Chapter 18

Recovery

Many years ago.

Once again, the red haired girl dragged her feet into the same classroom with the same teacher preaching the same things about history being the ‘backbone of society.’ Scarlet wanted something new and exciting to happen just once in her mundane life. “Ahem, class I have an announcement.” The girl rested her head on her hand and sighed as she looked forwards. “We have a new student joining our class today and I want you all to help him feel welcome.”

The class looked towards the door and Scarlet’s eyes shrank as she saw a familiar, red hooded child. When he faced the front, she got a better look at his face. His white hair went to his earlobes and his steel grey eyes seemed to penetrate everything in view. His gaze had a chilling effect on the girl. “Why don’t you introduce yourself?” Swift said as he looked at the child.

“G-Grey.” He said in a nervous tone.

“Grey, why don’t you take a seat next to,” As the teacher looked around the room Scarlet silently prayed he wouldn’t notice the vacant seat next to her. “Scarlet.”

Darn it! She thought as the child walked past her and took the vacant seat next to her.

“Now on with the lesson.” Swift said as he wrote on the chalk board. Scarlet tried to keep her eyes front, but found them sometimes drifting towards the child who sat on her right. It was the longest class ever, of all time. She let out an audible sigh as the class heard the lunch bell ring and went to the cafeteria. Scarlet sat with her brother and stayed quiet as she ate her lunch. In the back corner of the room her eyes drifted to a familiar red hood.

“Hey Scarlet,” The sound of her name brought her attention back to her brother who had a confused look on his face. “you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Carmine followed her gaze and grinned.

“Looks like the Princess has finally found her Prince.” He joked to the older boys at their table. Scarlet’s temper and cheeks flared at the comment.

“Shut your face! He just moved into my class and sits next to me.” She growled

“I’ll get the wedding plans.” One of the boys joked. The red haired girl grunted and picked up her lunch tray looking for another place to sit. Scarlet never really fit in with the other girls in her age group. She was more of a tomboy and felt more comfortable around boys. The cafeteria was packed and there was only one place left to sit. Grey’s table. Seeing no alternative, the girl made her way over to the table and sat down. The boy looked up at her in surprise.

“By no means does this make us friends.” She said as she took a bite of her food. The boy kept quiet as the girl ate. “Why don’t you ever say anything?” Grey still remained silent. Scarlet huffed and focused on her meal. There was a disturbance across the lunch room. The two turned to see a larger student with short brown hair and large brown wings tugging on a Changeling student’s antenna.

“Please stop. It hurts!” She was close to tears.

“See, told you they were real. I wonder if they’re regrow if I pull em off.” Scarlet gritted her teeth.

“Whose he?” The white haired child asked. Scarlet looked at him in confusion.

“That’s Condor. Prime candidate for world’s biggest jerk.” She grumbled.

“Why doesn’t anyone do anything?” He asked.

“Look at him! He’s a mountain with feet. If I could I’d-” Ever since he could remember, he was told to ‘Leave it alone’ or ‘It wasn’t his business.’ He could hear Willow’s words echoing in his mind right now, but another voice in his head that told him, ‘Teach this punk a painful lesson.’ Grey shot up and began to stomp his way towards the scene in front of his grey eyes. Scarlet was yelling at Grey to prevent him from doing whatever he was doing.

Grey took a metal bowl that was filled with the menu’s chili from a nearby student’s lunch.

“Hey!” The student yelled as Grey dumped the beans and meat on the floor.

“Hey Condor!” The brown winged bully’s eyes rolled at his name being yelled behind him.

“Who’s calling-” The last thing the bully saw was before he fell to the floor with a hard thud, was the silver bowl being held by a white haired boy in a red hood and the bowl was crushed as it crashed against his skull. Time in the cafeteria seemed to slow down, silence fell over the room like a thick fog. Scarlet, who had been following Grey, stood with her jaw hitting the floor. The thugs who were hanging out with the bully and the changeling girl mirrored Scarlet’s expression. The only two in the room who didn’t seem shocked were Grey, who was sporting a blank stare, and Condor, who was out cold.

Grey dropped the crushed bowl before looking down at the bully who was off in la-la land. No one dared made a sound, Scarlet soon changed that.

“Holy shit!” Scarlet was taught not to curse, but the words just fell out of her mouth. The thugs copied the girl.

“Holy shit!” The entire room then erupted with the words.

“Holy shit!” Grey remained silent as he walked towards an exit passed a still stunned Scarlet. The adrenaline rush he’d gotten had worn off and he was now fully aware of all the stares on him. Grey clutched his head in pain and he felt like he was about to puke. He felt his heart beating a million miles a minute and he started gasping for hair as he felt like walls were closing in around him.

“Hey, are you all right?” Scarlet asked as the doors burst open to see the green haired history professor.

“What in the name of Celestia’s beard is going on in here?” He saw the bully on the ground. The sound of doors bursting open and the red haired girl being pushed to the ground caught his attention. The professor then saw a red blur run out of the room.

“Hey!” Scarlet yelled as she stood up and saw the blur exit the room. Grey ran out of the school and found a dumpster in the city to hide behind as he opened up a capsule with several pills inside. He took out three and dry swallowed them. As the pills took effect he buried his head in his knees and let the tears he’d been holding back fall out.

“Hey are you okay?” He looked up to see two kids about his age, a boy and a girl. They both had dark skin and emerald green hair.

“Jade? Sage?” A woman’s voice called out. Both children looked to the left and saw a woman with long green hair and blue eyes. Her forest green overcoat fitted her well and showed off her curves. “Honestly I can’t take my eyes off you two for a minute or else you’ll disappear.” She sighed.

“Sorry mom.” The two said in unison.

“What are you two doing anyway?” The two pointed to the child behind the dumpster. The older woman looked at Grey and her eyes shrank. “Sage, Jade go home.”

“But mom-”

“Now!” She said taking their hands and dragging them off. “I don’t want you to ever talk to that boy again!”

“Why?” The young boy asked.

“He’s dangerous! Don’t talk to him, don’t play with him, don’t even look at him.” She said as she dragged the children away from the boy. He was alone again. Grey hated being alone.

~~~

Present

Trixie lay awake in one of the the school’s infirmary rooms hooked up to an IV and heart monitor. Her curtain was pushed aside to show nurse Red Heart, Princess Luna, Celestia and Discord.

“How are you feeling Trixie?” The nurse asked. Trixie only grunted at the response and looked at the ceiling.

“What are her injuries nurse?” Luna asked. Red Heart picked up her chart and scanned it.

“Very minor injuries apart from some bruises. The real problem is that she’s used too much mana.” She sighed. “If the match hadn’t ended right there, then you’d be in really bad shape Ms. Lulamoon.”

“No need to thank me.” All eyes turned towards the window to show the white haired mage standing in the open windowsill. Trixie’s eyes shrank, her temper soared, and her heart monitor lit up like a Hearth’s Warming tree.

“What do you want?” Trixie’s words were laced with enough venom to put down a manticore.

“Just making sure you didn’t bite the big one. It’d be no fun if only the nose and I were left.”

“The nose?” Discord asked.

“Twilight is very nosy wouldn’t you say?”

“Preaching to the choir on that one.” Trixie growled. Grey felt the Princesses’ eyes on him and he sighed.

“No doubt you two have questions.”

“When did you learn to use magic with your hands?” Luna asked as Grey took a seat on the windowsill.

“Since I was eight. I could never afford a wand and I liked not being bound to a device.” He said as he pulled out his wand. “I have to say, that I was genuinely surprised at the increased power output when I do use her. Should have gotten one a long time ago.”

“Her?” Celestia said with a raised eyebrow.

“My wand partner.” He said with a smirk.

“So you’ve figured out it’s name.”

“‘Her’ name and yes it’s-” He froze when he saw an ethereal depiction of said partner.

Don’t tell her my name.

“Why not?” Nike shot a glance at Celestia.

She and I have a history. She growled.

“Really now? Care to elaborate?”

Not now, later.

“Fair enough.” He said as the image vanished and he turned his attention back to the group. “Look’s like she doesn’t want to talk to you.”

“Why not?” Grey shrugged at Luna’s question.

“Why didn’t you tell us you could use magic without a wand?” Celestia asked as she crossed her arms under her chest.

“There are two very good explanations.” He said as he cleared his throat. “First, I didn’t want everyone constantly pestering me about it, a certain indigo haired scholar to be precise.” He eyed Celestia.

“The second?”

“He told me not to let anyone know.” He pointed to Discord.

“Why throw your teacher under the bus?” The chaos lord sighed. Grey chuckled and hoped back onto the windowsill.

“Well, this has been fun, but I’ve got a date tonight. See you later Pops.” He chuckled at Discord as he fell back out of the window. Luna rushed to the window and looked down to see that the man was gone.

~~~

Twilight sat in the library surrounded by a mountain of books. Her eyes dancing across page after page. She had magic texts, anatomy of the average mage and any other type of magic book relevant to human bodies. There was no logical explanation for the white haired man’s abilities. It took decades of training and concentration to attain hand magic and now, a mage weaker than herself had attained that power. She gripped her indigo locks of hair and groaned.

This doesn’t make any sense!

Who knew he’d be strong enough to beat Trixie?

No one in our age group should be able to do that!

Sounds like you’re admiring him. The voice teased.

“You won’t find what you’re looking for in there Sparkle.” The scholar’s head shot up as an all too familiar voice came from behind her. She picker her head up making the stack of books collapse around her. Grey chuckled at the sight. “Nice book canopy you got.” Twilight rose from the pile of books with determination in her eyes. “No doubt your nose is back on my trail, again.” The man said as he walked past the woman and sat down at another table.

Twilight shook her head and saw the white haired mage shaking his head as he walked past her and pulled out a book from his bag, along with an eyeglass case.

“What are you doing?” Twilight asked as she looked at the man.

“I’m studying. That’s usually what libraries are for. Figured you’d know that better than anyone.” Twilight sat across from him and continued to glare at the man. “I heard from Rarity that constant frowning causes wrinkles.”

“How did you use magic with your hands?”

“I always could. I just chose not to broadcast it.” He sighed.

“It’s impossible! No one your age should be able to do that!”

“There’s no such thing as impossibilities. Your fights with Nightmare Moon and Discord should have proven that.” Dash, being the braggart that she is, had told him of their exploits as the Elements of Harmony. “If you’re wondering if I’m more powerful than you, the answer is no. I’m just better at fighting and using my magic to it’s fullest extent.”

“How did you beat Trixie?”

“You saw the fight. The answer should be simple.” Twilight still looked puzzled. The man rolled his eyes. “Her use of the duplication spell is what did her in.”

“I don’t get it.”

“I thought you were in the gifted program?” The woman frowned. “Fine, let me spell it out for you. The duplication spell evenly distributes the magic you currently have to how many clones you create. If I make a clone, then I half of my magic, I make ten, I have a tenth, etcetera. Trixie had already used a bit of magic and she was fairly new to the spell.”

Twilight nodded. “I knew this, which is why I usually don’t use clones in a fight and even when I do I set a time limit so I don’t waste my magical energy. Like this clone.” He gestured to himself. “The real Grey set a time limit for two hours.” Twilight stood up. “I wouldn’t go to my room if I were you.”

“Why?”

“Because I have a feeling that he and Eris are going to ‘celebrate.’” Twilight blushed at the words. “Unless you want to see something like that again.” He chuckled at the scholar’s blushing cheeks.

“It still doesn’t make any sense!” Grey sighed.

“Look Sparkle, there are a lot of things in this world that doesn’t make sense. I just happen to fall into that category. Accept it! Now if you don’t mind, I have some reading to do.” He said as he puled out a set of clear rectangular glasses.

“You wear glasses?”

“They’re enchanted so I can read twice as fast.” Twilight still glared at the white haired man. “God when does it end with you?” He complained. “Look, If I tell you something, will you leave me in peace?”

“Maybe.” The man closed the book and thought of something.

“When I was a kid I had really bad social anxiety.” He said in a flat tone.

“You? Seriously?” Grey nodded.

“Couldn’t say two words to someone without going into a panic attack and I popped anxiety pills like they were skittles.” He winced at the memories of his youth. “I tried therapy, didn’t really help much due to my inability to open up.” Twilight looked at the man and almost found it impossible to imagine that the mage who sat before her had trouble communicating with people.

“So what did you do?”

“Well, after I re-enrolled in school, this one girl wouldn’t stop bugging me. Sometimes she’d follow me home, or spy on me when I went to practice magic.” A sly grin then spread across his face. “Sound familiar Twi?” The scholar blushed at the words. “Anyway, her stubbornness paid off and she became my first friend after-” he stopped himself not willing to say anything else.

“Anyway there’s your bit of information. Now shoo. I’ve got to read before my time is up.” Twilight grumbled and went back to her work station sometimes looking over at the man who’s eyes were glued to the book.

He cares about his studies?

This just gets better and better.

Shut up!

~~~

Trixie was staring up at the ceiling in the infirmary as she replayed the fight in her head. She cursed herself for not being able to best the white haired mage in a duel. “Penny for your thoughts?” Trixie shot up and saw the white haired mage standing in the doorway. Trixie opened her mouth, but she felt something clamp her mouth shut. “Relax Ms. huffy, I’m not here to fight.”

Trixie felt something hard yet squishy on her mouth. “Silence goo. You can breathe, but it’s sound proof. Gotta thank my boss for giving me the recipe.”

“Mph!”

“Oh calm down, it’s not permanent.” He said puling out a spray bottle. “I have the cure right here.” Trixie grumbled. “Don’t bother calling for the nurse, she’s probably having the best sleep she’s had in months, courtesy of some tea I brewed.” He chuckled.

“Anyway, I’m here to ask you something Trix and depending on that answer I’ll give this back.” He said as he held up the badge he took from her after the fight. The woman growled again. “I’m gonna take the goo off so you can answer, try to scream it’s going back on. Deal.”

“Mph.” The grunt sounded more tame.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” He sprayed the solution on the goo. “Now think of something pretty.” He said as he quickly ripped the goop off like a bandaid.

“Ow! How dare you damage Trixie’s-” Grey help up the goo again. “Just ask your question so you can stop bothering Trixie and return that to me!” She said looking at the badge.

“Where’d you get this?” He asked looking at the badge. “This is authentic and I’ve never seen you in the guild before. You’re not even on the listings, I checked. So either you stole this, or you’re borrowing it.” He said as he narrowed his eyes.

“If it’s the former then I’ll have to report you to the guild master and let me tell you, he’ll make the beating I gave you look like a game of two hand touch wingball.” Trixie gulped at the warning. The woman sighed and looked at the badge.

“Trixie did not steal it. It was given to her.” Her tone was somber.

“By who?”

“My...mother.” She said in a slightly saddened tone. “Trixie inherited it after she passed away.” Grey immediately felt guilty for asking.

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.”

“It’s not a fresh wound she died a year ago.” Trixie blew a pie of her hair out of her face.

“What was her name? Since she was a guild member I might have known her.”

“Doubt it. She left the guild when she found out she was pregnant with me and she never went back.” The woman stated. “Her name was Aurora Mirage.”

“Aurora Mirage?” The name rang a bell and his jaw dropped. “You don’t mean the legendary illusionist do you?”

“Know any other woman by that name?” She said dryly.

“No way! She’s a legend in the guild! She’s got her own statue in the Legacy Hall!” He said in shock. The Legacy Hall was a reserved place for the best mages that were in the guild. “I didn’t know she had a kid.”

“Trixie prefers not to let anyone know.” She grumbled.

“Why? Your mother was powerful. I’m sure people would be amazed.”

“That is precisely why I don’t want people to know.” She huffed.

“I’m confused.”

“Trixie prefers to be acknowledged as ‘The Great and Powerful Trixie’ rather than ‘Trixie, the daughter of Aurora Mirage.’” Grey sat back and sighed.

“You want to make it on your own steam.” He smirked. “I can relate. I daresay I’ve misjudged you Trix. Here I thought you were just some bratty girl filled with a lot of hot air that was only out for herself.” The woman frowned. “Granted that incident with the Ursa Minor-”

“That was not Trixie’s fault!” The woman snapped.

“Oh really?” The man raised an eyebrow. “Twilight’s brother, Spike, told me that you lead an Ursa Minor into town and Twilight took care of it.”

“Trixie did not lead that thing into town!”

“Care to elaborate?” He asked sighing. Trixie then went into detail about the show she did in Ponyville two years prior. “You tied up AJ in her own rope?” The man chuckled as he imagined the farmer hogtied on stage. He wasn’t mean towards the farmer, but the thought was a bit amusing to him. “So where does the giant bear come in?”

“During the show, Trixie said that she vanquished an Ursa Major.” Grey raised an eyebrow. “I only said it to boost my publicity! What’s wrong with that?”

“Quite a few things, but lets move on.”

“After the show, these two small boys were so impressed by Trixie’s magical abilities that they wanted to see more.” She said in her usual proud tone. “Trixie did not realize that they had gone into the nearby forest and lead an Ursa to town expecting me to beat it. That’s when Trixie came clean and Twilight Snarkle came in to save the day.”

“Oh, then it wasn’t your fault.”

“Trixie is not at fault! They-” Trixie blinked as the words registered. “Wait what did you say?” Trixie raised an eyebrow.

“That it’s not your fault. Those two kids dragged that thing into town. They’re the ones to blame.” The woman just froze and stared at Grey in shock. “What?”

“Trixie is just surprised. Most people blame me for that whole incident.”

“Most people includes?”

“Twilight and her band of misfits.” She grumbled. Grey gave a nod at the words and tossed her the badge.

“Well, that was enlightening Trixie and a deal is a deal.” He said as he turned to leave. “Take it easy.”

“Wait,” The word made Grey stop. “why ask Trixie all of these things? Why do you care?” Grey turned and stared into Trixie’s purple eyes.

“The look in your eyes says there’s something special about you.”

“Trixie is confused.” Grey leaned in closer to the woman and Trixie felt a small blush on her cheeks.

“I can tell that you’ve seen some shit Trixie.” He said as he squinted. “Shit that people like Twilight and most people here can’t, or are scared to imagine.” Trixie gulped and adverted her eyes from the man. “In that way we’re alike. I’m not going to ask about it for two reasons; I’m not Twilight and I am in no position to know about them.”

“Trixie is happy that at least someone understands the concept of privacy.” She said rolling her eyes.

“Yeah, that is something Twilight needs to work on.” He sighed. “Oh, right. Here.” He threw her a container with a single red pill in it.

“What is this?”

“That will get you back up on your feet by tomorrow.” Trixie looked at him in disbelief. The doctors told her that she’d need to stay in bed for at least three days. “Put that in the tub the next time you take a bath and it’ll bring you back up to full health.” Trixie grinned. “However, the process will be painful.”

“How painful?”

“Whatever pain you feel before you get into the bath, will double as it heals you.” Trixie gulped. “Hey, nothing’s free.”

“Why give this to me?”

“Well, I was the one who got you into this situation. Better on my conscious if I help you get out of it.” He grinned. “Not to mention since I won, I own you for a day.” Trixie groaned as she remembered the bet. “You can pick the day and only when you’re feeling better. See you around.” The man’s form instantly went into a cloud of smoke.

The young woman looked at the pill and sighed. She took the pill and started running a bath in her hospital room. The water soon got to her liking and she dropped the pill into the water. The water soon started to turn red and boil like water in a hot pot. The woman stripped down and looked at her bruised body. There were dark mark’s on her ribs, arms and legs.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained. She slipped her feet in first and soon sat down letting the water go over her shoulders. Trixie dunked her head in and washed her hair. The young woman waited. “Knew he was-” Trixie’s eyes shrank as she felt a thousand needles stinging her skin. She was in too much pain to move or scream. A few tears filled her eyes as she silently prayed for her torment to end.

The next five minutes were the most painful of the woman’s life to date. Then as quickly as it came, the feeling stopped. Trixie immediately bolted up and drained the tub. She looked at herself in the mirror and saw all the bruises were gone, more than that. She felt like all of her anxiety and pain had been ripped from her body. The woman smirked as she got changed and decided to catch a good night’s sleep.

Author's Note

So sorry this took so long.