Chapter 10: The Third Floor and the Seven
Starshower focused, focused, focused. She paid no heed to the small droplets of sweat collecting on her face. Focus.
Wysteria watched as candle stands, pillows, a gilded mirror and a few scattered books floated from one end of the dining room to the other; some at the same time and some singly.
After all of the objects had been moved to their specified locations, Starshower took in a few deep breathes and said, "Finished. Ready."
Wysteria merely nodded his head and spoke the next directions, "Darken the candles."
Starshower thought a moment then nodded her head, showing she understood. "Extinguir," she said, waving her horn at all the candles in the dining room. Each and every one went slowly dim, then out.
"Light them," Wysteria's firm voice cut through the dark.
"Encender." Each candle simultaneously alighted itself and the room was once again bathed with bright candlelight.
Starshower tried to hide her smile.
"Extinguish them again."
"Extinguir." Each candle went out again.
"Light five, then extinguish them."
"Encender," Starshower repeated, waving her horn pointed at a candelabra with five candles on it. They lit up. "Extinguir," she said again. They went out.
Wysteria relighted all of the candles, then simply stared at Star. After a few minutes, he spoke. "I will give you your score tomorrow."
Starshower was antsy. She barely ate her breakfast and she wandered aimlessly around the Temple. She was anxious to talk to Wysteria and to find out how she had done on her magic test.
She meandered her way to the kitchens. Star asked Curious where Wysteria was, receiving the reply he was in his room and would be down after lunch. Star pouted, then decided it was time for her to explore the third floor.
Coming to the stone stairwell that Wysteria had said was not there before she came to the Temple, it is more inviting now that she knew more about it. Starshower slowly descended into the dark unknown.
Torches magically lighted themselves as her presence was made known by her small hooves hitting cold stone steps, startling her at first. The torch holders, appearing to be made of crystal, reflected the light, casting tiny rainbows on the walls of the stairwell.
Star reached the end of the stairs and double doors without a handle. How to open it? "Abrir," she tried. Nothing.
She stood thinking. Then, closing her eyes tight and focusing hard, she envisioned a rainbow and said, "By the Rainbow and its Seven, Abrir."
Even though it had been a complete guess, the doors opened with a creak. Starshower stepped into a large room with eight sides. A magnificent candelabra stand in the middle and torches in each corner burst to life.
Each wall depicted the Seven, with his or her name in an ancient language Starshower couldn't read, but could only guess at.
Around the central candelabra seven pillars, each at a height where Star could easily see what they beheld. Each represented the Seven Colors of the Rainbow, made out of colored stone. Star knew what they displayed and decided the history was more prominent than the magic right now.
She started with Red, on her right from the double doors.
A male from the mountains, his hooves were feathery. A regal horn protruded between angsty, hard eyes. Starshower was shocked to see all Seven Colors in his mane, even though Wysteria had told her of it. His symbol was even more shocking as well, all Seven Colors in a swirl. He stood simply, head up and proud, amid a black background.
Jovial and joking, Orange's eyes stared back at Star from brilliance. He was a unipeg, rare even back then. While unsure what Red represented, Orange was easily discernible not just from her dream but also from his symbol as well. Tongues of fire graced his flanks and traveled up his wings, seeming to engulf the pony. Such a destructive element did not seem to fit his mischievous eyes, but Star did not know his story. The sky above him and the earth beneath him were united by air that was filled with the Orange unipeg. A herd dwelt beneath him, though Star could not pick out mate nor children, simply a herd.
The first female and only earther, Star learned from glancing around the room, Yellow was a golden sand color, warm and inviting. She had a sad look to her, but she looked much like Red. They had the same eyes, almost. Her symbol was just as strange as Red's, a red heart entwined by green vines. Starshower was unsure of what her symbol represented. But she must have had a happier life than Red, for her background showed a small herd around her.
Green was a vibrant, alive color. Forest green leaves showed up nicely on a light green coat. The leaves looked like they were being blown along the unicorn's flanks and there was even a tiny leaf under his eye. Starshower could see quite the garden around him, as well as several other ponies. They must be his herd. One, a white earther with bright pink hair and strawberries all over her body and one on her forehead between the eyes - Star giggled, remembering the food fight a few months earlier - was looking at Green fondly. She looked like his mate.
Blue held the beautiful grace that Starshower always allied with water. Another unicorn mountain pony, Water's symbol was light blue waves flowing along his sides. His background showed a vast meadow in a valley, filled with many ponies of different colors, ages and types. Several pools of crystal-clear blue water held something Starshower had never seen - fishponies. They had the head and forehooves of a pony and the curled tail of the seapony that Starshower had seen in Wysteria's marine life book in the Temple's library.
Indigo was the only one that Star had ever truly heard the most of and the only one she could guess at the name and be sure. Athalas. The blue-violet pony beheld the plant of healing along her legs, flanks, back and even a few tiny ones scattered on her face. Her story was of injured ponies, patients that the Unicorn of Healing had taken care of. Starshower enjoyed her pretty, welcoming, cheery eyes.
The last, Violet of the Ice. Starshower had heard very little of her and her continent of frost, but she had heard some. She looked past amethyst ice to the Anterica behind Violet. The frigid ice continent was connected to the rest of the world by a Winking Stone, Wysteria had told her. Few rarely entered the Isle of Snow, for its weather carved through their warm-season fur. Star watched how Violet's warm eyes seemed to melt away her icy exterior. Her wings, larger and sturdier than Blazer's, flared out behind her as she came to land amid her herd on a patch of ice. Star could not find a symbol until she wondered if she shouldn't search for it but seek if from the corner of her eye. Violet's long, sleek fur reflected the light of the candles and displayed the cool colors - blue, indigo and light violet - along her flanks.
Starshower returned to the double doors, knowing the stone displays were next.
The Power of the Rainbow.
Rad
