Wow, this armor really is comfy, I actually fell asleep in it! Getting up and stretching, I ponder what to do today. Ah yes. The spellbook. Walking down to the library, I picked up the book in my telekinesis, before walking down to the kitchen, and after removing and storing my hoof guards, I walked down the wall to the river. Opening the book, I resumed reading from where I fell asleep the other night, and was now looking at a basic offensive spell, a blast of kinetic energy.
'The kinetic beam spell is used as the basis of many advanced combat spells. The process involved in casting the spell is simple, build up magic, and release it in the direction of the target. A word of warning: if improperly cast, spell may backfire and harm the caster instead.'
Seems simple enough. I charged up some magic, and after taking aim at a stalactite, released it. The cyan bolt of energy impacted, knocking the stalactite into the river. This really makes me think of ki attacks... Idea! Charging up another beam, I continue to pour magic into it... I am about to fulfill one of my childhood dreams... I rele-
*BANG!* The spell exploded in my face, flinging me into the wall. Thank god for chitin softening the impact. Picking myself up, I levitate the book over, and begin the next chapter.
'The basic shield spell may be weak, but it is versatile, able to block or soften most forms of attack. Casting it requires one to gather an above average amount of energy into ones horn, then channel it back and over the users body, forming a second skin.'
Okay, this one sounds a bit more complicated. Charging up energy, I try to force it over my body, only to be met with a weird tingly feeling, almost as if I had transformed. Opening my eyes, I notice my body had turned slightly transparent, and coated in a shell of blue magic, that was occasionally emitting wisps of excess magic. I look like a bloody ghost, what the hell gives? Wait, the tingling, bizarre interaction with changeling transformation abilities, maybe? Cutting of the flow of magic, I was relieved for the sensation to stop, and my body return to normal.
The next chapter covered three different spells.
'Elemental spells are the bread and butter of any battlemage's skillset, fire and ice spells tend to be mutually exclusive, with unicorns generally having an affinity towards one, and being completely unable to use the other, in rare cases, one might have have an strong enough affinity to perform 'elemental manipulation' and control the results of the spell, for example, a unicorn with an extreme fire affinity could chose what the flames burn, and what remains unaffected. Another feat of fire manipulation would be controlling the flames like they were an object in the users telekinetic field.
Energy spells are used by gather magic similar to a kinetic bolt, but compressing the magic before releasing it, users with even a small affinity can, with enough concentration, detect a ponies bioelectric aura.'
Electricity huh, worth a shot. Gathering energy, I compressed it, before releasing it at another stalactite.
*KRA-BOOM* ow, ow, ow, Forgot about the noise that superheated air makes when a lighting bolt passes through it, and the caves acoustics did not help... I watched the shrapnel that was previously a rock fall into the river while I waited for the ringing to stop.
I skipped over ice spells, as I had a hunch that my affinity was in the other direction.
'Fire spells tend to be the most destructive, but also are the most energy intensive, and cause the most collateral damage. A fire spell is cast by gathering energy, and forcing it to ignite. There are rumors of a more advanced version used by Celestia against the chaos spawn, described as 'emerald flames of ultracondensed magic, capable of burning even the ethereal.' Make of this what you will.' okay... Celestia can use [YAY!]ing BALEFIRE!
Once again gathering energy, I tried to spark it, before it finally burst into blue flames. Despite my horn being on fire, I only felt warmth, not painful heat. Taking aim, I launch the fireball at a stalagmite, and watch it explode. When the dust clears, I notice several pieces of it are still burning. I also felt the flames drawing on my magic slightly, and they even felt like I was holding them in my telekinesis. Trying to lift one, I was so shocked when it rose, that I dropped it on my bo- [BOB SAGET!] Please dont be burned, please dont be burned, ple- huh? Its not even singed? Wanting to test a theory, I grabbed one of the rotten floorboards that had fallen in here, and ignited it, before willing it to not be burned, and lo and behold, it wasn't burnt. Willing it to burn, it was nearly instantly consumed by the sapphire inferno. Cutting of magic to the flames, I watched as they died out, before I was overcome by a wave of nausea and exhaustion. I think I used too much magic. I read through the rest of the book, finding the basics for a healing spell, teleportation, and a cloaking spell, but I didn't try them.
After climbing back up to the kitchen, I felt a faint itch in my head and chest. Taking off and storing the remaining pieces of armor in my drape turned sack, along with my book, I tried to scratch the itches, only to realize my chitin was in the way. "Ohhh, joy..." doing my best to ignore the itching sensation, I open my wings, studying them. Moving the inner pair around, I tried to get an idea of there range of motion. After moving them in a circular motion a few times, trying to figure out how to generate lift, I sped up dramatically. A buzzing filled the kitchen, and I felt my body slowly leave the ground. "I'm actually doing this..." I was now hovering about a foot of the ground, when I began to feel a burning sensation in what I assumed to be my wings muscles, and began losing altitude. I am really going to need to build up my endurance. Landing, I felt my stomach began growling... heading back down to the river, I wade into it, scanning for motion... THERE! I swiftly lash out with my tail, and impale something.
Lifting my tail out of the water, I discovered I had just gotten a pony sized fish. Hauling it back to shore, I tore into it, trying to sate my hunger. After devouring everything edible, I no longer felt so tired, and incinerated the remains with a fire spell, before snuffing out the flames.
My ear twitched, and I swear I could hear voices coming from downriver. Quickly climbing up into the kitchen, I peered down and listened.
"We got TWO ponies today, Cainus! TWO ponies! You were right about hanging by the river! Boss will be so proud that we found new ponies for gem hunting!" MOTHER[BUNNY!]ING diamond dogs! I can feel my face morphing into a feral snarl, and force myself to remain calm. When a duo of dogs entered my line of sight however, I was frothing at the mouth. They had ponynapped Derpy and Dinky! The two of them were tied up, and being dragged across the cave floor. The dogs stopped at where I had incinerated the fish leftovers, and were staring at the scorch mark. One of the two, this one black and muscular, went and sniffed it, before reeling back.
"Rex? Something was killed here, I smell blood and ash..." Activating my barrier spell, wanting to be ready if things went south, I felt the tingle of it interacting with my transformation ability, and saw Derpys eyes widen. Quickly holding my hoof up to my mouth is a shushing gesture, I winked, and she seemed to calm down. Climbing down the wall, I sneaked up on the smaller of the two, Rex if heard right, and plunged my tail into his back, injecting him with a paralyzing venom, and watched as he toppled to the floor, before I grabbed him and set him down gently, not making any noise.
Now comes the fun part... creeping up behind Cainus, I began breathing down his neck, and watched as his ears folded down in fear. "Rex, thats not funny... Rex...?" When he turned to meet my bared teeth, he screamed.
"Run." I had apparently started unconsciously mimicking Nightmare Moons voice, which just made that single word all the more fear inducing. And run like a chicken he did. With him gone, I untied the two mares, before grabbing the other dog and heading up the wall.
"...are you an angel?" Oh god, was not ready for concentrated Dinky. My heart skipped a beat and I felt my blood sugar spike tenfold, but managed to not 'dawww' and ruin the image I was trying to give myself.
Turning and shaking my head, I replied cryptically, trying to be as mystifying as possible. "I am one with this forest... I am neither good nor evil, I merely am." With that, I returned to the kitchen, still carrying a paralyzed diamond dog. When the mares left, I deactivated the barrier spell, I hacked up more of my adhesive, and used to stick the dog to a wall and immobilize him, before heading back up to the throne room, and began binding most of the doors shut, excluding the one lead to the library, and one I found that lead in a circuit around the edge of the castle, and then to the main entrance. With that, I felt relieved knowing that anyone who did come here would be less likely to find my egg, before I found and dealt with them. Returning to the kitchen, I waited for my guest to wake up.
*Thirdperson*
*Ponyville*
Twilight was in disbelief, there was no such thing as spirits, right? Let alone one that looked like that changeling in the old castle! "What happened after you saw it?"
Derpy was still trying to understand what in the name of cranberry muffins had happened, so Dinky took over. "Well, Mommy looked like she was going to scream, when it gave her a shushing motion and winked at us, calming Mommy down. It walked down the wall, and stuck its tail in one of the dogs back, before the dog fell down, and didn't move except to breath. It hadn't made a noise the whole time! It snuck up on the second one, and waited for it to turn and seeing it making a scary face full of pointy teeth, before telling to run, that scared me, it sounded like that evil not-Luna... I asked it if it was an angel, but it said 'I am one with this forest... I am neither good nor evil, I merely am.' What did it mean by that?"
Twilight wasn't sure which was scarier, an actual ghost, and if its voice meant anything, the ghost of the thing that possessed Luna, or a magical construct that gave damning proof the Everfree was not just sentient, but SAPIENT. What concerned her the most, was that it might have already killed something, if one of the dogs comments about smelling ash and blood was correct. "Spike, take a letter, this is beyond serious!"
*ShinkirÅ's P.O.V.*
The bugger had woken up, and been panicking for the last fifteen minutes. Activation barrier spell, and managing to imitate Nightmare Moons voice again, I began cackling, and made sure to make my hoof steps obvious. As I entered the kitchen, the dog began struggling with renewed vigor, but it was futile. "Now listen very carefully, mutt. Ponies are under MY protection now, and I will not tolerate what your kind has done to them, DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR!" The spittle in my shout slowly began weakening the dogs prison. The dog nodded rapidly. An idea came to mind. "This constructs displeasure is merely a fraction of the collectives..." The dog had nearly gotten free. "Tell your people, the Everfree is angry..." The dogs eyes widened to unnatural proportions, and the moment he broke free, he fled into the caves like a bat outta hell. If Discord had seen this, he would probably be reattaching his ass about now, having laughed it off.
Walking back to the throne room, I checked to make sure everything was secure, when that goddamn itching started again. This its going to get real annoying really fast. Still on an adrenaline high, I drifted into a half-asleep state, still aware of what was going on outside of me. I don't know how long I was asleep for, but a massive flash of light woke me up. Running to the nearest window, I was shocked to see Celestia and half a dozen guards, standing in front of the castle. Not good! Feeling that same irrational surge of violence as I did when the Mane Six appeared, I positioned myself so that I could swing and blast any intruders, and not a moment too soon, as the one of the only two entrances to this room swung open, only for a kinetic blast to strike the area right in front of the leading guard... wait, theres only two of them, where Celly and the other fou- two of the doors were blasted open, and guards surrounded me. I was desperate. Desperation is good right now, necessity may be the mother of invention, but desperation is the bastard father. I don't know how I did it, but my thought process of fire + barrier = guards backing away, lead to me setting myself on fire...
"WHOAH!"
"It set itself on fire! What the bu-"
"STAY BACK! I WON'T LET YOU TAKE IT! IT'S MY FLESH AND BLOOD!" The guards promptly backpedaled like mad when they saw the floor beneath my hooves melting.
"A Quee-" I whirled around and launched an energy bolt spell over Celestia's head, and by the time the guards had recovered from the unexpected flash, I had lept over them, and now had myself between the egg and Celestia.
"Back away, and nopony gets hurt..." to show I was dead serious, I cancelled the spell, and gathered every shred of magic I could into a flame spell. Just as I pumped the last of my magic into it, I felt it spark, and increase tenfold in intensity. Looking at the shock on Celestia face, I realized that the flames around my horn were GREEN. Kill it with fire, no, KILL IT WITH HELLFIRE! The two unicorn guards were slack jawed for some reason. Celestia slowly walked around me, keeping away from the egg, with a look of fear on her face. When she and her guards hat backed up to the door, I cancelled the spell. And got a migraine that could only be described as someone playing Freddy Fazzbears screech though a Bass Cannon, in my head. In G major. It took all my will to not black out, and I fell to the floor. "I don't care who you are, harm my children, and no matter how far you run, or how well you hide, I will find you, and I will make you WISH I had killed you..." Celestia actually did a double take at that.
"You would have used a balefire spell, knowing full well you would have been in the blast radius, to protect your child...? Now I see why Luna said you wanted to keep ponies away from here..."
"Just don't hurt the egg and make it painless..." I slowly curl into a ball, fully expecting a swift death... And began sobbing. I'm a monster... Why can't I control myself!? I fly into a goddamn rage at any perceived threat! I nearly killed FLUTTERSHY for the love of [BLUEBERRY WAFFLES] god! Wait, why am I still thinking, shouldn't I be dead?
When nothing happened, I look up to see Celestia giving me a rather appalled look. "Why would you think that!?!" Wait, you mean I'm not going to die? Must, resist, urge, to hug.
"So i'm not going to die? Oh thank god!" Shakely getting up, I trot back to my egg and gently hug it. "Don't worry, momma's here for you..." brain, what are you doing, brain, stahp. Why am I okay with being female?!
"Dawwww..." did... Yes, one of the guards did indeed 'dawww' at this.
"Quite frankly, I'm surprised that this whole exchange didn't attract whatever spirit is haunting this place..."
"That... was me trying to make this place as scary as possible, so that ponies would avoid coming here. Hehe, funny story how I figured out how to do that. This one barrier spell interacted weirdly with my transformation ability, so whenever I use that spell, my whole body turns the same color as my magic, including the transparency... at least I think thats what happend." At this point, my mind is screaming to keep an eye on them, but my body is saying go to sleep. "Look, I'd really like to continue this, but I need sleep very badly..."
Celestia seemed to get the message, and after rounding her guards up, teleported out. With no obvious threats left, I fell into a state of half-sleep.