glowfic | HEAR ME, OH MOZEE I'VE FOUND ON THE FORUM!

When Mozee hears the voice, she clears a space on the edge of her Cloud and focuses... and the rosebushes appear, trailing black smoke.

"Yes, here they are. Can you hear me?"

"Yup." answers the monotone. "I am Mr. Fluffles, SS's second in command, now sending the mouse.

"You ready." The monotone asked and a weak "Yes." answered. Lady death floated the decripit old mouse over. "A brave explorer, raised from birth, betrayed just before the close shall shield you from Loyalty!" And there it goes, Mozee is the proud owner of one old mouse, wearing black armor made of the bones of the innocent and a two centimeter wide cut ruby to manifest wherever he wants.

Edited 2015-08-13 04:22 (UTC)

Mozee manifests the mouse and smiles at it.

"Hello, sunshine. You would like to be de-aged, yes?"

An exited voice comes from the gem on it's back: "Yes!"

Edited 2015-08-13 04:34 (UTC)

There is a humming growth of crystals on the edge of the cleared space. Mozee floats one over next to the mouse, and it glows blue for several seconds. When it's done, the mouse is a healthy barely-adult.

"There you are."

"Thank you very much!" An exited voice comes from the gem. The mouse starts cavorting around, doing back flips and push ups. "It's like I'm eight again!" He says after twenty push ups. He doesn't stop there, starting to sweat.

Meanwhile Lady Death isn't idle: "The hot ashes of a virgin, burned just before her prime, shall power this rite, they shall call you, oh Sergeant Bloodcurdler, Mouse I just sacrificed."

Lady Death's ears start to redden. "A Dread Necromanceress, learned in the arts, to be your plaything, shall serve your base desires." Can you snicker in monotone? Kinda. It sounds strange and flat, but it is definitely snickering.

The monotone quickly adds: "Don't give the first rosebush back! If SS touches it it'll close the connection, meaning I can't hear or speak to you!"

Soon after the Mouse stiffens. Dark purplish smoke pours out of his eyes and the Gem on his back pulses, as he gestures and Lady Death emerges from a cloud of Dark Magic.

Tall, regal and sure of herself she strides out of the smoke, all two feet of her. Sinuously she steps towards Mozee. Her ears are still red.

"Master Mozee, a pleasure to meet you!" Lady death bows shallowly, swiping her tail left and right.

Edited 2015-08-13 04:58 (UTC)

Mozee gives the smoke a glance, and it blows away into the sky.

"And you as well, kumquat. I gather it worked as intended. What was that bit about shielding from Loyalty?"

Giving Mozee a once over his coloration in combination with the changing shapes and the pet name brings a little blush to her face. "I adapted the ritual out of the one supposed to overcome the Magic of Harmony. The sacrifices still need a purpose. I'll draw up a dedicated dimensional travel ritual on my own time, when I have it, but this idea was too clever not to try out on it's own, for science and all that, you know."

"You know how often something like that blew up in her face?", asks the monotone, "Four hundred and fifty eight times. It's a honored duty of her familiars to keep count and pass on the number to the next one."

The mouse meanwhile started laughing with labored breath.

Edited 2015-08-13 05:17 (UTC)

"That's quite a count, and yet it worked this time. I suppose I should have asked this earlier, but will the ritual have any effects here other than the manifesting?"

"Count?", a puzzled Lady Death asks, "Anyway the ritual opens a connection of prayer, so you could hear my familiar while the ritual was active and ponies in my kitchen could hear your answers, also I guess before you manifested the sacrifices you were protected from Loyalty based Harmonic effects. Defending against them would be harmful to the unmanifested sacrifice, but Loyalty in particular doesn't have any attacks, it just makes you faster and impossible to imprison or hinder... I guess one should not try to stand in the way of any charging knights while the sacrifice is unmanifested, but that's just common sense anyway."

Monotone snickering followed the mention of common sense.

Lady Death's horn begins to flicker. "The residue evaporates and spreads out. I guess this introduced some Equestrian Magic into this world, but it's a very small amount, unable to affect anything. You would have to introduce at least a hundred Terajoules to introduce any lasting changes to the world and this was just about four hundred joules and it's already harmlessly spreading out... faster than I thought, it's gone already. My own breath has more effect, that is none. The following rituals will be more carefully calibrated. Mh... Nothing else."

Edited 2015-08-13 06:37 (UTC)

"All right, then. The residue will be good for my Magic. As long as you're here, shall I de-age you?"

Lady Death takes a look at Sergeant Bloodcurdler, who has taken to situps. On the one hand that's a severe psychological reaction, on the other hand... It's Sergeant Bloodcurdler. "Yes." She answers simply. Going from a venerable fourty one to the prime of his youth had to be pretty elating.

Edited 2015-08-13 09:37 (UTC)

More crystals float over and form a ring around Lady Death. The glow lasts a little longer this time. When it fades Mozee sends the crystals back where they started, and they reattach to the others growing from the white cloud-stuff that makes up the ground.

"And that's you done."

On their own, ponies have a lifespan of about 35 years. But they are Magical Creatures of the highest order. With their Magic they can easily reach one hundred, earth ponies can live hundreds of years and Pony Princesses don't age at all. Smiling Swallow was one hundred and seventy four years old. Her body is amazingly decrepit. Really amazingly decrepit, so much that it shouldn't be able to survive, much less move on it's own. But necromantic energies infused her bones and helped her and her heart was assisted by intricate spellwork as well as her personal Magic. But now her body is whole. The Spells assisting her vital functions stop using up so much power, fill up and stop leeching power. The Magic flowed into her old limbs and found them mending on their own, her decaying organs turning whole and hale. And for the first time in fifty years he Magic doesn't have something to fix and can pool and fill up. Her Magic surges through her mind, through her Special Talent making everything come back into focus. Grandma Creepy staggered and fell to her knees...

Edited 2015-08-14 13:51 (UTC)

And Lady Death, Dread Necromanceress of the Skeleton Forest rose to her full height of two feet four and took in the room and her host, her horn shining with impossible unlight, noting every small detail of the foreign Magic and comparing it with absorbing the Ka. Her eyes' scelera turning a deep shining green, while dark purple smoke began pouring out of their edges. Magic thundered in her mind and her Special Talent begins noting how both procedures might be improved, combined, automated...

"Thank you very much, Master Mozee." She says in a soft, sibilant alto "I should have asked this earlier, but could you explain the workings of this spell in more detail?"

Edited 2015-08-14 17:29 (UTC)

"You're quite welcome. This is one of my most common spells, so my Magic is very well trained for it, especially that in the crystals. I hardly have to cast the spell anymore; I just tell the crystals to do their work, which is a combination of healing any damage or illness and returning the body to youth. Then the last step is removing the embellishments the magic added, as people tend not to want those. Some do like them, of course, and if either of you want" - with a glance at Sergeant Bloodcurdler - "I could easily replace them. Or change your shape more drastically, for that matter."

Edited 2015-08-16 04:20 (UTC)

"Ohhh, can you make me super strong? Or really big? Or a cat! Or a Diamond Dog! Oh! Oh, a DRAGON!"

Lady Death looks slightly alarmed. "You do know that I plan to de-age Dandelion too? And I doubt she would appreciate to be turned into a Dragon or indeed if you were turned into a Dragon."

The mouse thinks about this a little, then shrugs. "Okay. She'd probably tell me I'm a cheater and never..." Lady death's horn lights up and she says "Ahem." "...tongue again." The mouse finished, the part in between mysteriously unintelligible.

"She's such a prude sometimes." The monotone comments. "I guess she's spend too much time with Dragons and their whole shaming nonsense."

"Any further augmentations I will conduct in my own time. Since you can use my Magic I wonder if I could learn to use yours?"

Edited 2015-08-17 18:47 (UTC)

Mozee nods. "If you do want to be another species from your world, I could likely do that, but much better if I had an example.

"I don't see why you couldn't learn to use my kind of magic the same as anyone from here might, but even at the Modge it can take twenty years to make a Cloud of one's own. It would take far longer if I just gave you a Seed to start with. What your magic could do with it, though, I couldn't guess."

"Well," Lady Death begins with a smile, "I do have the time for it now, even if it is probably more prudent for now to focus on the many low hanging fruit the Forum provides. I'll gladly take your Seed with me to study. It wouldn't interfere with visiting the Modge later, will it? Also I thought more along the lines of any Books you would be willing to lend me on the subject, in order to allow me to find ways to exploit the obvious synergies between Magics." Her eyes lid a fraction of a centimetre and her tail starts swishing. "I would of course glady use those synergies and my own powers to compensate you for your trouble, or really help you any other way you might desire."
There's a second of silence while Lady Death meets Mozee's eyes. "Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Hi. Ho. Ho. Ho. Ho. Ho. Ho. Enunciates the monotone in a flat, measured cadence. It does not stop.

Edited 2015-08-18 10:36 (UTC)

Mozee ignores the monotone. Firmly.

"I suppose I ought to talk with some Sorcerers at the Modge before giving you magic. Books, though, I'm sure I could find."

The 'laughter' has now become annoying. Mozee turns slightly to the side and says, "Do stop that."

She turns back to Lady Death. "Mr. Fluffles was adding unnecessary commentary. In any case, I'm afraid I don't wish for any help."

The laughter stops. Lady Death turns orange and her horn flares black. The first rosebush and Sergeant Bloodcurdler arrive before her, Sergeant's gem shining and a second rosebush appearing. She swipes her hoof across all of them. There's a whooshing snap, like a shower of sparks hitting water at speed and about two more Jules of Magic dissipating around Mozee and the Sergeant each.

Lady Death turns to him, more than a little mortified. "I must apologize for my familiar, he means well... sometimes. Well, then. I appreciate it. I can understand wanting to reach your goals on your own. If you want some books on Equestrian, er Harmony Magic, no wait... well, my world's magic in return, I can sacrifice some to you when I am home again."

Edited 2015-08-18 19:28 (UTC)

"I would welcome the books on your magic, yes. As for books for you, I'm sure there are some at the Modge I could copy. Can you bring them back with you without interfering with your spell, or else receive them when you sacrifice the books to me?"

"I can send a large number of objects with a single ritual as long as I have a short while to think of a good enough verse with object name, descriptor of why it's a Dread Sacrifice and selfish purpose for them. Mh..." She thinks for a second.

"'This Book of the Dark Arts shall give you new power.' should be okay for almost every book, especially if you copy them with the intent to give them to a Dread Necromanceress."

Her smile is back at this point and her horn glowed again. This time her Magic was a pale, pure blue. A tiny blue crystal made of pure concentrated Magic starts to grow in front of her.

"It's been a while since I've been able to make one of these.", she said with laughter in her voice, "I can prepare the spell ahead of time, allowing you to send objects to willing recipients, as long as you can think of a valid verse."

She then takes a case out of her armor, takes one of the hundreds of folded silk cloths out of it and unfolds it on the floor. It contains a big diagram of many complex runes, circles and straight lines. Lady Death draws another, bigger circle around this diagram, attaches a small circle with a few runes to it and starts connecting the big circle to the diagram in many places.

Then she takes out a piece of paper and starts writing at a furious pace. She turns back to Mozee and gives him a little piece of red dyed wood. "Place this on that gap in the circle here to complete the diagram, call to the being you wish to send something to in prayer and identify it uniquely, best to do it in reference to yourself."

She smirks ruefully.

"For while there might be lots of Mothers of the Stars there is probably only one or two you met. Well, you can leave it ambiguous if you wish to contact random people, but that might be very dangerous. Then place the hot ashes of a virgin, make sure none of the flowers have bloomed, but are just about to, on this part of the circle and recite 'The hot ashes of a virgin, burned just before her prime, shall power this rite, they shall call you, [being who I've identified uniquely].' Then you need to place whatever you want to send here and recite a verse that names the object, says why it's a dread sacrifice and gives a selfish use the recipient can make of it. You will also be able to talk to them until you either have taken back the sacrifices or remove the piece of wood from the circle." She then gives the paper containing exactly these instructions back to Mozee. "You need a new virgin for every recipient. Or for every seal you want to pierce if you use the original purpose..."

When she is done the glow around her horn intensifies and the crystal starts to grow a little faster.

Mozee has been watching closely. An edge of her robe wraps around the piece of wood and the paper, which then vanish.

"Oh, this is very interesting. It will only work the once, do I have that right? And would there be any problems if I make the sacrificial plants myself, rather than them growing naturally? Also, as for taking back the sacrifices, can that be done using this Spell?"

"No. You would have to be contacting the sacrifices physically, meaning they would have to come to you some other way. To end the spell you'd need to remove the piece of wood." She inspects the room more closely and lets a whisper of her magic flow over the cloud. "You might have to let the flowers grow for a few days after making them... at least make them without buds, let the buds form naturally, so it can be said to 'nearly bloom.' Purple loosestrife is best suited for quick deployment, but it won't count as a virgin for very long, you would have to watch the plant and then would only have an hour's window or two. I am handy with rosebushes. Remove the dirt from the roots and submerge it in distilled ice water and the bloom will stay closed for nearly a week."

She shakes the growing crystal in front of her. "This will currently suffice for four castings and I can keep growing it until I am just about to leave."

Edited 2015-08-21 16:16 (UTC)

Mozee nods. "My thanks, sundrop. I can imagine this being helpful for sending bits of my Magic to other worlds, assuming the two magics don't interfere with each other, but it doesn't appear that they do. Would a phrase as simple as 'This bit of Dark Magic shall feed your power' work for that?"

"It should suffice. Unless you actually want to pierce a seal the phrase doesn't matter, it's just a matter of how much power the sacrifice might yield if they do try to consume it." She thinks a while longer.

Her eyes widen.

"Your Magic is yours in a way, isn't it? Also it lets other Magic assimilate." Her ears stand straight into the air and her speech begins to quicken. "If I tweak the ritual a really good phrase might even allow the recipient to make it their own and use it as if it was theirs to begin with."

Her tail twitches and she begins to paw at the ground. "We might be able to use it to graft more Equestrian Magic into a beings soul!" She beams. "That's another avenue of immortality right there! Over the Millennia we might even make me a Pony Princess!" Here she rears up a little and performs several hoofy-kicks.

Edited 2015-08-21 19:36 (UTC)

"I would be able to transfer my own Magic to someone else fairly well simply by tuning it to them, but I won't be giving away much of my Magic in any case. What would grafting Equestrian Magic into someone's soul do? Other than turning you into a Pony Princess, which sounds like a fine thing."

She calms down a little. "Ahem." She says.

Celestia, when will that stupid cough syrup finally wear off?

"Well, normally grafting Magic onto a soul is extremely dangerous. The Magic will continue to be the donor's Magic and if you create it through a dark ritual it will be Dark Magic. But Magic IS the soul, so the resulting being's Soul will be an amalgam of the donor and the recipient and not really the same being. There are artifacts that amplify your Magic, but they all have a negative effect on your mind, slowly allowing the creator to take over your mind. Channeling Dark Magic can corrupt the weak willed, it's a spiral of positive reinforcement drawing them to cruelty after cruelty, grafting it onto your soul would make your very existence an uphill struggle." Lady Death lectures as her horn goes back to it's inky black unglow, her eyes smoky... She notices this and the Magic snaps back to blue.

"But as you said, you can tune Magic to a being. Equestrian Magic tunes itself freely to yours, falling in line, becoming no one's in particular and still not evaporating. If you would then gift it onto someone else they could put it into their soul without it having any negative effect, as it's not really shaped like Equestrian Magic anymore. You could thus strengthen a Pony's Magic, maybe even until they exalt to Princessdom." Here she pauses and contemplates for a moment.

"You would however need a tremendous amount of Magic. It would indeed take Millennia... or Harmony itself taking an interest in me, which, if I gift Ka to everyone in Equestria who needs them, might actually happen.", she finishes with a little squee.

Edited 2015-08-21 20:15 (UTC)

"I... see," says Mozee. "Would it be Dark Magic that turns your horn black, then? I don't like the sound of my Magic preparing any other magic to be someone's soul. It likely would clean it of any past effects, but it would shape it more like my Magic, which is far from safe to make up anyone's soul. The embellishments it adds are quite harmless in most cases, but too unpredictable for anything like a mind or a soul."

Edited 2015-08-22 04:31 (UTC)

She nods at the first question. Then her ears take a nosedive. "Oh, my, that is bad. That is really bad, because I can't detect them. At least not yet. Well, it did seem too good to be true. Maybe you could explain a little more about these embellishments?"

Mozee does so, which leads to more questions, and the two of them discuss various aspects of their magics until Lady Death leaves.

By the time she leaves the crystal is fist sized and can power over three thousand rituals. She fuses it to the silken diagram to test it.

A quick fireball later she prays to her cat and vanishes in a puff of Dark Magic.

"Celestia's Teats." The monotone exclaims. "You actually look ho-" "Goodbye, Master Mozee." it cuts off.

Edited 2015-08-22 12:57 (UTC)

HEAR ME, OH MOZEE I'VE FOUND ON THE FORUM!

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YOUNG!

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