Wild Magic

by Detsella Morningdew

Chapter 12: Magic

"...What?"

I chuckled. "Sorry, I just got caught up in my own metaphor. I realized that I couldn't just choose between going home, and staying here. So I found a way to do both."

"How?"

"Just a loophole with the ponies' portal technology. Fluttershy came up with it last time, and it's been proven to work."

"Still..."

"Naomi, I'm going to do something about it. At this point, I don't care how many will be content with how things are. I don't care if you want to become a nation, or remain the way you are, and I don't care if nobody wants me as their leader. But if your number is even close to your estimate, I can't wait for the proper time. I need to get good at magic now."

"But you can't just abandon-"

I shook my head. "I already said, I'm not abandoning anything. There's still a lot of work before I go home, but right now, all that is out of my... paws." I looked down. "You've finally given me some actual direction. Something to do that helps others rather than just being a burden on others."

She growled, bringing my attention back up quite quickly. "You don't get it! What am I supposed to do? Here you are, promising to fix all my problems - all our problems - and you are thanking me? You aren't asking to be a ruler, you aren't asking for worship... you aren't even asking for gold!"

I froze.

I just did a Celestia, didn't I?

I didn't feel comfortable with any of this, if I was perfectly honest with myself. I didn't feel like anyone particularly important, and especially not a "chosen one." It felt more like I was just stumbling through everything, and everything was just handed to me as I went along.

But it didn't matter that I felt like an impostor.

I put a paw over my eyes. "All right. I get it. I haven't exactly done anything yet except perhaps give you hope. But if you need to do something for me, tell the others. Any fox you can find in Whitetail, and if you can manage it without too much hardship, the other forests as well. I don't care if they don't like me, or whatever. As long as they know what's going on, and what our current plans are. Tell them I'll be either here, or in Ponyville, in case they want proof or something."

Her face relaxed into a smile. "All right. That's much better. What will you be doing?"

"Magic training."

Naomi gave me a warning glance.

"Hey, I don't mean like what I did on the way here. I won't be using up everything I've got like an idiot. But I've got a rather sneaky idea that might help me get better a lot faster."

She raised an eyebrow. "Seriously? You can't just cheat life, Ryan."

I grinned. "I'm certainly going to try my best." I looked at her with a small amount of worry. "Magic does get better the more you use it, right? I've never had it before."

She shrugged.

"Well, I'll be in Ponyville if you need me next. The ponies are the general experts when it comes to magic, it seems."

I looked at the sky, which was rapidly darkening. My legs reminded me what I had been doing all day.

"Okay, if you need me tomorrow, I'll be in Ponyville."

Naomi gave a barking laugh. "See you, Ryan. I'll give you reports when I can."

She disappeared quite abruptly.

I leaped back over the hill and made my way back into the cozy hole I had dug myself.

It seems I should train myself in more than magic.

---

When I woke up in the morning, my legs felt no less sore. In fact, they almost felt worse.

Of course, that only reminded me of exactly why I couldn't just procrastinate the day away. So I started walking.

I did walk slower this time. No reason to destroy my muscles completely. But judging on the way Naomi didn't even hesitate when I suggested traveling to the other forests, I was seriously out of shape, even for a fox.

Okay, there was a chance that she was either super athletic, or perhaps naïve, but if I was aiming to be the protector of anything, I probably needed more than just magic.

Especially if this magic thing couldn't be cheesed as much as I thought.

Speaking of...

My tail actually felt better than my legs did, all things considered. The flow of magic felt smooth and consistent. I couldn't tell if I was "full," so to speak. Just that there was a lot of energy, and pretty much how much I felt earlier when I was discovering my magic to begin with.

Maybe even a tiny bit more, if that isn't just wishful thinking.

I directed the magic through my tail, and lit a small flame on the end of it. It was easier to control after practicing for so long, but this time, my intent was not to make the flame big or to burn anything.

My goal was to create a small fire, perhaps as big as a candle flame. And just have it sit there.

That's it. Just have it sit there.

Oh, and then monitor how much magic I had as closely as possible. If I felt magic draining from my reserves, I'd make the flame a little smaller.

And, of course, if after a few minutes, nothing changed, I'd make it a little bigger.

It was harder than you might think. Just getting the flow consistent enough to even know whether my plan was working took half the trip. I frequently took stops just to steady myself.

What Naomi said had intrigued me. 'You need to have magic to get magic.' In gaming terms, the mana regeneration was a function of the current mana.

So theoretically, using magic while keeping the main pool high would maximize the effective training potential, since it would mean I would be able to cast a higher quantity of magic overall.

Of course, that only would apply if I was correct about how magic works. That's why I was going to Ponyville so urgently, instead of making my new den more livable.

I just hope Twilight's as much of a mad scientist as I think she is.

---

"Twilight, do you have something that can measure magic?"

"What kind of magic, and what type of measurement?"

Nailed it.

I pointed at the pouch my ball is hidden in. "Just the total magical quantity. I don't care what units you use, I'm only looking for relative change."

She stared uncomprehendingly at the nondescript pouch a few seconds, before gasping. "Oh! I see. Come with me."

She led me back into her basement, and after a moment of rummaging in a closet, brought out a scale. It wasn't even one of those digital ones - it just had an analog dial.

I raised an eyebrow.

Twilight rolled her eyes. "It works, okay? It's old-fashioned, but accurate. Do you want the measurement or not?" She held out a hoof.

...

She retracted the hoof. "Ah. Right. Well, when you're ready, just put it on the scale. The dial should show the total stored magic in milliStars."

Something clicked in my head. "Wait, Star?" I opened the pouch and took out my Ball. "That's what Celestia called this."

"I know. That's been eating at me, too. It certainly looks like a material well suited for magic storage, like she implied, but it looks nothing like an actual star." She rolled her eyes. "Probably just another colloquial name. Wouldn't be the first time she's used one, apparently."

"Why is your unit for magic storage a Star, then?"

She looked at me oddly. "Starswirl the Bearded? Pretty much the greatest mage in Equestrian history? I swear, nopony knows anything about history."

I gave her a deadpan look. "I'm not from this dimension, Twilight."

"Oh. Right."

I placed my ball on the scale, keeping as close as possible to the actual object as possible.

"Okay, I'm not sure how to read this dial. Is this 1.7, or 17?"

Twilight frowned, and leaned in closer. "No, you were right the first time. One point seven. Are you sure this is where you store your magic?"

I felt vaguely offended. "Yes, definitely. Is there something wrong?"

Twilight pulled away quickly. "No, of course not! It's just... well, it's smaller than I expected, given the legends and stuff..." She drug a hoof on the floor.

"Don't feel guilty, Twilight. I won't mind how low I start, as long as my experiment is successful. Out of curiosity, how bad is it?"

She grimaced. "About half the potential of your average filly. Not unprecedented, but..."

I sat down on a nearby chair, putting my paws on the seat in front of me. "Magic capacity can be improved, right? For ponies, that is. I know you don't know for sure about foxes."

"Well, I know foxes get more powerful as they get older-"

"I'm not talking about time, I'm talking about training. Do ponies get more capacity for magic if they train it?"

Twilight blinked. "Of course. Why wouldn't they?"

"I don't know anything about magic, Twilight. It wasn't a guarantee."

"Right, sorry."

"All right. I have another question, but if you don't know the answer, don't worry about it too much. I plan to experiment regardless. When ponies train with magic, does it matter if they use all their magic, or only a little?"

She frowned. "Using all your magic is a very bad idea. Your body uses magic for important purposes other than spells."

"Well, almost all of it, then."

"I don't really get what you're trying to ask, but the pony who trains more probably gets better faster, if that's what you're talking about."

I shook my head. "Never mind. What I'm trying probably doesn't apply to ponies at all. I was more asking if you get better because you stress, uh... whatever you use to store magic or whatever, or if just using magic is enough."

Twilight blinked. "...Oh. Huh. I don't really know." She grinned. "That's a really good question!"

"That's what I'm trying to test today. You probably have been wondering why my tail has been a candle for this entire time-"

"That did cross my mind, yes."

"-and that's because of something I learned from a new friend of mine. Apparently for foxes, you have to have magic in order to get more."

"Interesting. Using magic to gather magic, rather than absorb it naturally? I've certainly never heard of a spell like that, but that doesn't mean your native abilities might not include something of that nature."

"It does seem to hold true, though. Yesterday, I managed to exhaust my magical supply completely while practicing."

Twilight gave me an alarmed look.

"Don't worry. It apparently isn't as dangerous for me as it is for ponies. But it is just as stupid, so I'm definitely not going to do it again. My point is, even five or ten minutes afterward, I couldn't get so much as a spark." I gestured over to the scale. The number had not budged an inch. "I've been keeping this flame going this entire time, and it hasn't affected my total pool whatsoever."

Just to make sure, I let the flame go out. The scale remained the same.

Good. I relit it. The needle twitched, but went back to the same position as before.

"Oh!" A quill floated over to Twilight, and she began to furiously write on a nearby piece of parchment.

"My experiment is fairly simple. I'm going to keep this up for... I dunno, an hour, and see if my total magical capacity changes. If I can't see any difference, I'll try three."

I suddenly frowned. "Wait, Twilight?"

She looked up. "Hm?"

"Do you have any device that can measure the current output of the flame I already have going? I want to see if I can do this properly, and not just guess at things."

"Hmm.... total output, not just density..." She eyed the flame. "It's fairly small, so it shouldn't be too hard to do. Still, it would be a whole lot easier if it was a targeted spell."

"Targeted?"

"Oh, like, if you were able to launch the flame or something."

"I can, it just takes much more energy, and... well... that sort of defeats the purpose of this experiment. Later, though, I'll probably be doing exactly that."

She frowned. "What are you planning?"

"Well, I'm trying to be smart with my magical training. Of course, if after three hours, I know my total capacity hasn't changed at all, it obviously means that my current method is ineffective, and something else is required. But if anything actually changes, I still need to make sure it's efficient. So if I use the same amount of magic as I used in the first session in an instant, and it gives me the same effect, I know for sure that stress is not a factor in magical development. And if it gives me an improved result, I will then need to further test just how much of a factor it plays in similar, incremental ways."

Twilight blinked. "Oh. Well... that was certainly well thought out. Especially since you didn't even know if the devices you needed actually existed."

"I was... uh... well-motivated."

She pranced in place. "...I'll get the calorimeter."

Comments

[Detsella Morningdew]

This isn't a prank chapter. I don't have the courage to do a proper one, and I don't really like doing the "lol, random" kind.

[GlitchyFox]

I think the fact Celestia knew what he was quickly was interesting and could be somewhere for him to investigate as well as looking for the past fox kingdom might be intresting

[MosAnted]

You went to the right mad scientist pony Ryan!

[Vaalintine]

I'm guessing veing the foxes' kitsune guardian is meant to be a reason for Ryan to stay in Equestria then? Because it doesn't seem like a very good one. In the previous chapter Naomi was going on about how special he is and how dire a situation the foxes are in, but only after he suddenly decides to be their hero she starts on with hiw he has no reason to do it? It feels artificial, like its there to thrust him into the role and then save face to make it seem like she didn't just do that so it is "his idea".

While helping someone in need is admirable, dropping everything to be thrust into a role of destined hero doesn't seem a good reason to stay at all. Not to mention it just adds to the feeling that he isn't actually meant to be a kitsune at all, nor is he really one.

[Kevin Lee]

Canon Twilight does have experience with exercising their magic to become more powerful: Rainbow Dash's constant hovering, Twilight's own expanding range of spells, etc.
But just like exercising muscle, there reaches a point of diminishing returns as the person approaches their physical limits. Go too far, you can permanently injure yourself and end up worse than where you started, but there will be a maximum strength level you can reach and not be able to go beyond it--that's why we don't see professional body builders go much beyond their competitors, otherwise you'd see people get to Bruce Banner/Hulk-like levels.

[Detsella Morningdew]

10159895
While I possibly could have introduced something like this more gradually, this isn't really a "reason for him to not go home."

He's actually going to go home relatively soon. It just gives him a reason why he might want to return.

[Greenhorn]

I still don't get much of what exactly did the fox ask out of our Ryan? Their conversation in these past two chapters sounded broken and didn't make much sense to me.

[Detsella Morningdew]

10160309
She wants him to be to the foxes what alicorns are for ponies.

The problem is that she realizes that she can't ask that of him without being totally unreasonable.

Basically, she's conflicted about it.

Ryan wants to help because it's the closest thing he's gotten to purpose in his life. (I really wish I had been better at writing when I started the first few chapters, since he really should have gotten a bit more development before I shoved him through the mirror. His motivations would make a lot more sense.)

[Fireeaters]

Neat

[un106ble]

10163181
you could add a chapter on the side that develop and explain is life or/and circumstances prior to the displacement, a side-story chapter if you will.

could name it side story 01 and it would allow you to develop the story without breaking the main story line rhythm.

just a suggestion.^^

[Detsella Morningdew]

10164171
I understand what you mean, and it's a good idea. At a certain, strategic point, I could make a sort of flashback interlude, where he remembers his life back on Earth.

[Gravity012]

10182546
.....brilliant.

[Cursebringer]

I really like that your mc is a Kitsune because there aren't manny who do that.

[Detsella Morningdew]

10193975
Yep! In many legends, while the ball has great value to the kitsune, it does not actually hold any mystical power.

You will see me use many ideas that do not hold up to historical legends, and are there purely for artistic licence.

For example, in this story, "kitsune" is a magic-using fox. Rather than all foxes having the capability.

While I've definitely been doing my research on this one, you might find one or more aspects that are blatantly different than legend, and that will be almost certainly due to whatever it is fitting better into the plot I have planned out.

(BTW, he is fully a kitsune - the portal does not always transform a person based solely on original species. How I see it is, the soul of a being has a certain "flavor" to it. And in my version of MLP, magic comes from the soul. And of course, different creatures have different sorts of magic. So practically, the species is based on personality. It seemed strange that all humans would turn into ponies on a world with so many magical and intelligent species.)

[KittyrinnAiko]

10194178
Yes, the term 'kitsune' is typically intended to mean a fox with magic especially when used in Western media. In ancient times there was no other type of fox because people believed all foxes had magic. Today we differentiate because we know that ordinary foxes have no magic. And don't worry about being spot on, there are enough variations that a little artistic license works fine. In my own AU, the Kitsune of Japan immigrated to Equestria and took the form of ponies to become the fist fox ponies.

I'd suggested that perhaps Ryan had a kitsune ancestor because there are many legends and folk tales where foxes marry humans. That gene would simply carry on generation after generation. It would certainly explain why his flavor of magic is that of a kitsune. Not like he'd have any way of knowing. And no, not every person going through is going to be a pony. If the human Gilda were to go through the portal one would think she'd become a Griffin.

As for him fixing someone's problems in reference to what the young vixen wanted, speaking from personal experience when someone got it into their heads that I could fix all their problems by marrying him... He was a complete stranger outside of a pain management group. What I told him is that I was not the answer/fix for their problems. Stacking more issues on top of things that already need to be straightened out while putting unwarranted expectations on others is not the way to make the world a better place. I also suspect that Fluttershy might have a better idea regarding how many foxes there are in Equestria.

[3-tap]

It has occurred to me that he can burrow under twilights tree library/home to live under

[Detsella Morningdew]

10195420
I may eventually make a story that has kitsune ancestry play a part. (I have one in planning, but it is not fanfiction.) In this one, I already thought of it, but there's a certain point that makes adding new things overcrowding it with ideas rather than constructive.

It makes things a lot more relatable and clear if the human world he comes from is, well... very close to our own. If I make legends real, then why would I need to bring him to Equestria to get a plot in motion?

[Asolem2]

She raised an eyebrow. "Seriously? You can't just cheat life, Ryan."

No but you can dream about cheating it