"...That's a lot of paper swans."
"Indeed, I didn't believe that the servant would go through that much effort, a simple paper boat would have sufficed. Especially since I recall the one I asked to do this was an earth pony."
Blinking, I sat on my rear as I raised my forehooves before my face, my eyes wide as I looked at them then back at the paper swan mass. "They must teach me," I uttered out, as Luna flicked an ear before turning her head to look at me.
Taking on an expression that one takes when they see adorable kittens, Luna stated, "Aw... aren't you precious," which caused me give her a deadpanned look, turning her expression into a neutral one as a result. We were at the castle library, where Luna decided to have my magic lessons there instead of the suite. Though why the change of scenery, I have no idea yet, but I'm betting my money that she has some kind of plot in mind. If only I could read minds.
After our little staring contest, I glanced back at the swans as I commented, "I take it that these are here to help me with my fine control with my magic, correct?"
Nodding, Luna said, "Clever as always, my daughter. Before we can proceed with your magic lessons, I want you to be able to lift one of these paper swans and move it as such," as she lit her horn up, lifting a swan up into the air before she swirl it about, sending from one side of the table to the next, and even tossing it into the air, letting out of it for a moment before catching it a foot before it crashed into the ground.
"Huh, that would be a good way to teach me control... this is going to take a while," I stated, causing Luna to raise an eyebrow at me.
"Surely it wouldn't take you too long to get a handle on this," Luna countered, to which I just shook my head at her before lighting up my horn.
"One hundred and forty-two swans, I can't believe it took you that many swans to learn fine control."
"Guess I'm more suit for physical matters than magical ones," I said as I eyed the crumpled mess before me, including a few that got set on fire by me using too much magic. Guess it was a good thing that the servant made so many paper swans for me to practice on.
"Well, since your control is more refined, we can move onto seeing if your magic has any areas that you could specialize in. Hence, I have brought a ser—" Luna started to say as she lifted a stack of books with her magic before I decided to interrupt her.
"Space."
Frowning, Luna set the books down as she looked at me. "What did you say?"
"I said space," I calmly answered, as I looked at one of the swans. If I was able to regain my flashstep ability, maybe my lift ability has returned by now, I thought to myself as I concentrated on one of the swans, feeling my dimensional energy flowing through me.
"...And what makes you think that your magic is orientated towards space?" Luna asked, skepticism thick in her voice as I lifted a foreleg, feeling my energy going to my targeted swan. With a flick of my hoof, the swan was engulfed in a purplish aura as it went up into the air before is simply spun about in the air, as Luna glanced at the floating swan. "What are you trying to d—wait a minute," Luna started to say before she saw that my horn wasn't glowing with my magic. This prompted her to head over to the floating swan, where she closely inspect the swan before her own horn lit up in her magic. It didn't take long before her pupils widen with surprise as she exclaimed, "Astounding, this swan isn't being affected by gravity! It's like it's in..." before her eyes drifted back towards me.
"Space," was my reply, as I stared at her, as my trick on the swan worn off, allowing it to fall to the ground. "Also, no, it's not magic, it's a trick like my flashstep."
After a moment of silence where Luna was staring at me, she shook her head before she smiled at me, with one of those eerie smiles that reminded me of Pinkie's oddest smiles. "What a fortunate turn of events! To have a child whose magic may be linked to space, it is destiny for us to be mother and daughter!" Luna declared as she actually skipped to a bookcase, looking it over before she suddenly frowned to herself. "How inconvenient."
"What's the matter?" I asked as I watched her pull a few books off the shelves before placing it on my desk.
"Sadly, there isn't many materials related to spatial magic. It appears that even during my absence, there haven't been many forays into that field," Luna answered as she levitated the few books she had gathered and placed them on my desk as I took a seat. Looking at the first book, the cover read Star Gazer's Theoretical Spells on Spatial Magic.
"Well, this doesn't bode well," I commented as Luna nodded in agreement.
"While it is a shame that you don't have much material to aid you in the pursuit of spatial magic, I myself will be able to aid you in that pursuit. Just give me some time to figure out a curriculum for teaching spatial magic, since it's not a subject that is brought up often. Are you certain about pursuing that path?"
"I'm certain," I answered, as I opened the book out of curiosity, looking at the table of contents, only to raise my eyebrows in surprise as I saw the letters moving around on the page.
"Very well then, give me some time to mull things over," Luna said as she looked at the chalkboard, tapping her chin in thought.
"Yes, mother," was my simple response, my attention on the page, for I seen this trick before. It was a style of communication between Dimensional Lords and their agents when we want some level of privacy with the communication. It only took a moment before the shifting letters formed a message before my eyes.
Dear Nebula,
Blinking at the introduction of the letter, I softly tapped the back of my head, wondering if somepony decided to bug me, hence already learning about my new name. Finding nothing, I shrugged it off before returning my attention to the letter.
As you probably discovered by now, you haven't died, instead you have assumed a new form. To address any possible questions you may have, due to the fact that your death came after the death of the foe that slain you, your dimensional energy remained with your soul. As you know, there must always be seventeen lords, and without a replacement for your position, your energy instead created a new form for your body. However, doing so takes time, time that allows your essence to drift across the dimensions, hence why you reformed on the world you're currently on. Furthermore, your energy took a template of one of the strongest species of this world for your new form, hence why you now possess a new form.
Knowing your past, I doubt that any of that is a concern for you, hence I will move onto something that may be relevant to you. Due to your efforts in vanquishing the Propagator and his vile race, and the fact that you have survived, we have deemed that you deserve a period of rest. Hence, you will be given fifty system cycles of rest, with no obligations to your duties, which will be covered by your fellow peers and their agents. Furthermore, we will allow you to possess domination over the world you are on, and we will safeguard the rest that are currently in your dominion, even though you only offer your protection to them. Finally, no one will issue a challenge to your position, so you will remain as the fifth in our ranks.
The First.
Raising my eyebrows, I was surprised to see that the First actually took note of things. Being the most powerful and oldest, he is normally an enigma to the rest of us, only gathering us and ordering us around for interdimensional issues that are our responsibility to attend to. Otherwise, he just leaves us to our own devices, normally staying out of our infighting unless one of us challenges him for his position, which the last one occurred over ten thousand cycles ago, or so I heard.
As the page returned to normal, I peeked at Luna, only to see her still lost in thought as she floated a scroll and quill before her, jotting down what I assumed are plans for my education. Looking back down at the book, I saw that the table of contents is back, causing me to run down my hoof at the spells with supposed effects. Boring, don't need that, already have a trick for th—oh? What do we have here... I thought to myself before coming across a spell for spatial fusion. Looking at the page number it was located on, I flipped over to said page and started reading. Narrowing my eyes, I could see that while the pony behind this spell had the right calculations on some parts, I could recognize errors that left the spell as theoretical, as well as the fact that casting this spell would require a lot of energy. Thankfully, I had energy and innate spatial knowledge that comes with being a Dimensional Lord, though it disturbed me that all the knowledge just got stuffed into my head the moment I gained that position. Yet, it is also highly convenient for the job, or when one wants to be mischevious.
Thankfully, I was provided with my own quills and scrolls, though it took a few tries figuring out how to use the quill properly without making a mess. Writing down the spell along with the corrections needed, I grinned at the idea of testing this spell out. It's one thing to mess with pony's heads by stashing random stuff around the castle or playing pranks, but this is something new for me. Thankfully, the spell came with precautions, so it's harmless in a way. I even had a pair of ponies in mind that I think would be excellent volunteers for testing out this spell, after I tested it on some objects first of course.
Glancing at Luna as I finished my work, I could see her still planning things out, though now she was working on a scroll that was long enough that part of it was on the ground. However, before I could make a comment about that, her head suddenly sprung up, causing me to blink as she declared, "I have lost track of time, the time to set the moon is near."
Quirking an eyebrow, I started to ask, "Wait, how di—" when suddenly a rather loud, young male voice screamed out in horror.
"What in Faust's name... was that Chrono screaming? Why would he... wait..." Luna said as she turned her towards my direction, narrowing my eyes at me.
Rolling up my scrolls, I just gave her an awkward smile as I said, "Heh heh, I know what you're thinking, so I'll be honest. It was a harmless prank, something that would take only a few baths to clean up." Her eyes narrowing to just slits, I rubbed a hoof behind the back of the head as I said, "If it helps, Pinkie did all the work, I just came up with the idea."
"It doesn't," Luna replied behind gritted teeth.
"Well... umm... horseapples... I really should have thought this out further."