//------------------------------// // Chapter 12 // Story: The Mage's Jump // by Marvelous Cheshire //------------------------------// THE MAGE’S JUMP BY GENOSABER CHAPTER 12 “Hmm, I never would have expected you were a craftsman,” Zero noted as I inspected my work, looking for any imperfection I may have missed, and was please to find none. ‘Only some basic tools and weapons, nothing too elaborate.’ I grabbed a piece of sandpaper. ‘Though given a few days and some studying in one of my books, I could probably build a catapult.’ I began humming an old tune as I set about sanding the lengths of wood, making sure to smooth the rounded ends. Once that was done, I grabbed my burin and set about engraving a series of runes near each end. ‘Now to bind the enchantment.’ I dipped my fingers in a bowl of water for a second, before slowly running across each rune, causing them to glow a faint white light. Once all the runes were glowing, I dropped the staves into a small trough of dark liquid, watching lightning dance across the surface for a moment. After the lighting died down, I took the now finished staves out, noting the new markings- or ‘burns’ as they were commonly called- running down them, connecting the two sets of runes on each staff. “Impressive, though I don’t recognize the pattern you used. Your own design?” ‘Not really, I just combined two different types of runes.’ I stood up and walked over to the other end of the room, stopping in front of a table with a small crate placed on it. ‘I used a dwarven enchantment, making the staff borderline unbreakable, then mixed that with a lycan pattern used for training weapons, dispelling the force of the blow to prevent any major injury.’ I took a deep breath, holding the weapons at my sides. “Stailc!” I shouted, slamming both staves onto the crate, noting the small burst of air as the enchantments expelled the force of my attack. Just as planned, neither the staves nor the crate showed any signs of damage. With a grin, I wrapped the staves in cloth before heading up into the main room, finding Twilight at the table in the center of the room. “I’ll be heading out for a bit,” I said. Twilight nodded without looking up, too engrossed in her reading. With a chuckle, I turned and headed out the door. I let out a small sigh as the cold winter breeze blew past me, my breath forming into a small cloud. “Warp,” I muttered, teleporting myself to the path leading to Alex’s house. “Hey!” I called out as I noticed the man in question walking down the path, taking one of the staves out and tossing it to him. “Up for a little sparring?” He gave me a roguish smirk and chuckle. “I don’t know, kid. A rogue versus a wizard, and no magic?” I chuckled and shook my head. “No magic, only these staves.” “The ones you told me about? Some of the runes looks dwarven. I can’t read them, of course, but I can recognise it. Never was a fan of dwarven design, too angular.” He examined the staff with a practised eye. Once he was satisfied, he stood back and gave it an easy swing, like a club. Then, he slowly started waving it around his body, spinning it, twirling it, causing the snow around us to be thrown about as the ends of the staff brushed through it. It was an elven combat dance, a simple one, but it was surprising to see a human with that knowledge. He stopped, slapping the staff into the gravel. As designed, the stones barely moved. “Balance is a little off. I would add about one hundred grams to the non-striking end or shave a hundred off the other. Mind you, that’s for me, and you no doubt got a chuckle from my clumsy attempt at a proper rince cogadh. Make sure Miss Butterscotch, or if what the flower sisters are saying, Mrs Butterscotch Coins, gets a crack at this too. If you can‘t get a hold of her, I can pull some strings and get Captain Nightshade to recommend a combat expert to help us out.” He handed the staff and looked sheepish, “Sorry, I don’t mean to steamroller.” “It’s fine,” I said, waving my hand dismissively. “Though if you’re done can we go find a place to spar?” “Yeah. I’m a little worried about doing this kind of stuff where Scoots can see me. You know kids; monkey see, monkey do.” He chuckled affectionately, “I don’t want the Cutie Mark Crusaders trying to get their combat cutie marks.” I gave a knowing smile. “I’m sure we can find somewhere,” I said, turning and walking down the path with Alex. (Twilight) “Coming,” I called as I heard somepony knock on the door. Placing my book on the table, I stood and trotted over to the door. “Welcome to Golden Oaks Library, how can I- Mom? Dad?” I gasped, staring wide eyed at my parents on the other side of the door. “What’re you doing here?” “Do we need a reason to visit our daughter?” Dad said, throwing his foreleg around me and pulling me into a hug. “We thought we’d come down and see how you’re doing, hope you don’t mind.” “Of course not, it’s just a little sudden is all,” I said, slipping out of my Dad’s embrace. “Can I get you anything to drink?” “Water’s fine,” Mom said absently, looking around the room nervously. “Uh, Mom, is everything okay?” I asked. “Hmm? Oh yes, just noticed that strange fellow in the robe wasn’t here.” I sighed and put a hoof to my forehead. “Mother, his name is Trace, and I wish you’d just give him a chance instead of criticising my choice to be with him.” “I’ll try,” she sighed. “Though I still can’t understand why you want to date such a weird creature.” I gave a sigh of resignation. “I guess that’s the best I can hope for, just-” I paused at the sound of footsteps. Turning towards the stairs, I saw Spike and Fei walking down, a tired look on the latter’s face. “Good morning you two.” “Mornin’ Twi,” Spike said, yawning slightly before noticing my parents. “Hey Twilight Velvet, Night Light!” he exclaimed, running down the stairs towards them. Fei on the other hoof, just stood there, her tired expression turning somewhat nervous as she stared at my parents. As soon as my father looked up at her she snapped out of her surprised state and leapt to the side, changing back into her normal form with small puff of smoke. A moment later I noticed her hiding underneath the couch, staring at my parents with a hint of fear. Ducking down in front of her, I offered a comforting smile. “It’s okay, there’s no reason to be afraid, it’s just my parents.” Fei hesitated at first, looking back and forth between me and them several seconds before finally darting onto my back. “Twilight, who is that?” Mom asked, casting a wary glance at Fei. “This is Fei, Trace’s,” I hesitated for a second before finishing with a sheepish look, “daughter.” “W-what!?” Mom exclaimed, “You didn’t think to mention this before?” “Honey, I’m sure our daughter had a good reason not to tell us,” Dad said, placing hoof on her shoulder. “You do have a good reason, right?” he asked, turning to me. “It’s… a long story,” I said nervously, rubbing the back of my head. “Do yo know where Trace is?” I asked, turning to look at Fei. “I think he mentioned something about hanging out with Alex by the lake,” she said. I nodded and turned back to my parents. “I’ll explain on the way,” I offered. Mom hesitated for a moment before nodding and heading for the door with Dad following right behind her. I waited for Spike to climb onto my back beside Fei before trotting out with them. “And that’s what happened,” I said as I finished telling my parents of the day Trace adopted Fei. “I see… so she’s actually an adult?” Mom asked. “Not exactly. Trace explained that while she still has all her memories and the majority of her personality, physically, biologically, and to an extent mentally, she’s now a child,” I explained. They stared at me for a moment before finally nodding. As I turned my attention back to the path, I noticed we were almost to the lake, and I could make out two figures moving oddly. As we got closer, I could make out the figures as Alex and Trace fighting with a pair of staves. I opened my mouth to call out to them, but stopped as I watched Trace disarm Alex and land several light blows on him before sweeping his staff and knocking Alex’s legs out from under him, knocking him into the snow coating the gro. I was worried Alex might be hurt, but after seeing the amused look on Trace’s face I got the feeling this wasn’t a serious fight. My mother on the other hoof… “What the Discord do you think you’re doing!” she screeched, galloping towards him. Trace simply blinked in confusion staring at her, planting his staff in the ground and leaning against it as my mother stopped in front of him. “Why would you savagely thrash him like that? He's old and weak. Twilight said you two were friends, but after what I just saw I can’t imagine you two could possibly be friends.” She let out a growl, “You’d better have a good explanation mister, cause if not there’s no way I’ll let somepony like you date my daughter.” Trace, for his part, just stood there, calmly listening to my mother rant. Once she was done he remained still for a second before bending down and holding his hand out to Alex. “Need some help getting up?” “Thanks,” Alex said, grabbing Trace’s hand and lifting himself up. “Didn’t think to go easy on me? I told you I’m not that good with a staff.” Trace shrugged, moving his staff to his other hand and brushing Alex’s back off. “Sorry, I still have a bit of stress left over from setting up the meadery. Besides, you got a few good hits in, not bad against someone that’s been training for over ten years,” he said in a light, friendly tone, giving Alex a grin before turning to my mom. “As for an explanation, we were just sparring, no harm was done.” She just stared, her anger having melted away into confusion as her mouth opened and closed several times, trying to form a response. “O-okay,” she said finally, a slight blush creeping onto her face. “I am so sorry for jumping to conclusions.” Trace waved his hand dismissively and went to pick up the other staff. “No harm done, I probably would have acted like that if I was in your position.” He pulled two strips of cloth and tied the staves together before passing them over to Alex. “Mind holding onto these? I’ll come and pick them up tomorrow.” “Sure thing, I’ll bring them with me to the bar and give them back then,” he replied, taking the staves before turning to face the rest of us. “You must be Twilight’s parents, it’s a pleasure to meet you. My name is Alex Roberts, Paladin of Redemption and good friend of your daughter. And as Trace said, we were just sparring, no harm done. Where I come from, martial arts are considered a recreational activity. At the risk of disturbing you, we," he indicated Trace and himself with his finger, "are predatory species." He chuckled, "But we're quite tame." He smiled and held out a hand Mom gave him a polite but nervous smile and a nod Dad while shook his hand and grinned. “Didn’t believe my friends when they said Princess Luna had some kind of weird creature pledging its allegiance to her. Now that I see you for myself, I think they were exaggerating, said you look like a shaved Diamond Dog.” He looked Alex up and down before shrugging. “Proportions aren’t right, and quite frankly I think a shaved diamond Dog would be uglier. You’re not much better- no offence- but definitely not that bad.” “No offense taken, I’m aware I’m not exactly a pleasant sight,” Alex replied with a shrug. “I’d love to stay and chat, but I need to get to the theater and help plan for the Hearths warming play.” “That’s not for a couple more weeks,” Trace said, raising an eyebrow as he walked over to me. “True, but it doesn’t hurt get things ready ahead of time,” Alex explained. Trace nodded his head in understanding, muttering something in elvish. “Still going to to help out with the effects?” Trace nodded once more, this time pulling a folded piece of paper out of his pocket and passing it to Alex. “I went through the list of special effects usually used in the play and found a handful of temporary wards I could set up to give off the same effects, maybe even adding a bit of feeling to things.” Alex raised an eyebrow. “Such as?” “Making it actually feel a bit cold, or warm, or creating realistic winds,” Trace said with a shrug. “I specialize in defense and security wards, but those are all pretty simple, so it won’t be a problem.” “Thanks, I’ll let you know when we’re ready to have them set up.” Alex gave a final goodbye before heading back town. “So then, now that we’re all here, anyone have an idea where-” Trace stopped at a sudden low growling sound. I felt my cheeks heat up as everypony turned towards me. “Sorry, guess I probably should’ve had something to eat besides just an apple earlier,” I said. My parents sighed a bit while Trace chuckled and shook his head. “I offered to make you something for breakfast, but you were so engrossed in one of the books I gave you that you weren’t paying attention,” Trace said. I gave another embarrassed smile. I was spending a bit too much time with those, but they were just so interesting. After I had gone through the book on alchemy he gave me, he gave me two more books, one was apparently a fairly common book on Gaian history and geography, while the other was another rare book of myths and legends. It’s a bit saddening that the last few pages were torn out, but even so, the stories are still so fascinating! And from what Trace has said, a lot of them are actually true events in Gaia’s history from before the first Chaos incident. “Which book was it?” Trace asked. “The complete guide to the history of the continents of Gaia,” I answered immediately. “I was looking into the southern continent, Lufenia. Their culture was rather interesting. From what I could make out, it seems as though they live in an almost utopian society.” “As far as anybody can tell, it was,” Trace said with a nod. “Lufenians were probably the most peaceful civilization I’ve ever heard of, which makes it all the weirder as to how they ended-” “Stop!” I shouted, earning confused looks from everypony. “S-sorry, it’s just I wasn’t finished reading about their history, I know it covers the fall of their civilization, but I’d rather not have it spoiled.” “I understand love,” Trace said, kneeling down and giving me a quick kiss. The blush that had been slowly fading returned full force as my mind tried to process his actions ‘He just kissed me in front of my parents!’ In panic, I glanced at my parents, only to find them looking at me with mildly surprised expression. “Twilight, is something wrong?” Mom asked. “What? No, it’s just I thought you’d be more surprised by Trace kissing me, considering what you said earlier.” “Though I still have doubts about this relationship, I said I was going to give him the benefit of the doubt. I do expect you two to act like a couple,” she said. I guess she has a point there, maybe I’m just overreacting. “If I may interrupt,” Trace said, gaining our attention. “I was going to suggest we go get something to eat, perhaps at Le Bouffe?” Another growl escaped my stomach, prompting me to nod in agreement. “That sounds great.” We had opted to sit inside due to the weather, taking a nice table by the window. Each of us had our own seat except Fei, who chose to sit in Trace’s lap to make up for her small size. I couldn’t help but smile at the rather cute sight. ‘It’s so hard to believe she was a child at one point.’ “So Trace, what do you do for a living?” Dad asked once we had placed our orders. “I’m co-owner of Crying Moon Meadery, little place Matt- another human, a “jumper” like Alex- and I set up,” he explained. “We only started selling mead last week, but so far it’s become pretty popular here in town.” As if on cue, the waiter brought a bottle to our table. “Not sure how it’s doing in other cities, we’ve sold a few boxes full to some stores in Canterlot but we won’t know how it’s doing for a couple weeks at least.” “I see,” mom muttered, looking at the bottles label. “ I think saw a few bottles like that last time I went to the store, though I didn’t bother to ask the clerk about it.” She turned to Trace. “What is it though” “Mead is simply wine made from honey, though I use a few herbs to add a bit more flavor to it,” Trace said as he poured us each a glass. While my parents hesitated, I immediately took a sip, smiling at the sweet taste of honey and… apples? “Cyser,” I said, earning everypony’s attention. My parents stared in confusion while Trace raised and eyebrow and gave a slight smirk. “Cyser, it’s like mead, but made with honey and cider instead of water.” “So it is,” Trace replied as he looked at the label again and took a sip. “Not exactly what I asked for, but I can’t complain.” My Mom seemed to take this as a sign to quit eyeing her glass nervously and finally take a drink, while my Dad stilled eyed the glass. ‘He never has been much of a wine fan. Always thought it was fine for foals, but not a proper adult drink.’ “Not bad,” Mom said, licking her lips. “Very sweet. You can definitely taste the honey and herb, and the cider does add a nice touch to it.” “I’m glad you like it,” Trace said with a slight smile, changing from his usually casual tone to one more formal and polite. “If you’d like, I’d be happy to give you a couple bottles from my personal stock at the library.” He lifted his glass, eyeing it with a calm gaze. “We’re currently only selling cyser here in town, as Sweet Apple Acres is only producing a few barrels of cider until ‘cider season’ comes around and they won’t have to worry about using up their stored harvest on cider.” “T-that won’t be necessary,” Mom stammered, clearly caught off guard. “Night Light and I don’t really drink wine that often, so they’d probably just wind up sitting in the cabinet collecting dust.” “At least take a bottle of mead, I insist,” Trace said, giving a sincere smile to match his tone. “Whether you drink it right away or not doesn’t matter, think of it as a gift, a simple act of kindness and generosity on my part.” “Well, when you put it like that, I guess it’d be rude of me to say no,” Mom finally relented, offer a somewhat embarrassed smile. A moment later the waiter brought us our food. Mom and Dad both had a roasted butternut squash salad, I stuck with a couple daffodil and daisy sandwiches and a hay shake, Spike had a plate of hay fries, and Trace split a fruit salad with Fei, since he had already eaten earlier. We ate in relative silence, content to simply enjoy our meals in peace. “So Mom, did you and Dad come down here for any reason other than to say hi?” I asked once we had finished eating. “Well, we weren’t planning on bringing it up till we were ready to leave, but we were wondering if you planned on coming to Canterlot for Hearth’s Warming.” “Actually, I was planning on watching the Hearth’s warming play at Alex’s theater with Trace this year,” I said. She frowned slightly but nodded, pausing as Dad began whispering something into her ear. “Would it be okay if we came down to visit then?” She asked after a moment. “Of course,” I said immediately, “You don’t need to ask.” I glanced back at Trace. “We were planning to treat ourselves by going to the play on a date, but you could always come early.” “Then it’s settled,” Dad said as he and mom stood up. “We’ll arrive in the morning and we can spend time until it’s time for the play, and then we’ll leave you two your date,” I smiled and nodded with a faint blush. “We should probably be heading home soon,” Mom said, looking up at the clock tower. “Sorry to cut things short. I guess we should head to the library to get that bottle of mead first, though.” I nodded once more and headed for the library, Trace and my parents following right behind. (Trace) I leaned back on the couch as Twilight gave a final farewell to her parents before trotting over and and laying over me on her back and throwing a small blanket over us. As Twi reopened her book and held it above her with her magic, I began scratching one of her ears, earning a relaxed sigh from her as she tilted her head towards my hand. After a few minutes, I stopped and moved my hand to begin rubbing her stomach out of curiosity. As I did so, Twilight let out another relaxed sigh and laid her head back, nearly letting go of her book before catching it just before it landed on her. “Good?” I asked her. She nodded. “Very good.” I smiled and leaned down to give her a kiss, taking care to avoid her horn. We held it for a moment before I broke the kiss and leaned back, placing my free arm behind my head while twilight returned to reading with half closed eyes. After a moment I laid my head back and closed my eyes, content to lay here with my marefriend.