****

Lyric

How do you explain a skill that took a good year to get the basics of to somebeing who has only had access to magic for two weeks?

Chrissy seems to think that I might have some deep, wise insight into this predicament, that with one thousand fifty three years of life experience I have I might know the answer. She doesn’t realize the irrelevancy of my age in this matter. It doesn’t automatically make me wise, enlightened to secrets, or the one with the right answer.

I have never had to help somepony with a foal level grasp of magic before. No one would ever let a defenseless foal near ‘the monster’ to start with.

But didn’t I have the forethought to see this coming?

The reality of the situation was that I, like Chrissy, hadn’t considered how we would test the magic inhibitors. Sure I had known that since Ari was an Alicorn and they were meant for Alicorns he had to test them. But the shock of meeting him had consumed me, the fist Alicorn I had ever met, the first Alicorn stallion I had heard of since King Arcturus. The resistance to my mind magic had given me hope, no one outside my family had resisted it before, and then the rest was history. I followed him, joined his group, then his herd. Now I was pregnant. So with everything going on I had ended up just as guilty as mt herdmates for skimming over the finer details.

Magic control was a pretty big detail in hindsight.

All foals started out with the instinct driven, focus and intent type of magic that Ari knew, in fact foals were mostly instinct, which is exactly why foal magic inhibitors were invented. Magical outbursts were a parent’s nightmare, teleporting to unknown locations, levitating objects, and…And sooner than I ever thought I would have all that and more.

But first I had to help my stallion find the ‘thrumming’ of his aetheratic channels.

Chrissy’s wording was perhaps not the best for him. In example, to me my aetheratic channels were more of humming feeling in my center, almost like a familiar tune. It changed notes as I altered the flow of magic through the channels. Maybe-

“No, it should be a thrumming deep inside Ari! Close your eyes, clear your mind, and try again. You have to have it in you, otherwise you couldn’t perform magic.”

Ari was clearly not getting it, her explanation that is to say. He understood that magic was inside him, we had covered that fact two chapters ago. While I’m sure she must have dealt with nymphs before I don’t think her channels sound the same as his must.

Through his straining, his scrunched up muzzle, I started to read ahead in the book. It was clearly a old magic kindergarten textbook, from the year 1906 if I’m to believe the copyright page. Although rather old it was accurate, but for this case I feel it is lacking, the chapters skimmed over the finer details that the reader would already know.

Our stallion wasn’t the intended reader.

While I’m unable to speak for nymphs I know most foals aren’t taught the finer control of spells, aetheratic control, until around five years old. Even I had my own version of it on the road and mother loves to remind me of my adventures as the ‘mysterious enchanting foal’. I was the type of foal that teleported everywhere. But, my point was we had to jam five years of experience into Ari overnight. That is five years of foals learning the ins and outs of their unique magical system: aetheratic channels, magical core, and any natural talents they may be inclined to.

“I-I still can’t feel any thrumming, I just hear my heart beating and see the back of my eyelids!”Ari was getting louder and more frustrated with each failed attempt and after over an hour of trying to do what chapter four described and what Chrissy insisted on…I didn’t blame him for feeling like this.

Sighing I closed the book, “Perhaps we should go to bed then, tackling this after some sleep seems like a good idea.”

“Ari can do this, he just has to-.”

“Sleep sounds good.”

Chrissy looked like she was about to continue, to try to encourage him, but saw his expression and thought it was better not to. His ears were folded back, his withers slouched, and his eyes downcast.

This constant stream of failure wasn’t good for his spirit, his usual happy determined attitude was lost, and pressing on wasn't helping the matter.

I tucked us in, Ari unable to with the inhibitor still on. Kapera had flown off in such a rage that she failed to remove it or even give us the primary gate keys. But that was a thing for the morning, another thing to take up our time.

****

Somewhere in Shallow Shale

????????

This was supposed to be an easy job.

Sure my client was a meathead, but he was a wealthy meathead. One target, one hundred thousand bits. No special instructions, just one warning. Which was actually less than I was usually told, so I wasn't complaining.

Apparently the target was 'extremely dangerous', a herd stallion, and travelling with…How did that thug word it? ‘A total Changeling bitch’ was what I got out of his half drunken yells, they were slightly slurred so don’t quote me. The target also had a unicorn mare but she was an Equestrian, weak, and unfortunately not part of the contract. However if she ended up dead, well, that would be too bad, truly a tragedy. He kept stressing what a dangerous stallion the target was, how he was 'crazy ballsy', and…Hold on a second while I laugh. That half drunk fool thinks the stallion was an Alicorn!

Excuse me while I laugh again, an Alicorn! You heard me right, if there was one I would have heard of him by now, there would have a coronation, an announcement of some sort, and he wouldn’t be in the middle of the desert. Newspapers across the continent would have flocked to that wretched country and that clearly hadn’t happened. Clearly my client was the victim of an extremely proficient illusionist, a magically gifted unicorn surely, but not an Alicorn.

That didn’t mean I would be handling my target with kid gloves though.

Any stallion able to get one over my client in a head to head to head fight was not to trifled with, not mention it can be assumed he has a strong instinctual drive, most Equestrian stallions had trouble with one mare. He might be…No, I was looking too far into my target again.

Following him was interesting.

His trail lead to a Hydra’s corpse, it was only a day old at the most. Thankful for the resource, I filled my stocks from the corpse’s blood and took some other parts for sale later. It was good to have a plan B.

The swamp was harder to navigate than the forest but sticking to the canopy I eventually made it to Minotaria. Dodging through the fields was the hardest part of that country, he had left an obvious trail, and from the smell of his resting spots, rutted often.

That was the easy part, now I had to use more stealth.

Using the same route he took I made it to the quaint, coastal town of Shallow Shale. I hated this town. Keeping my disgust for the city from my mind was the trick to getting this job done as soon as possible, which wouldn't be a tall order, like the fields the target traveled I located him without any trouble.

It went downhill from there.

I quickly realized why my client was bested by this unicorn and why he would mistake it for an Alicorn. He was huge! Taller than the sun princess herself if I was right, this stallion was at least seven feet tall, easily towering over my small form. Not that I was as small as a puny Equestrian but few creatures would beat my target in height.

But that wasn’t the part that threw my initial plan out the window, it was the fact that he was with the most wanted mare on the continent, Queen Chrysalis herself.

Yes, yes I would like to retire young. Thank you mare of luck!

My mother, cousins, they would be overjoyed at my early return and I would never have to work another day in my life. Shamkar would be upset at first but I’m sure if I gave him a little payout all would be good.

Now I had a million bits literally pop into existence, it stood unaware in the middle of the street beside my one hundred thousand bit contract and…If I saw correctly the traitor herself, my client would like to see her again. I guess this one likes the exotics, or perhaps he is weak to mind magic and merely enchanted…But, whatever the truth actually was it didn’t matter, this job wasn’t easy anymore.

But it was a hell of a paycheck if I could bring them all in, well, maybe I will kill the target first. Stallions can be downright nasty to deal with when they have a herd.

But killing this stallion was downright hard!

For starters he was staying at her place, that mnunuzi’s damnable shop. She was the lowest of low, having the gall to remain here after- No, she also was a creature I couldn’t afford to mess with, that was the bottom line.

What she lacked in height she made up for in deadly skill. Swords that honed in on magical signatures, slicing foes apart at the users command, and even more fantastical new enchantments that I didn’t have the time to strategize against, this was one Mongofu I wouldn’t be messing with.

Having him die in his sleep was out of the question.

She had purposely picked that shop for its lack of windows. The paranoid old Mongofu was going to be impossible to get around and the heifer she keeps around is also a creature I couldn’t touch. Not for her strength mind you, there were certain people that wanted her unharmed, not that they knew I was here but it was expected that any being not touch her.

By some stroke of luck he left the shop alone.

That same luck deserted me mere hours later.

My first plan was for him to have a accident, a rogue hay wagon smashing his brains over the cobblestones…That bucker knelt down to pick up a measly bit, of all the things! Surely he didn't need bits that badly?

And right when...

Staying calm I followed him as he helped the gryphon, dropping a plank that I felt sure would snap his neck, but it didn’t even knock him over!

Seeing as he was physically a brick wall of a unicorn I knew I had to use a more tactful approach. The idea of poisonous darts crossed my mind but I passed over it when I saw him make his way over to a café…One free drink and cyanide pill later I was across the street, watching as he meticulously added a straw and sniffed the drink. Then that heifer came in and ruined my plans, he dropped the drink.

I screamed my rage. For Faust’s sake, this fucking stallion must have preternatural senses!

…Or perhaps I’m just getting rusty, maybe he smelled the poison and ‘accidently’ dropped it?

One chance left with the day ending. No creature wandered the streets after dark, especially my kind; I was essentially walking property in this town. It was a long shot, and I might hit the heifer but I needed to get back to the shop to stake out my next paycheck. The bigger and final reward, then-

As you can assume that since I’m in front of the shop again that the stallion once again lives.

My position was perfect, I had to get him today...And once again fortune was smiling at me as he left the shop alone.

****

Chrissy

Ari was up before us again.

I hoped he was feeling better about learning aetheratic control. He had been very upset last night after constantly failing...The book on teaching foals to control their magic had not helped, but we had only gotten four chapters in. There was still a chance that the remaining four chapters could hold the secret to help my stallion. So far it had covered ‘What is Magic’, ‘The Anatomy of a Pony’, ‘The Difference Between Instinctual Magic Use and Spelled Magic Use’, ‘How to find your Aetheratic Channels’. That last chapter is where we lost him completely.

Ari just couldn’t find his magical ‘thrum’ inside, but I haven’t given up hope yet, he can do magic so he had to have them.

Shifting I scooted closer to Lyric, my stomach cried out for food, and while her love was nice it was not the same. It was like comparing a hoofmade meal with one created with magic, the hoofmade one would always tasted fresher, had more flavor, and had the true heart of the creator in it. To translate, she saw me more on the level of friend, more than an acquaintance but not quite a ‘good’ friend or a ‘best’ friend. Not anywhere close to the love our stallion felt for me.

The air heated up as I waited beside my restless herd mate, our stallion still wasn’t back, but Ari would have to come back here. We had the book.

“Mmmm…Ari?” Lyric yawned and looked around, looking very much like a foal with the wide yawn.

“No, he is up already, probably in the kitchen.”

“You know he does other stuff besides eat right? He isn’t some walking black hole!”

I gave a raised eyebrow; she did know we were talking about the stallion that eats more than five ponies do, all without blinking an eye. “Well he is black and anything that enters his muzzle never comes out, so I think you described Ari perfectly. Although I didn’t take you for a pony that was into astronomy, I would have figured you would be into musical instruments or singing.” I looked at her cutie mark for emphasis.

Lyric shifted her scales against my chitin, sitting up more, “Good point! Our stallion is sort of a black hole, I actually was starting to think of him as one yesterday, but not because of those reasons.” We shared a chuckle, “My cutie mark may be for singing but I do like to do other things-“

“Ari doesn’t count you know, if you are in the herd it is sort of required.”

Sending me a smile, Lyric set her head on her hooves, “I wasn’t into astronomy before, but I think I started learning about it sometime after it was just me on the road. Trying to guess which stars were what and seeing when meteors were falling when took my mind off the…the hole that they left behind.”

Sadness flowed through our bond now, a particularly heavy, sour taste to my mouth.

“You know I started watching the stars for a similar reason-” She looked up at me, curiosity tickling my taste buds. “-My mother was always busy during the day, you know.” Looking to Lyric I realized she didn’t, “Well, maybe you don’t but the point is I wanted to do something with her. An activity that wasn’t grooming me for the throne or involved other changelings, just my mother and me, and one day it hit me: stargazing. If she had her whole day booked then that must mean her night was free!” I paused and took a deep breath, “At first she didn’t get it and really I didn’t either, it was just twinkling little stars... But she eventually relaxed and I relaxed when I saw her so…Content and we just enjoyed it. There was no crisis or petition, just the countless other worlds above us. I mean l loved my extended family but some days I wondered how we got on with their nymphness.”

My herd mate didn’t respond for awhile but I felt the love change taste slightly, sweeter almost.

“You know I think all families are that way, my aunts are some of the most annoying mares you will ever meet! Sonata especially, she loved to pretend she didn’t understand me, mostly when I wanted something she had. By the time she ‘understood’ me the treat was usually eaten already and…And I never really thought of that before, that Changelings had a family before…You had a mother too.”

Giving her ear nip I looked her in the eye, “So you just assumed I just appeared? That Changelings reproduced by just appearing onto Equis?”

“Well, I really hadn’t dared travel in the Badlands before and I guess I just took those rumors and sayings with a grain of salt. I knew they couldn’t all be true but I wasn’t going to risk my life either. You wouldn’t have welcomed me with open arms then, right? The ‘monster’, a sea pony hybridized with a land pony,” I nodded my head, ear splayed, we would have thought of her as food or an enemy. “Don’t feel bad most creatures wouldn’t have welcomed me in anyway.”

“You…you’re not a monster you know, I’m not a monster. I think Ari has more than proven that point, all those thoughts, those slurs, are just ‘racist drivel’ as he puts it.”

Lyric looked away, frowning as the bitter taste in my mouth increased, “What are we going to tell our foals? ‘Those ponies are stupid’ and make up our own slurs for them?”

My herd mate made an interesting point, “So what if I do that? They started it! When they started throwing mud on our names! Our foals will learn of their cruelty whether we want them to or not, the world is unkind…You of all ponies should know that.”

“Do you remember why we were called those names?”

“Yes, they hate us for our strength, our abilities. Emotionvores aren’t understood, mind magic doesn’t have any branches of magic able to counter it.”

“Perhaps that is part of it…But although I may not know much about ruling, I remember the time after The Great War. My mother told me of the great battles, the many stallions that fought to the death-.”

Interrupting her I folded my ears back, if I didn’t need her love I would have left. I wasn’t a nymph! Such simplified stories were an insult to my intelligence. “I know that!”

She snorted at me. “Then you also know that the winners write the history books and it’s what they didn’t write in those books that prevent our side from being seen in any good light.”

What she said was true, we have-

“Wakey, wakey! Breakfast time you stupid-.”

Kapera stood in the doorway, frying pan in hand, and looking at us with a confused expression.

“Where’s your stud?!”

I could feel my heart rate increase slightly, “What do you mean? Isn’t he in the kitchen eating?”

“Uh, no…I figured that lazy stud was still asleep, Dinari said you were up late reading to him and practicing.” Kapera looked awkwardly at us now, before looking at her paws as they shuffled. “Hold on a second…DINNY GET DOWN HERE!”

Our ears went back at her volume, was that really necessary? Better yet was her anger really necessary last night? Yes, our stallion was unprepared but he didn’t have a chance to learn that on our journey so far. It's just, she just irritated me with her attitude. Her respect for our upcoming foals was appreciated but other than that her loud, disrespectful attitude to our stallion was wearing my patience thin.

Where was Ari?

“DINNYYYYY!”

The Minotaur didn’t appear.

****

Ari

When I was little I thought I would be a figure skater. Like other little girls I thought the pretty skirts and shiny skates were the epitome of a perfect life. That if I had those and figure skated everything would be all right, I would never have to listen to another mean word from Heather Alester, that I would magically become this tall, beautiful swan on the ice rink.

Well, aside from never growing to be very tall I also found out that there was a lot of work behind the scenes that no one ever mentions.

At the crack of dawn, most of the time before dawn; I woke on wobbly legs to be driven down to the ice rink. Then my mother wasn’t quite crazy yet, I knew she was different than the other kid’s mothers, but I couldn’t exactly say why I thought that then. Anyway, on my half asleep legs I went onto the ice and fell…A lot, I was actually teased more there than at school. How I was that clumsy I couldn’t say why but I kept trying and failing, kind of like now.

It didn’t matter how many times I did what Chrissy said, or tried to picture the channels as they were illustrated in the textbook, something just didn’t click.

So I did what my coach told me to do back then: walk it off.

My tries at a doing a spiral was, to put it nicely, abysmal. Every time I would work up to it I either couldn’t get the momentum or if by some chance I did I would look at the ice and fall. Look where you want to go and get back up I was told. But that didn’t help.

When I walked I thought better, particularly if I was alone. My mares meant well but maybe like with the skating I was stressing too much and needed my subconscious to deal with it.

The street was busy just like yesterday, although I kept my hood up, the magic inhibitor was still on. But I wasn’t going to ask Kapera to remove it. She said I should be able to remove it, and the master smith was probably right. The princesses were even stronger than me anyway, my mane was still a short, regular styled thing, and knew next to nothing about...Everything.

I ducked as another plank flew by my head. These construction workers were almost as klutzy as I was as a kid.

Taking a right, I was on the main road now, heading down to the docks. Another right at the edge of the waterfront, the waves jumping onto the stones and misting my cloak. If I had to guess I would say a storm was moving in. Although, if it was a storm front it was moving in slower than the others had further inland. Maybe the sea takes some of the bite out of them on the coast?

Anyway, I took another right, walking away from the moored boats, and towards the beach.

The beach was deserted and oh so beautiful to me at the moment. I had been to a beach before but this one seemed almost surreal, the sand was a pale pink, and if I looked closely I could see tiny fragments of coral among the white grains of sediment. Above the beach small white birds circled, not quite seagulls, or sterns, or even sandpipers. They were another species altogether, beautiful and unique to this world. I would have to ask Lyric what they were called.

Just stepping onto the soft, undisturbed sand relaxed my mind somewhat. The ‘blah’ feeling fading to the background as the waves pounded the shore.

But it was still quite an open area, so I moved on, walking as close to the waves as I dared.

Coming out here was half a desire to relax and half the urge to take my mares on a date, to do something to get to know them better. My instincts, while useful in guiding me on what a mare likes were not helping me in forming a deeper connection with them. And if I had the time to learn to control my magic I certainly had time for the two most important mares in my life.

The beach narrowed and I was forced to walk in the warm waves briefly, hugging the cliff’s base as I rounded the corner and arrived in a cave. It wasn’t the doom and gloom type cave either, it was actually very shallow as caves went, open as well, the ceiling was a good fifty feet above my head. It was actually kind of ominous, like a gaping maw about to swallow-.

A splash sounded from behind me.

Turning around I saw the waves hit the rocks again, a piece of bamboo bobbed along, and the sunny sky shone overhead. Waiting for a minute I could hear no other sound so continued my exploration. All the travels through swamps and such had messed with my senses, like I expected every sound to be a big monster. Well, there probably were sea serpents here.

I knew I had to return but…This was so nice, but I wasn’t relaxed anymore from the splash, and I wasn’t leaving till I found the perfect spot to unwind at.

A couple extra days to relax with my mares, to learn a valuable skill, and go on a date wouldn’t hurt the world.

Halfway into to the cave there was a turn, and going around the bend I realized that this wasn’t a cave but it was actually a tunnel. Sunlight peeked in from up ahead, showing a glimpse of more coral infused sand ahead.

As I picked up pace, dodging around the various boulders I tripped. Apparently cantering in a dimly lit tunnel was beyond me…I’m blaming the inhibitor.

“OWWW!”

Tripping with me wasn’t done half assed, I went over one boulder, going head over withers as I tumbled in a roll, a boulder too large to roll over stopping my travels. “SSSSSS!” Just as I thought my pain was over my rump began stinging with a vengeance.

Picking myself I continued, although a little slower and sore. The little lagoon that opened up before me was beautiful, the blue-green water shimmering under the sun, the flora swaying in the slight breeze. Wobbling onto the sand I looked around and realized I couldn’t see the city from here.

It was the perfect spot.

With some difficulty I removed my cloak, I didn’t need it here, it was out of the way and I was alone. My vision shimmered as I thought that. Being alone, it wasn’t something I desired to be anymore. Finally I had found a partner, two really, that loved me, and the icing on the cake we were having foals.

Just that thought alone made my worries vanish, the urge to puff out my chest and flap my wings strong, and what the hell. It couldn’t hurt. Spreading my wings I gave them a light flap, only to find myself kissing the sand.

When did this happen?

Brushing off the sudden return of my clumsiness, I tried to focus on the sand in front of me. Why was it spinning? Trying to get my hooves underneath me I huffed and my heart began to hammer in my chest.

Had I hit my head harder than I thought?

My thoughts were feeling like I was drowning in syrup, my legs, well I don’t know where they had gone. A cold numbness was spreading through my body, at least I thought so, it was hard to tell with the world turning into something out of a kaleidoscope tube.

A little rest couldn’t hurt, could it? I had been going strong for two weeks now, maybe my body’s hunger was finally catching up to me…