What happens, when a Planeswalker fom the Gruul-Clans strands in Equestria, and what if he isn´t the only one that found Equestria?
Wolfhard a young planeswalker native to the plane of Ravnica and member of the Burning-Tree-Clan just wanted to get away from the endless city for a day. While he´s chased by some Gargantuas on Alara, he tries to planeswalk back home, but because his lack of concentration, Wolfhard strands on an unfamiliar plane instead, and to make matters worse, he finds himself turned into some kind of winged horse.
But little does he know, that he isn´t the only one from another plane whose stranded in Equestria.
How could I think the jungel of Alara was a better place to relax than the Rubblebelt? This was all Wolfhard could think of while he was chased through this jungel by a pack of Gargantuas, beasts that stood as tall as the highest trees, who were just disturbed by the young planeswalker, and now wanted revenge for the sleep they missed because of him. As they gained up on their prey, Wolfhard stop running and began concentrating in order to planeswalk away from the predators. Lucky for him he managed to vanish just before the Gargantuas reached him, but to his misfortune he wanted to planeswalk "away", which wasn´t a realy specific location to travel to, and because of this he would end up on some random plane, but in his opinion anywhere was better than where he just left.
Just before the nauseating experience of traveling between planes ended, he felt some strange, warm magic affecting him. When he regained his senses, he noticed that he couldn´t feel his hands anymore. The next thing he noted as he tried to stand up, was that his legs felt different, as if they weren´t ment to carry all his weight anymore. What realy disturbed him however, was that he fell back on all fours when he tried to take a step, and noticed that his arms ended in hooves, not hands, HOOVES!
What kind of curse is this?!,Wolfhard thought,Maybe if I find some pond or stream I could at least see what else changed. As he looked at his sourundings he registered that he was in a Forest of some kind, but couldn´t find any clues where he could find some water to inspect his reflection.
Just as he decided to just go straight ahead, he heard a scream of panick to his left. With his body on an adrenaline induced autopilot, he rushed in the direction of the sound till he found a clearing which held two strange creatures, one was a wolf made out of wood, about twice the size of the winged unicorn standing at the edge of the clearing near Wolfhard. despite not knowing anything about these creatures the planeswalker still could tell that this Wolf was abot to attack the smaller creature and wolfhard decided to defend this unfourtunate soul, in the hope this 'unicorn' could provide him with shelter for him to rest, so he could try to get home on the next day.
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Twilight´s day started out really good. Spike had made her choclatechippancakes for breakfast, then she had a flying-lesson with Rainbow Dash, she still didn´t got completly used to having wings, let alone flying. For Lunch she went to Sugarcube Corner and had a strawberrycupcake with vanilla icing.
She then ventured into the Everfreeforest to get her favourite tea from Zecora. on her way back, she saw a flash of light in the forest beside the path.That´s strange, even for this forest, mused Twilight as she left the path to investigate. About a hundred meters into the forest, she came to a clearing.
Just as the alicorn was about to enter the forest again, she heard the snapping of twigs. After she turned around, she screamed at the to of her lungs, there at the other side of the clearing was a Timberwolf and Twilight knew she had to get away fast if she wanted to survive this encounter. But just as she was about to turn and run, a pegasus with green coat and a red mane and tail rushing in to the clearing and placeing him self betwen her and the wild beast. "Are you insane? you can´t just take on a Timberwolf head on!", Twilight yelled at the stranger, who answered: "What this little wolf? sure I can, but let´s talk after I saved our hides." She couldn´t believe what she just heard, so she hid between the trees and watched the pegasus fight.
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Okay she speaks a language I can understand that will deffinetly help me as soon as this fight is over., Wolfhard mused, as he realized the wolf was about to charge at him, the planswalker reached for some green mana. As soon as he gathered enough, he summoned some vines to confine the Wolf in its movement and kept it from harming him.
While the wolf tried to free itself from the vines, Wolfhard now tried to gather a bit of red mana, as he was in a forest, he couldn´t be sure how much, if any, was in his reach, but even the very small amount he could find was enough for the spell he was about to use. Just as the wolf was finished freeing itself, the Planeswalker had enough mana to cast the Spell, which would summon two axes for him to fight with. The beast, now no longer bound by the vines came charging against Wolfhard, just now he ralized the flaw in his battleplan: how was he supposed to wieled axes without somethingto hold them? For now he had to doge the attack either way, because the axes still needed a second or two to fully materialize. When the axes finally appeared fully, he was surprised, that he could hold them with his hooves just fine, ecen if it was hard standing only on his hindlegs. As the Wolf atacked himwith its right front paw, he used one axe to block the strike and the other to detach the lower half of the limb. The now impaired wolf was then charged by the planeswalker, and with two blows to the neck, Wolfhard finished the beast off. After this exertion he felt exhaustetd like he hadn´t in a very long time. But he still needed to talk to this strange purple, winged unicorn.
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Twilight couldn´t believe what she just witnessed, a pegasus shouldn´t be able to summon lightning from its hoof. Despite this she wanted to thank him for saving her, and maybe to get some answers about his starnge abillity.
"Hello, I hope it didn´t scare you to much with how i killed this beast, but i have some questions for you, the most important are where am I and what are you?"
Twilight was about to burst out with all the questiens in her head but she took a deep breath before she answered the strange Pegasus, after all she didn´t want to get him angry at her. "We are in the Everfreeforest and my name is Twilight Sparkle and I am an alicorn and i would like to know some things about you first among them your name and how you were able to summon axes out of no where"
"Oh yeah should have introduced myself properly, my name is Wolfhard I´m a planeswalker, even if i have no idea what species i am at the moment, and a member of the Burning-Tree-Clan. Before I answer the rest of your questions, do you have someplace near where i could rest? Saveing you from this wolf is the least taxing thing I did today."
As he said that she noticed his cutiemark, which was a styllized burning tree.
"What how could you not know that you´re a pegasus? Anyways you Could spent the night at my place, but only if you Pinkie Promise to answer all my questions about you tomorrow."
"if you Pinkie Promise to answer my questions, by the way what is a Pinkie Promise?"
"A Pinkie Promise is given like this: I Pinkie Promise to answer all your questions if you answer mine, cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." While she said this, she also Performed the actions, that are part of a Pinkie Promise."And you shouldn´t break it or else you have to face an angry Pinkie Pie, and you don´t want to do that, believe me."
"Ok I Pinkie Promise to answer all your questions if you provied me shelter for the night, cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye."
Thus satisfied Twilight motioned him to follow her and began her way back to ponyville, with Wolfhard the planeswalker, whatever that is, following her. So tomorrow i will get the girls together and then hopefully some answers.
"Good morning Wolfhard, Spike made breakfast for all of us." Those words woke the Planeswalker, he wondered who greeted him for a moment, but soon realized that he was at the home of this Twilight Sparkle, which had turned out to be a library.
"Good morning to you too, and where can I find this breakfast you mentioned?"
"Just follow me into the kitchen, I hope you´re ready to give me some answers. You don´t mind that I invited some friends to come too and help me answering your questions?"
"No I don´t mind it, but could we talk after I had something to eat?"
After this short conversation, they both left the small guestroom, in which Wolfhard spent the night, crossed the main room of the library, and entered the Kitchen where a small scaled creature was waiting for them.
"Morning Spike"
"Morning Twilight, so who´s this guest you brought back with you from the Everfree Forest Yesterday?", came the reply from this creature, who seemed to be Spike the dragon Twilight metioned yesterday.
"His name is Wolfhard and he claims to b-"
"I thought you said Spike is a dragon and not a Viashino?"
"No I´m a dragon, besides what´s a Viashino?", asked Spike with a puzzeled expresion on his face.
"They are bipedal, santient reptiles. Where I´m from Dragons are giant, feral, winged creatures, with only one exception Niv Mizzet leader of the Izzet Guild."
"Sorry to interrupt you guys but coul we save the questions ´till everypony is here and i´m prepared to take down notes?"
As both dragon and pegasus answered affirmativ, they began their breakfast. They had just finished cleaning the dishes, as they heard the sound of splintering wood. Before any of the three could react, the door to the kitchen opened and a cyan pegasus mare with rainbowcolored mane and tail entered the kitchen. "Hey Twilight you said you wanted to introduce me to somepony?"
"Yes, Rainbow Dash this is Wolfhard the pegasus who managed do defeat a Timberwolf yesterday, Wolfhard this is-"
"Hey Wolf, names Rainbow Dash fastes flier in all of equestria an the only pony that pulled of a Sonic Rainboom." Rainbow interrupted to introduce herself.
"Nice to meet you Rainbow Dash, I´m Wolfhard, Member of the Burning Tree clan and stranded on this plane"
"So Twilight said you overpowered a Timberwolf, how did you manage that?"
"Why does this surprise everyone here? Where I´m from, such wolfes are considered sweet little pets and as a Warrior of the Gruul I´m capable of defeating much stronger creatures but how about we wait for the rest of your friends so that i don´t get anymore complains from Twilight how she isn´t ready to write everything down."
The Next to arrive was Rarity, who accepted that Wolfhard will answer her questions when everypony was here. Pinkie and Fluttershy arrived together, Pinkie imediatly beginning to plan a welcome party for Wolfhard, and fluttershy just sat there and tried to look less frightened about being with somepony who killed a timberwolf than she actually was. Last to arrive was Applejack, who brought the Coutie Mark Crusaders with her. "Howdy ya´ll ah hope it´s okay with ya´ll that I brought the girls with me, but they overheard ya as ya asked me to come and they wouldn´t stop bothering me so i brougth them with me." She greeted everypony present.
"No it´s okay I don´t mind answering the questions of them too, but how about we introduce each other first? I´m Wolfhard of the Burning-Tree Clan." Answered her Wolfhard. "Nice meetin´ ya I´m Applejack and those three are Scootaloo" - she gestured to the small orange pegasus filly - "Sweetie Bell, Rarity´s sister" - pointing at the whit unicorn filly - "and my little sister Applebloom" - indicating the yellow earthpony filly.
Before the girls had a Chance to introduce themself Rarity turned to her Sister and asked: "So Sweetie Bell how was your sleepover at Sweet Apple Acres?" "Great as allways Rarity. And yes I took a shower before coming here." answered her Sister.
"Your ready for your first flyinglesson this afternoon Squirt?" Asked Dash as soon as she stood next to Scootaloo. "Sure am Rainbow." Came the reply from the small filly.
After that they all sat down on the floor in a circle and Twilight asked her first question. "So Wolfhard how did you summon those axes yesterday?"
Wolfhard sighed."Okay and here I thought on a plane inhabited by talking ponys magic would be common knowledge."
"You are kiding right? only unicorns can use their magic in such a fashion, you´re a pegasus your magic should only let you control weather and support your wings while flying." Interjected Rarity.
"What magic are you talking about? I have no idea how to control the weather or about flying. The only magic i can use are Red magic of fire and lightning, Green magic of growth and healing and Red an Green Magic of sumoning and strengthening." To demonstrate what he talked about, Wolfhard gathered some red mana and summoned small ball of fire above his hoof. "See no weather or flight just the good old fireball spell."
Despite how good Twilight managed to keep her composure the last evening, seeing a pegasus summon a ball of fire out of nowhere was the final straw. "H.. ho.. how did you do that, it shouldn´t be possible to channel the innert magic of a pony with out a horn as focus. And what are you talking about when you say Red or Green magic?"
Now Wolfhard started to understand what the problem wasand he wanted to address it as fast as possible. "Ok I think we are talking about completly different things. What I´m talking about is mana-based magic, to use it, you need two things first you need to now the spell you want to cast, and second you need enoguh mana to cast it. Before you can ask, mana comes in five different colors: White the color of order and community, Blue the color of knowlegde and intelligence, Black the color of death and selfishness, Red the color of fire and passion and lastly Green the color of live and nature. The most common way to gather the mana you need is to draw it from the land around you, a little bit of each color can be found anywhere, but depending on where you are, one or more colors is easier to get than the rest, for example White mana can be easier gathered on wide plains, for Blue mana it would be islands, for Black swamps, for Red mountains and for Green forests. If you have a landscape of one color imprinted with some attribute of another color you can get both of them quite easy, for example this Library is a tree and thus gives of a bit of Green mana, but because this tree contains a library, a place of knowledge and research, it also gives of a bit of Blue mana."
As the Planeswalker finished he saw that there were a quill and a notebook floating before Twiligiht sorounded by a faint purple glow which was also visible around the alicorn´s horn. As he noticed this he inquired "Why are those things floating before you, Twilight?" To his surprise it was Rarity who answered him "She is levitating them with her unicorn-magic to take notes."
Before Wolfhard could ask how levitation worked, Scootaloo asked: "Wait you can´t fly despite already having your Cutiemark?" "Also, what does it even mean? I never heard of a pony with a burning tree as a Cutiemark." Sweetie Belle wanted to know. "I can`t fly because I have only been a pegasus since yesterday evening. Before I can answer the second question, some one needs to tell me what a 'Cutiemark' is." "Your Cutiemark is the symbol on your flank and it represents a pony´s special talent." Sweetie Belle explained. "So those aren´t tribal tattoos. Now if you want to know, my Cutiemark is the symbol of the Burning-Tree-Clan, so it probably means that I´m pretty good at being a batllemage of my clan." He answered her. "Could you teach us how to do your kind of magic? Maybe it could help us earn our Cutiemarks." As Scootaloo asked this, the Cutiemark Crusaders looked at the Planeswalker with the best puppie-eyes they could do. "Okay but I want to tag along to your flying lessons in exchange, deal?" "Deal." answered him Scootaloo, before she hoovebumped with the other Crusaders.
On the other side of the room Twilight finaly looked up from her notes and, after geting permision from Wolfhard, send a letter about what happened yesterday and what he told them just now to Princess Celestia, asking her to visit tomorrow if possible.
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In Canterlot Castle, Princess Celestia tried not to fall asleep while listening to the nobles and their complaints. As a letter from Twilight arrieved, she called for a short recess for her to rad the letter, in cas it was something urgent.
Dear Princess Celestia, Yesterday I met somepony claiming to be a Planeswalker
Celestia didn´t read any further, she told her guards to escort the nobles out of the palace and conclude the Day Court now, before she teleported.
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In the Ponyville library, ten ponys and one dragon were suddenly blinded by a brigth light and heard Celestia shout in the Royal Canterlot Voice: "WHERE IS THE PLANESWALKER TWILIGHT."
After this intimidating entrance of princess Celestia, everypony took some time to get their bearings back together. "That would be me your majesty." Wolfhard finally managed to answer her question. As she laid eyes on the green pegasus, the anger in her expression faded. "I am truly sorry for my overraction", Celestia told them,"but as I read that Twilight wrote the word 'Planeswalker' I feared that he returned." "But why did you come here so soon? I asked you to come tomorrow, don´t you hold court during this time of the day?" Twilight asked confused. "You must understand, Twilight, that there are only two ponies in all of equestria who knew the word Planeswalker before you met- Oh im sorry I didn´t ask for your name." "My name is Wolfhard, Battlemage of the Burning-Tree-Clan." "Nice to make your acquaintance, I´m so sorry for how I arrived, but I feard that he had returned. As I was saying, before you met Wolfhard, only two ponies knew about Planeswalker´s, but one Pinkie Promised never too reveal it to anypony, and the other is myself." Before she could finish explaining herself, Pinkie interrupted her:"But now they know about us, so I can tell them that I´m a Planeswalker and how the Pinkie Sense really works." Celestia sighed, "Yes you may. But back to the reason of my fast arrival. As I saw the word Planeswalker writen by Spike, I feared that the only other Planeswalker who came to Equestria had found a way back, despite the barrier I created with the Elements of Harmony after defeating him and Discord." Celestia finished her explanation. "Ok now that that´s explained maybe I could get answers to the important questions, like why I´m a pegasus now, and how I could cross this barrier." Wolfhard inquired. Before she answered Celestia took a deep breth to clear her mind, "I think that these question answer one another. You see the barrier let´s natives through to Equestria. My best guess is that, if you tried to get somewhere safe with out a fixed destination, as the barrier 'sensed' this it drew you in, because Equestria is the safest plane I and so it know, but as you weren´t able to fit in, it changed you into the pegasus you are now." "That explanation atleast matchs what I did before wakeing up here, as trying to get a way from beasts nearly the size of Ponyvile, definetley qualifies as "trying to get somewhere safe". I also felt some thing strange while entering this plane, which could have been the magic changing my body." "One important thing I want to tell you before i leave to read the letter Twiligth send me. As you are a pony now, you should know, that even though you are still omnivorous, it isn´t socialy accepted to eat meat. If you desire to do so, please do it in privat where nopony is forced to wittness it."
---------Somewhere in the mountains near the Crystal Empire----------
Discord apeared in the middle of a dark cave with a echoing *pop*. As he started to recognize this cave, he realized what brougth him here. He turned to address a unnaturally dark corner of the cave, "Hey old pal, never expected to see you again. How did you get back here?" A deep voice filled with menace and old age answered him: "I finall found the backdoor into this plane Celestia left for herself to visit the Multiverse, with all the comotion going on on the other side it was a simple task to use a cloaking spell to enter Equestria unnoticed, as I emerged from the portal, I realized I was in the Crystal Empire and made my way to our old layer, which has come into disrepair, but as we were away for over a millenium, that´s to be expected."
"Ok so why did you summn me here, N-" Discords question was interupted by a severe headache.
"Don´t you remeber not to use my name?! I hope I just reminded you of it. For why your here, I want us to finally take over this plane."
"I won´t be of any help with that, you see I´m reformed", as the Draconequus said that he made quotaition marks with his fingers, "but don´t worry i won´t tell them your here and i may even know someling that can help you in my stead."
"Then please introduce us as soon as possible."
"I will need to track her down, but as soon as i find her i will bring her here."
"Good now be gone."
-----back in Ponyville-----
After Celestia left the meeting soon came to an end, but Wolfhard was invited to join Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash for lunch and their flying lesson, becuase, as Scootaloo said, he is a pegasus and should know how to use those wings. "So how long are you already training with Rainbow Dash?", Wolfhard asked over the surprisingly tasty daisy sandwich. "Well today was to be our first lesson, but she has been demonstrating her stunts to me for quite some time." Scootaloo replied after swallowing. While the other Pegasi had their mouthsfull with their meals, Rainbow begann to talk: "before we get to the actual Flying lesson, there are some basics you need to understand. First among them is that your wings aren´t to small Squirt, they even have the same relative size as mine do compared to your overall size. They are a bit smaller than the average Pegasus wing, but that isn´t a hinderance for your ability to fly, infact their smaller size allows you for much more agile flying than bigger wings. How good you are at flying is only determined by three factors: the strength of your wingmuscles, your experience with flying, and of course your technique. now experience comes with time so we can´t do much there, but as you didn´t grow up with other pegasi, no one showed you the rigth technique after you stoppes flying involuntarily as a baby."
After this theorie part of the flying lesson, they finished lunch in realative silence. Rainbow payed the bill and then they walked to the empty fileds of grass beneath Rainbows cloudhouse.
"The most important thing you will have to understand if you want to fly, is that we Pegasi only can ly, because we can influence the aircurrents around us useing our inner Pegasus magic. Thats why I want you to fell for a 'breeze' inside of you that is your magic, when you find it, try to force it out of the underside of your wings while holding them steadx at your sides , if you do it rigth, you will begin to hoover some centimeters above the ground, as soon as you do, focus on drawing the magic back into you to come back down."
After this explanation Wolfhard closed his eyes and feeled inside of him for this 'breeze' he found it rather fast, as it was a bit like mana except inside of him, not in his vicinity, but when he channeled it out through his wings, instead of creating wind, it jst gathered there as red green mist. That´s when inspiration hit him and he tried to use it o cast a huricane spell. It even worked, but not in the way he hoped, which is to say is exactly as the spell always worked, it created a huge storm overhead, but it failed to create a wind able to lift him. After the second repetition, each time with a different wind based spell, Rainbow advised him to stop trying before he hurt some one.
Scoots on the hand took some time to find this 'breeze' but as soon as she found it she did as Dash told them and focused on pushing it out of her wings. As she began to hoover, Rainbow turned to her. "Yeah you got that down pretty easily, now tried to flap your wings slowly to increase your attitude, then thrust with them down and backwards to move forward, now try." As Scootaloo flew her first few meters, the rest of the crusaders came to watch her train with Rainbow Dash, they even saw Wolfhard fail another two times, one by summoning fog and the other time by piercing the ground beneath his wings with leaves. As the sun began to set, Rainbow told Scootaloo to stop for now and not to try flying with out supervision till she says otherwise. Sweetie Belle and Applebloom manwhile asked Wolfhard if he could show hem some of what he did the next day. "I most certainly can but you need to nderstand that if you want to do this, I will train you one day each week, and give you some easy exercices o do during the week. Also if you do this then there is no backing out of it again. Can you agree to this?"
"Yes of course", they both said in unison.
"Ok then we will meet tomorrow an hour before sunrise at the library, to begin training."
"Why do we have to start so soon" Scootaloo barged in.
"That you will see tomorrow now if you ecuse me, I need to find a suitable trainingsite." With these words Wolfhard departed and left the fillys and one mare to return to their own homes.
Early the next morning, everypony was still asleep, well not everypony,four of Ponyvile´s inhabitants were making their way to the edge of the Everfree Forest despite the early hour. After they walked some time, Applebloom walked up to the green Pegasus leading the group. "Mr. Wolfhard why did we have ta get up so early?" "Just Wolfhard is fine,"Wolfhard told her, "and for why did we get up so early, your first lesson in Magic will be to sense and gather green mana, which radiates mostly from plants, espacially trees, and with you being a farmer, maybe you can tell ma why we´re starting before the sunrise?" "Maybe because the trees grow when the sun shines, so we can sense the difference from when its dark?" She answered him cautiously. "Yes indeed, but next time you answr a question, be more selfasserted. Now lets hurry I have some things to show and tell you before the sunrise." About five minutes later they arrived in a decent sized clearing near the edge of the forest. It was surrounded by smaller trees, which weren´t as menacing as the ones found deeper in the forest. Wolfhard felt quite at home there and had already thougth of building himself a small hut here, but he hadn´t found the time since he arrived here. But as he probably was to stay here for a longer time, he wanted to start with it this afternoon, after finishing the training with the girls, so he wouldn´t have to rely on Twilight´s hospitality any longer than absolutly necessary. For now though he had three little apprentices to worry about. "Before I teach you anything about spells, you will need to learn how to gather mana, for that we will meditate untill all of you can fell the green mana in our surroundings. Now Please sit down and close your eyes." He paused a moment to give the fillys time to do as they were told. "Good now feel for the energy of the trees around you, fell their strength and their liveforce, when you can feel it, please drop you head so I know when your ready for the next step."
- Scootaloo´s POV-
that sound like what Rainbow taugth me yesterday about my inner pegasusmagic, Scootaloo mused, now let´s try it the same way with the trees.She cleared her mind from althoguths except for the ones about the trees nearby, Scootaloo concentrated on their positions behind her. It took her some time, but slowly she felt a sense of growth from where she guessed the nearest tree was. This sense took the form of a green mist in her thougths, slowly itformed the outline of a tree. As soon as it finished forming, she began to feel strength and live radiate from this mental image. That´s probably what he ment, Scoots thougth as she dropped her head careful not to loose the conection to the tree.
-Wolfhard´s POV-
As he expected, Scootaloos head was the first to go down, as the technique t gather mana was similar to the one Rainbow Taugth them yesterday to draw on a pegasus´ inner magic needed to fly. She realy takes this serious, from what the girls told me about her, she never sat still this long when she was awake.
-Sweetie Bell´s POV-
Strength radiating from the trees, how could I be able to sense that? Sweetie wondered,maybe if I tried to concentrate on them like Twiligth tells me to fcus on my horn when she tries to teach me Unicornmagic? After some minutes of strict concentration, there was a mist forming on the edge of her consiciousnes. careful not to loose it, she contained her excitement. a Short time later the Mist had formed a tree, radiating a sense of strength and live. Sweetie lowered her head, convinced that she had it now.
-Wolfhard´s POV-
That Sweetie Bell was the seond filly to drop her head surprised the Planeswalker, as he was sure to that Applebloom, as an earthponie and farmer, would be more familiar with the energy a tree gave of and to get it before her Unicorn friend. I just hope that Applebloom doesn´t try to force it, she will get it that way too, but it would take her longer to finally have it. As if she heard his thougths, the filly in question lowered her head soon after.
-Applebloom´s POV-
Tree, feel the stength in the trees.Applebloom thougth agitated,Why doesn´t it work it shouldn´t be to hard I mean there are so many trees around I Should have felt one of them allready.She tried to feel the trees i such an aggresive manner, until she remembered what her Sister once told her while applebucking: "ya must understand lil sis applebucking ain´t about how hard you buck the tree, ya need ta listen to it and hit it not with brute force, but with the rigth amount of strength, in the place the tree tells ya to, else you will only damae the tree."Of course the earthpony realized,it´s like applebucking. it ain´t about the stength you use, you need to listen to the tree and not shout at it till it answers as soon as she realized this, she quited her thougths, and imideatly there formed a green tree in her mind radiating strength and live. Confident, that she had it rigth now and droped her head.
-Wolfhard´s POV-
"Now that all of you got this rigth,"Wolfhard told them, "I now want you to slowly draw some of this mana you´re sensing and focus it at your rigth hoof,when you think you have it, raise your hoof" He watched as slowly a green mist formed around each of the filly´s rigth forehoof. shortly there after, they each raised their hoof signaling that they thoguth to be ready.
They really are fast lerners, maybe I can teach them an easy spell they can practice on their own, Wolfhard mused beforehe gave them new instructions:"Now I want you to slowly open your eyes, there is a green mist floating around your hoof at the moment, don´t be afraid, that´s just like mana looks when gathered, but not cloaked, you will learn to hide it in time." As they opened their eyes, the amazement was writen all over their faces as they saw what they had done. "Now for the last practical part of today´s lesson, i will teach you a spell usefull in many situations, after that i will give you a short theoretical lesson about the different kind´s of spells, and then there will be Lunch and a suprise for you." At the mention of theorie the filly´s looked a little bored, but after he mentioned a surprise, their eyes ligthed up with new vigor. "For this Spell you need to think about a thick fog and then focus it through the mana you gathered, now let´s see how you do." The filly´s gave it heir best shot, but still each of them only managed to cover their leg in fog, which led to a little disapointment, as they hoped to atleast encease themselves in the fog, but apperantly Wolfhard had adifferent opinion, after he showed them how the spell looked when mastered, by filling the whole clearing in fog, he complimentet them, sayin that for a first try, it was better than most beginners would have been able to manage. "So let´s get the theorie lesson done, so you can enjoy your surprise. There are four kinds of spells, instantanous incantations, like the fog spell which only need mana and a thougth focused at it to work, sorcerys, which also need a oment of time and sometimes a certainchant to work, echantments, which are like sorcerys, except that theyhave a ongoing effect instead of a one time effect like sorcerys or instants. and the Fourth type are summons, which can be diided by how they work, some animate things in your vicinity to create elementals or avatars, other summon a creature you have formed a bond with, or, if it´s sentinent enough, have got their agreement to be summoned. The first part of your surprise is something i will summon now." As he channeled the mana needed to summon his old companion the fillys`eyes gleamed with excitement as a red and green glowing circle formed in the middle of the clearing. Suddenly there came a huge leg out of the circle followed by the rest of a green-grey furred beast about the size of a Timberwolf, with huge tuskers coming out of the sides of its mouth. "Girl´s I Wnat you to meet Fluffy." "FLUFFY!?" The Crusaders screamed confused, "how did you get the idea to name it Fluffy?" "Hey she´s no it and I think you will understand the name, ones you met her cubs." As Wolfhard said this, the fillys noticed three small cubs looking exactly like their mother, except for the just gres fur and the lack of tuskers. "Now everyone of you take a piece of the meat here and feed it to one of them." As they did as they were told they noticed how the fur of the cubs took on just a hint of the color of its feeder´s coat. "Why did their coat change ta look like our coat?" Applebloom asked her teacher. "Because they now recognise you as their companion, you just formed a bond with them, that will grow untill you´re able to communicate with them in a limited fashion, if you take good care of them that is. When you achieve this, I will teach you how to summon them to your side." Wolfhard answered her, at the prospect of understanding an animal the fillys grew even more excited. "but before we eat lunch, I need you to undertake the rite bonding, it´s a tradition of the Gruul-Clans, that a young apprentice, after his mentor gave him a compaion, he or she is formerly included in the mentors clan, for this normaly you would get a tattoo, but as you can´t see that through fur, i will just paint the Burning-Tree-Symbol on your shoulder, so please stand still for a moment." It took him half an hour to finish painting all three of the crusaders. After he finished, the girls asked him of what this meant, which he told them is mostly respecting their senior clan members, accepting anypony in who doesn´t have aother home and providing them shelter if they need it, and to come to the annual clan feast, at which the leaders would be determined by trials of knowlede, crafting skills and combat prowess. After they fully understood what he just explained them, Scootaloo spoke up "So the Clan is like a big family, do I undestand that rigth?" "Yes, it is, but let´s get you to Fluttershy´s, your little cubs seem to get hungry and I know from experience that they can inflict serious wounds even when they don´t mean it." And with those words Wolfhard escorted the girls back out of the forest.
It took them about half an hour to get to Fluttershy´s, so they could learn how to care for their companions. After Wolfhard was convinced that Fluttershy had the girls and the beast under control, he returned to the clearing and considered, how he could turn it into a new home. Now before I start working on anything, let´s make a rough plan on what I want and where I want it. Wolfhard thougth, The first thing we need is a path to the edge of the forest, if Fluffy tears out the trees that should be sufficient for now. With the Wood I then can build a small hut to sleep and maybe cook in. Finally in the center of this clearing, I would like too have a yurt, but after what Celestia said yesterday, huntig animals in order to use their hides for it would be a very bad idea, so I need to get some cloth and rope, if the wood from clearing the path isn´t enough for the yurt we can cut down some of the trees around the clearing. As he finished his thougths, he told Fluffy to start tearing out the trees where the path should be, before he went to visit Twiligth to ask her where he could get everything he needed and, as he planed to 'play by the rules', which laws he needed to consider while building.
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It was a slow day at Ponyvile Public Library, but that was to be expected, most ponys prefered to do something outside over reading on their sundays. So it was a mild surprise for Twiligth when there was suddenly a hard knock on the frontdoor. "I will get it Spike, you continue looking for that copy of Shaman traditions of Griffons and Zebras" Twiligth told her assistant, who let out a silent growl, as she made her way to the door, "Hello Wolfhard, how did the lesson with the girls go?"
"It went pretty good, they were eager to learn about something so new to you ponys and actually did better than I estimted. But as I formally took them in as members of the Burning-Tree-Clan Scootaloo looked at me for a moment with an expresion of gratitude I didn´t expect." the pegasus explained to the unicorn.
"That´s probably because she doesn´t have a family. As far as I know she lives in the Ponyvile orphanage, since before I came to live here."
"If what you say is true, what I came here to talk about just became a whole lot more important."Wolfhard replid while mentaly enlarging the hut to inclued a room for his pegasus aperentice.
"So What did you want to talk about Wolfhard?" Twiligth askd the Planeswalker, making a mental list of what topics could become more important, by learning that the orange filly lived in an orphanage.
"Yesterday evening I found a clearing in the Everfree Forest, where I taugth the fillys this morning, and I wanted to build myself a hut and a yurt fo the clan there. But now that I know this about Scoots, I plan to build a bigger hut then I planed before, so She has a place to call home if she wants it. But as Celesti warned me to break the law here, I wanted to know what there is to consider so I don´t end up as a pile of ash under Celestia´s wrath."
Twiligth let ou a small gigle before saying: "Don´t be silly, Celestia won´t destroy you for not knowing equestrian construction regulations. Now isnßt a yurt just a special kind of tent? If so, you don´t need about regulations for it. For the hut n the other hand there are some, but at least you won´t need to get a permit, as you are building outside of Ponyvile, but I will gladly help you to follow them all. now do you need anything else, if not, I would like to ask, if you would mind staying with one of my friends this nigth, because I just started to research if there is any kind of magic working like your manabased magic in Equestria and I must not be interupted till I finish it."
"I only need to know where I can get enough cloth and rope to build the yurt, maybe you know someone, from whom i could get it in exchange for some work, as I have neither a job nor any currncy, thats valid here."
"Then it would be best to go over to Rarity, she has most kinds of fabric for her dressshop, maybe you can even stay at her´s tonigth." Twiligth replied, already reading the book Spike fetched her. Wolfhard gave her a short "thank you" before leaving the library and making his way deeper into Ponyvile, looking for Rarity´s shop, which should be easy to spot, accordng to the description he got yesterday.
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Outside of Carrousel Boutique, Wolfhard met Fluttershy, who was escorting Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle home.
"Hello you three, I hope your afternoon was alright?" he greeted them.
"You bet it was, Fluttershy showed us what to wtchout for when careing for our new friends, what to feed them and how to best excercice with them. She also agreed to let Inu, thats´s what i named my little rampager, and Sweetie´s Jade, stay at her cottage, because we don´t have the room needed to care for them." Scootaloo immediately answers.
Before Wolfhard could reply, Fluttershy adresses Scootaloo: "I will bring Sweetie Belle inside so you can ask Wolfhard what you wanted to all day long." After that she ushered the little unicorn inside, where they were greeted by Rarity.
That definetly got Wolfhards interest. "So what´s so important to you?"
"Well you see I don´t know my parents as I lived in the Ponyville Orphanage for as long as I can remember. Now tomorrow is my turn for Family Appreciation Day at School, the last time somepony of the orphanage staff came and talked about how live in the orphanage is, but since you made us members of your clan and explained how a clan is akin to a really big family, I wanted to know, maybe, if you don´t have other plans, you could come to my class instead tomorrow and tell the other foals about the live in the clan and maybe perform some of your less dangerous spells?"
Good now that she told me herself she migth be more inclined to accept my offer to stay with me once the Clan-hut is finished. "Well of course I can make time for one of my apperentices. On another not, I want to build a small hut in the clearing we trained this morning and if you want to I could build it big enough for you to stay with me, only if you want to of course." Wolfhard was saying as he watched the little pegasus´ eyes growing bigger than it should be possible, while her face took on an expresion of over whelming glee.
"Of course I want to get away from that place, sure everypony there is nice to us, but I never have a room all for myself, we only have a common room and a filly and a colt domitory. Also besides my Scooter I never had anything to call my own." Scootaloo managed to answer, her words barely understandable because of her happy squees.
"Then let´s get inside and tell everyone the good news."
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After Scootaloo told everypony that Wolfhard would participate in tomorrow´s Family Appreciation Day and that he offered to take her out of the Orphanage, Wolfhard asked Rarity if they could talk in private, while the filly´s celebrated. The Unicorn led him into her room. As soon as she closed the door, Rarity turned to the pegasus and inquired: "Now what did you want to talk about without the girls interrupting."
"As Scoots said, I want to build a hut and a yurt, the Wood from clearing a path through the forest should be enough for the hut and the posts of the yurt, but I still need some rope to tie them together and some fabric to make the 'roof'. Twiligth suggested asking you for the fabric in exchange for some work i could do for you." Wolfhard confessed.
"So you need some fabric for a kind of tent if I´m not mistaken? I don´t have one that would work, but I can order it I also could get you the rope. It would be nice if you were willing to discuss the fashion of your home with me and run some errands for me. If I order the fabric tomorrow, it should be here by the end of next week, I suggest that you stay with in my guestroom ´til then and help me out at the shop, starting tuesday, so you have still time tomorrow for the Speach you hold for Cheerelies class."
"That sounds like we have an understandig, now could you tell me where the guestroom is, I think I will go to slep early this evening." Wolfhard agreed. After Rarity showed him where he would be staying, he wished her good nigth and went to bed. Let´s hope tomorrow will be more relaxing. With this thougth the planeswalker drifted off to sleep.