Meta Gamer in Equestria: The Blight of Bane.

by reflective vagrant

A Day of Many Meetings. (Chapter 13. Lab Rat Days, Part 4)

I slammed my head down on the book. After that, I picked it up and slammed it down two more times, each time a decent bit harder than the last.

"Hey!" Starlight yelled at me from across the table. When I lifted my head, she calmed her voice.

"I know I said we need to get this in your head, but I don't think we can do it that way."

She closed her copy of the spellbook we were studying from and came around the table to try to comfort me. As she did so, she lifted up the amulet I was wearing. "And be careful with the new amulets, OK? I only have these two and your original. The gems inside these aren't as robust as your first one and Doctor Pie informed me that even frail ones of this quality are hard to come by."

I looked down at my old amulet sitting on the table. I couldn't speak Equestrian with this new amulet, but unlike my old one, it did translate Equestrian writing for me. With Starlight wearing the third one she was borrowing from the current guard, however, it was possible to understand each other and have an extended study period without constantly having to keep an eye on the first amulet's charge.

I turned back to her and gave her a look of defeat. "I'm able to read the separate words, but I'm not really getting whats going on when they are strung together into sentences. On top of that, even some of the individual words I'm reading don't make sense to me."

She hesitantly lifted a hoof towards my shoulder. When I leaned towards her, she finished the comforting motion. "Hey, I know these spells are a little advanced for somepony that hasn't had any training-" She cocked her head and gave a brief whimsical tone. "-At all, but I am here for you and I will help you absorb this."

I put my hand over her extended hoof, let my head fall backwards and gave a long, wail like sigh.

Speaks with Talons was fletching a new batch of his custom made darts at another table. He set down one of his own feathers he was using in the process and piped up, "Might I make a suggestion?"

We both gave him our attention as he came over to us. Closing my copy of the spellbook, he looked at me. "I also was not a quick study with my father's lessons in the shaman arts. I may not have studied with paper and written words, but I can see similar troubles in your eyes. One thing my father taught me to do was to take care of myself. In order to keep me at my peak performance, he would often bring me a small bit of food and tell me to come back to my studies with a fresh mind."

He looked at the clock on the wall, then back down to me. "I believe it is around the time for the pony mid day meal. Why don't we take a break?"

---

With a quick shuffle of amulets with my original back around my own neck, we managed to have a proper meal sent down to us in the study. I was mildly surprised they were able to cook meat for us, but I remembered that castles were meant to have ambassadors from other lands, and many of them were meat eaters.

Speaks with Talons was managing his meal with a bit more predatory mannerisms than the ponies or even I would have liked, but otherwise the meal was going on well enough. Just a little after he and I were finished with our fish, Moon Beam came into the study while talking to a pony behind her.

"I say it again, thine worry is needless. He is not the type that would be angry over..." Moon Beam stopped in mid sentence as soon as she laid eyes on me. Her eyes slitted even tighter than usual. "Oh! I see you decided to have lunch in the study." She tried her best to swallow a lump in her throat without being obvious, but I still saw it.

I also saw Fluttershy peaking out from behind the door, and my mind forgot about everything else.

"Fluttershy!" I said with great enthusiasm. Everypony in the room except her looked at me weird.

She poked her head out with an uneasy smile and eyes that couldn't quite meet mine. Having recognized her name in my untranslated voice from hearing it so many times before, she stepped out and gave me the signal that my amulet was off.

"Oh! Right." With a press of my amulet, I stood up from the table and met her part way across the room.

Her stance was even more timid than usual. It was downright submissive, like a dog admitting another dog was superior in order to run away from a potential fight over territory.

I knelt down to her level and spoke as softly as I could. "Are you doing alright? What did the doctors say about the wound?"

As I reached out, Fluttershy shrank away from me and whimpered, "Why won't you be mad at me already!?"

I pulled back and just stared for several moments while everypony in the study went completely quiet. When her question finally sank in, I cocked my head.

"What?"

It was like she didn't have the meanness in her to be angry or be accusative. Her voice, while not too quiet to not be heard, was still confused and mournful.

"I tried to make you give up something so important to yourself you were in tears over it. I thought it was just some phrase from your land but you said that faith was an integral part of you. I may as well have been asking another pegasus to cut off their wings."

Speaks with Talons and Moon Beam visibly tightened their wings to their sides as Fluttershy said this.

She knelt down before me, not from faltering, but pleading. "So why won't you get mad at me over it?"

I could only shake my head and answer truthfully.

"You've been nothing but kind, and you didn't know. I basically condemned myself as a believer in one of the gods you hate so much."

I finally managed to have her lift her head. "Getting mad at you hadn't even crossed my mind. I thought you were going to be mad at me."

"Actually," Moon Beam called out after doing a quick inspection of the room, "What we call gods is a simplified term for the exalted beings we are at war with. They are powerful only when they draw upon the faith of followers. As such, they often warmonger to expand their power. This is exactly what the invaders are trying to do with the resources of our world and why we will not tolerate them. What you described is more akin to a cosmic or even higher scaled version of the Animus Mundi that has no need to warmonger for followers or resources. Sadly, it will take time to convince the Fey of this. This is also why we had to ask you so many questions. They won't take the evidence of an Astral Judgement since it involves the Æther folding they have come to hate, but your faith in your master is no more illegal than their desire to call the Animus Mundi their surrogate mother."

Starlight walked and put a hoof on Fluttershy's shoulder then looked at me and added to Moonbeam's explanation, "So long as it doesn't break our other laws or forcibly draw from our world, that is. But regardless, you may still want to keep it on the down low if you can. The general populace wouldn't understand the difference between your master and the one sending his army."

I leaned my head back and responded in a bitter tone. "Just don't let my home world have any slack if you ever meet them."

Moonbeam nodded. "Indeed. We haven't forgotten princess Luna's report and your testimony."

Fluttershy sniffled, bringing my attention back to her.

"So you really aren't mad?"

I paused for a moment, looking down at her uncertain face. A simple answer wouldn't suffice, not if I wanted there to be no doubt. So I leaned towards her and asked, "Does this answer your question?"

I reached in and gave her sides a good rib tickling.

She immediately jumped out of my reach with a shrill laugh and smacked my arm with her hoof hard enough for it to actually hurt. A blush formed on her face, but more importantly to me, a genuine smile also appeared with her continued giggling.

The look of that smile on her face seemed to lift my own spirits too. "There's that smile I know so well."

"I'd like to say the same," Starlight piped in, "but I think this is the first time I've seen you smile like that, Moss."

I looked over to her and put a hand to my face. I found that I too was smiling contently.

"And it's good to see your mood pick up again too, Fluttershy, but I think we need to finish lunch and get back to the studies."

Fluttershy composed herself, nodded at Starlight and turned to me. She then gave me an even wider smile. "Study hard, Moss." With this, she and Moonbeam left.

I found that from her words of encouragement I had gained a renewed desire to study. I went back and practically wolfed down the remainder of my lunch while Starlight aided Sharp Sentry in getting his tracer pin activated so he could take over as my guard for the afternoon.

---

I carefully removed the new amulet I was wearing and promptly slammed my head on the book three more times in a progressively harder fashion.

"Gay, are you ukqefgr?" Starlight asked me in a concerned voice.

I slipped the amulet back on and tried my best to fill in the blanks of what she said.

"Oh, I'm just peachy, " I snarked at her, "I'm making absolutely zero progress in deciphering what any of this techno bauble means and everypony is counting on me to figure this out. Isn't there anything else we can do? Simpler stuff?"

Starlight felt uneasy, and Speaks with Talons shook his head in confusion from his listening spot at the other table.

"There are reasons we have to work out of this book. This stuff is no more complicated than that trick you learned from Speaks with Talons. So I had hoped we would be able to start at this level."

She went over to a mobile book shelf from the library, picked up what looked to be a school book for children and opened it. "I wonder if there's some teaching methods I could adapt..."

A portal started opening in the middle of the study. From it stepped chancellor Neighsay. Before anything else could happen, he pointed his horn at me and I found myself being knocked off of my seat cushion, bound and gagged in a tar like substance.

"Ah-ha! I knew you would start teaching him Equestrian wizardry sooner or later! I'm so glad I made sure to enchant every book in this castle that had our magic in it to warn me when you did!"

"What is the meaning of this!?" Starlight demanded.

Looking at the book starlight had just opened, he snickered. "You were about to teach him school foal spells, from our own books, expressly violating our agreement."

"Correction, my agreement with the intelligence preservation committee, which you weren't a part of! And even then, I was just trying to reference teaching methods, not the spells themselves!"

"It matters not! I have all the evidence I need to finally remove your-"

A stiff chunk of wood smacked the Chancellor on the head, getting his attention.

Speaks with Talons gave him a blood chillingly cold glare and tone.

"I am Speaks with Talons, son of Chieftess Blood Bath of the raven griffin tribe, ambassador of both of the tribal collective of the eastern continent and the Fey of Far Everfree, holder of diplomatic immunity of those nations while in Equestria."

He barred his talons in an aggressive manner and came up to only a few yards short of the chancellor.

"If you do not wish me to demonstrate how I earned my name, you will state how you have authority here, or you will untie my battle brother and leave."

The chancellor was in a huff from the griffin's actions. With gritted teeth, he answered, "I am the chancellor! I have every-"

The griffin interrupted him with a guttural shout. "And how does that grant you this authority!? What articles of your laws say this!?"

Starlight picked up on this. "None! Chancellors and other congress ponies are solely meant to establish law! They don't enforce it!"

The chancellor backed up and looked to Sharp Sentry, who had stepped over to guard me by then. "But I still have sufficient evidence to have the guard arrest you!"

"Evidence you gathered unlawfully by bugging the entire castle library and would not hold up in court! Besides, all you have is me opening a book, which isn't illegal, nor violating the agreement. I just can't teach him our spells, which I haven't."

He looked back towards the portal.

"Chancellor, I'm going to have to ask you to leave," the guard spoke blandly but firmly.

He gave one final huff of anger. "Of all the indignity! You will be hearing from my contacts in the committee for this."

With this, he finally jumped back through the portal as it closed.

Starlight gave a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Speaks with Talons. I don't know if I could have handled him on my own."

He lifted his foreleg to his face and calmed the risen feathers on his head. "To be honest, I don't think I could have talked him down without you, either. I was bluffing. I have trouble reading the sign posts of your country fluently, let alone fancy paperwork. I barely even understand an article is how you divide your big papers into manageable pieces."

Starlight then came over and did her best at undoing the spell that was binding me.

"That's why I have to work with the spellbook that came with you. I can't teach you any of our wizardry."

She raised her head while her horn kept working at my bindings. "Which sadly seems like it also means no stepping stones in learning techniques either. There's no telling how fast he'll act to tighten the restrictions around your lessons."

She suddenly lost her grip on the bindings and jumped back. Instead of feeling like I was bound by a tar like substance, the bindings now almost felt like a snake.

"Gah! Discord! What are you doing here?" Starlight exclaimed. Discord had somehow replaced the tar with his own form, coiled around me.

With his tail staying in my mouth the whole time, he somehow managed to slither out from around me without turning me or moving his tail. I found myself mostly freed but the last bit of his tail was still wrapped around my head and stuffed into my mouth to keep me gagged.

He gave a disproving gesture to Starlight and spoke almost as if he were hurt. "You'd think as a pony who was trying to teach another creature magic from outside Equis, one of the first thing's you'd do is ask the one being you know is both magically powerful and has traveled many worlds outside of Equis."

He turned to me and spoke with mild approval, "Oh, and by the way, I heard how you saved my dear Fluttershy's life." He gave a disgruntled shake of his head. "Despite being what caused her to want to put her self in harms way to begin with. Lets just say this short visit is me giving a little token of gratitude."

He removed his tail from my mouth finally, and spun a weird bit of narrow metal on the index digit of his paw.

"Discord! You know that's not meant to be removed from the vault! What are you doing with that!? It's dangerous!"

The bit of metal stopped spinning and I recognized it as the wand that was confiscated from me when I was first captured. He came up to me and lightly tapped me on the head with it.

"You're familiar with magic item attunement from the game your current body was pried from, yes? You talked about it in great detail your first time around as a prisoner. I think you sitting down and focusing on this wand for an hour or two should unlock a few secrets hidden away inside that thick skull of yours."

He turned to Starlight. "And you want to know the best part? It's not Equestrian magic, so it's not illegal for him to use!"

With that, he teleported away, leaving the wand to fall into my lap.

I looked at Starlight, who looked back at me and Speaks with Talons.

They gave a somber nod and looked back at me. "Lets get back to your cell. I don't know how long we have before we loose even more options."

She levitated the wand over to Speaks with Talons, who promptly hid it under his wing. Starlight went her own way, saying she needed to find Moon Beam again. Meanwhile, Speaks with Talons escorted me and the smuggled wand back into my cell.

Sharp Sentry wasn't too happy, but he agreed he'd stay quiet.

* * *

After sitting with the wand for a long time, gently turning it in my hands while meditating, I felt some kind of link open up. My mind suddenly burst with information. At first it was just how the wand worked, knowing how to tell it to help me cast the spell stored inside, but more importantly, that information tripped other bits of know how that flooded my mind with a practical download from one part of my brain to another.

I screamed for a moment, throwing the wand away from myself.

The wand bounced across the floor while Speaks with Talons came up to me in worry.

"Are you alright, Beast-kin?"

I was breathing heavy as my mind processed the information that had seemed so alien only moments prior. I looked at him and took the opportunity to say something I knew I wouldn't have another chance to say.
"I know Kung-Fu."

Author's Note:

Translation time:
"Gay, are you ukqefgr?"
"Hey, are you alright?"

As for an explanation of why Speaks with Talons not having a good score with performance or intimidation on his character sheet, but this event still working in his favor, this was the "help" action in play, not a skill check of his own. He just gave Starlight advantage by stepping in.

Comments

[Kingmoonwar19]

"Gay, are you ukqafgr?" sounds like a Padawan yoda quote

[reflective vagrant]

9661718
incidental. Do note the translation in the author's notes. but yes, it does kinda sound like that.

[Kingmoonwar19]

9661801
I notest the notes
ps today ( june 4th ) is my 20th birthday

[reflective vagrant]

9379339
huh... I wonder if this chapter accidentally answers any fan fair.

[DerpTape]

I am sorry, but I'm not sorry