Author's Note

Fair warning.
I've been dreading this chapter for quite a while now and this is, in fact, the third version of it. I'm still not fully satisfied with it, but it's pretty much the best I'll be able to hammer out right now, maybe I'll come back and redo it like I plan to do with the prologue and the first couple of chapters. Or maybe not, we'll see.
We get pretty technical in this chapter, but it's needed to explain some stuff about what exactly has been going on with Janos and his magic as well as how magic works in general. (At least my take on it.)
I won't be explaining everything, though, there will be plenty left to talk about later, but it's still a pretty tough read.
So please bear with me for now. Next chapter will be a lighter read.

Chapter 9 - On the nature of magic and it's human applications.

The Unusual Tale of a Human Thief in Equestria

An Unlikely Hero.

Chapter 9 - On the nature of magic and it's human applications.

Nothing I hate more than waking up with someone watching me. It's just plain weird you know? What kind of sick bastard just stands there watching someone else sleep? If you're waiting for me to wake then for fuck's sake just wake me up already, it might be a bit annoying to be woken up before I get my sleep, but it's better than feeling violated right after I wake up.

Anyway, I'm saying this because I woke up that evening being watched by not just one, but two ponies. Luna and Celestia were standing on opposite sides of the room, eyes glued to my sleeping figure. At least have the decency to be doing something else, like a reading a book or something else.

I sat up on my bed rubbing my eyes, noticing my shirt was gone, at least they had the decency to keep my pants on. Both princesses stood their ground, watching me silently, almost made me question whether or not they were actually there. Actual people don't stand so still like that.

The room was a regal thing indeed. Reminded me of those fancy European hotels. Marble floors, spacious and fine furniture everywhere. It was quite clear I was in some guest room at Canterlot Castle.

I stared at one princess and then to the other, but still, they kept their silence. Staring at me like I just murdered someone in cold blood. "I'm not going to bite you know," I said once the silent game wore off its novelty. "Unless you're into that I mean," I added with a smirk.

"Good, you're back to normal," Luna said with a sigh of relief. "I was worried it didn't work."

I raised an eyebrow. Back to normal? Didn't work? What the hell was she talking about?

"You don't remember?" She asked again, noticing my confusion. "Not even our discussion?"

"I just woke up Princess. We didn't discuss nothing." I answered.

"You mean you don't remember anything about the train ride here? Or the dream you just woke up from?" Celestia stepped into the conversation. "You said he would remember." She asked her sister.

"I said he should," Luna answered. "I don't have a lot of experience with human dreams sister. His mind could be trying to protect him"

What? What the hell is going on here? What do my dreams have to do with this?

"I'll explain everything Janos." Celestia spoke with a obviously rehearsed motherly voice, no doubt meant to sound calming and soothing. It only worried me further. "In the ride to Canterlot you experienced a mental breakdown caused by an intense magical overload. You had your very first contact with your own magical core which caused an adverse reaction on your psyche. You lost control of your own emotion when your inner magical potential surpassed a certain threshold." She paused a little to let it all sink in before continuing. "You're fine now though, Luna and I manage to contain it."

"Celestia, I don't even know what 'it' is."

"Sister, allow me." Luna approached the bed carrying a couple of files with her magic. She sat by the bed and opened the files dropping a piece of paper next to me. She motioned for me to pick it up and I did, the paper was one of the first tests Twilight and Doctor Horse had performed on me, it was supposed to check if I had any magical potential inside me. Unsurprisingly the graph on these results showed only a vestigial amount of magic that was believed to be just the environmental magic of Equestria rubbing off on me. "That is your magical potential on the first few days here." She explained, then she dropped another couple of papers with the very same graph on it on the bed. "It remained relatively constant during these two weeks. This are the results of the same test that was performed only an hour ago."

This time, the graph was much different. Instead of the line being very close to the zero mark with only a few highs and lows that barely reached the one mark, this time, it was full of peaks and valleys, much like an electrocardiogram.

"I don't get it, what happened?"

"Do you remember a young filly by the name of Far Sight?" Celestia asked me.

"Yes, kinda," I remembered the name, but I couldn't quite remember what she looked like. Every time I tried was like trying to remember a dream, you can almost grasp it but the details escape your reach, all you can recall is a vague impression of the dream itself.

"She is an apprentice clairvoyant, and on the way here she attempted to see your future." The princess continued. "A spell like that works by connecting your magical essence, your core, with the magical essence of the caster. This caster then uses that connection to see into your 'future'."

"You're joking right?" I asked her, interrupting the Princess who really didn't like that.

"Let me finish." She scolded me. "Everypony has a cutie mark, that cutie mark, and the special talent it represents, is decided on the moment the fetus is infused with magic. That means that to a degree our magical cores do contain some sort of mechanism that allows our magic to 'see our future'. Some ponies believe that by looking into it, they can see it as well."

"Fine," I said, deciding this wasn't the moment to have a philosophical discussion on fate. "But what does that have to do with anything?"

Celestia scowled at my interruption again but continued without addressing it, "When your core and hers connected you absorbed some of her magic when that happened you apparently woke up to your own magical abilities."

"I can do magic?"

"Apparently you can. The vestigial magic we thought was just the environment interfering with our tests was actually your own magic. It was just too little to have any use other than keep you alive and well."

"Are you serious?" I asked, not knowing if I should laugh or take them seriously. "You are! You actually think I can do magic!"

Their dead serious expressions were too much for me, I burst out laughing on the spot. To the princesses credit, they did take it rather well, they sat there and took it all like big girls, patiently waiting for me to finish laughing my ass off.

Then Celestia got fed off. Her horn was enveloped in a dense yellow mist and suddenly my world got turned upside down. The room turned a dark grey, getting even darker than it already was with only the moonlight shining through the closed curtains. My eyes followed the strand of yellow fog that was touching my forehead and saw that the ponies in front of me vanished. Instead, in their place, stood two creatures made of something akin to smoke or mist. Two 'ghosts', one made of a yellow mist like substance much like the one that had appeared around Celestia's horn, and another made of a dark blue 'mist'. They were radiating with heat, even sitting here I could feel the warm glow emanating from them both. "Do you believe me now?" The yellow one spoke in Celestia's voice, and I understood it all. Those were Celestia and Luna, that wasn't mist or fog or smoke. That was magic.

And I could see it. I could touch it as I proved by wrapping my fingers around the tendril of magic leaving Celestia's horn that was touching my forehead. I flinched at how hot it felt and let go with a yelp.

Celestia pulled her magic away from my touch and my vision returned to normal. But my senses didn't. I could still feel the warm glow radiating from the two princesses. "That's what happened on the train. Do you remember now?" Celestia asked me.

And suddenly I did. The memories came flooding into my head. The premonition by Far Sight, the mist ponies surrounding me. The panic I felt, the unrestrained fear gripping me. The anger and rage when I convinced myself the creatures were going for the girls.

"God," I mumbled. What had I done? I hurt those people and had I remembered to switch the safety off I could have killed someone. This isn't right if the Old man knew I let my emotions get the better of me like that he would kick my ass for being so careless.

"Don't worry, with the exception of a retired guard, nopony was seriously hurt" Luna tried to comfort me, but all I heard was: 'Hey you kicked some old dude's ass kid! Proud of yourself?'

"Can you do me a favor?" I turned to Celestia who seemed surprised at the sudden request.

"Of course." She answered, smiling warmly. "I'd do anything in my power."

"I want to cover the expenses of everyone I hurt back there, just take their hospital bills off my pay."

"You don't have to worry about that Janos, I'm seeing to it that they are well-taken care off, personally." She said.

"Are you the one that attacked them for no reason?" I asked, rather angrily. She stared me down for a few seconds, but when she saw I wouldn't be talked out of it, she accepted.

"Very well. Do you want me to let them know you are covering their bills?"

"Thanks but there is no need." I refused, politely this time. "Are the girls ok? I remember doing something to Twilight"

"Twilight is a little shaken up, but they are fine." Luna answered me. "They are waiting for you in the other room."

"Good, so I can detect magic is that what you're saying?" I brought the conversation back on topic, though there was still a lot they hadn't told me, like why I lost it like that back in the train, it was better to take this step by step. I would try to wrap my head around this whole magic thing, then I could move on to other questions.

"Yes, you can quite literally see the magic," Luna spoke.

"Doesn't everyone do that? I mean, I could see your horns glowing when you use magic even before this whole thing at the train."

"That's true, but there's a difference." She answered, "Magic in its inert state can't usually be seen, it is only when it becomes active that it produces light. You can see the inert magic contained inside of a pony as well as interact with it."

"Like I did with Twilight's magic?" I don't want to even think about that. I wanted to kill her for god's sake!

"Yes, you managed to stop her spell and absorb the magic she was using. Even our best mages find that to be quite a feat to achieve." Celestia said, she sounded impressed and even glad about it but her face was having trouble agreeing with her mouth. She was worried, she wasn't sure whether or not I was going to be a liability or an asset.

"So I'm one of a kind?"

"No, there was another who could perform such feats as naturally as you, he was even better at in fact. Though I'm fairly sure he wasn't able to detect magic as well as you do." She answered. "He was a great threat to Equestria and were it not for his brother's change of heart, we might not have been able to stop him in time."

Yup. She was definitely worried about this. Rightfully too, I'm a completely neutral party, soon as the contract ends and I'm on my own, she will have no idea what I'll do with this ability of mine, and if that guy proved to be such a thorn in her side then I could be just as big of a problem.

"But that's in the past sister, Tirek will not be returning anytime soon. Luckily he will never trouble us again." Dude still alive? By the look on Celestia's face when Luna mentioned his name I would expect her to have sent this dude on a one-way trip to the sun. Though, judging by what Twilight told me, Celestia has a tendency to take pity on her enemies.

"Ok." I tried to steer the conversation away from this Tirek dude. The less Celestia associates me with him the better for my good being. "So I can see and feel the inert magic and absorb it through direct contact." I summed up what we had discussed so far. "Now that I've got all this magic in me, what can I do with it?"

Both sisters shared a look before Luna turned back to me. "We don't know, the only way to find out is through trial and error. Though by what we've seen on the train you can at least manipulate it in a similar manner to a unicorn. You did manage to release a telekinetic blast."

Yeah, gonna have to be careful with that. Don't want to have another accident.

Which reminds me... "You still haven't explained why I lost my head back there."

"That is quite simple." Celestia answered me. "You are not used to having so much magic stored in you, much less interacting with your body and mind. You see, magic is a deeply emotional thing, ruled by feelings and instincts." Lecture time apparently, this whole thing sounds rehearsed now, maybe that's what she was doing while I slept. " A newborn, for instance, that haven't yet had the time to deal with his own magic is prone to magic burst much alike the one you experienced, as he grows up his own mind creates a, let's say wall, between his magic and emotions in order to prevent one from bleeding into the other. It is only when the pony matures enough that he learns to break down that wall and control his magic on his own. You did not have that chance to get used to it."

"So my emotions got mixed up with my magic? When I got confused by what was going on the magic I had absorbed started to interact with my emotions of fear and anger and exacerbated them?" I deduced by what she was getting at.

"Precisely," Celestia confirmed, looking quite pleased I caught up on that and saved her the time.

"That sounds dangerous, what happens when a powerful unicorn lets his guard down?" Celestia apparently didn't take my question quite that seriously. She giggled suddenly, completely out of the blue, and had to take a deep breath to calm down again.

"You mean like Twilight used to lose control when she was young?" She asked me, obviously not expecting a response. "Let me tell you a little story. When Twilight applied to the Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns-" I couldn't help but picture a bald Celestia on a wheel chair directing a young group of students on how to best use their powers for the good of all. "- she got so nervous her magic spiraled out of control. Her exam consisted of hatching a dragon's egg, Spike's to be exact, with a strong magical surge, she ended up not only hatching the egg, but turning Spike into a full grown dragon with the mind of a newborn and turning her parents and examiner into potted plants. Took me hours to fix all the damage."

Jesus lady! That's not funny! That's horrifying! What the hell is wrong with you?!

The kid turned her parents into a pair of freaking ficus plants! It's a wonder that kid didn't grow up with serious issues. Oh no wait a second, maybe that explains her control obsession... You know what? That explain plenty.

"Oh shush! It sounds much worse than it was." She waved me off. Ignoring my horrified expression and her sister's eye roll. "To this day Twilight experiences some issues with her magic when her emotions get the better of her, it's quite a common thing for ponies like her."

"So this happens to you two too?" I asked. Apparently, neither of them expected that question since they were both left momentarily at a loss for words. "I mean, my memories of the 'incident' are still hazy and all, but I can easily tell you two are way more powerful than any pony I've met."

Celestia stopped and thought about my questions, what she was thinking about was beyond me. That mare can really hide her thoughts when she wants to. Luna, on the other hand, was having a harder time looking neutral, she was blushing heavily and avoiding my gaze. Seems my question brought forth some pretty awkward memories.

"We are over a thousand years old Janos." Celestia finally answered me. "After so long, you tend to learn to deal with these things."

"Fine forget I asked. Not my business anyway." I shrugged it off and continued. "Apart from the obvious, which would be training and hard work, how do we make sure I don't lose my cool again?"

Luna cleared her throat and answered me. "For now we will have to simulate the natural defenses a young colt or filly's brains have set up in their minds." She levitated what looked like to be a pendant and handed it to me. "This is a magic suppressor." The pendant was made of a small, dark blue, disc-shaped stone adorned with plenty of runes I couldn't recognize arranged in concentric circles with one bigger rune that looked a lot like an 'R' in the center. "I inscribed it myself, to make sure there will be no further incidents." Luna mentioned, looking rather proud of herself.

"Looks very nice." I decided to massage her ego a little bit, besides it does look very pretty. "This won't mess with my mind right?" I asked, a little concerned about what they said about mental barriers.

"Not at all, it will just block your magic from leaving its inert state. I attuned it to your magical signature so it should only work on you." Luna explained, somewhat putting my mind at ease. "It will also provide you with a small protection against magic, though any spell stronger than a simple telekinetic blast should get through it, so don't rely on this talisman too much."

"Wait, if it's attuned to my magical signature then what about the magic I took from other ponies that's already inside me?"

"That magic is quickly adapted to you." She explained, "For all intents and purposes it's all 'Janos magic' now. Part of the absorption process we believe since there is no trace of Twilight's signature on you."

"How many tests did you people run on me while I slept?" I asked them, quite surprised at how much they knew about this whole ordeal already. "How much time did I sleep anyway?"

"Five tests and you slept for three hours since you arrived." Celestia answered, "We are still awaiting the results of three of those tests by the way."

"You'll have to tell me more about it later," I told her, getting up from the bed and stretching my back. "C'mon, unless you two got anything more to discuss with me, I say we go meet the girls. I got some apologizing to do." I put on Luna's little trinket and began searching for a shirt to wear. "Where the hell is my shirt?"

"You should rest Janos, your body's been under a lot of stress you shouldn't be up and about." Celestia stood between me and the door, motioning for me to go back to bed.

"I feel fine, besides I got rest enough already." I pushed past her and kept searching for something to wear, as well as my boots which I just noticed were missing.

"Your clothes are in your room with the girls. you can get dressed there," Luna spoke, moving towards the door. "Celestia you know as well as I do he won't go back to bed, let's save ourselves some time and just move on with our business."

"Luna, you can't possibly be thinking of going through with this assignment!" Celestia gasped in surprise, rushing to the door, putting herself between her sister and the exit.

"And why not?" Luna replied, "As long as he keeps the talisman on he will have no more trouble and an Agent of the Crown is supposed to be capable of enduring much worse than that." She argued. "Not to mention the fact that the ponies of Ore Valley are in desperate need of help."

"The guards you sent are more than capable of handling it," Celestia argued back, but she couldn't change her sister's mind.

"All the more reason he should have no trouble fulfilling this assignment." The night Princess said, looking very pleased with herself. She cantered on to the door and unlocked it. "Come along Janos, we have much to discuss."

"Luna I cannot allow this," Celestia said with a stern face. She put her hoof down in an attempt to intimidate her sister. But intimidated she was not, in fact, Luna looked pissed.

"Do I need to remind you sister that as of yesterday this human has been placed under my command?" Luna walked slowly but with confidence until she was standing just a couple of inches away from her sister.

"That may be, but it will matter none if your agent dies on the field, sister," Celestia replied staring down her sister. "I may have agreed to let you take care of this, but I will not sit idly by while you make poor decisions."

"Don't lecture me, Celestia!" Luna snapped. "I can take care of this on my own! This is an important matter that has passed unnoticed by you and your guard, so before you scold for my poor decision-making skills perhaps you would like to reevaluate your own performance when you've let one of our settlements go by, completely unaided for so long!"

She managed to shut Celestia up with this, and for a moment both of them just stood there staring each other down. I was glad to be standing a good distance away from them, even from a good six or so feet away I could feel the heat emanating from them both. Guess they are not as proficient at keeping their emotions in check as they claimed to be.

"Very well." Celestia finally stood down, pushing past her sister and walking away. "Since you are so capable dear sister, I will return to my quarters and let you take care of business. It is night after all." With this Celestia left the room and accompanied by a couple of guards left me and Luna to ourselves.

We stood in silence for a couple of moments, as I let Luna cool down a bit. She motioned for the hallway and I took my cue to leave alongside the Princess. We left the room and I let her lead me to our destination as we were escorted by a couple of guards wearing dark armor, who followed us while keeping some distance. After some time walking in silence Luna spoke up. "I'm sorry you had to witness that Janos." She said. "We sometimes tend to lose our calm with Celestia. She just can't seem to understand We are perfectly capable of taking care of ourselves without her help!"

"Don't worry about it, Princess," I said trying to get her calm down. "I know exactly what you're talking about. My sister and I were the same way." Though the roles were reversed with Carol and me.

"You have a sister?" She asked me, caught by surprise at my sudden revelation.

"What? Your sources didn't tell you about that?" I joked around. Maybe she would respond well to some lighthearted humor.

She chuckled softly, finally seeming to cool off a bit. This is all so strange, I can feel the heat receding into her as her anger dies off. "You got us there-" She stopped herself suddenly as if catching up on a bad habit. "I'm sorry. You caught me there." Luna corrected herself. "Sometimes I slip back into my old ways. But tell me more about your sister, you must miss her dearly." Luna almost seemed to open up a little at the prospect of having something in common with me.

"Maybe some other day." I avoided the request and brought the situation back into safe territory. "What's this assignment you were talking about?"

She apologized and reverted back to her old self. Maybe I was too rude there? "Yes, the assignment." She said, buying some time while she gathered her thoughts. "One of our border settlements to the south are being harassed by a clan of Diamond Dogs. They are destroying their crops and attacking any merchant caravan that gets close to the village, any traveler really." Diamond Dogs huh? From what I read they are big, dumb and possess almost no magic whatsoever. Usually keeping to themselves, only rarely coming in contact with pony society, usually to steal caravans carrying gems and such. Apparently, there is nothing they love more than shiny stones.

"Diamond Dogs? Sounds a little under my league don't you think?" Don't misunderstand, I'm not trying to be cocky here. But when Rarity defeats a whole pack of these guys simply by whining really hard, then I wager I wouldn't have a lot of trouble with them.

"True, usually I wouldn't send you on such a feeble matter." Luna agreed. "However, there is something strange going on with this assignment." She paused to allow me the chance to ask any questions but I just motioned for her to continue. "Apparently this has been going on for a long time now and any attempt to notify the guards about it has been completely ignored. I addition this is some very abnormal behavior for diamond dogs, they usually stay away from pony lands unless absolutely necessary. Especially when Ore Valley contains no gemstone mines, they mine Mithril, one of the most recent mithril ore deposits discovered on the Equestrian soil."

Yes, diamond dogs don't really care for metals and such. In fact, most of them can't even work the most basic of metals, usually, they just steal that stuff. "So you think they are actually working for someone?" I asked her. "Since someone is clearly covering it up so that you and Celestia don't hear about it, and they wouldn't really know what to do with a mithril mine if they were handed one?"

Just as I was about to question whether or not we should be talking about this in the open I realized we were not, in fact, in the open. The hallways were completely empty, and judging by how calm Luna was about this then that must precisely how she ordered it to be.

"Yes. I'm afraid somepony else is pulling the strings here." Luna said, confirming my suspicions. "I want you to go there, arrest this troublesome clan and look for evidence that they are working for somepony else. If possible bring me the whole clan, though the leader would suffice."

"How much are we talking about?" I asked her.

"Two hundred and fifty now and two hundred and fifty upon your return."

"Deal, who will be watching the girls while I'm gone?"

"The specialized undercover squad you'll be put in charge of will take good care of that." She reassured me, "Unlike those incompetents that my sister had previously assigned to watch them, these ponies are more than capable of keeping them safe."

She then stopped in front of a double sided door and turned to face me. "I trust you will keep my suspicions to yourself?"

"Take it to my grave, Princess," I assured her, zipping my mouth shut.

"Good, you will leave tomorrow evening." Luna continued, pleased with my answer. "For now, rest and spend some time with your friends. Tomorrow I will have someone deliver you some files and dossiers that you may find useful."

"Sure, I'll take a good look at them."

"And remember Janos, keep the talisman on you at all times. When you get back we will talk about finding somepony to teach you to control your powers safely."

She stepped back and motioned for the door before saying goodnight and leaving to take care of her other duties accompanied by her guards who saluted me before walking away. Guess they respect me a bit more than I thought they would.

I took a deep breath and prepared myself for meeting the girls after what had been no doubt a good scare. I placed my hands on the handles of the door and pushed them open.