//------------------------------// // Magic? // Story: The Mystic Fox // by Mysticfox //------------------------------// Magic? "I must say Fox that I'm starting to like your cooking better than my own chef." Tia said as she dabbed a napkin around her mouth. Off to the side off her large pillow in her personal tea room are the now empty bento boxes. "Don't let him hear you say that or he'll never let me use the kitchen again." I say with a chuckle as I put away the empty boxes in my bag.  "Yes he can be a bit finicky but as long as he gets his respect he'll be fine. Now that we've had our fill let's talk about our guest shall we." She said before taking a sip of her tea. "Guard!" She said loudly. "Yes my princess?" A mare unicorn guard said as she walked into the room. "Tia I got to ask why you have an enchantment placed on all the guards armor to make them look the same?" I asked with a raised brow. "Can you run down to the castle infirmary and fetch the royal physician please." She told the guard with a motherly smile. "Yes ma'am I will be back in just a moment." The guard said before quickly leaving the room. "And as for your question nephew, it's a simple matter of security. You see each set of armor has that enchantment to protect the guard. While on duty it is the standard white and blue colors and unless they give you their name you wouldn't know who's who." She said with a small smile. "So it also protects the guards identity while off duty but wouldn't it make it a lot easier for someone to infiltrate the castle in stolen armor." I asked while I pulled out a small box of cookies to have with our tea. "You would think that but no. The enchantment on the armor is tuned to the natural magic of the guard when it's assigned to them. So it won't activate for somepony else and the enchantment is set up in a way that if somepony would try to rewrite the enchantment it would send an alarm to the enchanter before erasing itself." She said with a smirk. "Wow you must have a great enchanter." I said as I picked up a cookie. "Thank you, I will try my best." She said before popping a cookie in her mouth as the guard walked in with a charcoal gray unicorn wearing a doctor's coat and a stethoscope around his neck. "Thank you, that will be all you can return to your post." Tia said before the guard bowed and stepped out of the room, closing the door behind her. "Fox this is doctor Welfare he is mine and Luna's personal physician. I had him see our guests' condition. So tell me how our guest is doing?" Tia asked while offering him a cup of tea. "Well that's…complicated. We know very little about changeling biology but we were able to heal the lacerations and set the broken bones but we can't replace the organs she lost. But she's growing weaker. We've tried to feed her with an IV drip and we tried to transfer magic to her but her body keeps rejecting it. If we don't think of a solution to get her energy up she won't make it to morning." The Doctor said with a heavy sigh. "Yeah I don't think you'll have any luck. It's not like you can just put love…." I said before an idea popped in my head and I quickly went into my bag and pulled out what I needed. "Fox what is that?" She asked as she looked at the pink candy in my hand. "Tia changelings can't eat like we do and their magic is completely different too. So standard pony medical procedures won't work but what is the one thing changelings can eat?" I asked with a smile as I pulled out a candy and passed it to tia. "You made candied love?" Tia said with surprise before breaking out into a chuckle. "How did you manage this?" She said before passing the candy over to Welfare. "I got the idea while I was working at my stand. It took some trial and error but I was able to find the right combination of magic and emotion and poured that into my sugar mix. Oh and I would not advise eating one if you're not a changeling." I said as I watched the doctor about to give it a lick. "And why is that?" She said with a smirk as if she already knew the answer. "Let's just say if these got out to the population you would have a sharp rise in foal birth next year." I said, making the Doctor blush before putting the piece of candy back into its bag. "If you mix one with the IV salutation it should, in theory, give her the necessary energy she needs to recover." I said as I bit into a cookie. "Doctor Welfare please start the new drip immediately and please inform the captain to add guards by the door." She said before she relaxed with her tea. "It shall be done, your highness." He said with a small bow before trotting out of the room. "Now what to do with her after she recovers." She said as she set her tea down and looked at me seriously. "I might have a solution. I don't think she is evil, desperate yes but not evil. So instead of the dungeons or Tartarus I would like to keep her inside the borders of my village." I said as I met her gaze. "You do realize that she has constantly kidnapped my ponies, invaded Canterlot, and has always been a threat to Equestria?" She said with a scowl. "Yes I understand, but I also understand that she may not have had any choice to act as she did to feed her people. I've seen the prejudice that your ponies have against other races and because the changelings have a different way of feeding and look as they do they were classified as monsters. I've done some research on them and I found that if love was given freely to begin with I don't think she would have gone as far as she did." I said my gaze never leaving hers. "And she now poses no threat. Her horn was removed and she can no longer transform without her magic." I said as I took a bite of cookie while keeping my gaze. "And what would you gain if I allow this?" She said as she took a sip of tea. "Me? Nothing. Her? A place to recover and live in peace without being looked at like a monster. My village is a mixed bag of sorts. Abyssinians, Griffins, ponies, and primates have called my village home and I have not seen any prejudice in the village and I will strive to keep it that way. I understand it will get hard as the population diversity will increase as I plan to open trade to other nations with your consent of course." I said before giving her a small smile. "So you wish to reform her?" She asked with a returned smile  "Not really reform more like clearing the animosity towards your ponies and hopefully give her something she will desperately need now." I said with a heavy sigh. "And what would that be?" She asked with a raised brow. "Tia she has no one left and whoever attacked her made sure that she never had a family again. Can you imagine how lonely that would be? How would you feel if you woke up one morning to find the ponies you loved gone. I can. When I arrived here my mother was gone and to find the race I belong to also gone. It still hurts to think about but my loneliness didn't last long. I found that even though they are not part of my race I still had family and made friends that I call family. It may take a while but I hope she can find what I have and I hope to help her in that endeavor." I said with a warm smile before letting out a sigh and placed down her now empty cup. "I see your point but I have one more concern. What if she tries to escape while you're not there?" She asked while I refilled our cups. "The world I lived in had a punishment known as house arrest. The sentenced criminal is given an ankle bracelet that will notify law enforcement of their current location and if the bracelet has been tampered with. My idea is pretty much the same but instead of confined to a home she will be confined to the village itself. I'll be placing a barrier around my village and trade gates that will keep her in." I said as I used my magic to create a black steel bracelet with dark blue Sapphires and began to weave in enchantments. "I put a few enchantments on this. It will tell me where she's at at any time, one that will make it that only I can remove or break it and one that will be linked to the barrier that will let her come in but not out." I said as I placed it on the table before I leaned back against a set of large pillows as I tried to calm my magic. "Are you alright nephew?" She asked with concern before a knock came from the door. "Yes?" She calmly asked. "I'm sorry to interrupt you meeting with Sir Fox but Miss twilight sparkle is here to see you ma'am." The guard said from the other side of the door. "Well this is a wonderful surprise. Fox I will put some thought into this matter and will have an answer by the morning. Guard please let her in." She said with a smile as she teleported the bracelet somewhere before a happy purple unicorn trotted into the room. "Good evening princess." She said before giving her teacher a hug. "And good evening to you as well my faithful student. So what brings you to the castle this evening?" She asked as Twilight sat beside Tia. "Hi Twi." I said as I finally calmed my magic. "Hi Fox. I was visiting my mom and dad today and wanted to stop in for tea before I needed to catch the train back to ponyville." She said as she gave me a smile. "Well you're in luck. Fox happily provided the tea and snacks this evening." Tia said as she summoned another teacher cup before filling it. "It's a blend of white tea I picked up in Abyssinia. I mixed in bits of dried peach and powdered honey to bring out the sweetness of the peaches. I also made some with different fruits if you don't like peaches. And don't tell Applejack but I made apple tea with her apples." I said with a chuckle as I sat back up. "Yeah you better give some over to Granny Smith. But are you alright, you're really sweaty?" She asked before taking a sip of tea with a satisfying hum. "Yeah I'm fine, it's just recently I've been having trouble keeping my magic calm after I use it." I said as I sipped my tea. "Hmm." Twilight hummed as she thought. "Can you use your magic while I scan your magic pathways?" She said with an eager smile as a stack of paper complete with ink and a quill popped up on the table. "The test subject will now begin." I said making Tia giggle a Twilight blush. "Oh hush and cast a spell." She said with a glare. "Calm down, I'm just joking. I'll start by lifting something heavy." I said as Twilight cast her scan spell while I gently picked up Tia in my magic earning me a surprise gasp and a cookie thrown at me before setting her down. "Really dear nephew out of everything in this room you had to pick me up." She said with a blush and a pout. "Hehe sorry." I said with a chuckle as I calmed down my magic again. "I think I see what the problem is." Twilight said as the quill quickly wrote down her notes. "Please oh great purple smart. What is it that ails me." I said before getting hit by another cookie from Twilight this time. "Ok ok I get it now more goofing around." I said with a smile before eating the cookies. "Your magic isn't circulating. I don't know much about how your magic works so I'm basically going off unicorn standards but from an early age we're taught how to circulate our magic through our bodies and horn to prevent surges." Twilight said as she sipped her tea. "So you're calling me a foal?" I asked with a smirk. "Essentially yes in the way of magic control." Tia said with a smirk of her own.  "But you do have some control. It's only in your new arm. Your magic freely circulates through your arms pathways with no issues but it looks like you're subconsciously pulling it back to your core. If you don't let it circulate through your whole body and with your raw magic a surge could kill you and anypony within a mile radius." Twilight said with a serious look. "Ok get control is now on top of the to do list. So how would I accomplish control?" I said as I began to get excited. "Hmm I think I may have an easy solution." Tia said with a smile. "Are you familiar with water irrigation systems for large plots?" She asked me, giving a nod. "Close your eyes and picture your magic core as a large pond." She said as I closed my eyes. "Right now you already have a waterway running through your arm. Picture dry channels that run throughout your body and gates connecting to your pond. One gate is open but your other plots need water too so imagine opening those gates and feel the water flow through those dry channels." She said and as If a switch was flipped on I could feel my magic flow. It felt like a massive sugar rush but also relaxing in a cool stream. I was so caught up In the feeling that I didn't hear Twilight shouting for me to slow down or she Tia put up a barrier around her and Twilight. The next thing I knew was that there was a bright light before everything went dark. (Luna pov) BOOM "AHHH!" I screamed as I jumped out of my bed with my horn alight ready for battle scanning for any nearby threats but found nothing but a magical surge coming from my sister's personal tea room. In fear for my sister's safety I rushed out of my balcony door and flew to my sister's tower to find her balcony windows and door blown out before quickly flying into the now destroyed room. "Sister what has transpired here. Is this the fiend responsible?" I asked as I looked around the room to find my sister and her students in a protective barrier. In front of them was a creature I have not seen before passed out of the floor. I quickly picked it up in my magic to keep it from escaping if it woke up. "Luna, please put down our nephew." Tia said with a sigh as she lowered her barrier. "Nah this is not our dear nephew it looks nothing like him." I said as I shifted the creature in my magic. "I can assure you that it is most definitely our nephew." Tia said as she placed a wing on my back. "It's true princess. We were teaching him how to circulate his magic but he opened his pathways too quickly and that happened." Twilight said as she gestured to the creature in my hold. "Then this truly is our dear nephew? And there is no threat to you or the kingdom?" I asked with a slight scowl. "Yes Lulu, other than the destroyed room and our nephew's current appearance everything is just fine. So can you please put him down so we can make sure he's alright?" She asked with her motherly tone. I swear by Starswirl's hat that she can calm a raging dragon with that tone. "Fine." I said with a sigh and dropped him on some nearby pillows. "It's too early for this. I'm going back to bed. Please give me the details at breakfast." I said before teleporting back to my bed and fell back to sleep cuddling Dr. Teddy cuddles. (Back to Fox) "Well she's going to be cranky when she wakes again." Tia said with a sigh as I woke up. "What happened here?" I asked as I sat up on the pillows. "You had a magic surge Fox. And well." Twilight said as she picked up her scattered notes. "But I feel just fine. Actually I feel better than I have in a while….wait." I said as I crossed my eyes and found a white fur muzzle where my nose should be.  "Ok can anyone explain what happened cuz I got nothing." I said as I looked over at myself. White fur now covered my body and somehow my shirt was gone leaving a white furry chest. My mark is now blue with what looked like crescent moons and on my shoulders were also blue patterns. I still had my shorts on so that's a plus but I now had animal type legs that ended in paws instead of feet. I felt my tail start to wag and I looked back at a really fluffy long tail that has a blue line that branches out in short swirls. "When you opened your magic pathways you accidentally flooded your body with magic until you had a mini surge. As for the new look I don't know. I want to say it may be caused by the poison joke but something tells me otherwise." Twilight said as I hugged my fluffy tail with a smile. "Dear nephew, you don't seem to be upset at the situation you find yourself in." Tia said with concern. "Honestly I'm not. If anything I feel accepted by this world. As long as I've been here I have yet to see a creature without hair, fur, or scales. Plus I feel my fur it's so soft and fluffy. Do y'all have a mirror?" I said as I happily rubbed my chest fur before Tia popped in a hand mirror and held it up so I could see my face. I was right I did have a muzzle now ending in black nose. Fluffy fur lined the back of my cheeks and jaw and my ears grew longer and fluffier. My eyes are a darker blue and blue markings lined my eyes. My hair shortened in the back and longer in the front ending in blue highlights just over my eye. (New look) (Picture was drawn by a great artist on twitch. He's a furry artist and gamer. Please check out @kajiru on twitch.) "How can you be so calm about this? Your whole appearance changed." Twilight said as she started to try to clean the room as a few maids stepped in and quickly left before anyone noticed them. "Twilight my outer appearance may have changed but that doesn't define who I am. I'm still me just with fluffy fur." I said as wisps of light blue magic swept throughout the room fixing what was broken and made it look like we just entered the room. I looked at my hand as a blue magic mist swirls around it. "Ok I just thought about cleaning up this mess I made. I didn't even feel a strain on my magic." I said as I watched the magic disappear. "You won't feel a strain now that you have proper magic circulation. Now you just have to gain some control so you don't activate your magic subconsciously." Tia said before Alya flew from her main to my neck and began to nuzzle my cheek with a slight hiss purr. "So does that mean you approve?" I asked as she tried to snuggle deeper into my fur as I scratched her chin. "OH NO THE TRAIN. I was so caught up in what happened I missed my train." Twilight said in a panic before Tia placed a wing on her back. "Do not worry my faithful student, I'll send for a pegasus chariot to take you home." Tia said in her motherly tone to calm down the purple pony. "I can take you home. I have to stop in Vinyl's music shop before I head home anyway." I said with closed eyes. "That would be(pop)…we're here?" She said as I looked up to find ponyville's local library. (Celestia pov) "(Cough) definitely needs conscious magic control." I said as I fanned away the blue mist from Fox's magic and looked around the room. "Hmm it looks like Fox forgot his bag." I said as I picked it up in my magic before a book fell out onto the table. The book was dark and weathered leather with a small strap holding the book closed. A black diamond on the front of the strap with runes circling it. The diamond began to glow before it sucked up the remaining blue mist and the diamond turned from black to sapphire but before I was able to pick it up the book and bag teleported away. "Must have been Twink. She would never let me touch even one of her books." I said with a sigh. "Well I still have time before my evening meeting and after what just happened I think I earned a slice of cake or two." I said with a giggle as I left to find my sweet prize. (Fox pov) (Pop) (Bonk) "Ow Twilight I think your library wants revenge for having to hold all its dead brothers." I said as I looked down at the book that is responsible for the growing not on my head. "That's not one of mine. OUCH IT ZAPPED ME!" Twilight said as she tried to pick it up but got zapped by a blue bolt of magic. "It must be from the Tombs then." I said as I picked it up before the sapphire lit up and the strap fell open. "Neat mystery book but I'll have to read it later. I got things to do." I said as I clipped the strap back on before slipping the book back into the bag much to the disappointment of Twilight. "Awe but I wanted to read it too." She said with a pout. "After I read it and judge it's content safe I'll let you read it, don't worry." I said with a chuckle as I ruffled her mane. "Thank you." She said with a smile. "You're welcome now, you better head inside. By the smell of things I'm guessing Spike has dinner ready ... .ok add a better nose to the list of improvements." I said as I watched Twilight close her door before I began to stretch my arms. "Alright time to head to Vin(pop)yl's…well that's goin to get annoying." I said as I looked up to find I was currently standing in Vinyl's living room with her and Melody who was scared and crying. An empty box of tissues sat beside them. "HI-YA!" I heard before I received a very strong roundhouse kick in the back of my head sending me over the couch and the ponies on it. Then I felt a hoof press down on my chest. "Who are you and how did you get in my home!" A very pissed Octavia demanded. "Ugh my head." I groaned before Alya made her jump back with a hiss and blue flames. "Wait Alya? If you're here does that mean your…OH MY CELESTIA ITS FOX!!" She screamed. "Yep hell of a kick by the way." I said as I sat up rubbing the back of my head. "I am so sorry Fox." She said with a low bowed head. "No need to apologize. I would have done the same thing if someone just popped in like that." I said as I stood up and brushed the dust from my shorts. "Dude what happened to you?" Vinyl asked while looking over the back of the couch with Melody. "Had a problem with magic circulation, fixed it, had a surge, passed out, woke up like this." I said with a smile. "So magic?" She asked as she lifted her sunglasses to get a better look. "Magic. So I have to ask but is everything alright Melody?" I asked before she broke down sobbing. "I'm sorry Fox but you popped in at a bad time." Octavia said as she sat down on the other side of the couch. "Well tell me and I might be able to help." I said as I tried to keep a straight face. "It's gone." Melody cried out before hugging Vinyl. "When Melody was a foal her grandmother passed away." Octavia said as she rubbed her back. "I loved my grandma and she's the main reason I became a pianist. When she passed she left me her home in Canterlot but when I came of age to receive the inheritance it was all gone." Melody while still pressed into Vinyl's chest. "It was one of the homes that was destroyed in the changeling invasion. I went with her but when we got there the whole lot was cleared out. We actually went there to get her grandmother's prized piano and when we asked a nearby guard he said that anything that survived the wreckage was donated to music schools through Equestria." Octavia said with her head done. "Dude this is not a time to be smiling like that and why is your mark glowing!?" She said with a glare. "I'm sorry but I have a reason to smile like this." I said as I walked in front of them with my hand in my bag. "Melody I think this now belongs to you." I said as I sat the piano down and made it grow to normal size. "But…but how?" Melody asked as she slowly got up and approached the white piano. "Well when stuff like this gets donated it was to go through the castle for inspection and I just so happen to be the one to inspect this piano. Melody when an inanimate object is loved and cared for it can sometimes absorb their natural magic and the only reason I knew it was yours is that it should be it's memory. The whole life of your grandmother lies within this piano. Cherish this gift just like your grandmother did." I said before getting tackled in a hug from the now happily crying mare. "Th..thank you …and ..I will." She said in-between sobs. "We can't thank you enough Fox." Octavia said as she wiped away a few tears and Vinyl turned away trying to hide hers. "The thought that I made someone happy is all the thanks I need." I said as Melody slowly let me go and ran a hoof across the key guard. "Well with that done it's time I head home…and now it decides not to tele(pop)port me." I said before quickly putting up a barrier before a clawed fist hit my jaw. "It's always a punch first ask later. Merrin it's me." I said with a sigh. "Fox?" She asked. "Yes." I said bluntly. "... magic?" She asked. "Magic." I said as I dropped the barrier.