“Come on.” She grabbed his arm and pulled him into the hallways where he placed his disc on his back. Luna led him to the tallest tower in the castle where they emerged on the roof. She outstretched her hands and a blue mist appeared a round them: magical residue. Beyond the horizon, the moon began to float just above it. Luna left it a few degrees above the horizon and turned around. “It’ll be able to make it the rest of the way,” she said.
“So that’s it?” he asked, “No big magical incantation or anything?”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re not gonna make it more flashy? A ceremony like that is hardly worth watching. If you’re gonna tell them you raise the moon, at least make a show of it.”
“What? I don’t understand.”
“Oh, come on. We all know Equus spins on an axis and that’s what raises the moon and the sun.”
Luna smiled at him, “I think you just can’t handle the fact some people might be more powerful than the Florians.”
“And I think you might be afraid I’ll tell everyone in Equestria that you and Celestia are fakes, and that you mooned me.”
“You’re really not letting that go, are you?” Luna’s face became stern.
“Nope.”
“Come on, you know Celestia would burn you at the stake for that.”
“Then while I burn alive, I’ll just inform her how you can’t keep track of your underwear,” he teased her.
“Then I’ll burn you myself,” she said as a blue flame appeared in her hand. Jolterix cupped it with his hands, cutting off the flame’s oxygen, effectively putting it out. Luna looked at her hand and then at Jolterix who returned the gaze with a smile.
“I’m afraid you’re still at the mercy of science and physics,” he said, “My combat skin is completely fireproof.” He sat down and looked up at the sky.
Luna looked at him with an annoyed look and turned around. “Fine,” she said as she sat down with him.
“The aurora’s clear tonight,” he commented seeing the strands of light from the Crystal Empire.
“Those lights?” Luna asked, “Those are from the Crystal Empire. Their crystals put out magic into the sky which rains down on Equestria and other countries. It gives us our magic.
Jolterix looked at her for a few seconds and said, “Wanna play me in a videogame?” he asked.
“Yes!” she said happily, “I won’t be so easy to beat like in chess.” She wondered why he would change the subject so abruptly; but she knew Jolterix, if not all Florians, was extremely indirect about things. “He’s probably gonna use the games to tell me something,” she thought.
“Good, I love a challenge,” Jolterix said. Luna grabbed his arm again and he raised his helmet when they went back into the castle. They walked quickly passed many doors and they soon passed Celestia’s grand room only because it was on the way. There was a cracking sound and some kind of yelling coming from inside. “Hang on,” Jolterix said. He removed his helmet and pressed his ear against the door. After a few seconds, he cracked it open and peaked in. He shut the door and stared blankly at it.
“What’s going on?” Luna asked him.
He turned to her and said, “Uhh…well…you’re not old enough to know.” He quickly raised his helmet to keep any passers-by unaware of his looks.
“I’m pretty sure I’m a few centuries older than you,” she replied.
“Bitch, you might be,” came a voice. Tenner was poking his head through the door. Somehow he appeared to only be wearing his helmet, maybe more, but he wasn’t wearing a shirt.
Luna turned at him with a furious look and there was a thunderclap.
“Tenner, I think you should really pay attention to which princess you’re talking to,” Jolterix said as he placed his hand on Luna’s shoulder to calm her down, “This one doesn’t like it when you call her ‘bitch.’”
“Yeah, probably, but uh, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t peak in,” Tenner replied, “There’s a sock on the doorknob for a reason.”
Jolterix looked at the doorknob and saw the sock.
“Anyway, Celestia and I are doing some, uh, research and we don’t want to be disturbed,” Tenner said before disappearing behind the door.
Jolterix and Luna made eye contact, and their faces were completely drained of color. “Well, I think if you have anything to get these images from my head, I would be eternally grateful,” Jolterix said.
“OK, well, follow me,” Luna said, “Hours of shooters should fix that.” They soon arrived to Luna’s room and Jolterix got a glimpse of Luna’s system. It was an old type, at least thirty years old. It was amazing to him that it still functioned, but he kept his mouth shut. “Alright, well what games do you like?”
Jolterix hadn’t thought about that until now, of course it was too late; and he couldn’t remember what Luna and he played in Auflorsung. “Well, any shooters or RPGs?”
“Oh, this one,” Luna held up a game. “Grenzenlos” was its name.
“Grentsenloce,” Jolterix said pronouncing the name, “It translates to limitless.” He looked up from the game to Luna, “I’ve played it.”
“Good,” Luna said as she placed the game disc into the console, “Then I don’t have to go easy on you.”
Jolterix smiled at that, “I think I’ll be the one who goes easy on you.” He picked up his controller and removed his disc from his back, causing his combat skin to dissolve so he could be more comfortable.
After a few minutes of sitting through the loading screens and Jolterix reading what they said at Luna’s request, the game finally began. It seemed to be a fantasy style, but it was also true to the Florian culture: similar clothing and weapons, but also special abilities such as slowing time, teleportation, and other things. The abilities, however, were heavily restricted and could only be used three times in one match. Luna got very far ahead of Jolterix before he was able to regain his bearings: he hadn’t played that game in thirty years. He was able to use his character’s energy abilities to get his revenge; meanwhile Luna was getting frustrated because she was so used to winning at this particular game.
“Huzzah!” she screamed when she finally scored a kill on him, “How many points do I receive?”
“Not enough to catch up to me,” he replied with a smirk. Luna glanced at him with an angry stare then looked back at the TV. She put all she had into it and was able to destroy Jolterix by the time the match was over.
“Wasn’t that fun?” Luna asked rhetorically having been satisfied by another victory.
“I seem to remember you weren’t capable of any of that in real life,” Jolterix teased her.
“I didn’t use magic because you can’t use magic,” Luna said.
“Maybe not, but then again, it’s not like you weren’t allowed.”
“You could have said that at the time.”
“Ah well, it’s over and done with now.” Jolterix stood up, “Could you point me to the kitchen? I want to get something to drink.”
“Just go to my side table,” Luna replied, “There’s water over there.”
“Did you drink out of it?”
“Not yet.”
“Good,” he said. There was a whooshing sound and Jolterix had disappeared, and reappeared next to the side table. He took the water and drank it all in one sitting it seemed, and suddenly he was sitting next to Luna again.
“How did you do that?” she asked. She was used to magic shows and sleight of hand tricks that normal people couldn’t see, but an aliman like Luna or Celestia, could always see them. This was the first time anyone moved fast enough to elude her eyes; especially their entire body.
“Those powers in the game,” he said, “Do you think they’re fantasy, or inspired by something real?”
“I just thought they were a kind of made-up magic,” she replied not knowing what was going on.
“Not quite, they’re Florian abilities,” he said. “See those crystals from the Crystal Empire put out energy.”
“Yeah, that’s how Equestria and many other nations get their magic,” she said, “Like I told you about earlier.”
“Yes,” he said. This surprised Luna; she had expected him to challenge yet another aspect of Equestrian culture, but this time he surprised her. “Some of it gets around to Auflorsung as well, and we don’t use it externally, but internally.”
“What do you mean?”
“Do you know what an adrenaline rush is?”
“Of course, everyone does.”
“Florians use that energy you call magic to supercharge our senses. It’s really cool, we can slow time and create powerful illusions,” he said proudly. “The only trouble is it only works on you Easterners.”
Luna laughed for a minute. There was no way Florians could manipulate time itself; not even Discord could do so. “I’m sorry,” she said, “I just have trouble seeing how Florians, even though you’re as powerful as you are, can slow down time.”
“It’s a type of illusion,” he explained, “Like when you get an adrenaline rush things look like they happen slightly slower. It’s the same thing for us, except that we do it better.”
“Can you teach me to do all that?” Luna asked.
“No, the same way you can’t teach me to raise a celestial body,” he replied.
“What about making illusions?”
“Probably not; it doesn’t work on Celestia, you, or that other princess.”
“Cadance is her name,” Luna said, “And why not?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “But if I have to guess it’s because we’re related.”
Luna looked at him oddly.
“Not like that,” he said, “I mean our species is related and different from a citizen’s, not that you and I are related. It would make sense because one Florian can’t do any of that to another Florian unless they both agree to it.”
“Alright, but remember that asteroid video you showed me?”
“Yeah.”
“Why couldn’t you just use your magic to show me? I would have let you.”
“Because it takes all of my concentration and I was flying a plane; it would have been dangerous.”
Luna nodded in acceptance of his answer. “What else can Florians do that you haven’t said yet?”
“Stuff,” he said, “You’ll find out as we go, I’m really not supposed to be telling you in the first place, nor am I supposed to really be here without blending in.” Luna raised an eyebrow which he answered with, “Florians aren’t supposed to be interfering with the natural ascendance of life.” Luna didn’t let her eyebrow down. “Never mind,” he said, “It’s a lot to explain and I’m afraid we haven’t got the time.”
“Why not?”
“I want you and Celestia to bring Discordia’s leader here for a type of diplomacy,” he explained, “If he sees Tenner and I, then he might think twice about attacking this place if you have Auflorsung behind you.”
“Hmm…you’re probably right,” Luna agreed, “I will speak with Celestia in the morning. So why did you just now show me your magic, especially since it’s such a weird time to bring it up.”
“Your game made me,” he said, “I focused too hard and it just started up. The characters move too slowly to make it useful, though. And I wasn't planning on teaching you about my magic."