The Unity Pact Side Stories: The Teacher And The Pupil

by Truthseeker

Chapter 1: Awkward First Day

The morning was young, a full hour before sunrise. The stars twinkled brightly overhead and the entire sky, from one horizon to the other was clear as crystal. The moon was half full, waxing towards its brightest, but not yet having achieved such a goal.

Princess Luna appeared on the roof of the Town Hall of New Humansville in a flash of light. The space had been recently declared as 'safe zone' for teleporting and she had taken advantage of it. She shook out her mane to the accompanying tinkling of hundreds of tiny silver bells. The lunar Alicorn scowled at the sound, 'I sound more like a pet than a Princess.' she thought irritably, 'But this is what must be until he says otherwise.'

The source of her sour thoughts was the silver choker around her neck. It spanned the entire length of her neck from an inch below her jaw to her shoulders. It was made entirely of thousands of tine chain links, each and every link attached to a tiny silver bell. Luna despised the device. She had to wear the choker until told otherwise. Her thoughts briefly drifted to the cause of her dilemma. More than half a year ago, Humans suddenly appeared in Equestria. It would have been a smaller matter if it had been only a few, or even a few dozen, but no it had to be a couple of hundred of them. Not only did Luna and Celestia have to find a place for their new arrivals to live, and learn a common language, they also had to educate the Humans on magic. The Humans initially vomited up magic in a physical form, a golden glowing liquid. Their bodies bad no way to process Thamaturgic Energy, but over the course of several months they had developed that wonderful organ which allowed all life to utilize magic: the screfula. Luna had requested volunteers from The School For Gifted Unicorns to come to New Humansville and use their skills and experience to test each Human and provide magical instruction. The problem came with the testing. Humans, instead of having access to every Noun and Verb in magic like Unicorns, had only a few Nouns and Verbs available to them, but the ones they did have were much, much stronger. One of those Humans was Chris Vacca. He had been gifted with with terribly powerful magic.

Unicorns measured magical power by orders of magnitude. The difference between a power of 1 and a power of 2 was the difference between a candle and a bonfire. The difference between a 2 and a 3 was the difference between a boulder and a mountain, and the difference between a 9 and a 10 was a sneeze as compared to a supernova. Most average Unicorns were only at a level of 1, Unicorn members of the Guard were generally a 2. Luna and Celestia were both a 9 in every Noun and Verb. Chris Vacca was discovered to have a 10 in the Noun of Space.

Through a series of poor choices on Luna's part, Chris had been abducted and all but enslaved. Her sister has intervened and Chris had been freed, but Luna had to suffer the punishment. Since Chris was the victim, he was the one to decide her punishment. He decided that Luna had to wear a choker which he would design and she would pay for. She would wear the collar until he said otherwise or until he passed away. That was one half of the punishment. However Chris, upon discovering how powerful he was, also mandated that since Luna was so concerned about him being dangerous, she should tutor him personally until she deemed him safe.

Thus Luna found herself standing on the roof of the Town Hall of New Humansville. She peered around the rooftop, 'Where is he? I would have expected him to be waiting for me up here.' she fluffed out her wings in irritation, 'I am not in the habit of being kept waiting...' she sighed, 'Calm yourself Luna, tis not the time to be berating your very first student. We must appear poised, calm, and in control. After all, twas your own haste which landed you in such a predicament in the first place.'

Her inner musings distracted enough that she failed to see the stout young man emerge out onto the roof and walk up to her,
"Hey Luna!" Chris greeted cheerfully.

"GAH!" Luna yelled in surprise, wings flaring out instinctively.

Chris stepped back and held up his hands, chuckling quietly,
"Woah, take it easy. I didn't mean to startle you."

Luna tried to slow down her breathing as she wrestled her wings back to her sides,
"Thou... you'" she corrected quickly, "You gave me a start Christopher."

Chris lowered his hands,
"Ooh, sorry about that. I would have thought you heard me." he smiled smugly and crossed his arms, "Guess those bells are a bit of a distraction huh?"

Luna regained her composure and settled her gaze on him coolly,
"Twas not the fault of the bells. I was, as you Humans say, 'Contemplating my belly button'."

Chris dropped his arms back to his sides,
"The term you're looking for is, 'Naval Gazing'. Although there's no denying that your own version does sound more cultured."

Luna didn't know whether to feel insulted or gratified so she settled on business,
"Are you prepared to depart for your first lesson?"

Chris shrugged his shoulders,
"Sure. We are going to take a break for breakfast though, right?"

"Of course," Luna scoffed, "How else do you intend to restore the Thamaturgic Energy in your body quickly enough to follow through the entire session? Now, concerning the training, I do follow the old Unicorn way of eating, so the food will be raw vegetables and grains and water or juice. If you are ready to depart, place your hand on my back and I will take us to my chambers."

Chris smiled mischievously as he walked over and rested his open palm on her back,
"In your room. Together and alone... with nobody else around... who knows what could happen." he finished his suggestive remark with a wiggle of his eyebrows.

Luna frowned at his tone,
"The only thing to happen will be the start of your education..." her horn lit up and teleported the two of them to the Royal Palace.

Chris doubled over feeling queasy and trying not to vomit as Luna stepped away from him and smiled,
"... I assure you."

Luna stepped over to her ebony desk and levitated out a quill and parchment,
"When you feel ready to begin, let me know. Until then, I shall be working."

Chris looked up at the lunar Alicorn and furrowed his eyebrows as his stomach settled,
"I can listen just fine from here."

Luna looked up from her desk and Chris continued,
"I figure we're going to begin with a few explanations so listening is something I can do."

Luna smiled inwardly at the tenacity of her first pupil but outwardly she kept up her neutral expression,
"Very well." she set down her quill and capped the ink vial, "Let us begin with what magic is and how it works. I am aware that you've attended the first few classes the Arch Magister has lectured and I wish to know what you've learned."

Chris wobbled over a couple of steps and sat down on the stone floor leaning against Luna's huge plush bed,
"First off, Catalyst..." he was cut off by Luna.

"Arch Magister Catalyst. She has earned the title and I'll thank you to use it." Luna said primly.

Chris rolled his eyes,
"Anyway Catalyst," he said, intentionally not using the Arch Magister's title, "Explained that magic isn't even the proper name for it. The right term is Thamaturgic Energy. She explained that Thamaturgic Energy saturates everything around us: plants, animals, air, water, dirt..." he balled up his fist and knocked on the floor, "Stone, everything. We take it in when we breathe or eat and so forth and our screfula filters it out of our blood and changes it into a usable form then puts it back into our blood. It then pools and collects in the different locations that we use for casting spells. For Unicorns, it's their horn. For Pegasi, it's their wings or eyes and for Earth Ponies, it's their muscles, bones, and minds. For us Humans, she said it pooled in our hands, feet, and faces. I specifically remember when she tested me, Catalyst said it was only in my hands." Chris nodded, looming very pleased with himself, "I paid extra attention to her lectures."

Luna's face never even twitched,
"So far," she slipped out from behind her desk, "You have told me what any foal knows after only a single week of school. Then again, your species doesn't even have magic naturally, so ignorance is to be expected." she slowly walked toward Chris, "That is exactly why we are here. To educate you."

Chris scowled,
"You don't need to talk down to me. I'm not an idiot."

Luna stopped and quirked an eyebrow,
"I never intended to offer you insult Christopher. I was merely stating why we are here."

Chris snorted and turned his head away,
"Yeah right." he turned back and met Luna's eyes, "I already knew all that and you knew that I was aware. That being the case, the only reason you have to reiterate, is to, 'put me in my place'. You don't need to lord your knowledge over me Luna. You're the teacher and I'm the student, I know that already. I'm here to learn what you know but if you want to stand there all day and call me an ignoramus in so many words, we aren't going to get much done."

Luna schooled her face into neutrality, but in her mind, she was deeply unsettled by the man's direct words, 'Did I do that?' she wondered, 'Oh dear, I did, didn't I. It seems I still have more than a few bad habits to break.'

Luna lowered her head slightly,
"I apologize Christopher. I seem to have experienced a... lapse in etiquette. I do not look down upon you for your lack of knowledge, believe me." she raised her head back up and began pacing, "Back to the lesson. What you understand thus far is correct. Now, do you know why dedicated Unicorns eat only raw foods and drink water or juice?"

Chris pursed his lips,
"You mentioned that it was the fastest way to get more Thamaturgic Energy back into your body so... I'm guessing that the process of cooking kind of, maybe 'burns' some of the magic out of the food?"

Luna nodded,
"A logical answer. You are correct, once anything is removed from its natural environment the Thamaturgic Energy within it begins to... evaporate, so to speak. When fruit is picked off the vine, bush, or tree it slowly begins 'dying' magically. Any act of alteration to the object also reduces its Thamaturgic Value. Thus once fruit is cut up or peeled or cored, it looses a great deal of the Thamaturgic Energy contained within." she stopped pacing back and forth and turned her head to her adult pupil, "That being said, let us order breakfast. It will take time for the servants to go and pick the fruit, vegetables, and grains."

Chris cocked his head,
"You just said that altering the food reduces the Thamaturgic Value, but you also mentioned juice. Wouldn't juicing reduce the Thamaturgic Value too?"

Luna walked toward the double doors of her room,
"It does indeed, however I adore juice."

Chris groaned as he pushed himself into a standing position and followed Luna to the door, listening as she spoke to a servant mare,
"This morn, we wish for two ears of corn, a tomato, five stalks of celery, one eighth of a stone of wheat grains, and three apricots. All food shall be plucked straight from the plants. We also wish for freshly made grapefruit juice."

Chris scratched his head,
"I'll take a bunch of grapes, a bowl of peanuts, a handful of cherry tomatoes, two oranges, and a couple of bananas. Ooh, and a big cup of coffee." Luna turned her head and frowned at his last choice, Chris just shrugged, "Sorry, but I gotta have my coffee. Fresh, like she said."

The servant bowed deeply and trotted off as Luna closed the door,
"Very well. Let us begin. Do you remember, during The Battle For New Humansville, you summoned spinning portals which chopped up the Diamond Dogs?"

Chris cringed at the grisly memory,
"I wasn't sure it was me at the time, but yes I remember."

Luna moved to her large fireplace and began pacing back and forth in front of it,
"Portals are exceedingly dangerous. Have you noticed that not a single Unicorn or Alicorn ever uses them?"

Chris nodded silently at Luna's serious tone,
"Portals are dangerous because their edges will cut. Portals are literally holes in space which connect two different locations together at a singular point which is the portal itself. The edges are the hole in space and contact with an edge can cause grievous harm to any object or being." Luna then sighed and shook her head, "However... your magic... it... it is... you have a natural affinity for portals which is why your magic manifested in such a manner under stress. My... obligation to you is to help guide you in the direction your magic manifested. Your magic is geared toward portals and I... I will train you in how to use them safely."

"Uh, why did you say it like that?" Chris asked, "You made it sound like it's a bad thing."

Luna's head snapped toward him,
"Portals are dangerous! Do you not understand that?" she asked sharply, "A single misplaced portal could accidentally sever a friend in twain! Portals are arguably the single most dangerous magic to practice! You could fight an army of thousands and win with enough practice! You could accidentally slice a world into pieces!"

Chris leaned against Luna's desk,
"Isn't that why you're teaching me to use them properly?" he straightened up and walked toward her, "Is there a way to... I dunno, maybe make the edges of a portal... not sharp?"

Luna halted her pacing and turned her head toward Chris slowly,
"What... what did you just say?" he expression was unreadable.

Chris took a step back,
"I just thought that maybe there was a way to alter the way the edges of the portals appear to work to make them more... friendly... harmless... whatever you want to call it."

Luna stared at Chris aghast,
"To... alter... a portal? How would you propose to alter a tear in space?"

"Like I said, bend the edges over on themselves? I don't know, that's what you're supposed to teach me! You're supposed to know this stuff!" Chris huffed.

Luna stood in place like a statue for several moments, 'He is asking for me to teach him a wholly different spell. I would have to develop it from scratch. That would take months if not years or decades. No, for the moment I need to teach him how to use the portals he has carefully. I'll work on the spell in my spare time, but he absolutely must learn how to use portals properly.'

Luna sighed almost violently,
"I shall see what I can accomplish toward that end, however for now we must focus on your education and training."

Comments

[Bobbin]

Great work, as usual. Excited to see how this one plays out. Is it going to be a bit more comedic focused than your other two active stories?

[Truthseeker]

By quite a bit. The problem is that in order for this to progress, I need questions to answer. I need the readers to ask any and all questions they have about magic and how it works.

[Iron Sky]

Most of the Nouns are fairly self explanatory, except Spirit.

What happens to a person when Verbs get used on their Spirit?

Is affecting a person's Spirit covered by the same laws as Mind magic?

[Truthseeker]

5296701 Aha! Excellent question! And I do mean EXCELLENT. This will be discussed!

[Tek]

She had to wear the choker until told otherwise.

-I thought I distinctly remembering Celestia stating that Chris had to set a time limit otherwise Luna could end up wearing this forever if he passed away in the main story.

I quote from chapter 8 of TUP 2

"Ahem, while I agree that the punishment should absolutely fit the crime, and fit it does, since you wore the a'dam for less than an hour, what say Luna wear her collar for one year.

[Bronzer]

Luna and Celestia were both a 9 in every Noun and Verb.

Gazuntite.

but Luna had to suffer the punishment.

Be grateful we humans didn't just kill you for that.

Luna smiled inwardly at the tenacity of her first pupil

If you think that is tenacity then you haven't seen anything, yet. By human standards, that isn't tenacity, it's merely not being lazy and not procrastinating. Ewww... not procrastinating.

Portals are dangerous! Do you not understand that?

Yes, it's just that they're not that dangerous by human standards in modern warfare.

[No I Will Not]

Oh boy, it's not completed yet!

MOAR CHAPTURZ AWAIT!!!

[Kevin Lee]

Heh! New thing for Luna to learn while she's teaching Chris: the Canterlot Sigh--it has enough punch to knock him through the castle walls.

[Theresa]

I can't believe nobody ever thought of trying to find a way to make it not sharp. It such a simple solution even if it would take time to develop the spell the concept is simple.