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// Chapter 6: A Surprise Test 
// Story: An Heir to Legends 
// by mattchilly 
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After Blueblood left the room Celestia asked, “So how can I help you Thrin?” 

“Last week Luna told me that the closest blacksmith was in Canterlot and since I need a small break from learning magic I decide I would drop by before heading there.” I said. 

“I hope you’re enjoying the city, and I’ll let Luna know you’re here.” Celestia said with a smile. 

I shrugged before saying, “So far it’s been fine but when I arrived a noble thought I was just some random bird and tried to get people to catch me and when I returned to normal he called me a monster, but so far he’s the only problem I’ve ran into. I did meet Twilight’s aunt Spell Weaver and she was nice.” 

“Let me guess, a dark red unicorn with yellow hair that likes to wear a dark blue coat and hat?” Celestia sighed. 

“That’s the guy,” I said nodding. 

Celestia sighed and rubbed her forehead with a hoof. “I must apologies, ever since he began living in Canterlot he’s often caused trouble with visitors. I’d do something but he hasn’t broken any laws, at least he knows better than to insult visiting dignitaries.” 

“Ah well, eventually he’s bound to lose what little power he thinks he has.” I said. 

“I agree but enough about him, come I’ll show to you the forge.” Celestia said before turning to one of the guards. “Let my sister know that Thrin’s here and where we’re going.” The guard nodded and walked off. “but I am curious on why they thought you were a bird, were you in the form of a Champion?” 

“Yes, I was in the form of Anivia the Cryophoenix.” I said as Celestia and I walked out of the hall. 

“I haven’t head of a Cryophoenix in a very long time, I fear that they’ve gone extent in this universe. Because no one has seen a Cryophoenix since before Luna and I became Equestria’s rulers.” Celestia said with a sad smile. “Luna told me that you want to make you Token at the forge.” 

“That’s right, the Champion Poppy was trained as a blacksmith before her dad died and she took up a powerful mace as her weapon.” I said. “By the way, have you gotten any information out of Draven?” 

Celestia shook her head. “Nothing but insults and threats. He tried to breakout two days ago and we had to banish him to Tartarus after he injured more than half of the Royal Guard.” 

“Damn, I’m glad I took his weapons when I did!” I said staring at Celestia in disbelief.  

“I agree, if he is this dangerous without them I dread to think how he is with them, but that does bring up the question on how you beat him so easily.” Celestia said. 

“Step one change into the Champion Vi, Step two cast Stop on his weapons after he threw them. step three take said weapons. Step four make him mad enough to attack close range. Step five cast Oomph which boosts my attack power and Step six punch him into the ground.” I replied, “I knew Draven was arrogant enough he would attack without his axes, and Vi’s weapons already increase the power of her punches. Add the spell Oomph to that and he went down like that.” I snapped my fingers.  

“In terms of pure power, where would you rank him in terms of your Champions?” Celestia asked as we walked out one of the castles side doors. 

“Difficult to say. All the Champions have different strengths and weaknesses, and have to pass incredibly difficult tests before they can be called a Champion, but If I only took the Champions of Noxus into account then… maybe… hmm you know I’m not sure. However, I do know that out of the twelve Noxus Champions there is only ONE I would transform into unless I had no other choice.” I said grabbing my chin as I thought. 

“Who’s that?” Luna asked as she flew down to join us.  

“Riven the Exile. She trained all her life to be a solder and was granted with a magical rune sword when she became a captain, heavier than a kite shield and almost as broad. When Noxus invaded the more spiritual country of Ionia she never paused in battle, because she never had a trace of doubt in her mind, never a fear of death. At one point her unit was surrounded. When they called for backup all they got was a bombardment of chemical death, courtesy of the Mad Chemist Singed. With her counted among the dead she broke her sword and started a life of self-imposed exile, searching for a way to seek atonement and to find a way Noxus the way she believed it should be.” 

“That’s very interesting. Ah here is the forge. Thrin this is our forge master Masamune.” Luna said as she introduced, much to my surprise a Diamond Dog. He was half my height a wore a thick tunic to protect his body from the heat, gloves that looked like he had been using them for years, a silver bandanna to keep the sweat out of his eyes and nothing else. 

“Masamune greets you Princesses of the Day and Night. Who is stranger you have brought to Masamune’s forge?” he asked. 

“My name is Thrin, I’m wondering if I can use your forge to make something.” I said. 

“You no look like smith, why you want Masamune’s forge?” he inquired. 

“While I am no smith I can transform into someone who was trained to be one. I wish to make a small golden medallion.” I said. 

“Just because you can turn into smith, no means you ARE smith.” Masamune said crossing his arms. 

“Correct but when I transform I gain the abilities and knowledge of who I turn into, but I lose those abilities and knowledge when I return to normal.” I explained. 

“Hmm. Masamune have hard time believing. Show! Prove to Masamune that your words are true or Masamune will throw you out!” he said jabbing a finger in my direction. 

“Very well.” I sighed I wondered if the Masamune from ancient japan was easier to deal with then this guy was. “CHAMPION TRANSORMATION! POPPY!” After I said this the ultramarine light that singled my transformation filled the forge and revealed the form of Poppy but something was different. Instead of Poppy’s normal armor I was wearing leather jerkin, gloves, boots, a belt with tool around my waste, and hat which had a visor to shield my eyes. I blinked surprised. “This is odd.” I said. 

“What’s odd Thrin?” Celestia asked. 

“Somehow I unlocked one of Poppy’s alternate outfits but I have no idea how. Maybe it’s because I turned into her at a forge and want to do some smiting?” I said as I scratched my head perplexed.


“It no matter how, Masamune see your words ring with truth. Can see skill in eyes! You free to use forge whenever you want. Now come we have much work to do!” Masamune as he motioned for me to fallow. “Now what size medallion do you wish to make? You said you wanted it to be made of Gold? That no problem! Gold is most common metal. Main reason we use it to make armor but Masamune no like making armor from gold. It weak metal without magic! Masamune always like iron more but iron not easily found in these lands! Buried to deep. Even Diamond Dogs have hard time finding iron.”  

I was a little surprised when he completely changed tone so quickly, I tried to shrug it off by saying. “I want it to be about the size of my palm when I’m in my true form.” As I spoke I gave a wave to Celestia and Luna which they returned before they left the forge. 

“What shape? What kind of emblem?” Masamune inquired. 

“A simple hexagon with two L’s on it.” I replied. 

“That very simple, we be done before sun takes its rest! Even with normal enchantments to make gold strong! I glad, it be long time since I have simple job. This be good for forge two, always have projects that make me push it hard, even forge sometimes need rest. No more talk time to work!” Masamune said as he grabbed two gold bars off a nearby shelf. The rest of the day was a flurry of sparks and the sounds metal against metal. True to his words we were done and hour before sunset. “All that’s left is to place magic gem on work as it cools. When done gold be good and strong.” 

“I can’t thank you enough Masamune. This was an incredible experience and one I will not be forgetting any time soon. Now how much do I owe you?” I asked as I returned to normal and pulled a bag of bits out of my Hypercube. 

“500 bits. This may be fun, simple project that give forge time to rest but Masamune still run business.” Masamune said.  

I nodded and pulled out the money. “You come back now! Masamune want to see what else you can make as that smith!” he said before handing me the medallion. 

“I will. See you next time.” I said before I left. 

“Hello Thrin, I came to check if you were done.” Celestia said as she walked up. 

“Yup. We finished a little while ago, now all that’s left is to give my token a small bit of my power and information on who I am.” I said. 

“That’s good. I was told that there is already snow in the Everfree, is the snow light enough that equipment can be delivered so your experiments can begin? I must admit I am curious what kind of experiments you plan to do.” Celestia said. 

I shook my head and replied. “After three days of snow it was half way to my knees so wagons would have a difficult time making it to my home even with the path I made. As for what I plan to do I was thinking of trying to make a warp gate that will help your troops get to where they’re needed faster. I got the idea when Cecil and his team helped me fight Bolarc’s monsters because they arrived in a similar kind of portal. I currently don’t have any other experiments in mind… hmmm I should pick up some blank tomes while I’m here.” 

“You’ll have to wait until tomorrow for that. Your free to stay at the castle tonight so you don’t have to travel in the dark.” Celestia suggested.  

“Would I have to see more stuck up nobles? Because if so then I really wish I didn’t have to restrict which Champions I used. I know Fiddlesticks could scare them into behaving.” I said. 

“As much as I would love to see that I don’t want the headache that they would bring afterwards, and… there’s a Champion named Fiddlesticks?” Celestia snickered before getting a confused look. 

“He’s an evil scarecrow whose title is the Harbinger of Doom.” I said shrugging as Celestia gave me a blank look. “I know he’s kinda weird.” When I turned to walk back to the castle I didn’t see the mischievous look Celestia had 

*Next day* 

I was walking along side Spell Weaver who had offered to show me around Tia’s School for Gifted Unicorns after I bought the empty tomes, when an old unicorn with a small pointed beard in a long black robe, approached us. “You must be the mysterious Thrin, the Elf of the Wild Wood. I am Headmaster White Gem.” 

“I am indeed Thrin, but I’m afraid I’m not a full-blooded elf. I am a half-elf, and I must say this is an incredible school you have here. Have you ever thought about inviting other races who can use magic to this school?” I asked. 

“A few times but the student exchange program I want to put in place keeps getting blocked by some nobles who think they can do my job better than me.” White Gem let out a growl of frustration. “but enough about them, the Princesses tell me you are a magus who wields no small amount of power.” 

“I do, but only when I change forms and my magic works differently than the magic unicorns have, why do you ask?” I asked. 

“We have been working on a small project and I was wondering if we could get your opinion?” White Gem asked. 

I shrugged. “I don’t mind but I doubt I could be much help.” 

“You can use one of you other forms if you need to. Please fallow me.” White Gem said as he turned and motioned for us to fallow. I shot a look at Spell Weaver and gave a ‘might as well’ look. We fallowed White Gem to an empty class room with a large equation taking up the entire blackboard. “This is the problem were having, some of our professors are trying to figure out how to make magical constructs but have run into some difficulties. What do you think?” White Gem asked. 

As I looked at the equation I realized I’d seen one just like it in the tome that tough how to summon the League of Legends Minions I had read the night after I fought with Draven. Taking a moment to remember the written explanation I saw the part of the equation and immediately understood the problem. “I see what’s wrong. The first part is that your trying to imbue the constructs with artificial souls. I would suggest making their cores out of mana imbued crystals or pure mana if you’re creating them from scratch with this spell instead, and work on figuring out the soul problem at a later date. As for the other parts I'm not going to say.” 

“Why would you suggest that? Wouldn’t they become more reliable with the soul?” White Gem asked. 

“They could but they could also become uncontrollable. Even if it's artificial, a soul it is still a soul” I explained. 

“How did you come to this conclusion?” Weaver asked. 

I grinned. “This spell nexus is the exact same as one I use to make construct simply called a Minion,” As I spoke I pointed at the ground next to me and cast the spell summoning a red and blue Spell Caster class Minion. 
             

“There are four kinds of Minions and they can only be used for combat because they were made to assist the Champions during a match. This is the spell nexus to create the Spell Caster class.” 

“That must take up a lot of mana.” White Gem said as he examined the Minions. 

“You’d be surprised. While the spell itself that takes the most mana, while the Minions require very little to maintain. In fact, I used the same about of mana it would take to levitate this book for a minute,” I said as I pulled the Thoron Tome out of the Hypercube. “as it does to summon those Minions.”

“Incredible. Is it as easy to summon multiple Minions as it is to summon these two?” Weaver asked. 

“It can be but the best way to summon a large number is to use a focusing crystal. With one large enough you can easily summon twelve at once and they will continue to be summoned every minute.” I explained. "However I'm afraid I can't let you use this spell with out my consent since it's origin is from Runterra and I don't want to risk this spell becoming common knowledge. Anyone to learns the compete version will have access to a near infinite army. I could look into making constructs that aren't meant for war when I have the time but that might take some time since i have a few other things i want to do first.” 

White Gem nodded and smiled. “Thank you very much for your help Thrin…” 

“And congratulations of passing the first part of the Arch Mage test.” Celestia said as she and Luna removed an illusion that was hiding them. 

Weaver and I were silent for a few minutes before I said a flat. “What?” 

“You have already shown your skill with magic when you saved Ponyville, and when you made the paths in the Everfree.” Luna said before Celestia continued. 

“You’ve shown knowledge not just from this test but when you told me about the other worlds and you just helped solve a problem that has boggled the minds of unicorns for the last fifty years.” 

I looked at Weaver and she gave me an equally confused look. “Is this why you wanted me to show Thrin around the School?” Weaver asked looking at Professor White Gem. 

“I will neither confirm nor deny this.” He said with a small smile. 

“How long have you been planning this?” I asked giving Celestia an annoyed look. 

“Since you made those paths.” Celestia answered with a small smile. 

“I can’t believe you just made this kind of decision without consulting me. When’s the next part of this test?” I asked as I face palmed. 

“We haven’t decided yet, for now why don’t you go relax. We’ll let you know when we’ve decide what the next part will be.” Celestia said. 

“There is nothing I can say to change your mind on this, is there?” I asked. 

“Why would we? When Luna, Blueblood, Professor Gem, and I agree you deserve to be the first Arch Mage since Starswirl?” Celestia replied. 

“Because I haven’t done a single magical experiment yet? I haven’t made any magical discoveries?” I countered.  

“While that may be true, for now. Considering your knowledge on the magic from other worlds and the fact you already told me about that warp gate you want to make, which by its self will be an enormous advancement in magic. We feel you’ll deserve the title.” Celestia said with Luna and White Gem nodding. 

I looked at Weaver and sighed. “Fine but tell me the next time you come up with a plan that revolves around me, but i am serious on not letting you complete this spell."

"We'll talk about it, but many will be disappointed if we shut this down after fifty years of hard work." White Gem said.

I nod before looking at Weaver. "I’ll see you later, I’m going to head home. Something tells me Twilight’s going to be annoyed once she hears about this.” 

*Later at Twilights house* 

“I don’t believe this, no one has taken this test for over a hundred years, and then this happens.” Twilight said. 

“Well if it makes you feel better, they didn’t even ask if it wanted to take the test.” I said worked on translating the Fire Emblem’s Thunder tome.  

“No that doesn’t make me feel better! In fact it makes me feel worse! If you pass this test you’ll be the first since Starswirl the Bearded and you’re acting like you don’t care!” Twilight said as Spike walked into the room. 

“Twi, you’ve been going on like this since Thrin told you about it hours ago.” Spike said, giving Twilight an annoyed look.  

“Twilight, if I pass the test I pass the test,” I said looking up. “But right now, I have other things I need to worry about. Including mastering my powers and finding a way to minimize the risk of Champions personalities can affect me, but I don’t think I’ll be able to find one until Celestia and Luna release Discord. So, until then I’ll just have to do my best with what I have. Not to mention since Draven appeared, there might be other Champions here, and trust me when I say that, Noxus is like a rabid wolf compared to most of the Champions from the Void or the Shadows Isles. While a rabid wolf is still dangerous the Void and Shadow Isles are far worse.”  

“Are they really that bad?” Twilight asked worried.

“Noxus wants to control all with an iron fist. The Champions of the Void want to destroy worlds and spread the power of the Void, and the Champions of the Shadow Isles want to spread nothing but death and destruction, but just like Noxus there are exceptions. The Champion Kassadin uses the power of the Void to fight against the Void and the undead Champion Yorick wants to return the Shadow Isles to how it was before they became corrupted and evil.” 

Taking a moment to process all of this Twilight finally stopped pacing at sat down in a chair before asking, “There’s something I’ve been curious about for a while. How did you become friends with Discord?” 

“Well after I was petrified, I resigned myself for a long and incredibly boring wait…” I began after placing book marks into my two tomes before Spike interrupted. 

“Wait a moment, you were conscious?” Spike asked with a slightly horrified look. 

“Yup but as far as I know only Discord and I were.” I said shrugging, “I first met Discord the day after I was petrified because I was positioned in just the right spot for the sun to shine right into my eyes every… single… sunrise. It’s a good thing that eyes made of stone can’t be damaged by sun light.” I said incredibly annoyed at the memory. “So, when I woke up yelling in anger, Discord asked who I was and why I got petrified. I explained who I was and showed him a little of the chaos humans can make with something called, the internet. After that we became fast friends. He helped me train and I showed him more of what humans made to entertain ourselves.” 

“Really? What was the first thing you showed him?” Spike asked. 

“I believe it was a freaking weird song from an old movie called Dumbo. The song itself is about pink elephants.” I said. 

“YOU’RE the reason Discord made singing pink elephants that walked on two feet?” Twilight asked as her left eye twitched. 

“…I accept no responsibility for what Discord did with what I showed him. Now if you excuse me I have a few books that need to be translated.” I said before quickly making my way out of the library.