Brotherhood is Magic

by GauntletsofRai

Dash

"Let me ask you one last question." General Hollding paced back and forth across the space in front of the desk in his personal tent. He abruptly slammed the palms of his hands down on the desk and looked straight into Dash's eyes with a blazing fury that he had only seen one other time. "ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FUCKING MIND!?"

Dash winced as the general screamed his curse in an intimidating baritone. "You almost caused the deaths of three young flyers, and very nearly got killed yourself! Such negligence and recklessness would not only get you deported from the Color Guard, but put you in prison for FIVE YEARS!" The muscled general rubbed his temples as the cords of his neck muscles stood taught against his skin. Dash stared at the desk in sullen silence.

The general slapped his hands on the desk once more to get his attention. "Have you nothing to say?"

Dash looked up angrily at the general. "You put me up in that stupid observatory every other week, and nothing ever happens! It's so boring I want to claw my eyes out! I just wanted to relax a little!"

General Hollding gave Dash a dangerous look. "Well, it just so happens that Grand Seer Descartes decided to take a little visit to the observatory with a group of visiting dignitaries from Zanibra today. And just try to imagine the look on his face when he arrived at the observatory and there was NO ONE THERE TO GREET HIM."

Dash made an impatient sound and leaned back in his chair. "Psh, so?"

THAT was a mistake. If Dash thought that he had seen the general's full fury, he was sorely mistaken. But instead of shouting his lungs out, the general gave an exasperated groan and sat down in the chair opposite the desk. He shook his head back in forth in his hands, making pained noises. He made a deep sigh and looked back at Dash, who was now thoroughly surprised at his reaction. "When they sent you to me on your first day, I saw promise in you. When you ran faster than any other recruit, your age AND older, I saw great potential in you. When you defeated every man and boy in the sparring ring twice, and still begged for more, I won't lie... I felt proud. Proud that I had the privilege of teaching the finest soldier I had ever seen. When you were accepted to the Color Guard, I was the proudest I've ever felt in years. A student of MY battle school was going to join the Color Guard? I wouldn't have believed whoever told me that two years ago." He looked back down at his hands and shook his head. "I tried to be reasonable. I asked you to take it easy on the new recruits. You were already the best, why did you have to constantly remind everyone? I put you up at the Observatory, not because I hate you, but because you GAVE ME NO CHOICE!" The general accented his last word with a fist the slammed once again into the table. He got up from his seat and turned his back on Dash. "When you hurt that new recruit, I should have taken it as a sign, but I believed too much in you. I thought that if I gave you another chance, you wouldn't let me down, but I was wrong. You have disappointed me for the last time."

As the general turned to face him, a messenger burst through the tent flap and bowed hastily. "Geveral Hollding, there are some men here to see you. They have asked that you come quickly."

The general looked very annoyed, having been interrupted from his serious discussion. "Who, in Celestia's name, could possibly want to talk to me?"

The messenger looked uneasy as he replied. "Well, that's just it sir..."

* * *

"Ah, yes, 'In Celestia's name,' I see." Dash had approached the door of the tent to see who wanted to speak to the general. The wizard named Thomas stood before him, along with that apple farmer of his, and a whole bunch of other weirdos he had never seen before. Thomas held the very same scroll with the Princess' seal on it. Dash's eyes widened with realization. He really was the real deal! Dash's original thought was that this guy was a scam artist, and had taken off, expecting never to see him again. But standing right there in front of him was the same guy, holding a REAL scroll from the princess. He knew it had to be real, since they didn't let anyone up the box-lift unless they had legitimate credentials.

"Well, it's an honor to have the Princess' very own student with us on our humble mountain top. You're enjoying your stay here, I hope?" No way! The Princess' student! This guy is a huge freaking deal!

"Yes, the Cloud Vale has been one of my long time favorite topics to study. But anyways, I'm here to retrieve Mr. Dionysius. He has been asked to accompany our group on a special quest given by the Princess, and We'd like to be on our way, if you don't mind."

The general looked back at the tent and made a surprised face at Dash, who tried to duck out of his sight. "I have to say, this is a great honor indeed, that one of my students should perform such a task. Lt me go retrieve him, and you can be on your way."

The general was all smiles and courtesies until he entered the tent, out of sight from the others, where he promptly grabbed Dash by his custom made rainbow striped tunic. "You listen here, boy. You are going to go on this mission, and you are going to do whatever that man says, because if you don't you'll be ruining my reputation, along with all of the Vale's!" He set Dash back on the ground and dusted off his shoulders, grinning now. "And more importantly, you will do this, and do it well, or else I will see to it that you will NEVER join the Color Guard, or any other squad so long as you live." The general turned to walk out of the tent and straightened his helmet while Dash stood stock-still in a cold sweat. "Let that be your final warning."

* * *

Dash leaned restlessly against the wall of the Vale's welcome center as Thomas tried to coax a message out of the little purple dragon he had brought along with him. After his 'little talk' with the general, he went back to his home and grabbed his gear pack, his specially carved bow that his Grandad had carved for his twelfth birthday, and a pair of long, curved twin knives that hung at both hips, along with his glider-staff.

Thomas paced back and forth, waiting for a reply to the message he had sent the Princess earlier. He went back to Spike, who was sitting on a stone bench with his neck stretched out, and his mouth half-opened. "Anything yet, Spike?"

The purple dragon arched his neck and made a low hiss, but then relaxed and shook his head. Thomas then resumed his worried pacing.

Dash groaned as he passed a hand over his face in a tired gesture. "Where are we going, again?"

When Thomas didn't answer, Jack leaned over and spoke after stifling a yawn. "The scroll said to go somwhere's North of here to a little town called 'Manesburrow.'"

"Well, what are we doing here? Let's go to Manesburrow already!"

Jack sighed and pulled his old hat down in front of his eyes. "Welp, the Princess gave orders to wait for further instructions, so we're waitin'."

Dash moaned and began pacing as well. It was not yet morning, but he could still see the lay of the land, and hear the call of the blue, reaching for him, waiting for him to embrace flight in the clouds, where he belonged. The thoughts of flying steadied him, and he saw the most beautiful thing he had ever seen as he stared at the horizon. The sun, in all of it's majesty, rose through the mountains in the North, shining it's majestic yellow sunbeams into the valley below. The sunbeams caught on every drop of dew that covered the ground and reflected it like millions of tiny rainbows that danced and moved with the sun on it's path towards the sky above. The entire band of adventurers stopped and gazed at this magnificent wonder, mesmerized by it's excellence. Jack looked as dazed and in awe as he usually was whenever he looked at that same sunset when he spoke. "Hey, Thomas, does Princess Celestia really raise up the sun like that every morning?"

Thomas shook himself as if from a dream and answered him. "She sure does. I even watched her raise it one morning a few years ago."

Jack gave a low whistle as he pushed back his hat to take in the view. "What I'd give to see that..."

As they stared peacefully into the distance, a low grumble came from behind them and a sudden heat pushed against Thomas' back. He turned and looked down to see a wisp of green flame close in on itself and solidify with a *POP* like a firecracker. On the ground in front of them him was a scroll with a red seal, some faint smoke drifting from it's parchment.

Thomas gasped with joy as he snatched the scroll from the ground and rubbed Spike behind the green crest of scales on his head. He opened it, and read the scroll intently.

The others gathered around him to look at the scroll, which was covered in the Princess' flowing script.

My faithful student Thomas,

It seems you have gathered all of the men I requested for your party. Well done! I had the utmost faith that you would complete this task. However the true test of your abilities has come at last. You are to proceed with the instructions I gave you when we last met, and travel to Manesburrow beyond the Smoky Mountains. To reiterate, speak to Thane Edwin about the reports that were filed regarding strange happenings. I will warn you, that while his jurisdiction rests only within his city and it's borders, he is still a ruler in his own right, even if he is below me in power. Remember this when you speak to him, and give him your due respect. I would ask you to relay this message especially to Dionysius, but he is probably reading this message anyways. Stay close to the roads by day, and off of them by night. Things in Equestria are not as they have been in the past. This is the last message you will receive before you gather intelligence in the North. I am counting on you to lead your brothers-in-arms faithfully. Don't be afraid to use your own judgment. Remember, that true courage is not knowing when to take a life, but when to spare one. I have utmost faith in you Thomas, always remember that.

Your Teacher~

Princess Celestia

Dash fell back from the group, abashed that his name should be mentioned by the Princess. "Alright! What's say we get a move-on? We're wasting daylight out here!"

Thomas rolled up the scroll and stashed it inside of his coat pocket. He willed a bit of magic into his hand and called forth his staff which was propped by the doorway to the welcome center. He brandished the staff with a twirl and stood tall. "Okay men, let's move out!"

The group let out cheers of determination as they filed out of the welcome center's doors, drawing attention from a few bystanders that stood talking by the road.

Pippin swaggered along with a spring in his step, his curly brown hair bouncing along with him. "WOO! Let's go, lads! Best adventure ever!!!"

* * *

"Woo, worst adventure ever." Pippin kicked the broken box-lift that hung lopsided from it's massive towing chains that dangled from two impressively large wenches.

The guard that kept the box-lift running stalked out of the mechanism housing that turned both wenches, a dark smudge on his agitated face. "I'm a might sorry, m'boys. The box-lift 'as gone an' picked a grand time fer' breakin' down."

Thomas fairly simmered with anxiety. "Can you fix it? I can't afford to lose any more time!"

"Ease up there, lad. I'm afraid a new cog is in order fer' fixin' this ol' girl. And the waitin' time fer one o' those is just about a week."

Pippin poked his head up between Thomas and Jacks' heads, his hands resting on their shoulders. "A week? Ain't nobody got time fo' dat!"

Thomas pushed Pippin away from him and mumbled a formality to the engineer. He looked around, searching for an idea, when an idea occurred to him. "Roald, come quickly, I have an idea!"

Roald sauntered over to Thomas, a hand on the slender wand that hung from a thong at his side, and his other hand throwing the end of his scarf around his neck against the mountain winds. "And what might that be, Thomas?"

Thomas ran his fingers through the air manically, tracing figures as if on a chalk board. "Do you have any experience wit teleportation spells?"

"Well, nothing larger than an orange, but yes. Thomas, you're not thinking of teleporting us all down this mountain are you? That would take at least 1500 thaums*! I don't know about you, but I can only manage about 250 on a good day!"

Thomas took his staff and drew a large circle in the tiles that covered the ground, adding a few other shapes to the center as well. "No, you're right, teleportation would take far too much energy, but what I have in mind is a bit more complicated.

*note: thaums refers to magical energies. Each spell costs a certain amount of thaums, and a wizard can channel these energies from the thaumic fabric of the world around him. A wizard can only perform spells that are within his thaum-resistance level, which for a common wizard is around 250, though with increased studies, a wizard can raise this to around 400 if he is fairly gifted. For reference, levitating an object takes an amount of thaums equal to that of it's mass in kg, using that object as a projectile requires it's mass times 1.5 Th(thaums) and teleporting it requires it's mass times 3 Th plus .05 Th for each meter traveled. Each spell cast after the initial spell will cost 33% more thaums to cast, increasing exponentially, as shown by the equation: P*principal # of thaums*(1+.33)^t*# of times cast*. When a wizard casts an amount of spells that requires his full thaum-resistance level, he will then start to decay if his Th(rs)(thaum resistance) level reaches lower than zero. Thaums regenerate at a rate of .2 Th per second. Ex: to replenish 250 thaums takes around 20 minutes.

* * *

Thomas and his group stood in a circle around the circle he drew in the ground. "Alright men, the lift is broken, but I have a solution to get us down the mountainside." He motioned to the circle he drew on the tiles. "This circle will channel the energy I put into it, and lift us up on a whirlwind, which we can ride safely down the mountain. Any questions?"

The rest of the group all looked from the circle to Thomas and back, confused looks on their faces. Shane cleared his throat and spoke up. "Um, is it safe?"

"Yes, of course! All we need to do is join hands, and I'll channel all of our collective energy to Roald, who will channel the energy into the circle, and back into me to complete the circuit!"

Roald shifted his feet nervously. "Yes, about that. Has this actually been done before? I mean, it sounds reasonable and all, but you have done this before... right?"

Thomas put his hands on his hips and smiled resolutely. "Nope!"

The collective group let out a nervous moan and Shane began to shake uncontrollably. "Guys, calm down! I've studied this magical theory a hundred times! It's perfectly safe, trust me!"

"Yeah, it's not that we don't trust ya', but don'tcha think this is a little risky, Tom? I'm sure there's another way down, right?"

Dash kicked at a stone by his feet. "Nope, the stair lift is the only way down, unless we can get each of you guys a glider and about four years of experience." He thought a moment, and then looked back up. "Hey, why don't I just glide down, and you guys can do the wind-thing? Less weight to carry, right?"

"What are ya', scared?"

Dash bared his chest at the farmer. "NO! I just thought you guys could lose a few pounds and get down a lot easier!" he relaxed and brushed an errant strand of rainbow-colored hair from his face. "I wouldn't expect a farmer like you to know anything about the complex dynamics of flight."

"Now hold up, bro, I was just funnin'! You don't have to get personal!"

Thomas raised his hands as the two started to argue. "Men! Come on, we're all adults here, right? Let's start acting like it then! Now everyone join hands!"

The group joined hands, Thomas to Pippin to Shane, who was being reassured by Roald, who was joined to Dash to Jack, who was pretending not to notice him as he grabbed Thomas' hand.

Thomas breathed in and out slowly as his eyes lit up with a faint purple spark. The circle underneath their feet began to glow a bright purple as well, as the symbols that Thomas etched into it began t glow. A line of crackling lightning crept along Pippin's arm, which added a pink glow to the circle. The line crept along Shane's arm, adding a yellow hue to the mix. The line crept along to Roald's arm, adding a pure white glow. The line crept along to Dash, adding a cyan light to the circle, and finally crept to Jack, who added a rich orange hue to the circle. The wind around them started to pick up, deafeningly loud in their ears.

The wind formed into a cyclone that lifted the group off of their feet and set them spinning slowly. Thomas cried out with joy as they approached the edge of the cliff. "Woo! It's working! Just a little more!" The circle of men dangled over the edge, now spinning faster as the wind carried them. Suddenly, the wind stopped, and the began to plummet to the earth.

They all screamed simultaneously as the ground reached up to meet them. They clutched each others hands like a life-line as Thomas strained to be heard over the din of the air rushing past them. "Stay calm everyone! Roald, form the circuit again!" Roald obliged by muttering a few hurried words as his hands began to glow. Thomas did the same as his hands glowed and met Roald's glow in the two sides of the circle. Slowly, they began to spin again, feeling their quickening fall lessen a bit. They spun faster and faster as they angled their fall to one side and headed to the north-west, circumventing the mountainside.

The group spun and plummeted at an angle, gliding on the pocket of air that kept them from free-falling. The trees of White Tail Woods rushed up to meet them as they banked hard upwards at the last second, negating their descent and blowing the leaves off of the nearby trees.

Thomas cut the power and yelled out. "BREAK!"

The team broke their grasp, which sent them flying in all directions, causing them to land in the soft underbrush of the forest floor, or in the branches of a tree. Thomas got up and brushed himself off, looking around for everyone else.

Jack and Dash hung from branches on either side of the road they had landed on, and Roald lay in the brush, fussing over the dirt on his now stained white clothing. Shane clambered out of the brush, shaking like a leaf in a hurricane. He looked like he was about to say something, when he leaned over and retched all over the ground.

Pippin dislodged himself from the leaves on the ground next to Thomas's feet, and sat upright with his hands in the air. "Woo! Let's go again!" He then stood up, put a hand on Thomas' shoulder, and retched as well.

"Oh, gross!" Thomas shoved Pippin away and took out a map of Equestria, looking around in a circle. "Well, there's the Vale over there, so that means we're in White Tail Woods to the west." He stared for a minute until his face lit up. "We're only two miles from Manesburrow! We can get there by noon if we start now!"

Jack dropped from the branch he landed on and straightened his hat. "I think I'll need a breather before we go anywheres, Thomas."

Thomas too a step forward as his head began to swim uncontrollably. "Okay, yeah. Let's take a break everyone." He sat down heavily with his back to a thick tree, his hand covering his face. "Let's never do that again."

* * *

Comments

[Skamikaze]

This story is good, really
I'd like to see spike a lot more though.

[Curious]

You and your fancy magic mathematics. Magimatics? Mathemagics?

[GauntletsofRai]

1794324
Thaumology
If you would like to know more, I'm writing an instruction book that thoroughly explains all about Magic and Thaumology from a pony's perspective!
Just look on my page!

[Curious]

1795019
When will that be finished up? Also, I've been reading your comments throughout. I'm honestly surprised at how much thought you seem to putting into this, this kind of work usually only is associated with the 'big shot' fics, so color me impressed. I'm liking this so far, keep it up.

[GauntletsofRai]

1796142
Honestly, I pretty much make it all up as I go along. I know of some writers that make elaborate story-continuum -lines and such, but I usually just thread the pieces together as they appear magically in the loom of my thoughts. But overall when I write, I just take the best aspects of all the authors that I've read and amalgamate a style that fits me. So in a away, everything I read increases my writing ability.

[Curious]

1796694
That works too! As long as it's coherent and non-contradictory, it doesn't really matter where it comes from! Hell, it doesn't even have to adhere to that, just look at any long-running Marvel or DC comic series! Actually, all that really matters is that your inspiration is just that: inspiration, rather than straight-up plagiarism.