//------------------------------// // Early Morning Exercises // Story: Ace's Spell Shop // by Aceofgods //------------------------------// Chapter Twelve: Early Morning Exercises Ace sat upon the terrace at the top of Twilight’s library/home next to the telescope as he admired the stars of Princess Luna’s night. Twilight and Spike laid asleep in the bedroom of the second floor of their tree home. The breeze carried soft whispers in the wind as the leaves and branches sang their timid song. Ace let go of his senses, both physical and magical, as he basked in the embrace of the dark, lit only by the waning full moon. An hour passed as Ace relaxed, nearly asleep, beneath the stars. “Ace? Are you feeling okay? I can’t feel anything through your senses, but I’m still using your magic…” Twilight asked, having just flash-teleported to the terrace. Ace answered with a yawn, covering his mouth with one hoof while the other pointed towards the sky aimlessly. Twilight, thinking he had wanted her to see something specifically, came up alongside him to stare along his hoof, but saw nothing other than the stars and the sky. Ace allowed himself to lean against her as his hoof fell to his side. I was just admiring the stars so that I may sleep. I didn’t mean to cause you any concern, Ace’s voice echoed through Twilight’s head as he spoke to her through their magical bond, Ace being too tired to speak physically. I was having trouble sleeping, so I came out here instead. The stars in the sky always help me sleep better. Twilight looked up to the sky as Ace laid his head on her shoulder, sounding as though he was more asleep than awake. Twilight’s face turned pinker and pinker the longer he laid against her, until she looked down and saw that he was fully sleep. A tender smile spread across her muzzle as the blush began to fade. Twilight sat with Ace sleeping against her for nearly an hour before using his magic to teleport both of them back to their individual beds. Good night, and sweet dreams, Ace. Ace awoke in a cold sweat, two of his hooves shaking violently and his horn glowing brilliantly bright in the black glow of his magic. Swiftly, Ace flickered on his magical senses, then began to prepare an invigoration spell to dispel the grogginess of having just woke up. Looking quickly around the room to be certain where he had awoken, he saw Twilight and Spike still asleep in their beds and Celestia’s sunlight breaching the second story room of the library they lived in. Still needing to use more of his magic, his horn glowing brightly though he was starting to regain control of his hooves, Ace distributed the magic overflowing from his horn to the rest of his body. The glow now covering his entire form, save for his left hoof, he cast a Strength of Body spell, using enough magic to make it a level 7 spell. Ace’s muscles lurched and tightened with the sudden strength, but the glow in his horn was only nearly gone. Ace removed the spell with a disenchantment spell and repeated it once more to bring out the last of his magic. Ace collapsed muzzle first onto his pillow and bed after disenchanting the spell, not even realizing he had stood up. He groaned in pain as he struck the soft circular bed, his whole body sore from the use of the physical spell that would multiply his body’s strength, but swiftly disabling the spell repeatedly caused the effect of his muscles tearing instead, as though he had just went through a difficult full-body exercise routine. Twilight stirred at the sound, raising up in a start while Spike just rolled over and muttered in his sleep. Ace used his magic to levitate the upstairs trash bin close to Twilight before she spoke. “Ace? Are you-“ was all she managed before she doubled over and took the trash receptacle in her own magic before holding it in her hooves as she vomited into the thankfully empty bin. Spike finally realized it was time to wake up and started looking between the two; Ace lying flat on his bed, knowing the slightest movements would send pain through his body, and Twilight losing whatever remained in her stomach into the trash can. Ace spoke aloud the answers to the questions they would both ask. “Twilight, being cut off from my magic somewhere in the middle of the night, is having a whiplash effect. She’ll be back to normal in a minute. As for me, I must have fallen asleep watching the stars, as I did not have my magical senses while I slept. "Because of this, my magic accumulated and I nearly overloaded. Not wanting to damage anything in Twilight’s home, I cast a few spells on myself to be rid of the excess magic. For now, I’ll just rest here until Twilight has regained her senses, then cast a rejuvenation spell to restore my torn muscles. Spike, could you make breakfast this morning?” Twilight lurched and placed more of the contents of her stomach into the basket in her hooves as Spike quickly nodded and ran down the stairs to be away from the terrible sound of the miserable ponies. Some time passed, Twilight emptying herself once more before Ace used his magic to painfully mend his muscles. Once his spell was nearly finished, he rose out of his bed to sit next to Twilight on hers as he stroked her back softly with a hoof. “I’m sorry, but lending you the use of my magic was the only way I knew to keep you from depleting your magic entirely yesterday. Were that to happen, you could have been without your magic for nearly a week, and the withdrawal symptoms would be worse, I’m afraid.” Twilight nodded, her eyes closed so as not to see the once-contents of her stomach in front of her. “It’s okay, I trust that you did what was best.” Twilight waited to speak further as a wave of nausea passed over her. “Do you remember last night?” Twilight set the half-full bucket in front of her, still within hooves reach, so that she could look over her shoulder at him. Ace thought for a moment at the question. “I think so: We raced home, I won, then I met Owlowiscious, then I taught you a bit about history – both my own and some of Equestria’s, - then we drank tea and explained the day’s events to Spike, then we made me a bed – literally, then we retired for the evening… "I think that about covers what I was awake for. Though, I do foggily remember teleporting someplace as I laid in bed awake so that I could watch the stars to relax.” Twilight’s face regained its color after the wave of sickness passed, then a lighter hue graced her cheeks as she remembered finding him on the terrace. “Why? Did something happen?” Twilight shook her head a little faster than she probably needed to. “No, no nothing happened. How are you feeling?” Twilight looked over his body to see if he was hurt as he looked over himself as well. He nodded his head after looking everywhere. “Sore, but no worse for wear. How are you feeling? Your breathing has leveled out and your magic is stabilizing.” Twilight put her hooves over her stomach as if in reflex, but nodded her head as well. “I feel better, but I’m not sure if I actually am better or not. It’s not going to come back again without warning, is it?” Twilight grasped her stomach tighter, hoping that the experiences was over. Ace’s horn started to glow and Twilight’s horn and stomach shared the blackness of his magic. “It feels like most of your magic is coming back, and it feels as though your stomach is as it should be. The necklace will aid in the recovery of your magic, so you should be back to normal after we eat breakfast. Do you feel like you can eat?” Twilight was holding the necklace that Ace had loaned her. She had nearly forgotten it was even draped around her neck, already getting used to the feel of it. She nodded to Ace before the two of them worked their way downstairs, Twilight taking a moment in front of the vanity to straighten her mane and tail while Ace used his magic to straighten his, not needing a mirror to view himself using his magical senses. While Twilight was tending to her mane, Ace snuck his way through the library to the cracked-open door of the kitchen. As he neared the door, there was a green light coming from the kitchen, which if Ace’s hopes were correct, was green dragon fire that Spike was using to cook breakfast. While Ace could easily feel the dragon fire with his magic, he wanted to see it with his own eyes as well. Now in position against the door frame with a single eye peering through the crack, Ace could see Spike cooking flapjacks over the stove. After a few seconds, he saw Spike flip the cake into the air and accurately torch one side of the flipping mass of half-cooked batter, bringing it to just over a golden brown without burning the side that had been cooked on the skillet. Twilight came down the stairs, her mane and tail perfectly cared for with not a single strand out of place. When she saw Ace standing at the side of the kitchen door, she was at first concerned, until Ace turned his head and held his hoof to his muzzle with a smile as he looked at her. He motioned for her to come over and watch from the other side before going back to spying on the dragon. Twilight did as she was asked. When she came to the doorway, all she could see through the crack was Spike making flapjacks, but then Ace had pointed up. Spike, his focus on cooking, hadn’t noticed that Ace was accumulating the dragon fire just above him. The black from Ace’s magic mixed and swirled within the green dragon flame, making a sinister looking swirl of magic. Stifling a laugh with a hoof, Ace’s horn began to light up as he manipulated the magic and making his throat glow a bit with the magic as well. The black-and-green magic began to swirl around in the air, with a thundering sound for added effect as the room darkened. Spike flipped a pancake higher than he intended to when the thunder sounded, causing the gooey side to adhere to the ceiling as the magical flaming mass started to coalesce into the form of a pony before Spike. “Boo!” said the swirling flame-formed pony who was starting to resemble Ace. “Got you pretty good, huh?” The flame-pony said as Spike scrambled to his feet before realizing it was just a prank. “Uh-oh, look out!” The fires charged forward and washed harmlessly over Spike, though he still cowered down anyways. Twilight watched, scared that the prank might have gone too far. Ace walked into the room, a tinge of concern as well keeping him from laughing as he dusted Spike off and helped him up. “Sorry! I thought you knew that dragons were immune to their own flames, but I guess I should have asked first, or something. Are you okay?” Spike looked up at Ace with a look of semi-fear, semi-disbelief as though he had just had a nightmare. Getting up and dusting himself off as he looked himself over, Spike realized that the only damage was done to his ego. "Realizing it was meant to be a good-natured joke that had just gone wrong, he loosened up. “Yeah, I think I’m fine. That would have been funnier if I wasn’t frightened out of my scales though!” Twilight came into the room with a small laugh while Ace took a few of the pancakes in his magic, including the ceiling-cake, and a cup of coffee from the coffee maker. Realizing he had used all of the chocolate yesterday morning, he drank the coffee black, as Spike did, and started to eat his breakfast. “Guess we can add shopping to today’s activities. Is there anything else that we need to do today, Twilight?” Twilight thought for a moment as she pulled a plate of pancakes from the counter as well as Spike cooked a couple more to finish off his and Ace’s plates. “Not really. I need to write a letter to Princess Celestia later today, but other than that I suppose we can go shopping today.” Ace nodded as he ate his pancakes through his magic rather than on a plate. “Well before we go shopping, we should get started with our magic lessons. I was thinking we’d find someplace quiet, probably under another tree in town. After that, we can go shopping as your magic recovers and then we’ll resume the lesson before bringing the groceries home. Sound good?” Twilight poured a small amount of syrup, just enough to run over the edges, before replacing the bottle in the center of the table. “Sure, but what are we going to be doing for our lessons? I know you’ve agreed to help me with my magic, but I do not know exactly how you intend to help me. Are you going to be teaching me spells?” Spike launched a finished pancake towards Ace straight from the skillet, which he immediately caught in his mouth with a bow as the others applauded softly. Taking a bite before holding the pancake in his magic, Ace continued. “While I could do that, it would mean little if you are not strong enough to use the spells. Also, once you’ve developed your magical skills enough, you’ll be able to craft your own spells for most common applications. “No, for our first lesson, I must first evaluate your magical ability. While I have a general idea of how powerful your magic is through my magical senses, it is still better to know for certain through actual testing. Once we have concluded with the first lesson, I’ll have more of an idea of what we need to do to further your magic ability. "The magical senses are a good start, however. If you could learn to use them more often, the lessons will progress faster, though as I know it can be hard at first, I will only require you to use the senses during our lessons.” Twilight thought for a moment as she cut a piece from her stack of pancakes, Ace taking the chance to eat another of his as well. Spike finally sat down at the table with his plate as well, serving himself last as he emptied half of the bottle of syrup onto his pancakes. Closing her eyes, Twilight’s horn lit up dimly as she gathered the small magic it took to ignite her magical senses. Ace felt her senses spread over his body, save for his left fore-hoof. Twilight opened her eyes slowly, but when they had opened she began to get a headache and she thought another wave of nausea was going to pass over her. Ace’s horn lit up in its black glow, as did Twilight. She started to feel a little better, but the headache was persisting through the soothing spell. “You’ll likely experience headaches, as well as Sensory Overflow. You may see bodies of magic where another Unicorn used magic, like you did with my flash spell earlier. With your physical senses, you may think you can interact with them, but you’ll learn to observe them without perceiving them.” Twilight hadn’t realized what Ace had meant at first, until she noticed the magical aura that filled the room from when Ace had pulled the prank on Spike. With both her magical senses and her physical senses, she had the feeling that it was a solid object, though in her mind she knew it was only a magical element that wouldn’t impede her. "Testing a theory, Twilight reached out with a hoof to try and touch it. When her hoof passed through the non-existent, magical-residue of a pony, her headache worsened slightly and a small wave of nausea passed over her. Ace nodded, a knowing smile on his muzzle. “Yes, that will happen. Your mind and your physical senses don’t like it when you move through something they perceive as solid. You have to train your mind, body and magic to properly employ magical senses. "The more you use your magic to perceive the world around you, the more your mind will come to understand it. Afterwards, your body will slowly adapt as well. For the time being, try to avoid looking at magic residue too intently unless you’re analyzing it, and don’t pass through it if you can help it.” Twilight closed her eyes as she gathered her magical senses, returning the magical energy to herself rather than cutting it off completely. Ace watched as she did so, a look showing just how impressed he was. “My, wherever did you learn to do that, my student?” Twilight’s face lit up pink again, not wanting to voice the truth that she had learned it when Ace had done so on the terrace last night, but not wishing to lie to her teacher. “Well… Last night, when you were watching the stars, I, um… I felt… I felt you withdraw your magic when you were falling asleep.” Ace’s expression did not falter at the explanation as he nodded. Ace rested a hoof under his muzzle as he thought. “So what you’re telling me, is that after witnessing a Unicorn performing a spell once, you are able to recreate the spell? Every nuance?” Twilight nodded, her flushed cheeks remaining so. “Do you know what that is called, my student?” Twilight shook her head. “’Tis called an Eidetic Spell Memory, and is a blessing most rare. I myself have a semi-eidetic spell memory, which is also quite rare. I’ve met very few ponies as fortunate as thou. My, this will make our lessons quite interesting; yes, quite interesting indeed…” Ace continued to muse at the implications of Twilight’s gift, eating the last two of his pancakes as he thought while Twilight took the opportunity to eat hers as well. When Twilight and Ace had finished eating, Ace downed the last of his coffee before cleaning the dishes in his magic, saying ‘it’s the least I can do, since Spike did the cooking for us.’ With breakfast done, Twilight grabbed her coin pouch and her saddlebags before leaving, Ace raising an eyebrow, but voicing no protest. As they left, Ace ran over the to-do list, “Magic lesson, then shopping, and then a follow-up lesson pending the results of the first lesson.” Ace nodded, thinking that he had everything in mind. “What all do we need to pick up? I know I initially said just Chocolate for the coffee, but certainly there must be more to it than that.” Twilight looked over the saddlebags as she nodded. “I thought I’d take the chance to pick up some more groceries. We have enough to last a day or two, but wouldn’t hurt to do the shopping now rather than later. Also, as much as I’m sure you enjoy pancakes, ‘given an indefinite amount of time, a pony’s favorite food can become their least favorite,’ if I remember correctly.” Ace was taken aback as if offended, “Certainly, but that does not include pancakes! There are so many flavors… Cinnamon, blueberry, blackberry, wild berry, raspberry, chocolate, chocolate chip, double chocolate-chocolate chip, seasonal… "Oh, and the varieties! You can use hazelnut batter, peanut-butter batter, any sort of berry batter, red velvet, cream cheese, cheese cake batter. And you can make crepes instead, or waffles, or waffle cones for ice cream or other foods…” Twilight laughed, almost thinking perhaps Ace’s true destiny was in cooking pancakes. “Okay, okay; I get it, you like pancakes. Still, we can’t have normal pancakes every morning, and we don’t have many other ingredients back at home. Is there really nothing else you want to get when we go shopping today?” Ace pretended to think for the briefest of moments, before shaking his head comically. Twilight and Ace both laughing, Ace truly did look thoughtful for a moment. “I always do enjoy looking around the bazaars of other towns. Whether or not I buy anything or not does not impede my enjoyment, of course. "‘Tis just nice to look around, see what people are buying and selling. I didn’t have much of a chance to look around the other day, but I figured I would be here for quite some time, and the market is not far from our home. Perhaps if I could find a-“ Ace stopped mid-sentence as he stopped in his tracks for a moment. Twilight turned to watch, having walked a step or two ahead at the sudden halt. “Beg your pardon, Twilight, but I need to return to the shop for a time. Find a good place to partake of the lesson, and I shall return as soon as my business is concluded.” Twilight nodded, and shortly afterward Ace dipped into a bow a slight bit deeper than his normal introduction before he had teleported away in a black flash of light. Twilight wandered around the market for a time, closing her eyes and using her magic senses to survey some of the wares as a warm-up for their lesson. After twenty or thirty minutes, Twilight spotted a hill with a tree upon it that provided an ample amount of shade. Twilight flash-teleported beneath the tree to sit and wait for Ace. Not that she thought about it, Twilight hadn’t left Ace’s side much since he had showed up on her doorstep two nights ago. Up until now, the longest she had been away from him, he had been visiting his tree at Sweet Apple Acres while she was meant to be letting the Apple Family know he was stopping by. Twilight almost felt… lonely without him. Twilight shook her head at the thought. I haven’t known him for seventy-two hours, and now I’m afraid to not have him by my side? Preposterous… Twilight let out a sigh and held the necklace up to admire it once again. She turned the talon over in her hoof, and then she noticed that there was writing on the side of the necklace… or rather, she thought it was writing. There were symbols going from the top of the necklace and down one of the claws. An idea springing in her head, she gathered magic in her horn and prepared her magical senses. Without opening her eyes, she could see the necklace, the tree, the hill and every leaf and blade of grass in the area around her, until she focused intently on the necklace. Focusing her magic, she was able to look much more closely at the accessory than she could otherwise. Still, however, the writing was not common Equestrian, but Twilight had already though of such. Having watched, even felt, Ace using the Sense of Tongues, she was able to ignite her magic into the same sense as well, but she allowed the spell to wash over her eyes as well as her ears and mouth. Again turning her magic to the necklace, she found she was able to read it as though it were written in common Equestrian. That is, the letters were familiar, but they weren’t forming words she knew, aside from the last two that read: “Little Raven?” Speaking the words out loud brought sudden clarity to her mind, though it only showed that she had pronounced the name right. Having no reason not to, Twilight tried to speak the strange language that preceded the name. “Eh sasuno uv Little Raven.” Speaking the words out loud brought the common Equestrian version to the forefront of her mind, ‘In memory of Little Raven.’ However, as though speaking these words were some sort of summons, a bright black light flashed behind her, though through her magical senses she could tell it was Ace returning from his home. “Ah, you’re already using the senses, I see. Very good-“ "Ace looked over her shoulder as he approached, setting aside the saddlebags he had brought with him, which Twilight could feel were full of spells. In addition to the saddlebags, Ace also wore a coin pouch on a leather-and-chain strap around his right hoof. Ace was quiet for a moment as he stared at the necklace, Twilight fearing she had crossed another one of her mentor’s boundaries without knowing it. “Nacd eh bayla, so Little Raven, yht syo dra Kutc knyhd oui y meva ajah rymv yc puihdevim yc dra meva fa uhla mejat dukadran.” Through her magical senses, she could hear what Ace had said as though it were common Equestrian: ‘Rest in peace, my Little Raven, and may the Gods grant you a life even half as bountiful as the life we once lived together.’ Twilight looked over her shoulder at him, seeing a solemn expression upon his features that seemed to contradict the usual smile he always wore. “I’m sorry, I was just… She must have been someone very dear to you.” Twilight wasn’t sure who Little Raven was, but it was clear that she meant a lot to Ace at one time. Ace nodded, putting a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “It’s okay, you have done nothing wrong. To think I had almost forgotten that was writ upon something I held so dear…” Ace shook his head as he wiped away a tear that was forming in his eye, lifting the lenses just high enough for Twilight to see his Al-Bhed eye. “Yes, Little Raven was once my wife, a very, very long time ago. Seeing you wearing the betrothal necklace I had crafted for her has brought back many happy memories for me. You remind me of her a lot more than I had realized, perhaps.” Ace let his hoof slide down to the ground before moving to sit in front of Twilight. “All I will say for now, is that Little Raven was a Unicorn, and my wife a great many seasons ago, and we were happily married until the day that she died peacefully of age. “Should you have any more questions, I’d like for you to hold onto them for another time, dear Twilight. For now, let us begin our lessons. I see you are already using your magical senses, as well as the Sense of Tongue, but I want you to make a magical entity for yourself while I do the same. Then, our lesson can truly begin.”