Swirling Magic

by treegrowth

Chapter 4

Twilight walked down the hallway with a smile on her face and spring to her step. Today was the day that she and her friends would learn more about their mysterious traveler, and his strange form of magic. She had already set Spike to start making breakfast for eight, for her friends and Taylor. She was now headed toward the library to get a start on some early research on the phenomenon that had drawn her to Taylor.

Thinking about that sensation from yesterday at Sugarcube Corner put a minor damper on her mood. It didn’t happen without reason, and the implications of it scared her. Every living thing had magic, it was steeped in the very soil that they walked upon and thus in the grass and trees. Therefore every animal and sentient creature had adapted to contain and even use magic as extra nutrients.

More recent research had proven that there was so much magical energy throughout the planet that it had become part of the atmosphere as an invisible field. Such a field could be touched and manipulated by a magical user like a Unicorn, but only through intense concentration and intense magical power. Even as an Alicorn, Twilight had a difficult time reaching out the ‘Thaumic Field’, as it was termed by some of the more modern researchers, due to her inexperience.

What happened on that day, she still wasn’t sure of what it was, but it felt like the Thaumic Field had been torn apart like paper. The result being the pressure that pushed against her magically sensitive horn, causing a fair amount of pain and discomfort. Even Rarity, who wasn’t as magically attuned, had felt the effects. All the more proof of the kind of power they were dealing with.

And all the clues pointed to Taylor, and his weird magic, being that power.

He didn’t seem to be dangerous, he acted kind and curious. Not to mention that he was quite playful during the welcome party. If he was evil, he was doing a good job hiding it.

Still, Twilight thought as she opened the door to her library, It never hurts to be prepared, especially with strangers as powerful as Taylor.

---

Twilight gave a quiet groan as she closed Beyond the Veil. Frustrated, she stacks it on the top of books that have proven to be of false leads. She’s read from non-fictions like: The Secrets of Teleportation, to Stories like: The Wolfen Isles, a fiction about a pony miraculously transported to an alternate world where sentient wolves live. She doesn’t normally look into the fictional for research, but by that point she was growing desperate for some form of an answer. But so far she came up with nothing!

None of them had any relation to what had occurred yesterday. None of them mentioned the Thaumic Field, nor any hints into Taylor’s odd and almost unnatural way of casting his magic.

Huffing like an angry bull, Twilight lays her head on her favourite reading desk. There she eyes Celestia’s scroll, her reply to Spike’s report on yesterday’s enigma. It read that Celestia gives her consent to find the source of the event but to do so with caution.

Twilight had yet to relay her findings of Taylor’s appearance, as he was overall still a mystery. Who was he? What was he? How did he come here, while seemingly tearing open possibly the very fabric of reality at the most wild of hypotheses. All of her questions were only answered by theories which only left her drowning in more questions. An unending loop that led to nowhere!

She dealt with this aggravating revelation by slamming her head into the desk.

She let her now aching head lay there for a moment, waiting for the pain to subside and trying to regain her composure. Breathing in, breathing out, she resettled her mind into a more comfortable state. Twilight looked back at the pile of books that couldn’t provide the answer that she was looking for. Three towers of literature stacked in such a disorganized manner that it made her cringe slightly. She knew that it it wasn’t going to be easy to learn ahead of the unknown, in fact she knew that it would be so much easier just to wait and ask Taylor.

But if there was one thing that Twilight prided herself on, it was being prepared. There just wasn’t much for her to prepare with. Still, at the every least, she could compare notes with Taylor on what was known of and...

Whatever he did.

She heard the door open behind her, she looked back to see Spike with a small, knowing smile. “Come on Twi,” he said, “Everypony is ready for breakfast.”

Twilight returned his smile, feelling the familiar sense of pride that always touched her heart at his presence. Where would I be without him? “Alright Spike.” She followed her little dragon from the library toward the dining room, very much looking forward to the answer to the questions she had for Taylor.

---

Twilight opened the door and walked into the dining room. A great long table was stationed in center of hall-like room, sided by twelve chairs on each side and decorated by a simple crimson red cloth with a gold trim, while above hung three diamond chandeliers. She smiled at her friends on the far side of the table and Taylor, who slouched on the head chair with his feet on the table.

“Hey Twi!” Rainbow called, a joking smirk shining on her, “About time you got up.”

“For your information, I was doing some important research.” Twilight responded humorly.

“Suurre.” Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Come on, let’s get this show on the road.”

Happily, Twilight proceeded to find a seat open at Taylor’s side and across from Applejack. Spike was already walking past them and into the door behind Taylor, which lead into the kitchen. When he passed Taylor, Twilight noticed him watching the dragon intensely, though he didn’t move from his relaxed position, his chest did flatten slightly at the sound of the door closing. What was that about? She wondered.

“So,” Taylor’s voice drew her attention, “You wanted to ask some questions?”

“Yes, we do.” Twilight replied, relieved to finally have a chance to remove the flood of questions that had dammed in her head.

“Cool, me too.” He sounded calm, yet the grin he wielded was unmistakably one of excitement. “So how about a trade? Each of us takes a turn to ask one question for an answer.”

Twilight found her mouth curling to mirror Taylor’s. That was perfect! She’ll be able to ask all the questions she wanted, while being able to study what he knows about Equestia. “Sounds good.”

“Sweet, I’ll ask first.” Taylor removed his legs from the table and sat up straight. Grasping his palms together and smiling at the ponies expectantly, he asked “Where am I?”

Twilight felt odd, a mixture of excited interest and tiresome worry. While it seemed to confirm that he wasn’t from their world, which piloted her interest. The fact that he didn’t know where he was, while not outside possibility, showed that he either came by accident. Or that he was irresponsible with whatever powers he was meddling with, or whatever factors that can be applied.

But she had put those thoughts aside until her turn came, she didn’t want to embarrass herself in a potential diplomatic meeting. “You’re in Equestria.” She answered truthfully, “Home of the three pony tribes united under a single banner in the name of peace and harmony.”

Taylor pinched his chin, humming. Then, with a goofy smile, he flung his arms in the air in an exaggerated shrug. “Nope, never heard of it.” he chuckled.

Twilight looked to her friends, and they to her, all with varying levels of confusion. Rainbow Dash, asked their mysterious guest, “So where’ you from?”

A spike of envy poked at her, but she shook it off, she shouldn’t have expected to be the only one to have questions buzzing in her head. It was a good question, and his answer would bring light to so many others.

Taylor, again, pinched his chin, “Hard to say.” Before Twilight could voice her confusion, he added, “Do you mean my birthplace, or my home?”

Twilight didn’t know whether to be annoyed, or more confused. Why was he being so picky about the question? Did it have some great meaning to him, or was he trying to hide information from them? Nevertheless, knowing at least the name of his home should…

“Where do you live?” Pinkie asked excitedly, Twilight’s heart clutched in frustration. She had just been about to ask that!

“Omnis.” he answered, shrugging.

When it became clear that he wasn’t going to reveal further details, Pinkie pressed, “Where’s that?”

Taylor smirked as he waved a finger, “Hold your horses,” he said, laughing at their puzzled looks, “It’s my turn.”

However, as he was about to place his question, the kitchen door opened. With a full cart of lidded serving trays in tow, Spike called out “Breakfast is ready!” Passing by each individual, he deposited trays and removed their respective lids. Apple pie for Applejack, lettuce for Fluttershy, and five chocolate chip muffins for Pinkie Pie. Everyone else got three stacks of pancakes coated in syrup, though Spike’s noticeably glittered with gems. Twilight decided to shrug it off, let the dragon have his sweets every once in awhile.

“Thank you, Spike” Twilight started, with all of her friends following suit.

“Aww it was nothin’” Spike blushed slightly as everypony begin to dug into their personal meals.

Twilight herself, delayed her meal for a moment, taking the opportunity to watch a, whatever Taylor was, eat a meal. She scolded herself for forgetting to ask about his species back in the forest.

Taylor took a knife and fork and started to cut his meal into large quarter cuts. Stabbing a piece with the fork, he wolfed them down whole in quick succession. Only when he started chewing did he slow, sounding agreeable moans. With a final swallow, he gifted Spike with a satisfied smile, “Hey, this is good.”

The little dragon nodded his thanks before returning to his jeweled pancakes.

For a moment, the entire dining hall was relatively quiet, with the exception of chewing food. Twilight took pleasure in having her stomach filled, saved from a hunger that she didn’t knew she had. It was one of those simple joys that were so easily forgotten.

A polite cough from Taylor caught her attention. He placed his silverware down and slid his plate, still baring two slices of his pancake, to his right. “I think we should continue where we left off.”

Twilight immediately nodded, rapidly reminding herself of the questions that she longed to put to rest.

“Alright.” Taylor said crossing his arms, and hunching over the table, giving each of them his fullest attention. His brown eyes danced to each of the ponies. Pointing his left hand at Rainbow he said, “You,” he then aimed his finger at Applejack, “You,” and then Rarity, “and you.”

Resting his head on the same hand, he finishes, “What are you three?”

Twilight’s mind immediately halted at the question, confused by its unnecessity. “Huh?” Rainbow voiced, her puzzled look matching Twilight’s well. “Don’t you already know what pony is?”

“Of course he knows, darling” Rarity chimed in, “He means to ask what a pony from each of the three tribes are capable of, isn’t that right?”

“Yup.” Taylor nodded

“Oh.” was Rainbow’s response. No doubt feeling the same foolishness as Twilight felt.

Twilight took the silence as a blessing and answered, “In short, all three tribes have some magical capability. While they don’t display it as well as the pegasi or unicorns; Earth ponies use their more passive magic to enhance their own physical bodies, though some have found a way to enhance the soil beneath their hooves, making them very capable farmers. Pegasi, on the other hoof, use a more active form of magic, used to both assist their flight and in weather manipulation-”

“Wait, wait, wait.” Twilight sighed inwardly with Taylor’s interruption, couldn’t anypony just let her finish her informative lectures for once. “What do you mean ‘weather manipulation’?”

“Umm, it’s like that: pegasi can manipulate the weather.” Twilight didn’t understand the significance. Was it so strange to him that they could control the weather?

“Can you make it rain?” he scoffed.

“You bet your fancy coat we can.” Rainbow challenged.

Taylor looked at her, brow raised, “Lighting?”

“With the call of thunder!” Rainbow clapped her hooves.

“Tornados?”

“That’ll spin your head off!”

“Hurricanes?”

“It’ll blow your house down!”

Rainbow was now in the air, looking down at Taylor with her trademark confident smirk. Taylor, for his part, simply gave his own playful smirk with an addition of the raised eyebrow to question Rainbow’s confidence. However, Twilight noticed something about his eyes, they seemed; calculating. Like he was studying Rainbow’s every inch, and every movement.

“And all pegasuses can do this?” He asked

“Any pegasi willing to do it, yeah.”

For a while all the two did was simply stare. Twilight thought to intervene when Taylor chuckled, “I would love to see that.” he said, excitedly.

“You’ll lose your jaw when ya see it.” Rainbow boasted as she flew back to her seat.

Twilight breathed in before letting out a quiet sigh. “Right, before I was interrupted,” She gave her best stink eye to the traveler, who smiled incidentally, “Their use of this gift has helped Equestria’s overall growth for many generations.” Twilight then gestures to Rarity “Unicorns, as you’ve no doubt seen by now, have the most active form of magical manipulation: in the form of spell casting.”

Twilight decided that it was best to demonstrate. With a practiced cast of one of her favorite spells, Teleportation, she felt herself pulled out of her seat and flying above the dining table. Her spirits couldn’t help but rise at the sight of Taylor’s surprised expression.

“Im-Impressive.” he stuttered. “There’s not a lot of people that I know of that can teleport.” He then gave a funny look, following his gaze Twilight saw he was staring right at Pinkie Pie. “But didn’t you say that Earth Ponies only have passive magic?”

She could only chuckle, “Yes, but Pinkie is always an exception.” She explained, “Just trust me when I say don’t look into it too deeply.”

Taylor again locked his focus on Pinkie before assuring her he wouldn’t and once again resumed a more relaxed position. Though, Twilight doubted he took it to heart, and that was fine. He’ll learn soon enough, she thought, amused, as she returned to her seat; now she could ask her own question.

“So,” She began, “Can you tell me more of what you are?”

“And would you elaborate with more than the title, dear?” Rarity added with a friendly smile, however, her eyes had turned predatory. Twilight didn’t see it often, but she knew it meant that her friend had an upperhoof.

Taylor waved a finger, “The rules were that only one question…” his eyes widened, and promptly smacked his forehead, blushing slightly. “...at a time.” he finished with a groan. This reaction gave Twilight’s fashion friend a full smirk.

It was then she understood, Rarity used the rules Taylor placed, and the fact that he broke them when he had interrupted Twilight’s lecture. She wanted him humbled to encourage him to say more than one word. Twilight nodded Rarity in thanks, while she could have done without such manipulation, maybe now Taylor would be more willing to share information.

“Clever play, miss.” Taylor replied, a growl of frustration was notable in his tone, but he also sounded more respectful. “Alright, I’ll be more forthcoming.” He smiled, almost gleeful.

He began, staring above as though he were looking at stars. “There are many more worlds than one, so many more. However all worlds are connected to one another, no matter how different they seem to be, they all are part of this great web.” He illustrated by arching his fingers together. “This web we call Mana.” A ball of blue light flashed into existence in between his hands, and many of Twilight’s friends awed at him. Twilight couldn’t blame them, as she herself was still amazed of his ability to control magic without a major conduit, such as a horn.

“This Mana is connected to all things related to life.” he paused thoughtfully, pinching his chin before continuing, “There were a lot of people who wanted to study Mana, and those who could control it would become mages.” The ball of light was released from his hands and flew across the room, dancing in the air, directed by his right hand.

“These mages were powerful in each of their respective worlds. However,” The ball now stopped, motionless, “There are some special mages, who during great stress-,” He squeezed his hand to almost like a fist and the ball darkened “-Would be able to reach mana from beyond their world and become more powerful than ever.” He let go of the ball, and it exploded like a firework; with around six smaller ‘stars’ silently flew above the table. “Powerful enough to walk across the planes of existence and into other worlds entirely.”

The light finally faded. Twilight and her friends, still beset in awe, looked back at Taylor. He smiled proudly, “We’re called: Planeswalkers.”

“So, cool!” Rainbow and Spike exclaimed simultaneously.

“Do it Again!” Called Pinkie Pie.

Twilight heard her friends all make similar praises, She herself was quite amazed by the implications. An entire group of people who could travel to other worlds with their own magic alone? The only creature she knew able to do that was Discord, and he was practically a god! Her thoughts came to only one conclusion: “You have teach me!” she cried over the others, her sudden entry brought them into silence.

“Eh,” Taylor hesitated, it only stoked Twilight’s excitement.

“Please?!?” the mere thought of gaining this knowledge brought a tingle to the tips of her wings! She could already see herself traveling across uncharted worlds with her friends. Meeting new people, new cultures, new libraries with new Books. Oh the books! The potential was limitless!

“Simmer down now, sugarcube.” She felt Applejack’s hoof gently tap her leg.

Broke from her daydreaming, Twilight realized that she was face to face with Taylor, flying above the remains of his breakfast. No doubt she had probably ranted out loud too. Feeling more than a little embarrassed, Twilight immediately apologized with a sheepish smile and returned to her seat.

A moment passed as Taylor regained his composure, then he addressed Twilight, “Well, to tell you the truth, being a Planeswalker isn’t something that can be taught.”

At this news, her ears perked. Why can’t it? She thought, bewildered.

“Why can’t she?” Spike spoke up from his seat “If any pony can learn Planeswalker magic, it’s Twilight.”

All her friends sounded their agreement with Spike. The cheers and smiles from them always made Twilight feel at peace, and this was no exception. Yet, there was still the matter of why he could not teach her, she looked back to Taylor expectantly. Hopeful that he would explain his statement.

“Well you see,” He began, “It is very dependent on your souls’ access to the Mana-web, and the amount of stress to the soul.”

“What does the ‘stress to the soul’ have ta do with it?” inquired Applejack.

“Everything.” Taylor exclaimed, “The soul is one of the keys of pulling on the Mana and weaving it into a spell.” He points to his chest, “If a soul that is magically connected to the Mana-web comes under a certain amount of magical stress, the being’s soul could try to reach beyond their world’s given Mana.”

“If it succeeds, then they become a Planeswalker?” Twilight concluded.

“Yup, it’s that easy.” Taylor quipped.

“And, what happens if it doesn’t?” Rainbow asked cautiously. Twilight recognized her hesitation, any risk of any damage to the soul could be very serious.

He shrugged, “That doesn’t happen often, I mean for the soul to try to become a planeswalker itself is ridiculously rare, but, from what I know about it, you’ll likely just pass out.”

Twilight nodded, “That’s good to hear.”

“Umm, I don’t mean to interrupt.” Spike called out. Twilight and the others turned to the little dragon, who was gesturing to the wall clock behind Taylor, “But it’s already ten.”

She looked up to find that the hour hoof was indeed on the tenth hour.

“My goodness!” Rarity said, her sparkling hoof hovered over her gaping mouth “I completely lost track of time, apologies dears, but my order needs to be finished by the end of the month.” Immediately, she hurried off her seat and trotted down to the doors. Briefly she paused, turning back to Spike and giving him a kind smile, “Thank you for the breakfast, darling, it was spectacular.”

“A pleasure, my lady.” He returned her gesture with an exaggerated bow.

The fashionista giggled, disappearing out the door.

A moment passed and Applejack also stood, “I gotta go too, them critters won’t feed themselves.”

And they each left. Pinkie to see to the Cake twins, Fluttershy to tend to her animals, and Rainbow to resume her practice flights. Twilight thought it odd that the Wonderbolt to-be was the last out the room, when Rainbow then turned back to address to her, “Don’t forget to preen your wings tomorrow.” With a playful smirk she sped out of the room, leaving Twilight embarrassed that her flight teacher noticed her morning blunder.

While Twilight cursed her laziness, Taylor stood from his seat. “Well, Thank you very much for the meal.” he gave a thumbs up to Spike, who was quick to return the gesture. “Now, I want to see this little town of yours.” The Planeswalker walked by the side of her seat, and shared a friendly smile, “Care to give me the grand tour?”

Twilight smiled and nodded, glad to be distracted from her self scolding, plus the added bonus of potentially making a new friend. Passing over the daily chore list to Spike, she and Taylor headed outside to explore new possibilities for the both of them.

Author's Note:

I LIVE!!!