I begin to wake from my peaceful slumber to the smell of pancakes and hash browns. Opening my eyes, I see an unfamiliar ceiling, before looking around and seeing an unfamiliar room. It takes a couple of second for my mind to come back before I remember what happened yesterday. Buying that scroll, learning magic, saving some ponies, and getting two new students to teach Japanese. I sigh as it all comes back to me before I get up and out of the guest room Twilight is letting me stay in.
Walking out of the room yawning, I find Spike in a frilly pink chefs apron cooking up some breakfast. I guess I wansn’t very quiet with my yawn as he turns to me and laughs a little at my apparent bed head. I look to a glass case next to me and laugh a little at it myself. I look like I just walked through a tornado and didn’t bother to care.
“Morning Lex. Just FYI, bathroom is just over there if you want to take a shower or something.” Spike says, pointing down a hall before going back to making some food. I just nod, still a little delirious from just waking up. Going to the washroom, I quickly make sure the door is locked and then taking a nice warm shower. My hair is a little longer than back on earth now, so I end up taking a little longer than I was used to. Afterwards I put my dress back on and go to the kitchen to eat. I am going to have to take Rarity up on her offer of making some designs in exchange for more clothes.
Going to the kitchen I find Spike eating a large stack of pancakes with gemstones in it with a side of hash browns, orange slices and apple juice. Definitely better than the energy bars I often had to eat before my shifts at the restaurant I worked at. I make myself a stack of three with a banana and some milk. Taking a my first bite of the pancakes my eyes widen in shock. That little drake may seem odd at times, but he is one hell of a cook! Me and Spike eat our meals in silence before a certain purple unicorn walks down and to her seat, immediately levitating an already prepped plate to herself and digging in. I just laugh as she reminds me of Nat/Sora when they are hungry.
“So what are your guys plan for today?” I ask the duo. Twilight goes to respond before being interrupted by Spike as his cheeks puff up and he released a large belch, green fire coming out and turning into a scroll. “Nice one.”
Twilight quickly grabs the scroll and reads through it. As she does her eyes widen and she get more and more panicked. By the time she finished reading it all she literally teleports to her room. I raise a brow and look at the letter.
“Looks like the princess has asked her to come to the palace for a type of test. Odd, Twilight hasn’t mentioned anything about a test.” I say, and Spike suddenly face claws and slams his head on the table. I raise a brow at him.
“Great. A surprise test. This is going to be hell.” I was surprised by the drakes language since he is technically only twelve and a half. The next hour or so went by in a blur of Twilight freaking out and grabbing practically every book in the library to stuff in her backpack as well as asking/telling Spike to make some flash cards. At this point I was just reading a book on Equestrian customs like greeting with other species and the like. Unfortunately I could barely focus with Twilight freaking out. So I intervene.
“TWILIGHT!” I yell at her, causing her to freeze mid stride on her way to her lab in the basement. “You need to chill. I know from experience that freaking out about a test only makes it harder for you to focus and will make you panic more, leading to a endless cycle of panic. You need to stop a second and take a breath.” I tell her, putting my hands on her shoulders and making her sit down on the couch.
She reluctantly nods and does the same breathing exercise I did when I first arrived. How does she know that exercise? Shaking that thought away I go through Twilights backback and take out some of the books I don’t think she will need, like a manual on...Griffin dining etiquette? Getting every set, I made sure Twilight has some books that she might need for a test given by the princess. Once done I hand the calmed unicorn her bag back, being able to now lift it without problem, before walking to the guest room and grabbing my purse and sword.
“What are you doing?” Twilight asks as I come back into the living room.
“Isn’t it obvious? I am coming with you to Canterlot. You may be the princesses personal student, but you are also my student for our Japanese lessons and it is the duty of any mentor to make sure their pupil is alright.” I tell her with a smile, before it turns into a smirk. “Also, I don’t really trust you not to start freaking out as soon as you get on the train.”
At that she blushes and nods, grabbing her bag. I noticed that Spike also had a bag with him, seeing it has quite a few flash cards. I just roll my eyes and we leave the library to go to the train station. We end up running into her friends and, surprise surprise, they decide to come too. Soon all eight of us are on the train headed to Canterlot. Spike and I make sure to go through some flash cards with Twilight to keep her calm.
We seemed to lose track of time as, about an hour that felt like five minutes later, we arrive in the city. Getting out of the train, I look to the busy streets of Canterlot and see exactly what I was expecting. A bunch of rich prick ponies with their noses so high in the air I wonder if they are trying to smell space. I just ignore them for the most part, but I do keep and ear and eye out. Most of the nobles barely pay our group more than a passing glance, but a few do stare at me and my sword. The stallions that do, I flash my dark eye and they immediately look elsewhere.
Before long we make it to the gates of the palace. The girls go through without problem but the guards block me with their spears. The others notice immediately as they aren’t very quiet.
“Hey, what the hell?” I ask abruptly. The guard on the left begins to talk.
“Apologies, but you will have to go away and make a scheduled appointment with the princess if you wish to see her.” He says in a monotone voice.
“What the buck? Let her through! Lex is with us.” Rainbow says, flying above them. The other one looks at her then to me.
“That is besides the point, she doesn’t have an appointment, plus she is armed.” He says. At this point I was getting annoyed so I did something kinda stupid. I cast a teleportation spell and teleported past them and next to Twilight. All of them look to where I was standing and to me for a second.
“What?” I ask in confusion, seeing their stunned faces.
“How did you do that? The palace walls have an anti-teleportation seal on it. It should be impossible for any beside those the princesses specifically allow to teleport in.” The guard says in shock. I raise a brow and think.
“Well, I did notice an odd sensation when I was teleporting, like when you walk through a thin spiders web.” I say aloud before looking at the wall and seeing some kind of seal on the inside. “Hold on a sec.” I take out my glasses and look to the seal, all the other ponies watching as I go through the inner workings of the spell. I go through it, taking out a notepad and writing the magical formula and I find the problem.
“That’s it!” I say aloud, the others jumping from my sudden outburst. “The problem is that the spell isn’t consistently spread in terms of magical energy. A few spots like in the actual entrance and the area above us are constantly in flux from taking in the ambient magic in the air as well as scanning any who walk in. Plus it is using magic to constantly check if anypony is trying to teleport in, using more magic than it has.” I explain, and see only Twilight and one of the guards understood what I just said.
“So, it is basically the same as trying to run and rest at the same time?” The other guard says and I make a ‘sorta’ gesture with my hand. I take out my sword, the guards grabbing their weapons, and begin to write a different enchantment, making sure to keep my dark eye covered by my hair.
“What are you doing?” The unicorn guard asks. I don’t look away from my writing but I do answer.
“Writing a defensive enchantment to replace the one you guys have. This enchantment will make it so that it takes in the ambient magic in the air and makes an invisible wall that will go around the wall itself and make sure it doesn’t use too much of its own energy keeping it up. Plus, it is set to only lower through the magic of an Alicorn, making it so only the princesses can teleport in and out, as well as any who are in the radius of their spell.”
Not long after I finish talking, I put the last part of the enchantment in and wave my sword to the left, the symbols repeating themselves and going in a line down the wall before combing back around. I smile as the enchantment is completed and I sheath my sword again. Looking to the guards, they stare at the enchantment in shock, then to me.
“So, can we go see the princess now?” I ask. The duo look to one another before sighing and letting our group leave. I smile and pat them both on the shoulders before joining the group and headed to the throne room. We all walk in silence before arriving at the door. The guard goes in and tell the princesses of our arrival, before coming back and telling us that they want Twilight and ‘whoever did that thing to the wall’ to go in. I can’t help but chuckle to myself from her description of my spell.
Walking up, the guards tense at the sight of my sword, before I untie it and give it to the guard by the door.
“Can you hold onto this for me please?” I ask him. He raises a brow and nods, taking my sword and belt. Me and Twilight walk in and the door closes behind us. Looking around the throne room, I see a few stain glass portraits of events, like the girls defeating Nightmare Moon and Discord, and the Canterlot invasion by changelings.
I hear some talking so I turn and see the princesses Luna and Celestia whispering to one another. Luna is wearing a deep royal blue and purple dress with black gloves and a sapphire necklace. Celestia in contrast is wearing a gold and white dress with white gloves and a ruby necklace. They are looking at the glass window depicting the Canterlot Invasion.
They didn’t seem to notice us so I clear my throat loudly, getting their attentions. They both look to me and raise a brow, likely because I am something they have never seen before.
“You wanted to see me princess? To give me a test?” Twilight says nervously as we walk up, taking out a book before I put a hand on her arm.
{“Calm down.”} I tell her in Japanese, the two royal looking confused. Twilight sighs and puts the book away.
“Hai.” She says, taking a breath. Celestia and Luna both look to me and silently ask who I am.
“Sorry, had to make sure Twilight was ok.” I tell them before walking up and giving a curtsy to them. “My name is Alexandria Justine. I am the one responsible for the defensive enchantment that just appeared around the walls of the castle. The anti-teleportation seal that was placed on the wall was faulty so I replaced it with a stronger one.” I explain to them, the princesses looking surprised.
“Faulty?” Luna asks, walking to the thrones.
“That is right. I teleported in to get past the guards who wouldn’t let me join the girls. After they explained the seal to me, I looked it over and found the problem with it before making my own.” I say before taking out the formula for the seal, the problems being underlined for them. Celestia takes the notes and sees the problem. She smile to me.
“In that case, thank you young Alexandria.” She says, standing before her throne with her sister.
“Please, just call me Lex.” I tell them with a smile as Twilight stands beside me. “So you wanted to give Twi some kind of test?” I say and Celestia nods.
“Indeed, but this is a different kind of test.” She says before pausing and giving a grim look. “The Crystal Empire has returned.” She states ominously.
“The Crystal Empire?” Me and Twi ask together. Me and Twilight take out a few of her books and go through them. “I’m sorry, but I have never heard of it before.” Twilight says before Celestia lights up her horn and levitates a large purple crystal over to us.
“I wouldn’t expect you to. Even my knowledge of the Empire is limited. What I do know is it contains a powerful magic.” She says, lighting up your horn and the crystal suddenly shines bright and shows a hologram of a beautiful city made of crystal. Even the citizens appear to be made of crystal.
“One thousand years ago, King Sombra, a unicorn with a heart as black as night took over the empire.” The hologram showed black crystals beginning to cover the empire and for a large stallion with grey fur, a black mane, and a red tipped curved horn wearing royal robes to appear on the top what is likely the palace of the empire, the citizens walking around in shackles. I notice his eyes are red with green sclera and purple mist coming out the sides.
“Corrupted magic.” I say aloud in shock. Celestia goes to nod, only to pause and look to me in confusion.
“You are half right Lex. He is using dark magic. An evil force that corrupts-“
“Wrong.” I interrupted her. “His magic appears to be naturally dark, meaning these crystals he is making would be normal for him. Something has corrupted his magic itself causing him to go nuts with power.” I say and two princesses look to me in confusion.
“No...it is because he is using dark magic. It likely turned him evil.” Luna says.
“Says the one who uses night and dream magic, which can fall under the category of dark magic.” I say back without thinking. The trio of ponies actually pause for a second to consider this. Celestia shakes her head and gets back to her story of the Empire.
“Anyways, he was ultimately overthrown, turned to shadow, and banished to the frozen north. But not before he was able to put a curse upon the empire, causing it to vanish into thin air.” She says, the crystal shining and returning to its original state. She levitates the crystal into the air and shines a rainbow light into it.
“If the empire is filled with hope and love, it’s light and those virtues will shine all across Equestria.” She then gains a dark expression and scrunches her eyes shut.
“If hatred and fear take hold...” she doesn’t continue and opens her eyes, showing them to be completely green and for the purple mist to be coming out of them. Before any could respond, I cast Solid Script Guard and the words appear in front of me and Twilight. The princesses look shocked by my magic and Celestia goes back to normal. She opens her mouth to talk again, but I don’t let her.
“Princess are you insane?!?” I shout at her, causing her to recoil in surprise.
“I beg your pardon?” She says, stepping up a bit.
“That wasn’t just dark magic you were about to use, that was Corrupted Dark Magic! Even using that type of magic for a few seconds can be dangerous and become addictive! That is the type of dark magic that is banned and used for evil!” I tell her, not even trying to hide my outrage.
“You speak as though there are other forms of dark magic that do not corrupt. How do you know this?” Luna asks. I just sigh at them.
“For the first part, maybe it is just how thing work in Fiore, but magic is separated into large spectrums from one type of magic to another. For example, you could have one person who specializes in Fire Dragon Magic, and another who specializes in Purple Flare Magic. They are both fire magic users, but the spells themselves are very different. The same goes for Dark Magic.” I tell them. The princesses are curious and Twilight looks like she would be drooling if she weren’t in the presence of royalty.
“As for the second part, I know because I am a wizard who uses four diffrent types of writing magic, one of them fitting into the Dark Magic category as well.” I explain and Celestia immediately gets defensive, lighting her horn.
“Are you telling me you use dark magic?” She says threatening. I am not scared.
“Yes. I use a magic called Dark Ecriture. It is near identical to my other styles, Solid Script Magic, but it focuses on the darker words for attacks. Pain, Mist, Darkness, Absolute Shadow, Wings. In spite of the fact I use a type dark magic, I am not evil, and I cannot be corrupted from using it.” I step up to her, “what you and that Sombra were using was a dangerous style of dark magic that can corrupt the mind if they aren’t strong enough or are mentally or emotionally unstable. And it isn’t just dark magic that corrupts. There was a woman who used a type of light and summoning magic called Angel Magic to summon angelic being to fight for her. She wasn’t strong enough to control it and her magic became corrupted, make her ‘angels’ into giant parasites that fed off her magic and life energy till she nearly died.”
Me and Celestia stare each other down, not an easy feat for me since she was a foot and a half taller than me, but she was the first to relent and sigh.
“You say there are types of Dark Magic that do not corrupt. Name five that do not and three that do.” She demands suddenly. Her sister and Twilight look shocked by this. I just nod to her.
“The first five types of none corrupting Dark Magic are Shadow Stealth Magic, Dream Magic, Night Magic, Dark Ecriture, and Satan Soul Takeover Magic. Three that do corrupt are also rather popular in their danger. Necromancy. Death Magic,” I pause and point to her, “Dark Control Magic.” I finish. I noticed that Twilight was actually taking notes on the types of magic I was listing off. Luna was also interested by the magic I said after hearing her own types. Celestia just looks to me with narrowed eyes. I decided to show her the difference.
“The magic you and Sombra used had the clear signs of corruption. The mist coming from your eyes. Those who use magic that is corrupted have a physical tell about them that shows their corruption. That woman I mentioned had cracks appear over her, like she was made of glass. Another man who used Heavenly Body Magic had his eye change into a red symbol. When I use Dark Ecriture, my eye also changes but that is a natural side effect.” I tell them and light up my dark eye. Luna looks at my dark eye closely, while Celestia leans back a bit.
“Wow! I knew that there was different types of the same element of magic from just you, but this is incredible.” Twilight says. I just smile to her, my eye returning to normal. We both look back to the princesses. “So, considering you told us about the Crystal Empire, the test is for me to help save it from Sombra?” She asks. Celestia stays silent, so Luna answers.
“That is correct, young Twilight. Your brother and Cadence are already there and are protecting it best they can. In the end, however, you be the one who must find a way to defeat Sombra and save the crystal ponies from his tyranny.” she says. Twilight looks unsure, so I place a hand on her shoulder with a smile.
{“It won’t be just you. Me and the others will be right there beside you.”} I tell her in Japanese again. She pauses and remembers our lessons, then smiles at my response.
“Arigato.” She says back. We both look back to the princesses again. “I won’t let you down princesses.” We both bow and leave the throne room. I can feel Celestia’s gaze on me the entire way out the room.