Lucien returned to his house just as darkness began to fall. Nothing remarkable happened, so he settled in for the evening. He grabbed a book on the properties of magic in Equestria, then read until he fell asleep.
Lucien woke up at the break of dawn. The sun was just cresting over the giant mountain that supported the capitol city of Canterlot. He got up out of his bed slowly, stretching his joints. He gazed out the window to look at the sunrise, feeling a little bit homesick. He would always wake up early to see the sun break over the snow outside his house.
He sighed. "I can't let homesickness get to me now." He walked downstairs to the living room in his house, now complete with a brand-new sofa. No sooner did he flop on it than he heard someone knocking at his door. He groaned and walked over to open it up. "How may I help you?" he greeted.
He didn't recognize the skittish pony behind the door. She was a light cream colored mare, with a burgundy mane. She introduced herself as Roseluck.
"So, Roseluck," Lucien started, "what can I do for you?"
"I was wondering if I could request a potion to be made," she said carefully.
"That all?" he thought before saying, "Okay. Would you like to come inside and tell me what it is you want?"
She relaxed a bit at his offer. "Alright," was all she said before following him inside.
Lucien walked to his living room with Roseluck in tow. Or at least he thought she was behind him. "So, what are you shopping for?" he gestured to the sofa, wanting her to sit down on it. When she didn't, he turned around to see her standing in the doorway, mouth wide open in amazement looking at his house.
"Uh, Roseluck? Over here . . .?" he said openly.
The earth pony snapped out of her stupor. "Oh, um, right." she said, face a bit red from embarrassment. She walked over and took a seat on the new sofa. "Comfy," was all she said about it.
Lucien smiled, still standing. "I'm glad you like it. I just got it yesterday." "Well," he thought, "this is going nowhere." He lifted a hand and motioned to the area in front of the fireplace. With a little magical effort, and to the surprise of Roseluck, a chuck of stone rose out of the floor and fashioned itself into a small square stool for him to sit on.
Not even two minutes had passed and he had left his guest speechless twice.
She sputtered for a moment, and had to hide his smirk. It wasn't everyday that he could go around and show off his skills. "So what do you need?" he asked for the third time.
"Uh, well, I was hoping that you could make me a potion to help my roses grow a bit larger." she cringed a little bit while saying that last part. "Roseluck grows roses. Why is that not as amusing as I thought it would be?"
Lucien stared at her for a moment. "Is that all? Really? And I started to think you wanted something illegal!" he thought, but chose to say, "would that be all?"
She looked at him. "Yeah. If that's not possible then it's fine, I just wanted to check . . . sorry . . ." she hunched over, ready for whatever he was going to do to her for wasting his time.
Lucien saw that the conversation was taking a bad turn, and he got up, "No! No, it's fine. That's totally possible; you can do almost anything with the right ingredients and a little bit of know-how. Why, I once made a potion just to see if I could make my eyes pop out of my head in an amusing fashion! I created once that I could market off as home-made Viagra, even!" He knew he was just rambling about potions, but he just wanted to calm Roseluck down.
"Oh, really! That's great! When will it be ready?" she perked right back up.
"Disaster averted. Mission control is back online." his brain's control center relayed to him. "Well," he thought, scratching at his chin. He ticked a few ingredients off on his fingers while making note of the ones he didn't have in his bag. "It'll probably be done by tomorrow afternoon at the latest.
"Thank you! You really don't know how much this helps me!" Roseluck exclaimed. "How much would that be?"
Lucien was snapped out of his thinking. "Right, the cost. You'd have to cover for the replacement of ingredients, plus the trouble I'd have to go through to get some of them..." he made a few calculations in his head. "I really wish I know how a dollar would be worth compared to a bit." he thought, having more than a little difficulty with the math. "I guess it would be about 25 bits," he finally decided.
"Only 25 bits? That's great! I thought it would be a lot more for a potion!" Roseluck said happily.
"Did I just miss out on major profit? I wish I knew how many alchemists lived in Equestria. That would help a lot."
"When do I pay for it? Do you want the money now or when it's done?" Roseluck broke his thoughts once again.
"Well, I guess you could give me the money tomorrow, when it's done," he said, hoping it wasn't too big of a mistake to accept it later.
"Perfect! I'll see you tomorrow," she said, getting up and walking toward the front door. She pushed it open with a hoof and walked out into the early morning sunshine.
"I'll get the stuff later," Lucien thought, walking upstairs to gather his things. When he got to his room, all he saw was his sheathed knife on his bed and his backpack on the floor off to the side. "I just have so many wonderful things," he thought sarcastically.
But, that wasn't too far from the truth, he knew. The knife was a heavily enchanted focus, and he had spent months charging it with mana. The backpack was a gift from Draco, his mentor and father figure. It was enchanted in a way that Lucien couldn't really figure out, and he didn't want to destroy it trying to find out. The enchantment allowed it to hold an infinite amount of space inside, allowing him to store just about anything in there as long as it fit through the opening.
When he had first opened it up, he was astonished to see that there was no bottom. Just a sort of 'out of place' darkness. He stuck his arm in (never a good decision) and felt around. Just as he had thought, there really was no bottom. He grabbed the item nearest to him, a pencil, and dropped it in. It fell, and there was no indication that it hit a bottom. He reached in and felt around again. His fingers brushed over something and he grabbed at it. It was the pencil.
Since then, the backpack had never parted from him. He always knew where it was, and (not quite as frequently) what it contained. Currently it held tons of ingredients for potions, a staff for spells that require more stability, his notebook, various weapons that he had looted from dungeons, and multiple hand-scribed scrolls. The notebook was just filled with page after page of experiments and several recorded spells of his invention. They were mostly to make everyday things easier, but there were a few more complicated ones.
Lucien resolved that he would list the steps and circumstances necessary to do the "Phase Shift" spell that he had made up. It wasn't anything special, just a cooler way to teleport. He strapped on the knife and one-strapped his backpack. He walked down the stairs and into his study. He took out his notebook and conjured a pencil.
He scribbled down the Phase Shift spell and closed it. No sooner did he close it than he heard a knock on his door. "What is it now?" he thought as he went to answer. He opened it, and outside there was a small crowd of ponies.
He stared at them.
They stared at him.
There was a small cough somewhere off the the side.
"Let me guess, you all want potions?"
The heads in the crowd bobbed, signifying their assent.
"Could you just give me one moment?" Lucien asked and didn't wait for a response. He shut the door quickly and then put his back to it. His hands rose to meet his face and he slowly slid down the door, letting loose a groan through the flesh appendages.
"This is going to be a bitch."
"Alright! I think we're done here!" Lucien exclaimed, closing his notebook with an echoing clap. He had just spent the better part of four hours taking down notes on the potions requested by the ponies that had visited him.
The copper coated mare in front of him flinched backward. "A-are you sure? You got it? Because I was only here for-"
"Yes! I have all the reagents down in my notebook, see?" he flipped the book open to a random page and turned it over, not caring that she's seeing it upside-down. "It's all written down here."
The pony tried to tilt her head to read it. "I don't really think-"
"Now, I have lots to do, and I should really get started gathering all these ingredients. Bye now!" he ushered the pony to the front door. He opened it quickly with one hand, pushing on the mare's back with the other. She was practically sitting on the floor, trying to stay put and talk to him. "ThanksforthepromisedbitsI'llgetonitrightnow." he said as fast as he could before closing the door.
Lucien turned his back around, leaned against the door, and slowly sank until he was sitting on the floor. He heaved out a heavy sigh, set his notebook on the ground, and put his hands to his face. Just like he did not 4 hours ago. "This is going to take me forever." he thought. He ran his hands through his short hair and thought for a few moments. "Maybe I'll just go see if Twilight has some reagents I can borrow."
He resolved to go visit the Library. Maybe because he was feeling lazy, maybe because it really is a lot of work.
Lucien stuffed his notebook in his backpack quickly and decided to go out the back door instead of the front. "Maybe I should have put in the extra work to learn an invisibility spell." he thought absentmindedly before slipping out.
He stood there for a moment, considering his options. "Okay, based on what I know of Twilight, she's probably going to want to do some experiment on my magic. I could teleport over there, but that would waste too much energy. I'll settle for a quick sprint. Good thing I kept in shape for running."
He set out immediately, not wanting to waste any more time standing around. He still had to collect all of the necessary items to make the potions he was commissioned for. He just hoped that Twilight would have some left around.
Lucien began at a jog, waiting to break into a run for when he got into the town proper. His house was at the edge of the Everfree Forest, which meant that it would take a few minutes until he actually got to the edge of Ponyville.
After those few minutes had passed by, Lucien reached the outskirts of the town. "This is beginning to feel like Mission Impossible . . ." he thought after taking note of the many ponies wandering from place to place. "Maybe a bit more like Assassin's Creed . . . It would work out better if I crossed the rooftops. Nobody ever looks up, and these houses will make for good cover."
He wasted no time in running up to the first building. Thankfully, it was a bit smaller than the rest, and there were some conveniently-placed boxes making a path to run up, along with a pole to swing off of. "Funny how that works." he thought, noticing the crates.
"I'll just put one foot here, then the next goes- oomph!"
With a quick creak for a warning, the crate's top suddenly split and caved in, causing his foot to fall deep into the box's interior. He stood there, half supported, for a moment, hoping to some deity that none of the townsfolk heard his mishap.
Seconds passed, then a minute, then two minutes. He was frozen "mid-wince," with his arms pushed up to his shoulders. "How many times have I been in this position before in my life?"
When nobody came to ask what he was doing, he unfroze and took the next step, this time a lot more cautiously. When the box held, he readied himself and took a leap, aiming for the pole that protruded out of the wall in front of him.
His hands stuck, and he held on for dear life, despite the fact that he was only about three feet off the ground. With a little effort, he pulled himself up onto the roof, then splayed out in exasperation from almost being discovered.
So, naturally, he only freaked out just a little bit, when he heard a confused voice come from his left ask, "What are you doing?"
Lucien jolted, almost falling off the roof in his surprise. He looked to his left, where the voice had come from. "Cyan fur, rainbow mane, annoyed/confused expression; must be Rainbow Dash." he immediately identified her.
"Well, I'm trying to get to Twilight's without being spotted, but I never really took into account that there were pegasi flying around. Whoops." he said in a decidedly flat voice, trying to play it off that he hadn't really cared if he was seen.
She eyed him up and down for a moment, before smiling. "You're no athlete."
Lucien just so happened to take offence to this comment. "Hey! Who are you to decide that!" he said loudly in a hushed voice, still trying to not be noticed.
"Well, I am the greatest flyer in all of Equestria." She said, showing off her wings and lithe body. "I think that I know an athlete when I see one."
Lucien smiled. He knew where this was headed. "I'll prove to you that I am an athlete. I'll race you to Twilight's place. If I win, or come close to winning, then I'm definitely an athlete, and you owe me one."
Dash's eyes narrowed and she flew up in his face. "And what if I win?"
Lucien pondered this for a moment. "Well, then I guess I'll owe you one. Anything else?"
"Oh, it is so on!" Dash sneered.
"One more thing," Lucien said quickly, "no wings. That's not fair."
Dash pouted. "Rrrgh, fine. But that means that you can't use magic." she said.
Lucien stuck out his hand. "Deal."
Rainbow stuck out her hoof, and the two looked at their appendages awkwardly.
"Uh . . ." Lucien fixed his hand into a fist and he bumped her hoof. "Go!" he shouted immediately, and broke into a run.
"Hey! Not fair!" he head Dash holler behind him, but he wasn't listening anymore. All his attention was focused on the buildings in front of him. "Jump here, step around the gutters, I think I can win this." he thought confidently.
Just as his hopes began to rise, Rainbow caught up to him. "Told ya, I'm the best! Later!" she called out to him before sprinting even faster.
"Hey!" Lucien shouted. "There's no way she could have caught up to me that fast." he risked a quick glance behind and noticed a few cyan feathers on the roof they started off on. "Cheater!" he thought venomously.
"Two can play at that game!" Lucien yelled to the prismatic mare two buildings ahead of him.
He sparked his hands up, readying for a spell. They lit a dark green, the signature color of his aura. "If it worked in a physics-based video game, why can't a little magic make it work in real life?" He readied himself to jump and cast on the next gap between houses. He quickly glanced up at the looming figure that was Sugarcube Corner. "That's my exit."
The next gap came fast. He leapt over the side, going down head first into the alley. "Please work!" he thought desperately before sending out the formed spell, aiming for his spot of impact with the ground. He shut his eyes and braced for impact.
But it never came.
Lucien felt the world shift upside-down, and he opened his eyes to see that he was right-side-up, and flying through the air. "It actually worked." he thought, too surprised to even notice that the blue portal below him had just closed. He was above the street in front of the candied store. He turned his head around to see a surprised-looking Rainbow Dash making the jump from the last house to the roof of Sugarcube Corner.
He started to fall. "OH SH-" was all he managed to think before hitting the ground. Hard.
Lucien had managed to land feet-first, but he wasn't ready for it, and his legs buckled. He fell to his knees instantly, and he heard Rainbow laugh somewhere off to his left. "You can't beat me, even with magic!" she cackled before running off.
Lucien shook his head, clearing it of any confusion from the landing. He was so preoccupied with winning the race that he didn't even question why shaking his head violently cleared it, instead of making it worse. "I'm not gonna lose to some rainbow-colored horse!" he snarled, before letting lose in a dead sprint.
Dash had loosened her wings, and now glided slowly over the rooftops. She had no idea that Lucien had some fight still left in him.
He ran forward, dodging around ponies and jumping various carts and stands. Nothing would stand in his way. Many of them shouted at him to slow down, but their cries fell on deaf ears. He looked ahead and saw a large stand entirely filled with cabbages.
The owner of said stand was completely oblivious to the human that was racing up to his stand. All of the stallion's attention was on the cabbage that appeared to need some love. He was rubbing it against his face, and whispering comforting things to it.
Just then Lucien reached that poor cabbage stand. He quickly switched to an Earth focus and made the ground push itself up in a ramp in front of him. He ran up it and jumped over the cabbage stand, scaring all the little cabbages and frightening the owner.
Unfortunately, he had made the ramp when he was a bit too close to the stand, and as a result, the middle of the stand got caught on the earth. The whole thing tipped over like a mighty tree, causing all the cabbages to scatter around the street. The owner just looked on in disbelief for a moment, then sat down hard on his haunches. He dropped the cabbage he was holding, put his hooves up, and screamed, "My cabbages!"
Lucien shot a quick glance back. "I'm gonna have to pay for that one later." he thought before continuing on his sprint forward. He had begun to catch up to the laid-back mare, and she had yet to take notice. The element of surprise was a very powerful one.
Thinking fast, Lucien decided that his temporary Portal Spell could be put to use again. He looked to his left at the buildings he was running by, then forward to judge the distance to Twilight's place. He even made a frame out of his fingers just for good measure. "I think this will work."
He took a left, dodging between two ponies and sliding under a moving cart in a very Indiana Jones' like fashion. He ran into the closed alley between two houses, then used his momentum to run up the far wall and climb on top of the roof. Using the top of Twilight's tree as an exit point, he charged up his portal spell and jumped through the ground below.
And instantly Lucien burst out of the top of Twilight's tree. He was suspended in the air for a moment, due to the momentum he carried from jumping down into the portal. He looked fast, and spotted his prey approaching lazily, eyes focused on the front door. "Boy is she in for a surprise." he thought maliciously.
Lucien felt all upward momentum leave him, and he fell quickly toward the ground. "I really hope I timed this right."
And, of course, he did.
Lucien fell down and landed right on Rainbow Dash's back. She let out a quick gasp before falling instantly to the ground right in front of Twilight's door, with Lucien on top of her.
"And that's how it's done." Lucien said smugly, before stretching out a hand to poke the door that they were racing to reach.
"No . . . wait . . .!" Rainbow managed to squeeze out, reaching out a hoof to try to touch the door.
"Too late, Rainbow. I won!" he moved his arm an inch forward and hit . . . nothing.
As it turns out, Twilight had just opened the door, her back turned to call out something to Spike. She spun around to see a red-faced, panting Lucien and Rainbow Dash in a very compromising position. She gasped and put a hoof up to cover her eyes. "I don't care if the two of you are mating, but please show a little decency!" she exclaimed.
Lucien and Rainbow froze, then looked at each other. Blood rushed to their faces as they realized how awkward of a position they were both in. Lucien quickly scrambled to get off of her and Dash stood up as soon as he was off. "We're not-"
"We aren't-" the two started, then glared at each other. "I didn't-" "We were just-" they spoke at the same time again.
Lucien gestured for her to explain, so she tried to calm her friend. "We were just racing, that's all. Nothing more going on here, nope!" she said quickly as Lucien facepalmed.
"Yeah, just a race." Lucien said calmly. "What are you even doing out here, Twilight? Shouldn't you be inside, tending to the library?" he asked, trying to change the subject.
"Well," she started, putting her hoof back on the ground, "I was just about to go investigate the strange complaints and shouts that have been coming from the marketplace." She glared at the two of them and they both averted their eyes. Rainbow put a hoof up to scratch the back of her head and Lucien began whistling. "What really got me to come out side was the noise that I heard just a few moments ago; some leaves rustling at the top of the tree, and the thud that followed it. You two wouldn't happen to know anything about this, would you?" she finished the statement pointedly at them.
Rainbow's and Lucien's eyes met for a moment and they struck an unspoken agreement. "I have no idea what might have happened." Lucien said carefully.
"Well then, would you care to explain why you were on top of Rainbow Dash just now?" Twilight smiled triumphantly, confident that they would confess.
"We were jus-" Rainbow started but was cut off by Lucien's hand. He glanced down at her with a look that said, 'just go along with whatever I say, got it?'
Rainbow nodded, and Lucien took a deep breath, readying himself to create a very intricate lie. He lifted up a finger in preparation, then spoke. "We were actually just trying each other out, really."
Twilight looked confused, while Rainbow facehoofed. "Explain." Twilight prompted him, determined to catch him in a lie.
"Uh, you know Rainbow and I hit it off pretty quickly at the start, and I finally proposed that we give it a shot." Lucien said with his best effort to ignore Dash's glare.
"So, that still doesn't explain why you two were in that position." Twilight gestured with a hoof at the spot where the two racers had landed.
"Well, when two people -uh- ponies love each other, then they start to try new things with each other, and sometimes those things-"
"Stop! We were just racing, and I'm sorry that we caused all that trouble back there! Just please, for the love of Celestia, do not finish that sentence!" Lucien was cut off by Rainbow's plea for mercy.
Twilight smiled. "So, what have we learned here?"
Lucien and Rainbow looked at each other dumbly for a moment, then Lucien raised his hand. "Doing kinky stuff is only okay when both partners are cool with it and its in private?" he suggested, causing Rainbow to stifle a laugh.
Twilight rolled her eyes and sighed. "Close enough. I believe that the message set in on its own anyway." she gave up and started to walk inside, choosing to ignore to uncontrollable laughter coming from Rainbow and Lucien.
Lucien stood to attention immediately when Twilight began to go inside. "Hold on, Twilight, I actually needed to talk to you."
She continued on her way into the treehouse, saying "Alright, come on in," as she did so.
"Awesome." Lucien walked in and closed the door behind him. "So, I was wondering if you have any reagents for potions that I might be able to take off your han- err - hooves?" he asked.
Twilight walked toward the basement. "Well, I do have some spare Tandis Root lying around down there, among other things, of course." she said, mostly to herself.
"I'd be willing to buy it off of you." Lucien offered.
"No, it's fine. I do have some extra, and it's pretty easy to come by." Twilight responded while opening the basement door. "It should be right down here." She walked down the steps into the dark.
"Uh, should I just wait right here, or . . ." Lucien trailed off, unsure of what to do. When he received no response, he said, "I'll just follow you then." He followed.
The basement was a mess of laboratory equipment and various storage containers for various items. There were just square, sliding drawers, like you would see in any office or similar workplace. Twilight was sifting through one of them as Lucien walked down the wooden staircase.
"I keep most of my ingredients in these temperature-controlled storage containers. Having a lot of them means I'm able to keep many different types of reagents in top condition all the time." She turned to look at him. "In fact, one of the boxes around here is just a vacuum, designed to keep the interior free from any air." She looked around a bit. "I should probably label these . . ."
"Yeah, that vacuum could probably be a bit dangerous. How'd you manage a spell to create one anyway? The closest I ever got to an absence of oxygen was just a massive explosion sucking away all the air." Lucien asked her.
"Well, I just had to reconfigure a force-field spell so that it would begin on a molecular level, then expand outward to push out all the air. After that, the work was just in fixing a constant stream of mana to it." Twilight answered, briefly going into lecture-mode.
"I see." Lucien put his hand to his chin in thought. "Constant stream of mana . . ." He looked around at the many boxes surrounding the two. "There's no way she can be so powerful as to keep all those spells going at once." he blinked in disbelief.
Twilight caught the motion of his eyelid. "You're probably wondering how somepony like me could keep all the spells going at once, huh?" It wasn't a question. "Well, the answer is, I'm not. I just fixed an item to collect mana from the surroundings like all ponies do. Then I set the spells to draw energy from that item." She turned around quickly and grabbed a gem from behind her. "The item, in this case, is this emerald that I 'borrowed' from Spike. You know how gems are great for conducting magic."
Lucien looked at her in disbelief. "Perhaps I could learn a thing or two from this one." he thought. "I have some more questions." he said.
"I knew you would." Twilight responded. "We should continue this conversation upstairs; it'll probably take a while."
"So that's why you were able to defeat us so easily when you first arrived." Twilight said.
"Mmmhmm." Lucien hummed. He had just finished explaining the basic properties of magic in his world to her. He was able to defeat her friends and the Princesses because of the style he was fighting in. They had all been using styles that expend mana directly from their sources, while Lucien was using a style that only cost a fraction of the mana. The one that Lucien was using was just basic elemental magic, while the others had been a form that he liked to call, "magick." The magick costs a lot more energy, but hits harder. Elemental magic focuses on the four elements of nature, Air, Water, Earth, and Fire, and it allows the user to influence each element. Since it requires less mana, it naturally hits lighter. The stunt he pulled off against the Princesses was his full on magick attack, combined with a sneaky, underhand move that he had picked up from his mentor, Draco.
The two were sitting to the side of the library, occupying one of the alcoves that was scarcely used. In fact, that was where they had spent the last two hours; discussing the properties of magic and its boundaries, along with the differences between Lucien's magic and Twilight's magic.
"The conclusion I have reached, at base, is that the magic you use in your world is a lot more unpredictable than Equestria's, and it takes a greater focus to shape to your will and cast spells. But, the randomness of the magic also allows it to be shaped in different ways that ponykind is unable to do. That's what allowed you to create new spells on the fly like you did with the teleportation and that one "portal" spell that you told me about. I still don't understand how that works." Twilight summarized. (A/N: Summarized in a very annoying and time-consuming fashion)
Lucien nodded. "That's absolutely correct. And as for the Portal spell, I'm just creating a hole in the rug of space-time. Nothing to be concerned about." Twilight looked like she was concerned, but she didn't question any further. She didn't even want to know why he decided to call the fabric of space and time a rug.
"If that's all, then I think I'll be heading home. This is a lot to take in at once, and I have a few theories that need to be written down and tested." Lucien excused himself while getting up.
"Well," Twilight stretched and paused to yawn, "that was a very interesting chat. I also have a few theories that need writing down, and I want to do some more research on the Portal spell." She began to walk him out.
"No need to get up, I know the way out." He said as Twilight started to stand. "I guess I'll see you around." he opened the door and called, "Bye, Twilight!" as it swung shut.
Lucien took a deep breath once he was outside. It was dark, and the cool night air helped to clear his mind. He opted to just use a Phase Shift spell to get home instead of walking all the way back.
Once he arrived on his doorstep, he cringed. "I forgot the reagents."