//------------------------------// // Beats is Strange and Magic Exchange // Story: The New Guy // by SilverWind102 //------------------------------// Silver watched Beats go through his movements, eyeing him curiously. The stallion stood on his hind legs like always, his headphones covering his ears. The wolf could hear the music blasting away from the device, some of the magic carrying with the sound. Silver's body tensed a little from the spells, but nothing felt significant. However, the fact that the magic was able to even travel that far was quite surprising. Vinyl had done a magnificent job weaving the spells into the songs. Of course, that also meant the amount of magic intensified the closer you got. So if Silver could feel the affects of the enhancement spells from a few yards away, then Beats must have been under an incredible amount of force at the moment. The wolf studied the stallion closer. Ever since he'd seen Beats the first time, he'd been more than little curious about him, mostly because of the speed he heals at. Silver wouldn't deny, his healing factor was incredible. After taking a whooping from Ruppy, not only did he survive, but his body literally started repairing itself the moment the attacks stopped. When Beats walked into the living room that day after being tied up, Silver realized his face had already healed a noticeable amount since Ruppy and Onyx had first dragged him in. It was almost like high-speed regeneration. THUD Silver was brought out of his speculations when Beats fell back, collapsing onto the ground in heavy pants, his headphones falling off his ears. “You done now?” Silver called over. Beats looked up to see the wolf sitting on the path that lead back to the porch. Giving a weak nod, the stallion managed to roll himself over onto his stomach. He grabbed the headphones and shut off the music. “How long have you been there?” Beats asked. Silver shrugged, “A few minutes. Impressive endurance though. Most ponies, or anyone for that matter, that use those Enhancement spells can't move for at least the next hour. But not you.” The wolf ended his sentence with a hint of curiosity in his voice. “Well, I guess I'm not like most then,” Beats retorted, raising himself off the ground and shuffling over to his duffle bag to grab a bottle of water. “No...it would seem you're not...” Silver agreed, moving closer to the stallion, “Tell me Beats, how many times have you run through the play list on your headphones today?” “The whole thing?” Beats asked, earning a nod from the wolf, “Um, I'd say at least two times now.” “And how many songs are on there?” “About a hundred and twenty. Why?” Silvers eyes went wide, an expression the stallion had never seen before on his face. “A hundred and twenty songs?!” he exclaimed, “two times?! Non-stop!?” “Well no, I took a break after every twenty songs or so.” Silvers brows knitted together as he cocked his head to the side. He started to pace around the stallion in circles, eyeing him closely as he'd been doing early. Beats actually lifted a leg and hid his underside. “It's not that I'm not flattered, but I don't swing that way. Besides, I think the Princesses would be very upset if they found out,” the stallion said with a nervous chuckle. Silver either didn't hear him or didn't care enough to respond, as he completely ignored Beats' comment, “Are...are you sure you're a pony?” the wolf stopped his circles, and actually giving the stallion a poke in the side. Beats flinched away at the contact, lowering his raised leg and raised a brow, “Um...yes.” “....Huh....” Silver hummed, still examining him. After a few moments, he shook himself out of his stupor, “Alright, I got nothing. Do me a favor though, when you get the chance, go see Star Shine and tell her about your regiment.” “Can I ask why?” “Because Beats, the fact that you can play through those spells for twenty songs without a break shouldn't be possible. Hell, even I don't think I could do that. Those spells put an unbelievable amount of strain on the body, which is why I have you doing body conditioning.” “So...is it a bad thing?” he asked, putting his bottle back in the bag and picking it up. “Not really,” Silver answered as he turned and began walking down the path to the house, the stallion beside him, “Just a bit weird.” “I'm pretty sure everyone in this guard is weird.” Silver chuckled, “Yeah, you've got a point there.” “Speaking of which,” Beats remembered, “How's Onyx? Her hangover seemed pretty bad earlier.” “Ah, you uh...you saw that, huh?” “I happened to catch her when she darted to the bathroom to puke. Poor mare. I didn't even know she was drinking last night.” “Yeah, none of us did.” “She's still sick,” Silver replied, “Though she should be better. But I haven't been able to see her much today. I was going to check on her when we got back. Care to tag along?” Beats thought for a moment, then shrugged, “Sure, but I can't stay for long. I have to go get Scoots from school soon.” “School?” Silver questioned, “She's still there? The sun is already setting.” “She stays for tutoring and has a project she needs to research. She'll probably stop by the library sometime soon too.” Silver sighed, his head dropping a little as is shook with sympathy, “Poor filly. I can barely remember my school days. Of course that's probably because of the repeated blows to the head, but what I do remember was sitting in a room for an hour and a half, then switching to another room and sitting in there for another hour and a half. Four times, we had to switch. Four damn times.” The two soon reached the steps of the back porch and climbed up to go in, cutting Silvers complaints short. Through the glass, they could see Onyx and Luna sitting on the couch watching T.V. “Well it looks like she's feeling a little better,” Beats commented as he slid the door open. The mares eyes fell to the two walking in. “Hey girls,” Silver greeted with a smile....until he caught the look in Luna's eyes. Their gaze's remained locked for a moment, but broke as she turned her attention to the stallion. “Beats,” Luna said with a simple nod, “I know you just came in, but I need a moment with Onyx and Silver. Would you mind?” It would seem even he caught the small tension between the two as his eyes flicked between them. “Uh, sure. I shouldn't keep Scoots waiting anyway,” he excused as he moved to the door, his pace noticeably faster than before, “See you guys tomorrow,” he said, and shut the door behind him. Silver sighed, moving to sit in front of the couch, “Am I in trouble again?” Luna looked at him. He could tell she wasn't angry, but aside from that, he couldn't decipher what was running through her head. “Silver,” she began, “Why didn't you tell me?” The wolf raised a brow, “Tell you what?” “About Onyx's room. And please, don't say 'what about Onyx's room?'” The wolf sighed once more, “I'm guessing you showed her?” he asked, looking at the smaller mare. Her ears were pinned back, a small blush on her cheeks and her eyes refusing to meet his. “I...I didn't want to keep secrets anymore,” she explained, “I remember what you said to me last night...or at least some of it. That...that we're family. So I showed her my room.” Luna nodded, “Yes, and what I would like to know is why you, Silver, didn't tell me sooner?” “I told you this morning, I wanted to give her privacy.” “Giving her privacy is one thing Silver, but drinking herself into a blackout to forget a mistake that wasn't even that big an issue is just self-destructive. It can't just be ignored.” Onyx actually pulled back a little at the comment. It wasn't that she was wrong, it was just...you know, the truth hurts a little. “You should have told us Silver,” Luna continued, “You told her we're family, didn't you?” It was Silvers turn to pull back. Just as Onyx did, his ears fell flat and his eyes broke away from hers. “I...I know...” he admitted, “I meant to tell you and Twilight, but when I realized she didn't remember anything from last night, I wasn't sure what to do. It was stupid, I know, and I'm sorry.” Luna sighed, “Honestly, there are more secrets between the two of you than there are in my sister's diary.” Stepping off the couch, she walked over and stood in front of Silver. Picking his chin up with a hoof and turning his head to face her, she placed a small peck on his lips. “And don't worry, I'm not mad at you. I'm just a little worried for Onyx is all,” she smiled at him, “But you will be helping her buy a new vanity. The old one is busted now.” Silver breathed a sigh of relief, “I can live with that,” he answered, leaning past the alicorn to view Onyx, still sitting on the couch, “What about you? Care to go shopping with your Papa?” And for the first time since he came in, Onyx looked him in the eyes, a bright cheery smile forming on her face and her cheeks adorned with a hint of rosy blush. “Yes, please.” Luna looked back and faced Onyx, “And you will not be allowed to drink unsupervised from now on.” The unicorn's smile dropped. “What?!” Onyx exclaimed, “B-but, but--” “Ah-ah!” Luna cut her off, holding up a hoof, “Until I'm sure you won't be doing something like this again, I don't want you to drink alone. I know this might bother you, but in case you hadn't noticed, you tend to act a little out of character when you're drinking like that. I just don't want you to make a mistake and hurt yourself, or somepony else.” Onyx went to argue, but stopped. She could remember a few times when she'd vented by drinking before and woke up with some cuts and bruises. Some of them she remember how she got. Others, to this day, still remain a mystery. So, with a defeated sigh, Onyx nodded. “Good,” Luna grinned, turning back to Silver, “Now that that's settled, I believe Onyx had something else she wanted to ask you about.” Silver looked down at the alicorn for a moment, then back at Onyx, cocking his head, “What's up?” “O-oh, um...I know you might not like it, but could I go through some of the enchanted gems you have?” Silver raised a brow and hummed for a second, “What for?” “It's for something I want to do with my blades. You know, forming my style.” “Oooh...” he responded, stopping for a moment to ponder, “Hmmm, follow me,” he finished, standing up and heading over to the hall. Onyx quickly slipped off the couch and trotted behind him, Luna just after her. Silver led them down the stairs to the second floor, leading them to the second door on the right. In truth, every door looked the exact same, so the only way to remember which door held which contents was by their location. Silver stopped in front of the door, then evaporated. Both mares paused and looked around for a moment, only to have the door unlock and open from the inside moments later. “It only unlocks from the inside?” Onyx asked. “Well, that's one way to do it,” he commented, then allowed them to enter. Upon stepping in, the two found the room to be filled with stones. Many were on shelves going all around the room, while others were in chests on the floor. Some were open, others locked tight with thick chains and more than likely had spells placed on them. In the center of the room was a circular wooden table, and on it sat a thick book. “Alright,” Silver announced with a wave of his wings around the room, “You can use any of the gems you'd like except for the ones on the top shelf and the ones in the locked chests.” “Why can't I use them?” “They're too dangerous. They have abilities that tend to affect the user in some not-so-pleasant ways. Or they're just ones I'm saving for a certain project. Either way, they're off limits. Aside from that, you're more than welcome to use anything in here.” Silver reached across the table and grabbed the book sitting on it, then held it out to Onyx, “This tells you what enchantments have been infused with which stones. It's like a catalog.” While they were talking, Luna had, at some point, stepped towards the shelves and began examining the rocks piled on them, “This collection must be worth a fortune,” she awed, turning to Silver, “What else do you have in this hall? If this storage room is anything to go by, then you'd must have enough money to buy a country in this floor alone.” “I'm a collector....of sorts,” the wolf responded, waving his paw in a so-so manner, “Besides, everything in the other side of the hall is for my weapons and stuff. On this side is all of my work materials. Aside from this room, I have my cash room, my metals room and my spells room. It's where all the raw goods are, so it does kinda add up.” “So in other words, you're...how do the kids phrase it these days? 'Loaded'?” Luna said. “Not really,” Silver replied with a shrug, “It's all stuff I plan on using, so it's only value is in the product I make with it. So this whole half of the hall might as well be worthless since I'm not actually planning on selling any of it by itself. Although it should be noted that I've spent a lot of money on these things, so I'd like everything you don't use to go back where it came from.” Silver received a mumbled indication of understanding from Onyx. Luna paused and thought for a moment, “....Hmm....Oh well. I've lost interest in your financial life. Let's leave Onyx to her work.” “Huh?” Silver looked over to find Onyx already browsing the shelves, floating the book in her magic as her eyes switched back and forth between the pages and the stones. It would seem that her hangover had more or less worn off, or enough so that she could at least ignore it now. She plucked some of the stones off the shelves with her hooves, smart enough to know that using magic of any kind on a raw, enchanted stone could very well set it off. “Oh right,” Silver commented as he briskly left the room, leaving the door cracked for the younger mare to let herself out later. Honestly, if getting in the room were as simple as unlocking it from the inside, he'd have been robbed blind decades ago. “What do you think she's gonna do with those stones anyway?” Silver asked the alicorn beside him. Luna simply hummed with laughter, a small smirk playing on her lips, “Well, wouldn't you like to know?” she giggled. Trotting up the stairs, Silver cocked his head, “You already know what she's doing?” “I do,” she answered, “But she made me promise not to tell you. She wants it to be a surprise. But I can say you should be proud of her. That mare's mind is creative.” The wolf grinned, thinking back to the contemplative look Onyx had while she was reading through the book. “I can't wait to see what she's come up with.” “I know you'll be proud,” Luna assured, “Now come on. Twilight won't be back for at least another hour, and I want cuddles.” Silver playfully rolled his eyes as he followed the mare to the living room, “Alright, alright.” The day passed with relative ease. Twilight had come to the house soon after Luna had said she would, and the wolf and midnight mare informed her of Onyx's room. Twilight seemed to have accepted it fairly well, but much like Luna, was still a little irked that Silver decided to keep it from them. But in the end, he was forgiven. Luna had also told Twilight of Silvers enchanted stone room, which made the mare all the more curious as to what exactly was behind each of the doors in the house. Despite the basic summary of what the rooms held, she knew Silver had a tendency to leave out certain details. Whether that was for better or for worse remained to be seen. But for the moment, she was willing to leave things be. Going on what he said, the rooms contained all of his business materials, so she didn't want to invade on that. Certainly, the spells from Houndland had her interest, but she could just always ask to see those. And so was the rest of their evening. At some point, Ruppy and Aerial had come in as well, both tired from their training. Despite Silver having to go find the former of the two mares in the outback of Canterlot Castle earlier in the day, it would seem she returned to her training later on. Whether that was because she chose to or because Aerial made her was unknown. And soon the day ended. Well, for most of them anyways. Onyx was still toiling away in the second floor room, flipping through pages and picking stones. “No...no...no....” she mumbled to herself. With each “no” she said, she pushed the stones off into a pile on one end of the table. Her eyes came to on the description of one of the stones, and she began re-reading it slowly to ensure she understood it's description. “Hmmm....” she hummed, “Maybe....” She pushed the particular stone off to another side of the table, her “maybe” pile, which was considerably smaller than the other. As she reached out another hoof to grab a stone from the pile of ones she had selected off the wall, she found her hoof grasping at nothing. It would seem that she'd actually gone through them all. Looking up and examining her piles, she realized that she only had a dozen or so of “maybe” stones, and a small mountain of “no”. Sighing, she let her head fall and plop onto the table. While all of the stones she picked out could be used, they each had a very specific affect that separated them from the other. Unfortunately, none of the effects were ones she wanted. The “maybe” pile consisted of those that had a partial affect of what she wanted, but not the whole thing. “Why does it have to be like this?” she asked to no one in particular. Looking back over at the pile, she sighed once more, “Why can't I just combine them?” ….. ….. …. “Or can I?” Onyx lifted her head and thought for a moment. She grabbed two stones from the “maybe” pile and held them in her hooves for a moment, examining them as she recalled what Twilight had taught her about Enchantments from their magic theory lesson. “Enchanting objects is like filling a glass with a liquid. The spell, or enchantment, is the liquid and the object that is being enchanted is the glass. Each glass can hold liquid from different sources, however, they can only hold so much before they spill over. And depending on which liquids are mixed, the outcome can be a combination of the two, or they can separate completely like oil and water.” Onyx thought about it for a moment. If enchantments can be poured from a stone to an object, then can one stone transfer it's enchantment to another? She set the stones down on the table. For a moment, she considered trying her idea out herself....until she realized that it would probably result in her injury...or death. Sighing once more, the mare hung her head. Figuring that if she couldn't actually do the fusion of the stones herself, then she could at least work out the spell work for fusing them. She'd have had to do it anyway, now that she thought about it. Trotting up the stairs, Onyx stopped by the kitchen to grab a plastic bag and a few apples to snack on before heading back down to the second floor. Gathering up her “maybe” pile into the bag, she put the remaining back on the shelves in what she hoped was their proper places, then grabbed the book off the table and left the room once more. Heading up and going to her own room, she floated a piece of paper and pencil from her remaining supplies over to her bed, placing the bag of stones and book next to them. She turned and faced the mess of papers still scattered about the floor. She remembered showing Luna the magic theory homework she'd been assigned by Twilight, which she quickly floated up and placed on the bed as well, but she couldn't for her life find out what she did with the actual notes. She continued to stair at the messy floor, and sighed. Finally, she floated up a sheet of paper, looking at it's contents. Deeming it trash, she balled it up in her magic and tossed it to start a pile. And so began the long, long night of sorting through papers. CREEEAK Twilight groaned as she felt the bed shift, waking her from her ever pleasant slumber. A sudden chill ran down her spine as the warmth that was covering her back and side vanished. It would seem Silver was awake now and heading out to do something. No matter though, she could just go cuddle with Luna. Patting around on the covers with a hoof, Twilight searched for her marefriend...only to find that she wasn't there either. Peeking an eye open, she found herself alone in the grand bed, the sheets tossed about to show that not only one, but two of it's occupants had risen. Twilight laid there for a moment, contemplating what she should do. She considered simply rolling up in big blanket burrito and going back to sleep, but when the smell of breakfast wafted into the room, her stomach had suddenly gained other ideas. Another small growl seemed to decide for Twilight as to when her morning would start. And it said “now.” So, with another groan, the lavender mare rolled out of bed. Once all four hooves were on the floor and not wobbling, she leaned down and stretched, her flank raised high. She thought for a moment of how every morning when she stretched, Silver would lean over and stare at her butt, thinking she wouldn't notice. It wasn't that it bothered her, if anything she thought it was actually flattering, but she instead found herself missing the wolfs gaze on her rear, perverse though it may have been. And so, with a few pops in her back worked out, Twilight trotted out of the room and into the living room where she found Silver in front of the stove for once, instead of Onyx. “Hey you,” she greeted softly, wrapping her hooves around his waist from behind and pecking his cheek before nuzzling into his neck. Though he tried to hide it, she could feel the shivers that went down his body. Silver looked behind him and returned the gesture. He couldn't lie, he loved Twilight in the morning. Her mane was messy but somehow fell in a way that embellished her appearance, her coat stuck out in all directions, but her figure remained as delectable as ever. Her eyes fluttered as they were still only half open, and her voice; oh sweet heavens, that voice could make any male tremble. “Good morning, sleepy head,” He responded,”You know you could have slept in some more. It's only seven,” He made no effort to hide his wandering eyes as Twilight let go and stretched a little more. It wasn't like she minded though. “Yeah, but--” she paused to yawn, “You and Luna weren't there, so the big bed felt really empty. Besides, I smelled this wonderful breakfast and my stomach made the decision for me.” Silver chuckled as he flipped two pancakes onto a plate, “Well then, here's something to shut him up,” he said, offering her the plate. Twilight happily took it in her magic and floated it over to the table, “Say, where is Luna?” she asked as she sat down and began dumping syrup onto her food. “A guard came and got her. Apparently Tia needed her for something,” he answered, pouring more batter onto the skillet. “Oooh...” she answered, “And what about Onyx? Isn't she usually the one making breakfast?” Silver paused for a moment, “You know, I don't know. She's normally up by now. It's not that she has to make breakfast every morning, but like you said, she usually does. Weird. Think you could go check on her?” he asked. “Sure,” Twilight said before taking another bite and swallowing. Raising herself from her chair, she trotted down the hall and stopped at Onyx's room. She raised a hoof and gently knocked, calling her out softly, “Onyx? Are you awake?” No answer came. Though she knew it was a bit rude, Twilight slowly turned the knob and quietly creaked the door open. What she found inside was...odd. Onyx was laying on the floor, drooling, conked out and snoring with papers, stones and apple cores scattered all around her. If it weren't for the lack of bottles, Twilight would have thought the mare got drunk again. Stepping into the room, the alicorn came closer to the sleeping mare. Poking her gently with a hoof, she tried to rouse her from her sleep. “Onyx?” she called softly, still poking her in the side, “Onyx, wake up.” The mare mumbled in her sleep, then rolled over, swatting the lavender hoof away. Twilight couldn't help but giggle. Leaning down, she nuzzled Onyx's cheeks while still calling her name. After the forth time, the mare finally opened an eye. She blinked slowly, still adjusting to having just been woken up. She stared at Twilight for a moment, then at the floor, then up at her bed. Twilight could see the memories of last night coming back to her as Onyx's eyes slowly came to life. “I swear I wasn't drunk again,” the unicorn needlessly clarified, realizing what the moment must have looked like. Twilight simply laughed. “I know,” she reassured, “Although I am curious to know what you were up to last night. Silver said you were in his enchanted stones room, but he never said what it was you were actually doing.” Onyx rose to all four hooves, wiping her chin and stretching in the same manner Twilight does before she began looking around her room at the scattered papers. “It's a bit of a project,” Onyx broadly explained, “I still haven't quite figured everything out though. I was actually hoping you could take a look at some of these.” Onyx floated up some of the papers, shuffling through them to get them organized before giving them to Twilight. The alicorn looked down at the papers she been shown, going over them as best as she could understand. “Onyx, what are-...” she began, only to stop as she'd already figured out the answer to her question, “These...these are magic sequences,” she concluded, earning a nod from the unicorn. “I was trying to find a way to combine some of the enchantments on these stones last night, and I think I managed to find a way to do it, but I'm still not that sure. So I was hoping maybe you could double check for me?” Twilight looked down at the papers, then up at Onyx, who was currently wearing a pleading smile. In truth, she was amazed at the mares knowledge of spell combination. They had only just gotten into the section of Magic Theory and Applications, but it seemed that she had already had a strong understanding of it. “Onyx, this is amazing!” Twilight exclaimed as she continued to read, “These equations and sequences; they're pretty advanced. I've never seen anything quite like it. How did you know how to do all of this?” Onyx gestured around the room, “I had a lot of time to work it out. I even went down to Silvers library and got some books on Spellweaving,” she indicated to a small stack of books on the floor next to where she fell asleep at, “But...” she paused, looking down at the floor. Her eyes flicked from the carpet up to the alicorn in front of her, “I also had a pretty good teacher.” Twilights smile widened even more. She snagged the mare in a hug with a squeal, “Awww! Thank you, sweetie!” Even if she couldn't see it, Twilight knew the mare was blushing. She would kill to have a recorder right now. “But there is something that's bothering me though,” Twilight admitted as she let the mare go. Floating the papers up, she allowed Onyx to view along side her, “While I can see these are magic sequences, I still don't fully understand it all. What spells are you using?” Onyx floated up the book containing all of the descriptions for the enchanted stones. Twilight took the book and looked over the stones and their spells, and it all finally clicked for her. “Oooh...” she awed, “Onyx, these are Houndland Spells. That's why it read as gibberish to me,” Twilight explained, “I'm afraid I can't help you go over it then.” Onyx's expression immediately fell. “I'm sorry, sweetie,” Twilight tried, “It's just, I don't understand Houndish magic. It's completely foreign to me and I haven't had much time to learn about it.” “It's okay,” Onyx said, turning back to the books and papers, “I'll just keep going over it until I'm completely sure.” “Well, then again,” Twilight added on, “Even if I don't know it, it doesn't mean no pony does.” Onyx raised a brow, “What do you mean?” “Well, who else would be better for checking Houndish magic sequences than a magic wolf?” “But I'm trying to surprise Silver. Letting him read the sheets would kinda ruin that.” Twilight had begun to grin at this point, “Silver's not the only magic wolf around. In fact, the most renowned magic user of Houndland Magic happens to be in Equestria.” “Huh?” Onyx questioned. Twilight simply shook her head with a giggle, “Let's go pay the Crystal Empire a visit.”