//------------------------------// // Chapter 9: Intensive Training and A New Friend // Story: "Could You Be My Mommy?" // by Dolphy Blue Drake //------------------------------// The next morning, Lyra, Bon-Bon, and Jonnathan had breakfast together before Jonnathan left to play with some of his toys while waiting to train later in the day. “Lyra,” Bonnie sighed.  “I know you want him to be able to fight if he has to, but I’ve seen some of what he’s now able to do after you’ve been helping him to learn.  I’m no unicorn like you are, but I can tell high-level magic when I see it.”  Bon-Bon’s expression changed to a worried frown before she continued:  “Prodigy or not, isn’t this too much for him right now?  What could possibly warrant such heavy training out of the blue?” “Something’s going to happen,” Lyra confessed.  “I don’t know what, exactly, but I know it’s going to be big and dangerous.  Jonnathan needs to be ready for it, because I somehow know that this threat could very easily hurt him if he’s not prepared.” “But he’s so young!” Bonnie protested.  “And you’re his mother, for Celestia’s sake!  Shouldn’t you be trying to keep him out of danger?  I know your gut feelings are almost never wrong, Lyra, so some new threat probably is coming, but training him to fight it when he’s only three and a half?  How can you consider yourself a good mother for doing this to him?”  Bon-Bon finished by pointing at Lyra accusingly. *How can she not realize that Jonnathan may be forced to fight it because of its actions?* Senior’s voice sighed.  *You can’t always run from everything, and sometimes you have to protect others since you’re the only one available with the power to protect them.  Jonnathan may, at the very least need to fend off this threat until someone stronger is able to take it down.* “What of his friends, Bon-Bon?” Lyra countered, taking Senior’s words into account.  “If they get cornered by whatever’s coming, he may be the only one able to protect them until more help arrives!” Lyra’s voice grew stronger as she pressed her advantage.  “And what about him?  What if this threat corners my son?  I don’t want to lose him!  And if training him is what it takes to ensure his survival, then by Celestia and Luna, I’ll do it!” Lyra accentuated her final statement by stomping her hoof on the floor, startling Bon-Bon. “Okay,” Lyra’s roommate replied, backing up slightly.  “You’re his mother, not me.  I’ll trust your judgement on this.”  She sighed before giving Lyra a pleading look and continuing.  “But please don’t push him too hard!  He considers me his aunt, so I’m somewhat responsible for him, too!  By your accounts, he seems about as powerful as Twilight Sparkle was when she first got admitted to Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns.  That much power in such a young body isn’t a good combination.  He might lose control.  He might hurt himself by overusing whatever magical reserves he has.  He’s got power in spades, but little experience.”  Bon-Bon drew Lyra into a hug and begged her one last thing:  “Please, whatever you do, don’t let him hurt himself training, okay?” Lyra nodded.  Senior had suggested that they try testing Jonnathan’s battle prowess before teaching him new spells, but Bon-Bon’s request was going to be a little tricky to follow while doing that.  Of course, she’d do her best to think of something.  Jonnathan needed to actually practice combat. After he grew bored of his train set for the time being, Jonnathan left his room to check on his appearance in the bathroom mirror, since he’d forgotten to do so earlier. As soon as he began to work on fixing his bedhead, he was startled by his reflection actually speaking, and in the language his Mommy said was his birth family’s no less! “Hello there!” his reflection said cheerfully, as if nothing was wrong.  “Nice to meet you, Jonnathan!  Due to a special spell, I’m able to talk to you through your reflection!” “Who cast it?” Jonnathan asked his reflection.  “And who are you?” He’d finished brushing his hair by that time, so his reflection stopped mirroring his movements and pointed at it’s chest.  “First of all, I’m just a manifestation of your inner self.  After we decide on a name for me, just look at any mirror and say that name in our native language, and I’ll talk to you, so long as nobody’s around.  I mean, it’d look weird if you started speaking to your own reflection, right?” Jonnathan nodded in understanding and locked the bathroom door before returning to the mirror and gesturing for his inner self to continue. “As for who cast it, it’s a secret spell no one knows about.  Even I don’t know who cast it!  All I know is that it lets me speak to you, and it uses a very complicated form of your kind of magic.  I can help you out with both your magic and your personal and social lives.  Just ask for my help, and I’ll give my advice.  After all, who knows you more than your inner self?” “But what can I call you?” Jonnathan wondered, unable to come up with anything. “Well, in the language we’re using now, and Equestrian, as well, the special spelling of your name allows it to be split into two separate names,” his inner self explained.  “How about I’ll call you ‘Jon’, and you call me ‘Nathan’?” his reflection suggested. Jonnathan nodded in response.  It made sense.  Suddenly, he broke into a huge grin, and Nathan looked puzzled. ”I can’t wait to tell Mommy about you!” he exclaimed in delight.  ”She’ll be really happy to know I have another friend!” Nathan shook his head sadly.  ”I’m sorry, Jon.  I’d love for Mommy to know about me, and maybe even speak with her, but the spell making it possible for me to converse with you is fragile.  If any other sapient being finds out about our connection, it’ll break, and we’ll have a lot of trouble fixing it, since I don’t know the spell that made this possible.  It’d be best to not risk it.” Jonnathan sighed dejectedly and nodded.  If the spell was so fragile that it had to be kept a secret, he’d keep it a secret from the whole world, including his Mommy, though he really didn’t want to. ”It’ll be okay, Jon,” Nathan tried to assure him.  “Once we’ve gotten enough magic down, we might be able to reinforce the spell.  So, you might not have to keep this a secret forever.” “Okay,ˆ Jonnathan replied with another nod.  “I’ll talk to you later Nathan.  It’s going to be lunchtime soon.” “Later,” Nathan said with a nod and a casual salute before Jonnathan’s reflection returned to normal. After Jonnathan left the bathroom, he tried very hard to mask his excitement over meeting Nathan, but it didn’t work because both his Mommy and his surrogate Aunt chuckled as he tried to keep himself from grinning. “What’re you so excited about, Jonny?” Auntie Bon-Bon asked with a giggle.  “Let me guess:  It’s today’s training, isn’t it?” Jonnathan quickly latched onto that excuse, as did his internal excitement.  He’d forgotten that his Mommy had said that they were going to either teach him brand new spells or test his combat prowess with the ones he already knew, and both options sounded great to him, so he quickly nodded and said, “Yep!  I’m either going to learn some new spells or get to put my mettle to the test with some actual combat training!” His Mommy smiled and set his lunch down in front of him before doing the same for herself and Aunt Bonnie.  “Okay, everyone, let’s dig in!” she announced. Using his knife and fork, Jonnathan tore into his fish and started to eat it quickly, washing it down with milk when necessary. His salad disappeared quickly, as well, and the apple on his plate never stood a chance. “He sure eats fast,” his Mommy remarked, making him blush.  She always made that comment every time he ate.  What could he do about it?  It took a lot of effort to slow down, and he usually didn’t want to put forth that kind of effort when eating, anyway.  That kind of energy and restraint could be saved for other things so he’d have more to exert when more important things required them.  Eating was eating.  All that mattered was that the food got from Point A to Point B, with Point A being his plate, and Point B being his tummy. His Mommy sighed and returned to her own food, taking much longer to eat than Jonnathan did, forcing him to wait a few minutes. Once his Mommy and Aunt Bonnie finished eating, his aunt gathered up the dishes while Lyra led Jonnathan into the backyard.  It was late February, now, so it was still winter.  Jonnathan would have dressed warmly if it weren’t for the knowledge that his Mommy was going to use the training spell again. His Mommy drew on Void and Space magic for a brief period and said “Void Zone”, summoning the now-very-familiar white training dome where his Mommy could summon anything for him to train against. “So, Mommy,” Jonnathan asked after they were both inside the dome.  “Which choice are we gonna do?” “I’m going to give you some combat training, Jonny,” Jonnathan’s Mommy announced grimly.  “Remember:  just like how everything I create here is fake, any injuries you take here will be fake, as well.  Whether you win or lose, any pain, ailments or injuries caused by something from this place will instantly heal after the fight ends.  Even a normally mortal blow won’t actually kill you.  You’ll just instantly lose.”  His Mommy gave him an encouraging smile and nodded.  “Now, let’s see your spells in action!” A number ten appeared in midair near the ceiling of the dome at its exact center.  Jonnathan gave it a puzzled look until it changed to a nine, then an eight.  It was counting down! Jonnathan took a battle stance suited for agility and avoiding attacks and waited for the counter to reach zero.  When it did, hundreds of enemies of all sorts materialized all over the dome at the same time a voice announced:  “Objective:  Defeat three-hundred enemies.  No time limit.”  His Mommy gasped at the number “three-hundred”, and then monsters and all sorts of other foes started to move towards him. The closest enemies were a swarm of Changelings, so Jonnathan instinctively pulled the gray thread of Stone magic to the surface and prepared a spell to launch at them. With a cry of “Stone Barrage,” the magic spell caused rocks that were about a foot in diameter to fly from his fists in rapid succession.  He started breathing hard, trying to push as much Stone magic as he could into the spell, increasing its power.  The rocks grew larger and his firing frequency increased, as well.  In about half a minute, the Changelings were all pinned to the ground by the large rocks, some of them having broken limbs or tears in their exoskeletons. Jonnathan released the Stone Element as the Changelings evaporated into thin air right before something bit his leg.  He cried out in pain and looked down to see a pack of timberwolves had surrounded him, and one of them had its jaws firmly clamped onto his now-bleeding leg. Trying to fight down his cries of pain so he could concentrate, Jonnathan drew the red thread of Fire to the surface and prepared the best offensive Fire spell he knew. Jonnathan screamed in pain as he called out the name of the spell he’d prepared:  “Pyro Ring!” A swirling cone of fire formed around Jonnathan, bathing the flammable wolves in heat.  Some of them started to catch fire, and though instinct told Jonnathan to increase his magical output, his logical side took the helm of his mind in spite of the pain in his leg.  He’d need to take a moment to heal after this portion of the fight, and there were many more enemies left after these wolves.  If he just endured the pain and let the fire spread of its own accord, he’d conserve magical power in the long run, which would prove vital if he was to defeat all the enemies. And so Jonnathan waited.  He looked to his Mommy, who had tears streaming down her cheeks, but she gave him an encouraging nod, and he steeled himself for the wait. After about fifteen seconds, the fire had finally spread to every wolf, and the one that had been biting his leg finally let go, whimpering in pain. Seizing the opening, Jonnathan canceled the Fire spell and prepared a different one. With a grimace, he whispered “Healing Warmth,” which caused a wave of warm relief to flow through him, patching up his injuries somewhat and reducing the pain in his leg considerably. As the wolves continued to writhe in pain on the ground from the fire they were unable to extinguish, Jonnathan looked up to see a gryphon flying towards him, sword already drawn, ready to run him through.  Said gryphon had several more behind it, and Jonnathan gulped before releasing the Fire Element and pulled the yellow Lightning thread to the surface. Raising a hand and pointing straight up, Jonnathan stitched an offensive Lightning spell together and said, “Crying Heavens!”  He rapidly pointed his hand at every gryphon charging him, and a huge storm cloud appeared above them and started raining down lightning bolts, striking each gryphon in turn, dropping them to the ground, out cold. Unfortunately, he missed a few of them, who continued to charge at him, and Jonnathan soon found himself dodging sword swipes from all directions. He got nicked by the blades a few times, even getting a nasty gash across his chest that barely missed his heart and lungs. Or so he thought.  Apparently, his heart was larger than any being his size was supposed to have, and a second swipe revealed portions of his lungs and heart, even though everything his Mommy had told him about being human clearly stated that his lungs and heart weren’t supposed to be that big. Then came the pain.  He’d suffered mortal damage from those two powerful gashes, and blood poured from his wounds and he fought back tears as his strength started to fade.  The blackness was closing in.  He only had time for one last spell, and in a desperate cry, he said, “Strike of Life!” The spell was normally meant for use on others for reviving the unconscious or—with a huge amount of power put behind it that Jonnathan couldn’t muster—reviving those who had died up to 15 hours before the spell was cast, but the spell shot straight into the air as Jonnathan fell on his back.  It was done.  He was beaten. But as his vision continued to get blurrier, he could barely make out a large ball of electricity forming at the top of the dome, giving off a wondrous light that looked welcoming in spite of the occasional sparks it gave off.  Just as his eyes closed, he felt a jolt in his chest and felt something searing the gashes shut, reenergizing him and startling the false gryphons.  His magical reserves felt somewhat recharged, but more importantly, he had most of his strength back.  The strength he lost from bloodloss couldn’t be recovered like that, so he’d have to make do. Releasing the Lightning Element and drawing the cyan-colored Ice thread to the surface, Jonnathan felt his body fill with the power of the wintry Element and prepared a spell to stop the gryphons and prevent more enemies from closing in before he was ready. Jonnathan cried out “Arctic Chill!” and a blast of freezing cold shot from his hands at one of the gryphons, encasing it in ice.  Normally, the spell was for a small area, but Jonnathan forced more Ice energy into the spell and slowly spun around in a full circle, causing the blast to encase every enemy near him in an icy statue. Next, Jonnathan prepared another spell for the frozen gryphons.  Weaving the cyan-colored magic into another shape, he launched it at them with a cry of “Icicle Shower!” Icicles sharpened to pierce like spears rained down on the frozen gryphons, breaking the ice encasing them, but also puncturing them all over, even pinning their wings to the ground before they slumped in defeat. Jonnathan turned to face the next wave of enemies, and what he saw made his heart stop for just a second:  white, ghostlike ponies that flew through the air without wings or magic and chilled the air around them.  Being filled with the Ice Element already, the chill had little effect on Jonnathan, but he knew enough to recognize these horrible creatures from the Hearth’s Warming plays.  These were Windigoes, and it seemed as if they were already fully charged from absorbing negativity. His Fire reserves were a little low, so Jonnathan tried to think quickly.  What else would work on an ice spirit besides Fire? Suddenly, Jonnathan’s instincts took over and he pulled both the periwinkle Spirit thread and the silver Steel thread to the surface at the same time, channeling both Elements into himself, which wasn’t easy.  Maintaining balance between the two Elements would prove vital in this. First, Jonnathan stitched the Steel thread into the most complicated Steel spell he knew and cast it on himself with a cry of “Metallic Defender!” Metal perfectly molded to fit his body and move with him flawlessly rapidly covered his whole form, excluding his eyes, making him resemble a metal ninja. Still trying to maintain Elemental balance so neither Element would force the other out of his magical grasp, Jonnathan cast a Spirit spell next, crying out, “Ghostly Cannon!” His right hand glowed a brilliant periwinkle as the Windigoes approached, and as the first one rushed him, he let go of the spell he was holding back, and a beam of spiritual energy plowed right through the Windigo and several more behind it. However, there were too many for that one blast to take them all out, so Jonnathan waited for his Spirit magic to recover from the intense output and released it, switching to just Steel.  As another Windigo tried to get close, he swung his left fist in a desperate attempt at a punch, and the magical metal encasing his fist caused the punch to actually shatter part of the Windigo as if it were just made of ice. The ice ghost screeched in surprise as Jonnathan took the advantage and delivered a series of punches and kicks to the creatures, felling them one after another, until none were left, just a floor coated in ice crystals which quickly evaporated like all the other defeated enemies. The enemies Jonnathan had frozen earlier finally broke free of the ice encasing them, revealing some manticores and a group of massive Diamond Dogs in heavy armor wielding huge pickaxes that looked more like weapons than tools. Jonnathan ran for the manticores first, pulling the purple Mind thread to the surface and channeling it through himself to join the Steel Element, and the clash for balance started again, making casting a tricky thing again.  Jonnathan’s Steel reserves were gradually depleting to maintain the armor spell, but the Mind Element had just been freshly added. Desperately trying to keep the two Elements flowing through him equal, Jonnathan raised his hands and prepared a Mind spell, shouting, “Brainshock!” as a wave of mental pressure engulfed the manticores, causing them to howl in agony. One of them lashed out with its tail in desperation, but Jonnathan held his position to keep pouring more magic into the Mind spell tormenting the manticores.  The barbed tail struck true, but the attempt to inject poison failed as the venom from the barb was repelled by the armor, which hadn’t been punctured, just dented a little.  The venom flowed uselessly to the ground, and Jonnathan increased the intensity of his Mind spell even further, pretty much wiping out all thought from the manticores until they slumped to the ground, drooling and braindead. The amount of Mind magic required to power up that simple offensive spell to the level required to turn a large group of manticores into vegetables was simply too much for Jonnathan’s capacity for Mind magic, so he let go of the spent thread so it could recharge, like so many others.  He could feel that his Steel reserves were down to about half, so he released that one as well before looking over the pack of Diamond Dogs approaching him. His instincts screamed for him to use either Water or Life magic, so he grabbed both the blue Water thread and the green Life thread simultaneously and pulled them both to the surface.  Once again, the two Elements fought for dominance, and Jonnathan felt his control almost slip a few times, but he held firm and started to stitch together a Life spell. After rapidly stitching the green thread into the shape of a set of leaves as sharp as a freshly-forged sword, Jonnathan cried “Leaf Flurry!” and the sharp leaves started pelting the huge bipedal dogs as they tried to approach, leaving them covered in gashes and cuts after Jonnathan cancelled the first spell to conserve energy for later Life spells. The dogs howled and started to run at him, so Jonnathan prepared his next spell:  a Water one, this time.  He stitched the thread of Water magic into a shape similar to a flattened paper fan, stretched his hand towards the dogs who were almost upon him and cried, “Torrent Wave!” A powerful fan of water erupted from Jonnathan’s hand and pummeled the dogs with a torrent of water that spread out the farther it went, knocking the dogs back several feet before they reached the edge of the fan, panting hard. Jonnathan prepared another Life spell, coiling the green thread of magic into the shape of a very thorny vine and prepared to swing the spell like a whip just as the first dog got to him and started to swing its pickaxe. “Thorned Lash!” Jonnathan cried as the thread transformed into an actual whip fashioned from vines covered in thorns.  He struck each Diamond Dog in the face before using the whip to strike at their chests and sent them into the wall of the dome, the entire pack passing out from the impact. Jonnathan released the two Elements he was holding and sized up his next set of foes:  A group of dragons.  Some on two legs, and some on four.  All of them towered over him. Jonnathan tried to think of all the Elements he had left that hadn’t been spent too much.  He knew Ice would work, but he didn’t have enough remaining. Time and Space don’t seem like they’d give me much of an advantage, he thought, and though some Death spells can poison, I don’t have time on my side to slowly wear them out!  Freedom revolves around flight and the sky, and Air revolves around wind, so neither of those would give me the upper hand, either!  Instinct wouldn’t help here, since it more deals with insects, arachnids and other similar creatures, anyway, and none of them would have an advantage against a dragon, either! The dragons circled him, sizing up their prey as he continued to try to think of something.  Force is no good, here, either!  The control of matter on the atomic level would take too long unless I made an explosion with it, and that’d still take too long to charge up!  And Strength wouldn’t help much, either!  Their hides are too thick for me to penetrate, even with magic revolving around physical energy!  Darkness and Light are no-gos, as well!  All that’s left is Power!  He felt for the pink thread of Power and shook his head.  It’s a strong Element because it uses draconic power without being linked to fire, instead using emotions as a fuel source, but how could the power of dragons prove useful against dragons, themselves?  Suddenly, he noticed that the circling dragons were getting way too close for his liking and thought, No more time to think!  Now, it’s time to learn through the school of hard knocks!  Here goes nothing!  He quickly reached for the pink thread and drew it to the surface.  As the power of dragons and emotions flowed through him, Jonnathan started to build a spell as the first dragon prepared to lunge at him.  He forced the magic into himself and fed it some of the courage he had left as fuel before shouting, “Draco Blast!”  The next second, a powerful wave of pink fire leaped from his mouth and right down the throat of the dragon that was intending to crush him with its jaws.  Keeping up the momentum, he poured more magic into the stream of pink fire and did a slow three-sixty, striking every dragon in the large group, knocking the flying ones out of the air as the one that had tried to crush him with its jaws started to belch pink flames along with vomit, doubling over and seizing up before passing out. Jonnathan ended the spell after all the dragons were grounded, and waited for them to make the next move.  However, none of them did, instead, they took to eyeing him warily after witnessing he had the same power they did, which somehow had penetrated their hides, leaving open flesh that gave off sparks instead of being burned. So, Power also works on dragons, huh? Jonnathan thought, filing away the useful information.  So, now that I have their attention, what do I do now? His next course of action was simple: use a spell that would increase his power, and he only had one of those among his Power spells.  He stitched the magic into an aura, fed it happiness from thoughts of his Mommy as fuel and cried, “Hyper Aura!” The pink field seeped into him and made him more agile, as well as physically stronger.  Taking advantage again, Jonnathan used the third Power spell he knew by stitching the thread into a pair of claw-like gloves, feeding anger into the spell as fuel and shouted “Furious Frenzy!” The glove-like threads transformed into claw-like energy gloves, and Jonnathan began his rampage on the dragons, tearing at them over and over until each one slumped to the ground and evaporated. Jonnathan panted for breath when he let go of the Power Element and let it return to its place within him to recharge. “All enemies defeated.” the voice from before announced.  “Now displaying results.” The chalkboard materialized again, and the chalk wrote his results for all to see: All enemies defeated. Current maximum total magic reserves:  1 Gigaspark Remaining total magic reserves:  700 Sparks Current total vitality:  300,000 vp Total damage taken:  700,000 vp Amount healed:  527,803 vp Remaining vitality:  127,803 vp Success rating: 30% “WHAT?” Jonnathan shrieked.  “All that hard work, almost getting killed, and all I get is a measly thirty?” His Mommy trotted over to him and held him tight while whispering in his ear, “You did wonderful, Jonnathan. I meant for there to be only thirty, but something went wrong and it multiplied by ten.  You even making it through that was quite an achievement!  How about I make your favorite for dinner tonight?  Salad with blue cheese, red onions, carrots, red cabbage, croutons, and crab and salmon pieces for you!” “Yay!” Jonnathan exclaimed as he hugged his Mommy back.  “My favorite salad!  You’re the best, Mommy!” His Mommy dispelled the dome and the pair returned to the house to work on dinner together, since Jonnathan wanted to help out.