SHADES OF GRAY

Chapter Fourteen - The Magician

There was a soft knock on the door. Regulus usually wouldn't have allowed visitors in his office, but he was feeling particularly frustrated with his current work - specifically how slowly he seemed to be going, as his mind kept wandering off - and decided to humor the knock.

"Come in," he called, his voice echoing through the small chambers, about the size of any pony's modest bed room but with only a desk and a couple of chairs to fill it.

"Myshna, Regulus," Dream Keeper bowed slightly as she entered, immediately thrusting her hood off over her head and taking a prompt seat in front of his desk. He didn't even have time to stand, to offer her the chair, to come to attention before she was staring him down across the desk.

"I am to understand innocents have been slain," she broached the subject quickly, like a fluid sword-strike; if it had been so tangible, it would never have been seen before piercing his breast. He gurgled a bit in surprise, even though it was not a physical attack.

"Well... yes," he admitted with a deep sigh, "they must have been lost in the desert and chased by the marauders. We have no idea why the archers didn't notice they were being chased, but... what is done is done." He raised his head as he finished speaking, a cold gaze meeting Dream Keeper's fiery one across the table. There was a tense moment of silence as their gazes battled and they considered their next words.

"They had a child with them," Regulus finally offered. He knew he had no chance of hiding this from Dream Keeper and her heated glare suddenly made an idea spring into his mind. It would be impossible hiding the child from the Councilmembers, but if one of them knew about it and could help integrate the child into their life here...

"A child?" Dream Keeper's eyes suddenly softened and she seemed to despair, "I did not see a child when I visited the Resting Grounds." A small shudder went through her body as she considered this. Regulus let it set in a moment, even if it was a bit cruel of him.

"She's alive, and unharmed. Alile has been taking care of her," Regulus soothed, his chin-beard waggling with his drawl. He was pleased to see her visibly relax.

"That explains why Alile was dodging my questions this morning, when I ran into him," Dream said to herself, aloud, "I thought it was quite strange he was getting milk in the middle of the night."

"But why did you not tell the Council about this?" she turned on him. This was a trickier one to answer. He didn't want to tell her about the child's strange mutation, the real reason he had kept the pony from the others' view. He turned away from her in his seat to look out his window, which really just looked down upon the out-buildings and was of no real consequence. He saw smoke rising from the chimneys of the Resting Grounds.

"We didn't want anyone being punished for the mistake," he finally confessed, a regretful tone in his voice. "We've been hiding the child so... no one will think they've made a poor filly motherless."

Dream Keeper's eyes dulled a moment as, inwardly, her mind drifted back to her conversation with Dillon, earlier. He was so distraught about what had happened, she certainly didn't want him to find out what he might have had a hoof in doing. As much ire as it raised in her chest that the truth had been hidden from the Council, it seemed the correct thing to do. At least for now.

"May I see the child?" she finally asked. Regulus whipped around in his chair, then.

"No. She's too startled, she's been through too much... we're keeping her safe, Alile is looking after her. She's quite young, maybe only a month or two old. I will bring her out for you to see in perhaps a week's time, once she's gotten acclimated to where she is.

"I will need your help integrating her into our society... finding her a class to learn in, ponies to watch over her. She's going to need some special attention so she does not wander from the path as some previous students have..."

"I understand," Dream nodded solemnly, "I can assist you with that."

"Excellent. I'm glad you are so understanding. I apologize that we had to keep this a secret from the Council, and especially the Seven. You can understand how some of them might react... unfavorably. We have lost too many good ponies..."

"I agree," Dream nodded, lifted herself out of the chair. This time she remembered to pull her hood back over her head, before she was subject to too many more stares.

"Thank you for your time, Regulus, and your foresight. Myshna, and good afternoon, I must be off to my training."

"Yes, of course; may Am'hatai's eyes watch over your work," he stood as she departed, watching the door close behind her. Only when he heard the trailing sound of her hoofbeats disappearing down the hall did he heave a sigh of relief and relax from his straightened position.

He would need to tell Alile, and they would need to visit the Magician as soon as possible. Who knew if Dream Keeper could be trusted, or would even wait as long as he'd requested before she try to check in on the child. He knew she had a soft spot for them; every mare seemed to. But she couldn't see the filly with that horn. Something had to be done. Soon.

The rest of the day passed uneventfully. It was dimming from twilight to black-of-night when a rap-rap-rap came at the door of the maidservant's room, where Alile was resting with Kibeth beside him. The filly awakened first, and began to burble excitedly, interested in whatever the noise was. Alile started awake and nearly fell out of the bed. No one had bothered him all day since Dream Keeper's interrogation - possibly because he'd spent much of it sequestered in the room, trying desperately to entertain Kibeth - so to be visited by someone, especially when the room was, to all other ponies, locked and unoccupied was quite startling. Alile knew it had to be Regulus.

He scrambled over to the door and unlocked it, then quietly opened it. Regulus practically stormed in and bowled him over. The stallion's eyes were practically mad, his nostrils flaring. His teeth were gritted and bared and he searched the room wildly, once, before his eyes fell on Kibeth, and then quickly darted over to Alile, who was now on the floor, trying to pick himself up.

"We have to bring her to the Magician," he said in a low tone, practically a hiss.

"What?! Right now?" Alile asked as he quickly moved to shut the door - again, silently - since Kibeth seemed to be interested in making more burbling noises. Alile then crossed the room to her, and sat on the bed next to her. He grabbed a bowl of bananas he'd brought up into the room earlier and set it on the bed next to her, where she hungrily began to gum them down.

"Yes, now. Dream Keeper confronted me and I told her... well, I told her about everything. She could see it in my eyes. But I didn't tell her about this one's horn..." he was looking out the window as he'd done before, though now all there was to see was the dark pit of black that the ground became in the night, and the twinkling stars in the sky.

"Well, why didn't you tell her about the horn?!" Alile was admittedly puzzled. He wondered if Regulus would tell him the truth; if this was the thing he had been trying to figure out the night previous, the thing that had caused Regulus to pause.

Finally Regulus turned away from the window and his gaze fell on Alile. Could he be trusted? He wondered. He would need to trust someone; he couldn't do this on his own, he was certain. But he saw how close Alile had already become to the child in this short an amount of time. He considered it. Maybe half-truths were better than lies.

"It needs to be removed. It... possesses magical properties which would be of great use to the ponies here, and ponies all across Azuyan. But if it was announced - or the wrong ponies found out - she could be hunted for it. There is a spell... a very old spell. It might be able to remove the horn without injuring her, and then we could have both. No doubt her horn is the reason her parents brought her into the desert at such a young age. Something must be done..."

"Remove it?" Alile muttered as he looked down at her, happily swallowing the banana slices, one after another, getting banana chunks all over her muzzle.

"Yes, but the Magician will know what to do. I promise you that. But we must do it soon. Very shortly. Tonight, if possible. I requested that Dream Keeper wait a week before coming to me, but..."

"... she can't be trusted," Alile finished for him, with a relenting sigh.

"Right. Do you think you can help me get her to the Magician's study without anypony noticing?"

Alile looked out the window. It was definitely late in the evening. He glanced at Kibeth; she had finished the bowl of bananas as they talked, and was beginning to try to curl up on the bed and go to sleep. She would likely be quiet if they tried to transport her anywhere.

"It's several flights..." Alile voiced his uncertainty, but even as he did so, he saw Regulus' eyes, pleading with him, practically cajoling him. They seemed to say, 'what, you can't help me, this one time I have asked you to help me with something this important?' He was conflicted. But, in the end, Kibeth was just a filly he'd been taking care of for a day... Regulus was a higher officer than he was, and part of the ponies living in Zith-lynd. He had a duty, an obligation to them. He had to help Regulus.

"Grab my cape; it's in the dresser. We can put her on my back and drape the cape over her," Alile's face hardened. He began to push Kibeth onto his back; the filly didn't protest an inch, rolling into position sleepily, even letting out a quiet burp of contentment. Regulus acted swiftly, grabbing Alile's red cape and swinging it over the stallion's shoulders, covering Kibeth completely so that Alile simply looked like some unfortunate hunchback.

"If you fly alongside me and hide her..." Alile suggested, and Regulus nodded. After a moment of tidying the room, they stepped out, locking the door behind them, and made their way - as carefully and quietly as possible - up the least-used stairs toward the upper levels. The Magician's study was on the thirteenth floor. He was given a sprawling office in which to house his book collection, his magical components, anything he might need to do everything for the tower that was requested of him. And of course, the magical vault, where all of the curiosities, antiquities, and dangerous magical objects were stored... that took up nearly a quarter of the floor, and most of it was protection for what lay within.

Alile hoped they wouldn't be visiting that vault this night.

Thankfully the trip to the Magician's quarters was uneventful. They got a couple of looks from some ponies up late, but they were quickly quashed with inane chatter between the two stallions and then a stern look from Regulus that clearly said 'You're interrupting our conversation.'

The Magician's floor was not guarded as many other floors were. It was assumed the Magician could take care of himself, so instead the stairs led to a simple, small receiving area filled with waiting couches and a couple of tables, as well as reading material and pastoral scenes on the walls, and another set of stairs which led to the floor above. Normally ponies would sit on the waiting couches - which were lavishly upholstered in a soft, velvety purple fabric - and wait for the Magician to come to them, but this was more important. Regulus strode purposefully toward the only door in the room, which was actually a set of half-doors, upper and lower, wooden but painted a similar color to the couches.

Regulus rapped a hoof on the lower set of doors, three times and no more. His face was pulled down in sour annoyance as he waited for the Magician - who, it was well-known, rarely slept - to open them to their plea. It was at least ten minutes before the door was answered, and with each passing moment Regulus' face became more dour. Alile's legs had begun to complain about having carried Kibeth up all of the steps only to have to wait, still, for ten minutes, when finally the upper door swung inward and slapped on the wall inside loudly. Alile felt Kibeth shudder on his back and hoped, if she was going to scream, that she would wait to make a noise until they were within the Magician's room.

"Who is it? What do you want?" a cranky voice uttered from within. The flutterpony popped his head out the door. His purple mane was frazzled, fluffed, and misshapen; it seemed to be fighting against itself to pull in every direction possible. There was any number of different spell ingredients smudging and sticking to his face, neck, chest, sides... even his wings did not escape the damage, with one of them looking somewhat singed around the edges. It fluttered almost nervously, while the one straight across from it flapped, slowly and lazily, up and down, up and down. It was as if they weren't connected to the same brain. The Magician peered around the waiting room as best he could, considering his black-lensed glasses, which protected his wide-open and completely blind eyes.

He sniffed.

"Regulus, you old goat, is that you? You smell like bananas. Been getting a good amount of potassium in your diet? That's great. And you have someone with you. He smells teal. Is he teal? What are you doing here so late at night? I was just getting into my evening spells. It's usually about now when I start renewing the light spells. Is there a light out somewhere? Don't worry about it, I'm about to renew the light spells. This is when I usually do it."

The Magician rambled and Regulus waited impatiently for him to finish. As annoying as it was, there was no reason to raise the wizard's ire, especially not when they were coming to ask such a personal and important favor.

"I am here with Alile. We've brought a patient with us. We need your help, Indigaster," Regulus replied as patiently as possible.

"Yes, yes, of course, didn't I invite you in already? Come in here. I have plenty more bananas if you'd like some more. You're probably hungry being up this late. I know I am. I would probably be taking a nap if this wasn't usually the time I start renewing the lighting spells," Indigaster rambled as he turned on his heels and walked away from the door, leaving the bottom half closed. Regulus heaved a sigh and opened it for himself, standing aside so Alile could pass before closing both the top and bottom halves and locking them so no one would intrude.

The inside of the Magician's study was a wide open space, for the most part, only interrupted briefly with various load-bearing pillars for the floors above, all of which had any number of pouches or objects hanging from them. There were tables making a veritable maze throughout the room, all covered in any number of strange things, and Indigaster navigated these with precise skill, being as accustomed to his study as he was. He moved to a table at the back of the room - this one had a thick, black marble top to it - and took a large beaker filled with some sort of yellow, smoking liquid and poured it into the air. It dissipated into nothingness before their eyes. He uttered some incantation and a bright flash filled the study for a split-second, so short it was hard to believe it had even been there. All of the lights in the study suddenly burned brighter.

Indigaster shuffled over to another table and began to mash something in a mortar with a large, mouth-held pestle. Whatever it was he was mashing let out a hideous screech like a dying animal at first - perhaps it was - and the smell of roses filled the room. Indigaster's nostrils flared.

"Smells great, doesn't it?" he commented.

"Y-yes," Alile ventured.

"Now, what are you here for? Speak up while I work, I have plenty of other things to do," the Magician maneuvered to another table upon which sat a black, stone-like pyramid with the very point being made of gold. He breathed lightly on this and then whispered a word into it; one of the bricks in the side of the pyramid slid out and something dropped from it. Indigaster spread this out on a table.

"If neither of you are going to tell me what you need, please come read this for me," he hastily insisted, leaving little room for them to have begun an explanation anyway. Alile looked quizzically at Regulus, who shrugged solemnly and then stepped forward, winding carefully through the tables, to examine the tiny piece of parchment.

"It's a picture of a bird, some reeds, and a f'hassberry," Regulus muttered. He seemed upset it hadn't been something more interesting. Indigaster seemed to ponder this a moment.

"Yes, yes, I see. Now, what was it you needed?"

"We've brought a filly to you. She was born with a horn. We need it removed and I'm to understand there's a spell that can do this. Safely."

"A horn you say? Isn't that rather normal for unicorns? Why should you want it removed?" Indigaster took the piece of parchment and brought it to a wooden bureau at one side of the study. He pulled out one of the hundreds of tiny drawers, somehow knowing which ones were empty, and placed the parchment within.

"She's a flutterpony," Alile piped up, trying to be helpful.

Indigaster stopped mid-stride toward a different table. He turned his head one way and then another, as if he were looking around the room, though of course he wasn't.

"What did you say, then? She's a flutterpony with a horn? What does the Council have to say about this?" he hrmed.

"They think it would be best if her horn could be removed and she could be integrated into society," Regulus cut off any more of Alile's 'help' and stated, somewhat forcefully, "she's a young filly and she deserves a normal life, they say."

"Is that so. Well, I've never removed a horn before. Can't say I can't do it; I can do just about anything. It's just a matter of finding what book it's in and what ingredients it takes, I should think."

With that Indigaster changed course and headed for a tall form in one corner of the study. It was easily as wide as a pony, and shaped like a steep dome. A thin blanket was covering it as though protecting it from dust, but when Indigaster put his teeth to the blanket and pulled it off, it revealed something quite different than a piece of furniture.

Underneath was a giant, golden birdcage. The cage was intricate, probably worth a single pony's entire life's savings, bedecked with all sorts of rubies, diamonds, emeralds, inlaid with lapis and ivory and onyx, a rainbow of color and expense. What sat inside was easily the ugliest bird that ever existed. It was fat; much fatter than anything that could fly should ever get, so fat its excess hung all around the perch it sat on and completely covered its feet. The rolls of its massive stomach were featherless, instead showing wrinkly, sunspotted gray-brown skin beneath. The ratty feathers it did posses were scattered haphazardly over its skinny, tiny wings and its bulbous head. They were a mix of chartreuse and fuchsia, each with a tiny white tip. The bird had four miniscule, beady black eyes, sunken into its head so they were barely visible, unlike its gigantic, curved beak, which was barred in various browns, all of which resembled previously eaten organic matter.

The diseased-looking, obese monstrosity let out a surprised caw as Indigaster revealed it, but this sound was more like that of a strangled cat. It was sickening, and one almost longed to put the bird out of its clear misery just upon hearing it.

"Now, now, Precious, I know you were just getting your beauty sleep, but I need you to read something for me," Indigaster seemed to be trying to soothe the bird as he nosed open the latch on the cage. The bird let out a burble - somewhat like a disgusting burp - and hopped forward off its perch toward the edge of the cage. Somehow it managed to fly through the air, despite the fact that the mass of its fat hung all around it like hundreds of saddlebags.

"I need you to find me the lore on horns on non-unicorns, Precious, please," Indigaster requested softly, smiling at the bird as if it were his own daughter. The bird peered up at him with what looked like a glare but, for all Regulus knew, was admiration, before it began to flap its hideously frail-looking wings.

Somehow, it managed to take off into the air. It was almost as though it was levitating and flapping its wings was really no mechanism for flight at all. Clearly the bird was magic and able to fly by other means. It levitated across the room, toward Alile, who - with abject terror on his face - dodged out of the way. The bird ended up perching on what appeared to be a tall coat-dresser, but it managed to shove open the door with its beak. Inside were stacked, with no seeming attempt at organization, a number of dusty old tomes. The bird floated down to examine the books and, with a single look, 'grasped' a thin, black, leatherbound book with its levitation and floated to the table nearest Indigaster. The bird gagged, once, which must have been another of its unique caws.

"Good, excellent, Precious. What a pretty bird you are, what a smart bird. Excellent! Please read it to me."

The bird flipped the book open with its beak and, with wings outstretched as if balancing itself, it turned the book around and flipped through the pages, one-by-one, with its strange telekinesis.

Regulus had been with the Magician up to this point. The bird, read the excerpt to the Magician? Surely he jested. In truth, Regulus had never seen him reading from a single book in his entire study, but then, he hadn't visited Indigaster when he'd been doing anything other than his routine, daily spells, much like the spell for lighting the tower. But... the bird seemed almost clearly incapable of nothing but gurgles and strangled noises. Could the wizard understand this as some sort of speech, perhaps?

"All breeds in Azuyan are subject to this strange deformity (though some, such as the flutterponies and fairyponies, are more prone than others)" the bird began in a clear, carrying voice, sounding more practiced with the language of ponies than almost any pony he'd ever heard; the voice was almost enrapturing, as if it was coming from a siren itself, "There is no known cause for this; it was suspected to be inherited from the parents, but when lineages that were previously known to produce horn-bearing ponies were crossed, horns were not seen on children frequently enough to attribute the cause to certain family trees. No environmental factor could be found. The official consensus in the magical community is that this strange trait is randomly produced.

"Studies indicate the horn has little magical value, despite its connections. Studies to determine whether the horn was detrimental to the health or longevity of the pony were strangely inconclusive; all horned subjects were killed (by collectors hungry for the curiosity or ponies frightened of the deformity) or somehow disappeared from our various tracking systems at some point in their life.

"Much like with unicorns, the horn on other breeds seems not only directly connected to the skull as bone-matter, but also somehow faintly connected to the internal energies of the pony itself. In many cases the removal of the horn caused the immediate or delayed expiration of the subject. This meant further studies were needed. After many tests it was determined a great amount of energy needed to be put into the subject at the time of horn extraction, otherwise the balance of energy within the pony is irreparably shattered."

Alile and Regulus both watched with awe, even ignoring Kibeth's slight whining sounds from Alile's back as she pushed the cape off from over her. At this last paragraph, though, Regulus looked to Alile to find his face creased with worry, an emotion not often found on that flutter stallion. Regulus' eyes narrowed and he turned back to the bird.

"Hey. Bird. Uh... Precious. Is there a spell in there to remove the horn safely, or what?"

The bird shot an intense glare at him with all four of its eyes. This was definitely a glare; it fanned its wings and lowered its head in a provocative gesture, and turning to give Regulus a reprimanding gurgle for being interrupted.

"Now, now, Precious," Indigaster soothed, "he's just being impatient. You're such a good bird. Please see if the spell is listed somewhere. If there are incantations, please read them to me backward."

Regulus looked insulted by Indigaster's response to the bird, but at least the Magician was attempting to help them. It was so odd to think the Magician even had the forethought to request the incantations be read backward, but dwelling on it a moment, Regulus realized the first time the bird read them out loud, intact, had probably been quite the disaster and enough of a lesson for them both; clearly enough for Indigaster to train himself to turn the backward incantations around when needed.

As the bird began to talk to Indigaster about the various ingredients, processes, energies and chants necessary, Regulus sidled up alongside Alile.

"Do you doubt the Magician's skill?" he asked under his breath, his eyes on the reciting bird.

"Of course not," Alile returned quickly, as though he'd already asked himself the question and denied it.

"So you won't get in the way of this happening?" Regulus probed, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible.

"No. If it's necessary, then it's necessary, and if the Magician says he can do it without harming her, then there is nothing to worry about," the reply came, somewhat dully.

"Yes, of course," Regulus nodded, attempting a bit of reassurance.

"We can perform the ritual tonight," Indigaster interrupted their halting conversation with the flourish of speech, a bit surprisingly, "Just give me an hour to set up. We will perform it in my Safety Box."

The Magician pointed to the distant corner of the floor, near the walk-in-closet-sized safe for the more dangerous or older artifacts, to where another, larger room lay, its metal door shut with a large bolt on the outside.

"Safety Box...? Alile repeated uncertainly.

"Yes, it's where I always do the spells I've never done before," Indigaster replied without a hint of dubiousness, "Reinforced walls and such. We'll be fine. I just like to make sure the Tower will be, too."

"I think your filly is getting cranky; perhaps you should find her a bottle," Indigaster then pointed out mysteriously. Moments later, though, Kibeth's face screwed up and she began to cry; it was as if Indigaster had known she would become upset at that moment. Alile looked startled, and immediately knelt on the floor and pulled Kibeth off his back, then tried to soothe her with nuzzles and soft cooing.

"I guess I'll go get her a bottle," Regulus muttered, turning tail on the scene as Indigaster began bustling around his tables and opening various drawers and cupboards to gather supplies.