For the past few hours, I was etching glyphs into the wall with my precision tools. I just needed two more characters before I was through. As for my end goal, I was just making a silent alarm system with the tools I had available. Without advanced technology, all I had left was advanced abjuration.
Only a few seconds after finishing one of the glyphs, Spike wearily stepped down the stairs, looking over the fruits of my labor.
"What's all this?" He asked.
"Magic alarm spell. Once it's finished, if even so much as an ant comes into the house, I'll be the first to know." I answered proudly. Really, I meant to make this earlier, but I figured summoning circles were a more productive use of my time.
"Cool." He said, paying barely any mind to his paranoid housemate. "So did we leave the balcony door open last night, or what?"
Crap, I knew I forgot something. "No, that was Luna. She wanted to hang out."
"Oh, Luna came by? I didn't hear her come in."
That's because you sleep like you're in a coma. "She was quiet this time."
"Did you do anything interesting?"
She turned my world upside down, for starters. "Just went to the arcade. Once she left I began working on this alarm."
"Why are you working on that, anyway?"
Because now everypony who can kick my ass knows that they should. "It's a project I've been putting off for a while. Since I had a few extra hours this morning, I figured I might as well."
"Oh, cool. Did you cook breakfast, yet?"
"It's on the table, locked in temporal stasis."
"Thanks!" Spike left the room briefly. He came back with a tray of biscuits and gems. "Are those glowing symbols in the kitchen also an alarm?"
"Yup." I brought the knife away from the wall and looked over my handiwork. Perfectly rounded edges and sharp points. I charged my horn with bright energy, sending the power floating through the runes like water in a tube. Power spread around the room. Before long, the edges near the ceiling glowed a soft lavender, stabilizing with an occasional pulse that spun around the room.
Spike observed the finalization with awe. "Wow, that's amazing! You did this to the kitchen, too?"
"And the basement." I said. "It acts like a night light, by the way."
"It looks like a wizard lives here."
"What's that supposed to mean? I am a wizard!"
Spike stifled a laugh. "I know, it looks great. How'd you do it?"
"Imbuing objects with energy is easy, but incredibly short lived. Typically, you could only make it last for a few minutes, but I found a workaround." I pointed to the last symbol I carved. "This glyph serves as a conduit to power the adjacent glyphs, but it also refreshes the power used, recycling the power for its next go around the room. The next ones in the sequence specify a function, that being an alarm; then a target, this room; and an activation condition, when something enters the room. With the power glyph cycling the power through the line, it could last about a week before I need to recharge it."
Spike spent a moment watching the power cycling through the glyphs with a recognizable glint of interest in his eyes. "You can do some interesting things with magic, huh?"
"Yeah, just wait until I figure out how to make things float. I'm thinking of making a handy hovering sack of some kind."
He nodded absently, more preoccupied with the magic circling around than my future projects. I didn't even realize my alarm could act as a trap. Would he have noticed if I grabbed one of his biscuits? "You know, when it was just me and Twilight, I always figured she'd be the one making all these magic contraptions while I just stood by writing notes. It's weird to think that I might be able to do it, too."
"Is it weird, or exciting?"
He shrugged minutely. "Both, I guess. I just never figured I could use magic before now."
He was obviously considering asking me to teach him. The question was if I even had the time. I didn't know who knew about my secret and how many of them there were (damn it, Luna), so I would need to be prepared. But the more I thought about it, I had no way of knowing when they'd make their move. If it was that day or even the day after, I didn't have enough time even if I was focused. In other words, I had no reason to say no, and every reason to spend my time the best I could. "If you want to learn some of it, I wouldn't mind helping."
His head turned back to me with a big, childlike grin. "You know, that sounds like fun! Just try to avoid technical language, okay?"
I leaned back with a cool shrug and a sly dismissal. "Hey, what do you take me for? Somepony who knows what they're doing?"
We stood outside the library, ready to begin our first magic lesson.
"I have a question." Spike began.
"Already? We just got here."
"Why are you human right now?"
I looked down to myself, tights covering me more snugly than the last time I wore them. I'm also sure I was a little bigger. "Should I not be human?"
"No, I'm just wondering."
I shrugged. "I just figured you should get instruction from a source more similar to you than a unicorn."
"How does changing your shape do that?"
"It changes the pathways used to channel my magic, and shows that even creatures other than unicorns can do it."
He seemed to get it. Or maybe he just nodded because he figured I knew what I was talking about. Either way, it was time for us to begin. Sooner or later, I'd make Spike the most bad-ass dragon in the world.
"First things first, I want to know how powerful you are so we can gauge your progress from here on." I raised my hands, glowing in my awesome power. The light filled my entire form and faded, leaving the world feeling a little cooler than before. "Alright, I just cast two spells. One that measures power, and another that protects me. I want you to channel as much magic as you can into your fire breath, and hit me as hard as you can."
Spike looked nervous. "Um, are you sure that's a good idea? Couldn't you cast those spells on something else?"
"I don't see why that matters, since I'm functionally invulnerable to fire right now. You couldn't hurt me if you tried, and I want you to try."
"Are you really sure? I mean, maybe there's something you overlooked or something?"
"Like what?"
He shrugged.
I disarmed his worries with a cocky smile. "Bro, I'm invincible. Just go for it."
Spike still seemed unsure, but agreed. He breathed in as much as he could, bright green light barely shining through his scales. After about five seconds of continuous build up, I had to take a moment to admire the lung capacity of dragons. Seriously, it only takes a fraction of that time for humans and ponies to fill their lungs, but Spike went for a good ten seconds.
Then came the fun part where it all came out at once. From my perspective, it was a solid green wall of bright green flames. It consumed my vision in a split second before I could even register the stimulus. I wasn't worried, since I was protected from the heat. Even as it touched me, the fire didn't even singe my hair. Heat wasn't an issue.
Then I realized that I was blown off my feet like I was run over by a bus. Near hurricane-level force threw me backwards like I was a paper cup. The sheer, sudden force of it knocked the wind out of me, and that was before I slammed back-first into the library. Slamming into the library was a double-whammy of pain and fatigue striking simultaneously, making the world spin like a Beyblade.
I slumped against the tree, unable and unwilling to act just yet. Unfortunately, my misery wasn't over. The beehive plaguing my home came loose from the impact and fell straight down. It crashed onto my head and lodged itself around my neck like a murderous plastic bag. The pain was unimaginable.
Still, I managed to open my eyes. Before my vision was a tastefully furnished food court inhabited by very shocked bees. They stared at me in surprise and horror, barely fathoming the presence of their gigantic intruder.
One bee, however, shook out of its shock and slowly stalked over to my face. I knew I was in for a bad time when it flicked out a switchblade.
"It doesn't look that bad." Spike hopelessly complimented.
"I look ridiculous."
"It's barely noticeable." He tried again.
"I look like Joshua Graham got a sex change."
Spike rolled that thought through his head before responding. "I don't know who that is."
I took a deep breath and let it out. "Yeah, I guess you wouldn't."
We were walking out of the hospital after bees savaged my face. It was covered in mummy wrappings to avoid infection, so now Ponyville was gonna look haunted for a few days.
Spike blamed himself for it, of course, which I wasn't going to allow. "Look, Spike, this wasn't your fault. You even tried to warn me about this."
He smiled gratefully . "Thanks, Dusk."
"Any time. Now, after a showing like that, I figure we can skip the strength measuring. Clearly, you need no help with that. All you need now is the know-how."
"So I need to study books?"
"Yes, that's where you're getting most of the knowledge. I can already tell you that you'll specialize in conjuration, though."
"Because I send letters with my fire breath?"
"Exactly."
We arrived back at our training grounds (the back yard) finding it just as we left it a few hours ago. The buzzing bees struggled to raise their ruined home back into place to fix it up. Industrious little shits.
Putting aside my thoughts of vengeance, we took our spots to continue the lessons. "So, considering your specialty, I think we should focus on your knowledge. You already know how to read the spells, so you'll just need to expand your understanding. That means learning more 'words' and stuff."
"Then why are we out here instead of indoors where the books are?"
"Because men learn best from experience."
Channeling magic into my foot, I stomped an earth spell to raise a solid rock wall beside us. I threw another spell from my hand, this time blasting runes into it with lightning. Loose rocks and pebbles clattered below to reveal the spell now written on the wall.
I crossed my arms, because I had no other ideas on what cool pose I should use after that display. "That's the spell we're gonna practice today. It's a summoning spell locked onto another plane of existence, and it will conjure a harmless creature."
Spike glanced at the wall. "Why did you do that?"
"Do what?"
"That thing with the stomping and the lightning. Couldn't you have just written it on paper?"
I sagged in disappointment. "Seriously, we need to work on your standards."
Spike rocked back in offense. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means you have no sense of style."
"I-I do too!" He shot back.
"If you did, you would have appreciated my display of power."
"Why? It was pointless!"
I sighed heavily. "There's a time for everything, bro. That includes showing off."
Spike frowned, but said nothing. Instead of continuing our equally pointless argument, he read over the spell on the wall. "So what's that do, anyway?"
"It'll summon a creature from the realm of fire, called a 'sprite'. They're stronger than most ponies, but they mostly stick to harmless pranks."
"So it won't be dangerous?"
"Not really. They're the lowest forms of life in the Elemental Plains, I can handle them if they get out of control."
Spike nodded and read through the spell again. Once he was sure he had it memorized, he took a deep breath, releasing the power in a bright green line of fire that pulsed outwards upon impact with the ground. Two green, glowing figures flew out of the fire. Burning bodies of ethereal musculature and sharp claws spun about, stretching wide in the air with wispy clouds for legs. They hissed at the world with maws of pointed teeth, settling into a sinister grin upon the one who summoned them. Their glowing eyes shone bright, bright enough to leave spots in one's vision when they looked away.
I smiled in pride at the dragon's first successful summoning. "Good job, Spike, those're definitely sprites."
Spike looked up at one of them, nervous sweat trickling down his head at the beast he conjured. "Uh, they're pretty big."
About the size of a teen aged pony, in any case. "Not really. Some of the creatures from their world are as big as Canterlot Castle."
Spike blanched at the idea. "T-then maybe we shouldn't be summoning these things?"
I waved off the concern, smiling as disarmingly as I could. "Please, we only summoned a few of the weaker creatures. These guys are strong enough to be useful, but weak enough to be controlled. In fact, these things are bound to your command. You can literally tell them what to do."
"But couldn't they just beat me up and ignore me?"
"Nah, they're not strong enough for that. If you have the power to summon them, you have more power than they do. It's all about how strong your magic is."
"So by summoning them, I'm stronger than them?"
One of the sprites hovered away, bored of the conversation. I didn't put much stock in it, so I continued onward. "Right, the summoning spell is an attempt to pull them out of their environment. They naturally use their own power to resist the attempt, so stronger monsters need more power to bring in."
The other sprite hovered away, but I was too invested in my lecture to pay too much attention. "The exception to this is the sapient creatures. Most of the more powerful creatures can talk, and can make choices. Sprites are easy because they just obey their natural instincts without much thought, so your will overpowers theirs. These stronger guys still have minds of their own, so they might want to be summoned, and they'll add power to your spell to make it easier for you. You'll have to be careful with them, though, because they'll often have their own agendas, and they won't follow your orders unwillingly."
Spike calmed somewhat, knowing that the sprites were under his command. Funny how being stronger than something makes it seem less threatening. "So these stronger monsters wouldn't do what I say?"
"They may or may not. Some creatures out there would pop up and do as you say because they're friendly, or be ideologically inclined to assist in your goals. Others, however, would see your summoning as an opportunity to go to a world with creatures weaker than them, and relish in the chance to wreak havoc unopposed. Or they might just be lazy pricks who just wanna sunbathe. It's hard to say."
Spike nodded. "So I should stick to summoning the weaker monsters so they'll do as I say?"
I shrugged. "For the most part. While it's more pragmatic to stick to weaker creatures for their reliability, you might have to summon the bigger ones to ask questions, make deals, or just have a stronger ally. The important thing to remember is that you'll always need to take precautions, just in case."
Something tickled my armpit. I scratched at it, spinning to catch sight of the offending object. One of the damn sprites had a feather attached to a stick. How'd it grab the stick without setting it on fire?
"Hey, do you mind? We're in the middle of something!"
It laughed into one of its hands and flew off.
I growled a bit, but went back to talking Spike's ear off. "Anyway, that's the gist of conjuration's more practical uses. There are other spells you could use from making objects appear at your command to teleportation."
"I can teleport?" Spike asked in amazement.
"Oh, yeah, definitely. As a specialist in the field, it'll be easier for you than it is for me."
Spike's eyes shined at the news. "Can I teleport now?"
"Not yet. You still need to learn the sequences for it, and you'll likely have to test it out a few times to get the hang of the power it uses. I mean, use too little and you'll fail, use too much and you overshoot your target and fall on your head."
"Has that happened to you?"
I glared at Spike silently. There wasn't a reason to answer that.
His eyes flicked up suddenly, and I heard a crack. Before I could look up to see what that was, something gooey fell onto my head. The goo slid down the front of my face and I furiously swept at it.
"Was that a fucking egg?" I spun around to a then-laughing sprite with egg shells in its hand. "You son of a-" I pulled my fist back to whack it, and it flew away, blowing raspberries at me all the way. "Christ, it got in my bandages."
"Wow, that's annoying."
"Ugh, tell me about it." I swiped a bit of it off, flicking egg yolk on the ground. "Anyway, I think that's all I can teach you without a bunch of books. Once you get the hang of spell casting, it won't be too long before you can do things most unicorns consider impossible."
Spike's eyes sparkled again. "I never knew I would be that special."
"Naturally." I smiled at his awestruck expression. "You're a dragon, so you're already gonna be special. Being a dragon slinging spells just means that you'll stand above other dragons, like a dragon lord, or something."
He scratched his chin, digesting everything we just went over. "You know, I always figured I'd be Twilight's assistant forever, which I was fine with, but it's weird to think I can do more than that."
I opened my mouth to say something, but I stopped when I realized I had nothing to say to that at first. It sounds like Spike was less humble and more self-defeating. Why would he think he couldn't do more with himself? Because he was still a baby dragon, and wouldn't think of himself otherwise? I hoped that was the case and not a more pressing issue with him. I just stuck with praise and positivity for the time being. "Well, you have lots of potential. You can do anything you can set your mind to. Now that you have magic, it just got easier."
His smile told me he was happy to hear that, so I did good. "Thanks, Dusk. I'm glad you're helping me with this."
I smiled back. "What's a big brother for?"
Spike went inside shortly afterwards while I stayed outside. More than ever, I wanted to be that older sibling for the drake, but I knew my time was growing shorter. Some ponies above me knew who I was, and they were going to make a move at some point. I'll have to fight them.
I doubted my strength. I could handle a few civilian ponies, no problem. A battalion of guards was another matter, and that's before factoring in Celestia. Was she even one of the ponies coming after me? It seemed likely, considering her guard captain was the one who found out first. That means I'll need to defend myself against the most powerful pony in Equestria.
And my friend.
I needed to get even stronger, at least strong enough to get away. I couldn't leave this to chance, and I had to be ready for anything. I needed a way to get better at fighting.
My thoughts came back to helping Spike with his summoning. After all, I knew how to summon creatures, and they could help with many tasks. Could they help with this?
That's when I got a marvelous idea. I charged a great deal of power into my hand, releasing it in a swirling blast of dark fire. A monstrous form rose from the flame, bright red eyes glaring balefully at its master. It towered over me like an oak next to a squirrel. It growled through a row of razor sharp teeth that could crush bone, and a face like a wolf out of hell. Its chitinous body rattled into place, raising its mighty claws to its side.
I faced the creature fully. Few mortals have ever seen one of these things and lived. Their power was astounding, and their malevolence was a well-known, well-earned trait of their infernal kind. But for me, it was perfect. It was strong, which was what I really wanted.
"Fight me."