Chapter 4: Shaping Up
They set to work, determined to finish before nightfall.
Twilight and Lucien left while Celestia's sun still hung high in the sky. They walked slowly, chatting about a few random things, heading in a general direction of the marketplace.
"So, Twilight," Lucien began, "I've answered a whole lot of your questions, so now I think it's time you answered some of mine."
To this, Twilight rolled her eyes, and said, "Well, I guess you've earned it thus far. What do you want to know?"
Lucien smiled. "Well, for starters, what's with the tattoos that you all have on your butts?"
Twilight blushed. "That's not a tattoo! It's called a cutie mark." she explained, shifting into lecture mode, "A cutie mark appears on your flank after you've found out your special talent. It doesn't come any sooner, or any later than it's supposed to, and it's also one of the only magical things that we still don't understand."
Lucien looked puzzled. "Then what exactly is your special talent? Making stars?" He snickered at the possibility.
Twilight shook her head. "No! My special talent is magic! I got it when I was accepted into Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns back when I was just a filly." She sighed, reminiscing on that fateful day.
"Alright." Lucien nodded, accepting the explanation. "Another thing, there's no way the Princesses actually control the sun and the moon, is there? Because on Earth, we used to believe that the sun and moon revolved around us, until some astronomer proved that we revolve around the sun."
"Actually, most ponies choose to believe that they do control those celestial bodies, the truth is," she leaned in conspiratorially, "that the Princesses just use them as anchors for their magic. All they really do is just give Eqqus a giant shove into orbit."
"Makes sense." Said Lucien, having heard of even crazier things in his past. "Last thing, is there some kind of apothecary or a pharmacist that I can see?" His eyes brightened. "A herbalist would be the best though."
Twilight looked at him weirdly. "Why would you need to see a pony like that? Aren't we out to get supplies for your new house?"
Lucien laughed. "Well, yes, but not in the conventional sense." he said puzzlingly.
She just shook her head and continued. "Well, we actually do have a herbalist and potion-brewer nearby. Her name's Zecora, and she's a good friend of mine. She helped me and my friends get out of a nasty run in with some poison joke . . ." She trailed off into her thoughts a bit.
"Can you take me to where she lives?" Lucien asked hopefully. Now they were out in the park in the center of town, neither of them had noticed that they passed their target location about five minutes ago.
"Sure!" Twilight replied, happy to help. "She lives out a short distance into the Everfree," she looked at him, "a bit closer to Ponyville than where we found you."
Lucien looked on awkwardly. "Uh, right then. Onwards!" he pointed in a random direction and headed off. Twilight rolled her eyes, then grabbed him with her magic, facing him in the correct direction. "Onwards!" he declared again.
Twilight groaned and smiled a little, then went off following the clueless human.
Zecora was in her hut, meditating, upside-down on a walking stick that she didn't need. Her mind was becoming quiescent , and she could feel the coming and going of energy through her body.
Hmm . . . Haahh . . . Hmm . . . Haahh . . . She breathed in and out, slowly. Each breath rattling through her, calming the pool of water that was her mind. Just as she was about to reach absolute tranquility, the door opened and slammed into the wall with a bang!
She lost her balance and fell immediately, crashing noisily onto the floor of her humble home. "Who is interrupting me at this time," she noticed Twilight and Lucien standing in the doorway, "to be seeking a service of mine?" She ended the statement as a question towards Twilight.
She stepped forward, "Hi Zecora, this is our new friend Lucien. He just arrived in Ponyville yesterday, and he wanted to see you."
To this, Lucien nodded. "Yeah. I heard from Twilight that you're a herbalist. I was thinking that you would be able to help me with a potion."
Zecora blinked. "I can sense the power inside you, I shall help you make a potion, or two. What is it that you seek, something strong, or something meek?"
"Why is she speaking in rhymes, and how can she sense the 'power inside me'?" he said out of the corner of his mouth, towards Twilight.
"It is a cultural thing, something of interest that my life brings." Zecora interrupted, answering Lucien's questions.
He just decided to go with it. "Makes as much sense as anything else around here..."
"Well!" he said, clapping his hands together, "I find myself in need of some reagents for a potion. Can you help me with some of them?"
"This I can do, but what can I expect from helping you?" Zecora asked back.
He raised a hand to his chin in thought, then said, "I'll give you a very special recipe that took me months to decipher."
Zecora considered it for a moment, then extended her hoof, looking to accept the trade offer.
They shook, and got to work.
Meanwhile, in a secluded basement in the nobility housing district of Equestria's Capital, sparks were flying out from under a door.
The pony causing those sparks to fly was engrossed in her work, barely pausing to wipe a bead of sweat off her brow. She was staring down through a blast shield, blocking the crimson sparks that flew from the metal she was shaping.
Bronze Gear was completely focused on her work, literally working her magic on the metal. She bent and smelted it into form, moving it by willpower alone.
It was slowly shaping up.
Lucien ran through the forest, heart pounding, feet slamming against the mossy floor. He breathing hard already. He dodged past low branches and swooping vines that threatened to clothesline him if he wasn't careful enough.
He heard a roar from behind, and poured on speed. "Why, why, why, why why!" was the only thing he could really think at that point. Duck. Jump. He was heading toward a large cliff now. "Shit. I took a wrong turn back there..." he risked a glance over his shoulder and looked up.
What he saw alarmed him. He couldn't see the monster chasing him, but he could see the damage it was causing. Trees were crashing to the ground rapidly, each one closer to his position. He ran toward the edge of the cliff and looked over. Nothing but boggy swamp water below, seemingly too thick to swim in.
Lucien turned to face the beast chasing after him. "A hydra... Nothing I haven't dealt with before..." he grimaced at the memory of what happened last time he ran into a hydra. A long-forgotten pain returned to his side, brought back by the thought.
He clapped his hands together, then rubbed them against each other. They began to glow a familiar green. "I just need a quick diversion." He drew his athame. "Never really thought I would be doing this again..." he thought.
Lucien raised it into the air, and it shifted color into a dark purple, signaling a change in magical focus. He spun it in one hand, then threw it at the ground.
The hydra burst out of the forest. To say he was pissed would be an understatement. He had just been enjoying his afternoon nap when some thing just began stomping around above his hollowed out log. He could hear it talking to some clippity-cloppity pony that lived nearby. Woke him up, that's what they did.
The hydra focused on its quarry. It was standing by the edge of the cliff casually, not moving. With a roar, the hydra reared back its center head, then brought its mouth down right where it was standing.
The hydra's middle head got nothing but a big mouthful of dirt. It pulled its head back with a whine immediately, teeth aching. The other two heads stared at the spot in confusion. Then they watched as a line quickly cut through it, then it disappeared completely, dissolving quickly into the air.
The hydra roared in anger at its escaped prey, then stopped quickly as it heard footsteps quickly approaching from its right. The right head had just enough time to glance over before all three heads were struck by boulders, knocking it unconscious instantly.
Lucien was panting heavily now. He had hastily cast an illusion spell just before the hydra came out of the forest. It was pretty simple, though. One designed to only trick the eyes, because he was counting on it being stupid enough to only be fooled by that. His plan did work out splendidly though. It took the bait, which gave him just enough time to use a cloaking spell (one that drained him greatly) and sneak around to render the hydra unconscious.
"I really should have thought that out better." he thought, looking back on the events that had just transpired. He retrieved his athame from the ground where he had thrown it. Upon picking it up, he switched its focus back to earth, then cut off the supply of mana, dispelling the shoddy illusion.
He sheathed it, then began to trudge back to the hydra's sleeping place; which was also the location of one of the ingredients that he needed for his potion. He walked through a huge rut that the hydra had left, dotted with felled trees. Splinters were everywhere, and he knew that he would need to check his shoes when he got back.
He finally reached his destination. An area that was once a mossy creek bed, now a gaping hole with water streaming into it, thanks to the hydra's stylish entrance. He walked around the hole, then bent over to pick up the silvery flower growing there. "All this trouble for one. Measly. FLOWER." he thought in exasperation.
He shrugged his backpack off, then dropped to one knee to unzip it. He set the flower aside, and pulled out his journal and a pen. He opened his journal to a new page, then made a quick sketch of the flower, along with some side notes on its location and effects, as described by Zecora. "Moonlight. That's what she called it." Now under close inspection, he could tell that the name was accurate. The flower had the color of the moon, and a gentle flowing grace to it. But, there was something else. He could sense the power it contained within its petals, and he could make a pretty good guess as to why he needed it.
He stuffed the items back into the backpack, then put it back on. He held out his hand, palm up. It began to glow a faint blue. A ball of energy formed, lines of mana crossing over each other, forming a pattern that reminded him of something digital. He raised his hand up, and the world seemed to wipe away in before him.
Twilight was worried. "Lucien was supposed to be back 20 minutes ago. What if something happened? she started to think frantically. "Keep a hold of yourself, Twilight. I saw how he fought. He can definitely hold his own in a fight." she began to pace. "But on the other hoof, he has never been in Equestria before, he might not know how dangerous the creatures in the Everfree are." she started edging toward the door now, going a little closer to it every pace. "That's it, I know he told me not to go looking, but he's been gone for too long."
She got about two steps out the door before he appeared like somepony wiping away fog on a window. Once he formed fully, he fell to his knees, seemingly exhausted. Twilight ran forward, "Lucien! Are you alright!?" she exclaimed, putting a hoof on his shoulder to try to help him up. He wheezed once, and it sounded like he was trying to say something. "What?" Twilight asked, putting an ear toward his mouth.
"Water..." She could just make out under his breath.
"Move, Twilight. He wants water. Go get some." she was glad her subconscious was there to keep her moving along.
She ran back into Zecora's hut, and looked around frantically. She spotted a jug that she had seen Zecora drawing water from before, for use in her brews. She grabbed the jug with her magic, and ran back out the door. Lucien was now laying on his back, panting heavily.
"Ok, ok. Sit up, I've got some water." she said to his prone figure.
At the mention of water, he shot up like a bolt. He reached for it, and upon getting it, he tipped the whole thing up and drank deeply. Twilight could hear the water shooting down his throat, and she wondered how he was able to drink so fast. After what seemed to be a few minutes, he finished the water, and lowered the jug.
Lucien burped once, then coughed. "Phew!" he breathed out. "Tell you what, I really hope that was worth the trouble I went through to get that!" he took one look at her, then burst into laughter.
"What's so funny?" Twilight demanded, angry that he found this serious situation amusing.
"You!" he said. "You look so serious!" his face changed to one of thoughtfulness. "Well, I suppose you ponies do live a tad more quietly than I do."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Twilight angrily asked.
"You think that was the first time that I've 'narrowly evaded death'?" he looked at her. "No... no." he said shaking his head. "That happens to me a lot. It's something I've pretty much grown used to."
She looked at him aghast. "But how could anyone live like that? On constant fear that you might die, or be gravely injured by something!"
He just shook his head. "That's just how I like to live." He pushed himself up and began to take off his pack. "On another note, I got what we needed." he unzipped it and pulled out a silver flower.
"Moonlight..." Twilight thought. "How did you find some? I read that they were extremely rare."
Lucien looked at her and waggle a finger. "Let's sit down first. How does lunch sound? I'm famished."
She tilted her head unconsciously. "But we just ate."
"Yeah, well, I'm hungry again. Burned a lot of calories back there." he said, patting his stomach.
Twilight nodded in understanding. "I know a place." she said.
"So," Twilight said between bites of her egg and daisy sandwich, "how did you learn to teleport?" she swallowed before continuing. "You made it sound like teleportation wouldn't be included in any of the four base schools of magic."
Lucien made a hard gulp of his grilled cheese, then took a swig of water. "Well, it really isn't teleporting." he said.
Twilight just looked confused, "But, that was teleporting. You appeared right in front of me!" she said, throwing her hooves to the side in emphasis.
He put a hand to his chin and leaned his head on it. "Yes, yes I did. But, the spell I used technically isn't one for teleportation."
"Then what is it?" Twilight demanded.
"Well," Lucien said, leaning back, and putting his hands behind his head. "It's my own spell, based off of a teleportation spell, but I made a few tweaks to it."
"Like what?" Twilight asked.
"Well, for starters, I decreased the delay time, sped up the recharge time, and changed the method of getting from one place to another." he waggled his eyebrows. "And since I'm a sucker for Borderlands 2, I decided to call it a Phase Shift Spell."
Twilight wore another confused face, but decided not to ask on this one. "So you just made your own spell, just like that?"
"That's right. Just. Like. That." he said, mocking her words. He leaned back and put his hands behind his head. "Didn't I tell you I could make spells?"
Twilight looked like she wanted to ask another question, but decided against it. She stood up. "I guess we had better get going now, if you still want to get that potion from Zecora."
Lucien stared off into space for another moment, then looked at her and nodded. He stood up and joined her to walk back into the Everfree in silence.
Zecora stood over her cauldron, looking deep into its foggy green depths. She walked over to a hanging moss and grabbed a hoof-full of the stuff. She walked back and cast it in, causing the mixture to bubble and change colors to red. She took a ladle nearby and used it to stir the contents of the cauldron. The bubbling stopped.
She heard her door slam open a second time that day, and jumped a bit, almost bumping into the cauldron. Lucien stepped in with Twilight. He reached into his backpack and pulled out a silvery flower. He held it up for a moment, then tossed it over to Zecora.
She caught it in one hoof, then took it over to the nearby counter. From there she picked up a knife and sliced the blossom of the flower open carefully, making sure she didn't make a bad cut. She dragged out the center of the blossom, an unpollinated stem.
She took that in her hoof, and brought it over to Lucien. "Work, this will not, if you do not drop it in the pot." she said to him.
He took it over and cast it in, then grabbed the ladle and stirred like she did. The mixture turned an earthly green, then became completely still. The ladle was stuck in it!
He tried to pull it out, but it wouldn't budge. He yanked on it with all his might, and it finally broke free, sending green goo flying everywhere.
He stood there, ladle in hand, looking stunned. Twilight just rolled her eyes and lit up her horn, using her magic to collect the flung pieces of potion.
"Well," Lucien said, wiping his face off. "I didn't expect that to happen." he shook his hand over the cauldron, getting rid of all the excess goo that clung to him. "Wait a second..." he brought a chunk of it up to his face for closer examination. "This is Jello!" he exclaimed.
Twilight and Zecora just looked at him blankly, not understanding what in Equestria "Jello" was. "Riiiight." Twilight said. "Now that you've got that done, will you please tell me what that potion is for?"
Lucien looked back at her, an evil glint in his eyes, "To take over Equestria, of course!" he laughed manically, whipping around and throwing his arms up in the air. He had conjured a classic villain's cape (the one with the high collar) to his back somewhere along the way, causing his menacing look to increase by +10 points!
Twilight recoiled. "WHAT!?" she gasped, just before Lucien doubled over in laughter. She watched as the cape dissolved off his back and he tried to straighten.
"You - heh - actually *gasp* thought I was serious?" he said between breaths.
"Yes! I did!" Twilight yelled at him. "I was horrified! I didn't want to have to fight you . . . I don't even think I could . . ." she trailed off.
"Aww, cheer up, Twi. It was just a joke. I'm not turning evil or anything, you've got nothing to worry about." he walked up and nudged her with his elbow, "besides, I'm sure you would have done a fine job fighting me." he said, trying to cheer her up.
"I mean it though! I've seen what you're capable of, and even I can't match it! The only thing that was able to stop you was the Elements of Harmony, and that was when we caught you off-guard." she hung her head.
"Cheer up, Twi. It's not that bad. Besides, if I'm as powerful as you say I am, then just be glad I'm on your side." she looked up, and he saw tears in her eyes. He pulled her into a quick hug. They stayed embraced for a few moments, then they pulled away.
"You still scared me." she said, playfully knocking his arm.
"Ooh! You got me!" Lucien said, grabbing his arm in mock pain.
They both shared a laugh, then looked over to see that Zecora had scooped the "Jello" out of the cauldron and put it in a bowl for him. She wrapped it in a few leaves, then set it on the counter.
"Now that I have prepared this for you, your end of the deal, I pursue." Zecora said to him.
"Oh! Right!" Lucien said, already taking off his backpack. "Well, I'm not sure if you'll be able to get all the equipment necessary to make this, but the ingredients should be pretty easy." he flipped through the pages of the journal, and Twilight saw fantastic drawing of beasts, along with recipes for potions, spells, and weapon crafting.
"Aha!" he exclaimed. He ripped a page out of the journal, one titled "Coca-Cola" and then opened his palm. The page lifted into the air, inside a green aura. Twilight and Zecora watched as Lucien closed his eyes briefly, then the page duplicated itself.
One of the pages came to rest next to the potion on Zecora's counter, and the other went back to Lucien's hand. He grasped it, then placed it back into the journal. He ran a finger along the two torn edges, and they fused back together, like he was zipping the paper back into his book.
"There you go!" he said, walking over to grab the bowl of potion from Zecora's counter. He scooped it up and strode out of the hut, Twilight in trail.
"What was that potion recipe that you gave her?" she asked him.
"Something that will bring her, and the rest of the world, great happiness." Lucien answered with an unwavering smile.
They got back to Ponyville quickly, with Twilight pondering what he meant for most of the time. They stopped by Applejack's cart on their way through the center of town, and they went to say hello.
"An' have a nice day!" Applejack called to one of her departing customers. She rummaged around beneath the cart for a moment, saying, "What can Ah do ya' for?" to Twilight while her head was down.
"Applejack, it's me." Twilight said.
"Oh!" Applejack said, pulling her head back up to greet her. "Well howdy, Twilight, what brings you around here?" she looked over to Lucien, who was busy drooling over a pie on display. "Uh, can Ah help you?" she asked him.
"Huh? Oh! No, actually, I don't have any money. Sorry." Lucien resumed staring at the pie.
Twilight sighed, "How much for the pie?" she asked Applejack.
"With the way he's starin' at it, Ah'd say it's on the house." Applejack responded, reaching to wave her hoof in front of Lucien's face. "Hey, Lucien! It's me, Applejack. Come back to Eqqus, the pie's yours."
"Wha- . . . Really!?" he exclaimed after his mind woke back up. "Thanks, I don't know what to say!"
"Then just thank me, and be on your way." Applejack suggested helpfully.
"Thanks!" Lucien said, before picking up the pie and heading back to the library.
Twilight lingered behind. "Now tell me, why did you really give him that pie?" she asked.
Applejack sighed, removing her hat. "Ah know that the whole thing in the Everfree was just a misunderstandin', but Ah still don't trust 'im. Nopony, or human should have that much power. Ah mean, what would 'ave happened if we didn't up and use the Elements?"
Twilight looked thoughtful for a moment, rubbing her chin with a hoof absently. She looked off at Lucien walking away. "I'm not sure, Applejack. I'm not sure." she snapped out of her thoughts. "Well, the past is in the past, and it's nothing we need to worry about. I'll see you later, Applejack." she began to trot away.
"Ah'll see you soon, Twi." Applejack called out, waving a hoof.
Twilight caught up with Lucien just as he was entering the library. "Well, that was awesome of her to let me just take the pie." he said to her, holding the door open with his free hand. "What did you talk to her about?" he asked once they were both inside.
"Oh, nothing." she said dismissively. "Are you going to eat that whole pie by yourself?" she asked, pointing a hoof to it.
Lucien glanced down. "Actually, I'm saving it for when I really need it. You know how tough being a mage is; burning tons of calories in just a few minutes." he waved a hand, and the pie flew off to the kitchen.
Twilight nodded in understanding. "Well, alright. But, I hope you don't mind letting Spike have a slice or two. He really likes sweets."
"Sure thing." Lucien said. He walked into the guest bedroom and flopped down onto the undersized bed. "Wake me up at twilight, Twilight." he called over his shoulder.
"Uh, alright." Twilight responded, a little confused as to why he would sleep now.
"I'm sleeping now because I need to build up all the energy I can before going to build my house later." he said, getting a lucky guess as to what she was thinking about.
Twilight just said, "Okay." before walking upstairs to go read for a few hours.
Twilight finally put her book down, Celestial Bodies and Their Laws, with a yawn. The sun was beginning to set, and Lucien had told her to wake him up at twilight. She walked into the guest bedroom and looked upon his sleeping form. "He looks pretty peaceful. I don't know what I was talking about earlier, not trusting him. I can't see him doing anything bad, looking like this right now."
"Lucien...Lucien..." she gently prodded his body with her hoof. "Lucien. Get up." she pushed a little harder.
"Muhh..." he groaned.
"Come on Lucien, you told me to get you up." Twilight said.
He reached an arm over and lightly tapped her horn. "Alarm clock...stop going off." he mumbled before rolling over. He sat up with a lazy grin on his face. "Hey."
"Ugh. You can be so insufferable sometimes." Twilight huffed.
"Well, I'm up now. Let's go." He swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up. He leaned back, unbending his spine. He was satisfied after hearing a few cracks. He walked past Twilight, heading for the kitchen. "So, where's that p-?" He stopped in his tracks, staring directly at Spike, who was in the middle of shoveling handfuls of pie into his mouth.
Spike noticed his stare and stopped immediately, claw halfway to his mouth. "Uhm...." he tried to start. He swallowed, "This...isn't what it looks like...?"
Lucien lifted his hand, and Spike rose up into the air. He motioned his hand toward him, and Spike drifted closer. "What were you just doing?"
"Well, I saw a pie sitting on the counter and..." he trailed off, glancing back at the destroyed piece of food.
"And what? You just ate the pie?" he said calmly.
"Uh, yes?" Spike responded meekly.
Lucien flicked his wrist, and Spike went sailing over his head, going toward the bookshelves behind them. Lucien turned to watch as Spike flailed his arms in mid-air, trying desperately to keep upright. He hit the shelves with a thud, then fell to the ground, causing the floor to shake slightly.
Spike moaned and turned over, looking up at the shelves. All the books were slightly wobbling, and his eyes widened. "Oh, no, no! Don-!" his words were cut off by a crash, as all the books fell on him simultaneously.
Lucien just snickered and walked over to the kitchen table to go nurse his wounded pie.
Twilight had stood outside the bedroom, watching it all go down. Her mind argued for all of five seconds, and at the end of their debate she rushed forward to go help Spike out from under the mountain of books. She dug for a moment, then found a twitching purple claw buried underneath some tomes.
"Spike!" Twilight exclaimed. She grabbed the claw with both hooves and yanked with all her might. "Nggh!" she gritted her teeth together. Finally, he popped loose, scattering a few books around the main room.
He looked dazed, and Twilight scooped him up into a hug. She pushed away for a moment and checked for any wounds. Finding none, she stood him up, then got up herself. They both walked into the kitchen to confront Lucien.
He was sitting at the table, taking huge bites of unmangled pie. He had used magic to slice it into several pieces, and was now eating it like a pizza. He froze, hand near mouth, when he noticed their stares. "Uh..... You saw nothing!" he exclaimed, drawing his dagger.
He threw it at the ground, blade first, and it exploded into a thick cloud of smoke. Twilight and Spike were caught in the explosion, coughing. When their fits subsided, they looked over to the table. Lucien was gone, and so was the pie. Spike stomped over to the table. "Did he really have to take the whole pie?" he exclaimed.
Lucien reappeared right outside the front door of the library. He chuckled to himself, then opened the door. He could hear Spike just as he finished yelling at him for taking the pie with him. Lucien walked slowly across the floor, trying not to make any noise.
He came upon the entrance to the kitchen, and peered his head around the corner. Both Spike and Twilight stood with their backs to him, the first checking out the table for any hints of pie.
Lucien rounded the corner slowly, not daring to go any faster. He walked up right behind Twilight, and stood over her. He loomed, and then yelled "Boo!" as loud as he could.
Twilight shrieked, and flew up to the ceiling like a cat. She clung to a hanging light, shaking like a leaf from the scare she had just received. Spike gasped and flew off the table. A slightly more rational reaction than what Twilight had.
Lucien doubled over in laughter. "That . . . that was the best!" he managed to squeeze out between gasps. He feigned wiping a tear from his eye and straightened. He looked over at the two and saw something he didn't like. At some point in his laughter, Twilight had stolen the pie, and now she and Spike both were holding chunks of it; he didn't like the evil grins they were both wearing.
"Our turn." Twilight said deviously. They both launched their chunks of pie at Lucien. He saw them coming in slow motion, and watched as the first one hit him square in the chest. He let out a yell, then began to back up, still in slow motion. The other piece continued its slow arc through the air. It approached as he moved away, growing ever closer.
It struck him directly in the face, and stuck there, completely eclipsing his features. The world returned back to its normal speed, and with it, Lucien's regular hearing. All he could sense though, was Twilight and Spike's laughter at his current expression. "I must look pretty ridiculous right now." he thought.
"Well, might as not let it go to waste." he decided. He pulled a hand up to his face and made a grasping motion with it. The pie rose off of his face and gathered in his hand. Twilight and Spike looked up just in time to see Lucien split a ball of pie in half, then launch both pieces into their still-open mouths.
They could see it coming, so they didn't choke. Instead, they chewed and swallowed. When they were both finished, the three looked at each other, then they all shared a great laugh at the events that had just transpired.
Lucien was the first to recover. "Well, now that we're all finished, and I've put something in my stomach, I suppose it's time to construct my house." he glanced out the window. "I just hope I didn't miss the right moment..." he stared at the falling sun.
"Wait, that's why you wanted me to wake you up? And what do you mean by 'didn't miss the right moment.'?" Twilight asked.
Lucien looked at her skeptically. "You did learn about auspicious moments in Celestia's School, didn't you?"
Twilight pouted. "Uh, no, actually. I really don't know what you're talking about."
He nodded, and changed the conversation's direction. "Have you ever performed a spell at high noon? Exactly 12 o'clock? Or at the exact moment the sun rises or sets? Or perhaps, if you're into this kinda thing, at exactly midnight?" he inquired.
"Well, I guess I've done spells at noon tons of times." she said.
"Thought so. And," Lucien added, "did you notice anything different about your mana flow at that time?"
Twilight saw where this was going. "So, you're saying that... that there are certain moments in the day that allows for more mana flow?"
"Ding, ding, ding! That's the correct answer! What does she win, Johnny? she wins another slice of pie!" he exclaimed.
Unfortunately, Twilight and Spike didn't get what he had said at all. They gave him blank stares, and Lucien noticed. He quickly tore off another chunk of pie from the tin its remains rested in. "Just take the pie." he said flatly, offering her the food.
"So, that basically means that the spell I'll be using will be able to get much bigger. Combine that with the Power Potion that we whipped up with Zecora means that I'm gonna have a house before the night is over." he concluded with a smile.
Twilight finished her pie. "So you have a spot picked out and everything? Oh! I should go get the girls! They'll want to see this!" And with that, she flashed away, leaving behind a satisfied-looking Lucien, and a confused Spike.
Spike tried to form a question, but Lucien cut him off. "It's too hard to explain. Especially if you've never used magic before." He waved his hand up and it glowed a faint green.
Spike shrugged. "Whatever." he said.
"I suggest we get going. It's going to be twilight soon, and it would be bad if we were late." he started toward the door.
"Alright then." Spike said, following him.
"And that's how it will work." Lucien concluded his "brief" explanation of how he's going to build a house. "Any questions?" he dared to ask.
Pinkie's hoof shot straight up first. "Ooh! Me! Pick me!" she shouted.
"Hmmm..." Lucien pretended to look around the small group of Twilight's friends. His eyes settled on Pinkie. "Ah! You! In the pink!" he pointed at her.
"Yes! Alright, hmmm... What was I gonna say... Oh! Right!" she settled on a question. "So what you're saying is that the auspicious moment of the sun setting will allow for more mana to flow through you! And, by doing that, it would allow you to use more mana in one sitting! And then, combine that with Zecora's potion, you'll be able to do one HUGE mega-awesome feat of magical spectacularness!?"
"Uh, yes...?" Lucien decided to answer, having no idea how she was able to grasp that concept so easily. It had taken him years to comprehend what that all meant. "Any other questions?" he asked once again.
Rarity raised a hoof before speaking. "I'm afraid I still don't quite understand what makes a time an auspicious moment." she asked.
"Excellent question, Rarity!" he exclaimed. "An auspicious moment is formed when a great event happens, usually one that changes the world in a large way. This, of course, also means that entire days can be viewed as auspicious moments."
Rainbow cut in. "So name one." she said.
Lucien rubbed his chin. "Well, the easiest one I can think of is the birthdate of a god, or goddess." he looked at Twilight pleadingly when he said this, encouraging her to step in. Luckily, she did.
"I think that's enough questions for now, girls. The sun's about to set, and we should let him get this done so he can begin living by himself." she looked at Lucien, motioning him to "go on".
"Well thanks." he said flatly.
Twilight face-hoofed. "I didn't mean it that way! It's just- oh never mind! Go get started with your ritual, or whatever it is that you're gonna be doing." she huffed.
He gave her a crooked grin, and drew his athame. He held it in his left hand, and conjured the potion that he had left at Twilight's in his right. He put the knife above the bowl, then glanced around at the Elements, plus Spike. He brought the dagger down into the Jello-like concoction. It made a squishing noise, and he proceeded to cut up the stuff into four separate slices.
He picked one such slice and shoveled it into his mouth. He quickly chewed it and swallowed. Almost immediately could he feel the new power coursing through him, doubling his already-large reserves of mana. His body began to glow a faint green, and the light from the sun dimmed as the celestial object began to sink below the distant mountains.
Lucien put down the bowl of pseudo-Jello, and raised his athame higher into the air. It gained light, getting brighter by the second. He could feel the power flowing through his arms, and into the worn piece of equipment that he trusted completely. He had been through thick and thin with that knife, and he'd be damned if he let it break.
The knife in question happened to be getting brighter, and hotter as well. It started to burn his hand a little, but still, he didn't stop what he was doing. There was no turning back now.
The dagger's glow elongated, getting much taller and a little bit wider. Lucien then realized that it had transformed into a glowing sword of some kind. With a shout, he buried the whole thing into the ground, all the way up to the hilt.
The ground around its entry began to glow a similar green, and then cracks began to form and branch out to either side of it. They traveled fast, and then they stopped, meeting at the end of a large rectangle. Lucien relaxed his grip on the handle of the glowing sword, now just slightly leaning on it.
He knew that the spell would carry out on its own; he didn't have to continue guiding it. He had pushed the spell over the metaphorical hill, keeping it on a set part no matter what he did. "Well, of course, I could just let go of the sword and cancel the whole spell." he thought, but why would he want to do that?
The ground encased by the lines shifted and trembled. Then the group gathered watched in silent amazement as the ground began to rise up in the rectangular shape. As it grew taller, indentations and holes were noticeable all over it's new sides, and the party realized that the holes were there on purpose. It was a house, after all.
But what a house it was going to be! The whole construct itself is massive, at least by Ponyville standards. It continued to rise, breaking the second store, and preparing a basement. Then, it stopped abruptly, leaving in its wake a gigantic, two-story mansion.
The athame returned to its regular form, and Lucien stepped forward to pull it out of the ground. He sheathed it, then turned to face the Elements, who were all staring at the house in open shock.
"Wanna go check it out?"
Stats
Page generated in 0.028 seconds
Total duration
989 users online
338,882 hits today, 2,004,447 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
assuming two more set up chapters, and each arc is average 5 chapters my formula is
num of chapters = 6+(5*num of arcs)
provide num of arcs for your answer
EDIT:by chapters i am not including the prologue. +1 if you want to include it
Nice. In all honesty I would have threatened to turn Spike bright pink for a week next time he did something like that.
1557486
Gimme a straight answer man! One arc! One arc! Math hurts my brain...
1558009
An appropriate response.
1560058 assuming ONE arc, 11 chapters.
EDIT: my definition of an arc is screwy, ill probs come back to this later. this is the setup arc, where Lucien is getting integrated into his environment. When the antagonist reveals herself, that shall be the start of the next. after that there may be another series of events, and so on.
1560074
That sounds like what I was planning. Thanks for clarifying and not forcing my brain to do math. It's on vacation right now.
1560102 im also assuming at least two chapters of relationship and character building. you know, making sure he has a Reason to like, and step up for these ponies when the terminator 1000 comes out to kill everyone.
On another note: the antagonist is/used to be, a engineer who was relying was relying on the Funding to make the prototypes necessary for the development process. since that grant was cancelled, where is she getting the money to build her NEW robot? i'm assuming she really needed the money because of how upset she got.
1560168
*Rubs chin thoughtfully* Shit. I didn't think of that. I guess right now she's just using anything that she already had. Basically, the work's really slow-going. Believe me, I know. I've done stuff like that before, and it takes hours for something small. Bronze Gear's looking at spending a few days/nights working on that project . . . alone.
What a loner.Either way, you're making a few speculations there, on the whole "terminator 1000" and stuff. I never said that was the direction she was headed.
Confession: I never had any plan at all for the middle section/secondary arc of the story. Nothing at all. This was all just improv and feedback from everyone. And, in conclusion, I'm working on the next chapter literally right now. Not even joking; while you're reading this. Next one will not take anywhere near as long.
1560195 with the terminator 1000, that was a joke at how complex could her work get, seeing as the 1000 model was the nanobot one.
HOWEVER i can't really see the robot as being anything BUT deadly, due to my mental projection of her being the antagonist. since her role is not defined beyond all reasonable doubt, i may be wrong. in any case ill let you get to your story.
1560223
Yeah-huh. She's the antagonist, for sure. But in description/definition, she really isn't evil. Not even by a long shot.
1560230 i know its a long shot for that, but.... im having my imagination fail here. you have piqued my curiosity, because i cant see her in any way that could involve the main character other than general evilness. you win good sir, you have broken my rules of fanfiction prediction. now i REALLY cant wait to find out how she is involved.
1560254
Breaking the rules is my special talent.I tend to have that mind-rape effect on people. Especially if they're around me too long. I will surpass your rules of prediction, and it will be AWESOME!1560267 please tell me it isn't a competition. thats my new alternative theory.
Actually don't tell me it isn't. Spoiler no spoiling
1560296
I'm not entirely sure what you mean by "competition."
some form of contest, in a field of expertise that Lucien would provide a reasonable competitor (like the one on one iron pony) OR a actual competition like (similar but not exact to) the running of the leaves.
1560328
[REMOVED DUE TO SPOILERS]
Whoops. Sorry, I forgot that I downloaded that spoiler-censor add-on to Google Chrome. And that I forgot how to turn it off...
1560375 apart from some potential for a marty stue to emerge, i rather like this story. it may not be the best, but i like it.
EDIT: now, for the first time, and may there be no more, MOAR
1560402
Marty stue...? You mean Gary Stu? Like Mary Sue?
That's exactly what I was trying to avoid doing. Like, really. I tried really hard to keep him from being overpowered...
1560427 yeah, i'm not good with the term name. its just some comments twilight made about his power level. i had to resist a quote with a over 9000 joke.
I'm assuming about 10-20 chapters if it's gonna be one arc.
1563278
There's a problem with that though, an athame is actually the name of the kind of dagger he's using. Look it up, I think it literally means "wizard's knife." I'm going with Joyeuse as a reference to a certain book series that just released its final part. Yes, an actual book, not something online. Bonus points if you can tell me which book.
1563569
Not just from RuneScape, from lots of places. RuneScape was just a base that I borrowed some spells and enemies from.
1563461 I'd like to point out that athame roughly translates to Mage Blade, and can be any properly constructed blade, sword included, as long as it can be used as a focus.
*cough cough* Three princesses, six everyday ponies, and one Discord all have the same amount of power as him. It's because they don't understand his capabilities that they think he shouldn't have that much power.
Assuming that the ingredients for the jello aren't super-rare and super-expensive, Lucien could corner the market on building houses
It feels a little odd that Lucien would be able to go on par with Luna and Celestia at the same time earlier, then get winded by fighting a hydra. Certainly, a hydra's a big monster, but not quite on the power-scale of Luna and Celestia.
The pie fight scene seems off. Something like, he threw Spike into a bookshelf to start off? And Twilight and Spike didn't even really get angry, they just fought back in return with pie for a food fight. He's only been here for a day or two. Hardly enough time to build up rapport and familiarity so that they can brush it off as a lead-in to what would be a food fight.
9448317
It's probably something to do with the time of day or the fact he just touched a gateway connected to the elements. Plus it's been, like, a day since he fought them.