I bolted awake, barely containing a scream. My body trembled and I could feel that I was soaked in cold sweat.
“You had the nightmare again, didn’t you?” Kaz asked, jumping into my lap. I didn’t look at him, gently running a finger over the scar that snaked its way across my abdomen. It was simple enough to heal with magic but I wasn’t going to erase this one. I would never forget and I would never forgive.
“I’m fine Kaz, no need to worry,” I assured him, letting out a sigh. “We came here to get away from that, remember?”
“You mean so you don’t have to face it,” Kaz said with a glare. “Or should I mention how you abandoned her?”
“I did not abandon her!” I snapped, glaring at him. I took a deep breath, calming my nerves. “Look Kaz, I just... I need time ok? I can’t look at her without seeing him...”
Kaz sighed, getting onto his hind legs, giving my cheek a lick, “I’m sorry Terra, it’s my job to protect you but I can’t exactly protect you if you keep it all repressed now can I?”
“No I suppose you can’t,” I admitted, scooping him up and getting out of bed. I absentmindedly scratched his ears as I headed to the bathroom. “I’m going to take a shower, you watch the store, ‘kay?” I asked, placing him on the floor at the top of the stairs.
“Don’t drown this time,” he teased as he padded down the stairs.
“Haha,” I said, rolling my eyes. I tossed whatever clothes I still had on to the floor and climbed into the shower. I gotta say, showers are a great way to recover from a nightmare, gives ya time to purge and purify. After refreshing myself, I got dressed, quickly drying my hair in the process. As I headed downstairs, I could hear Twilight’s voice, sounding like she was arguing with Kaz. “Woman doesn’t waste time does she?” I asked myself with a sigh, adjusting my hat. “Good morning Twilight, I wasn’t expecting you so early,” I said with a smile.
“Oh,” Twilight said as she paused in her argument with Kaz. “Good morning Terra.” She smiled. “I figured we could start early but your fox kept telling me it was too early.”
“I have a name you know,” Kaz growled at her from where he was sitting on the counter.
“His name is Kaz and he’s not my fox, he’s my familiar,” I explained, putting a hand on his head and scratching his ears.
“Familiar?” Twilight asked, having already started to scribble on a scroll. It was kinda adorable.
“Ok... how do I explain a familiar?” I asked, sitting behind the counter. I petted Kaz’s head, trying to put it into words, “A familiar is a spirit or being who is bound to a magic user. They act as a guide, protecting them and aiding them in their magic.”
“You're magical?” Twilight asked, turning to Kaz.
“I can talk can’t I?” he replied, rolling his eyes. “But if you must know, my mother was a kitsune and my father was a phoenix.”
“What's a kitsune?” Twilight asked, looking at Kaz.
“A fox spirit,” Kaz said, starting to clean his paws.
“Wait, how does a bird reproduce with a fox?!” Twilight demanded, the illogical idea causing her to overreact.
“Shapeshifting, obviously,” he said before he was consumed with flames. In his place was a small child of around six, wearing a red and white kimono. He had red markings on this face, fox ears on his head, and a tail poking out from his back.
“Remarkable!” Twilight squealed, making me flinch. Why the hell were ponies being so loud? She reached out, tugging on one of Kaz’s ears, much to his annoyance.
“Stop that,” he said, slapping her hand away.
“Sorry...” she said with a sheepish smile,”I got uh... carried away...” She cleared her throat and turned to me, “So Terra, how much mana can the average human store?”
“Mana?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. “You mean that stuff most people think magic users use? That's not a thing, Twilight.”
“What are you talking about?” Twilight asked, looking at me like I was crazy. “All ponies use mana, even non-unicorns. You probably have a different name for it. Why don’t you explain it to me?”
“Ok, I’ll try at least,” I said, trying to put it in a way she would understand, “There are a few names for it, Chi, Ki, Chakra...”
“Why do humans have to have so many names for the same thing?” Twilight asked with a grumble, scribbling away at her scroll.
“We barely agree on anything, helps us keep our competitive edge. You don’t want to see what happens when humans stagnate. It’s not pretty,” I cleared my throat, “Though to get back on topic, they all refer to the same thing, life energy. A magic user takes a certain amount to power spells... Twilight why are you looking at me like that?” I ask with a frown. Twilight had stopped scribbling, looking at me with large horrified eyes, “What?”
“Y-you use your life force?” she asked, her voice soft.
“Um...yes? Earth doesn’t really have much ambient magic, at least none that humans use,” I explained, crossing my arms.
“B-but! Life force magic is forbidden!” Twilight shouted, making me flinch again. Seriously I’m going to start casting silence spells here.
“Well, all human mages use it, its just how we do it. Do we use too much sometimes? Yeah, but only the really stupid or inexperienced cast spells that would kill them. Though there are tales of some massive idiots who tried to power their spells with their soul... you don’t want to know what happened to them.”
Twilight just kept staring at me, making me rather uncomfortable. We sat there like that until the sound of trumpets filled the air. “The princess!” she nearly screeched. Shoving her things into her bag, she turned around quickly. “We’ll have to finish this later!” she shouted before hauling ass out of the shop.
“She’s... odd,” Kaz said, shifting back to normal.
“So am I,” I reminded him, getting up. “Hm... should we go try and meet the princess?” I asked, stretching out.
“We have a shop to run remember?”
“Good point.” I walked up to the front and flipped the sign to 'open'. “Let's hope we actually get some customers...”
“Well, crap...” I said with a sigh, looking out at the empty shop. No one had come in in the past two hours. Though I kinda felt like an idiot, who would visit some alien's shop when one of their rulers were in town?
“Now what?” Kaz looked up from his book. If I recall correctly, he’s reading Eragon. And now all I could think about was that shitty movie. Thanks, brain.
“Go try and meet the princess?” I asked, getting to my feet. “Or we could call it a day and just dick around,” I suggested, grabbing my hat, making sure it sat right on my head. You have no idea how often the damn thing flies off my head.
“Either of those work,” he said. After placing a bookmark in the book, he closed it gently. “Lets get going, sitting around here was getting kinda boring anyway.” He jumped off the counter and stretched out.
I grabbed my staff and opened the door to let Kaz out. Once he was out, I closed up the shop, making sure the door was locked. We wandered around for a while, taking in the sights and sounds of the town, enjoying the day rather well.
“I’ll catch you!” a soft voice shouted out. A paradox, I know. We both turned a corner to see Twilight and her friends, plus two armored ponies, guards, I assume, standing around a fountain. A featherless bird was falling through the air, with... I wanna say Fluttershy? Yeah, her, diving to catch it. It burst into flames, landing in her hands as a big ol’ pile of ash. All the ponies gasped, with Fluttershy on the verge of tears as the ashes ran through her fingers to form a heap on the ground.
“What's going on here?” a rather commanding voice asked. We all turned to see a rather tall mare in a white dress, her hair and tail were colored like the rainbow and flowing in the non-existent wind. That’s bitchin’, I am so asking for that spell... wait... all the ponies are bowing... thats the princess isn’t it?
“If I may,” I spoke up, getting their attention, “It seems to me that they were all worried about a phoenix who just reincarnated. Never seen a rebirth so plain though.”
“Plain?” the princess asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Oh yeah, the phoenixes in my world put on a hell of a show. They used to build these huge nests in Heliopolis, mostly out of myrrh, and use that as a pyre. I saw it once, it lit the whole city up, one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. Though most phoenixes now just use Burning Man as a cover for their rebirths. Has led to a lot of mysterious babies appearing there though.”
At that the ashes rose up into the air, swirled around a bit, and in a flash a rather majestic looking red and gold bird was born from the ashes. It squawked at me rather angrily. It flew at me, giving me a very hard pecking to the head, knocking my hat off.
“Son of a bitch!” I growled, warding it off with my staff. Stupid fucking bird, it's lucky I didn’t start casting ice spells. I grumbled as I picked up my hat, returning it to its spot on my head.
“I’m sorry Princess Celestia, I was the one who took your bird, I just wanted to help, she looked so sick!” Fluttershy whimpered, having gotten to her hooves.
“It’s alright Fluttershy, all is forgiven, though you could have just asked and I would have told you that Philomena was a phoenix. She was actually trying to play a trick on you until our new friend ruined her fun. Now apologize young lady,” Celestia told Philomena, who was perched on Celestia’s outstretched arm. The phoenix pouted before doing so, letting out a soft squawk. “Good. Now I don’t believe I’ve gotten your name, Ms...?” she asked, turning to me.
“Terra Jaclyn, your Highness,” I said, giving a bow. I hope she, and all of you, weren't expecting me to curtsy. I don’t fucking curtsy, that crap is for chumps too lazy to give proper respect.
Celestia looked like she was going to say more before Philomena squawked at her. The phoenix squawked a few more times, with the princess looking at me.
“Terra... she’s telling her about the spell...” Kaz whispered, nudging my leg.
“What spell?” I asked, looking down at him with a frown.
“THE spell, the one that makes you you.”
My eyes widened and I backed up. NOOO NONONONO! That fucking spell is two decades old, how the fuck did she sense it!?!?! I kept backing up, trying not to panic.
“Ms. Terra, Philomena tells me you have a rather interesting spell cast upon you,” Celestia started, making my blood run cold. “Would you mind speaking with me in private about it?”
“Yes,” I say, trying not to tremble. “Yes I would fucking mind!” The ponies gasped, with Twilight looking pissed. “I am not going to tell you a damn thing. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a shop to run. Good day princess.” I gave another bow before getting back to the shop as quickly as I possibly could. After getting inside, I leaned my back up against the door, sliding down onto my butt. With a whimper, I hugged my knees close. I had just gotten here and my biggest secret was already being exposed. I could fight it no longer and I broke down into tears. Honestly? It felt kinda good...
**POV Shift**
“Princess I’m so sorry,” I said quickly, expecting my mentor to be rather angry. I mean, anypony who would be so arrogant as to speak like that to the princess is insane! “We just met her yesterday, if I had known she was going to speak to you like that...”
Celestia shook her head, cutting me off with a raised hand, “It’s actually quite refreshing for someone to speak to me so, most are too afraid of upsetting me if they actually speak their minds.”
“But she refused!” I argued.
“That is her right, Twilight. Besides, I shouldn’t have put her on the spot. Whatever it is, just mentioning it upset her greatly. I should have approached her somewhere private and not in public.”
“She’s probably a spy,” Dash huffed, crossing her arms, “Just say the word princess, I’ll get it out of her!” She flared her wings out to prove her point.
“Rainbow Dash,” the princess scolded gently, “I am rather disappointed in you, not only are you accusing somepony new to our world of being a spy, you are also suggesting the use of
violence against them.” She gave Dash a bit of a glare, which caused the pegasus to wilt a little. ”Twilight?”
“Yes princess?” I asked, snapping to attention.
“I want you to watch Terra closely. Don’t spy on her, she has a right to her privacy, but try to get to know her more. I would like to know as much as possible about her before I label her a threat. Can you do this for me?”
“Of course, princess!” I said quickly, giving a eager nod. This was the chance of a lifetime, learn more about human magic and make the princess happy, I couldn’t ask for anything better!
“I knew I could count on you,” she said with a smile, giving me a nuzzle, which I happily returned. “I am afraid I must take my leave now. I wish you all good fortunes,” she said before turning and walking away, her guards taking up positions around her.
“So... what do we do about Terra?” Rarity asked, looking at me for guidance.
“We get to know Terra as much as possible without forcing it,” I start, “and without jumping to conclusions,” I say through gritted teeth, looking pointedly at Dash, who huffed and looked away. “She has to open up to at least one of us, right?” I ask, looking at the girls. Perhaps this was going to be harder than I thought...