The Mage's Jump

by Marvelous Cheshire

Chapter 2

THE MAGE’S JUMP
BY GENOSABER
CHAPTER 2

“For the last time Twilight, I’ll be fine, I’ve dealt with this kind of thing before.” I sighed as I took seat at the back of the train car.

Twilight gave me a concerned look as she took the spot next to me. “I know. I’m just worried, Alex and Matt both acted differently around the Princesses, and with your sensitivity to magic, there’s no telling what might happen.” I placed my hand on her cheek and gave her a reassuring smile.

“Twi, listen to me. I will be fine. No matter what happens, I can handle it, okay?” She nodded, and I pulled her close before tilting my hat to cover my eyes. “I will admit that my sensitivity might be a problem, that's why I’m wearing my robes.” I gestured to my trappings. “ They have a number of enchantments that defend against magic, and as an extra measure.” I pulled my right sleeve back and showed Twilight the bangle I was wearing, a ring of silver covered in complex runes. “I brought this old bracelet, it’s enchanted with a modified form of a magic seal, rather than keep mages from releasing magic, it prevents magic from being drawn into them. While it won’t stop it outright, it should hold back a bit of their auras.”

Twilight let out a breath and smiled as she leaned towards me, and I gave her a quick kiss. As the train began to move, I leaned back, allowing Twilight to place her head on my chest. We both laid there and waited for the train to reach its destination.

---

The train slowed to a stop as it reached Canterlot and Ponies began making their way to the doors. I gave Twilight a gentle nudge to get her attention. We made our way off the train and looked around. Well dressed ponies sticking their noses in the air and elegant buildings everywhere, it’s like being in a high elf city, I can already tell I’m not going to like being here.

“Twiley!” A male voice called from the side. I looked to the source as Twilight ran to a large white unicorn stallion with a two tone blue mane and tail in purple and gold armor. Following the stallion, whom I guessed was Twilight’s Brother, were two more unicorns, one a blue stallion with a darker blue mane, and the other a very light grey mare with a grey and purple mane. Taking up the back of the group was a.... pink alicorn?

“Shining!” Twilight exclaimed as she practically leaped into ‘Shining’s’ embrace. The other ponies quickly joined in, bombarding her with the same questions her friends asked yesterday. After a few minutes, Twilight was able to get the ponies to settle down.

“I was forced to another world.” The ponies drew in a sharp breath and began to open their mouths to speak, but Twilight raised a hoof to stop them. “I’m fine, I was found and rescued, as well as brought back to Equestria, by Trace.” She pointed back to me, and the four ponies finally noticed me.

The mare and stallion had the most noticeable reaction, they instantly tensed up looked at me with a hint of fear. The armored stallion scowled, and started moving forwards before being stopped by the alicorn, who simply looked between me and Twilight a few times before giving us both a knowing smile.

“Well then, if you know what happened, I suggest you explain, now,” the armored stallion ordered. Yep, definitely older brother. Twilight opened her mouth to speak, but I beat her to it.

“I would be happy to, but not here.” The stallion opened his mouth, and I raised a hand to stop him. “I was already planning on telling the Princesses, I hate having to constantly repeat myself, you can wait till then, and hear the exact same thing I would tell you now.” He started moving forward, but the alicorn put a hoof out to stop him. I looked back to Twilight, who was still frowning at the stallion. “I believe introductions are in order.”

Twilight looked back at me for a second and nodded “Trace, this is my mom, Twilight Velvet, and my dad, Night Light.” She gestured to the unicorn couple. “And this is my older brother, former captain Shining Armor,” she said as she pointed to the armored stallion, her frown barely returning.

“Tá áthas orm bualadh leat. (A pleasure to meet you)" The ponies looked at me in confusion. “Sorry, it’s a greeting where I come from.” They nodded slowly, and Twilight’s parents seemed to relax a bit.

“And this is Shining’s Wife, Princess Cadance, ruler of the Crystal Kingdom,” she finished, pointing to the alicorn. I began to give a slight bow as she stepped closer, but once she got within about six feet, my chest suddenly erupted with pain. I screamed in agony and instantly teleported about thirty feet back, drawing the attention of the few ponies in the area. The four ponies stared at me in shock as Twilight galloped towards me.

“Are you alright?” Twilight asked, her voice layered with concern.

“NÍL, NÁ mé ceart go leor! (No, I am NOT alright!)" I growled before blinking. Twilight was startled by tone, and I quickly softened my gaze. “Sorry, and no, I’m not alright, my chest hurts, a lot,” I said quietly. I glanced back at the alicorn. “I apologize for my actions, but I have to ask, do you represent love?” She nodded, and I sighed. “Then I must ask that we keep our distance from each other.” She gave a sad but understanding nod, while Shining glared at me.

“And why is that?” He questioned in an aggressive tone. His eyes were locked and me, so he missed the deadpan stare his wife was giving him.

“Because two years ago I received a magical scar that causes me immense pain when I’m around high concentrations of powerful emotions, such as love,” I replied in a flat tone. Shining Armor blinked in surprise at my answer, before looking away. Twilight wrapped her forelegs around me and gave me a concerned look. I gave her a sad smile and hugged her back, letting go a second later and turning my attention back to the group.

Twilight’s mother was the first to recover. “Twilight, can I speak to you for a moment?” Twilight nodded after a second and walked off to the side with her mother, out of hearing range for ponies perhaps, but I could still hear them.

“Twilight, could you please explain to me why you’re in a relationship with him?” Velvet questioned, motioning towards me with a look of fear.

“Mom! Trace is a good person, what it is it you don’t like about him?” Twilight challenged.

“What happened to that nice stallion Emerald you mentioned in your letters? I thought the two of you were together.”

Twilight’s face reddened. “Emerald and I are just friends, what gave you the idea we were together”

Velvet just shook her head. “I’m just concerned for your wellbeing. Why don't you date a nice pony. Why do you always date bipeds. At least he isn't that filthy diamond dog.”

“Mom!” Twilight exclaimed. I decided now would be a good time to end this.

I cleared my throat, loud enough to catch the attention of the two mares. “While I can understand family members wanting to talk with one another, I believe we have an appointment with the Princesses.” Twilight gave me a look of gratitude, while Velvet just stood there dumbfounded for a second before falling into step next to her husband. Shining Armor took the lead with the Princess, and Twilight walked next to me.

I noticed Cadence kept glancing back at Twilight and I motioned for Twilight to go. Once she was next to Cadance, Shining made his way next to me. He remained silent for several minutes before glancing at me and muttering “sorry about earlier.”

“Don’t worry about it, you asked a question, I answered, that’s all,” I replied in a neutral tone.

“So, you and Twiley?” He trailed off, giving me a stern look.

I didn’t miss a beat. “I promise you I bear no ill will towards your sister, and will treat her with respect. I care about her dearly, and will do everything I can to treat her right,” I said honestly. the stallion looked at me in surprise.

“You rehearsed that, didn’t you?” He said in an almost flat tone.

“I’m an older brother myself, I kinda know what to say in this situation,” I answered with a smirk. Shining mulled over my words for a minute, before nodding stiffly.

“As long as you keep your word, I’ll raise no objection, and you’d better not keep any secrets about what happened.”

“Understood captain,” I said in an authoritative tone. Shining Armor nodded and returned to his place beside his wife. A few seconds later, Twilight returned, a pleasant smile on her face.

“So it went well?” She asked. I nodded with a small smile of my own and turned my attention back to the path.

---

‘Impressive,’ I thought as we walked through the castle. The palace was probably the same size as Cornelia Cathedral. As we walked, Twilight seemed to grow more nervous as we neared our destination, and I put a hand the back of her neck to get her attention. As she looked up, I gave her a final reassuring smile before we found ourselves in a large waiting room, a few snobbish nobles waiting before us.

“Well, we have to be off, take care,” Velvet said, giving her daughter a final hug before making heading back the way we came.

“Before I go may I speak to you Mr...” Night Light trailed off as he spoke to me.

“Reinhart.”

“Mr. Reinhart?” He amended, I nodded and we walked a few meters away from the others.

“You don’t seem as worried about me as your wife.” He chuckled lightly and smiled.

“I’ll admit, you’re a bit frightning, but if my daughter trusts you, I doubt you can be all that bad,” he said, before his expression changed, becoming stern and dark, losing all traces of kindness. “But let me make one thing clear. If you ever do anything, I mean ANYTHING to upset my little girl, I will send you back to wherever it was you came from, and make sure you never come back. I was a member of Princess Celestia’s elite guard, and I can use every bit of my training to make you regret ever coming here. Understood?” He said in a whisper. I nodded slowly, somewhat frightened by this pony’s word. I thought they hated violence.

His face immediately brightened again. “Glad to hear it,” he said. He went and gave Twilight a parting hug before hurrying after his wife.

I watched him go for several seconds, before slowly finding a place to sit and moving my hat down to cover my eyes. After a few minutes, I began to feel a minor pain in my chest, and moved my hat to find Princess Cadance standing about fifteen feet away from me. She started to take another step forward, but I raised a hand to stop her. She nodded and sat down in front of me, a slightly somber look on her face.

“Sorry about before” She said. I waved a hand absently.

“Nothing for you to apologize for, Banphrionsa (Princess), you did not know, and you had no part in the event that caused my wound,” I said. She nodded and remained silent as she gave me a curious look.

“What language is that?” She asked.

“Elvish, I am what is called a half-elf. While my father was human, My mother was an elf,” I replied, moving my hair back a bit to show her my pointed ears. She nodded and returned to silence, her face turning into a concerned frown.

“And, if you wouldn’t mind, how did you get the ‘scar’?” I frowned and looked away.

“I did something stupid, I was hired to retrieve something of great importance, and during the retrieval, I messed up, and ended up being put through hell. I don’t remember how I got out of there, but I was able to escape and return the target to its owner.”

“Was it worth it?” The Princess asked. I thought back to the face of the client, how she smiled and teared up as the target was returned.

“I’d do it a hundred times over if I have to. The smile on the client’s face made it worth everything I endured,” I said with a honest smile. Cadance gave a small smile herself before walking back to Shining. When he tried to glare at me, she gave him a light slap with her wing. Twilight made her way over to me, a smile once again gracing her lips.

“I just talked to the guards, the Princesses should be ready to see us in a few minutes,” she said. I copied her smile and threw my arms around her, earning a hug back from Twilight, a glare from Shining and a smile from Cadance, as well as a several disgusted and looks from the snobs, but screw them, their opinions don’t matter.

After a few moments, a golden clad pegasus marched over to us. “The Princesses are prepared to see you, however, I have been ordered to inform you-” He paused looking at me. “-That the Princesses have a magical aura that affects humans.”

“I am aware of the aura, I have experienced something similar before and it should not be a problem.” The guard nodded and lead us to the door, Shining and Cadance following behind at a respectable distance. As he opened the door, I caught sight of the Princesses for the first time.

The first was a large white alicorn with and multi-colored mane and tail that seemed to blow in a non-existent breeze. She held a calm and friendly expression, but her eyes revealed the torrent of emotion lying just beneath the surface.

The other was midnight blue, standing about a head shorter than her sister, with similarly styled mane and tail resembling the night sky. She made little effort to hide her feelings, giving a relieved smile at the sight of Twilight, which quickly turned into a look of curiosity when she saw me. Twilight and I bowed slightly once we were close enough, and I tried my best to ignore the oncoming headache I was getting.

“Greetings, Twilight, I am relieved to see that you are unharmed.” The Larger of the two, Celetia I assumed, said in a gentle tone. Twilight smiled and bowed again.

“Thank you Princess, I’m relieved to be back in Equestria” Twilight responded. Celestia nodded before turning to me.

“I take it you are the one that helped my student return safely?” I nodded. “Then if you could be so kind, please explain what happened.” I nodded once more before looking back at Shining for a second, flashing him a look to say 'That is how you ask politely' before taking off my hat and reaching into it.

“Before I go into this lengthy explanation, I must ask-” I pulled out the now all too familiar piece of folded cloth. “Do either of you know what this is?” I unfolded the cloth, giving the Princesses a clear view of the Chaos Seed.

The change was immediate. Celestia tensed up, her face darkening. Luna’s change was more visible, she shifted her stance and readied her horn, a look of horror on her face. The guards, noticing their rulers reactions, opted to take an aggressive stance and point their weapons at me.

“I’ll take that as a yes?” I said.

“Yes, we do recognize it, but we don’t know what it is,” Celestia replied, her expression becoming a little bit calmer as she realised I meant no harm.

“Its an artifact from my world known as a Chaos Seed, a fragment of the god of discord, destruction, and death.” Everyone in the room tensed up at that. “It was created about two hundred years ago when Chaos was destroyed, breaking into hundreds of them, and spreading across time and space. Twilight here somehow came upon this one, and when she touched it, the Chaos magic within sent her to Gaia, my world. Thankfully, these things are pretty much harmless once they’ve used that magic, which is why I can hold it no problem.”

“Several unicorns were put in the hospital when they tried to examine its magical properties last time one showed up in Equestria,” Celestia said. I blinked several times before replying.

“Well, if you do something stupid like that, it can be harmful” Everyone blinked at my sudden statement, even Luna stopped her channeling and stared at me. “The damn thing is a type of mana crystal, its pure solidified chaos magic. While the active energy is gone, its still got a bit of that magic stored, the only thing we can do is wait for it to dissipate, which will cause the Seed to turn to dust.” The Princesses relaxed slightly, but the guards remained defensive. I threw the Seed back into my hat and returned it to my head.

“Now that that’s out of the way, I believe I should begin telling everyone what happened?”

“If you could,” Celestia said. I nodded and began my lecture once more, doing my best to answer any questions the Princesses asked. I eventually ended the story of what happened to Twilight and went on to explain the Order. The three Princesses seemed intrigued, while Shining armor seemed more troubled by this new information. I ended with a brief explanation of who I am before finally let out a breath and letting my shoulders drop.

“So you are capable of performing magic, would you be willing to show us?” Luna asked, she had been the more inquisitive of the two.

I shrugged in reply. “Most of the spells I know are offensive, I doubt you would want me using your guards as targets.” A small *thunk* drew my attention to my right. A large wooden pole had appeared about 50 feet from me. “Oh, that’ll work.” I pointed my right hand at it, the first two fingers extended. “THUNDER!” I shouted, making a bolt of lightning shoot out of my fingertips and hit the pole, shattering it.

Luna stared in surprise, looking between me and the remains of the pole. Her mouth opened and closed several times before she finally managed to find the words. “That was....Impressive,” she said.

“Yes, its was,” Celestia said, her face still a mask, but once again her eyes betraying her surprise. “Now, I believe we’ve been at this long enough, but before you leave, I like to discuss the matter of your reward.” My eyebrows shot up at her words.

“That will not be necessary Princess. I did what I did out of kindness, not for reward,” I said

“Even so, Twilight here is not only my student, but an Element of Harmony, without her, the others would be unable to protect Equestria. With that, I would like to accept you as a citizen of Equestria.” I nodded in acceptance to that. “And a medal-”

“No,” I growled in disgust. Everyone blinked in surprise at my tone towards the Princess. Shining and the guards got defensive once more, but Celestia raised a hoof to stop them.

“And why not?”

“Because my family have been taught for generations to act out of kindness and generosity, to do things to help other without expecting, or even wanting a reward. To offer me such a reward as a trophy, plaque, or medal is to insult everything my House stands for,” I said in a serious tone. Celestia nodded once in understanding.

“I apologize for doing such. However,” she paused for a second before smiling. “I believe, Mr. Reinhart, that you do not have a job or alternative form of income yet, is that right?” I nodded slowly, knowing full well where this was going. “Then please, accept my offering to provide you with a monetary reward, to support you till you get a job.” I thought about before nodding. Reinharts might shun rewards on principal, but we have enough common sense to know when it would be wiser to just swallow our pride and accept it.

Celestia wrote something down on a piece of paper and gave it to a guard, who looked it over before nodding and running off. “Now, please step forward.” I did, and as I got closer to Celestia, My headache slowly evolved into a migraine. About ten feet from her I nearly lost my footing, my head felt like it was being beaten with a warhammer. I struggled to keep my balance for several minutes before I felt a sudden wave of cool relief wash over me from my side. Glancing over, I saw that Luna had taken several steps toward me. Upon seeing this, I came to an obvious realization.

Light and Darkness, why didn’t I see this coming.

I quickly turned and moved towards Luna, much to her surprise. I looked into her eyes and raised my hands in a defensive gesture, signifying my innocence in this situation. She raised a wing to stop the guard from beating the crap out of me.

“I apologize Princess, but it seems that your aura is actually quite comforting for me, something I should have expected considering you are the keeper of the night here,” I said.

“What do you mean?” She asked. I called forth a bit of magic, causing a few sparks to appear. “Oh, your magic is tuned to darkness.” I nodded in confirmation. And she smiled lightly. “Then it seems we will need to do what our sister meant to do.” Her horn glowed for a moment before a small stack of papers and a quil appeared in a flash. We went through the usual process, sign here, here here, initial here, signature here. Once I was done, Luna smiled as she spoke. “I welcome you Trace Reinhart, as a citizen of Equestria.” I bowed in return and thanked her before making my way back beside Twilight.

The guard returned shortly after Luna was finished, carrying a large cloth bag with his magic before passing it to Celestia and bowing before returning to his original position. “Thank you,” she said to the guard before turning to me. “Here you go Mr. Reinhart, this should help you until you can find a form of income.” She used her magic to shrink the bag to a more portable size before passing it over to me. I put the bag in my robe for now before bowing once more.

“Thank you for your time Princess, beannacht,” I said before turning around making my way out, Twilight following shortly thereafter.

As we left the palace, I turned to Twilight. “You wouldn’t happen to know of a good place to eat here, would you?” I asked.

She looked away in thought before nodding. “There’s a place not too far from here that serves both ponies and griffons, does that sound good.” I nodded, and we changed our direction towards our new destination.

We found the restaurant and were quickly seated by a polite ice blue pegasus mare. Once we were both seated, she passed Twilight a menu before turning to me. “Pony or griffon menu?” She asked.

“Both please.” I looked through the menus before deciding just as another pony, this one a unicorn stallion, walked up, a pen and pad of paper floating beside him. “I’ll have have the pork, half-cooked, with a small salad, no hay.” The waiter nodded and wrote down my order before turning to Twilight.

“Just a salad,” she said. The waiter nodded once before walking off. We waited a few minutes till our food arrived. We both stayed in silence for a moment, before Twilight finally spoke up. “Trace?” She said, her voice carrying a hint of nervousness.

“Yes?” I asked.

“Do you think we should tell anypony about... us?” She hesitated a bit on the last word. I thought about it for a second, it probably would be a good idea.

“I think that would be a good idea, but we should take it one step at a time,” I said. Twilight tilted her head in confusion. “Why don’t we both tell one person about us, and then judge on their reactions, if positive, we let the rest know.” As she mulled over the words, a pegasus guard walked over to our table, an unidentifiable package tucked under his wing.

“Trace Reinhart?” He asked. I nodded, and he revealed the package, a metal cylinder about a foot long, made of a blue tinted steel. “This arrived in the throne room shortly after you and miss Sparkle left, I was instructed by Princess Celestia to bring it to you immediately.” I nodded in thanks as I took the package. The guard nodded in return before leaving. I looked at the metal used to make the container. frost steel, I know of only a handful of people who could have sent this.

“What’s that?” Twilight asked.

“Nothing all that important.” I put the container in my hat, allowing the enchantments to hold it in a pocket space for now. “So what are your opinion on my proposal?”

“It sounds like a good idea, when should we tell them?” She said.

“I think we should each tell someone tomorrow, if we can get them to promise to keep it a secret, and if their reactions are positive, we find a day to tell the rest.” She nodded in agreement, and we went back to eating in silence. After we finished eating I went and paid the bill, and we left the restaurant.

As we walked back to the station, I looked at the position of the sun, noting that it would be after nightfall when we got back to Ponyville. Once we reached the station, we payed for our tickets and boarded the train headed for Ponyville.

---

The mare and guard watched from the shadows as the mage and unicorn boarded the train. The mare smirked as she glanced at the guard, and they both nodded once before disappearing in puffs of smoke.

Author's Note:

I apologize for the length of time it took to get this out.

As a reminder to everyone, I'm taking part in a Q&A, see details on my blog post

http://www.fimfiction.net/blog/167139/memverse-qa

Please ask any questions you might have for me or any of the characters in this fic on the blog or on the Q&A story (follow the link on the blog)