The Pentagram

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.