The sun began to creep over the horizon, making the snow sparkle as the beams danced across the landscapes white surface, announcing the beginning of the day to Ponyville. The first rays of dawn began to cascade in through the window and into the face of Twilight Sparkle. She opened her eyes and began to rise, giving a great big yawn as she stretched all the stiffness from her body. As she moved towards the stairs she heard something. It was a low grunting noise followed by what sounded like someone speaking. Suddenly she remembered the slumber party and their unexpected guest that dropped in. She moved closer to the main area of the library and was surprised by what she saw. It was definitely Sirraf, but he seemed to be missing most of his clothing, though he was still wearing some over his legs and his face mask was firmly in place. That however wasn't the strangest part, he was standing straight up on the palms of his hands, with the tips of his feet placed gently against the wall of the library. She further observed that he was slowly bending his arms until his head almost touched the ground then pushing himself back up to full height.
"Twenty four!... Twenty five!... Twenty six!" he said as he pushed his muscles harder and harder.
"What are you doing?" She asked as he counted off his current number.
He paused for a moment, his arms fully extended. "Oh! Good morning Twilight. I'm just doing my morning exercises. After all just because I'm in another world, doesn't mean that I can neglect my training or studies," he lowered himself to the ground once more as his face dripped with sweat. "Twenty seven!"
"But you use magic. Why would you need to push yourself so hard physically?" she asked causing him to pause again.
"Because...magic doesn't always work. I take pride in myself for being as versatile as possible and not every problem can be solved through magic, strategy, or diplomacy. At least that's how it goes in my world. Twenty eight!..." he grunted.
"Well I suppose that makes sense. From what you told us last night your world can be a dangerous place, what with all the monsters roaming the land." she said as she observed his regimen.
Twilight looked on in confusion as Sirraf paused once again and shook with laughter. "Oh man if only you knew. The monsters are not the worst of the threats out there in Ivalice." he said panting "Twenty Nine!"
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"While the monsters are the most common threat to safety in our world, they are by no means the worst." he slowly made his way down and back up one last time "THIRTY!" after this last count the threw himself up onto his feet. "Our worlds safety has been threatened on multiple occasions and about ninety percent of the times that it has happened the cause was usually some arrogant person that thought they were above everyone else around them. Luckily there has always been small groups of heroes that take it upon themselves to stop the activities of these villains."
"I see...you know... that sort of thing has happened here a few times too." she said slowly, hoping not to ruin Sirrafs view of Equestria being a peaceful planet.
"Heh, that's actually a little reassuring," he said as he grinned under his mask.
Twilight froze for a moment, her mouth hanging open in shock."Why would you say that?" she yelled, horrified that someone would consider the near destruction of a country as a good thing.
"Don't get me wrong. I love peace as much as the next guy, however if this world was too perfect there really wouldn't be much for me to do." he said waving his hands in front of him. "Think about it, I'm a creature that was raised in a mostly hostile world that was trained to protect the innocent from threats to their lives and liberties. If this world was absolutely perfect my existence would be an absolute waste. All my training and all my skills would amount to nothing. Lets face it, everyone wants to be appreciated for their talents."
At this Twilight looked back at the mark on her flank. As her thoughts shifted to the fond memories of her childhood and her studies under Princess Celestia, her facial expression softened. "Yeah", she said softly. "I think I know what you mean. As for your talents going to waste, don't worry. Ponyville alone gets into some kind of situation almost every week. I don't think you being bored will really be an issue." she said with a giggle.
When she turned her head back to her guest she noticed that he was now laying on the ground with his hands behind his head. He quickly shifted between a sitting and laying position, once again counting to himself as he continued his work out. "By the way... I met one of your princesses last night. It's kind of the reason I'm up so early today." he said between grunts.
Twilights head shot up as this news instantly got her attention. "You did?" she asked, her mind already forming half a dozen worst case scenarios.
"Yep, I think her name was Luna, or something moon related. She entered my dream scape in the hopes of learning about a disruption in the night that turned out to be me." he said as he finally stopped his workout and pulled himself into a sitting position. "Is she known for having a bit of an attitude or is that just with me?"
"What do you mean? What happened?" Twilight asked as her anxiety began to rise ever higher.
"Oh don't worry. We worked out our differences eventually. Lets just say that both of us made the wrong first impression," he said with a nervous look in his eyes.
Twilight breathed in a bit as she tried to push her insecurities to the back of her mind. "Okay then, we don't have to worry about any immediate problems, still I would like to know what happened."
"Well to make a long story short. I was having a lucid dream caused by casting a sleep spell on myself last night. As I was resting I created a familiar scene in my dream scape," he paused as he recalled the image. "Essentially it was a grass field in the middle of the night with a clear view of the stars in the country side. I was raised up on a Chocobo farm until I turned twelve years old and was accepted into the academy so I've always been calmed by that kind of scenery. Though she said that my stars differed from this worlds stars...oh well.. where was I? Oh yeah! Next thing I knew I felt a foreign presence in my mind that turned out to be Luna. I told her it was rude to intrude on one's mind, she responded by screaming in my head," he explained beginning to frown. "I didn't like that so I cast a silence spell on her and told her I would remove it if she calmed down...she didn't. She started to attack me, I used a spell out of my normal level range to subdue her, then healed her. We spoke for a while, working out our differences and apologized for using such extreme measures against each other. She then left after saying she would put in a good word to Princess Celestia for me." After finishing his explanation, he looked down to the lavender unicorn to see that she was staring at him in disbelief.
"You subdued Princess Luna?!" she yelled. "How is that even possible!?"
"Hey what's all the screamin about?" a voice called out as a very sleepy looking Rainbow Dash entered the room, followed by all the other ponies from last night. "Can't you see there are ponies trying to sleep?"
"Oh it's nothing. I just found out our friend here has a habit of getting into fights with royalty." Twilight said with a slight frown on her face.
"Really darling? I do hope it was that brute Prince Blueblood," Rarity said as she brought a mirror and brush out of nowhere and used them to fix her mane.
"Actually... it was Luna" Sirraf said, hoping that this wouldn't escalate like last night. "She kinda invaded my mind and I may have had to subdue her there."
"Whoa... y'all won a fight against Princess Luna?" Applejack said with a bewildered look on her face.
"Now hang on here. Technically she went into battle with a huge handicap. First," he raised one of his fingers."I knew it was a dream so I could control things there as I pleased. Second," he raised another. "I caught her off guard so I had the element of surprise. Third," he raised one last finger. "She had no way of knowing that when she directed all her magical power at me, the spell I cast would be one designed not to stop magic but to redirect it back at the original caster."
Suddenly parchments and quills flew past Sirraf's head forcing him to duck and raise his hands above his head in an attempt to defend himself as Twilight's smile grew to near insane levels. "You have a spell that reflects magic like a mirror? You have to show me!"
"Easy now Twilight. Yes, I know that spell, and It is in fact called Reflect. However I can't cast it outside of my dreams. Well... not yet anyway." he said slowly backing away from the unicorn that seemed to be channeling Pinkie Pies lack of respect for personal space.
"Wait, why not?" She said, a small pout forming on her face.
"The only reason I was able to use it on Luna was because it was in my mind and as such it was my rules. I know the spells inner workings, but I don't have the magical control yet to put it into practice." he explained. "That spell is normally only usable by someone with access to level seven white magic and my current limit is level four in each category. Besides, I don't know if telling you about it would really help since my magic and yours differ so much as it is."
"How so? Isn't all magic pretty much the same?" asked Pinkie, now joining Twilight in her invasion of his personal space. Though she somehow had managed to get his shirt from the floor onto him and pop out of the collar of it to stare him in the face without him even noticing it.
"AGH! Jeez Pinkie how did you even do that?... and how did my shirt get back on?" he yelled as he struggled to pry the giggling pink pony from his torso.
"Oh that's nothing! Watch this one!" she said cheerfully before disappearing in a pink dust cloud. A moment later he was tackled by a pink blur and somehow his entire get up was on his body once again. "Tada!"
For once Sirraf was actually at a loss for words. His gaze shifted from his now fully clothed body back to the pink mare grinning happily at him from her position on his chest. "I.... you...well....what?" he stuttered out as his brain tried in vain to catch up to what just happened. "You know what... I'm just gonna roll with it. There are so many things in this world that differ from mine that I might hurt myself trying to keep up with it all."
"That's the spirit!" Pinkie yells as she leapt through the air and landed in front of him. Reaching behind her back she summoned some kind of colorful cannon and slams it onto the floor with the barrel pointing directly at him. "FIRE!!!!!!"
"Wait, what?" was all he was able to say before getting plastered to the wall in a barrage of confetti, cake, and streamers.
"Oops..." Pinkie muttered as she looked down at the collapsed human. "I think I may have overdone it this time girls." she said as she hopped over and poked the hand that was now the only thing visible from under the party themed blob.
"You girls don't think he's dead do you?" Suddenly the hand shot forward and grasped the pink hoof. The mound started to slowly rise and fall off his body in large chunks as he stood back up. He slowly brought her up to eye level and narrowed his eyes at her. She nervously smiled at him as her eyes darted back and forth. The whole room froze in fear of what could happen next.
"Pinkie... did you just shoot a cannon full of party supplies directly into my face?" he asked, his tone low and menacing.
"Umm.... maybe?" she said getting progressively more nervous.
His body was twitching slightly as he was obviously trying to keep his anger in check. He began to mutter under his breath just loud enough that the ponies could make out the words. "Easy now Sirraf. She didn't mean any harm, she probably does this kind of thing to everyone... could you girls please excuse me for a moment? I need to get clean and purge my mind of angry thoughts so I don't hurt your little pink friend here. I'm not really one to hold a grudge, but this will still be helpful in getting my mind back in a peaceful state if the rest of the day is gonna be anything like that."
He placed the pony back on the ground and moved to an empty area in the room. He slowly focused power through his hands once more. "First to keep me safe from hurting myself with my own magic...Silent light, shield from evil...Shell!" a reddish sphere formed around his body and then faded from view. "Now the cake. Power of the sea, wash away all... Watera!" his body was completely surrounded by a sphere of water which crashed and churned against his body. The girls gasped as his face showed obvious signs of pain from the spell. Before the spell could finish completely he redirected it out one of the windows and into the yard. "Not done yet... Slicing winds, Swirl around... Aero!" a vortex of air formed around him and air dried his entire body and clothes. Somehow the winds were directed solely to the immediate area around his body. Not once did it disturb the books that laid around the library. "Well at least I'm clean now. One final spell before I can stop... Share life with all things in nature.... Regen!" This last one caught Fluttershys attention. She stared at him as the green magic wrapped around his body, the energies taking on the shapes of transparent vines and leaves as they wove around his very being. She looked on in wonder at the magic so closely tied to her greatest love. They all stared as his wounds slowly closed and began to shrink. It wasn't as fast as the cure spell he used the night before but it seemed to last much longer. In fact, even after all his wounds were gone, his body continued to emit a slight green glow.
Pinkie rubbed her hoof on the ground guiltily as she viewed the process the human had to go through in order to get himself back in order. Her mane had fallen straight along the sides of her face. Sirraf paused for a moment as he looked to the depressed pink mare. After a moment he sighed to himself before saying. "Hey Pinkie. I'm about to go through a process I use to focus and cleanse my mind of negative emotions. I learned it from a monk friend of mine. Maybe it can help you as well."
Her head shot up in surprise, her eyes shining and her hair regaining its fluffy shape. "Really!? You want me to be involved after what I did to you?"
He scratched the back of his head with one hand. "Well sure...like I said, I'm not really one to hold onto a grudge. Besides if this can focus your energies elsewhere maybe you won't shoot me again."
"Okie Dokie Lokie!" she yelled jumping into position next to him.
"Okay then. Just do as I do and listen to my words." he placed his feet into a battle stance and slowly brought his hands up in front of him. One was placed parallel to the floor while the other was pushed outwards as if to shove something in front of him. Pinkie stood up on her hind legs as best she could and imitated him. The others looked on in curiosity, while Twilight began writing down notes about this new activity.
He took a deep breath in as Pinkie followed his lead. "Breathing, spirit, discipline. Focus the mind. Cleanse the soul. Keep sight of your target. Concentrate, be prepared for the unexpected. Mind and body as one." he slowly moved his body into different stances that gradually became more complex but flowed like water. "Achieve tranquility through movement. Integrate spirit and flesh. Channel the powers. Cleanse the soul. Release that which is negative. Separate darkness and light." the magic around him started to swirl and gradually divided into two different colored energies of white and black. The others watched in amazement as not only was Pinkie following his movements, but she also seemed to be taking the lesson to heart. Not once did she interrupt him. She had a look of absolute focus on her face as she kept up with him. "Give birth to oneself." At this moment Rainbow Dash had to hold back her laughter, as Rarity shot her an angry look.
All their faces shot up at once as suddenly his voice seemed to divide into two, a light gentle one speaking separately from a deep intimidating other. "ONENESS THROUGH KNOWLEDGE/ define your emotions. ONENESS THROUGH EMOTIONS/create your divination." then the voices seemed to speak as one, still separate but using the same words. "Oneness with the heavens. From strength learn gentleness, through gentleness strength will prevail! All things in balance Two sides! Same Coin!" Finally he stopped his movements and the two energies merged back into one. He slowly opened his eyes. The look on his face was one of pure tranquility, all traces of stress seemed to have been purged from his mind. Pinkie also looked much calmer.
Slowly he let his breath back out and dropped his stance. He looked back to the others as they once again stared in silence. "You know I'm starting to think this whole amazing each other into silence thing is gonna become a regular occurrence with us." he said with a chuckle. "Oh and in case you were wondering that pretty much sums up what my magic is like. It is cast through a combination of spirit, knowledge, emotions, movement, and power of word. You may have noticed the incantations I kept saying while casting. While these aren't necessary, the actual name of the spell is. The incantations just add a bit more flare and a lot more control to the spells. Without them I save a lot of time, but I could also damage something that I hadn't intended to in the first place." he walked over to Twilight and removed his glove which he then held towards her. She did just as he expected and lifted it into the air with her aura. "Yours however seems to only use your horn, knowledge and will power. The structures of our magic are too fundamentally different for me to just show you and expect you to understand."
"I see..." Twilight said as she raised a hoof to her chin in thought. "With such a difference I would have to learn about how your magic works from the ground up. Simply seeing it will give me no insight into its inner workings.
"Now you're getting it. Anyway, does anyone need anything else from me? Because I need to go to where I originally crashed to try to find my sword." he said as he pointed a thumb to the door. "Chances are it's gonna be buried under a pile of snow so it might take awhile."
"Shouldn't you get something to eat first?" Twilight said as she started to make her way to the kitchen. "Oh wait, I don't even know what you eat!"
"As long as it isn't grass or flowers I should be fine." he said as got himself comfortable. "My body can't really digest the stuff."
"Sure thing." she said with a smile before spinning in place and directing her voice away from the group. "SPIKE!" she yelled across the house.
"What is it Twilight?" the small dragon said as he walked into the room rubbing his eyes.
"Would you be so kind as to make us some breakfast? Sirraf wants to go look for his sword and it might take a while." she said. "Odds are he is going to need his energy."
"Yeah, yeah, sure." he said as he made his way to the kitchen. The mares all gathered around the dining table as Sirraf leaned against the wall with his arms folded across his chest, waiting for the food to be prepared.