Celestia lead me down a hallway with more murals. I had little faith that I wouldn’t be punished for what I’d done. Lifetime dungeon? Hung in the gallows? I had no idea what she had in mind. I just hoped it would be quick and painless. My head hung low as I followed the Princess… Outside? We’d walked out into her gardens, which, though strikingly beautiful and obviously well cared-for, confused me. Wasn’t I being punished?
“Uh… Princess Celestia?” I asked with trepidation. How should I phrase this? “I’d, uh, like to know what my punishment is going to be…”
“There will be no punishment.”
“W-what?”
“Your… Episode was not your fault, mostly. Discord has a knack for angering people, which you’ve just found out. That, combined with your apparent lack of Magic training, would have been more than enough to set you off. I was actually surprised you lasted so long.
I did my best not to take that as an insult.
“During your rage, I noticed the nature of your magic.” Celestia continued. “It seems your magic has a rather heated, energetic manner. Twilight’s magic is more based around changing the nature of things, manipulating things. Yours… It seems to be rather bluntly powerful. It accumulates rapidly, builds up until it bursts. Your anger was a vent for the gathering energy. You were unable to be touched when you were unconscious. The magical energy burned anyone who tried.”
“Wait a second- My anger sparks a magical explosion. So when Discord said I’m like a bomb-”
“He was being quite literal.”
I let this sink in. I was essentially a bomb that could be set off if I was looked at wrong. I could seriously end up hurting someone, somepony, whatever. I could have ended up killing Lyra, or Twilight, maybe even the princess. I put everyone around me in danger.
“Oh God…” I said, feeling queasy. “I think I’m going to be sick…”
I vomited into a nearby bush. Only bile. I must have been out for a while if I’d already digested. I waited for the nausea to pass and wiped off my mouth with my sweatshirt sleeve before looking back up at the Alicorn.
“I can’t be near anyone… I don’t want to end up hurting people… I have to leave everyone.” I said darkly.
“Ian. I know you’re not comfortable with this… magical volcano inside you,” the princess consoled me. “But I may have a solution that doesn’t involve total solitude.”
“What? Suicide?” I asked.
“What’s ‘Suicide’?”
“Never mind… What was your plan?”
“We have many treasures in the castle, magical and rare. One of our treasures draws magical energy and disperses it in a slow, safe way.” The Princess explained.
“A magical disperser…? You mean, it would draw out the excess magic and let it flow out harmlessly?”
“Exactly. Though, it drains all the magical energy while worn, so magic is basically inaccessible to you.”
“Not a problem. It’s been nothing but a burden so far.”
“There is one more thing…”
“What? I don’t have any bits or anything, so I don’t know exactly how to pay for it.” I said, remembering my lack of wealth.
“No, not money. I will have to take it back at some point. It would be wise for you to learn magic so that by then, you can control it.” Celestia said.
“Is that all? Fine then. I’ll learn magic, but who’d teaching me? You? Am I going to study it on my own?” I asked.
“No, I won’t be teaching you, and no, learning on your own is never a good idea,” Celestia said. “You know that Twilight Sparkle is one of my students, right?”
“I do now. Why?”
“I’m going to have her tutor you.”
That was… unexpected. I didn’t know how to react at first. I knew so little about her that I could have come off as rude, or overly excited.
“Uh… Okay then? Why her though?
“She lives in Ponyville, so she’s nearby. She has a rather large amount of books on magic because she works at the library. She herself is very adept at using magic. It seems like a natural choice.” The princess elaborated.
After hearing why, it did seem to make sense. There was little reason not to have her as teacher.
“That… does make a lot of sense.” I said slowly. “Does she already know?”
“Yes, I talked it over with her while you were unconscious.”
“Hey… that’s right. Which one of you guys did that?” I asked, groundlessly miffed at the tranquilizer spell being used on me. (I also wanted to know who to ask about learning it.)
“That would be I. If I hadn’t, your little rampage could have torn the castle down.”
“Right… I’m, uh, really sorry about all that… I’ve always had a habit of letting my anger get the best of me, even back home.” I apologized sheepishly.
“Its fine, the damage was minor and easily mended.”
I took one last look at the garden before turning back to Celestia, asking “When do we get the dispersing thing?”
“We should go get it right now, in case Discord comes back soon. I sent him off to keep him from further antagonizing you when you awoke.”
I followed next to the Princess back down the castle’s hallways. We came across the group of guards and my friends, who’d been worried about the Princess and I respectively. One aimed a pike at me, but the princess told them I was no danger at the moment. He backed off, but they still stood close by us.
Twilight and Lyra had a million questions (I am getting SO tired of answering these ponies.), which I did my best to answer.
Lyra walked uncomfortably close to me, so I’d step to the side. She’d follow. I fell back. She fell back too. She was being unusually clingy and close. Maybe this was normal for her? I didn’t know.
Whatever the case, we arrived at a guarded door, which the Princess and Twilight were allowed through, but we were not. Apparently they still didn’t trust me, which I suppose I understood. Lyra didn’t want to leave me behind. We waited for about three minutes, and they returned. Twilight was holding a Silver bracelet in her mouth. It was entirely plain, other than a Small diamond inlaid into it.
“This is the disperser, Ian. It’s going to drain and disperse your magical energy. It can only be taken off by the one who puts it on. Ian, if you’d allow Twilight to put it on?” Celestia said. “I’d prefer if she were the one who’d take it on and off, because-”
“I get it, you don’t trust me. I wouldn’t either. Go ahead.” I said shortly.
I tried not to imagine it as anything weird, like an engagement ring or anything. It technically wasn’t even a gift. It was awkward enough as it is.
When it was on, it clamped down and seemed to shrink until there was no way I could get it off even if I wanted to. The Diamond turned a deep shade of Blue, similar to my fur. Everything seemed less vivid, as if the magical withdrawal was affecting my physical abilities.
“Right, so now no more explosions?”
“No more, unless one happens when I take it off.” Twilight said.
“It looks nice.” Lyra commented. “So no magic then? Kinda like your world?”
“I guess so.” I said. “I’m glad I can’t, it’s been nothing but trouble so far for me.”
“Well, now that that’s settled, we should get going.” Twilight said. “The train leaves soon. Goodbye Celestia, I’ll write to you soon!”
Twilight and Lyra walked off, but Celestia held me back for a moment.
“Ian. I may have forgotten to mention this earlier, but the magic that Twilight teaches you is the ONLY magic you’re supposed to learn. You’re not to do any independent study, is that clear?” Her tone made it clear that she was absolutely serious.
“Uh, Yes Mam… Princess… Your highness…” This was the first time I was scared of her.
“Okay then. You can go now.”
I did my closest approximation of a bow, then ran to catch up to my friends. They’d waited for me at the entrance.
“What did Celestia want?” Lyra asked.
“Uh… Nothing. She just wanted to say good luck, and, uh, stuff.” I am a terrible liar after being scared.
Thankfully, neither of them seemed to notice. We headed back to the train, and soon after departure, I remembered something- I’d still lost my phone.
“Oh, dammit!” I exclaimed softly as I checked my pockets.
“What?” Lyra asked.
“I forgot my phone…”
“This thing?” She held it up to me. Where she pulled it from, I’ll never know.
“Yes, thank y-” She pulled it back. “… Can I have it back?”
“Maybe.” She swung her legs from the seat. She was flipping through my files. How did she guess my genius password? (Then again, I suppose 'PasswordIan' isn't very difficult.)
“Hey, come on, give it back Lyra.”
“In a minute, I’m looking at stuff.”
Then she came up on the file. It was clearly labeled “DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES OPEN”, but she did it anyway.
“Give it back!” I snatched it out of her hooves.
“Who was that person?” Lyra Inquired. It was too late. She saw her.
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“About what?” Twilight walked back into the car we were on. She’d gone to talk to the ticket checker pony.
“About the person on his Phone.”
“Oh? Can I see?”
“No.”
“Why not?” Twilight asked.
“Because.”
“Because what?” Lyra asked.
“Because she’s dead.”
Lyra and Twilight shut up. Twilight levitated it from my grip and looked. (Damn magic, letting people- Ponies do whatever they want.)
It was my girlfriend, Sarah. It was the last time I’d seen her. We’d headed down to the docks and gone for a ride with some friends on a boat with their dad. A storm blew in out of no-where, and… Bye bye Sarah. There were search parties for days. She was never found. It was over a month ago. I still was getting over it.
“Who…?” Lyra began.
“My Girlfriend. She fell off a boat. Never found her.” I said sullenly.
There was silence accept for the sounds of the train. I got up, snatched my phone from Twilight, and headed back a couple cars to an empty one. I wanted to be alone. It was late by now, the moon had risen. I shoved my phone in my pocket. I didn’t want to think about her. Not now, not ever. It never ended well. Sarah was gone, no changing it. I lay down on one of the benches and fell asleep.
Waking up on a train because it stops. Not recommended. I slammed into the seat in front of me. It was still late, or possibly early morning. I stood up, stretched out a bit, and moved up the train to where the Girls were. Both were already awake, or still awake. I didn’t know.
“Good morning…” I stifled a yawn.
“Oh… Hi Ian. About last night-” Lyra started.
“Forget about it, okay?”
“Right. Well, we’d better get off before the train starts moving again.” Twilight said, walking out the door.
Lyra and I followed onto the platform. We walked back into town, and then I realized: I still hadn’t asked Twilight about when the first lesson would be.
“Hey, Twilight,” I said. “The Princess said you’d teach me magic, so when this gets taken off for good, I can control it… When is the first lesson?”
“Oh, right. I have some time in the afternoon, around three. Okay?” She replied.
“I’ve got no plans.” I said.
“Alright, I’ll see you then.”
Twilight departed for her home, and I went with Lyra back to her house.
“So, tomorrow, you might want to look for work somewhere.” Lyra said suddenly.
“Yeah, I’d been thinking the same thing,” I said. “But I don’t know where to start. Know anyone who could be hiring?”
“AppleJack is looking to hire somepony to help on her farm.” Lyra said.
“Where does she live?”
“Southwest of here. It’s not hard to find.”
I remembered something about farmers waking up early. I thought about heading there now, but that would just end up very, very awkward. I haven’t even met her, and I’m not great at first meetings with ponies, if my past few are anything to go by. I also know that knocking on someone’s door at night often ends up with the person being chased off with a bat, my brother has tried it. I’d be better off meeting with her later in the day than at this hour.
We arrived at Lyra’s house, and went inside. Bon-Bon was still probably asleep, so we were quiet. Lyra went up to her room with a quiet ‘Goodnight’ and I was downstairs. I was reminded greatly of the morning before. Hard to believe so much could happen in twenty-four hours.
I was still tired, despite my rest on the train. I lay down on the couch and fell asleep, hoping I wouldn’t be awoken in the same manner as the last time.