Sugar Hoof the Wizard Colt

by Furenstein

Anger of the Everfree

With a flourish, another tree had been cured of it's overabundance of life magic. Gilded Spear stood a bit behind me, less scared of the forest after the events of last night.

The Princess laughed when she had learned that I gave my warden a bath instead of him giving me one. After that, it was time for bed, but instead of returning to the barracks to sleep with the rest of the recruits, Gilded Spear stayed with me in the tower. There still wasn't any furniture, so we both just slept on different parts of the floor.

As it turns out, harmony magic can be used to instill a sense of peace, safety, happiness, and friendship into those it is used on. Though, I didn't tell either of the princesses that I had used harmony magic last night. I wondered what must've been going through her head as she saw us. The event had changed something in us, something mentally. I didn't quite know what it was, but even though the effect wore off soon after the sun rose, I could tell we were closer.

"What spell are you using to keep working like this? You've fixed twice as many trees as yesterday in half the time, and you're not even breaking a sweat." Gilded Spear said to me, carrying the saddlebags containing what I assumed to be lunch. My magic would suffice as far as food went, which was good, since all they provided me for nourishment was baby food.

I couldn't answer right away, I didn't really know how to explain it out loud. I enjoyed having Gilded Spear here, keeping me company. Every other person I met, I've always ended up in some sort of competition with. I can't remember the last time I had a...

I sat down on the emerald grass and tried desperately to remember... I don't think I've ever had friends. Sure I had that party phase where I would throw multiple parties a day at the local bar, but those weren't my friends. They were there for the drinks, and the illegal substances I had provided for them.

The headmaster was quite wealthy and offered me and my team hefty sums of gold if we would get stuff for him, illegally, I mean. I was better at this than my colleagues, ancient relics, priceless artifacts, objects of historical significance, usually the more dangerous it was to get, the more the headmaster would pay.

The others didn't like it, "Those items belong in a museum." They'd say.

The first thing I did when I was still a pre-teen, was buy a bar. The alcohol and coke was expensive, especially for one as young as me, but with the headmaster's backing, nobody dared to stop me. Eventually I hit a snag in the 'treasure hunting' gig, my lifestyle was expensive, and funds grew low. The money went first, then the coke ran out, the drinks ran dry, and my 'friends' left not long after.

After that, I haven't touched drugs since. Beyond the occasional drink, I'm straight-edged, have been for well over sixty years.

Even after the headmaster's money began flowing back in, I knew better now than to waste my wealth on others. I bought farmland instead, and used my skill in life magic to grow food and medicine. I lived well after that until the shadowmancy incidient.

I turned back to Gilded Spear, "Oh it's no spell, It's just a... good day today."

"Maybe we should take a break for a bit? You've been working yourself pretty hard, and you've already gotten more than enough work done for today." He looked at me pleadingly as he spoke.

"I know this work can't be too hard on you, I can still smell the flowers from your bath last night, so I know you're not sweating too hard." I said jokingly.

It was true though, the pleasing smell of flowers were having an awfully hard time fading from him. That's what I get for casting magic I don't completely understand yet.

"No, it's just... I don't want you to work too hard. The citizens of Ponyville have already sent letters informing the Princess that the town feels safer now."

"That gives me more reason to keep working. The trees I've already fixed won't stay this way forever, eventually, whatever is spewing out more life magic will eventually take over again. So the sooner we get through these trees, the sooner I can remove whatever's causing this."

"I only meant that you should probably get something... non-magic related in you?" Gilded Spear said, uncertainty in his voice.

"I'm not drinking from those ridiculous bottles the princess insists on serving, my magic works just fine for sustenance, thank you very much." I said, curing another tree.

He stopped following me for a little while as he thought up a solution. Pulling out a green baby bottle, he looked at his reflection before trotting up behind me again.

"Y'know..." He started.

"No." I replied, resolute.

"I could probably convince Princess Celestia to put some furniture in your room." He said with a smile.

"But only if I drink from her confounded bottle." I grumbled out.

"Maybe she'd even let us put some decoration in there, you like plants, right? We could get some planters for the room and let you grow some flowers." He tried to convince me.

"It's a cell, it's not meant to look nice, it's already far nicer than it should be." I said as I cured another tree. "Who puts someone who destroyed your nation's super weapon in a beautifully designed tower, let alone one with a balcony?"

"Sugar Hoof, you're just a baby. Sure, you're a baby with incredible powers who's vastly more developed than you should be, but still, a baby pony. Besides, you basically turned yourself in, so we know you're not insanely evil."

"I'm eighty-nine! How many times must I repeat that?" I replied, accidentally putting too much magic into the trees around me. The trees that were in our immediate surroundings all were cured.

"It really wouldn't surprise me if you were eighty-nine," He said, causing me to look back at him in shock. "But I know that Princess Celestia is adamant about getting you to drink these because she thinks it's for the best. We don't know a lot about you, who you are, where you're from, who your parents are, where they even are, but we do know what a normal baby pony does. That's what you need in your life, Sugar, a bit of normalcy." He said, but he sounded... hurt while he said it.

I didn't say anything for a few seconds, we just looked at each other before I narrowed my eyes and said, "I'll get my own bed?"

"Even if the Princess disallows it, you can sleep on me at night." He said, far too sure of himself.

"And the planters?" I asked.

He spread out his wings and said with a grin, "I'll fly them up to your room myself."

Another round of staring at each other came and went.

I groaned, "Fine, let's... oh just hand me the bottle."

As I took the bottle from him, I immediately felt wrong. The bottle felt wrong to have, but I knew it meant a lot to Gilded.

I inched the bottle top closer to my mouth, feeling ill all the while while Gilded looked onward with a growing smile.

---

"The colt has grown bolder, he has started using the power of the elements for bathing of all things." Princess Luna said.

Princess Celestia stood at her desk and continued to re-read the green letters that were found on a towel in the bathroom Gilded Spear and Sugar Hoof were sent to. On the towel, there were a number of runes that neither of the two princesses had seen before, as well as the words:

The mixture of life and harmony magic creates a sanctuary-esque enchantment on the place it is cast. Likely temporary, those caught within range of the spell's effects feel safe, peaceful, and happy.

"I didn't even know the elements could do such things." Celestia said. "But we must remember, he supposedly mixed his own magic with the elements, who knows what strange spells could be crafted from mixing magic types together."

"Assuming he can even control the harmony he has stolen." Replied the lunar princess.

Celestia's eyes widened, "You don't think he might be unknowingly spreading harmony magic every time he uses his magic?"

"If his 'life magic' and the power of the elements are both being housed in his heart as Gilded Spear says, it would be difficult if not impossible to stop the two from mixing together." Luna said.

---

I leaned back on a log with Gilded Spear sitting beside me, pleased with himself.

"See, that wasn't so bad." He said.

With a belly full of milk, I could only give a small burp in response, causing Gilded to laugh at me. He ran his hoof through my mane, causing my tongue to loll out of my mouth a tiny bit.

"Why don't you and I call it a day, you look like you could use a nap." He said as he picked me up and put me on his back.

Before he could start moving towards the nearest exit point of the forest, we heard something rustling in the brush behind us.

Gilded froze in fear as I sat back up, the milk sitting heavy in my gullet, but my heart and horn lit all the same. A terrible crunch erupted from the brush as a large manticore roared at us in rage.

Comments

[StarzGecko]

Little week old baby vs Giant Kitty Cat

[Avercast]

I love this!

[Ziper Ace]

Awe.... so Cute

Too bad their gonna be brutally Attack.