//------------------------------// // Chapter 8 - Death by gay snu-snu // Story: Shackles and Friendship // by Zaibatsu //------------------------------// Shackles and Friendship Chapter 8 - Death by gay snu-snu (AN: "Have a emergency kit of cupcakes in case of '4th wall breaking pink pony that's clearly out of her mind'. " A bit too late Noxxels.) "There are three types of magic: actives, passives, and constants." although I had agreed to the quizzes it was still taking too damn long. Twilight was meticulous about my reading to a point of almost questioning every base theory from the book, and it was driving me crazy! "Correct, now explain them in detail and give examples please." *sigh* "Actives: basically just one time spells that needs to be manually activated consciously by the caster and expires once the spell activates or uses up their magic. An example would be, well, my impromptu fireball for one." *smile* "Yes, that one counts." she said irritably. "Next?" "Passives: spells or traits that are subtle in nature and are continuously in effect without conscious thought, however they can remain dormant and only activate once a particular action or situation arises which is the only time they will actually drain the caster of magic. An example would be inherit traits found in, eh....'normal' ponies?" "Earth ponies." "Right them. Their inherit traits which give them their endurance, vitality and green thumb are considered passive spells. That part I get but the book also states that these passive traits constantly eat up magic right? Then how come earth ponies can constantly keep them active?" "The traits of earth ponies are a special case, they may not be able to weave magic like unicorns but they can replenish their magical reserve much faster than us. Another reason why their's is special is because for some unknown reason the spells on them change and adapt to match how fast they regain magic. It's the reason why earth ponies have little to no magic in their 'container', its constantly used up to keep their traits active. In fact that also applies to pegasus ponies for their ability to fly and manipulate the weather. But what's a 'green thumb'? Ponies don't have any fingers like you do." "Just a human phrase, means you have a gift with plants. And what do you mean they manipulate the weather?" "Pegasus ponies maintain the weather in Equestria, how else are we supposed to make it rain or change the season?" "By letting them do it themselves? The weather in my world acts on laws of heat and cold as well as geographical locations. The most we can do is predict the weather or send certain particles to clouds to make it rain." Twilight's pupils grew twice as large and she had that creepy smile again, thus I made a tactical retreat and quickly changed the subject. "However, the drawback to passive spells is that once somebody cast it-" "Somepony." "Whatever, once the spell is activated the caster no longer has control over them, which is why passive spells take the most time to be prepared and programmed correctly, thus considered the most difficult school of magic to master. And although they are not the most dangerous type of spells, they have caused the most accidents due to oversight or errors in the caster's part to predict certain situations. They can also be programmed to end, usual by a phrase or by certain outcomes in case the spell becomes permanently active and drain the caster entirely of magic, which will also cause the spell to terminate." personally I was most interested in studying this particular aspect of magic than the rest, as a simulations programmer I could appreciated it's potential, 'video games for life!' (AN: C++ is boss) "You're forgetting something important." "Uuuh, no I don't think so." "Yes you are, a critical one. Until about two hundred years ago everypony thought that passive spells can only be used to yourself and nopony else. However, Mind Mole, discovered that if you can weave the spell in a way that's identical to somepony's brainwaves, then one can cast it on them. The results are similar to hypnosis, but unlike hypnosis one can potentially make the target do whatever the caster wishes." "Oh right, the guy that had like 50 plus wives or something." "Of course you would take notice of that one." she was rolling her eyes in mock surprise. "And what does that mean?" 'Probably because she suspect we're just as much of a lecherous prick as he was. For ponies might I add.' 'For the last time I do not-' 'Denial much?' "Nothing. In any case, one flaw to this kind of manipulation spell is that once the target, or in his case, his victim becomes aware of the spell it was instantly undone. Which ended his ruse and he was banished to an island inhabited by a tribe of ponies that...uh, were happy to take him in." Twilight was blushing a bit towards the end. "What do you mean, 'happy to take him in'?" "The tribe's mares live on another island, yet the stallions remain very sexually active." 'Wow. Death by gay snu-snu.' "We're getting of track, explain constant spells please." I was just as willing to change the subject and hopefully get the disturbing image out of my mind. "Constant spells are considered a hybrid of the other two. Like active spells they require conscious thought and effort to cast, and like passive spells they remain active with constant focus from the caster and will constantly drain them of magic. However unlike passive spells that can lay dormant, constant spells are always active as long as the caster is willing and able to keep it active. Examples of constant spells can range from several shield spells and the levitation spell." "Very good, can you tell me which type of spell I used for your exercise?" I have actually given it some thought last night. The way it worked was very similar to passive spells but it didn't look like one, I thought it was a constant spell but Twilight wasn't paying any attention at all and was busy reading. But even if she was able to multi-task to such extremes she would have known I've been practicing on the spell since she needed to focus on it, her surprise reaction proved that she wasn't aware of what happen to her spell. So it isn't a passive or a constant spell, and definitely not an active spell either. "Is it a passive-constant hybrid?" by the looks on Twilight's surprised expression I though I nailed it. "I'm impressed, that's a very close assumption but no it isn't. It's actually a combination of two spells, a passive and constant." the gears in my head was already on overdrive and I already had another theory in mind. "So you cast a passive spell first on yourself that would automatically supply any constant spells you cast after with magic whenever they start to run out. Actually scratch that, it's too messy. You have a passive spell on you that would activate by some kind of signal from another spell, like a beacon or pulse. Then you cast a constant spell which would send the signal whenever it has less than a specific amount of magic, which the passive spell will start to replenish. You created a system which allows the passive spell control the constant spell, but I doubt it's that simple." it was more thinking out loud than actually answering the question. I was looking absently in front of me, I didn't even notice that Twilight was looking at me slacked jawed with a glazed look on her eyes. She even started to droll. "Twilight?" at the mention of her name she startled back into reality. "Did-did you just thought of that now?" at least she had her mouth closed but she was still looking at me with that same glazed look as before. "Uh, yes?" that look was getting more disturbing by the second. "Did anyone else talk to you about magic? Did you find a book or something? Was it Princess Celestia?" "No to all three....sorry?" I was starting to get a bit worried. 'Actually were scared right now.' "I've never heard of such a thing. That's an entirely new concept! A spell that communicates and controls another spell? You might have just revolutionized magic theory!" "Really? I-" "And you just thought about it out of blue!? Rodney I could kiss you!" 'YES!!' "NO!" Twilight jumped back at my sudden outburst her ears flat and was looking at me with some fear in her eyes. "Sorry Twilight, I mean no that's quite alright. And I doubt I revolutionized anything. How would anyone take my ideas seriously if I can't even do magic?" "I, I guess that sort of makes sense." "So can we keep focus and finally let me do some magic?" *sigh* "Fine, but Rodney. I really think you were on to something there." "We'll figure it out after, ok?" with another sigh she nodded. "We'll do the control exercise and then well try our hoof at spell weaving." Control exercise was more or less similar as yesterday, I still had to make some effort to bring out my magic but it was getting easier. However Twilight forbade me from actually drawing out any before I learn how to actually weave and mold it correctly to a harmless spell. Thus for about an hour we focused on concentration and trying to devise a training program to help me improve my overall ability. Unfortunately that was all just warm up, the actual control training started after. Twilight cast the same spell as before and I saw the same purple mass of aura floating in front of me. I thought we were going to have a do the same thing as yesterday but Twilight had something else in mind. "Based on yesterday's performance I don't think there's any more need to do it again. Now however, I want you to absorb the magic in the spell constantly." "What?" "Think of how constant spells continuously drain the caster of magic while it's active, you're pretty much doing the same. Last time you learn how to properly take certain amounts entirely, but it was like cutting it up to pieces. Now you need to constantly keep draining the magic but at a controlled and even rate. The target is 1/10th every second, so it should take you ten seconds to drain the spell entirely. The spell will track the amount of magic its losing and will constantly glow green if the rate is even. In other words you have to make it green for ten whole seconds." At first it sounded like a waste of time, however thinking it over such a skill would be quite useful. Absorbing someone's magic a piece at a time would probably be noticeable, and even if I took it by minuscule amounts its not worth the required level of concentration. But taking it constantly and evenly would be far more efficient and less noticeable, they would slowly feel tired and exhausted instead of suddenly feeling their energy drained. 'Just like a leech.' *sigh* 'Yes, just like a leech.' 'Oh sweet lord we have progress! Now maybe if you can accept the fact that-' 'I swear if you say the word 'fetish' one more time I'll torture you with the worst memory we have.' 'You wouldn't dare, you'd be suffering as much as I would.' 'Just like you say, I'm a jerk. And the thought that I'm torturing you will be enough.' '...touche.' It took about two or three hours, but eventually I was able to have a reasonably steady flow. It wasn't all that hard to find the trick, it only took me half an hour to get the idea of imagining a faucet and a hose the same way I did when I tried to use my own magic, the only difference was that I had to plug the faucet to the spell. The hard part was trying to keep the flow even, the rate keeps fluctuating up and down and some magic tend to escape as they travel towards me. From this point on it was all just practicing and actually getting into the right mindset to keep the flow even. But so far I still couldn't keep the flow exactly even, I was at least able to control it to drain it all in ten seconds flat but it the flow was never consistent. And soon enough I began to feel the same headache as before start to develop. "Sorry Twilight, but that's as far as I can go. Looks like I've reached my limit for the day." although I was actually looking towards learning magic, it still sucked to fail. "The headaches?" I nodded while messaging my forehead. "Well at the least you've made some progress, we can continue on tomorrow. Ready for some spell weaving?" immediately my mood improved and I was beaming at her. *giggle* "I take it that's a yes?" "Stop teasing me Twilight, that's just cold." "Party pooper." she said in a mock pout. Twilight beckon me to sit on a large pillow close to her, as I got closer I saw there were several balls laying on the floor, the same one's I saw yesterday. "So, weaving spells." she began as I sat down. "As you remember to cast a spell you must first collect the necessary amount of magic required, then by molding or weaving the spell in certain ways the magic will react differently and create certain outcomes." "And how exactly do I do that? Weaving and molding magic." "That's actually hard to say." "Meaning?" "Well to everypony, that are unicorns of course, weave and mold magic differently. Although we all call it weaving or molding, its for everypony." "So it's not actually a definite technique or method to follow?" "I'm afraid not, though the way I do it is very much so. Rodney please, let me explain and finish all the way and then I'll answer any question." I shut my mouth and nodded. "Thank you. Now like I said, for me I weave spells by following a proper method to achieve several different effects from magic. I see them as formulas and equations which I'm particularly good at. However my friend Rarity, who makes a living as a seamstress, once explain to me that she weaves her magic the same way she does her work. She imagine's and feels her magic like a piece of cloth and makes modifications and alterations to them the same way she would make a dress. However even if everypony weaves it differently, they end up being identical to everypony else. If I cast a spell and Rarity cast the same spell, we both might mold the magic differently but the result is still the same. Imagine creating something that's identical however the only difference is what tools Rarity and I use. Mostly that the way we weave magic is somehow connected to our cutie-marks which gives us a clue, but seeing as you don't have one..." "Means its all up to me getting a lucky shot in the dark." "I'm afraid so, really the only advice I can give you is to remember what you love or what your good at and try to apply it to magic in someway. We'll attempt one of the simplest spell, try to lift the balls up with a levitation spell." To say I was disappointed was an understatement, I had somewhat expected to learn magic with words of power or incantations with runes and shit. But if Twilight says is true there's a good chance I might never actually do proper magic, 'well at least we can still lob fireballs.' 'True, but still we could do so much more.' 'So what are we good at? Aside from being an immature man-child.' 'Can't you just tell me?' 'Sorry no can do, I only know as much as you do. I can sometimes give some insight or a different way of seeing things but I don't actually have answers the way you expect.' 'Ok then give me something.' 'Well, let's see. She said to focus on what we like right?' 'Or skilled at.' 'Try to imagine smoking magic like a joint.' 'Really?' 'You can't deny that were very good at it, but yea that probably won't work. So what else then?' 'Well we pretty much sold out souls to video games, it's what made us change out major and move to...' 'Devry University to study...' 'Game Programming......you don't suppose that-' 'One way to find out, I'll take care of memorizing it. You just focus on making it.' 'Alright, here goes nothing.' #include #include void main() { private: Self body; Target ball; public: while (body.magicalReserve > 0.0) { while (ball.postition.Y < 1) { ball.useMagic(body.magicalReserve); ball.changeXYZ(0, 0.1, 0); } } } "Rodney...open your eyes." I was a bit hesitant, afraid to lose my train of thought but the way she spoke meant something was happening. I opened my eyes while still keeping focus but I saw nothing, at least nothing that changed. I turned to Twilight to ask what was wrong but she was too busy looking up towards the ceiling, I turned my gaze upwards to where she was looking. There hovering about a meter above the floor was one of the ball, I didn't notice that one of the balls were missing. There was no doubt that it was me who was keeping the ball floating because unlike Twilight's spell that has a purple aura, the ball was covered in the same azure fire from yesterday. I thought my magic might be burning it but there was no smoke and the ball didn't change color nor was there any smell of burning rubber filling the room. For the second time Twilight and I were caught transfixed by the dancing blue fire. (AN: Eh, close enough.) 'Now THAT, is what a fireball should look like.' [Night time, in Twilight's room...] Observation Report 4 Subject continues to make progress today, although he did have trouble dealing with the lat phase of his control exercise but should be able to master it in a few days. Which brings me to conclude that the subject may be ready and able to leave the castle sooner that expected. Note: add 'Reschedule' to the checklist of the previous checklist before I reschedule that checklist. The subject have also made a breakthrough, he was able to weave magic today. I had thought that it would take far longer for him to discover what to do, perhaps despite the lack of magic in his world human's may have some inherit skills with it, or he just got lucky. I would probably have believed in the latter however today he also proved to be quite intuitive and highly intelligent at discerning the nature of one of my spells. The subject also mentioned an idea that sounded very promising, having spells control other spells. Imagine an entire system of hundreds of spells working together without any thought or focus needed from the caster. It's a field completely untouched! Note: clean up basement for experimentation. Also the subject continues to go unaware of the band, which is still working as intended. Will continue to monitor. AN: HELP MEEEEHhmmmph!! Pinkamena: Shhhhhh there, there. Don't worry about the AN auntie will take care of it. Hmm! Pfft hmphft! Hmmff-BONK! Pinkamena: *giggle* He's so cute when he sleeping like that. Like I said I will be doing this AN for now, SO LISTEN UP! First he apologizes if things are a bit slow, and if this chapter and the last was too technical. But he really wants to lay down the magic system first, so ask if anyone is confused. From this point on the story will progress faster, he promises that I'll finally be able to meet Rodney again and throw his overdue party. Don't worry, I'll make sure that he keeps his promise and well soon meet the mane six, or should I say five? *shrugs* In any case he hopes you enjoy the chapter, and he does enjoy to see come comments. Even I get a little tingly-fingly feeling inside. Alright that's enough. He and I still have a party to attend, and I'm bringing all my friends.