//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: The Wizard's Study // Story: The Return of the Humans // by DaringWizard //------------------------------// 16th August, 2010, My parents have asked me to start a journal. My name is Merlin, I'm 13 years old, and I'm an adeptus minor in the study of magic. That means I'm highly skilled and I'm almost fit for the title master wizard. I've been studying ancient spells from Egypt, and I found one today that differed greatly from them. It spoke of the use of a potion to tear the veil between my world, and one fabled in legend; Equestria. Where Every animal seems to be sentient. I felt a shiver of excitement when I first read the title, I'm going to try it out later toda- the boy stopped writing as his mother called for him. "Merlin, honey, is everything all right? Do you need more Wolfbane?" She asked. "Uh, no Mother, I've got all I need! Thank you either way!" He said with an elegant-sounding voice. He looked down at his journal and added the missing "Y" to the last word on the page. "Mother? Could you send this letter to Father Davidson? It's the results of the potion he suggested." He said, and he handed her a small envelope. "Yes my son, I'll get to it right away... Oh, and, Merlin?" "Yes?" "If the spell works, say hi to princess... Celestia was it? I mean, if the legends of her a true as well." "Yes, of course." Merlin replied, and he began stirring a cauldron full of boiling water. He ground up some strange herbs into a fine, blue powder. He sprinkled them slowly into the cauldron, and despite the powders color, the water changed to a lava-colored liquid, and glowed with a similar light. He reached in a wooden ladle, and poured it into a metal vial, moving indescribably slow so he would not spill any of it. "Uhm, Mother?" The boy called. "Yes, Merlin?" She asked. "The potion's ready- I need to make sure nobody comes into my room for the next three days, or it will weaken the portal!" The boy called. "I hear you, just be careful!" His mother said, Merlin began to change into his Purple robes, he slid into them, tied it off around the center with a cord, and finally, put on his conical hat. He had been waiting for this: he had heard legends of the mythical realm of equines who could speak and had a mind like humans. He had heard about the legends of the Mare in the moon, the two Goddess-like Alicorns who ruled over the realm... and how his family had very close ties to that legend. His great, great, great, great, great, great, grandfather, Arthur Pendragon, once was supposedly part of the parliament in Equestria, just in legend of course. In the legend, his position of power was unmatched as both a peace-keeper, and as a master wizard... when he was alive, anyway. A few minutes later, the room had been cleared out of everything except for a circle drawn in the center of the room, where Merlin stood, he held a container of salt, he walked in a clockwise direction around the circle, spreading salt all over it, muttering an Anglo-Saxon (Or, "old English") chant, the salt glowed as it hit the floor, he poured the lava colored potion around the circle, he then stepped out, and the entire circle was filled with fiery, purple light, then, out of the blinding light came a portal. On the other side, Merlin could see the fabled Equestria. His heart racing with excitement, he grabbed his wand and spellbook, and jumped in. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In Equestria... The room in the library where Twilight sat was dimly lit by the faint glow of a lantern, it was late at night and Twilight was studying something incredible. She had found in an ancient spellbook (Which Celestia had given her as a gift) a tale of the kindred species known as humans once lived side by side with ponies in Equestria. She was really into it; it was midnight and she still hadn't stopped reading. "Twilight... please... go to bed... you need to rest..." She heard Spike say. "Allright, I'll go to bed in a little while... I just can't get enough of this story." She said with a smile, Spike yawned. "Good night..." He said, and then went back to his bed. Is there a hidden truth behind this...? Twilight thought. She closed the book and trotted upstairs, the last step creaking beneath her hooves. She got up in bed, set the lantern down, and blew it out. I need to get some more oil for that thing. She thought, and her eyes slowly closed as she drifted off to a dream of books, magic, and amongst all of it- humans. The story she read was really gripping on her. She saw them with their legendary magic carpets, all of them dressed in elegant robes which heightened their powers to their magical occupations. But she was woken up rather suddenly. CRASH! "Woah-! What was that!? Spike!? Where are you!?" She shrieked, very confused, it was 4:00 in the morning, she galloped downstairs. Lying there, on the floor was a pile of books, seeming to have flown off the shelf. "How did that happen?" She said, expecting Spike to respond, but he was still asleep, strangely. Her horn glowed as she carefuly picked up book after book. Until she came across one she didn't recognize; "White Magic: Humane Healing, and other enchantments." her heart stopped when she read it again: "Humane healing". She then noticed something was attached to it... a hand. She focused really hard, and all the books flew out of the way. There, lying underneath it all, was a human boy, dressed in a purple robe. He opened his eyes slowly. Twilight's heart exploded with excitement. She hadn't smiled the way she was in years, the boy stared up at her in confusion. "Hi there!" The boy's eyes widened, even more confused. "What are you doing here?" The boy tried to speak, but he couldn't; did he hurt his throat? He pointed up to the ceiling. A glimmer shown down on the floor. Huh? What's that light? Twilight thought. She looked up, and saw a portal in the ceiling had opened. She immediately understood everything; the boy lying there was not just a human, but one of the fabled Wizards. Her heart exploded again with even more excitement, but then she looked down at him; he looked like he was in pain. She realized the severity of the situation. She focused her magic on him, then on some blankets and a spare mattress she had left in her closet, and set up a bed for him. He immediately lost consciousness as soon as his head hit the bed. Spike came into the room to see what the ruckus was about. "Twilight what's going o... holy mother of...!" Spike's eyes went wide in surprise. "Send a letter to princess Celestia, tell her that the legends of humans are true, and she needs to get down here! Tell her it's urgent!" Twilight said, and Spike sprinted to the next room, writing as quickly as he could. For the rest of the night, Twilight stood next to the boy, waiting for him to wake up, she combed some of the dust out of his dark-blonde hair.