The high back of the plush executive chair cast a long shadow over the floor, and the frail pony in the doorway trembled before his master.

Brahman leaned back, squinting at him with sharp brown eyes.  “Well?”

“The soldiers are all in place,” the frail pony said.  He paused and swallowed a lump in his throat.  “As soon as Rama arrives, we’re ready to begin.”

Brahman’s already narrow gaze tightened further.  “Good.  And what of my precious little failure?” he asked, the word precious dripping with scorn.

“S-Silver’s last report puts him out to t-two months, sir.”

“That is... not unexpected.”  He glanced toward an enormous canvas map hanging from the north wall.  “Any word from our stubborn little spelunker?”

The messenger gave a brief shake of his head.  “None, sir.  She’s due to stop in Canterlot any day now.”

With a snort, Brahman turned his chair to face the window.  The thick panes of glass rattled a bit, as if in the wake of a far-off explosion.  “Be sure to have an appropriate welcome waiting for Rama.  He’s earned it.”

Overgrown brambles thinned and soil turned to sand as the dense foliage gave way to open air.  A sharp, angular, turquoise mane, dull in the shade of a thick bank of clouds, emerged from beyond the thicket, stopping as Breezy’s rear hoof caught on a tangled weed.  With a quick yank of her leg, she ripped the weed from the ground and tossed it aside.  She stepped into the loose grains forming the shore of Glazed Lake and smiled.  A hole in the day’s ample cloud cover left the entire surface shimmering with the brilliant reflection of a wide, free sky.  She stared in awe at the image, amazed by its clarity and stillness.

Breezy pushed her scrawny frame through the sand, hesitating for a moment at the water’s edge before reaching out a hoof.  When she brought it down, it bounced back with a soft tinkling sound and fresh butterflies fluttered in her stomach.  Everypony knew that Glazed Lake was solid to the touch—even if nopony knew why—but to know and to experience were worlds apart.

A clear path through the sand led around the lake.  The trail was a little longer than a straight shot across, but it seemed significantly less arduous.  She paid it no mind, glancing briefly up at the sun and nodding to herself, then backtrotting a few paces.  With a deep breath of air and a running start, she leapt onto the surface of the glassy water.  She found herself in a merciless oven.  The sun already beat down furiously, but the lake’s reflection doubled the heat in the space above it.  Droplets of sweat formed on her snow-white brow, but nevertheless Breezy began to trek across the natural mirror, sporting a foalish grin.

Her body didn’t share in her enthusiasm; her muscles weakened and her lungs ached from the scorching march.  Even as she was baking alive, Breezy never lost the cheerful spring in her step.  Every hoofstep resulted in a shimmering echo and an almost magical bounce, easing the effort required to keep moving.  Bolstered by this, as well as her own good mood, she pushed forward through the muggy haze and toward the opposite shore.

Though her vision began to swim and her throat cried out for water, she didn’t slow.  Violet eyes darted into the sun’s torturous glare, but she widened her smile, basking in its glory.  Copious sunshine.  One hoof in front of the other.  Rivers of sweat.  More smiles.

Pressing onward, she refused the temptation of the water sloshing in the canister at her side, determined to subject herself to the full strength of the boiling star.  With each step, the liquid beckoned through sound and she had to put more effort into ignoring it.  She hardly noticed when she reached the other side until one hoof sailed over the shoreline, sinking into the sand and throwing her off-balance.

With a panting thud, she collapsed into the warm grit and made a sharp grab for the saddlebag hanging over her flank.  Her throat burned until she brought the canteen to her lips to pacify it.  After several deep, greedy gulps, she exhaled a long sigh and let her neck go slack, dropping her head back onto the sand.  Eyes closed, smile solidified, and body placated, she mumbled into the earth, “See?  She loves us.”  She sighed again.  “She’s always loved us.”

She lay still until a gentle current of air ruffled her mane.  Lifting her face and blinking into the distance, she sniffed at the breeze.  The scent of rotting wood and stale dust emanated from the forest ahead.  She groaned and shifted her weight, extending her legs and hoisting herself to her hooves.  Streams of sand cascaded down her body and left her coat as pristine as it ever was.  One deep breath later, she trotted back from sand to soil and faded into the trees.  The lake sat motionless and alone in the clearing—she appreciated its majesty, but she had no use for it.

Breezy shuffled through the forest, pausing every once in a while to point herself in the direction her twitching nose led.  As the bare traces intensified into heavy odors, she spotted another clearing—this one populated with the crumpled remnants of several buildings.  Her eyes widened and she broke into a canter, quickly closing the distance.  She moved through thinning layers of shrubbery, gnarled roots threatening to catch her ceaseless limbs and trip her, but she wouldn’t allow nature to thwart or even delay the final leg of her journey.

One shade of green gave way to another as the clearing took shape, overrun with fragments of wood and stone.  Moss alone invaded the territory of the unnatural debris, as the surrounding trees and bushes gave a wide berth to the former settlement.  Several shafts of light managed to penetrate the dense canopy hanging overhead, but hundreds of dancing motes of dust diminished their illumination, lending a dark, dank atmosphere to the musty, rotten ruins.  Dozens of jagged chunks of lumber jutted into the air at odd angles, gathering in small, rectangular clusters.  Most of what managed to remain in one piece sat toppled over, lying flat along the forest floor, buried under thick sheets of dusty detritus.  Pockets of dried mud caked themselves to concrete foundations, filling their cracks and fissures with brittle brown flakes.  A heavy silence smothered the squalid pile of dead space, only battled by Breezy’s uneven breaths.  The grave was still.

She took in what features she could, scanning for identifying characteristics to guide her when her eyes came to rest on the decaying carcass of a once grand tree squatting by itself between shattered houses and ruined storefronts.  Though its leaves had long since fallen and its branches disintegrated, the stumpy trunk still stood upright.  Knotholes peppered the surface, but one opening’s smooth edges stood out.  A doorway.  It called to her, and she felt compelled to answer.

With determined strides, she stomped over brick and wood, focusing her attention directly on the gateway.  She trampled through the collapsed and forgotten village until her hoof knocked over a precariously balanced piece of rubble.  Breezy whirled about at the sound of clattering rocks, stepping in a powdery clump and snapping back to reality.  When she lifted her hoof, the substance kicked up into the air and swirled about, dispersing the smell of cinnamon throughout the clearing before fading into nothing.  A scowl dripped off her face.  She turned back toward the tree only to be greeted by several shards of glass glinting up at her.  If not for the distraction, her focus would have cut her hooves.  The scowl lightened.  She slowed her pace, stepping carefully past the sharp edges as she approached her destination.

Her head peeked into the hollow innards.  Cracked, ramshackle shelves leaned against the walls, filled with dessicated corpses of books spilling onto the floor.  Missing pages outnumbered crumbling ones, and so spines and covers formed largely empty husks.  Breezy grinned at her discovery.  Faded ink left text illegible and rendered the library useless, but she hadn’t come there to read.

She trotted inside and shivered in the grip of a phantom chill.  Her heart beat furiously, threatening to burst out of her as she probed the corners in search of something more than lost knowledge.  That same frantic heartbeat stalled when she found a massive stone slab embedded in the earth, encrusted with sparkling ornamentations.  An enormous six-pointed amethyst star bulged out of the center, still twinkling lustrously despite being caked with countless years of dirt and grime.  Three more dazzling gemstones of various colors and shapes surrounded it, as well as two empty divots that begged to be fitted with yet more gems.

With the next pulse in her veins, Breezy’s eyes lit up.  She dove for the slab and tugged at it for all she was worth, but it didn’t budge.  She pushed and pulled from every angle, but the stubborn thing resisted her efforts and stayed anchored in place.  She plunged her teeth into her lower lip, gnawing on it before snarling.  Flecks of spittle escaped her mouth and fell onto a scrap of paper, spattering and dissolving holes in the frail ghost of a page.  The slab did not react to the daggers she glared at it.

Suddenly, a thunderous clap rang out.  Her ears pricked and swiveled and she whipped her head to face the sound.  The gears in her head clicked.  She lowered her gaze to the floor as her ears drooped and her spirits fell.

Brahman had said she should have gone to Canterlot first.  He was probably right.

To Be a God

Chapter 1: Where the Breeze Takes You

Three ponies stood in a rough circle in the middle of a narrow alleyway, bathed in the shadows of the nearby buildings.  The din of busier streets echoed off the walls, bringing the air to life even where the crowd hadn’t spread.  Two hooves, one golden and one cyan, tapped in unison as Rainbow Rocket and Sweet Cherry lobbed bored stares at Shooting Star—or what they could see of him.  The fully unfolded map of Canterlot in his grip obscured everything but his cobalt mane.  He continued tracing the meandering pathways across the page with lost blue eyes until Rainbow had had enough.

She scooted closer until her polychromatic bangs hung over the top edge of the paper, brushing against the single-colored strands on the top of Star’s head and blocking part of the castle district on the map.  “Are you done yet?”

Star sighed and lowered the parchment.  “No, Rainbow,” he lamented, pulling his face a few inches back and breaking mane contact.

“Just put it away already,” she replied.  “The dang thing’s big enough that I’m sure we’ll see it.”

With a series of grunts and complex folds, Shooting Star stashed the map back in his pack.  “I guess you’re right, but still... you’ll see,” he said, waggling a hoof, “That map is gonna come in handy sooner or later.”

“Right, and... you’ll uh... win a being wrong contest,” Rainbow sputtered, rubbing a hoof at the back of her neck and casting her eyes down in shame.

Star stared blankly at her for a moment before raising an eyebrow.  “Have you considered a career in comedy?”

Cherry covered her mouth, suppressing a giggle.

“Whatever,” Rainbow said, standing up straight.  “So I’m not hilarious.  We can’t all spit comedy gold, Captain,” she said, smirking back at Star.

He stamped a hoof.  “Oh come on!  One time!  Was it really so hilarious that you can’t ever let me live it down?”

Rainbow tapped a hoof against her chin for a moment before stating, “Yes,” and sticking out her tongue.

Cherry’s muffled giggling intensified until Star’s glare swept her way.  She grinned sheepishly and swallowed her laughter, turning instead to look out into the city with a silent, olive squint.  Her head stuck out through the opening of the alley where she could get a better view.

“This is all ridiculous anyway,” Star said as his embarrassed blush faded.  “Canterlot was always a city mostly of unicorns, and I have no idea why they’d bother dragging the Cloudiseum down here, let alone how.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes.  “Same way we move anything made out of cloud.”  Her wings unfurled slightly and fluttered a bit before curling back against her sides.  “Or did you forget how to push a cumulus again?”

Opening his mouth to respond, Star found nothing to say.

“You really oughtta fly more,” Rainbow suggested.  “I don’t get how you can stand being landbound all the time.”  She grimaced, glanced at her sister, then backpedaled, “I mean, I don’t get how a pony can not make use of what nature gave ‘em.”

“I don’t know.”  Star chewed on his lower lip.  “I’m pretty happy with what I’ve got going.  It’s not perfect, but whose life is?”

Cherry looked back at her companions, cleared her throat, and pointed a hoof to the northeast.  “That way.”

Rainbow smiled briefly at her sister, then turned back to face Star.  “See?  We don’t need any stinkin’ maps!” she gloated.  “It’s been real fun guys, but I gotta jet.  Last call for check-in is in, like, ten minutes tops.”

“Good luck,” Star grumbled.

Rainbow blew a raspberry back at him.  “Luck?  Puh-lease.  No Rainbow has ever lost the Best Young Flyer Competition.  Keep your map where it can’t hurt anypony, yeah?”  She craned her neck to glance at her sister again.  “And you keep Captain Sexy over there from getting lost,” she added with a tilt of her head.

Cherry nodded and Star turned up his nose with a snort.  Rainbow chuckled, spread her golden wings wide, and disappeared in a blur, sailing over the horizon.

After several seconds of silence, Star shook himself out of his faux-indignity and blinked at Cherry.  “You know I’m not gonna get lost, right?”

Cherry shrugged.

“Bah.  I’m not gonna have the chance to,” he lamented, staring to the northeast.  “I wanted to spend some time walking around the city, but we should probably get moving.  The Cloudiseum’s still a good ways away, even if none of that distance is upward, and the streets are really crowded today.”

“Spectators.”

“Guards, too.  They’ve stepped up patrols a lot, probably because those spectators get rowdy.”  He blinked at the ponies milling about and coating the walkways.  “Yeah, I think we should just go now rather than risk being late.”

“Agreed,” Cherry replied, settling into a trot.  Her long cerise mane bobbed from side to side as she walked away.  “We have tonight and tomorrow,” she called back over her shoulder.

Star tripped over his own grey hooves, scrambling to catch up to her.  The two of them stepped out into an arterial street, suddenly surrounded on all sides by the bustle of Equestria’s capital.  Ponies moving in every direction pushed their way past one another, jostling everyone and everything in their way.  Cherry’s lips quivered on the edge of a frown, and she pressed herself closer to Star as the crowd thickened, the colorful blob threatening to swallow them both.

“You’re right,” Star said.  “Rainbow’ll probably be busy after the competition and, whether she’ll admit it or not, need to get plenty of rest.  We can amble around looking for bookstores while she’s out or asleep.  Sound good?”

“Yeah,” Cherry mumbled as the two of them squeezed their way through the crowded streets.

The largest cloud structure ever assembled hovered just above Canterlot, suspended in place by a massive concrete stadium fused to it.  Deep tunnels snaked through the complex, providing access to every part of the facility, including the seating where thousands of earth ponies and unicorns watched aerobatic feats in awe.  Only the cloud seats up above weren’t connected.  Rainbow sat in silence on the cold stone floor of one of the tunnels below, waiting just behind a bend that led to the arena proper.  Her mane and tail hung limply against her in the air, carefully engineered to be motionless within the confines of the structure.  Reaching into a ratty old satchel, she retrieved a weathered pair of goggles.  She cradled the priceless treasure in her hooves, staring at the long-since illegible lettering etched into the threadbare tatters of a moth-eaten band.  The goggles shouldn’t have still been in one piece, but somehow they’d managed to hold together for longer than anypony could remember.

The roar of the audience alerted her that it was time to move.  She stretched the article over herself and adjusted the accessory until it fit snugly in place.  An attempt at a smile melted into a frown before her face settled on grim determination; she had to do more than win.  With a quick snap of her wings, she shot around the corner, flaring them to brake at a wispy line of chalk.  Her mane and tail fluttered as the wind reached for her, and she looked up to the crowd from the edge of the waiting area, just shy of the open air of the Cloudiseum.

Speakers crackled to life as the announcer flicked on his microphone.  “Fillies and gentlecolts, did you all just see what I just saw?  Un-be-lievable!  After a fantastic performance like that, it’d be a crying shame to let our contestant forget how hard she just rocked our collective worlds.  Let’s give her another round of applause!  Let’s hear it again for Ruby!”

The crowd went wild, hooting and whistling even louder than their hooves could stomp, filling the air with a cacophony of praise.  Even from below, Rainbow could feel the quaking of the stadium caused by their enthusiasm.  Her gaze remaining fixed, but the corners of her mouth nevertheless twitched, creasing her muzzle into a fresh frown.  She closed her eyes and mouthed a short, silent phrase while the cheers ebbed.

The announcer, barely audible over the noise, cleared his throat repeatedly as he waited for relative quiet, finally seizing an opportunity to speak after several minutes.  “Folks, I’m not gonna lie here.  If our final contestant was any other mare, I’d chuckle about how she’s got her work cut out for her.  I’d probably even be a little more snide than the occasion calls for, because I was just so blown away by today’s competition.  But this last mare... I don’t think there’s much I can say.  I’m sure many of you know who we’re dealing with here,” he said, eliciting murmurs from several pegasi in attendance.  “That’s right, fillies and gentlecolts.  You guessed it.  We all know there’s one family that just can’t be stopped!”

Like a sudden, violent wave crashing against the shore, the audience sprung back to life with howling fury.  Many earth ponies and unicorns shouted out, but every pegasus joined the clamor.

Cranking the volume to its maximum, the announcer continued through the ear-piercing feedback.  “That’s right, our final entrant is last—but I guarantee she isn’t least—the incomparable, indomitable, indefatigable heir to House Rainbow, Miss Raaaaaaainbooooow Roooooooockeeeeeeet!”

Rainbow slid her eyes open, revealing a steely amber glare as she strutted her sleek, golden body out of the tunnel and toward the starting cloud.  She stepped across the bedrock coating the arena floor and hopped up onto the fluffy marker, then set to work.  With a well-practiced, cocksure grin plastered on her face, she posed and preened for a few moments while scanning the arena.  Her vision swept past a pair of cerise red and cobalt blue manes, and she tossed a wink their way on the return pass.

In a blink, she was airborne.  A blur of colors screamed, curved, and sliced through twice as many loops and rolls as any of her competitors had dared to pull—in half the time.  She made a lap around the edge of the stadium seating, coming within spitting distance of the audience, before spiralling inward and bolting up in a corkscrew.  From there, she pulled into a series of hairpin swings around imaginary corners at a slight downward angle and flipped back up with an Immelmann turn.  The roll at the end led into a series of fresh lateral rolls, gradually speeding up before suddenly screeching to an immediate halt, braking away ridiculous amounts of momentum with her powerful wings.  Right away, she launched from that standstill into another set of stunts that firmly placed her above her competitors.

With every razor-sharp turn, her body jerked onto a new trajectory faster than her mane or tail could follow, leaving twin prismatic phantoms in her wake.  Their jagged edges jutted out of the blue, stabbing her mark against the sky and lingering for several mesmerizing seconds before dissipating.  The breathtaking montage of aerobatic feats left every earth pony and unicorn sitting in the bleachers dazzled beyond their ability to comprehend.  She licked her lips and set her eyes on the pegasi lounging in the clouds above.  This was the fun part.

Gliding to a stop and alighting on the starting cloud, Rainbow reached a hoof down through the fluff.  A prop chest hid in a hollow carved into the rock below, and she poked her tongue out of the side of her mouth as she fished through the objects in it.  While not winded, Rainbow would need every breath she could steal for her finale and so she took her time fishing.  When she grasped an oversized torch after the relative eternity of three seconds, she gave a small smile.  She placed the head of it against the stone and tugged it across the surface, causing it to scrape and spark and catch fire.  She held the thick, billowing flame above her head and turned about, ushering a wave of curious silence through the stadium.  Making sure the whole audience had seen the flickering light, she suppressed a grin and launched upward with an incredible flap.  As she rose with frightening speed, she quickly passed two hundred feet.  Then four hundred.  Then a thousand...

Skidding to a stop when the distance alone rendered her all but invisible, the burning pinprick of the torch completely washed her out.  Hidden between the light in her hoof and the brilliant blue of the sky, she allowed herself to break out into a wide smile, dangling in the eerie calm above most of Equestria’s weather.  Her eyes closed and she shivered, despite the adrenaline keeping her warm.  With a long exhale, she dropped the torch.

As the flickering speck of light tumbled down out of the heavens, the audience began to tense in anticipation of the impact.  A few ponies scratched their heads, waiting for some sign of Rainbow dashing in to complete her stunt, but she hadn’t moved.  When barely an inch remained between the flame and the stone, her eyes snapped open and she vanished.

Far, far away, a number of magical instrument panels spat strange readings and several spells backfired.

A thunderous bang echoed out to the horizon and beyond.  The sturdy rock just beneath the starting cloud was pulverized into a few large fragments and a lot of dust, all of it hurtling outward with dizzying speed.  The chunks of stone whizzed through the starting cloud, itself already exploding into a fine mist, and the particles of debris plumed upward and outward, obscuring the impact crater from view.  Realization dawned on the crowd as they shifted in their seats, squinting into the dissipating vapor to find the light of the torch blinking into view—above the ground.

Rainbow stood triumphant on her hind legs: wings flared, mane and tail billowing in the wind.  A spark danced in her eyes beneath a weary brow.  Her coat shone with a thin film of sweat and she panted furiously through a dry mouth.  One hoof was thrust into the sky, clutching the bright symbol of her conquest.  Every mare and colt erupted into a fresh and enormous wave of cheers that surged out over the walls of the Cloudiseum and spilled throughout the streets of Canterlot.  

She sighed, softened her gaze, and curved her lips gently upward, then trotted back into the tunnel without hearing a word the announcer said.  The structure shook from the intense noise, but she shrugged off the vibrations as she strolled around the bend.  Passing by her satchel, she deposited the goggles safely inside before slinging the bag over her back and continuing past several branching paths, navigating her way to an unmarked wooden door.  She nosed it open and trotted into the sparsely furnished chamber, setting her cargo in one corner of the room and plopping down on a velvety indigo cushion.

“That shouldn’t be too much,” she muttered to herself, stretching and yawning as her muscles relaxed.  “She can’t be jealous if she can’t figure it out.  Not that she has any reason to—” she managed to say before yawning again.  “—get mad.  Someday... they’ll come around.”  Her eyelids fluttered a few times and then fell shut.

The switch clicked into place and the console whirred to life, glowing and humming with a steady pulse of mana.  Hundreds of lines of text spilled across the screens as the machine woke from its slumber.  After it finished booting to an operational state, the chamber beyond the glass filled with dim light projecting down from a flickering lens in the ceiling.  The weak rays nevertheless highlighted the room’s smooth, featureless walls, and Hanuman’s pearly grin spread over his milky-white muzzle.  “I told you.”

Silver Crescent’s pale viridian eyes kept stealing glances at the doorway as he shivered.  “We really shouldn’t be here, Hanu... We could get in a lot of trouble.”

“Relax,” he cooed.  “Everything is under control.  Just worry about running the solar simulations,” he said as he stepped through the doorway.

Silver’s ears perked up and he jolted backward.  “What was that?!” he cried.

“What was what?” Hanuman asked, sticking his head back into the control room.

“You mean you didn’t hear that?”  His eyes darted back and forth across the ceiling.  “It was a really loud ‘bang’ sound!”

Hanuman rolled his eyes.  “I didn’t hear anything.  You’re just being paranoid,” he said, slinking around the corner before popping back in again “Are you alright?  Ready to go?”

Silver gulped, nodded, and placed a charcoal hoof over a glossy red button.  He sighed and looked back one more time, eyes low and pleading.  “You don’t have to do this anymore.”

Hanuman moved back into the control chamber and faced Silver with a stern face.  “Oh, but I do,” he said, shaking his head and furrowing his brow.  “Now more than ever.”

“No,” Silver stated.  “You don’t.  There are plenty of other options now.”

Hanuman took a deep breath and closed his eyes.  “Silver, what’s my mark?”

Silver didn’t answer.

“I respect that you don’t believe, but surely you understand that I do?  I have a purpose,” Hanuman hissed, fixing his eyes on Silver’s,  “and I will not fail.”

Drawing a long breath, Silver relaxed his neck.  “...Okay.  Head on in,” he said with a slow shake of his head, hanging just a bit lower than a moment ago.  His leg tensed and he waited for the clunking sound of the test chamber door locking before pressing down.  The dim light on the other side of the glass flashed into a burning, piercing nova, one that was a dozen orders of magnitude brighter as a crackling orb appeared, hovering and rotating a few feet in front of Hanuman.  “How’s that?” he asked.

Hanuman held up a hoof, casting a long shadow over his face and shielding his soft, brown eyes from the blinding spectacle.  “Turn it up to four,” he commanded.

Silver hesitated, blinking at the brilliant ball of light before exhaling at the controls.  A speaker implanted in the wall buzzed and cracked.  “Increasing aperture width to four channels,” Silver’s voice droned.

Even the control chamber on the other side of the glass filled with an intense glow as energy fed into the expanding orb.  Silver adjusted a dial and the tint of the glass darkened, easing the strain on his eyes as the gleaming, immaculate control room returned to the dull fluorescent glow of the monitors.

Hanuman’s thin coat stood on end.  He took two steps back, closed his eyes, and lowered his hoof.  Flaring to life, his horn threw bright blue sparks around him as he adjusted the frequency of his spell to match the ball levitating in front of him.  The sparks shifted through several sapphiric hues before converging on a shade of indigo and condensing into a beam that shot out from the tip of his horn and into the heart of the experiment.  Beads of sweat rolled down his face as his teeth ground together and the brightness of his spell struggled to match the orb.

A vein throbbed visibly from beneath his mane.  He strained and grunted for nearly a minute, but his spell had no visible effect.  He tried to dig his hooves into the solid steel floor, subconsciously hoping a firmer stance would aid him, before realizing he would not succeed at either task and whipping his head toward the glass.  “Three point five,” he growled.

After a few seconds, the speaker buzzed and cracked again.  “Decreasing to three point five.”

The sphere’s spin slowed and the light dimmed from retina-searing to merely cornea-scorching.  Hanuman grunted again and the sparks around his horn reappeared.  Another beam shot from him into the center of the room, piercing the burning orb and causing it to undulate wildly.  Its rotation lurched to a stop, and the outermost fringe started to spin the opposite direction.  His teeth glinted in the light as he started to grin.

A hairline fracture split the surface of the orb, rapidly crawling across the entirety of it.

Hanuman’s eyes widened.  “No...NO!” he shouted as the web of cracks consumed the ball of energy.  It exploded, twinkling shards bursting outward, and his face fell as the sparks on his horn died.  “Damn,” he spat before slamming his rear hooves against the wall.  “I had the phase right!”

Shards of burning magic scattered about the room and bounced off the floor, flickering for a few moments more before dying.  Through the glass’ increased tint, the room appeared to go dark and the speaker buzzed one more time.

“...You okay?”

Five long seconds stretched on as Hanuman panted before answering.  “Again,” he whispered.

Silver’s hoof hovered over the button.  “Are you sure?  That looked pretty rough, and we both know Rama—”

“Again!” he screamed, sweat pooling on the smooth steel beneath him.

Looking away with a grimace, Silver let his hoof fall.