A knock at the door roused me from my slumber.
"Enter!" I said without thought.
The sound of the door opening preceded a gasp. "Sweet Celestia! It smells like a brothel in here!"
Ember waved a claw dismissively. "You're just jealous."
Sunflower guffawed, "Sure, maybe a little. Oh, wow. I can't even get close, the smell... Jeez did you even get any sleep?"
"Not enough," I said. "Come back at eleven."
"It's noon," Sunflower replied, flatly.
"I didn't say 'am'."
I could literally feel the eye roll. "You didn't say 'pm' either, so get up or I'll get the hose."
Ember smiled, stretching out, "Did I ever mention how much I love this pony?"
I leaned over and gave Ember a quick kiss. "Maybe Celestia will let us keep her."
"Oh, I am way too high maintenance for you two," Sunflower retorted. "Might I suggest a puppy?"
We laughed.
But then, I had a thought.
"Hey... we should get a puppy."
Ember laughed. "Yeah, let's get a little furry animal to run around lava pits."
That afternoon was spent with me in the arcane science lab, getting tests done.
In other words, I stood still in a machine while the nerds spoke Klingon to each other then went to stand in another machine. Rinse, repeat.
"So, can you explain in words normal people can understand?" I asked.
"She's saying that you're magic isn't normal magic," Lyra explained.
"See, why can't all eggheads talk like that?" Smolder asked, throwing her hands up.
"Because it isn't exactly accurate," Moondancer explained.
Lyra rolled her eyes. "It doesn't have to be. They aren't scientists, they aren't a review board, they're just normal creatures."
Moondancer sighed. "Fine. Would you care to take over the explanation?"
"Sure," Lyra said, pulling up one of my images. "Alright, you know how we said that ponies have a kernel, and that allows them to use magic?"
I nodded.
"Well, you have four. Now, we actually kind of expected this. You said you knew the eevees before from before you came here and they have four, so we figured you might as well."
She brought up a trio of graphs. "Alright, this shows three different magical signatures from two different ponies and a griffin. You see how most of the wave is similar? The only differences are here, in what we call the 'personal wave', the part that changes from individual to individual, and here in the case of the griffin in what we call the 'species wave', the part that differs based on species. You following me so far?"
We all nodded.
"Good," Lyra brought up a different graph. "This is yours."
It was immediately apparent that it didn't share much in common at all with any of the other waves.
"As you can see, it's completely different from normal magic. However, it's still magic. If it wasn't, it wouldn't have been picked up at all."
Moondancer finally spoke up again. "Which begs the question, what kind of magic is it and why is it so different?"
"I have my bits on aliens," Lyra said.
Moondancer scoffed, "They aren't aliens."
"You can't prove they aren't," Lyra said.
"I also can't prove they aren't sentient seaweed that only mimics an animal. That doesn't mean it's true," Moondancer countered.
"No, but it does mean there's still the possibility," Lyra pointed out.
"Lyra isn't wrong," I said. "After all, timberwolves are a thing. Sentient seaweed isn't outside the realm of possibility. "
"Timberwolves aren't sentient," Moondancer said.
"But who's to say they couldn't be?" I asked.
"Every law of magic ever made," Moondancer said.
"The same laws that say you need a kernel to use magic?" Ember asked.
Moondancer's mouth opened, as if to respond, but she froze. After a moment, she closed her mouth. "Fair point. Fine, I will acknowledge that there is an infinitesimal possibility that he and the eevee's could possibly be aliens, but I will also state that the chances of that are about a trillion to one."
I had to hold back a laugh. I made a note to make sure I was there when she found out Lyra was right. I really wanted to see that.
"Anyway, I think we're about done here," Moondancer said, turning to the girls. "Princess Celestia was wanting you to come to her study. She was hoping to get started on actually figuring out how to connect Smolder to the magic field."
She looked at me. "As for you, Captain Armor asked if you would be willing to go to the training ground."
I raised a curious eyebrow. "Why?"
"He didn't say."
Maybe not, but I could have guessed.
"Ember, Smolder, I'm glad you are here," Celestia said as the two dragonesses entered.
"Glad to be so welcome," Ember said.
"So, they said you know how to give me magic powers," Smolder said, trying to hide her excitement.
Celestia smiled apologetically. "Unfortunately, not quite yet. However, I do have a few ideas that may help get us moving in the right direction."
“Well, what are we waiting for?” Ember asked. “Let’s do this.”
Celestia smiled. She certainly admired the dragons’ enthusiasm. “Alright, first, I want you to describe to me, in detail, the place you went when you met Aurora. Don’t so much tell me about Aurora, but the place itself. Focus on things that stood out as different from, say, this room.”
Ember took a seat in one of the chairs as she thought.
“Was a while ago, so I might not remember perfectly, but I do remember a few things that I thought were strange,” Ember said. “One thing was that there was light everywhere, but it wasn’t coming from anywhere. Another thing was... how can I put this... everything felt weird. It was almost like... like I wasn’t actually there. It was as if I was, I don’t know, a ghost, or something.”
“Like a dream?” Celestia ventured.
“Yes! That!” Ember said. “That’s exactly how it felt.”
Celestia hummed to herself. “I believe I may have an idea where you went.”
“Where?” Smolder asked.
“I believe what you call the weave, we call the Ethereal Plane,” Celestia said. “I’ve only been there once before, myself, when I first ascended to become an alicorn.”
"Ascended?" Smolder queried. "Does that mean you weren't born an alicorn?"
Celestia chuckled. "Heavens, no. Alicorns are never born such. No, we ascend, after performing some grand feat. For myself, it was when I first raised the sun on my own, when the others of the circle were... indisposed.
"Luna ascended at the same time, as she did the same for the moon the same day."
"Whoa," Ember said. "Okay, so we know what that place is now, but how does that help?"
"It helps because now I know what we need to connect to," Celestia said, a determined look on her face.
I was led through town toward the outskirts and what I was told was the Canterlot Guard Training Command.
It looked like any military base one could find on Earth. Of course, I hadn't really spent much time on military bases, other than going to an air show when I was a kid, so what would I know?
Shining armor was waiting for us when we arrived. "Good to see you again, Luke." He looked at my escort. "Dismissed."
My escort saluted and left.
"How have you been, Captain?" I asked.
"Fantastic," he replied. "So, I'm sure you can guess why you're here."
"Either you want to share tactics or you want me to assist with some kind of training exercise," I guessed.
Shining Armor smirked. "Right on the second, though I wouldn't mind touching on the first. I want to give my soldiers experience in dealing with the unknown."
"Let me guess," I said with a grin. "You want me to be the 'unknown'?"
"Bingo," Shining Armor confirmed. "These guys are part of a special unit that are meant to go into the wilderness to combat threats and rescue innocents, so they need to be ready for anything.
"So, what do you say? Wanna try beating some knowledge into my best and brightest."
My smile turned wicked. "I would be honored."
"Alright, stallions," Shining armor said after his soldiers came to attention. "Today, you're going to have a special instructor. This is Luke. He comes to us from a distant land and has agreed to help me teach all of you an important lesson. He speaks psychically, so don't be surprised when you start hearing a voice in your head. Luke, if you may."
I took my cue and stepped up. "Good afternoon, gentlemen, or whatever equivalent term you use here. I understand you fight in teams of three, one unicorn, one pegasus, and one earth pony, correct?"
"Sir, yes sir!" they sounded off.
"Excellent," I said, letting my excitement bleed into my 'voice'. "Now, this is how today's lesson will play out. You will divide into your teams, I'm going to beat you senseless while you desperately try and fail to find a way to beat me, and then you're going to think about what you could have done to prepare yourself."
I felt everyone's anger and indignation spike. Well, almost everyone's. There was one group that only seemed to feel curiosity and caution. I made note of them.
"Any volunteers to go first?" I asked.
"Sir, we'll go first," a burly earth pony said, stepping forward with his team. He seethed confidence and pride, as did his two teammates.
I nodded. "Very well. Step into my parlor."
My first victims strode willingly to their own flogging. I stood still, paws behind my back. "Whenever you're ready."
"You know, you shouldn't underestimate your enemy!" The earth pony charged straight at me.
They thought they were clever.
How adorable.
I reached back, grabbing the hoof of the pegasus that tried to dive bomb me from behind and flung him into the charging earth pony, knocking the former out and the latter down.
I ducked under a beam of magic, grabbing a rock and flinging it at the unicorn, getting my second KO.
Just as the earth pony got to his hooves, he was put down by a roundhouse kick to the face.
The others just gaped. I had just dispatched an entire team in four seconds.
I looked at them and said, "Overconfidence is a weakness. Making your opponent think you're overconfident is not. Never let yourself be goaded into attacking recklessly. If your opponent is goading you, that's what they want."
"Sir, we'd like to have a go at you," said a unicorn mare.
She and her team stepped up, they felt both confidence and caution. Already, they were doing better than the last group. Plus, they actually took the time to arm themselves.
"The Captain said weapons were allowed. We hope you don't mind," she said.
"I want you to treat this as if it was an encounter in the field with a hostile. If you use them in the field, you can use them here," I said.
The unicorn had a strange weapon floating in her magic. It was all blade with no grip whatsoever, pointed at both ends. It was clearly meant for unicorns. The pegasus had a bow with arrows, whose tips looked like a copper fork. The earth pony wore a pair of... gauntlets? Whatever the pony equivalent was.
Shining Armor told me there were enchantments on the field and weapons that prevented fatal injuries, but I still eyed the weapons warily.
"Whenever you're ready."
Their attack was much more coordinated and less obvious than the last group.
An arrow zipped by as I nimbly shift to the left. As it passed, I could feel the electrical charge stored within.
The unicorn blade swung at my side. I deflected it using the spikes on my hands, just as the earth pony reached me. He punched at my knee, trying to take me down, but I parried with a shin.
"Excellent team work," I complemented.
With lightning fast reflexes, I snatched the second arrow fired at me out of the air, jabbing it into the earth pony's neck. The electrical charge shot through his body, taking him out.
I rushed the unicorn, deflecting another blow. That was apparently a distraction, though, as the blade went flying and the unicorn was gone.
I turned around, firing off a one handed aura sphere. The aura sphere plowed through the spell bolt the unicorn cast and slammed into her head, taking her down.
I turned just in time to snatch another arrow out of the air, only for the arrow to burst in a cloud of irritating smoke. I reached out with my aura senses, feeling for his attack. Instead, I felt him fly past me to his fallen teammates, pick them up, and call, “Pulling out!”
The others started heckling the pegasus, calling him, “Scaredy cat!” “Whimp!” and “Sissy!”
I held out a paw to silence them. "Tell me, why did you retreat? I didn’t even realize that was an option."
The pegasus landed and said, “You said to treat this like an encounter in the field. If this were in the field, and we encountered something as powerful as you, it would be better to retreat and report what we learned about you.”
Shining Armor stepped up. “An excellent call. Remember, when dealing with an unknown, information is your most valuable resource. If you engage but find yourself overwhelmed, retreat. The intel you would have gathered on your foe, even in a brief encounter, is too valuable to lose.”
"Now, why don’t we let you and your team share what you learned fighting me, that way the next team will have an edge."