The Unity Pact Side Stories: The Teacher And The Pupil

by Truthseeker

Chapter 4: Thamaturgic Energy

Chris was beyond tired, he was exhausted almost to the point of passing out. Sweat poured down his face, chest, back, all over. His whole body burned and ached, his head pounded with every beat of his heart and his breath came in long, deep pants and gasps. His knees felt weak and his hands trembled unsteadily. His eyes were unfocused and his balance was shot. He swayed on his feet for a few brief seconds before he collapsed onto the floor in a weak heap.

Luna's firm voice called to him from across the room where she sat writing at her desk,
"Back on your feet Christopher."

"F... fuck... you." Chris panted.

Luna rolled her eyes at his response,
"Oh come now Christopher, you told me you wanted to know how to use your magic to protect. You wanted to be a guardian of others. Has that changed?"

Chris grunted incoherently before collecting enough brain cells to speak,
"No, never!" he panted twice before saying more, "I meant it... then and... I mean it now."

"Well then you must become aclimated to pushing your body to its limits. All I am asking you to do is stay standing, the difficult parts come later." Luna said airily.

"You drained all my magic..." Chris began.

"Tut-tut, I drained your Thamaturgic Energy. Your body will replenish it soon enough. I also drained your strength. I need to see that you really are as committed as you claim." she said primly, "Since you fell, I must start the timer over again. Remember, stay standing for one hour." she turned the first hour glass on her desk back on one side to allow the sand to drain then turned the second one which had already drained, starting the time again.

Chris struggled to his feet,
"You're going to kill me." he croaked.

"I will do no such thing Christopher. I assure you I am monitoring you and I will intervene before anything happens to you." Luna said more softly.

She rose from her chair and began to walk in slow circles around Chris as he struggled to remain standing,
"Let us see if you were paying attention earlier. Relate back to me what effects Thamaturgic Energy has on your body and the interchangeably between it and Bodily Energy."

Chris gasped as his muscles strained but he forced his mind to recall what she had told him earlier,
"Thamaturgic Energy... fortifies your Bodily Energy." he panted and drew in a deep breath before continuing, "Thamaturgic Energy aids the body... it can help replenish your Bodily Energy when you are tired... that's why you drained all of mine." he grunted in exertion, "Bodily Energy helps you live longer and healthier... and with more Thamaturgic Energy to aid the process... that's why Ponies with more magic live longer... that's partly why you and Celestia live so long." he groaned and strained as gravity seemed to bear down upon him, "But Thamaturgic Energy has to be released and replenished... *pant* because unlike Bodily Energy, it can stagnate... *pant pant* it can poison your blood... Thamaturgic Energy is... a living force that has a set amount of time before it begins to deteriorate..." Chris grit his teeth as the world began to spin, "It has to be used... that's why you and Celestia have your manes and... tails always moving..." the muscles on his neck bulged and tightened, "Your bodies create an excess... of Thamaturgic Energy... that's why you are so thin and... why you're always eating." he ground his teeth together for a handful of seconds before he caught himself and unclenched his jaw, "Agh!" he cried out in his exertion, still struggling to remain standing.

Luna nodded,
"Very good." she praised him, "Remain standing until I finish with my lecture and I will count your efforts as a success, so long as you can relate back to me what I say later on."

Chris closed his eyes to concentrate,
"Sounds... fucking... peachy."

Luna hid a giggle at his response before clearing her throat,
"To continue: one's reserve of Thamaturgic Energy has a direct correspondence to their physical health, yes, but it also aids their mental health. An overabundance of it can lead to mania of many different types and magnitudes, among other issues, and a deficiency can lead to different types of depression and other negative disorders. Individuals who already suffer from those disorders will have them worsened and intensified by orders of magnitude when experiencing an overabundance or deficiency of it. If one is already exhausted physically your Thamaturgic Energy will bolster you to keep working, but if that is likewise exhausted, it can lead to unconsciousness or in the most rare and severe cases even death. Thankfully those cases are both rare and difficult to achieve. One must almost be actively working toward such an end in order to suffer such a fate. For example, during The Battle For New Humansville both you and I worked ourselves to exhaustion but from different... directions as it were. You fought with might and your Thamaturgic Energy helped you to keep fighting. Once you used your magic however, your body could handle no more. You had never used it before and because of that your reserves of Thamaturgic Energy were already low. You had not built them up from practice so when you pulled cast your portals it pulled too much from you. I had already used up a great deal of my own reserves creating weapons and armor and fortifying the stone of Town Hall. My Thamaturgic Energy was low but my Bodily Energy was at peak levels. Once I began to fight physically and maintain the spell on the stone, it simple exhausted me."

Chris peaked his eyes open in partial realization,
"You... you almost... died for... for us."

Luna turned away; her tone was airy, but her face was pained,
"I was in no danger Christopher. I do appreciate your concern though." she turned back and schooled her expression, "Now, I said that Thamaturgic Energy bolsters your body and mind. Did you know that the absorption of Thamaturgic Energy is why the animals in Equestria are sentient?"

Chris, sweat pooling on the floor, shook his head,
"Nope... had no idea."

Luna smiled that he was still standing,
"It is true. When a spell is cast there is some small amount of residual Thamaturgic Energy which lingers in the area briefly before it dissipates into the surroundings. The animals soak it up by eating, drinking, breathing, and so forth. There is an odd angle of this though, can you tell me what that is?"

Chris grunted and panted and puffed in his fight to remain standing but his mind still worked,
"You... mean... fish."

Luna's smile was brilliant,
"Very good indeed." she praised his quietly, "Yes, one would thing that with so much Thamaturgic Energy saturating everything in Equestria that the fish would be just as sentient as the other animals. You already know that they are not sentient so the question is, 'Why not?'"

Chris took more than a full minute to formulate an answer,
"Maybe... because... they... only... interact... with... one... part?"

Luna's ears perked in surprise,
"Do you mean to insinuate that they do not have sentience because they only interact with the water?"

Chris nodded his head vigorously,
"Y... YES!" he grunted.

Luna hid her surprise, 'Good gracious me! How clever to figure it out.',
"Christopher you make me proud indeed!" Luna gushed, "Brilliant deduction, and you are correct. The Thamaturgic Energy which saturates the air, earth, water, and plants is altered by the objects which is saturates. It takes more than three different sources for an organism to achieve sentience due to the forming of a screfula. The fish only ingest two: water and base insects. Now some of the larger, higher, and more developed insects are sentient, but the ones that fish consume are not, otherwise the fish would be talking to us. Even if a fish did consume a sentient insect, it is hypothesized that it would take a steady diet of them for some weeks before the fish developed a screfula. Obviously nopony has attempted it because of the obvious moral ramifications." she stopped and gazed at Chris briefly before asking, "Did you hear all of that?"

Chris grunted, swaying unsteadily, and nodded his head,
"I... did." he was scarcely able to speak.

Luna smiled,
"Then rest easy Christopher. Well done."

Chris collapsed onto the floor in a panting heap oblivious to Luna's grin. Unbeknownst to him, she had not only been monitoring his body to ensure he was not in danger, she had also been slowly increasing the gravity in the circle where he had been standing. She smiled down at him while silently reveling in her mind, 'He stayed standing in almost double gravity. Not even the best of the Guard can do such a thing. Once one's strength and Thamaturgic Energy are gone, all are on even ground. He did what only Celestia and I could... impressive Christopher...' she subconsciously grinned wolfishly, 'Very impressive.'

Comments

[Bobbin]

"Most impressive." Last bit should say "Most impressive."

[No I Will Not]

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[Kevin Lee]

The Thamaturgic Energy which saturates the air, earth, water, and plants is altered by the objects which is saturates.

s/b "it". minor error, but jarring to read ot.

Yeah, s/b "to read it"

5505496

"Most impressive."

I would ditto that.