This made Ethereal fairly uncomfortable. It only got more uncomfortable from there as the pink mare jumped out of her chair and popped up right in front of him. "Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie! You must be the new stallion in town! Welcome to Ponyville! What's your name? OH WAIT-- I already know! Silly me." 

She giggled a bit before continuing. "You're mister Ethereal Divide!" She then proceeded to hyper-actively shake his hoof in greeting.

The rainbow pegasus dashed in front of them and nudged Pinkie Pie to the side. "Give him some space, Pinkie!" She looked at Ethereal, sizing him up from hooves to horn. "Hmm.... you don't look that tough. Do you really live alone and wander all over Equestria? Have you fought bears and timberwolves? I bet you can't benchpress a dozen apple crates like Applejack or Big Mac. Definitely not a true survivalist and adventurer like Daring Do either. Meh, I'll give you a 5 out of 10."

The white unicorn chimed in as she trotted over. "Oh Rainbow Dash, perhaps on your scale of awesomeness, he's only a 5, but as far as I'm concerned, he's a definite 10 out of 10 on my handsome scale." She fluttered her eyes at him which made Ethereal step back a bit.

For some reason, this compliment served to annoy Spike, who turned away and crossed his arms with a gruff grunt. Twilight got up from her chair and inserted herself into the middle of her friends, as they moved away a bit.

"Meet my best friends, Ethereal! Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Applejack. Hopefully, they didn't overwhelm you... too much." She smiled with a twinge of uncertainty. "Oh also, I should have probably mentioned this earlier, but I kinda, sorta, became a princess recently. That's why I'm an alicorn. I used to be a unicorn. Princess Celestia sent me to Ponyville to study friendship and I met all of these amazing girls right here. Other stuff happened too, but its a long story. I'll tell you later if you're interested. But yeah, I'm Equestria's newest princess, the Princess of Friendship, Twilight Sparkle." Once again, she flashed that trademark smile of hers.

What have I gotten myself into?, Ethereal wondered. I went from being alone to being overcrowded by ponies in just a day! This was strange. He didn't know what to feel or think. For the first time in his life, he was absolutely lost and clueless as to his next move going forward. How long should he stay here? Should he keep wandering like he has been for all these years? Or is it worth the try to get to know these ponies and start a new course? He honestly didn't know. That made him feel vulnerable. And feeling vulnerable brought back a feeling he hadn't truly felt in many, many years: Fear.
> Confronting Inhibition
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It had been hours since he had first joined the group of mares and little dragon at the dining table, and since then, Ethereal Divide had been treated to a scrumptious breakfast consisting of fluffy strawberry and cream pancakes and several slices of buttered toast with a tall glass of cold iced tea. It was yet another delicious, home-cooked meal prepared by the young chef Spike. While Ethereal was enjoying his food, Twilight Sparkle and her friends had regaled him with tales of their interesting lives and the events that they had jointly experienced together. They were definitely not ordinary ponies in the sense of what they had already accomplished in their young lives.


Ethereal was thoroughly impressed by their deeds of heroism and entertained by each of their own, individual struggles and ordeals. From Twilight's first day in Ponyville where she met all of her friends and together helped to bring back Princess Celestia's long banished sister, Luna, from a corrupted state called Nightmare Moon with marvelous artifacts known as the Elements of Harmony, to confronting a deity of chaos and eventually reforming him, and most recently doing battle with a power hungry monster named Tirek who almost single-handedly destroyed all of Equestria after having stolen all of the magic in the land from ponies everywhere, even the princesses.  


But at the same time, these mares were also quite normal with the rest of the issues they faced over time. The country farmer Applejack struggled with her stubborn nature and receiving help from others, while Fluttershy often tried to overcome her fears and shyness. Pinkie Pie once met a donkey who refused to be happy and be her friend until she discovered the source of his grumpy attitude and internal emotional baggage. Rainbow Dash always idolized the elite athletic flying team, the Wonderbolts, and even saved Rarity once from plummeting to her doom from the pegasus city of Cloudsdale when artificial wings given to her via magic from Twilight burned off in the sunlight during a competition.


Rarity herself was an up-and-coming fashion designer and aspiring businessmare who's generous nature has sometimes been either taken advantage of or been unappreciated by others. She also apparently adored Spike in a very platonic way, while Spike himself seemed to view it in a very opposite way. It also turned out that three of the school ponies that Ethereal had seen yesterday morning when he was woken up were younger sisters of Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash, although in the latter case, it wasn't blood-related. 


It was a lot to take in for Ethereal, having been told so many stories and facets of the mares around him. Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Rarity had all saved Equestria from dangerous threats several times over the course of the past several moons, and yet they continued to live their own, individual lives full of mundane everyday activities while still remaining good friends and making great strides in their own pursuits of their different goals and dreams. Despite this, he had never heard anything about them and their exploits in any of the towns he had traveled through in the past. Why was this? How could he have missed such stories in the news? Granted, he was mostly alone and isolated from society, yet he figured he should have at least heard gossip of these events somewhere along the line. Then again, he only found out that Equestria had four princesses instead of just three yesterday. He was definitely under-informed, to say the least.


"All of that aside, I only just became a princess recently, and I'm still trying to get fully acclimated with that fact", stated Twilight. "In fact, this very castle that we're in right now sprouted up two weeks ago after we defeated Tirek and gave away our enchanted objects to unlock the chest from the Tree of Harmony. It was then that I came to the realization that I did have a purpose as a princess in my own right. I am the Princess of Friendship, and my goal, along with my friends, is to help spread and foster friendship and good will across Equestria."


"Its been a mighty fun and crazy ride to get to this point" inserted Applejack, as she adjusted her stetson hat and smirked. "Regardless, I wouldn't have had it any other way, for the most part".

"Well, I wouldn't change anything about it!" Rainbow Dash chimed in. "Its been pretty awesome and action-packed! Plus, you girls are the coolest friends anyone could ever have". She grinned after that statement.

Everyone smiled at that and even Ethereal himself felt a twinge of happiness as a small smile managed to form on his face too. The genuine sense of true friendship and togetherness being displayed here was infectious and heartwarming. He had never really experienced something like this among a group of ponies before. It felt quite special, and somewhere deep down inside his heart, he longed for a connection like this to somepony else. 

Pinkie Pie passionately echoed the same sentiment as she bobbed up and down in her chair. "Of course! I love you girls more than anything, even more than all of the cakes and muffins in the world!"

"We all share the same mutual feeling for each other obviously" Rarity added. "When you've been through as much as we have together, its practically impossible not to forge strong bonds with one another. I know you all have my back when the cards are down and times are tough".

"We've all come such a long way since we first met" said Fluttershy. "I'm still amazed at how much bolder I am now compared to before. Its because of all of you that I've grown this new level of confidence in myself". 

Spike stood up as he spoke his turn. "And let's not forget that I saved the Crystal Empire from danger twice. I even have a crystal statue dedicated to me in the center of the kingdom!" He then walked over beside Twilight who was sitting in her chair and playfully elbowed her side. "I'm also the best personal assistant ever. Just ask Twilight". He smiled smugly and Twilight chuckled and nodded.

The others reacted to this with chuckles of their own and sarcastic gazes. "You're all amazing" interjected Ethereal as he glanced at all of them. "I've never met ponies like you before with such deep connections and fulfilling lives. I mean, I haven't met many other ponies in my life, yeah, but I can tell what you all have is special. And.... to be honest... I envy it."

The jovial atmosphere around the table shifted as the mares and little dragon eyed him with curiosity. "Wait, you don't have any friends?" inquired Spike. "I know you're used to traveling by yourself to places, but I figured you at least have some friends back home where you grew up or whatever."

At that, Ethereal couldn't help but frown and look down at the floor. He knew the conversation would eventually shift to him and his background, but he dreaded it all the while. He had never told another soul about his life and past in full, let alone felt comfortable in attempting it. But here he was in front of these friendly and caring ponies who had welcomed him into their inner circle so quickly. The spotlight was now on him and there was no avoiding or redirecting it.

"Is everything alright darling?" asked Rarity with a tone of concern. 

"Ethereal?" probed Twilight.

"I-I'm fine". Ethereal fidgeted with his hooves awkwardly, trying to figure out what to say in response to the inquiries. He managed to eventually look at Twilight, then Rarity, and finally Spike before speaking again. "No Spike, I... don't have any friends... or family, for that matter. I've been living on my own for most of my life. Its...complicated." He winced a bit.

A brief but profound silence filled the dining hall. It was quite tangible while it lasted. Fortunately, it wasn't long before Twilight spoke. "I see. If you don't want to talk about it, its okay. We won't push you. I don't know what you may have been through in the past or why your circumstances are the way they are. What I do know is you are among friends now. I'll be your friend if you're open to the idea. We'll all be your new friends. Nopony should be all alone. Everyone deserves a chance at friendship." She gave him a warm smile. The others did as well.

He was on the verge of tearing up. This was too much. Why were these strangers being so kind to him? He had just met them over the course of a day, yet they were embracing him already with their genuine offer of friendship. It was such a departure from everything he had known up until that point in his life. The very idea of having friends, of having anyone other than himself caring about and watching over him, was revolutionary. 

He mustered a smile then. "Thank you Twilight. Thank you everypony. I'm at a loss as to what to say. This is new to me. I accept though. I'd like to have friends for a change. Just give me some time and space to adapt."

"Certainly. There's no rush." Twilight replied as she levitated a tissue to Ethereal. 

He blushed, ashamed that his suppression of tears was so obvious to her and the others. He grabbed the tissue all the same with his hooves and casually wiped the corners of his eyes before tossing it into a nearby trash bin.

This didn't go unnoticed either as Spike asked another dagger of a question. "Why didn't you levitate the tissue with your magic by the way? I'm trying to change the subject, ya know."

Ethereal almost glared at Spike for another uncomfortable question, but he restrained himself, knowing for all of his intelligence and certain degrees of maturity, Spike was still a young kid. "I can't use magic. I never could..."

Faint and restrained gasps could be heard from Twilight and Rarity, while everyone else looked visibly shocked but remained silent. "That might be the reason why I don't have a cutie mark as well." Ethereal continued. "I can't say for sure though. But ever since I can remember, I've never been able to use magic. I'm not proud of it, but I try not to think much about it either. I've made due without it somehow over the years, so I'm not completely helpless. Just different."

Applejack then asked a question out of the blue, looking pretty solemn. "You said you have no family either. Does that mean no relatives whatsoever? I'm sorry to pry like this, but I find it a mite hard to believe that you really have no one blood-related to you somewhere in the world." 

Ethereal locked eyes with her for a few seconds. "I have no family anywhere that I know of. You see, my parents.... they died when I was very young. I barely remember it... outside of dreams, that is." He broke eye contact after his answer.

Applejack had a pained expression on her face for some reason. It almost seemed like she sympathized at some internal level, as if she could somehow relate. 

"No cutie mark and no magic, despite being a grown stallion. How curious..." Twilight voiced thoughtfully. She appeared to be analyzing the situation and thinking out loud. "Hmm... I've never heard or read of such a case scenario before. Ethereal, what would you say if I offered to help you figure out why you can't use magic? Who knows, maybe I can help you find answers. I have experience in magical studies. My cutie mark is all about magic. I went to Celestia's School For Gifted Unicorns and graduated with honors before moving to Ponyville and becoming a princess. I'm sure I can find a way to help you." She got back on her hooves and approached him, outstretching a hoof in a shake gesture and eyeing him intently.

He didn't know how, but for some reason, he believed her and felt compelled to accept her proposal. Maybe she could help him. Twilight Sparkle was unlike any pony he had known, and she kept surprising him again and again. Her friends were equally unique in their own rights. It might be wise to give her the benefit of the doubt and see what she can do. The very prospect of solving his lifelong mystery of lacking magical ability as a unicorn was enticing to him. "Alright, yes. I'll appreciate whatever you can do for me. Thank you so much, Twilight. I'll owe you big time for this." He smiled and shook her hoof confidently.

"Nonsense, Ethereal. You don't owe me any return favors. I want to do this. Both for your sake and admittedly, out of pure scientific curiosity on my part." She beamed in pure joy and excitement. "We'll start things tomorrow, bright and early. I think an appropriate place to meet for it would be my new library on the second floor, next door to your room. I'll make sure to unbox and set up all of my books in there between now and then. There's no time to waste!"

"Well, there goes the rest of the day." muttered Spike. "I'll go and get the boxes of books unpacked and help carry them upstairs so you'll have a headstart, Twilight." He then walked off out of the dining hall to fetch the aforementioned books. "Bye guys, see you around". He waved to the others.

Rainbow Dash laughed. "Twilight's going to be busy for the rest of today with this. Book sorting is serious business for her."

"Indeed it is. I suppose I'll get going for now and tend to some leftover orders at Canterlot Boutique" Rarity commented as she got up from the table and trotted out the hall. "Goodbye girls. And good luck Twilight. I wish you the best too, Ethereal." She booped him on the snout and smiled as she headed out.

Ethereal twitched a little bit at the odd touch but said nothing. Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Fluttershy all got up from their chairs and trotted out, taking their leave and saying goodbyes to Twilight and Ethereal. Pinkie added in a bear hug for Ethereal, much to his dismay, before she left as well. 

Twilight turned to face him again. "Don't worry, trust me. We'll figure this out. You have my word." 

"I trust you, Twilight. You've given me no reason to doubt you." He gave her one last smile before she headed off to deal with the boxes of books and library configuration alongside Spike, who was already making his way with a box up the stairs. Ethereal thought that he should help them with the chore, considering it was all being done to help him find a sense of closure, but at the same time, he felt like he needed to be alone for a little while to unwind from so much socializing and opening up about personal matters.

He let out a heavy sigh, then slowly wandered off into the rest of the castle and back to the main hall, in its unfurnished and empty glory. He could hear shuffling noises coming from upstairs and Twilight and Spike conversing with each other as they worked. Debating on where to go and what to do, he hesitated for a bit in place before eventually deciding to go outside and get some fresh air. As he opened the front doors and trotted down the entrance stairs to the open road ahead of him leading to town, the bright sunshine and gentle breeze of a beautiful day eased his nerves.

He found himself aimlessly moving about Ponyville, taking in the sights and sounds around him. There were ponies shopping, buying food, and little colts and fillies running around playing. It was a weekend, so school was out. As he wandered around, he spotted three fillies who looked familiar. A yellow earth pony with a red mane and tail and a bow in her mane, a white unicorn with a pastel purple mane and tail, and an orange pegasus with a dark toned pink mane and tail. From the conversations he had earlier with Twilight and company, he recalled their names were Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo. But what really caught his eye was who they were talking with. She stood out among the crowd like a tree in the desert. It was a zebra. Her striped black and gray body was a dead giveaway, even from a mile away.

Just then, the filly trio, also known as the Cutie Mark Crusaders, spotted him and pointed excitedly before running towards him. Ethereal thought about running to avoid them, but relented and stood his ground as the fillies got to him. They motioned for their zebra friend to join them. "You see, Zecora!? I told you he was real! That's the cutie mark-less stallion I was telling you about! We saw him yesterday sleeping outside of school!" exclaimed Applebloom. 

"Yeah, we saw him go inside Twilight's castle too! I bet Twilight was interviewing him for a research paper!" Scootaloo shouted excitedly.

"Isn't he interesting!? I didn't know adults could be blank flanks too! He's like an enigma or something!" remarked Sweetie Belle.

The zebra named Zecora chuckled and smiled. "You lot calm down, you'll cause him to frown. My name is Zecora, forgive the aura. These three mean well, if you cannot tell."

Her voice seemed familiar somehow. He couldn't place it, but he was sure he heard her voice once before. Her tendency to rhyme was more amusing than annoying, though he wondered if it was intentional or a part of zebra dialect. "Hello. I'm Ethereal Divide. I'm visiting Ponyville for a few days while Twilight Sparkle tries to help me with something important."

This peaked the curiosity of the CMCs as well as Zecora, although the fillies were far more vocal about it. "What's Twilight helping you with, if ya don't mind me asking?" inquired Applebloom. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo listened intently.

Ethereal was about to answer, but Zecora interrupted him. "Do not fret, Ethereal Divide, for I can tell you care not to reveal the reasons just yet. These fillies can wait, its not too late." She gave him a wink, as if to say, its okay to run away and take a break.

"Aw come on, Zecora!" cried the fillies in unison. "We just want to know a little more about him" Sweetie Belle expounded.

"Sorry girls, I have to get going. Twilight might need me back at the castle. I don't want to keep her waiting. See you around!" Ethereal bolted away as soon as he finished talking, not giving the CMCs a chance to reply. He was a terrible liar though, as he galloped in the opposite direction of the castle, as the fillies groaned and huffed in the distance behind him. He could also swear that he was being eyed carefully by Zecora. She had seemed oddly unperturbed by the fact he had no cutie mark, despite how unusual that is at his age.

He spent the rest of the day milling about town, exploring the different stores and venues that were open to the public. Sometimes, his presence would elicit stares from some ponies, who noticed his bare flank. Each time, he'd run off, covering his posterior with his tail. Gradually, the sun set as he circled around the massive farm that is Sweet Apple Acres and passed by a cottage at the edge of the Everfree Forest before heading back to the castle. Night had fallen as he arrived back and went inside. He trotted straight up the spiral staircase to the second floor towards his bedroom. On his way there, he passed by the library room, where Twilight and Spike were still organizing books on the many shelves, chatting here and there to each other. He was too tired to stop and listen or even say hi, plus they didn't seem to hear him pass by.

He entered his room and quietly closed the door behind him as he plopped himself onto the bed. He pulled the blanket over himself and quickly dozed off. As per usual, the dream reared itself again. A bedtime story. Sweet dreams. Noise and commotion afoot. Father barges in and takes me out of the house, only to find mother cornered by them. We get separated. I have to escape and run. The hooded ponies chase me as I run for my life. But, I trip and fall over. As I stumble up, I'm surrounded by many hooded figures. No! NO! DON'T TAKE ME! LEAVE ME ALONE! WHERE'S MY MOTHER AND FATHER!? WHAT DID YOU DO TO THEM!? Struggling to get away, I look up at the full moon. There it is again! That face! Its not supposed to be there. Its not part of my... dream? My past though.... Wait... I'm... dreaming? And self-aware? HOW? I don't understand this. I'm still a colt... but.... I'm lucid. Ethereal Divide. Who's there? You must confront your past. You've made the first steps toward doing so today. But there is much left to do to find answers that you seek. Stay the course, and you shall find closure that you so desperately seek. Who are you!? How do you know who I am!?

One of the hooded ponies that still surrounds me moves. She is the one speaking to me. I cannot see her face, but I see her mouth move as she speaks to me. She reaches out her hoof and touches my horn. A strange sensation. Your answers will come in due time. Magic and all. My horn grows hot and burns. What is this feeling? Palpitating... its searing. Not painful, but all the same intense. She stands before me, cloaked and all. Ethereal Divide. Wake up. Huh? Wake up. What do you mean? WAKE UP! How? WAKE UP ETHEREAL!! WAKE UP!! A sudden burst of something shakes the area. WHOA!

"Ethereal! Wake up! Its time to start!"

Ethereal is jolted up by a strange tingling sensation around his body, opening up his eyes groggily to see a visibly concerned Twilight Sparkle waking him up with a dose of magic. She ceases the magic wake-up call, causing Ethereal to lose his balance and fall off the side of the bed on his head, banging his horn against the wall and bed frame. "OWW!" He slowly regains his composure and gets up, massaging his aching cranium. "What in Celestia's name was that for?"

Twilight flashed a nervous grin before apologizing. "Sorry, sorry, sorry! I had trouble waking you up because you were in a deep state of sleep and dreaming. Magic was my last resort." Then, a look of childish anticipation came upon her face. "Never mind that, though. Its time! Get ready, Ethereal, because today's the day we begin the process to find your magic!"
> Magic Woes
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight Sparkle led Ethereal Divide into her library room. Despite having only worked one night on organizing and setting up the shelves, the space was already filled to the brim with books and accentuated with warm, cozy chairs, carpets, and upholstery. Ethereal was amazed at how quickly she and Spike had managed to get this room ready for today's plans.


As he gazed around the rather large library, Twilight stopped at a particular bookcase and began scanning the shelves for a certain book or books. As she didn't immediately find what she was looking for, she outstretched her wings and slowly flew up to the next row of shelves, continuing to scan books with a thorough focus. Ethereal eventually broke the silence with a question.

"So, how did you and Spike finish stocking these shelves and also completely furnish this library in just one night?"
Twilight didn't turn her head to face him but answered nonetheless, still fixating her gaze on a row of books. 
"Its simple really. Spike and I stayed up through most of the night to get everything done. I needed the books to be all properly set and organized before we could begin today's activity. As for the furnishings, since I lost everything I had prior when Tirek destroyed my old home, Rarity was kind enough to donate some of her extra materials and help cut and design the carpets. I bought the chairs from the Quills & Sofas shop in town. Thankfully, they were on sale."

"I see." Ethereal watched as Twilight continued to scour the shelves intensely. 
"What book are you looking for?"

"I'm actually searching for several books that pertain to the art and science of magic and spells in general" she replied.
"I'll be using them as reference material for our experiment here. Think of this as a case study. You're here with me now because we're trying to solve the mystery as to why you can't seem to utilize magic like most unicorns normally can."

Ethereal felt a creeping sense of slight discomfort begin to seep into him. A case study? Me? That sounds a bit.... serious. He began to pace around quietly, stopping a few times to see if Twilight was any closer to concluding her search of those elusive books. "Wouldn't this be a little easier if Spike were here helping you search? Maybe I can help somehow?"

Twilight flew over sideways to a neighboring shelf as she answered back.
"Spike was pretty tuckered out by the time we finished working in here, so I let him go to bed and sleep past his usual wake-up time. He won't be up for a few more hours. And don't worry about it. I've already found one of the books we need." She turned around and held up a thick, blue hardcover book with an elaborate design and crest on it. He couldn't read the title from that distance. It didn't matter though as she quickly scooped it up in her hooves and flew down to a table, where she laid it down flat on its surface. She then flew back up to another shelf and began searching for another book.

Ethereal wandered over to the table by two chairs and a fireplace, curiously eyeing the ornate and rather big book. Magic: A Guide To The Mystic Arts by Starswirl the Bearded. He was impressed. She had books from someone as legendary and revered as Starswirl!? But the more he thought about it, the more he figured he shouldn't have been surprised. Twilight was no ordinary mare. She was passionate about magic and quite smart. She also happened to be a princess and a heroine in modern times. It made sense that she studied the writings of such an extraordinary pony. He was reminded of his father's tales of Starswirl's exploits in ancient times. Those were some entertaining bedtime stories that helped foster his love for good stories and adventuring as a colt. 

At this point, Twilight was starting to grow a little impatient and levitated a section of books from several shelves, pulling one to her at a time, peering over their contents. Gradually, she sped this process up little by little until her eyes widened and she let out a loud "YES!" She levitated the desired book onto the same table as before and resumed peering over the rest of them that were suspended in midair. Once again, Ethereal trotted over to the table and glanced at the cover. A History Of Unicorns by Clover the Clever. This name also jogged his memory. His father had once told him he was a descendant of Clover the Clever, albeit of course several generations removed. While he had no reason to doubt the veracity of his father's claim, he always struggled to truly accept it as fact because he could never cast spells of his own or use magic period. How could it be fact if he was never able to use magic when all other unicorns can to varying degrees. It made no sense.

This cycle seemed to continue on for hours as Ethereal paced around the library, occasionally stopping to peruse a few books here and there. There were books covering all sorts of scientific and historic topics, from Equestrian history to pony anatomy, sociology, philosophy, and much more. Eventually though, he grew tired of this and sat down in one of the leather chairs by the table and watched Twilight as she gradually found more and more books to add. The pile of books became a towering monolith that nearly reached the ceiling by the time Twilight was finally done gathering all of the necessary "reference materials" for whatever she had planned for him in this so-called case study.

"Alright, we're ready to begin!" Twilight beamed gleefully. Ethereal struggled to maintain his focus and composure so as not to show how truly weary and bored he was by this point after waiting so long. He blinked a few times as he waited for whatever was next.

Twilight remained standing in front of him at the other side of the table which was prominently featured in-between them. "I know this seems like a lot of books for just referencing, but a complex topic such as magic demands it. Now then, we'll start with the absolute basics. Please stand, Ethereal."

He obliged and stood up, facing Twilight directly. "What now?" he anxiously inquired. 
She locked eyes with him. "Now, you'll try to harness magic from within yourself. Just relax and focus on your horn. Close your eyes if you need to, and think of simply turning on a light bulb. Try to flip a switch on. Don't force or overexert yourself. Relax and slowly expel outward."

Though he was seriously doubting this would work, Ethereal did as Twilight told him and closed his eyes, attempting to focus his mind on his horn. He relaxed his body, keeping it from tensing up, and focused intensely on the mental imagery of turning on a light. Meanwhile, Twilight watched for a few minutes, then levitated a book in front of her eyes and opened it up to a specific chapter, reading to herself for guidance and supplementary knowledge.

She glanced up from the book and looked at Ethereal, speaking up again in an effort to keep him in check. "That's it. Stay focused like that and breath deep. Do you feel anything? Any sensations of a force welling up inside you, trying to leave your body? It should seem like a soaring feeling beginning to emanate from your horn in an outward motion."

For a moment, he didn't say a word. He kept focusing intently on producing something, anything that felt different that would indicate he managed to achieve a semblance of magical activity. But, there was nothing. Absolutely nothing. There wasn't even a twinge of substance. Emptiness. That was all he felt. His horn didn't feel different. "I'm trying, but I don't feel anything at all. It just seems empty."

Twilight was perplexed, but pressed on confidently. "Keep trying. This won't happen immediately. You haven't tried to use magic in a long time after all. You have to teach your body how to produce and harness it. Think of it like learning how to crawl and then trot as a baby. In this case, its more of a mental exercise. The physical aspect of it is mainly involving your horn. Before we can move on to any kind of spells, you must first be able to actually perform the basic fundamentals." 

She studied him closely, analyzing his posture and body language, looking for any obvious physical abnormalities. There were none whatsoever. He should be able to do this, she thought. If only all of her scientific equipment from the Golden Oaks library hadn't been destroyed along with her former abode, she could have used some devices to better observe and detect any potential issues with Ethereal's body that would prevent him from using magic. But as things stood, she was in the dark as to why he was struggling so much with what should be a relatively simple act on a unicorn's part. Even young unicorns growing up manage to conduct magic easily enough to a simple extent, oftentimes by sheer accident or reflexes. Yet this stallion here can't seem to even produce a single spark of it. How bizarre.

Ethereal pressed himself more. He maintained his composure, even as seeds of doubt, anxiety, and embarrassment welled up inside him. Steadying himself and fighting back those negative thoughts and feelings, he focused on expelling a force out of his horn. Where was that sensation he should feel? Where's that stream of energy? A welling up of magic force inside him? Why isn't this working? Who am I kidding? I knew it wouldn't work... 

Still, he held on, trying to push himself forward. He didn't want to disappoint Twilight. She genuinely wanted to help him and made great strides to help him figure out how and why he fails at this. There was a sense of commitment within him. A newfound desire to actually try as much as he can to achieve what he gave up on for years. There was no denying it though. There was still nothing. He couldn't muster anything. Magic refused to appear from within him. On top of that, the more he strained himself, the more he did begin to feel something. However, instead of a force bubbling up through him, he felt a very strange discomfort that was hard to describe. It felt unnatural and was definitely something he had never experienced before. A weird mix of what could be described as pain, nausea, and even a sort of physical disassociation and disconnect with his body and mind.  As this combination of effects increased the more he kept trying, he grew fearful and broke his concentration, stopping altogether.

"I'm sorry... Twilight... I can't. I need to sit down." He wearily reclined back onto the chair and frowned, staring at his hooves and the carpet. Twilight was concerned at this. She had seen a clear display of discomfort on him. "What's wrong? Are you in pain?" She took a seat in the other leather chair. 

"I felt weird. It wasn't pain but.... I had to stop. Something wasn't right. The more I tried to focus and do what you told me to do, the more nothing happened, at least, until a point where I started to feel.... I don't know.... sick? Its hard to describe, honestly."

He sunk deeper into the chair, slumping back as his tail ruffled up and hung over the armrest. He felt ashamed of his failure. It only validated what he had already known about himself and served to kill what little glimmer of hope he may have recently started to develop. Twilight thought things over deeply and pondered over what to do next. She hadn't expected that Ethereal wouldn't even manage to succeed at the most rudimentary magic production despite his own personal claims of inability. This was even more serious and complicated than she had thought.

"Let's try something else, Ethereal". She rose up from her chair onto her hooves and cantered over to Ethereal's side and smiled. "For this exercise attempt, you can stay seated. All I want you to do is focus on a specific object. This book right here." Her horn glowed that familiar magenta color as she pulled a book off the very top of the towering hardcover monolith that still stood atop the table. She gently placed it down on the table directly in front of Ethereal's line of sight. "I want you to try to levitate this book towards you. Try to place it in your lap. If you can't produce magic by concentrating and using visual imagery in your mind, then perhaps you'll have an easier time if you use this place-marker object method."

He sighed. "I'll give it a shot. I can at least try." 

"That's the spirit!" exclaimed Twilight in a positive tone.

This time, instead of closing his eyes and imagining a flow of energy within himself, Ethereal simply stared at the book in front of him on that table. Musings Of The Mind's Eye by Arcanus Sage. This was one author that he had never heard of before. Regardless, it was time to focus on the task at hoof. Locking eyes with this old and interesting book of what seemingly contained thousands of pages of text, he mentally attempted to will himself to somehow lift it externally without using his limbs. Minutes went by, but as before, nothing happened. He tried again and again with all his willpower and intent, but it was to no avail. His shame was converting to feelings of frustration and anger. This isn't an advanced concept. Why can't I do this? Come on, damn it! Work! Please work...

"Keep it up Ethereal, you're doing great focusing on the book. Now just maintain that and hold on a bit" encouraged Twilight. She backed away from him a bit to give him more space. Once again, she watched with baited breath, checking for any anomalies visible to the naked eye. There was nothing out of the ordinary. More minutes went by, devoid of eventfulness.

As this went on, the library door opened and Spike walked in, seeing things unfold. "Hey guys, how are things going?"
"SHH! Not now, Spike. He needs complete quiet so he can concentrate" Twilight chided him.
"Oh, sorry.." he apologized sheepishly.

As the two of them gazed on at him, Ethereal was lost deep in the attempt to levitate the book. It was so close. Tantalizingly so. He was laser-focused on it. Magic still didn't form. No aura appearing around his horn. No movement of the book. It just stayed put exactly where Twilight had set it. This was ridiculous to him. It was maddening. It was no revelation to him that he couldn't do magic of any kind. Frankly, he hadn't cared for the longest time. He was insecure internally about it along with his lack of a cutie mark, but unless somepony brought up the subject or pointed it out, he never really worried much about it and tried to bury it in the back of his mind. Being forced to confront it now was tough. Twilight Sparkle meant well, but this was growing to be less of an interesting attempt at finally cracking this wall of inability and becoming more of an absurd joke.

Then, he felt that sickening, strange feeling again. He became light-headed and his vision began to blur. He shook his head to try to drive it away, but it only served to trigger a sense of equilibrium loss. He slowly swayed from side to side, no longer able to sit still and focus on that damn book. Though disappointed immensely, he forced himself to stop the exercise. Twilight rushed to his side, having witnessed the return of his symptoms. Spike also ran over to see him.

"Its okay. Relax. Settle down and breathe deeply. Don't get up Ethereal." She held a hoof over his forehead to check for signs of a fever. His temperature seemed normal, but he was sweating and looked strained. "What happened, Ethereal?" asked Spike.

Ethereal spoke slowly, struggling in a state of dizziness. "I can't do it. I just can't.... I don't know why. It feels strange. I get sick for some... reason. Its stupid."

"Its not stupid. You're clearly being strained for some reason. We'll just take a break and you can get something to eat to restore your strength. Spike can make you something, and in the meantime, I'll do some research and figure out another course of action. No worries, I've got this. We'll try another exer-"

"NO!" shouted Ethereal. Twilight and Spike both winced.

"No more exercises! I've had enough for one day." Ethereal glared angrily at Twilight, feeling his energy coming back now.

Twilight looked hurt. "Look, I know its been tough, but we can't give up now and--"

Ethereal interrupted her again. "Tough? Tough!? You think that's all it is!?"

He stumbled up from his chair and stared her down with a mix of frustration, anger, and a twinge of despair and shame.

"I stumble into this town and meet you and have a few chats with you and your friends, and just like that, you think you know me so well!? I'm not some damn experiment that you can run tests on for the sake of your curiosity! I wanted to believe that this flaw of mine could be solved and fixed, but clearly it can't! I told you all but you downplayed it!"

Twilight searched for words but faltered, her voice trembling as she tried to form a response. "Ethereal, I just... I was only trying to help..."

Spike interjected, feeling hurt by Ethereal's outburst but also a rising desire to stand up for Twilight.
"She was only trying to help you, okay!? Because that's what she does! She cares and because she cares, she strives to get answers for those in need, like you! Its not her fault you can't do magic! Its no one's, not even your own! Venting is one thing but lashing out at Twilight isn't going to solve anything!" He bared his teeth and claws and glared back at Ethereal, staring him down.

Not able to think of what to say next after that, Ethereal did the only thing he could think of and bolted away and out of the library. He couldn't think straight anymore. He was consumed with grief and blinding anger as he dashed down the spiral staircase to the first floor and main hall and barged out of the castle. The sun was setting down the horizon as he ran off through Ponyville and out to the edge of town, nearly crashing into a few ponies in the process. As he reached the outer limits of town by the Everfree Forest, he finally stopped and caught his breath, panting heavily. He tried to gather his thoughts as he recovered himself. What am I even doing anymore? What am I doing in this town? This was all a pointless mistake. I got careless and let myself be vulnerable to others. That was foolish. I can't do magic. That's not news. So why did I allow myself false hope that somehow she could change that?

He turned and glanced back at Ponyville as night settled in and a full moon rose into prominence in the sky. Its time for me to leave here and resume my travels. I don't need magic to survive anyway. I've already proven that many times throughout my life. And my cutie mark might appear one day or it might never appear. It doesn't matter. Back to business as usual, Ethereal.

He turned back toward the forest and with one big sigh, he headed into it, intent on finding another town somewhere else in Equestria and not going back to where he came from when he first traversed these dark, expansive woods. Some time later, he found himself at the base of a mountainside in an open, rocky clearing. It was a dead end. He turned around to head back into the forest that surrounded all three sides of the clearing. He paused however when he heard a loud snap that came from within the trees. This was followed by a very clear and close growling. Then, another snap and a sound of creaking wood emanated from a corner of the dark woods. His ears twitched and perked up as he scoured his surroundings carefully, preparing for a potential dangerous threat. He feared what it likely was, but hoped for the best. If its just one, he could surely handle it. If there were more though, like a pack, then....

Suddenly, bright yellow eyes appeared out of the darkness. Then, another pair of eyes glowing to his right. Then, one more pair in front of him. A few more popped out into view, followed by loud and consistent growling and snaps of twigs and creaking. Slowly, one, then several of them, moved into view, walking menacingly out of the forest. Luck didn't favor him tonight. A pack of timberwolves began to surround him on all sides of the rocky clearing, as he backed away instinctively into the mountainside. He was trapped in that spot. There was nowhere to run and there was no way he could manage to burst through and outrun this many timberwolves. They had him completely cut off from any escape route as they flanked him on all sides, with his rump firmly pressed against the wall of the mountain's base.


Without magic, I can't do a damn thing to these bastards. What do I do here? What can I do? Mother and father didn't die for me so I could just die here like this, by a pack of animals no less. I survived on my own for all these years, damn it! I can't... just... not like this... 

And then, they attacked.
> The Way Forward
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The timberwolves rushed toward him with great speed and purpose, their gaping mouths baring sharp wooden teeth. There was simply no way out of this ambush. Ethereal Divide looked on in fear, frozen in place, trapped at the base of a sharp rising mountainous pillar. He could see around a dozen of them charging right at him, blocking any possible space to escape. He could only try to make a run for it and trot head on into the pack in a suicidal attempt to flee. There was no way that he could make it through this many timberwolves without being killed or severely wounded by scratches and bites, and it would only take a few of them pouncing onto his back and sides to take him down. But it didn't matter regardless. He had no time to react at this point. His body refused to budge and they had already closed the distance. He couldn't wrangle his way out of this one. There was no escaping death this time like he had back at the river gorge near the other side of Everfree Forest. He just stared ahead at the beasts who were now just feet away from him, trying to quickly accept his fate before everything ended.

A loud boom shattered the vicinity as a sudden cloud of smoke billowed out from the ground around the timberwolves. Several of them yelped in surprise and even stopped running in their tracks while others slowed down and turned around in confusion. Smoke was now enveloping the entire area where Ethereal and the wolfpack were congregated. Ethereal himself was stunned as he realized all the timberwolves had stopped running toward him and were now either dazed or backtracking. Suddenly, there was another loud explosion as a second cloud of smoke materialized over the area, serving to thicken the air even more with a dark particulate. The timberwolves reacted by instinctively crouching low to the ground and covering their eyes with their paws, yelping and whining in discomfort. This was followed by the banging of what sounded like a pot being struck by a shovel or bat and fierce unintelligible chanting. 

Ethereal was reminded of the sounds he had heard a few days ago while traversing the Everfree Forest. It sounded very similar to the chanting and clanging of pots he heard then when he sensed a few timberwolves were stalking him. Was someone trying to save him?  He couldn't discount the idea. In any case, this was the perfect chance to stage an escape. He had been granted a second chance at life. It was now or never. Ethereal Divide bolted out of the spot he had been cornered in, running past the timberwolves who were still slouched down covering their faces and whining in displeasure. The smoke was thick and covered a large radius. It was impossible to see clearly but he kept galloping along, trying to get as far away as he possibly could. 

Eventually, the smoke cleared out as he made it a certain distance. Still galloping at full speed, he turned his head back behind him as the chanting and pot banging gradually grew quieter and quieter, fading into the environment. By now, the sun had fully set and night had fallen. There was a full moon looming above in the starlit sky. Racing through the depths of the forest surrounded by trees, Ethereal had no clue where he was going or for how long he should run. He was solely being fueled by adrenaline and a strong desire to survive. But soon, his legs started to grow weary and his hyper stamina wore out, forcing him to slow to a trot, then a casual canter. He kept moving however, not willing to stop and rest until he was safely out of the woods. He panted and his breaths were heavy as he continued to saunter along, as the trees and brush gradually started to give way to a rocky clearing ahead.

He took notice of this change of scenery. At first, he thought he had returned to the river canyon by the forest's edge again. But as he looked around, it became evident this was a different locale altogether. Ethereal stopped and gazed ahead of him as he stood by a cliffside overlooking a large basin. It seemed strikingly out of place as it was surrounded on the higher elevation by the forest on all sides. Even more intriguing was the fact that down below inside this basin, there was a wide space that seemed to house something large which reflected some of the moonlight on this clear night. He couldn't tell what it might be from his viewing angle and the distance, but he felt compelled to find a way to get closer somehow. As he meandered parallel to the cliff edges along the basin, he eventually noticed a stairway that led down into it. Despite his tiredness, he eagerly rushed to the stairs as his mind surged with excitement. 

It was as if he were in the hoofprints of one of the many adventurers in the classic stories that father used to read to him at bedtime all those years ago. The brave explorer pony facing the unknown head-on, going into the most mysterious places where danger could lurk at any turn, but where there was equal chance of stumbling upon a great treasure or epic discovery that could rewrite history. Ethereal chuckled quietly to himself at the thought as he began descending down the stairway into this strange basin. Perhaps this was a lapse in judgment, but anything was better than staying above where more timberwolves could show up at a time when his energy reserves were low and he was quite vulnerable. And it sure as hell beat subjecting himself to a failed experiment attempting to draw out his nonexistent magic abilities. There was also a sense of being drawn to this place. He didn't know why, but he knew his attention was fully invested now in exploring this section of wilderness. If worst came to worst and nothing of interest turned up, at least this area would provide a safe shelter to spend the night in and get some needed sleep.

As he made it to the bottom of the stairs and began moving through the basin, he wished for once that he could actually use magic in order to light his surroundings. It was quite dark in there at night and his path was only dimly lit by what few rays of the moon's light managed to reach this far down. Undeterred nonetheless, Ethereal trudged onward in the direction of that reflective object he had seen from the ground surface. After what seemed like nearly an hour had passed, he noticed the basin led to a dead end that curved to his left, in which lied that same reflective object. The moonlight poured across the ground from whatever it was, as he approached. And what he saw when it came into view stunned him. There, towering in front of him, reflecting a large amount of brilliant moonlight, was a mystical looking tree. It was adorned with several sparkling artifacts; six in total, that were situated on each individual branch. Ethereal Divide was in awe at this sight. He had for a brief moment stepped into the role of one of those story's great adventurers. The great discovery of a majestic treasure had been made.

Just then, a sensation of being watched pierced the dreamlike nature of the experience. Reality seeped back into his mind. Once again, he was forced to study his surroundings. There was no one behind him and nothing hiding in front of him near or by the grand tree. Scouring the night sky above, nothing was flying around and no strange shadows could be seen. However, this sensation would not ease up. It couldn't be shaken off. Calm yourself, Ethereal. You're just fatigued by the evening's events, that's all. He tried to rationalize it away. Doing his absolute best to ignore the feeling, the weary unicorn moved closer to the tree to examine it in better detail. The amazing artifacts encased in its branches resemble gems or ancient runes and yet somehow, they look familiar. Where have I seen similar markings? Wait... this one... it looks like a cutie mark. They all do.... no.. this one... it resembles Twilight Sparkle's cutie mark! But how!? And THAT one! Is that Rainbow Dash's? I don't understand! How is this possible!? In the midst of his astonishment and bewilderment, Ethereal failed to notice a swift shadowy movement that shrouded his head and then disappeared.

But something else did manage to steal his attention away from the tree and its markings. A distant snarl echoed throughout the basin and the rock walls. Ethereal quickly spun around, eyes darting in all directions searching for any signs of movement. Nothing but darkness pervaded the expansive area beyond the immediate vicinity of the tree and its reflective lighting. More sounds echoed in the expanse. Wood clanking and clanging and several grunts and growls. Damn it, they're back! I can't believe they followed me all the way here after the whole smoke bombardment earlier. How did they manage to track my scent this far? His tail stiffened in tension and he could feel goosebumps across his body. Then, two yellow eyes emerged from the darkness just beyond the light of the tree. And then there were four, six, ten, and ultimately twenty. They all glared menacingly straight at him. Then came the intimidating growls and snarls. 

Ethereal gulped and started to sweat bullets. Again, he was trapped. And again, he was surrounded by timberwolves. No doubt the same pack from earlier that had somehow persistently tracked him down. They must be very hungry to go to this much effort to pursue one target in a single night. They stepped one by one into the moonlight near the tree where Ethereal had huddled by. They opened their mouths, showing their razor sharp teeth, saliva dripping down their jaws, ready to pounce at any second. The pack collectively closed in, some growling, others snarling. And then, several bolted at him and lunged forward to strike, when a large shadow came down in great speed from the sky and a beam of magical light blasted the ground, blowing up a few of the timberwolves in the process. As their wooden parts scattered all over the ground, an imposing figure touched down in front of Ethereal Divide. Wincing his eyes to adjust his vision, he could see the figure was none other than a pony. His mind comprehended who it was, though it proved quite the shock. 

"What!? Is that you... Princess Lu-"

The majestic nocturnal alicorn cut him off. "Indeed, it is I! Fear not, Ethereal Divide! I shall send these ruffians packing!"

With that, her horn glowed brighter as her magic aura intensified. Glaring at the remaining timberwolves who were now stepping back and whimpering, she fired another magic beam at the ground near them and they all yelped in fear and ran off back toward the entrance of the basin. Ethereal fell on his haunches in sheer relief. The danger was finally over. They wouldn't be returning after that display of force.

Princess Luna turned to face him. "That's the end of them. Are you alright?"

Regaining his composure, he mustered a reply. "I-I'm fine, princess. I don't know how you found me.... but thank you. I owe my life to you."  He bowed in respect.

"Ethereal Divide, I have come for you. Your time draws near. I have seen your troubled dreams of the past and I desire to help you find solace."

She approached him with grace and purpose as he quickly rose to his hooves. "Wait... were you the voice in my recent dreams? The eyes in the moon? That was you... wasn't it?" His eyes widened in realization.

She stopped feet away from him, her enchanted mane glistening in the full moon's rays as she smiled softly, outstretching her hoof. "It most certainly was. Come with me. The answers you seek may lie with Twilight Sparkle and her friends. But first, I know of somepony who may be able to provide guidance."

He hesitated upon hearing this, not wanting to go back to Ponyville after intentionally leaving it just recently. But in light of the night he had and this reveal of Luna's influence in his dreams, his initial resistance falters. "I can't forget my past no matter how much time goes by. And not having magic or a cutie mark still troubles me, as much as I would rather not admit it." He let out a sigh of submission and grabbed her hoof.

At this, her magic aura enveloped Ethereal as she levitated him airborne next to her, simultaneously stretching her wings and flying off. Together, they flew out of the tree basin and over the Everfree Forest.

"Zecora awaits!" she exclaimed.

Ethereal Divide didn't bother to respond. He was too busy trying not to puke while flying via magical levitation for the first time in his life.
> What Lies Within
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Princess Luna began her descent into the depths of the Everfree Forest with an increasingly nauseous Ethereal Divide in tow. She shifted her wings in a downward angle while simultaneously flapping them in order to reduce her flight speed as they neared the tree canopy and the forest floor below. All the while, poor Ethereal nervously floundered around his body, closing his eyes in an attempt to settle himself down as he was otherwise bound by Luna's magic. 

"Please try to relax. We are about to land."

"Believe me, I'm trying my best to do just that, princess. I've never been levitated in mid-air flight before."
Ethereal immediately regretted talking as he held a hoof to his mouth in reaction to a puking sensation.

Thankfully though, it wasn't long after that when they came to a slow, gradual stop upon reaching solid ground inside the dark forest. The princess promptly released him from her magical grip and illuminated their surroundings by intensifying her horn's aura. As she cast her light around them searching for a marker of some sort, Ethereal took a moment to gather his bearings. He wondered what she was looking for, if anything in particular.

"Ah yes, there it is! Stay close Ethereal Divide."

He followed her earnestly, not wanting to fall behind inside these woods at this late hour. Very little moonlight reached inside the dense foliage of the forest, so her magical illumination was quite welcome. It also served to invoke inner desires of his to be able to magically light up the darkness himself. But of course, he was relying on her natural ability instead. Her shimmering mane and tail glistened in the light as she continued moving along with confidence toward an unknown destination.

However, it was soon made clear where they were headed as he noticed a treehouse adorned with masks on its exterior come into view in front of them. It was the same abode that he had passed by during his first trek through this forest on the way to Ponyville days ago. Is this the home of Zecora?  He pondered over how and why she chose to live in the middle of this forest and not in nearby Ponyville alongside others. Then again, he barely knew the mysterious zebra, having only met her once in a brief exchange alongside those energetic fillies. All he knew was that she was a zebra who liked to rhyme in every sentence she spoke. The fact that a princess of Equestria was leading him to her and thought she could be of use in helping him with his struggles spoke highly of her.

They approached the door of the treehouse. Luna held up her hoof in front of Ethereal, motioning for him to hold back. 

"Allow me." She knocked on the door resolutely. 

Despite the late time of their arrival, it took less than a minute for the sound of a lock to be unhooked and the door to open. The light from inside the house coupled with what appeared to be the glow of a cauldron shone upon the visage of a zebra wearing earrings and a neck bracelet and sporting a well-defined mohawk. Upon seeing them, a warm smile formed on her face.

"Ah good evening, Ethereal Divide. Please come inside. And you as well, Princess Luna. Make yourselves at home, there's no need to roam."

"Thank you kindly" Luna replied.

The two of them trotted in, Ethereal carefully studying the layout of the den while Zecora went to arrange some chairs around the cauldron in the center. There were masks of all shapes and sizes covering the walls. A bookcase containing hundreds of tomes was situated in one corner, while several shelves etched into the walls housed various strange, exotic knickknacks and vials filled with different colored liquids.

Zecora motioned for them to come over by the cauldron and sit down. "Please, have a seat so we may gather and meet."

Ethereal headed over and sat down on the chair to the right of the bubbling cauldron, while Luna made her way by the chair across from him, but abstained from taking a seat. Her cordial smile vanished as a look of contemplation replaced it, her eyes focused on Ethereal briefly before gazing over at Zecora. This made Ethereal a tad bit uncomfortable, as he wondered what she was mulling over in regards to him. 

"Well then, to what do I owe the pleasure of this evening's visit? Having two unique guests, I could not resist it." Zecora approached Ethereal, giving him a glance-over, before stopping beside him and turning to face the princess of the night. Ethereal was about to speak up, but Luna interjected herself.

"Pardon our late arrival at this hour, Zecora, but I've brought Ethereal Divide here because he is in need of help and I believe you can provide some valuable insight."

"Hmm, insight you say? I think I have an idea of what it might be, if my sight does not deceive." Zecora began to hover over Ethereal, examining him from all sides and angles. He did his best to retain his composure, despite being somewhat anxious at his personal space being intruded on like this. 

"Princess Luna has been following my recent recurring dreams" he explained. "She thinks you may be able to find out why I can't use magic like normal unicorns. Maybe you can, but forgive me if I'm a bit skeptical. Twilight Sparkle already tried to figure it out and help me, but her experiment failed."

"Hmmm..." The zebra continued to examine his body, paying particular attention to his horn and blank flank posterior. She then prodded his horn, causing him to wince reflexively, before moving over to prod and touch his forehead, behind his ears, his neck, chest, and even lifting his tail. Finally, she ceased making contact and took a few steps back, while still eyeing him closely.

"You are indeed a curious case. I wonder if I can base your lack of magic on something more tragic."

Ethereal raised an eyebrow in confusion. "I... beg your pardon?"

Zecora elaborated, her eyes deep in thought as she spoke. "You have no cutie mark. Surely, that hasn't been a walk in the park."

"No, it hasn't. I never did get my mark. Here I am, a full grown stallion, and I'm still a blank flank. It used to be humiliating, but now I don't worry too much about it. But when other ponies stare at me, I get a little self-conscious." He shifted in his chair a bit as he acknowledged this. "But I'm not sure that has anything to do with my magic not existing."

"Ah but it does, Ethereal Divide. Magic resides in all ponies, especially unicorns, being born with horns. Your lack of a cutie mark is a remark. The connection is real, but perhaps... it is sealed." With that, Zecora left his side to fetch something in one of the etched shelves on the wooden wall.

He watched her grab one of the colored liquid vials, the one she selected being something akin to gold. She carefully removed the cork lid on top of it and returned to him, standing over his right side. 

He gave her an incredulous look. "What? You want me to drink that?"

She shook her head. "Certainly not. That would be quite the rot. A sip of this could poison and clot. I need only pour a drop on your top."

Ethereal gazed suspiciously at the liquid gold vial in Zecora's grasp. "You're going to pour a drop of that substance on my head? How do you know that won't poison me anyway? And what will it even do? I don't understand."

"One drop of the golden saffron slug's slime essence will reveal your magic's resonance. An aura should appear, proving your magic never truly disappeared." Steadying her hoof, Zecora tilted the vial just enough for a single, precise drop of the gold liquid to land atop the center of Ethereal's mane. He couldn't help cringe slightly as he felt it pelt his head. It seemed to quickly be absorbed into his mane, with no other sensations presenting themselves.

An audible gasp from Princess Luna who was still standing by her chair on the opposite side of the cauldron prompted Ethereal to look up at her with concern. "What happened, princess?"

"You're glowing!" She pointed a hoof directly at him.

He looked around himself. It was unmistakable. His front and back hooves were glowing a vibrant shade of bright green. In fact, his entire body from horn to fetlocks was shrouded in this green aura. "It can't be... is this...magic?" But then, just as suddenly as it had appeared, the green aura surrounding him vanished. "Wait, what just happened? Where'd it go!? Where's my magic!?"

Luna stepped forward with vigor as her face lit up in a moment of epiphany. "So my theory might just be correct after all! It makes sense! Your magic has been sealed! That's why you cannot materialize it!"

Ethereal Divide took a minute to process what she said. "What do you mean its sealed?" 

Zecora corked the vial and set it back on the shelf alongside the rest of her collection. "Sealed away with a spell, no doubt, for things were not well. Quite a mystery, perhaps even contradictory..." She turned around to face Luna.

Luna herself was analyzing the situation in her mind. She seemed to be attempting to connect dots in her aforementioned theory with this newly revealed evidence. Meanwhile, Ethereal wondered if she possibly knew more about him than she previously let on. Zecora's expression indicated she was having similar thoughts about Luna. The period of silence was broken by a sudden knocking on the door.

Zecora trotted over to the front door and pulled it open, revealing a solemn looking Twilight Sparkle. Upon seeing Ethereal, she smiled a little. "I heard you might be here. I've looked all over Ponyville and the Everfree Forest for you, Ethereal."

"Twilight, apologies for not notifying you sooner, but I wanted to make sure his arrival here was not based on rumor." Zecora patted her back in reassurance.

"Its okay Zecora. I'm just glad he's alright." Twilight slowly trotted up toward Ethereal and Luna. "Princess Luna, thank you for making sure he was okay. I feel bad for what led up to this." She averted her gaze toward the floor. 

Luna lifted Twilight's face up and smiled comfortingly. "Your intentions were good, Twilight. You were just a bit overzealous with your actions."

Twilight redirected her gaze at Ethereal. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to push you as hard as I did back at the castle library. I only wanted to help you. I got carried away."

Ethereal made direct eye contact with her, unsure of what to say. His thoughts were all over the place. He hadn't been mentally prepared to face Twilight again right now, especially after everything he'd been through in just the span of several hours. It had been a long eventful day and tiredness clouded his mind. "Twilight Sparkle.... I get it. Its alright." He sighed and looked away into the distance. "I know you meant well. I forgive you. But right now, I just want to sleep. I have a lot on my mind. Zecora and Luna are helping me with my magic problem. I appreciate all of your efforts. I really do. But I need to get some sleep tonight."

"Well, if you want, you can come back to the castle and sleep there. My friends are worried about you. They helped search for you when you ran off, so they'll be glad to see you're alright." Twilight gave a slight smile.

Ethereal didn't even bother to think it over. He simply nodded. He was too tired to weigh whatever alternative options he had for lodging that night. He and Twilight proceeded to say their goodbyes to Zecora and Luna and Ethereal expressed profound thanks to both of them. As they left Zecora's treehouse, Princess Luna flew off overhead into the starry night sky, keen on resuming her dream-walking duties for the rest of the night's duration.

Ethereal Divide was greeted with a warm, happy reception from Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Rarity upon returning to Ponyville and Twilight's castle. After about an hour of catching up in conversation and one too many hugs from an ecstatic Pinkie Pie, Ethereal wearily trotted inside the castle with Twilight in front of him. Parting ways at the top of the staircase to the second floor, Ethereal headed straight for his room, passing Spike's room who could be heard snoring loudly from inside thanks to the slightly open door.

As he entered his room and shut the door behind him, a thought briefly flashed through his mind. That tree...those markings. He collapsed onto the bed and closed his eyes, lifting the blanket over himself. He dozed off quickly into a deep sleep. Like always though, he dreamed again. Only this time, it proceeded somewhat differently and without the presence of a watching Princess Luna.

Father's reading another fantastical story to me as mother comes in to kiss me goodnight. I'm so sleepy and close my eyes as father's voice fades away. Then loud commotion from the streets outside. I'm awake and scared as father barges into my room and scoops me up, racing down the stairs to escape our burning house. But there they are blocking our path. Those hooded ponies have mother in their grasp. Run away Ethereal! Don't let them get you! Mother! Father! Don't leave me! I run crying and scared for dear life as the hooded ponies chase after me. All around, the city is in chaos and burning in intense flames. I trip on a cobblestone path and fall on my face. They huddle over me, their faces masked under dark cloaks. No! Leave me alone! Mother! Father! Help me!

They close in on me. Before they can grab me, soldiers rush in and a big fight ensues. I take advantage and run away as fast as I can looking back at the royal guard forces battling the hooded ponies. I run until my hooves give out on me and I collapse on the ground at the edge of town in a vast forest. Crying. So much crying that I cry myself to sleep as a thunderstorm pours rain down all around me. Its morning. I wake up and run back to the city. All is deserted. Burned buildings and rubble line the streets. A ghost town now. Nopony is here. But wait. I see a few ponies lying down on the roads. I go to check them and wake them up. Why are they sleeping on the road like that? They're not moving. Is that...blood? Wait are they.... No! I run back to home. There's my house. Mother! Father! Where are you!? I'm okay! I came back!

I see them! Wait.... why are they lying down together like that? I rush over and shake them to wake up. Mother! Wake up! Its daytime! Father wake up! I'm safe! Why won't you get up!? Why!? Then I see it. They're covered in red.... blood. Mother! Father! You're hurt! You need help! Please get up! Shaking them harder and harder. Nothing. I kick them as hard as I can. Nothing. Please..... get up. I don't want to be alone....please? I can't see clearly anymore. Tears start to flow. I cry the loudest and hardest I've ever done. NO! YOU CAN"T DIE! YOU CAN'T BE DEAD! I STILL NEED YOU! I run away again. This time for good. I'm never coming back to this city. Ever. The forest. Its the only place I know where to go. Where else is there? I cry myself to sleep again.

Ethereal Divide slowly opened his eyes as sunlight beamed through the window above his bed. He blinked his eyes several times, trying to clear the watery residue from them. His dream... his recollection of those day's events were still clear in his mind. He thought he had fully repressed that part of his memory by now. But it seemed the rest of where his recent nightmares left off was now returning to fill in the void. The forest he had escaped his destroyed hometown to became his first sanctuary in isolation. Forest....Everfree Forest. Trees.... THAT tree. I have to know. Its like its calling to me somehow.

He got out of bed with a sudden newfound purpose. I have to go back to that tree! Today!
> Turning Point
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight Sparkle nearly choked on her food as her eyes widened in surprise. She managed to swallow the bit of her hayburger and drank a swig of soda before mustering a reply. "You want to visit the Tree of Harmony....again!? But why?"


Ethereal Divide hesitated momentarily as he gazed at his plate lying before him on the table, his hayburger and sweet potato fries largely untouched and getting cold by the minute. Spike, meanwhile, had already gobbled up his lunch and was leaned back on his chair with his claw resting firmly on his now full stomach. He eyed Ethereal with curiosity, expecting a response any second. 

The three of them had traveled into town to eat lunch at The Hayburger, which was apparently a new favorite dining establishment of Twilight's. She had decided to give Spike a break from cooking, which he appreciated. It also served as an occasion to discuss their next steps in regard to Ethereal and his predicament. He had already told Twilight and the others about his harrowing encounter with timberwolves and being backed into a corner by a majestic crystalline tree the night before.

He perked up at Spike's voice. 

"Uh, dude? You okay?" 

Twilight spoke again with a twinge of concern in her voice. "Ethereal, what's wrong? You've barely touched your food."

Ethereal finally broke his silence while still staring down at his plate blankly. 
"Sorry, I was just thinking. And yes, I want to go back to that tree. The....Tree of...Harmony... as you called it. Something about it captivates me."

He forced himself to take a bite of his hayburger and consume some fries before they lost any more warmth. He was actually hungry in spite of his initial failure to eat. His thoughts had been consuming him ever since he woke up that morning with a newfound resolve to visit the tree again. He sipped his lemonade as Twilight pressed him once more.

"It is a pretty captivating tree, I agree. But I did tell you the other day that the Tree of Harmony is magically enchanted since its imbued with the Elements of Harmony. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna discovered the Elements embedded in it many moons ago and used them to defeat Discord, the spirit of chaos. And then later on, Celestia was forced to banish Luna to the moon for a thousand years using them because she had been corrupted into Nightmare Moon. And my friends and I have relied on the Elements several times to defeat threats to Equestria up until Tirek showed up. You know the rest of that story."

He glanced up at her and nodded.
"Yes, I recall you telling me about that. It explains why there are relics on the tree that resemble all of your cutie marks. Those are the Elements, right?"

"Yes" replied Twilight.

"But", Ethereal continued, "I'm not interested in the tree because of that. There's something else.... something that almost calls out to me. Some sort of resonance that I can't really explain. I just feel it." His gaze drifted away toward the windows across from their table on the other side of the restaurant. His mind was drawn outside in the direction of Everfree Forest.

Spike suddenly shot up in his chair with excitement. "Hey, I just realized something! Didn't you say that while you were at Zecora's place, she dropped this weird gold liquid on you and a magic aura appeared around you!?"

Ethereal had a look of intrigue on his face. "Well yeah, that did happen. What are you getting at, Spike?"

"What I'm saying is that maybe your sealed magic that's inside of you is somehow reacting to the Tree of Harmony! Maybe that's what you're feeling!"

Twilight chimed in. "Oh my gosh, Spike! I think you might be on to something! That makes sense! I mean, I'm not sure how exactly it works, but it would explain why Ethereal is suddenly feeling this sensation. Zecora's potion must have had a leftover side-effect."

Ethereal smiled slightly at this. "I guess I should thank Zecora for two things now. I forgot to thank her last night for saving my life when I was cornered by the timberwolf pack the first time. And now, her potion may have inadvertently stimulated my inner senses which are guiding me to this mystical tree."

"Seriously? You forgot to thank somepony for saving your life? Who does that?" remarked Spike.

Twilight gave Spike a displeased look, but he just shrugged.

"It was an eventful night. It sort of slipped my mind" answered Ethereal sheepishly. "But yeah, now I'm really interested in going there. I don't know if it will amount to anything or not, but I at least need to see it in the light of day." He resumed eating his meal from there on out.

"Alright then! We'll head over to the Everfree Forest as soon as you're done, Ethereal." Twilight seemed genuinely invested in doing this. The waitress soon came to collect their plates and Twilight footed the bill, leaving a small pile of bits on the table. Minutes later, the trio headed out the door of the increasingly busy diner. Before they ventured off into the forest, Twilight flew off to recruit Rainbow Dash for their trip in order to have an aerial view of the forest and find the tree easier.

Not long after, Ethereal found himself traversing the Everfree Forest once again with Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash in tow. Twilight was leading him on hoof in front while Rainbow Dash scoured the area overhead searching for the small canyon in which the Tree of Harmony resided. 

Twilight called out to her: "Any sign of it yet, Dash?"

"Nope, nothing yet" she replied. "Just a bunch of trees for as far as the eye can see. Oh, and uh, I can see the top spire of the Castle of the Two Sisters. But the tree we're looking for has gotta be somewhere before the castle."

Ethereal found himself feeling a bit antsy by this point. He anxiously wanted to find the tree again and was growing uncharacteristically impatient. "You'd think it would be much easier to find this tree during the day. You girls have been through here many times before, right?"

Rainbow Dash turned her head and flashed him a confident grin. "Hey, no worries bud. We've got this!"

Twilight echoed the sentiment. "Rainbow's right. We'll get there. We've been to the site of the Elements more than enough times."

He trusted them and did his best to keep any signs of frustration or impatience to himself. Besides, without these two mares, he'd just get lost wandering in circles around this vast, thick forest. He couldn't forget the threat of looming timberwolves roaming throughout the habitat either. He wasn't keen on tempting death a third time. It was also good that Spike had chosen not to accompany them since he would have likely slowed them down. He was probably enjoying his time helping out Rarity at her boutique. The little dragon was hopelessly infatuated with her; a fact Ethereal found somewhat funny.

What seemed like hours went by as the sun slowly arced downward in the sky. At one point, they had reached the perimeter of a large swamp which Twilight warned him not to go near because of dangerous creatures known as cragodiles. The trio made their way alongside the edge of the swamp, eventually passing through dense forest foliage again before Rainbow Dash suddenly shouted.

"Hey guys! I see it! I see the entrance to the tree!" She flapped her wings rapidly in excitement.

Soon after, the trees and bushes cleared out in front of a familiar canyon basin. Ethereal galloped down the stone stairs to the bottom while Twilight and Rainbow flew down and landed. As they trotted closer to the end of the basin where the Tree of Harmony was lying in wait, Ethereal felt a strong sensation well up inside him. It was something akin to a vibration or some type of whole body static electricity. Whatever it was, it gave him a sense of adrenaline and his heart was beating fast.

They rounded a final corner and laid eyes on the magnificent sight that was the Tree of Harmony. It glimmered brightly as it basked in the afternoon sun's rays. Ethereal Divide was in awe. Seeing it now in the daylight was a whole other experience from encountering it in the middle of the night. He could now see every single intricate detail of the crystalline tree as he trotted closer and closer.

"I still get chills when I see it" admitted Rainbow Dash.

Twilight nodded in agreement. "Me too. It never gets old."

Ethereal stood right in front of the tree's base. He looked straight up at the towering branches, each of which having a single cutie mark shaped rune embedded inside. Each one corresponded to the matching element and cutie mark of one of the mares he had come to know in Ponyville. Twilight Sparkle's element of magic, Rainbow Dash's loyalty, Pinkie Pie's laughter, Fluttershy's kindness, Applejack's honesty and Rarity's generosity. They were all here, emblazoned permanently on this enchanted tree of crystal, only being plucked away when needed under dire circumstances as Twilight and her friends had recounted to him.

He was utterly mesmerized at all this. Somehow these ponies have the ability to wield these powerful artifacts and channel magic through their strong bonds of friendship with each other. I can't imagine that feeling. How wonderful it must be to have genuine friends like that. Even just being able to use magic period would be fulfilling in and of itself. This tree also gave birth to Twilight's castle home.... from a sealed chest. A chest she and her friends had to unlock with special keys that only they could obtain. And also through the unlocking of this chest, they were granted the power they needed to defeat that monster Tirek. This tree is truly special. I wonder what else it is capable of doing. And above all....why do I feel so drawn to it?

He closed his eyes as a feeling of peace washed over him. Before he realized it, he raised his left hoof and touched the tree. Upon making contact, a surge of energy jolted through his body. He could feel some pain and discomfort coursing through him, especially centering around his horn and forehead, but it wasn't enough to make him cry out. Then another sensation washed over him and coursed inside his muscles, bones and bloodstream: warmth. It was as if his body was bathing in an intense hot spring; one that encompassed him so completely. He felt himself go numb as he lost all physical control of himself. But rather than being scared, he enjoyed nothing but inner peace. At that moment, something shattered within him and an outflow of some kinetic force poured out, radiating around his body.

Pulsating, vibrating, shocking him inside and out. He opened his eyes, only to see nothing but bright white light engulfing his surroundings. Then, a sudden and strong force flung him away from the tree at great velocity as his vision and hearing failed. Blackness everywhere. He lost consciousness....

What followed was perhaps the best slumber of his entire life. No dreams or nightmares. No pesky thoughts clouding his mind. Only a deep state of sleep. He eventually awoke to a crystal ceiling and familiar surroundings. He was tucked in bed in his room back at the castle. He became aware that he was not alone as the distinct sound of snoring could be heard nearby. He turned his head sideways to the right, and there, at the foot of the bed, was none other than Twilight Sparkle, fast asleep with her face buried in her hooves and her lower body slouched along the bed's edge touching the floor.

A weak smile formed upon his face. He then noticed that she had left a cup of water for him on top of a night stand adjacent to the bed. He outstretched his hoof and tried to grab it, but the damn thing was just out of reach. Mustering the effort to rise up, he tried to grab the cup again but was too weak to stretch out far enough as his muscles ached and strained. He fell back onto his pillow and cursed under his breath. He was really thirsty at this point, but aside from waking up Twilight for assistance, which he didn't have the heart to do, he was out of options.

He stared at the cup in frustration. All he could think about at this very moment was having a drink of water. His gaze fixated firmly on that cup. He needed it. He had to have it. And by Celestia's grace, he was going to get it dammit. Right then and there, the cup became enveloped in a lime green aura. It levitated into the air and toward Ethereal's face. Confused, he looked around but no one was in the room aside from a sleeping Twilight and himself. His brain registered the only logical conclusion. 

And then he saw it. His horn was glowing a bright green aura. Magic. Actual magic emanating from within himself. It promptly fizzled out and the cup of water shattered on the floor.

Ethereal Divide lay back down and stared at the ceiling, absolutely stunned.
> Lessons In Levitation
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spike groaned audibly as the sound of something shattering on the crystalline castle floor loudly reverberated throughout the interior of the tree palace. "Not again..." he murmured to himself. "There goes teacup number 10." 

He hesitantly got up from the kitchen table and ran off toward the stairs, leaving a half-eaten batch of spicy nachos and a side of deep fried gems behind. The little dragon quickly picked up a broom and dustpan that he had left at the foot of the spiral staircase and proceeded to head up to the second floor. As he arrived at the room of the crash's source, he peered in to survey the scene. There, in the center of the castle library, sat a visibly frustrated Ethereal Divide looking down at the remains of a shattered teacup on the floor. 

Spike sighed and headed over to sweep up the ceramic shards. As he finished up, he gave a brief look of disdain to Twilight Sparkle, who was readying yet another teacup for Ethereal Divide to use as further practice. "Twilight, please, at this rate, he's gonna destroy our entire teacup set. What'll you do then? Give him all of our dinner plates?"

Twilight sighed but defended her reasoning nonetheless. 
"Teacups can be easily replaced, Spike. And besides, this is a necessary sacrifice if we're going to help Ethereal successfully learn how to control his newly unlocked magic."

"But can't he just practice levitating your books instead? Its not like they'll break if they drop to the ground, ya know."

Twilight frowned at the thought. "Many of my books in this library are rare first editions. I don't want them getting scuffed up or even torn if..... when Ethereal tries to levitate them and drops them. I'd much rather lose some common Tupperware instead."

Ethereal fidgeted uncomfortably in his chair, bristling a bit at the current conversation. "Maybe I should take a break for a little while, huh Twilight? I've been at this levitation practice for a few hours already, but I haven't been getting much better."

Twilight glanced at a nearby grandfather clock and acquiesced. "Alright, we'll take a 15 minute break. Then, we'll resume practice for at least a couple more hours. Sound good?"

"Sure, that's fine." 
He stretched his hind quarters and hooves as he sat up straight in the chair and contemplated things.

Spike walked up next to him. "You need a glass of water or anything? I know you've been kinda straining yourself for a while."

Ethereal gave a weak smile. "Yes please. Thanks Spike."

"No problem. Just.... please grab the glass with your hooves instead of trying to lift it up with magic." With that, Spike took off downstairs to fetch the water.

Twilight took a seat herself across from Ethereal and smiled reassuringly at him. "I know its frustrating, but you have to look at it like this. You just got your magic back yesterday after having it dormant somehow for many years. You're basically learning how to use it from scratch in the same way a young unicorn foal would be. Even the most basic magic such as levitation has to be learned, and you learn by practicing over and over again. Granted, every unicorn learns at a different pace."

Ethereal glanced at Twilight, then lowered his gaze toward the floor between them. "I'm aware, but.... I still feel inadequate somehow. Even after so many years of surviving on my own through barebones labor and effort, and without magic to boot, now that I have magic to use, its a hollow achievement. There's so much I don't understand about it all. Why did my magic suddenly awaken after I visited the Tree of Harmony? Why can I sense the tree's aura all the way over here? Even the color of my magic is strange. Why is it green instead of brown like my eyes? I know that's not normal."

The purple alicorn searched her mind for possible satisfactory answers, but came up empty. "I wish I had the answers for you Ethereal, but unfortunately, I don't. I do know this though." She outstretched her wings and her horn started glowing with a brilliant magenta aura. "I was once a unicorn like you. I wasn't initially born with raw magical talent, but I had a penchant for studying a lot, especially in regards to magic. And that love of studying contributed to the growth of my magic abilities. That's why I was able to get in to Princess Celestia's School of Magic and ultimately become her star pupil. Well, that and a certain aptly timed Sonic Rainboom anyway."

Ethereal leaned back in his chair and crossed his hooves as he listened intently to the young princess in front of him. She had this special presence about her that commanded attention in a gentle but assertive way. His tail bristled a bit against the armrest and leg of the chair.

As Twilight continued speaking, Spike returned with a nice cold, refreshing glass of water that Ethereal carefully grabbed with his hooves. Spike saluted him and walked off to finish his leftover meal downstairs.

"As the years went by, I was sent here to Ponyville to make some friends, which ultimately led to further development of my own magic power in addition to discovering and harnessing the power of the Elements of Harmony with those friends. And when I managed to finish a spell that the legendary Starswirl the Bearded had abandoned many moons ago, I earned my ascension into alicornhood and was crowned a princess. But all of that was thanks to sheer perseverance and lots of study and trial and error. Friendship has a lot of power in and of itself, including raw magic."

Drinking a good amount of water, Ethereal pulled the glass away from his mouth and rested it on a small table beside him. He took a moment to process everything that Twilight had said before he spoke up. "That's an amazing set of accomplishments. No doubt about it. But you said it yourself earlier. Every unicorn advances at their own pace. What you've accomplished and what you can do with your magic is far from the norm. Most unicorns that I've seen here in Ponyville and other towns across Equestria simply use their magic to levitate objects in their daily lives. I don't expect myself to be able to levitate things perfectly on my first day, and I don't know how long it might take me to finally get it right, but I certainly intend to get my magic working properly. I just don't know if only sticking with trying to levitate teacups or plates will be enough. Not to mention its kinda getting old fast...."

Twilight folded her wings and ceased her horn's glow. 
"You're right. I'm definitely not the norm as far as magic is concerned. But my basic point is this. Any unicorn can become an expert in the field of magic if they study hard, practice and push themselves. You're no exception. But you're not aiming for that. You simply want to learn how to control your magic and attune it to your body, right? Well, that requires patience and that good old trial and error."

She got up from her chair and trotted over to the library's doorway, glancing back at him. "Let's try something different. I have a couple of ideas that might help shake up your levitation practice routine."

The sun shone brightly in the midday sky over a quaint red barn and rows and rows of pristine apple trees. Ethereal and Twilight trotted up to the gate of an expansive farm property. "This is Sweet Apple Acres. Applejack and her family live and work here, tending to the apple trees and their various critters. This'll be good practice for you, Ethereal."

Before he had a chance to reply, Twilight whistled loudly and a minute later, the familiar orange figure of Applejack galloped into view. "Howdy Twilight! Hey there, Ethereal! What can I do ya'll for?"

After a brief explanation, Applejack grinned. "Well sure thing sugarcube. There's never a shortage of things to do around here. We could always use an extra set of hooves. And I reckon helping us pick some apples today will be good practice for ya, Ethereal."

Soon enough, Ethereal had joined Applejack along with her brother Big Macintosh and younger sister Applebloom in the orchard. Applebloom was quick to approach him. "Oh hey there, Ethereal! You gonna pick apples with us today, huh? Sis said something about ya learning to use your magic. I heard all about what happened yesterday from Zecora when I went to visit her for potion making. That's so cool that ya got your magic now! Levitatin' apples is probably gonna be a cinch for ya!"

"Alright now, leave him be Applebloom. I've gotta show him the ropes of how we do things here." Applejack motioned for him to approach her by a tree. "Now usually, we all buck the trees with our hind legs to get the apples to fall into our baskets. Like this." 
She turned around, raised her flank and swiftly gave a mighty kick to the tree's base, causing half a dozen apples to drop squarely into her weaved basket.

"And that's how ya do it. It may look simple, but trust me, there's an art to it that you learn over time from years of bucking. But in your case, you're gonna be flexing your mind and your horn. Twilight wants you to spend a few hours levitatin' apples from the tree branches. I'm gonna give you a goal to reach. Let's see you pick... 50 apples."

Ethereal balked at this number. "50 apples!? Really!?"

Applebloom eagerly chimed in. "Ha! Only 50? I bet ya Ethereal can nab a hundred of them suckers!"

He was starting to visibly sweat now. The gauntlet had been thrown. He had no choice but to try. Surely he thought he'd at least be able to pick off a few through sheer repetition.

"So Applejack, I'm guessing it will only count toward my total apple count for ones that I pick & get into the basket, right?" He looked at her sheepishly. 

She adjusted her Stetson hat and gave a wry smile. "What do you think, sugarcube? Of course, any apples that you do drop on the ground can always be washed off later. But yep, I'm gonna need you to drop them inside your basket if you wanna reach that golden number of 50."

Ethereal gulped and looked up at the next tree in his assigned row. It was filled with apples just waiting to be plucked. 
"Well, better get started, I guess."

"Eeyup!" Big Mac agreed.

"We best be movin'. Only got a couple more hours of daylight left and these trees ain't gonna pick themselves."
Applejack moved on ahead with her trees in the row on the left side of Ethereal while Applebloom and Big Mac focused on the row to the right.

"Good luck Ethereal! Practice makes perfect!" called out Applejack.

She's right. I have to have confidence in myself and just trudge through this. I'm not trying to perform an advanced spell. Its just basic magic 101. Simple levitation. I can do this.
He turned his attention toward the first tree in his line and focused his mind on one particular outlying apple. His horn glowed a shimmering vibrant green as his eyes were laser-focused on that red apple. A green aura slowly phased into view around the apple, engulfing it. At first, movement was very subtle and slow, but he was gradually able to pluck it off of its branch and slowly levitated it in the direction of his basket. 

He grew excited at the progress he was now making and continued to draw it in closer until he was confident the apple would land safely inside the basket. Then he let it go and it fell just outside the rim of the basket, making a soft thud on the grass. His anticipation quickly shifted to heavy disappointment. So damn close! I swore I had it.

Levitating the apple off the ground and into the basket, he hastily moved on to another apple. Once again, focusing on it intently, his horn glowed as a magic aura enshrouded the apple. He plucked it off the tree and carefully guided it over the basket, then relinquished control of it. This time, the apple successfully dropped into the basket and he was thrilled. It was a small feat but to him, it seemed like a huge accomplishment. One down, forty nine to go.

Over the course of four long hours, Ethereal pilfered tens of dozens of apples. He dropped more than a few outside of the basket, but he managed to significantly improve his apples-to-basket ratio after he started carrying the basket with his teeth while simultaneously levitating apples. Applejack would periodically come and check on him, sometimes with a curious Applebloom in tow.

By the time the sun was hanging low on the horizon and the last vestiges of daylight were fading, Applejack and company called it a day and wrapped up their labor. Ethereal Divide stood leaning against an unpicked tree, mentally exhausted more so than physically. His horn felt almost numb after so much utilization in a single day. His basket was filled to the brim with red and even some green apples.

Applejack wandered over to inspect his haul. "Looks like you pulled in a good amount! Not bad at all for a first-timer."

"Meanwhile, I see you guys cleared several rows of trees. I didn't even finish one row." Ethereal was surveying their progress and it was quite impressive. Trees had been bucked as far as he could see in front of him and behind him. They were clearly expert farmers.

"Well, me and Big Mac have been tending the orchard for years and while little Applebloom started out more recently, she's picked up the art of bucking pretty quickly. Definitely runs in the family alright." She chuckled. "Speaking of family, Granny Smith is off visiting Auntie Applesauce and Cousin Apple Rose, but if she were here now, she'd tell you all about the history of apple bucking and plantin' and probably some Ponyville history on top of that."

"That does explain a lot" Ethereal commented, "But now that I think about it, how are you going to know how many apples I picked and successfully dropped inside this basket without inadvertently counting the ones that I dropped on the ground? I lost track a while ago."

Applejack laughed off his concern. "Don't you fret. The fifty apple goal was just a means to an end. I never actually expected you to pull off levitatin' fifty or more apples as a newbie farmer AND magic wielder."

"Well, I did!" Applebloom exclaimed. Big Mac shushed her and put a hoof over her mouth just in case she felt like expressing more of her opinions.

"As I was sayin'" Applejack continued, "I only threw out that fifty apple challenge to get you motivated and focused on the task at hoof. And you did it! You managed to pick all these apples using your magic instead of your hooves. So it just doesn't matter how many of them you got in your basket without incident. Like I said, you did pretty well Ethereal!" She gave him a wink.

Not long afterward, Ethereal trotted back to Twilight's castle. Applejack had offered him a free cup of cider for his efforts, to which he had gratefully accepted. Unknown to him, apple cider was traditionally a spiked drink containing a certain percentage of alcohol. Having drank the entire cold, refreshing cup to satiate his thirst, he was now trotting back slightly drunk thanks to his low tolerance. After all, he had never consumed an alcoholic beverage before due to the circumstances surrounding his livelihood.

Swaying a bit side to side, the poor mildly sloshed Ethereal Divide somehow mustered the effort to enter the castle through the front doors and slowly sauntered his way up the stairs and into his bedroom. He threw himself on the bed and drifted asleep without covering up with the blanket.

The next day found him sleeping in later than usual until Twilight came in and woke him with the promise of a hearty lunch prepared by Chef Spike. After the delectable meal was consumed by all, Ethereal once again practiced with teacups as Twilight supervised. This time though, he managed to levitate every single one from Twilight's table across to his table without dropping any. 

Twilight was impressed and equally proud of her fledgling magic student, clapping her hooves together in approval. Ethereal was beaming with pride himself for the first time since he arrived in Ponyville and met these mares. But Twilight had more in stock for him. She planned for him to engage in a different activity every day while helping one of her friends with some task. Today, Ethereal was going to Rarity's boutique.

As he arrived at Carousel Boutique, he noticed a familiar set of green eyes watching him from the front window's interior. A bell jingled as he trotted inside, gazing at the layout of the establishment. There was an assortment of pony mannequins dressed in exquisite outfits by the front window while more of them stood in the background of the boutique, although those in particular were bare. Island stands filled with designer shirts, skirts and pants adorned the center sections of the place, while various trendy accessories such as hats, scarfs and neckerchiefs were hung on the walls.

From the corner of his eyes, Ethereal could see Spike was eyeing him closely, complete with a look of suspicion on his face. His attention was diverted by what looked like a fluffy purse or clothing article on the floor in front of him. It was nearly tucked under one of the clothing stands. Somepony must have dropped this or knocked it over by accident. Might as well pick it up while I'm here. 

He attempted to levitate it up, only to have his concentration and magical grip on it broken by angry cat noises. There was no time to react as a very frazzled white cat with piercing yellowish green eyes spun around and launched itself at his face, scratching his cheek before hissing loudly and scampering off behind the checkout counter. An elegant female voice called out from somewhere in the back. "Opalescence? Opal? Are you alright sweetie? What's gotten you so nettled, my dear?"

Rarity appeared within view, not initially taking notice of Ethereal's presence within the boutique as she spoke to Spike. "Spikey-wikey, did you by chance see what might have spooked Opal? Its been a slow business day, so it couldn't have been a wayward customer."

Spike simply pointed a claw in Ethereal's direction. "There's your culprit."

The so-called culprit was rubbing his cheek with a hoof where the pesky cat had given him a decently sharp scratch that had drawn a little blood. Upon seeing Rarity's gaze on himself, Ethereal flashed a self-conscious smile. "Hello there, Rarity. Mind if I help you with some things?"

She cantered over to him, pleasantly surprised. "Well hello, Ethereal! Welcome to Carousel Boutique! To what do I owe the pleasantry of your visit?" Her intense blue eyes seemed to glisten in his presence as she not-so-subtly fidgeted with her royal purple mane. Spike huffed and rolled his eyes in the background as he wandered off into the back room, his arms folded in discontent.

Ethereal backed up a little bit, feeling Rarity had been a tad too close and was violating his personal space. He couldn't help but feel slightly uncomfortable in her midst. "Oh nothing special. Twilight wanted me to come pay you a visit and help you out with errands around the boutique. Mainly so I can continue to practice my levitation skills since I just got my magic back the other day."

Her expression seemed to shift to one of disappointment momentarily before she managed to mask it with her trademark charming smile. "Ah, I see. Well regardless, I certainly appreciate the offer of help. Spike usually assists me around the boutique and when I go to purchase various materials and accents for my wardrobes. Today's been a slow day for business, so I was considering closing early to restock shelves and work on some custom orders for a few ponies."

He glanced around at some empty shelves and a few that looked understocked. "I could restock the shelves for you if you want. Should be simple enough for me."

Rarity mulled it over for a few seconds. "Hmm, yes. If you could take care of that for me, I'd be free to start working on those orders."

He smiled and prepped himself to begin. "Just tell me what goes where and I'll get started."

She caught him off-guard with a hug followed by a flirtatious skirting of her luxurious tail along his side and neck. Ethereal froze up at the contact and could feel a tinge of warmth flushing his face.

"Thank you kindly, Ethereal. I very much appreciate your help today." She had quite the sultry smile on her face for the briefest of seconds before resuming her usual demeanor as she turned away trotting back to the counter. "Sweetie Belle! Can you come down for a little while and help a guest of mine please!?"

A high-pitched chipper voice from upstairs replied back. "Just a minute Rarity! I'm putting the finishing touches on a new banner for the CMC clubhouse!"

Rarity glanced back at Ethereal. 
"That's my little sister Sweetie Belle. Since Spike is going to be helping me with things in my work room, I'll have Sweetie Belle assist you with the stocking. She knows where everything goes and she'll also show you how to fold and organize the garments and threads."

A moment later, the sound of clopping hooves could be heard coming down a spiral staircase. A small marshmallow white filly unicorn with a lavender and pink mane and tail burst onto the scene. "You needed my help Rarity?"

Rarity began to explain. "I need you to show our guest here where the--"

Sweetie Belle cut her off excitedly upon seeing Ethereal Divide in the store.
"OH HEY ITS YOU!!"

She galloped over to him, her face beaming with glee.
"How's it going Ethereal!? Applebloom told me about your magic coming back! Too bad you didn't get your cutie mark too. But hey, its okay! I still don't have mine either plus I've been learning how to use my magic recently too! Twilight has been giving me lessons and Scootaloo and Applebloom are learning other things. Twilight's pretty amazing, isn't she? I bet --"

"SWEETIE BELLE!!! That's enough jabbering! We've got work to do!" Rarity exclaimed. She had quite clearly lost patience with her ever-so-chatty sister.

Sweetie Belle frowned.
"Sorry Rarity, I just got excited seeing Ethereal again. My friends and I haven't had much of a chance to talk with him ever since he came to Ponyville."  

Ethereal for his part chimed in. 
"Its alright. We can probably chat while we're working on stocking the shelves as your sister wants. I need your help though since I have no idea where stuff goes. And this will be more practice for both of us in terms of using our magic. Will you help me, Sweetie Belle?"

A smile returned to her cute face. 
"Of course I will! Let's get to it then!"

It turned out levitating the various garments, knickknacks and other miscellaneous items up to their respective sections of shelving was the easy part. Learning how to properly fold and organize the garments and articles of clothing was another story. For her part, Sweetie Belle was a fairly good teacher showing Ethereal how to handle the merchandise, but it was evident that her own magic ability was still quite rusty, having accidentally dropped a few things while trying to simultaneously levitate several items at once.

Ethereal too tried to experiment with levitating multiple things at the same time, but struggled and dropped most of them each time. At one point, both of them attempted to lift a heavy batch of quilts, but Ethereal lost his balance and tripped over Sweetie Belle's hoof, snagging the edge of a cabinet with one of the quilts and pulling it down on top of them. Neither of them was hurt, but it sure did leave a mess. The two of them shared some hearty laughter and got to work cleaning up and fixing the cabinet upright.

The sun had set and night was beginning to fall by the time they finished stocking every single corner of the boutique. Rarity thanked Ethereal once again for the work and bid him farewell with another sultry smile and a overly generous hug. Spike glared at him and after they had left the premises, he gave Ethereal a clear-cut message: "Rarity's mine, okay? Get yourself another mare. There's plenty of them around here."

Ethereal protested incredulously.
"What are you talking about? I don't like her like that. If anything, I wish she'd stop coming on to me. Its not something I'm used to. You can have her."

The following days almost went like clockwork. Ethereal's magic continued to improve as he visited Fluttershy at her forest's edge cottage, helping her relocate some migratory birds' nests among the treetops. While there, she took notice of his scratch wound on his cheek from the previous day's encounter with the feisty cat Opal. Despite his reassurances that he was fine and the wound didn't hurt, Fluttershy treated it with rubbing alcohol and a special herbal gel. She then patched it up with a small band aid.

Things took an interesting turn when her interdimensional friend, the literal spirit of chaos incarnate, Discord, popped in for a visit and seemingly grew jealous of Ethereal's presence around Fluttershy. "I was just helping a new friend, or rather, he was helping me with the bird nests... while also helping himself because of practicing magic and all that. You've got nothing to worry about, Discord."
She smiled calmly at him.

Discord snorted with dissatisfaction.
"Very well. I was hoping we could perhaps enjoy a nice teatime and lunch together. Maybe even a picnic. The weather is lovely today after all. But preferably after.... Mr. Empty Design was it?..... takes his leave."

"Its Ethereal Divide..."

"Whatever...." Discord retorted.

The mystical creature known as a draconequis snapped his finger and disappeared without a trace. Or so Ethereal thought.

"You have got to tell me more about how you two met and became friends."
Ethereal eyed the soft-spoken pegasus incredulously.

She chuckled softly. "Its definitely an interesting story."

As Ethereal Divide took his leave later on, he swore he felt the sensation of being watched. What was more interesting was the fact that he could sense a magical presence nearby. But he shrugged it off and trotted away from the cottage. Discord, disguised as a potted plant outside, watched the figure of Ethereal fade into the distance. "Hmph good riddance..."

The next day saw Ethereal bake some sweets with Pinkie Pie at SugarCube Corner while she periodically watched out for two foals named Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake. He received a delicious bag of chocolate brownies as a token of gratitude for his efforts. And the day after that was filled with some fun exercise as Ethereal used his burgeoning levitation skills to avoid being hit in a frenetic game of dodgeball with Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo.

He even managed to pull off a few strikes on Scootaloo by repelling the ball with magic and focusing his aim with utmost concentration. This brought him great joy and his heart swelled with pride. But hitting Rainbow Dash was next to impossible as she was simply too fast and acrobatic. "Yeah no, there's no way you're ever gonna hit me, Eth! Uh... you don't mind if I just call you Eth, right?"

Half a day and dozens of rough dodgeball hits to the body courtesy of Rainbow Dash later, Ethereal wanted nothing more to do but lie down on his back on the grass and stare up at the cloudless evening sky. Scootaloo was his only company. She was also looking up at the sky in silence. A soft breeze blew across the area.

Minutes went by without a single word being uttered between the both of them. Then, the orange filly pegasus broke the silence.
"Its funny. Me and you are kinda similar."

Ethereal tilted his head sideway to look at her.
"Huh? What do you mean?"

"I mean, neither of us has a cutie mark." She glanced down at her bare flank, then over at his. 
"But its more than that. For a long time, you couldn't use magic even though you are a unicorn. But now you can. And even though I'm a pegasus, I...." She looked down at the ground and closed her eyes, letting out a sigh. "I can't fly.... but maybe one day I will. Just like how you were able to get your magic. It may have taken years to get it, but you did eventually. So maybe when I'm older, as a full grown mare.... maybe then... I'll finally be able to fly."

Ethereal Divide felt an emotion right there and then that he had forgotten existed, at least in regards to his life experience. A pang of actual sadness welled up within him, but it was also coupled with a desire to cheer up this pure-hearted filly.
"You know Scootaloo.... I may not have had my magic for most of my life but I still managed to live and survive nonetheless. I had to adapt without it. Basically be an earth pony with a useless horn. But I managed. I trained myself when I was all alone out there in the wilds of Equestria and moving from place to place, town to town. I learned to forage for food and how to defend myself from wild animals and where the best places for shelter were during the nights and in bad weather. And whenever I could, I tried to educate myself by reading books, stories of fantastical explorers and adventurers, so that I could not only learn to read and communicate but expand my horizons."

Scootaloo gazed at him with wonder and interest.
"So you're saying, I should learn to adapt too, right?"

He nodded and smiled warmly.
"Adapt where you can and learn to excel in things that you love. So that way, if and when the day comes that you're finally able to take to the skies and fly with other pegasi, you'll be all the more enriched and satisfied."

She perked up at this.
"I guess I've been kinda already doing that with my stunt routines on my scooter. I'm pretty good with tricks. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle often tell me I should join a circus or something. I dunno, might be fun."

Ethereal turned his gaze back up at a darkening sky.
"That's the spirit."

It had been a long, eventful week for him. Twilight Sparkle's advice had been pretty sound. All of the various tasks that he'd partaken in over the course of the last seven days had definitely served to improve his grasp of his magic. Levitating things was now second nature to him. He could even pull off levitating several things at once, even some heavier items. Twilight was thoroughly pleased with his progress and had offered to teach him other magic abilities such as teleportation and shield projection. They seemed daunting and too advanced for him to pull off and he was anxious about even trying, but he couldn't deny a part of him was quite curious about how far he could go if he kept studying and practicing. 

Before he settled into bed for the night, he decided to take a detour into the castle library and search for a relevant book on magic to read. Twilight's collection was massive and included books of all sorts covering a multitude of subjects. There were books on transfiguration, magical creatures of Equestria, astral projection, ancient history and much, much more. A great deal of these tomes focused on subject matter and spells that were way beyond his current comprehension of what magic could do. But as he continued searching, he stumbled upon one particular book that caught his eye.

His horn glowed as he pulled it off the shelf and levitated it in front of his face. 
Mastering Magic by Arcanus Sage 
That author's name sounded familiar. 

He headed back to his bedroom and shut the door behind him. With the book in his grasp, he got into bed and lay down, opening it up to the table of contents and first page of text. It was truly fascinating stuff. But before he realized it, he had drifted off into a deep sleep.

The following morning, he woke up to a start as Spike was shaking him, trying to get him out of bed.
"Wake up Ethereal! Some big stuff is going down!"

"Wha-what is it Spike?" He groggily dragged himself out of bed.

He soon found out that something big indeed was going down. Namely a large new piece of furniture that had suddenly risen up out of the castle's crystal floor. 

Ethereal blinked several times, making sure he wasn't hallucinating.
"Where in Tartarus did this giant table come from!? And what about all these chairs surrounding it!?"

Spike sat down in one smaller chair that was parallel to a larger chair with Twilight's cutie mark emblazoned on it. In fact, each of the chairs had a familiar cutie mark prominently featured on them. "I dunno Ethereal, but its really cool. Twilight and the others were all sitting on these chairs at the same time and then, this big crystal table map just popped up out of nowhere. Then, the girls' cutie marks appeared on the map and they all moved to a specific location, like they were being summoned for something. It was wild!"

"Wait a minute Spike. Its a map?"

"Yup, but not just any map. Its a magical map!"

Ethereal scrutinized the round rune of a table and noticed details consistent with a map of Equestria and even some lands beyond the borders.
"Wait a minute though. Where is Twilight?"

"She left with the girls a while ago. Said they were gonna investigate the source of the place that was calling them. Twilight was gonna leave a note for you but I told her I could just tell you when you woke up."

Suddenly, Spike started to well up and burp loudly, making a physical gesture as if he was about to throw up. 

Ethereal looked on with concern. "You okay Spike?"

The little dragon didn't answer and kept convulsing and burping until finally, he spat out a green burst of flame containing a sealed scroll.

"What the actual hay just happened, Spike?"
The unicorn stood there absolutely flummoxed.

Spike appeared quite non-chalant about it. "Oh that sort of thing happens every so often. Usually when I receive letters from Princess Celestia or sometimes from Princess Cadance in the Crystal Empire. I'm kinda a big hero there. They even got a statue of me in my honor. You should totally check it out sometime."

"Well, what does the scroll say? Is it from Celestia? Did something happen to Twilight and the others? Read it already!"

"Sheesh, alright already! I'm reading, I'm reading!" 
Spike unsealed the scroll and unwrapped the parchment, reading its contents.

"Holy Guacamole!"

Ethereal's body went stiff with apprehension. "What's wrong Spike?"

Spike proceeded to read the letter in its entirety.
"Dear Twilight Sparkle, my faithful student and honorable Princess of Friendship,
I have become aware that you are harboring a new friend in your castle abode. I believe his name is Ethereal Divide, correct? My sister, Princess Luna, has informed me about him and the struggles he faces regarding his past and other serious personal matters. It is with great concern and curiosity that I humbly request Ethereal Divide to have an audience with me in Canterlot. I believe I may have some information and insight into his past that might be of great benefit to him. I have included a paid train ticket to Canterlot and have made formal arrangements in regard to lodging for a single night's stay.

I look forward to speaking with Ethereal Divide soon.

Sincerely,
Princess Celestia"