The Pentagram

Chapters

Prologue
Chapter One: Thaumaturgy
Chapter Two: Enchantment
Chapter Three: Sorcery
Chapter Four: Alchemy and Wizardry
Chapter Five: Warfare

Prologue

Hi. I'm the Archmage Pentagram. My name pre-displacement was Vincent Asteri. The last name is Greek. I'm six feet exactly, I have light blue eyes, I'm caucasian, male and I think I'll start this all out by regaling you all with the tale of my arrival.

At Comic-con, two days ago relative time...

I was walking into Comic-con, and I was cosplaying. Not as any specific character, but I had dyed my hair black, put silver contact lenses on, and I was wearing a navy blue robe, but under it were normal clothes and above it was leather armor dyed black. On both the leather armor and the robe under it was a silver moon and around it and on the rest of the costume were constellations and other stars. I had a black leather satchel that matched the rest of the costume hidden under my robe to store my money and anything I bought. I already had some bottles and herbs in it, so I called it the components satchel. It even had some food and water.

Anxious and filled with expectations, I pushed open the doors and helped the group behind me get in.

"Woah," I muttered, almost certain that if I was wearing shades I would tip them down. "This place is huge!" I was referring to the massive convention center I was in. "If this place had a few more floors, I might think I was in a huge mall complex if I didn't know that this was Comic-con," I said, a hint of disbelief in my voice at the sheer size of it all.

Let's see what's out here, I thought, excitement coursing through my synapses and flaring neuron's reactions. I saw a huge selection of products, I saw cosplayers, I saw everything I hoped to see. I looked around, hoping to find something within my price range I actually wanted. I saw a stand, the guy running it wearing a Resident Evil Four Merchant costume. I looked at him and meandered over to his stand, looking for something cool. And then I saw something I thought might be the best merchandise in the convention. I saw an astral silver colored pentacle, that might even be made of real silver. It's chain looked the same. I don't know why, I think now that it might have been the magic of the Merchant, but I felt compelled to do anything to get that pentacle.

"How much" - I walked over as fast as I could without seeming to be panicking - "for that pentacle." I finished, letting a little excitement seep into my voice.

"Welcome to my stand. That pentacle goes for a hundred bucks. It's made of real silver, and so is the chain, so it was expensive to make," saying things a little louder than required, but the freakiest part is he actually sounded like the merchant.

I was surprised by that, but I didn't let it show, instead dashing over, throwing down the required money and greedily snatching the pendant, slipping it over my neck.

"Thanks," I ran my finger down the chain and onto the pendant.

"If you give me another ten dollars I'll give you this tome too," the merchant smirked a little, showing a tome that matched the theme of my costume.

"Sure," I said, perhaps too quickly and eagerly. "I'll take it."

I slipped the cash across the front table of the stand and admired the book. Satisfied, I put it in with my components satchel.

I wandered off, not doing much, occasionally buying other things to put in my satchel that looked like magical items. I would buy things to go with the costume, but I didn't find anything to actually wear with it. It was like this for a few days, but something special happened at the end of the convention that would change the course of my destiny, my fate would all be changed by buying that seemingly innocuous pentacle pendant.

I was in the middle of the day, and was getting ready to take a break, when the single most important event in the history of my life occured. My pentacle started glowing, with bolts of arcane-looking energy coming out of it, causing reality itself to tear. A rift between time, space, and whole clusters of universes. It sounded like ten to the power of ten to the power of one hundred pieces of paper being ripped simultaneously. In other words a googolplex of 93.5 square inches of paper being ripped in half. Those very, very few that managed to look into the rent were blinded and any children they met and their descendants while they were children started frowning for the next nine thousand years. The one that actually traveled through it, namely me, was shielded from it by the pentacle. The energies seeping out of it melded my contacts with my eyes, ingrained the dye into my deoxyribonucleicacid, and toughened the leather armor to the point where against a small mundane sword it might actually prevent a death with the guy above me having a post-mortem one-liner, like "I think he got the point." God I hate one-liners But the most important part was the three powers I was given, the ability to use magic, scanner vision, and the ability to level up and put points in things like mana and strength and have a physical improvement based on that.

In the Whitetail Woods, the day after he left in relative time...

I landed in what is christened as the Whitetail Woods with a noise somewhat like a combination of a thunderclap and a sewing machine running at full speed, and if anyone around was awake to see it, then they would see a bolt of lightning in the shape of a stitch sewing reality back together and for the time being trapping him in this universe.

"Ugh," I felt terrible, like I had just been sent around the world at the speed of light without the convenient time slowing effect or anything else to help it not kill me, only alive because something took pity on me and tried to hold me together.

I got up, and took stock of my situation. Supplies? Robes, check. Leather, check. Satchel, check. Pentacle, check. Contact Lenses, nope. Food and water, yep. Herbs, yes. Tome, yes. Doesn't feel like the dye is still in. Normal clothes, check. Surroundings? Thin underbrush and trees, so a wood. The trees look like birch trees. Wind is nearly absent, it seems like a summer day by temperature, but the clouds are strangely static. Verdict? I think I got drunk or am dreaming. Pick a random direction and go that way.

I started trudging north, and kept on going. The air got colder, the wind picked up, the trees slowly turned from birch to weeping willow and pine, and the clouds began moving as they should. Eventually, I came upon a stream still enough for me to see my reflection. I blinked once. I blinked twice. I blinked thrice. I pinched myself. I was very, very, surprised. My eyes were silver and hair was black. But I had no dye in and I had no contacts on. I promptly fainted by the riverbank.

Chapter One: Thaumaturgy

I woke up. I did another double take.

"What," I deadpanned.

"Well hello there sir. I am Steven Magnet, a sea serpent who lives in this stream here in the Everfree Forest. Would kindly tell me in return who and dare I say, what you are?" inquired a sea serpent. With a sophisticated "high class" voice. And he was purple. With orange hair and a mustache. Why would a sea serpent even have hair? And how is it here?! Definitely dreaming, though.

I thought fast, coming up with a suitable pseudonym.

"I am Pentagram. And I am a human. And if you are real, which for all I know you aren't, than I may be the only one of my kind on this planet," I said, reality sinking in. ( If this was real. )

"I would like directions to somewhere I can spend the night, would you know such a place?" I said questioningly.

"If you follow this stream north-west than you'll find a castle called the Castle of the Two Sisters, It was recently abandoned," replied the serpent.

"Thank you," I said, a bit of relief in my voice and a tiny bit of spring in my step. Thank you very much, I thought, even if you might be a hallucination.

"Say, can you tell me the name of this forest, the nearest town, perhaps the country I'm in?" I said, letting the hope I feel leak into my voice.

"Why this is the Everfree Forest, near the new capital city of Canterlot, ruled over by the Princesses. The country is a country called Equestria that formed about a thousand years ago, and five-hundred years ago was taken over by a tyrannical being known as Discord. Recently, the sisters defeated him and took back the old castle, but Discord cursed this forest with his magic to make it grow over the castle." explained Steven. "But why might I not be real?" he asked me.

"Well where I come from magic isn't possible, and my race is the only one capable of speech and is the only fully sentient, sapient one. So I think I might be hallucinating or dreaming." I said, my crushed feeling evident in my voice.

"Ah. Well here there are many races. There are sea serpents such as myself, there are dragons, fire-breathing winged reptiles that eat gems, diamond dogs, which are greedy canines which also are geovores, griffins, that are a being with the front half of an eagle and the back half of a lion, zebras, which are equine four-legged natural alchemists, and the main species in this area, ponies, who have five known subspecies which don't only have a few members. There are the earth ponies, which are equines who are natural miners, craftsmen, and farmers. There are the pegasi, who have wings they can fly with and have fighting instincts, who make up the majority of the military force. There are the unicorns, which are horned equines who make up the nobility, artistans, and merchants of the lot. They have the special ability to cast magic. The rarer ones are the nendaites, who resemble bat-like pegasi and make up another large portion of the military. And the final race of the common ones are the crystal ponies, who appear to shimmer as crystals, have no wings or horns, but have the ability to accelerate mineral formations and can carve gems like stone." listed Steven, numbering them with his fingers, and starting again when he ran out on his four-fingered hands.

"I'd like to know a little bit more about ponies, please." I said, my tone neutral.

"They are very trusting to anything that has done them no wrong that they have found is not likely to hurt them, but can befriend even dragons given the time. The only special thing about them I haven't already told you about them is that when they get around adolescent age, they gain a symbol on their flank called a cutie mark, which tells them their special talent, what their destiny is. They gain it when they first realize what their talent is." Steven told me, sounding sorry he couldn't tell me more.

"Well that sounds paradoxical. How do you know your talent to perform it? But it's no problem you can't tell me more." I said, gratuity laced throughout my words.

"How did you kno-" started Steven. "Nevermind, just I have no idea how they are supposed to know it. I guess they just keep trying-" said Steven before I interrupted him "- til' we run out of cake?" I asked, a joking grin covering my face.

"I'm not even going to ask." he stated.

"Good, I don't want to explain, that would ruin the results of our testing." I called while walking away.

I had made it to the castle, and it was this huge stone fortress. The bridge was already rickety, above a moat, and the castle was falling apart, with plants cracking it apart! Steven told me Discord used magic and so can unicorns, so magic is real here. If it is, maybe there's weather magicians who control the weather, but since this whole area seems to be abandoned they don't control cloud movement. And if magic is real, maybe there is wild magic is in this forest, trying to destroy unnatural things within. The hallways are tall enough for me, but wider than they would for a human castle.

I laid down uncomfortably on a small bed I found, and tried to sleep.

So I was trying to sleep, but something landed on me and tried to open my components satchel! It was a big neon orange ball with magenta compound eyes, with fly wings. It managed to open my satchel and eat an apple before I smashed it out of reflex. When I did make it to sleep, I slept soundly though.

I woke up and was surprised.

I'm still here. Does this mean I'm actually here? I thought.

"Alright, time to explore this place, see the sig - "

thum

" - hts?!" I mumbled aloud.

What was that?!

I ran outside, only to find an enourmous purple bear in the distance. It had comically long claws, it's claws and teeth are yellowed, and it was covered in stars, some even forming familiar constellations.

A Heads-up Display appeared in my vision.

"Target: Ursa Major. Local Animal, carnivore, possesses immense strength but is slow. Recommendation: Scare away, do not fight." read the read-out in my vision.

"What - "

thum

" - the..." I said, my thought cut off buy an enormous pawstep.

I panicked, wishing I had magic. After all, how was I supposed to defeat that thing! I remembered that the pentacle was what sent me here, if the arcane lightning was any indication. Maybe the book was too? I took the book out and opened it up to a place on the index labeled: Thaumaturgy.

Thaumaturgy

The Principle of Sympathy: Like produces like.

The Principle of Contagion: Once together, always together.

The Art of Thaumaturgy consisted of applying the Principles to create a transitory effect. Thaumaturgy produces lasting magical effects which take more power than a normal spell, but can be quite powerful, nonetheless.

The Principle of Sympathy means that to create an effect, we must look for things in nature that resemble or produce that effect and use them. A feather can lessen weight, a bit of honey can sweeten, a splinter of iron can give strength, a bit of lodestone can produce guidance, etc. Most normal materials possess one or more characteristics that can be useful, and the more strongly they possess the characteristic, the more useful the material is in Thaumaturgy.

The Principle of Contagion states that if something is once part of or associated with another thing, it remains indelibly connected to it and can be used to influence that other. Naturally, an actual piece of the target is the best, but there are various degrees of sympathy, ranging from a part of the same item, to a part of the same construct, to a long-associated item, down to something that has been in the presence of the target once. Each will work, which is one of the things that make Thaumaturgy the most general of the Arts. However, the energy required to link the target with the spell is greatly modified by the sympathetic connection available. If you wish to kill a man, for example, you will need much less energy if you have a piece of his hair. If you have only a picture of him, you may need several orders of magnitude more energy to kill him, and if you know only his name, several more. The very simplest thaumaturgical effect, involving the Principle of Sympathy alone, is to move a larger object by moving a small piece of it. This can be a parlor trick, if done with floating balls or scarves, or it can be an act of violent war, if done with a multi-tonne boulder. The difference between the two spells lies only in the energy invested.

The energy for Thaumaturgy comes from the natural world most of the time. Most practitioners use fire, as it is commonly available and easy to obtain, but other forms of heat, lightning, lava, etc. can be used, depending on the amount required. Simple spells can even be performed using the heat from the caster’s own body, though it is not unknown for young Thaumaturges to kill themselves by overdoing this process.

This need for energy makes Thaumaturgy simultaneously the most powerful and the least powerful Art, and both the most and least complicated to use. A Sorcerer, for example, is limited in his power by how much of his own life force he wishes to expend in a spell, but a Thaumaturge may simply build a bigger fire—quite an advantage! But without a prepared source of energy, the Thaumaturge is limited to what he can do with his body heat, and dare try only the very simplest of cantrips. Similarly, an Alchemist can simply drink a potion to gain an effect, but a Thaumaturge may need to take an hour to prepare a roaring fire to gain enough energy—or may take no time at all, if he has an existing forest fire to work with!

Given the simplicity of the basic principles of Thaumaturgy, why is it not used by everyone? The answer is twofold. First, there is a basic magical talent necessary. Few possess it, and fewer are trained to use it or channel the forces from themselves, which normally cannot be used as an energy source as humans have very small reserves of raw energy if they have any at all. Those forces are involved. The second qualification is knowledge of the chants and gestures needed to forge the spell link. Some say these are only a crutch to help the Thaumaturge concentrate while others claim they have intrinsic value, but they are necessary nonetheless. Naturally they (along with the practical knowledge of which materials work best for which properties) are passed from mentors to students and guarded jealously.

Here are some basic Sympathetic materials known by many. The golden rules are to focus on the targeted effect, or if both are wanted, just the object. You need to use words that have the meaning of both at the end to unite the effects if you combine effects to use multiple at once, or at least have multiple words corresponding to the parts. To keep the effect without the chant you need more energy and to include the word servo in your chant. Secondary effects take more power.

Iron: Primary: Strength, Secondary: Hardness. Chant: Metallum Potentia. Gesture: cross arms like crossed swords with palms visible to yourself, and have your dominant arm closer.

Lodestone: Primary: Guidance, Secondary: Attraction and Repulsion of metals. Chant: Magnes Potentia. Gestures: cross arms like crossed swords and have the dominant arm closer, with the thumb closest to you. Repeat with left, but keep dominant arm closer.

Honey: Primary: Sweeten, Secondary: Slow. Chant: Mel Potentia. Gestures: Have your hands out forward as if you were holding a ball.

Any sort of wing or wing fragment: Primary: Lessen weight, Secondary: Increase air resistance. Chant: Voluntas Potentia. Gestures: Spread your left arm out like a wing.

Crystal: Primary: Increase stamina, Secondary: Crystallize. Chant: Vitreous Potentia. Gesture: Point arms upward and touch fingertips to form a diamond shape.

Stone: Primary: Increase defense. Chant: Saxum Potentia. Gestures: Point and bend left arm and right arm to form a square.

Snake: Primary: Increase stealth, Secondary: Turn to stone. Chant: Anguis Potentia. Gesture: Bend Index and middle fingers on the left hand in to look like fangs, and extend those fingers on the other hand. Form a circle and have the left fingers appear to bite the right fingers.

Sugar: Primary: Increase speed. Chant: Celeritas Potentia. Gesture: Spread right arm like a wing.

Any thing with a net-like form: Primary: Trap things, Secondary: amplify sound. Chant: Vox Potentia. Gesture: Open mouth wide and place net over mouth.

"Hmm..." I murmured, coming up with a plan. My vision told me to scare it, so I came up with a plan to be louder than it could be...

"I hope I'm remebering my Latin right..."

I took my tiny supply of sugar from my rations and the wings from the little fly like thing from last night, and clenched them together in my hand. I grabbed an iron charm that I had bought yesterday. I crossed my arms like swords, than spread my arms like wings while I spoke these words:

"Voluntas Celeritas Metallum Fugo Aes Servo Potentia!" the sheer power bleeding off from the amount I put into my spell causing my voice to sound like an experienced mage instead of a guy casting his first spell.

I felt my strength rise, my limbs tremble for speed, my air resistance increased, and my weight lightened. I flapped my arms quickly and sure enough, thanks to my enchanted attributes, I was capable of flight. I flapped as hard and fast as I could, and quickly arrived at the bear's side, and landed on it. It was so big, it didn't even notice. I grabbed my pentacle and carried it up to my mouth, opening wide.

"Vox Servo Potentia!" I yelled, the beast's ears twitching but he didn't react.

"ROAR!" I roared, the sound amplification spell sending it to a level to loud the star bear would be scared of. If it wasn't for a side effect of the word Metallum hardening my ears and the sound being directed away from me, then I would have gone deaf.

An image popped up saying I had gained one level and had three points to spend. It then opened up a stat bar and I upgraded my strength by one, my speed by one, and my attack by one.

Exhausted from using up so much magic so quickly since I hadn't used it ever before, I barely made it back to camp before my magic gave out and I fell asleep, falling into a dream. Mayhaps a dreamwalker might notice a predator of this level dreaming in their county.

Magnificent. That is the word that can actually be expressed through vocal language that dreamwalkers would use to describe the astral plane. The rest was indescribable. Imagine, if you will, an enormous ever-expanding realm that contained entire worlds created by the mind, where anything can happen as long as the subconscious mind that created it or a powerful dreamwalker allowed it. Suddenly, you could go from little earth pony filly to an alicorn princess, or an enormous Ursa Major to a normal bear cub. Nothing was impossible as long as you could imagine it. Or so you would think. There are some dreams where you can't control anything because it really happened. These dreams are created from memory, and only the most powerful of dreamwalkers can change these.

That is the astral plane, made from the collective unconscious of the whole of existence. Luna only patrols Equus. Two convenient skills for a protector who could dreamwalk is the ability to sense a threat via dream, and to tell how the dream corresponds to the body's location.

Luna, knows those skills.

Now, of all times, was a time where Luna was going through the Everfree Forest, and this activity happened to coincide with me falling asleep from over-channeling my unused internal leylines. The effect upon the astral plane was immediate. A large area started warping and shifting into monstrous shapes, as black mist filled the air.

Luna was surprised by such a monstrosity appearing, only seeing such effects upon the astral plane from a dream of an apex predator such as the chimeras in the Fire-geyser Swamp, or a terrible nightmare. However, when she traced it to her recently abandoned castle, which Celestia and herself had left to go to the new capital they had made after Discord's magic began converting the Everfree.

"Why that insolent creature..." muttered Luna, diving into the dream.

I was running, trapped in memory, reenacting my short battle with the Ursa, when I felt something come in, breaking the spell of the dream. I quickly jumped up, and activated my spell.

"Vox Servo Potentia!" I shouted, preparing to initiate my attack plan as arcane power coursed through my words.

Quickly, I placed my pentacle over my mouth.

"ROAR!" I yelled, my attack working successfully and scaring off the star bear.

"STOP, THOU FOUL BEAST!" shouted Luna, her voice carrying and stopping me short.

"Who are yo..." I started, my voice dropping off as I saw the dreamwalker. "Who are you, and what are you!"

I saw a winged unicorn in front of me, with a blue coat, a star-filled shifting mane, and teal eyes. She had markings on her flank that looked like spattered black paint with a white moon on it.

"We art Princess Luna, Reagent of the Night and Dream Warden, and one of the last alicorns. And thou, pitiful foal?" she sneered.

"I am the Archmage Pentagram, Holder of the Astral Pentacle, and the only human I know to be on this world." I said, boldness in my tone and timbre.

"Tell to me why thy dreams pollute the astral plane in a way only seen from the most horrible of nightmares and the dreams of an apex predator!" Luna commanded.

"First off, old english? Secondly, I am an omnivore and where I come from my species is the apex predator, but I wouldn't kill or eat anything sentient." I said, argumentativeness sullying my words.

" 'Tis Equuish thou foal, and that is exactly why thy dreams art polluting the astral plane, ye are an omnivore." she said, snobbishness and a bit of arrogance in her tone.

"Well I'm not even sure I'm from this universe, and where I come from that style of speech is long outdated. And that bit about me being an omnivore being the problem, that sounds a bit speciest don't you think?" I said, a smirk appearing near the end of my sentence.

"Then thou wilt simply be an insane monster, or art thou a mage? I doth not think thou can you cast, as thou lack a focus!" she said, arrogance coming back in full force.

"Oh? Then do you require a demonstration? Voluntas Celeritas Metallum Fugo Aes Servo Potentia!" I yelled, magical energy saturating my voice as I spoke and held them components tightly. I spread my arms like wings, and jumped while forcing my arms downwards, propelling me through the air and into the sky.

"Sense my magic, Luna! Feel how it is power being channeled into thaumaturgy that lets me fly, not structure, or innate magic, just a spell being cast amplifying those important properties for flight! It is no trapping of the dream world, it is a power I truely possess!" I roared out, triumph flowing through my veins as I astonished her.

I landed, and saw the world around me breaking up, to be thrust quickly forward into consciousness.

I woke up with a start, my triumph fading as I realized something I missed during my dream. If that was truly a dreamwalker and not a dream, than their claims of royalty might be true for all I know. And what if they thought me a dangerous threat? I could be imprisoned, executed, or some form of magical punishment. I shivered, hoping that day would never come.

I was searching through the castle, hoping to find something useful, when I found are bedroom. It was lavishly decorated, with banners bearing the same emblem as Luna. It contained an enormous bed, big enough for me to use unlike the others I had seen. When I found a mirror in an adjacent room, I had an idea.

"Sui Praecantatio Speculo." I murmured, calling on what Latin I knew and holding my hands in front of me, palms facing in, a mirror image.

The mirror shimmered, and it showed me, primarily composed of silver light, with a black area that shifted and seemed to absorb light placed at the heart. I felt for the energy, and found the essence of illogic, paradox, and nothingness, void energy. I pulled it, and shaped it into a copy of my pentacle. I instinctively knew what to say.

"I am the Archmage Pentagram, wielder of the five magics of Procolon, the bearer of the Astral Pentacle, the guardian of balance! Those who would keep one aspect of reality from overwhelming any other would need only to focus on this necklace and send even the tiniest portion of power, and I will come to your aid as long as you bear no ill intent to those who have done no wrong!"

My speech complete, I let the pentacle penetrate this world's borders and the protective spells that guard it. Whoever Luna is, if she exists, should know of this now.

Luna woke up from her monitoring of the astral plane

"Sister, sister!" Luna shouted, hoping to alert Celestia to the threat she discovered.

Luna heard a rather un-princesslike groan behind her as a half-asleep Celestia shambled towards her.

"What is it, Lulu?" mumbled Celestia as she tried to get to her morning coffee.

"I told thou not to call us that!" pouted Luna. "I may have found the being that penetrated our shields yesterday! While I was patrolling the dreamworld, I found an omnivorous bipedal creature claiming to be an archmage. When I asked him to prove his words, he had so much raw power that when he cast a temporary flight spell, enough power leaked into his voice while 'twas speaking that he sound'd like father did!"

Celestia immediately straightened and opened her eyes wide, and began speaking, "When thou find him, either we need to get him to become an ally, or we might hast to seal him in stone. it sounds as if he doesn't what what he is doing but can cast magic yet if that much energy is leaking into his voice."

"When?" Luna asked

"We shall prepare today, and leave on the morrow. He could unintentionally start a war if left unchecked." stated Celestia resolutely.

The sisters suddenly felt thaumaturgical feedback from one of their spells being broken like yesterday, though this time from the inside.

Celestia and Luna narrowed their eyes as they recovered. This could mean that the creature was simply a scout from an invading force from another realm. They tried to hide their fear from the implications as guards rushed in asking what happened, knowing that panic would do the populace no good.

Chapter Two: Enchantment

Hi. So you've caught up to this day of the story, yes? Good.

Now for me to tell you of the third day, but not of a thaumaturge's might, but an enchanter's power...

I figured that if I'm going to stay in this area I might as well learn more magic, as it will be invaluable to me, the NEET, as I did not have renewable source of food or a proper shelter. I opened my book, and delved into elemental magics.

The art of the elemental magics is a long forgotten one, related to thaumaturgy. It's power is control over the five elemental magics, which are fire, water, earth, air, and chaos. The problem with controlling the elements is not the complicated gestures and chants of thaumaturgy, rather, it is that each of them has it's nature which is hard to resist for young mages, who can be consumed by the element and become an elemental. These natures are collectively known as the Cinquain. The natures are: Fire wants to burn, water wants to flow, air wants to move, earth wants to hold, and chaos wants to change. Because of this, you cannot use fire magic to put out a fire unless you are an incredibly powerful mage, you must use one of the others. But earth magic and air magic in moderation can cause the fire to burn hotter. You cannot use water magic to make water still, you must use air magic, as earth would displace the water, making it move faster and fire would either boil the water or would be put out. You cannot use air magic to still air for the same reasons, you must use earth to compress it. And earth cannot be split by earth, only moved, to split earth you need water or air, or you can melt it with fire. Each element has a counter-weight, which can help bring the element under control. Fire and water. Air and earth. Chaos and soul. The elements can go into alternate forms, such as ice, steam, lightning, and anything connected. They also can connect with less obvious things, like water and healing, earth into life, fire into prophecy, air into illusion, and chaos into creation. In all magic, there is an exchange of power such as fire for volume in thaumaturgy. Here, it is energy for motion and creation. You can change something's shape, but not it's essential nature. Power comes from imbalance, control from balance. The balance is a balance between knowledge and potential. And to boost elemental magic, you can eat sand or rocks for earth, blood for air, matches for fire, ice for water. Again, like thaumaturgy, energy can be drawn from any source. But be warned. The magic of sorcery (pg. 13), when it runs out of internal magical energy and is used, will draw upon the soul and life force, which can make chaos magic unstable. To channel these powerful magics, you need only to focus and feel for the energy running through it all.

"Hmm..." I murmured, coming up with an idea.

I fingered my pentacle, deep in thought. I dropped the pentacle, opened my eyes wide, lifted my head up high, and smirked. I focused and drew on the huge repositories of elemental energies around me. I channeled the power, displacing the water out of the castles moat and into the river. I ripped the stone out of the ground beneath it, revealing a cave deep underneath the castle, which had a glint of crystal in it, but I ignored that. I grabbed what furniture and books were in the castle, and gathered it by the other resources. I began trudging on towards the center of the forest, which I felt via earth magic, and prepared for creating my new base of operations.

I reached the area, but something made my magic go wild.

I reached the center of the forest, and ripped the trees out of the area and joined them with the ones around the area, creating a natural barrier. I ripped up the dirt right inside the barrier, and the stone. I carried the stone to the rest I was holding, and diverted water from the river into it, allowing in some of the dangerous creatures that live in this part of the river before sending the excess back.

I created a hill with the dirt in the center, and a stone path up to the center circle, where I formed foundations and a doorframe. I took wood from the trees and formed charcoal with fire magic, and grew tendrils of wood out of other branches to hold it, making torches. I set the torches alight and formed a stone sconce to place one in above the doorframe. I brought together stone and wood, and made a drawbridge, drawing on my earth and fire magic to make metal chains. I made a door and placed it in the door frame, then quickly put together more sconces and put them on stone pillars along the bridge. I had taken all my wood from a growing hole in the thick tree layer that surrounded the area, and I now chose more wood which I used to make it into a gate. It was lined up with my drawbridge and path, so it was symmetrical for now.

I began using more wood, finishing the space I wanted for the gate, and used the majority of the stone to build up a tower to a certain height, with at three different floors, three different holes for adding on. The floors were made of wood, and the very top of the tower was wider than the rest. I decided all the roofs I would make would me wood on the inside and stone on the outside, and roofed the top room.

I used the rest of my sconces and torches except twelve of each lighting up the tower, and I brought together my remaining stone, sconces, torches, and wood making a stairway up the tower and three short, roofed stairways, which connected to three new rooms. I took sand that had come with the water and made it into glass jars using fire magic, and hermetically sealed all my herbs and spices from my components pouch into them. Another room, I left empty. And the last of the three new rooms I put a stone circle for a fire.

I took the bookshelves I had stolen and curved them, placing them through my tower, and put the bed I stole from what I think was Luna's room in the very top. I used air magic to create an illusion of carpet in my room, and made it feel like it too, and then used air magic to theme the whole place after the night, seeing how the night is 'magical' so to speak and I infused the energy into the mage tower.

I was in my room after finishing the illusionary decorations, and I stumbled forward, slinging my components pouch onto the floor and stumbling into the bed. The last thing I noticed before drifting into sleep from letting too much magic out too fast was how much magic that took, and how it's incredible that I could do that.

Luna was spying on my dreams, and I did not know it at the time, but that hardly matters. What matters is that she saw my impressive display of magic, and me stealing from her. That much magic before passing out made me a powerful magician indeed, and stealing those meant to her that I was not afraid of breaking the law.

Luna cantered into the Royal Armory, checking for her sister while hiding her worried air expertly, hiding how worried she was from the guards and servants that were trotting around the castle, performing their daily duties. She saw her, donning her golden battle armor instead of her daily attire, so she had a breastplate instead of a peytral, a helm instead of a crown, and the rest of her barding instead of shoes or leaving it bare.

"Sister, we spied upon the Archmage's dreams once more and we saw a memory of him creating an entire mage tower from his surroundings and magic, covering it inside and out with illusions and then collapsing to sleep, upon which the dream looped itself!" exclaimed Luna, worry clear in her tone without servants around to hear.

"This is troubling news, yet also a blessing." stated Celestia, a smile tracing her lips. "He appears to know only the idea of the magic, and otherwise is using only instinct and the idea of what he wishes to have."

"Indeed." frowned Luna. "Indeed..."

I woke up and stretched. It had been an exhausting effort to make this place, one I won't repeat anytime soon. Those torches won't have to be replaced, it looks like part of the magical exhaustion came from accidentally infusing everything with magic. It should make those torches feed of of local magic like the illusions and keep this place from being to heavily damaged over time. I used earth magic to get some wood inside, and divided the enormous room at the top into my bedroom, bathroom and a kitchen.

"Now for the hard part..." I muttered to myself.

I focused on the energy as the book had said, and I released a pulse of earth magic energy, which acts like sonar for anything with lots of earth magic in it.

I felt the energy bouncing back and I felt gems. A completely, totally, ridiculous, amount of gems, of every kind, every variation of each kind, and even gems that had other types of magic in them. But some of them were already in my tower, supercharged with raw energy. I opened my eyes, and I stared shifting the rock. Some rock was ejected and made hollow tubes, and the dirt mound underneath the tower was hollowed out and supported by stone, and all the gems were put in there, I threw the gems into the deep moat around my tower, and raced down the stairs, reshaping part of the floor into a hidden trapdoor and hollowed out part of the floor to create a ladder.

I summoned up metal and infused it with raw energy as I had done yesterday, remembering the sensation of wild magic, and sand from the bottom of the moat, forming a tank. I took the gems, and started infusing more and more energy into them until they melted, and then I placed them in the supercharged tank. I brought up graphite and I shaped it into pipes, which I put all throughout the building where I had hollowed out the limestone walls. I had all this, and then the mistake hit me- how did I expect to get the water in the building, warm, and pure?

With a sigh, I opened my book.

Enchantment

The Maxim of Persistence: Perfection is eternal.

The Art of Enchantment is the art of perfect ritual. Through the flawless performance of often insanely complicated rituals, magical artifacts can be created that will, if not otherwise destroyed, last literally forever.

Each magical ritual consists of a number of steps, each of which must be performed correctly, with a very small margin of error, for the ritual to succeed. A step in a magical ritual can be simple “ring a 3-inch gong made of brass hanging from a silver chain, using an iron hammer”, or complicated “Douse the nearly-completed sword in the blood of a women born on the night of the rising of the Great Comet, and raised for twenty-nine years on a diet of millet and honey, who is wearing an ermine robe trimmed by …. Etc.” The more powerful the effect added to the spell by a given step, the more complicated, time-consuming, and expensive the step tends to be. Many steps in advanced rituals involve more than one person, and might require precious metals, troupes of dancers, the position of the stars, and any number of esoteric conditions.

Each part of the ritual also requires an incantation by one or more trained magicians, perfectly pronounced or sung, in perfect timing and pitch. Needless to say, Magic is a performing art at its base, and few have both the magical talent and the ability to master the precision and art necessary to advance in the craft.

Due to the strictures of the craft, Magicians tend to cluster into Orders, with large colonies of non-magical craftsmen devoted to supporting their endeavors. With the huge outlay in time, money, and effort that can go into the creation of a single magical item, such Mage Orders support their expensive activities by selling their created items, reserving only a portion of them for their own use. The items sold are incredibly expensive by normal standards, but since they last forever they are purchased nonetheless.

Three common rituals known to any beginning enchanter is to have an iron plate, five inches squared in both directions, carve an arrow into it, inlay it with quartz and sing a simple chant that goes like this: katéf̱thynsi̱s kíni̱si̱ tou káti pou angízei af̱tó. It will cause the plate to move anything that touches it at a constant speed, and if it is a liquid or gas, at a constant pressure. It is commonly used in Procolon as a conveyor belt or to pipe water. The another common one is a five inch square plate with a sun carved into it and inlaid with ruby. Then chant this: thermóti̱ta káti pou angízei af̱tó se mia spondylo̱tí̱ thermokrasía. It will make the plate heat anything that touches it to whatever it is adjusted to by someone merely touching the edge and saying a temperature and saying what measuring system is being used. It is typically used in water purification plants in whichever part of the plant they boil the water, and is also used by the richest people on stoves. The last one is a five square inch iron plate with an octagon carved into it and inlaid with sapphire. Then you chant this: droseró káti pou eínai gýro̱ apó af̱tó se mia spondylo̱tí̱ thermokrasía. It cools things around it at a modular temperature and is commonly used in industrial freezers.

"Huh." I said, my interest piqued. "So I could have a stove, refrigerator, and water system set up using magic? Then I might as well set it up. They aren't too expensive.

I quickly shaped the earth and obtained the iron, sapphire, ruby, and quartz and set to work.

I had made a refrigerator, stove, sink, toilet, another sink, and shower, and I was just finishing up the water tank.

"There..we...go!" I said. "Finally!" I sat down on the ground, panting a little from both physical and magical exertion.

I got up, climbed the ladder, opened the door and drawbridge, and started walking away. With a pulse of earth magic, closed them and started on my way.

I was walking back through the path I took when- lo and behold -a timber wolf pup jumped out in front of me. Made of actual wood. And it has vicious teeth and was drooling.

"Alright, just leave." I told it. "I don't want to hurt you." But to my surprise, the pup went up to me, whimpered, and licked my leg. I grabbed the little guy and he yipped happily. I reached into my bag and took out some of my meat, and I gave him a piece. He ate it, licked me, and went on his way.

I continued on, smiling a bit, until I found that the area that the timber wolf had come from and I had fought the Ursa Major. The whole area is darker and filled with mist, and I think I see a manticore in this?! I need to get out of here!

Unfortunately for me, when I turn around, a manticore looms in front of me. I focus on earth, air, fire, and water, and power in energy. The earth creates a fourth of a sphere around it, then water fills that up, it's sealed with air magic and the rest is filled with fire, boiling the water and boiling the manticore.

Shaking from fear, I picked up the corpse with magic, whose flesh was so thoroughly cooked that it fell of, along with the stinger and hair. I carried it back to my base and chopped all the meat up and set half of them out to dry, and putting the rest in the fridge.

I carried the entrails out, and the pup from earlier bounded up. I saved some of them for later and put them in the fridge. The dog followed me in, so I made it a food bowl and water bowl for him. I set them by my bed, and I went to sleep, preparing for the new day, hoping to rectify whatever I have caused.

Luna stared out at the night sky, ready to enter the astral plane, knowing that the creature would now be falling asleep. She turned back, and saw the circle that she and Celestia had drawn to send them both into the astral plane. She stepped into position.

"It is time." she said ominously.

They lower their heads and close their eyes, and begin charging their horns. They air is heavy with magical saturation. They release the spell, and are thrust onto the astral plane. It is time for battle.

Chapter Three: Sorcery

Lots of exposition. Sorry.

I, for once, was not reflecting on the previous days events when I slept. I was lucid dreaming. As the dreamwalker Luna for all I know may be real, I set the rules of my dream to be as concrete as I can, focusing raw magic energy into it. The rule was simple. Only I have dream manipulating powers in this dream.

I expanded the space in the dream, expanding and expanding until it was bigger than the solar system. That should delay them. It was then that I felt an intrusion on my dream, two minds, from reality they came.

I opened my book. I would use magic, as to give them a chance. Now what does the book tell me today?

Sorcery

The Rule of Three: Thrice spoken, once fulfilled.

Sorcery is the control of one mind by another. It ranges from glamours and illusions to control and destruction, and is capable of producing effects that last as long as the mind of the victim exists.

In order to cast a sorcerous spell, the Sorcerer must make eye contact with his victim and speak the necessary enchantment. Eye contact is absolutely necessary, making the gaze of the sorcerer shunned by all sane individuals. The sorcerer then focuses his talent and pronounces the spell three times, and the magic is made.

The length of the spell involved depends on the power of the desired effect, and can range from a few words to a lengthy speech. The Sorcerer must speak it correctly three times, and then spend a portion of his own life force to power the spell, or, in special cases, raw magic energy. This means that any given Sorcerer can perform only a very limited number of spells in his lifetime, and that Sorcerers are very reluctant to use their craft. Indeed, older Sorcerers tend to look at their profession as a curse of sorts.

A simple sorcerous spell is this: Anata wa dare ga, watashi wa, majutsu-shi wa, watashi no mahō de haiki-mono o oku watashi no shutsugen de, noboru taiyō no kono tochi o bōtoku, anata no kōdaina kegare o oidasudarou!

Upon speaking it thrice and expending energy, it will send the target back to it's home.

"This should be sufficient." I said briskly. "It should deal with them very quickly." I smirked, and began waiting.

The Royal Sisters finished teleporting in.

"Archmage, would thou come with us? We merely want thou to learn how to control thy powers so thou doth not harm anypony." said the tall, white one.

"I would've hoped you had realized this already, but I knew you didn't know. Otherwise I would either already be dead or imprisoned." I said in an annoyed way.

"What doth thou mean?" inquired Luna. "If thou mean that thou stole from our castle, we already know."

"Watch." I said flatly.

I changed the view from a white expanse to the forest from yesterday, at the start of my walk.

"What is this forest called?" I asked.

"It is called the Everfree, after our fathers wish for it's creatures to become ever free..." Luna trailed off.

"And you, who are you?" I said inquisitively to the white one.

"I am Princess Celestia, the Sun Shepard." she said.

"What do those titles mean, anyway?" I questioningly said, head tilted.

"We raise the sun- " Celestia said, " -and we raise the moon." Luna finished.

"Hold on," I said, holding my hands up and stopping the image behind me right before the timberwolf came into view. "Bullcrap. The earth orbits the sun and the moon earth. The sun is an enormous ball of hydrogen gas undergoing a fusion reaction that produces heat, light and helium, while the moon is a ball of rock twenty-seven percent of the Earth's size."

They shared a look, then burst out laughing.

"Thou art quite the jester," Luna told me. "The sun and moon are balls of rock, of equal size to each other, filled with magic. They emit light with the magic, bringing day and night as we move them around the planet. They are about one-hundred twenty-eighths of the size of Equus. And what is earth?"

"Earth is the name of the planet I'm from. Earth orbits it sun, which I told you about. It's moon orbits it. The moon's light is a reflection of the suns, even if it is more beautiful. And even if they are rocks of that size, there is no way that you could move them. They would weigh... give me a minute... four and six thousand eight hundred seventy-five ten-thousandths multiplied by ten to the power of twenty-two kilograms, which would take.. give me another minute... roughly one and five-thousand, six-hundred, twenty-five times ten to the power of twenty-one newtons of force. And that'sSo, what you said cannot be true without you being considered a demigod." I finished triumphantly.

"Yes, many consider us demigods for our level of thaumic power." Celestia said coolly.

"Whatever..." I sighed, continuing the memory.

The timberwolf came into view, shocking the royal sisters.

"What is that?!" they asked, panic in their voice.

"I call it a timberwolf. That one's a pup, I would wager." I said, regret in my tone, easily audible.

"How did it come to be?" they inquired, their voices trembling.

"My magic has an adverse reaction on this worlds magic. I suspect that was the true reason behind my dreams polluting the astral plane. It is slowly corrupting any area I use it with chaos, fusing creature into beasts like these, creating ominous fog and the like." I explained.

The manticore became visible. They gasped again.

"I call this one a manticore." I told them.

"I have no idea why this happens, but I would think that it would be in the best interests of your country to deal with me in some form. After all, were I to go to your capital, chaos would reign." I sighed once more.

Apparently I said something wrong, as they breathed out one word and began to attack me.

"Discord." their breath carrying hatred for that word or whatever it meant.

They charged me straight on. That was a mistake for them, and fortunate for me.

I looked them straight in their eyes.

"Anata wa dare ga, watashi wa, majutsu-shi wa, watashi no mahō de haiki-mono o oku watashi no shutsugen de, noboru taiyō no kono tochi o bōtoku, anata no kōdaina kegare o oidasudarou!" I yelled at them.

I thrust my magic into the semi-visible pathway my gaze and words had made into their minds.

Suddenly, their eyes glazed over and they turned back, teleporting out.

I contracted the dream-bubble so they could get out faster, and woke up.

I got up, out of bed, took a shower, ate, and then allowed myself to dwell on what had happened in my dream. Since I was in lucid control of my dream, that meant that at least one of them was actually a dreamwalker. And if they had that much magic, knew how to use it, and were royalty... I shuddered at what a powerful enemy I had just made.

The Royal Sisters Celstia and Luna were awakening, having been forced by their own mind to exit the Astral Plane.

Luna groaned, and sat up. She was opening her eyes, when she saw that she was no longer in the Astral Plane at all, when only her magic should have been able to evict her, even a lucid dreamer shouldn't have been able to do it, and that was all the archmage was in the respect of dreams, not a top-notch oneiromancer and dreamwalker like Princess Luna.

"Sister, we have been sent out of the dream! Only we should have been able of doing that, not even Discord could evict us from his dreams when he was aware they were dreams unless he had... That insolent beast! He used sorcery on us, and made us return here!" Luna growled.

Celestia woke and stretched. She went back over Luna's words and short up.

"That could not hast been unintentional. He did this on purpose. However, all it did was make us leave his dream. Instead of destroying our minds as he could hath. So he didn't want conflict." reasoned Celestia".

"Yes..." said Luna, trailing into thought.

Trying to both prepare and to find something to do, I opened my book once more.

Transmutation and Transfiguration

The Principle of Components: The parts make up the whole.

The Doctrine of the Soul: You can change structure, but not soul.

The Rule of Will: The will must overcome.

This book, as you may have figured out by now, is enchanted. It give you the right knowledge at the right time.

Now that you know elemental magic and sorcery, you can achieve both an offshoot of elemental magic, transmutation, and an offshoot of transmutation and sorcery, transfiguration and since elemental magic is in itself an offshoot of thaumaturgy, transfiguration is a blend of two main branches. It obeys a combination of the laws from both, which essentially boils down to the Principle of Sympathy making it so that you need the components of something to create it.

As such, you cannot use air to make sugar without the air containing hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon. As such, sugars, starches, lactose, and other carbohydrates could be made in a normal atmosphere on Earth or Equus, but would not work in a pure oxygen environment. It could even synthesize fats, proteins, and vitamins when provided with nitrogen. Minerals, however, are harder to come by, as they many times include things like iron and magnesium. However, any food can be made with things found in the atmosphere as long as you can supply the metals and the like for minerals. Using magic such as this, one could subsist completely on the atmosphere and metals if they could perform this magic.

Thanks to elemental magic, you can change somethings shape but not it's essential nature. Here, that means that you can change somethings structure but not it's soul. Transfiguration is different than transmutation in the way that transfiguration is transmutation of something alive into something else alive. Transmutation's specific rule is that you have to overcome the will of something to change it's soul. With transmutation, you could shapeshift, but the important part is that using transmutation to change something alive, they would become an abomination over time because their soul rejected their mind and body. So by using energy and will in the same way as sorcery, you can change the soul to match the mind and body.

Normally I would tell you a basic spell for this, but seeing as it is simply limited by what you can imagine and what power you can provide, simply imagine the end result and focus magic, and it should work. Make sure to imagine outside and inside of the body, and to change the soul and mind to match.

“What a wonderful reality this is for the most powerful beings in all the realms to be geeks,” I happily remarked before glancing at my pet timberwolf. “You have my undying gratitude.” I said to the book.

I turned to the timberwolf, and focused my energy, designing it's mind to be that of a cat, but with loyalty to me and psionic ability, not to mention that it had full sentience and sapience. It's soul matched, but was changed to be resistant to dreamwalkers. It's body was that of a black kitten with four totally white eyes, two smaller and higher on it's face. It's nose was black, and it's whiskers were invisible. It mouth was white, and it was adorable. It's name used to be Vodka Mutini, but is now Doctor Meowgon. It is my favorite non-humanoid (trolloid?) character from Homestuck, but with the ability to telepathically communicate with me and become an adorable scientist using telekenetic ability.

Yeeesssssss.

I released it, and Unnamed Unimportant Side Character Number Five became Doctor Meowgon Spengler.

I had a new companion.

One that could talk to me and I knew would be loyal to me.

I had a friend.

I smiled.

I quickly changed my soul and mind to be resistant to dreamwalkers.

I opened my mind to Doctor Meowgon.

Hello, Vincent.

I grinned.

He already knew my name.

"Hello Meowgon." I said.

"It's good to finally meet you. What would you like to do?"

Well, Meowgon's stomach rumbled. I could use some food.

"Okay." I closed my eyes, and started a transmutation. I activated it, and I synthesized steak and other cuts of beef from manticore meat.

I gave him a reasonably proportioned slab of meat and he quickly devoured it, and drank from his bowl.

I looked out and illusionary window. It showed the outside from the inside, and hid the view from the outside without having to make one-way glass.

I had a little time left before I should go to sleep. My eyes widened.

"Where did the time go!?" I shouted, startled.

Reading. Reading and magic. Transfiguring me took up a lot of time.

"Well, what should I do now?" I asked, stumped.

Belly rub?

Doctor Meowgon had rolled over, making his kitty belly visible. I chuckled, and began rubbing his soft furry kitty belly. I let my grin come back in full force, and laughed heartily. It was nice, having someone to talk to. I could finally let loose and have fun. And I had a cat. Cats are essential. I was thinking on the webcomic of his character's origin, when I had an epiphany.

I got up, and I set to work, pulling knowledge from myself and resources from the world, synthesizing things with alchemy.

What are you doing Vincent?

"I'm making something great!" I said, excited.

In the end, I had a black laptop with a white cat head instead of the Dell or Apple emblem on the top. I took word and made a desk and chair, and jettisoned more rock from the tower, promptly filling it with magic infused granite. magic flowed through it, converted right by the desk into electricity. I quickly made a charger, and plugged the laptop in so it's already-full battery wouldn't lower.

"Doesn't have internet access, though..." I mumbled. "Ah well."

A laptop?

"Yep. Already has a specialized operating system made from a combination of Windows Ten and Linux," I stated with pride. "Linux lets me hack better, while Windows Ten helps out for this..."

I alchemized *snrk snrk snrk* a holographic projector and attached it to the ceiling and electricity. An unstarted program appeared, floating in the air above my closed 'labtop' (cause I'm a scientist you see. Professor Asteri.) and I opened the laptop. I alchemized a pair of goggles and put them on my forehead. Programming mock ~ATH programs and then pouring magic into them to see what'll happen is a dangerous hobby.

I entered this code:

import author Archmage;

import object O1, O2, O7;

import universe Equestria;

import abstraction author's_friends_and_family, pony_prime_universe_at_end_of_season_four;

~ATH(!author) {

SET[O1, author]

SET[O2, author's_friends_and_family]

SET[O7, Equestria]

BIND[O7, pony_prime_universe_at_end_of_season_four]

BIND[O1, O7]

BIND[O2, O7]

} EXECUTE(THIS);

THIS.DIE();

I saved it. It was a joke, but now I'm just depressed. I shut off my computer. I close it. I go to bed, like Meowgon had. There was no sleep for me that night. For that program would send me and my friends and family to Equestria.

Chapter Four: Alchemy and Wizardry

I have been living in my house for some time now. Three whole weeks have passed since the creation of Doctor Meowgon. My raw power and focus had been increasing steadily since then. I now have roughly ten percent more performance in output, control, raw power, and collection speed. I have since had no problems, as my oneiromancy resistance has been increasing with my base magic. I have alchemized food, so that isn't a problem. I have been using transfiguration to try and revert the creatures bak to their natural forms, but my focused magic can't overcome what this raw energy leaking from me did without knowledge of how my magic did it's thing. But now, I have discovered something large and green and greek.

I had started my day like any other in my tower. I thought I should come up with a better name, procrastinated, and then eventually gave in and made me and Meowgon some breakfast. I still haven't figured out how to make it come out pre-cooked. I, bored as I was, made two extra side rooms in case I find anything else I need. I designated one as a storage room, and headed out to see if my magic could turn back the manticores, or the timberwolves, or anything else. But instead, I found another beast.

I was walking down to where I had last seen a manticore den, when I found something huge. There was a hydra in front of me. The beast looked a little angry, but mostly it was just confused, so I tried to use non-lethal measures. I quietly pulled up some earth, then used wind and water to grind it into sand. I gathered the sand, and used air to make a large dust devil. The hydra, it's eyes designed for air or water and not little bits of grit, was fairly quickly blinded, but I, wiuth both earth and air magic was immune. I summoned up chunks of earth, and used them to batter the hydra away from the nice peaceful woods, the Everfree, and my home.

However, my plan- quite literally -backfired. The hydra turned around, and swatted me back, it's claws slicing through my skin like plasma and paper, not to mention how many bones the sheer force from that thing did to my bones. In shock, I released a bolt of raw energy, which hit the hydra and hurt it enough to make it go away from the center of the Everfree and away from the peaceful forest.

I hurt so much.

Breathing hurt.

My right arm hurt.

My fingers hurt a little bit.

I stumbled back home. I tried to examine my body using the aspect of both transfiguration and transmutation that lets you see your target in your mind's eye. I was horrified. Fourteen ribs were broken, and they were all true ribs, the ones attached to the sternum. The right side of my collarbone was broken as well, and my scapula, humerus, ulna, and radius were fractured. Parts of my right hand were dislocated as well.

I started trying to use my water magic to heal but I was only managing to straighten my bones.

I needed a new plan. Painfully, I pulled out my book.

Alchemy

The Doctrine of Signatures: The attributes without mirror the powers within.

The Art of Alchemy consists of combining the signatures of available materials to produce a finished product that creates the desired effects. Products of Alchemy tend to be potions, powders, or other transient items. They retain their potency for a relatively short time (typically weeks or months), and cannot produce lasting magical effects, but within those restrictions they can be powerful indeed. Potions to produce invisibility or change the shape and abilities of the drinker can be created, along with others to alter their mind or hearts. Acids can be created to destroy all matter, or to aid in hardening of metals. Powders can transport the user vast distances or blast with fire or lighting. Ointments can protect the user from any danger, at least for a while.

The basic alchemical operation is the creation of a potion. This requires a recipe, unless the user is of sufficient skill to create a recipe on his own—few Alchemists have the requisite skill. Recipes are recorded in the creator’s notebook and jealously guarded, often trapped and warded, but sometimes traded for others of similar worth.

Each recipe consists of a series of steps, with each step consisting of an ingredient to be added to the mixture and an incantation to be performed. The ingredients range from simple (coal dust, ground glass) to the sublime (powder diamond, organs from exotic beasts). The incantations are taken from a secret magical language, and can be used only by those with magical talent. The more powerful the result of the recipe, the more steps and ingredients needed to produce it.

Each step has a chance of failure based on the power of the effect or signature added, the materials used, and the other materials in the recipe. If a given step fails, the entire recipe fails and must be restarted. Thus, if a recipe has more than a few steps, even a low failure chance for each individual step will result in a fairly high overall failure rate. In addition, there are often many alternative sources of a given effect, so making a high-yield recipe is a very complicated matter, especially as the number of steps rises.

Lastly, the results of Alchemy are often needed as ingredients for still-more powerful alchemical formulae, so you can see that successful Alchemy is a large-scale process, with production lines producing recipes involving dozens of steps with many workers and alchemists. Most of the preparatory work is done by labor (often slave labor), with the magic done by alchemists (sometimes slaves as well), and an alchemical formula that produces the desired result six times out of ten is considered very good. This makes Alchemy a very capital-intensive craft, with a large investment needed to ensure results.

However, throughout the long history of Procolon, two potion recipes were registered to work ten times out of ten. This particular recipe creates a healing potion.

1. Put water into a cauldron. All further steps will be added to the water. Wait for the water to boil before adding any other ingredients.

2. Add blood that is the same blood-type and from the same species as the intended recipient. Obviously, the blood should not be diseased and should preferably be from the recipient.

3. Add Powdered Flame. Mix well, and allow to sit for an hour or until the entire mixture is a deep purple.

4. Chant these words, "Kiputo na jipu, kuwa afya mwili, damu na maji, poda moto!" Repeat two times.

It is simple enough, but requires use of Powdered Flame. This is the recipe for Powdered Flame. It is essentially a magical lighter fluid, which ignites when the wordWaya is spoken. This can create some surprising- and dangerous -effects when someone uses it in the area of large amounts. Thankfully it only activates powder within earshot. Conviently, a relatively simple enchantment exists that will prevent this from happening if the powder is inside the enchanted object.

1. This is the most dangerous step. You must but some form of liquid metal into the cauldron. It could even be Gallium, but it must be a liquid metal.

2. You add flint. Wait until the flint melts. You may need to raise the temperature to unreasonable levels.

3. While chanting these next words thrice, add sand to the pot. The chant is, "Kiputo na jipu, kuwa unga moto, chuma kioevu, kioevu gumegume, na mchanga!"

These recipes were refined because of a unique property of fires lit by Powdered Flame- they do not permeate space, time, and the multiverse and the other recipe because of the monsters that commonly inflict harm on civilians.

I gaped at the last sentance, but then cleared my head. I quickly began gathering my ingredients, and had them ready without incident. I even prepared a cauldron with my magic.

I began making the potion and powders. I found indium with my earth magic, and quickly got the fire hot enough to boil it. The flint was insanely hard to melt though. As it was mostly silica, I had to heat the fire to around two thousand eight hundred degrees fahrenheit. It took up a lot of energy, but I successfully made excessive amounts of Powdered Flame.

I simply just stood over the cauldron when I was making the *snrk* Red Potion. It was a very pretty sight. Quickly, I drank a dose. My fractured bones healed and my sliced up front repaired itself partially, strangely, my clothing was affected too. Also, my clothing seemed to wash itself. It always seemed to smell slightly of lavender when I wake up, and looks like it had been washed and pressed.

I drank another dose. My cuts fully closed, and my broken bones partially fused back together, but they were still- and this felt unknowingly weird -partially hollow. Another dose and all was right with me. I quickly hermetically sealed all of the remaining potion except six dosages, which I put into glass vials. I got upstairs to the expansive top area, and was immediately accosted by a friendly but slightly annoyed mutant kitten.

And just where were you all morning!?!

"I was walking around, and I found what resembles a hydra in the forest. My plan to direct it away from here backfired, and I was injured. I learned a new type of magic and made a significant amount of healing potion, which I have stored." I replied deftly.

All I could hear with my telepathy when you came back into range was the feeling of pain and screams of pain. I was worried. Anything could have happened!

"Yet it didn't, and where were you when I came back into range? You're pretty fast, and 'within range' meant within the tree-circle, so you could have helped."

I was... sleeping! Yes, that.

I rolled my eyes, knowing that if he was sleeping he wouldn't have heard anything telepathically. I went into the kitchen, and made some lunch. I gave Meowgon his serving and decided to consult the book of all knowledge for something else to do.

Wizardry

Law of Ubiquity: Flame permeates all.

Law of Partial Dichotomy: Dominance, submission, or friendship.

The Art of Wizardry is a simple one, based on the summoning and control of demons. Demons are beings from another reality (not necessarily evil) who possess immense power when they are on our plane of existence. There are no complicated rituals, incantations, or formulae to memorize, but nevertheless Wizardry is the least practiced of the Five Magics, due to the dangers associated with it.

The Law of Ubiquity tells us that Flame permeates all. That is, that we can summon demons through fire. Small imps with minor abilities can sometimes spontaneously manifest through normal fires. Anything more powerful requires the active concentration and will of a Wizard. In addition, the more powerful the demon, the more exotic the fire necessary to provide it with a path to this world. Demons of slight power can be summoned through fires of wood or coal, with more advanced demons requiring exotic woods or liquids, or even stone or metals to be used as fuel for their fires. The burning of these normally incombustible materials is accomplished through an effort of will on the part of the Wizard.

The Law of Partial Dichotomy says that the Wizard, having once summoned a demon, must either control it with his mind and will, or be controlled by it. There is one third path—their existence on this plane can be sustained using the will of a wizard. Then, if the demon forms an emotional bond with somebody, no more will will be required. Once control is established, the one controlled is bound for a length of time or for a task. The length of time can be long, but is inversely proportional to the power of the demon. Imps may be bound for years or decades. Greater demons and demonic princes may only be bound for single task, but are able to perform astounding magical feats as a single task.

Wizardry has long been forgotten, only recently being discovered by the mage Alodar. He only has revealed that the burning of the nigh-indestructible clay of the heart of the O Diaño desert, which the raw fire magic is in enough quantity to boil tears as they fall, summons the demon Astron. He is a sibling of the mighty Djinn, and has a strong affinity for elemental magic.

"Hmm..." I muttered beneath my breath. "It would be useful to have someone to boost my elemental skills..."

I went over to a mirror I had liberated from the castle. "Ostende mihi viam ad O Diaño." I said.

The mirror shimmered, light bending, bouncing, and focusing to project an image of the entire explored area of the planet I was on.

"Whoa." I said. "Are those islands floating!

I quickly zoomed in on what I presume is Equestria, and then it showed me a path down to a place labeled the Badlands.

"That's a long trip... not to mention it says changelings be here..." I said worriedly.

I would recommend doing it. Having a sentry could be useful.

"But Doc, I'm late for school!"

Meowgon blinked. He narrowed his four eyes. Oh haha.

Look, maybe there is a way you can teleport? Alchemy has teleporting powders, right?

Yeah, but I don't know how to do it. Wait, did I just mind-speak!?

You did... Well, just throw some things together and see what happens.

That sounds incredibly dangerous. I like it!

I grinned, and headed to my alchemy lab.

"Okay, half of all my herbs, a wheel, a rudimentary stirling engine that's pretty much a firebox and a sheet of thin metal, a protosoul- how'd that get in here -and a metric ton of sand." I listed.

The cauldron somehow managed to reduce it to a slurry.

"What."

"Na na na heyana hahiyaha naha naheya heya na yanuwa anhahe yunuwana na na na heyana hahiyaha naha naheya heya na yanuwa anhahe yunuwana na na na heyana hahiyaha naha naheya heya na yanuwa anhahe yunuwana na na na heyana hahiyaha naha naheya heya na yanuwa anhahe yunuwana ha ha ya nuwa nu nuwa heya nu nuwa nu nuwa heya nu nuwa nu nuwa nu na na na heyana hahiyaha naha naheya heya na yanuwa anhahe yunuwana..." I chanted.

"Why did I sing that." I said to myself flatly.

I looked down, and my cauldron was full of a teal powder. I hermetically sealed most of the powder back up. I brought two vials worth with me as I raced up the stairs. I grabbed a cold and hot enchanted plate from storage, and I stocked up on food and water, kept cold by the cold plate and ready to be warmed by the hot plate. I had enough for me and Meowgon for a month.

Let's go, Meowgon.

Okay.

He hopped up on my shoulder, and I threw one vial's worth of the teleportation powder onto me and Meowgon.

"Allons-y!" I shouted.

Insert some sort of teleporty sound effect here- Ooo, I know -Vworp vworp, vworp vworp, vworp vworp!<

I landed from the space between and stumbled down, eyes closed.

"Stone? Wait, cobbled stone!? What's that doing here!" I opened my eyes.

I was on a balcony. And right across from me were the two sisters, with some sort of magical artifact already charging.

Before I could react, a rainbow beam of light came straight at me. I somehow knew I was going to be turned to stone, and so because of that Meowgon knew as well, so we just straightened our backs and stood strong against the rainbow light.

It hit me, and I turned a light gray, to be trapped in stone for one thousand, five hundred years.

Inside of stone, it would be quiet. Except even when you're trapped in a nigh-eternal dream, you can hear the thoughts of the other statues.

This next torture was called Discord's centennial all-week karaoke of alternating between 'This is the Song that Never Ends' and 'I Know A Song That Gets on Everybody's Nerves'. It isn't fun. This is the end of my stay now, nearly.

But at least I could train. I was now very good at my magic.

"This is the song that never ends

It just goes on and on my friend

Some people started singing it not knowing what it was,

And they'll continue singing it forever just because . . .

I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves,

Everybody's nerves, everybody's nerves,

I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves,

and this is how it goes..." sang Discord.

"Discord." I said. "I hate that I have to ask you, but I've never been able to tap into my chaos magic. Could you help? It's always done the opposite of what I want it to do, or it's done it to me, or it just hasn't worked at all."

Discord popped into my area.

"My friend, let me tell you a story. There was once a dragon who was the most handsome drake in all of Equus. He was very vain. He also was a powerful mage. He tried to access his potential for chaos magic. He lost his beauty, but gained this powerful magic. The moral is, I was the dragon and I lost my handsomeness for chaos. I would never go back on my decision, but in return for control, chaos requires you to give part of yourself to chaos." he said gravely.

"Oh! My time's up! Adios!" Discord told me. With a flash of light, he disappeared.

I contemplated his words. It took me a little more than three whole weeks, but I decided.

I knew what I would give up.

I reached inside of myself, and I pulled at my chaos magic. Suddenly, I appeared in a chaotic place, covered in everything imaginable doing something completely unrelated to what it should do. A writhing mass of tentacles, beaks and eyes comes over to me.

"H̫̰̘ͤ̄ͯȇ̡̥͚͚̗̹̦̐̐ͤL̯̟͋ͯͩ̐͘̕͘l̡̟̼̜̒͌̌ͬŎ̡̧͔̺͇̬̞ͤͭͣ̀̅̓ͬ́͜,̶͇͇̪͌̓̎ͪ͑ ̦̮ͫͨ̀ͮ̀̚͢i̋̍ͭ͑҉̧̭̼͉͔͡ ̴̢͙̟̭͖͎̌ͩͣͨ̌ͬ͗͠A̦̬ͣ̾͒͂̎ͯ͜͠M͚ͨ̈̔̇́̐̽ ̗̻̪͓͕͑͛̅ͮͮ͌́̈́ͤč̵ͦͮ̀̎҉̙̙̬̦h͚̜̟͕̻̪̙̪́̈͠ͅÅ̢̛̘̜̳͙̳̻ͧ͆̔̀o̸̭̝̣̮̠̙͈̘̩ͪ͗S̙̻̖ͣ̈́͠͠.̷̡̱̭̥̲̯̇͞ ̣̣̅ͫ͜W̵͎̮̣̻̪͎̳̌ͥͬ̽͠H̵͎̘̾͢Ā̑̚҉̷̢̫̰̫̠̥ͅt̸̹̣͉͕ͤͪͨ̈͆͜ ͖ͣ̌́̓̋ẁ͒ͨ͛͛͌͏̞̺͎͈̯̖͙ͅI̸̛̲͈ͣ͐̐̊͂ͅl͓͖̭̓́͋ͪ̄̚͘l̬̖̹̫̝̳ͣ̽͒̌̈́̒́͟ ̨͈̣̜̻͎̭̖̺͊͐͛̎ͣ͗ͪY̤͙̙̩̲̘̙̬̓ͮ͂̓͒ͥ̀Ó̢͔̞̱͍̜̏̇̅͗͋̔ͯ̌͞u̡̘͖̽̑͒̂ ͔͉̲͔͊̾ͥͬ̆ͣͬ͜p̞͍̟͔͉̖ͭͬ̉ͧ̃̊̉ͥ̈A̵̲̜̟̝̦̮͓͖̽̏͋̽͛͐͂̆y͙ͩ͂ͭ̋́͝ ̼̱͇̫̊̑́ṃ̼̹̿ͫ́eͧ̂҉̯̤͕ ͭ̄̓͊͏͞҉͚͍͖̺̫̼̼͓̰W̒̈͏̙̰͖̩͎̰I͕͈̟̗ͭ̒̒̆̄ͥ́͡T̴̩͍̙̅́̎̎̒͂́H̵̨͖̦̩̯̉?̧̛̞̞͈̖͔̤̹̺̇̂" it said.

"I will pay with my right eye and my mortality." I told it.

'B̢͔͎̤̥̭͔̬͍͕ͤ͋͑͆ͫ͢U̶̙̮̣͈̺̤̘ͭ̆͜ͅẗ̢̙͉̞̮̳̰͈̾̀̕ ̰͈͔̠̘͓͔̉͂ͫͫ͗͛̎̿́͝Ḇ̵̡͙̘̖̟͍̟̭̞́ͬY̴̵̫͇̻̩̻̗̱͎͎̾ͦ͐̾̇͋̔͒ ̡͍̮̐̂ṯ̡̩̏ͩ͒̏͐̀͠a͙̝͇̪̠̟̩̩̅ͦ̑͐́K̶̨͛ͮ͏̙͚i̼̱̙̥̫̤͎͕̦ͣ͐̆͐̑ͥͨ̈́̽͠n̶̨͚̝̬̺̦̿͐̇̓͊ͅG̴̲̠̙̳̯̊̏̏̎ ̷͔̝̞̄ͧͫ͞Y̛̬ͦ̾͒̀͢ơ̦̥̙͊͆̋̒͡Ư̗̣̜͉̤̜̽ͧͭ͌͒̍͠R̛͕̤̹̤̭ͭ̂ͧ̆̊ͧ̄̿ ̹͍͖̟̟̗̘̏̌ͬ̒̃̓͊̓ͅm̵̭̔̐̍̏͛̚ŏ̧͈̊́̆ͮͥ̿ͥ́ŗ̷̘̮̭̫ͤͮͥ̃ͨT͎̂̆ͨa̔҉͎͚͚̺̦̗̱̙L̴̼̣̗̯̬̝͐I͕̬̗͓̿ͨ̏͊̈́͆͑̀t͊̉҉͇̰̝̖͉̟̣̩͞ỹ̨̟͇̆ͦͯ̐͡ ̖̻̭̝̈́̄̇͝i̞̜̺̟̠ͫ̒͢͠ ̢̠̗̖̩̩ͧ̓͌̈́ͧ͜ͅW͚̪̣̼͔̳̳͆ͪ̅́O̢̬͚̠͆̓ͪ̃ͯ̇͐̾u̳̳̝͗̾ͣ͂̚lͨ́͑̀͊̓͂͞҉̤͎̰̳̳̰Dͫ̇̃͂ͨͩ̌ͦ҉͔̹͖̣͖̦ͅ ̩̆̋̂̂ͥ͒ͧ͐ͣ̀G̡̛̹̦̯͙̃͗ͯ̄I̸̙̩͋̃͒̊ͤͬ́ͯ͢ṽ̊͌ͩͯͫ̆͡҉̞͍͇̺Ė̡͉̥͍̫͖͇̽ͦ̔ͪ͊͢ ̯̫̱̩͈͇̐̄ͨ̎̄̔̆ͣ̚y̡̛̫̟͓̺̥̝͋̈́̅̚o͙̠̺̟ͦ̅͜ŭ̹̬̭̝̦̜ͤ͊ ͉̣̳͊ͩͤ͠I̯͚̦͈̦͌̑ͦ̀̕Mͧ̒̅ͭ͑ͅM̗͈̗̝ͮͤ̅ͥͦ̏̔ͪ͜ͅō͉̋̚r͓̯̭̪̟͛ͭ̕͡͡T̗͖͇̙̯̒ͪ͊̔̍̈͘͘͝Ā̡͙͈̣̬̮̘ͧͦ̅ͤ̿l̟̘̹͙̖͔͉͖ͥͨ̅́̚̚͢I͉̬̬ͩt̶̹̖̤̦͔͓̿̏̀̽̀͊̾̄Y̮̩͍͙͍̪͒̆͢͡'.̢͉̦͚͓̥̮ͭ̈̐̍ͪ̍̾̚͞ it replied.

"Immortality is a curse," I looked straight into it's main pair of eyes. "You see everything you ever like or loved disappear. Everything dies, and then you do."

'Y̛̭̝̫̊͒̊ͥo̹̱̱̙͕̅̐̔͢͝Ŭ͔̖͗ͧ͑̓͠ ̶̥̥̗̮̓ͮͭͪ̊̄A̝͊ͯ͌͆͛͛̆̚ȑ͇̤̺̥̦̥̩̬͐͘E̛̜͉̲̟̪̦ͧ͞ͅ ̴͚͔̤̖͓̉ͤ̃ͪ̈́͛͞W͙̫̘̮͉̱̼̼̎̀̈̈́Iͪͭ̾ͭ͏̶̹͔̜̖͕̞̻S͗҉̷̪͍̺̕ͅe̷͙̦̳͙̖͂̋ͨ̑͘ͅ,̸̪̭ͣ͌̿̇ ͎̗̝̩̠̣̤͆̃̊̿̃͆̒f͈̙̣̘̖̿̾͌ͣͥ̎͜ͅo̵̷̮̘̳̼̰̝͕͙ͧ̍͆̑ͭ̒̐͡R̟̪̝̳̘̥͈ͩ̈̇͒̕͝ ̐ͯ͏̬̩̖͍͉S̴̢̰̱͐̎̈̋̈́u̬̜ͬ̅̋̀͢C̻̖͔͔͎̟̠̃̃̍ͨh͂̀͊̔͐͊͝҉̮͙̰̠̪͉̣͝ͅ ̗̱̣͇̦̟̯͂̀ͧ̓́̕ͅA̸̺̬̱̳̠͖̋͒̂ͬ̉̐͗ ̷͇̮͍̹̥̫ͮ̅̆͠y̐͐ͪ͏̫͔̖͓̗͎͉̳O͓͉̼̩̹̓͆ͬ͂́ͫ̓̉Ŭ̖̰̭͌n̨̥̮͖̹̩̰͂̍̂̒͐G͈̪̖̱͈̣̉ͪ̓̀̈́ͬ̃ͨ̆ ̛̗̦͖͓̜̭̣͌̐O̫ͮ̓͗̑Ǹ̹̞̩̭̖̺̘ͨ̈ͨ̐̒ͫͅEͦͣ͗ͮ̔ͤ̔̿҉̙̩̞͇̳̮̠̣.̛̺͎̍͂ͯ̉ͪͤ̚' it took my eye, and my mortality.

My eye turned mostly light green, even the sclera, with some parts a darker green. Yellow lightning appeared in the design, writhing, but letting the iris and pupil go untouched. Then, the yellow lightning formed the yin half of yin and yang with the black being yellow and the greens being the white. Then, the green becomes a pentagram, with yellow filling the holes left, and the tail end of the yellow yin stretched into a spiral covering the entire visible area of the eye.

I was suddenly thrust back into the statue, but a small portion of all the chaos magic I had stored was released in a flash of both light and dark green, covered in lightning. The statue cracked, light of the same shades of green with yellow lightning, as always, covering it, leaking through the cracks. Finally, after one thousand five-hundred years, I was released.

"Finally!" I shouted.

It's good to be out, isn't it Doctor Meowgon?

Ys it is.

I smiled, and applied the only vial of teleporting powder I had, for old times sake.

"Geronimo!" I yelled.

I smiled wider. I was back home at last. I put everything up, fed Meowgon and myself, and then went to bed happily.

Meanwhile...

"Sister!" Luna shouted as she broke into Celestia's room right as Celestia had almost fallen asleep.

"What is it Luna?" asked Celestia.

"The Archmage has escaped!"

Celestia was still calm. "I leave this matter in your capable hooves, sister. I trust you, and you know I am no good if I haven't slept."

Luna trotted out the door, and began to prepare herself. He will not escape capture once more.

Chapter Five: Warfare

It started out innocently enough, just me, defending myself from a group of heroes who came to defeat me. I never meant to start a war, however much I instigated it. I can use the insanity plea if it's magically effected, right? What does it matter with what will happen, though?

Outside of the Archmage's Tower...

"Girls, use the Elements!" Too Purple shouted.

The forementioned lavender lady and her friends Skittles of the Future, Deep South Xenophobe, Partycan(n)on, Those Colors Look Exactly The Same, and In(tro)vert lined up, a cartoonish gleam going over the gems in the five torcs and one tiara.

The Elements of Harmony had not yet activated. I walked away as they closed their eyes.

With a roll of my eyes, away the heroes go, back to their leader to tell them what happened.

It's kind of fun to make nicknames by seeing the universe where they're the characters of a TV show, isn't it Dr.Thaumatica?

Shut up. I created you!

You also created this section as filler.

Again, shut up. I created you!

Meanwhile, back in Canterlot...

The elements activated.

Orbital Friendship Cannon to the face, Discord.

"Oops."

The elements activated one more.

A few weeks later, back in the tower...

Unfortunately, a fear of mine came to my eyes.

The chaos was spreading.

Just around my eyes were a slight amount of spreading green. I tried to stop it, but I saw it visibly encroach further when I tried that. A failsafe was set up. My scientific knowledge of how magic works, along with everything else useful I knew, from the processes involved in breaching the dimensional barrier to how to prioritize. All copied within a spell, made to imbue one being with the carried knowledge.

With a simple slice of chaos magic, I open a rift to my home universe, to the hospital in which I was born. Into which, I cast the spell.

A universe is made.

In one, I remain as I was and the spell fails to cross. This is where I came from.

In another, the spell takes hold. He would be different, but he would be me.

A spell took hold in my mind.

I cast. The newly-born universe was hidden from my sight.

The words of a sorcerous spells form within my mind.

"Watashi no mirai no kioku o shōkyo shimasu."

The memories of forming the failsafe fade.

"Oh hello Meowgon..." I trail, a little confused as a small black cat pads over to me.

In Canterlot, as fires rage...

"Princesses, he's not stopping! Everypony who steps in front of him is mowed down with a burst of unbridled chaos! Discord's magic is discordant, sure but this level of chaos is actually dissolving them!" A unicorn guard - Shining Armor - reported to the princess.

Celestia and Luna get up from their thrones.

Their faces harden.

Their eyes are dull.

But their blood is boiling.

They begin walking towards the encroaching chaotic menace.

"Princesses? What are you doing?"

Luna spat, "We worked our lives away, toiling day by day so that such filth would not live on our world. We will resume our more... active duties today."

Celestia simply nodded.

"How many are dead, Captain? How many?" Celestia murmured in a daze.

Shining gulps. "Nine tenths of the Royal guard, seven tenths of the mobilized EUP forces, Captain Spitfire, Lieutenant Soarin, and several dozen civilians, ma'am."

The room heats up noticeably on Celestia's side, while it cooled on Luna's.

In the battlefield...

I looked different. My whole head was covered in green shades, with a central pentacle symbol.

"Interesting," I mused, just noticing despite the this occurring days before.

I saw the princesses.

"Come to stop me? Give me your best shot."

Twin auras formed around the horns of the princesses.

"SOL INVICTUS!" Celestia roared.

"LUNA INVICTUS!" Luna screamed.

"HEAVEN'S FURY! HEAVEN'S HATRED!" The princesses' horns flared brightly, their voices reverberating and mixing.

Magical beams fired, centering on me, then mixing into one solid white ray of mana, striking me. If this was an anime, the screen would have gone black and white, with an arrowhead shaped spike of energy lancing through me, blood splattering.

Minus the animation effect, that is what happened.

My vision was darkening.

"But hey," I thought.

"At least I went out with a bang..."

Right as the mana remnants exploded inside of me.

Just as I shudder and let loose me last breath, an enchantment releases it's magic. It starts in Canterlot, but it spreads.

The world itself is dissolving.

Over the course of the next day, Equus is dissolved.

Over the course of the next week, of Celestia and it's planets are gone.

Over the course of the next fortnight, the whole Equuiterian Galaxy.

Over the next month, all of this particular Equus-central universe is gone.

Over the course of the next year, every single universe the contained the Archmage Pentagram of any other form of him is dissipated.

Except one. A single universe, the newest of his, remains untouched, the enchantment made with it involved.

Perhaps it might carry the story on.

Perhaps not.

But know this.

Power corrupts, perhaps mentally, perhaps physically, perhaps digitally, perhaps magically, but absolute power corrupts absolutely.

The price of magical power was mental purity.

Or at least, for this mage.

What if he took a different path?

What if he took of the hammer of creativity, the anvil of ingenuity and with them in the forge of focus created the technological marvels of science, instead of taking of the mantle of the mage?

What if he came to Equestria, still forced, but by his own means, not the devices of another?