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Chapter 11

Night could not come fast enough.

After lunch, I’d found it impossible to sit still. I’d gone back to the library and picked up my book, only to find that it once again felt like a prison. I’d retreated to my room, to lie down on the bed, but soon discovered that sleep would not come to me. I couldn’t find a comfortable position to lie in. My legs burned with the need for activity.

And so, I’d finally gone for that run. Outside, on the back lawn, I’d made my way to a stone path that circled the palace and just started running. Not too fast - I wasn’t looking to exhaust myself, just blow off some steam. I just needed something - anything - to do that didn’t involve just sitting around and waiting for something to happen.

My run gave me more than just a way to burn off excess energy. It gave me time to think. To compile my thoughts. Recent events had shuffled my priorities while I was here in Gaia. As I saw it, there were four main concerns for me right now - staying alive, finding a way back home, finding this other Human, and figuring out what this crisis was that was going on with Serenity and Solaris. With nothing else to distract me, I had plenty of time to put my mind towards these issues.

Staying alive… This was already being taken care of. I was in the center of the largest city in Equestria, surrounded by guards. I was well fed, clothed, sheltered, and protected. On top of this, I was starting to learn how to defend myself with weapons. And on top of that, tonight I would start learning how to use magic. Magic that almost certainly would eventually include combat application. So, staying alive wasn’t something I needed to actively worry about for the time being.

Finding my way home, though, was a different story entirely. I’d already formed a plan for this - Hang around and wait for the portal to re-open, and in the meantime, start getting acquainted with the more powerful unicorns in the palace and try to get them to help me find a way back home. But the crisis that Serenity and Solaris were dealing with seemed to have also consumed the attention of everyone else in the palace. Aside from my one meeting with Starswirl a couple of days ago, I’d not even met another magical researcher in the palace. I wasn’t even sure if there even were others in the palace. If not, that would leave Starswirl as the only magical researcher around. And if he was my best hope at finding a way home… I mean, he was obviously well-respected, but there was no denying that he was… slightly insane, perhaps? Even if I could convince him to take the time to look into my problem, his mental state did little to reassure me of my chances.

The vast majority of my time that afternoon was spent pondering the issue of this other Human. I was loathe to admit it, but in the end, I had to face reality - there was very little I could do for them. Our one lead, the echoes within the Dreamscape, had become too dangerous to continue tracking with the Nightmare consuming their dreams. There was a chance that they were down in the caverns beneath Everfree, but those caverns were massive! It could take months, maybe even years, to fully explore those caverns, not to mention the effort needed to accurately map them. Serenity had already promised to dedicate troops towards exploring those caverns, but going down there myself would be unproductive. Even if I didn’t get lost down there, the odds of me stumbling across the other Human were incredibly slim. And all of that was assuming that the other Human actually was down there… No. There was nothing I could do there. All I could do was wait.

And finally, the crisis. This was the second day of them dealing with this situation. Whatever this situation was. I still didn’t know, though I had a couple of uneducated guesses. Most prominently in my mind was the possibility of war, though with whom I couldn’t even guess. Most likely not the Minotaurs, not so soon after their king was slain and their power broken. But who else? What other nations had beef with Equestria? Or was it not even war? Was it something else? Something I hadn’t thought of? A poor harvest that could spell famine? A natural disaster somewhere else in Equestria? No, most likely not either of those, considering that Ponies controlled the weather. But then… what? I wanted to know.

So once again, I had a plan of action set out. I would search for other magical researchers and see if they could either reopen the portal or find another way for me to get back home. I would keep looking for any hints that could lead to us finding this other Human. I would try to figure out what crisis Serenity and Solaris were dealing with and determine from there whether there was anything I could or should do. And while doing all of that, I would continue to practice my weapons skills with Thunderbolt, and begin learning magic from Luna.

I felt anticipation fill me as I thought forward to my first magic lesson tonight, and a shiver ran down my spine. Or maybe that was just the chill of the air. The sun was already dipping down towards the horizon, though sunset itself was still a couple of hours away. I must’ve been jogging around the castle for at least an hour and a half. My legs were beginning to ache, my lungs were starting to burn, and I found myself slowing to a brisk walk as I approached the back door to the castle. Sweat lined my forehead and ran down the back of my neck, soaking into the back of my shirt. I pushed the door open and stepped into the castle, turning left to head towards the stairs leading upwards. Dinner was still at least two hours away, but I knew I needed a bath before then. And a little time to relax and recharge before my magic lessons with Luna would be nice….

---

The sun was already behind the horizon by the time I pushed the door to the dining hall open. I was bathed and changed, and had spent the rest of my afternoon in my room, resting and reading. Preparing for the night, and the lesson that was to come.

Serenity and Solaris were present this time, and the gaggle of advisors were notably absent. Celestia was also in her normal seat, and as I made my way down towards the far end of the table, the door on the far end opened and Luna stepped into the hall. A small shiver of anticipation ran down my spine as our eyes met, but we said nothing as we took our normal seats at the table.

Much like our previous meals that day, dinner passed in silence. It wasn’t long before we’d all finished. Celestia was the first to rise, and she began to make her way towards the door. She was stopped however, when Solaris cleared his throat. He glanced towards the two princesses as he rose from his chair and motioned for them to follow him. The two sisters exchanged a glance, but neither said anything as they moved down the table towards the other end of the hall.

Serenity, meanwhile, was staring right at me. As I looked in her direction, she jerked her head over her shoulder. The two of us also rose and moved in the opposite direction, towards the door closest to us. She turned as I approached, and the two of us stepped through the door and into the hallway beyond.

“Chris,” Serenity nodded towards me as the door closed behind us. “I heard about your encounter with Captain Thunderbolt.”

“I hope the King isn’t too upset,” I replied.

“He doesn’t know. And much like your lessons with Luna, it would probably be best if that remained the case.”

“Understood.”

“Now, to the actual reason I needed to speak with you. Solaris is explaining the situation to Luna and Celestia, but I felt it would be best to tell you myself.” Serenity closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “You know that the two of us, along with our advisors, have been locked away for the past couple of days to deal with a… situation. This situation was the formal declaration of war by our allies and trading partners, the Griffonian Empire, against another close ally, the Crystal Empire. As you can imagine, this places us in a rather uncomfortable position, particularly as we are still actively engaged with the armies of Minos at our southern border.”

“War, huh?” I murmured. Sure, war had been on my list of possible sources for this commotion, though admittedly I had not truly expected it. Certainly not a war that Equestria itself was not a part of. “So… why did the Griffons do this?” I asked. “Surely they didn’t just declare war without a reason.”

“It’s… complicated,” Serenity began slowly. “Too complicated to get into now, especially considering that you are unaware of the… tenuous truce that the Crystal Empire and the Griffons have maintained for the last century. What matters, however, is how we plan to react. Obviously, neither side will want us to deal with the other. We intend to maintain the best relations with both for as long as we can, but…” Serenity’s voice trailed off into silence.

“But?”

There was a brief pause. “...But, if our hand is forced, we will most likely back the Crystal Empire. For a number of reasons.” She sighed. “I assume I do not need to tell you that this information is not to be shared beyond myself and my family, correct?”

“Of course.”

“Solaris did not even want you to know what was going on,” Serenity continued. “But I’m no fool. If one of us didn’t tell you, then Celestia or Luna certainly would have, intentionally or not.” She let loose a small chuckle. “Besides, I believe I’ve held quite enough secrets from you. Now, do you have any questions for me before I let you go?”

I paused for a moment before shaking my head. “No, I think I’m good.”

“Very well. Good night, Chris.”

“Good night,” I replied as I turned away from the Queen, heading towards my left down the hallway. I turned to the right, ascended the stairs up to the third floor, and followed the familiar path towards the library.

I pulled the double doors open and stepped through into the warm glow of the library. As expected, Luna was already inside, though it didn’t look like she’d been there for too long. She was on the second floor, moving between the rows of bookcases, already holding a few books in front of her. I moved towards our usual couch and took a seat, closing my eyes as I waited for her.

It didn’t take very long. I opened one eye as I heard the sound of hooves on hardwood approaching. “Hello, Chris,” Luna greeted me as she sat down on the couch beside me. She deposited her stack of books on the table in front of us. Half a dozen volumes of varying thickness, with the spine facing away so that I couldn’t see the names of any but the top one - Introduction to Magical Theory.

“Hi, Luna,” I replied, turning my eyes away from the books towards her. “How are you?”

“I’m… well, I’ve been better, I’ll admit,” she sighed. “I assume mother told you about the war?” I nodded. “It’s… not going to be pretty.” She averted her gaze, choosing instead to look down towards the floor. “And I don’t care what father says, we’re not going to be able to stay out of this one for long.”

“But, that’s a worry for a different time.” Luna’s gaze returned to me, and a small, if forced, smile crossed her face. “Tonight, we’re going to be getting you started on magic. How are you feeling after last night?”

I shrugged. “No different than normal, I guess,” I replied. “I felt really warm last night, but when I woke up I was feeling alright again.”

“Any hot flashes today? Sweating for no reason, feeling of heat around the face or neck, that sort of thing?”

“Not that I noticed. But I was pretty active today, so… it would have been hard to tell,” I admitted. “None since I finished my run a few hours ago…”

“Good. The mana flowing into you should have stabilized at some point this morning, but it can sometimes take a little longer. But if you’ve not any of the symptoms, then we should be good to go.” She reached forward and grabbed the first book from the top of the stack, flipping it open a few pages. “Now, for the first little bit, I think we should just get you used to the feeling of manipulating mana. It’s going to be unusual and maybe a bit uncomfortable at first, but it won’t take long for it to become second-nature.”

“There is a leyline that flows underneath the city, not too far from the surface. Now that your mind has been opened to the flow of mana, you should be able to sense it if you search for it. Go ahead and try to find it. It might help for you to close your eyes while you get used to this. Find it, but don’t tap into it yet.”

I nodded and closed my eyes. I remembered the feeling of energy running up and down my arms as I had touched the orb that Luna had generated, and began searching for a similar energy. Almost immediately, I felt… something. Something buried in the ground, several hundred feet below the surface. My brow furrowed as I focused in on it.

And suddenly, a scene exploded into life before my closed eyes. A river of light, endlessly flickering, rushing in both directions at the same time, carving a serpentine channel through through the bedrock. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end, and I felt my breath caught in my throat. “Holy shit…”

“You got it?”

Luna’s voice cut through the scene before me. I opened my eyes and blinked once, focusing back on the room around me. Though I could no longer see the river of light, I could still feel its presence deep below the ground. Deep below, and yet still there… I nodded slowly. “Yeah. I got it.”

“Good. Now, once you’ve got hold of the leyline, tapping into it is pretty straightforward. “She leaned forward and placed the book back on the table, on its own away from the stack of other books. “For a Unicorn, normally we would focus the mana into our horns to manipulate it and affect the world around us. For you, however, it would probably be best to use your hands. So, go ahead and focus the mana from the leyline into your hands. Once you’ve done that, make this book levitate and hover in the air.”

“Okay…” I muttered. I closed my eyes for a moment, but they quickly snapped back open. I turned back to face Luna. “How?”

“It’s… well, it’s different for everypony,” Luna began slowly. “Just… trust me. You’ll know how when you do it.”

“Okay…” I repeated. I’ll admit, I wasn’t entirely convinced. Even so, I closed my eyes again, turning my attention to the river of energy that was playing at the edge of my senses. The more I focused on it, the stronger it seemed to become. The more I could hear it. The more I could feel it. As though I had submerged myself into it.

I felt a sudden heat flash through my chest. Not uncomfortable, not like heartburn, but like I had put on a shirt that had just come out of the dryer. A slight tingling sensation short up my right arm, almost as though it had begun to fall asleep, though not nearly as uncomfortable. The sensation quickly spread through my hand to the tip of my fingers. I opened my eyes and glanced down towards my hand. Nothing had changed on the outside, not that I could see anyway. And yet the tingling remained.

My vision shifted towards the book on the table in front of me. I lifted my hand and pointed towards the book. I focused on it, envisioning the book floating up off the table into the air. My hand began to tingle even more, and a deep-red glow surrounded it. An instant later, that same red glow surrounded the book. My eyes grew wide as slowly, ever so slowly, the book shakily lifted off the table, wobbling in the air.

“Holy… Shit…”

And with those words, the book wobbled even more violently before falling back to the table with a thump.

“Well done!” Luna exclaimed. I felt her pat me several times on the back. “That was excellent! A lot better than my first time!”

“Really?” I asked, looking over towards her. “But… it just fell the second I stopped focusing on it.”

“Yes, really,” Luna nodded. “My first time using magic, I could barely make the book wiggle. Granted, I was… quite a bit younger than you are. Even so, for a complete novice, that was great. We’ll need to work on your concentration, obviously, but even so…”

I leaned backwards into the couch as Luna continued to speak. I could hear her voice as I closed my eyes, but the meaning of her words was lost on me.

Magic. Actual. Goddamn. Magic. It wasn’t just a theory anymore. Not some far-off idea that I could do it. I’d done it. I’d made that book move just by willing it to move. And what could come after levitation? Transforming items into other items? Maybe conjuring stuff out of thin air? Flight? Teleportation? Maybe…

“Hey!”

I felt something roughly prod my shoulder. I jerked upright and turned towards the source of the poke to see Luna staring at me. “Were you paying attention?”

“I… er…” I fumbled over myself. “Uh…” Finally, I sighed and shook my head. “No. Sorry.”

She snorted and closed her eyes shaking her head. “I figured as much. Doesn’t matter. I was… rambling a bit, anyway. Basically, just don’t let this go to your head. You know you can do this now. You’ve actually done it. But you need to ease yourself into the more advanced stuff. You can’t… just because you’ve made a book float a couple of inches off the table doesn’t mean you’re ready to go phasing through walls or anything.”

Right. Phasing through walls. Add that one to the bucket list. “Got it,” I nodded

“I’m serious, Chris,” Luna warned. “Magic is unforgiving. You lost your concentration while holding that book, and it fell. No big deal. Now imagine if you’d lost your concentration halfway through trying to teleport yourself.”

I felt myself blanch as I struggled to push away the messy mental image. “Got it,” I nodded again, slower this time.

“Good. So, you can understand why working on your concentration is our top priority,” Luna continued. “It’ll eventually get to the point where you’ll be able to perform more mundane spells while barely thinking about it, but anything more than levitating a medium-sized object or keeping a fireball in your hands will require at least a little concentration. Now, go ahead and try to lift the book again, but keep it in the air longer this time…”

---

Time seemed to rush by for the rest of the evening. I lost count of the number of times I’d lift that book off the table, let it hover for a couple of seconds, and then lose control and let it fall back to the table. And every time, I’d look towards Luna, and she would nod. “Again.”

I’ll admit, it was fun the first… oh, half-dozen times or so. That feeling of power rushing up my arm, into my hands and fingers, watching the red glow - my magical aura, I kept reminding myself - surround my hand and the book, seeing the book respond to my mental commands.

And yet, every time, it would only last a couple of seconds at best before the book would wobble and fall back to the table.

Needless to say, after the first dozen or so tries, it became less fun and more frustrating. I tried not to let it show, tried not to let it affect how I was doing. But by the end of the night, I was almost certain Luna could tell.

“Good,” Luna nodded as the book hit the table once again. “I think we’ll call it there for the evening. We don’t want you to tire yourself out. But you’ve definitely improved tonight.”

“If you say so…” I muttered.

“Well, the book’s not wobbling nearly as much, for one,” Luna continued as we both rose from the couch. “And you can hold it for an extra couple of seconds. The best you did was seven tonight, which is… quite impressive, actually, for your first night. So definite improvement. We’ll meet back here again tomorrow night and continue where we left off. In the meantime, you can try to levitate some smaller objects for some extra practice if you want. Just… be careful. Nothing too big, and definitely nothing fragile. Small steps.”

“Got it,” I nodded. Not that I’d have a whole lot of time to practice, what with my sword training with Thunderbolt… “Good night, Luna.”

“Good night, Chris.”

As I exited the library and moved down the hallways towards the staircase, I brought my hand up so that I could look at it. I flexed my fingers back and forth, clenching them up into a fist before releasing them. It didn’t feel any different than before. And yet, I knew that I could use this hand to tap into a well of power that I’d only barely scratched the surface of. It was... Exciting, I think is the best word to use describe it. Exciting, and at the same time, overwhelming. I kept flexing my fingers back and forth as I made my way through the hallways of the palace, not stopping until I had to use my hand to open the door to my room.

It wasn’t long before I was changed out of my clothes and sat on my bed. And still, I found myself staring at my hand. I had done that. I had made that book move without touching it. I had tapped into actual magic.

And yet, I knew fully well that I had a long way to go.

I glanced over towards my nightstand. The top of the dresser was empty save for four items - a glass of water, my long-dead phone, a lit candle, and my sheathed knife. I reached for the knife and moved it so that it was on the bed in front of me. I closed my eyes, searching for that same source of power I had tapped into not long ago.

It only took a second for it to explode to life before my closed eyes. The warmth in my chest flared up again, and I felt the tingling sensation run down my arm into my fingers again. My eyes snapped open, and I stretched out my arm towards the sheathed knife. Both it and my hand were enveloped in the now-familiar red glow. Slowly, ever so slowly, it lifted off the bed. I kept my eyes locked onto the knife, never letting my gaze falter.

And it stayed there.

I felt a small smile creep across my face as the five second mark passed. Then ten. At fifteen seconds, I let the knife fall back to the bed. “Small steps…” I muttered under my breath as I moved the knife back to my bedside table and extinguished the candle. “Small steps…”

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