The elder batpony curled his lips up into what felt like a sneer, inhaling sharply through his nostrils. "The art of sorcery does not agree with us, unicornio, not as the magic does with jour kind. This is why a heavy price is paid with our bodies. Ten are born under the eclipse: five die before they have been weaned from the milk of their mothers, and then two more are lost to the Shadows while trying to learn to harness the magic. Aldonza, Rocinante, Ignacio -- these three names have stood together, with no others, since we reached the age of twelve."