Starswirl University

Chapter 16

The Partner from Hell

Two hours earlier.

The green haired siblings were sitting in the bar that they were in the night prior. They had bandages on their arms and some across their ribs. Sage threw back another shot of liquor as most people do after they got their asses kicked.

“So, you think it was him?”

“You saw him sis. It had to be him.” Sage groaned. “To think we’d ever see him again.”

“Yeah I was surprised as you two are.” Both mages froze as they felt the hairs on the back of their necks stand up. Like rust door hinges the two turned around to see the bandaged white haired man. “Been a while guys.”

“You son-of-a-bitch.” Sage said as he turned in his seat.

“Wouldn’t know, never met the woman.” Grey said with a sigh.

“Why didn’t you tell us it was you!?” The girl asked as she crossed her arms.

“Because I don’t go by that name anymore and you two would have withdrawn if you knew it was me. I always did want to see how you two would match up against me.” He said as he sipped his drink. “I was not disappointed.” Grey paid for his drink and stood up. “It was nice seeing you two again, glad that someone made it out.” He smiled. “Of course I can’t have you two going around knowing my secret.”

Before either of them could react Grey’s fingers dug into their faces and sent a magical bast into their brains. The two stopped squirming and sat motionless as two spell circles appeared on their foreheads and eventually faded. Grey started to walk away and his shell changed his hair back to it’s raven color.

“Hey, new guy.” Grey turned back towards Sage. “You need a place to sit? My sis and I were just leaving.”

“No, I was just heading out myself.” Grey waved to them as he exited the bar. “Good day.”

~~~

The team soon found themselves back at their school by the evening. While they were departing, Grey spied an odd sight. A small boy, about twelve or so with spiky green hair and had a caged great horned owl next to him. The boy was looking at a sheet of paper and was mumbling something to himself.

“Darn it Twilight. Where are you?” He groaned.

“Hey.” Grey said as he walked up to the boy. As he turned his head, Grey saw that the boy’s eyes were emerald green and spliced. On his cheeks were what looked like scales. “I couldn’t help but overhear. Are you looking for Twilight Sparkle?”

“Yeah, who’re you?” He asked as he crossed his arms.

“Name’s Grey. My room is next to Twilight’s.” The boy smiled.

“Mind showing me the way?”

“No problem. I was on my way back anyway.” He said as Spike picked up the cage and followed the man. “So you a friend of Twi’s?”

“No, I’m her little brother, Spike.” Grey vaguely remembers the scholar mentioning she had a little brother staying with her in Ponyville.

“So what brings you here Spike?”

“Well, I usually stay in Ponyville and look after Twilight’s library and Owlicious.” The bird gave a hoot. “But, Twilight wanted me to visit and bring the bird.” Grey thought for a moment and realized that this was a golden opportunity to get some dirt on Twilight. Grey knew how chatty kids were.

“Hey Spike, since I’m living next to Twilight can I ask you some questions?”

“Like what?”

“Well, is she always nosy?” The boy raised an eyebrow at him.

“Trust me, Twilight is relentless when she’d trying to figure something out.” The boy sighed.

“Is Twilight crazy?”

“Have you met Twilight?” The boy had a point. “One time she made the whole town fall in love with an old doll of her’s just so she had to write a report to the Princess.” Grey raised an eyebrow. “I’ve lived with Twilight all my life and I’ve never met a girl as crazy as her, well, aside from Trixie.” The boy shivered at the name.

“You know Trixie?”

“Unfortunately yes.” Spike groaned. “Do you?”

“Yeah, she’s Twi’s roommate.”

“She’s what!?” The boy’s yelling spooked the bird and it flapped its wings. “Twilight is sharing a room with Trixie?”

“Yeah, I just said that.”

“And those two haven’t killed each other yet?”

“No, but if they keep arguing I might have to do it for them. I take it they have a history?”

“Boy do they ever.” Spike said with a roll of his eyes. “A few years ago Trixie came into our town to do her magic show.”

That explains the boasting.

“She continued to show off and-”

“Be Trixie?”

“Yeah, she ended up dragging an Ursa Minor into town.” Grey had read about Ursa Minors in class. They were easily twenty meters tall and had nasty tempers. “Thankfully Twilight took it down.”

“Wait a second, your telling me that Twilight killed an Ursa Minor?” Grey immediately fabricated a scenario of Twilight slaying the Ursa with a large magical purple sword.

“No, she only put it to sleep and sent it back to it’s cave.” The man’s fantasy was crushed. He still had to admit that it was a great feat of magic. The duo then found themselves in front of a familiar door. Grey knocked on it twice and the two waited. He pulled out a pen and paper before he started writing.

As he finished the last word, the door opened to show a familiar indigo haired scholar. Her shirt and skirt were ruffled, her hair was a mess and their was dried drool on her chin. Grey held back a chuckle as Twilight rubbed her eyes.

“Afternoon sunshine.” Grey teased.

“What do you want Grey?” She was still waking up.

“Just dropping something of yours off.” He stepped aside and Twilight immediately scooped the boy up and gave him a bone crushing hug.

“Oh Spike it’s so good to see you!” Grey though that the boy’s eyes would pop out of his skull.

“C’mon Twilight, stop.” Spike said trying to wiggle out of his big sister’s grasp.

“But It’s been forever since I’ve seen my favorite little brother.”

“I’m your only little brother.” He dead panned.

“I know, but still.” Spike knew that Twilight always over reacted and decided to allow her this moment. “And you brought Owlicious too!” The bird hooted in happiness. The scholar blinked and face palmed. “ Oh Spike I’m so sorry. I was studying and then I put my head down for a second and-”

“Relax Twilight, I know how you get. Besides Grey helped me out.” He said as he looked at the man. Twilight’s eyes shrank as she saw the man’s hair.

“Grey your hair-” The man stuck a piece of paper to her forehead before going to his own room. Twilight took the paper off her forehead and read it to herself.

Yes, Twilight, my hair is white. It has been the whole time. No, you can’t ask, you can NEVER ask. I’m tired from the fight and I need PEACE and QUIET! If you or Trixie rob me of this, then I’ll send Eris over and let her do whatever she wants to the two of you. Twilight shivered at the words as she folded up the letter and let her brother inside her room.

Grey sighed as he made his way out of the bathtub and into his room. He stopped when he saw Eris laying seductively with only the sheets covering her. The man dead panned and sighed.

“Like what you see?” She teased.

“I’m too tired Eris.” The mage said as he laid down and sighed. The man then felt something fuzzy wrap around his mid section. He picked up the covers and saw what looked like a black and white striped tail. “The hell?” He looked at Eris who now had a pair of black cat ears sticking out from the side of her head. “Why do you have cat ears and a tail?”

“What? My dad has horns, wing and a tail. I need something cool too.” She then rested her head against his chest and purred.”Besides, you like it.” Eris cooed as Grey turned over and closed his eyes.

~~~

Back on the Royal Guard trainee firing range, Scarlet, Nova and a woman with rusty orange hair by the name of Fox were blowing off some steam. “You two catch the match yesterday?” The woman asked as they reloaded their pistols.

“That fight was so awesome!” Nova said with a smile. Nova was having difficulty reloading her pistol. She always preferred the up close and personal approach.

“You didn’t clean your gun did you?” Scarlet sighed. Nova only threw on a guilty smile. “Here let me see.” She waved her hand over the gun and the metal object started to shake apart. The screws came from the gun and the bullets were levitated next to the pieces of scrap metal.

“How’d you do that?” Fox said.

“You’ve got your wood magic. I use polarity.”

“You can control poles?” Nova asked. Both of the other girls looked at her in confusion.

“No, I have control over magnetism.”

“Magnets are cool too.” Scarlet rolled her eyes and reassembled the gun. Scarlet slammed a fresh clip into the handgun and emptied the clip at the paper target. All the bullets landed in the red rings in the chest and head.

“Damn, how’d you get so good?” Fox asked as Scarlet levitated her target over to herself.

“I’ve had a lot of practice.” She switched the safety on and handed her roommate her gun. “Make sure you clean this.” Scarlet got out a new target and set it up at the seventy-five yard line.

“So back to the fight.” Fox said.

“Oh it as so awesome! What’d you think Scarlet?”

“I lost ten bits.” She said as she reloaded her weapon.

“Oh come on, that last match was so epic.” Fox chuckled. “The guy with the white hair was kinda hot.” Scarlet’s ear twitched and she slammed her clip into her weapon and aimed.

“Yeah, what was his name?” Nova asked. The red haired woman was breathing heavily and tried to focus.

“Some color. Silver, or some crap like that.” Fox bit her lip and scratched her head. “Oh, I think it was Onyx.” The sound of twenty bullets flying across the range caught the girls’ attention. Nova gulped when she saw her roommate empty the gun and reload it in three-seconds flat. She fired twenty more rounds and panted heavily.

Nova saw that Scarlet was leaking magic and she had her teeth clenched. Scarlet stared at the two girls who gulped.

“What?”

“Just put the gun down Rosy.” Nova said as she hid behind Fox. Scarlet looked down at the firearm and sighed.

“Sorry.” She sighed as she packed the gun away. She then levitated the target back to her and sighed. “Crappy shooting.” She crumpled up the target and tossed it in the trash can. “See you two later.” Fox shivered as Nova picked up her crumpled target.

“Man it scares me when she does that.”

“Me too.” Nova said as she saw that the shots were all in the area above the heart.

~~~

Grey was going to his private lesson with Discord and he ragged his tired legs through the halls of the school. He made his way down the familiar stone staircase and yawned as he entered. The man saw the usual crew and groaned.

“Morning.”

“It’s noon.” Twilight said.

“Feels like the morning.” He yawned.

“You changed your hair?” Celestia asked.

“Yeah, so what?”

“Are you trying to copy Trixie?” The performer stated.

“If I wanted to do that then I’d just get the words ‘pretentious bitch’ tattooed on my forehead.” Before Trixie could say any thing the man started coughing. It soon changed into a hacking noise.

“You okay Grey?” The scholar’s question was answered by white flames suddenly erupting from his mouth and spewing them like a dragon would burn down a village. Soon the flames subsided.

“Oh that feels so much better!” He said as he stretched. “That crap has been in me for two days.”

“What the buck just happened?” Trixie yelled.

“That was my body filtering Eris’s magic out of my system.”

“What!?” Even the god of chaos was surprised by the statement.

“Yeah, in the match over the weekend I had to sync my magic with Eris’s to win. My body just needed to get rid of all her remaining magic that was still present in my system. Simple.”

“It is far from simple Grey!” Celestia said. “You bonded your magic with a chaotic being.”

“What’s the worst that could happen?”

“Putting it bluntly, you die.” Discord said. “Well, more like you’d burn up from the sheer amount of power you came into contact with. It was only dumb luck that you managed to come out of this unscathed.”

“Everyone makes their own luck teach. I’m bound to get something right on a few occasions.” Grey said as he looked at the group.

“Thou are either really stubborn or really stupid.” Luna said.

“I’m probably both, with a touch of badass thrown in the mix.” He cracked his back. “So what’s today’s lesson?”

“Right, today we’re going to test your problem solving skills.” Celestia snapped her fingers and a table showing one of those mazes you’d put mice in. “You three will be shrunk down one at a time and you’ll be timed to see how fast you can solve the maze. You may use any spell available to you.” The three students nodded and Twilight was up first.

The scholar shrank to the size of an action figure and was teleported into the maze. Twilight looked at the walls around her and got a chilling reminder of when she and her friends were in the hedge maze while facing Discord. She pushed the thoughts out of her mind and focused on the task at hand. The scholar conjured a small ball of light and sent it flying up over the walls. Her eyes glowed a lavender color and she saw the top of the maze and the pedestal in the center.

Twilight gathered her magic and teleported next to the pedestal. As she touched it a buzzer sounded and she was returned to normal size. “One minute fifteen-seconds. Excellent work.” Twilight smiled at her mentor’s praise. Trixie was up next and the maze shifted into a different format. The performer gathered her magic and her eyes glowed a cerulean blue color. Trixie smiled as she looked through the walls of the tiny prison and fired a small beacon that landed next to the pedestal.

Following the beacon’s signal was easy and the mare soon found herself at the pedestal. Luna looked at the clock and smiled as Trixie was returned to her normal size.

“Three minutes twenty-seconds.” Trixie silently cursed herself. “Grey you are-...What are you doing?” The group looked at the man to see that he had taken his shoes off.

“What? I run faster on my bare feet than I do with dress shoes on.” Twilight nodded as she remembered the last time she had to run in heels. She had to ask Rarity how she’d managed to keep up with the rest of their group on their adventures while wearing the stupid lady stilts from hell. Grey was inside the maze and saw the walls shifting around him. The man stood still for what seemed like hours.

“Are you going?” Luna asked.

“Don’t rush me!” He snapped. The man took a deep breath and slammed his right foot down onto the floor. Grey felt the small pulse he sent out go through the walls of the maze and keep going until he found the center. The man smirked and dashed forwards. Twilight lost sight of him for a moment, but found him again as he stopped at the first corner.

He placed the tip of his wand on the hard surface and smirked. A deafening blast erupted from the wand as a beam of magic ripped through the walls until it reached the center. Grey then rushed forward with the same speed and touched the pedestal

“Two minutes thirty-seconds.” Celestia said as the man went back to normal size.

“Cheater!” Trixie stated.

“She said I could use any spell I knew. So instead of wasting my time running around I just decided to make one path.” He stated blankly. Trixie crossed her arms and pouted. The lesson ended and the three made their way into Cadence’s classroom. Grey took his seat next to Eris who purred as she rested her head against his arm. The pink Princess made her way into the classroom and smiled.

“Good afternoon class. Today I’m going to assign a project.” Several groans escaped the students’ lips. “Now, now, it’s a fun project. You’ll be broken up into pairs.” She levitated a piece of paper in front of each student. “I want you all to write your initials on the slip of paper and pass them up.” The class complied and they saw Cadence summon two top hats. She poured half the slips into one hat the other half in the other hat.

“I’ll select the partners and there are no changes allowed.” One by one the Princess called the students’ names. Cadence lifted the two names and cleared her throat. “Eris and Twilight are a pair.” Grey heard the two women on either side of him groan and pated them each on the shoulder.

“Sucks to be you.”

“Grey and Trixie.” The man felt his spine freeze and didn’t need to look at Eris to know she was smiling like a cheshire cat.

“You were saying?” Eris chuckled. Grey slowly turned his head like a rusty door hinge towards Trixie who was giving him the death glare. The woman immediately turned her head away from the man and pouted. After all the names were called Cadence cleared her throat.

“The project is on magic wavelengths. You and your partner’s job is to synchronize your magic and produce a spell. You both must act as a conduit for each other’s magic.”

“Professor,” Grey said. “in the matter of Twilight’s health, I think I should be Eris’s partner. I’ve already synced with her once so I’ve got a much better chance to not burst into flames.” Twilight thought back to what Discord had said and gulped.

“Not to worry, I have a spell that will prevent that.” Grey silently cursed at the thought of working with the show off. After the class ended Grey dropped his books off and knocked on Trixie’s dorm door. Grey sighed as the silver haired mage answered the call.

“Let’s get one thing straight Trixie. You don’t like me and I sure as hell don’t like you. So let’s get this done as quickly and easily as possible so we can go back to out mutual hatred dynamic.” Trixie let out a grunt of frustration. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

“Just be sure to do it right.” She said as the man walked inside and he sat down on the couch.

“Fine Princess.” He groaned. “I’ll be the conduit this time around, just don’t send too much of your magic my way or we’ll have to start all over again and it’ll just add both our suffering.” Trixie sat down across from him and the two closed their eyes and the two took each other’s hands. Grey felt Trixie’s mana manifesting and connecting with his own.

Everyone’s mana is an expression of themselves and their emotions can be sensed through it. Trixie’s was soaked in arrogance and a hint of sadness. Grey mentally raised an eyebrow at the last one. He pushed it aside as he matched up with the show off’s wavelength. “Okay I got it. I’m transmitting it back to you know.” Trixie felt a surge of power come from the man and enter her body. The woman mentally smirked as she felt the amount of power rushing into her. The feeling was short lived as the magic faded.

“What happened?” Trixie yelled.

“I only put a small bit of magic through to test the connection.” He panted.

“Well, make sure you do it right!” Grey rolled his eyes. “Trixie will be the conduit.” The man panted and focused his magic. He felt Trixie’s magic fighting his own.

“Trixie, you need to adjust your wavelength to mine.”

“Why should Trixie have to lower myself to your level?” Grey’s patience was at it’s limit and went back to his own dorm to see Eris with a change of clothes in her hand heading towards the bathroom.

“Taking a shower?”

“Yup.” She smiled.

“Well, make it quick. I gotta take one before I head to work.” He sighed. The man then felt the woman’s chin resting on his shoulder.

“You know it’d be a lot faster if we share the water.” Grey contemplated it. He was frustrated and the two haven’t really done anything physical except that one night. Eris grinned as she felt the man’s heart starting to race. “I’ll turn the water on.” Grey gulped and followed the woman into the bathroom as he removed his shirt.

~~~

Twilight was going to Eris’s room with the spell Cadence mentioned. As she was about to knock on the door she heard a yelp come from inside the room. The scholar slowly turned the handle and opened the door to see it empty. The bathroom door was cracked open and steam was coming out of it. Twilight raised an eyebrow and peaked through the crack to see a large cloud of steam.

She stood frozen as Something leaned against the glass slide door of the shower. Her face reddened when she realized that it was the woman’s front portion of her body. Eris’s body seemed to shake as she panted. Twilight was so shocked that she didn’t notice the door slowly opening giving away her position. Eris snapped out of her bliss and grinned.

Mustering up as much coherent thought as she could, she snapped her fingers and her face and hair changed to that of Twilight’s. The double let out another moan and Twilight’s face went dark red as Eris threw her head back and let out a final moan as a tremor of pleasure ran through her body. The gears in Twilight’s head stopped turning as she realized that she’d just seen. Eris had just climaxed disguised as her.

“WHAT THE FUCK!?” A voice yelled out that snapped Twilight out of her trance. The scholar looked past Eris, who was back in her original form, to see the grey eyed mage glaring at her.

“I...um...”

“GET OUT!” He yelled. Twilight instantly ran into the hallway and ran past Dash and AJ.

“Hey Twi we-” The scholar ignored them and ran into her room and buried her head in her pillow before screaming into it.

Oh my Celestia! I can’t believe I just walked in on them! She thought as she rested her head against the back of the wall.

Not a bad view of Grey though.

Shut up! A knock on her door made the scholar look up.

“Twi?” The girl recognized the southern accent of her friend. “Are ya okay? It looked like ya saw a ghost.” Twilight waved her wand and the door swung open to reveal the farmer and athlete.

“H-hey girls.” She said with a gulp. Both of the visitors raised an eyebrow at the girl’s bright red cheeks.

“So why’d you just blow by us in the hallway?” Dash asked as she crossed her arms. Twilight’s face flushed red at the question.

“You see-” The girl was cut off as the group saw an ethereal blade jut from Twilight’s wall. The blade cut down and a doorway sized chunk of the wall fell forwards onto the floor. The trio of girls looked to see the gray eyed mage holding the blade on the other side of the hole.

“Twilight, we need to talk.” The man walked through the hole and glared daggers into the woman.

“Whoa partner. Let’s calm down now.” AJ said getting between the two.

“I just need to have a chat with Twilight about privacy.” He gritted his teeth.

“It was an accident!” She exclaimed with a blush on her face.

“When a bathroom light is on and the shower is running, it usually means there’s someone using it.” The farmer and the athlete made the connection and looked at the scholar.

“You walked in on Grey in the shower?” Dash yelled with a chuckle. “Priceless!”

“That’s not exactly what happened.” The group turned to see Eris wearing normal clothes. “Twilight here walked in on Grey and I screwing in the shower.” Grey’s face went bright red and Dash was holding her sides as she tried to keep her balance. AJ pulled her hat down to hide her blushing face.

“Why did you transform your face to look like mine?” Twilight asked.

“I was just,” She pulled out a pair of golden sunglasses and put them over her eyes. “fucking with you.” A long silence fell over the group and Grey picked up one of Twilight’s magazines laying on her nightstand. He rolled it up and hit Eris over the head. “What was that for?” She asked rubbing the spot.

“Bad Eris. Bad.” The mage said as he crossed his arms. “Go sit in the corner.” He pointed back to their room.

“But I-”

“Corner. Now.” The girl stuck her nose in the air and walked back through the hole before repairing it with her magic. The man then turned his attention back to Twilight. “I told you that your nose would lead you to things you don’t want to see if you let it control you.”

“I am not nosy!” Twilight growled. “Right girls?” She looked over to Dash and AJ. The flyer gulped and scratched her head. Applejack was adverting her eyes and biting her lip. “Right?”

“Well...uh...Ah know ya mean well Twi but...” Dash sighed and looked at her friend.

“Look Twilight, we all love ya, but you can be a bit...invasive at times.” Twilight’s jaw dropped at the words. “Don’t get me wrong, sometimes it’s a good thing. I always guessed that’s how you’re so good at magic, but you tend to take that too far when it comes to personal stuff.” The flyer rubbed the back of her head. “I mean remember how you practically forced AJ and I to talk the morning after we woke up in bed together completely hungover?”

“You didn’t hear that!” AJ yelled as she pointed to the white haired man with burning cheeks and eyes to match.

“I didn’t hear what?” Grey said innocently as he envisioned the scenario.

“Right, it really wasn’t any of your business. No offense.” Twilight looked at her friends in disbelief.

“Thank you!” Grey said to the two women. “Look Twi, it’s one thing to be curious, it’s another to be a pest and you’ve been on the border as of late.” The man said as he pulled out his wand. “There are just somethings that no one should know.” The man gave a small wave and he faced the wall again.

“Wait Grey-” The scholar froze as she saw the man step through her wall as if he were a ghost.

“Okay, now that was a cool trick.” Dash said looking at the wall.