//------------------------------// // Chapter 20 - Anger Issues // Story: The Awakening of a Tactician // by Mountainmanmad //------------------------------// Its funny how easily you can fall into a rhythm. I woke Wade up at the crack of dawn and continued with his training. That morning I focused more on his strength and stamina. I started off with improving his upper body strength, and after that I had him run laps around the perimeter of the room. Once that was finished I had him work on magic again. He had spent most of this time focused on Dark magic and I had a feeling he was close to reaching the next tier. Normally I would scoff at such a thing… but Wade was different. He seemed to learn at an exponential rate. He absorbed information like a sponge. Wade constantly mocks his own abilities, but I can see the improvement after every sparring match, every time he casts a spell. Every day he gets stronger. After a few hours of him practicing with the Dark tome, I began to grow restless. I like to think I’m patient, but there’s a noticeable deadline hanging over my head. I decided to voice my thoughts to him aloud, "It's strange, I would have thought you would learn the next stage of Dark magic. Pushing yourself like this and the constant practice should have been enough for you by now. Let's try for another hour and see where that takes us. I don't want you pushing yourself too hard since you no longer have the watch to monitor yourself." "I'm trying, man." Wade said, summoning another ball of flux. He struggled as he set the shape and size, and I could see a drop of sweat run down his face. "I don't know why, but it is harder now. It was just a freaking watch, it couldn't have this much of a difference, could it?" He asked. "I don't see why it should. If anything you should learn to live without it. You don't want to have to become dependable on an item if you can help it. Could prove dangerous for you down the road." "That it might, but being able to avoid fainting spells was heavily appealing to me," Wade said with a grin, flinging the Flux ball to splash against a statue. "Have you ever been hit by fatigue so badly that one second you were fine, and the next you were splayed out on the floor? Unable to move besides flapping your gums? If not, it sucks. I never want to feel that again," He said, letting his arms hang weakly. "I really liked that watch. It had a diamond in it. A freaking diamond, man! How freaking petty is that? I'm getting worked up by a chunk of rock, worth money I'll probably never see again. A chunk of rock that is worth no more than it's magical use as a focus stone here in Equestria." Wade let out a low laugh, wiping a slick of sweat from his forehead. "So basically, nothing." I looked at Wade in concern, there’s no reason why he should be so exhausted already. "Are you feeling alright Wade? I can understand how odd it might feel to lose something you were used to having around, but it's no use getting worked up over." "I... I don't know. I guess I'm feeling a bit rattled after last night. Everything Twilight told me about her made me think she was this Mother Theresa figure, always looking out for those less fortunate." Wade sat down on the floor, huffing as he tried to catch his breath. "Turns out she is precisely that, but horrifically xenophobic towards anything not of her own race. I mean, humans are pretty bad when you just look at the bad points... you yourself are teaching me a mostly offensive set of skills, designed to kill and maim. Is she wrong? Will me being here put others in danger?" He fixed me with a hopeful stare, "Am I dangerous, just by being left alone?" I looked at the ceiling as I considered his question, a loaded question at that too. I had to be truthful with him, but I also had to give him hope. Let’s see if I can come up with something profound. "Yes, you are. Being here, another being in a different dimension, can disrupt the balance of things. However, you're here, and right now what matters is having you assimilate into this world. By preparing you for what may come ahead you'll find that a door has opened for you. You'll still be dangerous, but you'll be able to decide who you're dangerous to." Wade thought about my words as he slowly pushed himself up off the floor. He took another read from the tome, reading the text within. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say he was searching for some hidden answer. I watched silently as he closed the book and stared out over the targets. He summoned a ball of Flux, much more stable than his last attempts. He tossed it at the dummy, and I watched as the condensed darkness exploded against the figure. Before the statue even had a chance to fully recover it was hit with another projectile. Then another... and another. I watched in concern as Wade began to draw greater amounts of energy from the book. He was pushing his body beyond the breaking point. I prepared to jump in and stop him when I saw something that stopped myself. Wade had his hand extended, looking at it in complete concentration. A black fog flowed around his fingers, caressing his skin. The power grew, his hand shaking as he began to draw more magic from the tome only to keep it locked up inside him. I called out for him to cut the flow, but he didn’t respond. I could only watch in horror as his eyes rolled up inside his head and he collapsed upon his back. I quickly ran over to Wade's limp form and held his wrist tightly as I felt for a pulse. Good, he's still alive… I understand I've been pushing him to new limits, but to suddenly black out like this... something's not right. Could it have been backlash? Considering how much magic he was drawing into himself at the end it’s quite possible, however, I don’t believe that was the reason. I shook my head and sighed. Whatever the case may be Wade was out of commission for now, possibly for the rest of the day. I levitated Flux and returned it to the sack. Lifting that next, I brought it over to me with my magic as I hefted Wade up from the floor, cradling him in my arms. Grumbling a bit about his weight I walked out of the training room and made my way to the dormitories. This seems eerily familiar... Reaching Wade's room, I carefully opened the door and set him on his bed. I still had plenty of my own work I needed to get done before I left Wade. I planned on leaving him with new tomes, each base level of every aspect. At least this would give me the time to work on them... I quietly closed Wade's door and made my way to my room. As I drew closer, I began to feel a... magical disturbance. It was incredibly faint, but it was still there. I stopped mid stride and looked up and down the hallway, attempting to pinpoint the magic. I eventually found it... located directly across from my door. I continued at a steady pace down the hall, making sure to give Arcfire a quick read along the way. As I drew closer I began to put a spell to the magic. It seemed to be some type of cloaking spell... something akin to invisibility. I felt my anger begin to boil within me as I stopped directly next to the hidden individual... and turned towards them. "You have ten seconds to reveal yourself before I decide to ignite the very area you're standing in." Expecting more of a resistance, I was surprised when a pony slowly came into focus, appearing from a seemingly unseen mist. I wasn't the only one surprised, however. "Can he see us?" the pony hissed, turning his head to look off to his side. "Quiet you dolt, he can't have seen us yet, he just got here!" the second pony to emerge hissed back. Whatever spell they were using continued to break down, revealing two guards, camping across the door from my bedroom. If I was in a better mood I might have stopped to consider what spell they had cast over themselves. "He said he was going to set us on fire!" The first guard said, his pupils the size of pinpricks beneath my gaze. "Keep calm private, he's a swordsmane first and foremost, there's no way he's good enough to break through our spells! Just keep calm and keep quiet!" "He's looking right at me-" "He's bluffing! He must have smelled your carcass, that is why you should shower after drills! Just stay quiet and he'll eventually give up." The second guard hissed back, his lips pursed into a scowl. As the two bantered back and forth, whatever spell they had created had eventually vanished altogether. All that remained were two ponies, one nervous, the other cocky. Despite the fact that they were obviously sent here to spy on me, I found my mood improving by the second. Perhaps it was because I was right in guessing Celestia's true nature. Or perhaps it was because these ponies were simply too ignorant for their own good. I decided to enjoy this opportunity and make them look like fools... more than they already were, of course. I leaned forward and eyed the higher ranked soldier, a sergeant, with a curious stare. Before either one could make another remark I quickly reached forward and prodded his muzzle... hard. The guard in question looked at my finger, cross-eyed to the tip. Beside him, the private’s eyes rolled up into his skull, and he fell to the floor in a dead faint. The sergeant watched as his compatriot slumped into a puddle on the floor. His gaze snapped back to the front as he stood to attention, as far as I could tell pretending that his attendance wasn't anything out of the ordinary. I had gotten his attention, made him painfully aware that I in turn was aware of him... but he refused to budge. Ever the dutiful guard. Not all that impressive after I had found him slinking around outside my bed chambers like a common thief, but the fact that he hadn't run like a coward said something. I stood up straight and crossed my arms, looking down at the solitary guard in annoyance. "So, do you mind explaining to me why you and your friend were camped outside my room?" The only response I got from him was silence. My anger started to grow as the pony continued to stare dead ahead, ignoring me. Did he really think doing nothing would get me to leave? I have just about had it with these guards, so few of them I had met had actually proven to be of any worth. Quicker than he could react, I wrapped my hand around his horn and pulled back on it, forcing him to look up at me. His eyes hardened as my grip tightened around his horn. "I'll give you three options. One, I snap your horn off and make you wear it as a necklace. Two, I pump so much magic into your little head it'll fry you. Or three, you tell me exactly why you're here, and I'll let you go." "I'm a guard, what do you think I'm doing?" he snapped at me, locking eyes with my own. "We were stationed here to guard! Seriously, what kind of moron are you? What the hay do you think we were doing? Painting the wall? Searching for a bird? Jumping over a fence? Filling out reports?" He stopped, staring at me defiantly. I could feel my eye twitching by the end of his rebuttal. I've had to deal with so much shit in the little time I've been here. Between teaching Wade, coming up with theories regarding his special abilities and trying to figure out what Celestia was up too I was exhausted. Not only that, I would need to cut my time sleeping now that I knew someone was trying to keep tabs on me. Oh who am I kidding, it's got to be Celestia. That arrogant fool always needs to feel like she's in control of everything. A shame that she's met her match when it comes to me. I swapped his horn for his throat and pushed him against the wall he seemed so intent on guarding. I dragged his body up the wall and off the floor, his hind legs no longer able to reach the ground. He tried to escape my iron grip with his front hooves, but he wasn’t a match for my strength. I soon tapped into my tome and drew out it's power. I wasn't kidding before about the incinerating part. I hardly joke around anymore. Heat started to build in my right hand, slowly getting warmer by the second. I wouldn't kill the fool, but at this point I needed to scare him. I had to be absolutely certain about Celestia and I had gone too far to turn back now. The moment I yanked on his horn I had caused even more trouble for myself. I might as well get some information while I'm at it though. "What I think you're doing is not minding your own business. Now, I'm tired, and not in the mood to play games with you. You will tell me who sent you here and why, or I give you sunburn you'll never recover from." "Are you dense?" the sergeant said, a wry smile on his mug as he tried to ignore the pain. "You're in Canterlot, the capital where Princess Celestia calls her home. You just had a run in with her royal highness last night, which I hear ended in a yelling spat between the two sisters. As you no doubt know by this point, she doesn't have a very good opinion on you or your race. The very next day you find two guards right outside your room. Again, I have to ask if you're really this dense-" I tightened my grip, forcing him to let out a pained gasp. He regained his composure, and choked out his next sentence as he glared down at me from his suspended position. "Go ahead. Prove her right. Go ahead and maim me, kill me, burn me to ash. I am a guard! It is my sworn duty, my reason for living, to protect my brothers and sisters, even to my dying breath! I only warn you..." his smile disappeared, shooting me a determined look, the pressure from his forelegs lessening with every second. "If you are as bad as she says, if you hurt anypony, even so much as a bruise... nothing you do to me will be enough to… stop... me... from... coming... back... and... beating... you... senseless..." the lack of air finally did its job, causing his limbs to droop and fall to his sides as his eyes closed. I blink in surprise as the guard went limp in my grasp. I release him and he falls to the floor in a mess of limbs. My blood ran cold as I kneeled down and searched for a pulse. I breathed a sigh of relief as I eventually found one. Good, I didn't kill him, only knocked him unconscious. I inspected his neck and found his fur had been burnt clean off around the area where I grabbed him. The skin was blackened A wave of sadness and tiredness washed over me as I inspected the two guards. Once more I had let my anger get a hold of me. On nothing but rage I had almost taken the life of someone innocent. Just like I did once before… They were beneath you. All creatures have the right to live... Only the strong survive. I shook my head and chased away those memories. They were in the past, and the past can't be changed, only the future. It would seem, however, that my self-restraint is not as developed as I thought it was. I would need to meditate more often, think about my actions today... and the consequences that could arise from them. First things first, to take care of these two. My eyes drifted over to the private that had passed out. I stood over him and placed a finger to the tip of his horn. Concentrating, I pushed some of my magic into him, just enough to get him to wake up. A magical jump-start, if you will. He gave a mighty twitch, then did something surprising. He... rolled over, and let out a mumbling groan. "Five... fvvv morr minits..." Before I was even able to raise an eyebrow in confusion, he let out a low snore. What a lazy individual. What a complete 180 from the hard-ass next to him. Must be why they were paired together, their superiors probably hoped they would rub off on each other. I deadpanned at the sleeping guard before standing up and making my way to my room. As I put my hand on the doorknob, however, I couldn't bring myself to retreat into my den. I glanced back and focused on the guard I had choked. I tried to tell myself that he was in the wrong, he should have cooperated with me from the start... but no, I took it too far. With a sigh I opened my robe and withdrew Nosferatu. After bonding myself with the tome I began to draw out my own life force. The black miasma that was the spell encircled my body as it attacked my very being. Once I felt I had drawn enough I sent the black fog to encircle the guard I had harmed. I watched as his fur began to regrow and any bruises I had caused vanish. I listened closely and I could hear him breathing a bit steadily now, much better than the shallow intakes only moments before. Satisfied with the outcome I entered my room and began working at my desk, allowing the two sleeping guards to continue their mission in the hall.