//------------------------------// // The First Lesson - Musical Magic // Story: Morsidus Grim-Record: The Last Element // by Asdera3485 //------------------------------// Chapter 3 The First Lesson – Musical Magic Morsidus was sitting on the ground behind the library, groggy from his first "magic lesson", if you could even call it that. He'd attempted to teleport, using a spell from a book given to him by Twilight. It worked, well, sort of. He had teleported a whole 3 inches. Morsidus looked through the spell book, and noticed how all of the spells were full of mathematical equations. Most of these were advanced, but others were more simple. Having aced advanced math in highschool, he easily understood it all. Morsidus facehooved. "You're such a nerd," he mumbled. The more he thought about it, though, he realized that he was probably the coolest nerd in school. "Especially if you're judging by good looks," he thought and stifled a laugh. He probably could've gotten any girl he desired, but his eyes were always drawn to one in particular... Morsidus shook his head to bring him back to his new reality. He flipped back to the first page of the spell book and one word caught his attention, "Levitation? This could be interesting," He quickly read over the spell, and got up, ready to try it. But Morsidus instantly forgot his plans when he looked over to see that Zecora was upside down, balancing head-first on top of a bamboo pole. It appeared as though she was meditating. His mouth fell open. Twilight went up to him, "Did you read the levitation spell yet, Morsidus?" He nodded. "Good, does the spell seem simple enough? If not, I could always find a book for younger learners." she said. Morsidus gave her a small glare before trying to levitate an apple that Twilight had placed, along with several other things, on the ground. The apple glowed a slightly dark-purple color, and unbeknownst to him, his eyes were glowing the same dark purple color. He lifted the apple with little issue. Twilight looked at him, her eyes wide and curious. "I'm impressed. Very few ponies can succesfully levitate on their first try," she said. Smiling proudly, Morsidus went around the yard trying to levitate the different objects Twilight had strewn about. All of them levitated with relative ease, except for the last item. It was a chair. He focused on it, but for some reason the chair wasn't moving. It wasn't even glowing! But strangely, Morsidus could feel that his magic was holding something. "Put me down, you silly fool! Before I turn you into a mule!" Zecora called, and broke his focus. He turned around to see Zecora on the ground, giving him the most deadliest of glares he'd ever seen. "Heh, um... Sorry, Zecora," he said, trying to hide his smile. Zecora stood up and walked inside, followed by a giggling Twilight. A few hours went by, and Morsidus was able to learn the levitation spell correctly, and understand the basic formula for teleporting. Happy with his accomplishments, he walked into the treehouse. The first thing he noticed as he slipped through the door, was the guitar shaped case on the table. Curious, he tried to open it but fumbled with the lock, "Stupid hooves," he mumbled, but was eventually able to get it open. The case held a strap and a guitar with a note on it. Morsidus couldn't help but remark on how the guitar looked identical to his Gibson SG back home. He levitated the note up so that he could read it. Dear Morsidus Grim-Record, Though I do not understand the terminology of the guitar, I do know, from what Zecora told me, that playing with hooves might be a bit more difficult. To help, I've cast a spell on the guitar. Now it will look as though you're using your hooves, but instead just use your magic and your memory of the notations of the music that you play. Remember that I am always watching over you at night. If you ever need my guidance, sleep it over and I will find you. Sincerely, Princess Luna It surprised Morsidus that the Princess would be so kind as to offer him help whenever he needed it. He set the note on the table, and levitated the guitar out of it's case. He walked over to the couch and sat down, laying the guitar in his lap. Attempting to play it was a little awkward at first, as he was trying to get it to sit in a way that felt comfortable. Finally finding that position. He grabbed one of the guitar picks from his saddlebag and he began playing a song he had written a few years back. He felt the magic flow from him into his guitar, and when he started playing, his magic had amplified the sound he wanted. Somehow, playing this guitar felt natural to him. Just as it did when he played his guitar back home. When he finished the song, Morsidus heard a saddened voice coming from behind him, "The song I hear is one of wrong. It is one I have not heard in so long." He turned around to look at the zebra, wondering how long she'd been standing there. "I know I got you into it, and that it's a part of your culture, but you can stop the rhyming, for now," he said. He sat there for a minute in silence, before Zecora sat down beside him and gave him a gentle hug. "If you want me to stop, I will comply. I just never thought I would hear that song again, after you finally came to terms with your parents' passing," Zecora said. "I know, Zecora, but it was the first thing that came to mind. It's just hard to believe that today marks the third year since the crash," Morsidus said, and sat their in a moment of silence. He was remembering when the police came to his house to inform them of the crash. They had said that his parents were involved in a car accident, and that their car had ended up spiraling into a nearby gas station. After that, his sister was his legal guardian, until two months ago. When Morsidus turned 18. He still lived with his sister and her husband, but had stayed distant from everyone since then. The night of the accident, he wrote that song to communicate his sorrow. Even though his band mates were there for him, it wasn't until he met Zecora that he was actually able to get over the loss. Once he did, he stopped playing his song. It was a long while of deep thinking before Morsidus snapped back to reality. Zecora was in a chair reading one of Twilight's many books. "I'm heading out to Octavia and Vinyl's place to help them with their music," he said slipping the guitar on, Zecora only nodded and carried on with her reading. "Did you say you're going out to meet Octavia and Vinyl?" Twilight asked, running out of her room. Morsidus nodded. She ran back into her room and came out with an old record levitating above her. "Would you ask Octavia to sign this for me?" "Of course," Morsidus smiled as she placed it into his saddlebag, then levitated the bag onto his back. She walked back into her room. Morsidus put his sunglasses on and began walking toward where he was told they were staying. On the way, he noticed that one of the stands at the market had a certain something that he'd been craving for since before the concert, a bucking cigarette. He walked up to the stand and looked at all of the different kinds and flavors. "Need yer fix?" asked the stallion from behind the counter. "Welp, as long as ya got tha bits ta pay, Ah can help keep ya from yellin' at everypony." Morsidus was staring at all of the different kinds for a few minutes, before finally settling on two packs of a minty flavor and a lighter of sorts. After walking for several minutes, Morsidus came up to a shockingly red house with the address that he was looking for. He had strolled up the walkway and knocked on the door. A moment later, a white mare with an electric-blue mane answered. "Sup? What can I do for ya?" She asked, her head was still bobbing to the beat of some music in the background. Morsidus stood there looking at the mare for a second before responding, "You must be the famous DJ PON-3 I've heard so much about. Or do you go by Vinyl Scratch?" The mare looked confused for a moment, before she realized who he was. "Nah, bro, Vinyl works fine for me. Hey, Tavi! That Grim-Record guy is here!" she yelled as she motioned for him to come inside. Octavia was lying on one of the three couches they had in the living room. "How could I forget that he was coming today? Oh, I do hope that this doesn't get too terribly loud," she said as she sat up. Morsidus noticed that she was wearing the same style of goggles on her head as Vinyl. He'd listened to the few records they had together earlier, but didn't realize that Octavia was a more sophisticated mare. Octavia had gestured for him to sit on the couch opposite her. He set his guitar up against the side of the couch, and then pulled what he needed from his saddlebag before laying it beside his guitar. As soon as Octavia noticed his cigarettes, she had produced an ashtray from a hidden drawer in the center table. "If you smoke in here, you must keep as much ash in this tray as possible. Would you care for anything?" she asked as she headed towards the kitchen. Morsidus shook his head and lit a cigarette. He felt a ton of weight pulled from his shoulders as he took the first few drags. Morsidus stayed there for about 5 hours talking about the wonders of heavy metal, he'd even played a few songs for them. Octavia was curious as to how he could use magic without a horn, and slightly jealous, so he explained to her that he was technically part draconequus. "I should be heading back, but before I go," Morsidus pulled Twilight's record from his saddlebag, and handed it to Octavia. "Would you mind signing this? It's for a friend of mine." Octavia nodded, and pulled a marker out of the hidden drawer. She signed it, and placed it in his saddlebag. After getting back, Morsidus had went to light another cigarette before Twilight used her magic to rip it from his mouth and place it neatly back in the box. "Not in the library. On the balcony outside, yes, but not inside," she said as she grabbed the record from his saddlebag and went back to her room. "Goodnight!" Sighing, Morsidus went outside and smoked his last one for the day. He'd have to go to Fluttershy's cottage and meet with Discord so that he could learn to use his draconequus abilities and open his wings. When he finished his last drag, he walked back inside and retired to the couch, falling asleep just as his head hit the pillow.