Author's Note

HUGE apologies for the major lack of updates. Expect them fairly frequently from now on (around once a week or so). Also, there may be a few spacing issues with this chapter, since it was written on mobile. I'll adjust it soon if necessary.

Setting Up Shop

I trotted northeast from the library, with the exact setup of the workshop running through my mind. It had looked relatively flat, but it would still need some adjustments.

I took note of a few more interesting shops and structures as I walked. I still found the amount of things you could learn about an object and its history by looking at its magical energy amazing. I walked past a couple of ponies who I couldn't hear talking, but I could tell that they were jokingly remarking about how silly one of their friends could be, just by seeing the types of magic they were emitting.

I directed my consistently inconsistent attention span back at the matter of the workshop. I could see the field now, its lush grass drawing near. I peered through my goggles, easily picking out some positive forms of navitas in the area. Perfect.

I plunged a hoof into my saddlebag, rummaging around for the silver cube I had stored the workshop in. After a brief moment, I found it and extracted it from the bag. I floated my wand out of my robe and pressed the end into the surface of the cube.

A ring of glowing runes surrounded the area the wand had touched, signifying the cube was in deploy mode. An illusion of the workshop was projected from the front of the cube, showing precisely where everything would be placed. I wandered around the model, adjusting areas that intersected the ground with my wand so that the land was flat. When I finally deemed it ready, it was around sunset.

"Phew," I gasped, flopping on the ground. I did a quick double check and then sat up again. "Looks good." I heard somepony call in my direction from a ways behind me, and turned to see who it was.

"Hey! Star Flare!" It was Twilight.

I stared for a moment before I regained my composure. I was fairly certain I had said sometime earlier, not later in the evening. I felt the need to point this out. "I said sometime, Twilight, as in once I actually have a home established. Not sometime as in later tonight."

"Sorry," she said, flushing slightly as she approached. "I can come back later, if that's what you mean."

I paused for a moment. "Nah, it's fine, I suppose. Might as well stay and watch the light show now that you're here."

"Light show?" she asked, puzzled and curious.

"Well," I said, correcting myself. "Technically it's a complex arrangement of layers upon layers of runes and imbuements combined with concepts taken from other civilizations and an understanding of the fundamental forces that govern reality being put to use, but that's a rather large mouthful to say."

She looked completely lost, which I didn't imagine felt good to somepony who had studied magic with the Princess for what was clearly a major portion of her lifetime. "It'll make more sense once you see it," I assured her, neglecting to add "or you'll be even more confused." I tapped the cube with my wand. "You might want to stand back."

The cube became transparent for a fraction of a second, flashing brightly. Red runes shot out of it, forming a perimeter around the illusion. Twilight looked fairly unimpressed, which was probably due to the fact that she could only see the runes.

The illusion began to solidify, pieces of it glowing an amazing variety of colors, some of which I was only able to perceive because of my goggles, before solidifying. An extremely loud boom resonated above it, making Twilight flinch. The runes vanished, leaving my newly re-established home.

"What in the name of Celestia was that!?" Twilight screeched.

"That," I responded calmly, "to put it simply, was a structure being moved out of a pocket dimension onto this plane of reality."

Twilight just stared. "You're telling me," she began, pointing at the cube with her hoof, "that that thing is capable of creating another dimension, and not only that, but it can transfer things in and out of it safely?"

I nodded. "That's the general gist of it. Technically it just has a link to the dimension imprinted in it so it can access it, not create new ones, but yeah, you've got the idea."

Twilight's eye twitched. "Who are you?"

"Star Flare, Equestria's most established and only thaumaturge, for a good reason at that," I replied. "At your service."

She turned her gaze toward the workshop, studying the various apparatus that was littered about it. "And what's all that stuff?"

"That's my workshop."

"I mean," she corrected herself, "what does it do?"

I sighed. "Twilight, it's getting late and I've done the calculations. It would take me a full six months to explain everything I have in my workshop in detail. I can probably explain the basics of it in around an hour or so some other time, but right now, I really need a nap."

"But-" she began.

"No. You don't understand. I need a nap," I intereupted her. "Please. Some other time."

She sighed in defeat. "Alright. Some other time." She trotted away slowly. I watched for a moment to be sure she was leaving before stepping into my house. I trotted up the stairs, into my study, and flopped onto my bed. I lay still for a few moments. Just as I was about to drift off to sleep, I heard something shatter outside. It sounded suspiciously like broken glass.

In an instant I was out of my bed and my wand levitating in front of me. A dark purple crystal burst out of my saddlebag and fixed itself to the wand. It flashed, and I teleported through the wall to the source of the noise.

In front of me was a smashed vial, a puddle of green liquid, and a terrified Twilight. I groaned. "Answer me a question, Twilight. Do you have any idea how disastrous what you just did could have been?" She shook her head almost imperceptibly. "That vial contained a distilled form of magic. You're lucky it was composed of earth magic and not a dangerous kind like, say, chaos. Who knows what it would have done to you." Her eyes managed to widen further. I shook my head. "Honestly, out of all the pieces of equipment you could have chosen to investigate, you chose one of the most volatile."

She remained perfectly still. "Go," I told her. She vanished in a flash of light. I raised my wand again and teleported back into my bedroom, then collapsed on the bed once more. Maybe I had been a little bit harsh, I thought to myself. Oh, well. I asked her to leave once, at least semi-politely. This socializing thing was going to need a bit of readjustment.