Solara punched a cloud with a huff. Sky-clearing duty was so boring. “I wish something would CHANGE ALREADY!” She shouted at nobody in particular. She spied a unicorn sitting by a stream playing with some rocks and did a double take. A unicorn, so far away from their precious “civilization”? She went down to take a closer look.

He was hammering something. A nail-like device, defiling one of the larger rocks in the stream. Perfect, something interesting finally happens. Time to show this scum not to destroy what isn’t his.

Solara divebombed the poor unicorn, who subsequently fell into the water, thrashing. “What did you do THAT for?” the unicorn shouted. “As if I didn’t have enough to worry about, now I have a psychopath Pegasus going around shoving people into streams.”

“Cease your graffiti, criminal, and prepare to be punished by the skyward enforcement!” Solara pointed an accusing hoof. “I witnessed you destroying those rocks myself!”

“Great, another one who doesn’t understand. This. Is. ART. Just CALM DOWN, and take a closer look at what I was really doing.” The unicorn shook himself off and gestured. Upon closer inspection, the rocks bore a striking resemblance to the sunshine. Only halfway finished from the looks of it, but still breathtaking.

“Wasting your time on things like this? You could be using magic for other things. Why not move these clouds for me? It’s supposed to be a sunny day.” Solara stared at what she thought was the stupidest unicorn in the world, with absolutely zero appreciation for art while gesturing to the many clouds causing patchy sunlight all along the stream.

“If I do, will you leave me to my work?” The grumpy unicorn shook his head and the clouds flew off. “There. Now leave me alone-”

“Hello, sister.” Darkfall appeared. “Is this a unicorn? What is a unicorn doing so far from from the others?”

“First of all, my name is not ‘a unicorn’, I am called Gold. Gold Chisel. And I am making art,” Gold gestured towards the rock he had been working on for a little over two hours. “And what’s with the formal tone?”

“Oh she always talks that way, don’t worry about it. She thinks it makes her sound more sophisticated. I, personally, can’t stand formalities. Solara, by the way, and she’s Darkfall.” Solara was pushed aside as Darkfall went in to get a closer look at Gold’s work.

“It’s the sunset,”she whispered, and reached out a hoof to touch it. “So beautiful…”

Solara righted herself, “Ahem, I’m right here, you know. And that’s obviously the sun RISE. Why would anyone even make a sculpture of such a thing everypony sees all the time? I’m sure it would be something to show us non-unicorns something that only they are awake to see, and besides, they cause the sunrise.”

“The unicorns bring about the sunset as well, and you would see more sunrises if you followed a more regular sleep schedule,” Darkfall replied.

Gold, meanwhile, was lost in the conversation. “Well, it’s my sculpture, so regardless of what you two think, I am the one with the final say in what it really is.” The argument stopped and both turned to look at him. “Well then? Which one is it?” They asked in unison.

Gold shook his head, “Actually, I never really thought of it. I just pictured a sun on the horizon when I made this. I suppose it could be either. But haven’t we all had enough of sunrises and sunsets?”

Solara did a somersault in midair. “You’re so lucky. Magic is easy for you. You know how many pegasi have flown to the sun and moved it across the sky? A grand total of zero.”

“If you’re so interested in magic, you are welcome to my textbook.” Gold removed his heavy textbook from his satchel. “I don’t know why I’m still carrying this, as I won’t be needing it anymore, but it’s been enchanted to be completely waterproof and contains a lot of information on Ancient Magicks. Go read yourself blind for all I care.”

“Won’t need it? So you’re a student? You got kicked out of school?” Solara rummaged through his bag for potentially more magical tomes. “Whatcha do to make you get kicked out?”

Gold hovered his chisel and pointed it at his sculpture. “That. It’s all that mattered to me. It’s all that should matter to anyone, and it is enough.” His stomach rumbled, contradicting him immediately. “Though I do wish I had a some food.”

“Shall we make an agrrangement then?” Darkfall flew between Gold and Solara. “I would like to keep this. In exchange, I will provide you with enough food to eat for a week.” She held up one of his earlier sculptures, of an earth pony sleeping under a tree. He could easily let it go.

“Finally, someone who appreciates my work. Very well, I suppose I could part with one masterpiece...” Darkfall squealed (in a sophisticated manner) with delight and replaced her lunch apple in her bag with the figurine. She then dropped the lunch apple into Gold’s bookbag. “Please stay here so I know where to deliver your apples.”

Gold retrieved the apple from his bag and took a bite, returning to his unfinished sculpture while Darkfall flew off to store her newly acquired treasure.

Solara, on the other hand, was poring over the textbook she had opened. “Ancient Magicks differ from modern magicks in that they are much more powerful and not restricted to the same rules.” She read aloud. “What are these rules?”

Gold tossed her a scroll, labeled “the Rules of Magick, Part 1”. “There you go, basic rules about using or failing to use magic. Glad to be rid of them. I don’t need more than a basic levitation spell to create my work.”

“Rule 1: Any magick cast will cost energy, supplied by the caster. Rule 2: Magicks must only be channeled through a unicorn’s horn, as any other conduit may have catastrophic consequences. Rule 3: Level three or above spells will not affect any ponies who do not wish for the spell’s effects… Hey what are levels of spells?”

Gold rolled his eyes. “You won’t be able to cast spells without a horn anyway. Spells are organized in varying levels of power, and thus varying costs of energy. Say we were to assign a cost number to this chisel I’m using. Every second I keep it up costs about ten.”

“Ten what?” Solara interjected.

“Don’t interrupt. Anyway, hypothetically, this costs about ten. If I were to levitate this apple core, which weighs about half of my chisel, it would cost about five. If I were to… spin the core around while holding it, it would cost about seven. Spells have costs, and this limits what you can do with them.” Gold finished his sculpture and stood back proudly. Every detail perfect as always.

“So about how much energy do you have? Enough to lift that boulder?” Solara gestured towards a pony-sized boulder a little ways away.

“Well, I haven’t tested my limits yet, but I could probably lift it for several seconds. I’m not a prodigy or anything though, and ponies rarely have a set limit. Performance depends on many things, such as state of mind, and level of tiredness. For reference, this would be a level two spell- strong levitation, and cost about one thousand.” Gold lifted the boulder and some worms crawled out. Solara squeaked and hid behind him.

“They’re… worms… so… gross…” she whispered. “Get rid of them.” Gold stared at her for a good two seconds and gently set the boulder down, so as to not harm the earthworms. “They’re just worms. You’re the one who told me to lift this in the first place. No need to be afraid.”

“Afraid?! What are you, stupid? I live in the clouds. We don’t have disgusting things like those up there. They just surprised me is all.” Solara turned away. “Anyway, I’m keeping this book. Maybe I’ll bring you something later, living on apples is kind of dull.” She tucked the book into her satchel. “Thanks for the help with the clouds by the way. Hopefully this book will make things less boring around here.”

Solara flew home, mentally marking the location of the dropout student and his pet sunset. Sunrise. Whatever.

Next Chapter: Before the Storm Estimated time remaining: 6 Minutes