Author's Note

Have another chapter before I get too lost in the fun that is World of Warships
Though the next chapter will be the fun Crystal Empire adventure and hopefully I can make a none show event drive the story after awhile. Though may use major villains

Chapter 21: Magic Lessons

Chapter 21: Magic Lessons

Tristan

After an hour of doing nothing, I looked at the time and found it to be nearing noon so I took it upon myself to find something to eat and realized that I would have to go hunting at some point for a source of meat. I found some lettuce and various vegetables so seeing nothing else I made a salad.

Lunch now over I found myself without anything to do. I could not go outside without a widespread panic and the few fiction books I picked up felt like they were written for a younger audience, so I retreated into my own mind.

After several minutes of trying to reach my mental space I found myself in my apartment once more with Nightmare on the Xbox playing what seemed to be Dark Souls Three. She noticed my presence shortly after a mob of enemies managed to kill her.

“Nice to see you again Tristan, what brings you here?”

“Nothing to do at the moment so I managed to get myself in a state to go inside my mind after trying for several minutes, kind of odd to be in what is essentially a lucid dream and headspace I guess.” I replied, taking a seat next to Nightmare.

“Headspace is a decent term, everyone has them but only some can access it and only through meditation. With me here I act like a shortcut and give a tether for you to easily enter your headspace. Anyway here you can recall everything you have experienced with near perfect recollection and since I am also here I can access it all as well.”

I mulled over what Nightmare said, “Well that sounds both useful and quite convenient, so with that in mind what do you want to do? We have access to numerous books, games and even a fair few things I have seen on the internet.”

Nightmare turned off the Xbox and snuggled into the side of the couch. “No need just sitting here and talking is enough.” Nightmare was quiet for a time, “You know oddly enough, you’re to blame for my disinterest in revenge. When I first was made self aware from the strength of Luna’s negative emotions all I knew was anger and a desire to make the night appreciated. So I pressured Luna to let me act on that resentment in small ways, making the night a few minutes longer than a half hour, an hour.

“Overtime I also desired to be my own being, so I took over completely and declared myself Nightmare Moon and tried to usurp Celestia. I of course failed. I kept myself in charge through pressing Luna’s vulnerabilities, telling her that Celestia would never take her back and other such things.

“A thousand years later I broke free and found you remembering you though Luna I broke the weakened spell and you know the rest.”

Nightmare sighed, “I never thought you and I would become friends but I guess we both wanted someone to treat us like anyone else. It was then my interest in ruling actually started to diminish, though the Nobles did not help.”

Nightmare and I both shared a laugh very much aware of how annoying the nobles were for those two years. When we calmed down Nightmare continued. “Anyway, I guess when I realized I had a friend, someone to just talk to, to understand me. Ruling over Equestria slowly became less important. I must thank you for your friendship. It means a lot to me.”

Much to my surprise Nightmare wrapped her arms around me,after doing nothing for a second I finally returned the hug. “It’s no problem Nightmare I am glad to be your friend you know this.”

Nightmare reluctantly broke the hug. “It seems it is getting late. You should move to your current room and get some actual rest.”

I just nodded and did just that when I laid down I smiled to myself the conversation with Nightmare filling me with a pleasant warmth. Soon enough I drifted off to a dreamless sleep.

The next day I woke up ate breakfast and the day started off uneventful, that was until the purple dragon belched up a letter and Twilight read it and immediately panicked shouting out something about Princess Celestia and a task before she set out to gather her friends telling me to meet her at the train station in ten minutes.

So with a shrug I made my way to the train station and as expected saw all six mares gathered there by the time I arrived thanks to my leisurely pace. Twilight got the tickets and we boarded the train and an hour later arrived at Canterlot, The girls talked about what it could be that caused Princess Celestia to summon them. I ignored the conversation, choosing to play sentry. Any guards I passed gripped their weapons tighter, while the civilians made sure to stay out of the way, whispering all along. Twilight showed the guards at the castle entrance the paper from Celestia and they let us in with no issue though they eyed me wearily.

We walked through the castle for about five minutes before arriving at the throne room once more the guards opened the doors once Twilight showed the letter from Celestia and tensed up the second they saw me. Beyond the door was Celestia with a motherly smile on her face and worry in her eyes though I was the only one it seemed that could even tell she was worried.

“We’re here Princess, just like you requested.” Twilight announced as her and her five friends bowed down till Celestia requested them to rise. Twilight did notice I did not follow suit and glared but I ignored her.

“I have called you all here to tell you that the Crystal Empire has reappeared in the Frozen North after disappearing a thousand years ago. I am sending you girls and your guard to investigate and find out why it has appeared after so long.

“The seven of you will take the train north in a few hours to meet your escort who then will take you to The Crystal Empire proper. Till then you are welcome to go to the kitchen and get something to eat.”

The mares all bowed before heading out to the kitchen to get some much desired food though as Twilight and I were about to leave Celestia called out. “Twilight, Chief. I want you both to stay for a moment. I have something to show you both.”

I looked back and Twilight asked for the both of us. “What is it Princess?”

Celestia waved us to her and we complied. “I left out a couple details. First is that I am worried that the reason for the return is an old enemy of mine, a stallion named Sombra or King Sombra as he likes to call himself.

“Shortly after I banished my sister he took over the Empire in a coop and declared himself King, of course I responded as soon as I got news from some refugees. So I brought an army to combat the King. We were winning then the ground shook, and a dome encased the city. I and most of the surviving troops were able to get out but a few got trapped when the city disappeared.” Celestia shook her head

“Anyway I know the type of magic Sombra uses and it might be useful for you to know Twilight and I’m sure it might be a decent excuse for Chief to learn to channel the magic he now possesses.

“Anyway, Sombra uses what most refer to as Dark Magic aptly named for its tendency to become more potent when cast by a mage with many “Dark” emotions in their heads and hearts.”

Celestia looked at me, “I should cover a little bit of the foundations of magic. One Magic is in all things in one form or another. Two Magic is heavily influenced by emotions for example healing and shield spells will be much easier to cast when focusing on positive emotions like happiness or love. While offensive spells tend to be easier when focusing on Negative emotions like Anger. While utility spells like teleportation are not heavily influenced by emotions.

“Now to “Dark Magic” Is achieved when a user is letting their negative emotions to the forefront of their mind as they cast and is able to produce very potent offensive spells, while very ineffective when casting healing spells.

“As for why it is different from, say just casting a magic arrow while angry, dark magic requires the user to focus on their dark emotions almost exclusively. As one may guess this may cause a pony using this type of magic to lose touch with their other emotions and that is what causes ponies like Sombra to rise.”

Celestia took a breath and seemed to be thinking about something before she continued. “I tell you this because I believe that Sombra will have places only accessible with the use of dark magic so I want to teach you both how to use said magic. Let's start with you Chief first. I want you to feel the energy right around your chest.”

I closed my eyes and tried to feel for some sort of energy around my chest like Celestia instructed, it felt like a good couple of hours till I found the energy pulsating in my chest but looking at a clock only fifteen minutes had passed, focusing on the energy I nodded waiting for the next step.

“Now let the energy flow from your chest into your hands.” Celestia instructed.

I complied and in another ten minutes of trying and failing I saw my hand glow a faint dark blue for a moment before I lost grasp of the magic and it disappeared, the effort had me sweating but I was grinning like an overeager child I had just channeled magic a thing of fantasy. Maybe only for a second, but I had done something that I would have thought impossible not terribly long ago.

“Very good. Now onto dark magic. It is similar to channeling normally but I want you to focus on your anger, sorrow, loss, sadness and so on. Let it empower you.” Celestia once more Instructed.

I focused on my inability to go home, being stolen away from my friends and family so long ago, the blood I spilled. It was only moment’s this time and I felt a flare of power, and saw my hand covered in a green and purple aura. Wanting to cancel the magic I cleared my head, and immediately felt another wave of fatigue wash over me. Twilight seemed to grasp it after a minute though she looked less worn out once she let go though the magic seemed to take quite a bit of effort to conjure on her part.

“Very good for both of you. Now you can join the others. They are probably still in the dining hall if you want to find them and you should have some time to eat before you leave.”

Twilight bowed and I nodded before we both let ourselves out and Twilight lead us to the dining hall. The trip was spent in silence till Twilight glanced at me. “So how do you do it?”

I looked at Twilight with mild confusion. I easily figured out the subject but could not for the life of me figure out why she asked.

Twilight must have taken my silence as a sign of uncertainty and asked again, “How are you able to kill so easily without any hesitation?

I sighed wishing she did not ask such a heavy question. “I had a purpose, a way to justify my actions, a voice in my head that I was not killing in vain. Though I seem to have lost that purpose, now it is hard to ignore the echoes of the dead. I can't remember the faces there are too many but I can remember the blank look in their eyes and the pained screams. It comes down to who goes home at the end of everything you or them, one will bear the scars while the other will leave their families behind.” Twilight stayed quiet after my answer.
I thought about what would be the thing to finally kill me in a world where there was very little that could even threaten me. It felt like I was the unbeatable character in a story with plenty of plot armor though in my case I just had better reflexes, armor that was shielded and made of a titanium alloy, and everyone else had at best magical bolts, and the beings who could kill me refuse to and held back when they had the chance.

We reached the dining hall and Twilight immediately saw her friends and smiled. While they talked and ate, I sat a small distance away and ate a quick lunch of salad, bread and water.

Some time later we boarded the train and found ourselves on our way to the Frozen North destination, the Crystal Empire.