It was noon when Blaze decided there was no way that the weird mage, August Light, was still asleep. It was afternoon before Blaze found enough courage to knock on his door.
“Come in” sounded a stiff voice from inside the room
Blaze pushed the door and walked in. August was lying on the bed, focused on the book levitating in front of him.
“Blaze Strike. What brought you here?”
Blaze instantly noticed that his speech seemed smoother and his accent was slightly less noticeable
“I was making dinner and wondered if you would like some. Only today,” Blaze quickly added “as thanks for helping Boulder. We really can’t afford to feed another muzzle”
“It is the first time I’m compensated for fixing something I have broken myself. Or some…pony, I guess”
August closed the book and stood up. The book had the symbol of the Library of Canterlot on the cover. Blaze decided that it was better not to inquire about it.
“I will gladly partake in a meal” continued August “Thank you for this offer, Blaze Strike”
Side by side, they made their way downstairs. August's legs were slightly cramped after long reading so he was hesitant while walking down. He came to the conclusion that stairs were a very bad architectural choice for a species of quadruplets. Or were they three different species? Unclear. Something to check later.
The living room was full. Boulder was sitting next to a window, looking outside and lost in thoughts. His muzzle was moving slightly and he seemed to be muttering something to himself.
The other two earth ponies that were a part of this group were sitting on the sofa and… hugging, most likely. This sight made August wonder about the mobility of their joints, as it certainly had very little to do with horses that he knew of.
Blaze didn’t lie to him about dinner, as in the air he could feel a pleasant, herbal smell that made him salivate. August couldn’t tell what could that smell be, but he didn’t care. He didn’t eat for a whole day and was ready to take a risk with whatever Blaze was making.
Blaze quickly went towards the weird white box, that seemed to somehow generate flames, on which a pot was standing. August was left, standing awkwardly at the foot of the stairs. The two ponies that were hugging, after noticing him, straightened their postures and were now looking at him, only adding to the awkwardness. Boulder was still looking out the window. Not being able to hear anything, it seems he didn’t notice that August was there.
“My greetings, everyone” August nodded and sat down at the table, ignoring the intrigued gazes.
Soon, Blaze turned the fire off and started placing plates on the table. August was surprised to see ceramic plates. Judging by the poor state of this house and the rather doubtful occupation of his hosts, he fully expected to be eating out of a wooden bowl using a wooden spoon. Yet the plates, despite being old, were even decorated with a simple, floral pattern along the rim.
Blaze poked Boulder with a wing, finally getting his attention and everyone gathered around the table.
“Before we start eating, how about we all introduce ourselves? Since we have a new pony here?” suggested Blaze “I’m Blaze Strike, the de facto owner of this house”
“River Swirl. Nice to meet you, despite the weird circumstances” said an azure pony with green mane, smiling. From this angle, August could see an image of a whirlpool of muddy water on River Swril's hindquarters. Presumably one of those ‘marks’ he remembered reading about. Now that was something that he needed to investigate.
“Green Gourd. Hope we get along well”
Now, this pony was a stallion, August was sure. His voice was so deep that air seemed to vibrate with each word. His coat was dark green and his mane a yellowish brown. He was shorter than Boulder, but still sturdy and muscular.
“You might have noticed, we are a couple,” said River Swirl, putting her foreleg around Gourd.
That meant that River Swirl was a mare. ‘Great, one less chance of embarrassing myself’, thought August.
“I’m August Light. I hope my stay here will not be inconvenient for any of us here” In his old body, as part of learning noble manners, August knew how to behave in such situations. Here, however, he had no idea how he should behave, so he just kept a rigid posture and a straight face.
All eyes turned towards Boulder, who, noticing the sudden attention, decided to finally talk
“Hi, I’m Rolling Boulder. Hopefully, our future meetings will go better than the first”
He was slightly too loud and he seemed unsure of his own voice, a clear sign that he wasn’t used to speaking while deaf. August almost responded to him, but realising the futility only sighed
“If I knew I was going to end up here I would have disposed of him in some different way”
He quickly thought of a solution. While some illusion spells used soundwaves to simulate sound, few simply tricked the mind into believing that it heard something. One cast of Simevions Mindprobe and Boulder jumped from his seat, surprise on his muzzle
“What… what in Tartarus was that?!” he shouted, all the other ponies also standing up, only August staying on his chair.
“A simple illusion, nothing else” This time he said it both with illusion and out loud “Your ears might not work, but I can still trick your mind into believing that it heard something. Doesn’t work on people who never had hearing, unfortunately. As I said, I’m August Light”
His explanation seemed to calm everyone down. All the ponies returned to their seats
“Let me say, that’s some impressive spellcasting. I know some unicorns, even a few with cutie marks related to magic, but nopony capable of all that. Where did you learn?” Blaze asked while putting a pot full of something on the table
“In the Tower of Sor’Tel. I don’t expect this to mean anything to any of you”
“If it’s anywhere outside of Canterol, then there is no chance of me knowing about it. But it seems like an excellent place if someone like you came from there”
“I’m a rather special case, but I’m sure that any alumni of my tower could replicate all spells I have shown so far” There was pride in August’s voice “Standards are really high there”
He took a look at the food that Blaze put on his table
“Might I ask what we are eating?”
“Noodles and daffodil sauce”
August hesitated after hearing that the sauce was made out of flowers but decided that they probably knew better what worked for them. The first part of this dish picked his interest more
“What are these ‘noodles’ you speak of?” he asked while levitating one of the long, thin ribbons up from his plate.
Everyone else looked at him in surprise
“You don’t know what noodles are?” asked Swirl, and after a nod of confirmation from August “Sweet Celestia, that Tower of yours must be in the middle of nowhere. What do you even eat there?”
“Our meals are cooked by some of the finest cooks of the realm, just so you know. Yet you are right, I come from far away”
“That would at least explain your weird accent. Does everypony sound like that wherever you are from?” inquired Blaze
“Very few even know Varantian in my homeland, much less speak it regularly. During my education, I was taught that my pronunciation is correct”
“I don’t even know what Varantian is, so I’ll just assume you mean Equestrian” Green Gourd said in his deep voice “I didn’t even know there were some pony groups that wandered so far away from the lands of Three Tribes”
Not wanting to delve into the nonexistent sharded history between Equestria and his homeland, August scooped some noodles into his mouth
“Excellent taste, my compliments to you, Blaze Strike”
“Oh, it’s nothing much, really. But I’m glad you like it”
August pretended to be focused on eating and soon comfortable silence fell over the table. He managed to escape talking about his home for now, but the discussion was sure to return sooner or later. His hosts were not bad companions to talk with, but he couldn’t let his guard too much.
Soon the dinner was over and Boulder started gathering the dirty dishes. Looking at the massive earth pony, a question came to August’s head
“How did you explain all this to him? He seems to have a pretty good grasp on the situation”
“Well, after you went to sleep we sat down with a sheet of paper and a pen. You could have told me about this spell of yours, it would surely make it easier.”
“You both can read?” August asked. He was honestly surprised. He realized long ago that they were more than simple thugs he took them for, but he knew lots of nobles who, even if they would never admit it, never learned how to read and write properly. To see some peasants mention it so casually was strange.
“Of course we can. We are poor, not stupid. We went to school like everypony, you know?” Blaze seemed insulted by the suggestion that they didn’t know how to read
“Like everypony?” now August was starting to think they were simply making fun of him
“Of course. Everypony in Equestria goes to school. Princess Celestia personally finances public schooling”
“Your royalty pays for everyone going to school? A princess?” this tale was getting more and more ridiculous
“Yes. Our princess is a great ruler and she makes sure everypony has at least basic knowledge” While August was more and more confused, Blaze seemed to be getting more and more angry at him
“You have a princess as a regnant?”
“She’s been on the throne for the last few hundred years, she is not a regent!”
“Regnant, not regent. Also, a few hundred years? Just give her a crown and call her queen!” August paused for a moment “Wait, a few hundred years? How?”
“Have you seriously never heard of Princess Celestia? Ruler of the Sun?”
“That’s quite a title”
“Well, she moves the sun so I think she deserves it”
Well, if that didn’t have some wonderful implications. Apparently, immortal ruler who claims to move the sun. So either a megalomaniac who tricked everyone into believing their power, not that likely considering how hard it would be to trick a whole nation or an almost godlike being. August liked none of those options.
“I think I will have to read some more on this princess of yours”
“You seriously never heard of her? How do you clever mages think the sun and moon move then?”
August swallowed at least three much better models of movement of celestial spheres than ‘magic’, simply because he couldn’t be sure if any of them worked here. Maybe that princess really moved the sun. Maybe they were currently walking on a giant turtle. How could he know?
“Maybe let us stop there” interjected Swirl “You both seem to be getting a little too agitated”
“Let me be the one to apologize for this,” said August to everyone's surprise “I know some of my questions might cause offense, but I promise they stem from nothing but a curious mind. There is no ill intent behind, merely misunderstandings.”
Blaze seemed to relax a little after hearing this
“I’m also sorry. I know you are new to Equestria, I should have known better than to overreact. You just reminded me too much of some nobles I’ve met”
“That I can easily understand” August couldn’t help but chuckle “I am, in fact, of noble birth”
“Wait, really? Like, real title, land, and all this?” asked Blaze
“Well, considering my father is still alive, I’m only an heir to the title rather than a fully-fledged noble, but yes. Real noble, title, land and everything else” Realising that he was bringing the conversation dangerously close to his homeland again, August decided it was time to go back to his room
“I will go back upstairs. I can’t live on your hospitality, so I need to think about finding a job.”
“It might be for the best, honestly. We will have guests soon”
“Trouble?”
“We have the money, so no. Just don’t show yourself, a new muzzle here might provoke them”
******
With August gone, Blaze took on a more serious expression
“Alright everyone, August aside, Iron Hooves will be here soon, just give him the money and be over with this whole ordeal”
“He really is something, don’t you think? You can tell he is a noble, but somehow much more reasonable than those idiots from the upper city. I wonder what his homeland is like” River Swirl spoke, despite what Blaze said.
“Some backwater place, considering how surprised he was by reading” declared Gourd
“It’s rather unfair to think like that. Even in Equestria, not all villages can guarantee education and outside the border access to education gets worse and worse”
“It doesn’t matter. What matters is he seems like a good pony, even if weird. He said something about staying for a few years, so we just got ourselves a reliable magic expert. That’s somepony not easy to find in Lower Canterlot” Blaze smiled
“You think we can afford whatever he charges for consultations?” asked Swirl
“He healed Boulder and seemed satisfied with getting only a dinner out of it. I would say he doesn’t care about money, unlike those misers you can usually find here”
“He said he was looking for a job. Maybe we could point him to a few ponies” suggested Gourd “Getting some good points with him could go a long way”
“Good idea. I think Stream Line was searching for a unicorn. Now, give me some paper, I need to tell Boulder to stay in the corner and look tough”
******
August in the meantime was sitting on the bed in his new room, circulating mana throughout his body. His horn was covered in a deep, green glow, little green sparks jumping all over his fur. Even his eyes, despite his closed eyelids, glowed slightly green. Usually, mana leaks were a sign of either injury or trying a spell far too hard for the mage's abilities. In this case, August was radiating mana trying to learn how his new body casted spells.
He noticed it before but didn’t find time to investigate. This new body interacted with mana slightly differently than he was used to. It wasn’t anything substantial, many wouldn’t even notice. August, having spent his whole life learning magic, was irritated by it. Like a musician who knows he is slightly out of tune, despite no one in the audience noticing. All his spells, while still successful, were off.
He flooded his whole body with mana and watched how it moved. The horn seemed to be the most important part. No matter how he tried to cast, some of the mana always went to the horn, making it glow. The horn also seemed to work as some of the wands and staffs, enhancing the flow of mana and also allowing the caster to have a focal point to gather power for spells, without accidentally melting their own hand while learning to cast a fireball.
That also meant that any injury to the horn would make it hard to cast anything, its removal could even make it impossible to utilize magic. A surgery on mana pathways could remedy that. Something to test. Maybe horns regrow, like the teeth of some animals? That would be like infinite production of high-quality wands. Too good to be true, so unlikely.
August cursed himself for not asking for something to write on. Instead, he created an illusion of paper on which he made an illusion of ink, writing down his observations on his new body. A small Spell Stability Matrix and some raw mana pushed inside made sure that the fantom scroll would last at least a day.
He was sitting there, lost in his research, undisturbed by his circumstances or the passage of time. That is, before he heard the screaming.
******
“Iron Hoves. Please, come in”
“Do you have the money Blaze?” the newly arrived earth pony went straight to the point.
He was massive. He barely managed to fit through the door after slightly lowering his head. Bulging muscles were visible under his short trimmed copper fur. Behind him were two other ponies that Blaze couldn’t recognize, one earth pony and one pegasus.
“We managed to get all of it. Here” Blaze passed a sac full of money to Iron.
He stood silently in the middle of the room, slowly counting each coin as his minions engaged in a staring contest with Boulder.
“It really is all here” he was talking slowly, lost in thoughts
“Yeah, so go tell Winter that we are even now” The only answer to Blaze's words was even more silence. Finally, Iron spoke
“Listen, Blaze, let me be honest with you. The boss told me to get you out of here. We didn’t expect you to pay it all off, but the order still stands”
Blaze was locked in place for a moment, surprised. Then exploded with anger
“So what, you think you can just go around and kick ponies out of their homes?! You got your money, so fuck off!”
“I will give you the money back. I’ll even add some more. Consider it me buying this house from you” Iron was standing calmly, unimpressed by Blaze's anger.
“It’s my home, you think I will just sell it for some spare change?”
Everypony in the room came a few steps closer to the arguing duo. They were all ready to fight, in case the situation escalated to violence.
“It’s nothing personal Blaze, but your dealings with the upper city are getting too much attention. Sooner or later you will step into something that will bring guards here. And I don’t mean city guards, I mean the Royal Guards. Winter doesn’t want this. Nopony does. That’s why you need to go. Peacefully, I hope”
Blaze was fuming, but knew that Iron was right, nopony wanted attention from the upper city. They could live here however they wanted simply because nopony important cared enough. As soon as it changed, all the ponies here could be in prison in a few hours.
“See? That’s what I’m talking about! You are even hiding nobles under your roof! Do you think Winter will tolerate it?” Iron said, pointing behind her
Blaze turned around, surprised, only to see August, slowly walking down the stairs. Suppressing the urge to groan, Blaze tried to quickly expalin the situation to Iron.
“He is not a noble! I mean, he is, but he is not from Canterlot! He just lives here temporarily. Just a traveler, he helped us get the money we needed. He won’t cause Winter any trouble”
“Blaze, we both know you are spouting nonsense. Anything to do with nobles is playing with fire. Week. One week is all I will give you. Get everything in order, sell the house, and move out. Preferably out of the city. I heard Ponyville is nice this time of year”
“I just moved in here and I do not intend to move anytime soon” everypony froze hearing August's voice. They were all focused on Blaze and Iron and they didn’t expect August to join the discussion.
“I even paid for my stay” August finally made it to the end of the stairs. He now had to raise his head slightly up to look at Iron, but it didn’t seem to bother him “And the food here is acceptable”
“Listen, I don’t know who you are, but I have nothing against y…” started Iron, but August immediately cut him off
“Didn’t you say that dealing with any nobles is dangerous? As was said, I am a noble. I think it means you have something against me” Taking a few steps forward, August pushed Blaze slightly aside and faced Iron directly “Let me also tell you something. You were right. You are playing with fire right now”
“You think some lost noble that has to live in the lower city can scare me?”
“I’m a noble. You think some overgrown thug can scare me?”
Iron Hooves was never a stallion of many words. It didn’t mean he was stupid, but his giant stature taught him, that it was usually easier to deal with other ponies with physical confrontation rather than talking. Having enough of this overconfident unicorn, Iron decided to teach him a lesson, throwing a quick jab, hoping to catch August off guard before he could cast any spells. Unfortunately for him, August came here to provoke a fight rather than hoping to intimidate him. It meant he was ready for the fight to start. Just as Iron thought he did not need to talk with August, August thought the same of Iron.
The powerful jab connected with a translucent barrier surrounding August. As Iron pulled his foreleg back, preparing for another strike, August's horn flashed green. Iron couldn’t see what the spell did, as he stepped forward, delivering his most powerful blow, hoping to shatter the magical shield. Only, he didn’t feel any impact. Surprised, he looked down at his legs. Instead of his right foreleg, he could see his bones and muscles. The cut was so clean, that his body hadn’t yet registered what happened. But as he turned around to look at his foreleg lying on the ground and back again at the wound, blood suddenly gushed out and he started screaming.
******
River Swirl saw it happen, even though she wished she didn’t.
As Iron was retracting his foreleg after his strike, the appendage suddenly… came off, as if it was only held by wet glue. The foreleg flew back, carried by momentum, and landed on the floor with a wet ‘plop’ that River somehow heard despite the noise made by Blaze, Boulder, and Gourd rushing to help August.
The blood-freezing scream of pain that came from Iron Hooves a second later made everypony freeze. None of them noticed what happened, but they were all looking with surprise and disgust at the blood flowing out of Iron.
“Listen now” August cast another spell and blood stopped flowing from the wound “I don’t care what problems you have with Blaze or what your boss wants. I want tranquility and silence. I hope, for the both of us, that you will disturb me nevermore. Go and tell this to your boss. Take him out” he ordered the two goons who looked at him with terror
The duo quickly grabbed their boss, helping him walk out of the door, sending fearful glances at August. Only the foreleg was left after them. August grabbed it in his magic and threw it out the open door.
“What… did you just do?” asked Blaze, calmly
“That? Oh, it was a simple spatial distortion. My master specialized in this type of magic, so I, too…”
“Not what I asked about. Why, in Celestia's name, did you decide it was a good idea?!” all the calm was gone, Blaze was now screaming
“It looked like it was going to end up in a fight anyway”
“No! I mean… maybe” Blaze seemed unsure for a second “But you can’t just rip his foreleg off! You know what Winter will do to us?”
“I don’t even know who this ‘Winter’ is”
“Ah, yes, right… Then if you know nothing, don’t make trouble!” Blaze took a few deep breaths “Alright, so Winter Storm is one of the gang leaders here in Lower Canterlot. This house is on his territory. So unless you can slice up a hundred more of his goons, we are in deep trouble”
“I’m not a warmage, I don’t know many area-effective spells, and casting any offensive spell so many times is too mana-consuming. I could probably curse them all to death given some time”
Blaze looked at him with an empty stare
“I thought you were strange, but you are straight-up insane. Just… give me a moment to think”
A minute passed with everyone in the room staring at Blaze with different amounts of fear and confusion
“I got it. I think. Gourd, go and tell Boulder's daughter that she has to stay with her aunt a bit longer. The rest of us will go and talk with Balanced Brick”
“Balanced Brick?” asked August
“He is another big shot here and he really doesn’t like Winter Storm. If we offer him a good deal, he will take us in just to spite him” Blaze gave August a sullen stare “My applause. You are here just a day, and depending on the outcome of these talks, you might have just set our flanks, or half of the Lower Canterlot, on fire”