//------------------------------// // Ch2: Background Studies // Story: Equestria: The Afterlife // by Timzocker201 //------------------------------// POV: Twilight “And now we’re here.” Markus said, as he finished his story. Celestia sat on her throne, with an amused look on her face. “It seems you had quite an adventure already, Markus.” Celestia chuckled slightly, as she said that. Markus meanwhile looked at Applejack. “Indeed, I’m only sorry for Applejack, as a good portion of the next apple harvest will now taste like Metal and Gunpowder.” Celestia chuckled slightly, even though I can’t imagine she knew more about that Gunpowder-something than I did. “Now, Twilight, is there anything you might want to add to his story?” Celestia asked me in the usual teacher-voice I knew from back when I was her student. “Well, apart from Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie on the train, babbling about a >>surprise welcome party, which wasn’t a surprise anymore since she told him<<, I just asked him a few questions about his home on the way here.” I humbly answered. Markus shot me a quick look “A few questions? You nearly had me run down our whole history, biology and society, if it wasn’t for the train to arrive at Canterlot first.” He looked back at Celestia, who again chuckled in amusement. “Speaking of questions though, I think I’m right to assume that you do have some too, so I may offer you to ask away, my princess.” He made an overdramatic bow at the end of that sentence, smiling slightly at Celestia. “Very well, I will take you up on that offer and ask you about your life up until you were transported to our world. Also, I would like to know how much you know about us and how you came to know.” I quickly levitated a quill and some parchment over to me, as I definitely wanted to take notes when he started telling his story. I was so excited I nearly started jumping around like Pinkie Pie. “Well, as you wish, my princess.” Markus started his story and I readied my quill. “I was born in a country known as Germany to a family with certainly good living standards, the exact location is unimportant. In Germany, all children are required to enter school at the age of six, with some rare cases entering at five or seven, depending on their birthdates and parent’s wishes. In school, I learned about mathematics to a degree, which even scholars would be proud of, as well as our world’s history, chemistry, physics, geography and English, which is my world’s equivalent to Equestrian. Somewhere during my 7th year in school, my grades started to drop drastically. The psychologist we went to said, that this wasn’t because I was simply bad at school, but quite the opposite actually. Apparently I was so exceptionally good at learning and memorizing that education couldn’t keep up with my brain, which caused me to get bored and no longer pay attention. I passed school after thirteen years with fairly average grades and then enlisted in the Air Force as an officer. This granted me the right to study, while still being paid my regular salary and thus I studied Aeronautical Engineering. At that time, I was nineteen years old and I finished my studies after four years at the age of twenty-three. After that, I began my military service.” “Air Force? Is that a group specialized in wind magic?” I inquired, after Markus made a short pause in his story. “No, It’s a force, that fights in the air. The closest equestrian equivalent would be the Wonderbolts, I think.” Markus answered quickly. Rainbow Dash jerked up at this. “Oh, you’re a flier too? Awesome! But wait, didn’t you say you were with melancholised Infantry or something? I don’t know about the first thing, but isn’t Infantry supposed to be on the ground?” Markus looked at Rainbow Dash in a somewhat annoyed manner. “Firstly, its >>Mechanized<<. Secondly: I was about to get to that part. Until Twilight interrupted me, that is.” He shot me another glance, then turned back to Celestia and continued his story. “Well, as I was saying, I started actually serving in the military at the age of twenty-three. I was quick to earn myself a name as an exceptional Pilot, which actually gained me quite a few medals and a promotion to Oberleutnant, which is equivalent to 1st Lieutenant. But as with all great personalities, I was just as quick to gain the envy of not only my equals, but also my superiors. The only thing that kept me in the Air Force at that time was my absolute value in combat. However, after three years of service they found their chance, as in a regular medical exam it was found, that I had a slight red/green-weakness. Normally this would have been slid under the rug, due to my performance, however those who envied me pulled their strings and off I went. Now, they couldn’t just kick me out of the army without risking me going to the public, so they transferred me to the ground troops, giving me another promotion to Hauptmann, or Captain, and sending me to officer school for six months, where I learned the Tactics and Strategies of Ground Combat. I then spent one and a half years with the mechanized Infantry, commanding a small company in outward deployment. Well, that is until a few hours ago, when my armored car hit a landmine and I died, at the age of twenty-eight.” After this story, a lot of questions arose inside of me and I couldn’t wait to hear the answers, however, hearing of his fate somehow made me feel sad, although he clearly didn’t feel the same way. “I-I’m sorry to hear that.” I started to say, “But if I may ask: what exactly is a Landmine?” Markus looked at me now, his expression didn’t change though. He was as neutral as one would imagine a perfect judge in court. “A Landmine can basically be explained as a box with explosion magic cast inside and with a trigger on top, which activates the explosion magic if someone, something or somepony were to step on it. The results are mostly fatal, however even if you are lucky enough to survive, you would lose a leg at least.” This answer intrigued me. “Explosion Magic? So you do have mages?” I asked in anticipation of learning new ways of magical application. However the answer I got was rather disappointing in that respect. “No, we don’t. Actually magic doesn’t even exist in our world. I just used magic as a means of explanation. What actually causes the explosion is a highly reactive chemical compound, which rapidly expands in volume if ignited.” “What do you mean you have no magic, Darling?” Rarity exclaimed suddenly, “Oh, I couldn’t imagine doing everything by hoof, that must be exhausting, if not utterly frustrating!” “Oh yeah? Then why don’t y’all try ‘n be an earthpony? I bet yo will get a good idea how it feels like, havin’ to actually press doors open ‘n such.” Applejack commented to this. Before anyone else could say something, Markus interjected: “Well, it’s not like we do everything by Hand anymore either. You see, our species is actually pretty ingenious, so we’ve built machines that can help us do farmwork, cleaning, building and even take us to the skies, even though we don’t have wings.” Celestia watched silently, as my friends started to argue with each other if magic makes life too easy to be enjoyed, while Markus stood by watching with a mixture of amusement and interest clearly showing on his face. After a few minutes of bickering, Celestia took the word: “Markus, after what you said about these landmines, they seem to be pretty awful. Do you feel ok?” she asked, looking at Markus in concern. Markus on the other hoof inspected himself thoroughly, before answering: “Well, as far as I can tell none of my bodyparts is missing, however I have this strange burning sensation in my chest. It doesn’t feel wrong, really, even though I know, that it normally shouldn’t be there.” I immediately remembered something and quickly interjected: “That’s just like what I read just recently: apparently when non-magic creatures are magically infused with, well, magic, they feel the magical energy surge inside their body, until they activate it for the first time.” Markus looked intrigued at that and turned his gaze to me again. “Oh really? Tell me Twilight, what do you do, when you cast magic? Do you just imagine what you want to happen or is there some ritual that needs to be followed?” He asked with audible interest. “In order to cast magic, you’ve got to first imagine what you want to happen or what you want to do. Next, you’ve got to gather the magic energy needed for that into one point in your body, from which you can safely cast the spell. For Unicorns and Alicorns this would normally be the Horn. However you don’t have one…” I explained and Markus nodded. He then proceeded to close his eyes and raise his right hand. He started to concentrate and suddenly his hand began to glow with magic! A small, black cloud emitted from his fingers and formed first into a small flame, then into a splash of water, then a rock. It started to circle around his hand for a while, before disappearing into his hand again. Both Celestia and I, as well as my friends stood there in awe, as Markus reopened his eyes and looked around him. “What’s with the surprised looks?” He asked, as we slowly regained our composure. “What’s whi--?! Darling, do you even realize, what you’ve just done? You’ve mastered Elemental Magic within just a few seconds of learning how to use magic at all!” Rarity almost completely lost her composure, before she managed to regain herself. “Oh, I hardly mastered anything, Rarity.”, said Markus, “All I did was manifest my magic outside of my hand and let it take different shapes. It was what you could call an Illusion.” Celestia in the meantime regained her composure and quickly went on to change the subject, before any more interruptions could take place. “Well, it’s nice to see, that you’ve learned how to control magic, however you still haven’t explained how you got to know about our world and how far your knowledge goes.” Markus’s expression changed from a slight smile to neutral again, as he lifted his Hand up to his face and grabbed the lower part of his jaw, which he later explained was called a >>chin<<. After thinking for a short while he finally answered Celestia: “Well, in my world, there is an animated series about you. And before you ask: an animated series is basically a comic in the form of a movie, like those you see in the Las Pegasus cinema, just divided up into many smaller episodes of about twenty minutes. As for the extent of my knowledge:” Markus lifted his head, looking straight at Celestia, before he uttered a single word. “Daybreaker.” Celestia’s face showed utter shock, but I didn’t know what this meant. I didn’t even dare to ask either. Seeing my mentor in such shock was enough of a hint to warn me not to. “Well, in any case”, Celestia finally said, “I am sure, you will need an occupation, now that you are a permanent resident of Equestria. If you want to stay in your profession, I will gladly take you into the Ranks of my Royal Canterlot Guard. After all, we are in desperate need for experienced officers, considering we haven’t had a war in over a thousand years.” Markus thought about the offer for a while, before he answered. “I will gladly accept your offer your highness, however may I ask that I may be given three months’ time to settle myself into my new environment? After all, while I know a lot about it, Equestria remains a foreign country to me.” Celestia nodded and Markus thanked her with a deep bow. Afterwards, we headed back to Ponyville, where I offered him a guest bed in the Library. He accepted and will now be my roommate for the next three months. I’m really looking forward to all the questions I can ask him!