Chapter 1

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Okay, let me get introductions out of the way. My name is Hunter Herrero and I’m a self-taught mage. I’m six feet tall with dull bluish-gray eyes and black hair. Most people normally see me with a jacket on that has the word ‘Army’ on it with my rectangular black-framed glasses. I always wear jeans just because I don’t feel comfortable in shorts, but that doesn’t mean I don’t wear them. I mostly wear boots because, to me, they are extremely comfortable and easier to put on compared to shoes; mostly because they had a zipper on the side and I didn’t have to untie them. Another thing about me is that I have been studying magic for the past two years.

It all happened by accident, to be honest. I wanted to buy the Necronomicon by H.P. Lovecraft to read the short stories by him, but I never expected to get what I got. At the time, I thought that it was a book version of ‘The Notes on The Necronomicon’ as I found on the internet.

I showed one of my friends and they dared me to try out one of the spells. Suffice to say, we were pleasantly surprised; however, when one of my friends tried, he failed along with the rest. I have an affinity with magic which began my studies into the art itself. I eventually got cocky with it and went to school while manipulating fire in my hand which I was ogling. I remember that day because I practically shattered my science teacher’s logic just by showing her that simple spell. Unfortunately, when I entered high school, I was a target for pestering because of my unique talent that seemed to have infinite uses.

People asked me to teach them and I did, I tried, but they just couldn’t which pissed them off. They were yelling at me and demanding that I teach them properly even after I explained it to them. I also told them that they may not have an affinity for it which lead to them demanding the book I used to study my magic. I refuse, obviously, but many were adamant to take it and use it for their gain. It doesn’t help that I can summon it to my location whenever I want, so it doesn’t matter if anyone takes it. It got worse, but I won’t go into detail about it since it’s still a sore topic for me.

This continued as time progressed and I had to move to my dad’s house to live there. I, in turn, focused on my magic studies even more, but I refused to do anything in public except for some minor help that wouldn’t be noticeable. I told my dad and he was skeptical about it until I showed him what I was capable of. He was amazed to the point where he asked me to teach him something, but I refused to in fear of what happened back in my home state. He saw the fear I had in my eyes when he asked me and let the question go; however, the damage was done and I locked myself away in my room almost all the time, studying.

My grades began to slip when I studied more that was inside the book and not what was required. He tried to confront me about it, but he described how I looked like a zombie from how little emotion I expressed to the point where if I slouched in a chair, I would look like a fresh corpse. That was because I lost all reason to continue with my school studies after I realized how dumb they were and how useless they are. History is important, but when has anyone used it in conversation, English is nothing but reading that we learn to do in elementary school, and science will never be used unless I decide to become a scientist. I saw the reality of what I’ve been doing for years and realize I’ve been wasting my life on petty dreams that won’t help me in the long run. It sucked and I realized, just how meaningless one person will be.

One in a billion will be a legend, but that would never be me, and magic won’t change that at all. That reason was why I wanted to join the military and be the best I could be, but there would be a rare moment that might never happen and I won’t be what I set out to be. A legend that is immortalized in history as a hero that could help others despite his weaknesses; that was what I wanted to be. It was what I inspired to be. That will never come to be... ever. That was when I started to become a proper recluse outcast. The is was when my downwards spiral of self-destruction began; not through rage, but isolation.

I cut off all contact with everyone outside my room when I was home, I stopped talking to anyone and everyone, and I would refuse to be anywhere near people. All of that caused my depression to grow and all hope of social interaction was gone. I stopped putting on a fake smile and went to school half dead every day.

That brings me up to here, where I currently am during lunch at school where the book that ruined my life was firmly clasped in my hands. Throwing it away was a risk and see how many people wanted it was crazy. Some so many people wanted power, money, and fame that they would try and steal it, so I made it my mission to keep this book away from the prying eyes of anyone as its sole guardian. I studied it to learn more about it and how to use the spells within to protect it at all costs... all costs.

My eyes were in focus at the grimoire that was the average size of a textbook, but was leather-bound with papers and light enough to hold in one hand easily; despite the three thousand some pages in the book. In the center was a goldcrest box with a purple opal gem within the cover. The pages looked old but felt new much to my amazement after how many times I read this front to back. Even going as far as to read H.P. Lovecraft’s notes he wrote within the sides of the pages.

I turned the pages in hopes of finding a spell that can work as teleportation to arrive at school much sooner depending on the situation with the bus. Where was I people would ask, the roof; a place where no one is allowed to go due to school safety rules and shit like that. I know a hovering spell and a flotation spell so it doesn’t matter much to me. Even if I fell, those spells will allow me to safely float to the ground unharmed without any resistance.

I felt something, something strong and has enough mana to pull off a fourth-rate spell and still have enough to do a ton of second rate magic. My head shot up at that, but the feeling disappeared just as it appeared, suddenly and quick. What was that? Was it another mage, or someone with a hidden magic potential? For the first time in a year, I looked less than dead. I took a deep breath in and released it over and over again to keep myself calm before checking to see if I have any company before jumping down.

I walked to the nearest trash can and threw away my disposable tray along with the temptation to die and take the book with me so no one can ever find it. Got off track, I went to my next class that was math, or, more specifically, a geometry which shares no purpose in the real world... holy crap I’m cynical. I had to walk by the school’s football stadium where a prep rally was about to begin for school pride week. What caused me to stop and linger on it a bit longer than I’d like was when that same man again, but it was stronger this time; much much stronger than anything I had. It disappeared as quickly as it appeared much like last time. I was now curious about this new development that, somehow, involved my school.

I didn’t waste time and simply went to class with a curious expression on my face from this most recent development. I was doing the classwork that consisted of volume and perimeter of 3D objects and trusts me when I say it was hard to figure out. We were given the formula for it but finding it was even harder especially once we had to find what shape a plain would make if it cut the object. So... many... moments of anger. I redid it so many times that I stopped studying the book to complete.

After that, I gained a contemplative look that suggested heavy thinking and my thoughts on the situation at hand. I was ultimately confused because if another mage found me then why are they hiding or not waiting for me to get out of school. It would make sense if they would wait for me to get home and ask my parents to see me and all they have to do is show some magic. I went to the grimoire finally and flipped through the pages swiftly to find some of the strongest first-rate I could use. My mana pool wasn’t too large so taking some like that head-on would practically be suicide if I don’t use anything strong enough. I found what I was looking for, but it would drain my mana pool drastically; it would either kill me for my negligence of my mana or would leave me extremely exhausted. I prefer the latter over the former so I’ll have to watch carefully and play this like ‘Dark Souls’: examine the attack pattern of whatever it was and find openings to attack, but only if it’s a danger.

Eventually, the PA system came to life as one of the front office workers said, “Would everyone walk to the football field for ‘School Spirit Week’ prep rally in a nice orderly fashion.” That didn’t happen because people are thick-headed and don’t know the meaning or orderly... at least they walked, so that was a plus.

I waited for the halls to get a little less crowded before exiting the room and calmly walking down the stairs with a content expression on my face for the first time in years. Each deliberate step was another anxiety-filled moment of flight or fight which I was struggling to force down. What did I have to fear? I could just take whatever it is and show I’m not to be fucked with. Why couldn’t I just kick this anxiety to the curb and just go through with it?

I went to the stadium as requested, finding the nearest available seat that was open and would leave me a lot of room for attack. I was prepared to fight if need be so I prepared a spell in my hand to hit them with everything I got. I watched the ROTC walk by and I sighed at my missed opportunity to join that, but I still got next year.

I sighed in relief after finding that it was nothing while trying to think of what that was before I felt it once again, but this time it disrupted the speakers the staff was using to talk to the students. My spell was primed and ready to fly at the nearest hostel thing that would attack. I never knew that that chance would come sooner instead of later as the ground cracked in the field.

The entire entity emerged from the ground like it was being pushed through the rough dirt that coated the dirt around the field. It looked vaguely like a boss from Terraria and it Venus flytrap counterparts in-game and in reality. Many vine-like appendages shot from the ground and lifted the base into the air as it screeched like a banshee causing almost everyone to cover their ears.

“Ignis Rugiens!” I yelled as a giant inferno engulfed the monster despite my shaking hands from finally seeing this beast face to face. I jumped down the bleachers while using a floating spell to gently glide down to the grown. My nervousness was obvious, but it wasn’t like I had much of a choice to fight since I know that I can beet it.

I prepared another spell as it screeched Loudly as it put out all the fire that engulfed it only to find me standing defiantly in front of it. It lunged at me which I rolled out of the way before yelling, “Ignis!” Small balls of fire were launched at the beast with unrelenting force, but it’s exterior was too tough for me to punch through with the flames.

One of its vines struck me in the side with the force of a semi-truck sending me across the field and creating a small ditch with my landing zone. I tried to get up while ignoring the pain that shot throughout my body before I looked at the monster with hate. My eyes widened when I found that it was attacked once again with another vine from up top with tremendous speed. I was lucky to roll out of the way because the shockwave from the attack sent me flying into the bleachers. Everyone was gone... good.

I was huffing as the creature waited for me to stand and ready myself for an attack while standing to buy myself some time. I pointed my palm in its direction before shouting, “Ignis Rugiens!” The Inferno consumed the monster as I healed myself up and checked my mana. My eyes widened when I found that I could only use ‘Ignis Rugiens’ two more times. I had to use it sparingly when I have an opening to use it on.

(Third person — Auditorium)

Students were in a panic after that plant-like monster rose from the ground and it going up in flames. Someone hand the great idea of sneaking out and live streaming the fight on Facebook. They smiled wickedly and snuck out when no one was looking to see the gift and make it big on social media. They didn’t understand the full gravity of the situation.

(First-person — Stadium)

“FUUUUUCK!!!” I screamed as my first-rate shield slammed against the ground as one of the vines grabbed my leg. I was like a mace with how I was being flung around and with each impact was a small crater where I was slammed. I was glad that I wasn’t being slammed on the ground for once before I was flung back and then forwards where I made contact with the football goal thing before impacting the scoreboard which caused it to fold in on itself. I looked at the goal thing and found that the side I hit was snapped off and was so close to empaling me.

I didn’t react as I should’ve as I pulled myself away from the scoreboard and used a flotation spell to glide down. My breathing was ragged and shallow from the constant fighting and despite what I would’ve done; I decided to fight instead of run. The monster slowly made its way to me. Its flower-like head hiding it’s rows of teeth as it’s monstrous form was dragged through the soil.

It was completely unharmed because of its rough exterior that had a few scorch marks from the fire attacks; none of which did any damage. Me, on the other hand, was battered and bruised with cuts and gashes on almost every part of my body. I growled in frustration from its nearly unharmed form as I formulated a plan to create weaknesses. I used a levitation spell to pick up the goal and snap it in half which put quite a strain on my mind before coating the sharpest points with fire. In a moment of most idiocy or a show of brains, I threw the polls at it which, surprisingly punctured right into the hard exterior, but they weren’t large and I only had enough mana for one more ‘Ignis Rugiens’ after that seemingly endless use of the shield spell, or, more accurately, six shield spells.

I ran away from the plant-like monster and to the bleachers while formulating a plan to get in close to score a direct hit. The only problem was that I had to run the full length of the field which won’t be easy due to that plant's quick and strong attacks that have cut a building in half. Not kidding since my school has a three-story building along with the main campus and it demolished the first two floors in an extremely quick attack. Without warning, I ran towards the bleachers as fast as I could while the feeling of ruble impacted my back with unrelenting force, but I refused to stop in fear of what it might to at my current range.

It changed drastically after I passed it as one of its vines impacted the ground ahead of me. The dirt created a thick cloud of dirt which I promptly ran through only to get swatted back by a vine that hit me directly in the chest. I lied down in pain while trying to regain my senses because it beat me senseless. I eventually could see again only for me to immediately roll out the way of an oncoming vine before it could hit me.

I raced to my feet to escape a devastating downwards strike that kicked up a large amount of dirt before sliding under an attack meant for my torso. Each step felt like a great accomplishment as the beast let loose a flurry of attacks that would’ve, and should’ve killed me, but each time something was about to hot me, everything slowed down to a crawl allowing me to dodge the attack much easier.

Eventually, I got to the ramp that leads to the bleachers and ran on to the metal structure as the vines lashed out at me; cutting the metal like a hot knife through butter. I was gasping for air as my lungs burned from lack of exercise due to my studies into the secrets of the book. Each attack wasn’t what I wanted as they were meant to cut through not be blunt. The plant monster would send an attack towards me that I wouldn’t be able to avoid causing me to take it, much to my ire and pain.

“FUUUUUUAAAAAAH!!!” I yelled in pain from the devastating attack before it went for the attack I was going for. However, it was beginning to heal its weaknesses so I needed to be accurate when I move my plan into action.

It struck the bleachers as I went higher up to get more of a lift. The attack pulled the concrete from the ground and, in turn, threw me into the air and towards the plant monster. I landed exactly where I wanted to as I grabbed one of the open wounds before sticking my arm into the other one before it could close. Its wounds constricted around my fingers and arm and squeezed tighter and tighter while nerve impulses shot through my arm to cast the spell while I moved my arm into a snapping position. It stopped constricting on my arm for a moment to regain energy before I yelled, “Ignis Rugiens!” I snapped my fingers and the inside burst into flames from the raging inferno that was released inside the monster. It opened it Maw and flames shot from it like a volcano as it was scorched from the inside out.

Unfortunately, my arm was still constricted within the beast and was currently being cooked within an open fire. Since the monster was mostly a plant, it burned faster than I did which I used to pull my arm out as it slowly turned to ash. I was screaming my head off due to the intense burning sensation that rocketed through my arm from the second-degree burn. A coating of flames still danced over my arm which I was scared to put out due to adding paint to my already burned body.

“Too hot for ya!” I yelled to the already ash turned plant monster that was slowly scattering to the wind. I took in deep breaths to regain all the lost oxygen from my system before attempting to walk away.

Unfortunately, it didn’t work as I felt my body began to fall through the ground before my feet hit the ground. I was... curious by this new predicament as I gently cradled my burned arm to prevent further pain. What I didn’t expect was for my eyes to land on a tall animal-like biped with black and purple fur on their body which was covered with a long black cloak that his their face. I couldn't tell if they were male or female but the leather-like wings were easy to spot on their back.

My heavy breathing was the only thing that could be heard throughout the room I found myself in that had a few others that had an eagle-like head and seemed to have fur from the neck down, another seemed to fit the description of the minotaur from mythology, one looked like a miss colored dog with tribal paint over its fur while some looked like normal humans; all were in robes reminiscent of those of mages and I was surrounded by a group of eighteen.

“Ahh, another demon. I guess this was a success.” A voice that was hard to tell if it was male or female said as I grew an irritated expression on my face. Did they just assumed my race and commented on what I was... without asking me.

“I’m a human ya fucker!” I yelled in anger and throwing my arms up; my southern accent coming out a little from that bout of anger. What I didn’t realize was the three behind me that seemed shocked and appalled, but I pushed that to the back of my mind as I threw my arms came back down and my arm making contact with my clothes. The extreme pain that shot throughout my arm caused me to grunt, and hiss, in pain from the burn.

“O-oh, Sorry. Let me help you with that.” They walked over to me and held a hand over and under my arm without touching the burned appendage. I felt a soothing feeling spread throughout my body as a steady calmness began to take my emotions before the aforementioned arm looked just about healed, but it still looked like it was burned horrendously. “Any better?” I nodded with a content smile while looking at the most normal arm.

“Yes, many thanks, but I’m gonna have to wrap this up before I even think about going into public. I’m... not one for attention.” I said as I snapped my fingers and the grimoire appeared out of a magic circle that had a singular triangle.

“I can see. That and I know that you are quite proficient at first-rate magic.” I nodded before they continued. “As I thought. Tell me, to whom do I owe the pleasure of teaching you the basics?” I smiled sheepishly before responding in a quiet-ish voice.

“I’m self-taught,” I explained before he smiled and walked over to me with a grin. I didn’t detect any malicious intent with my eyes scanning him like a computer scans code. Each step held now the sense of bouncing or excitement as he didn’t walk flatfooted like most people.

“Quite the accomplishment for a student to grasp the basics on their own! Now we have to teach them because almost no one knows that there is magic like the unicorns that can be used by other species.” That gave me pause as I quirked a brow in response to my confusion. Not by that statement, but also by the simple question almost everyone who has seen an isekai anime would ask if they were in this situation.

“Unicorns? Other species? Where... exactly am I?” I questioned as his answer both elated me and gave me a sense of fear that wasn’t easy to suppress. Unfortunately for me, my fear overtook my excitement and awe.

“The nation of Equestria in the world of Equus.” And just like that, I went into a full panic attack at my current predicament.

“No, no no no, nonononononononononono! I have finals soon and my sister graduates at the end of the month and... and...” I had a tough time breathing as my body began to shake uncontrollably and a sense of dread entered my mind. The world soon began to spin as panic settled into my very being to the point where I was about to collapse as it was slowly getting worse.

“Oh my... j-just calm down.” He was right, I needed to calm down or I could just pass out due to lack of oxygen. How do you calm yourself... Right! Take a deep breath in and release it slowly. Continue until you can feel your body slowly calm down and the world stops spinning; then you can finally address the situation without passing out.

“Okay... oooooooookay... I’m good now.” I scooped up the magic book while continuing the breathing trick as I felt a hand rest on my shoulder which wasn’t from the cloaked creature in front of me. What shocked me more was when I heard the extremely familiar voice.

“Are you alright darling?” I know that voice from a specific show, but I’m in Equestria in a closed room with seemingly no way in; then how did she get in here! “I’m just as shocked as you, but I don’t think that would be the appropriate reaction.” My eye twitched as I turned to her with the most pissed off expression I had.

“Not appropriate! On the globe of the world where I’m from, there is no Equestria and the world isn’t called Equus, it’s called Earth! My species have explored the entire planet by air, sea, and land and have even taken pictures from space and I’m not one of those pictures was the nation of Equestria! So don’t say that my reaction isn’t appropriate for this situation because I’m not even on my home FUCKING WORLD!!!” With my anger thoroughly vented, I was huffing from the yelling as the familiar mare was slowly tearing up from me ripping her a new one with my anger. “I... I need to go somewhere other than here.” I growled as my recluse nature was slowly coming back to the forefront of my mind.

“You should apologize for darling-“ A darker version of the crying mare said before I got a germ grip around her throat and pulled her to eye level. She could see the hidden rage boiling within from my little rant.

“Piss off and let me leave so I can. Calm. Down. Understand?” She nodded while trying to loosen the death grip I had around her throat. I released her from my hand as she stumbled back as I walked away while flipping my hood above my head and sticking my hands into my pockets while keeping my head down.

I found the door on the right of me and, instead of being a normal human and opening the door normally, I needed to release more anger by literally kicking down the door and wandering the halls of this building. Suffice to say it would be a while for me to calm down or not depending on how my depression converts it into.

(Third Person)

The three others who were summoned were either crying, trying to understand what just happened, or coughing to see if her airway was still useable. The one crying took a tongue lashing like no other in Equestria from someone who was rather angry with her for not knowing his situation. The one coughing has finally taken in a good intake of air to fill her lungs with oxygen after having a male handle her so violently in such a way, and from someone so much smaller too. The last one expected the human to just crawl in a corner and die after that panic attack, but what he did blew all of her expectations out the window with dynamite. The one thing that they all saw was the predatory glare he gave the crying one when he was ranting about the full scale of his situation.

“Why are we here?” The confused one asked while getting the attention of the closest cloaked figure. The confused mare was the tallest of the group standing at a good eight feet tall with a night like a mane and tail with an armored dress and a large scythe behind her. The scythe was almost as big as her standing at seven foot ten with black whips coming from the handle.

“You three are here to be his roommates for a lack of a better term.” The cloaked figure said before pulling the hood down to reveal a thestral mare with a gray coat, a purple mane, and light blue eyes. This took the two, who had control of their emotions, by surprise as they had thought that she was a stallion. Seeing this, she rolled her eyes with an amused smile while giggling a little. “I bet you thought I was a stallion. Sorry, but I’m a mare. My voice makes it hard for most species to tell what I am when I have my hood up.” She began to walk towards the fallen doors in search of the male that has just recently left through the doors he kicked down.

“B-but why us?” The mare who was choked by the kid asked while still confused by this new information. She had an eloquent navy blue dress with the main color or navy blue, light blue, and white. Unlike the other mare, she was shorter by a few inches and she had a rapier on her side.

“I summoned him on purpose and sent a monster to attack him as a test to see what level he was at; However, he is still suffering from depression that has made him shut himself away from the rest of society because of his magic. I may have summoned him on purpose, but you three were a one in a million because any pony could have helped him. You were chosen to help him or destroy what’s left of his happiness, which is little your choice.” She disappeared around the corner and followed the emotional beacon that his body released naturally.

That gave the mares a lot to think about in terms of what was wrong with the human. He seemed to be just fine when he first appeared, disregarding the burned arm that still had little flesh attached to it, but would never look the same again. Yes, he got angry when they assumed he was a demon, but who wouldn’t be a little angry if someone assumed who you were. All they could do was wait for him to calm down to see what he would do next.

(First Person — Outside the building)

“Ignis!” I yelled as small balls of fire impacted some trees around me with rapid succession. Despite how I was nearly drained of all my mana, I felt all of it be restored when I came here and it was gradually refilling after I used a spell. Unlike on earth, I didn’t have to sleep to regain mana so it didn’t matter how much I used since it would be restored quicker.

That, however, didn’t quench the burning flames of rage that roared within me. I unconsciously added a bit more mana into the spell causing the fireballs to turn into firebombs that could get shout out from my hand. Many craters surrounded me from the explosions as a small forest fire circled me from the self-made clearing. The heavy smoke rose into the bright blue sky that Celestia and Luna had dominated over for who knows how many centuries now. The smoke closed around me as sulfur rained from above from the explosions. It burned my nostrils was such a putrid smell that was reminiscent of cigarettes.

My anger that fueled my explosive attacks gave way to sadness and grief from my actions on earth as the flames finally slowly closed in on me. My eyes released a few tears while I tried to hold in my whales of grief before the hardened exterior broke down. With a cry, all my mana was expelled from me in a strong explosion of fire, air, and lightning as my sadness caught up to me after years of running from it. For the first time in my entire life... I was truly alone.

My cries brought forth a torrent of wind to prevent the fire from spreading as I felt an arm wrap around my comparably small form. I didn’t deserve this after how I pushed those two away like that. I didn’t deserve this after how many times I pushed my own family away after learning magic. This was all caused because of that damn book.

“There is no reason for you to feel this grief.” That same guy said causing me to look at him to see what he looks like. Much to my surprise and embarrassment, that he was actually she and I was held close to her chest.

I blushed as her comforting warmth washed over me and calming me down from my sadness. My tears still flowed like a waterfall, but I was much calmer than I originally was as I sunk into her for comfort. I let out everything I had repressed for the past decade after this shit. I buried my face into the side of the mare as tears slowly soaked her cloak.

After a long few minutes, I finally released her as she held me closer since her comfort was helped my mind adjust to my situation. Just her being there was reassuring that some will help me in my time of need. “Feeling any better?” She asked as I silently nodded, my words caught in my throat in fear of saying anything wrong and pissing her off. “What? Cat got your tongue?” She giggled as I gave her a playful glare that made her giggle a little more from the gaze.

“No.” I finally said as I mustered up as much courage as I could to speak. “I’ve... I’ve always had the fear of saying something wrong.” I moved away from her to prevent any... Uncomfortable occurrences to happen. What would she expect from a eighteen-year-old male in the highlight of his life?

"You don't have to worry about that. I won't judge you for it." She scooted closer causing me to move the same amount of space away from her. Though the comfort wasn't unwelcome, my fear around others was slowly amplifying due to my paranoia.

"N-no. You are the first person, pony, thing I spoke to in the past year." I wasn't lying about that part because of my reclusive tendencies and paranoia, but that was life... I guess.

"Oh... Well, if you need someone to talk to, I'll always be here for you." She stood up and offered me her hand, but I refused it and got up on my own. She lowered her hand as I began the trek to the building I was summoned in. "This could've gone better." She caught up with me as we walked side by side, the distance between us was like a chasm despite it only being only one foot, but to each their own. "I just remembered." I looked at her for a moment as she began to explain something that I was not completely aware of. "This school teaches combat to fight against the monsters you fought in your world. We do so that no others will have to." I stopped for a second as anger grew within me as it went from a gentle, contained current to a large, uncontrollable typhoon. She just admitted that they cast the spell that sent that... thing to my school and almost killed a few students. I guess they were lucky I was there at the cost of my arm.

"What." Gone was my calm and meek tone, it was replaced with one that had a deathly, deep, and monstrous voice that seemed out of character; even for me. A chill when up to her spine as she turned to me to see the barely contained rage bubbling underneath the quickly breaking dam that was my mental control. "You. Did. WHAT!!!" I yelled will my rage boiling over from the blatant decoration of her summoning that monster to my school.

"L-look. We haven't perfected the spell and it has a mind of its own and summons a random creature to test the summoned be for they are. If we could summon them without the trial, them we would!" She was preparing for something as if she was gonna fit hit, but I'm not like that and if they didn't have a choice then I guess it was alright. It was still stupid though.

I sighed as I just walked away from the mare with my head down and my gaze to the ground. I didn't bother talking after my outburst as she tried to get me to talk so many times. I didn't relent because I know that she'll just leave like the rest. Despite what she did for me, I didn't trust her much, not after what happened last time I let someone close when I met them, but I guess since I'm in Equestria, I could attempt to break my cynical behavior.

"I guess if your not gonna talk I'm gonna explain what you're going to need for this school." She walked in front of me with a smirk as I quirked a brow in curiosity. She smiled and reached into her cloak before unsheathing an eloquent short sword. "We need to get you a weapon."

"Wait, what?" I said as her sword reflected light from the sun at me. I squinted my eyes and blocked them from the sun so I wouldn't have two sources of light hitting my eyes.

"As I said, we kill monsters like the one you faced. To kill them, we need the right tools to weaken them so our magic can take care of them for good." She sounded proud of herself, but I facepalmed because I knew that she would confuse anyone with that explanation. I mean, she used far too many words.

"So you weaken them with a weapon before using magic to kill them." A long, uncomfortable silence ensued as we stared at each other. I was so close to laughing out loud because of this, but that would be rude; however, I never really cared about that.

Before I could even say a word, she crossed her arms and turned away with a pout. God damn it, the light is still in my eyes. "S-shut up." I chuckled which seemed to be something new to her as she looked at me in disbelief. "You chuckled." I nodded before I continued on the path that led to the hidden school.

The school is hidden by an advanced sealing spell that counseled in a field of invisibility so no one can see it. The path was recently made by me since I made many explosions close to the entrance to help burn out any rage. When I get pissed, I sometimes get destructive, but only if pushed far enough and let me tell you that a pissed me is like dealing with Satan. I won't deny that, at one point, I had to go to therapy for my anger which I should probably consider for my depression.

I looked at the mare for a second as her blue eyes scanned the area for any threats which I guess should be concerning, but I don't care. I'm just gonna do what I normally do when I'm in a situation like this: adapt. I mean, I can adapt to any situation because of the easy-going attitude that allows me to be flexible in any possible change... Unless it's big like a moving mountain. Now that I think about it, that sounds pretty awesome to have an actual moving mountain... Off-track. One example of a big change in me being summoned by her, but that was mostly because of pain and exhaustion.

"I didn't realize how quiet you were until we walked into the school. I thought that you would be amazed by the exterior of the building." The mare said as my eyes widened ever so slightly in surprise as I finally realized that I was walking on an expensive-looking rug with muddy shoes.

I was too caught up in my thoughts to even realize it as creatures of different races and sizes roamed the hall while some stared at me in amazement. "Wha... But... Ah, fuck it. I don't care anymore." I said while walking away from this situation while ignoring my thoughts of how the outside looked.

"So... What rate are you at and how? All I know is that you are self-taught." She was curious considering that I have been studying it on my own for the past four years. I thought back to everything I know and how I began this.

"When I first began, I couldn't hold a spell for more than a few seconds before passing out from excessive mana use. I used some of the exercises such as the original crude method of expelling all my mana and going a little farther past my limits each time. I did eventually find a way to expand it much farther and help with control and second nature usage which was exercising while using my mana to float various materials around my room. It helped my stamina, and help me learn to maintain the spell.

"As time went on, I learned that I could do multiple tasks with the use of magic, but I needed more mana. Around this time, I figured out that constant mana connection is required to keep the spell running which was why most spells don't continue unless I kept a constant mana connection. This was around the time I finished the first month of my self imposed training and I could hold the flame for about two minutes, but it would drain me even faster as I trained and I couldn't train it at school due to me not wanting to look like a fuckin idiot. Luckily, my middle school didn't assign homework so my family didn't have any regards of me practicing magic if I didn't light the house on fire.

"In the third month, I went to school with the book while holding an open flame in my hand and most people thought it was a trick. That was before I accidentally lit my jacket on fire, but that wasn't apart of the plan. I still remember that I messed with my science teacher in eighth grade by showing her magic does exist. She didn't believe me and said that I'm doing that with a tool. That was before I levitated her desk without anything falling. Now I know that the bigger the object you levitate, the more mana you need to keep it afloat so that was a fun day. I honestly didn't expect to spend the rest of the day in the nurse's office, but I showed them.

"I didn't realize how much of a mistake I made until I went back the next day to a group of people asking me to teach them. I tried, I did, but they just didn't have an affinity for it which resulted in me being hounded by them so they could beat me up for lying. They got more and more to follow them, so I left school after about an hour getting there. For the rest of that school year, I would be hounded by the students because of the magic and some would steal my book, but I could summon it back at any time.

"Once I got into ninth grade, I moved to live with my dad with a fresh start; however, I kept to myself and preferred for it to stay that way. I continued to study magic just in case I ever needed it and for the next three years... I secluded myself in fear of others figuring it out. I kept up my training and eventually got to rate 2, but now I got it down to an exact science. I can cast an almost infinite amount of rate 1, a few in rate 2, and one in rate 3." Ya, rate two drains me quickly, but rate three destroys my mana reserves to the point that I collapse from exhaustion.

"Damn, must've been rough." I shrugged because I eventually got used to it, but I digress. It's in the past now and none of them can hurt me... Mostly because some went to prison for assault.

Eventually, we made it to a large door that had the image of a sword above it before she used her magic to open the door. When I say large, I mean large because this was around forty to fifty feet tall with eloquent gold designs. Holy Shit, Equestria has an abundance of gold. If humans got a hold of this, gold would be worthless.

What I saw was a griffin talking to Rarity, Nightmare Rarity, and Nightmare Moon. Rarity looked uneasy when standing beside her counterpart and her alicorn friend. Their heads turned to us when the door closed and I was now peeking out from behind her as they examined used.

"Oh, come on! Where was that self-confidence you had." The mare said as I silently chuckled from her claim.

"What self-confidence? Most of that was me just asking questions and the explanation." She rolled her eyes as I finally got serious... Somewhat. "Okay, okay... I don't like being around a lot of people. Two or three is fine, but more makes it shrivel up and die... Just like my will to live." I'm a dark person and that caught them off guard as they let out a loud 'WHAT!!!'. "It's as if you never heard a dark joke before," I mumbled before the mare pushed me forward towards the various blades and variants of the bow and crossbow.

There were so many weapons that I see from the long sword to a dagger, a great bow to a longbow, and a crude wooden crossbow to an eloquently made, platinum, sniper rifle like a crossbow. I looked at Rarity for a moment as I examined what weapon she had which was a short sword. All of us had magic so we didn't need a ranged specialist, but holy crap, the crossbows were tempting.

"What I wouldn't give for a rifle or pistol," I said silently as I practically marched up and down isles of weapon with debating whether I should get one, but ultimately second-guessing myself. Unfortunately, I hit my knee on the side of a display case, "FUCK!!!" I yelled in pain after I fell to the ground while holding the area that hurt the most.

"Are you okay?!" Rarity yelled in concern, but damn was this was a big room. That shit echoed forever.

"Yes!" Back to finding a damn weapon that was near impossible for me. "Why is this so hard?!" My frustration was growing by the second to the point I just have up and left with visible annoyance on my face. I stopped and walked back with my annoyance displayed as I saw a couple of words that reminded me of the Witcher games. Mostly because they looked exactly like the Wolven MasterCraft Swords.

I picked them up to examine them closer and saw that they were made of steel and silver, but the only indication of it being so was a couple of tags on the blades. One looked more like a traditional sword with a straight crossguard even if it was twisted while the other had an extremely curved guard. I found black sheaths for the swords; however, they were made to be placed on the back. An opening on running down the side of each exposed the rough interior and allowing the swords to slip in before having to be pushed in. I did so and realized that I would have to practice before actually going against someone or something.

I walked back, the swords in their sheaths, and held in one of my hands as I found my 'roommates' and the mare who seemed to be in charge. "I found these. They look like a set, so I got both." I said as I presented the two swords to the four.

"Simple, but it can be effective." I nodded while lowering them to my side. It wasn't easy considering that the swords were a foot shorter than me. Then I caught from something from the table I unintentionally kneed. It was a small box with an attached lid.

What I found shocked me as I put the swords on the tables and picked up the weapon in my hand. "No way," I whispered as I searched the area that it fell from and found a few things that were needed for it to work.

"What have you found darling?" Rarity or Nightmare Rarity asked as I showed them the weapon.

"It's Mk.19 Desert Eagle chambered in 50ae! I didn't think you had firearms here!" The levels of excitement I was radiating was substantial as I dropped the current mag – of course, they didn't unload it – and popped the chamber before locking the slide in place. The stray round was pushed back into the seven rounds mag with a little difficulty. "These things are a staple of power but it pales in comparison to 5.56, 7.62, and most definitely 50 Cal."

"Quit nerding out!" The griffin yelled as I closed my mouth realizing that I was ranting, but I think that's the most I've smiled in years. I may have also dropped the gun, but luckily it was unloaded.

"Okay... Got a target range?" I asked as the thestral mare gestured me to a side area connect to the room. It was a target range, but it wasn't what you'd normally see in the US, but it'll do. "Okay, you might want to cover your ears." No one did which annoyed me as I forced the mag into the grip. "I said to cover your fuckin ears!" Eager to not make me angry again, they did too with Nightmare's putting a shield-like spell over her ears. Why do I have circles and they don't?! Am I not good enough to hide them!

Ignoring my annoyance, I pulled the slide lockdown and aimed down the sights towards the closest target. The sway was manageable and I kept my wrist tight to prevent to much recoil before my finger slowly moved to the trigger. I haven't fired a gun in years so I wanted to savor the moment. I slowly squeezed the trigger and I couldn't help the smile on my face as I did away with the slowness despite the ringing in my ears.

The loud deep bangs sounded like music to my ears as I switched from one target to the next with each round fired. When I was out, I loaded in the next mag and went from 25, 50, 75, and finally 100 meters with great accuracy. After the slide locked back a second time I lowered the gun and my hearing began to clear. The targets would need some patching up after what I did. They should be glad I didn't find an AR and got those targets about a thousand meters. They were not easy to see, but I could still see it.

"How bout that," I said as I pulled a bullet out of the top spot and gave it to the mare. "For me to continue using this, I need plenty of these and," I pulled up one of the three mags, an empty one, and gave it to her, "and seven more of these. It'll be critical and running out of ammo is an easy way to die." I loaded the last loaded mag in and fired, but it didn't fire again.

I took apart the gun... The inside was rusted and multiple components in the trigger snapped.

"Nevermind." I would cry if I could, that hurt way too much. "No one took care of it." It's useless now and too good to be true. Why does my luck suck? "I'll just make... Something. That was disappointing."

I put the mistreated gun on a table and left back into the weapons room before I decide I was just going to use my magic. I may think of something later, but that wasn't now. Damn it, I can't get my mind off it. The utter bliss and then the crushing disappointment just felt so wrong to me, but what can I do. I sighed again at the lost opportunity, but at least I got to fire a gun again... Even if it was only for a few minutes.

I waited by the door so my new roommate sharpened their weapons as I continued to practice Ignis. I found out early in my studies that a well-practiced rate one can be more effective than a newly learned rate 3. Let my pants be the last victim.

Eventually, they came back as I was attempting molding the fire into different shapes and gaining a little more control over the element which I have yet to do above a simple fireball. I looked at my arm for a moment as the burned and bandaged appendage looked so surreal to me. Never had I thought that I was capable of that kind of damage. I sighed as I continued to practice and took my thoughts away from my dominant arm and the collection of second and third-degree burns that coated it. I'll have to start learning to heal if I want to have a chance at learning how to fix it or ask someone who already knows.

"Ready?" I asked as I let the flame dissipate into the air. They looked at me weirdly since it just looked like I was holding air, but it was one of my elemental affinities next to lightning and fire. "What's next?" I walked up to them calmly and finally realized I was much smaller than them. I probably realized this before, just forget... Eh, details.

"Next is to get you a focus. You didn't appear with yours so I expect you don't carry yours." The thestral mare asked as she leads us to a room with, I shit you not, staves and wands. "You may have made an improvised one on the woods, but it must've broken after that massive expulsion of magic."

"No, I don't use a focus whatever that is. This is what I do." I held out my hand and a single line circle and a ball of fire slow sprang into existence but grew too large for me to handle. Just like every one of my elemental constructs. "Damn it, not again," I whispered as I waved my hands, attempting to cool them down.

"Oh my gosh!" She said, a huge smile on her face as she looks at me. "You're a Necromancer! They're rare and from my knowledge, you're the last one!" Yay, I'm going to draw more attention to myself. Great, just fuckin great.

"Uuugh, kill me now." I groaned since I hate having any attention on me for any reason. "Maybe I should say this... I HATE attention of any kind unless it's familial because that's unavoidable."

"Why do you hate attention?" Nightmare Moon asked before, in one swift motion, I turned to face her while we continued walking.

"Maybe it could be the fact that when I showed my species, who normally don't have magic, I was physically, emotionally, and psychologically abused by teachers and students alike. I've been stuck in a hospital with a staff that wanted my power for their uses and actively tried to kill me... I learned about different medications because of it. And because of all that, I forced myself into isolation to prevent all that from happening... Again. Honestly, I'm prepared to die and I don't care if I do at this point." I said with one of the most neutral faces I stared back at her.

"Why would they do such a thing to a child?!" Rarity yelled and damn was it loud. I think my ears are ringing from the sheer pitch of her screech. Oh god, this is going to suck but I brought it up and now I have to live with it. Fuck my big mouth... Not like that.

"As much as I hate to admit it, that's one of the nicer aspects of the bad shit. I haven't mentioned the wars, the genocides, the terror attacks, or the number of psychopaths and serial killers." Was this a good idea, oh hell no, but I thought I could fuck with them a little bit so that they can understand the minuscule amount of danger they were ever in compared to the constant fear of death all humans became accustomed to. Hell, I was unfazed when a bomb threat was made against my school and when some drunk dumbass was waving around a rifle in the near neighborhood.

"Wars? What wars?" Wow, she was innocent about this topic. Maybe it isn't a thing in Equestria... No matter. I'm going to show them how good they have it compared to humanity.

"There have been many wars. Hell, the cause of the second world was was an almost total economic collapse worldwide." The Great Depression was surprisingly ended by one of the deadliest wars in human history... Is it odd that I find that ironic or is that common?

"Second world war-" I closed her muzzle and shushed her before petting her mane because I'm not letting this conversation continue.

"Stay innocent. I'm sure as hell not." I moved back around as I continued to walk with my hand in my pockets. I need a new jacket but I'll keep this one. I've had it for years and it holds sentimental value. I looked that the mare that has been with me since I came back to this school. "Excuse me, but I never got your name." The thestral mare looked at me before facepalming.

"Sorry, I guess I should introduce my self. I'm the principal of this school and my name is Moon Crest." Moon Crest said before she held out her hand and I sook it.

"Nice to meet ya, I'm Hunter, Hunter Herrero." My attention was moved to Rarity after the tapped my shoulder lightly, but she seemed... confused.

"Okay, so why is mare like you here in a prestigious school like this?" Rarity said before I sighed, but I guess I have been using a tone that made my voice go up an octave.

"First of all... I'm male. Human male." I looked over my shoulder to get a good look at my roommate before I gave her a fierce look that showed my determination. "And I intend at excelling past what I was previously capable of."

I continued walking before I was stopped at a door. Mostly because it opened for me without any of use reaching for it. I looked at the mare who lead us here and she gestured for us to enter. I walked in and stood in front of the class... Fuuuuuck.

Chapter 2

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The class stared at us while before the teacher came in front of us with a smile as the class continued to stare. "Hello, my name is Bright Eye, and welcome to my class! Please, introduce yourself!" I looked at the rest and saw they were staring at me as well as the... All-female class... What? I would be lying if I said I wasn't a nervous wreck.

"I guess I'll start." I walked forward to set myself apart from the other three. It would be much of a difference considering I was shorter and a different species, but why not fuck myself more... I need to stop being cynical. "My name is Hunter Herrero, human, male, age eighteen. That's it." I stepped back as my shy attitude made it hard for others to hear me. My confidence wasn't high and doing this was essentially public humiliation. However, this caused the teacher to begin to whine.

"What! You introduce yourself but don't give likes or dislikes or even a simple hobby! Give us something unique about yourself!" She whined before I glanced at her with a blank look that I always held. I sighed and shooked my head as I look towards the ground shyly.

"Why should I when I have no reason to... It'll make no sense if I take pity from everyone in school and will hinder my magic training and Mana growth practices." It was quiet, but the message was clear. Sometimes, my annoyance will break through my nervous shell, but anyways; I was a very logical person, but I accepted magic as an anomaly that can't be proven, but I'm slowly seeing it as its science.

"I'll go next." Nightmare Rarity coughed to clear her throat of any instructions before continuing her introduction. "I am Nightmare Rarity. As you can see, I have a horn, use sorcery, and I'm currently twenty-two." She looked at me with a glare as I looked up with a blank expression directly at her.

"You could be a little nicer." I shrugged but didn't say a word before looking at Rarity who did the same as her nightmare counterpart.

"I am Rarity, I use sorcery, I'm currently the owner of Carousel Boutique, I'm also twenty-two, and am one of the Elements of Harmony." Cheers came from the class including the teacher as she walked back with a smile on her face while looking at me. I knew this but I don't care.

"My name is Nightmare Moon... Contrary to what you believe, I no longer want eternal night. I see that'll do nothing but harm those I care about. I use sorcery and I'm currently five thousand seven hundred and fifteen." Yup, way older than me, but I don't care. Two villains and one Element, maybe it won't be so bad after all.

"What about you? What do you use?" Bright asked me as I sighed.

"It's irrelevant. I've only known about magic for three or four years compared to their lifetime of experience." I said as I looked back at her with my neutral expression. "May we take our seats?" She nodded and pointed to a table with four chairs and we took our seats. We had to walk up a bit of stairs to get there, but it was alright. To my left was Moon and to my right was a Demoness who looked human except for the fact she had red skin, a pair of horns, and a tail.

"Okay, the class has been summoned! Now we're going to test your elemental affinities! On your table are four sets of six gems; red is Fire, blue is Water, brown in Earth, gray is the Wind, black is Shadow, and white is Light. Hover your focus above it and channel a small amount of Mana through it to find your affinities. The stones will react to your Mana by creating and allowing the element to flow to your focus. Now begin!" I sighed again as everyone went to work as small steady streams of their elements flowed to their focus or in the case of my table; horns. Some had disappointed faces as they saw their affinities while others were ecstatic and practically jumping with joy. I rose my hand above the stones slowly as many began to look at me for a while as I tried to calm my nerves.

"You think a male can do this?"

"Where's his focus? He can't do this without one."

"He should just leave... No male other than unicorns has been able to channel magic."

Some of the comments were of sheer ignorance while others were complete prejudice. My hands were shaking from the anxiety and the slowly growing anger, but I kept my breathing normally to calm myself.

Then I tried to let the smallest amount of my mana out and... Well, something bad happened. The stones flared violently as they began to hover off the ground and a large collum of fire, lightning, and airflow to my hand as the magic circle appeared beneath them. This was the smallest amount of my magic and it's causing such a violent reaction. I eventually began to float along with it before I cut the connection and I, along with the stones fell to the ground.

I grunted as I landed on my back after staying aloft in the air and not knowing about what direction I was hovering in. Luckily, my head wasn't facing towards the ground when I fell so no brain damage... I think. That wasn't the end of it as I placed my hand on the ground to push myself back up, but it also causes a five-pronged pentagram to appear underneath me.

I was gasping for air since I felt like I couldn't breathe when the tornado appeared from the Wind Stone. That thing sucked all the air from the area around us, but I'm glad I shut it off before anyone got hurt. Luckily, I was the only one and hopefully, someone only suffered feeling heat and getting shocked lightly. Well, it could be worse... Nope here comes my lunch. It just got worse.

"MY EVERYTHING HURTS!!!" Best sentience ever created! Ten outta ten! I would watch again says IGN! In all seriousness, I was punched by wind, zapped by lightning, and roasted by fire.

"Oh my gosh, what's wrong!" Rarity yelled as she ran up beside me and cradled my head. I would compliment the view, but I was in too much pain. It was not a good pain, it was a bad pain... a very, very bad pain.

"I feel like a roasted chicken! I'm not a chicken, I'mma human." She dropped me after I used my childish tone and I laughed a little. I could see the disappointment on her face but it was of no concern to me if she was happy with how I acted or angry when I made light of the situation. If she didn't like it, not my problem nor do I care; she just has to get used to me, but if she doesn't, then she's gonna have a hard time getting used to me and my antics.

"I thought you were hurt." She walked off while I tried to stand and that ended in me falling. Ya, falling downstairs doesn't hurt as much as I thought. It did show that I couldn't feel my legs so it doesn't matter. I can still use my arms to get around.

"I-I told you a small bit, not all of it!" Ms. Bright yelled as Rarity picked me up once again and carried me over to her.

"I did. I thought I used a tinny amount of it." She looked at me quizzically before putting a wand to my head and as if a dam broke, all my mana rushed out my body as I began to feel more tired. Eventually, it stopped and I hit the ground once more as I groaned. I was able to stand this time, but I was wobbling on my feet and struggling to stand.

"T-that mana... Yo-your a necromancer! They're extremely rare and are said to have enormous amounts of mana due to the class not needing a focus." I shrugged and sat down on a table or chair or something. It was hard to tell through a hazy mind and a dulled sense of touch.

"Okay, I get the basics of my magic, but as you can tell... I lack control." I felt three hands lie on me as I began to feel less tired and I got up with little effort. I looked at the three who seemed to wobble a little before stabilizing. "If you need help, I'll help." They immediately stabilized themselves while using me as a crutch and I struggled to help them considering that I was carrying over five times my weight.

I walked them to a nurse's office that ended up being pretty normal all things considered. It took a lot of asking and practically dragging the mares there. It was not easy by any means and this is considering that I'm underweight.

I was struggling to pull them and I did fall a few times; not what I had in mind when this happened. I'm a horrible person, I know that, but it's hard not to make a joke when you're presented with an opportunity like this. I physically had to pull myself out from underneath them all.

"Ah... Needs... Help!" I yelled not caring about grammar or pronunciations. Could you blame me? I have several hundred pounds on me and I'm not even a hundred twenty pounds, so it feels as if I'm pinned under a sumo wrestler. I'm not trying to be mean, but it was the best I could come up with in terms of a comparison considering my current predicament.

"Oh, why isn't this a surprise." Someone said as I looked towards the voice with my spine almost breaking. The bing had red skin with horns and a thin tail with a small heart-shaped ending to it. She had a nurse's outfit... but it didn't look like it should be one. The cap on her head was tilted to the side of her head and rested on one of her horns. Her nurse's uniform looked like a one-piece dress that didn't even go down to the halfway point of her thighs and didn't seem to cover much of anything. "Would you like any help?" She asked me as she grabbed one of the girls and lifted her off of me and placed her on one of her shoulders.

I struggled to roll the remaining two off of me which was hard considering that I was on my stomach. I had to settle with crawling away and that seemed to be my only option... and that failed as I lost my pants. I scrambled to put my pants back on and that ended in me panicking causing the nurse to laugh as she grabbed another one and heft her on her other shoulder. She took both Nightmare Moon and Rarity while leaving me with Nightmare Rarity.

"It seems you don't have the upper body strength to carry all three, but it's a bit impressive that you were able to carry them at all. Anyways, who are you miss..." I was able to put my pants back on even if I was extremely flustered.

"H-Hunter Her-Herrero, I'm a guy," I said as I gave her a small nod as a greeting as I stood nervously in front of her. This caught her off guard as she almost dropped both of the girls on the ground.

"Really! No males outside of unicorns can normally cast spells with Sorcery." I gulp as I was prepared to tell her that I was different from all the other students. I was a little fearful of her reaction considering that Necromancy is essentially fucking with corpses with magic, but I guess that isn't the case here.

"I'm a necromancer," I told her as she almost dropped both of the girls again as she looked at me with stars in her eyes while I picked up Nightmare Rarity. She dragged me with her magic as fast as she could and eventually we made it to this woman's office, but it was weird for me to be fawned over by a woman. I've never been in this position in my entire life so I couldn't help being shy when she was practically hovering over me.

"I've always wanted to talk to one. Who taught you?" I sighed as I light a fire but burned myself once again. It burned the wrapping on my arm that showed it was badly burned. "Oh shit! Let me take a look." She grabbed my arm causing me to wince at the pain despite her gentle hold. Her skin was radiating heat and it didn't help that they were pressed against my second-degree burns.

"Son of a... Bitch." I said as she looked at my pained face before looking at the third and second-degree burns on my arms. She let go and examined the burns and eventually began to use her magic to heal my arms which caused the burn to retreat down my arm by about a centimeter. "If it isn't offensive: can I ask what you are?" She shook her head and grabbed a new gauze role to cover my a before smiling sadly.

"I'm a demon, to be more accurate, I'm a Succubus. Also, my name is Sarah, Sarah Armin." She covered my arm with gauze careful to make sure that she didn't hurt me, but why did she look so sad. "This school's student body doesn't like necromancers after a Necromancer along with the forty-nine others attacked this world and killed the founder of this school. There are only fifty tomes, one for every reality." Did... Did she just confirm the multiverse theory? "This school caters to creatures to the realities of Equus, Hell, and Corneria." Did I recognize that last world or reality... universe? I'm at a loss.

"I guess that also goes for the Earth as well now," I said as Ms. Armin continued to wrap my arm as I smiled. "Students already know I'm a necromancer. Plus, I'm already used to abuse." She looked at me with sympathetic eyes and just like that, I began to vent about the past five years. The school year was almost over when I got here and I'm almost seventeen, but I've overworked my mana storage a little too much, and doing that has negative consequences with the immediate effect being physical deterioration and the other being...

It shortened my life span by about a year. I would've lived a little over a hundred, but now I'll live to ninety-nine. I have to be careful about how I use my mana.

(Third Person - Nerses Office)

"I'll see you later Ms. Armin," Hunter said as she nodded with a smile as he left the room before Sarah looked at the mares that were lying on a few beds that were in the office specifically made to allow students to recover mana faster if they overworked themselves. He was nice enough to give them something from the school store and all his money was converted to the local Bit currency that he had a ton of.

"I know you're awake," Sarah said as she turned her head to the beds where the girls were sitting up. Rarity looked distraught after hearing how bad he was hurt to the point of social isolation that damaged his social confidence. He admitted that he was a social outcast that even feared that his own family turning on him. He'd rather be alone and make sure that no one gets that magic power than having a person be corrupted by that same power. "I know that you three were curious."

"How could anyone suffer such isolation." Rarity said as she pulled the covers over herself is a vain attempt to shield herself from the harshness of reality. It was difficult for the ponies to understand such extremes of self-punishment and that could harm someone so deeply.

"He seems to be suffering from clinical depression due to personal problems and stress. Maybe a little of PTSD due to some near-death experiences, but I bet that mental disorder is manifesting into his dreams... or better yet nightmares. Unfortunately, no one here has the correct credentials to help him." Sarah looked towards the door where Hunter walked out of with squinted eyes trying to focus. She was curious about his mana, there was a massive flux of mana moments before she met him. She would be lying if she told herself that she wasn't curious about who could produce that amount of mana in that short amount of time.

"Can't we do anything? We have to do something." Rarity was in denial about reality, but the other three knew that it was a vail Celestia put up to make sure that none of the worlds would see hardship.

"Unfortunately, there isn't anything we can do, but I bet that increasing his confidence would allow him to open up," Sarah said with confidence as she turned back to the three girls. "And Rarity, Celestia prevents giving the world hardship because she believes ponies are too weak to endure it all. She isn't condescending, just very naive." Nightmare Moon and Nightmare Rarity both nodded as they lied back down to continue to recover their mana. They didn't much care for Celestia, but they did admire how she wanted everyone to have a carefree life.

"I won't deny that, but she's one hell of a leader." Said a familiar voice as they looked towards the door where they saw Hunter leaning on the door frame with a cocky smile. "You think I can pass for espionage." Sarah would be lying if she said she knew he was there, he was so quiet that he probably could sneak into Canterlot without anyone knowing if he tried.

"So your back," Sarah said with a smile as he walked back to the chair and sat down again but he seemed a lot more casual than he did before.

"Correction, I never left." Hunter couldn't help but be cocky after his successful attempt to enter the room without anyone hearing. "I was outside and your foresight is incredible, you were right on the money when it came to that crap." She was even more surprised that he was so aware of his mental problems... and we're okay with them. "Trust me, I've learned to live with it... even if I feared everyone near me. I'm not going to attempt to even understand something I've lived with for the past five or six years."

"I'm surprised that you even admitted something like this. Sometimes, most people take at most ten years to tell others and seek help. You're a lot braver than most to just vent while others suffer in silence." He nodded as the girls watched him stay silent and absorbed the information without missing any info he may need. He was observant as his eyes shot across the room noting almost every escape route that he could find. It was a habit he picked up after he was enrolled in a different school just in case someone found out what he was.

"I'm not. Believe it or not, depression is extremely common. It may not be what anyone here wants to hear, but it's true." It was a depressing fact but it was one that he'd known all too well. It wasn't just him, it was plenty of others in his family that have it and are handling it better than him. He more than aware that he had a heavy inferiority complex due to his lack of confidence and him generally becoming a social outcast; even among his family. "Well, getting off that topic, how about I leave the four of you to your future chat and I'll go to my next class... where ever that is." He left the girls and this time he didn't fake himself leaving.

"You think he's gonna be fine?" Rarity asked as she turned to her counterpart and the Mare in the Moon.

"It's better that we deal with it when happens." Nightmare Moon said as she pulled the covers over her shoulders. "But first, we need to recover our mana."

(First Person - Hunter)

I walked through the halls of the school and I was in luck because the halls were empty. I was never one for social interaction, mostly because I was a social outcast and socially inept; however, this was a nice, calm walk despite that it was in a large, castle-like hall. It gave me time to clear my mind and calm myself while I head to where ever my next class is. It was something that I'm sure most people like me needed before they would just... blend into the crowd.

I continued to walk through the halls just daydreaming until I heard the sound of a PA system echo throughout the halls and it was an odd sound to hear in a place like Equestria. "Attention, would the Necromancer named Hunter Herrero to go to room 2044. This is a request made by Principle Moon Crest." Well... at least I know the name of the principal so I won't have to call her ma'am all the time. Now... where the hell is room 2044? I guess the best way to find that room is to do what I normally do, look at signs that have the room numbers by the hundreds. Wait... she told me her name... didn't she? Wow, memory sucks.

I walked around for a little while - maybe an hour - to find the room through the best exploration possible... wandering like a dumbass for an hour. The fucking school is like a maze, every sign that would lead somewhere is written in Latin and I can barely understand other than the spells in my grimoire. If the school is this complex, isn't there like a map or something that help students get around easier; because this school seems too complex for most people to understand in the matter of a few hours.

I did come across a couple of students that were skipping class, one was one of those demons and the other was a pegasus pony. They had the same clothing - I guessed that it was some sort of uniform, unfortunately - with a cape tied around their necks. Their uniforms were black skirts that went halfway down their thighs, a white bottom up shirt under a navy blue blouse, black slip-on shoes, and the aforementioned cape; this was some anime bull shit here I tell ya.

"Excuse me, but do you know where room 2044 is?" I asked them as nicely as possible before they looked at me with... disgust? To say I'm a little surprised would be an understatement, I got here today and people already hate me... a new record.

"Why the fuck would we help someone like you?" The demon said before walking away with the pony following her with a more disgusted than the demon. Were they sexist? Speciesist? Whatever the correct term is in this situation. In all honesty, It could be much worse than what they said now. I could have been killed by one of them, they were taught by someone.

I didn't respond to them because I'm pretty sure they are the school assholes and I'd rather not be known as the guy who argues with everyone who makes a rude remark against me. I just kept walking away from them and walked randomly around this fucking maze, but c'est la vie. Not much I can do about now unless a teacher is willing to show me to room 2044. Hell, will free over before I work up the courage to ask someone to help... I'm not the most sociable person in the world, but I guess I'm not the shiest. That award goes to Fluttershy; now that I know that she is real.

I continued to wander around the school in no particular direction other than following my gut. I spent another three minutes walking around before I run into a couple of other students who were walking through the halls in between class periods. I now understand why the school's corridors are so much bigger than normal school halls and that's because it allows others to stand in the halls and talk with friends while allowing others to walk by without much difficulty. Unlike in normal high schools, and from what I can tell from Georgia University, it's much easier to walk through the halls without bumping into someone.

Unfortunately, Those two girls tripped me as I walked by them much more quickly than the rest of the students in the hall; mostly because my anxiety was going through the roof. It wouldn't have been painful if I wasn't going as fast as I was, but considering how the other people acted towards me; I feel as if they were targeting me purposely... or that could be the years of paranoia under my belt. All I did was growl at them because I don't have a fucking backbone.

Things didn't end there as the ground rose and gut-punched me with enough force to feel like I had a fucking tree fall on me... don't ask. This caused me to flop back down to the floor while withholding my urge to vomit on the floor while holding my stomach and sucking in air that was forced from my lungs. It didn't take long for a strong impact to hit my side and sent me flying to the far wall with the added effect of making it hard to breathe without causing pain. I was now struggling for air as I tried to look at my attackers, but I couldn't see them. I didn't know what was happening or it could be a shadow magic-user blinding me or the lights in the hall broke. It didn't matter as I was taking more hits as insults fill my ears along with plenty of background noises, all of them were collective laugh to my pained grunts.

"Damn it. The principle is coming!" I heard someone yelled as the sound of feet and hooves rushing to get away while I sat up while using the wall as a crutch. I was in more pain than I was in before and that's not counting how much more pain my burned are was in. I couldn't breathe in normally from the possible broken ribs I may have, but that was all I could hear. My shallow breathes were the only thing that I could hear now and the soft hoof steps that were coming into a rising crescendo.

"Son of a... hold on. I should be able to dispel the magic and heal your wounds." I recognized it as the principle voice as the feeling of magic came over me, but it was warmer and seemed more controlled to mine. It was nice and seemed more soothing than mine, but that could be the difference between necromancy and sorcery. Eventually, I will get to that point and I will, but not anytime soon. My breathing would be easier to take in and the pain was fading away. "You have several broken bones through your body and some of them are open wounds as well. This could've ended in your death if it was left unattended. Now, time to get rid of this shadow magic." My vision began to clear, or as clear as someone who needs glasses will get. Now that I think about it, where are my glasses? I'm not sure how I'm just now realizing it, they are right in front of my face. "Your Armatura is impressive, most people would die after they received your injuries. Now... WHERE THE FUCK WERE YOU!!!" If I was still the state I was before she healed, she probably would've killed me with her violent shaking me as if I was some kinda... I don't have a good analogy for this.

"I was walking around trying to find room 2044. No one helped me, I can barely read Latin, I don't know Roman numerals, and there's no map." I responded before she stopped shaking me like... fuck I still don't have an analogy! Normally I have one by now; I must be off my game.

"Oh... That makes sense." She picked me up off the ground with magic before floated me behind her with a strange smile; I'm not sure why she was acting like this, but this could help me in the long run. I have some pretty good protection from any more assaults, but if she wants to know who did that; she's gonna be sorely disappointed about what I have to say.

My paranoia is at an all-time high after what happened, but what the hell was I going to have to do about it. I don't have their type of training when it comes to magic or any practical magic training that they had either. My grimoire explained a seventh element that all magic is tied to and acts as a base for all magic that starts extremely weak when learning the first level of the necromancy line. However, I don't have a way to learn the next level because that's one-third of the way through the Necronomicon, but the rest of the pages are blank while the pages that can be read is mostly training exercises and side notes from H.P. Lovecraft - my favorite author in the horror genre. Unfortunately, my tome focuses more on learning elemental magic than learning that seventh element; which is normally known as the best element to learn first as described by my grimoire. That element is called Arcane, the only element I have no experience in. These students have known how to do Arcane Magic since day one while I'm only capable of Elemental Magic... mostly. I can still use Arcane Magic, but nothing to the levels of these guys but I can still heal, levitate things, and cast shields if I need to.

The phantom pains were much more intense than I thought, so any conversation that would've happened was replaced with my occasional groan of pain. Magic can only heal things, but not get rid of the pain unless someone uses a specific Arcane spell that comes with magic medical training, but I currently don't have any way of achieving that at the moment. I'm not sure what this mare wants from me for, but I can't do much of anything out of flopping on the floor and curling into a ball.

"Hey." Principal Crest said to get my attention while I floated in the air while still in absolute pain. "Right, your adrenalin high finally came down. I want you to know that you're a powerful mage with the most potential I've seen in my seven hundred years in my position. You could easily reach my level with the proper training." I was able to withhold my noises of pain while she said this, but I had no idea why she was telling me that. wait.

"The nurse... told... you... didn't she?" Bull shit that question took that much effort. It hurt, yes, but I've was in worse pain earlier today... probably... honestly, I don't know anymore. There has been way too much shit happening today and that's not counting that, when I was summoned here, the sun fucking rose for them when it was one in the afternoon on earth. Things could be worse... worse than almost getting killed on my first day.

"Yes, you need an enormous confidence-booster. That and I have set up a learning environment just for you. Nothing too special, just to help you get caught up in your control while teaching you new and more elements spells. From what I heard, you have an affinity for all six elements, but you're more intuned with Fire, Wind, and Light; However, first, you need to learn to use your Arcane Magic so we can accurately set up a syllabus to get you caught up." All I did was nod, with a massive amount of pain in my neck as a result. "Oh, and the teacher I have assigned to you is the second best medical mage in the school. Most call her a second nurse and she's often called to referee magic duels, so you would get some really good medical help." Against my better judgment, I just pet her because I'm weird like that and she even giggled after I did it too. "You're a weird one aren't ya." I smiled as I pulled my hand back to me to relieve the pain I was putting myself in.

I was set on the floor about thirty minutes later after Ms. Swirl floated to me into room 2044 with as much haste as possible without me feeling any pain. I was easily able to relax after I was on the nice cool floor, It felt nice on my burned arm with the cold feeling like a massage, and I was happy that I could finally no longer feel any pain. Yeah, just because I'm being floated in the air with magic, doesn't mean that gravity doesn't affect me like it normally should. So the entire time I was being in floated, I was feeling gravity drag me down and putting more pressure on the phantom pains that refused to go away.

Soon after My body landed on the ground, I felt the pains slowly disappeared as I saw a magic focus appear into my vision and glowing like a unicorn horn. It was much warmer than the principal's healing magic by a lot, but It wasn't warmer, only as if I was given a hug by my mom when I was still innocent. When the feeling ended, I didn't want to get up from my position on the floor. I wanted to sleep on the floor now - not the first time I considered the floor softer than a normal bed - and I didn't want to get up at all.

"Hey, you can get up now." A new voice said as I felt someone poke my side with their focus making me hold in my laughs in. I am very ticklish.

"Noooo, It's too cozy. Can I sleep, please?" I could hear this new woman and the principal laugh a little from my laziness, but is it laziness if it was supposed to be midnight for me... eh, makes no difference to me, my insomnia prevents me from getting a good nights sleep. However, If I began to sleep, I won't be able to learn control sooner. Sleep, or learn control... as the saying goes; Adapt and overcome. "Fine... where do we begin?" I sat up with a yawn while stretching my arms and it felt so fucking nice.

"First, create an Arcane orb of magic so we can scale your current level in magic with your current control over the element." The woman, I'm guessing she's a demon if the horns and thin tail with light red skin and eyes like a cat were anything to go by. From the knowledge I currently have, I'm the only human in the school that allows anthro animals, Equestians (creatures form Equis), and demons. This demon must be my teacher for the foreseeable future.

"Umm... I don't know how to use Arcane." This caused them to pause for a second as they stared at me blankly while I just stood there awkwardly. "Hey, don't judge me! I didn't have anyone to teach me magic!" They sighed before the principal looked up for a moment before giving me a beaming smile; dear god was it adorable. It was like a real-life version of Fluttershy giving a squee during that one episode.

"You have fire magic right?" Moon Crest asked with that same smile and the teacher seemed to catch on as she smiled the same way Ms. Crest was. I nodded and she lightly grabbed my wrapped burned arm, my dominant arm, and turned my hand until my palm was facing the sky. "Would you start the casting process for your Rate One fire spell?" I nodded and the spell circle appeared above my palm and spun slowly. "Incredible, you don't know Arcane Magic, yet you can start the magic process without starting an incantation." She put her wand over my Casting Circle and I felt mana being drained from it, but it was if my mana was being replaced with something else. After a while, my mana began to feel completely different than my normal Fire Magic; however, it felt nice and was much calmer than any of the mana when I use my normal magic.

"Whoa, that's... different." Mana feels different with each elemental spell: Fire feels hot, Wind feels like high winds, Lightning feels like constantly getting zapped, Water feels like a rushing river, Earth feels like getting pelted by rocks, and Shadow feels like getting hit with cold air; however, Arcane feels extremely calm with no real comparison other than the feeling satisfied. Most people in my family wonder how I know this much despite that I have no training or teacher to explain this to me, but that's easy; It's in H.P. Lovecraft notes on the sides of the pages. I love how I can have these internal monologs within seconds because it helps me pay attention to the task at hand.

"Now, for the rest of today's lesson, you are going to maintain that... whatever you're doing to get used to how it feels and when you hold it for thirty minutes straight, you will begin the casting proses again and again until you can cast it as if it's second nature." I nodded while I kept my hand out and my palm up with my mana continuously feeding the Casting Circle with the same feeling mana. I thought this would be much easier considering that Arcane is a stepping stone to my Elemental Magic but within seconds, my Casting Circle turned back into its original color of orange signifying the Fire Mana fueling the circle. "This is not just any ordinary exercise, it teaches both the Arcane Element and control. So this is a dual-purpose training method that will help you with both." I nodded before starting up the Casting Circle for my fire magic while draining the Fire Mana; only leaving Arcane left.

The demon sitting beside the principal sat up with a small grunt before stretching a little. She was mostly playing on her phone most of the time I was practicing. She stood in front of me while still stretching and I could swear that I could hear her bones popping. "Alright, I should give my name... My name is Grace Selas, but you can call me Ms. Selas or Grace if were out of the classroom." Ms. Selas said as I lost control and an explosion detonated on the other side of the room from the distraction she caused. I was about to glare at her before I realized that she could reck my shit in seconds, so I set up the Casting Circle and was able to immediately able to turn my Fire Magic Circle to an Arcane Magic Circle almost instantly. "Alright, I'm gonna tell you a little bit about Elemental Magic so you can expand your already expansive knowledge of it." I nodded and I was holding the Casting Circle better than the past two times. "All elements have two weaknesses that nullify the element and one strength that amplifies the element. Earth is weak against Fire and Air Magic with the strengths being Shadow. Water is weak against Light and Earth Magic with its strengths being Shadow. Air is weak against Water and Shadow with the strengths being Fire. Now, from those three, you know the strengths of all elements; however, there are still three elements that we still have to go over. Fire is weak against Water and Air, Light is weak against Shadow and Earth, and Shadow is weak against Light and Fire." I nodded with a concentrated look on my face, but I snapped my fingers of my other hand and summoned my grimoire. I floated it over to her with the book open that was only halfway finished in the Elemental Magic section, but I held the Arcane Magic Casting Circle.

I've been able to cast multiple spells for a while and spells that I didn't have to speak to use were the easiest to cast for me and I've often made notes the more I learned about magic. It was pretty easy for me, but I never had something like this information given to me so I didn't want to fuck it up. This was more information I've ever gotten in my years of training so I want that information by any means necessary.

"Please... write it... down." My voice was strained since I was holding my breath and was turning red as I held it. It's like when people do push-ups and they are really out of breath after they finish because it's like they forget to breathe. Life would be great if you didn't have to breathe, but humans have to be weak and need air. Air is for the weak. Unfortunately, I'm weak. Thankfully, Grace wrote it down in the section I left blank and the page still had a fourth of it blank so I can still add more info to it.

I was able to hold it for longer than I anticipated even if it was much harder to hold than I thought, but I was able to hold it much easier than any of my Elemental Magic Casting Circle. I dropped it immediately as I yawned because it was supposed to be two in the morning for me, but it's only around two in the afternoon. I'm so tired, but I have to adjust my sleep schedule to this new timezone so I have to wait for the moon the rise before I sleep.

"Only twenty-nine minutes, your gonna have to start all over again," Ms. Crest said as I was now struggling to stay awake while giving her a thumbs up before my vision went upwards until all I could feel was a dull pain from the back of my head and all I could see is the ceiling. "... Maybe you should take a break." I didn't bother responding before my vision darkened and my mind went blank. It was a heavenly feeling and then colors filled my vision before fading into a nice meadow that was much calmer than the past twenty-four hours have been.

Don't get me wrong, I'm extremely happy that I can finally get some actual training from professionals so that will help me in the long run, but it was like being sent twelve hours in the future if my estimation from the sun's position in the sky and the shadows on the ground give. I was extremely tired from the time I fell into this place; I'm not even sure where the hell I am so I have to learn where the nearest town is just in case I need to run. It wouldn't be the first time I've had to run from school, I had to do it once before, but when I was taken back to my family, I was in Atlanta with my aunt and uncle. That was the day the beast showed its face and people were hunting me down to slay it. I have a darker mindset than most people because of the paranoia that comes with the only human having magic and the multitude of people that want it for their benefit.

Unfortunately, the first half of the Rate Pages is a bestiary of various monsters that can be found on earth where myths and legends go to die, and I'm the executioner. That test beast wasn't the first I've encountered, that goes to a Chinese beast called Kumiho; a nine-tailed fox that acts as a succubus before devouring the liver or heart. I was able to best it in combat and even purify it, despite the massive difficulty to keep it from escaping and keep it fed while keeping its taste in mind. I often talk to them and kept them from living in isolation for the three years I've kept it locked up. I couldn't feed it meat or else it wouldn't reform, but it was the best I could do, and eventually, the Kumiho allowed me to pet them. They mentioned a school where I could get properly trained to use my magic and it was also when I learned my first Elemental Spell: Ignis.

Because of my specialty in Fire Magic, almost all of my peers begrudgingly called me Fire Sage and I put a ton of my magic studies into the Fire Element before the Light and Wind elements. That was only because I had an idea for a Crafted Spell for when I eventually reach my next evolution, but that was all the detail I got before I reached the edge of the Rate Pages. All there is a sketch of chains on the pages past a ton of blank pages in the Elemental Magic section and the other pages past it won't be turned no matter the amount of force applied.

Now that I think of it, I left that Kumiho back in Georgia with my mom and stepdad so all I can hope is that the Kumiho hasn't reverted to its dark past while I'm here. Actually, would I be able to go back to Earth to get a few things, or is it just having to buy new stuff; because I can go back and retrieve the Kumiho from my mom. I have gone back to my mom's house - because that was the custody agreement between my mom and dad - so I have talked to them while I was there, even if they're handcuffed to a pole implemented into my old room. It was the first time I had my own room so my stepdad didn't really care what I did in it if it didn't hurt anyone, but the Kumiho had to be chained to the pole at all times. I broke that rule often.

This is what I did every night. I'd go over all the information I learned since I got my grimoire; because I never dreamed since I got it. I only have lucid dreams now, that and nightmares but that's a tale for a different time... that and I'd rather not risk turning this into a nightmare. It helps that every time I have a lucid dream, I appear in the meadow. As long as I keep a level head, it won't change; meaning that I can't have emotion while I'm here. It's boring, but I currently don't know any method to train in the dreamscape.

(Third-Person)

"I honestly can't believe he's back. It took me a while to remember him, but it's really him," Rarity said as she looked at the human who seemingly just appeared with them, even if he was much more violent than she remembered. The person was carried into the room by the principal who was surprised that he was able to hold out for so long. They didn't realize that it was supposed to be early in the morning for him on his home planet.

"You knew this human before, Rarity?" Nightmare Moon asked as she walked beside his new bed in their new dorm room. On the outside, it was deceivingly small from the outside, assumingly only having one bedroom and a bathroom, but on the inside, it was almost a large house with two stories to it.

"I have, but that was years ago when he was just a child, maybe he was three or four years old when we first met. I was eight at the time and Twilight had just moved into the Golden Oaks Library. She was testing out a new spell that was supposed to summon a creature from the Everfree, but it summoned a new creature; him. I am unsure of why he has forgotten me since I took him in for that summer." She sighed as fond memories filled her mind of that summer because unlike all those who have stayed with her and didn't help her in her shop, but he did as much of possible despite being a toddler. "I have to say he was a bright child and I have to say he was smarter than most children that were in the Ponyville Schoolhouse. I didn't know he'd come back as an adult... or almost an adult, and an exceedingly powerful mage at that." Rarity couldn't help but smile from the memories that flooded her mind as the human slept away in his new room.

"Maybe we should leave him to rest, he needs it after today," Nightmare Rarity said as she left the room followed by Nightmare Moon and Rarity who couldn't help but admire their new dorm.

It was more like a house in its own dimensional space. There were four rooms with a full bathroom in each of them, but to call the bathtubs that would be inaccurate since it was more of an indoor hot spring. Each bedroom was a master bedroom with plenty of room for all of them to sleep in one room with plenty of room for many others. Their rooms were large almost personally tailored to them with items they may need for them or were painted in their favorite colors with paintings they liked. They just chalked it up to the innate magic in the dimensional rift spell cast in their room. Hunter's was relatively barren compared to their rooms since he had gray walls with a desk off to the side and an entertainment center on the adjacent wall with a flat-screen TV on it.

"What do we do until he wakes up?" Nightmare Rarity asked as she went to the kitchen to make dinner for them and even some for the young mage. She didn't know what he could eat because she didn't have any memories of him from Rarity despite the fact she took care of him for a summer. "Hey, Rarity, do you know what he eats?"

"He's omnivorous but he can't eat flowers, hay, or grass. Only fruits, vegetables, and well-prepared meats." Rarity explained as she took out some plates and silverware before putting them on the table as Nightmare Rarity paled as she opened the fridge and found both fruits, vegetables, and hay along with an assortment of meats. She took a few of the meats from the fridge along with some vegetables before cooking them. She had to ask Rarity to help her cook the meat which didn't take that long compared to the stoves in Equestria.

Not too long after they started, there was a knock at the door despite that the school day was currently over, but Nightmare Moon still answered; however, she was prepared to fight after what she heard when Hunter was trying to find room 2044. Their dorm door was rather standard compared to the decorations within the dimensional dorm that fit their extravagant taste in decorating. When she opened the door, the principal was there waiting with a smile that seemed to catch Nightmare Moon off guard. "O-oh, Ms. Crest! Please come in ma'am!" Nightmare Moon moved out the way of the door for Sweetie Swirl to walk in.

"Thank you, but I'm here to discuss something with Hunter?" Moon Crest walked to the couch and took a seat as Nightmare Moon and Rarity took a seat near her while Nightmare Rarity went back to the kitchen to prepare dinner for the other mares and the unconscious human.

"Sorry, He's currently asleep. His mana was extremely drained and he seemed to lack energy." The mare sat with her back straight and with an air of authority. This caused both the students to sit straight to hold the same professionalism as the thestral mare. Nightmare Moon stood up almost immediately after she sat down, she wanted to check on the human just so she could understand who Hunter really is. "I'm going to check on him, I'll be back." Nightmare Moon left the room and went to Hunter's... It was almost barren.

"Thank you, Ms. Moon. I hope he's doing alright." Moon nodded and entered his room where he was now awake, just sitting in his bed without much for him to do. He didn't mind it, he could always sleep again.

He sat there in his bed, unmoving as he stared at the moon through his window. Nightmare Moon was a little concerned for his well-being since he could have been like this for a good while. This was something that she has never seen before in anyone his age; most of his peers would probably be too impatient to sit still for so long, but they underestimate the power of someone with no life.

"I'm happy to see you're awake." Nightmare Moon said, but he didn't acknowledge her as he continued to stare at the moon, the event that happened in the hall weighed heavily in his mind. "Are you okay?" Again, there was no answer. He was in his own little world. Overthinking about what happened earlier that day.

"Is something wrong?" Nightmare Rarity asked as she came up beside Nightmare Moon before seeing the human still looking off into space. Nightmare Rarity walked up to the teen and slapped him on the back of the head.

"Damn it! Why?!" Hunter yelled before glaring at the mare who slapped him. She only glared back at him as she pulled him out of the bed by his collar.

"You're making everyone worried. First, we hear that you were hurt. Next, you come back unconscious. Finally, you refuse to answer us after we ask you something. Did you forget you manners or were you hit so hard that you literally lost some sense?" Nightmare Rarity asked in a calm tone. She remembered a few thing when she was once apart of the white mare. She knew that yelling at him wouldn't get through to him no matter how loud she'd be.

"I'm just thinking. No need to be worried about me. Everything's fine." Hunter stood up on his own two feet while regaining his composure. He didn't mind what Nightmare Rarity did. Infact, he was a little happy that someone actually cared enough to talk to him. He may have lied about everything being fine, but he could still be appreciative.

Nightmare Moon walked up to the other dark mare. "Was that really necessary? You could have just tapped him on the shoulder or something." Nightmare Rarity shrugged before all three walked out as Rarity was serving the principal.

"Glad to see you made a swift recovery." Rarity put a plate of salad in front of the mares and a burger for the human. It was something easy for Rarity to make and it was the only meat dish she knew how to make. "Thank you, Rarity. I appreciate this." Oddly enough, both Moon Crest and Hunter said that at the same time.

"Weird." The three mares thought as the four began to eat. It wasn't an overly large meal, but it should be enough to fill them.

"May I ask why you're paying a visit?" Hunter asked as Moon Crest as took a few bites of her meal. Hunter just took a bite out of the burger without any regards for how it may look.

"I just wanted to tell you about something I recently learned about Necromancy. Specifically, the next level." The teen was now interested but this as he smirked. He wanted to know as much as possible before he even attempted to go into the next level. He leaned forward with clear interest as the other three just stayed out of it. It didn't involve them so it wasn't important. Hunter immediately pulled out his grimoire and summoned a pin. He like to keep some handy. "The next level is called Dark Magic. This is the purist form of Necromancy and is usually ment for physical enhancement; such as strength, speed, and perception. You'll gain a random ability predetermined by the grimoire. This is where the Light and Dark Magic begin to crossover in terms of learning. When you reach this level, you're only way of preceding is by creating a few spells, but, from what I learned, you can begin this at any point." He looked up at her after she said that.

"What do you mean?" He was more inquisitive than most students that joined the school. Crest would be lying if she said she wasn't a little happy.

"It means that if you start now, you can completely bypass the next level. Necromancer's natural Arcane Magic is Dark Magic. The same goes for Light magic and Sorcery, but while Sorcery is more Harmonic and orderly; Dark Magic is Chaotic."

"Like Discord's chaos magic?"

"Exactly." Moon Crest leaned back a bit, she had been standing or had a perfect posture all day and it hurt her back. In her mind, it didn't help that her chest was a little bigger than most, making her have to adjust her posture to accommodate it. "This means that if you so desired, you can completely bypass the Novice rank rather easily; however, this would require you to under stand the fundamentals of your magic... Which is Arcane."

"God damn it." Hunter said to himself as he yawned. "Oh, I have an idea for my weapon, but it won't be found in the armory."

"Hm?" All four of the mares looked at him as he said that, considering how indecisive he was at the beginning, it was intriguing to hear what he came up with.

"You have a memory spell, correct?" Hunter asked Moon Crest. She thought about it for a second before nodding. "Could you refine it to show an image of what I thought of?" Moon Crest, despite her normally having a professional demeanor, blew a raspberry in response.

"Already done. You're not the first to ask this." Hunter cursed underneath his breathing. He hoped what he asked was somewhat unique, but was limited to memories. "So, if I'm assuming correctly, you want me to see what you have in mind and bring it here through summoning?"

"Yeah, that's it." The four mares chuckled at Hunter as he pouted in annoyance.

"Hehe, don't be so salty, you'll turn a lake into an ocean if you do."

"Fuck, why?!" Hunter slammed his head into the nearest thing in defeat while the other laugh at his misfortune. The human couldn't believe someone pulled the same thing his dad said in another world.

"Alright, come here you bug baby." Moon Crest and Hunter walked towards one another before they stood a few inches apart; Moon Crest towered over the human. "Now, come with me." She physically picked him up and began to walk further into the summoned students' new home.

"Excuse me Mis.Crest, where are you taking him?" Rarity asked as Hunter hung limp in her grasp, too weak to even bother fighting back. The Mare just smiled as she turned to the Unicorn without a single fault in her expression.

"To his room of course... And call me Moon for short." Moon didn't even sound like it was something wrong, but the three other students stiffened in response at the implications.

"Why is that important, Moon?" Nightmare Rarity asked, putting a bit of emphasis oh the nickname the principal gave them. Rarity was a blushing mess while Nightmare... She hardly moved a bit, only stiffening when she heard that Moon was taking Hunter to his room.

"The Memory Spell Ritual must be done to accurately see the image in his mind, if not, then it'll be too vague for me to work with." Moon was about to continue walking before her clothes were grabbed by Nightmare Rarity who seemed to have calmed down a bit.

"Then why not out here? Plenty of room and we can observe how to do it for future situations similar to this." Moon shook her head before holding up three fingers. Hunter wasn't even caring that he was pretty much at the mercy of these mares... Or that they forgot that he was still in Moon Crest's arms.

"Three reasons," Moon Crest began, "Reason One: the spell is top secret with only a need to know bases. Hunter is only taking part, but he'd be required to wear a blindfold or go under a temporary blinding curse. Reason Two: if more than one creature is in the room, the chances of me linking thoughts with someone else is heightened immensely and then we'd have to wait for my mana to return before attempting it again. Reason Three: I said so now fuck off." Hunter blew a raspberry of his own before covering his mouth to muffle his laughter a little bit.

"I wasn't expecting that." Hunter thought as he was carried into his room. Luckily, no one caught him about to laugh while he was being carried.

Moon Crest closed, locked, and placed a strong magic barrier over the door. Hunter was now in a good mood after that funny exchange of words. He knew his sense of humor was warped so almost anything unexpected, like a fast quip or random sarcasm, made him laugh.

Hunter placed all his belongings, that were in his pockets, on the desk. Wallet, phone, earbuds and a few papers he forgot about. He paused before snapping his fingers, his grimoire fell into his hands before he placed it on the desk. He could hear Principal Moon doing something, but his back was too her so he couldn't see what it was.

He was taking his time organizing everything so it would be perfect and wouldn't set off his OCD. When he finished, he felt a wave of magic wash over him as another barrier was set up around his room once more. He was a little annoyed by the precautions taken, but didn't have time to complain.

In an instant, he was levitated to his principal who was patiently waiting for him to finish, but, at least in his mind, got tired of waiting. All his thoughts died when his head was between two soft mounds.

"I didn't mean Reason Four: we are required to be intimate so create a link between us... And before you ask, yes... We did try to find another way." Hunter immediately understood his position now... He was the principal's temporary pet until she extracted what he was thinking. Unfortunately, this would take more from him than she realized... He'd be lying if he said he was a little bit anxious about what would happen.

Unfortunately, no amount of preparation would save him from what they'd both experience during the linking ritual.

Hidden Gem

by Blacklight Brony

Chapter 1

Chapter 2