Sirraf now sat in the Ponyville library surrounded by six mares and one small lizard like creature. All of which had curious faces on as he placed his back against the wall and removed his hat to reveal his pure white hair. Twilight had gathered together some note taking materials and after being restrained the cyan mare had finally been made to act without open hostility towards the strange red clad being, though she was still obviously suspicious of him.
"Now then, I do believe I promised you some answers in exchange for refuge from the bitter cold." Sirraf calmly said as he got comfortable.
"Oh yes of course! I have so many questions about you and that magic you used!" Twilight was obviously excited at the prospect of researching the new life form.
"All right then. how about this, lets start with introductions shall we? My name is Sirraf Anderhal." He said with pride. "what are your names if you please?"
"Sirraf Anderhal? That's a rather unusual name," the cultured white one responded. "What does it mean?"
"Actually it doesn't really mean anything. Its just a name that I was given by my parents. There isn't any real reference to it." he said confused. "Now then if you would kindly reciprocate."
"Oh of course darling! My name is Rarity." she said raising a hoof and placing it upon her chest. "and these are my friends, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Spike, and of course you have already learned of Twilight Sparkle." She went down the row of mares pointing to each one as she said the name.
"Wow, very descriptive names. I kind of understand why you asked that question now. Are all you..." he trailed off trying to hint that he wanted an actual classification of their species.
"Ponies darling" she responded with a smile.
"Ah, ponies then, are all ponies given such names?"
"Most of them yes." Twilight said looking up from her notes before jotting done more observations.
"Okay then I guess its your turn to ask a question!" he said as he placed his hands behind his head.
"All right then mac!" the one called Rainbow Dash exclaimed, getting right in his face. Obviously full of aggression again. "What exactly are you!?"
"Well in the simplest of terms you could call me a human. A race of beings that evolved over several thousands of years from a form of primitive ape into what you see before you now." he stated nonchalantly as he heard the scribbles of Twilights quill continue to record the information.
"Oh yeah, and what are you doing here!?" She said almost pressing her snout against his nose ridge.
"Other than trying not to freeze, I got here when a experiment on theoretical magical enhancement went wrong and sent me plummeting through space and possibly time until I landed with a rather harsh impact against your worlds snow covered surface." he was starting to get a little irritated, and though his voice was still calm, his eyes showed it." Also I would appreciate it if you pulled your face back from mine a little. After all we don't know each other well enough for this kind of intimacy."
At this Dash pulled away with a blush as her friends giggled behind her. He grinned under his mask with a chuckle at the sudden personality change in the rainbow maned pony. Suddenly his view was filled with a pink mass and bright blue eyes. "Oh! I have a question!" she happily yelled the words in rapid fire. "Do you like parties and cupcakes and streamers and games and making new friends and gummy anmphphph" Sirraf placed his gloved hand over her mouth to allow him to get a word in edgewise with the pink ball of pure energy.
"Hey there, easy now, first of all that was easily more than one question. Heck it was easily more than four. Now then, lets try this again. Slowly if you don't mind, and bear in mind if you cant slow down I can do it for you," he said as his hand glowed red slightly.
"Okie, dokie, lokie!" Pinkie said hopping up and down after the glove was removed from her face. "Do you like parties?"
"yes"
"cupcakes?"
"yeah"
"streamers?"
"I certainly have nothing against them."
"games?"
"of course, many games help train ones mental focus or physical abilities."
"Friends?"
"Who doesn't?"
"Gummy?"
"Uh...Gummy?"
"Gummy."
"Honestly not sure what you're talking about. Whats a gummy?" he said as he reached the final question.
"Gummy is Pinkies pet baby alligator." Applejack said finally ending the pink onslaught.
Grateful for the voice of another being Sirraf responded to this new information. "I don't know. I've never met your pet so I cant say for sure, though as long as he doesn't try to hurt me I'm pretty sure I'll like him just fine. Now then how about we move on to another topic shall we?" he said as he motioned his hand to the other mares in the room.
Nodding Pinkie went back to her seat. After the others raised their hooves (Pinkie raised hers even though she knew she wouldn't be picked) Sirraf finally pointed to the orange mare named Applejack. "Ok then you can ask next."
"Sure thang partner, where are ya from anyhow?" she asked as she looked him dead in the eye. As he stared back he developed the feeling that lying to this mare would be nearly impossible. He didn't intend to lie anyway but the feeling was still there.
"I come from a world called Ivalice, though I can't really tell you where in the universe that is. My land is populated with many amazing creatures and incredible technologies. It's not always safe though. There are some things out there that would make your skin crawl if you were to run into one," he said with a shiver as he recalled his first encounter with the mage academies Molboro.
Deciding that was as good a place to start as any to give them the idea of where he came from he started to share what he knew of the creature. "One such monster is known as the dreaded Molboro." He knew that he had their attention. even the normally suspicious Rainbow Dash had leaned in with interest in her eyes. " It is a large, green creature that resembled some kind of tentacled plant. It has a large gaping maw with many rows of teeth so big that it could easily swallow a man my size whole. From the end of several protrusions from its head it can fire a kind of corrosive acid at its prey that could melt your skin in a second, but that's not the worst part." at this the girls gasped, what could possibly be worse than that? "The worst part is its breath" At this the girls started to giggle and laugh... until they realized that Sirraf wasn't. In fact the look on his face was dead serious.
"Wait... what could be so bad about its breath?" Twilight asked in confusion. "Does it breath fire or something like a dragon?"
"Something like that, but at the same time its so much worse," At this the girls became much quieter, his words gave the girls shivers. "Its breath is more dangerous not because of how deadly it is, but rather what it does to a person that its used on. What happens is the Molboro emits a toxic gas cloud that can take away your ability to speak, Blinds you, Slows your movements, Poisons you, makes you unable to differentiate friend from foe, and finally throws you into a unstoppable rage. This usually makes it impossible to pick out the Molboro from your friends and has actually led to groups of travelers killing their closest allies." As he let this sink in he saw the horrified looks on their faces. Apparently there was nothing so evil and gruesome in this world. "From your looks of horror I take it that they don't exist in this world then?"
"N... no, nothing like that exists in Equestria" Fluttershy muttered in a quiet voice.
"Ah well then lets forget about it then. To be completely honest they are some of the most dangerous creatures from my world. I don't blame you girls for being terrified, the bastards scare me too. Luckily there are defenses against such things." he said attempting to cheer them up.
"Like what?" Applejack asked tilting her head to the side in confusion.
"Well, like this!" He said as he reached into his shirt and produced a red ribbon of some kind.
"That's it? A ribbon?" Dash said in disbelief. "How is a piece of cloth suppose to help against something like that?"
"Oh this is no ordinary ribbon. This ribbon has been enchanted to protect the wearer from any status effect from my world. A Molboros breath would do nothing but make my outfit stink," he said as they got a good look at it. A magic field suddenly wrapped around the ribbon and pulled it into the air. As it floated closer to Rarity and Twilight, the two took a good long look at it.
"My word darling, this is some truly exquisite craftsmanship!" Rarity said nearly breathless. "Who did you get this from?"
"Actually its an old family heirloom so I don't know who made it. As for where I got it, the ribbon was passed down to me by my mother when I was accepted to the mage academy in the city of Renthoria at the age of ten. Along with a sword that my father made me... though I seem to have lost track of that since coming here," he said as he pointed to the snapped strap that was hanging from his belt.
"Wait... sword? So you're some kind of soldier or something?" Dash said with curiosity.
"No Rainbow Dash. He already said he was a student at a mages academy." Twilight corrected her friend.
"Oh right a mage... by the way whats a mage?" she asked obliviously.
"Well Dash, a mage is someone who studies and practices one or more schools of magic in my world. For example there is a mage for each basic school as well as some side specializations. I, as an example, am referred to as a red mage," Sirraf explained.
"So... its like a unicorn here?" Twilight brought up the comparison.
"I suppose it is more or less. We study the art of magic to learn how to defend our homelands from monsters and villains. With the many different types of magic out there we need large academies to teach promising new students." he said with his eyes closed while nodding his head.
"So... what exactly is a red mage darling?" Rarity asked after returning his ribbon.
"Well essentially a red mage is a side specialization of the mages. Essentially there are three basic forms of magic, though there are many ways to use them." Sirraf said as he readied his demonstration. "First there is white magic, Which is primarily used to cure wounds and defend from damage. You saw me use this when I healed myself and put up that barrier to protect me from Applejacks kick." as he said this he funneled white magic to his right hand. "Then there is time magic which deals in the manipulation of time/space energy. A good example of this was my haste spell that allowed me to avoid all of your attacks, as well as my slow spell that took most of Dash's speed." at this he made a green glow form in his left hand, before dispelling both. "Finally there is what we call black magic," as he says this he channels his magic into his hand to form a small fire ball. " this school involves just about any offensive or status inducing spell. I actually used some to put Dash here to sleep when she wouldn't calm down." he said before dispelling that final spell.
"Wait! You used black magic on me?! I knew you were evil!" Rainbow Dash yelled, getting ready to attack him again.
"Calm down Dash, in my world black magic is not inherently evil. It is just a way to classify most offensive types of magic. Besides you already saw me use white magic as well. If black magic is evil then white must be good right?" he reasoned with the pegasus.
"I suppose so" she said calming down slightly.
"And by that logic then at most I am neutral right?" he said as she finally dropped her hooves back to the floor.
"Well ok then, but wait you said that mages learn from different schools, so what exactly is a red mage?" she asked tilting her head.
"I was getting to that. There are many kinds of mages, most choose to specialize. White mages cast white magic, Black mages cast black magic, and time mages cast time magic," he said building the tension. "Red mages however, cast all three. They are the most versatile of all mages. Able to adapt to just about any situation, but there is a cost. Our bodies can only handle so much magic, and since our powers are divided between schools of magic we can never truly master any type. Thus the term inspired from the first red mage, Jack the red, was born. We are Jacks of all trades, masters of none." he finished as the others looked on in wonder.
"So you learn every type of magic but you can never ever master any of them?" Pinkie asked with a sad look on her face.
"Nope, in fact there are 9 basic legal levels of magic in each category. At best red mages can only reach the seventh spell level and even then we cant quite compare with the specialists. Though our jack of all trades title is more then just for magic." he said with a smile. "We are also the only mages that can efficiently wield any weapon as well as preform just about any task acceptably. We are the battle mages. Able to assist others while surviving on our own."
It was time for Twilight to ask a question again. "You said there were 9 legal spell level... what did you mean by that?"
Sirraf frowned for a moment, recalling the words of his teachers when they explained the horrors of the forbidden spells. "There is one more level. It is the theoretical tenth spell level. These spells are not to be used unless the fate of very important people or even the world hangs in the balance, and luckily I will never have access to these. Now I'm not sure what the white mage forbidden spell is. Frankly they didn't stress it in school because white magic is made to heal and protect. I'm not even sure if there is one, but the two most forbidden spells to my knowledge are known as Meteor for the time mages, and Ultima for the black mages. These spells are beyond devastating and should never be used except as a last resort." he said with every bit of seriousness he could muster.
"Well... what do they do?" this question came surprisingly enough from Fluttershy who had been quietly listening by Sirrafs side.
"Now I've never really seen them so mind you this is all based on theory, rumors, and of course lessons by my teachers who had not cast such things themselves." he paused as the others nodded. "Essentially Meteor, as the name suggests, controls time and space to pull a very large random chuck of space debris and hurl it at the target. There are rumors that say if the mage was strong enough the spell could threaten the very planet itself." the girls cringed at this new information.
"And Ultima?" Twilight asked with a look of worry upon her face.
"Well basically the mage focuses his will and somehow splits an atom with his magic. Now I'm not sure exactly how this happens but the result is a massive explosion that covers everything in view, or at least that's how I understand it." by this time Twilights jaw had literally hit the floor. "Remember they are forbidden spells for a reason."
"Oh right, back on topic. you said that there were several types of side specializations for mages. What are the others?" Twilight asked gripping her quill in her magic once more.
"Well that is always changing but I do know of a few others. There are the blue mages that somehow learn to use the abilities of monsters after its been used on them. These guys, for example, could use the Molboros bad breath if they survived an encounter with them. Then there are mimics which are able to imitate any and all actions they observe so long as they do it immediately after they see it. Frankly they kinda creep me out." he said with a chuckle. " Then there are those that are considered the chosen mages, blessed by the gods themselves. The Summoners. These are by far the scariest mages I know of. These chosen few are actually able to contact and call upon the gods themselves to help in their fights. It is not something that can simply be taught."
"Wow... that's so... AWESOME!" Sirraf was taken off guard by Rainbows sudden outburst. "That's amazing! What kinds of gods can they summon?"
"Well I wont go to deeply into it, but there are many gods in my world. Some are embodiments of the elemental forces, like the ice goddess Shiva, while others are much more devastating, like the King of dragons Bahamut."
At this statement the eyes of Spike who had been drifting off suddenly shot open. "Did he say the king of dragons?"
"Yep, I sure did little guy. Bahamut is the number one, strongest dragon in my home world. When summoned he uses his signature attack Megaflare to wipe the battlefield of hostile threats. Where most dragons simply breath out fire, Bahamut instead focuses the life energy from the surrounding air and forms it into a small concentrated ball within his mouth. Finally he releases it upon the target causing a rather large blast. Needless to say, very few beings can survive an attack from this mighty creature. Why do you ask Spike?
"That's because I'm a dragon!" he says proudly.
"Really? Well then you have quite a legacy to live up to don't you Spike. Now remember when you get older only use your powers to protect others, just like the mighty king of dragons himself, ok?" he said as he rubbed the top of Spikes head.
"Of course I will! I'll protect everypony!" Spike said striking a valiant pose.
"Well, I'm getting tired from all this.. time/space travel, running, fighting, and question answering. Would you girls mind if I turned in for the night? I would really like to get some sleep" he said with a yawn.
Before he even finished his yawn a pillow was kicked over to him, hitting him in the head and knocking his hat off. "Sure thang sugar cube. Ah think we all need a good night sleep after all that," Applejack said as she made her way over to her side of the room, now missing one pillow.
"Okay, but remember I need you to answer more questions tomorrow morning ok? So you need to be up bright and early." Twilight said as she put away her notes and made her way to her bed. As everyone got comfortable Sirraf shifted in his corner of the room until he was moderately comfortable himself.
After replacing his hat on his head he began to weave one last spell. "Well then I should get a full, solid nights rest then," he said with a rather large yawn. "Now then, Lose conscious, wash away into the silent sea... Sleep! As his spell washed over himself he began to lose himself in the dreamworld of his subconscious.