An Optimist and a Pessimist argue in front of Celestia

by ArtichokeLust

Magic

Ignoring Robert, Fujiwara jumped up, "Wait, did you say school? For gifted unicorns?" His eyes were filled with hope.

"Why yes," Celestia smiled, "I did."

Celestia stepped out of her throne room with Fujiwara and Robert beside her. A couple passing guard ponies looked over at the noise, then looked back, since it would obviously be Princess Celestia, and they weren't required to bow. Then they looked back, noticing the two humans...

Celestia turned left, leading Robert and Fuji.

"W-" Fuji started, "Back there, did you say you were immortal?"

"That is correct." Celestia nodded.

The group walked in silence down the white halls. Celestia in a somewhat bored calm, and Fuji and Robert in confusion and disbelief.

"How?" Robert asked.

"Hmm..." Celestia tilted her head while walking. "I suppose it's like preening. I occasionally scan my body with my magic and remove impurities."

"That's all it takes to be immortal?" Robert raised an eyebrow.

Celestia paused to open a large pair of doors. "Yes."

"Why don't you share this with other ponies?" Fujiwara asked.

"I cant," Celestia frowned, "Only me and my sister have the amount of control required to act on such a scan. If any other pony tried to imitate my methods, they could end up tearing their own body apart."

Robert cringed. That information didn't mix well with the serene plants and white marble around them.

Fuji smiled, "You mentioned your sister earlier. Where is she?"

Celestia cringed, and slowed down a bit, pausing to look off the side of a bridge. After taking in the beautiful scene, she finally smiled, still staring off the bridge, "My sister was always the more active one. I usually preferred to have a pre-made strategy with me to keep me safe, but my sister just trotted right in to whatever problem we had head first, and made her strategy on the spot. The reason she practiced dream walking so often was solely to act as a guardian angel to all the ponies she could, and fix their problems. It was the fastest, and most personal method possible."

Celestia looked back at the two humans who hadn't interrupted her. They seemed like they were listening, but she wasn't really sure if she cared either way. "Of course, there were times where we had to act physically, where a ponies mind simply could not be changed. It was actually Luna's idea to create the special ops of legend. It was her who fulfilled the most important parts of defeating Discord, and of saving Equestria numerous times from," She giggled, "various enemies. Inflation was a rather tough, but silly one."

Celestia paused for a while, continuing down the marble road in silence.

"And then there was Sombra." She closed her eyes and frowned. "He should have been just another prankster like Discord, with no followers. But somehow he managed to control an entire empire. He should have been just another foal..."

"Uh," Fuji shifted uncomfortably, noticing the change in Celestia's tone, "You don't have to talk about this if you don't want to." He didn't like sad stories.

Robert squinted at Fujiwara, "That kind of contradicts what we said earlier about absolute truth."

"Come on!" Fuji threw is arms out, "This is obviously personal!"

"Usually the most important truths are," Robert stared back at him.

Celestia continued suddenly, as if she weren't even listening to the two, "There was no way we could defeat him normally. Even with two against one, we were the rulers of a peaceful nation, and we were fighting against a conqueror. Our first battle did not go as planned; Sombra was far stronger in offensive and dark magic than we could have imagined. I ended up wounded, left outside the city, while Luna was left inside the city. Normally, she would have fought Sombra head on, but she was just defeated that way. She must have... She had to have... Sombra would had to have kept countless books on any magic he developed or studied. She must have learned from me, and gathered as much information as possible before hand."

Celestia paused to open another large set of double doors. "She managed to move through the corrupt barrier, and we were finally able to banish him with the help of Luna's studies in dark magic. But in banishing Sombra, we banished the whole city as well. The entire city now stays in limbo with him."

Celestia turned right, down a hall of marble that looked exactly like the last one, "Worse, my sister continued studying dark magic. At first, it was just to find a better solution to the issue of Sombra and his empire, then, it was curiosity, and later, insanity."

Celestia swallowed, "She came to me later, screaming something about how there could be no good without evil to juxtapose. No great love without great tragedy. No solutions without problems first. She may have been- No, she was probably right." Celestia sighed, "But if some ponies have to suffer tragedies for the average happiness to improve... I cannot allow it. I trusted her to keep any "maladies" to a tolerable minimum, but she broke that trust..."

"Finally came the time where we fought. We both agreed on the old castle where we grew up, as it was the most personal location possible for both of us. And of course I wasn't ready, so I imagined my old sister by my side, giving me orders when my plans fell out like old times. Eventually, I remembered the elements of harmony, and wielded them against my sister. Before I realized what I was doing, I banished my- I made my sister part of the moon for a thousand years..."

A few sniffles could be heard.

Robert stared into space with a bemused expression for a while, "...You what?"

"I banished my sister to the moon," Celestia replied, seriously, "for a thousand years."

Robert stood still with his mouth agape for a few seconds before rushing to rejoin the group, "I'm sorry, if I wasn't in another dimension, I wouldn't believe that story for one second. That said... Why would you banish your own sister to the moon?"

There was the sound of whimpering coming from somewhere, but as far as Robert could tell, it wasn't coming from Celestia.

"She was going to kill," Celestia replied in the same nonchalant tone while stepping into the Canterlot library. "I mean, I didn't have any proof, but I could no longer trust her either."

If Robert or Fuji were listening intently, they might have noticed doubt in her voice. But they were caught off guard by a purple filly at a reading table waving enthusiastically at them while quietly repeating, "Hey, Princess!"

Celestia looked up, trying to see what the commotion was, she smiled wryly when she noticed it was her smartassest student. This was perfect! Now she could just dump the humans onto her! "Yes, Twilight?"

"I just finished reading this book 'Theoretical limitations of magic', it had a section on the elements of harmony! If their existence is true like you say, academia will have to rethink everything when it comes to love magic!" Twilight grinned at the idea of academia having to rethink everything because of something she was researching.

"That's great Twilight," Celestia dismissed, making Twilight flinch and grind her teeth, "Oh," Celestia looked back at the humans following her, Robert was looking down, still confused, but Fujiwara was openly crying. Celestia looked back at Twilight, "I have to teach a class, would you mind keeping these two ambassadors company while I do so?"

"Ambassadors?" Twilight repeated, "To what race? And why is one of them crying?"

Celestia looked back, surprised that one of the humans was really crying, though she didn't show it.

Fujiwara finally gave out, falling to the ground while clutching his chest, making a loud thumping noise.

Robert couldn't help it anymore. First he let out a stifled giggle, then a small chuckle.

Ignoring the humans, Celestia stepped forward, clearing her throat, "If you can't handle them, just have..." She looked across the table from Twilight, noticing the purple dragon snoring in a puddle of his own saliva. "Just have spike send me a letter, and I'll deal with them."

Twilight smiled and nodded.

Satisfied, Celestia was about to turn away when she was suddenly engulfed in a pair of fuzzy purple hooves. She couldn't help but smile at the embrace that she desperately needed. Once it was over, she looked down at her student, confused.

Twilight grinned, "I've been your student for most of my life now. I think I should be able to tell when something's bothering you."

Celestia smiled warmly, wondering how this was the same pony who had critiqued almost all of her methods earlier. "Thanks."

Twilight, smiled for a while, then noticed the one "ambassador" poking the other crying "ambassador", who was now in a mix of extreme sadness and rage, with his foot. "Seriously," Twilight furrowed her brow and pointed, "What are those things? I've never seen them before."

Celestia shrugged, "They're a newly discovered race." Then she turned and walked off, trying to hide her smile.

Twilight gaped at the two humans for a long, silent moment. She finally snapped out of her stupor once she noticed her book was in danger of being swallowed by Spike's growing saliva puddle. But once she was out of it, she threw the book off to the side and leapt off the table, slammed into the floor, then ran towards a stand containing ink, quills, and blank scrolls.

Spike woke up at the sound of Twilight slamming against the floor and scrambling about. He was about to go back to sleep once he saw her, but he noticed the saliva puddle, and decided it would be better to find somewhere else to sleep. Then he noticed the humans.

"Woah!" He hopped off the chair and looked up at Robert, "Are you two..." He looked down at Fuji who was now picking himself up off the floor, "dragons?"

"No." Robert didn't really know how else to respond.

"Salamanders?" Spike tilted his head.

"Uh, no." Rob repeated.

"Hmm..." Spike was almost out of guesses, "Giant lemurs?" he shrugged.

Robert looked off, "I don't think so," He shrugged, "What's a Lemur?"

"Actually," Fuji finally stood up, "That's pretty close."

"Really?" Spike beamed hopefully.

Robert looked at Fuji, "How do you know a word that I do-"

*BAM*

The shell shocked humans stared down at the stupefied purple mare, gleaming up at them with twitching eyes, "Aovnapepoafecasecfakdcnhkasjganuevaweur..." The mare screamed while foaming at the mouth.

Off in the distance, Celestia allowed herself a small victory laugh before opening the door to her class. She knew nothing could escape Twilight once she was interested enough.

Robert and Fuji slowly backed away from the mare and her now expressionless gaze and foaming mouth... and her impossibly widened pupils. But stopped when Twilight fell over like a tipped cow.

"Uh... Twilight?" Spike picked himself up and walked over to her, "Are you okay?"

Twilight picked herself up, "Aaugh..." she rubbed her head and coughed the foam out of her mouth, "I think that last spell is still effecting me... Could you find me a book for communicating with foreign ambassadors?"

"Sure thing Twilight." Spike rushed off.

"...What just happened?" Robert spoke up.

"Never use a memory spell on yourself..." Twilight answered.

They stood there in silence, waiting for Spike to fetch the book. Luckily Spike found the book quickly.

Twilight gestured for the group to follow, and led everyone to the louder section of the library, meant for group study.

There were a few other unicorns who glanced or stared at the strange combination of species for a while, but eventually they shrugged and went back to their work. Apparently different species weren't too out of the ordinary, or they really were just that involved in their studies.

Twilight politely gestured for everyone to sit down, but Spike was already at the table.

He cleared his throat while the others sat down, "Hello, ambassadors of the giant lemur ra-"

"Human" Fuji interrupted.

Spike stared for a second, "giant human ra-"

"Just Human" Robert interrupted.

Spike cleared his throat again, " Human, race. I am known as Spike, messenger dragon for the princess." He bowed lightly, "And this is Twilight, my assistant." She rolled her eyes. Spike held out his paw.

Robert reached out and shook, then shrugged to himself, why not? "I'm Robert, an," He thought about competing with the dragon in impressive titles, but thought better of it. He never bragged about it before, so why start now? "an automobile repair man."

Spike ignored the fact that he had no idea what an "automobile repair man" was, and moved his paw towards Fuji, who grasped it and shook similarly. "I'm Fujiwara Kaito, a graduate student at Tokyo University, or Todai. I'm majoring in applied mathematics, and I was thinking of applying that major towards the field of cybernetics"

Everyone stared at Fuji blankly, except Twilight, who beamed.

Uh oh, Spike thought, He said university...

"I've never heard of those fields before!" Twilight said with joy.

Fuji sat back, deflated.

"This means you're not only a new species, you have whole fields of study never heard about before!" She grinned almost madly, "Tell me more about applied mathematics and cybernetics!"

Fuji opened his mouth, about to let out thousands of pounds of information on Twilight, until Robert stopped him.

"No you don't," He said, "We're going by the book on this one."

For once Spike agreed.

Twilight reluctantly agreed, and opened the book to a list of questions to be asked upon first meeting foreign ambassadors.

"What can be traded between nations?" She read word for word.

"Uh, Twilight?" Spike looks at her, unsure, "I don't think you're supposed to read it word for word."

"Come one Spike." Twilight smiled and pointed, "Why else would they be written in this nice list."

Spike sighed.

"Actually," Rob spoke up, "Trade isn't possible," He looked down at the saddened Twilight and the confused Spike. "Celestia brought us here," he continued, "so we would have to wait until she finds a way to send us back."

Twilight looked back down at the book. Next on the list was aid, which also had to be skipped since they couldn't travel back. Diplomacy and treaties were skipped as well... Then she got to culture and magic. Of course, Twilight had to ask about magic first.

"Humans don't have any magic," Fuji answered, "we have technology."

Twilight stared back at him blankly, then beamed again. "You don't have magic?"

"...Yes." Fuji leaned back away from the crazed mare.

"Spike!" Twilight lifted up the dragon with her magic, causing the two humans to back away again, "These are the first sentient, non-magical beings ever found in Equus!" She hugged her assistant, "Oh," She giggled, "I have to confirm it." She grinned dumbly for a while, "Okay... Okay Twilight," She breathed in, then out, "Calm down..."

Twilight stepped back on the table and stared directly into Fujiwara's eyes. "You... Fujiwara Kaito," She blinked, "Try gathering magi- energy from the surrounding area into your hoo-" She looked at Fuji, then at spike, "feet, and then releasing it from your hands." She looked at him, and seeing only a confused look, she continued, "It helps to imagine the area surrounding you, then, well, feeling all of the energy in that scene move into you."

Fuji shrugged, then tried it. Nothing happened.

Now bored, Robert decided to start up a conversation with Spike. "You two seem kind of close," He started, "Is she your sister somehow?" He asked, "I mean, I don't pretend to know how biology works on this planet, but..."

"I'm not sure, actually." Spike sighed, suddenly thoughtful, "I know I'm not related by blood, but I don't know what I should really consider her." He looked at the frustrated Twilight thoughtfully, watching as she failed again and again to get Fujiwara to understand magic, "At the entrance exam to Canterlot's school for gifted unicorns, she hatched me from my egg. But I know I came from Dragons, not ponies. And while it's nice hanging out with Twilight's family and the Princess, I wish I knew more about my real family..."

"Huh," Robert thought for a second about how Dragons might attempt to devour their young, like he heard dinosaurs did once on the discovery channel, but he held that thought, "Well I hope you find out more too... "

Spike looked down, "...What about your family?" He looked back up at Rob.

"Well," Rob sat back and breathed out, "First there's my parents. My dad was a pretty cool guy. He taught me almost everything I know today. I mean, there was school, but it never really seemed to teach important things. And then there's my mom," He shrugged, "I think the only way to describe her is "crazy". I mean, she wasn't bad or anything, it's just... you never knew what to expect with her. One moment she could be could be listening to you calmly and knowingly, and the next she would bring up some barely believable story that you've never heard before, and somehow relate it to your story. And then she'd leave... That always confused me..."

Spike raised an eyebrow, "That would confuse me too."

"She was impulsive too..." Robert decided to give up describing her, " And then there's my brothers and sisters," Robert started, but was interrupted by an earthquake.

"Woah!" Spike fell off of his chair.

Fujiwara visualized the surrounding library, then the halls and the rest of the castle, and then the rest of Canterlot. Suddenly, he felt something foreign in his vision. Like Twilight repeatedly told him, he tried to grab hold of that something with his mind and pull it into him. For some reason, he found this surprisingly easy, perhaps it was because of his studies in mathematics that helped him visualize things. But suddenly, the entire city of Canterlot felt as if its colors were slowly draining out of it.

"Oh no!" Twilight yelled, "Release the magic! RELEASE THE MAGIC!"

But Fujiwara couldn't hear her, the only sensation that he could feel now was the overwhelming power that was consuming him.

Thinking quickly, Twilight concentrated and fired a sleeping spell at Fuji, knocking him out before he could do any more harm to himself. She rushed over as he fell to the ground and started absorbing some of the magic he gathered with her horn, flinching when the concentrated magic almost burned her, but still managing to channel it back into Equus.

She looked down at Fuji's singed, unconscious body. "I'm sorry!" she held his shoulders, eyes wide with panic as she continued draining his magic, "I'm so sorry!"

Author's Note:

This is probably a bit more serious than the previous chapters, and I didn't post for a while because I was sick with the flu, pneumonia, demonic possession, etc.

Anyway, I've made a rough draft connecting this story all the way to the first episode, so I'll just flesh that out. And I probably won't have regular updates anymore, since I can't seem to stick to them. I'll just update whenever I feel like writing.

Comments

[Raistlin]

3213156

If Earth Ponies didn´t have any magic at all, they wouldn´t get Cutie Marks either.

[Mother3Forever]

...Did...did he Shift the Tectonic Plates!?

[IkioStar]

Well...Shit just got real...Interesting way to discover how humanity reacts around magic.

[ArtichokeLust]

3435335

I don't think so, I can't even imagine the amount of power that would take, but it could have happened... Honestly I was thinking of something similar to Twilight's power surge when she was a filly, but with slight differences since humans would be new to magic.

[Xzaves]

3435335 THE POWER OF MAGNETS