After a few minutes we arrived to a large set of two dark oak doors, Luna’s cutie mark was emblazoned in the center of each of the doors. Flanking the doors were two of Luna’s thestral guards. When they saw us approaching they moved to open the doors, after they opened the doors for us they then proceeded to bow.
Instead of entering the room like they were expecting Luna stopped in front of the two guards. “Rise.” She said to them both.
“Is something the matter Lady Noctis?” The guard to Luna’s left asked.
“No nothing is the matter. But let me say this, whilst I do appreciate the gesture of you opening the doors for me it is not needed.”
“So you don’t want us to open the doors for you?” The guard to Luna’s right asked.
“Exactly. Don’t get me wrong I do appreciate your assistance it is just I won’t always require it.”
“Of course Lady Noctis.” The guards said in unison.
“Good to hear. Hope you two have a good night.” With that said she then led Trixie and I into the room.
When we entered the room I saw that the room was the same size as Trixie’s, the walls were a dark blue hue with a few bookshelves taking up space along the walls, there was also a lack of a giant window taking up one of the walls, in it’s place was a door that led out to a balcony over looking Canterlot. Opposite the door to the balcony was pair of double doors that had the same design to the dark oak doors we just came through.
“Here we are.” Luna said gesturing to the room. She then turned to face me. “So Ryan what would you like Trixie and I to teach you.”
“Wait teach?” Trixie said surprised at what Luna had said. “You don’t expect me to teach him do you Luna.”
“Why yes I do Trixie. This would be a large step for you to take in our lessons. I will be monitoring how you teach Ryan, and if I need to I will step in and help you.”
“Okay then Luna.” Trixie said. She the turned to face me. “Ryan are you sure you want me to teach you. Luna could probably do a better job then me.” She said whilst looking down at her fore-hooves.
I then walked over to her and pulled her chin up so I was looking in her eyes. “Yes I do want you to teach me. Do you want to know why.”
“Why Ryan.” She said a tone of uncertainty in her voice.
“Well to put it simply Trixie, when am I ever going to get the chance to learn from the Great and Powerful Trixie.” That managed to get Trixie to get a confident smile to adorn her muzzle.
“Your right. Okay then Ryan, prepare yourself to experience what it is like to learn from the Great and Powerful Trixie!” She said whilst striking a dramatic pose. She then stopped her posing to look at me. “So then what do you wish to learn?”
“Well what are you and Luna willing to teach?” I said looking between Trixie and Luna.
“Well Ryan, we will be able to teach you many things. Although Trixie and I specialize in illusion spells.” Luna said as Trixie gave a few nods in agreement.
“Okay then. How about fire illusions.” I said thinking that I could use the fire illusions to trick anything that wanted to kill me.
“Good choice.” Once Luna said this she then levitated a spell book over into my grasp.
“What exactly do you wish for me to teach you about fire illusions?” Trixie asked.
“How to make it seem like my body’s on fire, or at least parts of my body.” I said excitedly.
“Alright then. Now which page was it on.” Trixie said as she levitated the spell book from my grasp so it was levitating in front of her muzzle. “Ah here it is page 55.” She said whilst placing the now open book into my grasp.
As I read through the description of the spell it said that to ignite part of my body in an illusionary flame, all I had to do was envision the part of my body that I wanted to engulf in the illusionary flame, I then had to envision that part of my body being set alight I also had to envision a lack of pain, to make sure that I didn’t ignite my body in real fire. It was when I reached the bottom of the page that I read something interesting. The page said that I could change the color of the flames by envisioning them in a different color.
After putting to memory what I had to do I reached out with my magic. I then closed my eyes and envisioned my right hand being lit by a purple flame. When I opened my eyes I looked at my outstretched hand to see that it was being burnt by a purple flame, it was then I noticed how there was no heat to the fire.
“Impressive work Ryan.” Luna said as she watched in interest from her seat on a dark blue couch.
“It really is Luna, but what surprises me even more is how he got it right the first time.” Trixie said looking at my hand in awe. She then approached my still burning hand and placed one of her hooves in the flames. “Good work you didn’t accidentally set fire to your hand.”
“Good to know.” I said my voice slightly strained from holding the spell. After a few more seconds I cut the spell, letting out a sigh of of relief and exhaustion. “Wow I feel drained.” I said whilst checking my gloves to see that they had barely lost any blue coloration.
“Not surprising that your exhausted Ryan, those sorts of spells are quite exhausting, even if they don’t drain much mana.” Luna said whilst she levitated a glass of water over to me.
“Thanks.” I said. I then proceeded to gulp down the water in one gulp. After getting a drink of water I then decided to try out the same spell once more.
When I opened my eyes again I saw Luna and Trixie trying to hold back their laughter behind their hooves. Luna then lost her self control and burst into a fit of laughter, she then rolled off her couch onto the floor after she realized that she had fallen off her couch she then proceeded to continue her laughter.
“What’s so funny?” I asked as Trixie composed herself whilst Luna’s laughter could be heard in the background.
“What did you do to your hair?” Trixie asked. The next instant I discovered a mirror in front of my face I saw that the mirror was being held in Luna’s magical grasp. I then looked into the mirror to see that the purple flaming pompadour that I envisioned during my spell casting had replaced my hair.
Luna then made the mirror disappear in a dark blue flash of light. “What is that ridiculous style of hair you’ve made for yourself?” Luna said finally being able to speak properly without bursting into a fit of laughter.
“It’s a purple flaming pompadour why?” I said a tad bit annoyed at them making fun of flaming style of hair that I had cast. “I’m trying to look like Mystery Skulls’ Lewis.” I said I then realized that the two mares wouldn’t know what that is.
“Mystery what?” Luna asked a look of confusion on both of the mare’s faces.
“Never mind it’s a human thing.” That managed to get the looks of confusion off of the ponies faces. I then cut the spell to keep Luna from bursting into a fit of laughter.
I then thought about what to do next before a wicked idea crossed my mind. I then refocused my mind and reached my magic out, instead of envisioning a part of my body being set on fire I decided to envision Luna’s wings on fire.
“Seems thou have become quite experienced in setting things on fire.” Luna said as I opened my eyes to see her wings engulfed in purple flames. “I don’t know whether to be impressed or concerned.” She said giving me a look of concern.
“I’d go with impressed.” Trixie said as looked at Luna’s wings.
“A good point thou make Trixie, as he still hasn’t accidentally set my wings on fire.” Luna said as her horn lit up and her wings were no longer on fire.
“Wait how did you do that?” I asked wondering what happened to the fire.
“Magic cancellation spell. Quite simple to learn but hard to master.” Luna stated.
“Could you teach me?” I asked her hoping she would say yes.
“Maybe another day.” It was then that Trixie let out a yawn. “Well it seems we are done for the night.”
“What how come?” I asked a bit sad at the prospect of the lesson ending.
“Well I have my royal duties to attend to, and Trixie has dreams to catch up on.” It was then I saw that Trixie was on the verge of falling asleep where she stood. “I shall teleport you two back to your room.”
It was then Trixie decided to fall asleep as I held onto her for the teleportation. I then looked up at Luna once I saw that Trixie was asleep. “Hey Luna come visit me tonight I need to talk to you about something.” She then gave me a nod of understanding as she teleported Trixie and I to our room.
After managing to right myself from the teleportation. I then shifted Trixie so she was cradled in my arms as I carried her up to her bed. After removing her cape and hat I tucked her into her bed. I then decided to go have a quick shower before heading off to bed. Before I hopped into bed I decided to take my gloves off as I had kept them on since the wedding. After a few moments I finally fell into the land of the sleeping.
When I awoke I shifted my dreamscape so that I was sitting on top of the hill that I usually sat on whenever one of the princesses visited me in my sleep, I made one final change to the picnic before Luna arrived.
“Hello there Ryan, why is it that whenever me or my sister visit you always have a picnic set up?” She asked as she took her seat next to me on the picnic blanket.
“Well first of all I like to have picnics with my friends. Second of all the picnic has changed since you last visited.” I said gesturing to the picnic spread.
“What hast changed then?” Luna asked raising an eyebrow in confusion.
“Well at dinner you asked for moonflower tea, so I thought I’d dream up some for you.” I said gesturing to the tea set on the picnic blanket.
“How thoughtful. Thank you Ryan.” She said as she took a sip from her tea. Her face lighting up as she swallowed her sip of tea. “It tastes like the actual thing.”
“Of course it does. You sound surprised.” I asked wondering how it wouldn’t of tasted like the real thing.
“Well usually it doesn’t taste like the real thing, usually it is more artificial tasting when some-pony dreams of a food or drink they wish to consume.” She explained.
“Well maybe ponies just don’t dream about them tasting like the real thing.” I stated she then gave a look of thought towards me, before giving me a nod of understanding. “Anyway let’s get down to what I needed to talk to you about.” I then turned my head so I was looking her in the eyes. “Luna I want you to be honest with your answer.” She then gave me a nod. “Okay good. Now my question is why did you recommend that Shining do what Moonlight does during her free training time?”
“You really want to know.” I then gave her a nod. “Alright then. The reason why I did it is because I wanted to punish him for hitting you with a stun spell during the wedding.”
“Wait you punished him just because he hit me with a stun spell.” I asked to make sure I wasn’t imagining things.
“Yes I did, I know it sounds ridiculous and that it sounds un-princess like. If your ashamed with me for acting upon my feelings, I would not be surprised.” She said looking down at her fore-hooves, a look of sadness adorning her muzzle.
I then pulled Luna into a hug. After pulling away from the hug she gave me a look of confusion. “Luna I’m not disappointed in you.”
“Why not? I acted upon my feelings without thinking first.” She said still giving me the look of confusion.
“Yes you did and I am slightly disappointed you acted without thinking first. But the reason why I thank you for doing that is because it shows how great of a friend you are.” I then let out a sad sigh as few memories surfaced. “Y’know Luna back on earth I had friends that were really good, but they would never do what you did, I guess that just shows how better than them you are.” I said looking at her with a small smile.
“You think me better than your friends on earth?” I gave her a nod in response. “Thank you Ryan.” She said pulling me into a hug, unlike her previous hugs she decided to wrap me in her wings. I then felt something wet on my shoulder where her head was resting.
“Luna are you okay?” I asked wondering why she was crying. She then let me separate the hug. I then looked at her to see that she was wiping a few stray tears away.
“Yes I am fine thank you for worrying, I am just shedding tears of happiness at the thought of you telling me that I am a better friend than your friends on earth.”
“Well then your welcome, as long as you aren’t sad.” I said looking at her as the tears subsided.
“I am sorry Ryan but I must be off. It hast been a pleasure as always.” She said whilst she hopped of the blanket.
“Not a problem Luna, and don’t forget you can visit me anytime you want to.” I said as she gave me a wave goodbye and then she was gone. After a few moments looking at the place where she had been floating I could feel myself waking up. “Wonder what today will hold in store for me?” I asked myself.
“Urgh.” I groaned as I slowly woke up from my sleep. As I slowly opened my eyes I saw that I wasn’t alone in my room, standing next to my bed looking at me was Cadance. “Cadance, how long have you been standing there.” I asked slightly frustrated at Cadance for interrupting my normal routine for waking up.
“Only a few minutes.” She admitted, a look of guilt on her face. “I woke you up didn’t I?”
“No you didn’t. Anyway why are you here?” I asked giving her a smile to calm her down.
“Well Auntie Celestia, wanted to see if you wanted to learn any spells today under her guidance, and I wanted to see how that would work.” She admitted.
“Okay, well why are you here watching me sleep then?” I asked genuinely wondering why she was watching me sleep.
“Well Auntie Celestia sent me to get you and take her back to the throne room so you could talk to her.” She said giving me a smile hoping that her answer was good enough.
“Well seems like I have a fun day ahead of me.” I said giving Cadance a grin. “Hey Cadance can you go wait upstairs while I get changed.” I said a sheepish smile on my face.
“Oh yeah sure thing Ryan.” She said as she walked up the stairs out of my room, as she reached hallway up the stairs I could have sworn I saw a slight blush on her face.
After getting changed into some fresh clothes, I joined Cadance, on the first floor. “So where did you say we were going Cadance?”
“Well we’re heading off to the throne room.” She said as she walked towards the door. She then stopped noticing that I wasn’t at her side. “Ryan are you alright?”
“Hmm? Oh sorry Cadance just got lost thinking about what I should ask Celestia to teach me.” I admitted as I joined her next to the door. I then gave her a small bow. “If you could lead the way Princess.” I said in a slightly posh accent.
“Why of course.” Cadance said in her own posh accent. We then headed out towards the throne room. “How about we save the walking and I just teleport us there.” Cadance said once we left the room.
“Sure thi…” I didn’t get the opportunity to finish my sentence as I found myself surrounded by a blinding light blue light, once the light was gone from my vision I found myself collapsing onto a red rug as I tried to get my vision to stop spinning.
After a few moments making sure that my vision wasn’t spinning anymore and I wasn’t on the verge of losing last night’s dinner, I looked up to see Celestia, walking towards me from her place on her throne.
“Ryan are you alright?” She asked a look of worry on her face when she got close enough to me.
“Yeah I’m fine.” I then looked behind me to see a worried Cadance. “Hey Cadance, just to let you know for future reference try to give me a heads up before teleporting.”
“Sure thing I’ll put that to memory.” She then gave me a helping han… hoof to get up.
I then turned my view from Cadance to Celestia. “So Tia, what did you want to do today?” I asked giving her a grin.
“Well what sort spells do you wish to learn?”
“Well I was thinking along the lines of fire balls.” I said as I realized something important. “Wait a minute don’t you have day-court; how will you be able to teach me.”
“Well I don’t have day-court on Sundays. As for what sort of spells you wish to learn I have an idea.” She looked past me at Cadance. “We’re going to have to pay Shining a visit. He is at the barracks correct?”
“Yeah he is.” Cadance said.
“Well then let’s go to the barracks.” Celestia said as she led us to the door of the throne room. She then stopped and turned to look at me. “Just a heads up Ryan, I’m going to teleport us there.” I gave her a nod in understanding before my vision was filled with a yellow flash.
After making sure my stomach was still inside of me I opened my eyes to see that Celestia had teleported us outside to the day guard’s barracks.
“Good morning Captain Armor, I hope our arrival hasn’t interrupted anything.” Celestia asked Shining who by the looks of it hadn’t been fazed by our sudden arrival.
“Of course not Princess Celestia.” He then turned his gaze to Cadance. “Especially when your niece appears as well.” Shining said causing Cadance to wear a small blush.
“Well it’s good to see you too Shiny.” Cadance said whilst giving Shining a small kiss. This caused a few guards who Shining had been talking to before we arrived to let out a few giggles.
As soon as Cadance broke the kiss Shining turned to look at the guards who had managed to stifle their giggles. “Anything funny gents? Because if something is, please speak up.” He said glaring at the guards.
It was then one of the guards broke out into a fit of laughter. He then fell to his side as his helmet fell off his head revealing his mane to be a light green mess of hair. As he picked himself up off the ground he spoke up. “Nothing’s the matter Captain Shiny.” He said barely managing to contain a second fit of laughter.
“Okay then.” He then placed a hoof on his chin in thought. “Well guess what you get cleaning duty of the barracks for the next week.” Shining stated.
The guard then gave a salute. “Yes sir.”
Shining then turned to the other guards. “You’re all dismissed.” He barked at them, the next instant all of the guards were leaving to go about their duties all except the one who had burst into a fit of laughter. As Shining went to talk to the princesses I decided to talk to the box of laughter.
As I got closer I saw that he was a pegasus, he still had his helmet off at his hooves as he looked to see me approach. “Hey there wanna here a joke?” He asked me.
“Sure thing. Been a while since I’ve heard a good joke.” I said hoping his joke would be good and not something corny.
“Okay, Knock Knock.”
“Who’s there?”
“Nobel.”
“Nobel who?”
“No bell, so I knocked.” He said as he caused me to let out a short laugh. He then held out a hoof towards me, after taking it in my grasp, I found out that he had a joy zapper attached to his hoof which gave me one heck of a shock.
After letting go of his hoof he then fell into a fit of laughter. “So if I may ask what would the name of the prankster pegasus standing in front of me?”
After he calmed down he stood up holding a hoof out to me. I then decided to inspect his hoof before gripping it. “Name’s Joker.” He said whilst shaking my hand. “And what would the name of the human be?”
“Joker eh, good name. By the way the name’s Ryan.” I said once I released his hoof from my grasp.
“Yep Joker’s the name, playing pranks is my game.” He said whilst hovering a few feet off the ground striking a pose. He then placed himself back on the ground when he and I saw Celestia approach. “Princess Celestia.” He greeted her giving her a bow of respect.
“Good to see you again Joker, how’s life been treating you?” Celestia asked as he rose from his bow.
“Well it has it’s ups and downs, but I always keep a smile on my face. How’s your sister been I haven’t heard from her in quite while.”
“She’s going quite well.” Celestia then shifted her gaze to me. “Ryan, Joker here is the one that taught Luna about pranks and other practical jokes.”
“Guilty as charged.” Joker giving a slight chuckle. “So Ryan has Luna unleashed any pranks on you yet?”
“A few.” I admitted as he gave a slight smirk.
It was at that time Shining and Cadance joined us. “Joker I thought you had some cleaning to attend to.” Shining said as he joined our little group.
“Got it Captain Shiny.” Joker said. Before Shining could give a rebuke Joker was gone, al that was left was a pegasus shaped white cloud of dust.
“Shiny calm down.” Cadance said giving Shining a hug to calm him down.
“Captain Armor, if you could can you please lead us to the spell firing range.” Celestia said.
“Of course, if you will follow me.” Shining said as he led us to a small firing range.
He led us behind a small fence that was at one end of the firing range, at the other end multiple targets were set up. When we approached the fence we found we weren’t the only ones on the firing range.
“Hello Fire.” Shining said greeting Fire Wand as he took a few shots at the targets.
“Hello Captain Armor, Princesses, Ryan.” He greeted us.
“Hello to you too Fire.” Celestia said as she walked up beside Fire. “You don’t mind doing a favor for me do you?”
“Of course not Princess. What would the favor be?” Fire asked looking up at Celestia.
“Well correct me if I’m wrong, but out of all my guard you specialize mainly in fire related spells correct.” Fire gave her a nod in response. “Well Ryan here wishes to learn how to cast spells such as fire balls, and I thought you would be able to teach him.”
“It would be my pleasure Princess.” Fire then turned his gaze to me. “So Ryan, what sort of spells do you know?”
“I know basic levitation and also how to make illusionary fire.” I said as he nodded in thought.
“Okay then well to cast a fireball all you have to do is imagine a ball of fire in your hand, the key is you have to imagine it as real fire instead of illusionary fire.” He said as I closed my eyes in concentration.
After a few moments I opened my eyes to see the ball of fire floating above my outstretched hand. “Good work now you’re going to throw that fireball at one of those targets.” He said gesturing from the fireball to the targets.
I then closed one of my eyes and aimed my fireball at the closest target, after a few seconds to make sure I had the shot lined up I threw the fireball at the target. After hearing what sounded like a small explosion I looked up to see the closest target on fire.
“Good work Ryan, quite surprised that you got it on the first try.” He then turned to the others. “How would you rate that Princess?”
I followed his gaze and saw that Shining had erected a small shield around himself and the princesses. “Really Shining, was the shield necessary?” I asked as he lowered the shield.
“Didn’t want to take any chances.” Shining said as Celestia looked past us at the target.
“I’d have to say that was a pretty good shot Ryan. Excellent for your first try.” She then looked up to the sky. “Ryan how do you feel about staying here with Fire.”
“I fell fine with doing that Celestia, how come?”
“Well unfortunately I have to go sign a few documents. But I’m sure Cadance and Shining will be able to stay and monitor your progress.” She said looking to the royal couple.
“Unfortunately I have a few more things to do around the barracks.” Shining said.
“Well I’ll stay here with you and Fire.” Cadance said to me before turning to Shining and gave him a kiss. “Goodbye Shiny, see you later.” She said as he followed Celestia away from the firing range.
“So anyway where were we Fire?” I said turning back to him.
“Simple I was going to tell you how to control the explosiveness of a fireball. So that we don’t end up scaring the castle into a panic with all of the explosions.” He said a slight grin on his face.