Sirraf, Redmage of Equestria

by sirraf

First published 4th of May, 2013

Redmage in equestria story... also human in equestria lol. Proofreading by JBL (latest chapters may not be proofread yet)

When Sirraf Anderhal a brilliant student within the mage academy of Renthoria grows tired of his instructors bull headed opinions on magic cans and cants. He decides to think outside the box. Now he is confronted with much more than he expected. Can Sirraf coexist with these peaceful denizens or will his existence threaten theirs?

Road to runeation

Sirraf Anderhal sat in his dorm room within the Mage University going over his latest project. He had been up for the last 48 hours trying to get ready for his presentation, a final assignment given to him by his instructors before he could officially graduate as a licensed mage.

"I don’t know why they even bother making me come up with something when they insist on beating their supposed 'rules of magic' into my skull," sighed Sirraf, "I mean telling me to do a project related to magical theory after telling me that the rules of magic are set in stone? Freaking hypocrites...still... it’s not like I wasn't working on this for a month before the assignment anyway, all they did was give me a deadline to shoot for."

Sirraf's project was based on the limited magical capabilities of the red mage community. While red mages are well respected for their versatility in magic and combat, it is also well known that the potency of their spells was nowhere near the level of power compared to those that specialized.

"Man... I've been pouring my magic into this thing for two weeks now. I just hope that the book I found on magical rune stone creation was reliable," he muttered under his breath, "the last thing I need is for this to screw up and blast off my right arm or something."

The young mage hoped that by pouring his magic into an object designed to hold it he can then use it later to advance his own spells to the level of the black, white, and time mages, allowing him to cast spells well beyond his normal limitations.
"Versatility is great and all but nothing quite compares to a specialized mage's power. Hell,I might even be able to cast Flare or Ultima after this." he chuckled to himself as he finished the last minute touches on the homemade magic enhancer.

"Now the only thing that remains is coming up with the right spell to use to show that my project works...let’s see now. It can’t be a healing spell because that would require someone to be injured or dead for the effects to be evident, and it can’t be an offensive spell because then I would get into trouble for the damage it would cause to the academy."
Suddenly there was a knock outside of Sirraf's door. "Hey! R.M.232, you have 10 minutes to present your project before you will be considered absent and fail the test!" a voice shouted from beyond the barrier that is his door.

"SHIT! I thought I had more time!" The mage cursed as he ran about gathering his rune stone, notes, and of course his hat. Bitches dig the hat. Sirraf bolted out of his room and dove out of the hallways third story window. One quick Protect spell later (and a Cure spell to get rid of the damage that wasn't absorbed) and Sirraf was making his way to the practice room where his presentation was scheduled to take place.

Reaching the door, he quickly yanked it open and rushed inside. He was met by the faces of his three instructors; Alex the Red, Lady Triana of the White Cloth, and Malick of the Black Robes, one instructor for each primary magic school.
"HA!" bellowed Alex as he held his hand towards Malick. "Three seconds left, I told you he would make it on time. Pay up Malick!" He was a large man, it wasn’t that he was fat, but Alex stood a good foot taller than anyone else in the room. He wore a red shirt and black leather leggings, while his bearskin coat only served to enhance the already impressive build of the instructor. His face was chiseled and strong. His eyes... er eye was a vibrant blue while the other was stuck permanently closed due to an injury he suffered on one of his adventures in his younger years. What was most noticeable though was the large grin on his face coupled with a mischievous look within that one eye.

The black mage reached a hand into his robes and pulled out ten gold coins as he grumbled to himself at his loss. He let the money drop from his pasty white hand into Alex's palm, scowling under his enchanted hat that most black mages wore to keep people from getting a clear view of his face. All they could really make out where the two yellow orbs that the spell produced to give an illusion of eyes on the otherwise blank black face.

"Would you two please at least try to act professional about this? I'm sure that this young man doesn't appreciate his hard work being turned into some kind of game," scolded the sweet, yet commanding voice of the aged healer.

She slowly stood up to address Sirraf. Her age was evident in her movements as she reached for the staff that was once the standard weapon of choice of the white mage, now merely a walking stick. As she moved forward one could almost hear her very bones creak from the passage of time. If one were to look at the poor robed woman they would assume that she could do little for herself, but as all mages know looks can be deceiving. There was a time in which Triana was considered the most powerful member of the white cloth in both terms of healing and staff combat and though age had rusted her joints and slowed her reflexes, her magic was still just as powerful as ever.

"Now then, I do believe that we have kept you waiting long enough, R.M.232. If you are ready my associates and I would like you to begin."

Sirraf quickly began setting up his experiment. After the rune stone was placed into the center of the room and a practice dummy was placed across from it, he handed each of his instructors a copy of his notes.

"Okay, as we all know there are many types of mages," he began as the instructors look on expectantly. "Each one with their own strengths and weaknesses. Black mages with the power of destruction, white with healing and protection, time mages with their mastery of the time/space magic, blue mages capable of learning attacks used on them by the various monsters they fight against, and finally the red mages who embody the balance between the primary spell schools. Now as we all know each school has a flaw." Sirraf stated wagging his finger back and forth. "For most this flaw lies in their restriction from the other schools of magic. For example, the fact that black mages can only restore their health through spells like drain, white mages with restrictions on offensive spells, so on and so forth."

"Then there are the red mages like myself. Their weakness is altogether different. Instead of a restriction on spell schools, they have a restriction on spell potential!" He said with a smirk under his face mask. "Even though the red mage is indeed versatile they will never be able to use their magic to its fullest extent. Now then, what would happen to the magic school system if we found a way to get around this flaw? What if there was a way to allow a red mage to heal as well as a white mage, to cast offensive magic with the full impact of the black mage or to even use the time mages most useful of spells, Stop?" he paused for a second letting his words sink in."This is what my experiment is about. I have crafted a rune stone that should allow a red mage or even a merely inexperienced mage from any other school to temporarily access the higher levels of the magical spells."

"Now hold on here," Malick said darkly. "In order for you to cast such spells from a rune stone wouldn't you need to have had its maker cast the higher level spell into it in the first place? If that's the case then you would be using another casters magic and would then be in violation of the premises of this entire assignment! I would like to move that we call for immediate dismissal of the project and expulsion of Sirraf!"

"Hey!" yelled Alex. "Don't take your losing our bet out on him! We have all spent time teaching young Sirraf here about magic and I'm sure we all are aware that though he loses track of time, he is nothing if not thorough with his research!"

"Yes Malick, I have to agree with Alex," the venerable Triana stated. "Sirraf doesn't seem like one to overlook such a detail. Especially when using anothers magic to pass a test is the most frowned upon form of cheating in our academy. I'm sure that Sirraf was going somewhere with this."

"Humph!" was Malick’s only retort as he sat back down.

"Now then young one, please continue." Triana said with an expectant smile.

"Yes thank you. Now first of all, this is my rune stone that I crafted after conducting some research in the archives. If you will look in the index you will also get a list of research sources. In there you should see the books, Rudimentary Rune Stones, and magic items theory and practice. Using these I devised a way to not only craft my rune stone, but also alter the way that it takes in magical energy. Instead of grasping at and trapping a spell that is tuned to the maker of the rune like a cage around a wild beast, I was able to make more of a magical energy sponge. Instead of just holding the spell, it absorbs pure unaltered magic for later use that can just be 'squeezed out' at a later date."

The room became quiet for a while after his explanation. "Well...” began Alex for the first time seeming serious during this entire procedure. “If this is true then why would it allow you to cast higher level spells? If anything you should only be able to cast more often."

"Aah, see that's the thing!" exclaimed Sirraf excitedly. "That was merely stage one of my project! I was also able to obtain a gem that would be perfect as a focal point that should allow more control over the excess magic from the rune, which was crafted into the rune itself. With this,I should be able to cast the spells that red mages lack the natural instincts for due to their duel class natures."

"Well then, if all this is true you may have come up with something truly revolutionary, young one," praised the kindly old healer. "Though in order to give you a passing grade we will still need to see a demonstration. Now then, you claim that with this you would be able to cast spells that would normally be beyond your reach. According to your latest school transcripts the most advanced spells you can cast from the three basic schools are as follows; Haste for time magic, the second tier elemental spells such as Fira for black, and the elemental nullification spells for the white. These all being considered Level Four spells we will need you to cast something at least two levels higher in order to confirm the effectiveness of your research. It can’t be one level higher because you might have just recently gained access to them."

"Yes ma'am," Sirraf quickly bowed once more. “The spell I plan on attempting with my lovely assistant here," he said happily pointing to the practice dummy "Will be the level six time spell warp!"He quickly walked to the middle of the room and placed his hands on the rune stone. As things became hushed in the room, Sirraf began to recall all the information he researched that the Warp spell took in order to be cast. The air started to crackle with energy as he redirected and focused the magic of the rune into the focal point.Then, with a burst of sound a void opened up around the target dummy pulling it deep within the spells grasp, taking it to who knows where.

Sirraf turned his face to his teachers, joy apparent on both his and their faces. Suddenly that joy turned to horror. The warp rip that had been produced hadn't closed. The rune was still pulling more and more of the room’s contents into itself. Sirraf desperately grasped the grooves etched into the ground as the force of the void struggled to take him into it, all the while the instructors where doing their best to try and seal the rift, but to no avail.

'Why? Why wasn't it closing? A simple dispel from the master healer should have put an end to the threat in an instant?' Sudden realization hit Sirraf, interrupting his frantic thoughts. Dispel attacks the magical energy of a spell, not its shape, and that thing had several weeks’ worth of raw magical energy powering it! Snapping his neck to the side, Sirraf saw that the rune stone had become wedged in the grooves of the practice room’s floor. If he could get rid of that they might just stand a chance!

He removed one hand from the grooves and started reaching for the rune stone. He knew that since it was crafted to absorb magic that any spell he cast would be useless and he couldn't cast dispel even at his full potential. Not without the rune stone at least. Thinking fast he reached over and grabbed the stone, and pulled with all his might freeing it from the ground. Unfortunately this action also shook his hand free from the ground as well. Suddenly he was in a horizontal free fall with the product of his efforts. With one last look at the horrified faces of his teachers he and the power source were lost to the deepest reaches of the universe.

Author's Notes:

this is my first story so please keep that in mind.

I'm alive?!

Blackness. Blackness, pain, and cold surrounded Sirraf as he began to awaken from his slumber. Every joint and muscle in his body ached and he was bleeding from several spots across his body.

"Ouch... what happened?" he spoke aloud. Suddenly it all started to rush back to him, the experiment, the test, the warp, and then nothing...

"Wait... the warp spell I cast was suppose to drop an enemy into a random point in the universe... with so much dead space that thing should have killed me. So... why am I not dead?"

Painfully he placed his hands on the wet cold surface he was face down on. After pushing himself high enough to see clearly he began to open his eyes only to be greeted by what looked like about four inches of snow. "Huh... guess that explains the cold wetness around me... and is that?... yep that's my blood," he sighed as he realized he would already be working to deplete his mana reserves.

"Well no point waiting around for this kind of thing I guess. Lets see what the damage is," he slowly pushed himself into a sitting position and removed the outer layers of his clothes and his trademark red mage hat. "Hmm... would probably be easier with a mirror or reflective surface of some kind..."

He looked around him to see that the landscape was pretty clear with obvious signs of civilization, but no houses close enough to risk hurting himself further just to get a mirror. " I guess I'll just have to improvise. Heh wait a minute. I'm not at the school anymore. I don't have to follow their stupid rules for spell casting," A small smirk pulling on the sides of his lips as he decides to do one of his favorite activities that was frowned upon in the academy.

While he was a talented mage, Sirraf loved using incantations for his spells. This was frowned upon however because mages don't really need them to use their magic and as his instructors told him, all an incantation does in battle is let your opponent know just what you intend to do.

"Let's see now... if i cast an ice spell I can probably make a decent mirror, though I'll need something to form a basic shape from... ahh I know! I'll just use the snow from my face plant as a mold for the spell!" he chuckled to himself at the thought of such a thing.

Raising his hands he began to draw upon his magic reserves to weave his will upon the world around him. "Scatter your chilly sharp blades...Blizzard!" Cold energy started to form inside the indentation within the snowbank, forming into a reflective almost polished looking frozen surface.

"Ah there we go, this should make things much easier for me," looking down at his reflection he saw that he had several lacerations across his chest, arms, and face. There was obvious bruising to his torso and his nose was twisted off to the side indicating that it was broken.

"You know... considering what I just went through, this isn't all that bad!... hmm that bruising on my ribs may be trouble," he reached up to his chest and applied some pressure."hssss... ok that was kinda painful, but I don't think I broke any of my ribs...that nose is gonna need to be put back in place though,"

He pulled off his brown leather glove and placed it between his teeth as he prepared for even more pain. Gripping the sides of his nose he pulled it from left to right in an effort to realign the damaged cartilage. With a loud crack, several tears, and a sharp muffled cry of pain it was more or less back in place.

"There that should be close enough for my white magic to mend it without any kind of unexpected messed up complications," He cracked his knuckles and prepared for a completely different kind of magic this time. Calling upon the holy energies within all that was good he poured that power into his hands and began to seal and repair each damaged area. "OK these injuries are a bit above average so this should do it. Life's refreshing breeze, heal from the sky... CURA!" a burst of light flowed through the dark cold night and bathed his body in its healing glow. Slowly it faded and he was able to clearly see himself in the surface of the ice again.

"Ah much better. Now all I need to do is get out of the cold dark night. With all this snow around it probably wouldn't be wise to stay out here..."

He looked around himself to properly view the landscape. It was clear for the most part. peaceful, colorful, and void of any obvious dangers. In the distance he saw there was a small village of some kind with colorful buildings. Some ways beyond that he saw what might have been a farm near a forest or wooded area and the small shape near the trees gave him the impression that there might be someone living just outside of the forest.

Standing up he started placing his gear back onto his body. He had finally placed his mouth mask and hat back onto his face and head when he noticed some things missing. "Hmm the rune stone isn't with me. I could have sworn I grabbed it before being pulled through...Hey! My sword is missing too!" his sword, the blade his father crafted for him and gave to him after being accepted into the academy, was vacant from his belt. The strap of leather that helped hold the scabbard in placed had been violently torn apart from the apparent impact he made during his arrival into this land.

"Crap!... as much as I would like to find them, I don't have time to go trudging through this freezing snow looking for them. The sword was nice but shouldn't cause to much trouble. It's not even magic so most people would leave it alone. I can come back for it later, and the rune stone should be unusable to anyone but me since I attuned it to myself when I crafted it. Not to mention that little event should have drained it of all its magic after I passed through."

Turning back towards the town he decided that he could come back here later when time permitted. "Hmm that town is a little ways off... I don't want to keep casting spells in case I need the magic but if I freeze out here it kinda defeats the purpose... oh well I guess there's no choice," pulling upon his energies once more he began to change the flow of time around his own body. "This should get me there faster... Layer upon layer make your mark now... Haste!" After the green glow receded he began to run much faster than any human should be able to, leaving an afterimage and streak behind him as he rushed towards the little town.

Author's Notes:

i plan on making incantations for spells as i go along. i will use some from different source materials and as well as my own ideas and perhaps a few old sayings. in this chapter most of my spells are more or less from final fantasy tactics.

The locals

Panting and worn out Sirraf had finally reached the outskirts of the small village. It was a quaint little place covered in freshly fallen snow. With the exception of a few places most of the buildings and homes were actually pretty small. As he approached he notice something that looked like it may have been a sign of some kind. Foreign unknown markings covered it that resembled writing though he couldn't quite identify the language.

"Hmm... this looks like no alphabet I am familiar with, and I've at least dabbled in every written language I know of... well at the very least this proves that I am in fact not on my world anymore, where am I anyway? It looks like a moogle village or something!" he stood staring at the panel of wood for a few moments still searching for anything familiar about the strange characters. "Well lets just hope this spell works on this language, it's not really a combat spell so I never really got the chance to practice it but I guess I could give it a shot. Now lets see here how did it go?...understanding is universal, toss out the barriers of language... COMPREHEND LANGUAGE!" with a small flash of cool blue light the letters on the sign seemed to shift and bend, though only to the mages eyes, until it was altered into a familiar form. The new letters themselves simply spelt 'Welcome to Ponyville'..."Huh...that is definitely not what I expected."

Moving silently in the night he made his way into the town looking for clues and possibly shelter, as he walked he kept looking at signs for the establishments. Making use of his current translation spell while it was still active he noticed several works of business including a quill store, a fashion boutique and something called sugar cube corner. "Hmm... well this place seems peaceful enough. Perhaps being trapped in a completely different world wont be as bad as I thought it would."

Finally he noticed a very large structure within the city. It was an impressive building that seemed to be carved into a still living tree. The sign outside gave the impression that it was a library of some kind. "Wow a tree house. maybe there are elves in this world as well. I guess there is only one way to find out!" he shuffled through the snow towards the oh so literal definition of tree house with new hope in his eyes. As he move closer he noticed that there was a soft light glowing though the windows. He finally reached the structure and pressed his ear against the wood in order to hear clearer.

"All right girls, its time for a new slumber party game!" a female voice said as it reached the mages ears.

"OH, a game! what game! Is it twister, or truth or dare, or a cupcake eating contest, or pin the tail on mfffmfhfmfhfmghfm!?" another voice loudly exclaimed and was cut off by something else.

"Easy there sugar cube. We need to give Twilight here a chance to tell us before we start losing our heads" came a heavily accented voice.

"Bring it on! I can take on any game, anywhere, anytime, against anypony!" came a brash almost overwhelmingly arrogant voice.

"Any...pony? Hmm I guess its not that far fetched for there to be sentient ponies in charge here, I mean maybe its the home world of Ixion or something. Wait... do gods have home worlds?" Sirraf mumbled to himself as he listened into the conversation happening just beyond the window. "Hmm maybe I should get to a higher window. I don't want to be caught by some late night stroller listening in on someones private conversation."

Turning away from the window he reached up and grasped one of the lower hanging branches and pulled himself into a better vantage point. "There, now I am hidden from the main roads. Hopefully they didn't notice me making my way up here. I don't know how good these tiny equines hearing is but I hope its not to far above my own."

Pressing his ear to the surface of his new window buddy he began listening once more. At the sound of laughter Sirraf developed a confused look on his face.

"Oh come on! This is embarrassing!" the first male voice that Sirraf had heard come from the house cried out."I don't wanna do this!

"Now now my little spikey wikey, you look absolutely adorable," a high class voice stated. "Besides you were the one that decided to join our little slumber party."

"That's only because I couldn't get to sleep over you girls talking!" the young male stated. "I would rather be dreaming right now then getting dolled up by you girls."

Then there was a voice so quiet that Sirraf was almost unsure whether or not anything was actually said.

"Fluttershy is right spike. Ya were the one that chose dare instead of truth. We can't have ya breakin the rules now can we?" the strongly accented voice stated.

Having the general idea of what was going on Sirraf decided that enough was enough. "It is to damn cold out here to be wasting any more time. I have to make contact with the locals at some point and these beings seem to be the only ones up and about!" backing up he readied for the trip back to the ground. Grasping the branch he gave two quick swings of his body and threw himself forward onto the snow covered surface below him with a thud.

"Did you girls hear that?" one of the voices rang out from the library. "What do you think it is?"

Sirraf, wasting no time for him to be mistaken as an intruder, hurried to the door and gives it four clear knocks before moving back. Now standing away from the door and unable to clearly hear the inhabitants he could only hear a collection of muffled voices beyond the door. After a long pause the door started to open as he brought himself down to what he would guess is about their height level by crouching down and placing his hands onto his knees.

"It is very late and the library is currently clo....." when the door finally opened Sirraf was met with the sight of a small purple and green lizard that was wearing eyeliner, lipstick, a blue dress, and a little red bow on his head. From the voice Sirraf could tell that this was the male inhabitant of the house.

"Hello there young man, can I speak to the operator of this establishment?" Sirraf said in an authoritative but kind voice.

"Uh...um...I... could you hang on a minute?" the small reptile asked nervously.

"Of course," the red clad being said with a glint in his eyes and a mask covered smirk.

"TWILIGHT! YOU MIGHT WANT TO SEE THIS!" the voice yelled out after slamming the door in Sirraf's face.

As the door began to open again he heard another voice."Spike you shouldn't slam the door in someponies face, its very rude! Now then how can I help you......." her voice trailed off as her eyes finally landed on the late night visitor.

It was a large creature, though not quite bulky. It was crouched down low but the things superior height was evident. As she tried to see it through the darkness an obviously male voice spoke. "Oh right! The night, here let me get that! Life's refreshing breeze, blow in energy... Cure!" A strong light began to emanate from one of his front limbs. Its pure white glow revealed all the hidden details as he held the spell within his rounded claw like digits. He was a figure dressed almost entirely in light and dark reds, parts of it were also a bright white in color. As he raised his head so that she could get a good view of his face she noticed that his eyes were a steely grey and his mane was a shade of purest white. His clothes were obviously of high quality and his hat seemed to add to that statement. It was a large wide rimmed fedora. Placed carefully in it was a large white feather that seemed to stay attached to the hat despite what wind would blow. What few parts of his body that were visible were a light almost pasty color with absolutely no coat to speak of. His face however was confusing. His eyes were small but shone with intelligence and kindness, though he also wore a red face mask as though he was hiding something. His face was kinda flat without any muzzle to speak of. There was however a slight ridge under the cloth that may have been a nose of some kind.

Twilight Sparkle stood there stunned for several long moments as the mage watched her take in his features with amusement. Finally he spoke again. "You know, its hard to hold a healing spell for this long. Seeing as its not really made to be used as a light source. Do you think maybe I can come inside and we can perhaps do this thing in a much warmer environment?"

Finally snapping out of her trance like state, Twilight thought for a moment before saying. "I'm not sure. I've never seen anything like you around before, not even in my books, but I also learned not to judge a pony by their cover not too long ago. Then again you don't seem like a pony either, you could be dangerous."

"Well I can understand that seeing as I don't think I'm actually from this world. I was taking a finals test in my home towns mage academy and I kinda made a miscalculation. Long story short I ended up here. If you want I will subject myself to a search and questioning should that make you feel any better about it." He said with a shiver hoping to finally get in out of this cold.

"Oh my! I didn't realize how cold you must be without anything over those bald patches of skin! Um... yeah I guess we can allow you to come in under those circumstances!" she said finally realizing his plight.

"Ah thank you very much my small equine friend," he said as she turned around and allowed him inside. As he stepped in he closed the door and settled back down into a crouch so as not to scare any of the denizens.

"Girls we have a bit of a situation over here!" She said as she turned on the lighting of the room.

Sirraf blinked as his eyes tried to focus, the first thing he noticed was that the room was filled with brightly colored pillows and even more brightly colored equine creatures. Two of them had horns, one a pure white with a deep purple mane wearing what seemed to be eyeshadow, the other being the lavender colored equine that allowed him refuge away from the storm. Her mane was a shade of purple with a pink stripe running through it. The next two had wings on them. One was what he could only describe as a butter yellow with a solid pink mane and tail. She seemed to be hiding behind said mane, while the other one had a cyan coat with a mane and tail combo that seemed to be made of solidified rainbow. The last two had neither horns nor tails. One was bright pink with a poofy dark pink mane and seemed to be grinning almost manically, where as the other was orange with small freckles and a blonde mane in a pony tail. Sirraf couldn't help but snicker to himself at that. This last one was wearing a rather fitting stetson hat.

"Ah hello there ladies I'd like to say thank yo....." he was quickly cut off by the orange one jumping up and with a frown on her face rushing in his direction. Quickly taking up a low gravity battle stance he called upon his magic to keep him safe. He refused to use any offensive magic against these creatures unless it was absolutely necessary. "Oh crap ... uh ...Precious light, be our armor to protect us...Protect!" right before the orange pony could turn and buck him with all her might, a three dimensional diamond shaped barrier formed around his body, then faded away. As her hooves struck she noticed that a lot of her force seemed to be absorbed, but not stopped, by the field. it sent him sliding back a short distance but he was for the most part fine.

"Ow that actually kinda hurt there. I hate to imagine what that would have felt like full force." the mage said rubbing the forearm that absorbed the impact. "Look I'm not looking for trouble. I just want to..."

At this moment the cyan one shot up and yelled "Oh yeah? Well you just found it buster!" She quickly flew across the room and began to perform fly by attacks to his arms and torso. The protect spell reduced these but they were adding up fast.

"Ah a speed user I see! Well lets cool your jets for a moment so we can talk. Time, rest and give your kindness to the worthy...Slow!" at this his hands emitted a bright red energy as what looked like a large clock of the same color began to wrap around the cyan speed demon. The hands on its face started to run in reverse until it disappeared.

"Ah! What the buck!?" She cried suddenly. Her speaking and movements much slower than before. At this chance he plucked her out of the air and set her back onto the ground.

"Now can we please talk without getting into another confrontation?" he pleaded with the small equine creatures. He was starting to wonder if these things were less peaceful then the village made him believe.

"Forget about me sugar cube?" a thickly accented voice said behind him. Thinking quickly he lept forward and jumped halfway up the stairs across the room.

"Dang it! I really don't have the energy or patience for this! Layer upon layer make your mark now... Haste!" After this exclamation a green glow emitted from his hands and ran into the air around him. It took a familiar clock like shape, only this time the hands on its face seemed to speed up out of control. After it vanished his breathing became quicker and every move he made was nearly faster than the eye could follow. His limbs even seemed to leave a kind of after image or trail behind them.

The orange mare rushed forward with the cyan one flying slowly to assist her friend. However, with his enhanced speed, the red being seemed to avoid every attempt to connect with him, not to mention the after image from the spell seemed to confuse them as to where exactly he was.

Twilight was watching all this with fascination. This creature was obviously talented with magic and more than familiar with combat, but he made absolutely to attempts to harm her friends. Finally she realized that the situation had escalated far beyond what it should have and stepped in. Using her magic she wrapped a field around both her friends and pulled them away from the brawl.

"Hey! Twilight we almost had him!" yelled the rainbow maned mare.

"Yeah sugar cube what the hay are yah doin? the orange one angrily asked.

"Think girls! This guy has taken control of this fight from the very beginning, after a few spells he has managed to make it impossible for you to even touch him, not to mention he has made absolutely no attempts to harm you himself. If he really wanted to fight, you two would probably be seriously hurt by now!" Twilight lectured the girls.

"Ah guess you're right sugar cube, we kinda jumped the gun on that one didn't we?" the stetson wearing pony said finally listening to logic.

"Are you kidding me?!" yelled the flyer irrationally. "I had him on the ropes and for all we know he plans on eating us!"

At this moment she didn't notice that the creature had moved up behind her. " I don't think shes gonna listen to logic. So I guess I'll just have to calm her down for a moment. Lose conscious, wash away into the silent sea... Sleep!" a deep cloud like energy wrapped around his hands as he placed them gently on top of her head. Slowly she loses focus and her eyes droop until finally she is out cold.

Sirraf finally sits back down, hoping that his little magic display didn't freak out the room full of multicolored equines. He had been going for far to long after sleeping far to little as it was, and that rapid chain of spells had left him feeling drained. "Now then if its not to much trouble why don't we get back to what I was saying before. Thank you for letting me in out of the cold snowy night. I was just about ready to freeze out there." he stated with a chuckle.

The entire room stood silent as he looked into the faces of his hosts. The awkward silence was quickly evolving from a few seconds to several minutes. "Um ladies? Are you in there?" he asked quickly snapping his right hand fingers to get their attention.

Finally the blank unbelieving stares shattered as they all started to huddle and interact with each other through whispers and quick glances. "Sigh... I hope I didn't leave a bad first impression. I wouldn't want there to be some kind of alien lynching on my first day here." deeply lost in his thoughts, he leaned his head back against the wall as he waited for them to finish. Mentally going over the events of the last twenty four hours, he didn't realize that one of the ponies had moved closer to his side. Hearing a quiet squeak he turned his head down to see that the shy winged pony that had avoided eye contact with him for the entire event was now staring up at him with big curious eyes.

"Um, excuse me?" the sweet little pony asked in a meek, quiet voice as she looked upon this new creature.

It was almost to much for him to bear. Sure the others were cute in their own ways, but this one was on a whole other level. She was so cute that it made a moogle look horrendous in comparison. "Yes little one? How may I help you?" he said almost as quietly as she did.

"Um... I would... um... just ... like to .. say..... thanks for not hurting my friends... if that's ok with you," she stammered out hiding behind her mane again.

"No problem. I understand that they were mostly just attacking out of fear. After all I'm something that I assume your kind has never seen before and it is normal to fear that which we do not understand," he said smiling as he rubbed his sore forearm.

"Oh my! Are you hurt?" the small yellow pony quickly rushed over, any nervousness about the creature before her vanishing as she started trying to remove the large glove that covered his injury.

"This? Nah its ok, I've had a lot worse during magic classes back at the academy." he said with a reassuring smile.

"Regardless, if you are hurt you are going to need some treatment." the voice of Twilight called over to him. He picked his head up as he noticed that the others, excluding the sleeping blue one, had gathered over to where he was leaned up against the wall.

"Heheh, while it is nice of you to show such concern, I assure you that..." he trailed off for a second before getting an idea. "Hey ... wait a minute. Would you girls like to see something cool?" he asked with a grin under his mask.

All of them looked at each other for a moment then seemed to agree."Well all right. Just don't try anything funny ok?"

"No worries on that one I don't really have enough energy left in me after today's events to do any real damage even if I wanted to," he said with a chuckle. Standing up to full height he centered his gravity and began to once again call up his white magic. "This may sound familiar to you Twilight, though I don't intend to use it as a light source this time" he said as he removed his coat, chest armor, and gloves, showing the mares the bruising that had begun to form from the repeated attacks from earlier.

"Oh my darling, are you sure you don't need any treatment?" the upscale white pony asked as she saw the damage to the rather impressive build of the creatures toned muscles.

"Well now I didn't quite say that. You see, I'm about to treat these wounds myself," he said with a glint in his eye."Life's refreshing breeze, blow in energy...Cure!" a strong glow of holy energy grew in the palm of his outstretched hand, on display for all to see, then he directed the energy unto himself and they watched in amazement as the light seemed to take away all the bruises and minor cuts from the previous battle.

After opening his eyes he looked at the amazed stares on all the faces of the mares around him. "Well then, I guess we should start with introductions now." He said as he placed his gear back onto his newly healed body.

Author's Notes:

man this third chapter ran longer than i expected it to. oh well that's just more for the readers to hopefully enjoy i suppose. once again please give your thoughts and comments about the story. this one was made at a request of someone who saw my profile pic and i have to say that i am enjoying writing it so far. its my first story so please don't be to harsh.

Meeting the mares

Sirraf now sat in the Ponyville library surrounded by six mares and one small lizard like creature. All of which had curious faces on as he placed his back against the wall and removed his hat to reveal his pure white hair. Twilight had gathered together some note taking materials and after being restrained the cyan mare had finally been made to act without open hostility towards the strange red clad being, though she was still obviously suspicious of him.

"Now then, I do believe I promised you some answers in exchange for refuge from the bitter cold." Sirraf calmly said as he got comfortable.

"Oh yes of course! I have so many questions about you and that magic you used!" Twilight was obviously excited at the prospect of researching the new life form.

"All right then. how about this, lets start with introductions shall we? My name is Sirraf Anderhal." He said with pride. "what are your names if you please?"

"Sirraf Anderhal? That's a rather unusual name," the cultured white one responded. "What does it mean?"

"Actually it doesn't really mean anything. Its just a name that I was given by my parents. There isn't any real reference to it." he said confused. "Now then if you would kindly reciprocate."

"Oh of course darling! My name is Rarity." she said raising a hoof and placing it upon her chest. "and these are my friends, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Spike, and of course you have already learned of Twilight Sparkle." She went down the row of mares pointing to each one as she said the name.

"Wow, very descriptive names. I kind of understand why you asked that question now. Are all you..." he trailed off trying to hint that he wanted an actual classification of their species.

"Ponies darling" she responded with a smile.

"Ah, ponies then, are all ponies given such names?"

"Most of them yes." Twilight said looking up from her notes before jotting done more observations.

"Okay then I guess its your turn to ask a question!" he said as he placed his hands behind his head.

"All right then mac!" the one called Rainbow Dash exclaimed, getting right in his face. Obviously full of aggression again. "What exactly are you!?"

"Well in the simplest of terms you could call me a human. A race of beings that evolved over several thousands of years from a form of primitive ape into what you see before you now." he stated nonchalantly as he heard the scribbles of Twilights quill continue to record the information.

"Oh yeah, and what are you doing here!?" She said almost pressing her snout against his nose ridge.

"Other than trying not to freeze, I got here when a experiment on theoretical magical enhancement went wrong and sent me plummeting through space and possibly time until I landed with a rather harsh impact against your worlds snow covered surface." he was starting to get a little irritated, and though his voice was still calm, his eyes showed it." Also I would appreciate it if you pulled your face back from mine a little. After all we don't know each other well enough for this kind of intimacy."

At this Dash pulled away with a blush as her friends giggled behind her. He grinned under his mask with a chuckle at the sudden personality change in the rainbow maned pony. Suddenly his view was filled with a pink mass and bright blue eyes. "Oh! I have a question!" she happily yelled the words in rapid fire. "Do you like parties and cupcakes and streamers and games and making new friends and gummy anmphphph" Sirraf placed his gloved hand over her mouth to allow him to get a word in edgewise with the pink ball of pure energy.

"Hey there, easy now, first of all that was easily more than one question. Heck it was easily more than four. Now then, lets try this again. Slowly if you don't mind, and bear in mind if you cant slow down I can do it for you," he said as his hand glowed red slightly.

"Okie, dokie, lokie!" Pinkie said hopping up and down after the glove was removed from her face. "Do you like parties?"

"yes"

"cupcakes?"

"yeah"

"streamers?"

"I certainly have nothing against them."

"games?"

"of course, many games help train ones mental focus or physical abilities."

"Friends?"

"Who doesn't?"

"Gummy?"

"Uh...Gummy?"

"Gummy."

"Honestly not sure what you're talking about. Whats a gummy?" he said as he reached the final question.

"Gummy is Pinkies pet baby alligator." Applejack said finally ending the pink onslaught.

Grateful for the voice of another being Sirraf responded to this new information. "I don't know. I've never met your pet so I cant say for sure, though as long as he doesn't try to hurt me I'm pretty sure I'll like him just fine. Now then how about we move on to another topic shall we?" he said as he motioned his hand to the other mares in the room.

Nodding Pinkie went back to her seat. After the others raised their hooves (Pinkie raised hers even though she knew she wouldn't be picked) Sirraf finally pointed to the orange mare named Applejack. "Ok then you can ask next."

"Sure thang partner, where are ya from anyhow?" she asked as she looked him dead in the eye. As he stared back he developed the feeling that lying to this mare would be nearly impossible. He didn't intend to lie anyway but the feeling was still there.

"I come from a world called Ivalice, though I can't really tell you where in the universe that is. My land is populated with many amazing creatures and incredible technologies. It's not always safe though. There are some things out there that would make your skin crawl if you were to run into one," he said with a shiver as he recalled his first encounter with the mage academies Molboro.

Deciding that was as good a place to start as any to give them the idea of where he came from he started to share what he knew of the creature. "One such monster is known as the dreaded Molboro." He knew that he had their attention. even the normally suspicious Rainbow Dash had leaned in with interest in her eyes. " It is a large, green creature that resembled some kind of tentacled plant. It has a large gaping maw with many rows of teeth so big that it could easily swallow a man my size whole. From the end of several protrusions from its head it can fire a kind of corrosive acid at its prey that could melt your skin in a second, but that's not the worst part." at this the girls gasped, what could possibly be worse than that? "The worst part is its breath" At this the girls started to giggle and laugh... until they realized that Sirraf wasn't. In fact the look on his face was dead serious.

"Wait... what could be so bad about its breath?" Twilight asked in confusion. "Does it breath fire or something like a dragon?"

"Something like that, but at the same time its so much worse," At this the girls became much quieter, his words gave the girls shivers. "Its breath is more dangerous not because of how deadly it is, but rather what it does to a person that its used on. What happens is the Molboro emits a toxic gas cloud that can take away your ability to speak, Blinds you, Slows your movements, Poisons you, makes you unable to differentiate friend from foe, and finally throws you into a unstoppable rage. This usually makes it impossible to pick out the Molboro from your friends and has actually led to groups of travelers killing their closest allies." As he let this sink in he saw the horrified looks on their faces. Apparently there was nothing so evil and gruesome in this world. "From your looks of horror I take it that they don't exist in this world then?"

"N... no, nothing like that exists in Equestria" Fluttershy muttered in a quiet voice.

"Ah well then lets forget about it then. To be completely honest they are some of the most dangerous creatures from my world. I don't blame you girls for being terrified, the bastards scare me too. Luckily there are defenses against such things." he said attempting to cheer them up.

"Like what?" Applejack asked tilting her head to the side in confusion.

"Well, like this!" He said as he reached into his shirt and produced a red ribbon of some kind.

"That's it? A ribbon?" Dash said in disbelief. "How is a piece of cloth suppose to help against something like that?"

"Oh this is no ordinary ribbon. This ribbon has been enchanted to protect the wearer from any status effect from my world. A Molboros breath would do nothing but make my outfit stink," he said as they got a good look at it. A magic field suddenly wrapped around the ribbon and pulled it into the air. As it floated closer to Rarity and Twilight, the two took a good long look at it.

"My word darling, this is some truly exquisite craftsmanship!" Rarity said nearly breathless. "Who did you get this from?"

"Actually its an old family heirloom so I don't know who made it. As for where I got it, the ribbon was passed down to me by my mother when I was accepted to the mage academy in the city of Renthoria at the age of ten. Along with a sword that my father made me... though I seem to have lost track of that since coming here," he said as he pointed to the snapped strap that was hanging from his belt.

"Wait... sword? So you're some kind of soldier or something?" Dash said with curiosity.

"No Rainbow Dash. He already said he was a student at a mages academy." Twilight corrected her friend.

"Oh right a mage... by the way whats a mage?" she asked obliviously.

"Well Dash, a mage is someone who studies and practices one or more schools of magic in my world. For example there is a mage for each basic school as well as some side specializations. I, as an example, am referred to as a red mage," Sirraf explained.

"So... its like a unicorn here?" Twilight brought up the comparison.

"I suppose it is more or less. We study the art of magic to learn how to defend our homelands from monsters and villains. With the many different types of magic out there we need large academies to teach promising new students." he said with his eyes closed while nodding his head.

"So... what exactly is a red mage darling?" Rarity asked after returning his ribbon.

"Well essentially a red mage is a side specialization of the mages. Essentially there are three basic forms of magic, though there are many ways to use them." Sirraf said as he readied his demonstration. "First there is white magic, Which is primarily used to cure wounds and defend from damage. You saw me use this when I healed myself and put up that barrier to protect me from Applejacks kick." as he said this he funneled white magic to his right hand. "Then there is time magic which deals in the manipulation of time/space energy. A good example of this was my haste spell that allowed me to avoid all of your attacks, as well as my slow spell that took most of Dash's speed." at this he made a green glow form in his left hand, before dispelling both. "Finally there is what we call black magic," as he says this he channels his magic into his hand to form a small fire ball. " this school involves just about any offensive or status inducing spell. I actually used some to put Dash here to sleep when she wouldn't calm down." he said before dispelling that final spell.

"Wait! You used black magic on me?! I knew you were evil!" Rainbow Dash yelled, getting ready to attack him again.

"Calm down Dash, in my world black magic is not inherently evil. It is just a way to classify most offensive types of magic. Besides you already saw me use white magic as well. If black magic is evil then white must be good right?" he reasoned with the pegasus.

"I suppose so" she said calming down slightly.

"And by that logic then at most I am neutral right?" he said as she finally dropped her hooves back to the floor.

"Well ok then, but wait you said that mages learn from different schools, so what exactly is a red mage?" she asked tilting her head.

"I was getting to that. There are many kinds of mages, most choose to specialize. White mages cast white magic, Black mages cast black magic, and time mages cast time magic," he said building the tension. "Red mages however, cast all three. They are the most versatile of all mages. Able to adapt to just about any situation, but there is a cost. Our bodies can only handle so much magic, and since our powers are divided between schools of magic we can never truly master any type. Thus the term inspired from the first red mage, Jack the red, was born. We are Jacks of all trades, masters of none." he finished as the others looked on in wonder.

"So you learn every type of magic but you can never ever master any of them?" Pinkie asked with a sad look on her face.

"Nope, in fact there are 9 basic legal levels of magic in each category. At best red mages can only reach the seventh spell level and even then we cant quite compare with the specialists. Though our jack of all trades title is more then just for magic." he said with a smile. "We are also the only mages that can efficiently wield any weapon as well as preform just about any task acceptably. We are the battle mages. Able to assist others while surviving on our own."

It was time for Twilight to ask a question again. "You said there were 9 legal spell level... what did you mean by that?"

Sirraf frowned for a moment, recalling the words of his teachers when they explained the horrors of the forbidden spells. "There is one more level. It is the theoretical tenth spell level. These spells are not to be used unless the fate of very important people or even the world hangs in the balance, and luckily I will never have access to these. Now I'm not sure what the white mage forbidden spell is. Frankly they didn't stress it in school because white magic is made to heal and protect. I'm not even sure if there is one, but the two most forbidden spells to my knowledge are known as Meteor for the time mages, and Ultima for the black mages. These spells are beyond devastating and should never be used except as a last resort." he said with every bit of seriousness he could muster.

"Well... what do they do?" this question came surprisingly enough from Fluttershy who had been quietly listening by Sirrafs side.

"Now I've never really seen them so mind you this is all based on theory, rumors, and of course lessons by my teachers who had not cast such things themselves." he paused as the others nodded. "Essentially Meteor, as the name suggests, controls time and space to pull a very large random chuck of space debris and hurl it at the target. There are rumors that say if the mage was strong enough the spell could threaten the very planet itself." the girls cringed at this new information.

"And Ultima?" Twilight asked with a look of worry upon her face.

"Well basically the mage focuses his will and somehow splits an atom with his magic. Now I'm not sure exactly how this happens but the result is a massive explosion that covers everything in view, or at least that's how I understand it." by this time Twilights jaw had literally hit the floor. "Remember they are forbidden spells for a reason."

"Oh right, back on topic. you said that there were several types of side specializations for mages. What are the others?" Twilight asked gripping her quill in her magic once more.

"Well that is always changing but I do know of a few others. There are the blue mages that somehow learn to use the abilities of monsters after its been used on them. These guys, for example, could use the Molboros bad breath if they survived an encounter with them. Then there are mimics which are able to imitate any and all actions they observe so long as they do it immediately after they see it. Frankly they kinda creep me out." he said with a chuckle. " Then there are those that are considered the chosen mages, blessed by the gods themselves. The Summoners. These are by far the scariest mages I know of. These chosen few are actually able to contact and call upon the gods themselves to help in their fights. It is not something that can simply be taught."

"Wow... that's so... AWESOME!" Sirraf was taken off guard by Rainbows sudden outburst. "That's amazing! What kinds of gods can they summon?"

"Well I wont go to deeply into it, but there are many gods in my world. Some are embodiments of the elemental forces, like the ice goddess Shiva, while others are much more devastating, like the King of dragons Bahamut."

At this statement the eyes of Spike who had been drifting off suddenly shot open. "Did he say the king of dragons?"

"Yep, I sure did little guy. Bahamut is the number one, strongest dragon in my home world. When summoned he uses his signature attack Megaflare to wipe the battlefield of hostile threats. Where most dragons simply breath out fire, Bahamut instead focuses the life energy from the surrounding air and forms it into a small concentrated ball within his mouth. Finally he releases it upon the target causing a rather large blast. Needless to say, very few beings can survive an attack from this mighty creature. Why do you ask Spike?

"That's because I'm a dragon!" he says proudly.

"Really? Well then you have quite a legacy to live up to don't you Spike. Now remember when you get older only use your powers to protect others, just like the mighty king of dragons himself, ok?" he said as he rubbed the top of Spikes head.

"Of course I will! I'll protect everypony!" Spike said striking a valiant pose.

"Well, I'm getting tired from all this.. time/space travel, running, fighting, and question answering. Would you girls mind if I turned in for the night? I would really like to get some sleep" he said with a yawn.

Before he even finished his yawn a pillow was kicked over to him, hitting him in the head and knocking his hat off. "Sure thang sugar cube. Ah think we all need a good night sleep after all that," Applejack said as she made her way over to her side of the room, now missing one pillow.

"Okay, but remember I need you to answer more questions tomorrow morning ok? So you need to be up bright and early." Twilight said as she put away her notes and made her way to her bed. As everyone got comfortable Sirraf shifted in his corner of the room until he was moderately comfortable himself.

After replacing his hat on his head he began to weave one last spell. "Well then I should get a full, solid nights rest then," he said with a rather large yawn. "Now then, Lose conscious, wash away into the silent sea... Sleep! As his spell washed over himself he began to lose himself in the dreamworld of his subconscious.

Author's Notes:

Remember I'm working under my own rules for magic in this story. Also i just had to add that reference to 8-bit theater in there.

In the dark of the night princess

Luna floated above an open plain. A lone figure covered in red clothes stood poised against the horizon. This creature was unfamiliar to the Princess of the Night. "So this is the being we felt enter the dream scape. Such a strangely dashing looking creature," she said as she watched him gaze into the star covered sky. "Odd... we don't recognize any of these constellations. We made the night sky ourselves, why would they be so different in this creatures mind?"

"You know, it's kind of rude to intrude upon anothers private thoughts and memories," he suddenly said without so much as turning around to look at her. "Might I ask just what you are doing in here?"

"WE ARE LUNA! THE PRINCESS OF THE NIGHT! IT IS OUR DUTY TO SAFEGUARD THE DREAMS OF OUR SUBJECTS!" Luna roared in her royal Canterlot voice.

Suddenly the beasts hands rose covered in a orange glow. "Talk is cheap, silence is golden so shut up and get rich... Silence!" a wave of energy shot forth from the being and wrapped around the mouth of the princess. After fading away she found herself unable to speak. "I apologize for that, but if you are going to scream at me for no good reason I will have to take away your ability to do so. You are a guest in my mind, and as such you will follow my rules. Now then, if you promise to speak at a normal level I will allow you to have your power of voice back. Do we have an accord?"

Luna was fuming. Never had she been faced by such insolence as what this thing was showing her now. Summoning her powers she fired several bolts of energy at the lone figure, certain that she would eliminate the beast here and now. Before the energy could connect she saw the creature slowly shake his head back and forth in disappointment, followed by an explosion that would have taken out a dragon from the force of the blast alone. The smoke cleared, only to reveal nothing.

"Now that wasn't very nice." a voice stated from a few feet behind her. Wide eyed she spun around and fired another bolt, only to see nothing yet again. "Nope not there." She spun around only to meet with empty space once more. "I'll give you a hint. Where would you find your symbol, oh princess of the night?" Realization struck her as she sharply looked up to see the creature floating above her with a strange mask on his face. It was black and white with the colors separated by a red line in the middle. The left white half was pulled into the shape of a smiling face, while the black right half was in the shape of a tragic frown. Pulling it off to reveal his humored eyes he waved his hand and chuckled. "There we go, now then shall we speak of this like sane civil beings?"

She was dumbfounded. This creature was treating her like some kind of joke. Her patience was at its limit as her mane began to flail wildly and her eyes glowed pure white. She opened her mouth in a silent scream as her magic burst forth in every direction. With wide eyed amazement Sirraf pulled away and weaved his hands as he began to speak once more. "Be careful of your power for it may destroy you... REFLECT!" at the last moment the energy connected with a green field of some kind and was redirected back at the princess of the night. The blast hit her full force and sent her spiraling down out of the sky onto the grass covered dream scape below.

Her vision blurred as she picked up her head to see the creature walking slowly towards her position. He looked upon her in disappointment once more, like a parent that caught their child with their hand in the cookie jar. "I don't think it would be good to leave someone beaten by their own magic in my mind. Who knows what that could result in. His hands rose, glowing white as he poured his power into a blessed spell. "You must have a lot of power to do this kind of damage to yourself. If I was awake I don't think i could help you right now. Curaga!" He skipped the incantation this time. This moment was far to serious to be joking around.

She closed her eyes as she prepared to be ejected from the creatures dream scape. Suddenly all of Luna's pain was gone. Waiting for a moment she opened her eyes and saw that the creature was now sitting beside her in the grass. " You know, I really didn't want to have to do that, but you kinda didn't leave me much of a choice in the matter." His hat and face mask was now off and next to him in the grass. "I think you might have a bit of an anger control problem princess." He said with a smile on his lips.

She stared at him in disbelief. This being had in mere moments challenged, defeated, and healed her as though it was an every day thing. As though he had faced great dangers on a regular basis. "So..." he began to speak again. "About that agreement, you know, the not screaming in my head one." Slowly she realized what he had meant and finally nodded in agreement.

"Great! Well then I guess the first part would be to give you your voice back!" rolling onto his back, he placed his hands on the ground over his shoulders and threw himself to his feet. "Purge the body, mind, and spirit, your taint shall be pushed away... Esuna!" White energy flowed across her body as she saw the restraints around her mouth flash, and then disappear. "There, that's better now isn't it? So as I was saying before, to what do I owe this visit into my mind?" he said as he picked up his hat and placed it on his head, though he left his mask on the ground as if to say that he had nothing he wanted to hide from the equestrian princess.

"We are Luna, and we were checking a disturbance in our dream scape. As the princess of the night it is our duty to make sure that nothing harms the dreams of our precious subjects," she said in a much more acceptable volume, though the caution was still in her voice.

"Well I can understand that, but to be honest you really chose the wrong time to attack me." he said with a sigh.

"How so strange creature?" the princess asked narrowing her eyes.

"Well if I wasn't having a lucid dream caused by my own sleep spell, I don't think I could have defended myself from you" he said with a chuckle. "To be honest I used a lot of spells I'm not suppose to have access to when we fought, but as I said before. This is my mind and therefor it's got my rules running it. It's actually one of the reasons I was at the top of my class in the mage academy. When everyone else was resting, I was usually practicing my magic and combat skills in my own dream scape." he was now full on laughing. "Up until the day that I ended up here, it still baffled my instructors to see how quickly I progressed through lessons. In fact its also why I always got a bit ticked when they went on and on about the rules and methods of magic being set in stone and never changing." he said as he suddenly became serious. "Its thinking like that which keeps us from ever improving, ever getting better.Its as if they were saying my fate was set in stone. I don't like the idea of something or someone else determining where I am going in life."

After about two minutes his frown suddenly lifted, and he smiled to the princess of the night. "Ah but where are my manners. You gave me your name but here you are unknowing of mine. I am Sirraf, though from the descriptive names of your subjects you can refer to me as Red mage, or R.M. if you so wish!" he said as he took off his hat and made a deep bow.

It had been a long time since anyone had treated Luna with such open feelings and trust. She giggled to herself at Sirrafs antics and returned the bow with a kind of pony curtsy. "As thou wishes Sir R.M." she paused for a moment, confused by his statements. "What, may we ask, is a red mage though?"

"Do you know of a pony named Twilght Sparkle?" he responded as he lifted himself back to an upright state.

"Of course! She is the student of our dear beloved sister!" Luna said with a smile.

"Well, we met last night before I went to sleep. If you want any details about me or my world, she would be the one to talk to. Frankly I don't want to keep explaining it over and over again," he said with a hearty laugh. "Wait, you mentioned a sister?"

"Yes, our sister is the princess of the sun and we rule Equestria together," she explained to him. "Though, being the princess of the night, we don't get to interact with our subjects much."

"Hmm. I see what you mean. I cant imagine too many of these ponies being nocturnal," he said with a sigh. "Must get lonely pretty fast huh?"

"Not as bad as it once was, eep!" Luna suddenly went quiet, realizing that she may have let to much about her slip.

"What are... you know what? It's none of my business, but remember, if you want to open up to someone or just talk. I'll be happy to listen." he said realizing that whatever she was hiding was either private or a touchy subject.

"We thank thou Sir R.M. We shall also inform our sister Celestia of thy presence and that you don't seem to be hostile to any of our kind. Though we must ask. Thou seemed very familiar of combat from our meeting earlier... thou even managed to disable me without any form of offensive action. What did thou do before coming here?" She said, once again attempting to sate her curiosity.

"Let's just say that there are many dangers in my world, and I was learning to defend myself and those I cared about from those threats." he responded with an air of mystery. "Once again I'm sure Twilight would be happy to share her notes with you on the subject." he finished with a warm smile. "Now then, I think we should part our ways. It was already rather late when I went to sleep last night and I promised Twilight I would be up bright and early to answer more questions and possibly help her in whatever she needs."

"Of course, and thank thou for taking thy situation and our invasion of privacy so well. Our meeting was... fun. We do hope we can do this again sometime." she said with hope in her voice.

"My mind is always open to my friends. Just announce yourself next time okay?" after this they both broke out into laughter.

"Well then, we suppose we should take our leave. Goodbye Sirraf the red mage," she began to fade from the dream scape.

"Goodbye princess." he said as he picked up his mask and returned it to his face. "and sleep well."

Morning rituals.

The sun began to creep over the horizon, making the snow sparkle as the beams danced across the landscapes white surface, announcing the beginning of the day to Ponyville. The first rays of dawn began to cascade in through the window and into the face of Twilight Sparkle. She opened her eyes and began to rise, giving a great big yawn as she stretched all the stiffness from her body. As she moved towards the stairs she heard something. It was a low grunting noise followed by what sounded like someone speaking. Suddenly she remembered the slumber party and their unexpected guest that dropped in. She moved closer to the main area of the library and was surprised by what she saw. It was definitely Sirraf, but he seemed to be missing most of his clothing, though he was still wearing some over his legs and his face mask was firmly in place. That however wasn't the strangest part, he was standing straight up on the palms of his hands, with the tips of his feet placed gently against the wall of the library. She further observed that he was slowly bending his arms until his head almost touched the ground then pushing himself back up to full height.

"Twenty four!... Twenty five!... Twenty six!" he said as he pushed his muscles harder and harder.

"What are you doing?" She asked as he counted off his current number.

He paused for a moment, his arms fully extended. "Oh! Good morning Twilight. I'm just doing my morning exercises. After all just because I'm in another world, doesn't mean that I can neglect my training or studies," he lowered himself to the ground once more as his face dripped with sweat. "Twenty seven!"

"But you use magic. Why would you need to push yourself so hard physically?" she asked causing him to pause again.

"Because...magic doesn't always work. I take pride in myself for being as versatile as possible and not every problem can be solved through magic, strategy, or diplomacy. At least that's how it goes in my world. Twenty eight!..." he grunted.

"Well I suppose that makes sense. From what you told us last night your world can be a dangerous place, what with all the monsters roaming the land." she said as she observed his regimen.

Twilight looked on in confusion as Sirraf paused once again and shook with laughter. "Oh man if only you knew. The monsters are not the worst of the threats out there in Ivalice." he said panting "Twenty Nine!"

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"While the monsters are the most common threat to safety in our world, they are by no means the worst." he slowly made his way down and back up one last time "THIRTY!" after this last count the threw himself up onto his feet. "Our worlds safety has been threatened on multiple occasions and about ninety percent of the times that it has happened the cause was usually some arrogant person that thought they were above everyone else around them. Luckily there has always been small groups of heroes that take it upon themselves to stop the activities of these villains."

"I see...you know... that sort of thing has happened here a few times too." she said slowly, hoping not to ruin Sirrafs view of Equestria being a peaceful planet.

"Heh, that's actually a little reassuring," he said as he grinned under his mask.

Twilight froze for a moment, her mouth hanging open in shock."Why would you say that?" she yelled, horrified that someone would consider the near destruction of a country as a good thing.

"Don't get me wrong. I love peace as much as the next guy, however if this world was too perfect there really wouldn't be much for me to do." he said waving his hands in front of him. "Think about it, I'm a creature that was raised in a mostly hostile world that was trained to protect the innocent from threats to their lives and liberties. If this world was absolutely perfect my existence would be an absolute waste. All my training and all my skills would amount to nothing. Lets face it, everyone wants to be appreciated for their talents."

At this Twilight looked back at the mark on her flank. As her thoughts shifted to the fond memories of her childhood and her studies under Princess Celestia, her facial expression softened. "Yeah", she said softly. "I think I know what you mean. As for your talents going to waste, don't worry. Ponyville alone gets into some kind of situation almost every week. I don't think you being bored will really be an issue." she said with a giggle.

When she turned her head back to her guest she noticed that he was now laying on the ground with his hands behind his head. He quickly shifted between a sitting and laying position, once again counting to himself as he continued his work out. "By the way... I met one of your princesses last night. It's kind of the reason I'm up so early today." he said between grunts.

Twilights head shot up as this news instantly got her attention. "You did?" she asked, her mind already forming half a dozen worst case scenarios.

"Yep, I think her name was Luna, or something moon related. She entered my dream scape in the hopes of learning about a disruption in the night that turned out to be me." he said as he finally stopped his workout and pulled himself into a sitting position. "Is she known for having a bit of an attitude or is that just with me?"

"What do you mean? What happened?" Twilight asked as her anxiety began to rise ever higher.

"Oh don't worry. We worked out our differences eventually. Lets just say that both of us made the wrong first impression," he said with a nervous look in his eyes.

Twilight breathed in a bit as she tried to push her insecurities to the back of her mind. "Okay then, we don't have to worry about any immediate problems, still I would like to know what happened."

"Well to make a long story short. I was having a lucid dream caused by casting a sleep spell on myself last night. As I was resting I created a familiar scene in my dream scape," he paused as he recalled the image. "Essentially it was a grass field in the middle of the night with a clear view of the stars in the country side. I was raised up on a Chocobo farm until I turned twelve years old and was accepted into the academy so I've always been calmed by that kind of scenery. Though she said that my stars differed from this worlds stars...oh well.. where was I? Oh yeah! Next thing I knew I felt a foreign presence in my mind that turned out to be Luna. I told her it was rude to intrude on one's mind, she responded by screaming in my head," he explained beginning to frown. "I didn't like that so I cast a silence spell on her and told her I would remove it if she calmed down...she didn't. She started to attack me, I used a spell out of my normal level range to subdue her, then healed her. We spoke for a while, working out our differences and apologized for using such extreme measures against each other. She then left after saying she would put in a good word to Princess Celestia for me." After finishing his explanation, he looked down to the lavender unicorn to see that she was staring at him in disbelief.

"You subdued Princess Luna?!" she yelled. "How is that even possible!?"

"Hey what's all the screamin about?" a voice called out as a very sleepy looking Rainbow Dash entered the room, followed by all the other ponies from last night. "Can't you see there are ponies trying to sleep?"

"Oh it's nothing. I just found out our friend here has a habit of getting into fights with royalty." Twilight said with a slight frown on her face.

"Really darling? I do hope it was that brute Prince Blueblood," Rarity said as she brought a mirror and brush out of nowhere and used them to fix her mane.

"Actually... it was Luna" Sirraf said, hoping that this wouldn't escalate like last night. "She kinda invaded my mind and I may have had to subdue her there."

"Whoa... y'all won a fight against Princess Luna?" Applejack said with a bewildered look on her face.

"Now hang on here. Technically she went into battle with a huge handicap. First," he raised one of his fingers."I knew it was a dream so I could control things there as I pleased. Second," he raised another. "I caught her off guard so I had the element of surprise. Third," he raised one last finger. "She had no way of knowing that when she directed all her magical power at me, the spell I cast would be one designed not to stop magic but to redirect it back at the original caster."

Suddenly parchments and quills flew past Sirraf's head forcing him to duck and raise his hands above his head in an attempt to defend himself as Twilight's smile grew to near insane levels. "You have a spell that reflects magic like a mirror? You have to show me!"

"Easy now Twilight. Yes, I know that spell, and It is in fact called Reflect. However I can't cast it outside of my dreams. Well... not yet anyway." he said slowly backing away from the unicorn that seemed to be channeling Pinkie Pies lack of respect for personal space.

"Wait, why not?" She said, a small pout forming on her face.

"The only reason I was able to use it on Luna was because it was in my mind and as such it was my rules. I know the spells inner workings, but I don't have the magical control yet to put it into practice." he explained. "That spell is normally only usable by someone with access to level seven white magic and my current limit is level four in each category. Besides, I don't know if telling you about it would really help since my magic and yours differ so much as it is."

"How so? Isn't all magic pretty much the same?" asked Pinkie, now joining Twilight in her invasion of his personal space. Though she somehow had managed to get his shirt from the floor onto him and pop out of the collar of it to stare him in the face without him even noticing it.

"AGH! Jeez Pinkie how did you even do that?... and how did my shirt get back on?" he yelled as he struggled to pry the giggling pink pony from his torso.

"Oh that's nothing! Watch this one!" she said cheerfully before disappearing in a pink dust cloud. A moment later he was tackled by a pink blur and somehow his entire get up was on his body once again. "Tada!"

For once Sirraf was actually at a loss for words. His gaze shifted from his now fully clothed body back to the pink mare grinning happily at him from her position on his chest. "I.... you...well....what?" he stuttered out as his brain tried in vain to catch up to what just happened. "You know what... I'm just gonna roll with it. There are so many things in this world that differ from mine that I might hurt myself trying to keep up with it all."

"That's the spirit!" Pinkie yells as she leapt through the air and landed in front of him. Reaching behind her back she summoned some kind of colorful cannon and slams it onto the floor with the barrel pointing directly at him. "FIRE!!!!!!"

"Wait, what?" was all he was able to say before getting plastered to the wall in a barrage of confetti, cake, and streamers.

"Oops..." Pinkie muttered as she looked down at the collapsed human. "I think I may have overdone it this time girls." she said as she hopped over and poked the hand that was now the only thing visible from under the party themed blob.
"You girls don't think he's dead do you?" Suddenly the hand shot forward and grasped the pink hoof. The mound started to slowly rise and fall off his body in large chunks as he stood back up. He slowly brought her up to eye level and narrowed his eyes at her. She nervously smiled at him as her eyes darted back and forth. The whole room froze in fear of what could happen next.

"Pinkie... did you just shoot a cannon full of party supplies directly into my face?" he asked, his tone low and menacing.

"Umm.... maybe?" she said getting progressively more nervous.

His body was twitching slightly as he was obviously trying to keep his anger in check. He began to mutter under his breath just loud enough that the ponies could make out the words. "Easy now Sirraf. She didn't mean any harm, she probably does this kind of thing to everyone... could you girls please excuse me for a moment? I need to get clean and purge my mind of angry thoughts so I don't hurt your little pink friend here. I'm not really one to hold a grudge, but this will still be helpful in getting my mind back in a peaceful state if the rest of the day is gonna be anything like that."

He placed the pony back on the ground and moved to an empty area in the room. He slowly focused power through his hands once more. "First to keep me safe from hurting myself with my own magic...Silent light, shield from evil...Shell!" a reddish sphere formed around his body and then faded from view. "Now the cake. Power of the sea, wash away all... Watera!" his body was completely surrounded by a sphere of water which crashed and churned against his body. The girls gasped as his face showed obvious signs of pain from the spell. Before the spell could finish completely he redirected it out one of the windows and into the yard. "Not done yet... Slicing winds, Swirl around... Aero!" a vortex of air formed around him and air dried his entire body and clothes. Somehow the winds were directed solely to the immediate area around his body. Not once did it disturb the books that laid around the library. "Well at least I'm clean now. One final spell before I can stop... Share life with all things in nature.... Regen!" This last one caught Fluttershys attention. She stared at him as the green magic wrapped around his body, the energies taking on the shapes of transparent vines and leaves as they wove around his very being. She looked on in wonder at the magic so closely tied to her greatest love. They all stared as his wounds slowly closed and began to shrink. It wasn't as fast as the cure spell he used the night before but it seemed to last much longer. In fact, even after all his wounds were gone, his body continued to emit a slight green glow.

Pinkie rubbed her hoof on the ground guiltily as she viewed the process the human had to go through in order to get himself back in order. Her mane had fallen straight along the sides of her face. Sirraf paused for a moment as he looked to the depressed pink mare. After a moment he sighed to himself before saying. "Hey Pinkie. I'm about to go through a process I use to focus and cleanse my mind of negative emotions. I learned it from a monk friend of mine. Maybe it can help you as well."

Her head shot up in surprise, her eyes shining and her hair regaining its fluffy shape. "Really!? You want me to be involved after what I did to you?"

He scratched the back of his head with one hand. "Well sure...like I said, I'm not really one to hold onto a grudge. Besides if this can focus your energies elsewhere maybe you won't shoot me again."

"Okie Dokie Lokie!" she yelled jumping into position next to him.

"Okay then. Just do as I do and listen to my words." he placed his feet into a battle stance and slowly brought his hands up in front of him. One was placed parallel to the floor while the other was pushed outwards as if to shove something in front of him. Pinkie stood up on her hind legs as best she could and imitated him. The others looked on in curiosity, while Twilight began writing down notes about this new activity.

He took a deep breath in as Pinkie followed his lead. "Breathing, spirit, discipline. Focus the mind. Cleanse the soul. Keep sight of your target. Concentrate, be prepared for the unexpected. Mind and body as one." he slowly moved his body into different stances that gradually became more complex but flowed like water. "Achieve tranquility through movement. Integrate spirit and flesh. Channel the powers. Cleanse the soul. Release that which is negative. Separate darkness and light." the magic around him started to swirl and gradually divided into two different colored energies of white and black. The others watched in amazement as not only was Pinkie following his movements, but she also seemed to be taking the lesson to heart. Not once did she interrupt him. She had a look of absolute focus on her face as she kept up with him. "Give birth to oneself." At this moment Rainbow Dash had to hold back her laughter, as Rarity shot her an angry look.

All their faces shot up at once as suddenly his voice seemed to divide into two, a light gentle one speaking separately from a deep intimidating other. "ONENESS THROUGH KNOWLEDGE/ define your emotions. ONENESS THROUGH EMOTIONS/create your divination." then the voices seemed to speak as one, still separate but using the same words. "Oneness with the heavens. From strength learn gentleness, through gentleness strength will prevail! All things in balance Two sides! Same Coin!" Finally he stopped his movements and the two energies merged back into one. He slowly opened his eyes. The look on his face was one of pure tranquility, all traces of stress seemed to have been purged from his mind. Pinkie also looked much calmer.

Slowly he let his breath back out and dropped his stance. He looked back to the others as they once again stared in silence. "You know I'm starting to think this whole amazing each other into silence thing is gonna become a regular occurrence with us." he said with a chuckle. "Oh and in case you were wondering that pretty much sums up what my magic is like. It is cast through a combination of spirit, knowledge, emotions, movement, and power of word. You may have noticed the incantations I kept saying while casting. While these aren't necessary, the actual name of the spell is. The incantations just add a bit more flare and a lot more control to the spells. Without them I save a lot of time, but I could also damage something that I hadn't intended to in the first place." he walked over to Twilight and removed his glove which he then held towards her. She did just as he expected and lifted it into the air with her aura. "Yours however seems to only use your horn, knowledge and will power. The structures of our magic are too fundamentally different for me to just show you and expect you to understand."

"I see..." Twilight said as she raised a hoof to her chin in thought. "With such a difference I would have to learn about how your magic works from the ground up. Simply seeing it will give me no insight into its inner workings.

"Now you're getting it. Anyway, does anyone need anything else from me? Because I need to go to where I originally crashed to try to find my sword." he said as he pointed a thumb to the door. "Chances are it's gonna be buried under a pile of snow so it might take awhile."

"Shouldn't you get something to eat first?" Twilight said as she started to make her way to the kitchen. "Oh wait, I don't even know what you eat!"

"As long as it isn't grass or flowers I should be fine." he said as got himself comfortable. "My body can't really digest the stuff."

"Sure thing." she said with a smile before spinning in place and directing her voice away from the group. "SPIKE!" she yelled across the house.

"What is it Twilight?" the small dragon said as he walked into the room rubbing his eyes.

"Would you be so kind as to make us some breakfast? Sirraf wants to go look for his sword and it might take a while." she said. "Odds are he is going to need his energy."

"Yeah, yeah, sure." he said as he made his way to the kitchen. The mares all gathered around the dining table as Sirraf leaned against the wall with his arms folded across his chest, waiting for the food to be prepared.

Redmage unmasked.

This was it. It all came down to this moment. Sirraf's eyes narrowed as he looked at the challenge before him. Everyone looked to him as he pushed himself forward. His right hand reached out to grasp its goal. He raised it up to his face, his victim already prepared for its fate. He raised his left hand to his mask and gripped the rim. The ponies' eyes all expanded in anticipation. He pulled down the dark red cloth and took a bite. Teeth carved and tore through as he satiated his hunger with vigor.

"Hmm pretty good pancakes Spike!" he said after swallowing his mouthful. He raised his head to see a mix of different reactions to him eating the dragon prepared breakfast. Twilight was writing down notes as usual. A slight blush had formed on Rarity's cheeks. Fluttershy was hiding behind her mane as she looked at him. Rainbow Dash seemed disappointed in what she saw. Pinkie just stared at him with a huge smile on her face and Applejack simply nodded as though a question had finally been answered.

"... what?" he said, placing his fork next to the half eaten meal in front of him.

"Oh it's nothing" Twilight said. "We just had a discussion before spike finished making breakfast about what your face looked like under that mask."

"Huh... so that's what all that whispering was about." he said, picking up the fork and resuming his meal. "So... whats the conclusion?"

"Well we all had our own theories on your face or the mask." She said as she looked up from her notes. "Rarity believed it was simply a fashion statement. Fluttershy thought maybe you had great big fangs under there. Applejack figured you were just hiding something... You don't really want to know what Pinkie thought... actually I couldn't even really keep up with what she was saying. Dash thought that maybe your face was horribly disfigured or scarred from past battles." at this he turned to face Rainbow Dash with a raised eyebrow.

"What? It's possible!" she yelled defensive.

"Well I guess it would be if I was a mere warrior or soldier." he said as he crossed his arms in front of his chest. "I however have access to white magic. The only way I would have a scar is if I had let the wound heal naturally over time. That doesn't mean that my white magic can cure everything however. I can't reform missing parts of a beings anatomy. For example if something were to remove my eye from its socket I would need to retrieve the eye and put it back in its place before using a cure spell in order to get it back. Side note: for some reason I don't really understand I can't remove already formed scars either."

"Even so, your healing magic is really something else." Twilight responded after making these new notes on a separate piece of parchment.

"Nah. I mean its pretty useful but I'm no white mage." he casually dismissed the complement as he rose a glass of apple juice to his lips. "Those guys are really something. You know there is actually a spell you can put on someone that will bring them back to life at full strength immediately after dying?"

Everyone froze once again. "What? What did I do now?"

"Your magic can ... bring the dead back to life?" This time Fluttershy was the one to ask a question. Her expression was hopeful but unnerved at the same time, as though this was either unheard of or a kind of taboo.

"Yeah... though we can only bring the recently deceased back to life, and we can't heal those that died from natural causes like old age." he explained to the small yellow pegasus. "Also I can't really cast them yet. The weakest version of these spells, known as raise, belongs to the fifth spell level."

"Oh..." She said as she let her gaze drop to the floor.

"Whats wrong with her?" he asked the others, knowing full well that he was unlikely to get a response from Fluttershy.

"Well... Fluttershy lives at the edge of Everfree forest and takes care of all the local animals." Twilight began to explain "That situation being what it is, she has seen more than a few animals die without being able to help them. She was probably hoping for a way to save those that had passed away."

"Ah I see. Well I'm not that far away from reaching that level of skill Fluttershy." he said as he placed a hand on her mane and gently ran his fingers through it. "Tell you what. If something gets hurt you just bring it to me. I promise I'll do my best to save them." He said with a gentle smile. "Now then where were we?"

"Hm?... oh right!" Twilight pulled her notes back in front of her face once again. "As I was saying. we all had our own theories about the mask and face thing. Seeing as nothing seems all that odd about your face other than the fact that it's much flatter and sharper in shape than a ponies... what is the mask for anyway?"

"Well Rarity is partially right. I do like the way the mask looks, but that's not all there is to it." He explained. "It also helps shield my lungs from the cold winter air, keeps my foes from reading my lips when spell casting, and it is traditional to only remove the mask in the presence of those that you either trust or respect. Though that tradition is no longer enforced it is still encouraged." he said as he finished his plate of food, placed the fork onto the plate and folded his hands in front of him, making absolutely no moves to pick up the mask that was placed on the table beside him.

The room became quite as the meaning of these actions began to sink into the mares minds. Slowly each and every one of them developed a smile of their own. "You mean?" Pinkie asked, her eyes shining with hope.

"Yes. I feel I can trust each and every one of you, and I now consider all of you my friends." he said with a smile. "You have all welcomed me into your town with open arms... er hooves. You have given me a chance to explain my situation without automatically assuming the worst of me. Believe me, that kind of acceptance isn't exactly common where I am from. Some of you might be a little more impulsive, headstrong, or even stubborn but I can tell that each and every one of you have hearts of gold."

Once again a pink blur flew across the room in an attempt to tackle the human guest. To everyone's surprise he simply leaned to the side and used his left arm to scoop Pinkie right out of the air. "Nice try there Pinkie, but if you want to keep catching me off guard you need to keep mixing it up." he said with a laugh. "Adaptation is my game remember?"

"You mean like this?" Pinkie said as she raised her head to reveal that she had snatched his gil bag from his belt somehow and was now carrying it between her teeth. "I got your bits! I got your bits!" She sang as she hopped out of his grip and proceeded to dance around the room, the small metal coins clinking against each other with each bounce of the pink ball of energy.

"Now wait just a... wait did you just say bits? Is that what the currency around here is called?" he asked in confusion. "If that's the case then I don't think that bag is gonna do you any good Pinkie. All it contains is the currency from my world known as gil." he said with a smirk that slowly turned into a frown. "Oh crap! That means I'm broke! Three years of savings down the drain..."

At this, Pinkie stopped hopping and looked into the bag. "Huh... I guess they aren't bits. They look kinda similar though. Hey, why do some of them have holes in them?" she asked as she rummaged through the bag.

Sirraf sighed as he plucked the bag from the hoof of the pink mare and pulled out one of the odd coins. "There was a time when gil was put onto necklaces around a person's neck in order to keep thieves from taking them. The coins with holes are from that time period." he gently tossed the bag up and down in his hand as he thought about it. "Hmm guess I'm gonna have to start at square one all over again. Wonder what a guy like me could do for money around here... or who would hire me for that matter? It's doubtful that I could make a living as a monster hunter in this world." He stood still for a while. The only movement he made came from his shifting of a gil coin along his knuckles making it seem to dance on its own. "Well what kind of red mage would I be if I couldn't bounce back from this."

He tied the bag back onto his belt and turned to the others. "Well first things first. I'm gonna have to meet the town and gauge their reaction to my presence. The sooner the better as they say."

Twilight lept into his path in an attempt to stop him. "Wait! Are you sure that's such a good idea? What if they react poorly to you? First impressions are very important! Oh! I have an idea! I can turn you into a pony and introduce you that way first!"

Sirraf gave a deadpan stare as she presented this suggestion to him. "No." was all he said before moving to the door once more.

"No? What do you mean no? Why not?" She asked as she wrapped her forelegs around his torso in an attempt to slow him down.

"Look I appreciate what you're trying to do, but don't you think it might be better to lay all my cards on the table right away. If I hide anything they are likely to react poorly upon finding out. Not to mention this simple fact. I seriously don't think I would be able to cast any spells as a pony." He said as he pulled her hooves from his waist.

"But I really can do it! I could turn you into a pony and nopony would suspect anything." she insisted. Trying to get him to change his mind

"And I have a spell that could turn you into a frog, but that doesn't mean it's a good idea to use it." he said before realizing that this may have been going too far. "Look, I just don't think it would be wise to lie to the community that may very well become my new home, besides, do you really think that with our anatomical differences I would really be able to move around as a pony without raising any kind of suspicion."

"I... well... I suppose not." she said finally giving in to the mages sound logic.

He looked at her forlorn face and sighed. "Tell you what. After we get through this and if I'm still alive, I'll let you turn me into a pony for a while just to see what it's like. Okay?"

Her face began to brighten a bit at this promise. "Well, I suppose so. Still we should be careful, by now most of Ponyville should be awake and about town."

"Good. We can take care of all this in one shot then." He said as he placed his mask back onto his face and moved to open the door. He gripped the handle and turned, flooding the room with bright fresh sunshine.

Now that's a welcoming!

The door to the Ponyville library was thrown open wide to let in the morning sun. A large brown leather glove gripped the door frame before a hunched over form moved through the opening. Straightening to his full height Sirraf took a moment to stretch his arms to the sky, crack his neck and take in the view of the snow covered town.

He turned his head back to the doorway and called out to this new friends. "Come on out girls. The sun is shining, the air is clean and I have a whole new world to greet..." his voice trailed off at the end of his sentence as he suddenly turned his head sharply to the side. His eyes narrowed at some unseen distress.

"Um.... Sirraf? Are you okay?" Fluttershy asked as she picked up on the look in his eye. She recognized the look. It was the same look that prey gets while being stalked by a dangerous force.

"Back inside..." was all he said.

Twilight raised an eyebrow in confusion at this new behavior. "Whats going on?" was all she was able to get out before she felt him quickly move her and the other girls back into the door way before placing himself across the entrance. She was about to question what just transpired when she heard five thumps sound out from his back, each followed by a grunt from the living barricade.

Tears formed at the corners of his eyes as pain shot across his face. A moist red substance began to flow from the bottom of his face mask before he slumped to his knees, his body still struggling to keep the 6 mares separated from whatever was occurring outside.

"Come out monster! You shall not be permitted to terrorize this town anymore!" a male voice called from outside.

Sirraf turned his body to face the voice. As he turned his back was put into view of Twilight and the others. Five pole like objects extended from it. Upon inspection Twilight realized that these were the grips belonging to the spears issued to the royal guard of Canterlot. His hand slowly reached up to grab the weapons and pulled each from his body one by one, his scream of pain sounding out through the small peaceful town. With each pull the girls cringed in sympathy. By the end many of them were looking a little green and Fluttershy had fainted.

"Sirraf are you alright?" Twilight yelled out as he reached up and removed his damaged cape. his clothing and chain shirt armor underneath did little to stop the sharp spearheads. Each of the wounds seemed to be steaming slightly as they slowly began to seal themselves shut.

"AH DAMN IT!... yeah... I should be okay... that regen spell I cast earlier hasn't worn off just yet. I knew I should have shelled out the cash for a mithril shirt. All right! What's this all about?!" He yelled out as he stepped forward to confront his attacker.

"We are the equestrian royal guard and we have come to arrest you for your crimes!" a set of nine golden clad ponies led by a blue maned, white coated unicorn stepped forward into view.

"I don't know about you ponies, but being impaled by five separate spears at the same time tends to sour my mood. You better tell me what crimes I committed before I start throwing lightning around." He growled in a dark tone that unnerved the ponies that still stood out of sight behind him. His hands started to crackle with electrical energy.

"Not that a monster like you deserves an explanation, but you are charged with one count of attacking a member of the royal family. Also I wouldn't threaten a group of soldiers that just impaled you on five spears without a single one missing its mark." The voice was familiar to Twilight... to familiar.

"Shining?" she called past Sirraf as he continued to breath heavily. Though there were no visible wounds his magic was still in the process of repairing his damaged internal organs.

"Twilight? So you have also stooped to kidnapping my sister for your villainous plans? I will show you no mercy!" he yelled as his horn began to glow, charging for an attack upon the damaged creature before him.

"Shining no! You have it all wrong!" Twilight yelled as she formed a field around Sirraf's body, just barely managing to protect him from the magical blast. "We are not his hostages! He is our friend!"

"Friend? Twilight this creature attacked and defeated Princess Luna last night!" He yelled back, irritated with the fact that his own sister was now standing between him and his duty.

A sound moved through the scene. It started low and began to rise as time went by. Sirraf's face was turned downwards, covered from view by his hat. Shining soon figured out that the sound was coming from the creature as it's body shook in time with the utterances. At first it sounded almost like crying, until it picked it's head up to reveal that it was in fact laughing.

"What are you laughing at beast!" the captain of the guard roared, thinking that the being before him was mocking him.

"I see whats happened. I understand it all to clearly now!" Sirraf said as he began to stand back to his full height once more, the regen spell had obviously finished it's work on his once injured body. "All the ways I pictured this day going. All the scenarios I ran through my mind, and this is what happens. Not once did I think that this could occur!" he said before roaring in laughter once more.

Twilight turned away from her brother in concern. The way Sirraf was acting made her consider that he might be losing his mind. "What? What has happened?"

"Don't you see Twilight? I fended off Luna last night in self defense after her intrusion into my dream scape. She promised to tell Celestia about me and that I meant no harm, but apparently the farthest she was able to get in the presence of the royal guard and your brother here was the fact that I defeated her before they ran off to right this supposed wrong doing." he continued to laugh, doubling over at the situation before him. "Her promise to put in a good word for me actually back fired when they took the first thing she said out of context! My attempts to befriend the local populous of this world only ended up with an escalation of the panic I was trying to prevent!" He continued to roar as he repeatedly slammed his fist into the ground.

A few moments passed as everyone stared at the scene in disbelief. The creature that was supposedly a dangerous monster continued to laugh as though he were just a foal that was told one of the funniest jokes he had ever heard in his life. "Oh gods!" he yelled as he pointed a finger at the sky. "I knew you guys had a twisted sense of humor, but I have to say. You guys really managed to pull one on me!"

Suddenly a flash of bright light erupted from the middle of the group of ponies that had gathered around the scene before the library. "Wait!" a voice called out "Stop your attack! The creature is not hostile!" Princess Luna and Princess Celestia had appeared only to find that the scene before them was nothing like what they had expected. They stared in shock as their soldiers were frozen in disbelief looking at the visiting being who was kneeled, doubled over and surrounded by and covered with his own blood. What shocked them the most however was that he wasn't doubled over in pain, he was in fact laughing so hard that he was having trouble breathing.

"OH GODS! It never ends!" he yelled through laughs. "Now that the situation has been explained, the princess I was hoping would keep this kind of thing from happening shows up just a moment to late to stop it!" he once again collapsed to the soil as his laughter gripped him once more.

The ponies, now realizing that the creature had told the truth and wasn't a threat to the town all began to lightly chuckle along with him. Princess Celestia giggled with a hoof raised in front of her face as Luna stood there with a strong blush of embarrassment painted across her face.

"Wait!" Twilight yelled out silencing all the other ponies. Even Sirraf had managed to get his laughter mostly under control. "How can you all laugh at this!? Especially you Sirraf? You were just stabbed by five spears over a misunderstanding!?"

Slowly he recovered his bearings. He looked down at Twilight with light in his eyes. "Yeah but I'm still okay right?"

"Well yeah but..." She began before he cut her off.

"Remember. I used to live in a world where a vicious, uncaring monster could appear at any second of any day. I'm used to being hurt." he said as he waved a single hand in front of his face. "When you go day by day wondering if you are going to live or die you pretty much have to learn to take what pleasures you can out of life."

"Yes but you were still..." once again he cut her off.

"Besides I can't really hold what just happened against your brother. He was just doing what he thought was right. Even if he was going about it the wrong way." he said before turning his head to the one Twilight had called Shining. "Oh and for future reference. It wasn't that I couldn't dodge those spears, It's that I chose not to." he said as he narrowed his eyes slightly.

"What do you mean?" he asked as he stared at the hard steely eyes that were locked with his.

"Well now why don't we think about that for a moment?" he said as he tapped the side of his head with a finger. "Who was it that you saw when I stepped away from the doorway." he asked in a low tone. "Who did you see emerge from the location that would have been carpeted in spears had I made the effort to get out of the way and save my own hide."

"T..Twilight..." Shining Armor stammered in realization.

"I didn't move because I knew that if any of us could live through that it was me. Seeing as I could recover from such damage through my magic, I made the choice that would give me the best odds for protecting myself and my new friends. I... WILL... NOT... HAVE... A... FRIENDS... BLOOD... ON... MY... HANDS! Are we clear?" his voice became almost venomous as he said these last words. A dangerous fire burning in his now pure white eyes as his emotions began to cause a spike in his magical powers. Shining Armor slowly nodded his head as he stared into the creatures face. He could feel a incredibly sharp increase of concentrated magical energy pour from the red beings body. It felt so foreign... and scary.

He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply. When he opened them again they had returned to the original steely grey that the mares had all become familiar with. "Now then, I do suppose that introductions are in order. I am Sirraf the Red mage from Ivalice. You can think of me as a kind of jack of all trades, being they magical, or mundane." He said cheerfully as he removed his hat and made a deep bow. "Let's see here now." he said as he turned to the rather large pony that stood beside Luna. She stood as tall as Sirraf without including her rather impressive horn. She had a solid white coat with the symbol of the sun upon her flank. Her mane seemed to be blowing in a nonexistent wind and was a sea of constantly shifting colors. A pair of Large wings were folded along her sides and her head was adorned with an expensive looking tiara.

He stepped over and looked into her eyes for a moment as though searching for something. "You must be the day time ruler of Equestria. The one and only Princess Celestia." He said after nodding his approval. "I must say that at first I didn't see much of a family resemblance to your sister Luna. That is until I looked into those eyes. They have the same kind of kind passion behind them... though yours is tempered with experience."

Celestia smiled for a moment before speaking in a voice that could only belong to a caring and understanding mother. "Hello, I must say that you were not quite what I was expecting when Luna described the being she met last night. Much more passionate than what she led me believe."

"Hey come on now, you can only learn so much about a person after one date." he said in a jovial tone before laughing once more as Luna began to blush even harder. "Oh come on now Luna, you know I'm just joking around."

"Yes well, it is very nice to meet you. Has your stay in Equestria been to your liking so far?" she asked as she observed the movements and mannerisms of the one before her.

"Other then finding out what it is like to be a living pincushion it actually has been pretty nice." he said as he waved a hand through the air. "In fact, your student and her friends have made every effort to make my stay hospitable. In return I have offered them my friendship, as well as the answers to any questions they might ask, and any information that I think might help them better understand me. Oh, speaking of which... Twilight!" he said raising his voice a bit.

She ran over to where her teacher and her new friend were now standing. "Yes?"

"I told Luna last night that if she wanted any information on me and my world, she should contact you." he crouched down to her level. "Now might be the best time to bring out the notes you've been making since last night. I'm sure Celestia would also like to look over them."

"Oh! Of course!" she quickly sprinted over to the library, only slowing to avoid touching the bloodied spears that littered the ground.

As Twilight came back out, Sirraf saw that she was followed by more notes than he thought could be produced from the short time he spent with her. "Wow... quite the student isn't she?"

"Oh yes, she does have a incredible thirst for knowledge. I'm very proud of her." he heard Celestia say as he watched her rush over.

"You know I was at the top of my class back home... though I do admit to taking a bit of a shortcut when it came to my studies." he said as he returned his eyes to the two princesses. "I figured out a way to give myself lucid dreams so I could practice and study when everyone else was asleep."

Celestia and Luna were now looking through the notes. Their eyes quickly ran across the in depth reports that Twilight had gathered on him. "Very impressive. So your superior abilities came more from time and effort, rather than natural talent."

He chuckled as he scratched that back of his head. "Yeah I guess you could say it like that. To be honest, not many people in my world have a natural knack for magic... well other than the summoners I guess."

"Summoners?" the sun princess asked, looking up from the reports for a moment.

"Over here sister." Luna said as she showed her sister another piece of parchment.

"Ah yes, thank you Luna." she responded after reading the report.

"Well those should pretty much cover the basics about me. While you read I'm just gonna go over here and rest in the shade." he said as he turned away and began walking over to the tree turned library.

After he sat down and leaned his back against the bark he looked at the town slowly. It seemed that most of the ponies had come out of their domiciles to see what had happened in the short time that he had been outside. Their faces told a great number of stories. Some were fearful, others were concerned, one green unicorns face seemed ecstatic for some reason. All of them however shared one trait. Curiosity.

He turned his head downward and noticed that near the tree's base there were small blades of grass peeking through the snow. He reached down and plucked a blade, looking at it for a moment before pulling his mask down slightly and bringing it up to his lips. Gently he began to play a softly soothing tune. As he closed his eyes he let the music remind him of home. The song was soft, gentle, and a little uplifting to those that heard it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqmDtgz0o1c

As he played this song he seemed to slowly sway side to side with the music. He played for several minutes before finally removing the blade from his lips and pulling the mask back over his face. His gaze pulled upwards, his view was greeted with fewer looks of fear and more smiles than he remembered seeing before. Even Fluttershy had woken from her little fainting spell and was now sitting with her eyes closed and a smile on her face as she continued to quietly hum the tune he had just played.

"Well, it's nice to see that music is enjoyed universally and not just on one world." he said as he slowly rose to his feet once more. "Since everyone is out here and I need to introduce myself anyway so there is no confusion about who or what i am. Hello Ponyville!" he said as he cheerfully rose his voice so that all could hear him. "I come in peace. I arrived in your world through a series of events that pulled me from mine. As far as I know, I am the first of my kind to ever come here. I am a practitioner of magic and a hard worker. I am familiar with and at least proficient in every profession in my home world. I look forward to making many friends as I learn about your world and share what i can about mine." he speech wasn't perfect. Very few things about him were. It did however get his message across to the town. He smiled to himself and muttered. "Short, sweet and to the point."

After that the ponies began to disperse. Many of them leaving for their jobs, or to get through the errands of the day, but all of them seemingly excited about the new creature. As he looked back to the princesses who had apparently finished reading the notes on him, he saw that Twilight was walking to him with that same curious look in her eyes.

"That was beautiful Sirraf! What was that song?" she asked hoping to learn even more.

"It doesn't really have a name. It's an old tune from my world, almost like a lullaby. There are those that say it once had words to go along with the notes but time has taken those away from us sadly." he folded his arms across his chest as he pondered what those words could be.

His train of thought was interrupted however when Celestia and Luna walked over and spoke to him. "Well then, everything here seems to be in order. I am glad that we were able to solve this situation without anyone getting... well you know."

"I take it death is a touchy subject in this world?" he asked bluntly, taking the princesses by surprise.

"Well yes it is! I'm surprised with how dangerous your world seems that you can just shrug the topic off so casually." she said, her face devoid of it's usual calmness.

He shrugged as he looked at Celestia. "That's one of the first things we learn to deal with as red mages. Everything in life is balanced. There is no good without evil. There is no order without chaos. There is no life without death. Through our knowledge we are able to hope for the best, but prepare for the worst."

"Very powerful words for one so young." Luna said as she looked to her older sibling.

"I had very good teachers." He responded as he let out a chuckle.

"It was very nice to meet you young mage." Celestia stated before turning away. "If there is nothing else, we must leave to deal with the affairs of our kingdom."

"Actually... there is one last thing." Sirraf said as a smile formed under his mask.

Author's Notes:

RANDOM AUTHOR'S NOTE!!!!!!

Still more fighting

"What?" asked Celestia as Sirraf stood there with his arms folded across his chest.

"Think of it as a cultural exchange activity of sorts." he said before tipping his hat to cover his eyes. "As I'm sure you have read in those reports, I am considered a combat mage in my world. Also I have a thirst for knowledge in all things." He started pulling off his excess items and placing them to the side, starting with the items tied to his belt and the broken scabbard strap across his chest. "I propose a friendly, sparring match between myself and the ten royal guards that were brave enough to confront me."

Twilight looked over to Sirraf in confusion. "Wait... you want to fight my brother?"

"In my world you can actually learn a lot about another person by fighting them. Friendships often being forged on the battlefield. Not to mention it would give both the royal guards and myself a chance to experience completely new fighting styles." he said as he looked to the royal sisters. "Besides I still kinda feel like they owe me one after what happened."

"But you said you wouldn't hold what happened against my brother!" She said, getting a little angry.

"Oh I'm not mad about the fact that they attacked me. I'm upset that they stabbed me in the back." he explained to the ponies around him. "Sneak attacks are not considered very honorable in my world and he won't be able to earn my respect or trust until this has been settled."

"Your respect and trust... the reports seemed to put some emphasis on these traits." Celestia said as she closed her eyes in thought.

"I hold these ideals above all others. Trust, respect, and friendship are more important to me than anything else and I am willing to risk my life in the protection of those that have earned them." he said as he looked to Shining Armor who was staring with narrowed eyes at the events happening before him.

"I agree." he said, getting the attention of everyone there. "I insulted his honor after rushing off and attacking him without any concrete evidence... Also, as a soldier, I understand where he's coming from in this."

Celestia sighed as she viewed the start of a rivalry form before her very eyes. "... very well then, know this though. I will not hesitate to step in if I believe that the fight has gone to far."

"One moment please." Sirraf said as he walked away from the group. He made his way over to Spike who stood next to the others and removed his hat. "Here big guy. Take care of this for me would you." he placed the hat onto the dragons head and moved back to the group. Spike touched the hat and a smile stretched across his face. Sirraf breathed deeply and took up a fighting stance. "All right, I highly suggest that anyone not involved in the match please move back to a safe distance."

"Which of my guards would you like to face first?" Shining asked as the ponies moved away from the area.

Sirraf took an in depth look at each of them before closing his eyes. Three unicorns, three pegasi, three earth ponies and the captain himself. He paused in thought for a moment before opening his eyes and narrowing his gaze. "All of them."

"All of them?" he asked in disbelief.

"You are soldiers. You work as a unit and fight as a unit. You are strongest as a team. I have been trained to survive the horrors of my world alone as well as with others. My versatility against your teamwork." he said still standing at the ready. "In fact, as soldiers you also rely on the intelligence network of your leaders. Celestia has just gathered intelligence on your opponent. I will allow you to use advice from her as well in this fight. Be warned however, I have yet to reveal everything to your sister about my abilities."

"Are you sure about this?" Celestia asked as she watched the event unfold.

"Think of it as a chance to test your soldiers against an unfamiliar enemy. A test of their abilities, tactics, and adaptability to the unknown. Also this would be a good way for you all to see how my magic works and what I can do with it."

At this Celestia nodded to the captain. The squad of ponies all took up a battle position, forming a tight circle around their target.

"Ah... I see." he said as they closed in, attempting to limit his movements. "Already you are working with what you know. You close in because I am a magic user and you assume that makes me a ranged combatant..." he chuckled for a moment. Suddenly his voice took on a serious tone. "Class is now in session. Lesson number one...never assume anything."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ofv7dVyNCss

He swiftly lifted a hand into the air as it began to surge with a light brown energy. Before any of the ponies could rush forward and try to stop him he brought the hand open palmed to the ground. "QUAKRA!" energy ran from his hand down into the ground beneath them. After a brief moment a harsh crack sounded out before the snow was thrown through the air to reveal several spires of earth shooting out around where the mage stood. The pegesi all flew out of range but a unicorn and earth pony were caught in the magical burst. They were thrown off to the sides, where they tumbled a short distance. For a moment they tried to stand back up but soon fell back to the ground, their bodies covered in minor cuts and bruises. Both let out small groans but they were still very much alive.

A dirt cloud had formed around where the elemental spell had been cast. The remaining ponies all readied themselves for the next attack. The pegasi flew around the area clearing the obscuring dirt that had formed around their opponent. "Haste!" a green flash of light followed by a red and white blur rushed out from the area just before they could finish the job. Sirraf quickly closed in on one of the remaining earth ponies, quickly getting in close for unarmed combat. The guard spun around in an attempt to buck him but he dropped to the ground and grabbed his hind legs before leaning backwards and placing a foot on the ponies stomach. Using this leverage he tossed the pony into a soft snow bank, dazed but completely unharmed.

Celestia called out to her soldiers "He uses the terrain to his advantage. He also seems more mobile than a ground pony. Try to restrict his movements!"

Sirraf heard this and already prepared for it. "Shell!" he yelled out as a red energy followed by the energy of the two remaining unicorns formed around him. They strained as the power of the magic dampening field cut the effectiveness of their magic in half. The pegasi moved in to try to restrain him, however he twisted his body that was now held in mid air and grabbed onto them. Using their weight for momentum, he spun his body around and threw them into the two unicorns currently restraining him. They were quickly knocked back and out of the fight, never having the chance to see the pony projectiles flying at them. Their eyes had been closed as they focused to maintain the spell that was on him.

Getting up from the ground and dusting himself off he took up his stance again. "Not bad! Not bad at all." he said with a chuckle. "I have to admit you almost had me with that one. If I hadn't cast that magic resistant shell spell in time. I wouldn't have been able to move at all." he turned his head to Celestia. "It was good advice but perhaps next time use codewords to keep me from knowing your counter strike plans. That's lesson number two."

Shining took charge as he realized that even if this creature wasn't hostile, he was far from helpless. "Tango fourty-two! he yelled to his soldiers. At this the two earth ponies and two of the pegasi rushed forward to engage Sirraf. The remaining pegasus flew upwards out of range as he was forced to focus on the matter at hand.

"Ah, testing my physical talents with a rush attack is it? Very well, PROTECT!" a crystalline barrier formed around his body before fading from view. As the first pegasus struck, a faint afterimage of the barrier could be seen with each attack. Shifting into a more defensive stance he was slowly pushed back from the ground he had gained. One of the flying ponies pulled back a short distance before rushing forward once more. Sirraf spun his attacker into his earth pony partners before raising a hand covered in black energy. "Blind!" he yelled as he swiped his hand through the air like a blade. A black substance coated the charging pegasus' eyes, causing him to veer off course and crash land into the ground.

"What in tarnation was that?" Applejack asked as the guard struggled to figure out where he was.

"That was status based black magic. It will wear off after a few minutes but he will not be able to see me for some time." he explained with a finger raised in the air. "It is much like the sleep spell I used to calm Rainbow Dash and send me into the lucid dream state. When power alone doesn't work, turn the circumstances towards your favor. Lesson number three."

"Status based... as in the status effects that you described the Malboro's breath would cause?" Twilight asked as she saw that the ponies eyes were pitch black.

"Yep, but I can only cast one of these spells at a time and they don't always work. If he had closed his eyes before the spell went off he would have avoided the effects entirely." with that said he took up his stance once more and motioned for his opponents to attack him again.

As they continued to fight, Celestia and Luna watched the whole thing with fascination. "Look sister. His form and technique is far from perfect, but he makes up for what he lacks in one skill using another." Celestia pointed out to her younger sibling.

"Yes, what he lacks in one thing he will supplement with another. He wasn't fast enough naturally so he used his magic to increase his speed and reflexes. There are gaping holes in his martial combat form, so he protects his body from magical and physical attacks using persistent barrier spells. Barriers that don't rely on his focus to be kept erect, barriers that instead of attempting the stop an attack, simply softens the blow." Luna paused for a moment. "But we are confused. He seems to be deliberately trying to disable but not seriously injure his opponents. Also he seems to be offering advice as he fights."

"Don't you see? He honestly wants them to improve. He wants them to be able to defeat him. In his world he was being taught how to protect those he cared about from the monsters that roamed the land. If they can beat him, they can stand a chance against anything that might threaten the public." she looked at Sirraf as he swiftly hopped from foot to foot as he avoided his foes attacks. "However... he won't make it easy. That look in his eye. He is having far to much fun to just hand them the win. If they want to defeat him, they will have to earn it. He wants them to win, but refuses to lose."

Sirraf was beginning to pant as he struggled against his opponents, his face dripping with sweat even in the cold winter weather. Shining Armor had finally joined the frey and was putting up shields every time he made an attempt to strike him with a solid blow. "I see! As your name suggests you are a defensive specialist." Suddenly all the attackers jumped back and grinned at Sirraf. "Now then... what could all this be about?" he asked out loud.

"Oh nothing." Shining Armor said cockily. "It's just time for you to learn a lesson."

At that moment a shadow moved over his form. His head snapped upwards to see that the pegasus that had flown off had grabbed a nasty looking storm cloud and was preparing to let loose its electrical contents. "NO!" the girls yelled as he lifted his hand above his head and shouted something before a blast of lightning hit him directly. The blast lit the area in a blinding light as it blocked him from view and the cracking of earth could be heard through the battlefield.

The smoke slowly cleared to reveal a panting but still unharmed Sirraf standing above a blackened spot on the ground. The blast had melted the snow and split the earth beneath him, but he remained unharmed. "Nice one. I didn't know you guys could control the weather. I'm willing to make a guess that this is what that tango fourty-two thing was all about. A kind of distraction followed by a surprise attack tactic."

"How are you still standing? That was a direct hit!" Shining yelled, his aggravation evident in his voice.

"Well yes and no. You see, I can cast any kind of elemental magic." he explained, taking advantage of the situation to catch his breath. "Because of this the mages from my world know the inner workings of those elements." he said with pride. "As such we have also developed methods to negate them. What I cast before the bolt struck was known as a Nul-shock spell. It protects my body from any electrical attack once, letting the energy just harmlessly pass through. To bad too. That one seemed to be at the Thundaga level in power. I can't even cast one of those yet."

Twilight looked at Sirraf in wonder. His magic was truly impressive. This whole time he had been able to do so much more than he had shown her and the girls. "Amazing..." she said in awe.

"You should also know that haste isn't my only Time/Space magical spell." he said as he took up his stance once more. "Here's one that should put a stop to that cloud technique. Oh and by the way captain..." he said as Shining looked at him in confusion. "You might want to get ready to catch your friend up there."

Shining Armors eyes shot up and his horn began to glow. Sirraf's hands emitted dark energies once more. "GRAVIRA!" an orb of energy appeared above the head of the airborne pegasus. It gently floated for a second before making contact with him. In an instant his face shifted from confusion to panic as he was suddenly yanked roughly from the sky.

Acting quickly Shining Armor used his magic to try to stop his underling. He realized very quickly that he couldn't stop the fall, only slow it down. The pegasus impacted the ground and after trying to stand once more collapsed. "That was Gravira. It is a second tier gravity spell." Sirraf said as he stood shakily on his feet. "Whew! I am definitely gonna need some water after this. Anyway, what I did was multiply the gravitational pull on his body to three times its normal amount. If he once weighed fifty pounds it increases to one hundred and fifty for a moment. The bigger they are... the harder they fall."

Shining Armor gritted his teeth as he tried to think of a way to end this fight. The longer it dragged on the more the mage would learn about them and the harder it would be to defeat him.

"Let's mix things up a bit shall we?" Sirraf yelled as he stepped back before raising his hands once more. "Aerora!" A powerful vortex formed in the space between the ponies and him. Shining Armor threw up a field and used his magic to anchor himself to the ground beneath him. His allies however were not so lucky. The mini tornado quickly pulled the last remaining ponies, as well as some debris in and threw them around like rag dolls. After they landed the red blur that was Sirraf rushed past Applejack. "Gotta borrow this thanks!" he said almost as quickly as Pinkie Pie before he ran back to the ponies that now sat on the ground trying to get their breakfasts to stay down. Faster than the eye could see Sirraf had tied up the guards using Applejack's lasso. "Lesson four. Anything and everything can be used in a fight."

Celestia's horn glowed as she pulled all the ponies that had been disabled out of harms way. This was it. The final round of the sparring match. The visiting jack of all trades v.s. the captain of the guard.

"You know." Sirraf said as he panted for air. "I am beginning to understand why you ponies are the ones in charge here. As cute as most of you look, you are actually pretty tough."

Shining wasn't looking to much better. "I'll take that as a compliment creature. I have to say though, you aren't that bad yourself." Shining chuckled as he stood his ground. "You okay over there? You're looking a little tired. Slowing down some too."

"You should see the other guys." Sirraf countered with a laugh.

The two rushed forward once more. Sirraf had shifted his combat style once more, adapting a grappling technique since he couldn't land any solid blows with the captain through his force fields. Everyone watched as the two fighters continuously countered each other move for move. One would strike and the other would dodge, neither one willing to give up any ground. Finally Shining Armor connected with a full force buck to Sirraf's stomach. He doubled over for a moment as the captain smiled in what he assumed was victory. It was in that moment that Sirraf shifted his weight and wrapped his arms around Shining's chest holding his front legs to it. Bending over backwards and driving him into the ground as hard as he could Sirraf yelled out one last spell. "QUAKRA!" realizing what this meant Shining threw a field between himself and the earth based attack that was sure to follow. Upon contact with the ground the area exploded with energy once more.

Everyone leaned forward to see what had happened. Slowly the dust began to be pushed away with the morning wind. Two shadows formed as it cleared. When the dust finally passed they saw that both combatants were still standing. The both of them were panting and sweating. Each looked like they were on the verge of passing out. Their bodies were covered in cuts, bruises and abrasions. A ecstatic glint shone in Sirraf's eyes, while a smile was plastered on Shining's face. Sirraf began to lurch forwards before he caught himself with his right leg, leaning into a kneel. Shining grinned for a moment before his face turned to one of shock. All four of his legs suddenly gave out as he collapsed to the ground panting, unable to move.

Slowly Sirraf stood up and made his way to his fallen opponent. He brought his hand up and energy flowed through it once more. Shining closed his eyes as everyone else either cringed or yelled in protest. "C...C...Cure!" White energy surged forth and gave Shining's body a decent patch job. "Heh... that's it. That's all I got... I'm... f... fresh out of mana..." he said before removing his mask. "And you... have earned my... respect..."

Shining slowly made his way back to his feet. He looked at the creature that had irritated him so much in awe. Not only had he defeated his squad and him. He had done so honorably, helping them out as the fight went on, and even used what magic he had left to heal him instead of finishing it or taking care of his own wounds. He looked down at his body. There were still plenty of bruises and cuts but nothing to serious. "Sorry... Shining... that barrier of yours kinda got on my nerves. Think I may have overdone that last spell a bit...gotta say though... I can see why you are captain." he said before his knees gave out and he collapsed onto his back.

Twilight and the others rushed forward now that the fight was over. "Are you okay?" she asked as she reached his prone form.

"Y... yeah... I'll be fine... just bring me my side bag from my belt." he said as he continued to try to catch his breath.

"Bag! Right away!" she ran over to the pile of gear he had left off to the side and came back with what he asked for.

"That's... it..." he reached over and pulled a small glass tube filled with a misty green fluid. He twisted off the metal cap before downing its contents. His body glowed for a second as he drank the strange beverage.

"Agh! Man those never taste any better." he said before tossing it back into his bag and pulling himself into a sitting position. Whatever was in the tube had given him a portion of his energy back. "That's better. Mana exhaustion sucks."

"What was in that vial?" Celestia asked as she moved towards him. "It felt like it was made of magic."

"It pretty much was." he said as he stood back up. "That was a medicine called ether. It's pretty much distilled mana, that's what we call magical energy in my world. When you have to fight monsters all the time, you have to make sure you don't run out of the magic that keeps your team alive."

Twilight looked at the bag for a moment. "Can I borrow one of those?"

"Yeah sure. Just be careful with it. I don't know what medicine from my world would do to a pony." he said as he tossed one to her. He shifted his gaze off to the side and began to chuckle to himself.

"What?" Twilight asked in confusion. He brought one hand up and extended an index finger, pointing at something away from the group. Spike had gone through Sirraf's gear and was now wearing his cape, hat, and several leather straps. He ran around as he poorly mimicked the fighting styles Sirraf had used in his fight. "Should we get those back from him?"

"Nah, let the little guy have his fun for a while." he said as he gathered the rest of his gear up and put them back on their proper places. "Wouldn't be right to rain on his parade after all." he opened his bag and took inventory of his items. "Hmm let's see what I remembered to bring during that test... Three potions.... two ethers... one hi potion... ah man... I forgot my Elixir."

"Elixir? Is that bad?" Twilight asked as he continued to sort through his things.

"It's pretty much a table turner combat medicine. It completely heals a person and restores all their magical energy." he said before turning to the rulers of Equestria. "Thank you for the match. I must say it was truly educational." he said with a bow.

"Yes, for us as well." Celestia said as she smiled at him. "Tell me... that magic of yours seemed really powerful and versatile... does it have any weaknesses at all?"

"Yeah it does. It was designed primarily for combat and few mages use it for much else." he said as he rubbed the back of his head. "It requires a high amount of mental and emotional energy, and can only be cast in short bursts. This quickly drains the mage that is using the spells. Lastly, if you manage to block even one of the sources of magical control that I have. Spirit, knowledge, emotions, movement, or power of word, I would no longer be able to cast. That is why I have to be able to fight physically as well."

"I see that my student and her friends have made a powerful, brave, and loyal friend this day." Celestia said before turning away from him. "Let us go Luna. We have taken enough of his time for now. We will speak again my little red mage." In a flash of light she and her sister vanished from sight. The guards helped pick themselves up and began making their way back to the castle.

"I look forward to it." Sirraf said before placing his mask back upon his face.