From The Shadows

LESSONS

From The Shadows

by DeepThought

Fire flies above Ponyville, transported in a pompous flying carriage pulled by two pegasi. Compared to what he has seen of Canterlot in his bird's eye perspective, Ponyville seems rather country-like.

Small, half-timbered houses line the streets, giving Ponyville a medieval look. In the center of the settlement is the marketplace with the town hall in its middle. There are little shops, which attract Fire's attention, because their shapes and colors are different from the other buildings.

'Everything is so peaceful.'

But if he looks in the direction of Equestria's capital, he still sees the palace, a reminder of the princesses' authority. Hard feelings overcome him then.

'It's just ridiculous how this place sticks to the edge of the mountain.'

When the chariot finally starts its decent, the black stallion gets nervous. Unsure of the coming events, he recollects himself before he gets out. He stands in front of a huge tree house. The sign standing right before it tells him it is a library.

'Wasn't I supposed to meet Twilight?' he asks himself.

Suddenly a bright flash appears just a few steps from his position. When he opens his eyes again, Twilight stands at its place.

'I really have to get used to this magic stuff,' he sighs, quite annoyed by his sheepish attitude.

"Princess Twilight Sparkle, a pleasure to meet you," he says with his most polite voice and a fake smile on his muzzle, bowing slightly.

"No need for formalities. It's just Twilight," she responds, a little bit blushing, "Nice to meet you, too."

"Where will I stay," Fire asks after a short period of awkward silence.

"I have a guest room, if you're ok with that."

She points in the direction of one of the tree house's windows.

"It's fine."

Again, silence fills the fresh, Equestrian air, only interrupted by the singing of a few birds.

"Umm... I can show you Ponyville, if you like," Twilight says nervously.

"Well, why not?" he responds as casual as possible, attempting to wash away the tensions, "I don't know anything about your lives and traditions. This is going to be interesting though."

'How much can I reveal safely? Is there any human behavior which puts them in disgust, I have to look out for? The parallels between the worlds, I've witnessed, are incredibly unlikely at all. There have to be differences I didn't spot yet.'

"Let's go then, Fire."

So they amble down the streets, while she explains him where he for example can get the best cupcakes, where the town hall is, where her friends live and so on. Fire notices that the other ponies they meet slightly bow to her when they pass.

"So, what's your task as a princess?" He asks, interrupting her monologue about how the pegasi control the weather.

"... We are symbols of Equestrian pride and unity. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna rule Equestria, raising the sun and the moon, Princess Cadence rules the Crystal Empire. Since I was just made a princess two months ago, I don't have been given a special task, yet, but to to teach you magic... What about your kings, queens or princesses on Earth? That was what you call your planet, right?"

"Well, most of them are dead," the black stallion tells her bluntly. He continues to explain, after looking at her face, which shows an appalled expression, "Or don't have any real power of ruling anymore. But there are still some countries, which are  - in fact - governed that way, although they tend to be places full of suppression and intolerance."

"There has to be anarchy all over your world resulting in pain and death for millions of po... people, "she says with a worried expression, "It's folly to overthrow the wise rule of single ponies, who represent the power of order, since they bring unity and peace to their subjects."

'Is this a hint of arrogance in her voice or just blind trust in the authority of the princesses?' he wonders.

"Actually, pain and death were the consequences of monarchy and dictatorship, especially in the country I am from. Millions of people were killed because of their religion, under the most inhumane conditions one can imagine. Brought to death factories they had to work, until they were too exhausted to serve their exploiters anymore. It didn't matter how old or weak they were, they were slaughtered," he feels the flame of anger growing in his heart, his voice becomes louder, he sounds angry," Just because... Just because one idiot had those crazy ideas about the superiority of a special race and the fucking rest was corrupted by power. Imagine that happening to Equestria. To prevent history from repeating itself, we built a government, from the people for the people - and so did many other nations before and after struggling comparable 'problems'. Democracy was the key to peace and wealth and justice, the saving medicine from the world's bloody past."

Fire looks at Twilight again. He's sorry for his sudden emotional outburst, as he realizes how shocked she is. Her cheeks are slightly green, small tears accumulate in the corners of her eyes.

'Great! What about not offending the princesses and trying to understand possible cultural differences? This is how you gain someone's trust. By telling them why your species overthrew the political system they represent. Someone who decides on your fate. Oh wait, at least I remember where I am from now.'

"I'm sorry. I didn't intend to hurt your feelings," he says overwhelmed by Twilight's reaction, uncertain what to do next.

Then an angry voice comes from behind. Suddenly he's smacked down by the same cyan pegasus he met with Twilight at the castle.

"Nopony hurts my friends!"

Breathing heavily, Fire tries to get up, but he can't. Rainbow pins him to the ground.

'She's fairly strong.'

"Hey jerk, why did you make Twilight cry?"

"Would you get off my back, please?"

"I ask the questions!"

"I didn't mean to, please."

'Begging to a fairy tale character. This is grotesque.'

"It's ok. It's just that I was a bit overwhelmed," Twilight responds with a neutral look on  her muzzle again, clearly upset.

The weight from Fire's back disappears so sudden, that the force he put into getting up lifts him a few feet into the sky. Then he stumbles and hits the ground again.

'Arrgh... Still not used to this body.'

Into his field of vision hovers RD, closing the gap between them she makes a noise of annoyance.

"If this happens again, you're in ten seconds flat. Nopony, nopony hurts my friends!"

She darts away, leaving the speechless Fire. After this he slowly stands up, taking Twilight's offered hoof.

'Fantastic! First day, first enemy! Let's try to smooth out the situation with Twilight at least.'

"We started this on the wrong hoof, I guess. Please forgive my inappropriate behavior," says Fire.

"If I cross a red line in the future, please tell me in advance..." she adds, "And maybe you'll get a part of this system sooner as you think. After all, it's Princess Celestia's plan to integrate you in our society as a member of the inner circle of royalty."

'If you can't fight them, join them?' Fire asks himself bewildered.

Twilight is caught into her own thoughts for a moment, "I really understand your concerns. Under Discord's rule ponykind experienced a period of tyranny. But since the royal sisters started to rule Equestria, over 1000 years ago, there haven't been a violent conflict on Equestrian soil," her face darkens a bit, "Well, except the nightmare moon incident. But think about it. Doesn't success prove us right?"

'There's a point in this argumentation.'

"Anyways, can we start the lessons about magic" says the alicorn stallion, trying to change the topic.

"Of course," she responds with a little smirk, which Fire returns.

The first lession is more than just frustrating. He doesn’t succeed in channeling his magic, and Twilight’s small, smart remarks don’t help, either. He feels like a complete idiot.

Suddenly he remembers fragments of his early school years:

He didn’t like school, but he didn’t hate it, either. Valentino was a very imagenitive child, easily bored by the strict limits of this classical kind of education - and therefore quickly distracted. His mind was open, hungry for knowledge, sometimes even obssesed with his ideas. But he was not exactly a socially talented person. Val had some friends, yes, but he lacked the empathic component to keep them for long. Shared ideas and interest brought them together, when they didn’t matter anymore the bonds died.

It’s no surprise he was often the target of bullying, his relatively eccentric and normally pacifistic attitude didn’t help, but it didn’t matter as long as he had the safe haven of his home to come back to.

Noticing his distracted state the lavender mare tells her black-furred companion, “Breath in and out. Feel the magic pulsing through your body.”

“Twilight, I don’t think this will work. ‘Willing things to be’ as you put it, sounds like a concept I believe to be impossible. There has to be a trick. How can I who isn’t used to using magic - I even have less experience than the common unicorn filly - learn to achieve this? How would you teach a foal?”

She puts her hoof to her chin, deep in thought, “Hmm... Probably I have an idea,” Twilight continues, “Unicorn parents sometimes help their foals by using their own magic to direct their flow. But it’s a rather intimate experience. As a professional I don’t have a problem with that. If that’s ok for you we can do it.”

Fire nods slowly.

“Ok, get ready. Try what I told you about focusing.”

Her horn glows dimmly with her magic - he concentrates on the unusal pulling sensation. Noticing power flowing through his body and hearing silent electric static the black stallion spots its source; a reservoir near the middle of his torso. After a few repetitions he is sure where to draw it from and tells his purple teacher:

“Ok, let me try it, Twilight.”

Again he breaths in deeply and focuses, so deeply that a vein on his forehead starts to become noticeable. Then, suddenly, his horn flickers weakly.

“YES!”

Later that day, when they go back to the library, the streets are much less crowded. Sun down is nearing. Even the moon is already visible. What worries Fire is that Rainbow Dash, the mare supposed to be in charge of his flying training, didn’t show up. Twilight, with the help of the timid pegasus Fluttershy, both not the best fliers, had to teach him the basics

‘I pissed her off, I guess. She really is loyal to her friends to a fanatic degree.’

“Do you think she will forgive me, Twilight?”

“Rainbow?”

“Yeah,” he responds.

“It will take some time, but yes.”

They enter the dark library.

“SURPRISE!”

The rest of the evening was spent one of Pinkie’s famous ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ parties, socializing. To his astonishment he got along with everpony incredibly well. Finally he had broken the ice.

A few weeks later:

They are in a small, wild garden, which is crossed by a muttering stream - Twilight told him that this peaceful and calm environment would help him focusing his concentration.

"You're a natural talent," Twilight says smiling brightly, with the excitement of a teacher watching her student succeed, "When we started a few weeks week ago, I thought I could teach you some basic levitation and force spells, like making a quill fly or opening a door, in this limited time, but the fact that you mastered even the teleportation spell really amazes me. That's more than most unicorns manage to learn in their entire life. I'm so proud of you. You even overcame the 'problems' with your body."

'I guess this worked out quite fine. After all, I'm sure now magic really exists, even if I don't know the theory behind it, yet.'

"Thank you, you're a great teacher," Fire blushes unnoticeably under his deep-black fur.

Fire breaks the embarrassed silence, "Maybe I'll show you some discoveries of my world, too, if I get the chance."

"That'd be great," she says, lost in thought, "You have to work on your magic task efficiency, though. If anypony else tried to cast those spells they'd have failed using your 'technique'. Just the raw amount of magical power you posses, only rivaled by a few beings in all of Equis, allows you to achieve your tasks so easily. But to reach your full potential you have to work hard, like anypony else. A good start would be more advanced magic, since it requires a precise use of power. We could, for example, try a growth spell on one of the sunflowers over there."

The lavender mare explains to Fire step by step what to do, and he listens patiently. Afterwards she shows to him how the spell is, actually, cast.

"You see, it's all about the focus," she explains to him, while the sunflower, before just a seedling, grows to twice of Fire's size.

Standing by her side the black stallion's horn begins to glow slightly, his gaze attached to another not yet fully grown plant.

"Now concentrate on how you want to change its shape."

A beam of both red and black colored magic heads towards the little sunflower and it slowly starts to become larger. Then a prickling sensation spreads in his horn, he feels connected to the plant's energy of life.

"Keep on, you're..." She gets disrupted by a loud bang and a rainbow-colored flash.

"RAINBOW DASH!" she screams out, "Stop distracting Fire!"

Still the prismatic Pegasus holds a grudge against the black stallion. He is her number one prank target.

Twilight's outburst reminds Fire of the fact he actually casts a spell. He looks back to the sunflower and notices it is surrounded by an orb of light.

'It feels different.'

Fire stops the flow of magic, unsure what happened. As the light around the plant slowly fades, both, Twilight and Fire, stand there bewildered and surprised.

"It is moving...  It is moving," the lavender pony princess whispers in disbelief.

The now one metre tall plant stands on its former roots, it has bipedal features. It faces the ponies with shaking leaves.

"How did you do that?"

"I have no idea. I was hoping that you would know," the black alicorn responds.

"You did it again."

"What?"

"You broke the rules of magic. AGAIN! That doesn't make sense. First you created matter, now you made a plant alive like an animal."