Divine Entertainment

Chapters

2. Greek Gods are assholes
3. A new friend and a letter
4. A new beginning
5. Road Trip, Part 1
6. Road Trip, Part 2
7. Harvest
8. Trade Caravan
9. Kindness
10. Journey
11. Chekhov
12. Pantheon
13. Resurrection
14. High Rock
15. Racism
16. Loyalty
17. Plans
18. Banquet
19. Dusty
20. Escape
23. Travels
24. Encounters
25. Crystal Kingdom
26. Job Hunt - Crimson
27. Job Hunt - Belle
28. Job Hunt - Atlas
29. Academy
30. A new friend and a tour
31. First Day
32. A Day Off
33. A New Spell
34. Introducing Amethyst
35. Generosity
36. Aftermath
Author's Notes: Fucking magic, How does it even work?
38. Back to School
39. Current Events
40. Exam
41. Ehwaz
42. Amber
43. War
44. Major
45. Visiting Day
46. Magic: The Channeling
48. Honesty
49. Research
50. Runes - Part One: Journey
51. Runes - Part Two: Library
52. Runes - Part Three: Dragon
53. Runes - Part Four: Array
54. Going Native
55. A Certain Scientific Plan
56. To Tartarus And Back
57. Laughter
58. To Raise The Sun
59. Back To School
60. Magical Mishap
61. Chaos Incarnate
62. Discord
63. Towards Greener Pastures
1. Of Runes and Ponies (Prologue)
21. Death?
22. Names
37. Going Home
47. Graduation and Classification

2. Greek Gods are assholes

“Why the fuck is it snowing? It’s April already…”

The snow crunched under the man’s feet as he made his way out of his workplace. A castle turned hotel atop a hill, overlooking the quiet city. He was wearing a grey jacket and brown pants. A hat covered his short brown hair, and his goatee was woven into a mini braid adorned with a bronze ring.

It neared 11PM as the last remaining guests filed out of the restaurant for the evening. Why some people thought it was okay to show up half an hour before closing time and order a four course meal was a mystery to him. Of course, the duty always fell to him to stay behind and cook for the guests, so everybody else could go home on time. Working as a chef could be really annoying at times.

His mood didn’t take a turn for the better when he took his first look outside, only to find a swirling mass of white flurries. He hated the cold winter, and the snow it brought. Granted, it could be fun for snowball fights or skiing, but most of the time it was little more than a nuisance. As usual, April was being unpredictable, doing whatever it wanted. So, with great annoyance, he started his journey home.

About one year ago he managed to get a flat really close to his workplace. The commute consisted only of walking up or down the hill. Three minutes of travel for one way, a gift from the gods, to be sure.

As he descended the hill, he took extra care not to fall. The stairs here were badly illuminated, and the snow made them slippery. It was only a matter of time until he would stumble and fall. But today that wasn’t an option. You see, Alex was an avid fan of the show My Little Pony, and like every Saturday, he would get home just in time for a new episode. He took extra care not to fall, so he could watch it in the comfort of his home.

Shortly before reaching a sharp turn in the stairs, a man turned the corner. He was wearing a business casual suit, his jet black hair hung down to his shoulders. Alex didn’t pay too much attention to him. The hill he was currently on was kind of a hotspot for young and old alike to spend time, even this late at night. The view from the top was beautiful after all. Especially at night, when all the lights of the city looked like someone had poured the night sky into a basin.

The man looked around for a bit, and started walking in Alex’s direction.

“Ah, excuse me sir? A moment of your time please.”

He spoke to Alex, grabbing his attention. Alex assumed he wanted to ask for directions.

“Yeah?”

Alex wanted to keep this conversation short for several reasons. He wanted to be home as soon as possible to watch the new episode, and he generally didn’t like strangers. Especially at this late hour.

“Might you be Alexander Atlas Riptis?” The man asked in a casual tone.

Alex’s eyes went wide at that. This man just called him by his full name. Middle name and all. There weren’t a lot of people who even knew he had a middle name. This set off several alarm bells inside Alex’s head. A few possibilities raced through his mind, on who this man could be. Was it a friend of his parents? Some sort of undercover cop? Or something else entirely?

“That depends on who’s asking…” Alex took a step back while he said this, and adopted a skeptical look. He really didn’t like this.

“Ah yes, how rude of me to not introduce myself earlier. My name is Hermes, and I am a God from Olympus.”

‘Oh great, a Lunatic’ Alex thought to himself.

Preparing himself to either fight this man or run, Alex decided to ask what he wanted. Up to this point he didn’t seem hostile.

“Let’s just pretend I believe that. What do you want?”

The man who called himself Hermes started smiling, and Alex almost started running just from seeing this.

“I am here to grant you one wish, and one wish only.”

“Huh?”

Alex’s brain stopped in his tracks. Of all the possible scenarios he imagined, this was far too insane to properly react to.

“Come again?”

“Yes, you heard me right Mr. Riptis. I, the messenger god Hermes, have descended unto Earth to grant you,” Hermes pointed a finger at Alex. “One wish. Any wish. Whatever you desire it is yours. The collective power of the Greek gods will make it possible.”

Hermes once again started smiling after this declaration, as if expecting an answer. Alex considered this for all of a split second. In that split second several things went through his head that he could wish for. Money. Fame. Love. Life. Power. Ponies. Wait, what? Ponies? He must have read too many fanfictions.

He almost immediately discarded all of those ideas though, because only a madman would believe something like this.

“Yeeah suure mate. Listen, I really need to get home now. Gotta go bye!”

Alex wanted to get out of there as fast as possible. First objective: Get the fuck out of dodge. Second objective: Call police about a suspicious person roaming the area around the castle. Third objective: Ponies.

Thus he made a mad dash past Hermes, ignoring the slippery stairs as good as he could. Hermes didn’t seem to give chase, but as Alex rounded the corner Hermes just came from, he called out to Alex.

“Your wish shall be granted!” he shouted before fading to a whisper. ”Mr. Riptis.”
Ignoring him, Alex just ran until he reached the front door of the building his flat was in. Fumbling with his keys to grant him entry, Alex didn’t relax once the door opened. He ran up the stairs to the first floor, and into his flat. As soon as he was inside, he turned around and locked his door. Only then, did he allow himself to calm down.

“Fucking hell man…” He said with a ragged sigh.

He mumbled something about lunatics before turning around and kicking off his shoes, as he always did. But what greeted him wasn’t the usual kind of messy entrance hall. Instead he now stood in a vast field on a warm and sunny day. Through his socks he could feel the grass and dirt beneath his feet and a warm breeze caressed his body.

Considering this was crazier than what normally greeted him, Alex put on a frown and turned around. Sure enough, behind him was his door. The large white frame seemingly alien in the middle of all this nature. Furrowing his brow Alex muttered a “what the..” The sounds of nature were suddenly disrupted by another voice behind him.

“Isn’t it beautiful? I heard they really tried to make it as detailed as possible. The door doesn’t really fit in though, what do you think?”

The door in front of Alex suddenly disappeared, leaving the grass beneath undisturbed, as if it was never there to begin with. Alex recognized the voice that just spoke to him, in fact, he had heard it just a few minutes ago.

He cautiously turned around to see if his suspicion was right, and saw exactly what he didn’t want to see. Behind him stood the man who introduced himself as Hermes.

“Before you ask, let me assure you. You are not going crazy, nor is this an illusion. All of this,” He gestured around with his hand. “Is quite real.”

Alex tried to process what was currently happening to him, he really did. But alas, it was all too much. The only thing he managed to do was look around dumbly and say.

“Huh?”

Hermes, apparently having expected this response, just continued on.

“I see you are a bit confused, but if you think a little, the answer is right before you. THIS,” He once again gestured all around, “is your wish.”

“But I didn’t wish for anything! And even if I would have, I would certainly never wish for… for THIS!”

Alex’s cognitive functions started to return to him. He was sure this wasn’t a dream, but not because Hermes just told him so. No, he could see way too many details for this to be a dream. Most importantly, he could feel all the sensations that came with being alive. He was fully conscious and in control of himself, so there was no way he was currently sleeping.

Hermes just continued smiling. “Ah, but you did! Surely you haven’t already forgotten that I’m a god, right? Reading minds, and subsequently recognizing desire within humans is as easy as one plus one. Back on Earth, when I offered you a wish, you presented me with several options. Money. Fame. Power. The usual suspects, you know? But one of them stood out.”

Alex was starting to see where this was going, and he wasn’t sure if he was going to like it.

“You see, we gods are bored. Most people don’t believe in us anymore, and partying forever can get boring. We’re always looking for new forms of entertainment. So every few years, I come down here to grant the wish of a mortal. Most of the time they are very entertaining, like for example, the whole Atlantis debacle. Marvelous chaos, and destruction all around. Had a good laugh out of that one.”

Hermes had started pacing in front of Alex, gesturing with his hands to relate his story better. All of this was ridiculous to the extreme, and borderline insane. But still, he found himself listening to Hermes nonetheless.

“And this time, you were the chosen one. Don’t overthink this part, you’re not special or anything. Zeus just drew your name out of a gigantic lottery bucket. So obviously to get the most entertainment out of this, we decided to grant your last wish, or desire if you so will. You may have already come to this conclusion, but you’re currently on the planet Equus. From the ‘My Little Pony’ show you adore so much.”

At this he came to a stop in front of Alex, and extended his right hand towards him as if wanting to seal the deal.

“Wait, no seriously wait! What the fuck man?” Alex put his head in his hand, still not able to grasp all that was currently happening. “I don’t want this! I like my life! My boring routine life! What about all my family and friends? I can’t just leave ‘em behind like this! This is crazy, can’t I just wish for something else? Please?”

Alex looked at the god in front of him with pleading eyes, tears starting to form in their corners. “Please?” He repeated.

Hermes let his hand sink back down to his side, and stopped smiling. He almost looked as if he pitied the mortal in front of him.

“I’m afraid not young Alex. You don’t REALLY get a say in what you wish for. We just analyze your desires and pick the one which will provide the most entertainment for us. In this case, sending you to a magical land full of ponies and other creatures from older times. It’s not as if we just dump you wherever you want to go, this is not the world you know from the cartoon you love so much.”

Alex couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Was he really removed from all that he once knew, destined to wander around in a land unknown? Now Hermes was even telling him he couldn’t meet the Mane Six. His last ray of hope in this messed up situation he found himself in snuffed out. Alex felt his legs starting to give out beneath him, so he decided to assist them by just plopping down onto the grass.

“Don’t get me wrong, this is almost a one-to-one recreation of the world within the cartoon. But the issue doesn’t lie in the where, more so in the when. Right now we are literally at the beginning of time. We, the gods, just created this world after all. But alas, as you maybe can imagine, watching you stumble around in a world with nothing in it wouldn’t be very interesting. So, we’re going to help you out a bit.”

At this Alex raised his head to look at Hermes, maybe there was just a glimmer of hope in this after all.

“First of all, we made you immortal.”

Alex’s heart sank at those words. Immortality. A ‘power’ a lot of humans had tried to achieve throughout the history of mankind. Now Alex, a simple working class chef, achieved it by doing literally nothing for it. Problem is, Alex always looked upon immortality as more of a curse than a blessing. A big part of everything fun was that it had to end at some point, even life. That was why he didn’t exactly look forward to dying. But he also knew that it was his ultimate goal in life, and at the same time his last adventure to embark on.

But now even this was taken from him.

“Creating a new reality isn’t exactly easy, so we’re looking to get as much out of this as possible. Which means you’ll have to live a long life.”

Hermes was just going on as if he didn’t notice the look of despair on his partner in this conversation.

“We created this place inside a pocket dimension on Olympus, and ‘programmed’ it to be self-sufficient. Think a self-building video game with no goal or end to it.”

“Also we’ll turn you into one of the locals, so you don’t stick out too much. Any preferences?”
Hermes looked down at Alex, who by now was lying on his side and barely paying attention to what was being said anymore. Hermes just shrugged and continued.

“Eh, we’ll find something fitting for you. For the last thing. As I already mentioned, this place is brand new. It’s getting worked on even as we speak to finish it as fast as possible. Sooo… we’re going to knock you out and speed up time. Up to a certain point, so that you may begin your adventure in a fitting environment. Also you won’t have to feel the agonizing pain when your body gets altered to fit your new body when you’re out cold.”

Hermes allowed himself a small chuckle.

“So, any last remarks before we start?”

He raised a questioning eyebrow at the curled up human on the ground.

“Fuck… You…” Was all that Alex managed to say before Hermes cut him off.

“Well then, let us begin!” He threw his hands up in joy. “How do you young mortals say it again? Ahh yes… Sleep tight, kid.”

And then, everything went dark for Alex.

Author's Note

Hi there, and welcome to Alex's story.

You can expect semi- regular updates from me, as i've written up to chapter 6 at this point.

I'd also like to thank my proofreader/editor Ambros for a job well done!

This chapter has been combed over by James Fire, thanks a lot!

Have fun! :D

3. A new friend and a letter

Alex awoke to the sound of birds merrily singing their songs outside the window. He still felt tired, so he decided to keep his eyes closed for now, just relaxing. As some time passed, and his mind slowly started to join his body in the world of the waking, he started to notice several things that were… off.

Firstly, Alex lived in a city, so waking up to birdsong was pretty unusual. Secondly, he could feel the sun on his face, which was pretty much impossible, because his bed was all the way on the other side of the room from his windows. As he contemplated those two things, he also noticed that his bedsheets smelled wrong. Alex tended to not change his sheets too often because he was a lazy bum whenever housework was concerned, so his sheets smelled quite sweaty most of the time.

But all of that was nothing, compared to the one piece of information his brain registered next. He just awoke to birdsong while the sun was able to shine onto his face, which could only mean one thing. He overslept.

Going into a full blown panic Alex’s eyes opened wide. He immediately tried to sit up, so he could look at his alarm clock, which was located next to his bed. But instead of being greeted by the blue light of his digital alarm, his eyes, and the rest of his face too, were greeted by the cold, hard floor.

Instead of sitting up, all he managed to do was launch himself over the side of his bed. Wondering what went wrong, he started to untangle the mess that was himself and sat up. Looking at his four hooves in confusion, he dumbly wondered why there weren’t two legs as usual.

And suddenly, like a dam breaking, the memories of his encounter with Hermes flooded his mind. Everything. From meeting the strange suited man, to being yanked from his dimension into this one. And like every sane person would in his situation, he started to panic.

Hermes promised him a wish, and more or less did this for Alex; being sent to Equestria was a dream he had since he started reading all those Human in Equestria fanfics, but that was nothing more than a little fantasy! Looking back, he was more than royally fucked over by the gods.

Instead of meeting the mane six and going on adventures, he was stuck here. At the beginning of time, in a new body he had no idea how to properly control. And to top that all off, they made him immortal. While there would certainly be those who would look at this as a gift, Alex was not one of them. He was more of the opinion that being immortal was more of a curse than a blessing.

A long life? That deal he would have made instantly. One or two hundred years added to his lifetime would be amazing. So much time to explore and experience new things. But immortality? No. Doomed to wander the earth for all eternity, watching loved ones come and go, all the while being denied the pleasure of one's own final rest? What else could this be but a curse?

He could have had it all. Wealth. Fame. Love. He could have wished for anything. But then again, his divine benefactors probably would have screwed him over in those cases as well. But could it really be any worse than this?

Alex felt his eyes starting to burn, as tears started to stream down his face. He thought about his family, his friends and all the familiar views he probably would never see again. It all just started piling up in his mind, as realisation after realisation started to hit him. Until…

“AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!”

A mighty scream escaped his throat. After fully emptying his lungs, he just collapsed on the floor, quietly crying.

Shortly after, his ears perked up. Literally. He could actually feel his new ears adjusting themselves. Someone or something was getting closer to his current location. It sounded not unlike the galloping of a horse; hooves clopping onto wood at a rapid pace. He started to look around to pinpoint the location of the sound, when he realised a strange thing.

He was in an actual room, most likely belonging to a house. It had a bed, windows, a small closet, a mirror, and what appeared to be a chest at the end of the bed. Another impossibility thrown onto him, Hermes clearly stated that this world, or dimension, was created with his arrival . So there shouldn’t be anyone else for now, much less living beings who were advanced enough to build houses.

His musings were interrupted by a door violently being thrown open. He turned around from his prone position to get his first look at the door, which apparently just barely missed him. But what was even more interesting was the pony standing in it’s frame.

A honest-to-god pony stood in front of him, panting slightly from running to “his” room. Alex took the few seconds that they were just staring at each other to look the apparently female pony over.

Her coat was of a vibrant green, not unlike the grass of the field he arrived in. Her mane, a light purple, was combed to a straight waterfall cascading down her neck and the front of her face. She had no horn or wings, so she must have been an earth pony. He couldn’t see her cutie mark due to the fact she was standing right in front of him, so he opted to look into her eyes instead. They were of a soft rose color, going incredibly well with her mane, and were staring straight back at him.

He could see worry in her eyes, as well as a bit of… fear? Alex wondered what she possibly could be afraid of, so he decided the only way to make any progress whatsoever was to start up a conversation. Trying to bring his crying at least somewhat under control, he was the first to say anything.

“Uhm… hello?”

Great. Here he was, first contact with a pony in another world, something countless bronies would kill for back home, and all he managed to say was a weak ‘hello’ while looking like an absolute mess. Fucking A man; fucking A.

“Oh by Faust! You’re awake! You finally woke up! I was just sitting downstairs when I heard this loud noise, and then someone screamed! That was you, right? I came as fast as I could! Are you okay? What happened? Do you need any help?”

After the initial shock of apparently seeing him awake, whatever that was, the mare started shooting off questions like a machine gun. Alex, quickly getting annoyed, tried to close her mouth by wrapping his hoof around her muzzle. Only to be greeted by a dark grey hoof entering his field of vision, then promptly falling over from the lack of support.

While not exactly working like he thought it would, it seemed to snap the mare out of it. She looked down at him, her worry starting to grow.

“Oh, I’m terribly sorry, I kinda lost myself there didn’t I? Are you ok?”

Alex let out a groan from having fallen over a second time in such a very short timespan.

“Yeah I’m fine just... a little confused.” He got back up into a sitting position. “So, who are you, where am I and how did I even get here?”

Seeing an opportunity to get some of his questions answered, he just asked the three which currently confused him the most. The mare, who apparently had calmed down, sat down on the floor opposite him.

“So sorry, mister, let me introduce myself. My name is Vibrant Colors. You’re currently in the guestroom of my house. As for how you got here, I found you passed out in a field a few weeks ago. You really didn’t look too good, so I brought you back here.”

“A few weeks?!? How many exactly?”

“I think it’s been close to three weeks now.”

Alex had to do a double take on this piece of information.

“Three weeks? As in 21 days? But that’s impossible! If I was out that long, shouldn’t I have starved by now?”

“I don’t know! I was so scared that you might never wake up again! I couldn’t really do much to help you, the next town with a doctor is a few days of walking away and I have honestly no idea why you’re not dead yet!”

While Vibrant Colors was explaining his circumstances to him, a thought struck him. He was immortal now. He couldn’t die. Apparently not even through starvation. By all means, he should be dead right now. But he wasn’t. He started to tune out the ramblings of the mare in front of him, to really let this information sink in. He was immortal. He could not die. Whatever he did, death was not an option anymore.

He almost felt like laughing. Here he was, in Equestria. A literal dream come true. But cursed beyond belief with immortality. And the weirdest thing about it all, was deep down he was kinda happy about all of this. It was, after all, a chance at a new start.

“I was really wondering if I should just go and get the doctor, but I kept thinking: ‘What if he wakes up and I’m not around?’ That could have taken a turn for the worse!”

The mare was still going off on a tangent, apparently trying to set a new world record for the amount of unnecessary information in one conversation. Huh. Considering how new this world was, it probably really was a new world record.

“Or maybe that’s just how unicorns work, I thought to myself. You know? I don’t really know much about you guys, and with me being…”

“Wait what? Did you just say unicorn?”

“Umm… yes?”

The mare looked at him, as if Alex just asked her if the sky was blue. That was to say, she looked very, very confused.

“Hold on a sec, I need to check something.”

Remembering there was a mirror in his room he stood up, turned around and marched over to it. Closing his eyes he stood in front of it. He was actually kind of scared to see what he looked like now.

“I swear to god, if they made me ugly I’m gonna spend the rest of my immortal life hunting them down…” He muttered under his breath.

Gathering his courage, he opened his eyes, to really look at his new body for the first time. The first thing he noticed, were his eyes. Apparently the ever so benevolent gods granted him at least to keep his own eye color. Which was to say he looked at a pair of curious deep silver eyes. Some would say, his eyes were more of a greyish, slightly green color, but to Alex they always looked like silver. He liked his eyes, it gave off an almost mysterious air at times. And now that they were about 5 times the size, it looked even better.

Next up was his coat, just like he previously noticed on his hoof, the rest of his body was also a dark grey. His mane was a light grey, almost bordering on white. Together they worked pretty well, he thought. But then he spotted the best thing he had seen all day. There on his head, was an honest to god unicorn horn. Which in turn meant magic. Suddenly his mood brightened up considerably.

Next to going to Equestria, being able to do magic was probably at the number one spot of things he wanted, but could never have. And now he had it. A big smile formed on his face as he contemplated all the possibilities now open to him. He even forgot how bad he was feeling about all of this just a minute ago.

Thinking about magic, the thought of cutie marks entered his thoughts once again. So he turned to his side, to see if he was the proud new owner of one such magical tattoo. But on his flank, only vast grey emptiness greeted him.

“Please be magic, please be magic, please be magic…”

Repeating that thought over and over again in his head. He just stood there looking at his flank in the mirror.

Vibrant Colors, who was silent for the entirety of this display, started to worry again. The stallion had been staring at his flank in the mirror for a solid five minutes. Which, if you asked her, was far from normal behaviour. So she rose from her spot on the floor and walked over to him, placing a hoof on his shoulder.

“Can I help you somehow?”

Alex snapped back to attention, turning his head to look at the mare.

“Woah, sorry. I kinda spaced out there didn’t I?”

“Yes, you were just looking at your flank for like, five minutes… Is something wrong?”

Alex took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and let it out again. Slowly reopening his eyes, he felt much calmer.

“No, I just have a lot to think about right now… Say, do you maybe have something to drink? I’m just now realizing how dry my throat is. And maybe a little food? I’m feeling famished.”

Alex looked at her with an apologetic smile, and hoped for the best. After all, if she was willing to let him stay for a few weeks while unconscious, she surely wouldn’t mind giving him some food.

“Of course! How could I forget something so important! I must apologize, I’m a bit of a featherbrain at times. Please follow me downstairs and we’ll get you something.”

She turned around and waved a hoof, indicating to follow her. Alex was more than happy to oblige and didn’t miss a beat to do so. They went out the door into a small hallway, with another door directly opposite the one they exited, probably Vibrant Colors’ bedroom, he thought. She led him to the right, down the relatively short hallway. He couldn’t help but notice the two beautiful paintings hung up at either side of the hallway; one depicting a vast flowerfield, while the other showed a nice little two story building surrounded by a small garden, and a wooden fence.

While he was admiring the paintings, he failed to actually look where he was going. Have you ever had this moment, where you stepped somewhere, fully expecting solid ground, only to find nothing, and then experience a moment of complete panic? Yes? Because that was exactly what was happening to Alex right now.

His face adopted a look of utter shock, as physics not only betrayed him, but stabbed him in the back. As if he didn’t suffer enough already, the very fundamentals of the universe were now after him as well.

“Et tu, Bruuuuute?”

Needless to say, Alex fell down the stairs in a most spectacular way. Vibrant Colors failed to dodge the human turned pony, who was trying his best to imitate a tumbleweed. Alex collided with Vibrant Colors, taking them both the rest of the way down the stairs, until they met with Alex’s new best friend. The floor.

A groan escaped from the bundle of ponies lying on the floor.

“Let’s not do that again…” Vibrant Colors groaned.

With a few grunts and groans, the two ponies managed to untangle themselves, once again sitting in front of each other. Vibrant Colors was rubbing her head with her fetlock, obviously in pain.

“You ok? Did you hurt anything?” Alex queried.

He couldn’t help but feel sorry for the mare. It was his fault they fell down the stairs, and apparently she had to take the brunt of the fall.

“Yeah… yeah I’m okay. I’m kind of a klutz sometimes, so getting hit in the head isn’t anything new.” She admitted. “Why don’t you go sit at the table over there while I get you something to drink.”

She gestured at a small table across the room, and went through a door on the table’s left side, that presumably led into the kitchen. Alex nodded and went to sit down at the table. He was thankful that there weren’t any chairs, because that was probably just another incident waiting to happen.

While waiting he started to look around the room. It wasn’t anything big or fancy, just what you’d expect to see when entering a farmer's house. Aside from the table, there was a cupboard to his right which had glass doors, revealing several plates and cups. There was a fireplace next to it, with a couch before it; an open book was lying on the floor next to it. She must have been reading before she came running upstairs.

Once again, he noticed various paintings hung on the walls. Each and every one depicted some beautiful scenery. His attention was drawn back to the table as a plate filled with fruit was placed on it, as well as a glass of water.

“It isn’t much, but it should suffice for now. Do you want anything else?”

Vibrant Colors had returned with her own food. She sat herself at the opposite side of the table, facing him. That’s when he got his first good look at her cutie mark. A color palette with a diagonally overlaid brush.

“No, thank you very much. This is more than I could hope for.” he nodded thankfully at her. “Have you painted all of those pictures? They’re beautiful!”

Vibrant Color blushed a bit and started to smile.

“Oh yes, my special talent is painting, more specifically, landscapes. I just really love being able to explore and share the sights I come across with other ponies; it just makes me happy to make other ponies happy. Not to mention, it really is the greatest honor to make something and have another pony willing to pay for it, for it to be hung their home.”

She finished with a dreamy look in her eyes and an even bigger smile than before.

“Do you need any help perhaps?”

Alex looked up from his hooves, with which he had tried until just now, to grab his glass of water. He adapted a very serious look and simply said.

“No?”

He really hoped she wouldn’t catch on to his inability to execute even the simplest of tasks. Like lifting up a solid object. They stared at each other for a few seconds; Vibrant Color trying to figure out if he was serious or not, and Alex simply trying to look inconspicuous.

“Nonsense! You must be weak from all this time doing nothing! Here, let me help you.”

With this she stood up again and came over to Alex’s side. He tried to protest, but she wouldn’t listen to any of it. So a few minutes later, with the help of Vibrant Colors, Alex was well watered and fed. Once again they found themselves facing each other at opposite sides of the table.

“So listen, I think now would be a good time to introduce yourself, don’t you think?”
Vibrant Colors coaxed expectantly towards Alex, who felt like an idiot right now. Just a short time ago he all but demanded to know her name, asked for food, and yet he didn’t even think to give her his name!

“My name is Alexander Atlas Riptis, but you can call me Alex. Excuse me for not introducing myself earlier.” He gave a curt nod in her direction.

“Oh it’s quite alright, I’m sure you had other things going through your head. Though I must admit, I’ve never heard of a name like that before. Is this usual amongst unicorns?”

Alex raised a brow at this. It was the second time she displayed a very limited knowledge about unicorns. Considering he had no idea where he was in the timeline of Equestria, it was probably safe to assume the three pony tribes were not yet united. It sure as hell wasn’t the beginning of time like he was led to assume by Hermes.

Thinking of Hermes, he remembered another detail about that fateful night.

“Say, Vibrant, would you have happened to find anything next to me? Like, other objects that might have belonged to me?”

Her face lit up in as she seemed to remember something.

“Actually, yes now that you mention it. Just hold on a second, I’ll get it.”

With this she shot off, thundering up the stairs, from where she returned shortly after. She was carrying a letter in her mouth, which was promptly dropped in front of him on the table.

“It’s interesting, I actually tried to open the letter, to maybe find a clue about who you are or something. But I couldn’t open it for the life of me. Is it enchanted? Do unicorns not use scrolls; I’ve never seen paper like this before.”

Ignoring the last piece of that statement, Alex turned the letter around in his hooves.

“Could be enchanted, yes, let me check.”

As Alex finally managed to turn over the letter he noticed it was sealed with wax, a strange bolt-like insignia imprinted on it, which he didn’t recognize. As he touched it with his hoof, the wax lit up a bright red, and started to crumble away into nothingness. After some difficulty he managed to pull out the piece of paper it contained.

“Uhhh! Was that magic? I’ve never actually seen it before! That was so cool!”

Alex looked up at Vibrant Colors, who was apparently losing her shit over the little display the wax just pulled off.

“Uhuh… yeah magic, whatever… Listen this letter is top secret so, no snooping, alright?”

Vibrant Colors nodded happily, barely able to contain her excitement about witnessing magic firsthand. Alex, content with her response, started reading.

To Alexander Atlas Riptis

I extend to you my greetings, mortal. I, Zeus, heard your wish, and have decided to fulfill it. Your wish, I have to say, was on a never before seen scale; thus me and my friends have had to invest a little more effort than usual into executing it.

As you were with no doubt informed of, we have done this for our entertainment and because of that, we wish to watch your adventures for yet a long time to come. Which is why we decided to make you immortal. My dear friend Chronos, has “stopped” your time, meaning you will no longer age from here on. You will still be able to get sick, or get hurt. But none of that will ultimately kill you.

I’m sure you have a lot of questions after you have woken, but you will just have to figure most things out for yourself, as we will not contact you ever again after this. As such, here are a few important things about your situation:

When you were transported into this new world, it was the beginning of time for this new dimension. However just watching you trying to survive alone, would have been terribly boring, so we put you into a magically induced coma for a few days, and sped up time around you. The planet you are residing on, should now be properly populated.

Having one's body transformed can be a painful experience, especially having to relearn everything. You will find that we have “preloaded” most of the basic movements required.

We created the land of Equestria as accurate to the show you love so much as possible. For the rest of the planet we essentially hit random. Have fun exploring.

I hope you will be a never ending source of entertainment for my friends and I. I wish you the best of luck, and have fun with your wish.

Signed

Zeus

After finishing reading the letter, Alex blinked a few times, then read it again to make sure he didn’t miss anything. It didn’t exactly reveal anything new to his situation, but managed to clarify some details. For example why he apparently was able to walk around no problem with his new body. Or why he was so far along in time. He was just about to read it a third time, when the letter started to glow the same red as the wax seal did before. Fearing it might disintegrate soon he sped up his reading, until the glow just got too bright.

Instead of just vanishing, the letter pulled off an exit wholly different from his waxy brother before. It literally exploded into colorful confetti startling Alex into backpedalling away from the table. He once again stumbled over his new appendages and fell.

While being surprise hugged from behind by his best friend, he muttered something under his breath.

“I hope you got a good laugh out of that one, you assholes…”

Author's Note

So this chapter was quite long, all the other chapters should be around 2k-2.5k words long with a few exceptions.

Once again, thanks to Ambros for a job well done!

This chapter has been combed over by James Fire, thanks a lot!

4. A new beginning

Alex spent the next few days adjusting to his new body and spending time with Vibrant Colors. True to the letter he received from Zeus, he found it to be relatively easy to move around in his newly acquired soul container. Walking was easy and even the more challenging bodily functions, like controlling his tail and ears, didn’t take a lot of effort.

The one thing he had problems with was picking things up with his hoof. Apparently this required some form of magic control, and of course the gods “forgot” to add this to his skillset. So because he didn’t want Vibrant to get suspicious he trained this in the room she provided for him.

It took him almost three days to learn it. But after he dropped his shoe for what felt like a few thousand times, he finally grasped the concept. It wasn’t that different from magnets, and once he understood that, it became a lot easier. Much the same as he didn’t understand how magnets work, he didn’t really know how he picked up stuff. He just kinda… did.

With his grabbing skills sorted out, the last thing that eluded him was magic. He was a unicorn now, so he definitely could do it. At least that’s what he thought. Try as he might he couldn’t get it to work. He tried everything from meditating to just smashing his horn against stuff to see if it worked. And because he knew it wasn’t science until he wrote it down, he did just that.

Test #86
Objective: Do Magic
Method: Poke/Smash stuff with horn
Conclusion: Doesn’t work/ hurts a lot, must be sensitive, so avoid in future.

Of course he had to hide his notes from Vibrant Colors as he didn’t want her to find out he couldn’t control his magic. For now he bullshitted his way through by telling her how he had some kind of amnesia, and he just couldn’t remember a lot of stuff. Including the casting of even the most basic spells.

When he wasn’t experimenting on himself, be it in the bathroom or outside of it, he helped around the house where he could. There wasn’t too much to do, but he could at least cook for the both of them, as it kind of was his job before coming here. Also he helped tending to the small garden outside, pulling weeds and planting seeds.

As soon as he stepped outside for the first time and looked at the house, he immediately recognized it from one of the paintings inside. The evil painting that made him fall down the stairs. Even though he didn’t like that particular picture, he couldn’t deny that it was painted expertly. It looked almost real, like someone took a photograph of the house.

In fact, all of the pictures Vibrant drew looked amazing. Apparently she earned her money by trekking to the next village and selling them there. She was pretty self sufficient, having a garden. So she made the trip only about once every two months. But now that she had to feed two ponies their resources were growing thin, and today she made him a proposal.

They were both sitting at the table munching on some flapjacks alex just made when she spoke up.

“So Alex. How do you feel about going down to Harvest?” As Alex shot her a confused look, she elaborated. “It’s the name of the nearest village. I need to go there so I can restock. Would you like to come with me? Maybe you’ll remember something along the way, or meet someone who knows you in town?”

She looked at him expectantly, merrily eating away at her meal. She quite liked Alex’s cooking, a fact he was proud of. As a chef seeing your customer happy was his greatest reward. An opportunity like this was just what he was hoping for. He liked Vibrant Colors, but if he wanted to actually do stuff, he couldn’t spend his unending life living in isolation.

“Sure, that sounds like a good idea. It’s weird, not really knowing why I was around here, or if I was alone for that matter. Maybe my friends aren’t around anymore, but the local authorities might know something. Like reports about missing unicorns or something.”

That was a blatant lie of course. Alex knew fully well that this was impossible. But in the last few days he made a gameplan for his further proceedings. The most important thing for him was learning magic. This was after all a dream of his come true. But that involved finding other unicorns. Already having determined that the Pony tribes didn’t unite yet, that possibly meant a lot of travelling for him.

So going to some form of civilization was key. He could acquire information there, maybe even a map. He would most likely have to part with Vibrant Colors after that, but that was a necessary sacrifice. He came to like her quite a bit in the short time he knew her, but he really needed to get a move on. Also he wasn’t ready to settle down at all. At the age of 23 you still had your whole life ahead of you, doubly so for an immortal being.

“Yes, the sheriff might know something if you were really reported missing. And if that fails, we can still ask around for a bit.” She took a while to think. “The trip will take about three days, so we’ll need to pack enough food. We’ll encounter enough bodies of water so that it won’’t be a problem if we don’t pack any. I also have a tent that we’re going to need, luckily it’s big enough for two. I’ll also take a few paintings with me, so I can sell them there.”

Vibrant Colors listed the things they’d need with ease. No doubt having completed the trip numerous times in her past. Alex wouldn’t have been surprised if she pulled a checklist out from somewhere.

“There’s a cart behind the house, can you go and pull it to the front after we finish eating? It’ll be easier to load up.”

“Sure. Let me know if you need help with anything else, i’m glad to help.”

Vibrant nodded thankfully, shoving another flapjack into her mouth.

“If you could help me make the paintings save for travelling, that would be much appreciated.”

Alex was currently chewing on his own food, so he just gave her a thumbs up. Or at least he wanted to. As it were, he just raised his hoof towards her, as if pointing. Vibrant shot him a questioning look and Alex looked somewhat confused for a moment until realization struck him. Even though he was getting used to his new body, old habits came through every once and again.

Alex just put his hoof back down and reassured her he’d be happy to help in any way he could.

After they finished their meal, they went to work on their respective tasks. While Alex relocated the cart and started stuffing food and other rations into it, Vibrant started preparing her paintings. This went on for most of the afternoon, with Alex coming to help Vibrant later on. After a light dinner consisting of various fruits and vegetables, they both retired for the night.

The next day, Alex woke up because of a very persistent green hoof shaking him.

“Time to wake up Alex! We need to get an early start if we want to arrive within three days. Come down and we’ll eat some breakfast.”

Alex just grumbled something and turned around on the bed. He never was a morning person. And getting up before the sun did was akin to suicide for him.

“If you’re not at the table in five minutes i’ll dump some water on you.”

Vibrant grinned while turning around and walking towards the door. As she stood in the frame she shot a look back, only to see Alex quietly snoring into his pillow. She shook her head and made a mental note to fill a glass of water while she put out some food for them.

Sure enough, five minutes later, Vibrant stood before Alex once again. This time armed with a small container containing an ice cold wake up call with no snooze button. More commonly referred to as a glass of water. Seeing as Alex didn’t make any moves to get up, she dumped the water relatively unceremoniously onto his head.

“Whaaa… what the fuck! Shit! Jeezus Christ on a stick that’s cold! aaaaaAAAAHHH!”

Alex awoke with a start shouting off various profanities at no one in particular. While he did so he flailed around in bed and got into a fight with his blanket. This combined with having just woken up lead to him, once again, falling out of bed.

“Good to see you’re awake, breakfast is ready.” Vibrant said nonchalantly while looking down at the mess of Blanket and pony. “Come on, I want to leave before sunrise.”

She turned around and walked out of the room. Meanwhile Alex wormed his way out of his soft cocoon. All the while cursing under his breath and promising revenge. He made his way down the stairs. Normally if he had to get up this time of day an onlooker could mistake him for the walking dead. But apparently a glass of cold water did wonders for him.

Sitting down at the table he grabbed a carrot and some fruit, as well as a glass of orange juice, and started eating. Every once in awhile he’d look over to the green mare and give her the stink eye.

After the third time she felt the need to say something.

“Oh come on! How else was I supposed to get you out of bed?” She shot him a smirk. “You were here just a few days, but I know exactly how you are after you get up. You know we’re on a schedule here.” She patiently waited for his response while chewing on an apple.

Alex didn’t answer immediately. Even though he was much more awake than usually, his thinking process was still a bit slow. Deep down he knew she was right. But that didn’t mean he had to like it. So he just grumbled at her a bit and continued eating while loading new ammo into his stink eye rifle.

After what Alex considered another successful headshot Vibrant let out a deep sigh. Seeing as they were just about finished with their meals she started clearing the table.

Not long after they both stood outside, looking back at the small house. Alex contemplated his situation once more. This was it. The beginning of his new life. The start of his very own adventure. He considered himself lucky to have been picked up by such a nice individual.

From what she told him, he was found quite a way away from her home. Vibrant was taking a hike, searching for bits of nature that would look good on a canvas. Apparently he was lying in a spot of high grass and she almost stumbled over him. If it was the same place he was put to sleep or someone else entirely, he didn’t know. But he knew he didn’t have to thank the gods for being discovered. Most likely they just chucked him somewhere and left.

“Don’t you want to lock up?” Alex asked. He just noticed that she didn’t after they both exited the abode. “Somebody might break in.”

“Alex. We’re almost three days away from civilization. If somepony comes all the way out here to rob me, they won’t be stopped by a locked door. And if someone has an emergency they’re more than welcome to use my house for shelter.” Vibrant deadpanned.

“That makes sense.”

They stood in an awkward silence for a bit before Vibrant broke it.

“Well, no point standing around. Let’s go.”

She turned around and walked towards the now fully loaded cart. Alex not too far behind her. While she strapped herself expertly into the harness.

“Let’s take turns pulling this thing. I’ll start, and we’ll switch after we eat lunch. That sound okay to you?”

“Sure.”

Alex held his answer short, still feeling tired. He jumped onto the cart, which still had enough space for one pony. Curling up into a lying position he looked up to see an unamused face before him.

“Come on Alex, get off. The cart’s heavy enough as is.” She said slightly annoyed at his antics.

“Make me.” Alex put his head on his leg, finding them a lot more comfortable than his human counterparts, and closed his eyes. The strapped in mare gave an exaggerated sigh but started pulling nonetheless.

As Alex felt the cart starting to move, he lifted his head again. He looked back once more. He looked back not only at the house in the middle of nowhere. But at an end. He thought about all he left behind. Family, friends and all his personal possessions. There was no way for him to ever return. He hoped, or rather prayed that the gods at least made his passing a bit easier for his parents.

It was the first and last time he would be asking the gods for anything. And somehow he felt, that they were at least decent enough to grant him this wish. Blinking, he turned his head forward. His gaze lingering on the mare pulling the cart in front of him for a moment. He put his head back down.

Watching the sunrise in front of him he closed his eyes once more. He didn’t think about what was behind him. But what was in front. All the while the soft rocking of the cart lulled him to sleep.

Author's Note

So this is the official start of Alex's new life, as well as the end of the prologue chapters. We now enter th territory of the 'Journey' arc.

Once again, thanks to my proofreader/editor Ambros for a job well done!

Have a good read and feel free to comment!

5. Road Trip, Part 1

The sun was shining, providing light and warmth for all sorts of life. Plants used the energy given them to grow. Tall trees absorbed as much as they could in order to grow even stronger. They stood in a tight formation inside a vast sea of colors consisting of the greenest of grasses, and a myriad of flowers.

But not just the plants relished in the sun. Various critters enjoyed the day as well. A few bunnies could be seen hopping around and playing with each other. Birds flew to and from the trees, all the while regaling everyone else with a happy little song.

Amidst them, a pink butterfly which, up until now had been resting on a blue flower, alighted into the air. It flew wherever it wanted to, enjoying the freedom it had. Here and there it brushed upon other flowers, taking in their scent. After a while it spotted something out of the ordinary. It had never seen anything like this before, so it went to investigate.

It flew closer to a long stretch of dirt, all nature seemingly absent from it. Upon it was a wooden construction pulled by the biggest animal it had ever seen. The Butterfly took a daring approach, and perched on the nose of the equine as it’s landing spot. Once again it was reminded how tiny it was in comparison, as it stared up into a huge set of rose eyes. Those giant orbs stared right back at it.

Vibrant Colors was brought out of her mindless wandering when a pink butterfly came to rest on her nose. She had to cross her eyes to take a good look at it and smiled. She had always liked animals, and when she was out painting, small critters like foxes or squirrels sometimes kept her company.

Her nose began to tickle and she had to sneeze. The Butterfly was startled by it, and flew away from her. The green mare followed it with her eyes for a while, until it flew out of sight. Checking the position of the sun, she realized it was almost noon.

She cast a glance back at the cart to find that Alex was still peacefully sleeping. A sigh escaped her lips, the stallion was still a mystery to her. Everything about him was as strange as could be. Starting from the fact that she found him in the middle of some field sleeping, to her finding notes in the guest room implying he was smashing his horn on things to try and reclaim his magic.

Even though he slept for three full weeks, he still slept a lot after he woke up a few days ago. Maybe it had something to do with his amnesia? She was really worried about him, and hoped that they would find some clues to who he was exactly when they arrived in Harvest. Even though Harvest was very small, it was still connected to a trade route. In fact it was the last stop on it. After Harvest you could walk for weeks and not find any signs of civilisation.

Of course you could find a few houses here and there if you knew where to look. Vibrant wasn’t the only one who preferred the solitude for one reason or another.

Her stomach rumbled, signalling to her that it craved sustenance. Once again checking on the Sun's position she decided now would be as good a time as any to stop for lunch. Spotting an indent in the dirt road she was following, a plan formulated in her head. She made sure to align the cart’s left wheel with it and pulled over it. The cart took a hearty jump, shaking everything in it. Including Alex.

A groan told her that it was enough to wake the stallion and she had to grin at the perfectly executed plan. Honestly, she couldn’t comprehend how he didn’t wake up earlier. The dirt road they were travelling wasn’t exactly smooth, after all.

Meanwhile, Alex rose into a sitting position. Blinking the sleep out of his eyes, he started to stretch, getting his blood to circulate. He looked left and right, and was assaulted by more nature than he had ever seen before. A veritable cornucopia of colors stretched out to either side of him as far as he could see. What's more, the place he found himself in was almost creepily flat. If it wasn’t for the distant mountain range he could see to their front, he’d think he was still dreaming.

“How long was I out?” He groggily asked the mare pulling the cart in front of him.

“Good morning sleepyhead!” Vibrant answered. “It’s almost noon, so i’d say about… seven hours. How do you sleep so much? We went to bed at a reasonable hour yesterday. So you should have slept more than enough.”

She turned around to look at Alex. He had a brutal case of bed head, so she had to snicker. Alex looked at her confused, tilting his head a bit sideways.

“I couldn’t really sleep last night, so I read one of the books you had in your guestroom.” Alex lied.

While it was true that he couldn’t sleep, he most certainly didn’t read a book. He once again spent most of the night experimenting with his magic. Alas it was of no use. He tried everything he could, yet he could not get a single spark from his horn.

“Read anything good?” Vibrant asked while redirecting her view back to the road in front of her.

“ ‘Colorful Flowers guide to colorful flowers’ by… Colorful Flowers.” Alex had to frown at the title of the book. He didn’t actually read it in his time staying at Vibrant’s place, but the title was always an eyesore to him. How could anyone have such little imagination?

“Ah yes, a wonderful guide. I used it as a reference guide quite often when I was just starting out.” Vibrant smiled as she remembered those days long past. “So anyway, it’s time for lunch.”

The mare brought the cart to a halt, not bothering to pull it out of the way. As she started to unhinge herself she continued talking to Alex.

“Our Food supply should be somewhere behind you. It’s in a green saddlebag. Be a dear and take it down, would you. There should also be a picnic blanket next to it.”

Alex turned around and rummaged through the cart’s contents. He soon found what he was after, and picked them both up. He threw the blanket over his back, shortly followed by the saddlebag. Descending from the cart, he looked around to find where Vibrant had gone. After he couldn’t find her in front he decided to go to the back of the cart to see if she was there.

Not finding her there either, he returned to the front, completing a full circle around the cart. he furrowed his brows and decided to call out to her.

“Vibrant? Vibrant where are you?” he shouted, looking left and right.

“I’m over here!” came the answer shortly after.

He turned towards the sound and saw the green mare emerging out from under the cover of some trees. Relieved she hadn’t disappeared on him he started spreading out the blanket for them. He was just about to open the saddlebags to see what she had packed for them as Vibrant sat down next to him.

“What were you doing over there?” Alex asked with an inquisitive look.

“It’s considered bad manners to ask a mare that.”

Alex nodded in acknowledgement. “Well if you’re going to take a piss next time, how about you tell me? I was worried you disappeared on me.”

Alex never was one for good manners.

Vibrant pouted a bit but let it slide.

“Alright, alright. Who’d have guessed you were this jumpy? You worried I’d ditch you in the middle of nowhere or something?”

“Well I’ve only known you for a few days, so I’m more scared you’re going to sell me into slavery or something.”

Alex took out two sandwiches from the saddlebag and gave one to Vibrant.

“I sure hope you don’t though.”

Vibrant shot him a deadpan look, but took the sandwich from him anyway.

“You were sleeping in my guestroom for three weeks straight. Who’s to say I didn’t take out and sell your kidney in that time?” She smirked while taking a bite out of her sandwich.

“Well I have no incision scars for one. That and I would very much like to give you the benefit of the doubt.” Alex was munching on his own sandwich at this point.

They fell into an awkward kind of silence after that, and Alex took the time to look around once more. He noticed it at Vibrant’s home too, but everything in this world seemed more colorful somehow. Maybe it was the absence of grey stone buildings. Maybe it really was more colorful. With no way to compare he'd simply have to guess.

After thinking for awhile, he came to the conclusion that the colors here were most likely more saturated. Zeus’s letter mentioned they created this space as true to the show as possible. So the show being a cartoon, it made sense that everything would look… better. More ideal.

While he was pondering the intricacies of this world he now inhabited, he spotted a fox slowly approaching the both of them. He was curiously eying the food they were both eating. So he decided to break off a piece of his sandwich, and threw it in its direction. The fox cautiously approached the morsel and sniffed it.

After a while he looked up towards Alex again, as if weighing his options. Alex just waved to him and smiled. Apparently it decided the piece of bread was safe to eat, because after eying him for a moment he ate it.

The fox cautiously approached. When he was close enough Alex offered him another piece of bread in his hoof. It didn’t hesitate this time and immediately swallowed the whole thing. Alex patted him on the head a few times, careful not to hit him with his hoof. It leaned into him and yipped in thanks.

Shortly after, the fox left. Going to do fox things, Alex presumed.

“Did you SEE that?” Alex whisper-shouted barely able to contain his excitement.

Back in Alex’s hometown you could consider yourself lucky to even see a wild animal. That and he just petted a wild fox. Something he thought he’d never get to do.

“Yeah I did. Nothing special. The animals around here are pretty friendly, and they provide me company when I’m out drawing.” Vibrant deadpanned. “Come on, finish your sandwich. It's time we continued on, we’re burning daylight.”

Vibrant stood up, grabbed the saddlebag and threw them back on the cart. She turned around towards Alex and looked at him expectantly. He scarfed down what was left of his food, and picked up the blanket. Trotting past Vibrant he threw it next to the bags.

He started hooking himself into the cart, remembering his promise to switch after lunch and started pulling. After a few steps he noticed the suspicious absence of a second set of hooves beside him and turned around.

Vibrant was sitting on the cart sporting a smile as wide as a mile. Alex huffed and faced forward again, continuing to pull the cart.

“You know. I should have seen this coming.” he said.

“Yes. Yes, you should’ve.”

Author's Note

Heya. A little chapter showcasing how it's sometimes the little things in life that are the most special. Also Alex notices once again how different this world is to his own.

Just got done writing chapter nine, and i'm quite happy how it turned out, the story's really coming in hard over there, so look forward to it :D

Hope you have a good read and feel free to comment!

Once again, thanks to my proofreader/editor Ambros for a job well done!

This chapter has been combed over by James Fire, thanks a lot!

6. Road Trip, Part 2

Alex was walking next to Vibrant Colors. Yesterday they reached the base of a mountain ridge, where they had made camp for the night. After a hearty meal, they spread some mats on the ground, and went to sleep, not bothering to put up a tent as it was a clear night. As a result of Alex pulling the cart for six hours straight, he had no trouble falling asleep.

They awoke with the sun, and went on their merry way again. According to Vibrant, they would spend the whole day climbing the winding paths of the mountain that they were currently on. Once they reached the top, Alex would be able to get his first glimpse of Harvest in the distance.

Following the fox incident, Alex made friends with every animal courageous enough to approach them. So far he bonded with two deers, a few bunnies, a weasel, and a snake which was currently perched on his back hitching a ride. He found it about an hour into their trek, sunbathing in the early morning rays.

The brown snake apparently took a liking to Alex, and decided to come along for a bit. Much to the dismay of Vibrant Colors. She muttered something about how creepy they moved, and told him to keep it away from her.

Compared to the nice view down in the valley, the mountainside didn’t provide nearly as much entertainment for Alex. So after a while, he trotted up to his travel companion to strike up a conversation.

“So, what can I expect once we get to Harvest? Anything I should know about, like local customs or anything?” He asked.

“Well, don’t set your expectations too high. Harvest is quite a modest town with only about three hundred ponies inhabiting it.” Vibrant began to explain. “It’s more or less just the essentials. There’s a marketplace, two saloons, and the Sheriff's office. The rest is mostly comprised of private houses or farms.” She shot an uneasy glance back at Alex’s back, where the snake was resting. “Harvest is also the last stop of the southern trade route. So there is always a caravan or two around. I reckon that would be your ticket back to a unicorn town.”

Alex remembered that, according to an episode, the three pony tribes weren’t exactly friendly to each other.

“Should I worry about them not liking me? I’m a unicorn, and I assume Harvest is an earth pony town. Right?”

“No, it should be okay. Some of the trade caravans have unicorns with them, and I’ve never seen anyone taking up issue with them.”

Alex calmed down considerably upon hearing that. For a second the picture of him being chased by an angry mob had entered his head.

“So did you start to remember anything? Like how you ended up so far removed from civilization? Or if you were with somebody?” Vibrant inquired.

Alex sighed and hung his head. “I’m afraid not. It’s all just a jumbled mess up here. Everytime I think I am close to remembering something, it disappears on me. Like when you wake up in the morning and try to remember a dream.”

In Alex’s opinion he was a great actor.

Vibrant swiveled her head around to face Alex, intending to comfort him a bit. As the first few sound left her mouth to form words she got a face full of brown. Furrowing her brows, she focused her eyes on what was in front of her. Apparently the snake had changed positions from Alex’s back to his head, and was leaning over to her.

“Ummm…” said Vibrant.

“Hissss” said the snake, wiggling with it’s tongue.

Vibrant shrieked as she pulled away from the offending animal. Jumping as far away as she could while still hinged to the cart, almost causing it to tip over.

Alex raised his head towards her and saw that she was terrified, holding one hoof over her heart in shock. He looked up at the snake dangling from his horn and back to the green mare.

“You sure you’re not actually afraid of snakes?” Alex asked with a evil smirk.

“YES! I mean… yes. I was just surprised is all.” She had to break eye contact with Alex who almost looked like a predator right now. “Definitely not afraid of ‘em! Ha! Me afraid of snakes. Good one. Let’s continue!”

Vibrant started rambling and started to pull the cart again, albeit a bit faster than before. She shot a look back to Alex, who still stood there still grinning like a mad colt. A few beads of sweat stared to trickle down the side of her head.

Meanwhile Alex had flashbacks to how he managed to catch a snake back at a picnic with his family. They were his favourite animal, so he didn’t fear them one bit. He respected them sure, but didn’t fear them. Of course he promptly started to chase around his sister, who was terrified of snakes. Good times.

After a while Vibrant decided to look back once more.

“You coming Alex?” She shouted behind her.

But Alex couldn’t be seen anywhere. She glanced around nervously, searching for any sign of him. When suddenly she heard a thud to her right and turned around.

“Look they are just sooo cuuute!” Alex shouted while simultaneously shoving the snake in Vibrants face.

“Hisss!” Was the enthusiastic reply from the snake.

Vibrant’s eyes went wide at that, and she started shrieking once more. She desperately started to run to put as much distance as possible between her and that overgrown rainworm from Tartarus. Alex not being prepared for it, was knocked over as the cart rammed into him.

Staying in his prone position he rolled around laughing. Taking care to not accidentally squish his partner in crime by doing so. All the while the sound of Vibrant fleeing the premises grew more faint, until eventually, it faded away.

Alex spent the rest of the morning without seeing neither hide nor hair of Vibrant. His snakey companion was currently coiled around his right foreleg, apparently enjoying the swaying caused by his walking.

He was glad that there was only one way to follow, or else he could have gotten himself lost. The way led him through a gap between two mountains, so he couldn’t even enjoy the view from up high. From time to time he conversed with the snake, but it was like talking to someone talking a different language. They kinda sort of understood each other. But they really didn’t.

Several hours later he met up with Vibrant again. She had unhinged herself from the cart, and was reading a book on top of it. Upon hearing Alex’s hoofsteps she put the book down, and looked over the wooden barricade between them. Her eyes centered upon the mass of brown on his leg as she huffed.

Picking up her book again she said, “It’s your turn to pull the cart.”

“Look Vibrant, I’m sorry. I know I shouldn’t have scared you like that, but the opportunity was just too good!” Alex pleaded with her. “Also, I remembered something!”

Vibrants ears perked up at this.

“I remembered doing the exact same thing to my sister once. At a family picnic.”

Alex smiled at the green ears poking up over the edge of the cart, hoping his little white lie would calm her down a bit. After a short while, a wrapped sandwich flew towards him and landed in the dirt at his hooves.

“Eat and walk.” Vibrant simply said.

Alex sighed and picked up the sandwich. He guessed Vibrant would be mad at him for a bit longer, and it would be best to just leave her be for now. So he hooked himself to the cart, and started pulling. Looking up towards the sun, he thought that the next few hours would be boring, with no one to really talk to.

It was starting to get dark, as the sun was setting. Alex couldn’t really estimate how late it was, because the sun disappeared behind the drab mountain walls some time ago. He was still loyally pulling the cart past stretches of boring brown and green. From time to time, he would spot other animals, but they tended to keep their distance here.

Even his snake friend, who he had named “Jerry” by now had left him. They parted ways at a particularly rocky spot, that got tons of sun. Alex was sad to see him go, but was also happy because he found such a nice spot to live.

He pulled the cart around a corner, and was greeted by the sun looking back at him. It was still a while from going over the horizon, but the sky was already turning various shades of red and orange.

He noticed that about a hundred meters ahead, the surface flattened out into some kind of plateau. A bit further ahead it seemed to just drop off. After looking around for a bit he noticed the path continuing to the left, going down the mountain side. He pulled the cart up to the drop off and looked over it.

They had emerged from the mountains, and he could once again see large stretches of green. To his right was a sizeable meadow, all kinds of birds flying over it. His eyes were drawn to his left, where he saw light in the distance.

“Is that Harvest?” He asked Vibrant behind him while pointing at it with a hoof.

After a few seconds of getting no response, he looked back. Vibrant was resting her head on an open book, and was softly snoring in her sleep. Alex d’awwed internally before unhinging himself from the cart.

He cautiously approached her sleeping form, and put a hoof on her barrel. Giving her a few good shakes he said, “Time to wake up sleepy head.”

“Hmmmm? wha…”

Vibrant’s eyes fluttered open. She raised her head from the book she was lying on, and took a bleary look around. Her eyes focused on the setting sun for a moment, until she noticed Alex standing next to her.

She blinked once to try and clear away the cobwebs of sleep from her eyes. Then she immediately looked him over for any signs of elongated animals. Seemingly pleased to find none, she started to get up.

“You ditched the snake?” she asked.

“More like he ditched me.” Alex chuckled. “We came across a pretty cool snake biome along the way, and he decided to stay there. I’m gonna miss him.” He added while pouting.

“Well I’m not!” Vibrant stomped a hoof down on the cart.

“Yeah, yeah. I could guess as much. So tell me. Is that Harvest over there?”

Vibrant looked to where Alex was pointing, and squinted her eyes.

“Yeah it is.” She said after a while. “Let’s make camp for the night here, if we get up with the sun tomorrow, we should be there around dinner time.”

She tossed their sleeping mats out of the cart and grabbed their food saddlebag. After she hopped down, she approached the cliffside and sat on her haunches to take in the view. Alex followed shortly after her.

“I always wanted to paint this view, you know?” The green mare said after a while. “But I’m always too tired after walking this far.”

Alex glanced over to her and noticed her longing look.

“Why don’t you do it now? You slept for quite a while, and I can pull the cart first tomorrow. Now would be the perfect time!” Alex suggested.

“That’s awfully kind of you to offer. But I don’t have any blank canvases with me. Or any paints for that matter.” A sigh escaped her lips.

“Oh…”

Alex looked towards the setting sun again. The sun was now halfway covered by the horizon. The Sky around it a deep red. Alex had to agree that this would make one hell of a picture. He had seen one or two sunrises in his life. But nothing could quite come close to what he was looking at now.

After a moment of silence Vibrant spoke up again.

“I’m sorry.” She pawed at the ground with her hoof a bit.

“For what?”

“For the way i treated you before. I know you didn’t mean any harm. It’s just that I’m actually terrified of snakes. I should have told you, and not just avoid talking about it.” She sighed. “So… I’m sorry.”

Vibrant looked towards Alex, and straight into his eyes seeking for forgiveness.

“You don’t need to apologize.” Alex broke eye contact and looked towards the setting sun. “If I had known you’d show a reaction this extreme to my little prank I wouldn’t have done it. If anything, I’m the one that should apologize.”

Vibrant gave a thoughtful hum at that, and turned to face the horizon too. Silence fell over them. And captivated by the beauty of the moment, they watched the sun cross the edge of the world.

Author's Note

Hope you have a good read and feel free to comment!

Once again, thanks to my proofreader/editor Ambros for a job well done!

This chapter has been combed over by James Fire, thanks a lot!

7. Harvest

Alex walked next to Vibrant Colors while she pulled the cart. Even though Vibrant didn’t paint anything last night, he still offered to pull the cart in the morning. They made good time down the mountain into the fields, as the roads they were now travelling on were maintained much better.

After a short snack at noon, they switched and moved on. As Alex watched the town in the distance come closer and closer, he got nervous. He was going to enter a real town for the first time since coming here. Even though Vibrant assured him that the locals would be friendly towards him, he still had his doubts.

They were now only about half an hour away from entering the town proper, and already they were passing a few farms along the way. Alex went over his mental checklist once again.

First he would need to visit the Sheriff of the town. There wasn’t really any point to it, it was more for appearances sake. He already knew how he got that far away from civilisation, and was sure nobody had reported him as missing. He just didn’t want Vibrant to worry. If nothing else, he could ask the Sheriff for information about the town.

Secondly, he would need to acquire a map. He had no idea where he was, or where he should go, so a map would help him out greatly.

Finally, he would need to find a mode of transport. Maybe he could join one of the trade caravans?

“So, how are we going to do this? Do you want to split up, or go together?”

Alex looked expectantly towards Vibrant. She looked up to check the position of the sun.

“If you wouldn’t mind, I’d like to split up. We’re here earlier than I expected, so the marketplace should still be open. So I want to try and sell some of my paintings.” Vibrant looked over to him. “I’ll drop you off at the Sheriff’s office. It’s on the way.”

“Yeah that works for me. Should I come to the marketplace after I’m done?” Alex asked.

“Sure, after market hours we can go grab something to eat. How does a decent meal sound after three days of sandwiches and fruit?”

“That sounds fucking amazing. I could really go for a hot meal to be honest.”

Vibrant furrowed her brow a bit, a question on her tongue.

“You keep using that word. What does it mean? You’re the only pony I’ve ever met that used it.”

“What? Which word?” Alex adopted a confused look, trying to figure out just what she meant exactly.

“There are different variations… Fuck being the most prominent.”

Vibrant looked at him like she was genuinely curious. Meanwhile Alex was facepalming internally. Or rather, ‘facehoofing’, he thought to himself. Since coming here he didn’t really spend any time thinking about possible differences in their language.

Now that he thought about it, shouldn’t they be speaking ye olde english right now? Luna seemed to do it, and according to her it was all the rage before her banishment. Maybe it was just something the nobles did? Or maybe it was a fad that popped up, shortly before her banishment?

“Ummm… Let’s just say it’s a very versatile word. It can be used as almost everything. Nouns, pronouns, adverbs, you name it. I guess it’s just a part of unicorn culture?” Alex tried to look like he knew what he was talking about, but didn’t really do a great job.

“Oookaayyy…” Vibrant looked like she didn’t really believe him, but let it drop. “Anyway, we’re here.”

There was no sign indicating the small town's name, so Alex was a little disappointed. The town reminded him of what you may see in an old western movie, just with a lot more green. The sign would have really fit the image.

The town was shaped like a big plus sign. He could see two streets intersecting each other in the middle, framed by houses of various shapes and forms on each side. The resulting free space behind the buildings was mostly used for private gardens, growing all kinds of fruits and vegetables.

Alex took a look around, and noticed for the first time how many ponies were actually around him. Even though the town was small, earth ponies could be seen milling about everywhere. The My Little Pony fan inside him squeed a little at the sight. He saw a few fillies and colts run by, apparently playing a game of tag. A little colt ran between his legs, and bolted under the cart in an attempt to throw off his pursuers and Alex d’awwed hard. Only internally of course.

Vibrant led him towards the middle of the town. A couple of ponies greeted her, apparently knowing her. But almost everypony else was looking at Alex. Some were trying to be sneaky about it. But others just flat-out stared at him.

“Vibrant?” He started. “Are you really, really sure they don’t have a problem with unicorns? They’re starting to creep me out a bit here…” As he talked he unconsciously moved a little closer to Vibrant.

“Hmm?” Vibrant looked around for a bit, noticing the stares for the first time. “Oh yeah, it’s not a problem. They won’t cause you any trouble, but unicorns are still a very rare occurrence around these parts. So a bit of staring should be expected.” She nodded a bit to herself.

“Alright, if you say so…” Alex said, but still moved a little closer. Not really trusting the other ponies around him.

They arrived at the town center, and Vibrant halted the cart. Alex took a look down each of the roads and found them to be mostly similar to the one they just walked through. Although the road to their left was filled with different stands selling a plethora of things. He could see a few ponies buying and selling produce. But there were also stands peddling everyday goods, like blankets or baskets.

“You see that building over there? The one with the star on the front?”

Alex followed Vibrants outstretched hoof with his sight and spotted the building she meant. About two houses down there was a two story house that had, quite literally, a huge star painted to it’s frontside. Alex guessed that was the sheriff’s office.

“That’s the Sheriff’s office.”

‘...called it.’

“Just go in and look for a stallion named Lucky Strike. He’ll help you out.” Vibrant put her hoof back on the ground and looked at Alex. “I’ll look for a spot to set up my goods. So when you’re finished with your business just walk down the road and look for me, okay?

Alex looked down the ‘market’ street again, noticing it wasn’t all that long. So it shouldn’t be a problem finding her there.

“Sure, see ya later, and good business unto you!” Alex said while walking off.

“Right back at you. I hope you find out something.” Vibrant gave him a little encouraging wave, and went towards the market.

Alex looked back at Vibrant’s disappearing form, and apologized silently for deceiving her this way. He approached the front door of the building and entered. A small bell announced his arrival to the occupants.

He looked around once he was inside. The interior was a simple thing. To his left, stairs led up to the second floor. Right next to it were three holding cells, occupying the whole of the back wall. All of which were currently unoccupied. To his right was a simple desk, with various office utensils strewn about on top of it.

A brown colored pony with an almost black mane looked up from a scroll he was reading once he heard the bell. His eyes focused on Alex, and he could see that they went to his horn for a split second.

“Can I help you?” The pony asked in a friendly voice.

“I was told to find somebody named Lucky Strike in here, you know him?”

“Well lad, you found him.” He answered smiling. “Lucky Strike. Sheriff of Harvest, at your service.”

“Ok then, nice to meet you.” Alex approached the desk and put on his best poker face. “My name’s Alex and I have a bit of a problem. Does the name Vibrant Colors ring any bells with you?”

Lucky Strike nodded, and gestured for him to continue.

“Do you know where she lives?” Alex asked.

“Yeah, about three days by hoof East of here, why? She didn’t do something did she?”

Lucky Strike started to worry a bit. Vibrant Colors was a well known name in his little town, and everybody liked her. Having to arrest her would sadden him greatly.

“No, no. Nothing like that.” Lucky strike visibly relaxed. “Thing is, she was the one that found me.”

“Found you? What do you mean?”

“I’m getting there. Vibrant found me somewhere close to her home about three weeks ago. Apparently I was just lying knocked out in the grass, and she took me in.”

Alex purposefully left out the part about him sleeping for three weeks straight without dying. He didn’t want to start any weird rumors after all.

“I seem to have a heavy case of amnesia, and can’t seem to remember why I was out there, if someone was with me, or where I come from for that matter. According to her this is the closest settlement around, so we came here to investigate.”

“So you want to know if anyone here knows something?” Alex nodded. “Well, I can tell you, that if you had friends with you, neither they or you were seen here. The last time we had a unicorn come through was almost half a year ago. So I’m afraid you’ve hit a dead end here.”

Alex let his face fall, like he was disappointed that Lucky couldn’t help him out.

“Are you sure? Maybe you just didn’t see them? Us?” Alex scrunched up his face. “Me?”

“I’m quite sure. Unicorns usually cause a bit of a ruckus around here. Or at least some unrest.” Lucky shot his idea down right quick. “And they’re the talk of the town at the local watering hole, so everybody knows when and where a unicorn was here. Sorry lad.”

Alex let his face fall once again. He expected something like this, but keeping up appearances was important. Now onto step two.

“Thanks anyway.” Alex sighed. “Could you maybe point me in a direction where I could acquire a map? I’m sure it would help greatly in my further travels.”

Lucky Strike looked him up and down, trying to assess Alex. After a while he pulled open one of the desk’s drawers, and pulled out a rolled up piece of cloth. He put it on the table while he unrolled it.

“This,” He pointed at it. “is a map of the united tribes.”

Alex took a closer look at the cloth. It was a map to be sure, but nowhere near as accurate as their earth counterparts. Mostly it was a color coded mess where green meant grass and brown stood for desert. Simple triangles were used to mark mountains, and blue lines snaked between the colors indicating rivers and lakes. On the left a few clouds could be found, of which Alex assumed represented Pegasi cities. The leftmost part of the map was also dominated by blue.

‘Most likely an ocean’ Alex thought.

Lucky Strike’s hoof was resting on a green colored spot to the right, directly above the word ‘Harvest’.

“You are here.” He said matter of factly. “As you can see, you’re quite a way from home.”

Lucky moved his hoof, circling an area along the top of the map that was full of triangles. Alex then realized that the map was split up into three triangles. The part to the right had a lot of green and belonged most likely to the earth pony tribes, considering he was currently there.

The part Lucky just pointed to would belong to the unicorn tribes if he told the truth. Then the part to the left would be Pegasi territory, proving Alex’s suspicion right. Also, he could see from the maps coloring alone, that splitting the land like this would be problematic.

Every tribe seemed to be lacking crucial resources the other tribes had. Alex now understood how the events in the show eventually would come to pass. Back on Earth this would most definitely cause a war sooner or later. But if the show could be believed, they would try to solve this at least somewhat peacefully.

“I have no idea how you ended up this far out. But I’d say your best bet is going back to where you’re most likely from.” He pointed to a big triangle on the map. Around it was a large blob of green. One of the few green spots in the Unicorn territories.

“This here, is ‘the lonely mountain’. At its base you’ll find the great Crystal Kingdom. If there’s any hope of finding out who you are or why you were here, it’s there. Of all the unicorn cities it has the largest population. If all else fails you can always ask for an audience with King Gold Bar. He should have ways to find out something.” Lucky cleared his throat. “But he’s umm… not exactly known to do things for free, so you’d need a lot of money.”

He smiled sheepishly at Alex, who just returned the smile. His head was swirling with information, and he now had a clear goal in mind. Reaching the Crystal Kingdom.

“I doubt I will have to go this far. But thanks for the tip.” Alex said. “ But do you have any idea how I could get there? It looks awfully far to just walk.”

Alex tried to coax some more information out of Lucky, seeing as he obviously knew his way around.

“Well for starters you could always join one of the trade caravans coming through here. They always need a helping hoof, so you’d probably have to work with them, or pay them if you have the money.”

“That sounds good, can you tell me when the next one should be here?” Alex asked jovially.

“If they didn’t run into any trouble, one should arrive here tomorrow. They usually set up right outside the town proper, extending our own market road. You’ll find them there.” Lucky rolled the map back up.

Alex reached a hoof over the desk in an attempt to shake Lucky’s, which he gladly accepted.

“Well thank you for your time Mr. Lucky, sir. You helped me a lot.”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t help you more kid, and I wish you the best of luck getting your memories back.”

Alex put his hoof back to the ground and made to leave, when he heard Lucky call out to him again.

“Actually, why don’t you take this map here with you? Free of charge.” Lucky offered him.

“Oh no I couldn’t, you’ve helped me more than enough already!”

On the inside Alex was as happy as could be. He didn’t have any money on his name, and procuring a map could have been difficult. So just being offered one made him almost thank the gods. Until he remembered what they did to him, that is.

“Please, I insist.” Lucky held out the map with a hoof, expecting Alex to grab it. “Take it.”

Alex ‘reluctantly’ walked back to Lucky and took the map in his mouth. Lucky nodded happily and Alex let out a muffled ‘Thank you’ before he left the building.

While he still couldn’t quite believe his luck, he started walking down the market. Passing stand after stand, he marvelled at all the items on sale. He spotted a green mare trying to sell her paintings in front of a cart, and walked towards her. All the while thinking about the amazing sights he was sure to see on his travels.

Luck was finally on his side.

Author's Note

Whoo boy, i just finished chapter eleven, and it's my favourite so far! Can't wait for you guys to read it!

Meanwhile, this chapter starts to set up the story in general, we now have a direction to go in!

Hope you have a good read, and feel free to comment!

Once again, thanks to my proofreader/editor Ambros for a job well done!

This chapter has been combed over by James Fire, thanks a lot!

8. Trade Caravan

Alex awoke to the sounds of ponies trotting past. Even though Vibrant and him could have just slept underneath the starry sky like they had the last few nights, they instead chose to set up a tent for themselves. Occupying a space among a small semi-permanent tent city on the outskirt of town reserved for travelers who couldn’t afford the inn, that and vagrancy was apparently interpreted quite literally here. But most importantly it also gave them some privacy.

The tent was set right next to Vibrant’s cart, that way they’d hopefully hear if someone was trying to steal from it. According to her she didn’t expect anypony to actually grab anything, but figured better safe than sorry.

With the sounds and smells of the town springing to life, Alex rose from his temporary bed. As he rose he rubbed a foreleg across his face to wipe away the night’s sleep from his eyes, only to find Vibrant’s bedroll vacant. She was usually awake before him, so this came as no surprise. He pulled aside one of the flaps that made up the entrance to the tent, and stepped outside.

The sun was already steadily making progress on its ascent, and he had to shield his eyes while they adjusted to the sudden change in brightness. He let his gaze wander around, trying to find his travel companion and benefactor. After a sweep of the immediate vicinity, he couldn’t find her, and decided to start putting away the tent.

He was almost done packing up, when he heard Vibrant call out to him.

“Good Morning Alex! Sleep well?” She asked.

“Like a rock. Those bed rolls you have are pretty comfy, all things considered.”

As he had just put the last rolled up bed on the wagon, he turned around to face her. Vibrant stood there smiling at him, and he noticed that she was carrying a brown bag on her back.

“What’s that?” He asked while pointing a foreleg at the parcel.

“Breakfast!” She replied cheerfully. “Flour Power is the best baker around, and his muffins are to die for!”

Vibrant’s eyes glazed over in anticipation of the savory treat she got for them. Alex waved his hoof in front of her a few times, until he decided she must have gone off to Narnia or something, and just took the bag from her. The rustling of him opening it brought her back to reality.

“Hey! No fair!” She shouted. “You don’t just take stuff from other ponies without asking!”

She snatched the bag from under Alex’s hooves and smacked him lightly on the snout. Alex scrunched up his face before retreating a bit from her.

“Hey, it’s not my fault! You were spaced out for like, a full minute! And I’m hungry.”

“It’s still not right to do.” She responded. “Now, what do nice colts say?”

“...”

“...Please?”

Vibrant nodded enthusiastically and pulled out a muffin for Alex, who graciously accepted it. He held it up to his nose and took a whiff. Ever since becoming a pony, his sense of smell had been far more sensitive than it had been when he was human. Partially due to his nose being a lot bigger than before. At times like this he was almost grateful to have been turned into a pony. Because the smell of this freshly baked muffin was divine to say the least.

While Alex was still savouring the smell of the muffin, and contemplating whether or not he should actually like his new body, Vibrant was already digging in with gusto. Alex took a bite out of his own muffin, and was pleased that the smell in this case was only beaten out by the flavor.

Maybe his taste buds had been upgraded as well, but this was definitely the best muffin he had ever tasted. Soon enough he imitated Vibrant, and obliterated his muffin with a few huge bites.

There were three muffins for each of them, and while they ate not a single word was spoken. A few passing ponies glanced towards the two ponies brutally disintegrating muffins on the side of the road. Some looked upon them with disgust, and others knew exactly what was going on.

“Those were delicious!” Alex exclaimed. “Thanks for getting them for us.” He patted himself a few times on the belly to signify being full.

“It’s no problem really. Everytime I’m in town I get some anyway, so I thought I’d get you some too.”

Alex offered to pull the cart back to their vending spot from yesterday, which Vibrant gladly accepted. After they found a place to set up, Vibrant started to place down some of her wares. The market would soon be officially opened for the day, and she wanted to be ready for it.

“You need any help with that?” Alex asked.

“That’d be nice. Can you get on top and hoof me down the paintings?” Vibrant said while resting a framed picture of a small meadow on the side of the cart.

Alex complied with her request, and for the next ten minutes they worked in silence. After all of Vibrants merchandise had been neatly arrayed, using the cart as a stand, Alex broke the silence.

“So have you heard anything about when that trade caravan should arrive?” He asked.

“No I haven’t. But usually caravans arrive shortly before, or right after high noon. Why don’t you go explore the city while you wait for them?” Vibrant sat down on a cushion next to a painting. “I’ll be here if you need anything.”

Alex decided he didn’t have anything better to do, so he set off to take a look around. He spent most of the morning wandering up and down the few streets of the town. This was the first time he had a chance to interact really observe pony society, so he took joy in just watching how they interacted with each other.

All in all, there wasn't that much different to how humans did things. Probably the biggest difference was how open and nice they were to each other. Compared to human society, where most people ran on some sort of invisible deadline, and tended to ignore each other as by and large. Ponies however seemed to be a lot more relaxed around each other.

Neighbors greeted each other and engaged in small-talk while they walked. Pedestrians greeted each other in passing, and nobody was distracted by things such as phones or the newest advertisement slapped on every free space available. He pondered to himself whether or not humans might have been the same way when their society was younger, or perhaps it was just the effect of a small town atmosphere that made them all friendly.

In his wanderings he came across a few public buildings. Such as a small school with a playground next to it that was largely similar to those back on Earth minus monkey bars. The Town Hall was obvious but not all impressive, a two story wooden structure that looked comically out of place sitting next to the saloon . More or less all of the necessary facilities were present that were staples of towns.

Before he knew it, noon had come and passed. He could tell that the caravan had arrived, with how many of the ponies had congregated to the market all of a sudden. When he went to check it out, sure enough he spotted several new wagons at the end of road.

When he arrived, they were still setting up. An older stallion with a red coat and a graying mane was coordinating everything from the center of the formation.

“Form two ranks! Align the wagons with the rest of the street!” He shouted. “For the god’s sake! This isn’t the first time we’ve done this so do it right! Carrot Pie! Try to use that head of yours for once, and wait your turn!”

Alex was surprised by how unorganized the whole caravan seemed. He’d have assumed the caravan ponies knew what they were doing. But apparently most of them weren’t the brightest colors in the crayon box. The success of it all seemed to hinge on the ability of their lead pony.

After a good half hour, everything was where it was supposed to be. They unloaded their merchandise, set up shop, and officially declare themselves “open” for business. Not too long after the sounds of heated and excited bargaining filled the air.

Seeing the lead stallion start to relax a bit, Alex decided now was as good a time as any to approach him.

Alex came up to him just as he breathed a huge sigh of apparent relief before sitting down.

“Good day to you sir!” The stallion turned his head to face him. “Might I take a moment of your time?”

Alex wanted to be as polite as possible so he could bolster his chances of getting a spot in the caravan. The graying stallion looked him up and down.

“Sure, how can I help you today?” He must have seen Alex as a potential customer, because his voice had grown soft and friendly. Building a heavy contrast to what Alex observed just before.

“I’m a traveller, and my next destination is the Crystal Kingdom. As it is quite far away, I was wondering if I could maybe join your caravan for as far in the same direction as you're willing to go.” Alex said getting to the point as quickly as possible.

“The crystal kingdom?” The stallion adopted a look of surprise. “You’re right, that’s quite far away. Follow me.”

He got up from the ground, and gestured for Alex to follow after him. He was led to one of the covered wagons away from the crowd. They entered the small interior, and Alex found himself surrounded by a collection of various doodads. In the center was a small table with a map. This one had a few more details drawn on it, as well as a spiderweb of red lines. Most likely trade routes, Alex thought.

“After we’re done here we’ll follow the the crystal snake due west, towards High Rock. The capital, and our next destination.” He put a hoof on the map where Harvest was located. He followed a red line that ran perpendicular to a blue line, labeled crystal snake until it reached a big dot labelled High Rock.

“We’ll head towards pegasus lands when we’re done there, so that’s as far as you’ll be able to come with us.” He said. “But travelling from one capital to another is quite easy, as I’m sure you’re aware, so you’ll have no problems finding another party to get you there.”

He put his hoof back to the ground, and sat down in a rocking chair next to the map.

“If you want to come with us, you’ll either have to pay or work. So what’s it gonna be?” He asked Alex nonchalantly. He must have lead this conversation many times already, as he seemed quite bored.

“I’m afraid I don’t have a lot of money to my name, as I travel lightly. So work it’ll be I guess.”

Truth be told Alex didn’t own a single bit. But the oldtimer didn’t need to know that.

“Very well. You’re a unicorn, so I have no doubt you’ll at least be smarter than the bumbling fools out there.” He sighed. “I swear being that stupid should be illegal.”

“Name’s Winter Banana by the way.” He said while reaching out a hoof.
“Alexander Atlas Riptis. Or Alex for short.” Alex gladly shook Winter’s hoof, completing the greeting.

Winter laughed at his introduction. “You unicorns and your silly names! But anyway welcome to my caravan boy. We’ll depart in two days. Be here at the crack of dawn or we’ll leave you behind.”

“Sir. Yes, Sir!”

Alex gave him a little mock salute and left the wagon. With everything taken care of, he made to return to Vibrant, so he could share the news with her.

Author's Note

Hope you have a good read, and feel free to comment!

Once again, thanks to my proofreader/editor Ambros for a job well done!

9. Kindness

Alex made his way through the now bustling section of the market where the caravan had set up. Ponies from town came in droves to take a look at the new wares on display. He had barely enough room to squeeze by in some areas, and had been called a pervert by that one mare, when he’d accidentally brushed her flank while passing by.

If the current vendor he listened to was to be believed, then most of his wares were stolen from a dragon that lived under some mountain. Alex’s attention to the vender waned as his attention drifted to an earth pony mare fervently haggling on the price of a small wooden statue. Try as he might Alex couldn’t understand the appeal of a ponified hear no evil, see no evil statuette.

It was in no way the first time Alex had been to a market, but everything seemed new to him none the less. Where he came from, markets were way more calm. Nobody was haggling, nobody was shouting what wares they sold to the market goers. They felt more organized and efficient, where in comparison this one was far more chaotic. Like that one vendor he could still hear shouting about his cabbage cart being knocked over.

As he made his way down the market rows, he noticed a lot less ponies milling about. It was only natural he thought. The usual stands were around almost everyday, but the caravan only stayed for a few. It wasn’t long before he came upon a rather bored looking green mare, sitting next to her cart.

“Hey Vibrant! How’s it going?” Alex asked.

He looked around and noticed that a few paintings were missing. So he assumed she managed to at least sell some of them.

“Hey Alex. Everyone is being drawn to the caravan, so it’s a slow day.” Vibrant replied. “But I still sold some. Maybe I’ll just take a break tomorrow, and try again when they leave.”

Vibrant sighed, getting up to stretch her legs for a bit.

“What about you?” She asked while stretching her front legs like a cat. “Did you talk to anyone from the caravan yet?”

“Yeah, I talked to their leader.” Alex responded. “He’s willing to take me along, but I’ll need to work for him. I’ll be with them until we reach High Rock. After that I’ll have to find a way to the Crystal Kingdom myself.”

Vibrant nodded understandingly while completing her stretching. She sat back on her cushion. Alex sat down as well, sitting next to her so he didn’t obstruct the view one the paintings.

“So almost half of the way, huh? Well that’s a good start, and once you’re in High Rock it will be easy to join another caravan, or pay someone to get you there.”

They sat in silence for a while, each of them thinking about this new development. After a while, an earth pony from the caravan came over to them. He looked at all the paintings carefully, and ended up buying two of them. After he had finished his transaction he went on, Vibrant waited till her customer was out of earshot, before continuing her conversation with Alex.

“How about we sleep in tomorrow, and grab something to eat together for lunch?” Vibrant spoke up. “I’m not gonna sell much anyway, what with the caravan being here and all.”

“That sounds nice.” Alex responded.

The sounds of songbirds drifted through his head as he slowly regained consciousness. He smacked his lips loudly, and yawned before opening his eyes and shifting under the covers to bring him back unto his belly. It came as no surprise when he saw that Vibrant was up before him again.

Last night, they moved the cart away from the market, to make space for someone who actually wanted to do business that day. They were now camping out about five minutes away from the little town, to the side of the road.

Shaking the rest of the vestiges of sleep off him, he poked his head out the tent, he spotted Vibrant after a quick scan of his surroundings. She was currently perched beneath a tree on a hill, a little ways down from their tent. She was currently working on a canvas in front of her, shifting her gaze back and forth between Harvest, and her work.

He trotted up to her as silently as he could, which he found to be harder to do as a hooved quadruped. He sat on his haunches a small distance behind her, deciding to just watch her paint for now.

Various cans of paint were put next to her on the ground, some colors already mixed on a palette fixated on the canvas’ stand. She dipped various brushes into them, and expertly put stroke after stroke across the fabric, steadily creating one of her masterpieces.

He waited until he was sure he wouldn’t startle her, after all he didn’t want to be the cause of ruining a painting, when she went to dip her brush he spoke up.

“Good morning, Vibrant.” He said cheerfully.

She put the brush she was currently using on one of the mounts attached to the stand, and turned around.

“Good morning?” She raised an eyebrow and pointed her hoof upwards. “More like, good afternoon.” A smile spread across her face. ”Sleep well?

Alex looked up for the first time since waking up, and just as Vibrant said, the sun had already passed its zenith.

“Like a rock.” He responded. “Thanks for not waking me up. I really needed that rest.” He looked past her, to her half finished painting. “I thought you didn’t have your painting materials with you.”

“I didn’t.” She said with confidence. “I bought new supplies yesterday. Seeing as you decided to waste half of the day, I decided to start painting.”

“It’s beautiful. Even though it’s only halfway done.”

“Thank you.” Vibrant always felt proud of herself when someone complimented her art. “So we still on for that lunch? It’s a bit late for that, but I could do with something to eat.”

Accompanying her statement was a low growl from her stomach. She flashed Alex a sheepy smile, which was returned in kind by him.

“Sure.” He said. “Are you okay with paying for me too? I know you helped me a lot already, but I’m starting to feel a bit bad about mooching off of you like this.”

Alex was really happy that she was readily helping him. Vibrant made his transfer to Equis a lot easier than it could have been. But as he continued accepting her kindness, he felt more and more like an asshole about it. She was so nice to him, and he just took and took, without really giving back anything.

Alex looked away from her, dreading the answer that she might give. Deep down he knew she wouldn’t push him away, but there was always the possibility.

A green hoof came to rest on his shoulder. “You are not a nuisance to me.”

Alex turned his head back towards her, looking straight into her rose eyes. In them he could see nothing but warmth and acceptance.

“You are far away from home, with no idea how you got here.” Vibrant kept their eye contact upright. “Helping you out is the least any decent pony should do. And I have decided to do so, in every way I can.”

“If you ever feel like you owe me something for helping you, I accept your company as an equal exchange. I live alone far away from other ponies to talk with, and having you around was a welcome change of pace. I had somebody around to socialize, and have fun with.” She made a little pause in her speech, to let it sink in. “That’s more than enough, that you’ve given me.”

She turned around and sat down next to her canvas, overlooking the small town beneath them. “In fact. I would be more than honored to call you my friend. And friends help each other.”

A shiver went down Alex’s spine. He felt a tingle go from his horn throughout his entire body. If Vibrant was facing towards him, she would have noticed his eyes flash a bright green color for a brief moment.

Alex shuddered, he never felt something like that before. It sort of felt like a shiver that happened when it was cold. But this felt really warm, and for a small moment he could feel something flow through him, as if a new bloodstream had been formed inside him.

He trotted up to her, still feeling a bit weird. “Thank you.” He looked over to her, feeling grateful. “Friend.”

They remained where they were for a little while, just enjoying the moment. When the silence was broken by another growl, Vibrant got up, and they made their way towards Harvest.

The sun was setting over Harvest. Ponies were returning home after a hard day of work, except for the few who went to the local watering hole to refresh their spirits. Birds flitted around, some alighting on the rooftops of the little town, providing soothing melodies with their voice.

Overlooking all this from their camping spot, were Vibrant and Alex. She was calmly adding strokes and splotches of color to her painting, and Alex was lying next to her in the grass.

After spending the afternoon in town, they had returned to their little recluse. Vibrant content with her brush strokes, and Alex with just watching the sun bathe its orange hues across the town. Occasionally stealing a peek at the evolving picture. Seeing the painting come to life more and more with each stroke of the brush, was a pretty captivating sight for him.

The sun was coloring the horizon in a deep red on it’s descent. Until finally, it dipped over, and plunged the world into darkness. Making way for its lunar counterpart.

Vibrant put away her brush, and laid down next to Alex. He had decided that it would be best to spend the night with the caravan, eliminating the possibility of him being late. They spent the time stargazing, and idly chatting about the future.

“Well,” Alex broke the silence. “It looks like it’s time for me to go.” He stated solemnly.

“Alright...” Vibrant answered, as she fought to keep her ears from flattening.

They rose from their prone position, and trotted towards Vibrants cart. Alex hopped up into it, picking up the map he had received from Lucky Strike with his mouth. It was the only thing in this world that was truly his. Vibrant climbed up after him, the cart now having enough space for two ponies to stand comfortably in it. She grabbed her green saddlebag, before setting it down in front of Alex’s hooves.

Alex looked at her questioningly, patiently awaiting an explanation.

“I’d like for you to have this.” She nudged the saddlebag a bit closer to Alex. “I’m sure it will be useful in your travels. There’s also a few bits in there for you, and a few apples, so you don’t need to go hungry.”

Vibrant’s eyes started to tear up a little. She sniffed once, and carried on with her explanation.

“I know we only knew each other for a short time. But I’ve really come to like you, you know.” She said while cleaning her eyes with a fetlock. “Remember me when you look at those saddlebags. And know, if all else should fail, you always have a place you can return to.”

Alex’s eyes were starting to get wet too, but he hid it as well as he could. He never was great with goodbyes. Just as she said, even though their time together was short, he felt a strong connection had formed between them.

“Thank you Vibrant.” He began. “I’ll treasure this gift.”

He picked up the saddlebag and put it on, fastening it against his midriff. He felt the left side was lighter, so he pulled it open and put his map into it. They descended from the cart and went back to the canvas, overlooking Harvest.

“Can you pull out your map for a second?” Vibrant asked.

Even though he just put it away, Alex complied with her request. She took it from him, and rolled it open on the ground. She scanned the map for a few seconds, then grabbed one of her brushes, dipping it into a small bucket full of green paint. She softly set it down over a specific point east of Harvest, leaving behind a new dot.

She then dipped her hoof into the color, and made a hoofprint next to it. After she let the paint dry a bit, she rolled the map back up, putting it back into Alex’s saddlebag. She didn’t need to explain to him what she just did. He knew she marked down her house, so he could eventually return, should he decide to do so.

They looked each other in the eyes, silver meeting rose. When suddenly Vibrant pulled Alex into a hug, nuzzling his neck. After the initial surprise he happily returned the gesture.

“Goodbye, Alex.” She said solemnly.

“Goodbye, Vibrant.” He responded. “And thank you… For everything.”

They pulled away from each other, and Alex gave a last nod while looking deep into the green mare’s eyes.

Vibrant sat down next to her canvas, as she watched her friend walk into the night, and towards his destiny. She still sat there, long after he was gone. Watching the stars, and wishing him the best of luck in his travels.

Alex came upon the caravan’s campsite. They had pulled their wagons into a circle, a big fire roaring in the middle. Gathered all around it were ponies, chatting with each other, and enjoying a late dinner. He lazily let his eyes wander over the small crowd, until he spotted the red coat of Winter Banana. He quietly made his way over to the stallion.

“Good evening Mr. Winter.” He said after coming close enough. “Alexander Atlas Riptis, reporting for duty.”

Winter Banana looked up from his conversation to face him. After a brief moment he recognized Alex.

“Ahh, you’re early!” He shouted, slightly slurring his words. The drink before him apparently some kind of alcohol. “I like that!”

He stood up and hobbled over to Alex’s side, pulling him into an awkward hug with his right hoof.

“You see that red pegasus over there?” He pointed to the other side of the fire, where a pegasus was conversing with two earth ponies. “He’s going to be your partner for this trip. He’s one of my veterans, so listen to what he says, and you're golden!”

Winter gave Alex a little shove towards the pegasus. When Alex started trotting toward him, he could hear Winter Banana shouting something.

“And drop the Sir! I’m not your father kiddo!”

Alex smiled, and closed the distance between him and his future co-workers. When he came up to them they looked questioningly towards him.

“Hi, my name’s Alex.” He said looking at the red pegasus. Now that Alex was close enough, he recognized that the pegasus was sporting a windswept purple mane. “I was told I am to partner up with you for the coming trip.”

The Pegasus nodded in understanding. “Name’s Crimson, Welcome aboard.”

Alex was offered a hoof, which he shook gladly. He took off his new saddlebag and set it on the ground. The pegasus scooted a bit to the side, making space for Alex to sit.

“So, tell us something about yourself.” He said.

And so he did the same thing that he did to everybody he met in this world so far.

He lied to them.

Author's Note

Try to contain yourselves, please. (Not gonna say any names, but you know who you guys are ^^ not like you're gonna listen to me...

So this was fun to write. It contains some pretty important stuff, setting the stage for what is to come. I know your not stupid, and will most likely be able to piece together what's happening here. Or maybe you just think you have it figured out, and i'm about to throw you for a loop in the next chapter? We'll see.

Also this chapter was brought to you by this song. I was literally listening to it on repeat while writing it.

My chapters will from now on be "sponsored" by random songs or band i listened to while i wrote them!

Hope you have a good read, and feel free to comment!

Once again, thanks to my proofreader/editor Ambros for a job well done!

P.S. I was this >< close to publishing an april fools chapter where Vibrant gets eaten by a giant basilisk and Alex startes breaking the fourth wall in that last scene they shared together.

10. Journey

The sound of a heavy bell rung out across the camp side of the trade caravan. Just in time to witness the first rays of light peek over the horizon, life slowly returned to the stallions occupying the campsite. Some of them had too much to drink the night before and found themselves in weird, and uncomfortable positions upon waking up. In various states of disarray, they got up and started their workday with close to no enthusiasm.

Among them was Alex. After the initial introductions yesterday, he was offered a beverage. Not one to turn down good alcohol, Alex started drinking the night away with his new companions. Something which he now started to regret.

His head throbbed to the beat of an imaginary drum, his mouth was drier than a desert, and his eyes beamed pain directly to his head. Getting up with the sun, and being woken up by a loud bell certainly didn’t help in any way. Crimson on the other hoof seemed to not be affected at all. Even though he drank way more than Alex did last night.

‘Must be used to this…’ Alex thought.

They had partied right in front of the wagon they would be in charge of, so turning around was all they had to do. It was a simple wagon, it looked kind of like a big cart that had a roof made out of fabric, shaped like a half circle. It reminded Alex of the old game Oregon Trail.

After the both of them stretched their sore muscles, Crimson began to explain the in’s and out’s of Alex’s new job.

“Well first thing we need to do is check if our cargo is properly secured.” He said as they walked to the back of the wagon. “I already did this yesterday, but it never hurts to check again in morning. It’s possible that one of the guys messes with your wagon while they’re drunk.”

He started tugging on various ropes, and tapped a few places along the latches securing the interior from spilling out. He continued doing this for every rope and latch in sight, until they arrived back at the spot they started.

“Well, everything looks in order. So now we just gotta get in our harness, and hook ourselves to the wagon. It will be a small wait for ol’ Banana to give the departing signal.” He explained. “After that we just pull. Pull, pull, and pull. All day long. You can’t do anything wrong, so let’s go.”

Alex hadn’t expected this to be the most exciting adventure, but the more he heard from Crimson, the more he realized it would be flat out boring. Considering how he joined a group that formed a line and walked from A to B. But at least this way he was guaranteed to not get lost along the way. There was also the matter of safety in numbers. While everything up to here seemed peaceful, there was also always the possibility of getting mauled by a wolf in the wild. Something Alex wasn’t to keen on experiencing.

So even though he seemed to have a few boring days of work ahead of him, he did as he was told. After Crimson helped him into his harness, he strapped himself in as well. They stood around for about five minutes, when the bell rang out once more.

“That’s the signal.” Crimson stated.

They waited until the wagon in front of them lurched forward, and made sure to leave some space between them. Both of them had to strain themselves for a moment to get the wagon moving, but once they got it rolling, the power needed to move it decreased significantly.

So the duo pulled, just like Crimson said they would. Aside from a few short conversations, neither of them talked too much. Alex was still dealing with the hammers in his head, so he didn’t mind the silence. While it was a lot less noticeable on Crimson, he had the same problem. Alex made sure to follow the wagon in front of him, his body moving on autopilot.

It was almost noon when Alex felt good enough to once again function as a human being. Or rather, pony, as he had to remind himself. Feeling slightly less like shit, he started actually taking in what was happening around him. On his left side, Crimson looked like his autopilot was still the one in charge. His eyes weren’t focused on anything in particular, and he was mindlessly pulling the cart, one step at a time.

The caravan was following a dirt path, which was surrounded by vast fields of green on both sides. Although he couldn’t see much of what was going on in front of them, due to a wagon blocking his line of sight. Every now and then, he would have to consciously blink out the dust the wagon in front kicked up. It was clear to him that they were coming up on a small hill, because the terrain started to shift slightly upwards. To his right, Alex could see the mountains that he came from just a few days ago.

As he was looking at them, he was reminded about Vibrant Colors. He was surprised to find that he missed her already. While a small part of him still couldn’t believe that any of this was actually real, he knew now that the time they spent together definitely was.

He thanked her once again for everything she had done for him in his mind. Hoping that one day, no matter how far away in the future, he could see her once again.

As the gradual incline increased, he snorted at the added difficulty of dragging the wagon. The harness dug into his shoulders, further spurring him onwards. Taking his gaze off the distant mountains, he focused on what was in front of him. It only took a few minutes until they rounded the crest at the top of the hill. Almost immediately they were going down on the other side again. As soon as the wagon in front of them sank beneath his line of sight, the scenery changed completely.

In front of them, a broad mass of water was snaking its way through a sea of green. On both sides of the river, trees lined the shallow shore. Animals could be seen taking a drink or relaxing. Sometimes a fish or two pierced the surface of the water, disturbing the otherwise calm currents. Alex estimated it to be about two thousand feet from shore to shore, making it one of the largest rivers he had ever seen.

“The Crystal Snake” Crimson said.

Alex looked over to him, surprised. In stark contrast to a few minutes earlier, Crimson looked positively alive. His eyes were following the shifting mass of blue all the way to the horizon.

“We’ll be following it for the next six days.” He explained. “It runs right past High Rock, so walking alongside it is the easiest way to not get lost. We also won’t need to worry about water. Or food, as it grows in abundance in the woods surrounding it.”

As he talked he pointed out several fruit bearing trees, and berry bushes.

“Literally, the only thing we need to worry about are bandits. They know us caravans use this road as a trade route, so from time to time they’ll try something.” Alex began to worry a bit. “But that’s why we have some mercenaries on security detail, so we’re safe. The smaller caravans make easier targets. But with our size and protection, they most likely won’t bother.”

Alex let out the breath he was holding. For a second there, he really thought he might be in trouble.

“But still, as your superior for this trip I need to run you through the safety procedures.” Crimson sighed. After confirming that Alex was paying attention he continued. “First off, do you have any combat experience?” He asked.

Alex shook his head at that. “Never been in a real fight my whole life. A few scuffles here and there, but nothing serious.”

“That’s ok. I know you have amnesia. But do you, by any chance, remember any offensive or defensive spells that could be useful?”

“No.” Now it was Alex’s turn to sigh. “In fact, I don’t remember anything magic related. Can’t even levitate the smallest of objects.”

Crimson nodded thoughtfully. “Ok, so as of now you’re classified as non-combat personnel. In case of an attack, you go to the center wagon as fast as you can. An Earth Pony named Yellow Shield will be there with further instructions. His coat’s a bright yellow, and his mark is two shields, one in front of the other. Hard to miss, that fellow.”

He rattled down the information routinely, as if he told it many times already. They were coming up on the river now, and the road took a gradual turn to the left, following the flow of the river.

“Leave the fighting to the combat personnel. Don’t be a hero. Save your life instead of the cargo.” He took a breath. “Simple rules, hope you won’t need to follow any of them.”

Alex confirmed his understanding. After their brief conversation they went back to silence again. Alex looked longingly to his right at the delicious looking clear water. He could really go for a drink right now, because he still had cotton mouth from his hangover.

It was the second day of the caravan's journey. The sun was already making it’s way towards the horizon in front of them, signalling that the day was coming to an end.

Just like the day before Alex was beside Crimson, pulling their wagon filled with trading goods. The work they did was a monotonous one. After the excitement and wonder of seeing the river biome died down, he was mostly just bored. So he and Crimson spent their time either talking, or not talking to each other as there was literally nothing else to do.

“So how’d a pegasus like you, end up in an earth pony caravan?” Alex asked.

“Oh it’s not that great of a story.” Crimson answered. “I was working as a courier back in the day. Inter-tribal messages were my speciality, because I’m a good long distance flier. But uhhm.. Some things happened, and I found myself out of a job. That’s when I met the old Banana. He offered me a job, and here I am. That was about four years ago and I’ve really grown to like the life on the road.”

Alex was curious with what had happened to Crimson to make him lose his job in the first place. But if he wouldn’t tell him, Alex wouldn’t ask him. It seemed like a private matter after all.

“So what are your plans after reaching High Rock?” Crimson asked Alex.

“Well, my goal is to reclaim as much of my memory as possible.” Alex lied. “And right now my best bet at accomplishing that, consists of going to the Crystal Kingdom and ask around.” He started to explain. “So I’ll look around for some sort of transport, or join another caravan to get there.”

“And you really have no memories at all? Of how you got way out here and stuff, I mean.”

“None.” Alex sighed. “As far as I’m concerned my life began around a week ago. But just spawning as an adult in the middle of nowhere is pretty much impossible. Somewhere, somepony will know me. I just gotta find ‘em.”

“Wow. That sounds scary.” Crimson said.

“It kind of isn’t really.” Alex said to the surprise of Crimson. “If you don’t know what you lost, you won’t miss it.”

“Shit dude, that’s deep.”

They fell into silence for a while, as their caravan moved ever Westwards. Alex watched as two squirrels fought over a few nuts, and suddenly felt hungry.

“You think we’re gonna stop soon? I could eat a Ho... “ Alex had to catch himself. “Whole lot of food!” He said nervously.

Crimson looked over at Alex, who was sporting an awkward smile. He shrugged it off, and looked towards the sun. It had almost reached the horizon at this point.

“Yeah, should be any minute now.”

At Crimson’s words, the sound of a bell ringing three times could be heard ahead of them, signalling them to stop.

“Told ya.”

They pulled their wagon into it’s rightful position in the circle. It was the same circle they set up at every stop. Already ponies could be seen setting up for the night,executing their assigned jobs with practiced ease. Two stallions were piling up wood in the center of the formation, starting up a fire for the cook. Others were filling canteens of water in the river. While others again were just relaxing, having had no tasks assigned to them.

Amongst them was Alex, and he used the time he had to get himself something to drink. He trotted the short distance towards the river, sitting down at the shoreline. He dipped his head down to the water, letting the cool liquid flow into his mouth. He took a few gulps of water, and settled down once again.

The sun was now casting it’s last rays of light over the waking part of the world, and Alex was content just sitting there. He let his muscles relax after a hard day of work, as Ponies came and went around him. Some collecting water, some firewood.

As he sat there, he contemplated his new spot in life once again. As well as the cards he was literally dealt by the gods. As far as he could tell, they didn’t give him one single advantage besides his apparent immortality. Which he still wasn’t happy about.

The world slowly turned from orange to gray, and finally black, as the sun disappeared completely. Making way for the moon’s ascent. As the sun vanished he stood up, and turned towards the orange glow from the campsite. He headed back towards his new temporary friends, eager to finally get something solid into his belly.

Author's Note

“””Author note notes: She smiled, eagerly anticipating seeing Atlas again. A few years before Luna's banishment he disappeared without a trace, and now, he was finally back.

So this chapter marks the official end of the Arrival Arc. After over 23k words we have arrived in the Journey Arc, which will most likely be longer. Thanks to all of you, who have read this story so far, and i hope you'll enjoy the next arc of it just as much, if not more. The world is almost built, but one important event is still missing, until the story can kick off properly!

As starts of new arcs are, this chapter is rather easy going and slow. I hope you enjoy it anyway.

Hope you have a good read, and feel free to comment!

Once again, thanks to my proofreader/editor Ambros for a job well done!

IMPORTANT NOTICE: There has been a change made to chapter two of this story. It may seem minor, but will come into play at the very end of this story, so please include it into your headcanon.

She smiled, eagerly anticipating seeing Atlas again. A few years before Luna's banishment he disappeared without a trace, and now, he was finally back.

Before the change he was gone for about 250 years, now it's more than a thousand. thank you for your attention.

This chapter was brought to you by this song. Because why not, it's a fun song :D

11. Chekhov

As the sun reached its zenith on the third day, the heat beat down mercilessly on the stallions. Each sweated profusely as they pulled their respective wagons in teams of two.

Alex and Crimson were no exception. A canteen of water was hanging from both their harnesses, a straw was positioned close to their mouths for easy access. According to Crimson, during an especially harsh summer, one of the workers almost died from heat stroke. Since then, Winter Banana made sure everypony had enough to drink while working.

Alex was getting bored again. Since reaching the Crystal Snake three days ago, the surrounding scenery didn’t change much. It was always the river to the right with some trees and bushes, and green to the left as far as the eye could see. Tied to the wagon as they were, the only thing they could do to stave off boredom, was talking.

Still, it was close to impossible for two individuals to talk for eleven hours straight. Especially when one of them seemed to have an issue with the other. Aside from a few short conversations, Alex was left to his own thoughts to entertain him. So when Crimson addressed him, he jumped on the opportunity to make his day slightly less boring.

“Alex listen.” He said. “I’m sorry if I’ve seemed distant to you.” Alex was surprised at the sudden confession, but listened attentively.

“Truth is, I lost my old job because I ran into some trouble with some unicorns up in High Rock.” He continued. “You seem like a nice enough guy, and I’m sorry I judged you just because you’re a unicorn.”

“You don’t need to be sorry, I hardly noticed. Just thought you were the quiet type.”

“Well it bugs me anyway. Whether or not you realized doesn’t matter. Fact is I judged you just because you’re a unicorn, which isn’t fair.” Crimson admitted. “So how about we start off again from the beginning?”

Crimson held out his right front hoof while continuing to walk. After some minor trouble raising his while walking, Alex managed to bump his hoof lightly against Crimson’s.

“Sure why not.” Alex said.

“Cool, so as you already know my name’s Crimson. I hail from the Pegasi Tribes, more specifically the small town of Cumulus. I lead a pretty normal life until I started working for the couriers. Due to my talent of long distance flights, I was assigned pretty important cargo from time to time.” Crimson explained. “Once I even had the honor of delivering to the High Queen herself.”

Alex had absolutely no idea who the High Queen was, but didn’t let it show. He really needed someone to teach him about common knowledge soon.

“Life was pretty good for me. Until I did that one job for those shit-eating unicorns. No offense.”

“None taken.”

“They set me up with some top secret, high value cargo. The pay was amazing too. When I was stopped by some enforcers for a routine check, it turned out to be some highly illegal drugs.” Crimson had a look of disgust on his face. “Of course my employers were nowhere to be found, so they arrested me instead. Once you’ve spent time in jail, you’re automatically fired from the couriers. And if you’re not with the couriers, you get no work. Simple as that.”

Alex nodded, taking in the information presented to him.

“So I was shit out of luck. Spent a few days in the street, barely getting by off the meager savings I had. I started working for ol’ Banana up front after that. Just thought, screw it, might as well. Never thought I’d be with him this long though. But he really grew on me, the old coot.”

“Wow. I can see why you might dislike unicorns if that was your only interaction with my kind.” Alex said. “I assure you though, I’ll not try to screw you over in any way.”

“Yeah I thought so, or at least thought I owe you the benefit of the doubt.” Crimson added. “I know you have that nasty amnesia business going on, but do you remember anything at all? Like the name of a settlement, or something? Maybe I could help if you have a lead.”

“Sadly, no. I know it might be hard to believe, but as I said before, I remember absolutely nothing.”

“Bummer.”

They silently pulled their wagon along the winding dirt road. Contemplating what to talk about next, now that they were both willing to communicate.

“So did anything cool happen in the week you were ‘alive’?” Crimson asked.

“Honestly, almost everything that happened to me this week was cool.” Alex replied. “Even though I seem to remember some basic things like language, everything is new and interesting to me. On my way to Harvest I made friends with this snake in the mountains. Used it to scare Vibrant too.” He got a dreamy look in his eyes and sighed. “Good ol’ snake. Wonder what he’s up to.”

Crimson looked a bit concerned about Alex’s behaviour when remembering a limbless reptile. Although one piece of information caught his attention.

“So who’s this Vibrant?” He asked.

Alex told him about the time he spent with Vibrant. They joked around, and Crimson told Alex stories for the rest of the day. Now that they actually talked to each other, time just flew by them.

Crimson was telling Alex another one of his stories from when he was still working as a courier. This one about this really old mare, who almost couldn’t hear. Obviously they had some trouble communicating, which already sounded like the setup for a joke.

He was interrupted by Winter Banana ringing his bell three times. Signalling the caravan to set up camp for the night. They parked their wagon in the usual formation and went about their assigned duties.

Alex was assigned water duty today, so he couldn’t just sit back and relax. After he met up with two other stallions who had the same duty, they grabbed enough canteens for everybody, as well as a few buckets. Today’s resting stop was at an elevated position, separating them from the river via a thirty foot drop. They had to backtrack for about ten minutes, until they reached a safe spot to descend before they went about their work.

After getting done, Alex met up with Crimson again. He introduced Alex to two of his friends, and they spent the evening talking, and joking with each other. They were on a semi-enforced sleeping schedule, so their fun was cut short, when Winter Banana reminded them to get enough sleep.

Crimson and Alex went to their assigned wagon, before pulling out two bed rolls. Alex wiggled himself into his bed roll, shifting himself around until his bed wasn’t atop any rocks.

“Hey Alex?” Crimsons voice floated over to him.

“Yeah?” Alex asked.

“I know you’re only gonna be around for a few more days, but I’d be honored to call you a friend.”

“Thanks Crimson, I think I’d like that.” Alex responded. “Besides, they say you always meet twice in life.”

“That would be cool. Well then, sleep well.”

“Good night, Crimson.”

“...ATTACK! WE’RE UNDER ATTACK! EVERYPONY TO THEIR POSITIONS!”

The loud shout of Winter Banana was accompanied by the continuous ringing of his bell. Not too far away, the sounds of battle could be heard. The Mercenaries on night duty were already engaged with the enemy. Rhythmic clangs of swords and shields clashing could be heard around the camp, punctuated by the occasional scream.

Alex had awoken with a start, not being able to really process what was going on in all the confusion. Suddenly, Crimson grabbed him by the shoulder and forcefully yanked him to his hooves until they were eye to eye.

“Alex! Go find Yellow Shield! Do what he says, and try to stay hidden!” Crimson shouted over the noise. “I need to go and help them fight.”

No sooner than he was done speaking, Crimson took to the skies. He flew a few meters off the ground while shouting instructions to the ponies in the fight, trying to instill some order into the chaos. As Alex watched all this, the gravity of the situation started to dawn on him.

He took off for the center of the caravan looking around frantically, while trying to spot the yellow earth pony. He found him about five wagons from him, corralling a group of stallions away from the fighting. Alex took off immediately, sprinting towards possible safety. He had to dodge a dirty looking bandit fighting with one of their mercenaries along the way. The sounds of the battle seemed to draw closer as Alex heard smashing crates, and the sounds of crushing wood from overturning wagons. Luckily he managed to reach his destination unmolested.

“Pull back! Head to the woods! Seek cover!”

He could hear Yellow Shield shouting command after command when he got closer. He came to a stop right next to the yellow stallion, slightly out of breath from the short sprint. His heart hammering in his ears, and the lightheaded euphoria of adrenaline coursing through him. Alex looked at Yellow Shield questioningly while he awaited his instructions.

“Go hide in the treeline lad! Try to find a good spot to conceal yourself! Don’t group up with the other guys, and focus on camouflage, it's better if they don’t find you. It’s easier when you're not in a large group! Also take care to not fall off the cliff!”

Alex nodded hastily, and joined the other fleeing stallions. It didn’t take them long to reach the rather thinly stretched out treeline. He split up from the others as he was instructed, and ran to the left. Along the way he spotted several hiding places that looked useful, but all of them were already in use.

He had to run for quite a bit until he found a suitable cover. It was a rather large bush, some sort of red berries dangling from it’s twigs. He jumped in and made sure every part of him was covered. After he pulled in his tail after him, he took a few deep breaths and tried to remain as motionless as possible. But it felt as if his whole body was shaking.

The adrenaline that was rushing throughout his body, was making it almost impossible for him to calm down. Now that he had some time to actually think about his situation, it hit him like a brick to the face. He couldn’t help but be scared as the realization that if he messed up, it would most likely result in his death.

He curled up inside his hiding place as much as he could. Alex had never been in a situation where his very life was threatened. All he could do was try not to move. Tears quickly threatened to cloud his vision. While he was mentally blaming the gods for throwing him into this situation, his thoughts were interrupted.

The sound of the battle drawing closer to him, roused Alex from his prone position. Morbid curiosity got the better of him, and he poked his head through the leaves and twigs of the bush to take a look. Two bandits in front of him were engaged with a mercenary. He was almost completely on the defense, using his shield to block the swords the Bandits were wildly swinging.

While he parried or blocked all the swings his adversaries were throwing his way, he was forced to steadily retreat from the onslaught. The bandits kept up their attack, presenting no opening and almost moving as one. Blow after blow landed on the mercenary’s shield, as they steadily got closer to Alex’s hiding spot.

Alex was stunned by the performance. Ignoring the fact that all three participants placed their life on the line in this battle, it had an almost artistic flow to it. Alex was almost lost in the morbid beauty of the moment, when the mercenary made a mistake.

He blocked a vicious side swing of one bandit, which pushed his shield slightly off center. The second bandit immediately capitalized on the opening and thrust his sword inside it. His sword slid against the rim of the shield, creating the screeching sound of metal on metal. Shortly followed by a wet squelch, and grunt of pain.

The bandit’s blade struck true, and entered the mercenary’s throat. His eyes widened in shock and realization, as the bandit pulled out his blade again. Blood gushed out of the wound as the stallion collapsed, vainly pawing his forelegs at the gash in an attempt to stem the blood flow.

Both Bandits sighed deeply, having survived another life and death situation. The one further away from Alex took a look around, trying to spot any other combatants. He stopped scanning when his eyes locked onto Alex’s. The world seemed to slow to a crawl, as Alex realized his mistake. They both held eye contact, for an agonizingly long second.

“There’s a unicorn in the bush over there! Get it before it casts some weird magic on us!”

The Bandit’s scream reverted time to normal. Alex’s pupils shrank to pinpricks, as Adrenaline started to ravage his body once again. Both of them started running towards him. Behind them a third bandit appeared, having heard his comrades warning.

Alex’s only thought was about getting away, he struggled with the bush he hid in, getting caught up in the branches. After fighting for a few moments he managed to escape his shrub prison, by the time he was free they were about fifteen feet away from him. Realizing how close they were he went into a full on sprint, frantically trying to get away from his certain death.

In his panic induced sprint he failed to see a root sticking out of the ground, causing him to stumble and fall over. He tumbled a few feet forward finally coming to a stop a few inches from the cliff. If he didn’t stumble, he would have ran straight off the cliff into the watery abyss below.

Alex turned around to check on his pursuers. They were almost upon him. One of them approached him carefully, with the second staying behind a bit, just in case he were to use any magic. The third had almost caught up with them as well. Each brandished a short sword, that didn’t seem to live up to its name when threatening his life.

One bandit had slinked forward till he stood directly in front of Alex. It was the one who had just killed the mercenary. The fresh blood on his blade dropped onto Alex’s fur, as he prepared the downward thrust that would end Alex.

With a calculated stroke he stabbed towards Alex’s throat. Alex watched as the blade descended on its way to his certain doom, when suddenly a red hoof slammed into the face of his attacker. The blow was delivered with such high momentum that the bandit flew back a few feet. Where he remained motionless as he landed, apparently knocked out.

Alex blinked, not quite able to register what was going on. Crimson had swooped in from above at the last moment, saving his life. He stood in front of Alex protectively, a sword held out in front of him. He must have looted it from a defeated bandit earlier, because it was their style of short sword.

Crimson shot a look back, to check on Alex.

“Get outta here! I’ll hold them off!” He shouted.

Crimson ran towards the remaining two stallions, engaging both of them in mortal combat. Meanwhile Alex’s brain refused to function properly, fear rooting him to his spot on the ground. He was shocked to his very core. While he wanted to do as Crimson told him, his body just wouldn’t obey him. Forcing him to watch his friend battle to the death.

Crimson was holding his own against the two bandits. They weren’t as synchronized in their attacks, like the combo he’d seen before. Crimson didn’t have a shield to block, so he used his wings in short bursts so he could dodge their swings whenever he wasn’t able to redirect them.

Suddenly one of the bandits pulled away from Crimson, while the other one rushed towards him. Crimson was thrown off by the sudden change in tactics, reacting just a second too late. The Bandit closed the distance between them and clocked him in the face with the pommel of his sword, sending him reeling backwards. The bandit then used his momentum to step out of place, just in time to reveal the second bandit coming up behind him.

Alex’s world once again slowed to a crawl, as he realized his new friend was about to die. As the blade drew closer to Crimson he started to panic. Crimson protected him, and was about to die because Alex messed up. He felt all sorts of emotions bubble up inside him, as he was torn between crying, and absolute rage.

He gave in to his emotions, losing himself in them. He couldn’t let his friend die here. He had to do something. Anything.

Alex felt his body temperature rising as an unfamiliar power coursed through him. His horn started to glow a soothing green, while arcs of lightning of the same color jumped between his body and the ground.

“NOOOOO!” He shouted with all his might.

His shout was punctuated by a loud bang, and a green sphere of pure mana shot from his horn. The ball of green travelled so fast he almost didn’t see it. It closed the distance between Alex and Crimsons assailant in no time, and slammed violently into the assailants side.

Not being bothered by the sudden obstacle in it’s path, the tennis ball sized sphere travelled on undisturbed. Leaving a bloody hole where the bandits ribcage used to be. The bandit crumpled to the ground like a marionette with its strings cut, collapsing right at Crimsons hooves.

Alex and Crimson stared at each other. The silence of the moment only broken by a tree falling over, having shared the same fate as the bandit.

Alex slowly rose from his position on the ground in a stupor. That was definitely magic. Alex had just cast a spell, and he had no idea how he did it. His thoughts were a jumbled mess. Far too much had just happened, in too short a timespan. He was beginning to feel light headed. Worried he might pass out, he shot Crimson a pleading look.

For some reason Alex couldn’t figure out, Crimson had a look of utter shock on his face. It looked like he was shouting something at him, but Alex couldn’t hear. He felt his legs grow weak and tingly, and for some reason he felt his chest getting soaked. He looked down to investigate what was going on.

He couldn’t quite process what he was seeing. His chest was matted with sticky warm blood. But whose blood it was, Alex couldn’t seem to figure out. A movement to his side caught his attention. The last remaining bandit moved beside him, just completing the motion of a swing meant to flick blood off his blade.

The Bandit must have re-evaluated Alex as the more important target, and made his move while they were distracted. In a moment of clarity, Alex realised that it was his own blood. The Bandit had just cut open his throat. His eyes widened at the implications.

He looked back towards Crimson, who was running towards him, tears starting to form in his eyes. Alex’s legs started to buckle, the blood loss causing him to sway a bit. After some fight on his part, his legs finally gave out and he fell. A look of surprise flashed across Alex’s face when his fall didn’t stop at ground level.

The last thing he saw when he fell over the edge of the cliff, was the bandit once again engaging Crimson in combat. Effectively stopping him from catching Alex in time.

As he fell towards the clear water below him, everything turned to black.

Author's Note

He ded, Story's over. Go home! not really tho

This was my very first battle scene and it was tons of fun to write. I re-read it yesterday, and it's even more fun to read than it is to write :P

Props to anyone who understands the title.

Hope you had a good read, and feel free to comment!

Once again, thanks to my proofreader/editor Ambros for a job well done!

Todays chapter was brought to you by this song. For obvious reasons.

P.S. Do you guys still remember where Alex came from? Yes? Well good, because it was based off a real life location. Or more specifically, my own workplace ^^ Have some pictures: Alex's Workplace

12. Pantheon

The sound of cheers and laughter filled the hall, currently occupied by several godly figures. They sat around a long table made out of white marble. It was massive enough to easily fit a hundred guests, side by side. The hall was lined by giant marble pillars, holding up the roof. Every inch of available space on it was covered in paintings, depicting the heroic deeds of the greek pantheon.

At the head of the table sat Zeus, the god of sky and thunder, as well as the current King of the gods. He wore a pristine white toga, revealing his rippling muscles underneath, as he slammed his hand on the table repeatedly in laughter. His shoulder-length, curly white hair flowed freely as he threw his head back in mirth.

He was surrounded by eight of his sons and daughters. To his left, Athena, Dionysus, Aphrodite and Ares were seated. To his right sat Hephaestus, Apollo, and Artemis. Standing behind him, wearing a fancy black suit with a red tie, was Hermes. He was holding a clipboard, furiously writing on it.

Except for Hermes, everyone's attention was on a sphere that sat on the table. Its width was roughly one yard across, and it was held up by a bronze statue of the Titan Atlas. The sphere was currently functioning as a mirror to another dimension, allowing the gods to observe what was happening on the other side.

It showed a black and white pony, as it fell into a mass of water with a huge splash. The clear fluid around it was soon tainted a deep crimson, as it resurfaced and started to gently bob downstream the conversation continued.

“So how’s it looking Hermes?” Zeus’s booming voice asked.

“Pretty good I’d say, Father.” As he finished his writing he looked up to make eye contact with Zeus. “The only one betting on the mortal dying within his first fourteen days awake, was Hades. So while we’ll have to pay him a generous sum, we made a big profit ourselves.”

Betting was something the gods had picked up from the Humans. Even though they didn’t actually need money in their plane of existence, it was just another source of entertainment for them. The more money one had, the better his standing within the pantheon got. If for some reason a god went bankrupt, a harsh punishment was delivered before giving out a starting capital to re-enter the fun.

As the God of Trade, Hermes was assigned the duty of keeping track of how each god ranked. The ones currently with him in the hall had nothing to worry about. While others such as Heracles or Hestia, were getting dangerously close to bankruptcy.

“Excellent!” Zeus exclaimed. “Be sure to inform everyone on this new development. Show them the recording too! The way he fell was hilarious!”

“Yes, Father.” Hermes replied.

Hermes also held the position of messenger within the pantheon, so he wasn’t just keeping track of the standings, the duty to inform the other gods on their entertainment also fell to him. He calmly strode across the hall, and exited through a massive extensively decorated oaken gate.

When Hermes left, Zeus spoke up once again.

“Well, the mortal will most likely be out of it for at least a day. Shall we go and have ourselves a feast to celebrate this turn of events?” He asked.

Everybody agreed fervently, Dionysus most of all, being the god of wine.

“A feast it is then!” Zeus shouted jovially.

They got up and followed Hermes out the gate, with the feasting grounds set as their destination. As they left, silence fell upon the room. The sphere, now forgotten, continued to show the grey pony, peacefully drifting downstream.

Alex awoke slowly. His senses started up one after another, giving him an idea of where he might be. First, his sense of touch returned to him. He felt a hard, jagged surface underneath him. His hearing returned shortly after, the sound of gentle waves caressing his ears, as well as the rhythmic plops of water droplets hitting the ground. When his sense of smell came back, he could taste the humidity in the air, and smell the earthy aroma of moss associated with caves.

Alex concluded that he was lying inside of an alcove, close to a body of water. When he felt awake enough, he slowly sat up before opening his eyes. The cold was seeping through his clothes, so he used his hands to rub his legs, creating friction and warmth.

It was only after a few seconds of doing this, he actually noticed that he was using hands. He furrowed his brow, and began to inspect the rest of his body. No matter how he looked at it, he was back in his human form.

“Was all of that just my imagination?” He asked himself.

Maybe he had an accident, and what he thought was real, was just a fever dream. He took a closer look around inspecting his surroundings. All around him was black rock, creating a cave with no apparent entrance to it. To his right, an old rickety boat gently rocked upon a small lake. The body of water had an eerie green glow to it, and Alex could’ve sworn he saw something slither around within its depths.

His confusion was mounting with each passing second, that’s when a voice cut through the darkness of the cave.

“So you’re finally awake.” A masculine voice called to him.

Alex looked around to find the source of it. After a few seconds of searching he came up with nothing, nobody seemed to be around. Steps started to echo throughout the cave, and Alex turned his head towards its source. A shadowy figure detached itself from the wall to Alex’s left, revealing a tall and muscular man.

He wore a dark purple toga, and held a golden bident in his right hand. His hair was long and black, complimented by a magnificent full beard. The stranger walked up to Alex and offered him his free hand.

Perplexed, Alex took it, and he was given a boost to stand up. He wobbled slightly, not being as used to bipedal locomotion anymore, but managed to stay upright.

The stranger walked over to the lone boat and got in. He lit a lantern hanging from it’s front and sat down on one of two available spaces.

“If you want answers, come.” He said.

The way he said it wasn’t an order, indicating that Alex had a choice in whether or not he actually trusted the new arrival or not. Having nothing better to do, and seeing no other available options, Alex decided to join the stranger on the small vessel.

After Alex had sat down, the other passenger tapped his bident twice on the wooden floorboards and the boat started to move on it’s own. Now that he had a better view of the lake, Alex took a peek over the side of their vessel.

He couldn’t see the bottom, there also was no discerning source of the soft glow it seemed to emit. He furrowed his brow and squinted his eyes when he detected movement once again. Below them, semi transparent forms drifted away from the direction they were currently heading. He had just noticed that they were vaguely human shaped when the stranger spoke up once again.

“Allow me to introduce myself.” He started. “I am Hades, King of the underworld.”

Upon hearing the stranger's name, Alex immediately connected the dots. Everything that happened was real. His turning into a pony, Vibrant Colors, Harvest, Crimson. His own death. He sat next to Hades, which meant the lake they were currently on would most likely be connected to the river Styx.

“I see you’re a sharp one.” Hades said. “You’ve already realized where you are. Good. That saves me some time.”

Alex turned to face Hades, a questioning look in his eyes. “You mentioned something about answers before. What was that all about?” He asked.

“I have the answers you desire. About why you’re here, and what has happened to you.” Hades stated. “There’s a lot more to it than you were lead to believe.”

Hades now had Alex’s undivided attention. “I’m all ears.”

“Then I shall tell you.” Hades replied while they were passing into a smaller tunnel, the lake thinning out into a gently flowing river.

“But first a question. Are you aware who the titan Atlas was? The one whose very name you bear?”

Alex thought for a moment trying to scrape together what little information he had about the subject.

“Atlas was the Titan condemned by Zeus to hold up the skies for all eternity.” He said.

Hades nodded. “Very good. But for you to understand, I will have to go into more detail.” He said. “The stories about Atlas that you humans possess are slightly fabricated from the real tale. Forged by Zeus and his offspring to withhold the truth.”

“When Heracles was on his journey to complete his twelve labors, Atlas tricked him into holding up the skies permanently. Contrary to your depiction of the events, which say it was Heracles who tricked Atlas.” He continued. “Of course Zeus was outraged by this. He freed Heracles from his unjust imprisonment and tracked down Atlas. A fearsome battle broke out between the two, but alas, Atlas was already weakened from his long imprisonment and it only took a matter of time for the Titan to fall.”

Alex listened to Hades’ tale, taking in every detail he could.

“Zeus realized that if he imprisoned Atlas again, he would just escape the next chance he got. So he slayed him on the spot.” Hades explained.

“But before Atlas died, he split off part of his soul. As much as he could, before he met his doom. His soul fragment travelled to the mortal plane, and sought shelter inside a human vessel.”

“Since then, the piece of Atlas’s soul has been passed down for generations. The mortals instinctively gave the name ‘Atlas’ to the child that would bare the soul. Until eventually, it was passed down to you, young Alexander.”

For the first time since meeting him, Hades made eye contact with Alex. The latter was now confused greatly, a question on the tip of his tongue.

“So you’re telling me, that inside of me is a part of Atlas’s soul?” He asked. “Like, THE Atlas, the Titan?” Alex adopted an incredulous look as he stared down Hades for answers.

“Exactly.” Hades responded. “This more or less makes you a demigod. As well as a danger to Zeus’s reign over Olympus.”

Now it was really beginning to be too much for Alex. Everytime he met a god, a shitload of information was dumped on him, changing his outlook on life drastically. Hades continued on undisturbed.

“He is afraid of what slumbers within you.” He said. “So he sought to confine you. To bring you under his control. He let Hermes approach you, under the guise of ‘fulfilling a wish’ as they called it. He subsequently succeeded in putting you in a jail, albeit an unconventional one.”

“The fact that they made you immortal was nothing more than a lie as well. They simply awakened Atlas’s soul within you, so you couldn’t pass it on. You see, they’ve tried to kill previous hosts before. But every time they did, the soul fragment just switched hosts. So they concocted a plan to activate the fragment in an environment they deemed safe, and wait for it to merge with its host’s soul. When that would come to be, they would finally be able to destroy the fragment once and for all.”

“Because the soul is now in an active state within you, the only thing that can kill you is another god. And I assure you Zeus will do everything in his power so that doesn’t happen, not until the fusion is complete.”

Alex gave up. His life was nothing but crazy throughout the last week or so, he decided he could just as well roll with it.

“Yeah sure, ok.” Alex said. “That’s all nice and dandy, but why tell me?”

Hades’s face took a dour expression.

“Some of us gods aren’t happy with how Zeus does things anymore.” Hades said grimly. “Especially Atlas’s offspring, as well as some other choice few.”

Alex nodded in understanding.

“In the distant future, a war will break out once again. It is inevitable.” He added. “And you might just have a role to play in it.”

Silence fell over the two, while Alex let this information sink in. As he did, the boat arrived at a shore running aground shortly before being stopped. Hades got out, and beckoned for Alex to follow. They walked for a short distance, until they stood before a foggy gate.

“Try to process all of this once you’re back.” Hades said. “I’ll repeat it again, you are now a proper demigod. What you do with this power is entirely up to you. Although it may take a long time for yours and Atlas’s soul to fully merge with each other, it will happen eventually. You should ready yourself for when that day comes, because Zeus and the other gods won't be far behind.”

Alex didn’t say anything.

“Whenever you die, we’ll be able to converse like this. While you’re dead I can pull your soul into my realm. Just walk through this gate, and your soul will return to it’s body.”

Alex did as he was told, not making a big fuss about it. Once he was back he really needed to sleep on all of this. Preferably for a very, very long time. He stepped into the fog, white dominating his vision. A mighty pull dragged him at a high speed through an empty void, until he felt like he crashed into something, and everything went black once again.

Author's Note

Welcome to Exposition the chapter. Be sure to visit our store where you can buy exposition the merchandise, like exposition the lunchbox. Or exposition the flamethrower.

Hope you had a good read, and feel free to comment!

Once again, thanks to my proofreader/editor Ambros for a job well done!

Todays chapter was brought to you by this song.

13. Resurrection

Alex groaned when he regained his senses. Apparently flinging your soul across the in-between hurt like a bitch. Even though he had no physical wounds, his body hurt all over. He opened his eyes to assess his current situation.

The first thing he saw was leaves and branches all around him. Half of his body was still submerged in the water of the Crystal Snake River, while the other half was entangled in a low hanging brush.

Alex started to struggle against his natural confines, and eventually managed to free himself from its vines. With a soft splash, he was fully in the water again, being carried along by the current. He immediately went under, sinking like a rock.

He desperately held his breath, realizing that he’d never learned how to swim in his new body. Alex knew now that even if he drowned here, he’d still survive, but drowning was still an unpleasant experience which he didn’t want to experience. Thinking fast he did the first thing that came to mind. The doggy paddle.

Although unrefined his technique worked, and he soon broke the surface again. As soon as he came up he breathed in that sweet, sweet air. The shore on both sides of the river was shallow, great for dragging himself out of the water. He decided to paddle to the left shore, as that was the side he was on before the accident.

Pulling himself onto solid land, he collapsed as soon as he was safe. As he was lying there, he let the events that had just transpired pass through his mind again. As he remembered that his throat was slit, he pulled a hoof across his throat, feeling for any marks it might have left. What he felt surprised him, as there was absolutely nothing indicating his mortal wound. Even his fur seemed surprisingly undisturbed.

He let his hoof fall again into the wet dirt he was sprawled out upon. Now that he wasn’t distracted by Hades or almost drowning, it really started to sink in. He was truly and completely immortal. If Hades was to be believed, nothing short of a god could end his life. And if Zeus was to be believed, Alex would never meet such a god for as long as he lived.

“The soul of Atlas…” Alex said under his breath.

Every lingering doubt Alex still had about whether or not any of this was real, was brutally crushed. Dying was just too painful an experience to not wake up from any hallucinations he might be experiencing. Adding to this, everything so far was too detailed to be a construct of his imagination, Alex came to a final conclusion.

All of this was real life. He possessed a soul fragment of Atlas the Titan. The gods had abducted him from his home, because they were afraid of what slumbered inside of him. And because of the now awakened soul fragment. Alex could now be considered a demi-god, an immortal of a race he had long believed to be a myth.

Hades mentioned that the two souls inside Alex would eventually complete their assimilation into one being. He wondered how long this process would actually take. As far as he knew, it could take thousands of years.

He also considered what would happen if Atlas’s soul was bigger or stronger than his own, which it most likely was. Would Alex as he knew himself eventually cease to exist, eventually becoming the new Atlas in the process? Or would it just greatly enhance his own abilities?

A huge sigh escaped Alex’s lips, as he turned around to his stomach and got up. Nothing would be solved by lying around and doing nothing. He looked himself over, noticing that his coat was full of dirt. His saddlebags were still securely attached to his midriff, albeit soaked.

He took them off and put them on the ground before him, pulling out it’s contents. The Apples he received from Vibrant were still intact, but pretty banged up, sporting some brown and mushy spots all over. The small bag was wet, but otherwise undamaged. He hoped the coins weren’t capable of rusting.

He opened the bag and took his first look inside since he got it. Picking up one of the coins, he turned it around in his hoof, closely inspecting its surface. It didn’t have any fancy decorations, like he was used to coins having. Instead there was just a simple ’one’ engraved on both sides.

He rummaged inside the bag to see if there were maybe some coins of other sizes, or numbers in there. After a while, he came to the conclusion that there were only bits worth one single amount of currency. He counted them to be exactly thirty bits. Alex had no idea what he could buy for this amount of money, but was grateful to Vibrant all the same.

Finally he unrolled the map. Like everything else it was soaked. He was lucky that it was made from cloth, as opposed to paper. Otherwise it may have dissolved upon contact after becoming soggy. The Colors didn’t wash out, and once it was dried, it would most likely be like nothing happened.

Still, something seemed off. Alex scanned the map for anything out of place, coming up with empty hooves. He realized that Vibrant’s addition to the map was gone. He frowned as he looked around for anything he could use, to mark it anew, but found nothing. So he decided to simply stare at the spot he knew it was supposed to be at, until he had committed it to memory.

He then packed up his things again, before leaving one of the Apples sitting on the ground beside it. Alex turned around and trotted back to the water. He washed the dirt and grime off his coat, at least as good as he could in the murky shallow water.

After he finished the task, he returned to his meager belongings, and put on his saddlebags again. He then picked up the apple and started to eat it while he began to walk away from the river.

As he was walking he looked up to check on the sun’s position. It was already past its zenith, indicating that Alex was unconscious for at least half a day. He ‘tsked’ in annoyance as he continued to walk straight ahead. Eventually he came upon a dirt road. Considering its position on the left side of the river, Alex was sure this was the same road he’d traveled on for the last few days.

According to his map and Crimson, if he just followed it, he would eventually reach High Rock. Thinking about whether or not anyone made it out of the Attack alive, he started the journey. His thoughts went out to Crimson and Winter Banana, as well as everyone else in the Caravan. He hoped that in the end that they had won out.

Alex didn’t know how far he had drifted downstream, so there was no way for him to tell if they would be ahead or behind him. As he passed the same greenery he got used to, Alex looked for any traces of the caravan. He couldn’t find anything indicating that they already passed through here, and so he continued his journey towards High Rock.

Alone.

Alex was trotting through a forest. The last rays of sunlight filtered through the treetops over him, illuminating the dirt road he was travelling on. He had spent the afternoon relentlessly moving forward, only stopping for a drink once every few hours.

While he walked, he always kept an eye out for any signs of the caravan coming through. In the end he didn’t spot a single thing that could mean they had passed him while he was out. He came to the conclusion that they either stopped for a while to tend their wounded, or worse, would never come.

At first Alex reveled in the solitude that came with being alone. Ever since he arrived in this world, he didn’t spend much time by himself. There was always someone with him, or at least a place he could return to after an hour or two.

Soon enough he got bored. He tried to befriend some random animals, like he did on his trip with Vibrant. The wildlife didn’t care for him here though. Some seemed to be curious at first, but never approached, no matter how hard he tried to coax them.

As he went around a bend in the path, a small hut came into view. Alex’s heart skipped a beat, hoping to find some company, or even someone from the caravan. He closed the distance, falling into a short sprint. The closer he got to the hut though, the more obvious it became that it wasn’t inhabited.

He came to a stop a few meters in front of it. The wood looked old, mold attacking a few spots on the outer edges. Around the base, moss was growing rampant. The windows looked milky, and he couldn’t see inside. Completing the picture, was the door, it was unhinged, and hung limply at an angle.

Alex sighed, his hopes were dashed once again. From the looks of it, Alex identified the small building as a travellers hut. Crimson had mentioned them in one of their conversations. They were built, so wary travellers could take shelter in case of bad weather.

He trotted up to the door and pushed. I creaked open, the base grinding against the floor. Alex stepped inside and scanned the interior. It was furnished as simple as possible. Beds lined both walls, while at the back was a small fireplace. Dust was everywhere and the mattresses of the beds had holes in them.

The hut was obviously not being used for quite some time. Alex sighed, hanging his head. A loud noise behind him, made him spin around. The door had finally given up and fell over completely, billowing up a huge cloud of dust.

Alex didn’t even bother trying to fix it, and started looking for a bed that wasn’t completely unusable. He found one on the left that had close to no holes in it. There was no blanket or pillow, like on every other bed. He patted down on the mattress a few times, sending clouds of dust swirling about.

He climbed on top and took off his saddlebags. He pulled out an apple and set it down on the ground. As he munched on the sweet treat, the light started to fade from the outside world. Sleep didn’t come easy that night.

Alex awoke to the sounds of hooves clopping on wood. He immediately sat up, scanning the room, hoping to find one of his lost comrades. Or at least another pony. What he saw was the retreating form of a deer. It must have come inside, looking for food, and his sudden movement scared it away.

He sighed as he got up and put on his saddlebags. Now that he was awake, he might as well continue his Journey. He stepped outside and took in a breath of fresh air. The day had just started and songbirds could be heard all around him. With the sun in his back he trotted off, towards his destination.

The sun was beating down hard on Alex as he trotted along the dirt ever westwards. He had left the cool shadows of the forest a few hours hours ago. In the glistening heat, Alex had long since desperately craved for a sip of water.

To his despise the water of the Crystal Snake became unavailable to him once more, a twenty foot drop separated him from the cool refreshing quench the river provided. As he traveled further and further into the afternoon, he always kept an eye open for a safe way down. Hours passed, yet no opportunity presented itself to him. Right now Alex would sell his soul for a glass of water. Which one, he wasn’t sure.

Chestnut was scurrying along the treetops. The brown squirrel was returning home to his wife and children, having collected lots of food for them. His cheeks were filled to the brim with fresh nuts. He came to a rest upon a branch as he heard some weird sounds. He looked around to find the source of it, and soon enough it revealed itself.

A unicorn with a dark gray coat and a white mane was running down the closest hill like a madpony. It ran straight past Chestnut’s perch while throwing off it’s saddlebags. A loud splash was heard as the unicorn jumped into the water.

The Pony was laughing with glee, jumping around like a mad little foal. After a while it dunked its whole head into the water as it guzzled loudly from the banks of the river. With a huge gasp the pony’s head resurfaced, the pony now looked a great deal more refreshed and sane.

It took a few sips more of the clear liquid before coming ashore once again. After putting on it’s saddlebags, it trotted off like nothing happened. Chestnut shook his head at the strangers antics, and resumed his way home.

‘Ponies are weird…’ He thought.

Alex trotted up a steep incline on his way west. He had spent the last night sleeping on the grass next to the road, his muscles aching something fierce after lying on the ground in a strange position. Undeterred he carried ever onwards. By now he was glad he couldn’t get blisters on his feet.

The scenery was ever unchanging in his travels along the Crystal Snake. Water to the right, green to the left. Every few miles something minor changed, like a hill came into view or a group of trees could be seen in the distance. Alex was bored out of his mind, so it was with great anticipation he crested his latest obstacle.

His tenacity in trotting ever forward, step after step, was finally rewarded. Albeit it was still far into the distance, he could finally see his goal. High Rock presented itself before him in all it’s glory.

Alex realised the name was meant quite literally, as the city was built around a huge rock. He could see that the top of the stone was flat, building a giant plateau. Resting upon it was a fancy palace. Spires’ rose to twice the rocks size, gold decorations glistening in the sun. From his position he judged the thing to span at least three thousand feet in width alone.

Around the base, stretching in all directions, buildings lined the roads. The Crystal Snake wound it’s way along the city’s northern border, continuing further still until it touched the horizon. On the opposite side, massive fields were sprawled out, growing all kinds of crops and foods.

Alex was stunned by the sight before him. He had seen quite a lot of breathtaking sights back on earth. But High Rock had something more to it, something that just couldn’t be compared. For one, there was the sheer size of it. He knew they couldn’t have used overly complicated machines to build it. Which made the Palace even more impressive.

The sun was starting to set, bathing the bustling city in an orange golden glow.

“Vibrant would love to see this…” Alex said under his breath.

And with renewed vigor he picked up his old path. A clear goal now in sight.

Author's Note

Alright I'm back! For all of you who haven't seen my blog post(basically almost everyone), I've been on a Dark Souls 3 binge, managing to get 28 hours of playtime over the span of three days... So that's why there's a little delay. But I'm still "almost" within my "update at least once a week" schedule.

I wanted to try to include as little talking in this chapter as possible, training my ability to describe things in the process.

Hope you had a good read, and feel free to comment!

Once again, thanks to my proofreader/editor Ambros for a job well done!

Todays chapter was brought to you by this song. Because Dark Souls and Dan Bull are awesome!

14. High Rock

The sun was rising on Alex’s back. After sleeping on the side of the road, he continued his journey towards High Rock. He was now close enough to his goal, that he could see the first farms start to pop up on the horizon. Some of the Earth Ponies he passed waved at him, and he was more than happy to return the gesture.

As he closed the distance on the city , he passed fields growing all sorts of produce. He walked along mighty apple trees, providing shade for the weary travellers. After he passed the orchards he walked amongst fields full of stalks of wheat, creating a rolling sea of golden color.

The giant plateau that gave High Rock it’s name was now finally close enough for Alex to realize how enormous it really was. If he looked up, it dominated most of his field of view. Which made the Palace erected upon it all the more impressive. Its width was almost the same as the plateau, and was twice again it’s height.

Now that he got a closer look, it seemed nigh impossible that simple Ponies could build something that huge without futuristic machines. Alex was squinting his eyes, scrutinizing every inch of the humongous building, looking for any clues about how it was built.

He looked for several minutes while he drew ever closer to it. Until he finally gave up. No machines were around, and he wasn’t knowledgeable enough to spot anything giving away how it was built. He sighed, and resolved to ask someone later on about it.

Focusing his view back on the road in front of him, he started to notice a steady stream of ponies walking in the same direction he was. Most of them pulled carts, that contained a variety of foodstuffs. The rest either sported saddlebags like he did, or travelled with their families. Looking around he resolved to talk to a muscular stallion pulling a cart full of potatoes.

Alex strode over to his target and realized that the stallion was almost twice as big as himself. He gulped before speaking up.

“Ummm… Good morning sir.” He said reluctantly.

The stallion turned to look at Alex, a look of surprise and wonder flashing across his face.

“G‘morning.” He responded. “What can ah do for ya?”

“I’m a traveller, and this is my first time visiting High Rock.” Alex said. “The thing is, it looks like one could easily get lost in such a huge city. Could you maybe point me in the direction of the local market, or an inn?”

Alex had been in big cities before. The difference was that he always either knew his way around, or could just ask his phone for directions if he got lost. Without a map he was bound to wander aimlessly through the city. If he had help from one of the locals, the possibility of that happening wouldn’t be as big of a concern.

“Sure thing!” The stallion replied back. “There are Markets all over the city, so you’re bound to find one sooner or later. You can just follow me if you want, ah’m on mah way to the closest one.”

“Thanks, I’ll do that if you don’t mind.” Alex said.

“Yeah sure, go ahead. As for the inn, you’re a unicorn, so you’ll have to find one for your kind. Can’t tell you where one is, never been to one before. But you’re sure to meet a fellow hornhead at the market, so best just ask one of ‘em.”

Alex furrowed his brow, unsure if he heard that last part correctly. He thanked the cart pulling stallion before he started to fall back a bit.

“Inn for unicorns?” Alex mulled the implications over in his head.

Either unicorns in this town had specialized inns tailored to their specific needs, or there was some serious racial segregation going on in this city. All of a sudden Alex felt like when he entered Harvest for the first time. The possibility of pony racism running rampant in this pre-Equestrian world was unsettlingly real. Maybe he was just lucky to avoid it up until now?

Alex followed the stallion from a safe distance for about half an hour. As they drew closer to the city proper, a sea of ponies seemed to fill the streets. Even though it somehow reminded him of the cities back on earth, nobody seemed to be in a rush. Sure, every now and again a pony could be seen darting to an unknown destination, but generally everybody took their time.

They finally reached the market proper, and Alex was stunned. It was huge, like no market Alex had ever seen in person. Although it did look somewhat similar to how an old bazaar would be set up. Countless stalls lined the circular space. Most of the stalls sold food cultivated around the city. Other wares could be seen here and there. The setup followed no rhyme or reason. If you walked in a straight line you could go from tomatoes, to metalwork, to baskets and saddlebags, then finally back to cabbages in the span of four stalls.

Alex walked around the market looking at the wares sold. He tried to get a grip on how much his thirty bits could buy him, by comparing the prices of everything he passed. Again, some stalls had their prices on display, while at others he needed to ask.

After a while he came to the conclusion that to eat three times a day, he’d need about five to ten bits, and that was cutting it close. He’d need to ration his food intake, and find a way to earn some money fast. Otherwise he might have to starve.

Alex realized that he technically couldn’t starve to death anymore. So he put the food problem on the backburner for now. While starvation wouldn’t feel that great, there were more important things he needed for now. Like shelter and some work. Sure he could just sleep outside, but in a city like this which was potentially extremely racist, he didn’t want to chance it.

After awhile he started to look around for another unicorn, like the stallion from earlier suggested. He had to wander around the market for another twenty minutes, until he finally spotted a blue horn amidst the crowd. As he approached, the owner of said appendage came into view. It was a male unicorn, his fur a deep blue with his mane a dull green. His cutie mark was a book on a pedestal.

He was currently haggling for the price of several books with an earth pony. Alex noticed that the discussion was quite heated, and decided to stand back until they were finished. After a few more minutes of shouting they agreed on a price. The Earth Pony held a smug look on his face, while the unicorn collected his books with a sour face, placing them in his saddlebags.

As he made to walk off, Alex quickly trotted up to his side.

“Hello there, fellow unicorn!” Alex said.

The angrily muttering unicorn raised his head in surprise. He looked towards the source of the new voice beside him before doing a double take.

“Oh thank god!” He exclaimed. “Another sane soul in this desolate wasteland of stupidity!”

Alex reeled back a bit at the sudden enthusiasm of the unicorn.

“Wow.” Alex said. “That’s quite the viewpoint on this town. Any reason behind that? I just arrived, and it’s my first time in High Rock.”

“And you should be glad about it. This place is absolutely terrible!” The unicorn shouted.

“Yeah sure... anyway; I heard there was a need to go to a special inn if you’re a unicorn in this town. You wouldn’t happen to know where I could find one?” Alex asked.

“Of course!” The unicorn exclaimed happily. “I’ll gladly help you out. We unicorns need to stick together after all! Names Fancy Scroll by the way.”

Fancy Scroll extended his hoof for a shake, which Alex promptly returned.

“Alexander Atlas Riptis, or Alex for short.”

“That’s a strange name.” Fancy said. “But definitely not the weirdest I’ve ever heard. The nobility back in the kingdom have the weirdest names.” Fancy laughed a bit until he seemed to sober up. “You wouldn’t happen to be from noble descent?” He asked worriedly.

“I assure you I’m not a noble of any kind.” Alex replied.

“Well, that’s a relief.” Fancy pulled his fetlock across his forehead while letting out a sigh. “But come, there’s an inn not to far from here. I’m staying there too.”

Fancy Scroll started to lead Alex through the crowd. While the blue unicorn seemed to have some trouble navigating the masses, bumping into other ponies here and there, Alex moved through the sea smoothly. The years of living in a big city had honed his people dodging skills to the point where he moved through them undisturbed.

They exited the crowd into a small alley, Fancy visibly relieved to have more space.

“So glad we’re out of there.” He said. “There are just so many of those earth ponies here, I swear they reproduce faster than rabbits!”

The more time Alex spent with Fancy Scroll, the more convinced he got that there was a serious racism problem going on in this world. Thinking about it made him worry about what the inn for unicorns might be like. Depending on how bad the situation was, the inn could possibly be a run down shit hole.

Alex remained silent as he continued to follow after Fancy, who lead him through a series of turns between buildings. He tried to remember the way they took, but doubted it as the labyrinth continued. Everything was beginning to look identical to him.

After a while they reached a small building, squeezed between two of its doppelgangers. A small wooden plate hung from a metal bar over the entrance.

“Welcome to the Strong Horn!” Fancy exclaimed. “One of the few decent unicorn inns in this blasted city.”

Fancy opened the door with his magic, the knob taking on a blue glow. He entered and held the door open for Alex. Looking at the exterior of the inn and the apparent state it was in, Alex seriously doubted Fancy’s statement. Either that, or the other inns were way worse than this.

He entered and took a look around. While the interior looked simple, it didn’t look as run down as the outside suggested. To their left, a staircase led to the upper floor. A few chairs were placed along the walls for ponies to sit on. Directly in front of them was the reception area, which consisted of a single desk, a key wall hung behind it. A bright green unicorn mare with a turquoise mane sat on a chair looking quite bored. Next to her was an open door, a small wooden plaque next to it identifying the room beyond as the dining hall.

They approached the mare at the desk, catching her attention.

“Hey there Crystal.” Fancy said jovially.

“Hey Fancy.” She responded. “Any luck at the market?”

Fancy Scrolls shook his head dramatically. “Those brutes are as unpleasant as ever! I found some nice books at least.” He said while tapping his saddlebags. “Although at a much higher price than what they’re worth… You know how it is.” He added with an exasperated sigh.

“Anyway. I found this rather dashing gentlecolt at the market.” Fancy said as he gestured towards Alex. “It’s his first time in the city and he’s looking for a place to stay, so I brought him here!”

Crystal gave Alex a once over, as if noticing his presence for the first time. Her eyes seemed stuck on his blank flank for a few seconds before she looked him in the eyes.

“Ten bits a night, fifteen if you want to eat.” She said.

Alex immediately did the math. He had three days, assuming he wouldn’t buy anything to eat. Three days to make some money, and look for a way to the Crystal Kingdom.

“I’ll stay for three nights, please.” Alex said after mulling it over.

Crystal’s horn lit up, and a key labeled with the number nine floated to the desk.

“Money up front.”

Alex opened his right saddlebag, before he fished out the bag of bits Vibrant gave him. His actions got him a few odd looks from the other unicorns, but none of them commented on it. He pulled the string holding the bag closed with his mouth, creating an opening, and proceeded to dump the currency all over Crystals desk.

“Woah, what are you doing?” She asked while looking at him like he was crazy.

“Aren’t you going to count them?” Alex asked in return, one eyebrow raised.

“Well, yes.” Crystal answered a bit puzzled. “But you could have just given me the bag you know?”

“Awww hell no! That bag was a gift of a friend, and I’m not just going to give it to you!” Alex said threateningly.

“I would have given you back the bag! Where did they teach you that this was acceptable to do?”

Alex narrowed his eyes. “Yes.” He said deliberate and slowly.

Crystal looked like she was about to blow a fuse, while Fancy was off to the side trying to contain his sides.

After a little staredown between Crystal and Alex, she gave up. She floated the key over to Alex, who took it in his mouth.

“Third floor, there’s a large number nine on the door. Can’t miss it.” She said.

Alex and Fancy moved over to the stairs before they ascended to the first floor. As they went up, Alex could’ve sworn he heard Crystal mutter something about not being payed enough for this. Fancy split off on the second floor, entering his room to deposit his newly acquired books. Which left Alex alone to explore his new lodgings.

He arrived at the third floor, which was at the same time the top floor. The room furthest away from the stairs was decorated with a large red nine, just as Crystal had said. After some trouble, Alex managed to unlock it before he stepped inside.

The room was small. It was barely large enough to contain a bed and chest for personal belongings. A window was on the far side of the room, showing nothing more than another alley and the building across. A chamber pot rested under the bed, which Alex was just absolutely thrilled to see… not.

He threw off his saddlebags, and locked the door behind him. After the last few days events he was just glad to finally be in the proximity of an actual bed again. Now that he was safe, sleep threatened to overcome him at any moment. He flopped his body on the bed, and was asleep shortly after.

Author's Note

Alex has arrived at High Rock! Yay! Apparently Ambros confused High Rock with the Crystal Kingdom, if there are any other experiencing this issue, please tell me if I made a mistake somewhere leading to this.

Hope you had a good read, and feel free to comment!

Once again, thanks to my proofreader/editor Ambros for a job well done!

Todays chapter was brought to you by this song.

15. Racism

Alex stared off into space as he sat atop his rented bed. It was the fourth day of his stay at the Inn, and subsequently High Rock. Meanwhile it was the last day he was allowed to stay at the Strong Horn. He needed to collect his things and leave before sundown. Such were the rules of the Inn.

The last three days, Alex did everything he could to earn some money. He offered to help out several market ponies. He tried to land a job at one of the several stores in the city. He would have taken any job. But in the end, no one accepted, or even wanted his help.

In his time in High Rock, something became abundantly clear to him. Everypony in this city was a low key racist. Every. Single. One of them.

Nobody flat out showed that they despised the other races, but it was clear by how they acted around each other. The Earth Ponies in High Rock got along just peachy. While Unicorns and Pegasi, suffered from raised prices and harsh treatment. One would assume that at least the unicorns and pegasi would stick together, but by what Alex saw, they avoided each other as much as possible.

Racism was running rampant in High Rock, and Alex was on the receiving end of the stick. The few unicorns he met while wandering around town, gave him some encouraging words but nothing more. It seemed like there was some sort of elitism going on within the unicorn ranks, and having not earned a cutie mark put Alex at the bottom of the barrel.

The only one who was really friendly towards Alex was Fancy Scrolls. He had a lot of knowledge about the city to offer, and gave Alex tips on where he might be able to earn some bits. Alas, none of them worked out. To make matters worse, Fancy left town the day before, heading to the next town to collect rare books.

Alex realized after day three, that he wouldn’t be able to make a single bit for as long as he stayed here. So he decided to look for a caravan headed to the Crystal Kingdom. By that time, Alex was hungry like he never had been before. Water was no problem to come by, as he could just go down to the river, or one of the wells for that. But without bits, food was beginning to become a problem. He was starting to lose focus over time, and his movements started to feel sluggish.

He desperately searched for a caravan that would allow him to tag along. If he landed a job, he would get food from them, and that would be a very welcome benefit. He talked to more than twenty caravans all over the city, but none would take him. Not because he was a unicorn. It was because none of them were headed towards the Crystal Kingdom.

Apparently King Gold Bar had introduced heavy checkpoints to his borders, and raised the trade taxes. Because of the high cost, and the risk of being turned away for not being unicorns, none of them wanted to make the trip.

Alex had run out of options, and now he was about to be ejected into the streets to make matters worse. He feared what might happen to him, a unicorn alone on the streets. He had no way to defend himself if he had to. He had no weapons to his name, and even if he had, he wouldn’t be able to effectively use them. His experiments with magic showed no results either. The spell he had used back at the cliff had to be a surge, but now he at least knew that he actually possessed magic.

The room started to get darker, and Alex looked out of his window. The building on the other side was starting to take on orange silhouette, which meant the sun was slowly disappearing over the horizon. He stayed inside for as long as he could, relishing in the comfort and protection the room provided him. But now the time had come to leave.

Alex slumped off the bed, and proceeded to put on his saddlebag. The only things he owned were contained within, the map and a empty bag for storing his non existent bits. He stepped outside, and locked the door behind him. Something he had gotten a lot better at over the course of his stay.

He slowly made his way downstairs, and into the Lobby. He quietly made his way to Crystal’s desk, before spitting the key on the counter. The unicorn looked up only briefly from the crossword she was currently solving, and nodded in acknowledgement.

Opening the door, Alex stepped outside. Taking in a deep breath of fresh air, before walking away in a random direction. He walked through the alleys of the bustling city for hours, with no goal in mind. Huffing lightly to himself before he just started walking in the direction of the Crystal Kingdom, but after a minute he decided against it. Without truly knowing where he was going, the risk of getting lost was just too high. The map in his possession wouldn’t help either, missing far too many details.

Eventually he just collapsed. Lying on the side of the street, Alex passed out from hunger and exhaustion, a single thought crossing his mind as he faded from the waking world.

What would happen if he truly starved? Would he just not be able to produce energy, doomed to potentially lie in the same spot for all eternity? Or would he die, allowing him to visit Hades once again before he revived good as new?

It was noon as Alex sat slumped over on the side of a busy street. The hunger had got the best of him that morning, he tried to steal some apples from a cart. Of course he was immediately caught, and received a good beating for trying. Adding to his energy deprived body, he was now hurting all over.

So he resorted to the only thing that was left to him. He started to beg for money.

Alex sat in the same space now for two hours, and nobody had given him anything. Most earth ponies just passed him by. While others seemed willing to give, but turned away the instant they saw his horn. The few unicorns who passed by ignored him as well, some calling him a disgrace to their race. The odd pegasus who came along only glanced in his direction with disinterest.

Alex reminded himself of all the times he did the same back on earth. So many people who wanted nothing but a few bucks from him, and he turned almost all of them down. He had the money to give, but was so self centered that he didn’t realize that maybe they were in a really bad situation. Just like he was now.

He sighed audibly, and curled up into a ball. Everything came crashing down around him once again. All that happened to him in the last two weeks finally wearing down his will. He started to sob uncontrollably on the side of the road, intentionally ignored by everyone.

Merely two weeks ago, Alex had lived a normal life. Working, hanging out with friends, visiting his parents. Now he was in an Alien world, dealing with problems he never thought he would have. He was nothing more than a chess piece, a minor inconvenience for Zeus. He was made immortal because the soul of a titan was passed down to him by pure chance. All things he could have dealt with somehow, but the added burden of being treated like trash while starving proved to be too much.

Alex lay there for a good hour in a vain attempt to cry it all out. Nobody stopped to see what was wrong, just like he had come to expect. Eventually he had no more tears and just stayed where he was, his bloodshot eyes lazily scanning the endless blue sky.

“Pssst!” A voice to his right said.

“Pssst!” It insisted but he was too melancholy to investigate.

“PSSSST! Hey! Mister unicorn…. Over here!” The voice shouted in a loud whisper.

Giving in to his piqued curiosity, Alex looked towards the voice to see what it wanted. Around the corner of the building he rested against, the head of brown earth pony could be seen poking out. Alex raised a questioning eyebrow at her.

“Over here!” She called, gesturing with her hoof for him to come over.

Alex got up slowly from his spot on the ground. With little to do he decided to humor the pony. He strolled over to her and around the corner. Now that he could properly look at the earth pony, he saw that her coat was a dark brown and her mane was almost the same color. Her mane hung limply over her side, as if weighed down by something. He furrowed his brows when he noticed the distinct lack of a cutie mark on her flank as he took a closer look at her.

In between the brown, a few spots of pink could be seen. Some darker spots of pink could be seen in her mane and tail, as well as some yellow highlights. As he got closer to her, a terribly stench entered his nose, and he realized she was actually caked in dirt.

He stopped a respectable distance from her.

“What do you want?” Alex asked roughly.

“Hi!” She responded. “I’m Charity Belle! What’s your name?”

Considering how down Alex currently felt, her cheerfulness annoyed him greatly.

“Alex.” He deadpanned.

“Uhhhh! That’s a strange name! I’ve met unicorns before, but their mostly named after some gems. Are you a special unicorn? Does your name mean something?” Belle assaulted Alex with a variety of questions.

“Shut up!” Alex shouted at her. She stopped her verbal barrage, and looked at him confused. “Just get to the point already!”

“Well I saw you sitting over there.” Belle continued a lot more calm. “And I recognize a hungry, homeless pony when I see one!” She said. “You looked like you could use some help, so i wanted to share some of my food with you.”

Alex’s eyes lit up at the mention of food.

“Oh please god, yes! I’m so hungry!” Some tears started to form in his eyes again. “I haven't’ eaten for almost four days, and I just don’t know what to do anymore.”

“Alright! Then follow me!” Belle responded, seemingly oblivious to Alex’s distress.

She darted off into the alley she came from, leaving behind a confused Alex. His thoughts were slower than normal, and he most certainly didn’t have the energy to run around. His stomach grumbled in anticipation of food, and he eagerly started to follow her.

“Hey!” He shouted. “Wait for me please! I can’t run that fast!”

Belle turned around to look at the wobbling stallion.

“Wow. You must be hungrier than I thought.” She said. “Here, let me help you.”

She ran back to Alex and sidled up to him, providing him with something to lean on while walking. He was a bit embarrassed at the sudden contact, but shot her a grateful look anyway.

Belle led Alex through a labyrinth of alleys, entering a part of town he hadn’t been in before. The houses surrounding them got gradually shabbier as they went, until they looked little better then rickety wooden shacks. Ponies could be seen wandering the streets that looked similar to Charity Belle, they were caked in dirt and stunk to high heavens.

Alex realized that they had entered the slums of the city. At every turn they made, more ponies could be seen that were down on their luck. They passed a mother with two thin foals, as Alex realized he was barely better off than they were. Alex was homeless. He could technically just leave High Rock, but then he’d be exposed to the elements with no resources. He wouldn’t make the trip without a plan.

Charity Belle led him into some kind of plaza. A few crude tents were set up all over the place. Ponies sat in front of them, talking and joking with each other. Even though those ponies had close to nothing at all, they still seemed to enjoy their lives.

“We homeless ponies have to stick together.” Belle said, as they observed the going ons. “So we built our own little community here. We all help each other out, so nopony has to go hungry.”

She lead Alex past the tents and their inhabitants. Most of them greeted Belle cheerfully, and politely smiled at Alex. They were coming up on an elderly stallion, sitting in front of a patchwork tent. His orange coat and white mane were caked with dirt, just like everyone else’s. He spotted them as they approached, and looked curiously towards Charity Belle.

“Hey Dusty.” She greeted him. “I found Alex here over on the Queen’s road. According to him he hasn’t eaten anything for almost four days!”

Dusty turned his gaze towards Alex, scrutinizing him. He looked him all over, his eyes lingering just a second longer on Alex’s flank than the rest of him.

“You look like you just recently lost everything.” He said with a gravelly voice. “Why don’t you tell us what happened over some almost fresh fruit?”

Alex’s mouth started to water when Dusty pulled out some fruit from his tent. He was hoofed a pear, and after asking for permission he dug in. Tears started to form in his eyes as the sweet, succulent fruit entered his mouth. He chewed slowly on it, relishing in every second of it. The juices overflowed from the small piece he had bitten off, creating an explosion of taste in his mouth.

He collapsed on his haunches, savoring the moment. After four hard days, he finally was in company that accepted him. They didn’t shun him just because he was different. No more would he need to suffer under the scornful looks of the town.

As he sat there munching on his pear, Alex cried. Not because he was hurt, hungry or hopeless. But because he felt like he was among friends again. The ponies close to him had smiles on their faces, sharing in Alex’s happiness.

Things were starting to look up for Alex, when a voice cut through the happy moment.

“Alex?” It said. “Alex! Is that really you?”

Author's Note

Well, racism is bad. Ok? Also, say hello to Charity Belle!

Hope you had a good read, and feel free to comment!

Once again, thanks to my proofreader/editor Ambros for a job well done!

Todays chapter was brought to you by this song. Doesn't relate to the chapter at all, just felt like posting this amazing song.

16. Loyalty

Alex turned around to identify the oddly familiar voice. A few feet away from him stood a pretty disheveled looking Crimson. Their eyes locked, and they held their gaze for a few seconds, as if confirming that the other was really who they thought they were.

“It’s really you, isn’t it?” Crimson asked as he took a few steps gingerly towards Alex. “But how? I saw you die.” He whispered as he gradually drew closer.

When Crimson was within reach he slowly put a hoof on Alex’s saddlebags. His eyes drifted down till they were locked on Alex’s throat, trying to find any indication of the mortal wound he’d received.

“How is this possible?” He asked while he shot a questioning look into Alex’s eyes.

Meanwhile Alex sat there, trying to find his best course of action. He never believed he’d actually meet Crimson in High Rock. The city was huge, and there was no guarantee that Crimson made it out of the raid alive.

“Crimson?” Alex asked in a befuddled state. “You made it out of there?”

“I should be the one asking that, don’t you think?” Crimson answered with a raised eyebrow.

“Crimson, so nice to see you again.” Dusty intercepted their conversation. “What brings you back here, and what’s all this about dying?” He asked genuinely confused.

He looked back and forth between Alex and Crimson, awaiting an answer. They both looked back at the old stallion, and then at each other.

Alex got up from his sitting position and threw a hoof over Crimsons shoulders. “If you’d excuse us for a moment.” He said while sporting an ear splitting grin.

He started to lead Crimson away from Dusty and Belle, but not before snatching another pear. He was still hungry after all. Dusty and Belle were understandably confused, but let them have some space for now.

They entered an alley, and after checking to make sure no one followed them started to talk with each other.

“Crimson!” Alex said. “I’m so glad to see you! I thought you were dead! Are the others around too?”

“What about you?” Crimson asked. “If there’s anyone who should be surprised, it’s me! I literally saw how you got your throat slit and fell off a cliff! How are you not dead?”

Alex withered under the inquisitive gaze Crimson gave him. He took a bite out of his pear, so he could stall for time before he answered.

“Tell you what.” He said between two bites. “You tell me what happened to you guys after I fell, then I tell you what happened to me. Sound good?”

Crimson looked like he wanted to object, but he started to explain after a few moments.

“Well, the guy who slit your throat stopped me from getting to you.” He began. “I managed to get rid of him fairly quickly. So I tried to see if you managed to survive. But it was too dark, and I couldn’t find you in the river. I thought you were dead for sure, so I made the decision to go back to help the other guys.”

Crimson looked genuinely sorry for abandoning Alex, who apparently somehow survived. Alex munched on his pear and nodded towards him, telling him to move on.

“It was a losing battle.” Crimson sighed. “There were just too many bandits. We tried to hold them off for as long as possible, but eventually they overran us.” Crimson’s face adopted a hurt look. “Winter Banana told me to fly away, to save myself. I wanted to stay and fight to the death by his side, but he told me I should deliver a message to his family as a last favour.”

“So you fled?” Alex asked.

“Yes.” Came the answer from the red pegasus. “I take no pride in this, but I wanted to honor Winter’s last wish. I can still hear him scream when I sleep.”

“So you’re the only one left?” Alex asked sadly.

Crimson nodded in the affirmative. “Or, at least I thought so.” He said while looking at Alex. “Then I see you, casually hanging out with some of my old friends. What gives?”

Alex thought about what to tell him for a moment. Crimson saw how Alex died, so if he just bullshitted his way through this, he most likely wouldn’t believe him. On the other hand, Crimson proved to be a real friend. He even saved his live. Sort of. So Alex came to the conclusion, that only the truth would suffice.

“Crimson, tell me.” Alex said. “Can you keep a secret?”

Crimson looked at him confused, but confirmed his ability to do so.

“I’m serious Crimson. This isn’t just some ‘I ate all of your cookies’ secret.” Alex emphasized. “This is a seriously ‘top secret’ secret.”

“I understand.” Crimson answered.

“Alright, what I’m about to tell you, can never leave this alley. You understand?” Alex said, while once again checking for any other ponies within earshot.
Crimson simply nodded and swallowed heavily.

“Ok, you might think I’m crazy after you hear this, but it is the honest truth.” Alex hesitated for a bit, concerned about how Crimson would take it. “I’m immortal. I’m a half god, a descendant of the powers that made this very world.”

Alex looked at Crimson expectantly, he wasn’t disappointed as his expression quickly changed to confusion. He went through several facial expressions after, ranging from concerned to unbelieving in the span of a few seconds before he answered.

“Immortal? So like… you can’t die?” He asked.

“Exactly, no matter what happens to me, I’ll just get back up after a while.”

“Well… I did see you get killed. Now you're standing in front of me, still very much alive.” Crimson said. “Alright well this is a lot for me to believe. Not saying that I don’t. It’s just, you know how crazy this sounds right?”

“Remember, not a word to anypony!” Alex whisper-shouted him.

“Alright, alright, I got it.” Crimson said. “But what about your amnesia? Was that a lie too?” He asked.

Alex looked to the ground, ashamed of himself. “Yes.” He said. “But to be honest, it’s more believable than me telling everybody I’m an immortal. Everypony would just think I’m insane.”

“Yeah I could see that happening.” Crimson responded. “If I didn’t see it with my own eyes, I’d call you insane too.”

Alex let out a sigh of relief. He was afraid that Crimson would call him a nutjob and leave. He was happy to see those fears proved to be for naught.

“So… You still trying to reach the Crystal Kingdom?” Crimson asked.

“Hmm?” Alex looked back up from the ground. “Oh yeah. Although it isn’t quite going how I planned it. I tried everything to get a job here, or join another caravan, but none would take me.”

“Yeah, the ponies of High Rock are pretty unaccommodating towards unicorns and pegasi.” Crimson said while pawing at the ground with his hoof.

Alex realized that Crimson must have had similar problems like him after he arrived in the city. Minus the ‘not being able to starve’ thing.

“So you’ve had some problems too, huh?”

“Yeah.” Crimson said. “You remember how I told you about those rough days I had before Winter Banana gave me a job? I spent those days living in Dusty’s little community here. I just came to visit, and see if I could crash here for a few days.”

An awkward silence fell over the two. Both of them had a wealth of new information to take in. Alex finished eating his pear while he contemplated what to do next.

“Can I ask you something Crimson?”

“Sure.”

“What’s your plan going forward?”

Crimson took a while before he answered.

“I honestly don’t really know.” He sighed. “Word’s spread about how I abandoned the caravan. So now I can’t find work with any of the couriers or trade caravans. Adding to the fact that I’m a Pegasus, finding work now is almost impossible.”

“I don’t really know what I’m supposed to do.” Crimson continued. “All my life I followed someone. I always had someone to follow. And now that I’m alone, I really have no idea what I should do. Without someone that I can depend on, or someone to depend on me I have no purpose.”

Crimson let his head hang to the ground as his ears pressed to his skull. His comfortable life had been pulled out under him for a second time. Alex could relate to how Crimson must be feeling right now, as an idea formed in his mind.

“Say,” He began. “Why don’t you join me on my trip to the Crystal Kingdom. I could use a friend who could look out for me on the way there.”

Crimson looked up in surprise.

“Join you?” Alex nodded. “On your journey?” Alex confirmed again.

Crimson took a few moments to contemplate the offer.

“You know, I can’t promise you anything.” Alex said. “I can’t pay you. But I’m sure that the two of us will manage somehow. You need someone to follow, and I need someone to protect me. So what do you say? Are we a team?”

Crimson looked Alex deep in the eyes, looking for any sign of deception. After a while he started to smile.

“Sure!” He said. “Who better to throw your lot in with, than an immortal god?” Crimson joked as he pulled Alex into a hug.

“How about being loyal to a friend?” Alex asked.

“Hah, that works too.”

A familiar feeling washed over Alex, as he could briefly feel something akin to a rush of energy pulsating throughout his whole body. His eyes flashed a deep red, before returning to their normal silver color.

“Cool, so you guys are going to the Crystal Empire?” A voice asked above them.

Alex and Crimson parted from their hug in shock and looked up. There, poking over the edge of a low roof was Charity Belle’s head.

“Can I come with?” She asked. “I always wanted to go there. Magic must be sooo cool!” She squeed.

The duo looked up to her, a baffled look on their faces. Belle jumped down, landing with a heavy thud in front of them.

“How much did you hear?” Alex asked in a panic.

“Oh not that much.” Alex visibly relaxed upon hearing her say that. “Just that you’re an immortal god that survived being killed, and that you two are going to the Crystal Kingdom.”

Alex’s jaw fell in disbelief. Here he was, telling his biggest secret to a friend, and she just eavesdropped in on them like it was nothing.

“So… Can I come with?” Alex’s eye twitched.

“How dare you just listen in on a private conversation like this!” He shouted.

“Well you guys took so long, so I just thought I’d check in on you two.” Belle said with a smile.

“And you decided to do so by eavesdropping?”

“Ohhh that’s a big word!” Belle said jovially. “What’s it mean?” She asked with a grin on her face.

Alex facehooved, while Crimson just stood next to him dumbfounded.

“Listen. Miss Belle.” Alex started after a few calming breaths. “What was discussed here, is a secret. You cannot tell a single soul about what you heard here. Do you understand?”

“Yup. No problem at all. I’m like, a master at keeping secrets! Here let me exchange one with you. My real name is Morning Sun! But please, just call me Belle.” She exclaimed.

“I’m not sure what I should do with this information.” Alex sighed.

“Keep it a secret. Duh.” Belle responded.

Alex’s hoof met once again with his face. Crimson shook himself out of his trance.

“Your real name’s Morning Sun? Why didn’t you tell me before? Why even keep it a secret?” Crimson asked.

“For, ummm, reasons?” Belle said with a look that just screamed to not press further.

“Alright. Secret. Got it.”

“Listen. Belle.” Alex tried once again. “We will keep your secret safe, if you keep mine. But I literally just met you, and I don’t think I know you good enough to just let you join Crimson and me on our journey.” He said while pointing to Crimson and himself respectively.

Belle’s face fell in disappointment. “Awww. But… Magic!” She said while giving Alex her best puppy dog eyes. He had to shield his eyes from the cute to not die from an overdose.

“Alright!” Alex exclaimed in defeat. “We’re gonna be here for a few days anyway. If you can prove yourself useful, I might consider taking you along.”

Belle’s face lit up in joy as she jumped between them, pulling them into a bear hug.

“You guys are the best.”

“Urrgh!” Both Alex and Crimson said in unison.

“So finally Morning Sun reveals herself.” A pony clad in a black cloak walked away from the alley. “As well as a pony who claims to be immortal. Her highness will want to hear about this.” He said while disappearing into the shadows.

Author's Note

Hey guys! I've just posted some important information about the new release schedule of this story on my blog. If you're interested you can read about it here: Blogpost

Other than that, I hope you like this development! Belle is great fun to write :pinkiehappy:

Hope you had a good read, and feel free to comment!

Once again, thanks to my proofreader/editor Ambros for a job well done!

Todays chapter was brought to you by this song. For what i believe to be obvious reasons.

17. Plans

The trio consisting of Crimson, Charity Belle, and Alex returned to the small, tent filled plaza. Belle was excitedly chattering about how amazing the Crystal Kingdom must be, and asked if Alex really, really couldn’t do any magic. Alex once again told her no, only for her to ask him again a few minutes later.

They returned to Dusty, who was patiently waiting for them. As he noticed Belle’s behaviour towards the two newcomers he had to smile. Due to her jovial nature Belle always made fast friends with everyone, and those two were no exception to the rule it seemed. Back when Crimson first showed up at his camp, he was added to her friend list just as fast.

“You seem happy Belle.” Dusty said as they approached him. “Something good happen?”

Belle flashed a smile in his direction.

“Yep!” She said enthusiastically. “They’ll take me to the Crystal Kingdom, where I’ll get to see magic up close!”

“I didn’t agree to take you yet!” Alex said. “Remember, you gotta prove that you’ll be useful first.” He grumbled.

“Oh don’t worry! I’m the best travel companion there is!” Belle said happily, sure that Alex would take her with him.

Alex just rolled his eyes and sat down. Belle and Crimson joined him, on his left and right respectively. Dusty chuckled at Belle’s antics.

“That’s great. I know you always said you wanted to go there one day.” He said. “But it’ll still be sad to see you go. You’ve been here for so long, you’re like a daughter to me.”

He couldn’t help but dip his head in sorrow. It didn’t last long, before he looked at Alex. A knowing glint in his eyes.

“I think you’ll find Belle here, to be an useful addition to your little group.” He said. “I’m sure her special talent will be useful to you. It was for our little group.”

Alex raised an eyebrow at Dusty’s statement, before he looked towards Belle’s flank. Once again his view of her Cutie Mark was obstructed by layers, upon layers of dirt. A bit of white shined through at a few places, but he couldn’t make anything of it. Belle caught his curious gaze. She swiped at the dirt on her flank, displacing the accumulated dirt, and granting Alex his first look at her Cutie Mark.

It was a red cross superimposed on a white heart. Judging by the looks of it, Alex guessed her talent to be something along the lines of medical practice. Having someone along versed in treating ailments would definitely be an advantage. He didn’t want to jump to conclusions, so he shot a puzzled gaze to Belle.

She caught his inquisitive gaze and smiled. “My special talent is treating the wounds of the injured!” She exclaimed proudly, puffing out her chest in cute little display.

“Physical and mental, I might add.” Dusty said before he gave a curt nod.

“Well that would be pretty useful.” Alex thought out loud. His eyes widened as he looked towards Belle who was smiling broadly at him. “But that still doesn’t mean I’ll take you along!” He said to her.

Belle just continued to smile, sure of herself. Alex rolled his eyes after a while and looked away.

“So what are we going to do about bits?” Crimson asked, who was silent for the whole exchange. “I have a little bit stashed away in a safe place, but that’s nowhere near enough for three of us.”

Alex’s gaze lingered on the ground as he fell deep in thought. He had tried almost everything in the past few days, and Crimson seemed to suffer from the same problems he did. Getting money would prove to be no simple task for them.

“I have some saved up for emergencies!” Belle exclaimed. “It’s not much, but better than nothing. It’s all yours if you take me along.” She wiggled her eyebrows at Alex, which looked away from her sort of annoyed.

Taking Belle with them sounded more enticing with each passing second. Alex seriously considered whether he should actually do it when Dusty spoke up.

“If you’d take her with you, I’m sure we could give some of our group’s savings towards your travel funds.” He said. “We are a small community, but we look out for each other. If it’s for Belle, I’m sure the others won’t mind.” He added with a smile.

Alex was broadsided by his statement. This would probably solve their financial problem, at least temporarily. He looked towards Crimson to get a second opinion. He nodded to Alex, showing his approval.

“Alright!” He said in a semi annoyed tone. “We’ll take you with us.”

He wanted to say more but his vision was quickly blotted out by a dirty pink coat. Alex wobbled a bit before he reunited with his old friend, the ground, as Belle practically tackled him into it with the bear hug of the century.

“Thank you!” She repeated over and over, tears of joy forming in the corners of her eyes.

Dusty and several other ponies looked at the scene with smiles on their faces. Even though they lived pretty well for a group of beggars, they still were at the bottom of the barrel. So when they heard that Charity Belle had a chance at a better life, they couldn’t help but feel happy for her.

A cloaked pony danced along the shadows of the castle. Its movement’s reflected a cold and calculated mind trained in stealth. The fall of its hoofsteps were made almost inaudible by the silencers on its hooves. The pony moved ever deeper into the castle, avoiding guards, and servants alike. Unseen it made it’s way through a hidden passage, that lead into the throne room.

The throne room was as massive as it was lavish. The ceiling stretched almost a hundred feet upwards, supported by massive columns of blackened stone. A red carpet was laid out along the middle, leading from the massive main doors to a magnificent throne.

The wood used to construct it was painted black, blending in nicely with the color scheme seen throughout the castle. The sigil of the royal family was carved into the high back support. A grain of wheat crossed over a sword, encircled with laurels that were open towards the top.

Countless cushions were placed along the walls, and running perpendicular to the center carpet, providing seating for nobles and peasants alike during the day. Even though no one was present at this time of day, the pony continued to move on in silence, until it stood directly in front of the throne.

It looked around one last time, before stomping a pattern with its hoof. After a few moments a secret door opened up behind the throne, and another pony stepped out.

The pony was a mare who wore a regal looking black robe. Her blue fur shimmered in the moonlight, filtering in through the ceilings high windows. It was complimented by her midnight blue mane, which was styled to perfection. She made her way over to the cloaked pony, who removed its hood before it bowed as deeply.

“High Queen Eventide.” A masculine voice said. “This humble servant appears before you to report on a matter of utmost importance.”

“I hope it's important for your sake.” She answered. Her melodious voice carrying throughout the hall. “For disturbing me at this hour will be punished severely when done for naught.”

She let her statement hang in the air for a few moments, ensuring it was understood, before ordering the stallion to raise his head. His dark blue mane swayed as he got up from the floor, revealing his turquoise fur. The look in his eyes remained serious and unwavering, as he gave his report.

“Madam,” He began. “One of our agents has discovered the location of a class one target. The objective of operation Morning Sun has been found. Requesting further instructions on how to proceed, as per your instructions.”

High Queen Eventides eyes widened in surprise. An evil grin appeared on her face, as the long awaited moment had finally arrived.

“Additionally, there seems to be a unicorn close to her, who claims to be an immortal. He can be captured for examination if you so please.” The cloaked pony added.

“What’s the location of the target?” She asked, ignoring the addendum for now.

“She has been spotted residing with one of the smaller beggar communities within the slums, your highness. At east horizon plaza to be exact.”

Queen Eventide started to cackle, breaking the illusion of her calm and collected self she had maintained up until now. Everything fell right into place.

“Perfect!” She said loudly. “Just Perfect!”

The cloaked pony patiently waited for the Queen to calm down.

“Contact agent Dry Desert, his activation callsign is ‘old coot’.” She ordered. “I want her dead as soon as possible. Tell him to bring me her head.”

“Yes, your majesty!” He responded, while once again bowing.

The Queen turned before walking towards the secret door she came from earlier. “You’re dismissed.” She said casually.

“Ma’am, what about the supposedly immortal pony” The pony asked.

“All unicorns are notorious liars!” She spat, looking over her shoulder. “He’s just as full of shit as every one of them. I don’t care what you do with him. Kill him for all I care! At least there’d be one less of those filthy horners!”

Queen Eventide left the throne room with an air of finality, the stallion remained in his bow until he was sure she had departed. He pulled up his hood again before he departed for the shadows. Intent on executing his orders to perfection.

Belle, Crimson, and Alex trotted through the streets of High Rock. They spent the night at the hobo camp, glad to accept their hospitality. Dusty was currently collecting whatever his friends were willing to part with for Alex and his friends adventure.

They were currently approaching the district of town that had the most pegasus activity. Although they were just as hated as the unicorns, they were a bit better off. Mostly because of the couriers branch located in town. Even though pegasi were disliked by the locals, they couldn’t deny the benefit of their services.

Alex got his first good look at the building as they stepped out of an alley. It was a two story building, mostly made of wood. Pegasi could be seen periodically lifting off from the roof, carrying saddlebags or even packages with them. No fancy decorations adorned the outer walls, and if it wasn’t for the couriers logo displayed above the entrance, one could mistake it for just another building. The logo consisted of a single winged envelope superimposed by the letter C.

“This is where we’re going?” Alex asked confused.

“Yup.” Crimson responded.

“But I thought you were kicked out of the couriers?”

“Technically, yes. But I still have some friends here, and even if I didn’t, the storage boxes are open to the public anyways.”

Alex hummed in understanding as the two of them approached the entrance. Alex looked around and furrowed his brows.

“Where’s Belle?” He asked.

“She ran in as soon as we got into view, you didn’t notice?” Crimson said. “She moves pretty fast, I’ll give her that much.”

Alex cursed under his breath. He hadn’t noticed her move away from his side, he must have been to occupied with checking out the building. Knowing her, she’d probably be stirring up trouble inside, so he quickly made his way inside, followed shortly by Crimson.

Sure enough, when they entered a ruckus could be heard to their left. Belle was talking with an olive green pegasus. Or rather she was bombarding the poor mare with tons of questions, at one point even daring to blatantly touch the mare’s wings in wonder. The Pegasus looked obviously uncomfortable, and other patrons started looking towards her with sympathy.

“BELLE!” Alex barked. “Get back here.”

Belle flinched upon hearing Alex’s voice tear through the room. The rest of her body froze, as she turned her head slowly. She flashed him a sheepish smile, but Alex kept a stern look on his face. Her whole body slumped in disappointment, before she slowly made her way towards the duo.

“I’m sorry, if she disturbed you.” He said, looking at the olive pegasus.

“Oh no… It’s, ummm, it’s ok?” She said timidly.

Alex smacked Belle over the head as soon as she got within range and he hissed a silent “Apologize!” towards her.

“I’m sorry.” Belle said, lowering her head while her ears pressed flat to her skull.

The mare simply nodded, overwhelmed by all the attention that was on her. Alex patted Belle on the head a few times, which he found to be infinitely harder to do without hands, careful not to hurt her with his hard hooves.

“Good Girl.”He said to her.

Belle instantly perked back up again at his words. She resumed scrutinizing every inch of the interior she could. Her gaze lingered on the mares wings for an uncomfortable amount of time, but Alex decided to ignore it. Looking never hurt anybody after all.

Alex moved over towards Crimson, followed by Belle. The red pegasus was currently fiddling with a key in front of a small locker. The whole right wall was lined with lockers of various sizes, providing a safe space to store various goods for their owners. He managed to get it open just as they caught up with him.

Inside Alex spotted two small bit bags, most likely holding Crimson’s bits. There was also a canteen for water, and a small first aid kit. He dumped everything into Alex’s saddlebags.

“So how much do you think that is?” Alex asked him.

“Should be around a hundred bits.” He responded. “Give or take.”

They made their way over to the counter, where a sky blue pegasus mare greeted them.

“Hello and welcome to the couriers, how can I help you today.” She said in a pleasant voice.

“I’d like to close my account and turn in my key please.” Crimson told her as he put his key on the counter.

“Very well.” She said with a smile, taking the key and hanging it on a keywall behind her. “Alright let me just get you your twenty bit retainer.” She pulled a small bag out from somewhere under her counter, and pushed it towards Crimson, who placed it inside Alex’s saddlebags.

“Would that be all?” The mare asked.

“Yes.” Crimson responded. “Although, if you should see Cloud Bank, could you tell him that I’m going to the Crystal Kingdom? My name’s Crimson by the way.”

“Will do.” She said while jutting down the info on a scroll, ensuring she wouldn’t forget. “Have a nice day.”

Alex and Crimson responded in kind, before they turned around to leave. Alex had to lightly bump into Belle to cut her out of her daze, but she soon enough followed them outside. They started to make their way back towards the hobo camp while discussing their further plans.

“So Crimson, what’s the best way to get to the Kingdom?” Alex asked.

“Well, the safest and fastest way would be to go there by chariot.” He responded. “There’s several services in town that will take you anywhere if the price is right. But considering the current border situation, it would be best to just go as far as the border, unless we want to leave a hole in our funds. The border isn’t that far away, just two days by chariot, so the price should be manageable.”

Alex hummed in thought.

“Any guesses on how much they're going to charge?”

“Probably too much since we’re not earth ponies, but probably around twenty for you and me, and ten for Belle.”

“I got fifty bits back in my stash.” Belle exclaimed happily. “It’s not much, but I’ve been saving up for a loooong time!”

“Alright, so we’ll take the chariot until we reach the border, and continue on foot from there?” Alex asked.

“Exactly.” Crimson said.

“Okay, that sounds like a plan” Alex said as a foul odor rose into his nose. He had gotten kind of used to it after a while, but now it reminded him of something important.

“Belle.” He said, catching her attention. “You’re gonna have to take a bath before we depart. I’m not spending two days in an enclosed space with you, while you smell like a garbage dump.”

Author's Note

Welcome to the first wednesday chapter! Alex has now been in High Rock for four chapters/ six days which is the longest he's spent in one place(not counting the unconcious time he spent at Vibrants). And they're getting ready to move out again!

Also you get your first look at High Queen Eventide. The current ruler of the Earth Pony tribes. You already know Gold Bar leads the unicorns, while the pegasus leader is an unknown for now. Will you get to see them too at some point? You'll just have to continue reading to find out! :ajsmug:

Hope you had a good read, and feel free to comment!

Once again, thanks to my proofreader/editor Ambros for a job well done!

Todays chapter was brought to you by¨this song. Kinda, sorta fits. I think?

18. Banquet

Alex, Crimson, and Belle entered the little plaza that provided the space for the little hobo camp. They had successfully concluded all their business, including finding a chariot service who’d be willing to take them to the border. As Crimson predicted they were ridiculously overcharged, arriving at a grand total of sixty bits.

The ride would cut into their travel funds, but at least they would save a lot of time. There was also the added benefit of assured security the service included. Alex and Crimson wanted to be doubly sure there wasn’t a repeat of what happened to their caravan.

After they settled things with the Charioteer they made their way back to Dusty. Dusty was currently talking with what looked like a young couple, apparently discussing how much they’d be able to spare for Belle’s journey.

They politely waited some distance away until he finished his business with the couple. He thanked the couple and turned away, and that’s when he spotted them and made his way over.

“I trust everything went according to plan?” He asked once he got close enough.

Alex nodded. “Chariot guys gave us some trouble, but otherwise we’re all set on our side. How’s it looking here?”

“Almost everypony is giving a little something for you guys.” Dusty said. “Once they heard that it’s for Belle, they wanted to help as much as they could.” He chuckled while looking towards Belle. “You’ll be missed by all of us.”

“Awww! You guys!” Belle said. “I’m so happy I could cry!”

“You actually are, Belle.” Alex deadpanned.

“Yeah, I know.” Belle responded while fanning herself with a hoof.

Alex just shook his head at Belle’s antics, while Dusty broke out in a series of loud guffaws.

“You two fit together real nice!” He said in between laughs.

Belle hugged Alex from the side when she heard Dusty’s statement.

“We do!” She said.

“We don’t!” Alex protested. “And get off me, you’re dirty and you smell!”

“Take care of her for us, will ya? That goes for you to Crimson.” Dusty added.

“Will do.” Crimson stated formally, while gawking at the two ponies wrestling on the ground worriedly.
Dusty nodded in approval. “Alright you guys, come with me, there’s much to discuss still.” He said as he started walking towards his own tent.

Alex untangled himself from a still very clingy Charity Belle, his fur was now considerably dirtier, as they started to follow Dusty. Outside of the tent they arranged themselves in a small circle.

“Well, let’s get right to it.” Dusty started off. “As I said before, almost everybody is willing to give something to you guys. Ranging from food to bits, you’ll be supplied quite well I think. I’m talking about roughly a hundred bits, and enough food to last you at least five days comfortably. Longer if you ration it wisely.”

“That’s amazing!” Alex exclaimed. “But are you sure it’s okay to give us this much? It doesn’t look like you guys can spare all that.” Alex said while looking around.

“Don’t you worry about us lad. Nopony is giving so much that we wouldn’t be able to manage. It all just adds up from a lot of ponies.” Dusty assured Alex.

“Well if you put it like this…” Alex caved in, still a bit uncomfortable.

“Oh don’t you worry your silly little head, Alex!” Belle interjected. “The ponies gathered here are all amazing! And nice! And caring! I should know, because I’m friends with all of them!”

“She’s right you know.” Crimson added. “The last time I was here, they looked out for me real well. They are all about sharing what they have, so they can live better as a community.”

“Yeah, all right. I get it.” Alex said. “Can we move on?” He pleaded with Dusty.

“Sure.” Dusty replied. “We’ll be having a little party tonight, in celebration as well as a farewell for Belle. Everybody is going to bring what they’ll donate for you guys. It’s a bit much, so from me you’ll get two saddlebags. Just to make sure you can carry everything.” He said with a smile.

“Oh I‘m gonna miss you so much!” Belle shouted while she locked Dusty into a bearhug.

“Belle…” Dusty coughed. “I can’t breathe!”

Belle immediately let go of him, and flashed an awkward smile. “Oh sorry.”

“It’s all right.” Dusty said. “But I’m gonna miss you too, as will everypony else.” He said as he pulled Belle into a gentle hug.

“But our parting is tomorrow.” He added. “So let’s not be sad today! Tonight is a time for celebration!” He said enthusiastically.

Alex, Crimson, and Belle cheered with him in agreement.

Night had fallen. In the center of the plaza a big fire roared towards the heavens, sending countless sparks flying into the night sky. Everypony was gathered around the fire, eating, drinking and generally enjoying themselves. While the food and drinks weren’t anything too fancy, the mood was genuine.

Belle was the center of attention, as she flitted around the fire, talking to everypony she could. Tales were told, laughs were had, and even some tears were shed as the community shared their last night with Belle.

Alex and Crimson sat together with Dusty, eating some fruits and drinking water. Behind them sat three pairs of saddlebags, filled to the brim with food and bits that were donated to them. They watched as Belle moved around the campfire socializing, while sharing stories about themselves.

“You know,” Dusty said. “Belle is a real hooffull to have around.”

“I can imagine.” Alex responded.

“But she’s also some of the best company you’ll ever have.” Dusty continued. “She’s always cheerful, and when there’s something hurting you, she’ll patch you up right quick.”

“So, is she something like the community medic?” Alex asked.

Dusty hummed in agreement. “You could say that. We can’t really spare a lot of bits for medical supplies, but she always finds a way. Once, she splinted a broken leg with nothing but a stick and some cloth she found.” Dusty chuckled at the memory.

“Makes me almost feel bad about taking her away from you guys.” Alex said.

“It’s what she wants.” Dust replied. “Ever since she was little she talked about visiting the ‘great magic capital’ one day. You’re not taking her away from us. She’s graduating from this place, so she can seek out her true purpose in life. Besides, we’ll manage.”

Alex hummed, lost in thought. For a few moments, silence fell over them, as they watched Belle hugging a little filly. They basked in a soft orange glow from the fire, creating a picturesque scene.

Crimson proposed a toast as he raised his cup towards the other two stallions.

“To good friends, new beginnings and precious memories.” He said calmly.

Alex and Dusty bumped their cups and cheered to the same. They simultaneously downed their drinks, which felt pretty weird for Alex because they did so with water, but it was the thought that counted.

A commotion started on the other side of the fire as Charity Belle apparently broke out into song. It was a slow song, but still filled with emotions. Some of the other ponies even joined in on the chorus towards the end.

This is where the chapter ends,
A new one now begins.
The time has come for letting go.
The hardest part is when you know.
All of these years - When we were here,
are ending, but I'll always remember.

We have had the time of our lives.
Now the page is turned,
the stories we will write.
We have had the time of our lives,
and I will not forget,
the faces left behind.
It's hard to walk away,
from the best of days.
But if it has to end,
I'm glad you have been my friends,
in the time of our lives.

We say goodbye.
We hold on tight.
To these memories,
that never die.

And I will not forget,
the faces left behind.
It's hard to walk away,
from the best of days.
But if it has to end,
I'm glad you have been my friends.

Cheers and applause could be heard around the plaza after Belle’s song ended. She stood there with a few happy tears in her eyes, surrounded by her friends. Ponies came over to her to reassure they’d never forget her, and that she’d always be welcome in her home.

Alex watched intently, as he got his first demonstration of ponies seemingly breaking out into song at random times. He wondered whether or not there really was some magic causing this phenomenon, or if it was just exclusive to Belle.

Alex’s group watched them with a smile as another rather unfitting voice cut through the moment.

“Whoops!... Oh sorry!” It slurred. “Coming.. *Buurp* Coming through. S’cuse me.”

An earth pony with a sky blue coat and a deep blue mane stumbled into their merry circle. He pushed his way past several ponies on unstable legs. Most attendees looked at him in confusion, the newcomer obviously not belonging to them. After he was almost at the fire he face planted and remained motionless where he fell.

“I’m ok!” His right front hoof shot up from his prone position as his body shook from a series of giggles.

Dusty looked at the scene with a frown on his face. Tonight was meant to be a night of celebration, and the newcomer threatened to blemish their memories of the last night they had with Charity.

The mysterious pony got up on wobbly legs and took a look around, until his eyes locked with Dusty’s. A look of recognition sparked on his face.

“Dusty?” He slurred. “Dusty is that you?” He said while squinting in his general direction.

Dusty looked confused for a moment, but decided to humour him. “That would be me.” He said. “Have we met before?”

A full blown smile spread across the blue ponies face. “Dusty!” He shouted “Long time no see!” He started running excitedly towards the older stallion. “What have you been up to ya old coot?”

The stallion was now running full-tilt at Dusty, obviously not able to control himself. Unfortunately for Dusty, he wasn’t able to slow down in time and barreled into the old stallion. They rolled together for a few feet before coming to a stop.

Everypony's attention was now on the two entangled ponies lying on the ground. One of them seemed quite happy, while the other acted mostly annoyed. After Dusty managed to free himself from a hug, he stood back up and addressed the crowd.

“I’ll handle this.” He said, so everyone could hear. “You just continue right on with that party, I’ll be right back.”

At his words, several ponies could be seen shrugging, the festivities resuming almost as if nothing ever happened. Laughter could be heard around the fire, as the face planting stranger became the topic of many conversations.

About fifteen minutes later Dusty returned to Alex’s side, plopping himself down with a sigh. He suddenly looked a lot more tired than before, a frown decorated his face.

“Something happen?” Crimson asked.

“Just some bad news.” Dusty answered him. “Don’t worry about it.” He added in downtrodden tone.

His eyes were locked onto Charity Belle, as she went around the fire hugging everypony. Every sign of joy that was present before, was now absent from Dusty.

Crimson and Alex looked at each other, before silently agreeing to give the wary old stallion some space. They got up and went to join Belle, eager to hear some stories from her friends.

Author's Note

First off, sorry.

I don't really like this chapter, but also don't know how I could have done it differently without it being only about a thousand words long, which is something I didn't want. So I just wrote it like this, even though I'm not 100% satisfied. It gives me the opportunity to move on to better chapters(which are of course allready written, so don't worry). Instead of being stuck on this one with writers block.

I think this is my "worst" chapter to date, but it gets the point across. The important parts are still there, just with a lot of fluff added to it.

Look forward to the next one!

Hope you had a good read, and feel free to comment!

Once again, thanks to my proofreader/editor Ambros for a job well done!

Todays chapter was brought to you by this song. It's time for a feast! YOHOHOHOHO!

19. Dusty

Author's Note

Contrary to the last chapter, I'm quite happy with how this turned out :twilightsmile: Also, the Authors note is at the top because, song, and: Surprise double chapter! Most people would just skip it if it was at the bottom I guess. For the early birds: Expect Chapter two to drop in an hour or so.

Hope you have a good read, and feel free to comment!

Once again, thanks to my proofreader/editor Ambros for a job well done!

Todays chapter was brought to you by this song. Feel free to listen to it while reading the first part of this chapter!

19. Dusty

Alex trotted through a vast field of grass. In every direction the sea spread further than the eye could see, creating a seemingly infinite space. Softly glowing lights rose from the green pastures, making their way to the blue skies above. A warm summer breeze caressed his fur as he made his way towards nowhere particular.

He had been on his little journey for quite a while now, passing the unchanging scenery. Still, he strode forward with purpose, approaching an unseen goal. He trotted for hours, with no one to keep him company but his own shadow.

He was surprised when something disturbed the calmness of his surroundings. A translucent shape stood to the side of his path. He looked at it as he passed, taking in every detail he could. It seemed like a shadow, constantly changing shape and seemingly possessing no real body. Every once in awhile, it appeared almost human. One arm stretched out in the direction of Alex’s journey, as if guiding him along his path.

As he went on, he encountered more of those shadows. The more he saw, it became obvious that they were human in nature. While they looked different from each other, they had one thing in common. They pointed in the same direction.

Sometimes when he passed one of them, a faint whispering could be heard. Although he wasn’t able to ascertain any meaning from the sounds they made. He thought he recognized one or two of the voices, but ignored them all the same.

The shadows were more numerous now, more and more lining Alex’s path. Amongst them were now shadows of differing sizes, some towering above him, others, being just big enough to be seen above the grass. He was so caught up with wondering at all their differences, that he almost didn’t realize he had reached his destination.

A single chair stood before him. There was nothing fancy or special about it. Just an ordinary chair. Alex had never seen this particular chair before, but he knew he was supposed to sit in it. He sat down, now in his human form. He didn’t notice the change, but it was definitely more comfortable to sit like this.

Now that he faced the other direction, he saw for the first time, that all the shadows he had passed on his way here had followed him. A huge crowd was gathered in front of him. Shadows of all forms and sizes stood there silently, watching Alex, as he simply sat there.

He didn’t feel weird being watched by all those beings. In fact, their presence felt almost soothing to him. There was something familiar about all of them, as if he knew them.

The shadows seemed to fluctuate more, eventually starting to sink into the ground. They merged into a singular ginormous shade, stretching for miles. They took on a human form, as the sun was blotted out above him, indicating someone was standing behind Alex. He didn’t need to turn around, instinctively knowing who it was.

For a moment there was complete silence. The wind stopped blowing, and the rustling of the grass came to a halt. Anticipation started to build inside Alex, as every hair on his body stood on end.

Finally, a voice loud and deep enough to shake the very earth broke the silence.

“You need to wake up, Alex.”

Alex’s eyes shot open. Crimson, Belle and himself were sleeping close to each other in front of Belle’s tent. The festivities had lasted long into the night, everypony wanting the moment to last for as long as possible. He took a look around, finding almost everypony else still asleep. After the banquet, most had decided to sleep close to each other, so the center of the plaza was more crowded than usual.

He turned his head, looking into the direction of his friends. They were both sleeping peacefully next to each other, Belle mumbling something in her sleep with a smile on her face.

Alex noticed that Dusty was sitting in front of Belle, seemingly the only other pony awake. He hadn’t noticed that Alex had woken up, and just looked on in silence. His face showed the conflicting emotions on his face, making him seem decades older than when they first met. Alex was just about to ask him what was wrong, when Dusty whispered something.

“I’m sorry.” He said. “I’m so, so sorry.” He repeated calmly, resolve starting to form on his face.

He pulled out a knife from a satchel beside him. He attached the blade via a mechanism to his front right leg, a contraption allowing it to move back into a small hilt, allowing for easier movement.

Alex furrowed his brow, a million thoughts racing through his head. Dusty stood up and took the final step separating himself and Belle. His face was now a mask of ice cold resolve. Alex didn’t know why, but it was obvious that Dusty wanted to kill Belle.

He only had moments to react, now that Dusty started to pull back his front hoof, preparing for a swift strike. Alex scrambled to his hoofs throwing himself over Belle. Several things happened at once.

Belle immediately woke up from having a pony sized object thrown onto her. Dusty’s blade entered Alex between two ribs, causing an explosion of pain. Alex screamed like a banshee upon receiving the wound, waking up everypony else.

Confusion started to make it’s way around the beggars encampment. Most didn’t know what happened, but the ones closest to them, were able to see what caused the disturbance. Dusty’s face reflected his surprise and confusion at what just happened. He pulled out his blade and took a step back, shock replacing the previous emotions.

Alex curled up in pain, while Belle tried to remove the stallion from herself, still trying to find out what was going on. She finally managed to throw him off and look around. Her eyes moved around trying to take everything in. She switched between the bleeding Alex and Dusty, who had a bloody blade attached to his hoof. After a moment realization set in, and she looked towards Dusty with a betrayed look on her face.

Their eyes locked for a moment, both seeing the emotional turmoil that was currently raging within the other. A few seconds later Dusty’s eye’s went cold again, as he again adopted a calculating look. He observed his surroundings, trying to decide on his best options.

A lot of ponies looked at him in shock, and more were closing in by the second. He looked towards Belle a final time, before he decided. He lunged at her, shaking off any doubt about his intentions.

Belle felt a weight slam into her side, making her fall over. She looked over in surprise, seeing two pairs of saddlebags lying next to her.

Dusty’s blade stabbed into empty space, throwing him off balance. He recovered fast, and spun around on his hooves, facing Belle once again.

Crimson swooped in from the side, bucking him with all his might while being mid-air himself, using the momentum of the kick to do a backflip. Dusty was sent flying into Belle’s tent, a groan escaping it shortly thereafter.

Crimson landed on his hooves before Belle, and pulled her onto her hooves. Almost everypony from the plaza had gathered around their position, confusion on their faces.

“Take the bags and run!” Crimson shouted at Belle. “I’ll take Alex!”

Rustling could be heard from the tent beside her. The tent had collapsed over Dusty and he was currently in the process of freeing himself from his makeshift prison. Belle was terribly confused about everything that just happened. Considering just hours ago Dusty was still acting like her trusty friend and father figure.

Right now it was obvious to her that Dusty wanted to end her for some reason. So it was with tears streaming down her cheeks, that she threw both saddlebags over her back, and took off after Crimson. He had grabbed Alex with all four of his hooves, keeping him afloat in a low hover.

They took off, past the confused onlookers and into an alley. Just as they left, a frustrated shout could be heard, and Belle looked back one last time.

“You can’t run forever Morning Sun!” Dusty shouted after her.

Dusty’s head was poking out of the fabric and his eyes were locked onto the fleeing trio. They turned a corner and she lost sight of their camp, as well as Dusty.

She focused her attention back forward, and unto the red pegasus carrying a groaning Alex. Inside her swirled a flurry of emotions, confusion, and the feeling of betrayal amongst them. All of them were momentarily forgotten when she spotted the stab wound on Alex’s side.

“How’s he doing?” She shouted over the wind as they turned another corner.

“He’ll survive.” Crimson called back. “But we’ll need to stop and bandage him, or figure out someway to stop the bleeding.” He said as he led them deeper into the maze that was the slums.

“I have a few things in my bag, but we’ll need to stop soon, or his blood will leave a trail!” Belle said.

Crimson looked back in mid-flight, and saw the splotches of blood Alex left behind and cursed under his breath. He turned back around and looked for a place to hide for a bit. After a while he spotted a little alcove between two buildings. He flew up to it and let Alex down as gently as he could.

“Fix him up, I’ll hang back a bit and be on the lookout.” Crimson said.

Belle was already at Alex’s side, taking a look at the stab wound. Crimson took off after seeing this, backtracking to intercept Dusty if he was pursuing them.

“Alex, can you hear me?” Belle asked while opening her saddlebags.

Alex groaned in response, trying to press his hand to the wound to stop the bleeding. He realized shortly after that, that this was impossible to do with hooves. Settling instead for writhing in pain.

Belle pulled out a length of cloth, clearly a self made bandage, as well as some bent out of shape needles.

“Alex, I’m gonna need you to sit up.” Belle said. “Or I won’t be able to put the bandage on properly.”

Alex only nodded in response, clenching his teeth. Belle helped him into a sitting position, supported by a nearby crate. He hissed in pain as Belle pushed a neatly folded bundle of cloth on his wound, starting to wrap the makeshift bandage around his midsection.

“I hope none of your organs got punctured…” Belle said in a worrying voice.

“Doesn’t matter.” Alex pressed forth between laboured breaths. “They’ll heal.”

“Oh.” Belle said, momentarily stopping her task. “The Immortal thing. Right.”

She started wrapping Alex like a christmas present again, finishing her task soon after. She pinned the bandage into place with the needles, and tested the firmness by lightly tugging on it.

“It’s not a permanent solution, but it will stop the bleeding for now.” Belle told him.

Alex simply nodded in acknowledgement, his eyes closed while he endured the pain. Belle shouted for Crimson to come back, which bolted around the corner as soon as he heard her.

“We need to move.” He said as soon as he was within earshot. “It can’t be long until he tracks us down.”

Crimson moved in to pick Alex back up, while Belle put on her saddlebag again. Alex still felt the pain throughout his body, but he felt a little comfort at knowing he wasn’t going to bleed out. They took off into the alleys again, turning corners in random directions to make it harder for Dusty to track them down.

The Moon was on it’s way towards the horizon. The sky took on a slightly blue hue in the east as the sun started to rise while they ran for their lives.

Dusty ran around a corner at full speed. He had managed to shake off the other ponies from the hobo camp, some now scared of him and others even tried to stop him. Adding the delay they caused to the time it took him to free himself from the tent, his target had now a considerable head start.

Luckily Alex’s blood created a convenient trail for him. He followed it until he reached a little alcove, a slightly bigger splotch of crimson decorating it, along with some ripped cloth. He cursed, realizing Belle must have patched Alex up. He looked around for any other tracks he could follow. After a while he just took off in the direction he thought they most likely took while cursing them to the deepest pits of tartarus.

“I’m gonna kill them.” He said while frantically looking for anything indicating their passing through. “If it’s the last thing I do!”

20. Escape

Belle dashed around the corner of a house, Crimson directly behind her. They’d been on the run for the better part of an hour, weaving their way through the labyrinth of back alleys and side streets of the city. They alternated who lead them at regular intervals, and made sure to choose directions as randomly as they could, all in the hopes of ditching Dusty or any others.

Dashing around a corner they skidded to a halt before a ledge, overlooking the north side of town with the Crystal Snake River in the background. Belle dodged behind the corner of a house and collapsed, as short ragged breaths escaped her. Crimson followed shortly after, taking care to set Alex down as gently as he could.

Alex had passed out somewhere along the way. Even though they weren’t awake for that long, the pain and exhaustion he felt took a toll on him until he just gave up. Belle once again checked his vitals, relieved to find he was still breathing.

She slumped against the wall of the building, right next to Crimson.

“You think we lost him?” She asked.

“I sure hope so.” Crimson responded. “If he’s still onto us after everything we did, I don’t think we’ll ever escape.”

They both took a moment to catch their breath. After running for so long they were both exhausted, especially Crimson who had to carry Alex on their run.

“I just don’t know why he’d do something like this.” Belle said. “We’ve known each other for so long. Dusty was like a father to me!”

Now that she finally had a moment to rest, what happened finally started to sink in. She racked her brain for anything that might have indicated why Dusty would suddenly try to kill her.

“Morning Sun.” She said slowly, her eyes widening in realization. “He called me Morning Sun when we escaped!” Her voice took on a sliver of panic when she looked between Alex and Crimson. “You didn’t tell anypony, did you?”

“What?” Crimson said. “No! Why would we? Is your real name that important?”

Belle looked away from him. “I… I’d rather tell you when Alex is awake too.”

“So it is important, huh?” Crimson responded. “Alright I’ll let it slide for now, but once we get out of this city I want the full story.”

They fell into silence again. Belle thought about the implications of their situation. Somebody must have told Dusty about her real identity, and the only one interested in killing her would be…

“Mother.” Belle quietly said.

“What was that?” Crimson asked.

Belle flinched and looked at Crimson again. “Nothing!” She said. “Anyway. What are we gonna do now?”

Crimson took some time to think it over and sighed. “Well we can’t take the chariot, like we planned to.” He said. “Dusty knows about our plans. If we really lost him, that’s gonna be the first place he’s going to be looking for us.”

“So are we just gonna lay low for now?” Belle asked.

“No. I’d assume Dusty has a lot of connections in High Rock, and it would only be a matter of time before he finds us. We need to move.”

“But where should we go? To the Crystal Kingdom? Dusty knows that’s where we wanted to go.” Belle said exasperated.

“Hmmm…” Crimson looked at the sleeping form of Alex. “We’re still going to the kingdom. We just have to avoid the main roads. I don’t know if Dusty’s willing to pursue us that far, but once we get over the border we should be relatively safe.”

“But Alex is in no condition to make a trip like this!” Belle said while casting a worried look towards Alex.

“I’ll just have to carry him for now.” Crimson said. “You’ll have to make sure he doesn’t die on us, ok?”

Belle looked at Crimson for a moment. Under normal circumstances she’d recommend heavy bedrest after receiving a wound like this. Alas, the situation was anything but normal. They needed to disappear, and they needed to do it fast. Even though it hurt her having to leave her friends behind like this, she nodded towards Crimson in agreement.

“Good. I have a small first aid kit in my bags, so once we’re a safe distance away, make sure that wound is properly cared for.” Crimson said.

“Alright.” Belle responded. “Let’s go.”

They surreptitiously took a look around, scanning the city below for anything suspicious, as well as the alley behind them.

“Do you know a fast way out?” Crimson asked.

“Yeah, I’ll have to swim for a bit though.” She answered. “Just don’t drop Alex in the water when you fly over.”

Crimson chuckled a bit and went to pick up Alex. Hovering at low altitude again, he motioned for Belle to lead the way.

Belle nodded and started to trot down the side of the ledge at a brisk pace, where a staircase was neatly tucked away. Once again they made their way through the maze that was High Rock. While not running at full tilt anymore, they both still moved with a purpose.

Every pony they met in the backstreets was a possible informant to Dusty, so they tried to avoid contact as much as they could. After all a pegasus carrying an unconscious unicorn would attract unwanted attention, and was bound to spread by word of mouth.

So it was after about half an hour that they reached the river. The current wasn’t strong at the point Belle chose, in fact it was an ideal spot for bathing. A few families could be seen playing in the cool water. Belle wouldn’t really stand out amongst them, but Crimson would draw the eyes of everypony, should he cross here.

So with a nod to each other they split up. Belle gave Crimson both of her saddlebags. Although Crimson was now weighed down considerably, he assured her that he would manage. They couldn’t risk getting their provisions wet, so that was the only option they had. Crimson flew downstream for a bit, until he reached a spot where he could cross over relatively unseen while also carrying Alex. Belle trotted out of the alley she was in and nonchalantly made her way to the river. A few foals ran past her playing a game of tag. She entered the water and started to paddle her way across.

Ponies crossing the river by swimming to the other side were not an unusual sight at all, since bridges connecting both sides were few and far between. Swimming across could potentially save quite a bit of time.

After she swam about halfway across, she remembered something Alex said to her yesterday. She had to agree that some cleaning would do her some good, so when she reached the other shore. In the shallow water she cleaned off the dirt that had accumulated over the last few months, revealing her pink coat. She dunked her head into the water and tried to wash the dirt out of her mane.

When Crimson called out to her she still had a few patches of dirt in her mane and tail, but now she actually looked presentable. When she approached Crimson, he took a good look at her. Her mane was a dark shade of pink, complimented by some yellow highlights. Her coat was pink as well, albeit brighter.

“You clean up nicely.” Crimson said when she got close to him.

“Thanks!” She replied happily. “You cross without trouble?”

“Yeah, I think a few ponies saw me and Alex, but they seemed rather uninterested.”

Crimson let down Alex, and threw off the saddlebags he got from Belle. He stretched and arched his back, the weight had taken it’s toll.

“You ok?” Belle asked him. “I can’t imagine carrying that much being good for your back.”

“Yeah, don’t worry.” Crimson answered. “I have carried heavier things over longer distances back in my days as a courier. I’m just a bit out of practice.”

Belle strapped on Alex’s and her saddlebag, fastening the belts with her mouth.

“So what now?” She asked. “Do we just start walking towards the border?”

“Yeah. I’d like to get some distance between us and the city, maybe find a place to hide out for a bit and check our inventory.”

“Alright. You ready?”

Crimson sighed and stretched his back once again. He looked to the other side of the river, checking if someone was paying attention to them. The ponies seemed more interested in their own activities though, so he turned to pick up Alex again.

“Alex is so gonna owe me for this.” He muttered just loud enough for Belle to hear.

She snickered and started trotting towards the mountains in the distance, away from High Rock.

Away from her home.

Dusty sat on the roof overlooking a little plaza. Various chariots occupied the space, passengers boarding and disembarking from them.

After he had lost track of Morning Sun and her two friends, he ran around town for a while, checking a few places “Belle” would most likely choose as a hiding spot. It hurt his old heart deep inside, having received the order to kill her.

Even though he was just an undercover agent of the Queen, placed in the slums to gather information, the bonds he formed there were real. Especially the one with Belle, she was like a daughter to him.

He found her in the streets at the gentle age of six. Hungry, weak and without parents. He brought her back to the little community he built for himself to make his life as a hobo more bearable. They cared for the little filly, raising her as good as they could.

He was so proud of her when she discovered her talent and got her Cutie Mark. It was also the day he felt like a father for the first time. For years he watched her grow up to be a respectable member of their group.

He always protected her as good as he could be expected to, even going so far as to make a few ponies disappear here and there. He was glad that his skills could help her, but he still wanted to give her a better life. She deserved more, but he couldn’t give it to her without blowing his cover.

When Alex and Crimson agreed to take her along on their journey, he felt happy. She was always interested in the other races, especially unicorns. The concept of magic was so foreign and fascinating to her, meeting a unicorn who was willing to show, or even teach her about it was her biggest dream.

It crushed him when he was reactivated yesterday, and the target of his mission was revealed to be Charity Belle. Or Morning Sun, as he had learned. He had considered just letting her go, but his loyalty to his queen was beyond question.

It took him a long time to finally go through with it however. And when he finally did, Alex ruined everything.

According to the information he received, Alex claimed to be immortal. Dusty chuckled at the thought. When he was younger he had the pleasure to kill quite a few of the nutjob unicorns who claimed to have found a spell to make them immortal.

Still, those usually acted high and mighty, trying to stir up trouble in the city, or even the palace. Alex didn’t strike him as arrogant at all. The stabwound he received was most likely not fatal, but there was still a chance he would succumb to it. Although with Belle at his side, that was unlikely to happen.

He had been sitting on the roof for the better part of an hour. They told him that this was the place where they would take a chariot to the border. He assumed they weren’t stupid enough to actually come here, but for now it was the best lead he had.

He used his connections, so when they were spotted within the city he would get word as soon as possible. So he opted to stake out the place they would most likely appear in.

Hoofsteps could be heard behind him. They approached until they were a few steps behind him.

“Report.” Dusty said without turning around.

“They’ve been spotted crossing the Crystal Snake River, they were heading North, a member of the thieves guild said this was around ten minutes ago. Wanted a good amount for the information too.”

“Thanks, you’re dismissed.”

“Sir. Will you be needing backup?” The voice asked.

“No.” Dusty replied. “This is something I have to do myself.”

“Yes, Sir!”

The hoofsteps distanced themselves from him, until he couldn’t hear them anymore. He sat there for a few minutes longer, considering his options.

Twenty years ago, Dusty had messed up a big operation, which resulted in his demotion. He was placed in the slums to gather ‘information’ and keep tabs on possible revolts. The Queen's orders were absolute, so he accepted his fate without a single complaint. Now, there was a chance offered to him to finally redeem himself. Even though he loved Belle and all the others he met over the years. His loyalty to Queen Eventide was still strong, but in his mind it was as much about redemption as loyalty.

After a while he decided. He would give them exactly one day of a head start. It would be the last thing he would do as Charity Belle’s father, Dusty.

Then he would hunt down Morning Sun and her friends without mercy, as the agent Dry Desert.

Crimson and Belle sat between two Cherry trees. Alex was lying next to them, his head resting upon a blanket they’d received from their friends. Various things were strewn out in front of them, ranging from blankets to small cooking knives.

They had entered the Cherry Orchard around noon, looking for a place to take a break where they wouldn’t be spotted so easily. After setting down the still fast asleep Alex, they made to check out their new traveling gear. They emptied their saddlebags of everything that wasn’t food or bits, and laid it out to take a good look at it.

Crimson was in the middle of distributing the various things to different saddlebags, when a groan escaped from Alex. Both looked over to see him stirring, they watched until he eventually opened his eyes. He looked around groggily, taking in his surroundings. After a few moments he made to sit up, but was reminded of his wound by a sharp pain before he settled back down.

“Good morning, Sleepyhead.” Crimson chuckled.

“‘Morning.” Alex grumbled. “So I take it you managed to shake him off?” He let his gaze wander over the cherry trees surrounding them. Relishing in the fact that they weren’t on the run anymore.

“Yeah. We’re actually a few hours away from the city.” Crimson responded while putting a worn out compass next to his bag.

“How are you feeling?” Belle asked as she approached Alex.

“Like shit.”

“So normal then?” Crimson quipped from the side, which got him a playful smack up the head by Belle.

“Come on Alex, I need to take a look at your wound, and change the bandages.” Belle said softly. “Can you sit up for me?”

Alex gritted his teeth and got into an upright position, allowing Belle better access. Belle carefully took off the makeshift bandages which were soaked in blood, revealing the hole made by Dusty’s blade.

“How’s it look, Doc?” Alex asked her.

“Could be worse.” Belle answered, while using the unsoaked part of the bandage to clean up the area around the wound. “I don’t think Dusty hit any vital organs, so you should make a full recovery. You got lucky.”

For a while Belle worked silently, making sure to not cause Alex any unneeded pain.

“Thanks.” She said quietly, stopping her motions for a second. “For saving me, you know?”

Alex turned his head to look at her, noticing for the first time that she wasn’t covered in dirt anymore.

“Don’t mention it.” He said with a smile on his face. “It’s what friends do.”

Belle looked up from Alex’s side and into his eyes. Her eyes started to water a bit, and she smiled back at him.

“You look pretty nice without all that dirt by the way.” Alex said.

Belle blushed and avoided his eyes, accidently putting pressure on his wound, which elicited a pained hiss from Alex.

“Sorry.” She smiled sheepishly at him before turning towards Crimson. “Hey Crimson. Can you throw me the first-aid kit?”

The box in question came flying in their direction almost immediately, accompanied by a “Sure thing!” from Crimson. She opened it up to reveal the contents, which consisted of mostly clean bandages, a small knife and some salves. She pulled out one of the rolled up bandages and went to work.

“I was actually kind of hoping this would have already healed by the time I woke up.” Alex said casually.

“What do you mean?” Belle asked him confused.

“Well the last time I got seriously hurt, everything was already healed up by the time I woke up the next time.” Alex explained. “I hoped it would be the same with this.”

“Oh, you mean because of the whole immortal business?” Alex nodded. “Well I don’t know how any of that would work. But right now you’re looking at a recovery time of about two weeks.” Belle said with the finality of a caretaker.

“What?” Alex exclaimed. “But how am I supposed to travel with you guys?” He asked desperately.

“I’ll just have to carry you all the way.” Crimson said, still organizing their equipment. “Won’t be easy, but I’ll manage.”

“Come on Crimson. I know you’ll actually do this. But there has to be a better way!” Alex responded.

“Well unless your magic healing powers kick in, there isn’t.” Belle said while wrapping the bandage around Alex.

Alex tried to think of something, anything that would make this easier for all of them. He had several ideas from constructing a little wagon to just hiding out until he recovered completely. After dismissing several ideas, he finally struck gold. He didn’t like the idea, and his friends certainly wouldn’t like it either, but it was the best option they had right now.

“I think I know how to solve this.” Alex said, a mad grin adorning his face.

Belle and Crimson perked up at Alex’s announcement, both looking at him expectantly.

“Kill me.”

Silence reigned for a few seconds, while Belle and Crimson processed the words just spoken.

“WHAT?!”

Author's Note

Yay, finally out of High Rock, also: origin storytime!

Hope you had a good read, and feel free to comment!

Once again, thanks to my proofreader/editor Ambros for a job well done!

Todays chapter was brought to you by this song. Because the HD remaster came out :D

23. Travels

“Ok, sure.” Crimson said. “But why?”

Belle nodded along to Crimson’s statement.

“I have no problem with calling you Atlas, but why the sudden change?” She asked.

“You don’t know yet Belle, but Atlas is my middle name.” Alex begun to explain. “My full name is Alexander Atlas Riptis.”

“That still doesn’t explain why you changed your mind.” Crimson said.

“Right.” Alex replied. “It’s just that, recently my life has been a series of giant life changing events. At first I didn’t want to accept them, couldn’t believe what was happening. But now, I know that I have to adapt to this new life I’m leading. And my old name was the last piece holding me in the past, so I decided to change.”

When he looked into Crimson and Belle’s eyes respectively, he could see that they understood his reasons, and felt joy to be accepted by them.

“Isn’t much of a change if you had the name before though.” Belle quipped, a smile on her face.

“It was never really mine before, but after all that happened I feel like it belongs to me now.” Atlas said.

Atlas looked to the ground, thinking about everything that happened in the past few months. His life had made a complete one-eighty, and even though he fought against it at first, he was now ready to make the most out of it.

He looked back up towards his friends.

“So what do you say?” He asked. “How about we go to sleep, so we’re ready to face tomorrow?”

Belle and Crimson agreed wholeheartedly before they headed out of the cave. According to Crimson it wouldn’t rain during the night, so they decided to sleep on the comfortable ground outside.

Even though Atlas woke up just a short while ago, he still felt sleepy. Apparently his respawn had taken quite a toll on his stamina.

While looking at the stars high above, he fell asleep beneath a blanket of constellations native to this strange world.

It was nighttime on Olympus. Most of the present gods were fast asleep, although some of them were still up and about, partying the night away.

The giant hall was steeped in darkness, the only source of light being an orb sitting on the head of a large table. It showed several equines sleeping peacefully, the soft glow illuminated two figures sitting on chairs next to it.

“He wants to be called Atlas…” Zeus spoke. “What do you make of this Hermes?”

Hermes shifted his weight on the chair. “There could be several reasons.” He started, trying to find a logical explanation. “For one, it technically is his name, so maybe he just wants to signify his change by using his second name.”

“Possible.” Zeus said. “What else?”

“The second, and more likely one, would be that Atlas’s soul is starting to awaken within him.” Hermes continued. “Atlas was very proficient in the art of the soul, so he probably contacted young Alex somehow, or maybe he just feels it instinctively.”

Zeus hummed, lost in thought. “If this is truly what is happening, we might have a problem.”

“What do you mean, Father?”

“As you know we are still researching how to properly handle souls. The fact that all of Atlas’s friends denied us their help makes progress slow. The cage isn’t complete yet, and if he awakens fully before we finish, he might escape.” Zeus pondered.

“I think we still have a lot of time.” Hermes said. “It looks like he’s just starting to adapt, and even if he fully awakens, he still thinks he is in a different dimension, instead of a cage.”

“Let’s hope it’s enough.” Zeus said, while looking at the sleeping Atlas on screen.

“Come on guys! You’re so slow!” Belle called out.

“Was she like this yesterday too?” Atlas asked Crimson.

“Not all the time.” Crimson responded. “She was kinda worried about you, so she stayed close and was less hyper than her usual self.”

Belle was running ahead of them, flitting from one side of their path to the other.

Ever since they started their journey this morning, she was running around like a young dog on speed. She seemed to be interested in almost everything growing and living in their path, just as if this was her first time out of High Rock. Considering her past, it probably was.

“Well as long as she doesn’t get us in trouble.” Alex said bemused.

“At least it won’t get boring with her around.” Crimson agreed.

“Come on guys!” Belle called them from afar.

Crimson let out a short laugh.

“You know I was supposed to lead the way right?” Crimson called out to her.

“If you want to lead you need to go faster!” Belle shouted back while darting after a squirrel.

Atlas and Crimson shared a laugh, but sped up a bit nonetheless.

“This actually tastes pretty good.” Atlas said between two bites of vegetable stew.

“Agreed.” Crimson added.

After they decided to take a break in the afternoon, Belle offered to cook something for them, instead of eating their food raw.

Atlas always liked it when he wasn’t the one cooking. Not having to do it himself let him enjoy the food even more, so he gladly accepted her offer.

After they got a small fire going, Belle started on her task immediately. They only had one pot, which had a hole in it so they couldn’t even fill it completely. Still, Belle managed to make something that tasted pretty good, even without seasoning.

“Thanks guys!” Belle said happily. “I got a lot of practice back home. Give me the barest of ingredients, and I can make something!” She added proudly.

Atlas felt a twange of jealousy after hearing that. Making good food from scarce ingredients was a skill he lacked. Adding to that, he had close to no experience with cooking over an open fire, so maybe he could learn something from her.

“...and then I said ‘Oatmeal? Are you crazy?”

Belle had been talking Atlas’s ear off for the past five minutes. Even though it was kind of hard to understand all of it because she was talking so fast, it was still enjoyable.

They were trekking through a forest following the beaten path. The sun was about to go down, and they still hadn’t found a suitable camping spot for the night. Crimson was currently flying above them, looking for a clearing or something else suitable for sleeping.

Belle was about to launch into another one of her stories, when their red companion descended through the canopy. He softly landed next to Atlas, adjusting to their walking speed.

“There’s a small creek up ahead.” Crimson told them. “Looks like there are quite a few spots we could settle down in.”

“Good, I’m getting hungry.” Atlas responded.

“Race you there!” Belle shouted before darting off.

Crimson and Atlas stopped for a moment and looked after her in confusion.

“Where she gets all that energy from will always be a mystery to me.” Atlas said.

“Eeyup.”

They went after her at a leisurely pace, she’d probably have found a spot when they caught up with her, so there was no rush.

The sun was shining down on Atlas and his friends, unobstructed as they rested next to a creek. They were still within the forest and had been following it all day, since it coincidentally came from the same way they were going.

Crimson and Belle were laying down on the grass, swapping stories about their lives. Atlas sat alone a small distance away, a few rocks placed in front of himself.

Ever since he was changed into a unicorn, he tried to access his magic on a daily basis. Try as he might though, nothing ever happened. By now he pretty much tried anything he could think of, including meditation and visualization.

He tried to remember all he could from any magic story he had ever read, and the theories they had to learn. Scouring his memories of the actual show for any clues pointing him in the right way.

If he had to describe it, it felt like growing a new intricate limb and not get any instructions to go along with it. The gods were gracious enough to load some of the most basic motor functions into him, but of course they would leave out the most important thing.

His best lead for now was the one time he actually used his magic, back when he saved Crimson. Thinking back on it, the memories he had were lacking to say the least.

Everything happened so fast, and his body was flushed with adrenaline, so remembering any details or feelings was almost impossible.

At least Atlas knew his magic was green.

Today he was trying to levitate a rock. Levitating something seemed to be the simplest spell in the show, which almost every unicorn was able to do. So it was only logical to try this one first.

Atlas closed his eyes and listened to the sounds around him. He tried to block them out and turn his focus inwards, trying to get a feel for his magic. As he remained in this position, searching for anything, a spot on his back seemed to be getting warmer.

Atlas got excited and opened his eyes. He could still feel the warmth and tried to levitate the rock again, by now he would be happy with any result though.

Disappointment spread across his face as nothing happened like all the times before, and he turned his head to look at the warm spot.

A pink hoof rested on his back, it was connected to a smiling Belle sitting behind him.

Suddenly Atlas felt stupid and let out a sigh. “What is it Belle?” He asked her.

“You looked like you were concentrating really hard, so I didn’t want to disturb you by talking.” She said. “We’re about to head out, you coming?”

“Sure.” Atlas said.

He stood up and went to retrieve his saddlebags, Crimson already waiting for them.

“Someday…” Atlas muttered sadly.

Atlas, Crimson and Belle walked alongside each other. For almost two days they traveled within the same forest. Atlas never visited a forest this big, so it felt kind of weird for him to see nothing but trees for such a long time.

According to Crimson they should finally be free of it soon. True to his word, the trees were starting to lighten up, until they finally breached the treeline.

The mountains that seemed so far away before they entered the forest, were now really close, looming above them like giants. Instantly Atlas felt at home. Hailing from Switzerland, the proximity of mountains made him feel at ease, providing a familiar environment for him.

He looked left and right, seeing that the chain spanned as far as he could see in both directions.

“So what now Crimson?” Atlas asked.

“We turn left, and follow the mountains until we get to one of the passes.” Crimson replied. “Should be about half a day from here on out.”

“Alright, sounds good to me, what about you Belle?” Atlas asked. When there was no response from the pink pony he turned around to look for her.

Belle was a few feet back at the treeline, inspecting a patch of red flowers, apparently fascinated by them. Atlas and Crimson approached until they stood right next to her.

“What’cha doing Belle?” Atlas asked.

“Collecting.” Belle replied shortly.

“Collecting what?” Crimson watched as she plucked out the rather large petals the flowers sported, before she put them into her saddlebag.

“A few years ago, one of the ponies brought back a book about flowers he’d found.” Belle explained. “Colorful Flowers Guide to Colorful Flowers, if I remember correctly.”

Atlas winced at the title, but didn’t say anything about it.

“It was mostly filled with pictures and important sounding words, but some of the flowers were described to have some healing properties when properly used.” Belle elaborated. “This is one of them. If you put their leaves under a bandage they act as disinfectant and speed up recovery.” She plucked another leaf and put it in her bag. “They should come in quite useful.”

“Need some help?” Atlas asked while watching her work.

“Thanks, but no.” Belle shot him down. “They lose their properties after a few days of being separated from the stem, so taking along too many wouldn’t make sense.”

Atlas and Crimson patiently waited for her to finish. Atlas was once again reminded how lucky they were to have her along. Considering he was against taking her along in the beginning, he was glad to have changed his mind.

After Belle was done, they headed off towards the west, following the setting sun.

The trio headed towards the guard checkpoint in front of them.

Just a few hours after starting the new day, they could already see the post from afar. They’d decided to let Crimson do the talking, as he had the most experience with crossing borders.

The checkpoint consisted of a single small house, located to the right of a trail leading up the mountain behind it. They didn’t pass any other easily accessible paths on their way here, so Atlas assumed it was a natural chokepoint which the unicorns exploited.

Two fully armored unicorn guards were already waiting for them, most likely having seen them approach from afar.

They wore purple plate armor lined with golden decorations, which covered most of their bodies. Both of them had a blue coat and mane, making Atlas think their armors might be enchanted.

Crimson approached the pair with Atlas and Belle on his heels.

“Good morning, guards.” Crimson said to them.

“Good morning to you too, Pegasus.” The left guard responded. “Do you wish to use the pass?”

“Yes actually. Me and my friends are travelling to the Crystal Kingdom.” Crimson replied while pointing to Atlas and Belle respectively.

The guard eyed their little group, looking for anything suspicious.

“The unicorn may pass for free.” The guard stated. “You and the earth pony will have to pay five bits each, as per order from King Gold Bar. We’ll also have to search your bags for illegal substances and possible trading goods.” He looked expectantly at Crimson, who was already fishing in his saddlebag.

Atlas looked at Belle with a raised eyebrow, and they both took off their saddlebags. Crimson hoofed over the required ten bits and slid their saddlebags over to them, so they could take a look.

They scanned the contents of the bags briefly before giving them back.

“Looks like regular travelling gear, you are free to pass.” The right guard said. “Take care and keep your eyes open. Monsters have been spotted roaming around the area.”

“Thanks for the tip.” Crimson said while putting on his saddlebags.

As they started ascending the mountain pass, Atlas looked back to see the two guards enter the building. Once they disappeared inside he turned towards Crimson.

“What did he mean by ‘monsters have been spotted in the area?” Atlas asked with worry present in his voice.

“The mountain ranges around the Crystal Kingdom are riddled with various types of monsters.” Crimson explained. “Usually the passes are safe because they have patrols guarding them, but when they know there are monsters around, they recommend to be vigilant in your travels.”

“That doesn’t really make me feel safe” Alex muttered.

“Well, we should be fine. If we hurry a bit we should cross the range by evening.”

“I hope so.” Atlas said while looking towards the blue sky.

Author's Note

So yeah, they're going places. Nothing of interest happens on this leg of the journey, so I tried to use this chapter to define their roles within the group, as well as showcase some of their skills.

Hope you had a good read, and feel free to comment!

Once again, thanks to my proofreader/editor Ambros for a job well done!

Todays chapter was brought to you by this song/clip. Finally a "fitting song again :D

24. Encounters

“So what’s this thing called?” Belle asked.

“It’s called a snake.” Atlas explained to her.

A light brown snake with dark spots was currently curled around Atlas’s neck, enjoying a free ride. He had spotted it a few minutes ago sunbathing on a rock, and almost immediately went to play with it. Apparently he had a knack for handling snakes, as it latched onto him almost immediately.

“I’ve never actually seen one before.” Belle said amazed. “Can I touch it?”

“Probably.” Atlas responded, quite sure the snake was harmless.

Belle lifted a hoof towards the snake, which turned it’s head to look at her. After it stuck out it’s tongue, accompanied by a little hiss Belle retreated her hoof a bit. She steeled her resolve and petted Atlas’s brown companion on the head.

The snake seemed unperturbed by her action before it turned to face ahead.

“It feels so squishy, but hard at the same time!” Belle looked at Atlas like Christmas came early.

Atlas laughed at how easily Belle could be impressed.

“Must be because of the scales.” He told her.

Atlas explained to Belle how a snake's body worked and what different types there were, the latter soaking in every piece of information.

They walked along the mountain pass, as noon fast approached. To their right, the mountain stretched to the skies. To their left, a steep chasm awaited any uncareful ponies.

Crimson was currently scouting the nearby area for any signs of monsters. The fact that he could fly made it quite easy for him to check a wide area around them in a short time.

Atlas was just telling Belle how to differentiate venomous and non-venomous snakes, when Crimson landed next to him.

“Got a new friend?” Crimson asked almost immediately, eying the snake around Atlas’s neck.

“Yeah, he’s my new best friend.” Atlas replied, patting the snake's head. “Sorry Crimson.”

“You wound me, Atlas.” Crimson deadpanned. “Anyway, the coast is clear. Looks like we’ll pass through unnoticed.”

“Now that is some good news!” Atlas said jovially. “Right Belle?”

“Sure is!” She replied. Her statement was accompanied by a loud grumble from her stomach.

She flashed them a sheepish smile before they all agreed on an early lunch.

On their way through the forest they had stocked up on various fruits and other edible plants, so they could afford to splurge. As such, they indulged themselves on some juicy apples and the last of the stale bread from the High Rock.

“Does your little friend want something too?” Belle asked Atlas while looking at the snake perched on his head.

Atlas looked upwards, barely seeing the head of it poking over his mane. “Nah, snakes don’t really eat fruits, they eat smaller animals.” He explained to her. “I’m sure he can hunt his own food, besides, snakes eat maybe once every week or so.”

Crimson passed each of them an apple and some bread, which they gladly accepted.

“Fascinating.” Belle said with wide eyes.

“So how much longer do you reckon we will be on this pass?” Atlas asked between two bites of his apple.

“We should have crossed it by the time the sun starts to go down.” Crimson replied. “It’s a rather small range we’re on right now.”

“Uhhh!” Belle looked at him giddily. “Will we finally see the Crystal Kingdom once we’re on the other side?”

Crimson let out a small laugh. “Yes Belle, we should be able to see it briefly while descending. But It’s going to be really far away, so you won’t see a lot.”

“Still counts!” Belle said. She tossed the core of her apple in the air and caught it with her mouth on it’s descent. “I’m ready to go!”

Atlas and Crimson could see how excited she was, so they finished their meals quickly and got up. They all put their saddlebags back on, getting ready to continue their journey.

Right as Atlas made the first step towards their goal, the earth started to shake, throwing him off balance. Crimson reacted quickly and moved to his side, keeping him from falling over.

“WhaAat’s gOoing OoOn?” Belle asked, her voice comically wavering as the tremors got worse.

“Probably a rock slide!” Crimson shouted, hovering a few inches above ground. “Keep your eyes trained upwards, don’t get hit by any falling rocks!”

All of them looked up, training their eyes on the slanted side of the mountain. Even though they had an almost uninterrupted view to the top, no rocks could be seen falling towards them.

“It’s not a rockslide?” Crimson asked confused. “Then…” He let his eyes wander to the ground. “From below?”

The shaking arrived at it’s climax as the ground right in front of them burst open, pelting them with little stones.

“YeeeeHaaaaaw!” A voice could be heard through the noise.

The body of a huge snake-like being shot through the newly created hole in the ground. It’s head was pink, and the scales on its main body a matte purple. They watched for a full five seconds as the body shot out of the hole at a high speed, until the tail passed them plunging down the cliff besides them.

“What the fuck was that?” Atlas asked in the following silence.

“I think that was a tatzlwurm.” Crimson stated dumbfounded.

“More importantly,” Belle said, drawing the other two’s attention. “Was somepony riding that thing?”

Atlas and Crimson shot a worried look towards each other before approaching the cliffside, peering over it. About three hundred feet down, the Tatzlwurm could be seen thrashing about but there was no sign of any pony riding it.

“Quartz!” A voice called out next to the group, startling them. “Stop playing with that thing and finish it off!”

Standing at the rim of the hole was a gray unicorn mare. Her mane and tail were a deep blue and her cutie mark depicted a bow and arrow.

“But this is so much fun!” A voice could be heard from below them.

Atlas furrowed his brow an alternated between looking down and towards the new arrival.

“Uhh... Hi?” He grabbed the mare’s attention by calling out to her.

After she turned her head to look towards him, her eyes widened in surprise. She immediately looked back down again.

“Quartz! There are civilians up here! Finish it already!” She shouted angrily.

“Bummer!” The voice below called out after a few moments of silence.

The Tatzlwurm continued to thrash about, seemingly attacking things at random. Suddenly the rocks below it started to glow a soft purple, much to Atlas’s confusion. Seconds later a huge purple sword appeared out of nowhere, decapacitating the huge snake.

Atlas, Belle and Crimson could only stare in disbelief as the Tatzlwurm below them slowly stopped moving before it collapsed twitching. A soft thump next to them drew their attention, as a dark brown unicorn stallion landed next to them.

“Those guys are so much fun to ride on.” He said, tossing back his light brown mane.

The mare smacked him on the head in frustration.

“You need to take this more seriously! Because you were showing off like this, you put ponies in danger! These guys could have gotten hurt because of you!” She pointed at Atlas’s group.

“Heh. Sorry.” The stallion said, indicating a little bow with his head.

“It’s… It’s ok.” Atlas said after a brief silence. “Who are you guys?” He added.

“Oh sorry” The mare said. “My name is Silver Wood, and this idiot here,” she shot the stallion a glare. “Is Smoky Quartz. We’re from the Kingdom's military, Teras division.”

“Teras Division…” Crimson mumbled.

“You heard of em?” Atlas asked, turning to look at him.

“A part of the Kingdom's military force is tasked with getting rid of the monsters infesting the surrounding mountains.” Crimson explained. “They’re basically glorified monster hunters.” he added with a shrug.

Atlas hummed in understanding, focusing his view back unto the pair standing before them. Belle had moved extremely close to Smoky Quartz during their conversation, eyeing him up and down.

“Was that magic you just used?” She asked him in a creepy voice.

Quartz looked obviously uncomfortable with the mares close proximity and tried to avoid her gaze. “Yes.” He said reluctantly.

“That was amazing!” Belle shouted dangerously close to his ears.

Quartz flinched back from the verbal assault, looking towards his partner for help. Silver Wood rolled her eyes before activating her magic.

A blue glow surrounded Belle as she was slowly pushed back towards Atlas and Crimson. She seemed to enjoy every moment of it, going on about how cool magic was.

“You have a unicorn in your group.” Silver Wood mentioned while pointing at Atlas. “Aren’t you used to this kind of stuff?” She asked her.

“I can’t really cast any magic.” Atlas answered before Belle could say anything.

Both of the monster hunters looked surprised at that, staring at him in disbelief.

“For real?” Quartz asked him.

“Yep.” Atlas sighed. “Not a single spell. I’m travelling to the kingdom so I can get myself an education.”

“Wow, you must be from pretty far away if no one ever taught you magic.” Silver said.

Atlas laughed at her statement. “Probably even further away than you think.”

Silver and Quartz looked at each other for a moment, before nodding at each other.

“Well, seeing as we got you into this mess, the least we could do is guard you guys until you’ve crossed the pass.” Silver offered.

“That would be much appreciated” Crimson said. “Thanks.”

“Allright, Follow me if you’d please.” Silver said, starting to carefully walk around what was left of the road. “Quartz, you take the rear.”

“Yes, ma'am.” Quartz replied as he positioned himself at the back of the group.

After they had all successfully crossed, Atlas walked up to Silver, intent on asking her some questions about the kingdom.

“Wait!” A voice suddenly called out from the hole they had just shimmied around. “Wait for me you guys! Please!”

From the hole, a green stallion with light turquoise mane emerged. He seemed to almost drag his body along the ground, apparently completely out of breath. As soon as he spotted the group to his right, he looked at Silver with pleading eyes.

“Try to keep up newbie.” She told him. “Break’s over.”

Quartz had to hold back his laughter as the group started to move again, eliciting a long whine from the new arrival.

“Who’s that?” Atlas asked Silver Woods.

“That’s Citrine.” She told him. “The newest member of my squad.” She looked back at him with pity in her eyes. “No idea how he even made it past bootcamp. He’s useless.” Looking straight ahead she opted to ignore the out of breath stallion catching up to them.

“Ouch.” Atlas answered.

“What’s with the snake by the way?” Silver asked and pointed towards the passenger coiled around Atlas’s horn.

“Oh this guy?” Atlas looked up. “He’s just hitching a ride, seems to happen everytime I try to cross a mountain to be honest.”

“Huh, weird.” She looked at the snake, which wiggled it’s head at her. “But kinda cute.” She added.

“Yeah snakes are great.” Atlas said. “Hey, can I ask you a question?”

“Sure.”

“I already told you that we’re going to the kingdom so I can get myself trained in magic.” Atlas explained. “Do you have any idea how I would go about doing that? Like, do I need to get a private tutor, or can I just join a school or something?”

Silver Wood seemed to think about her answer for a moment. “Well King Gold Bar is pretty adamant about magical education.” She said. “So a lot of the bits he collects as taxes go towards schools for foals, allowing every foal born in the kingdom free education.” The pass took a right turn. “Unicorns who aren’t in control of their magic can be dangerous of course, magical surges are nothing to laugh at.”

“So I can just go to a school for free?” Atlas asked, mindlessly trotting along the path.

“I’m afraid not.” Silver said in an apologetic tone. “Unicorns who come from outside our borders asking for guidance will have to pay for their own education. Everypony gets accepted, they just have to cough up the bits.”

“Sooo… Is it expensive?” Atlas asked, afraid of the answer.

“If you get a job it’s affordable.” Atlas relaxed at that. “Though there is still a way you can get it for “free”.” Silver lifted a hoof and made a motion which reminded Atlas of quotation marks.

“What’s the catch?”

“Well, you have to enlist into the military and offer your service until you’ve paid off your debt.” Silver smiled sheepishly at Atlas. “We’re always short of ponies, so they try to draw in more by offering education and a place to be. It’s not that bad of a deal to be honest.”

Atlas hummed in thought. “I’ll take it into consideration.”

Atlas didn’t really want to serve in a military, but on the flipside he’d get magic training for free. There was also the issue of Crimson and Belle, he couldn’t just leave them behind, after they followed him this far.

“Is there some sort of salary?” Atlas asked. “And days off?” He added.

“Yeah, as long as you’re not officially in the military and just going to school, you’ll receive a sort of stipend. You’ll also have the option of either staying in the dorms, or owning a place outside the school premises.”

“That actually sound like a pretty good deal.” Atlas thought out loud. “I’m gonna have to run that by my friends. Thanks for the info.”

“No problem.” Silver nodded at him, a gesture Atlas reciprocated before falling back toward Crimson and Belle.

He matched Crimsons pace, and look around for Belle.

“Anything new?” Crimson asked.

“Yeah, I’ll tell you soon, but I need Belle here for this too.” Atlas spotted her at the back of their group, chatting with Quartz, who looked extremely uncomfortable around the mare.

Atlas chuckled at the stallions expense, but decided to rescue him. “Hey Belle!” He called out to her. “Can you come over here for a second?”

Belle seemed surprised at the sudden callout, but trotted up to them anyway. But not before giving Quartz a creepy stare.

“Heya, what’s up?” She asked once she catched up to them.

“I asked Silver Wood about where I would be able to take lessons in magic.”

“So what are the options?” Crimson asked.

“As it stands, I can either pay a private tutor, which according to her should be possible with a job. Or I enlist with the military and get access to a school and dorms as well as a stipend, but I’ll have to serve until the debt is paid back.” Atlas listed his options to his friends.

“Well,” Crimson started. “taking into consideration that you can’t even cast the simplest of spells right now, I don’t think a job hunt would be too successful for you in a city full of unicorns.” He thought out loud. “I think I should be able to get a job as a weather pony or something, and Belle could probably land a job in a hospital.”

Belle nodded fervently at Crimson’s statement. “That would be amazing!”

Atlas reluctantly had to agree with Crimson.

“I’d say our best course of action once we get to the kingdom would be to split up.” Crimson suggested. “Belle and I would try to find a job, while you go and enlist. Once we have enough bits between all of us, we could rent a place together.” Crimson looked towards his friends, waiting for approvals or denials from them.

“Sounds good to me!” Belle instantly agreed.

“I didn’t really want to enlist, but you’re probably right.” Atlas said. “I wouldn’t want to be a burden and rely on you two for bits after all.” He let out a sigh. “I’ll be able to sleep in the school dorm, but what about you two? It’d be unfair if you had to sleep out on the streets.” Atlas added worriedly.

“Don’t worry about us.” Crimson reassured Atlas. “We still have a good amount of bits, so we’ll be able to hold out for a while. You just go and get you magic under control, it’s what we’re here for after all.

Atlas chewed the inside of his cheek, thinking it over. “Alright, let’s do it like that then.” He relented.

“Then it’s decided.” Crimson said with a nod.

“This is going to be amazing!” Belle added.

Author's Note

I think Atlas deserves a round of applause for being in a dangerous situation and not ending up dead. We’re also closing in on the end of the second arc! Soon they’ll arrive in the Crystal Kingdom!

I’ve decided to do a Q&A, so if you have any questions regarding the story or the characters, feel free to send them to me. I will attach it to the next chapter in the form of a blogpost.

On another matter, A few of you have voiced concerns about the prologue chapter. I kinda agree, as the only reason it even exists is to pass moderation(at the time of submitting). I’ve consulted Meeester, and deleting it would be ok. Still, I want to know what you guys think, so I’ve created a survey. Those of you who care enough, please vote here.

Hope you had a good read, and feel free to comment.

Once again, thanks to my proofreader/editor ‽ for a job well done! (Editor does not approve of interabang.) (Author doesn’t care.) (Editor hates you.) (Author thinks the editor has no right to critzize when he never updates his own story.) (Editor would update his story if he didn’t have a full time job fixing yours.) (At least the author has a real full time job.) (Editor concedes defeat, next round will be mine.) Editor’s edit to editing the Author’s note. No editors or authors were harmed during the editing or authoring of this chapter. It’s just how we talk to each other.

Todays chapter was brought to you by this song.

25. Crystal Kingdom

Atlas was once again walking next to Silver Wood, conversing with her as they climbed the mountain pass. Crimson had joined them, while Belle preferred to stay in the back with Quartz, much to his dismay. Citrine on the other hand had fallen so far behind, they couldn’t even see him when they looked back. The snake on the other hand had left Atlas’s head, in favor of curling up on his back.

Atlas and Crimson used their time to ask Silver various questions about the Crystal Kingdom. Even though Crimson had been there before, it was only to deliver packages and he never stayed long, thus his knowledge about the inner workings of the city was vague at best.

“So do you think I’ll have any trouble finding work?” Crimson asked.

“Probably not.” Silver answered nonchalantly. “Compared to High Rock or Uranos, we accept just about everypony into the Kingdom, if they’re willing to work. Seeing as we have trouble growing our own food, earth ponies and pegasi are always in high demand.”

Atlas furrowed his brow, before he tapped Crimson on the shoulder. “What’s Uranos?” He whispered so Silver couldn’t hear.

“Pegasus capital.” Crimson whispered back, before assuming a normal speaking voice again. “Any tips on where to find a job?” He asked Silver.

“There’s a weather facility on the East side, which would be your best shot. If you’re interested, we at Teras could always use a good scout.” She wiggled her eyebrows at Crimson.

The red stallion rolled his eyes in response. “I’ll keep that in mind, thanks.”

As they discussed Crimsons job opportunities, Atlas was focused on something else that Silver said. According to her, Pegasi and Earth Ponies were welcomed in the Crystal Kingdom. If he remembered correctly, in the show, the events of the Hearths Warming Eve would come to pass because the tribes couldn’t co-exist with each other.

Judging by the earth ponies of High Rock, Atlas had no trouble believing that those events would eventually transpire, but the Crystal Kingdom seemed to be the polar opposite of the earth pony tribe.

Atlas concluded that an event in the future would drive a wedge between the tribes, destroying all signs of goodwill between them.

“Hey Silver?” Atlas asked.

“Yeah?”

“How are the interspecies relations within the kingdom?” He elaborated.

“Come again?” Silver asked confused.

“Well, while we were in High Rock it was pretty obvious that pegasi and unicorns were not welcome, almost despised even. I was just wondering if there’s something similar going on in the Kingdom.”

“Ahh, High Rock.” Silver said, malice in her voice. “Don’t worry, it’s nothing like that.” Atlas let out a sigh of relief. “Though we do have our own share of problems.” Silver added.

“Of course there would be a catch.” Atlas murmured.

“In the Kingdom it’s all about how much you contribute to society that defines your social standing.” Silver started to explain. “Therefore it doesn’t matter which tribe you hail from, as long as you do good work. Of course the whole system is corrupted to Tartarus and back.” She added with a sigh. “The lower you are on the totem pole, the more you’ll be looked down upon.”

“Sounds like we’ll face some trouble from the get go.” Crimson mentioned.

“You and your pink friend have nothing to worry about.” Silver assured him. “Pegasi and Earth Ponies are well respected, as they do essential work most unicorns can’t. You on the other hoof won’t be so fortunate.”

“Of course it would end up like this…” Atlas muttered. “Pray tell, why?” He said in an overdramatic voice.

“For unicorns, the most important thing is how powerful a mage you are.” Atlas face-hoofed at her words, he felt a headache coming on. “Well that’s one part of it.” Silver remarked. “There’s also another issue.”

Atlas let out an exasperated sigh. “Why wouldn’t there be?” He looked towards the heavens, wondering if they at least had fun up there.

“As I already said, unicorns are measured by their contributions. You’re an adult and a blank flank, which will lead others to believe you’re a useless bum who doesn’t contribute anything.”

“Ha.” Atlas shook his head, and looked back down to the ground. “Yup, definitely having fun up there.”

“What was that?” Silver asked, her brows furrowed.

Atlas waved her off. “Nothing important.”

“Alright then.” She looked towards Crimson, who just shrugged.

“You don’t seem to have a problem with him.” Crimson pointed out to Silver.

“We’re military, we won’t differentiate between anypony, we just protect.” Silver replied casually.

“That’s a good policy.” Crimson nodded.

“Alright, you wanna know anything else?” Silver asked.

“How big is the Crystal Kingdom?” Atlas blurted out.

On his map, the Kingdom was just represented as a dot next to a singular mountain, surrounded by flatlands, nothing to indicate the actual size. He was already surprised at the size of High Rock, and their impossibly huge palace.

When he asked Fancy Scrolls about how they built it, the explanation almost blew his mind. Apparently the plateau where the palace rested upon wasn’t always one. It was an impossibly huge rock, and they carved the palace out of it. The black color of the castle was due to the nature of the rock. Atlas’s best guess was that it was some sort of meteor that fell there eons ago.

“You’ll see soon enough.” Silver answered mysteriously.

Shortly after she said that, they crested the incline they travelled on, revealing the fact that they had finally crossed the range. Presented before them was a vista like Atlas had never seen before. True to his map, the mountain ranges surrounded a huge flatland. In the distance he could barely see another range circling around, creating an enclosure.

Smack dab in the middle of it, stood an enormous mountain, making the ones in the ranges look like a collection of pebbles. Atlas came to a halt, trying to process the sheer size of this lonely giant, allowing Belle and Quartz to catch up to them.

The snake on Atlas’s back reared it’s head, checking out what caused it’s taxi to stop so suddenly. When it realized they had reached the end of the mountain range, it offered a friendly hiss towards Atlas before slithering off into the surrounding rocks. Belle waved it goodbye, while Atlas was too busy marvelling at nature’s beauty to even realize it had left.

“I present to you, the Crystal Kingdom.” Silver said snickering at Atlas’s reaction.

After hearing her words, he remembered there was supposed to be a city at the base. He let his gaze wander downwards until he spotted it.

All this time he assumed that the Crystal Kingdom would be just like any other city, but just like when he first laid eyes upon High Rock, he was amazed beyond belief.

Countless buildings were erected around the base of the mountain, doing a full circle around. His view of the other half was blocked by the mountain itself, but he just assumed it went all the way around. Extending towards every direction, the buildings went on for at least five miles, creating a circle around the massive mountain. They even built straight upwards, creating giant platforms decorating the mountainside, each of them bearing small villages, which reminded him of Canterlot.

After the city’s border, buildings gave way to huge fields. While not as impressive looking as the ones in High Rock, they looked like they did their job, albeit Atlas doubted they were able to sustain the city entirely.

Atlas’s eye twitched at the sheer size of it. He was no expert on infrastructure, but building a city this huge without the proper resources to sustain it seemed borderline retarded. It would at least explain why unicorns couldn’t afford to be racist towards the other tribes.

“Do you even have other settlements?” Atlas asked incredulously.

“A few small ones are nestled in between the mountains, but most of the unicorns are concentrated here.” Quartz offered.

“Amazing.” Atlas said, barely managing to keep the sarcasm out of his voice.

“Thanks.” Silver Wood and Smoky Quartz replied in unison.

Atlas’s eye twitched again, apparently this was normal for them. Sure, Atlas was no stranger to huge cities, but what was presented before him looked like an unsustainable mess. Which led him to realize exactly what would happen to make the unicorns hostile towards the other tribes.

Their population would continue to grow until eventually they wouldn’t be able to sustain their citizens anymore, leading to them making outrageous demands of the other tribes. Which in turn would most likely be the tipping point for the other tribes as well.

The downfall of this continent wouldn’t be the lack of friendship, but unsustainable expansion.

He briefly wondered if it was possible to maybe change something, so the whole debacle could be avoided. But the idea was destroyed when he remembered Silver’s earlier words. To change something in the Crystal Kingdom, he would need to have a very high social standing.

Atlas was the bottom of the barrell right now, and he wouldn’t even be able to change his pillow for a more fluffier, most likely. That’s when he realized something. If he didn’t have anything else, the one thing he did have was time. He had more time than anypony else in this world. And maybe, just maybe, he had enough of it to change their way of thinking.

His musings were disturbed when a wall of pink entered his vision, ripping him from his thoughts.

Belle stood before him, waving her hoof before his eyes.

“Hellooo! You still in there?” She asked in a singsong voice. “Time to wake up!”

Atlas blinked a few times, looking around sheepishly. Everypony was staring at him, some with concern, other in confusion. Apparently he had spaced out for quite a while.

“Wow, I have seen ponies being stunned when they first set eyes upon our glorious city, but you take the cake.” Quartz said casually.

“There’s cake? Where?” Belle asked, looking around trying to find any.

“There’s no cake, Belle.” Crimson replied calmly, being used to her antics already. “It’s just a way of speaking.”

Belle looked disappointed, but calmed down and sat down on her rump. “I never had cake… I wonder how it tastes…” She said with a downtrodden look.

An awkward silence followed her statement, until Silver caught herself.

“So anyway, this is as far as we’ll be able to take you guys.” She said. “You’ll be safe from here on out, as the monsters usually stay in the mountains. Just follow the road and you should be within the city proper by tomorrow afternoon.”

“Alright, thanks a lot for helping us out.” Atlas said.

“Don’t mention it.” Silver said. “After Quartz got you involved in his shenanigans, it’s the least we could do. We’re here to protect ponies after all.”

“Then I would like to ask one last thing before we go our separate ways.” Atlas stated. “Now that I’ve seen how huge the Kingdom is, how are we supposed to find anything without getting lost?” He asked, desperation seeping into his voice.

“Oh that’s easy.” Silver laughed. “Just ask one of the city guards, they’ll be able to point you into the right direction.”

Atlas’s group thanked them once again, before shaking their hoofs and starting their descent down the mountain.

“Make sure to come visit us once you join the military!” Silver called after Atlas. “Teras is always looking for new members!”

Atlas laughed and shouted a “Will do!” back at her.

Silver and Quartz watched them for a while, until the sound of ragged breathing announced the arrival of Citrine. He slowly trotted up to them and collapsed as soon as he reached them.

“Alright, break time's over.” Silver commanded. “I want to do one last patrol, before we set up camp.”

Quartz saluted before he and Silver galloped off, back the way they came, leaving behind an exhausted Citrine.

As Atlas and his friends continued their descent, a pained whinny pierced the calm atmosphere. Recognizing it from earlier in the day, Atlas and Crimson shared a laugh, Belle apparently oblivious to the situation.

Author's Note

Hiya! For those of you that haven't read my blogpost, I've got a pretty nasty big burn on my right hand. Writing is a bit difficult, but this chapter was almost finished anyway. Next chapter might get a bit of a delay...

Hope you had a good read, and feel free to comment!

Once again, thanks to my proofreader/editor Ambros for a job well done!

Todays chapter was brought to you by this song. (Get it? because I burned my hand? anyone?)

26. Job Hunt - Crimson

Crimson took off into the air after separating from his friends. They had made good time arriving at the Crystal Kingdom’s city’s outskirts shortly after noon. After they had decided on an easy to find place to reunite, they went their own ways.

While they did have some money to stay at a hotel, securing a regular income was at the top of their priority list.

He skimmed the rooftops of several buildings while heading towards the eastern part of the huge town. Compared to the houses built in High Rock and the surrounding earth pony tribe settlements, the unicorns built much sturdier and functional houses. Seeing as they first and foremost pursued knowledge, it wasn’t surprising that they would be able to build more advanced things than the other tribes.

The streets below him bristled with life, unicorns moved about, minding their daily business. A few looked up when they noticed his shadow passing, and when they noticed him they smiled and waved.

After staying in High Rock for a while, it was a rather refreshing experience for him. Silver Wood’s words seemed to hold true, and the unicorns were a much more accommodating tribe.

After flying eastwards for a good half hour, he started to lookout for the telltale purple and gold of a guard's armor. He wasn’t able to spot anything that would give the weather factory away, like fresh clouds gathering above it or random rainbows, so he decided to just ask somepony.

It didn’t take him long to find a pair of guards below him, so he swooped down and softly landed in front of them.

“Pardon me, I’m new in town and looking for the weather factory.” Crimson greeted them. “I was told it would be somewhere around here.”

“Greetings pegasus.” The left guard answered him. “First off, let me welcome you to our great city! Thank you for coming to support us, any help is appreciated.” Both guards smiled broadly at him. “Just follow this street until you get to the main street, really broad one, can’t miss it. Then follow it east and you’ll be there before you know it.”

“Thanks a lot guys!” Having gathered new information, Crimson thanked the pair and took off again.

He found the main street shortly after, and followed it like instructed. Five minutes later a big building came into view. Smoke was rising from several chimneys, which Crimson recognized as cloud dispensers, although they seemed to be inactive at the moment.

The building was constructed like a giant ring, the center was left without a roof and contained various weather making machinery. Crimson could see a few pegasi flying around the apparitions operating them. The design allowed for easy access for the pegasi working their stations, while the actual building served for other facilities, such as offices.

Crimson touched down in front of the main entrance, and seeing that the door was open, trotted right in.

He was greeted by a rather small entrance hall, a pair of open doors in front of him led into the central area, as well as both sides of the ring. To his left, a few chairs were placed along the walls for waiting visitors, though all of them were currently unoccupied. To his right was a desk, and behind it sat a bright yellow pegasus mare with a blue mane and tail.

She noticed Crimson as soon as he walked in. “Welcome to the weather factory, what can I do for you?” She asked him cheerfully.

Crimson trotted over to her while answering her question. “Hi there. I just arrived in the city, and as I’m going to be settling down for a while I’m looking for a place to work.” He told her. “I was told my best chances would be here.”

“Ohh, that's wonderful.” The mare said, her face adopting a big smile. “We are constantly understaffed here, so any pegasus who wants to join is greatly appreciated. Don’t you worry, we’ll find something for you to do!” She reached out her hoof towards Crimson who gladly shook it.

“I’m Starlight Breeze, pleased to meet you!”

“Crimson. Likewise.”

“Let me just get the boss for you, I’m sure he’ll be interested in talking with you.” Starlight said. “Please feel free to take a seat over there while you wait.”

Crimson simply nodded, and made his way over to the chairs. While he was waiting he looked outside, observing the unicorns passing by. A great number of them passed by the entrance, and when he thought about how big the city was, the number of ponies living in the Kingdom had to be enormous.

Just like Atlas had mentioned, the fact that they were somehow able to sustain the entirety of the populace was an amazing feat.

He was brought out of his musings by a voice near him. “Hello.” It said.

Crimson turned his head to look at the speaker. Starlight Breeze seemed to have returned to her position behind her desk, and a blue pegasus appeared before him. He had a two toned mane, the left side was colored white, and the right side a light blue. On his flank rested the picture of a raincloud.

“I’m Sapphire Current, the current head of this facility.” He introduced himself. “I was told you’re interested in working here?”

Crimson nodded his head. “Yes sir. Due to my friends circumstances I just moved here, and I need work.”

“Marvelous!” Sapphire exclaimed. “If you’re up for it, I can show you around right now, and if you’re still interested you can start here as early as tomorrow. We can use all the hooves we can get around here!”

“Sure, lead the way.” Crimson agreed.

The next hour was spent showing Crimson the various offices and other facilities of the factory, as well as introducing him to a couple of the higher ranked employees. At the end of the tour, Sapphire lead Crimson to his office.

The office was furnished rather simple, drawers lined the walls, while a big desk took up most of the room. Various diplomas and personal pictures hung on the walls, giving the room a lived in feeling.

Sapphire took a seat on a comfy looking chair behind the desk, gesturing for Crimson to take a seat as well.

“So have you worked in any weather related jobs before?” He asked Crimson.

“No sir.” Crimson replied while taking a seat. “I was a long distance flier for the couriers, and after that I joined a trading caravan for several years.”

“I take it you're a good flier then?” Sapphire inquired.

“Yes, I’m very confident in my flying, my special talent is endurance flights.” Crimson responded proudly.

A thoughtful hum escaped Sapphire after having asked all of his questions. “Well, seeing as you have no experience in the crafting arts, I’d say we assign you to the distribution team.” Sapphire proposed. “You’d help with getting the weather to where it needs to be, as well as activating rain clouds and similar tasks. Seeing as your talent is long flights, you’d be ideal for it since the Kingdom is quite big.” He explained further. “What do you say? You up for it?”

With a smile on his face, Crimson agreed.

“Marvellous!” Sapphire exclaimed once again. He used the word quite often while he showed Crimson around, Crimson assumed it to be his favourite word or something.

“Our distributors always work in teams, be sure to learn from your partner, and listen to their instructions alright?” Sapphire eyed Crimson for an answer.

“Understood, I’ll make sure to cause you no trouble.” Crimson said earnestly.

“Marvellous, let’s see who will be your partner!” Sapphire exclaimed happily.

He opened one of his drawers and pulled out a sheet of paper. On it were listed several names of ponies, as well as who they were partnered with.

“A-ha!” Sapphire put his hoof down next to a crossed out name. “Seems like you’ll be taking over the position of Cloud Chaser. Fella was getting too old for this and retired.” He told Crimson, his eyes reflecting fond memories of the pegasus in question.

“Would you please wait here a second? I think I saw your new partner in the break room when we passed it. I’ll just get her real quick to introduce you.” After receiving Crimsons consent, Sapphire left the room.

It didn’t take long for him to return, and this time he was accompanied by a pegasus mare. Her coat was a similar blue to Sapphire Current’s while her mane was a light blue, a teal stripe following the hairline. Her cutie mark was a cumulus cloud with a pair of purple wings attached to it. Her rose eyes were studying Crimson, as he got down from his seat to greet her.

“Hi, my name’s Crimson, guess I’ll be your new partner.” He said while stretching his hoof out in a greeting.

“Hi, I’m Blue Current, pleased to meet you.” She replied with a sweet voice, lightly bumping Crimsons hoof while sporting a big smile. “So glad to have a partner again, the workload was getting kinda harsh without ol’ Cloud Chaser around.”

“Incidentally, she’s my daughter, so don’t get any ideas lad.” Sapphire threw in from the side.

“Dad!” Blue Current said annoyed. “Don’t worry about him, he always get’s like this.” She assured a slightly worried Crimson. “I heard you just got here today? Do you already find a place to stay?”

“I’ll be meeting up with my friends later on, and we’ll look for a hotel, until we can afford a place.” Crimson told her.

“That’s good to know. Well I’m looking forward to working with you, and hope we can be good friends.” Blue Current said. “But I really need to go back to work now, see you tomorrow!”

As Blue Current left the room, Sapphire once again addressed Crimson.

“We usually start our work at around ten. Seeing as it’s your first day, I’d appreciate it if you could show up an hour early. That way we can get you the necessary equipment and do some paperwork before you start.”

“No problem, I’ll be here, Sir.” Crimson replied, shaking the stallion's hoof once again.

“By the way I wasn’t joking. Don’t try anything with my daughter.”

Author's Note

I'm back, completely bandage free! This thing was originally supposed to be one chapter, but I decided to split it into three part. I'll relese the next one on wednesday, then saturday again. Next up: Belle!

Hope you had a good read, and feel free to comment!

Once again, thanks to my proofreader/editor Ambros for a job well done!

Todays chapter was brought to you by this song. Because who'd have thought JonLaJoie was capable of making non-joke music ^^

27. Job Hunt - Belle

Belle stepped out of the third hospital she had visited that day, her head hanging low in disappointment at yet another dead end.

Seeing as the Crystal Kingdom was a giant city, there were quite a lot of hospitals around in order to deal with the workload. Belle thought it would be easy for her to acquire a job with her knowledge, but was proven wrong at the first hospital she visited.

After asking for a place to work, she was flat out rejected. Apparently, being a doctor or a nurse was a very honorable occupation to have in the Kingdom, resulting in a surplus of ponies looking for a job in the field. Only the best were accepted, making it close to impossible for Belle to get accepted by them.

She didn’t let one setback deter her though, so she tried again and again, each time ending with the same result. Silver Woods said that there would most likely be no problems in acquiring a job for her. Belle now realized, that she most likely meant it would be easy to find a job working the fields. Not in a hospital.

The sun had continued its journey across the sky, and it was getting close to evening. She still had ample time left before her meeting with her friends, so she wasn’t in a rush. While keeping her head down, she thought about her next course of action.

It was probably best if she just gave up for today, and head out for the fields tomorrow. While she had no problems working a field, she really wanted to help ponies out like she did back at High Rock, as well deepening her knowledge of the curative arts.

Deep in thought, Belle didn’t pay attention to where she was walking, until she bumped into somepony, knocking the old stallion over.

“Oh!” Belle exclaimed in surprise. “Terribly sorry mister, I wasn’t paying attention to where I was walking!” She offered the prone stallion a hoof to help him up.

The old stallions coat was a matte orange, and his mane a pure white. Belle winced for a moment after seeing his coloration, but caught herself quickly. Next to him was a small wicker basket, various fruits scattered around it, apparently it fell over when she bumped into him.

The old stallion accepted her hoof and Belle pulled him back on all fours. “I’m so, so sorry. Let me help you gather your fruits.” She immediately went to put all the produce back into the basket.

“Ohohoho.” A quiet laugh escaped the old stallion's mouth. “Don’t worry young one, although I may look old, I’m still quite sturdy, that was nothing!”

Belle finished gathering the fruit and turned around to face him, with the filled basket hanging from her mouth. Now that she had a better look at him, she noticed that he was an earth pony, making it the first one she had seen since entering the city proper.

Weirdly enough the stallion didn’t seem to face her, and instead opted to just look ahead, into the direction he was going earlier.

“At least let me help you carry your groceries home, it’s the least I could do.” Belle said around the basket’s handle in her mouth.

“Oh, that would be very kind of you.” The stallion replied, still not turning around to face her.

“Are you okay mister?” Belle asked worriedly taking a few steps forward so she could look him in the eye.

“I’m just fine thank you.” Was the response she got. “Although you have to excuse my lack of movement. I’m rather blind, you see?”

Just as the old stallion stated that fact, Belle established eye contact. His eyes were devoid of any life, a milky screen took out most of the color from them.

Belle gasped. “Oh I’m sorry! I hadn’t noticed!” She said in a hurry. “In that case, let me help you find your way.”

“I much appreciate it.” The old stallion said with a smile. “There’s not a lot of love for a blind earth pony around here. Can I assume that you are new in town?”

“Ah, I just arrived today actually.” Belle answered while sidling up to him, so he may use her as a support. She put the basket on her back so she was able to talk freely. “Which way should we go?”

“For now, just head straight, I’ll tell you when to take turns.” He said with confidence.

Not about to question the old stallion who apparently knew his way around despite being blind, Belle started walking.

“Alright, my names Charity Belle by the way. Pleased to meet you.”

“White Mallow, likewise.” The old stallion introduced himself. “Thanks for the help.”

After a while of walking, White Mallow told Belle to take a right, and she led him down an alley.

“How can you tell when to turn?” Belle asked, genuinely curious.

“Ah, a very good question, young one.” White Mallow said. “You see, when you’re blind like me, you start using your other senses more. Like your sense of touch, or hearing. I’ve walked this route many times, and I’m able to tell by the sounds around me where I am.” He explained further. “For example, across the street from where we turned into this alley, there’s a restaurant. The chatter of ponies, the clinking of porcelain cups being set down, a hurried waiters clopping hooves. All those little things tell me where I am.”

“That’s… That’s amazing!” Belle said in wonderment, almost whispering.

“I’m able to hear a lot of things, young one.” White Mallow said. “Even emotions can’t be hidden away from me. Tell me, what happened to make you feel so down?”

Belle flinched when he called her out. His sense of hearing must be really advanced if he was able to recognize a pony’s mood just by listening to them talk. Deciding that she could trust the old stallion she decided to tell him.

“You see, I was looking for work just before I met you.” Belle started to explain.

“I assume it didn’t go well?” White Mallow asked. “Turn left here, please.”

Belle guided him into another alley while continuing her story.

“Worse than just not well.” Belle lamented. “Every hospital I tried just flat out refused to work with an inexperienced Earth Pony.” She let out a sigh. “I guess I’ll just have to settle for a job on a farm.”

“Hospital? Were you a doctor before coming here?” White Mallow asked.

“Oh no, nothing so fancy.” Belle denied. “I got my Cutie Mark when patching up one of my friends, and I have been learning everything I could about healing practices ever since then. I was hoping to finally receive a real place to study after moving here.”

Belle saw no harm in telling the old stallion about her, so she just told him what she needed to get off her chest, glad to have somebody who listened to her. Sure, Crimson and Atlas would definitely listen, and try to help her afterwards too, but she didn’t want to inconvenience them.

White Mallow hummed in thought. “Interesting… Turn right here, my home is just around the corner.”

They turned into a small road, several small shops lining the sides of it. Only a few ponies could be seen, a stark contrast towards the main road they came from.

“Which one is yours?” Belle asked, checking out the storefronts as they passed.

“There should be a sign hanging out front, bearing a red cross.” White Mallow replied.

Belle let her gaze wander along the different signs, until she spotted the right one. Red crosses were usually used by hospitals or small clinics.

“Does your family own a clinic here?” Belle asked him.

“Oh no, I live alone here.” White Mallow said as they arrived at the front door.

He pushed it open and entered, his steps becoming a lot more secure, now that he was in familiar environment. He probably knew every nook and cranny of the house. Belle stepped in after him, confused about how a blind pony would be able to lead a medical establishment.

The setup inside was rather simple. A few chairs were to her right in case somepony had to wait. Going in further there were four beds, all of which currently empty. Curtains hung from the ceiling, allowing for some privacy when needed. The right wall was mostly dominated by three large cabinets containing medicine and ointments, as well as a table set before them. Next to them a staircase went upstairs, leading to what she assumed to be White Mallow’s living quarters.

Said pony was standing at the bottom of the stairs, waiting for Belle. “Please, follow me up here, my kitchen is on the upper floor.”

“Sure.” Belle replied, and went after the ascending stallion.

Just as she assumed, they arrived in what appeared to be a living room. There wasn’t much in way of decorations, the aesthetic sense being lost on the occupant, leading to a very spartan furnishing.

As the house was rather small, the kitchen was integrated into the living room. Two doors led away to different rooms. Both of them were left open, for White Mallow’s convenience. The room closer to her was obviously a bathroom, while through the other doorway she was able to spot a bed, which must have been his room. A small table was placed in the center of the room, two chairs accompanying it. While on the far wall, next to a window sat a rather comfy chair.

“Just set it down on the kitchen counter please, next to the sink.” White Mallow said, while sitting down at one of the chairs at the table.

Belle did as she was told and turned around to face the old stallion, a question burning on her tongue.

“So are you some kind of doctor? Do you lead this clinic all on your own? How do you manage while being blind?” One question became many, and Belle couldn’t stop herself from asking all of them.

White Mallow laughed at her curiosity. “Such a thirst for knowledge!” He exclaimed. “Please, come have a seat first.”

Belle practically teleported on the chair, eager to hear White Mallow’s tale.

“You ask very good questions young one.” He started. “But for you to understand, we must first discuss something else entirely.” He stated vaguely. “Tell me, what gift was bestowed upon the earth ponies by the supreme beings?”

The story of creation was well known to everypony. It was taught to children by their parents as soon as they were old enough to understand after all.

At the beginning of time, six heavenly beings happened upon the planet Equus. After seeing the potential of the planet, they decided to gift it with life. Using all of their talents, they bestowed life to the various races inhabiting the planet today. Gifting each of them with a part of their power.

They lived amongst the newly formed species for a while before leaving, continuing their never ending journey across the vastness of space. Life on Equus prospered, using their gifts to live in harmony with each other.

“Earth Ponies were gifted with the ability to grow every kind of plant or tree faster, making them experts in the fields of farming and providing food for the other races.” Belle said with a smile.

“Very good!” White Mallow said. “But also very wrong.” He added, confusing Belle.

“Wrong? What do you mean?” She asked, furrowing her brows.

“What many ponies don’t realize is that growing plants faster isn’t exactly as straightforward a gift, as all the other races received.” White Mallow stated, raising Belle’s curiosity. “In fact, it’s just one aspect of our gift.”

At this point Belle was on the edge of her seat. White Mallow was telling her that the very story of creation had a fault in it.

“The gift we earth ponies received, was the gift of life.”

“The gift of life?” Belle repeated, not able to wrap her head around it.

“Yes. We were given the ability to affect the very lives of other beings positively, or negatively mind you.” White Mallow explained further. “Plants are alive, so with our gift, we are able to accelerate their growth.”

“Ohhh… Now I understand.” Belle said. “But what has that to do with you being a doctor?”

“As you probably already know, ponies are very much alive as well.” Understanding dawned on Belle’s face after hearing those words. “Plants are pretty simple organisms, and are easy to manipulate. But if an earth pony trains their gift a lot, eventually it becomes able to influence other beings too.”

“Does that mean… that you are able to accelerate the healing of a pony?” Belle asked astounded by this revelation.

“Exactly! You catch on fast!” White Mallow praised Belle. “Not only that, but with the help of massages and ointments, I’m able to help the body recover from exhaustion and restore deteriorated tissues. As well as many other things.”

“Amazing…” Belle whispered, at a loss for words.

“That being said, we earth ponies as a species have grown content working the fields everyday. There’s nothing wrong with that of course, but we could do so much more.” White Mallow sighed. “Fellow earth ponies have gone so far as calling me crazy when I told them this story, It’s sad really.”

“Even though I’ve been alive for so long, treating ponies, I’m still alone in my practice.” White Mallow continued. “As such, I’d like to make a proposition to you, Charity Belle.”

Belle’s ears perked up, by now she was hanging on every word the old stallion spoke.

“I’m growing old, and my search for a successor has been fruitless to say the least.” He said. “Even though we only just met, I can feel your passion about the healing arts and your eagerness to learn more. So what do you say? Would you like to become my apprentice?” White Mallow asked hopefully.

Belle didn’t even have to think about it for a second, a loud “YES!” escaping her lips.

Author's Note

Some nice exposition tucked away in this one. Next up: Atlas!

Hope you had a good read, and feel free to comment!

Once again, thanks to my proofreader/editor Ambros for a job well done!

Also, thanks to my new proofreader Kilobytes!

Todays chapter was brought to you by this song. Creation story may or may not be heavily inspired by Ocarina of Time :P

28. Job Hunt - Atlas

Atlas sighed as he watched his friends leave towards their own destinations. Just as they discussed, they’d split up almost as soon as they entered the city proper.

While Atlas agreed that they all needed jobs to support each other, he still had his doubts about the way he’d get his magic education. Even though learning magic was a dream come true for him, joining the military wasn’t exactly the way he had seen himself going about it. For now, he tried convincing himself that however many years he’d have to serve would be nothing in the face of immortality.

He sighed once again as he started looking for a guard. Trotting in a random direction, he looked back toward the big statue of a unicorn decorating the small park he was in. Apparently it was a statue of King Gold Bar, the park must have been dedicated in his honor. Incidentally it was the spot Atlas and his friends agreed to meet up again.

As Atlas passed by unicorns of all colors, enjoying the bit of nature inside the big city, he scanned for the telltale purple armor of the guards. Some of the ponies he passed gave him disgusted looks, others just plainly ignored him.

Silver Wood’s words seemed to hold true, and he was already being shunned for his lack of a cutie mark. Undeterred he continued on his way, already being used to the treatment after High Rock.

When he reached the edge of the park, there was a duo of guards guarding the entrance. Relieved Atlas approached and got their attention by calling out to them.

“Excuse me, someone told me that I’d be able to get a magic education if I enlist.” Atlas explained. “Could you tell me where I have to go for that?”

“Any recruitment center will do.” One of the guards answered. “The closest one would be on the main road. Just follow this street here until you reach the main road, then turn right. Center has this big sign out front, can’t miss it.”

“Thanks.” Atlas said while he turned around to do as he was instructed.

“Glad to serve.” The guard said dutifully.

Atlas lazily trotted down the street. It was shortly after noon, and he doubted signing up for the military would take more than an hour. As such he had time to spare before the agreed on meeting time, and decided to take a closer look at the city.

The buildings he passed on his way were relatively simple. The architectural style kind of reminded him of Earth. Simple and effective. Every once in awhile there was a house that had added decorations, or stood out from the others in different kinds of ways. Either this was because the tenants wanted to add a bit of personality to their home, or maybe it was a representation of their status within society.

It didn’t take Atlas long to reach the main road, where he was immediately assaulted by loud noises and a swarm of unicorns. Compared to the little side street he was on just now, the main road was almost filled to the brim with ponies going to and fro.

It kind of reminded Atlas about certain conventions he used to attend every year. If the food in this world was way overpriced, the experience would be complete.

He joined the throng of ponies keeping to the right as he let himself be swept along by the masses. The road was lined by shops and restaurants on both sides, with ponies occasionally breaking off to visit them.

Atlas took a look into as many store windows as he could, and was surprised to see that there were almost no stores related to magic. One could assume that in a giant city chock full of unicorns, there would be magic shops galore; but the opposite seemed to be the case.

Thinking about a reason why this could be, Atlas came to a theoretical conclusion. They simply didn’t have a need to. Overly complicated magic probably wasn’t even invented yet, and according to the backstory he received; every unicorn received a free magic education.

As he was ruminating on magic, a rather large building came into view. Being four stories tall, it clearly stood out from the rest. A big shield was hung outside, displaying two crossed swords over a shield. Atlas assumed this was the recruitment center and steered towards it.

What was it with ponies and putting visual signs in front of their buildings instead of labeling them with words?

Atlas entered the building and was greeted yet again with bustling activity inside. Unicorns came and went from the various doors and staircases leading from the lobby to who knows where. Ponies were sitting on chairs, apparently waiting for one thing or another. He walked past them and went straight for the reception, approaching a blue unicorn mare that was busy sorting various documents with her magic.

“Excuse me, I’m here to sign up for the military, and the free magic schooling that comes with it.” Atlas said, gaining the mare’s attention.

The mare looked up from her work and inspected Atlas. “Did you just recently move to the Kingdom?” She asked in an uninterested tone of voice.

“Yes, as a matter of fact, I just arrived today.” Atlas responded truthfully.

“Alright, we’ll have to do a few tests and get some more info from you. Please wait over there, somepony will be with you shortly.” The mare instructed.

“Thanks.”

Atlas turned around and searched for an empty spot amongst the other waiting ponies. He spotted one not too far away, and sat down.

Atlas was bored out of his mind, when finally someone came for him after two hours of waiting.

“Are you the one who’s here to enlist?” A brown unicorn asked Atlas.

The voice ripped Atlas from his boredom, and he cast his gaze upwards to meet the eyes of the speaker.

“Yeah, that’s me.” Atlas said excited, glad to finally do something.

“Follow me please.” The mystery unicorn said.

Atlas got up and did as he was told. His guide led him up a staircase, past several doors and up to the third floor by ways of yet another staircase. They stopped at a door that was seemingly no different from all the others.

“Please go inside here, there’s already someone waiting for you.” The unicorn gestured towards the door, before hurriedly leaving.

Judging by how fast his guide left, Atlas assumed the military to be a rather busy bunch. Shaking his head slightly he turned the knob on the door and stepped inside.

He was greeted by a green unicorn mare, sitting behind a desk. Her mane was almost white, with a slight tint of green still recognizable. “Oh hi, are you here to enlist?” She asked.

“Uh, yes. My name is Atlas.” He looked around the small office.

Apart from two drawers behind the desk, there was hardly anything in the room. To his right was a table, upon which various doodads and mcguffins were spread out, their purpose eluding Atlas.

“Great, please have a seat.” The mare said, while gesturing towards the chair opposite of her. “My name’s Emerald Chaos and I’ll take your info today.” She explained further, patiently waiting for Atlas to sit down.

Once Atlas was comfortably seated she began her spiel. “We’ll just have to gather some information from you, and run a few small tests if that’s okay.” Atlas nodded towards her. “I also heard you’re interested in receiving magical education. May I ask why that is?”

“Oh, I actually can’t use any magic at all.” Atlas said truthfully. “I came to the Kingdom because I wanted to learn, and a member of the Teras military division told me that the easiest way would be to enlist.”

Atlas could see the faintest hint of a frown once he mentioned not being able to cast anything. But just as fast as it came, it disappeared.

“Well whoever told you was certainly right.” She confirmed. “Although I do have to ask about your circumstances, how is it that you don’t have any experience at all?”

“Well, I was born in the territory of the earth ponies. My parents were both unicorns, but they died in an accident before I grew up, so they could never teach me.” Atlas presented her with a fabricated story he came up with. “They were also the only unicorns around, so finding another tutor wasn’t possible. Now that I’m an adult I decided to come here to learn.”

“Ah I see, how unfortunate.” Emerald stated. “Were you ever able to access your magic? Or mayhaps you have any memories of a magical surge?”

Atlas’s face turned into a grimace. “Sadly I was never able to figure out how to acces my magic.” He sighed. “Not for a lack of trying, mind you.”

“Well, not to worry. You’re hardly the first adult who could never access.” Emerald reassured him. “Every few years somepony comes to us with circumstances similar to you. How about surges, does anything come to mind?”

“Well there was that one thing on the way here.” Emerald motioned for Atlas to go on. “I joined a trade caravan, and we were attacked by bandits. I cast something to rescue one of my friends, though I have no idea how.” Atlas shrugged to emphasize his statement.

“Well we can certainly work off that. Tell me all you remember about it.”

“Well it’s all a bit of a blur.” Atlas said truthfully. “But what I remember is that I shot out this kinda green orb from my horn. It flew at the bandit with amazing speed and punched a hole right through him. I think it even felled a few trees on it’s way.”

“Well that sounds like an impressive offensive spell.” Emerald said. “Although I would assume it was just raw magical energy that you shot out. Also you said it looked green?”

“As far as I can remember, yes. Why? Is that important?” Atlas asked confused.

“Certainly.” Emerald nodded. “Have you ever heard about magical affinity?”

“Can’t say I have.” Atlas replied.

“Well there are six kinds of magical affinity. The world around us is saturated with different kinds of magical energy, and all beings tend to be more receptive towards a specific one.” Emerald explained. “Legend says that the six energies are the leftover power of the heavenly beings that created this world, and dependent on their affinity, ponies tend to excel at certain schools of magic. Even though it’s not unusual to be proficient in a school outside your affinity.”

“Okay, so what school would green be?” Atlas asked, genuinely curious now.

“Green represents the school of life. The spell classes range from recovery to sensing other being’s presence. Basically everything that has to do with a living being.” Emerald explained happily, now in full-on teacher mode.

“That’s… actually kinda cool.” Atlas said. “Then, what are the other five schools and what color do their affinities have?”

“Well, there is the school of illusion represented by blue. Then there are the school’s of combat, energy and manipulation; represented by the colors red, orange and pink respectively. To top it all off, there’s the school of magic itself. Unicorns with that affinity are quite rare, and they mostly have a vast amount of magic at their command.”

Atlas took in all of the information like a sponge, trying his best to commit it to memory. Now that he had heard about it, having a purple affinity would have been cool, but commanding the life forces sounded pretty rad as well.

“There’s actually a way to ascertain which kind of affinity a pony has, which brings us to our first test.” Emerald said, pointing towards the doodad table behind Atlas. “Although most of the time it's pretty easy to tell, this is more of a formality to be honest. Protocol and all.”

Emerald got up from her chair and walked towards the table, and Atlas joined her immediately, eager to confirm his affinity.

Emerald pulled one of the contraptions to the edge of the table.

“This little thing here was invented through the cooperation of the greatest minds of the life and energy schools. It is able to sense the affinity of any unicorn that puts this ring on it’s horn, and display it with this gem.” The device she presented to Atlas was pretty simple in design.

A metal ring was connected via a cable to a stand, upon which rested a transparent gem.

“Just put on the ring, and the gem will light up in the color of your affinity.” Instructed Emerald, a friendly smile adorning her muzzle.

Atlas looked at the ring on the table and tried to figure out how he was supposed to slip it over his horn without falling over. He looked towards Emerald for help, who seemed to realize the pickle he was in, and helped him out by levitating the ring over his horn.

At first nothing happened, but after a few seconds the gem started to glow a soft red. Atlas furrowed his brows, not having expected the gem to turn anything other than green. He looked towards Emerald for clarification

The green mare seemed to be equally confused by the result, but caught herself soon after. “Are you sure the surge you had was green?” She asked Atlas.

“Well, I was pumped full of adrenaline at the moment, so I might have remembered wrong.” Atlas said confused. He was quite certain the ball of magic was green.

“Well, mistakes happen.” Emerald said nonchalantly. “Nothing to be worried about. Besides, that's part of the reasons why we do this test. So we can be absolutely certain.”

“It would seem you have an affinity towards the school of combat then.” Emerald said, looking at Atlas, which in turn still stared at the gem.

“Umm… Is it supposed to do that?” He asked while pointing at the gem on the table.

Emerald turned around again to see what Atlas was talking about. The gem had just finished transitioning it’s color, now displaying a clear green. She looked at the gem for a moment, stunned by its behaviour. While they were both staring at the gem, it started to change back to red, and then green soon after.

“Well…” Emerald began. “It would seem you are quite an anomaly Mr. Atlas. Apparently you have a twin affinity.”

“So, is that good?” Atlas asked, still staring at the gem while it happily changed colors.

“Oh yes, remarkable even.” Emerald said, reassuring Atlas. “Just extremely rare is all. Well I’ll put you down for a twin affinity to life and combat then.”

While speaking her horn started to glow, and a feather on her desk dipped itself in a small vial of ink and scribbled something on a piece of paper.

Atlas was feeling happy. Knowing how the greek gods liked to screw with him, he half expected his magic to suck major balls. As such, this was a pleasant turn of events.

“Well then, moving on.” Emerald said while levitating the ring from Atlas’s horn. “Over here we have a device which measures how big the internal mana pool of a unicorn is. The size of a mana pool determines how many spells a unicorn can cast before having to recover.” She pulled a similar device to the front, but instead of one big gem, this one had five smaller gems in a row.

“Mana pools are classified into five sizes, class one being the smallest and five the biggest.” Emerald continued to explain. “Different from magic affinity, the size of a mana pool can be changed by training, or continued use of magic over a long period of time.”

She levitated the devices ring unto Atlas’s horn. Both looked at the gems, eager to see the results.

Atlas could feel soft pulses originating from the ring on his horn, running their course through his entire body. The sensation felt weird, but not unpleasant. After a while the pulses stopped, and a single gem lit up.

“Just as I expected.” Emerald nodded. “Due to you having never used your magic, your mana pool is rather small at the moment. Well, don’t let that discourage you. As I said before, you’ll be able to increase it’s size over time.”

At first Atlas was disappointed at this newest development, but then he remembered that due to his immortality he would have plenty of time to spare, so increasing his mana pool to the maximum capacity shouldn’t be a problem.

“Alright, that’s certainly useful to know.” Atlas said. “I was beginning to fear I might not have magic at all to be honest.” He sighed, genuinely relieved.

“Oh don’t worry, there’s no such thing as a living creature that isn’t connected in some way to the magical energies around us. Thusly, every unicorn is able to use magic to some extent.” Emerald said. “Now, let’s return to our seats for now.”

When they had both returned to their places at the desk Emerald wrote down a few lines on a piece of paper.

“You're in luck.” She said while writing. “The new school year starts next month, so you’ll be able to join quite soon. Although I’d like to enroll you as soon as next week if that’s ok with you?” She asked, raising her gaze from the paper.

“Sure, but why?” Atlas asked.

“If you’d start the school year without even knowing how to access and properly guide your magic, you might fall behind. Or worse even risk injury.” Emerald Chaos explained. “That’s why I’d like you to go there a bit sooner, learning from a private tutor, before joining the regular class next month.”

“That makes sense, I’ll gladly do so.” Atlas nodded.

“Very well then.” Emerald scribbled down a few more things. “Then what’s left to discuss is housing and time of service needed to reimburse us.”

“I’m all ears.” Atlas said. He hoped the time he’d have to serve wouldn’t be too long.

“Well, as for housing you’ll be able to live in the school dorms, which is relatively uncomplicated. You’ll also receive a small stipend, to help you out financially.” Emerald said, while opening one of her drawers and pulling out a small file. “In here’s all that you'll need to know, like where the school is, and who you’ll have to talk to. I’ll add a note to it later, explaining your situation to them.”

Atlas simply nodded, he’d have time to look at them in detail later.

“Moving on to the time of service.” Emerald continued. “Usually it’s around twenty years. Depending on the case it can be longer or shorter. The time can be shortened if you achieve certain things, which are deemed worthy of a deduction. Although the same can be said for the opposite. Well, in the end it all depends on what you do with your time in the military.”

Twenty years. Looking at it, it seemed extremely long. Atlas was now twenty-three years old, so twenty years of service intimidated him a bit. He still didn’t like the idea of working for the military, but he found himself explaining it away with his immortality more comfortably. He was getting used to the idea, and his way of thinking was slowly changing too.

“Do you have any problems with the stated terms and conditions?” Emerald asked.

‘Haven’t read ‘em’ Atlas thought.

“I have none.” He stated out loud.

“Then I’ll just need your hoofprint on this document, as well as some others and it’ll be official.”

She levitated a piece of paper as well as an inkpad over to him. Atlas didn’t hesitate and put his right forehoof on the pad before stamping it on the document.

“Welcome to the military, Mr. Atlas.”

Author's Note

And that marks the end of the Journey Arc! Yay! From the next chapter onwards, we'll be in the Scholar Arc!

Also thank you guys for 320 likes and over 2k first chapter views! Never thought I'd get this far!

Hope you had a good read, and feel free to comment!

Once again, thanks to my editor Ambros for a job well done!

Also, thanks to my proofreader Kilobytes!

Todays chapter was brought to you by this song. :P

29. Academy

Atlas made his way past the throng of ponies that occupied the main road. Almost a week had passed since he’d enlisted with the military of the Crystal Kingdom, and now he was on his way towards the Academy they were sending him to.

His lessons would officially start tomorrow, but he was required to appear today, so they could show him around. He’d also be getting a room in the dorms, which he was required to move into.

Crimson and Belle were both able to find jobs without much of a hassle. Atlas was glad that they would be able to live a normal live from now on, especially Belle. After she spent most of her life on the street, this would be a good change for her.

Until now they’d spent their nights at a hotel, using what money they had left. Apparently salary in the pony world was paid weekly, so they’d soon have some more bits to spend. Belle and Crimson would then start to look for a small flat near Belle’s workplace, since Crimson could easily fly to his work.

Atlas would be staying in the academy dorms of course, but they made sure they would meet up at least once a week.

While thinking about various things, Atlas approached his destination. The academy was located on one of the kingdom’s many “islands”, as they came to call them; massive platforms that protruded from the side of the mountain, supporting various facilities, and sometimes even small villages.

The ‘island’ he was currently approaching was home to one of the four military academies in the kingdom. Although they were called academies, by the size of them, one could probably call them small cities, housing a few thousand ponies at any given time. Each one was home to various research facilities pertaining to magic, as well as the actual academies which were used to teach magic and tactics used to survive in the military.

Several other unicorns were either ascending or descending from the island, a lot of them carrying what looked like important documents. They were happily talking to each other about their magical research, but to Atlas it sounded mostly like gibberish.

He crested the hill and got his first look at the academy he’d be attending from now on. At least he thought he would, but instead he was greeted by a large circular wall, built from a kind of white stone; it spanned almost the whole island in diameter. From the center of the wall emerged a huge tower, also built from the white stone, overlooking the whole academy.

While he was curious as to how it looked from the inside, it seemed like he had to wait a little bit longer. He rejoined the stream of ponies moving towards a broad gate in the wall. Guards were placed on both sides of the gate, but apparently they were intended to be a more of a deterrent than anything else.

Everypony else passed through the gate without paying them much attention, so Atlas decided to do the same and stepped through the portal.

Upon entering, various buildings of different sizes came into view, a few looked like they were just big enough to house a family, while others were multiple stories high and hundreds of feet wide. Through the gaps in the buildings, he could see yet more walls on both sides, creating a section within the walled off area.

Atlas stopped at the side of the road, and rummaged through his saddlebags in search of one particular document. After a while he procured a rolled up scroll and unfurled it on the ground before him.

Written on it were instructions for Atlas, which he received from Emerald Chaos last week: according to it, he was supposed to go to the tower in the center, where someone would help him out.

He let the parchment roll itself back up before putting in into his saddlebag again. He got up and continued along the paved street towards the tower. After a while he reached the center of the section he was in, where two streets formed a crossroads. The one he was on went straight from the entrance towards the tower in the center. The other one seemed to be slightly curved, following the general outline of the academy-city and led to a gate to each side of him, each gate lead to other sections of the city.

Atlas ignored those for now and went straight ahead, approaching the gate which led to the center. Guards were stationed at this gate too, suggesting that every gate had a pair of them standing there.

He emerged from the walls, and got his first good look at the center section. Alas, it was rather unremarkable. Around the base of the tower was a space of around thirty feet separating the tower from the wall.

Now that he was so close to it, he realized how high it really was. He looked up and was impressed that unicorns were able to build something like this. He estimated the tower to be about 600 feet high. Nothing special to a former human, but still impressive for a bunch of magical ponies that were essentially in the middle ages, at least in terms of human history.

Although the two couldn’t really be compared, seeing as ponies had magic.

Atlas pushed on, entering through yet another gate, this one on the side of the tower. The inside was one big room, spanning the whole of the tower’s base. Complete with a much higher than needed ceiling. Atlas once again halted his progress to take it all in.

He counted six gates, each one evenly spaced from each other around the tower’s wall. Ponies entered or exited from each of them and approached one of seven counters. Next to each entrance were enough desks for ten ponies, lines forming in front of them. While in the center of the room was a circular reception like construct. On the inside were yet again ten unicorns talking to their respective customers.

Over the desks near the entrances, flags were hung, each group featuring a different color and sigil. The colors were green, orange, red, pink and blue, while the center bore a purple flag featuring the tower Atlas was currently in. He quickly made the connection to the different academies of magic and approached the center reception. Seeing as this one seemed to be a more general reception desk, he put his money on this being the right one for him.

He approached a stallion which was currently free and introduced himself.

“Hi. My name’s Atlas and I’m supposed to enroll at the academy today.” He said while pulling out the letter of introduction from his saddlebag.

The blue stallion took the letter without a word and scanned its content.

“Leave through this door.” He pointed towards one of the gates. “Beyond lies the academy district. You’ll see a small house bearing our academy flag right when you enter. Go there and ask to talk with Sharp Quill, she’ll help you.” The pony slipped back Atlas’s letter and went back to his paperwork.

“Uhh… Thanks.” Atlas said. “I guess…”

Atlas decided to not pay it too much thought as he proceeded to do as he was told. He left through the indicated door and went into the apparent academy district.

True to the blue stallion’s word, one of the first buildings he saw was the one he was told about. Relatively small with two floors, it reminded him about a normal family home back on Earth. Atlas let his gaze wander, taking in more of the district that would be his home for the foreseeable future.

Compared to the district Atlas entered, this one seemed almost empty. All he could see besides the small building in front of him were two other buildings. To his right was a large building with four floors. In the center was a lavishly decorated entrance as well as what he assumed to be a clock tower. Albeit in stead of the clock Atlas knew, there was a simple sundial installed. Above it he could see several bells, which caused him to believe this to be the actual academy building.

To his left was another large building, this one much cruder and effective in style, as well as only three floors high. To hazard a guess, Atlas would put his bits on it being the dorms.

Between the two buildings was a large open space. Considering the academy and dorm buildings were on opposite sides of the district, the space in between could even be called huge.

Though it was far from being empty. From where Atlas stood he could spot a lot of different things, ranging from obstacle courses to recreational areas. Unicorns seemed to be training with spells all over the place, presumably of the kind one should not cast while being inside.

Having seen enough, Atlas approached the small building in front of him. He pushed open the door and entered into a small room. Aside from two doors and a single desk, there was nothing.

Atlas furrowed his brows as he took a closer look at the desk, seeing a single small bell resting on top of it. Realizing it probably was there to call somepony who was working here, he approached it and gave it a hearty smack, breaking the silence with a cheerfully annoying ring.

It didn’t take a long time until the door to his right opened up and a yellow unicorn mare entered the room. She had a red mane with a blue stripe running through the middle. A color palette Atlas mentally classified as bad OC material.

“Hello, how can I help you?” She asked as she took her place behind the desk.

“I was told to find someone named Sharp Quill here.” Atlas explained. “I’m supposed to start studying here at the Academy tomorrow.”

Atlas dug his letter of introduction out of his saddlebag once again, hoofing it over to her.

“Well you’ve found her then.” The mare smiled. “I’m Sharp Quill, pleased to meet you.”

Sharp Quill read through the letter, setting it aside next to the bell once she finished.

“And you must be Mr. Atlas, I was expecting you already.” She said. “I have heard a great deal about you.”

“Really?” Atlas raised his eyebrow. “I hope nothing bad.”

“Oh don’t worry, nothing like that.” Sharp Quill assured him. “It’s just been a while since we got a transfer student from outside the kingdom. Much less somepony who can’t access his magic.” She explained with a smile on her face. “And to top it all off, you have a twin affinity! I have great expectations for you Mr. Atlas.”

“Is having a twin affinity really such a big deal?” Alex asked.

“More than you would think probably.” Sharp Quill responded. “Only about one in every hundred thousand unicorns have a twin affinity. The only thing that’s more rare are unicorns with a magic affinity. As such, you’re already somewhat of a celebrity around here.” She finished with a smirk.

“Should I have to worry?” Atlas asked.

“Not really, but ponies will have expectations of you that they won’t have towards a normal student. It all depends on if you can live up to them.” Sharp Quill elaborated.

“Well, I’ll try my best then.” Atlas replied with a raised eyebrow.

“Good to hear!” Sharp Quill said. “But let’s get you all set up first, alright?”

“Sure.”

“Very well then, please follow me.” Sharp Quill said as she got up, trotting towards the door leading outside.

Atlas grabbed his letter of introduction from the desk and put it back into his saddlebag as he started to follow her.

Once they were outside, Sharp Quill locked the door and started to explain.

“This small building here is mostly to receive and process visitors.” She told Atlas. “I’m stationed here alone, and it doubles as my home. My job is to guide visitors to where they need to be.”

She started trotting towards the building which Atlas assumed was the dorms before. On their way there, they passed several groups of unicorns in various states of activity. Some of them seemed to just hang out and relax in a sunny spot, while others were concentrated so hard on trying to learn some new spell, that you could practically see the steam rolling out of their ears.

“For now I’ll show you the dorms and your room.” Sharp Quill said, confirming Atlas’s suspicion of the buildings purpose. “Seeing as you don’t have any experience with magic, I’ve paired you with a roommate who is quite talented, so feel free to ask him anything if you have a question. He’ll also show you around the rest of the academy.”

“That sounds really convenient, thanks.” Atlas said.

“Well I believe both of you will be able to profit off this arrangement equally. Teaching someone is also a method of learning you know.” Sharp Quill said happily.

They arrived at the entrance of the dorms, which was a simple double door, both of which were wide open to allow easy access. They entered into some kind of foyer. A big room greeted them, filled with tables providing seating. A few groups of unicorns were sparsed out through the large room, as they animatedly discussed everything from magical theories to the latest gossip.

A few potted plants were distributed along the walls, bringing some color into the otherwise bland room. To their left was another double door, the smell of food billowed from beyond them, indicating it as some sort of dining hall. On their right side, yet another double door led towards what seemed to be a recreational area. On the far side of the room, two sets of stairs led up.

“Welcome to the dorms.” Sharp Quill said. “On the first floor are the areas for everybody to enjoy. On the second floor are the rooms for stallions, and the third floor houses the mares.”

Sharp Quill and Atlas approached the staircase to their right and ascended to the second floor. A long hallway greeted them, stretching the whole length of the building.

“Your room number is two thousand sixty-four, you’ll find it in the south wing of the building.” She told Atlas while guiding him down the hallway.

“Ok, gotcha.” Atlas said while following her.

Eventually they arrived at a door that had the number two thousand and sixty-four painted on it in gold paint.

“Well, this is as far as I’ll take you.” Sharp Quill said. “Your roommate has been tasked with the rest of your tour. He’s also in the possession of a roomkey for you.”

“Alright, thank you very much.” Atlas said politely.

They shook hooves and Sharp Quill started on her way back.

Meanwhile Atlas knocked on the door before him, expecting his new roommate to greet him. After a while of nothing happening he knocked again. Again, he was greeted by silence.

“I’m coming in, alright?” Atlas said loud and clear before turning the knob while pushing the door open.

Inside was a room one would expect from a dorm. Two beds were placed in opposite sides of the room, as well as a simple desk on each side. The left side was obviously already claimed by his roommate, indicated by the personal knick-knacks lying around. Meanwhile the right bed and desk were completely empty.

“Not here, huh…” Atlas muttered.

He closed the door before taking off his saddlebag and throwing it onto the right side desk. He approached the bed and literally jumped on it, coming to a stop in a lying position on his back.

“Nothing to do but wait I guess.” Atlas said.

It was still early in the afternoon, so his new roommate was probably still inside a classroom somewhere. Letting his thoughts drift to what would lay ahead of him, Atlas got himself comfortable as he waited.

Author's Note

And here we go, kicking off the scholar arc with chapter 29! Atlas has a long journey behind him, and is starting a new chapter in his life.

Things will be working a bit different in this arc, since I don't want to write every single day of his time in the academy, and I'm sure, you don't want to read them :P As such I'll indicate where we are in the timeline at the start of each chapter, because there WILL be timeskips spanning weeks, or even months in this. Next up is the introduction of his roommate as well as a tour around the academy grounds. The chapter after that, his first school day will mark day 1 of this system.

On a sidenote, for those who haven't seen my blogpost, the reason this chapter was lat is because of three reasons. I still had to iron out some plotpoints of this arc, pokemon Go and:

This little guy! His name's Yhorm and he's my new roommate!

Thank all of you guys for sticking with me this far, and I hope you'll stick with me until the end!

Hope you had a good read, and feel free to comment!

Once again, thanks to my editor Ambros and my proofreader Kilobytes for a job well done!

Todays chapter was brought to you by this song.

30. A new friend and a tour

A few hours after his arrival, Atlas was still alone in his new dorm room.

A few minutes after he arrived he got bored, so he started to explore his new accommodations. Since his side of the room was technically empty he started to take a peek at his roommate's stuff.

The top of the desk was barely visible through all the various research papers and foreign magic paraphernalia. Atlas tried to read some of them, but after a little while gave up, the text looking like gibberish from his viewpoint.

For a moment he was tempted to look into the drawers too, but two things held him back from going through with it. For one he just didn’t want to be caught rummaging through his roommates possibly very personal belongings. He also remembered a certain japanese TV special which had boobytrapped desks, which he didn’t want to find out if there was an magical equivalent to.

Atlas went to look under the bed, but aside from some dust mites there was nothing of interest.

Fresh out of distractions, Atlas plodded down on his rump with a sigh. He had no idea how long it would take for his roommate to arrive, and he didn’t just want to wander off.

While he was thinking about what he could do while he waited, a faint sound reached his ears. They swiveled around to try and find the source, until they zeroed in on the window. Atlas hadn’t paid it much attention until now, but he got up and took his first look outside.

The window was pointed towards the academy grounds, making for an excellent vantage point. Atlas opened the window and put his hooves on the windowsill to support his body while he sticked his head outside.

From his elevated viewpoint he could see much more than before. Once again he could see how big the free space between the two main buildings was. Just like that he had finally found an effective distraction. He took in as much as he could.

Atlas watched as some professors actually held their classes outside, each group had about twenty unicorns sitting attentively listening to their professor’s every word. Something Atlas wasn’t used to from his previous experiences with classrooms. Sadly they were too far away, so he couldn’t listen in on the information they shared with the eager minds of their students. Well, even if he could he doubted he could make sense of what was being said.

Occasional pillars of fire flashed demanding his attention every now and then whenever somepony attempted especially flashy spell. Individual study groups could be seen scattered around the academy’s grounds, apparently students in this institution were able to enjoy a lot of downtime for study.

What surprised Atlas the most though were the various food stands spread around the premises. While it wasn’t unusual to have food stands on school grounds back on earth, he assumed that ponies weren’t technologically advanced enough to effectively execute the necessary procedures. His theory was supported by the fact that ever since coming here he had never seen any stands.

But apparently unicorns were able to make up for missing technology with magic. There was even a unicorn selling ice cream.

As such Atlas spent hours just staring out the window, observing the unicorns as if they were the ants in his science project.

When the sky was slowly turning a darker shade of color, the door behind him opened. Atlas turned his head to look at the new arrival, curious to finally meet his roommate.

An amethyst colored unicorn stallion with a deep purple mane stood in the doorway, a confused look on his face. His purple eyes met Atlas’s silver orbs, the question clearly visible on his features.

“Who are you?” Queried the purple unicorn.

Atlas removed himself from leaning on the window seal to face the stallion properly before answering.

“Hi, the name’s Atlas. I just arrived today, and I guess I’m going to be your new roommate.” Atlas replied.

Understanding dawned on the stallion's face as a smile replaced his confused look.

“Oh that was today?” He said as he closed the door. “Sorry, they didn’t really tell me when you’d arrive. My name’s Amethyst Blade, pleased to meet you.”

When Amethyst trotted into the room proper, Atlas got a glimpse of his cutie mark. It was a blue sword that seemed to glow, surrounded by four white stars.

“Likewise.” Atlas said while holding out a hoof for Amethyst to shake.

The purple stallion gladly accepted and shook Atlas’s energetically.

“So, I was told that I’m supposed to give you a tour around campus. Is there anything you’d like to know before we start?” Amethyst asked.

“Well, I was told you’d help me learn, and that you’re quite talented. Are you some kind of prodigy?” Atlas asked curiously.

“You could say that.” Amethyst laughed. “But the truth is just that I was born with a magic affinity. It makes things… easier.” Amethyst rubbed the back of his head with his left hoof. “I hear you’re not too shabby yourself, having a twin affinity and all.”

“Apparently, although I’m still not quite sure how that’s going to help me.” Atlas said. “After all, I can’t even cast the simplest of spells.” He sighed after that statement.

“You can’t?” Amethyst asked with furrowed eyebrows.

“They haven’t told you?” Atlas asked, equally confused.

“No…” Amethyst sighed. “They were really vague about the whole thing. They basically just told me that you’re coming, and that I should look after you.”

The situation turned a bit awkward after that, both of them just staring at the ground thinking about what to say next.

“Well, no use thinking about it.” Amethyst said. “I’m sure you’ll learn fast enough, you’ll be casting spells left and right before you know it.”

“I hope so.” Atlas said with a sigh.

“So what do you say about that tour?” Amethyst Blade asked.

“Sounds awesome.” Atlas responded.

They both got up, and left their room. Once outside amethyst turned to lock the door with a key.

“That reminds me, they gave me your key!” He said while looking at the floating key in front of him. “I’ll give it to you once we’re back, ok?”

“Sure” Atlas responded simply.

They started trotting down the hallway towards one of the stairs leading down.

“So have they shown you around the dorms already or should we just start here?” Amethyst asked while walking.

“Sharp Quill just explained the rough layout for me in passing.” Atlas replied. “Nothing too detailed though.”

“Ok, so I guess I’ll show you then.” Amethyst said.

When they reached the stairs, Atlas made to go down, but Amethyst kept walking past it. Atlas followed him, sort of confused. Was there something besides the rooms on the first floor that he needed to see?

Amethyst stopped once they reached a set of doors that weren’t numbered.

“Those are the restrooms.” He magically opened the door on the left. “As you can see, there are several stalls to use, and we have flowing water as well.” Atlas nodded. “There’s a bathhouse behind the dorms for us to wash up. It draws from a natural spring in the mountain, so we’re quite lucky.”

“Awesome.” Atlas said. “Can’t wait to test it out.”

“It’s really relaxing, you’ll love it.” Amethyst said while closing the door again. “Third floor is basically the same as this one, so let’s head down.”

“Alright” Atlas responded and continued to follow his guide down the stairs they previously passed.

“I guess you’ve already seen the entrance hall, but just for the sake of the tour, this is a general meeting spot.”

Amethyst Blade continued on towards the dining hall Atlas was only able to catch a glimpse of before.

The dining hall was a lot bigger than Atlas first assumed. Rows upon rows of tables were set. By Atlas’s estimation as a chef on earth, it would easily be able to seat a thousand ponies. Judging by the fact that the hall as it should properly be called, spanned almost the whole left side of the building, although a guess the capacity wouldn't surprise him if true.

“This is our dining hall.” Amethyst explained. “There are two meals served every day for free, breakfast and dinner. Most ponies only eat something light for lunch, the food stands outside are favored by most students and teachers. You can still come in here to buy some sandwiches or similar small foods.”

“So when are the serving times?” Atlas asked.

A few ponies were already spread around the large hall, waiting for the staff to open the buffet on the far side of the room.

“Breakfast is from seven to ten, and dinner from six ‘till nine.” Amethyst supplied happily.

“Ugh…” The natural enemy of the chef were early mornings, and Amethyst’s statement made Atlas remember he would have to get up bright and early from now on.

“Something wrong?” Amethyst asked with a raised eyebrow.

“No, it’s nothing.” Atlas said hastily. “Shall we continue?”

Atlas flashed Amethyst the best fake smile he could muster while trying to summon some enthusiasm.

“Ok then.” Amethyst said, trying to ignore the creepy smile Atlas sported. “Only the rec room left in the dorms.”

Amethyst led Atlas across the entrance hall to where an equally enormous room waited for them. Just like the dining hall, the “rec room” took up the whole of the buildings right side.

Aside from a plethora of tables with board games, there were larger games set up. Atlas recognized a few from earth, but there were also games he’d never seen before. Most of them included magic in some way or another.

“Well this is the rec room, you’re free to use everything in here whenever you want.” Amethyst explained. “The amount of stuff in here is amazing, and as such there is no point in me showing you around right now. You’d best come back here sometimes and take your time to explore. There’s something for everypony in here.”

“This is amazing.” Atlas said with an open mouth.

The whole thing kind of reminded Atlas about an arcade back on earth, but with less arcade machines and more physical games.

“Yeah, there’s lots of fun to be had here.” Amethyst said with a smile on his face. “Sometimes they even hold tournaments in here with prizes and everything.”

“That sounds like a challenge to me.” Atlas said while grinning towards Amethyst.

“Gonna need some basic magic first.” Amethyst quipped.

“One v. one me faggot, I’ll wreck you” Atlas said, doing his best to sound like an annoying little kid.

“Huh?” Amethyst looked confused. “What?”

“Don’t worry, just an in-joke.” Atlas once again had to realize that nobody would understand his references in this world.

“Yeah… sure.” Amethyst said skeptically. “Onwards then.”

Amethyst led Atlas out of the building, taking a direct course for the academy’s entrance on the other side.

“Well the academy grounds are pretty straightforward too.” Amethyst explained while they walked. “It’s more or less just empty space you can use for whatever you want. Some teachers hold classes outside, dangerous spells are practiced in study groups, which are formed with ponies who like to be outside and just general relaxation. Technically if whatever you want to do can be done outside, you’re allowed to. Although there are security guidelines in place if you want to practice destruction spells or similar things.”

They passed by a vendor who was selling refreshments.

“As you can see merchant ponies capitalized on this, and have set up shop all over.” Amethyst continued. “No one’s complaining though.”

As such they continued on towards the academy, Amethyst pointing out points of interest from time to time. After a solid ten minutes of walking straight they arrived at the academy gates. Contrary to the dorms, the academy building was filled with activity. Ponies of all ages trotted to and fro, some carrying documents in their magic others engaged in enthusiastic discussions.

They entered the building proper into a reception hall. Contrary to the Dorm building, the academy building focused a lot more on presentability. Most of the interior was carved from some kind of stone or mineral, the different colors of grey, black and white complimenting each other to create an impressive display.

Once again, the entrance hall was way larger than it really needed to be, the ceiling went up all the way to the fourth floor, a circular dome of stained glass opening up to the sky. Looking up, Atlas could see the other floors of the building, and railings made from marble protected ponies from falling from each respective floor. The general theme seemed to be circles, as such two stairs led into the upper floors in front of them. Starting at opposite ends of the room, they curved towards the center where they ultimately joined and parted again in both directions.

In the center of the circle rested a elongated reception area. Four unicorns staffed it.

“Over here!” Amethyst called towards Atlas who had stopped in his tracks to marvel at the architecture.

Amethyst was standing in front of a large building plan, carved into a massive piece of granite. Atlas approached him and took a look at the map. Every room on every floor was neatly labeled, making it easy to find whatever one might be searching for.

“This map is going to be your best friend in the beginning.” Amethyst said with a knowing grin. “The academy has tons of rooms, so remembering the location of every one is rather difficult.” He pointed towards one of the rooms. “As you can see every room is numbered.”

True to his word the room labeled as janitors closet was assigned the number 124. Apparently when he said every room was numbered, he meant it quite literally.

“We’ll get your class schedule over at the desk soon.” He continued to explain. “Every lesson on it will have a room number assigned to it, so you’ll know where to go by cross referencing this map. There’s one on every floor, so try not to get lost.”

“Should be easy.” Atlas answered.

Atlas was used to navigate even bigger buildings than the academy with the aid of a map, so he didn't think it would be a problem.

“If you say so.” Amethyst said with raised eyebrows. “Come on, let’s get your class schedule and get something to eat after. I’m starving.”

“Huh?” Atlas said. “You’re not going to show me around the academy?” He asked confused.

“Eh, you’ll see all of it eventually.” Amethyst said, waving him off with a hoof. “There’s nothing really interesting here anyway. Just hundreds of classrooms that look slightly different, so there’s really no point in showing you around.”

They approached the reception, where Amethyst steered towards a sky blue unicorn mare with a white mane.

“Hey Lapis.” Amethyst greeted her.

The mare seemed to recognize Amethyst as a smile appeared on her face.

“Hi Amethyst, how can I help you?” She asked sweetly.

“This here’s my new friend, Atlas.” Amethyst said and pulled Atlas into a one legged hug from the side. “He’s starting here tomorrow and we’re here to get his class schedule.”

The mare named Lapis shifted her gaze towards Atlas. She seemed to mull over the new information for a moment before remembering something.

“Ah, Atlas. The one with the twin affinity, right?” She asked him.

“Errr… Yeah.” Atlas said hesitantly.

“Just a moment please.” Lapis said before she got up from her seat behind the wooden counter.

She approached one of the many cabinets and started scanning the labels on the different compartments. After a moment of searching her horn started to glow and she pulled one open, scanning through the documents inside. A small folder levitated out of it, while the compartment closed itself again.

The folder floated behind Lapis as she made her way back to the duo awaiting her.

“Here you go.” She said and placed the folder in front of Atlas. “You’ll find everything you need in here. Apart from your class schedule, there are also several other informational documents in there, such as the academy guidelines.”

“Thanks.” Atlas said, and pulled the folder off the wooden counter, balancing it on his back.

A skill he acquired just recently, and was quite proud of having mastered. Belle was kind enough to teach him in his spare time, and it already came in useful in a lot of places. Balancing things on your back wasn’t as effective as using a saddlebag, but still got the job done.

“Well then, let’s get something to eat!” Amethyst proclaimed. “I’m starving!”

“Okay, to the dining hall I presume?” Atlas asked him.

“You learn fast.” Amethyst grinned. “Bye Lapis.”

Before either Atlas or Lapis could say anything, Amethyst ran off towards the exit. Atlas looked at Lapis, shrugged and turned to follow his new friend.

Author's Note

Amethyst Blade was kind enough to lend me his name for my OC, any similarities are pure coincidence. Thanks, dude! :moustache:

Anyway, welcome Amethyst Blade into the ranks of our ever growing cast. (Also, to whoever was >inb4 Starswirl last chapter.... HA!)

Next chapter Atlas will learn some magic! (maybe? :rainbowhuh: )

Hope you had a good read, and feel free to comment!

Once again, thanks to my editor Ambros and my proofreader Kilobytes for a job well done!

Todays chapter was brought to you by the letter "e", which appears 1591 times in this chapter.

31. First Day

Scholar Arc
Day 1

Atlas sat at the breakfast table with bloodshot eyes. Ever since he arrived in the pony world he’d been able to sleep to his heart's content, or at least, get enough of it. He didn’t relish the idea of waking early again for the foreseeable future. Just as he expected, his pony body was unaccustomed to early starts, as his human body once was.

Next to him sat a completely awake Amethyst Blade, happily munching on his breakfast. Atlas hated happy people in the morning. Even more so if the pony in question literally threw him out of bed half an hour ago.

“Mmmm mmmm! These oats are delicious.” Amethyst said between bites.

Atlas leveled an irritated glare at him, his right eye twitching. Not only was the pony next to him happy, he also had the gall to call oats tasty. At this point, Atlas started to think Amethyst was insane and needed to be put down.

“You’d better start eating soon Atlas, or you’ll have to go without until lunch.” Amethyst said while shooting Atlas a worried look.

Atlas decided to ignore him. He almost never ate breakfast, and he didn’t see the point in starting now.

A loud grumble derailed Atlas’s trail of thought. After he blinked slowly twice, he realized it was his stomach producing the ungodly sound. Suddenly Atlas felt glad that Amethyst had forced him to at least take an apple back to the table as he started nibbling on the red treat in front of him.

Atlas let his thoughts wander while he ate, thinking about what he’d get to learn today. Over time, the realization started to settle in that he’d actually get to learn magic today. This realization and the sugar from the apple helped to kickstart his hibernating brain into some semblance of activity, causing Atlas to come out of his vegetative morning state.

“Finally waking up I see.” Amethyst quipped from the side, noticing Atlas’s increased activity.

“Yeah.” Atlas answered lazily. “I just realized that in a few hours I might finally be able to cast some magic.” He pondered.

“Well magic has a lot to do with logic, so you’ll probably have an easier time than a foal would trying to learn.” Amethyst said. “Plus, ponies with twin affinities usually have at least some talent with magic. I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it.”

“Thanks.” He wasn’t fishing for a compliment, but it made him feel a bit more optimistic about today regardless.

Now that he was thinking about it he was getting nervous. Doubt swirled around in his head. If after all he’d gone through just to get here, it turned out that he’d never be able to cast anything, he might as well just kill himself. Not that it would help at this point anyway.

“Ok, you ready then?” Amethyst asked as he finished his breakfast. “It’s time.”

Amethyst got up as he levitated his tray with magic, unknowingly taunting Atlas with his casual casting. Atlas only had an apple and ate the whole thing he didn’t have anything to carry. Not wanting to lose Amethyst he got up and followed him towards the exit, joining the throng of unicorns also heading towards their classes.

At the exit Amethyst deposited his tray on a cart, like everypony else. Once they’d left the dinner hall, Amethyst pulled Atlas to the side.

“You have everything you need?” He asked worriedly. “Do you have your class schedule with you?”

“Yes, mom.” Quipped Atlas.

Atlas didn’t really have any materials to carry around, so instead of taking his saddlebag with him, he just opted to stick the class schedule into his hair. He remembered seeing Pinkie do stuff like this in the show and decided to try it. Surprisingly pony manes were pretty good at holding things, although he doubted he’d be sticking any cannons up there anytime soon.

“Well then, good luck.” Amethyst said with a grin. “I need to get a few things from our room, so just go ahead without me, I trust you know the way.”

With these words of parting, Amethyst Blade left Atlas behind in the entrance hall of the dorms. Atlas watched Amethyst go up the stairs until he disappeared, before he turned around.

“Well, here goes nothing.” He said as he started heading towards his classroom.

Atlas stood in front of the door with the number 2016 written on it. With the help of his trusty class schedule and the maps on every floor, he finally arrived at the classroom where he’d learn to unlock his magic.

On his way over, he got considerably more nervous, and now that he stood literally inches away from his goal, his nerves were starting to get the best of him. Willing himself to man up he knocked on the door, since he wasn’t sure if he was allowed to enter without doing so first.

After a while the door opened, revealing a well aged stallion. His coat was a deep red, and his mane was orange and cut short. His green eyes were fixated on Atlas who nervously stood in front of him.

“Atlas I presume?” The stallion asked.

“Yes, sir.” Atlas replied and almost saluted due to the authority the older stallion seemed to emanate.

Now that he thought about it, was he actually supposed to salute? This was a military academy after all, and he didn’t exactly read the guide yesterday since he was just dicking around with Amethyst.

“Come in then.” The old stallion said.

After the stallion moved away from the door, Atlas entered into the rather small classroom. While he was checking out the interior, he could hear the door magically close behind him. Instead of a classic classroom, Atlas found himself in what he could only describe as a conference room.

Four tables were set next to each other in a row, creating a large rectangle. Chairs were set around them, offering room for twelve ponies. To the front of the room a large blackboard hung on the wall, several things already written and drawn on it, including a rough sketch of a unicorn.

“Let me change this up a bit.” The old stallion said from behind him.

Suddenly every piece of furniture in the room started to glow a soft red. The tables floated into the air and three of them moved to stack themselves in a corner. Most of the chairs did the same, floating to another corner where they were neatly set down. Meanwhile one table and one chair were set in front of the blackboard.

All of which happened over the span of three seconds. Once again Atlas was reminded how amazing and useful even a basic spell like levitation was.

“Please take a seat.” The old stallion said, while he himself moved in front of the blackboard.

Atlas eagerly did as he was told. Now that he was actually here, his nervousness from before was completely blown away.

The red stallion cleared his throat before starting to talk.

“Good day to you Atlas. My name is Blazing Inferno.” The stallion introduced himself. “I am a class six battlemage. I served over thirty years in the army before becoming a teacher at this academy. I have redeemed myself in the academic fields of combat, life and energy and as such was deemed the right pony to guide you in your first steps as a magician.”

“My name is Atlas.” Atlas felt the need to introduce himself again after what he just heard. “I’m honored to have you teach me.”

Blazing Inferno nodded in acknowledgement.

“Very well, before we start with your first lesson let me just go over a few things with you.” Inferno said while levitating a small folder towards him. “ It says here that you were born in earth pony territory, lost your parents early on, never had anyone teach you magic and finally came here when you reached adulthood. Is that correct?”

Blazing Inferno looked up from his document after the last question, looking Atlas in the eye.

“Yes, sir.” Atlas responded without missing a beat.

Inferno seemed to search for any sign of deception on Atlas’s face. He tried not to worry about it too much and just waited for his teacher to continue.

“Do you have any inclination to one day return to your hometown and aid the earth ponies with the magic you learn here?” Blazing Inferno asked.

The air suddenly turned cold as Inferno’s eyes seemed to bore into Atlas’s skull. It seemed like Blazing Inferno wasn’t exactly on good terms with earth ponies.

Atlas gulped before answering. “No sir. There is nothing for me to return to, I’m planning to stay in the kingdom from now on.”

While not entirely true, Atlas’s statement was technically correct, so he didn’t worry about Blazing Inferno digging deeper. Inferno held the icy stare for a few seconds longer, before his features visibly relaxed.

The atmosphere in the room changed once again, when Blazing Inferno’s personality seemed to do a full one-eighty. A smile graced his face, the wrinkles around his eyes aiding in making him more approachable. Instead of a harsh army maniac, there was suddenly a nice elderly teacher in front of Atlas.

“That’s what I like to hear!” Inferno said joyfully. “I’m sorry for the harsh welcome, but I just had to make sure.”

He smiled at Atlas, which returned the smile unsure of what exactly was happening.

“Well, now that we have that out of the way, onto more pleasant subjects.” Inferno said. “To tell you a little more about myself, I’ve taught total beginners before so you’re in good hooves. In fact I’m sure by the end of today you’ll be able to cast levitation.” Inferno’s smile grew even bigger. “This, I promise.”

Abandoning all doubt about his teacher, Atlas started to smile too. He could deal with a veteran who was a little bonkers.

“Awesome!” Atlas exclaimed happily.

“Well, let’s not waste any time then, shall we?” Inferno said. “To begin, let’s talk about that surge you experienced on your way here. I have a rough report in here.” He tapped on his folder. “But I’d like to hear about it in as much detail as you can manage.”

“Sure.” Atlas said.

Atlas explained to Inferno everything he could remember about that fateful night. For the first time since it happened he really jogged his memory of the event, trying to milk as much information out of his brain as he could.

“Hmm, interesting.” Inferno said after Atlas finished his tale. “And you’re definitely sure that the ball of magic was green?”

“I’m certain, yes.” Atlas said. “Is that important in some way?” He asked as an afterthought.

“Not important.” Inferno answered. “But interesting.”

The expectant look Atlas shot him prompted him to elaborate.

“You see, a surge within a unicorn is usually caused by an overload of their magic.” Inferno explained. “Due to a stressful event, maybe an accident or something similar, the body subconsciously starts absorbing more magic from the surrounding area than it can handle. This is supposed to be a defense mechanism, and if used right can give a soldier a boost in magical strength in times of need.”

“However, mastering this technique is very hard and takes years of training. So when an inexperienced unicorn, be this foal or adult, has a surge, the magic usually overloads.” Inferno opted to sit on the floor at this point. “Since most unicorns can only absorb one kind of magic energy, the surge spell as we call it, takes the form of a spell in the corresponding magic school.”

“Do you understand so far?” Inferno asked Atlas.

“I think so, yes.” Atlas responded. “So when a unicorn with an Illusion affinity has a surge, the overflowing magic would take the form of an illusion spell.”

“Exactly.” Inferno nodded. “And that’s why your surge is interesting. Going by that logic, your surge was due to an overabundance of life magic. But your surge spell took the form of what we call a magic missile. A class two spell from the combat school. It is unusual, but this was probably caused by your twin affinity. Due to the lack of unicorns to study, we’re still not completely sure how a twin affinity affects the caster, so this is an interesting tidbit of information.”

“Oh, okay.” Atlas said. He honestly expected them to know more about the phenomenon, but of all the unicorns with a twin affinity, not a lot seemed to find their way into magical occupations, despite having a knack for it. “Well, in that case, I hope I’ll be able to provide new insights over my years here.”

“Much appreciated.” Inferno said, standing up again. ”Now, let us move on to the actual lesson.”

Blazing Inferno moved to the front of the blackboard and positioned himself next to the sketch of a unicorn.

“So I take it any and all of your attempts at using magic have failed so far?” queried Inferno.

“Yes, not even the slightest bit of magic, no matter how hard I tried.” Atlas said. “And I tried a lot of things.”

“Oh, I’m sure you did.” chuckled Inferno. “So let me show you the way that will work.”

Inferno levitated a short stick over to himself, pointing it towards the sketch.

“I’m sure you know already, but our horn is the focus point of our magic.” Inferno said, moving the stick towards the horn. “And when you enlisted, you probably heard about the mana pool for the first time. The mana pool is just as the name suggests, the place where the absorbed magic gets stored inside the body.”

“Where do you think that pool is located?” Inferno asked.

Atlas took a moment to think about possible locations for a mana pool. Going by his vast knowledge of fantasy books, the most obvious answer should be somewhere in the stomach area; so he went with that.

“My guess would be somewhere around the stomach.” He said unsure. “Or maybe in the head?” He added as an afterthought.

“Both are not bad guesses, and you’re right in a way.” Inferno nodded. “But technically you’re also wrong. The thing is, when one thinks about a mana pool, one would obviously come to the conclusion that there is a literal storage somewhere within the body. Unfortunately whoever named it as such had a poor naming sense.”

“The ‘Mana Pool’ is actually less a pool, than it is a dam.” Inferno explained. “As such the mana isn’t actually located anywhere in the body, the mana pool is the body.”

Atlas adopted a confused look at that. While he had an inkling of what his teacher was playing at, he didn’t fully understand.

“Think of your body as a dam.” continued Inferno. “The magic gets absorbed into your body, like a river flowing into a lake. Your horn serves as the actual dam itself, allowing you to control how much ‘water’ is allowed to flow out. Obviously if you only absorb and never use your magic, your horn will not be able to hold back the ever growing mass inside you, causing it to flood, which brings us back to what a surge is.”

Atlas thought the analogy was quite fitting when he finally got it.

“I understand.” Atlas said. “So a normal unicorn who uses a spell every now and then is in no danger of a surge, since there’s a steady outflow.” He concluded.

“Exactly!” Inferno exclaimed, happy that his student was picking up his teachings quickly.

“Casting a spell is always split into three basic parts, which every spell of every school goes through.” Inferno moved on towards a blank space on the blackboard and picked a piece of chalk up in his magic. “First, you need to channel the magic from within you, into your horn.”

He wrote ‘channeling’ on the blackboard.

“Next, you need to give a purpose to the magic.”

He wrote ‘forming’ under the first word.

“And finally, you need to release the spell.”

The word ‘casting’ was added.

“When these three conditions are met, a spell is executed. While channeling and casting are easy, giving a spell the actual form you want it to take is the difficult part.”

Atlas nodded, at this point he wished he’d been able to take notes, but for now he’d just have to remember everything.

“Typically, the forming of spells is the only thing being studied at this and every other academy. New ways of formation are researched, and existing ones are made more effective through the collective effort of all unicorn mages.” Inferno put down his chalk. “To receive the title of mage you need to have successfully completed a magical education.”

“So what kinds of formation are there?” Atlas asked.

“Oh, there are over twenty different ways of formation, but most of them are pretty obscure and are only needed for a few specific high level spells.” Inferno explained, sitting down once again. “Sometimes there are even unicorns who use completely different kinds of formation to everypony else. Nopony really knows why they’re able to cast, but it just works out for them. We call ponies like them ‘naturals’.”

“The most commonly used types of formation are visualization, calculation, and incantation. Visualization is most often used for lower tier spells, calculation for mid tier spells, and incantation for high tier spells.” Inferno explained, the chalk behind him writing the words down.

“Today you’ll be learning the most basic of spells, Levitation.” Inferno wrote it on the board and connected visualization with levitation. “Levitation is technically a spell from the school of manipulation, but since it has close to no mana usage and every unicorn is able to cast it almost equally regardless of affinity, it’s considered a neutral spell. Of course, someone from the school of manipulation will be able to use it more efficiently than everypony else, there have even been cases where levitation was considered a high tier spell, due to the extreme ability of the users.”

“Do you understand?” Inferno asked Atlas, making sure he wasn’t moving too fast.

“Perfectly, it is all quite logical when you think of it like that.” Atlas responded, eager to get to the practical part of the lesson.

“Alright, I’m sure you’re eager to try this all out yourself, and doing something is always more interesting than just talking about it.” Inferno had to grin when he saw the giant smile plastered on Atlas’s face.

“Then what do you think you’ll have to learn first?” Inferno asked patiently.

“Channeling!” Atlas responded immediately.

“Right you are, so let’s get to it then.”

Inferno came over to the table and levitated a chair over for him to sit in, taking place in front of Atlas.

“Well then, close your eyes and concentrate.” Inferno instructed.

Atlas hesitated for a moment, chewing the inside of his cheek.

“Is something wrong young Atlas?” Inferno asked concerned.

“Well it’s just that I’ve tried the whole concentrating method before, in fact it’s the one I tried the most.” Atlas said hesitantly. “Needless to say it never worked.”

Inferno chuckled. “Well I’m sure this time will be different. This time you’re armed with knowledge, and I’ll guide you through it. Trust me, it’ll work.”

Atlas thought it over and decided to trust his teacher. He closed his eyes and started to focus, for now on nothing in particular. For a minute or two silence took over the room.

“I see you’ve calmed down.” Inferno said in a calm voice. “Let’s begin.”

It was in the late afternoon, the sky already turning a shade of orange, indicating the sun's descent.

In the time until lunch Inferno had Atlas train his channeling. It took some time, but after about an hour the first results finally showed. Once Atlas finally got a feel for the magic currents within himself, he spent the rest of the morning getting a better feel for it, until he eventually could do it without needing an extreme amount of focus.

Lunch came as a welcome respite for him, the exercises having strained his brain.

In the afternoon, he actually started practicing levitation. As the name suggested visualization literally required him to imagine what he wanted his magic to do. Since levitating something was an easy concept, casting levitation wasn’t that hard. Although he ran into a new problem when the book he tried to levitate exploded on the ceiling of the room.

Thus most of the afternoon was spent learning how to regulate his magic output while keeping the spell active. At the end he was able to levitate the book steadily, making it spin slowly or placing it where he wanted.

It still took quite some effort and concentration on his part, but he was finally doing it. The one thing he dreamed about even before coming to this world, was finally within his grasp.

When Blazing Inferno decided to call it a day, Atlas was kind of disappointed, but also relieved since he was tired from concentrating for so long.

“I’ll clean up here, you go on and eat something. You’ll need it.” Inferno said. “Until tomorrow.”

Atlas moved for the door, and opened it with his hoof. “Thank you so much.” Atlas said. “I look forward to our next lesson tomorrow.”

Atlas stepped through the door and made a show of closing it with his magic, eliciting a chuckle from Inferno.

“Be sure to rest up tonight, and don’t practice for too long or you’ll be exhausted tomorrow.”

“Sir, yes sir!” Atlas playfully remarked, before closing the door completely.

After the door was closed, Atlas stood still for a few moments letting the day pass by again. A smile started to form on his face until he started giggling like a little schoolgirl. He trotted on the spot excitedly for a few seconds, until he shot off towards the dorms; eager to tell Amethyst all about his day.

Author's Note

Atlas finally gets to learn some magic! Also, this is how magic works in my story. As a bonus fun fact: In my first story(which was a complete failure and got deleted) there was also a unicorn who couldn't do magic. I got about 15k words in, but then came the chapter of his first lesson and I had no idea how I should write it, which led to procrastination and eventually, cancellation.

So having succesfully pulled off this chapter means a lot to me. I basically defeated my past self :D

Hope you had a good read, and feel free to comment!

Once again, thanks to my editor Ambros and my proofreader Kilobytes for a job well done!

Todays chapter was brought to you bythis song.

32. A Day Off

Scholar Arc
Day 6

Atlas was lying on his bed. Amethyst was currently attending a class, which left Atlas to his own devices; after having studied furiously in the past week, Blazing Inferno gave him a day off. Contrary to the fixed schedule Atlas was used to from earth, giving days off in the academy was entirely up to the teachers.

While he still wanted to continue his studies, Atlas found himself agreeing with Inferno. The constant use of his brain started to take it’s toll, causing him to be sleepy during the day while also making it harder to concentrate.

Even though Atlas had only learnt the levitation spell for now, he took his training seriously. Since using hooves to do everything was still awkward for him, he found himself defaulting to magic whenever possible. As such he was using his levitation spell proudly every time he got the chance to, sometimes even just letting things float for fun.

It took quite some work to adjust his magical output and refine his control, but now he could cast the spell almost effortlessly.

Aside from training his spellcasting, Blazing Inferno pumped Atlas’s brain full of basic magical theories. Since Atlas would have to join a regular class in a few weeks, they were going through the material at full speed.

As soon as he was able to, Atlas started to take notes like a madman. As such the desk in his room was cluttered with loose parchment. True to his old human nature, there was seemingly no system behind the mess, but he was still able to find everything he needed. Organized chaos so to speak.

Doing this led to an interesting discovery for him. Blazing Inferno was not able to read Atlas’s notes. While Atlas was using the Latin alphabet from earth, ponies seemed to have developed an entirely different alphabet. Atlas was magically able to read theirs perfectly without knowing how or why, although ponies couldn’t read Atlas’s writing.

Atlas ventured a guess on why this was, and thanked whatever god was kind enough to wire this ability into his head when he was transformed.

Although he’d need to learn their alphabet too at some point, if he ever wanted to write a report for class or similar things. Atlas tried with several books on the subject to no avail. The writings in them just looked like regular latin letters to him. He’d have to ask Amethyst at some point to help him out.

Atlas stretched his limbs out in an attempt to get his blood flowing. His horn flared up with a green glow and his blanket floated off him. He hopped out of bed and a quick glance out the window told him it was almost noon.

Apparently he was more tired than he thought and slept in. A huge yawn escaped his lips while he tried to shake off his morning drowsiness,

“First things first…” Atlas mumbled, before making his way toward the bathroom.

After he got back Atlas felt a lot more awake, thanks in part to the water he splashed on his face. He dried himself off with a towel, before tossing it haphazardly on his desk when he was done.

After stretching one last time, he levitated his saddlebag onto his back. The right latch opened and a small bag of bits floated into it. As he closed the latch he made sure the saddlebag was secure one last time before stepping out of the room and locking it.

It had almost been a full week since he last saw his friends, so he decided to go down into the city proper and see if they were up for lunch.

Atlas approached the house where Crimson and Belle were staying. It took him almost an hour of walking from the academy to reach it.

They were staying in a flat on the second floor, the staircase to which was attached to the outer wall of the simple house. Nothing really stood out about it, just one of thousands just like it, mostly found in the back alleys of the city.

He climbed the wooden steps until he arrived at a platform giving access to a door, before knocking on it three times with his hooves.

At first he couldn’t hear anything, which was weird since the door was pretty thin, leading him to believe he came here in vain. But after a few seconds he could hear shuffling from the other side, and steps approaching the door.

A crack appeared at the side of the door and a blue eye peeked out.

“Hi Belle.” Atlas said amused.

“Atlas!” Belle shouted happily, practically throwing open the door.

She lept outside and wrapped Atlas in a friendly hug, which he returned.

“Haven’t seen you in a while!” Belle said. “How have you been? Can you do magic now? Are the ponies in the academy nice? Please come in!”

Belle immediately barraged Atlas with a flurry of questions. Atlas chuckled at her usual spiel, having grown accustomed to her excessive talking during their trip. He entered the simple two room flat and decided to answer one of her questions by levitating his saddlebags off his back and into a corner.

A gasp could be heard from behind Atlas, causing him to grin.

“You CAN do magic now!” Belle said astounded. “You need to tell me all about it!”

She zoomed over to where Atlas was, and shot some devastating puppy eyes his way.

“Alright, don’t worry.” Atlas reassured her. “But only if you tell me what you’ve been up to as well. Where’s Crimson by the way?”

Atlas looked around in the sparsely decorated interior and wasn’t able to spot the red pegasus anywhere. There was another room, but the door was wide open and he’d surely have come out to greet Atlas by now.

“Oh, Crimson’s at work and won’t come back before evening.” Belle offered. “Apparently they’re brutally understaffed and their workload is pretty high this time of year.”

“Well just us two then.” Atlas said. “What do you think about lunch? We can talk over something to eat.”

“Sure, sounds good to me.” Belle responded. “The usual place?”

“Depends, found anything better in the past week?” Atlas asked.

“Nah.”

“Well then, Apple Bee’s it is.” Atlas said.

In the week where they were staying at a hotel they usually went out to eat. It didn’t take them too long before they found the nice little restaurant, a bit off the beaten path. The owner was an earth pony named Apple Bee, a chubby stallion who loved to talk and laugh with his customers. Since his prices were affordable and the food tasty, they quickly became regulars.

They grabbed what they needed and Belle deposited her own bits in Atlas’s saddlebags. Belle locked up before they were on their merry way.

“So how’s Crimson doing?” Atlas asked. “Everything alright with him?”

“Oh yeah.” Belle replied. “He said he’s still learning the ropes, but his colleague are apparently pretty understanding and supporting.”

“That’s good to hear. After all he’s been through I hope this will be something steady for him.”

“I think we’ve all had our fair share of troubles in the past, enough to have earned a little respite.” Belle said seriously.

“Let’s just hope it lasts.” Atlas said. “I’m kind of like a magnet for trouble.”

“Oh don’t be such a worrywart! Everything will be fine.” Belle playfully smacked Atlas on the back of his head. “Besides, we can look out for one and other.”

“Yeah I guess you’re right.” Atlas sighed.

Atlas really hoped she was right. But knowing his fate recently the universe was just waiting for the opportune moment to throw more stones at him. Possibly even literal stones.

They turned a corner and Apple Bee’s came into view. It was a quaint little place, a wooden fence shielding the outside tables from the street. Vines were running up the building wall as well as the fence, creating a nice contrast to the otherwise bleak house facades.

Out front hung a shield depicting a red apple upon which a bee had landed. It was at the same time the logo of the establishment as well as the owners cutie mark.

“Outside?” Atlas asked.

“Outside.” Belle answered.

Atlas nodded and approached the entrance, while Belle was already picking a place to sit. Apparently they made it just before the lunch rush, as almost nopony else was present. Atlas poked his head inside and looked around, trying to spot the chubby stallion.

“Apple Bee?” Atlas called after not being able to locate him. “Table for two, outside!” he shouted.

“Atlas? Is that you? I’ll be right with you guys!” A voice shouted from the kitchen.

Satisfied Atlas turned around and went to sit with Belle.

“So? Tell me all about it!” Belle said as soon as he sat down.

Atlas levitated his saddlebag off to the side, resting it against a table leg.

“Oh, it’s mostly boring theoretical stuff you know?” Atlas teased Belle.

“I wanna know anyway!” Belle said frustrated. “Tell me!”

“Alright, alright calm down.” Atlas chuckled.

“Well, the island is truly a sight to see…”

“Atlas! It really is you!” shouted a voice from the restaurant entrance. “I haven’t seen you in over a week! So nice to have you back!”

A chubby earth stallion made his way over to them. He had a red coat and his mane was cut short and green.

“Alway nice to see you too of course, Belle.” He added as he approached.

“I’ve started living on the academy island, afraid an hour walk is a bit more than my lunchbreak allows for.” Atlas said.

“Good for you!” Apple Bee said. “As long as you don’t forget your old pal Apple Bee and visit from time to time!”

The chubby stallion guffawed, his sides wobbling with every move.

“So what can I get for you two?” Apple Bee asked. “Today's special is a tasty tomato salad, followed by a hearty vegetable stew.”

“Sounds good to me.” Atlas said.

“I’ll take it too.” Belle agreed.

“Two dailies, coming right up.”

Apple Bee shot them his widest smile, and went back to inform his cook.

“So anyway, the whole island is dedicated to magic research!” Atlas continued their previous conversation. “Everything is walled off and there is this huge tower in the center, it’s almost like a fortress.”

“Ohh that sounds amazing! Can I come and visit sometime?” Belle interjected.

“Sure, that shouldn’t be a problem.” Atlas replied.

“Yay!” Belle said and did a little hoof pump.

“The dorms are ok, the rooms are pretty simple, but they are adequate.” Atlas continued.
“That reminds me, you should meet my roommate sometime. His name’s Amethyst Blade and he knows a lot about magic. I’m sure you’ll be able to ask him everything you want to know.”

Belle’s face lit up at that. Her curiosity for the magical practices knew no bounds, so having a friend who could quench her thirst for knowledge was amazing.

“I’d love to!” She said in awe. “But what about your magic lessons? Are they hard?”

Atlas took a few moments to think about his answer.

“What’s this I hear about magic lessons?” A voice said next to them.

Apple Bee had returned with their salads, putting them down on their table. He sat down next to them, obviously interested.

“You finally able to do something useful with that horn of yours?” Apple Bee asked.

“For now only just levitating stuff.” Atlas replied, levitating his fork to get his point across.

Apple Bee started laughing happily again. “Good for you boy!” He said after calming down. “Don’t forget about little old me once you become a famous mage!”

“How could I?” Atlas replied with a smirk.

“Good to know, you guys are good customers. I’d be sad to see you go.” Apple Bee said. “Now excuse me, I seem to have new guests.”

Apple Bee glanced to the side, where two unicorns sat down at a table. He went over to greet them leaving Atlas and Belle alone again.

Atlas speared one of his tomato slices with his fork and guided it to his mouth. Belle watched him curiously, fascinated by the simple task.

“Shouldn’t you be used to seeing magic by now?” Atlas asked after swallowing. “After all you live in the unicorn capital now.”

Belle smiled sheepishly. “Well, my teacher is an earth pony like me, so I don’t get to see that much magic at work. Most of our customers are earth ponies too. Sure I see it being used a lot around town, but you told me that staring is bad, so I don’t just ogle unicorns whenever they cast a spell.”

Belle pouted a bit, eating her own salad.

“That reminds me, how is your training going?” Atlas asked, curious about the earth pony skills himself.

“Nothing exciting yet.” Belle said. “For now I mostly help White Mallow out around his clinic. After closing hours he has me meditating though, and sometimes he wants me to boost a potted plant or similar things.” Belle sighed. “I honestly thought it would be more interesting to learn such an amazing skill.”

“Well learning can be boring.” Atlas agreed. “But in the end it’ll all be worth it.” he added.

“Yeah I suppose you’re right.” Belle sighed. “So tell me more about your lessons! I’m dying to know more!”

Atlas chuckled at her. He remembered that teaching someone is just another form of learning, and started to recap his week for her.

Atlas and Belle had spent the rest of the day together. They talked about their week and went for a walk in a nearby park. After the sun had started to set, they made their way back to Belle’s and Crimson’s flat.

They were currently in front of the stairs leading up to it, saying their goodbyes.

“Thanks for tagging along with me today.” Atlas said. “It was fun.”

“Sure thing!” Belle replied. “We should totally do that again next week!”

“Sounds good.” Atlas nodded. “I’ll come down again whenever I get a day off. Maybe Crimson will be home next time too. I could even bring Amethyst with me if he’s off.” Atlas wiggled with his eyebrows.

“Yeah…” Belle said, a sad look flashing over her face before she started smiling again. “That would be great!”

“Well then, It’s time for me to return to the academy.” Atlas said. “I need to get up early tomorrow.”

“Alright.” Belle said while pulling Atlas into a hug which he gladly returned. “Be careful ok?”

“Don’t worry, I’m not learning any dangerous spells yet.” Atlas said while starting to walk away.

Belle waved him goodbye with a smile and turned herself around, making her way inside the flat.

Silence fell over the alley, now devoid of any ponies. After a few minutes, a shadow started to move in a nearby side alley. The rhythmic clop of hooves announcing its departure.

Author's Note

Sorry for the delay, and this saturday is no good either :P I'm currently in Cologne, Germany to attend gamescom. Since I'll only have bad hotel internet over the next few days, I thught I'd post it now.

Hope you had a good read, and feel free to comment!

Once again, thanks to my editor Ambros and my proofreader Kilobytes for a job well done!

Todays chapter was brought to you by this song. i sure do love myself a good villain song!

33. A New Spell

Scholar Arc
Day 13

“I think it’s time for you to learn a new spell.” Blazing Inferno announced.

Atlas’s eyes went wide. Ever since he got control over his levitation spell, his curriculum consisted of nothing but magical theories. Sure he powered through them since they were important. But being important didn’t make them any less boring.

“Really?” Atlas asked excited. “Which one?”

“I thought I’d leave the decision up to you.” Blazing Inferno answered with a chuckle. “I have prepared a small list of possible spells, just pick one that interests you.”

As he said that, a small scroll levitated over to Atlas. It came to a stop amidst the numerous notes Atlas had taken until now, before immediately being picked up by Atlas.

He unfurled the rolled up parchment with his magic before he began to scan it’s contents. The first thing he noticed was that they were split into two groups. Two spells from the school of life, and three spells from the school of combat.

Atlas had assumed he’d be learning another neutral spell like levitation, so he was surprised to see his options. He shot a questioning glance towards his teacher.

“You’ll have to learn how to access the different kinds of mana within you sooner or later, might as well begin now.”

Atlas nodded in understanding before he focused back on the scroll in front of him. From the school of life his options were either sense life or stamina boost. From the school of combat spells listed were shockwave, magic bolt, and imbue weapon.

All of these spells, although low level, would come in handy. Atlas had a hard time deciding, but for some reason he seemed to be drawn towards the stamina boost spell. He couldn’t quite explain his interest in the spell, but decided on it anyway.

“I’d like to learn stamina boost then.” Atlas said, as he put the scroll down.

“Ahh, an interesting choice indeed.” Inferno said. “A spell with many uses to be sure. Although most students just abuse it to pull all-nighters or improve performance in…other things.”

Atlas could imagine what the spell was used for by the tone Inferno used. He had to chuckle.

“Well being able to study longer seems like a good thing to me.” He said jokingly.

“Well yes, but know that the spell isn’t without its repercussions. You’ll be able to last alot longer at whatever you do, but the crash after is twice as hard.” Inferno said with a smirk. “That’s why a lot of ponies rely on the higher tier spell ‘recover’. Although only ponies with an affinity to life magic bother learning it.”

“I’ll set that as my goal then.” Atlas said.

“An okay goal for now, but it’ll take you at least a year of heavy studying before you reach mid tier spells of any school.” Inferno reminded. “So just try to focus on things one step at a time.”

“I understand.” Atlas said.

“And don’t forget it. Many a student has had an accident because he was overzealous.” Inferno nodded. “Well then, moving on to the actual spell.”

Atlas sat up straight on his chair and moved his notes to the side, giving his full attention to Blazing Inferno.

“Ever since you started casting almost two weeks ago, you have been defaulting to life mana. As such you won’t have to learn how to switch between mana just yet.” Inferno started his lecture. “What you’ll have to learn though is a new method of channeling.”

“Levitation is relatively simple, since you just have to literally imagine how your desired object should move, but just thinking ‘I want more stamina’ isn’t going to cut it anymore. In fact, you’re not going to channel mana through your horn at all.”

“I’m not going to channel magic through my horn? But how will I cast the spell then?” Atlas asked confused.

“While stamina boost is technically listed as a spell, it’s actually more of a technique.” Inferno explained as he was drawing a pony on the blackboard. “Although there is a spell version of it, that let’s you cast it on somepony else. The actual spell is more difficult in this case, so you’ll have to learn the technique first.”

“So is it like some sort of meditation then?” Atlas asked.

“Close, but not quite.” Inferno was now drawing several lines along the body of the pony, as well as marking several organs with a circle. “You don’t have to sit around and concentrate for it to work.”

Inferno turned around after finishing his drawing, facing Atlas.

“Do you know why I just drew all of that?” He asked.

Atlas thought about all the information that was given to him. Apparently it was sort of like meditation, but not quite. He wouldn’t channel through his horn, instead through something else and Inferno had just drawn a detailed biological drawing of a pony.

He tried to remember everything he knew about the internal workings of living organisms, when he remembered one of his favourite animes. One of the characters used a technique where he forcefully heightened the rate at which his heart pumped blood through his body, giving him a speedboost.

“Do I have to control the flow of magic within me in a specific way?” Atlas asked, wincing a bit when he was reminded that he would never see the conclusion of said anime.

“That is correct.” Inferno said surprised. “The body has to work so that we can function. The more work you demand from your body, the faster it will be exhausted. So you move your mana in very specific ways in order to take some of the workload off your body. Thus it will be able to last longer.”

“That sounds logical, but how am I supposed to move my magic around within me?” Atlas asked, not quite able to grasp the concept.

“Good question, with a simple answer.” Inferno answered. “You probably haven’t realized, but you’re already moving you mana around inside you by channeling it to your horn. Moving mana towards a unicorn's horn comes natural, it’s in our instinct. So now you’ll have to feel it out, and learn how to move mana towards different parts of your body.”

“Could… could it be that I actually picked a really hard spell on accident?” Atlas gulped.

“The most difficult one on the list even!” Inferno laughed at Atlas's expense.

“Which brings me to the actual channeling method.” Inferno continued. “The channeling method associated with this technique is called ‘control’. There are a lot of useful spells that rely on this method, so learning it now will definitely benefit you in the long run.”

Atlas sighed. Of course he’d pick the hardest spell right off the bat.

“Well no use worrying about it!” Atlas pumped himself up. “What do I have to do?”

“That’s the spirit!” Inferno said with joy. “Let’s start immediately!”

Atlas flopped down on his bed exhausted. He let out some inhuman sound, prompting Amethyst who sat at his desk to react.

“Hard day?” Amethyst asked, not looking up from the scroll he was currently studying.

Atlas responded by letting a drawn out sigh.

“So what did you do to get this tuckered out? New spell?”

Atlas grunted his affirmation.

“Which one?” Amethyst asked patiently.

“Stamina boost.” Atlas mumbled into his pillow.

“Ohh, control channeling.” Amethyst said with a chuckle. “Annoying to learn. I’m surprised Inferno is teaching you this so soon.”

“He gave me a list of spells to pick from and I chose it myself.” Atlas said with deep regret in his voice.

After he had been so pumped to learn a new spell, reality quickly caught up with him. No matter what he tried, he just couldn’t move his mana anywhere else than his horn. Blazing Inferno had been patient with him all day, he had reassured Atlas that it was perfectly normal, and that it would take quite some time before he got the hang of it.

Still, Atlas wasn’t satisfied with himself. He really wanted to produce some sort of results today. Even if it was just a slight improvement, he wanted to progress. As it stood right now, he felt like he did nothing all day, but was still exhausted.

“You reap what you sow I guess.” Amethyst said.

“Fuck you Amethyst.” Atlas grumbled.

“Yeah, yeah. Tell me if you need help you big foal.” Amethyst said passively. “I’ll be around.”

A moment of silence followed Amethyst’s statement. Atlas was content just lying on his bed, and Amethyst was scribbling something down on a scroll.

“Thanks.” Atlas mumbled before falling asleep.

“Sure thing.” Amethyst replied.

Author's Note

Sorry for the rather short chapter. (wouldn't want a repeat of ch18 right?) This is just meant as a little bridge to the next chapter. Also you get to learn about a new form of channeling, isn’t this exciting? So anyway, look forward to another chapter this wednesday!

Sadly Kilobytes can't use his computer right now, so this might have a lot of grammar mistakes... If you find any just shoot me a message and I'll fix em.

Hope you had a good read, and feel free to comment!

Once again, thanks to my editor Ambros and my proofreader Kilobytes for a job well done!

Todays chapter was brought to you by this song. Have some German Pirate songs :P

34. Introducing Amethyst

Scholar Arc
Day 16

Atlas and Amethyst were descending from their academy island. They finally had a day off together, so Atlas invited Amethyst along to meet Charity Belle and Crimson.

Since his last lunch with Belle, Atlas had only had the chance to meet up with her once briefly before today. Crimson had remained exceedingly busy during Atlas’s last two visits, but at least he was able to coordinate a meeting for all of them this week. They’d meet up at Apple Bee’s place for a light lunch, and see where fate would take them from there on out.

Convincing Amethyst to tag along didn’t take a lot of effort, since he didn’t have any friends due to his prodigy status. The other students were either jealous of him or thought he was unapproachable due to their difference in skill. Aside from Atlas, Amethyst didn’t have any friends, so he jumped on the opportunity to meet some new ponies.

“You think we’ll get along?” Amethyst asked, anxious at the prospect of meeting so many new faces.

“Of course.” Atlas reassured him. “Knowing them you’ll have no problems becoming their friend. Especially Belle, just mention magic around her and she’ll jump on the opportunity to talk about it.” Atlas chuckled thinking about his pink friend’s enthusiasm.

“Charity Belle, right? The earth pony?” Amethyst asked, which Atlas confirmed with a nod.

“Why is she that interested in magic? I mean, she’ll never be able to use any spells.”

Amethyst was obviously confused. In all his time in the Crystal Kingdom he had only met a few earth ponies, none of which displayed any interest in the magical arts. Earth ponies in the Crystal Kingdom were usually only interested in farming, so meeting Belle would be highly unusual for him.

“Apparently her parents didn’t want her to even know unicorn magic existed, since they were quite strict.” Atlas explained, leaving out some important details. “So when she grew up and read about it in a book she was immediately fascinated by it, and since then she's tried to get her hooves on every book about the topic.”

“But she’s not like… crazy or anything, right?” Amethyst asked worriedly.

“Oh god no!” Atlas laughed. “But she might get up close and personal. She has quite an energetic personality.”

“I'll take your word for it.” Amethyst said, his concerns not at all alleviated.

“So you haven’t mentioned where we’re going to meet them yet.” Amethyst remarked.

“Oh, sorry. We’re going to meet them at a restaurant called Apple Bee’s. Ever heard of it?” Atlas said.

“Hmmm… can’t say I have.” Amethyst replied after a moment of thought.

“You’ll love it, Apple Bee's chef makes really good food!” Atlas promised. “It’s a bit out of the way so there’s not too many ponies there most of the time. Ideal for meeting somepony new if you ask me.”

“Alright then, I’m looking forward to meeting them.” Amethyst said, now walking a bit more confidently.

Atlas and Amethyst turned the corner leading towards Apple Bee’s. It was a sunny day, so Atlas could already see Belle and Crimson sitting at one of the outside tables. Crimson was seated with his back to them, but Belle had already spotted the pair and was happily waving in their direction. Upon noticing Belle’s enthusiastic manner, Crimson turned around as well to wave at them.

Atlas returned the gesture and approached their table.

“Heya Belle!” Atlas said once they were close enough. “And you too Crimson. I haven’t seen you in forever!”

“You have only yourself to blame, because you always show up when I’m gone.” Crimson quipped back. “One could assume you’re doing it on purpose.”

“Maybe I am.” Atlas said, wiggling his eyebrows. “So let me introduce my roommate to you. This is Amethyst Blade.”

“Pleased to meet you.” Amethyst greeted.

“Likewise.” Crimson returned.

“So happy to finally meet you!” Belle exclaimed. “I've heard you know lot about magic, can I ask you some questions?”

Atlas shot Amethyst an ‘I told you so’ look before sitting down next to Crimson. Amethyst bemusedly shook his head and went to the other side of the table to sit down next to Belle, where he immediately was bombarded with questions.

“So how have you been doing?” Atlas asked Crimson.

“Oh you know… just working.” Crimson replied. “Nothing out of the ordinary.”

“Really?” Atlas said disbelievingly. “You want me to believe that I don’t see you for over two weeks, and there’s nothing at all worth mentioning going on? For fucks sake dude, we’re in a new city, we all got new jobs and met new ponies! There has to be something!”

Crimson seemed to squirm around a bit, staring at his glass of juice in front of him. Atlas was just about to dig further when Crimson was saved by the appearance of a rather round pony.

“Is this a new face I see?” Apple Bee said, seemingly having appeared out of nowhere.

Everypony at the table recoiled in shock, all of them were too preoccupied with their conversation that none of them had seen him coming. Which was something to say since the stallion was kinda hard to overlook.

“Well, go on then and introduce me. I haven’t got all day.” Apple Bee said with a chuckle. “Screw it, I’ll just do it myself! Hi I’m Apple Bee the proud owner of this establishment. Pleased to meet you.”

Apple Bee took up Amethyst’s hoof rather forcefully and gave it a powerful shake.

“Umm… Hi, I’m Amethyst Blade, Atlas’s roommate at the academy.” The stallion in question answered.

“Well you take good care of him then, wouldn’t want to loose such a good customer, right?” Apple Bee ribbed Amethyst and started laughing. “So anyway, what can I get for you all?”

“A menu for Amethyst wouldn’t be bad I guess, since he doesn’t know what you have yet.” Atlas reminded the wobbling stallion.

“Ah right, how forgetful of me, be right back.” Apple Bee said, rushing inside to get a menu.

He returned shortly after, and a few minutes later they had placed their orders and resumed their conversations.

“Sooo, how’s school been going for you?” Crimson asked nonchalantly.

“Don’t try to change the subject Crimson.” Atlas deadpanned. “I’m sure Belle told you all about it. You’re hiding something and I’m getting to the bottom of this if it’s the last thing I do!” Atlas said, striking a rather ridiculous pose.

Crimson looked at him confused, before giving in.

“Alright, alright.” He relented. “It’s enough that Belle chews my ear off everytime I’m home, I don’t need you to start too.”

Atlas grinned and sat back down again. “Out with it then! What has the mighty Crimson squirming in his seat and trying to avoid the subject?”

“My…co…worker...kinda…” Crimson mumbled.

“What’s that?” Atlas asked, his grin growing wider by the second. “I think you need to take that dick out of your mouth so I can understand you.”

“My Co-worker is kinda cute! Alright!” Crimson burst out, making eye contact with Atlas, daring him to make fun of it.

A gasp could be heard from across the table.

“I want all the dirty details!” Belle said, seemingly having forgotten about Amethyst for the moment. “You never told me that!”

“That’s because I knew you’d never shut up about it if I did.” Crimson retorted exasperated.

“What was her name again?” Belle tried to remember. “Blue something-or-nother.”

“Blue Current.” Crimson helped her out. “Her name’s Blue Current.”

“You HAVE to bring her along sometime.” Belle said, making it obvious that Crimson had no say in this discussion.

“But… I can’t just invite her along!” Crimson said. “That would be so awkward and maybe she’d find out that I like her!”

“If you’re not going to do it, I will.” Belle said, completely serious.

Crimson and Belle got into a staring contest for a few seconds, leaving Amethyst and Atlas behind in their confusion. This got way out of hoof for Atlas’s taste, and Amethyst didn’t really know what to do since he just met the other two ponies.

Apple Bee came back with their food. Apparently he could sense the tension surrounding the table and just quietly put down their plates. Atlas whispered a ‘thanks’ and resumed looking back and forth between Crimson and Belle.

They continued to stare at each other for a little longer, until finally, Crimson cracked.

“Alright, I’ll ask her to come along the next time we meet up.” As Crimson officially gave up. “But just as work buddies.” He added, and started to twirl some of the pasta onto his fork.

“That’ll do.” Belle said with a satisfied smirk, before starting to eat her own food. “So anyway, Amethyst, about that spell we were just talking about.”

Belle immediately returned to her previous conversation, patiently waiting for Amethyst to pick it back up again too. When their conversation returned to it’s previous state, Atlas leaned over to Crimson who was angrily twirling his pasta.

“Sorry…” He whispered. “I didn’t mean for it to go so out of hoof.”

“It’s not your fault.” Crimson said after letting out a sigh. “It’s just how Belle is, you know her.”

Atlas nodded and leaned back over his deep fried vegetable sticks. He looked at his plate; he was really starting to miss eating meat. With a sigh he started to dig in himself.

“So what’s she like?” He asked Crimson.

“She's a good mare.” Crimson said. “She always helps me out, looks after me real well. Whenever I don’t know something she’s there to help me out. I know you might think that’s what coworkers do, but it’s not just me. She does that for everypony.” Crimson ate a mouthful of pasta.

“Weather duty in the Crystal Kingdom is hard work you know.” Crimson continued. “We’re constantly understaffed and the workload is just getting heavier. If it wasn’t for her, some of the guys might have already given up. She’s always there, making sure we’re happy, going the extra mile to make sure we’re all smiling.”

Crimson started to smile thinking about her .

“She really sounds like a reliable friend.” Atlas commented.

“Definitely.” Crimson replied. “And she’s cute, did I mention that?”

“I think it may have been mentioned already, yes.” Atlas chuckled.

“Anyway, I hope things go well. I really like her, you know?”

“Don’t worry, it’ll be fine.” Atlas said, giving Crimson a friendly pat on the back.

“There’s just one problem though.” Crimson sighed.

“Oh?” Atlas was intrigued. “And just what would that be?”

“Her dad’s my boss.” Crimson winced. “And he specifically told me to stay away from her.”

Atlas sharply inhaled air, as if he stubbed his toe.

“Oh boy.”

“Exactly.”

Atlas was walking next to Amethyst. Their group was on their way towards one of the Crystal Kingdoms many parks. The plan was to just lounge around, maybe even play a few games. At some point they had switched conversation partners, so now Crimson was stuck with Belle who was currently chewing his ear off about all the things she learned from Amethyst.

“See, I told you.” Atlas said. “No problem at all.”

Amethyst glanced back at Belle and Crimson walking behind them.

“Yeah it’s almost scary how fast she latched onto me.”

“Yeah, Belle’s really great at making friends with everypony she meets.” Atlas chuckled, looking back himself. “So what do you think of them?”

“I think they’re really nice. I’d like to tag along again when I get another opportunity, I feel like we could really get along well.” Amethyst said, turning his head to look forward again.

“Sure, the more the merrier.” Atlas said.

They snaked their way around a group of ponies walking in the opposite direction. The group was chattering happily amongst themselves as they passed, while Atlas and Amethyst didn’t say anything for the moment.

Atlas was lost in his own thoughts and didn’t pay much attention to where he was going when he bumped into one of the last ponies from the other group.

“Sorry.” Atlas said.

“No problem.” Came the answer from the pony he had bumped.

After walking a few meters Atlas’s hooves started to feel tingly, a weird sensation overcoming his body. His vision started to blur and he furrowed his brow, trying to focus.

“Huh?” Atlas said weakly. “I don’t feel so good.”

He heard something like a sack of potatoes falling over next to him, so he looked over to see Amethyst collapsed on the ground.

“Amethyst? What’s wrong dude?” He said, shuffling over to his friend. “Guys? I think something’s wrong.”

He turned his head to seek help from Belle, her medical prowess would surely be useful. But instead of her worried gaze, he saw two more collapsed ponies, one pink, the other red. He couldn’t really tell if they were his friends since his vision was getting blurrier by the second.

“Belle?” He asked weakly. “Crimson?”

No answer came, but five other figures came out of a side alley and approached their group.

“Hello? Could you help…” Atlas wanted to ask for the strangers help, when his legs gave out under him.

He collapsed and fell to his side. One of the figures approached him, so he stretched out a hoof towards them in a last ditch effort to ask for help.

“Just go to sleep already.” An oddly familiar voice said in an annoyed voice.

The next thing Atlas felt was a sharp pain in his head, and then…

Nothing.

Author's Note

It's happening! :moustache:

Also have some Belle/Crimson shenanigans. The next chapter is an important one, as you might have guessed. It's already finished and just has to go through the editoral process now. It's gonna be a looong one! Look forward to it :D

Hope you had a good read, and feel free to comment!

Once again, thanks to my editor Ambros and my proofreader Kilobytes for a job well done!

Todays chapter was brought to you by this song. I've been listening to a lot of Murs lately. Good shit.

35. Generosity

Scholar Arc
Still Day 16, evening

Atlas awoke with a start. A bucket of water had been dumped unceremoniously on him. He struggled to move and get on his hooves, but found himself tied to a pole. He tried to calm himself as he took a look around.

He seemed to be in some sort of large room; on the side opposite to him some hay was stacked, and various farming tools could be seen lying around. Going by the items scattered around him, he concluded he was in a barn somewhere.

Next he noticed his friends. All three of them were in a similar situation to him. Bound to poles and sopping wet.

“Where are we?” Crimson shouted, presumably at the pony who just doused them in water.

The green stallion continued on with his business, disregarding Crimson’s inquiry as he left through the barns front doors.

“What the fuck is going on?” Atlas asked confused and still a bit dizzy.

A pounding headache raged in his head. It felt like there were a thousand angry ponies in his head trying to find a seat but there was only one chair.

“I’m not sure…” Crimson said, still visibly fuming about the situation.

Crimson’s wings’ were bound to his side, making it impossible for him to make any major movements.

Belle was just quietly sitting, looking scared, her eyes darting from shadow to shadow within the barn. She obviously had no idea what was going on either, so he turned his attention towards Amethyst.

The purple stallion looked just as confused as the rest of them, shooting a scared look towards Atlas. Now that he got a better look at him, he noticed some sort of ring resting on Amethyst’s head. Atlas furrowed his brows as he strained to look upwards to check if he had one too. Sure enough he could just barely see the metal ring resting on his horn.

“Yo Amethyst, do you have any idea what’s going on?” Atlas asked him. “Do you maybe have some enemies in the academy or something?”

Amethyst tried to remember. “I don’t know.” He said. “I mean I could have some, but if I do, they haven't tried anything before. What about you guys?”

“Enemies?” Amethyst nodded. “I’m not sure… Well maybe there is… one…” Atlas’s eyes shot wide open.

They did have an enemy who would do something like this. Everything had just been so peaceful these past few weeks all of them had forgotten about him.

“Dusty…” Atlas muttered under his breath.

Even though he had said it quietly, all of his friends heard him say it. Crimson seemed to realize it too, and got even angrier. Belle’s eyes also widened in realization and a few tears rolled down her cheek.

“Who’s Dusty?” Amethyst asked.

As if to answer his question, the barn door flew open and an orange earth pony with a white mane entered. He was followed by four of his goons, who approached before sitting down in front of Atlas and his friends, so they could see him.

“Speak of the devil.” Atlas muttered.

His four henchponies each took up a position next to one of their new prisoners, all while not saying anything. Dusty just sat there for a while, a friendly smile adorning his face. If one didn’t know better they would assume he was just another elderly stallion.

Dusty was taking in the scene in front of him. Belle was looking at him, despair and sadness evident in her eyes. Crimson was shooting him hateful glares while struggling against his constraints. Amethyst Blade was just looking at him with a bewildered expression, and Atlas had a resigned look on his face.

Dusty took a deep breath, as if he was enjoying the tension in the air before addressing them.

“So nice to see all of you again.” Dusty said in a friendly voice. “I’ve missed all of you, and you didn’t even take the time to say goodbye to me the last time we saw each other. It’s as if you don’t care about your old friend Dusty.”

His statement was met with silence as nopony gave him an answer.

“And Amethyst, it’s a pleasure to meet you. Really.” Dusty said. “I’m so sorry that you got caught up in all of this. I guess you were just at the wrong place, at the wrong time.” Dusty shrugged.

Amethyst was shooting an incredulous look at Atlas. “Would somepony care to fill me in?”

Atlas shot an apologetic look back at Amethyst. This was truly the worst case scenario. Because they were careless, their new friend got caught up in this whole mess.

“Ah, yes. Of course they haven’t told you about me.” Dusty said happily, approaching Amethyst. “You see, these guys and me, we have a bit of an unfortunate history.”

Dusty gestured towards Atlas’s group. Making an overly dramatic sad face.

“Did you know Charity Belle over here is the crown princess of High Rock?” Dusty asked.

Amethyst turned his head so fast that his neck cracked a bit. He shot an incredulous look towards Belle, who did her best to avoid his gaze.

“Oh yes, she truly is, you can believe me.” Dusty continued. “And to top it all off, Charity Belle isn’t even her real name!”

Dusty got up and trotted over towards Belle. He used his hoof to force her head over so she was looking towards Amethyst.

“It’s my pleasure to introduce you to Morning Sun.” Dusty said. “Crown princess of High Rock, and firstborn daughter of our glorious queen, Eventide.”

Belle started sobbing when Dusty introduced her, while Dusty started laughing. It was a happy laugh, one only an elderly stallion could pull off. Dusty went over towards Atlas, leaving Belle to her misery.

“And get this.” Dusty said, chuckles accompanying his words. “This guy! This guy thinks he is immortal!” He pointed towards Atlas who shot him an angry glare.

Dusty meanwhile started laughing as if he had heard the best joke ever. His goons awkwardly joined in, obviously just trying not to get on their boss’s bad side.

“Is that true?” Amethyst asked Atlas.

There had been unicorns aplenty who thought they had finally found the secret to immortality. All of them archmages, famous for their prowess in the school of life. Needless to say all of them failed in the end; hearing that his magically inept friend claimed the same thing confused him to say the least.

“Yes…” Atlas gritted through his teeth.

Atlas wanted to keep his immortality under wraps, since just mentioning it might label him as a madpony. But now, Dusty was just going around telling people like it was the punchline to a bad joke.

Dusty suddenly stopped laughing, pulling a knife from one of the hay bales close to him and putting it against Atlas’s neck.

“What do you say?” Dusty said, a mad glint in his eyes. “Should we give his immortality a test run?”

Atlas just glared daggers at Dusty. Dying hurt, but ultimately he’d just get up after a while, so it didn’t really matter if his throat was slit. He just didn’t want to give Dusty the satisfaction of killing him however temporary.

“NO!”

Two sets of voices answered his question. One belonged to Amethyst Blade, who didn’t believe in Atlas’s immortality.

Crimson was still trying to free himself, not paying to much attention to what Dusty was doing, so it couldn’t have been him.

The other was Belle. Her face was wet and her eyes red from all the crying. She desperately tried to free herself, struggling against the rope.

“Don’t hurt him!” She demanded of Dusty. “Don’t you dare!”

Dusty shot the pink mare a surprised look. He looked back and forth between Atlas and Belle before he seemed to realize something.

“Oh.” A smile started to spread on his face again. “Oh.” He repeated to himself, much more jubilantly this time.

“This is good.” He muttered, pulling away the knife from Atlas’s throat. “I can use this.” He mumbled to himself.

A look of relief washed across Amethyst’s face, as Dusty stepped away from Atlas and put the knife on a nearby table.

“Psst! Amethyst.” Atlas whispered just loud enough for him to hear. “Don’t you have any spells to get us out of here?”

“I already tried, but these rings on our horns seem to mess with our ability to channel magic somehow.” Amethyst retorted with an annoyed look on his face.

“You guys do realize we’re standing right next to you, right?” The hench pony behind Atlas said.

Amethyst and Atlas froze. They had paid so much attention to what Dusty was doing, that they both had completely forgotten about his friends.

“Hey boss!” The henchpony said. “They seem to have some questions about them rings on their horns.”

Dusty turned around looking disinterested.

“Yes, yes. Magic inhibitor rings, aren’t they just a whole bunch of fun?” He said in a neutral voice. “Created by unicorn deserters no less.”

A look of betrayal flashed across Amethyst’s face. This was extremely bad news for the Kingdom's military, so he had all the more reason to escape this situation. This information had to reach the higher ups. Amethyst began to frantically think about a way to escape.

“Say, Belle my dearest, why don’t we make a deal?” Dusty asked suddenly, apparently having finished his previous train of thought.

“Never!” Belle shouted at him. “Why are you doing this? You were like a father to me!”

Belle was still crying, but she was also afraid and angry. A torrent of emotions raged within her, thousand of questions floated around in her head, right next to the burning desire to punch Dusty as hard as she could.

“Oh I assure you, you were like a daughter to me too once.” Dusty said. “But, in the end this was never what I really wanted.”

“What… what do you mean?” Belle asked incredulously.

“I am an agent of her highness, but due to a mistake I made, I was placed in the slums as a spy.” Dusty explained to her. “My job was to control the slums from the shadows, and quell any uprisings at the root.”

Dusty started walking back and forth in front of them, looking at the ground.

“I did it for so long that I almost forgot who I was!” He shouted angrily. “Until he came along!”

Dusty pointed towards Atlas, to everypony's surprise.

“You carelessly revealed yourself to Atlas, and in turn, gave me a chance back into her highness’s graces.” Dusty resumed his pacing. “All I have to do, is bring the queen your head and I’ll regain my old post. It’s really that simple.”

“Of course I still had feelings for you, we lived and laughed together for over ten years after all. I even gave you a whole day for a head start as a parting gift.” He continued to explain. “One of my more foolhardy mistakes, if I do say so myself. It made tracking you all down just that much harder.”

Dusty spat on the ground in annoyance before he came to a stop in front of Belle.

“Listen up.” Dusty said, maintaining eye contact with Belle. “I know you. Your feelings are like an open book to me.”

Belle furrowed her eyes, wondering what Dusty was going for.

“It’s obvious that you have some feelings towards the black idiot over there.” Dusty waved a hoof in Atlas’s general direction.

Atlas’s heart skipped a beat at the revelation. Belle had grown on him quite a bit ever since they had met, and he’d be lying if he said he didn’t have any feelings for her. But to think that she might feel the same way was exciting to him, regardless of the situation.

Belle looked like a foal who got caught with her hoof in the cookie jar, confirming Dusty’s words and causing him to grin. She slowly turned her head to look at Atlas who was just staring at her with a slightly opened mouth expression, she looked away as soon as she saw his expression.

“So here’s the deal.” Dusty said, enjoying every moment of the situation. “I technically only need to kill you, dearest Belle, and everything should be hunky dory on my side. But carrying a head around for a long time can be disgusting, and they might not even believe that it’s yours.”

Belle stared at Dusty, afraid of where he was going with this.

“I had planned to just take you back with me to make things easier, but I’m sure you’d give me all kinds of trouble on the way you know?” Dusty elaborated. “So what do you say? You come with me quietly, and I let the dork over there stay alive?”

Belle’s train of thought derailed. Even Crimson who’d been trying to free himself up until now, gave his efforts a momentary rest to gawk at Dusty in disbelief. Silence fell over the gathering, as his captive audience processed the offer that was just made.

Belle was the first to break from her stupor, turning her head to look at Atlas again. Instead of looking baffled, this time he was violently shaking his head, telling her not to take the deal. Belle let her gaze wander over Amethyst and Crimson as well, until her eyes met back up with Dusty’s.

“Will you spare the other two as well?” Belle asked, much to the disbelief of everyone present.

“I’m sure that could be arranged.” Dusty said, sure of his victory at this point.

“Then I’ll…” Belle started to say.

“Don’t you dare take this deal!” Atlas shouted suddenly. “You know damn well that nothing’s going to happen to me! Don’t do this Belle!”

Amethyst turned his head in disbelief. Their captor just offered them a way out of this. Sure Belle would be taken away, but the other three would get to live on, and Atlas just told her not to take the deal. He couldn’t believe what was happening, no matter how delusioned Atlas was with his supposed immortality, this was going too far.

“But what about Crimson and Amethyst?” Belle said while starting to tear up again. “Aren’t their lives important too?”

‘You go girl!’ Amethyst thought, at least she was still rational in this situation.

Atlas looked towards his other friends, he had momentarily forgotten about them and felt like shit for it. All he could think about was that he himself would be fine, even if Dusty offed him. He didn’t even think about the fact that his friends would most definitely die if they were to be killed.

“I couldn’t stand knowing that all of you had to die because of me.” Belle said, her tears flowing freely now. “Please… let me just do this. If I can save you three by giving up my life, there’s no reason to not do it.”

Atlas was starting to tear up to now. Back in the cave where he resolved himself to accept his new life, he swore to protect his friends however he could, even if it meant temporarily dying for them. In his case it wouldn’t be much, since he’d just pop back up again a day or so later. In Belle’s case, she was about to make the ultimate sacrifice to save them.

“In my time as a homeless pony I have learned that every life matters! We shared everything with each other and no one is worth more than everyone else! And if I can give something of mine to help others survive I’d do it in a heartbeat. Even… even if it is my life!” Belle steeled her resolve as she cried out her feelings. “Please just accept this as my final parting gift.” Belle said before breaking down into a mess of sobs.

“No…” Atlas whispered.

This couldn’t be happening. Atlas had worked so hard to get where he was, endured so many hardships on his way here. He had even saved Belle from certain death, and a life of poverty. Now, Dusty was about to void all of Atlas’s efforts by taking away Belle.

“I’ll take that as a yes then.” Dusty interjected, untouched by the emotional moment. “Untie her.”

The hench pony next to Belle cut through the ropes binding her, making her fall forward. She didn’t make any effort to get up or move away from her current position, content with just laying there while sobs rocked her body.

Atlas’s thoughts raced at the speed of light, trying to come up with any solution to get out of this together. Why would Belle just throw away her life like this? He knew that Belle liked to share and was generally a very generous pony, it was what he loved about her after all. But going so far as to make her very existence a gift to be given, that was going too far.

Sharing was important, he had learned that from when he almost starved back in High Rock. Even Atlas started to concentrate less on his earthly possessions after that, as he started caring more about the wellbeing of the group. Of course he would continue to do so when Belle eventually had to die, he had learned it from her after all!

Atlas’s eyes flashed a bright pink for a second and a wave of energy washed over him. His body felt tingly after it passed, but at this very moment he couldn’t care less about what just happened to him.

“Take her outside.” Dusty commanded.

“Dusty you bastard!” Atlas shouted. “Don’t you dare take her away!”

“Atlas…” Crimson weak voice could be heard. “I don’t think there’s any point in resisting any more. I already tried everything to get out of my restraints, and this way at least we three get to live.”

Atlas shot Crimson an incredulous look.

“Listen to your friend Alex, or Atlas or whatever you call yourself nowadays.” Dusty said while his hench pony picked up Belle and threw her over his back. “Me and her have a deal.”

“Shut the fuck up Dusty!” Atlas was starting to lose it. “I will hunt you down for this! I won’t rest before I stare into your lifeless eyes after I’ve killed you!”

Amethyst started to feel strange, for some reason the concentration of magical energy was starting to rise in the barn. He looked around trying to find an explanation for the weird phenomenon but came up empty.

“Yes, yes. You’re a very dangerous one, but face the facts. You don’t stand a chance against me, much less the concentrated forces of High Rock.” Dusty scoffed. “I would like to off you right now, but I’m a stallion of my word and will honor the deal I’ve made with dear Belle over there.”

Atlas couldn’t stand being taunted like this and started to fight his restraints. His head still couldn’t come up with any coherent plans, so he started just violently thrashing around and trying to fling around as much magic as he could. Due to the ring on his forehead none of his attempts at flinging around raw magic worked, which made him even angrier.

Amethyst looked towards Atlas, now seriously worried about his friend. The magical concentration was continuing to rise to the point where it physically affected Amethyst, and he could now pinpoint Atlas to be the source of it. He seemed to absorb a lot more mana than necessary and due to the ring he couldn’t release any of it. If nothing was done Atlas might have a surge, and Amethyst really didn’t want to see what happened to a surging unicorn with an magic inhibitor ring on his horn.

“Umm… Atlas? It may be a good idea to stop now.” Amethyst said in a worried tone of voice. “You might seriously hurt yourself if you keep this up!”

“Your friend is right. Rope burn can sting really bad you know?” Dusty added with a chuckle. “Keep them here for about two days and throw them out after, wouldn’t want them to follow us.”

“Yes, sir!” The remaining three stallions answered him with a salute.

“Well then, we’ll be going now, have fun!”

Dusty turned around to leave, his hench pony with Belle on his back close behind him.

Atlas’s rage was starting to reach a tipping point. The gods had taken away so much from him, and now that he finally started to live a semi-normal life again, Dusty had come back and was about to take that away from him too.

He started thrashing around even more violently than before, trying desperately to escape his confines. In his desperate attempts to free himself he remembered his lessons with Blazing Inferno over the last three days. According to Dusty the ring only blocked channeling through the horn!

Even though Atlas still hadn’t mastered the stamina boost spell, he was able to move around the mana within his body, just not in the correct way. So instead of thrashing his real body around, he started focusing on moving around the mana within himself. At first he was almost overwhelmed by the vast amounts of mana present within himself, but he did it anyway. There was no rhyme or reason to what he did, he just started moving it around in random patterns until hopefully something happened.

‘Looks like your little girlfriend is in trouble’ Someone said. ‘Hmm… we have made some progress. Alright, looks like I’ll be able to help you out for a bit.’

Atlas didn’t pay much attention to whoever was talking, redoubling his efforts at making something happen.

Amethyst was worried about what was happening to his friend, the mana flow around them was getting worse by the second. Atlas stopped thrashing around a few seconds ago, which for some reason made everything even worse. Sweat was collecting on Amethyst’s brow as he tried to think of some way to get Atlas to stop. Talking obviously didn’t work, so there had to be something else he could do.

“Hey you over there!” He shouted at the henchpony next to Atlas. “Stop looking at him like this is a joke! You need to knock him out or something bad could happen!”

It was cruel, but right now this was the only chance they had at stopping Atlas from doing something stupid. The smile on the earth ponies face vanished when he heard how scared Amethyst sounded, and he decided to follow his advice, moving in to knock Atlas out before it was too late.

A loud crack resounded through the barn, causing everypony within it to stop whatever they were doing. The hench pony stopped in it’s tracks, a look of dread on his face, his eyes focused on Atlas’s horn.

Dusty, who was about to step outside turned around to see what the commotion was about. The scene caused a confused look on his face.

“What’s going on?” Dusty threw the question into the room, waiting for anybody to pick it up.

A second, even louder crack could be heard, providing an answer to Dusty’s question. The ring on Atlas’s horn had broken, and was currently falling to the ground in two pieces.

Amethyst’s eyes widened as he watched his friend literally grow bigger. Atlas’s eyes were glowing a pure white as his mane started to flow in the magical energies wafting around him. The ropes binding him couldn’t take the stress and snapped, the hench pony who stood next to Atlas was slapped across the face by it and got knocked out cold.

Everypony stared on in disbelief as Atlas finished his transformation, now standing a good head taller than all of them. Belle who was still lying on the henchponies back raised her head to see what was going on, not able to believe what she saw.

Atlas stood there, violent winds thrashing about him. His eyes were glowing a bright white, and even though she couldn’t see his pupils, she knew they were fixated on Dusty. His mane had grown longer and became more ethereal. It still kept it’s white color, but looked more like the surface of the moon, since craters could be seen like they were looking through a telescope.

“We can talk about this? Right?” Dusty suddenly. “Come on Atlas, it was just a prank!”

Sweat started to collect on Dusty’s forehead. He was proud to say that there were only three times in his long life where he was scared, but looking at Atlas as he was now almost made him wet himself. Even though he was an earth pony he could actually feel the energy wash off Atlas in waves.

Atlas just stared at him, not honoring the orange stallion with an answer. Small red and green orbs of pure mana started to form around Atlas’s body, flowing towards the point of his horn and creating an ever bigger orb.

Amethyst watched on in awe, as Atlas concentrated more and more mana into a single point. He had never seen somepony use this much mana in a single spell before, and that both frightened and amazed him. As far as he knew, a spell like this could wipe them out along with dusty, making all of Belle’s efforts of keeping them alive all for naught.

He watched on as more and more mana flew towards the ball at Atlas’s horn. To his surprise after a few moments, pink orbs started to appear alongside the red and green orbs. Amethyst’s eye twitched as Atlas defied all common sense and added mana from a third affinity to his spell.

“We need to get outta here.” Dusty said panicked. “Now!”

In this moment Atlas was finished preparing his spell, the orb of mana floating before him was almost as big as his head and swirled with colors. In a bright flash, the orb compressed itself until it was the size of an eye and changed colors to a solid purple.

Dusty could be seen running through the door, followed by his henchman. Belle was unceremoniously dropped in favor of gaining speed, and was lying next to the entrance, staring on in disbelief.

A loud bang resounded and the ball vanished from sight. A violent wind signaled its high speed departure. Dusty was hit by the ball and his body was brutally jerked along with it. The high speed impact killed him immediately, but for some reason he was carried along instead of the ball shooting clean through him.

His four henchponies were thrown to the side by the gust of wind following Atlas’s spell, lying motionless where they landed. Dusty was carried along until they could barely see him on the horizon, until a blinding explosion of light obscured their vision.

A huge tremor could be felt, rocking the whole barn. The poles holding Crimson and Amethyst were shaken enough to break, which allowed them to finally free themselves. Shortly after, massive amounts of dust and dirt was blown into the barn, causing the occupants to cough. The sediment in the air was thick enough that they lost their ability to see further than two feet in front of them.

“Is everyone ok?” Crimson asked after the chaos started to settle.

“I’m ok!” Belle called out from somewhere. “Just a bit shaken up.”

“By Tartarus, what was that?” Amethyst asked amazed and scared. “That was way too powerful.”

“Talk about overkill.” Crimson said, trying to find Amethyst by locating his voice.

“That wasn’t just overkill…” Amethyst had a small coughing fit at that point. “That Dusty guy was obliterated!”

Crimson was walking in Amethyst’s direction, and just as he was able to make out a dark form in front of him, he bumped into him.

“Sorry.” Crimson said while trying to keep his balance. “Can you do something about all this dust?”

“That shouldn’t be a problem.” Amethyst said. “Although you’ll have to remove this thrice cursed ring from my horn first.”

“Sure, hold still.”

Crimson went to work immediately, trying to leverage the inhibitor ring off Amethyst’s head.

“Atlas?” Belle’s weak voice could be heard. “Atlas, can you hear me?”

No answer came to her, none of them really knew what happened to Atlas, but it didn’t exactly look healthy.

“Do you have any idea what happened to him?” Crimson asked Amethyst.

“I think he had a surge.” Amethyst answered. “But I’ve never seen somepony surge like this. Unicorns usually don’t get… bigger during a surge. Also there was way too much magic involved.”

Crimson finally managed to pull the ring off Amethyst and let it fall without a second thought. It clattered to the floor and came to a rest next to a piece of rope.

“Thanks.” Amethyst said.

Amidst the dust Crimson could see Amethyst’s horn flare up a purple color. Out of nowhere a wind started to blow within the barn, circulating dust and dirt towards the exit and outwards. After about half a minute the barn was cleared of all the debris.

Almost everything that wasn’t properly secured fell to the ground after the explosion, but more importantly Atlas didn’t move an inch from where they last saw him. His eyes were still glowing and his mane and size were still changed from the usual Atlas they knew.

He was just standing there, staring in the direction Dusty just flew off as if he was waiting to see if he somehow survived.

Belle gingerly approached Atlas from the opposite side of the room. Her fur was still wet from all the crying she did, but right now she didn’t feel like crying. Something changed Atlas and it scared her. Instead of the gentle and funny Atlas, there stood an intimidating force of nature.

She waved her hoof in front of his glowing eyes, but no matter what she tried, he just continued standing there motionless. She put her hoof on his leg and looked sadly up at him. His new size intimidated her quite a bit, it was as if somepony just replaced the Atlas she came to love.

A lone tear rolled down her cheek.

“Atlas, please… you’re scaring me…”

This time Atlas reacted to her words. His head turned slowly towards her until their eyes met. Belle stared into the bright white abyss that was Atlas’s eyes and it stared back at her.

“Please come back to us…” Belle tried again.

Atlas’s head tilted a bit to the side, as if he seemed to consider the situation. They held the eyecontact for a couple of seconds more, before Atlas blinked once and started to shrink. His eyes lost their glow as he returned to his normal size and his mane reverted back to it’s natural state.

When he was back to normal Atlas blinked a few times in rapid succession to recalibrate his sight. Before he could get his bearings back though, Belle tackled him to the ground, wrapping him in a hug. The waterworks were turned into full on sprinklers coating Atlas in her tears, this time due to happiness.

“What… what happened?” Atlas asked confusedly.

He looked around the barn taking in it’s state of disarray, and the huge cloud of dust and dirt on the outside. His eyes landed on Crimson and Amethyst who were standing closeby, freed from their bindings.

Atlas furrowed his brows. The last thing he could remember was that Dusty was about to take away Belle. Now, Dusty was nowhere to be seen and his friends were freed.

“You don’t remember?” Amethyst asked him cautiously.

Crimson and Amethyst moved closer to the pony pile before them.

“Not really…” Atlas said, looking down at the crying Belle. “What’s going on?”

“You surged.” Amethyst said. “Rather spectacularly I might add.”

Atlas’s face fell. One of the first things he learned at the academy was that surging was really bad for adult unicorns. The fact that he lost control like that meant he still had a long way to go.

“What do you mean ‘spectacularly’?” Atlas asked. “And where’s Dusty and his goonies?”

Atlas looked around in the barn but could find neither hide nor hare of the earth ponies who were present before his surge.

“It’s probably safe to say that Dusty’s dead.” Crimson interjected into the conversation. “You blew him up with some really flashy spell.”

Atlas was growing more confused by the second.

“I did?” He looked around again. “But shouldn’t there maybe be a crater or something? Or at least blood?”

Crimson didn’t answer, instead he just pointed his hoof towards the exit. Atlas eyes followed it until he looked outside where the dust was still settling.

“Oh.” Atlas said.

“Oh indeed.” Amethyst shot back. “Let me tell you, that was the most insane spell you threw at that earth pony. I bet there’s a huge crater out there. Considering that we’re in a barn, we’re probably on the outskirts, so the only casualty was Dusty I guess… Aside from the produce that was growing outside.”

Atlas heart sunk towards his stomach. What the hell did he do when he surged?

“I’ve never seen a surge like yours by the way.” Amethyst continued. “You grew huge and your hair got all flowey.”

“What about the eyes?” Crimson asked.

“The glowing eyes are normal for a surge. It happens when a unicorn is channeling large amounts of mana, so it can even happen outside of surges.” Amethyst replied.

“Wait, what do you mean I grew? Isn’t that like impossible?” Atlas asked.

“Yeah you grew to be about a head bigger than you are now. Probably some magic side effect or something.” Crimson answered him.

“Don’t ever do that again!” Belle said between sobs. “I was so scared!”

“Belle I…” Atlas tried to get a word in.

“I was so scared you turned into some kind of monster!” Belle cut him off immediately. “I thought I had lost you! Just after you saved me too!”

“Belle…”

“It was so hard for me to make the decision to go with Dusty! But it was the only way to save you guys, so I had to!”

Belle’s feelings were just gushing out of her as she was hugging Atlas like her life depended on it.

“But my biggest regret would have been that I was never able to tell you how I felt about you! I love you Atlas! I loved you for a long time now, so please never do something like this again!”

Belle devolved into a sobbing mess when she finally laid all her feelings out into the open. A turmoil of different emotions raged within her but in the end she was just happy that all of them were still alive and unhurt.

Atlas just laid there motionless, mouth slightly agape again. He looked towards Crimson and Amethyst for help, but they didn’t make any moves to help him, making it his own problem. He remembered that Dusty said something along the lines of Belle being in love with him, but at the time he thought it might just be a tactic to get to her.

Now that he heard it from her own mouth, there was no doubt about it any longer. Belle was in love with him. Atlas had some feelings for Belle to, as they were slowly but steadily growing ever since he and Crimson accepted her into their group.

Somewhere around when he realized that Belle would be taken away from him for ever, he also realized that he was in love too. He had to do something, anything to keep her at his side. Apparently his feelings were even strong enough to make him surge.

Atlas let his mind settle, until only one clear thought remained. He wrapped his hooves around the shaking Belle until he held her securely against his chest. His head came to a rest atop her head and he closed his eyes.

“I love you too, Belle.”

Author's Note

Well... this certainly happened ^^ Hope you enjoyed my longest chapter yet! Even with it being so long, I still feel like I didn't do it justice, like I could have done more! But still, overall I'm quite happy with how it turned out :D

I drew from all my creative juices and named this transformation of his 'Atlas Mode'. Don't worry, this was just sort off a one off ability. Though it might return in some capacity at a later point in the story.
Hope you had a good read, and feel free to comment!

I hope the whole Belle thing didn't come as too much of a surprise, since I tried to drop some hints in the past few chapters... Also I don't think I'm that good at writing emotional scenes, but I tried my best :D (Also there is a version of this chapter you'll never see that contains the word 'nutsack' quite often ^^) Also there's a sexual innuedno hidden in this chapter. To spot it you have to be at least as stupid as Ambros ;P

Also if anyone of you is interested in a free copy of Civ5 for steam... ~~8Z7MR-REVN0-Q7CF2~~ (has been redeemed... I still have codes for various games, so keep your eyes open :P)

Once again, thanks to my editor Ambros and my proofreader Kilobytes for a job well done!

Todays chapter was brought to you by this song. Have I used this one before? I can't remember...

36. Aftermath

Scholar Arc
Still Day 16, evening

It didn’t take long for the guards to arrive. Even though Atlas and his friends had been brought to the outskirts of the city, a huge explosion would kick the guard into overdrive and cause them to respond immediately.

Unicorn mages had used wind spells to clear the dust and dirt that was still settling, revealing a gruesome sight. Where there was once a cornfield, only a huge crater remained. They estimated the crater to be around one hundred and fifty feet wide, and thirty feet deep.

Immediately after the discovery, they started searching for the cause. While mages scanned the crater for lingering magical energies, scores of guards scoured the vicinity. They first found Dusty’s unconscious henchponies strewn around on the ground and soon after, Atlas’s group inside the barn.

After a rough explanation of the circumstances, they were brought back to the crater where the commanding guard directing his subordinates orders from.

They were approaching a heavily armed unicorn guard, flanked by the guards who found them. The commanding officer had just finished giving his orders to a group of regular guards when his eyes fell upon the approaching group.

He had a white coat and a deep blue mane. His purple and gold armor seemed more intricate than that of a regular guard, and a purple plume of hair rested atop his helmet.

Atlas had to chuckle at how familiar the stallion looked.

“Report!” The unicorn barked at the frontmost guard.

“Sir! We found these ponies in a barn about one mile away from here. According to them, the explosion was caused by a surge from the dark gray unicorn, Sir!” The guard dutifully responded while saluting.

The commander’s eyes locked onto Atlas’s, who awkwardly waved back at him and sported an apologetic smile.

“Bring them back to the base for further questioning.” The commander commanded. “Do not allow them to talk on the way there, and make sure they’re kept in separate rooms for now”

“Sir, Yes, Sir!” The guards surrounding them said as one.

They were lead away from the carter in single file, the space between them making sure they didn’t talk, just as was ordered.

Atlas sneaked a look back at the crater and a shiver ran down his spine. He already knew that surging was a bad thing. Regular unicorns could only damage their immediate surroundings at worst, but if that was what happened whenever he surged; he’d have to avoid it in the future at all costs.

Just as he finally thought he was at peace with his new life, something happened that made him question everything anew. This time he got lucky and nobody was seriously hurt. At least not anypony who didn’t deserve it. But what if the next time it happened he was within the city? The mere thought of the possibilities scared him as he turned away from the destruction he’d caused.

It had been what felt like hours since Atlas was led into a small room by the guards.

After their group arrived at the nearest guard facility they were lead inside what looked like interrogation rooms. The guards had made sure they had no chance to communicate with each other aside from shouting and put each of them in their own room.

The room Atlas found himself in had no decorations whatsoever, only a table with two chairs facing each other occupied it. The chair opposite the door sat a nervous Atlas.

By now he had spent quite a lot of time by himself, with nothing but his thoughts to keep him company. His fantasies about what the guards were going to do with him and his friends kept becoming progressively worse as time passed.

What if they would lock all of them up inside a high-security prison in the middle of the mountain? What if they condemned them to spend the rest of their lives in there?

If this scenario would come to pass, Atlas was well and truly fucked.

Every now and again his thoughts flicked back to what happened after his surge. He actually confessed his love for Belle after she let him know how she felt about him. After thinking about it again and again he actually wasn’t quite sure about this.

After all, up to this point he’d never fallen for someone. Was what he felt love or infatuation? In hindsight, he was probably just caught up in the heat of the moment. Atlas felt confused since he never actually had a girlfriend. He didn’t exactly know how that would pan out going forward.

Nevertheless, even though he felt that the whole thing was rushed, he was willing to try. He definitely felt something for Belle and was curious to see what might come from this development.

While he was waiting for anything to happen, he played around with his hooves. Idly clacking them together to try and see what sounds he could produce. From time to time, his eyes would be drawn to the door, expecting it to open and some very angry guards to enter.

Alas, no one came and he was left to his own thoughts. Since there was no clock inside the room, Atlas had no idea how much time had passed already. It certainly felt like forever to him, and he wondered how his friends were faring. Judging by how much time had already passed, they were most certainly questioning them first, saving Atlas for last.

He tried to remember what exactly happened back in the barn, so he would be ready for their questions. He could more or less remember everything until shortly before his surge. He could faintly remember hearing a familiar voice before his memory went dark.

Atlas racked his brain to place the voice he heard to a face but came up with nothing. After a while something else resurfaced from his memory. Before he went out of control he could feel something strange happening to him.

Something akin to a wave of energy washed over him. Once again his recent memories were scoured for the familiar feeling. This time, he was able to remember it happening twice before. Once when he said goodbye to Vibrant Colors, and the other time when he and Crimson decided to travel together.

Atlas wondered if those three moments were somehow connected, and if those waves of energy actually did anything to him except leave him with a slight tingle.

The noise of the door being opened snapped Atlas out of his ruminations, his eyes darted towards the entrance. A single pony walked in, though Atlas could see two guards standing outside before the door was closed.

The Pony had brown fur and a dark brown mane. Although he didn’t wear any armor, he did wear clothes. Something akin to a coat was draped over his backside, his two front hooves inside sleeves keeping it in place. The coat obscured his cutie mark so Atlas had no idea what it was.

The unicorn stallion carried a stack of papers with him in his magic, which he set down on the table before taking a seat opposite of Atlas.

The unicorn proceeded to flip through his papers, stopping to read over a few passages on some of them and generally ignoring Atlas’s presence.

Atlas felt awkward watching the unicorn, wondering if he was allowed to speak up, or if he was supposed to wait quietly while the unicorn finished whatever he was doing. He silently watched the unicorn work for a few minutes until he just couldn’t bear it anymore.

“Umm… Excuse-”

“Mr. Atlas.” The unicorn immediately stopped him.

The last of the pages floated back down to the table and arranged themselves neatly in front of the unicorn. For the first time since entering the unicorn established eye contact with Atlas, acknowledging his existence.

“Your friends have told us a lot about you and what happened tonight.” He said. “But first let me begin by introducing myself. My name is Inquiring Mind, and I’m in charge of criminal investigations around here.”

Atlas nodded, feeling it unnecessary to introduce himself since Inquiring Mind already knew him quite well apparently.

“Today’s events have proven to be quite a headache for me.” Inquiring Mind continued. “Do you have any idea how much damage you caused?”

“I’ve… I’ve seen the crater if that’s what you mean.” Atlas said casting his eyes downwards.

“Yes, but it’s not just structural damage you did. Your spell pretty much obliterated a whole field that was growing very important produce. I doubt that I need to tell you that we don’t produce enough food as is.”

Atlas nodded once again.

“At this time we need every ounce of food we can get, thus what you’ve destroyed was of great value not only to the farmer but for the whole of the Kingdom. A grave crime in these less than bountiful days.” Inquiring Mind shook his head in disappointment.

Atlas mentally prepared himself for a long time in prison. At least it sounded like they blamed Atlas alone, and his friends could at least go free.

“That being said, the circumstances were quite… unique to say the least.”

Atlas perked up at those words, a faint amount of hope spreading within him. Maybe they would lessen his sentence?

“All of your friends have told us the same story, and there’s no reason for us to believe they are lying since they were under a truth spell the whole time.” Inquiring Mind pulled a page out of his stack. “Thus we have reason to believe that this ‘Dusty’ character is to blame for the most part.”

Atlas allowed a smile to creep onto his face.

“That doesn’t mean you’re out of dodge yet, Mr. Atlas.”

Atlas’s smile immediately vanished.

“The insights of your friend Amethyst Blade were especially valuable to us.” Inquiring Mind adopted a troubled look. “Those inhibitor rings sound like bad news, to say the least. Could you tell me how your experience with the ring was?”

Inquiring Mind’s horn started to glow a soft orange and Atlas felt a tingly feeling around his throat. The truth spell, Atlas concluded.

“Well, according to Dusty they just cancel out a unicorns ability to channel magic through the horn. Control channeling still seems to work though, at least it did for me…” Atlas answered.

“Hmmm… interesting.” Mind wrote down the new information on a paper. “Mr. Amethyst Blade hasn’t tried that. Thank you for this information, it might help us come up with a countermeasure.”

“Of course,” Atlas answered and left it at that.

“As far as your punishment goes, since the circumstances were quite unique and a surge is not exactly controllable you can expect it to be lenient.” Inquiring Mind said. “Especially since it was a life or death situation.”

Atlas nodded in acknowledgment once again. Opting to talk as little as possible as long as the truth spell was in effect.

“But there was something else that Mr. Amethyst Blade mentioned, that I’d like to verify myself since it’s a unique situation.” Inquiring Mind said.

He got up from his chair and went over to the door. He opened it slightly, levitating a device through the opening. The door was closed again and the device floated down onto the table before he retook his seat.

Atlas seemed to recognize the device, but couldn’t quite place where he had seen it before.

“I think you’re already familiar with this test, so if you’d please?”

Inquiring mind gestured towards a ring that was connected to the device. Atlas looked at the transparent orb resting on top of it when he finally made the connection. This was the device used to determine a unicorn's magical affinity.

Atlas complied levitating the ring over his horn. Even though he knew now what the device was for, he couldn’t quite understand why he’d need to take the test again.

As expected the orb began to glow a soft green after a while. Inquiring Mind nodded but didn’t do anything else. They both watched the orb as its color slowly changed to red, representing Atlas’s secondary affinity. Once again Inquiring Mind only gave an acknowledging nod, although he seemed to be tenser than before.

Atlas was about to ask what this was all about, when the orb started to change it’s color again. Instead of the expected green, it seemed to lose color until only a soft pink was left.

Atlas furrowed his brow as Inquiring Mind released a tired sigh. The orb continued on to change to the previously expected green, leaving Atlas to his confusion.

“Huh?” Atlas managed to say after a few moments.

His jaw was slightly agape, looking towards Inquiring Mind for an explanation. The pony in question said nothing at first, opting to wait and see if the phenomenon would repeat itself. Sure enough, the orb turned a soft pink a few moments later.

“You may take off the ring now.” Mind said, a quill in his magic furiously writing something down.

Atlas was still confused and wanted answers, but did as he was told. He levitated the ring off his horn and set it down next to the device while waiting for his interrogator to finish.

“Your friend Amethyst Blade described the spell you used to us in great detail.” Inquiring Mind said, setting his quill down. “According to him, you created a ball of pure mana by mixing different types of condensed energy, before firing it at Dusty. A quite common way of attacking for inexperienced unicorns to be sure.”

Inquiring Mind rubbed his temples with his hoofs, indicating a headache coming on.

“Perhaps the most disturbing thing about this spell is that three different types of mana were used to create it.” Mind’s eyes fixated themselves on Alex’s. “In all of the Kingdom’s history, there has never once been a unicorn who commanded more than two elements at once, which makes you an unknown. A dangerous one, if today’s events are anything to go by.”

“But it was an accident!” Atlas rebuked. “This only happened because of the surge! If I pay attention and be careful this could easily be avoided.”

Atlas saw his chance and tried to barter against his inevitable jail time.

“You are right.” Inquiring Mind said with a tired sigh. “We all got lucky your surge didn’t happen in a densely populated area. Still, just trusting your word is not enough for us.”

Atlas braced himself for whatever judgment they had decided on, at least it looked like if he was put in jail, they wouldn’t cut him off completely from the outside world.

“Mr. Atlas. As you are right now you are a danger to yourself and anypony around you.” Inquiring Mind said. “We will have you continue your education at our academy as you did up until now, so you may learn how to control your powers properly.”

Atlas breathed a sigh of relief. He really didn’t want to go to jail.

“However.” Inquiring Mind added. “You’ll be placed under heavy surveillance, and if there are any signs of things getting dangerous you will be dealt with accordingly. Additionally, you’ll have to cooperate with any and all research about your triple affinity. If you so much as try and hinder anypony that requires information from you, we’ll count that as an act of rebellion and lock you away. Is this understood?”

“Yes.” Atlas gulped. “I understand.”

“Very well then.” Inquiring Mind said. “You and your friends are free to go. One of my men will escort you back to your respective homes. Do you have any questions left?”

“What about my days off at the academy?” Atlas asked nervously.

“You are free to continue your life as you like, just know that no matter where you go, somepony will follow you from the shadows.” Inquiring Mind said with finality. “Have a good night Mr. Atlas.”

Inquiring Mind got up from his chair and left the room. He briefly spoke to one of the guards standing outside, before trotting out of sight. Shortly after the head of a guard poked into the room.

“Follow me.” The guard said with authority.

Atlas sighed a breath of relief and got up from his chair. All things considered, his punishment wasn’t too bad, and it seemed like his friends got off scot free. With a huge load off his shoulders, Atlas started following the guards towards his friends.

Author's Note

Hey guys, since we have now cleared a major point in the story, and a lot of things got wrapped up, I'll take this opportunity to take a little break from my scheduled releases. Since I have a lot of work coming up, and need a bit of respite from the writing schedule, I'll stop releasing every Saturday for a while. I'll still be writing but at a more leisurely pace. I have a lot of story updates to read since they started racking up when I spent more time writing than reading ;D

Look forward to releases whenever they're done!

Once again, thanks to my editor Ambros and my proofreader Kilobytes for a job well done!

Today's chapter was brought to you by this song.

Author's Notes: Fucking magic, How does it even work?

Author's Note

Hey everybody! As the title suggests, this isn't a "real" chapter. It's technically just some of my notes on this story cleaned up and made readable for your reading pleasure. I'm going a bit more in-depth on what ponies believe is their origin story, as well as give each magic school a small spotlight.

This chapter is entirely optional to read, you won't miss anything important if you leave it out.

That being said, enjoy some world trivia :D

P.S. Chapter 38 is being proofread, and will probably be posted tomorrow.

Author's Notes: Fucking magic, How does it even work?

In the beginning, there was a planet. A beautiful sphere glistening in the void with a wide variety of biomes and fauna. From dry deserts to cold tundras everything could be found within this singular biosphere. In these various environments, a great many plants, trees and flowers thrived. Yet, there was one thing missing on this wondrous planet. Somebody to appreciate it.

When six beings of great power happened upon the planet in their travels, they were stunned by its beauty. For a long time, they traveled and marveled at the sights provided by nature.

At some point they decided that it was a pity that they were the only ones able to enjoy their findings, so they decided to bless the planet with life.

Each of them created a creature to inhabit this wondrous planet and live in harmony with the nature found upon it.

From that day on, Griffons, Minotaurs, Yaks, Diamond Dogs, Dragons and Breezies walked the face of the planet. Which was, soon after, dubbed Equus.

The beings loved their creations so much, that they bestowed part of their powers on them. Those gifts manifested with each race in different ways, such as allowing the dragons to live an extraordinarily long life, or diamond dogs to rule the subterranean earth they walked upon.

Over the centuries that those six heavenly beings inhabited Equus, their very presence caused a change. The energy they radiated was partly absorbed by the planet itself, causing it to transform.

It started to produce faint amounts of that energy to help sustain the life living on it, which had become reliant on it to survive. These trace amounts of energy are what would eventually become known as mana.

They lived together in harmony for a long time, until the six beings felt that it was time to move on. As a last gift to the planet and it’s inhabitants which they had grown to love, they created one more race; a race with the purpose of making sure that harmony would continue to exist long after they were gone. Pooling together all their different powers, they created the ponies.

Upon the Pegasi, they bestowed the gift of control, allowing them to create and control everything nature would need to persist.

Upon the Earth Ponies, they bestowed the gift of life. They would be able to help plants as well as other living beings to lead a healthy life.

Upon the unicorns, they bestowed the gift of creation. With their horns and unique mana pathways, they'd be able to access the energy of the planet, forming them into whatever spell they needed.

Before they left, they tasked the ponies with keeping harmony, imparting their gifts to tend to the planet and its inhabitants in their absence.

With a great celebration, they parted with their creations, wishing them the best of luck and leaving them to their own devices.

Millennia passed and the six heavenly beings passed into legend until their existence was nothing more than a tale one told to their children.

The memory of their creators faded, and the creatures living on Equus became independent. And slowly but surely, harmony started to crumble, as the task bestowed upon the ponies was forgotten.

In today's times, everything on Equus is saturated with magic. The planet continued to produce mana until it became an essential part of the life on it.

Six distinct types of mana exist, their properties allowing them to influence a different part of life. Eventually, the creatures inhabiting Equus attuned themselves to the energies flowing around them, until their very essence was connected to a certain type of mana.

Unicorns call this connection "Affinity". Every unicorn would be able to instinctively control the mana they were connected to a lot more effectively than the other five types.

Soon realizing that different types of mana had different purposes, they created the six schools of magic.

Blue mana, the school of Illusion

Unicorns practicing Illusion spells gained access to a wide variety of spells. Low-level spells could let them display pictures from their mind. They could change the color of light and other minor changes in how others saw something. High-level spells could even change how others perceived reality itself, tricking them into seeing what wasn't there.

Pink Mana, the school of Manipulation

One of the low-level spells of this school became immensely popular, through its wide range of use; Telekinesis, or Levitation as some called it, a spell which allowed the user to manipulate objects in close proximity. Few unicorns achieved the higher levels of this school, which allowed them to terraform their surroundings, creating mountains and ravines as they pleased.

Red mana, the school of Combat

By far the most versatile school of magic became the school of combat. Quickly it was discovered, that instead of just using raw mana to attack, introducing one of the four elements of nature to a spell could bring forth more effective or destructive spells. The four elements of nature, Earth, Water, Fire and Wind could be combined to create a wide variety of spells.

Orange mana, the school of Energy

Since everything on Equus was saturated with mana, the energy mages could influence almost everything. Low level spells allowed them to check objects and living beings for anything out of the ordinary. Scanning spells revealed the true nature of the world around them. High-level mages were able to manipulate and influence the mana surrounding them.

Green mana, The school of Life

Life mages are the most respected amongst the different practitioners. Their spells allowed them to mend the wounds of the injured. While a low-level mage would only be able to regenerate a simple cut, a high-level mage could slowly bring back critically injured ponies from the brink of death.

Purple mana, the school of Magic

Purple mana, a mystery to this very day and age. It remains largely unmapped since a low amount of unicorns are born with this specific affinity, meaning research hasn’t advanced nearly as far as the other schools. Mages which were blessed with this affinity were able to control the other five types of mana almost effortlessly. While a unicorn with a green affinity would have trouble controlling blue or red mana, a unicorn with purple mana could control all types equally.

Blessed with higher mana reserves than the usual unicorn as well as control over all types of mana, this meant they made for excellent mages. The true nature of purple mana has not yet been discovered. Not yet.

Combination/Fusion Magic

This type of magic can be used by two or more unicorns, or one unicorn blessed with a twin affinity. A complicated, difficult to learn process is used, where the casting point of the spell is changed from the horn, to an outside point. Most commonly used is treated thaumium (a metal highly receptive to mana). Two or more spells are channeled into the new focus point, where they mix and create a new spell, usually not castable to a single unicorn. Unicorns with a twin affinity may use their horn as the focus point, as usual. (Thanks for handily demonstrating this, Starlight Glimmer).

Megaspells

Similar to combination magic, but on a much larger scale. Instead of mixing and matching different spells, multiple unicorns can be used to power a single spell. Usually reserved for highly potent spells that require an absurd amount of mana to be cast, unicorns can learn how to share their mana with others. When unicorns start their studies on high level spells in their own respective fields, it often requires a group effort to pull off the desired spell. Note: there are documented exceptions to mega-spells being performed by single exceedingly talented individuals.

True Megaspells

True Megaspells have not yet been invented as of chapter 37.

Chaos Mana

T̎̓̎̒͗̅ͦͬ̒҉͇̘̳͙͇̬̭h͍̦̳̝͙̮̫̘ͫ̆̀̚̕͝ͅe̝̺̜̠͙͇̺̓ͦͣͣͫ̽̈ͅr̶̦̻̱͈̔ͭ̒̑̆̌e̮̮͕̠̓͋̇ͦ́ ͒̽ͮͣ̂̓̉̓͢҉̜͚c̤̪̖̻͓̦̔͐́ͤͬ͗̄ͅa̸̡̩͙͎͙͂ͨͣ̾̀n̶̩̣̗̫̤͂ͫ ̧̲͇̟̞̳̜̟̅̑̔̈́̎ͩb̶͉̖͚͓̦̜͔͖̽̽̔̿̍ͤẽ͎̗̀͜ ͚͓̯͕̰͔ͮͯ̎̊n̸̠̤̹ͨͨ̌̍̊ͩoͥ͌̃̑̎̈́̑̈͏̭̹̺̹̞̫̼̀ͅ ̛̞̳̳̗̑͐̄͐̋̓H̸̡̟͔ͪͪ̃͗̎̾͘ḁ̴̡̞̻̳̟̘̰̩ͩ̔̽ͮr͎̾́ͪ̓̾ͦ͋̈ͅm̧͕͈͉͙̬̭̙̜̫ͦ̃̀ͣ̓̈͠o͖̲̻̫͈͒͆͘n̬̥̺͚̘͓̓ͧ̀ͭ̌̓̕y̠̹͍̬̠̣̮̤ͨ͒̀͛ͩ͋̓̀͢ ̡̭̟̣͕̠̿̂ͥŵ̷̬̖͍̫͈̘̹̪́̋͢͠ͅi̸̺̹̻͎̺̙̫̹̓̎̒̇͘t̵̷̠̙̳̳͉̄̓͆̀͛̋́ͥ́h͚̫̣ͯ̾͐̓̓͐ͣ̆ͣo̡̮̩̼̜̜͆̓̕ư̶̡̦̮̩̮͇̟ͦͬ̃̃̓ţ̧͍̻͇̯͖̣͍ͪ̾͒͛ͨͪ͗̐͐͡ ̺̻͇̩̥̽̊̀͆͛͠C̢̢͖̞̆̾̒h̰ͣͤ͘a̠̪̘̪̳̞̽ͩ́͛ͬ̒̏o̔͐ͨͮͦͮ͏̦͈̞̪̫̻̥̱̀s̶̯̺͔̜̳̼̑̉̽!̨̫̙̏̎̅͛͆ͫ̀

38. Back to School

Scholar Arc
Day 20

Atlas walked down one of the many halls of the magic academy. Three days had passed since Atlas's surge, and his schedule was finally returning to normal.

After getting quite literally pulled out of his bed by a guard, he had spent the last few days being poked, prodded, scanned, questioned, tested and probed. The news of his triple affinity had made rounds almost immediately and everypony was way too eager to examine him.

Since his sentence forbade him to resist or hinder their research in any way, he had to just take it and let them do their thing. It exhausted him both mentally and physically, the bags under his eyes a testament to the fact.

Thankfully they finally had enough data and just needed to analyze it first before they could continue their tests, so they let him return to his usual lessons.

As he made his way through the now familiar halls, another side effect of his triple affinity reared its ugly head. While it wasn't exactly made public, the information reached the general student body fairly fast; as a result, ponies seemed to go out of their way to avoid him. Everywhere he went, muffled whispers would follow.

Truth be told, when Amethyst first told him that he had close to no friends because of his magic affinity, he couldn't fully believe him. Now that he was in a similar situation, he finally understood; apparently being "blessed" with some special talent made one unapproachable. For the life of him, Atlas couldn't figure out why; by right, considering how the unicorn society worked, shouldn't he be getting swarmed by ponies trying to get in his good graces?

However, this was not so, and he was faced with this completely different reaction. He wasn't sad about it, in fact, he pretty much preferred it like this, since he didn't want to draw too much attention to himself. It was almost as if everypony expected him to explode at a moment's notice. At least this only seemed to apply to the general student body, as the teachers and researchers seemed to be positively delighted around him.

At least Amethyst had stayed a good friend through it all. While not as extreme, he was more or less in the same situation, so they could be there for each other. Although Amethyst's behavior towards Atlas had changed slightly as well, yet he was unable to put his finger on what had changed.

Missing extremities not affecting the outcome in any way.

With a sigh, he continued steadily onwards towards his private classroom, where Blazing Inferno was no doubt already waiting for him. Hoping that at least his teacher wouldn't change his behavior too much, he turned the final corner, the door to his classroom coming into view.

He approached the door, knocked, and immediately entered without waiting for an answer. The usual "classroom" greeted him when he closed the door behind him.

Tables and chairs lined the walls, moved to the side to provide more space. A single desk with a chair sat in front of a blackboard on the far wall, as well as stacks of empty scrolls already waiting for him.

Currently standing at the blackboard drawing some weird squiggly lines, was his teacher, Blazing Inferno. Upon hearing the door close he put the chalk, which was previously moving around in his telekinetic grip, back into its rightful resting spot.

His eyes widened when he saw who had entered, a smile adorning his face.

"Atlas, the stallion of the hour!" He exclaimed. "I've heard the news! Congratulations on being the first unicorn ever with a triple affinity!"

Atlas approached his teacher to shake hooves.

"Thanks, but I could definitely do without all the attention it's been getting me..." Atlas sighed. "I'm still sore in all kinds of weird places from all the experiments and tests I had to go through."

"Ah, yes, those researchers can be quite forceful sometimes," Inferno said while gesturing for Atlas to take a seat. "I have been reading their notes though, and their findings are truly fascinating, to say the least. I'll have to adjust your lesson plan to fit you better because of it."

"Well, sorry for giving you extra work," Atlas said with a weak smile.

"Don't be!" Inferno immediately said. "I for one, find it exciting to teach such a unique stallion as yourself. After all, there has never been somepony like you before!"

"I wouldn’t flatter me that much, I can't even seem to cast that cursed stamina boost correctly," Atlas said with a raised eyebrow.

Inferno sported a sheepish smile. "Every great mage has to start somewhere. I'm sure you'll have mastered it soon enough."

"I sure hope so, it would have come in handy a few days back..." Atlas trailed off towards the end, a thoughtful look on his face.

"Oh? How so?" Inferno asked curiously.

"Have they told you about the inhibitor rings?"

"Yes, the news of them spread almost as fast as your triple affinity," Inferno confirmed.

"Well, while they seem to stop a unicorn from casting through their horn, control channeling seems to work just fine," Atlas explained.

"Ah, I see..." Inferno thought about the new piece of information. "I understand how it could have been useful, but I doubt heightened stamina would do you much good when you're bound somewhere, it would just let you struggle for longer."

"True, but still, better than nothing I guess.” Atlas said. "How about we leave this discussion and get to the learning? What are those lines you've drawn on the board?"

"Hm?" Inferno was pulled from his thoughts at Atlas's question. "Oh yeah, those." He nodded once, levitating over his trusty pointing stick.

"Those," he traced one of the longer lines, "are mana pathways."

Atlas looked at the lines more carefully and upon further analysis, he realized they were indeed vaguely pony shaped. In fact, there were two pony shapes, with slight differences.

"So what's the difference between them?" Atlas asked, his curiosity piqued.

"These," Inferno tapped the center of the left drawing, "are the pathways of a regular unicorn."

Atlas furrowed his brows at the mention of the word 'regular' but let Inferno continue.

"And the ones over here," Inferno tapped the right drawing, "are yours."

Inferno used the stick to bop Atlas on the nose, a happy smile on his face.

"I have different mana pathways?" Atlas asked confused. "Is that somehow tied to my triple affinity?"

"Truthfully, we haven't quite figured this one out yet," Inferno said with a thoughtful look. "But it's quite possible, after all, considering you're the first unicorn ever whose pathways deviate from the norm."

Atlas groaned and burrowed his face into his hooves. Just what he needed, one more reason to stand out.

"So what does this mean in relation to my casting?" Atlas pressed out from between his legs. "Does this change anything major for me?"

"Yes and no, actually."

Atlas glanced out from behind his hooves, curious at the vague answer.

"If it concerns normal spells you're no different from other ponies." Inferno began to explain. "Although, since your pathways are slightly longer and cover more space, the time it takes you to overexert them will be longer since the stress can be applied more evenly."

"Though, that's just a theory at this point."

Inferno pointed towards the two front hooves of the drawing representing Atlas's mana pathways with his stick.

"The most significant change seems to be at the base of your forehooves," Inferno said, as he traced five distinct lines that were missing on the other drawing. "Where normally the pathways stop about three-fourths down the leg, yours continue all the way down."

Atlas stared at the drawing. His right eye twitched as he realized just what those lines looked like. Fingers. He tuned out Inferno's further explanations as his eyes flitted around the drawing, searching for something to confirm his newly formed theory.

After calling upon all his 'find the mistakes in the picture' skills, he was fairly certain to have found all the differences in the two drawings. His own pathways seemed to generally be squished together a bit tighter than a normal pony’s; whereas on a normal pony's body, the pathways were equally distributed, Atlas's own pathways seemed to be completely left out around the bottom part of the stomach. instead, they seemed to be more concentrated along the back. The pathways on his shoulders, heart and brain were slightly off and on his back hooves he spotted five smaller lines, similar to those on his fore-hooves.

"Oh, you gotta be fucking kidding me.” Atlas muttered as his eyes went wide in realization.

Although subtle, his mana pathways seemed to form the shape of a human, creating the image of a person shoved into a too small pony vessel. Apparently the Greek gods didn't even bother to truly transform him into a pony, they just did a half-assed job and basically shapeshifted him just enough so it would work out somehow.

"Excuse me?" Inferno said, his teachings interrupted.

Did that mean there was a way for Atlas to turn back? Would he even want to at this point? Although he only spent a relatively short time in his new body, he'd grown accustomed to it, old habits making him slip up less and less. Would he still be able to do magic if he turned back? The pathways seemed to be there, but was he willing to risk it? Magic was, after all, a dream come true for him.

Atlas furrowed his brows as a wayward thought struck him. Were those even his own pathways? Or did they belong to the Atlas fragment within him?

Atlas recoiled as something tapped his nose gently, his eyes going cross-eyed to see what touched him even as he was almost falling off his chair from the sudden action.

"Glad to see you're back with me, Mr. Atlas." Inferno chuckled. "Pray tell, what has you so deep in thought that you'd ignore my lesson?"

There was more amusement than hostility in the question asked, but Atlas could still hear the hidden disappointment in Inferno's voice.

"I'm sorry," Atlas gathered himself again, sitting up straight. "I was just thinking about the implications of this new discovery."

"Well, if you'd been listening you wouldn't have to think about it," Inferno gave Atlas another light tap on the nose with his stick. "Don't make this harder than it is."

Atlas nodded, focusing his attention back onto Blazing Inferno and his drawings, fully intent on paying attention.

"As I was saying, while they look almost the same, after looking at the two maps, yours are riddled with small differences," Inferno stated. "Just look over here," he pointed at the pathways twisting and turning around Atlas's heart. "There are several parts in our bodies where our pathways meet called gateways. One, such as this, is the heart. But if you look at it carefully, your gateway doesn't align with your heart at all."

Inferno grinned at Atlas like a kid who had found a new toy.

"This could change all sorts of things, or... nothing at all, really." Inferno chuckled happily. "We'll just have to wait and see. It really is interesting, though."

Atlas adopted a deadpan look as he had to think about all the tests he'd would most likely be put through because the Greek Pantheon consisted exclusively of lazy fucks. He was busy ruminating his bad luck, as another question popped into his head.

"Would..." Atlas furrowed his brows. "Would me having different pathways somehow interfere with my control channeling?"

Blazing Inferno's face lit up at the question.

"Yes!" He said proudly. "It does! It's actually the whole reason I'm trying to tell you about this."

Several pieces of chalk floated up to the chalkboard, drawing additional lines and circles over both of the drawings. Again, the one's on Atlas's side, slightly different. Atlas was already familiar with the meaning behind the new additions, as they were instructions on how to properly channel a unicorn's mana for controlled channeling.

"The reason you haven't made much progress with the stamina spell is because you were doing it wrong." Inferno seemed to realize something and scrunched up his face. "Not that this is your fault of course."

"Anyway!" Inferno continued. "With these slight adjustments, the feeling of 'pushing your mana through mud' as you've mentioned before should be gone since you're going to be channeling it properly. You should be able to master this spell in no time now since you already know the basics!"

Blazing Inferno finished his explanation by smiling widely at his student. Atlas took a few seconds to process the new information, his eyes switching between the now complete instructions on the blackboard.

Slowly a smile spread across Atlas's face as well. At least something was going the right way after the hardships he had to endure the past few days.

Maybe those tests weren't so bad after all.

Author's Note

Hurray for over 100k words! Yay!

I've looked it up, and apparently, a regular book has between 80k -100k words, so I've technically written a book now. I feel kinda proud of myself because of that. It's also been seven months since I started writing this story, didn't even notice how fast time was passing around me! Thanks to all of you guys for reading!

So anyway, Atlas is back at the academy and gets stuff shoved up his bumhole, what more could you want? I'm aware that those classroom chapters are somewhat exposition heavy, but they still hold some importance of course. If you don't like them, know that chapters like those will be few and far in between once Atlas joins regular classes. (which will be soon)

Once again, thanks to my editor Ambros and my proofreader Kilobytes for a job well done!

Today's chapter was brought to you by this song. Gotta love their new song!

39. Current Events

Scholar Arc
Day 26

Those tests sucked...hard.

Atlas let his head fall on the wooden table with an audible thud, ignoring the visible worry apparent on his friend's faces.

"I'm just so tired," he groaned as his head wobbled up and down comically while he spoke. "Those researchers are getting beyond ridiculous! I was dragged out of bed in the middle of the night because some asshole thought he had a breakthrough and needed me for confirmation!"

A pink leg wrapped around his shoulders wrapping him into a one-legged hug. The comforting contact with his marefriend calmed him down a bit.

"They'll have everything they need eventually, you'll see," Belle reassured him. "Just pull through this now, and who knows? Maybe you'll learn something important from them."

Atlas found himself agreeing with her since the information about his mana pathways actually helped him learn the stamina boost spell.

"Yeah, like how they discovered your screwed up mana pathways," Amethyst interjected from the side. "Although I'd really be glad if they stopped barging into our room when we're sleeping. I need my beauty sleep."

Amethyst wiggled his eyebrows dramatically while he fixed his mane with a hoof. Atlas snorted after incredulously glancing at him.

"I think you need a lot more than beauty sleep."

"Gasp!" Amethyst said dramatically. "My feelings! They hurt!"

Belle giggled at their antics and now sensing that Atlas calmed down a little, put her leg back on the ground. She stayed close to him though, leaning against his side.

Atlas glanced over at Belle without her noticing. Ever since they got official she got kind of clingy, initiating bodily contact whenever possible. He had no idea if this was a pony thing or just a Belle thing, and while he didn’t particularly mind, it could get annoying from time to time. Still, it was a new side to her he didn’t know before, allowing him to get to know her even better.

They were sitting at a table outside Apple Bee's, enjoying the pleasant weather. A few clouds dotted the blue sky but otherwise, the sun's task wasn't obstructed in any way.

Atlas silently thanked Crimson for the work he was doing and lifted his head from the table. The red stallion was currently late to their little get-together. Atlas let his eyes wander over the street as before scanning the sky, checking for any signs of his approaching friend.

Crimson promised to bring his co-worker the next time they all got together, and Atlas couldn't wait to meet this mysterious mare who apparently got Crimson head over heels. After finding no red whatsoever in the skies, he looked back down to find a wall of red looming in front of him.

"Hello, Friends!"

Apple Bee's rolls of fat wobbled as he waved energetically at them, despite being right next to their table. Atlas could never figure out how such a massive stallion managed to sneak up on him, maybe he should put a few bells on the restaurant's owner.

"Long time no see! What can I get for you?" Apple Bee asked, a wide smile on his face.

"We're still waiting for Crimson, so could we maybe just get something to drink for now?" Atlas said smiling to himself.

The big stallion’s attitude always helped lift up his spirits.

"Sure thing, just let me know what you need."

"A glass of cider for me please," Atlas said.

"For me too," Belle added.

"Just some water, please," Amethyst said.

"Alright, two ciders and one water, coming right up." Apple Bee confirmed and made to turn around. "But before I do that..." He stopped his motion, eyeing them curiously. "...what's this?"

He alternated between pointing at Atlas and Belle who were still leaning on each other for support. Apple Bee squinted his eyes at them, waiting for an answer, only getting a matching set of confused stares back until Atlas finally made the connection.

"Umm... We're kind of a thing now..." Atlas answered him, a sheepish look on his face.

Apple Bee's face lit up like a kid on Christmas morning, a very unmasculine squee escaping his lips. Before either of them knew what was going on, Atlas and Belle were wrapped into a mass of red and green. The huge stallion practically lunged at them, pulling them into a hug.

"Ohhh I'm so happy for you two!" Apple Bee shouted. "It was about time, really!"

Atlas struggled against his new flesh prison, Apple Bee showing a surprising amount of strength. Belle on the other side laughed happily, not bothered by the stallion’s show of affection.

"Amethyst... help!" Atlas managed to squeak out, his eyes locking pleadingly onto Amethyst’s.

Amethyst shot him a look of pity, before pointedly looking away with a smirk on his face, finding a sudden interest in the wooden grooves of their table.

"Trai... tor!" Atlas choked out, the image of a stormtrooper coming to his mind as his air supply started to dwindle.

Thankfully Apple Bee released the pair from his hug of doom, Atlas immediately breathing in generous gulps of the life sustaining nectar called air.

"Don't be so dramatic, it wasn't that bad," Belle said, rolling her eyes as she straightened out her mane.

"Not an... earth pony..." Atlas managed to get out between two breaths.

"Oh come on! A little skinship hasn't killed anypony!" Belle said, pulling Atlas into a hug of her own, snuggling into his neck.

"What did you mean by 'it's about time' Apple Bee?" Belle asked the massive stallion curiously.

"Oh dear," Apple Bee responded. "With the way you were looking at him every time you were here, it was clear as day that you had a thing for him." Apple Bee winked at her. "I may not be good at much, but I know ponies and I can recognize a mare in love from a mile away."

Belle looked at him dumbfounded. She always thought she did a pretty good job at hiding her feelings for Atlas.

"Was it really that obvious?" She whispered barely audible.

"Well, anyway, let me get your drinks." Apple Bee said as he turned around. "And congratulations again!"

They watched their host retreat back inside the restaurant to get their beverages, silence reigning over the table with an iron hoof after the display they just got.

"If it helps, I never noticed," Atlas said after he caught his breath and calmed down.

He started to lean into Belle's embrace, which seemed to be frozen in place.

"Huh?" Belle said, blinking a few times trying to refocus on the present. "Oh, okay."

Belle nuzzled Atlas's neck once more before giving him a light squeeze and returning to her position next to him, leaning on him for support.

"Can I interest you two in a room?" Amethyst interjected from the side. "You know, one with a nice view and maybe away from the public eye?"

"Oh hush." Atlas quipped. "You just don't like being ignored."

Amethyst raised an eyebrow at Atlas, shooting him his best 'really?' look, to which Atlas responded with an extremely mature eye roll.

"Well, as long as you don't start making out in the middle of the street I guess I can tolerate you two."

Belle remained blissfully oblivious to her friends bickering, content with leaning into Atlas's side.

Her feelings for the gray unicorn had been steadily growing ever since he agreed to take her along on their journey to the Crystal Kingdom. Although she had made friends with pretty much anypony she met, Atlas seemed to be somewhat special at first.

One of her lifelong dreams was to go to the Crystal Kingdom and learn more about magic. Since her mother positively hated unicorns and everything they did, magic was a big taboo in her childhood. As is usual with children, they're most interested in the things that are forbidden to them and Belle was no different in that regard.

Magic fascinated her, the thought of being able to manipulate things mentally, and in however way one wished was an amazing concept to her. The things one could do were almost limitless, and thinking about an entire kingdom built by unicorns and how amazing it must look made her want to go there every day.

Atlas was the one who finally made her wish a reality, and she was incredibly thankful to him and Crimson for fulfilling it for her. Atlas even saved her from Dusty back in High Rock at the cost of his own health and later, even his life.

For the first time since leaving the palace as a little filly, she was able to confide her story to somepony, and she was accepted nonetheless. Although she almost lost her mind when she found her dear new friend with a slit throat the next morning.

That was probably the first time she realized Atlas was a little more to her than a simple friend.

Her feelings grew and solidified during their travels. Even though Atlas seemed reluctant to go into detail about his past, she still learned a lot about him from their long talks on the road.

She wasn't sure when exactly it happened, but at some point in their travels she realized her true feelings for her travel companion. Not wanting to make things awkward, she bided her time, testing the waters if he possibly shared her feelings and waiting for the right moment to confess.

Up until Dusty reappeared and took the decision out of her hooves.

Thankfully, the whole fiasco went better than expected and they were now together. Even though Atlas still seemed a little bit unsure about the whole thing, she was sure she could definitely win him over.

Her musings were disturbed by a mug of cider gently being placed on the table in front of her. Apple Bee had returned with their drinks and was currently in the process of distributing them.

"Two ciders and one water as ordered." Apple Bee confirmed. "I'll be back once Crimson gets here, alright?"

"Sure, thanks," Atlas responded, already sipping on the beverage levitating before him.

Belle stared at the floating mug. Ever since coming to the Crystal Kingdom she was able to see magic being used left and right. But to see it this close, and used by her special somepony to boot still amazed her.

Apple Bee nodded once before going to serve another table which had just recently become occupied.

"So when do you think Crimson will get here?" Atlas asked. "It's not like him to be late."

"Maybe he got held up somewhere?" Amethyst suggested. "Or maybe his coworker showed up late?"

"Or maybe he got stood up by her?" Atlas said with a smirk.

"What's this I hear about me?" A voice called out from above them.

Three heads craned upwards to see two pegasi approaching their table to land. One of them being Crimson who just talked to them. The other a sky blue pegasus with a slightly lighter blue mane that had some teal streaks running through. Her rose colored eyes scanned their group curiously as she alighted on the opposite of the table, next to Crimson.

"Oh you know, the usual lies and slander we talk about whenever you're not here," Atlas responded.

Crimson just rolled his eyes before introducing his companion.

"Yeah, sure. Anyway! This here is Blue Current, my co-worker at the weather factory."

"Pleased to meet you all." Blue Current greeted them, smiling.

"Likewise, I'm Atlas by the way." Atlas introduced himself and offered his hoof for the newcomer to shake.

"My name's Charity Belle, but you can call me Belle!" A pink hoof was offered to Blue Current, which she gladly shook.

"And I'm Amethyst Blade, Amethyst for short."

After the introductions were done everypony settled back down at their place, Crimson was just about to strike up a conversation when he was interrupted.

"Hey, I'm Apple Bee, the owner of this humble establishment." Apple Bee had apparently noticed Crimson's arrival and had rushed over. "Any friend of these guys is a friend of mine too, pleased to meet you."

Blue Current and Apple Bee exchanged pleasantries while the latter handed out menus to the tables occupants.

"Can I get you two something to drink while you decide?" Apple Bee asked the two newcomers.

"Ice Tea please," Crimson ordered.

"Some water for me please," Blue Current said.

"An Ice Tea and a water, coming right up," Apple Bee confirmed, leaving them to their menus.

For a few moments they were all absorbed in their task of choosing what to eat and nobody said anything. After they had all made their decisions, Atlas spoke up.

"So, Blue Current, it's so nice to finally meet you. Crimson has told us so much about you!" He said with a smile.

"You did?" Blue Current tilted her head to the side, the question directed at both Atlas and Crimson.

"No, actually," Atlas sighed. "Crimson here has told us next to nothing about you, so why don't you introduce yourself? What do you like to do, all the good stuff, you know?"

Crimson shot Atlas an annoyed look, while Crimson received an amused one from Blue Current.

"Sure, so... where to begin..." Blue Current tapped her hoof on the table a few times, lost in thought.

"Well, I'm sure as you all know, I work at the weather factory with Crimson, we're on the same team. My father owns the factory by the way."

"In my free time, I enjoy hanging out with my friends, reading a good book or training for some aerial stunts," Blue Current smiled. "I'm generally always up for fun stuff, so you know, if you got something planned, be sure to invite me."

While Atlas was listening, he was actually more interested in Crimson than Blue Current. He seemed to act as nonchalant as possible, but Atlas caught him glancing at Blue Current rather often and generally acting more awkward than usual. Almost as if he had no idea how to act around her.

Geez, I hope he isn't like that while at work too. Atlas thought to himself.

Atlas wondered how crazy his introduction would be if he told the truth.

Cool, I'm Atlas, full name Alexander Atlas Riptis. I'm an immortal being, sort of responsible for the creation of your universe and on my way to becoming a god myself. By the way the creation story you all believe in is wrong. My gods just made this place on a whim as a prison for me.

Wouldn't it be fun to introduce himself like that? Atlas suppressed a sigh and put a smile on his face.

"Well, as I've already said I'm Atlas," He introduced himself for real this time. "I'm currently enrolled in the Kingdom’s military academy while getting an education in magic. I haven't picked a specialization yet. I'm currently spending most of my time studying but come down from the academy island whenever I can to hang out."

"I'm also currently on a watchlist and am constantly being shadowed by a guard because I'm considered dangerous."

Atlas had no idea if Crimson told her about that whole fiasco, but if he hadn't, Atlas would much rather keep it a secret for now.

Atlas's smile became slightly strained towards the end and he took a look around trying to spot his shadow. As always whoever was on duty seemed to do a good job blending in or hiding away and he couldn't spot anyone suspicious.

"Pleased to meet you," Atlas finished.

The rest of their time at Apple Bee's was spent introducing themselves in more detail and getting to know each other better. At some point, Apple Bee came back to take their orders and later brought their food.

Blue Current was quickly accepted into the group, much to Crimson's relief. Her jovial nature allowed her to make quick friends with them while relating on some level or another to each of them.

They stayed at Apple Bee's for most of the afternoon, ordering drinks from time to time and exchanging stories with each other. Alas, the time came when they had to part; more specifically, Blue Current had to head back to the factory to prepare for tomorrow.

"It was a pleasure meeting all of you and I'd be happy to do this more often, but I really need to get going now," she said while checking the sun's position. "There's still a lot of work to be done."

"I'll accompany you on your way back," Crimson offered a smile ever present on his face.

Atlas wiggled his eyebrows at Crimson suggestively when Blue Current wasn't looking their way, at which Crimson seemed to blush slightly. A fact Atlas was impressed by since his coat was already red.

"We'd be happy to have you around more often!" Belle exclaimed happily.

Belle had bonded especially well with Blue Current, since up until now Belle was the only female in their group. She loved all of her friends dearly, especially Atlas, but there were just some things one couldn't discuss with stallions.

Crimson and Blue Current took off into the air, waving and saying their goodbyes as they flew into the direction of their workplace.

"I approve," Belle said after they were out of sight, nodding sagely.

"Approve of what?" Amethyst asked puzzled.

"Of those two," Belle gestured into the general direction their feathered friends just disappeared in. "They'd make an awesome couple."

"Are you Crimson's mother now or what?" Atlas asked bemused.

"They grow up so fast," Belle said overdramatically, wiping away a fake tear with her fetlock.

Belle's antics garnered her laughs from both Atlas and Amethyst, as they also got up to return to their respective homes.

Author's Note

inb4 Coral Reef jokes.

This is more or less just a chapter to remind everybody that Blue Current still exists. Have you forgotten about her? If yes, try to remember from now on, cause she's going to appear a few more times ^^

Once again, thanks to my editor Ambros and my proofreader Kilobytes for a job well done!

Today's chapter was brought to you by this song.

Bonus Video:

40. Exam

Scholar Arc
Day 28

Atlas entered his usual classroom where Blazing Inferno was already waiting for him. There was currently a lull in experiments conducted on him, so he'd been able to enjoy his classes over the last few days without worrying about some crazed professor wanting blood samples or worse.

The first thing that caught Atlas's attention was that there was nothing written on the blackboard. Usually, Blazing Inferno was there earlier so he could write and sketch relevant information on the board, so this was definitely out of the norm.

"Good morning," Atlas greeted as he closed the door behind him.

"And a good morning to you too Atlas; how are you feeling today?" Blazing Inferno asked happily.

"Well, since I was able to sleep normally the past few days, pretty good I'd say." Atlas chuckled as he sat down at his usual spot. "How about you?"

"Oh, I'm feeling simply amazing; thanks for asking," Inferno answered.

While Blazing Inferno was usually a jovial and easily excited teacher, today he seemed to be extra chipper.

"So I noticed," Atlas said with a nod. "May I ask why?"

"Of course, dear Atlas." Blazing Inferno smiled.

Inferno levitated several stacks of paper out of a nearby box and neatly arranged them on a separate table.

"Today you’ve got an exam day."

Atlas's face immediately fell as Inferno’s smile almost started to feel predatory. Ever since his third affinity was discovered Atlas began to loathe the word 'exam' and everything it implied.

"May I ask what we're testing on?" Atlas queried with a scowl.

He thought he'd at least be safe in the classroom, but apparently, even his teacher had joined the enemy faction to stab him in the back.

"Well, you of course," Inferno replied, pointing a hoof at him. "Or rather, your knowledge."

Atlas’s expression relaxed a bit at hearing those words. it seemed like the tests today were of a purely academical nature. Still, tests sucked in the human world and Atlas was pretty sure this was a shared trait between worlds.

Although Atlas hated tests, he was still rather confident in his abilities, so passing shouldn't be too difficult. If there was a practical exam as well, he was confident to pull off any of his learned spells perfectly. The only difficulty would be the written tests and their extensive terminology. Still, Atlas hadn't slacked off in the past month and had actually sat his ass down to learn, contrary to what he'd done back on Earth. Since magic was extremely interesting to him and it was his own decision to pursue a degree in it, he decided to put all he had into his studies.

"The outcome of today's tests will determine whether or not you'll be able to join the regular classes which start the day after tomorrow, so give it your all!"

Atlas already expected something along those lines. He really enjoyed having a private tutor but taking regular classes was somewhat more appealing to him. While he really liked doing stuff with Amethyst it would be nice to have a few more friends and what better place to make them than in the classroom? Since the general student body was still mostly avoiding him, in the classroom they would have to interact with him.

"I'll give it my best shot!" Atlas said with determination.

"That's what I like to hear!" Blazing Inferno said. "First up," he levitated the first stack of papers onto Atlas's table. "Magical theory. You have one hour to finish this part. You may start immediately."

Atlas flipped the stack of paper in front of him and levitated one of the provided quills as he read the first question.

What are the six types of mana, and to which school do they belong?

Atlas smirked, this was going to be easy.

"Alright, time's up!" Blazing inferno called out.

Atlas put his quill and his current stack of paper down, letting out a relieved sigh. He had spent the entire morning filling out test after test with close to no breaks in between. What he had just put down was the last written test of today.

Blazing Inferno had taken to grading his tests as soon as one topic was finished, dumping the next set on his table with a few instructions where needed.

Atlas closed his eyes and started to relax. Since the whole morning was spent answering question after question he was glad to be finally done with it.

"How are you feeling?" Blazing Inferno asked.

"Mentally exhausted," Atlas answered.

As he expected, the tests were rather easy since he was well prepared for them. But spending four hours in total concentration tended to tax the mental facilities.

"Well, the worst part is over," Inferno laughed. "The practical part this afternoon should be much more enjoyable for both of us."

"I sure hope so," Atlas rebuked while opening his eyes again.

"But before that, it's break time," Inferno informed Atlas. "Meet me back here in... let's say two hours. Go out for a bit, eat something and relax. I'll just grade this last set before doing the same."

"Alright, see you later then," Atlas answered, getting up from his chair.

The first thing he did was stretch out a with a groan to get his blood flowing normally again. He left the classroom with a smile on his face, intent to get something sugary to eat. He'd apparently need the energy later.

Atlas was returning from his lunch, approaching his classroom. He wanted to spend his break with Amethyst and maybe get a few pointers for his practicals in the process. But after searching the grounds he wasn't able to find the purple unicorn anywhere. The academy grounds were huge after all, and if one didn't schedule a meeting beforehand it was close to impossible to locate one another.

He did review his spells on his own though, casting each one he knew at least ten times until he was sure to have them down pat. So it was with newfound confidence that he pushed open the door as soon as he arrived.

Not surprising him in the least, Blazing Inferno was already waiting for him. He noticed a few additions to the room, such as a pony dummy most likely for target practice, as well as several weird looking machines.

One of them looked like some sort of maze, a metal ball resting at the very bottom. If Atlas had to wager a guess, the contraption would be used to test his control over the levitation spell.

"Welcome back Atlas," Blazing Inferno greeted as soon as he noticed Atlas entering.

"Glad to be back, I'm ready for whatever you can throw at me!" Atlas said enthusiastically, sure of his abilities.

"Very well, let's start right away then," Inferno said after confirming Atlas's determination.

"The second part of today's test will be all about your actual ability in casting spells as you already know. I have brought in various contraptions used for testing so I can guide and grade you on each of their uses."

Blazing Inferno explained as he pointed out a few of the contraptions. "At the end, I'll have you learn and cast a rather easy spell to further test your knowledge of magical theory and see how effective you are at being able to apply what you know to a new situation. Do you understand?"

"I understand," Atlas replied.

His confidence wavered a bit as he heard about the last part of his exam. Sure, he could use all of his learned spells and was confident in his control over them, but learning a new spell on the fly while being graded? Just thinking about it made him nervous.

"Great! In that case please follow me to your first test."

Reminding himself once again that he had studied fervently over the past month, Atlas approached his first test.

Atlas took another look at the notes provided to him by Blazing Inferno. They contained detailed instructions on how to cast the spell "Elemental Ball," a spell from the school of combat.

Apparently, this spell was taught to all combat mages before they entered a school that focused on magic. Learning it served two purposes.

Elemental spells were a fundamental part of the school of combat and consisted of the four elements: water, earth, fire and wind, and just as everypony had an affinity to a certain type of mana, everypony had a different affinity towards a different element.

While the elemental affinity wasn't as restricting as mana affinities, generally one produced slightly better results when using the proper element.

The point of the Elemental Ball spell was to maintain a ball of concentrated energy long enough for it to be affected by the caster's mana, taking on the dominant elemental property.

So while on one side the spell was used to determine young mages elemental affinity, it was also considered somewhat of a rite of passing.

So far he had tried to cast the spell twice but had failed to maintain the ball for a sufficiently long enough time on both accounts. After he had read through all of the instructions again and committed them to memory, he decided to give it another try, a quick nod towards his teacher signaling the start of his newest attempt.

Atlas felt out his innate reserves of red mana and started channeling it towards his horn. He concentrated on the form he wanted the mana to take and cast the spell; almost immediately a small ball of red glowing mana appeared in front of him about eye level.

The problem in maintaining the spell came from the fact that the mana tried to disperse when fulfilling its original purpose, which was that of forming a ball. So he had to constantly feed it more mana while trying to contain the energies flowing about the ball. As time passed more mana was jammed into the smaller space and containing it was becoming harder and harder.

Once the concentration in the ball was high enough, it would take on the corresponding element characteristics, such as giving off heat or solidifying into a tangible mass. Atlas didn't have anything else to do other than maintain the spell, so he could focus completely on his task without worrying too much.

His concentration was almost broken when a distraction made itself known by way of a dripping sound. Atlas furrowed his brow in confusion, almost losing control while looking for what caused the offending sound. It didn't take long for him to notice that the ball of mana in front of him was slowly producing small droplets of water, which fell onto his desk.

A smile started spreading on his face; the task was finally accomplished. His giddy thoughts of happiness caused him to lose focus and the dripping ball in front of him disappeared, leaving behind a puddle of water on his desk.

"Congratulation Atlas!" Blazing Inferno said from the side, adding another checkmark to a scroll levitating in front of him. "That concludes today's exams."

Atlas let out a sigh of relief, the only thing he could do now was wait for the results. At least he knew he gave it everything he got today, so whatever the outcome would be, he would be able to accept it.

"Also, let me be the first to congratulate you on your affinity towards water, it is a very versatile element and will surely be of great use to you!" Blazing Inferno added.

"Thank you very much," Atlas said, unable to contain his smile.

"Well, I've already graded all your written tests and the practicals were graded as you took them," Blazing Inferno stated. "Which means I'm able to tell you your results right now if you'd like."

Atlas made a complete one-eighty from completely relaxed to nervous as all hell. He thought, or rather hoped he did well. Of course, he was pretty sure he’d done most things correctly, but self-doubt started to set in, causing him to find minor flaws in the answers he gave today.

“Umm… sure?”

"Well to make a long story short," Blazing Inferno said, before letting a pause hang in the air at his student's expense.

"You passed."

Author's Note

Everybody who hates or hated exams raise your hands! Cause I know I sure did :P

Fun fact about the(my) pony world: every month has thirty days and a year has twelve months.

Anyway, Atlas passed and will finally be able to force his friendship unto other ponies in an environment they can't escape :D A moment of silence for the pony that will be sitting next to him. :ajsleepy:

Before any of you ask and/or jump to conclusions: No, it is not possible to gain an affinity to all four elements. And no Atlas is not speshul enough to cheat the system.

Once again, thanks to my editor Ambros and my proofreader Kilobytes for a job well done!

Today's chapter was brought to you by this song.

41. Ehwaz

Scholar Arc
Day 29

Atlas trotted up the stairs towards Crimson's and Belle's apartment. As a reward for passing his exams with flying colors, Blazing Inferno rewarded him with two days off, after which he'd finally get to join the regular classes as the new semester started.

Needless to say, he wanted to let his friends know about his achievement as soon as possible. So it was with a happy mood that he’d traveled down the mountain to visit.

Atlas came to a stop once he reached the top of the stairs before knocking three times. He sat down humming a happy little melody while patiently waiting for someone to open the door. After sometime passed, he knocked again, this time a bit louder in case they didn't hear him the first time.

After a while, it became apparent that he wasn't being ignored; instead, there simply was no one home to open the offending piece of wood before him.

"They must still be at work..." Atlas mumbled to himself.

Faced with the decision to either wait for one of the two to return or to seek them out, he decided to go and visit Belle at her workplace. Between Crimson and Belle, going to see the latter seemed to be the obvious answer for him, so he started on his way to find her.

Besides, he was curious about the old earth pony stallion teaching her. Maybe Atlas could learn something from him as well since he seemed to possess extensive knowledge about the inherited powers of the three pony tribes.

With a new destination in mind, Atlas began his walk towards Belle's place of work. Since he had never been there before it might take him some time to find it, even though Belle explained to him how to get there from her apartment a few weeks ago. He'd just have to rely on his memory, or, if all else failed, he'd just ask for the way.

A few hours later Atlas had finally managed to stumble across White Mallow's clinic.

As it stood, his recollection of Belle's directions were horrible at best, so he got lost almost immediately. It wasn't long before he had to find out that his backup plan didn't work out either.

The reason being unicorn elitism.

Whenever he asked for directions, everypony was willing to help him out until they found out that he was looking for an earth pony’s place of business.

While they didn't quite react as extremely as the ponies in High Rock, there was still an unspoken feeling of superiority in a lot of unicorns, causing them to simply scoff at him and leave. Eventually after a lot of wandering about and asking ponies, somepony directed him towards what they knew to be an earth pony district close-by.

Which lead to Atlas finally standing in front of the rather small clinic.

Atlas breathed a sigh of relief and pushed open the door, a small bell announcing his arrival.

"Welcome to White Mallow's clinic for ills and ailments," A voice almost immediately called out to his right. "I'm White Mallow, how may I help you?"

An earth pony stallion with a matte orange coat and a white mane approached Atlas from the side. His eyes were glazed over by a milky white screen, clearly indicating that the stallion before him was blind.

"Ah yes, I'm actually here looking for my friend, Belle," Atlas said as he took in the interior of the small clinic. "Is she around?"

The setup inside was rather simple. A few chairs were to his right in case somepony had to wait. Going in further there were four beds, all of which were currently empty. Curtains hung from the ceiling, allowing for some privacy when needed. The right wall was mostly dominated by three large cabinets containing medicine and ointments, as well as a table set before them. Next to them a staircase went upstairs, leading to what Atlas assumed to be White Mallow’s living area if Belle's stories could be believed.

"Oh, I'm afraid the dear isn't here at the moment," White Mallow responded. "She's currently out at the market buying some ingredients for my medicines. If you'd like to, why not wait for her here? She should be back soon."

"Sure, that would be nice," Atlas accepted the old stallion’s offer.

"Then why don't you take a seat at the table over there, I'll prepare some tea for you while you wait," White Mallow gestured toward the table to their right.

"Will do, thank you very much."

Atlas took a seat as he was told and started to read the labels of the medicines inside the cabinets. There seemed to be a large selection present, ranging from salves that supposedly accelerated healing to oils that helped relax tired muscles.

It didn't take long for White Mallow to return, two cups of steaming tea balanced on a tray on his back. The cups were set on the table and Atlas accepted his gratefully.

"So, you are whom?" White Mallow asked as he took a seat as well, taking a sip of his own tea.

Atlas raised a brow at the rather straight forward question but answered nonetheless.

"Excuse me for not introducing myself earlier, my name is Atlas. I'm Belle's..." Atlas furrowed his brow in thought.

How was the pony equivalent of a boyfriend called again?

"...special somepony?"

The last part of his introduction came out as more of a question and Atlas observed the old stallion in front of him for any indication that he just made a fool out of himself.

"Oh, yes. I remember," White Mallow said. "Belle has been talking about you a lot."

White Mallow smirked knowingly before taking another sip of his tea, while Atlas exhaled in relief. Apparently 'special somepony' was an accepted term.

"I hope only good things," Atlas chuckled as he gave the go-to response for this type of conversation.

"Well, mostly," White Mallow replied, "but also some of your mishaps together have reached my ears."

Atlas simply smiled and sipped his tea, opting not to take the bait.

"I hear you're a somewhat special unicorn." White Mallow continued. "Triple affinity, never seen before stuff. Good on you."

"Ah, there's actually quite a few drawbacks to that," Atlas said.

"Oh really? Like what?"

"Overzealous researchers mainly," Atlas grumbled into his cup.

Laughter filled the room at Atlas's remark, White Mallow finding great joy in it.

"Oh yes, I can imagine." White Mallow said after calming down again. "Those unicorns tend to go a bit nuts whenever there's a new magical mystery to research."

"Tell me about it..."

"Listen, if you ever feel exhausted, be it mentally or physically, you just come over here. I'll fix you right up," White Mallow offered. "I'll even give you a discount since you're Belle's friend."

"I'll take you up on that offer," Atlas replied with a smile. "Sure could have used it a few times recently."

White Mallow nodded sagely while sipping on his tea.

"Moving on then, I can hear that you have a question you want to ask."

Atlas recoiled a bit, apparently, the old stallion had seen right through him. Deciding to no longer beat around the bush, he asked the question he wanted to ask ever since hearing about the old stallion.

"I've heard from Belle that you're quite knowledgeable in the field of history," he began to explain. "More specifically, the history of creation concerning the gifts bestowed upon the three races."

"It is so," White Mallow confirmed.

"Well, I must say, after what Belle told me, I am quite fascinated by what you shared with her and was wondering if you might be able to tell me more." Atlas finished.

"Huh?" Mallow seemed surprised at the question. "A unicorn willing to believe the ramblings of an old stallion? Now that's new."

"What do you mean?" Atlas asked in a confused manner.

"Well, nopony usually ever believes me whenever I tell them about it," Mallow explained. "Earth ponies just think me an old fool and unicorns won't even give me the time of day. For all their fascination with their research, they sure don't care about where they came from and what they could do."

"That sounds quite narrow-minded," Atlas remarked.

It may have just been because Atlas arrived in this world recently, but he felt like he was more readily inclined to believe the old stallions story. If he was to be believed, what he had to share was lost knowledge. As such the unicorns, at least, should be all over it.

"Well, it is quite difficult to prove, really." White Mallow said with a sigh. "After all, I'm probably the only practitioner in the whole kingdom. Even though every time someone comes here to get healed, they just attribute it to my concoctions and technique."

"I believe you," Atlas said with determination. "You’ve already proven to Belle that you speak the truth, and if she believes you, I do too. I'm willing to listen, and who knows? Maybe I'll be able to convince a few unicorns too."

"Oh, that would be wonderful," White Mallow responded. "Right then, let me show you something. Follow me."

White Mallow, sporting a happy smile got up to ascend the stairs once again. After Atlas gently set down his now empty cup, he followed the old stallion upstairs.

Once they arrived at the top, Atlas was lead into White Mallow’s sparsely decorated bedroom. Curiosity overcame Atlas at what he might be shown, or what exactly it was he wanted him to see in this bedroom of his. After all, there was quite literally only a bed and a nightstand in the room.

White Mallow, meanwhile, lowered himself to the ground in front of his bed before pulling a box out from underneath it. He blew some dust off the lidof it while setting it on his bed and motioning for Atlas to come closer.

"Before I show you, there might be some explanation in order," White Mallow began.

Atlas quietly sat down, getting ready for some sweet, sweet story time.

"You should know that I was not always blind." White Mallow began his story. "In my younger days, I was quite an active and curious stallion. I was always fascinated with the unknown; see ponies have been here for such a long time, yet so much remains unexplored."

Atlas tried to imagine a younger White Mallow in his head and wondered if his hair was white from the beginning or if it changed with old age.

"I joined a group of like-minded spirits, and together we went on a great many adventures, exploring the unknown, uncovering forgotten ruins and truths." White Mallow adopted a nostalgic smile. "Those were the days."

"It sounds quite fantastic." Atlas nodded. "Did you lose your sight on one of your explorations then?"

"Yes, there was a rather unfortunate accident." White Mallow grimaced. "We found instructions for an ancient and forgotten spell in one of the ruins we'd explored. One of the unicorns in our group tried to cast it, but it misfired. At least we think it did, for all we know, it was intended to take away the light from the eyes."

"But being blind has sort of opened my eyes to a lot of things though, so I'm not mad at the development. Sometimes I just miss seeing the beauty of nature. You wouldn’t believe the incredible sights me and my comrades have seen over the years.”

White Mallow went silent for a few seconds, most likely remembering the incredible things he had seen.

"Which brings me to what I wanted to show you." He gestured towards the box next to him. "As you can probably surmise, we discovered quite a bit of weird and astounding artifacts on our travels."

He flipped open the lid, revealing an assortment of small statues, necklaces and various other doodads.

"Most of what we found was sold to museums or collectors, but some of it, we kept to ourselves. Either because we liked it or because nopony wanted to buy it." White Mallow explained. "What we're looking for is a small necklace, made from interlocked pieces of wood. There should be a small stone hanging from it."

Atlas took the cue and started looking for said item within the box. He pushed and lifted things out of the way until he eventually found the necklace.

As he levitated it in front of himself, he let it spin slowly so he could take a closer look.

The chain was indeed made from lovingly carved pieces of wood, interlocking in a similar way to chainmail. It was a dark shade of brown, it's weathered appearance testament to it's age. At the very bottom hung a flat rock. Not some kind of gem or otherwise decorative mineral, just a flat piece of regular rock.

Carved upon the rock was a symbol, resembling the latin letter 'M'. Atlas furrowed his brow in confusion. As he already knew, ponies didn't use the latin alphabet, much less to his knowledge ever seen it. Yet here it was, carved into an ancient piece of stone.

Did the Greek Gods send other humans here as well?

As he was contemplating the possibility, he noticed something off about the letter, namely, the letter seemed to be too long. The side strokes extending further than they usually do.

Atlas felt like he had seen something like this before, but he couldn't quite place the memory.

"We found this deep within the ruins of an ancient temple." White Mallow explained. "We believe it to be unicorn in origin."

"Why?" Atlas simply asked.

"For once, the temple was obviously made by unicorns, as the murals and books we found confirmed." White Mallow elaborated. "And more importantly, the necklace is a magical artifact."

Atlas's eyes widened. "What does it do?"

"It opened a door for us is what it did. When we examined the temple grounds, it began to glow a soft purple. Once we figured out that there was a small and hidden opening in the floor, just big enough for the stone we stuck it in there with gusto." White Mallow chuckled. "The glow intensified once we did so and the ground literally split apart, revealing a huge underground system to us."

Suddenly, something clicked inside Atlas as he remembered where he'd seen the symbol before.

"Ehwaz." He whispered in realization.

"Ehwaz?" White Mallow asked, furrowing his brows. "I'm afraid I do not know the meaning of that word."

What Atlas had before him was undoubtedly a carved rune. He'd seen them in various games, such as 'Too Human' or 'The Binding of Isaac', which got him interested since they looked cool. Ehwaz meant 'horse' but was, like most runes, quite open to interpretation. Passage being one of them.

Realizing his mistake of saying the word aloud, Atlas stumbled over his words to come up with an excuse.

"I believe... I... uhmmm... I've read about symbols like this before. It was in this really old book in the academy library, I believe." Atlas adopted an awkward smile, oblivious to the futility of the action.

White Mallow looked at Atlas suspiciously, an amazing feat considering his blindness. For a second Atlas thought the old stallion saw right through his lie, but whatever the case, he wasn't about to reveal himself to an old stallion he just met.

"I'm baaack!" The singsong voice of Belle could be heard from downstairs, accompanied with the ring of the bell above the door.

"Coming!" White Mallow called back.

He once again looked at Atlas, seemingly contemplating something.

"Keep it."

"Wha?" Atlas stammered out.

"You seem to have more use for it than I ever will, plus you seem to know something about it, so it would be more useful in your hooves than in a dusty old box." White Mallow said with finality.

"Thank you very much," Atlas sputtered out. "I'll always keep it safe."

"I'd hope so." White Mallow said as he made to move towards the stairs. "Now come, your marefriend is waiting."

Author's Note

Sorry for the wait! Next to me being sick and other problems I had with this chapter(No I did NOT delete it two times and start over), this took a while to complete.

Also, for those who don't bother with my blog, I recently cleared out my read later list. For those who need more reading material, you can see those who made the cut here: Click.

Once again, thanks to my editor Azriel and my proofreader Kilobytes for a job well done!

Today's chapter was brought to you by this song.

Also, to all my american readers: Have fun voting today and try not to start a riot. okay?

42. Amber

Scholar Arc
Month 2, Day 1

Hades sat on a comfortable chair grown and shaped from vines. In front of him was a similarly grown table, upon which rested a tea set. He had poured himself a steaming cup of herbal tea and was reclined and relaxed, content to enjoy the view he had.

Asphodel grew as far as the eye could see, creating a veritable sea of white before him, disturbed only by the odd tree growing out of it.

The Asphodel meadow always was a place of relaxation for Hades, a place he could retreat to whenever he needed a break from his duties. Sure, Elysium could be considered to be paradise by many, but the population tended to disturb his quiet time more often than not; as such, the Asphodel meadow proved to be a much better place to relax.

The only sound came from the wind disturbing the sea of flowers all around him, the soft rustling soothing his addled mind.

Hades closed his eyes and listened to the symphony created by the interplay of wind and nature, letting his mind wander to times less stressful.

He was pondering meaningless things, such as which tea he should drink the next time he came here, when he heard footsteps approaching from behind.

As he was in no rush, he waited until whoever came to visit him stood almost directly behind him. Without opening his eyes he spoke to the mysterious visitor.

"What brings you to this desolate part of my dominion?" He asked.

"I bring news about our trapped associate," The visitor replied.

"Ah, young Alexander, how does he fare?" Hades queried, genuinely curious as it had been some time since he last checked in on him.

"Well, he has taken to calling himself Atlas recently."

"Oh? How curious. Why is this?"

"His reasoning was that he wanted to leave his old life behind by shedding his old name; although, I believe there is more to his decision."

"Do you think the souls have started to merge?" Hades took another sip of his tea, eyes still closed.

"Most likely."

"Has Zeus caught on to this?"

"I don't believe so," the visitor replied. "As a matter of fact, he's already lost interest for the most part. He really only checks in sporadically, but still keeps urging us to hurry up and finish the prison. Thankfully the others flock to him like sheep, meaning I’m the only one viewing most of the time."

"Good, wouldn't want him to become suspicious," Hades sighed contently. "So how long until it's completed?"

"Two weeks at most," came the swift reply. "Once we're done, he'll be trapped forever."

"I hope you remembered to leave the back door open for me," Hades stated.

"Of course."

Hades nodded in satisfaction, once again sipping his tea, letting silence fall over them. After a few minutes of listening to the soft melody around them, Hades found one more question he needed to ask.

"Have you provided 'Atlas' with the means to his escape?"

"The bait has been cast, but it's still up to him whether he bites or not. I had to make it as opaque as possible so that no one else would catch on." The visitor replied.

"Good, good.” Hades took the final sip from his tea, emptying the cup.

He opened his eyes for the first time since the conversation started and turned around to face his guest. A second chair grew out of the ground next to him and he gestured towards it.

"Tea?"

Atlas sat down at one of the desks in the front row of the classroom. He found himself reasonably excited for his first day of regular classes, he’d decided to show up a little earlier so he could snag himself a good spot.

Back on Earth he always sat in the front row as well, albeit for very different reasons. In his experience, the teachers were usually fixated on the back rows when looking for troublemakers, allowing for him to goof off relatively unnoticed.

While that was certainly an added bonus, here in Equus, he found himself wanting to sit in front for an entirely different set of reasons; mainly that magic had the side effect of transforming him into a huge nerd.

The classroom he found himself in was relatively simple as far as classrooms went. Located at the front was the teacher's desk, as well as the blackboard, which took up almost all of the wall it hung upon. Filling up the rest of the room were the student's desks; neatly organized in four rows of three desks, each desk providing ample space for two ponies.

Sitting front and center, Atlas took out all his study supplies from his saddlebags and neatly organized them on his half of the desk, until it was littered with empty: scrolls, quills and books. As he found himself with approximately half an hour of time to waste, he decided to read up on the first class according to his schedule.

Magical theory.

Even though that was the most boring subject of them all in his opinion, he still recognized its importance and diligently studied it's dry rhetoric.

It was about twenty minutes into his lecture that the first of his classmates started showing up. He gave each unicorn that entered a disarming and welcoming smile, hoping for somepony to take up the empty space next to him.

The first few to enter just awkwardly smiled back, and took up their positions at the very back of the class, as was tradition.

As the seats around him started to fill up, his mood started to sour proportionally. Apparently, his reputation preceded him to the point that even new students already knew about him, adopting the same weird strategy of avoiding him as did the rest of the school.

Atlas once asked Amethyst if he had any idea why every student in the school seemed to give him the cold shoulder, but since he dealt with a similar situation they didn't make much headway. For now, the best guess they had was that, due to their potential importance in the future, everypony was waiting to see if it was worth sucking up to them or if it potentially could hurt their own reputation.

Atlas still doubted that reasoning, since he was sure there would at least be one or two slick asshats trying to get into their good graces if that was the case. Personal goons, so to speak.

By the time their teacher had entered and closed the door behind her, Atlas had adopted a deadpan frown. Literally every single seat was occupied, except the one next to him of course. In a sense, he almost found it comical, but since he wanted to make at least one or two new friends today, he was totally bummed by the turnout.

With nothing better to do, he observed his new teacher as she wrote her name on the blackboard with a floating piece of chalk. She had a pristine white coat, the only thing disturbing its purity was her cutie mark. A blackboard adorned with some gibberish writing, most likely intended to represent teaching. At first, Atlas thought her mane was black, but upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a really deep shade of green.

"Good morning class," she said as she turned to face them. "My name is Emerald Fo-"

Her introduction was disturbed by the classroom door flying open with an audible crash and a unicorn mare stumbling in, faceplanting with all the grace of a blue whale at a dance rehearsal.

While most ponies just stared at her in confusion, with the occasional blink, snickering could be heard from the back of the class. As brains were rebooting, the mare with an orange coat and blonde mane rose from her make out session with Atlas's oldest friend in this world. ‘The ground.’

"Sorry... Sorry..." the mare sputtered, hastily closing the door behind her with magic. "I hope I'm not too late."

Their teacher blinked a few times, apparently finalizing her reboot and catching up to the situation before addressing their newest arrival.

"No... No, I was just about to begin class," she confirmed. "Although please make sure to be present a bit earlier next time."

"Will do, it won't happen again," the orange mare briefly scanned the room for an empty seat until her eyes fell upon the seat next to Atlas.

She cantered over to it and sat without hesitation, pulling out her materials as soon as she arrived. Meanwhile, the teacher returned to her introduction.

"As I was saying, my name is Emerald Forest and I'll be your homeroom teacher for the next year, pleased to meet you all."

A cacophony of murmured agreements was her only response. Seemingly used to it, she continued on with the thing teachers loved and all students hated.

"It's always exciting for me to meet new faces at the start of a year, so why don't you all introduce yourself?" She stated with annoying enthusiasm, which was answered by a multitude of groans. "Why don't we start with you? Miss?"

Emerald Forest gestured towards the mare sitting closest to the door. She had a yellow coat and a pink mane with her unwillingness evident in her eyes. Nonetheless, she got up and did as she was told.

"My name's Golden Eye, my special talent is identifying magical currents, my hobbies are..."

The mare was rattling down her introduction when Atlas felt something poke his side. He refocused his attention to the mare sitting next to him, who apparently had something to say to him.

"Hey, my name's Amber, what's yours?" She asked in a hushed voice.

"Atlas," was his simple response.

He didn't expect the current development, already having made peace with the fact that he would be largely ignored during class as well.

"Cool, I’m looking forward to sitting next to you and hopefully getting to know you.” She said, a smile adorning her face.

"Likewise," Atlas simply nodded towards her, a small smile spreading on his face as well.

Apparently satisfied with his answer, Amber shifted her attention back towards the pony currently introducing himself, which was a deep green stallion with a light blue mane.

Meanwhile, Atlas threw a little celebration inside his head. It wasn't clear if Amber simply hadn't heard of him or just didn't care, but whatever the case may be, he had just made a new friend.

Spending an entire year without someone to talk to would have been incredibly boring, so he was glad that the solution presented itself in the form of his desk partner.

The magical bell rang, signaling an end to morning classes. Atlas, as well as the rest of the class, started to put away their things.

While morning classes were mostly dedicated to all things theoretical, afternoon classes was where they practiced actual spellcasting. They would split into groups depending on their affinities, where they would hone their abilities.

"Hey, Atlas?" Amber asked from the side.

"Yeah?"

"Wanna go grab some lunch together?"

Atlas had talked a bit with Amber during classes and the smaller breaks. As it turns out she really hadn't heard anything about him, the reason being that she came from a relatively poor family, but managing to get into the academy due to her talent in the school of energy.

"Sure, wanna go back to the dorms or just grab something from a vendor outside?" Atlas asked as he put away the last of his things.

"Let's go back to the dorms, they make a lasagna to die for," Amber replied with a slight drool.

"Alright, sounds good to me," Atlas chuckled and started towards the door, Amber not far behind him.

As they walked through the halls, Atlas's eyes fell once again upon Amber’s flank. Her cutie mark consisted of two question marks and one exclamation mark, an unusual motive if he ever saw one. Ever since he first saw it, he tried to make sense of it, but try as he might he just couldn't.

"Hey, Amber?" Atlas started. "What does your cutie mark mean? I can't figure out what your special talent is. Is there a specific reason you didn't mention it when you introduced yourself to the class?"

Amber winced at the question and Atlas immediately regretted asking it. Had he just overstepped his boundaries? What if there was some tragic backstory to it she didn't want to talk about?

"You don't have to answer if you don't want to." He hastily added, trying to defuse the situation.

"No, it's okay," Amber sighed. "I know it's a rather unusual mark, and to be honest... I have no idea what my special talent is either."

Atlas raised an eyebrow to that statement but let her continue on undisturbed.

"I got it after a magical surge a few years back," Amber explained. "It just kinda appeared and no one was really able to figure it out, even now I still haven't been able to."

"Wow," Atlas said surprised. "I didn't know something like that was possible."

"Well, I didn't know it was possible for somepony to have three affinities at the same time, so I believe we're even in that regard," Amber replied playfully.

"If you say so," Atlas replied, happy to have at least made one new friend today.

"To me, it's way more interesting that you managed to get this old without finding your special talent," Amber said and pointed at Atlas's decidedly empty flank. "You ever get made fun of for that?"

"A few odd looks and cold shoulders every now and then, but nopony has tried to ridicule me for it, why?" Atlas replied while rolling his eyes.

"Just curious," Amber replied. "You are quite the enigma, you know that?”

"Yeah," Atlas laughed. "You're not the first one to tell me that."

Author's Note

Aaaaaand the crew is finally complete! Welcome Amber!

Also, we finally hear some news from the world beyond, it has been a while since we last seen any of them, hasn't it? Atlas's prison is almost finished and he'll be trapped for good. Or will he?

As I already stated, I won't bore you anymore with boring classes about magic. Everything that needed to be said has been said and classes will mostly be skipped from here on out. Those who follow my blog will have seen that I recently made a blog about the future of this story, concerning time-skips mostly.

I've decided to stick to my old format of doing time skips that span relatively large amount of time, so get ready for them, as they will start soon. That being said, instead of adding a completely new arc of adventure fun times for our group of friends I've added a sort-of mini arc, that will span like, two or three chapters at most. Look forward to it.

Once again, thanks to my editor Azriel and my proofreader Kilobytes for a job well done!

Today's chapter was brought to you by this song. Lately I've kinda been into FNAF fan songs. Even though I think the games are pretty stupid, the fandom cranks out some good stuff ^^

Now look at this N̆͛̀̐̿҉̟̹̳Ę̠̘̟̗̗ͣ͌͗̆ͅṬ̘͋ͨ̈̈́͡, that I just found.

43. War

Scholar Arc
Month 2, Day 6

"The black clad knight let his gaze wander over the battlefield, all around him was chaos. So much so, that it was getting difficult to differentiate between friend and foe. Various explosive spells detonated across the battlefield, kicking up dust and dirt, making visibility poor. His watchful eyes searched for any meaningful sign of movement amidst the chaos, when he spotted his next target.”

“A lone enemy footsoldier carefully advanced through the billowing dirt and debris, keeping an eye out for enemies. He hadn't yet spotted the knight to his right, his dark armor allowing him to blend into his surroundings. Not allowing his newly found adversary any time to react, the knight sprinted towards him, closing the gap between them with a mighty leap, ending the pawn's life instantly by driving his spear through his unprotected neck."

Amber made some weird sounds that should probably have been an explosion as Atlas’s black knight took out one of Amethyst's pawns.

"You know, if you're bored you could find somebody else to play something with, instead of narrating our every move," Atlas said as he waited for Amethyst's next move in their game of chess.

"I don't know," Amber thought out loud. "This is pretty entertaining."

"For you maybe," Amethyst grumbled as he moved his bishop along the board, threatening one of Atlas's towers by doing so.

The three were currently in the recreational room of their dorm, having retreated there to relax after a long day of studying. At first, it was only Atlas and Amethyst who had decided to engage in a game of chess, until Amber plopped down next to them, seemingly bored.

Since the two of them didn't want to let their game end in a draw, Amber had to wait for them to finish, which seemed to bore her even more. As both players took a their time to think over their moves, it left Amber with ample time to narrate the whole thing.

While Atlas found it quite amusing how intricate the story had become at this point, Amethyst was obviously bothered by it. A fact which he brought up every so often, claiming it disturbed his concentration.

"Aw come on!" Amber whined. "You guys have been playing for almost half an hour now, it's not my fault you guys are so slow."

"Just go play something else while we finish this," Amethyst almost begged. "Please?"

"Well, I for one, find her story quite amusing," Atlas retorted as he moved his tower out of the way. "Especially the part about how your queen was betrayed by a simple citizen seeking an audience."

Atlas smirked at Amethyst who shot him an annoyed look back. Due to a stupid mistake, Amethyst lost his queen to one of Atlas's pawns early on in the game. Something that Atlas found highly amusing, therefore he rubbed it in his face every chance he got.

"I'm still going to beat you, though," Amethyst said, moving his own tower to a seemingly random spot on the board. "Even without my Queen."

The smirk on Amethyst's face told Atlas all he needed to know. He had something planned, possibly derived from one or two of Atlas's most logical next moves.

Shaking his head slightly, Atlas did what Amethyst would least expect. Currently, no pieces of his were in immediate danger, so he simply moved his King one field forward.

"What?" Amethyst cried out with a frown on his face. "Why would you move your King in this situation? That doesn't make any sense!"

"Oh, what fun is there in making sense?" Atlas replied, a smirk on his face. "After all, if the King doesn't lead, why should his troops follow him?

"Chess isn't about politics Atlas! It's about strategy!" Amethyst said, his jimmies clearly rustled.

"Amber seems to agree with me," Atlas mentioned offhandedly while pointing in her general direction.

"Yeah, that move really boosted your army's morale! I'm sure they'll fight even more fervently to protect their kingdom now!" Amber cheered.

Amethyst put his head between his hooves in frustration, peeking through the gap to observe the board. He remained silent, contemplating his next move as Amber started to tell a heart moving story about one of Atlas's pawns who had almost lost hope at this point but joined the battle with renewed vigor as he saw his King charge straight at the enemy forces.

As time went on without a decision from the purple unicorn, Amber's story got increasingly more ridiculous. During Amethyst’s attempts to shut her ramblings out, he spotted something which Atlas seemed to have missed when he previously moved his king just to make a point. He grabbed his white knight and moved him into position.

"Check," Amethyst announced happily after making his move.

Atlas just gave him an unamused glance while he moved in his Queen from the side to eliminate Amethyst's knight.

"Checkmate," Atlas replied, letting Amethyst know that he fucked up.

Atlas enjoyed watching Amethyst going through the stages of loss while Amber fiercely continued to retell her impromptu story.

At first, he furrowed his brows in denial, trying to figure out what just happened. His eyes scanned the board for where he went wrong until he realized how hard he was played.

"WHAT?" Amethyst shouted, clearly upset.

Anger, most likely at himself for not having seen the obvious ploy of the enemy commander.

"That was unfair!" Amethyst spat. "Amber was talking the whole time, that was psychological warfare by an outside force! I demand a rematch!"

Bargaining. It seemed like a sound argument at first glance, albeit, it was flawed.

"I was subject to the same conditions, your point is moot," Atlas calmly stated.

"But... But... I'm the best at chess around here," Amethyst whined as he plopped back into his chair, defeated. "It can't be..."

Atlas raised a brow at Amethyst; in his opinion he was clearly overreacting, it was just a game of chess after all. As Atlas had found out pretty early on during the match, ponies didn't really use too many advanced tactics. If he had to guess, it was probably because the game was invented only recently, around a hundred years ago. Since Atlas used to play chess quite often with his friends or occasionally online when he was bored, he considered himself to be quite good at it.

"Hey, don't worry," Atlas said. "There's always someone better than you, and don't worry, if it’s about magic, you're definitely better than me."

"Heh, I guess you're right."

Atlas watched as Amethyst's expression changed from one of defeat to one of acceptance. Apparently, Amethyst became used to the idea of being the best at almost everything, since he was one of the best students, and blessed with a magic affinity.

"Now, why don't we go do something where Amber can participate instead of distracting us?" Atlas suggested with a chuckle.

"Sure, let's go put back that chess game first, though," Amethyst replied as he got up.

The pieces magically floated into a little sack which came with the wooden playing field. They shared a laugh at Amber, which was still enthusiastically telling her tale, seemingly oblivious to their conversation.

"...as the queen stood above the enemy's king, staring down at him with cold eyes.

‘Why... Why does it have to end this way? I loved you! But you betrayed us! And for what? For some petty ideals?’ The queen asked, her halberd inches before his neck.

'You'll never understand!' the king replied. 'Your ways are old and destructive! At this rate, you're going to turn the kingdom into dust!'

'You were supposed to lead our nations to prosperity! Not destroy it by waging war!' The queen shouted, stray tears running down her face."

Amber was so into her story, she continued acting out the parts of all the characters, drawing quite a few eyes from nearby ponies. When switching between positions she noticed her two new friends walking away from their table. Apparently, they were finally done.

"Hey, guys! Wait for me!" Amber called out to them, a smile spreading on her face.

Atlas turned in bed, rolling onto his back. After an exciting evening full of fun and games with his friends, they had retreated to their respective rooms. The only light in the room was the moon outside, illuminating the room with it's soft glow.

Amethyst had fallen asleep almost as soon as he'd made contact with the bed, leaving Atlas to his own devices. He was currently lying in bed, in his hoof resting the pendant he’d got from White Mallow a while back.

He lifted it above himself, letting the moonlight wash over the rune that was etched into the stone. The piece of jewelry taunted him with his very existence. When he got back the day he received it, he showed it to Amethyst to see if he’d ever heard about anything similar.

Amethyst flat out told him that nothing like this existed. For one, the idea of using runes was ridiculous, since one could just imbue an object directly with magic to achieve the same effect. Probably with even greater efficiency.

Also, the history of magic was apparently documented painstakingly. If there was such a thing as runic magic, you'd learn about it in magical history class.

Afterwards, Atlas did some research on his own by reading various books in the library, even going so far as asking some teachers about it. But every time he asked, the same answers presented themselves to him.

'There is no such thing' and 'That old stallion was probably just fibbing you.'

Atlas believed the old stallion, though it was just too much of a coincidence for something from his own world to just appear here for no reason. The fact that no one else seemed to know anything about this pointed to the fact that this was intentionally placed here by someone.

He was aware that this could just be a trap set specifically for him by the Greek Pantheon, but he assumed that if it was, it would have already gone off in his face when he got it.

It was then that he decided he was going to find out what this was all about. No matter how much research it would take him, he'd get to the bottom of this.

All students were to take up a specialization once they got into second grade, and he fully intended to make runic magic his. He'd probably get laughed at, at first, but once he produced results they'd have no chance but to acknowledge it. Maybe they'd even fund an expedition to the ruins where this pendant was found.

Atlas smiled as he tapped the offending rock with his free hoof, the piece starting to rotate slowly in his grasp. He sighed as he levitated it back to it's proper place on his desk, snuggling back into his covers.

Yes, he was sure that this was what he wanted to do. But those were things he'd worry about in the future. For now, learning some more magic and making friends was in order. He'd just have to take things one step at a time.

One step at a time.

Author's Note

Alright, the setup has been completed as far as I'm concerned. Commence the time skips! We will now enter the scholar arc proper(after like twelve chapters of setup lol). Since the scholar arc spans a relatively long amount of time, there is no point in detailing every single day or week, which means we'll jump from interesting thing to interesting thing. The time skips might be only a week or might be as long as over a year!

As some of you are aware, I've debated with myself about adding in another arc so you'll have more chapters about Atlas and his friends before their ~~untimely~~ inevitable demise. I've decided to choose the best of both world and have added a sub arc to this one, which will span only two or three chapters.

This season on: Scholar Arc
-Studying!
-Love!
-Friendship!
-Giant Enemy Crabs!
-Butt Tatoos?
-Windigoes!

-Ancient Ruins!

N̢̰ͨ́̄̓ͥͥͯ̈ͅḘ̢̙̱̩͐ͧ̀͟T̪̯̬ͬͭ͒͢!
-Runes!
-And many, many more... things!

Once again, thanks to my editor Azriel and my proofreader Kilobytes for a job well done!

Today's chapter was brought to you by this song.

44. Major

Scholar Arc
Month 3, Day 25

Atlas knocked on the door to the teacher's office. After class he was stopped by Emerald Forest, who told him to come by the office later since she had something to discuss with him. He had been attending her classes for almost two months now, his skill and knowledge with magic steadily increasing. According to Amethyst he could be considered an average unicorn by now. Thanks to his almost religious study of the magical practices he had mastered a wide variety of basic spells.

Since he was always well behaved during class, he was sure that his teacher didn't call him to her office to scold him; which in turn made him wonder what this was all about. Maybe there was another crazy researcher who needed to run some tests.

Apparently they had run almost every imaginable test on him twice, sometimes thrice, which had caused his daily interruptions to come to a stop about three weeks ago. A development Atlas was most certainly happy about.

While he was musing about his newly gained freedom the door opened, a stallion with a deep blue coat and a white mane sporting a goatee standing in it's frame.

"How can I help you?" The stallion asked.

"Uh hi, I'm supposed to be meeting with Emerald Forest."

"Alright, she's over at her desk," the stallion responded while making way for Atlas. "Come on in."

Atlas thanked him and stepped inside. He scanned the rather spacious room filled with desks and bookshelves until he spotted the pristine white coat of his teacher. He made a beeline for her desk, passing various other teachers who slaved away over mountains of paperwork, assumably homework or tests from their students.

"Miss Forest?" Atlas addressed her once he was close enough.

Hearing her name seemed to break the focus she had on the paper in front of her. A quick look towards the speaker and a flash of recognition appeared on her face.

"Ah, Mr. Atlas, please take a seat." She replied.

She levitated a chair from the other side of the room over to them and placed it in front of Atlas, who took her offer.

"Just give me a moment, I'll be right with you."

Emerald Forest started organizing the mess on her desk by forming the scrolls and papers into neat stacks. It was honestly an impressive display of multitasking since she must have manipulated at least twenty different things at once.

"Now, Mr. Atlas," she reverted her attention back to him. "Do you know why I called you here?"

"Honestly? No." Atlas answered. "Does anypony need me for more tests?" He added with a raised eyebrow.

"No, no. Nothing like that," came her half chuckled reply. "It's about your major."

Realization dawned upon Atlas at her words. Every student had to pick a major for their three years at the academy. Most of the students just picked a field of interest within their respective affinity. A system which didn't really work with Atlas, or any other unicorn with multiple affinities .

"Since you're a somewhat special case, we've allowed you some extra time to decide. I believe you were hoofed a few booklets detailing the different majors that are open to you?"

"That’s correct.” Atlas replied.

Shortly after he started taking regular classes, he was given some booklets detailing the majors and such, which he had studied just as diligently as his homework. The problem that presented itself to him was that there were just too many subjects to pick from. Most of them interested him greatly and he'd like to pursue their paths, but alas, he could only pick one. A decision he was now fighting with for almost two months.

"Well? Have you decided on what you'd like to do?" Emerald Forest asked with interest.

Whatever Atlas picked, would most likely be big news for everypony. Since they expected great things of him, they most likely expected him to revolutionize the field in some way or another.

"Not yet," he replied. "I've whittled them down to three possibilities but have yet to make the final decisions."

"Well, whatever your decision may be in the end, your time is running out. I will need your filled out papers by the end of the week." Emerald Forest jotted something down with a levitating quill. "Every other student has made their decision last month, and we're currently in the process of writing up the class schedules."

"I'll be sure to submit it by then," Atlas responded while mentally making time to go over the booklets again.

"Very well," Emerald Forest nodded. "In the meantime, can I help you in your decision making in any way? Is there anything unclear or do you have any questions you'd like to ask?"

"Just..." Atlas began a little unsure. "...if it turns out I don't like what I picked, will I be able to change it later on?"

A big reason he hadn't decided yet was because he felt like once he did, he'd have to stay committed to whatever he picked. Magic was a literal dream come true for him, so he wanted to learn as much as he possibly could, without being stuck on the same subject for years.

"You will, students get a chance to switch their majors at the start of every new school year." Emerald Forest explained. "You'll of course have to catch up to class in whatever you switch to, but it's as easy as submitting a single form."

Atlas simply nodded in acknowledgment.

"Well then, is there anything else I can help you with?"

"No, that would be everything," Atlas confirmed with a shake of his head.

"Alright, you're dismissed." Emerald said with a small smile.

"Thank you for your time."

Atlas rose from his chair and left the room. Since his classes were over he planned on grabbing a bite to eat and then hitting those booklets. He didn't have a lot of homework, so he'd most likely be able to cram it in before bedtime.

The little blue and red Hacky Sack left Atlas's left forehoof on its journey towards the ceiling. It hit the target with a resounding 'fwhump' before gravity pulled it back down. He caught it with his right forehoof before repeating the process.

Atlas was currently lying on his bed, playing with a Hacky Sack he crafted during precision training of his levitation spell a month back. He garnered a few odd looks for it, since most ponies couldn't do much with such a soft ball due to their physiology. While he had to agree to some extent and he could only play with it while lying on his back, he found that it helped him better his hoof-eye coordination, as well as providing him with something familiar in this still sort of alien world to him.

"Could you stop that? I'm trying to study here," Amethyst shot from his position at his desk.

"Sorry," Atlas caught the ball one last time. "Didn't mean to disturb you."

He began rolling the ball between his hooves, staring at it but not really paying attention. In his mind, he was currently weighing the pros and cons of the different majors he could take. Since he came back from his quick dinner, he read through the descriptions in his booklet again and again until he could recite them in his sleep. Once he realized that he wasn't getting anywhere with this method, he settled on his bed, eventually starting to play with his Sack.

"You wanna talk about it?" Amethyst asked without looking up from his work.

"Talk about what?" Atlas replied absentmindedly.

"Whatever seems to be bugging you."

"That obvious?"

"Yeah."

Atlas continued to fumble around with his ball for a while before responding.

"It's about my major," he admitted. "Teach says I have to decide before the end of the week."

"You still haven't picked a major?" Amethyst asked incredulously, this time looking up in disbelief. "You had like, two months!"

"Yeah I know!" Atlas sighed. "It's not so easy to decide something like that if you have this much variety to pick from."

Atlas threw the Hacky Sack in the air and let it fall on his barrel.

"Trust me, I know," Amethyst said, redirecting his attention back to his homework. "I could choose from all five schools after all..." He muttered.

Atlas winced at the thought. If he had this much trouble, it must have been even harder for his purple friend.

"How'd you do it?" He asked.

"Threw a dart." Came the reply.

"You threw a dart?" Atlas asked, eyebrow cocked. He pushed his upper body off the bed so he could look at Amethyst. "What do you mean?"

"Whittled the subjects down to a few, hung 'em on a wall and blindly threw a dart at them."

"Did you ever regret picking like that?"

"Nah, if I tried to decide any other way, I probably never would have. I liked all of them about equally."

Atlas hummed in surprise and let himself fall back to his bed. He levitated his Hacky Sack, which had fallen off the bed, back onto his hoof. After a short while of staring at it he started to throw it again, already forgotten about Amethyst's complaint earlier.

He mentally went over the three majors he was debating over once again.

School of Combat - Elemancy.

He always had a fascination with the element of water, since it was so versatile. Especially the aspect of ice, destructive, yet beautiful. Also, combat mages were cool.

School of Manipulation - Transformation.

Of the three majors he was undecided about, this was probably the one with the most practical uses. It not only included transforming stuff but also taught one of the needed basics to enchant objects.

School of Life - Detection

While most unicorns went the path of the medic in this school, a major in detection appealed to Atlas. Unicorns who majored in this were usually used as some sort of x-ray work-around but could also decide to work as a scout for the military.

He chewed on the inside of his cheek while thinking about it once more. Up and down the ball went. Up and down. The sound of it hitting the ceiling and his hoof respectively once again the only sound disturbing the general silence of the room.

"Dude, seriously," Amethyst said, slightly miffed. "Can you stop that?"

Atlas smirked as the small colorful ball hit his hoof again. Apparently Amethyst was beginning to pick up on some of Atlas's somewhat special vocabulary, dude being just one of the many adopted words.

His smirk transformed into a full blown smile as he got an idea. Just like Amethyst had decided with the throw of a dart, Atlas decided to do something similar and choose his major based on his friend's reaction.

Once again, he propped himself up so he could see his target. The Hacky Sack was now levitating next to his head, while he was taking careful aim. Once he was sure his projectile would strike true, he let it sail through the air at a considerable speed.

The ball hit Amethyst smack dab on the left cheek with a satisfying 'fwomp', which caused the purple unicorn to cry out in protest and pain as he comically fell off his chair.

"Aahhh! What did you do that for?!" Amethyst shouted with great annoyance.

Meanwhile Atlas rolled around on his bed, fits of laughter racking his whole body. The scene of the flustered Amethyst just too laughable to not laugh.

"Seriously, what is wrong with you?" Amethyst asked as he got off the ground, dusting himself off.

He waited for a while but got no other answer except for the muffled laughter of Atlas who was pressing his head into his pillow by now. Amethyst just scoffed at his roommate's antics and returned the favor by chucking the ball at the back of Atlas's head before returning to his desk, grumbling all the way.

The pain on his head shut Atlas up right quick, still, a chuckle made it through every now and then. After he calmed down somewhat, he turned around again so he was lying on his back. While it was somewhat mean spirited of him, he now finally had an answer.

"Amethyst?" Atlas asked.

"What?" Amethyst shot back.

"I think I'm going to pick transformation as my major."

"What about your minor?" Amethyst asked after a short pause.

"Elemancy."

"Can't wait to spar with you then."

Amethyst smiled as the realization hit Atlas. Since Amethyst's major was construct magic, they'd probably start sparring with each other sooner or later.

"Don't go too hard on me?" Atlas asked unsurely.

"No promises."

Author's Note

Hey Guys! I. AM. BACK!

It was a hard fought Battle, but I finally finished both Pokemon Sun and Final Fantasy XV, clocking in at 44 and 89 hours respectively! I did a lot of gaming these past weeks, but my schedule just got a whole lot more free.

As you might remember, I announced the start of the timeskips in the last chapter. We start off slow with a measly two months. As some of you might recall, I've stated several times that the Scholar Arc spans over thirty years. Before I started writing this chapter, I made a list of things that I will want/need to write about and how many chapters I want to dedicate to them. First results show that we have around 26 chapters left (this one included) in the Scholar Arc.

One thing that I feel the need to mention is that Atlas's time at the academy will feel REALLY short, as the standard education takes only a few years. There's a heavy emphasis on the years that come after school and the things he will research on his own.

Basically what I want to say, prepare yourself for skips that go over YEARS.

Now to this chapter: Atlas just chose his major, which is transformation. There are ofc story related reasons, and I'm sure some of you conspiracy theorists can already guess what those are. I'm sure elemancy will come in handy at some point as well...*wink, wink, nudge, nudge*

Also, as you have been able to observe, some sort of status quo has started to settle as far as Atlas's and Amethyst's relationship is concerned. Maybe even a bit of Bro-dom. Living together can do that ^^

Anyway, see you in the next chapter!

Once again, thanks to my editor Azriel and my proofreader Kilobytes for a job well done!

Today's chapter was brought to you by this song. Appearantly Metallica wrote a song about my story... who knew?

P.S. there's a freeze frame in this chapter, you just have to pause it at the exact right moment :D

P.P.S. Blog Post similar to this AN

45. Visiting Day

Scholar Arc
Year 2, Month 1, Day 16

Atlas was doing warm-up exercises off to the side of the stage. It was visiting day at the academy and the grounds were swarming with all kinds of unicorns. From all over the city, family and friends had come to see how life at the academy was for their loved ones.

As a result, various shows and events were being performed in honor of the occasion. Demonstrations, explanations, and presentations were held everywhere, inside, as well as in outside forums.

It was exactly for one such demonstration that Atlas was preparing himself. The chatter of the excited crowd reached his ears, as he did stretches. After completing his physical warm-up, he switched to magical exercises.

The event that he was about to star in, was one of the most popular and well-visited ones every year, or so he had been told. So to compensate for the large crowd, a team of unicorns had erected huge stands smack dab in the middle of the academy grounds; they surrounded a rectangular field, roughly one-hundred feet long on either side.

It was in this field that Atlas was about to duke it out with today's opponent. They'd hold a sparring match, no holds barred, flinging whatever spells they could at each other. For now, Atlas didn't know who his opponent would be, since the teachers thought it appropriate to not tell the participants so they would compete on an even playing field.

Security measures had been taken to ensure the safety of the audience, such as a strong magical shield erected by the teachers. Of course, they also wanted to ensure the relative safety of the combatants, so the participants had been ordered to wear a specially enchanted armor that would activate a powerful protective spell once a certain damage threshold was exceeded. The gear looked like regular guard armor, minus the helmet.

"Welcome! Welcome, everypony!" The voice of an announcer resounded over the crowd, silencing it almost immediately. "It is finally time for the moment you've all been waiting for! The first match of the day is about to commence!"

Cheering and applause could be heard from the other side of the wall, as the ponies did their weird stomping thing they used instead of clapping.

Atlas fired three small icicles he just conjured into the ground before him. He took a deep breath before exhaling it in an attempt to calm his nerves. All his friends were here to watch him, including Belle. He’d already promised that he'd win his fight, so whatever happened, he could not afford to lose.

The huge crowd didn't really help his nerves either.

"Now, before we begin, let me explain the rules!" The announcer boomed again. "The combatant's goals are to either knock their opponent unconscious, or make them unable to fight back. Do not worry! We have taken the necessary precautions to prevent accidents from happening! We might see a broken leg or two, but rest assured that we have a competent medical team on-site, ready to tend to any injuries!"

The crowd cheered once again, showing their support for the medical team. After all, ponies working in the medical field were something akin to nobility in the Crystal Kingdom.

"A time limit has been set to fifteen minutes, so in the unlikely case of the match exceeding that time, we'll let all of you decide who the winner of the bout is!"

The crowd cheered their acknowledgment of the rules.

"Now then, without further ado! Let me introduce today's first combatants, and let me tell you, they've set up a real doozy for this one!"

The announcer had to wait for a few second for the audience to calm down again.

"Entering from the left corner! A pony who, when he joined our prestigious academy, didn't even know how to access his own magic! Now, he's the first pony ever with a triple affinity, as well as considered a prodigy by teachers and students alike! Please welcome... Atlas!"

Picking up on his cue, Atlas walked out of the shadows, entering the field proper. He waved to the crowd as it went wild, making his way towards the center, where the announcer, a mint green unicorn stallion with a white mane, was waiting. On his way he tried to spot his friends, but due to the large number of ponies he wasn't able to.

The announcer gave a small nod towards Atlas before continuing. Meanwhile, Atlas went over his general strategy one more time before he finally would find out who his opponent was.

"Entering from the right corner! A pony who found his calling in the art of combat! Backed up by his magic affinity, he has achieved a mastery in his field, that many only reach decades later! He has been called 'the god of war' a great many times and I'm sure a few of you already know him! Amethyst Blade!"

Atlas chuckled as the crowd cheered for his friend currently entering the field. He was well aware of the silly nickname Amethyst had received and thought it to be hilarious. And even though they always wanted to, they'd never found the time to actually spar with each other before today, so this fight would be their first.

A figurative god against a literal one, friend versus friend.

Amethyst reached the center, standing opposite of Atlas, a huge smile spread on his face.

"You know, I should've really seen this coming," Atlas chuckled.

"Scared, Atlas?" Amethyst asked, trying to shout over the crowd.

"You wish," Atlas rebuked.

Any further attempts at a conversation were disrupted by the announcer.

"Combatants! Take your places!"

The two friends nodded at each other, before retreating towards two white dots drawn on the field, about fifty paces apart. While taking his place, Atlas thought about what he was going to do. Since they were roommates, both of them knew a great deal about how the other would likely fight.

Amethyst would definitely win in terms of experience, since Atlas started his training a mere year ago. But Atlas had an ace in the hole which might just let him win. One thing he found out relatively quickly was that ponies lacked creativity on the battlefield. They just learned what they were told and applied the lessons like a surgeon, exactly as described. Thinking outside the box and searching for alternative uses for his spells quickly brought Atlas to the top of his class.

Atlas had a variety of basic spells available, such as the standard ball of energy or the shockwave, but what he was truly proud of was his elemancy skills. Since he had an affinity to water he could use a vast array of spells at once since he could use all three states water could exist in.

"Welcome back to the stage of history!" Atlas smirked as his proposed opening line was used. "Battle one! Fight!"

Immediately Amethyst started summoning various swords, making them hover behind him. In a span of seconds, twelve magical constructs were summoned and neatly arranged. Although he had seen it before, Atlas was once again impressed by the sheer number of blades Amethyst could control at once. The crowd seemed to agree, as they voiced their amazement with 'ooohs' and 'aaahs'.

For now, Atlas simply observed his friend, rushing in thoughtlessly would get him nowhere, so he decided to go on the defensive and react appropriately.

Not giving him any time to think, Amethyst launched four of his blades at him, all approaching on a different trajectory.

Atlas waited until the last second before he summoned a shield of ice, surrounding himself completely in a fortified igloo. As soon as he heard the blades shatter against his shield, he cast a shockwave, sending the wall of ice flying in all directions. He immediately burst forth from his now destroyed cover, making a beeline for Amethyst.

It was obvious that Amethyst didn't want to engage in close combat, so the best course of action was to close their distance. As he sprinted towards his friend he counted the blades hovering around his friend before his eyes went wide. Only six of them were present.

Atlas dove to the right as soon as he realized, and not a moment too soon. Two blades embedded themselves in the ground where Atlas stood mere moments before. The crowd gasped as Atlas pulled himself out of his roll before he resumed his course towards his opponent.

Amethyst could be seen replenishing his Arsenal, something which Atlas wanted to prevent. He conjured three sizable icicles and sent them flying straight at Amethyst. His eyes widened before he jumped to the side, effectively dodging Atlas's spell but also having to stop his own conjuring.

Amethyst shot him a smirk, which he immediately had to drop since another volley of icicles was rapidly approaching him. With no time left to dodge, three of his own blades were sent to intercept, expertly hitting Atlas’s projectiles mid-air.

Atlas used the resulting shower of ice as cover for his approach, finally within striking distance, Atlas jumped at him, cocking his right front hoof in the process. He coated his hoof with brittle ice as an added damage factor. Amethyst didn't have enough time to react this time as the punch connected. The thin layer of ice on his hoof was crushed under the force, leaving various cuts across Amethyst's face as the crowd cheered at the first successful hit of the match.

"Am I going too fast for y..."

Atlas wanted to taunt Amethyst which proved to be a fatal mistake, as a hammer almost half his size connected with his right side, sending him flying.

Amethyst was what was widely known as a construct mage. While swords were his preferred construct, he could also produce a lot of other things. Including hammers, as was just demonstrated.

Atlas hacked and wheezed as he struggled to get up from the prone position he landed in. He had to recover fast since a follow-up to Amethyst's attack was without a doubt already on its way.

Giving up on standing up for now, Atlas began to roll to the side, avoiding another volley of blades narrowly missing him.

Barely managing to stand up, Atlas conjured four orbs of water, each around fifteen inches thick. For now he simply let them orbit around him, ready to launch them at a moment's notice.

In the distance, he could see Amethyst launching more blades at him while simultaneously replenishing his lost ones. Atlas, once again, conjured a wall of ice. Although this time, instead of completely covering him, he just protected his front. Since the constructs were flying straight at him it should’ve been more than enough to defend him.

The satisfying sound of magical constructs shattering like glass could be heard as Atlas was already casting his next spell. He created a massive energy ball, at least three feet wide and filled it to the brim with steam.

It was one of Atlas's newly invented spells, which he simply named 'Steam Ball'. Once the ball shattered on impact it would release copious amounts of hot steam, burning anyone unfortunate enough to be too close to the point of impact. It also created a temporary screen of mist; however due to the cloud’s low density, the screen dissipated rather fast, giving a maximum of ten seconds before it’s disorientating effects cleared.

He sent it flying over his cover and readied himself to run as soon as it exploded. A faint explosion could be heard, followed by the temperature rising as steam flew past his ice wall.

Atlas bolted from his cover and into the mist, running to where he assumed Amethyst to be. Spotting a silhouette, he fired off two of his water orbs, sending them straight at Amethyst. Their main objective was to drench his opponent, allowing Atlas to effectively freeze the water on him, rendering him unable to move for a short while.

Both of his projectiles connected, earning him a satisfying yelp from Amethyst. As the mist started to clear, Atlas lost no time and immediately started freezing the water on his opponent. Amethyst stopped moving almost immediately, giving Atlas enough time to pull off the next part of his plan, which needed some accuracy and time.

He split one of his remaining water balls into four pieces, which he used to freeze Amethyst's legs to the ground. The last ball went to completely cover his horn, before freezing solid, rendering Amethyst unable to cast any more spells.

"Looks like I win," Atlas gloated, happy to have incapacitated his friend.

As he was waiting for the referee to announce him as the winner, Amethyst shattered into a thousand little pieces. Atlas's eyes went wide in shock. This shouldn't have happened! None of the spells he used were lethal, they should have left Amethyst with a few nasty burns at most.

"Amethyst!" Atlas called out in shock.

"Right behind you!"

Once again, Atlas was sent flying as another hammer connected. Quickly recovering this time, Atlas got up on shaky legs, spotting his friend standing there, completely unharmed.

"I've been saving that one just in case we had to fight each other," Amethyst called out. "It's a construct made to look like me!"

Atlas was incredibly annoyed at Amethyst's words. Not only had he made him worry, but he also made a complete fool out of him. Angrily Atlas began to cast another spell.

"Oh yeah, by the way, you should really look down," Amethyst called casually.

It was the oldest trick in the book, but Atlas remembered a certain rulebook, which stated that you should look regardless while keeping your adversary in sight. So he quickly shot a glance towards the ground before immediately turning pale.

Instead of grass, a solid sheet of purple energy greeted him.

"Fuck."

It was the only thing he was able to say before he was launched into the air. He helplessly ascended around ten feet high, where another barrier was already waiting for him. He was smacked straight out of the sky and hurtling towards the ground, only to be sent flying by the original barrier again. What followed could be described as a combo straight out of Dragonball, since he was smacked in every imaginable direction while mid-air.

Every impact felt like being thrown full speed into a concrete wall. Atlas tried to think of anything he could do to escape his current situation, but the constant influx of pain prevented him from gathering his thoughts.

The crowd began to worry some even calling for the referee to make a call. They went ignored, as neither of the victory conditions had been met yet.

Finally, the barrage of attacks conceded and Atlas fell limply to the ground. He was hurtling headfirst towards the ground and if he didn't do something it wouldn't end pretty.

Still unable to gather his thoughts to cast any complicated spells, he simply conjured a block of water to cushion his fall. A huge splash sent water flying everywhere as Atlas impacted the body of water, successfully saving him.

"Had enough?" Amethyst called over. "You wanna give up?"

Atlas used the time to gather his thoughts while Amethyst continued to taunt him. His body ached all over and he could already feel a huge headache coming on, but he refused to go down without a fight. There was one last thing he could do. Something he had been setting up since the fight began.

Glancing up from his spot on the ground, he confirmed one thing. The whole arena was positively drenched in water, Amethyst included. A smile spread on his face as he was sure his plan would succeed this time.

Atlas got up on his hooves trying to stand steady despite all the pain. The crowd cheered at his 'resurrection', happy that the fight would still continue.

Finally standing, he shot Amethyst a devious smirk before launching himself into the air via conjured ice pillar. Once he left the ground, he started casting another one of his invented spells. He gave it the rather fitting name of 'Ice Age'.

By combining an amplified version of the shockwave spell with the spell he used to freeze his water, he created an extremely low-temperature shockwave.

Combination magic, such as this, was almost exclusively used by unicorns with multiple affinities. Amethyst could theoretically use them too since he had a magic affinity, he just never studied them. His love for construct magic was just too great.

The shockwave was released, it's effect immediately visible. Everything it passed was frozen solid, including Amethyst. While falling, Atlas conjured small icicles on all of his hooves, creating something akin to spiked shoes. Having them allowed him to walk on the ice without slipping, giving him yet one more advantage.

Landing on the ground he immediately started to cast his final spell. He was now close to emptying his mana reserves, which had considerably grown over the last year, so this would be where the fight ended.

One way or the other.

Amethyst was already struggling against his frozen prison, the thin layer of ice already peeling off him. Meanwhile, Atlas was conjuring water around him, as much as he could. He had to close his eyes due to the sheer concentration needed to control the amount of water.

Something akin to shattering glass could be heard, telling Atlas that Amethyst had finally broken free. His time was up so he sent all of the water he conjured towards Amethyst's position.

Atlas opened his eyes again since timing would be crucial for this last part. The water formed a six feet high wave that was hurtling towards Amethyst, who was trying to get out of the way but failing hilariously. Due to the ground being frozen solid he just kept on slipping every time he got up. The purple stallion could be heard cursing as the mini tsunami mercilessly approached.

Amethyst gave up his attempt at running away and his horn started glowing an extremely bright purple. He was obviously preparing some grand spell, but alas, he was out of time. The wave reached his position as the crowd went completely silent with anticipation.

"Gotcha."

In a split second, the wave froze solid. With the last of his reserves, Atlas used the spell 'flash freeze', a spell designed specifically to quickly freeze large bodies of water.

The crowd cheered at the display, deafening applause greeted Atlas as he waved, going even so far as to do a few quick bows in celebration of his victory. A big grin spread on his face, as he couldn't wait to rub his victory into Amethyst's face afterward.

As time went on Atlas's eyebrows furrowed as he noticed a few things that were… off. The referee never announced his victory and the crowd didn’t really seem to be cheering for him. His heart sank as he heard a gasp run through the crowd and he spun around to where the frozen wave still stood. His eyes searched for a hint of purple within, but couldn't find any.

"Above you!" He heard Amethyst call out.

He immediately turned his head towards the sky and was awestruck at the sight that greeted him. Apparently, there was another spell that Amethyst kept a secret from Atlas.

Huge purple wings sprouted from Amethyst's back. Consisting of countless little adjustable plates, they seemed to function similar to pegasi wings.

The last thing Atlas thought before he received a diving kick straight to the face was:

Damn, that's cool!

Then, everything went black.

Atlas awoke, a few jackhammers happily hammering away at his skull. A groan escaped his lips as he tried to open his eyes and was greeted with a blinding light.

"He's waking up!" A voice said next to him.

The voice sounded vaguely familiar but he couldn't place it right now. Shortly after, a mass of white filled his vision, before another light was shined straight into his eyes.

"Reaction seems normal. How are you feeling Mr. Atlas?" A new voice asked.

"Like shit," Atlas groaned.

"That's to be expected. Your friend did quite a number on you after all." The voice responded. "Here, that should help with the headache."

Atlas could hear the telltale sound of magic being activated, shortly followed by his headache subsiding to manageable levels.

"Now, you just rest up and you'll be bright as day again," the voice said.

He could hear a set of hooves distancing themselves. Atlas let out a sigh, choosing to lay still for a while. So he had lost. Of course, he already knew that it would be difficult to win against Amethyst, but for a while, he really thought he had him on the ropes.

His musings were disturbed by a hoof poking into his ribs, causing his eyes to shoot open. They were immediately closed again as the light assaulted them before he reopened them, this time slowly so they had time to adjust.

A look around confirmed his suspicion of being in the medical tent next to the arena. The cheering of the crowd nearby being a big indicator as well. Rows of beds lined the large tent, with Atlas being the only occupant at the moment. Next to his bed stood an amused looking Amethyst, covered in various bandages.

"You lost!" He announced gleefully.

"Eat shit, Amethyst." Atlas rebuked with a sigh.

He wanted to be mad at his friend, but since he knew he'd gloat just as much, had he won, he took it in stride. Amethyst laughed at his quip, playfully smacking his shoulder, sending pain through it and making Atlas wince.

"Sorry!" Amethyst said. "But seriously, that was some impressive stuff out there. Who'd have thought you could craft such magnificent spells? Maybe I'll have a look into making use of my own affinity after all..."

"You say that, but what the hell was that move at the very end?" Atlas said outraged. "That was insane! I mean, a unicorn flying around with conjured wings? Unheard of!"

Amethyst chuckled at Atlas's rant.

"Pretty impressive huh?" Amethyst said. "The mana requirements, as well as the precision, make it almost unusable, though. It's not even a completed spell yet. I really thought I was done for when I saw that wave coming towards me and that was the only way I could think of to get away..."

"When you're done complimenting each other, you have visitors," The doctor said as he reappeared next to Atlas's bed.

All their friends were filing into the tent, front and center a worried looking Belle. She reached Atlas's bed long before everypony else, immediately pulling him into a hug.

"Ow, ow, ow. Belle, you're hurting me!" Atlas called out.

"Why would you willingly subject yourself to such a grueling fight?" Belle asked before letting go of him.

"Something we'd actually like to know as well," Crimson interjected once he arrived at the foot of the bed. He was joined by Blue Current, which sidled up to him. Their relationship had been steadily growing and they officially started dating half a year ago.

"Yeah, wasn't that too brutal for a simple sparring demonstration?" Blue Current added.

"Isn't it obvious?" Amber asked. "It's because they're idiots," She said as she stuck out her tongue for emphasis.

"Well, yeah. We know that," Crimson replied. "But there has to be more than that to it.

"Actually," Amethyst answered. "They don't let us actually fight in class since the armor we wore is really difficult to make as well as really expensive."

"So the spots in the demonstration are heavily sought after, since apart from exams, it's the only way we're allowed to go all out." Atlas continued off Amethyst's answer.

"Still seems awfully stupid if you're getting this hurt in the process," Blue Current replied.

"Worth it," Atlas and Amethyst answered at the same time.

"Ugh, boys," Blue Current said. "Promise me you won't become as stupid as them Crimson."

"I promise," Crimson immediately confirmed.

"Wha-pish," Atlas said while doing a whipping motion with his right hoof.

The action garnered him a few confused looks from his friends, but none commented on it since they were used to his weird jokes by now.

"Does it still hurt?" Belle asked worriedly.

"Yeah I'm aching all over." Atlas sighed. "At least the headache is mostly gone. Thanks for that one by the way," he added, shooting an annoyed look towards Amethyst, which pointedly ignored the jab at him.

"Turn over to your stomach," Belle ordered, to which Atlas grudgingly complied.

Shortly after he had gotten comfortable he could feel two hooves on his back, massaging him. At first, it felt just like your normal everyday massage, but soon after, a pleasant warmth started to spread throughout his body, originating from Belle's hooves.

Her studies of the healing earth pony magic were coming along slowly, but Atlas would be damned if she didn't give the best massages ever after all her training which is saying something for a pony. Well except for White Mallow of course, but the old stallion didn't count.

"Thanks, Belle," Atlas said, feeling like putty beneath her hooves.

"Don't mention it," Belle replied softly.

As the others were discussing the battle, Atlas slowly drifted to sleep, feeling like he was being massaged straight into heaven.

Author's Note

Fucking one-year time skip to the face! BOOM!

There's not a lot to say about this chapter, except that it was pretty fun to write :D I hope you enjoyed their battle!

Once again, thanks to my editor Azriel and my proofreader Kilobytes for a job well done!

Today's chapter was brought to you by this song... I really wanted to put Astaroth's theme since he is my main... but it sucks.

46. Magic: The Channeling

Scholar Arc
Year 4, Month 11, Day 8

Atlas closed his eyes as he set down his quill. He'd finally completed his last assignment for the day and needed a moment to relax. Finals were closing in and his workload had increased exponentially. Aside from mountains of homework, he had jammed in some spell repetition into his daily routine as well.

Sighing he opened his eyes to the world again, letting them drift lazily across his room. Over the years he had acquired a great number of personal belongings for his abode. Compared to when he first arrived with a simple saddlebag and a little money, he almost felt rich now.

A state of normalcy had set in, which sometimes scared Atlas. At this point, he had spent almost five years in Equestria. Considering that he was now twenty-eight years old, five years felt like a sizable chunk of existence to spend in a completely different world.

He chalked up the fact that he didn't go insane by now to his friends. Starting with Vibrant Colors, there was always someone there for him, supporting him; if it weren't for them, things could have gone south right quick.

Well, they technically did at one point.

His eyes landed on the empty desk of his once-roommate and best friend Amethyst Blade, who had graduated last year. Atlas had known it was coming since he was a year ahead of him, but he was still saddened that the two were no longer roommates.

Apparently, the school board deemed Atlas important enough to grant him a single room since he never got a new roommate. At least that's what he liked to think, but to be honest, he suspected an entirely different reason.

Even though the prejudice against him had lessened by an incredible amount over the past few years, he could still feel that some ponies were afraid of him and what he could do.

Looking back to his desk, his eyes fell on a rectangular picture amongst the countless scrolls and notes. He fired up his horn and levitated it towards him. A smile appeared on his face as he looked at the pink mare that was depicted.

He had to laugh whenever he looked at it. Apparently, cameras hadn't been invented yet, so she had herself painted by an artist. Belle gave it to him as a birthday present, so that, even though they were apart during most of the week, he had something to remember her.

Or as she had put it, ‘so he wouldn't forget what she looked like.’

His thoughts were interrupted by a knock on his door.

"It's open," he called, setting the picture down again.

The door opened to reveal Amber standing in the frame, a curious look on her face. She scanned the room as she always did when coming in, as though she was afraid to find a monster hidden under the bed or in one of the chests, before adopting a happy smile.

"Hey," she greeted. "You done yet?"

"Yeah, just finished actually."

"Cool, wanna play some games then? If I have to do any more studying I'll die of boredom."

"Sure," Atlas chuckled. "I'm down for some relaxing. But just one game, I want to study some more later. What did you have in mind?"

Atlas rose from his chair and walked towards the door. Amber backed out, making space for Atlas to move through.

"Today's the day I'll finally beat you at Magic: the Channeling!" Amber declared proudly.

"Oho? You sure about that?" Atlas asked in an amused way. "If I remember correctly you're at a hundred and fifty-six losses and no wins. What makes you think today is gonna be different?"

Atlas locked the door with his key before levitating it into his mane, a rather handy storing space once you learned where to put stuff so it couldn't fall out. He followed Amber which had already happily skipped ahead towards the stairs leading down.

"I've actually studied for once!"

"You say that every time."

"I've also found a new combo!" Amber revealed. "It'll catch you off guard; I'm sure of it!"

"Well, now I'm actually expecting it," Atlas deadpanned. "Also, I guarantee you, if it's in the game, I know about it. I made it after all."

"You can't know every combination, I'm sure there are some you just never found!" Amber retorted, racing ahead down the stairs, taking multiple steps at a time.

Atlas shook his head in amusement and followed his orange friend into the recreational room downstairs. The newest addition to its inventory was a card game called: "Magic: The Channeling". It was a game Atlas created as one of his final projects, which found immediate popularity with students and teachers alike. Since it was fun while also allowing unicorns to practice their channeling, it was almost immediately adopted as a teaching tool as well as a fun pastime activity.

Amber was already sitting at an otherwise empty table, setting up the game. Two card stacks were formed on their respective side of the table, ready to be drawn from. Lines were etched into the rather big playing cards in seemingly random patterns, crossing over and under each other until they reached the edge of the card.

Atlas sat himself down opposite of her and started shuffling his deck, just to make sure there wasn't any funny business involved. Setting his stack face down on the table he shot a smirk towards Amber.

"Ready?"

"As I'll ever be!"

"Well then, Ready! Set! Go!"

Both of them immediately levitated the first card of their respective deck in front of them, studying them intricately. As soon as Atlas saw his first card he immediately started channeling his mana into it and guiding it through the desired path. Once he was satisfied he set it down on the table, levitating the next card.

The rules of the game were simple. Disturb the mana pathways on your opponent's side enough to break their set-up.

Every card had about three or four possible patterns to choose from and depending on which one had mana channeled through, complete pathways could be formed by setting the cards next to each other, which would, once complete, execute a simple spell. Depending on which cards you drew and how big the final patterns were, the spell power could vary greatly.

Atlas set down his second card, completing one of the smallest defense patterns in the game. If he didn't, Amber might very well finish him with a simple attack spell after a few seconds. Glancing over to Amber's side he saw that she was doing the same, albeit with a bigger defense pattern.

Picking up his next card he decided to create a medium sized amplifying pattern next and got to work as fast as he could. As there were no turns in this game, speed and adaptability were everything.

"Get ready to be amazed!" Amber pressed out under strain.

Atlas completed his pattern and looked over to see what she was up to. Momentarily ignoring his own set-up he scanned her patterns for anything out of the ordinary. A scowl appeared on his face once he realized what she was up to.

She had stacked some of her cards on top of each other to create mana paths that would otherwise not be possible. Definitely unexpected, but also not an unknown tactic to Atlas. Since he created the game himself he knew all of the moves one could make, this one included.

Stacking cards was an advanced tactic which he hadn't revealed on purpose. Ever since he started his studies, he felt that ponies in general lacked creativity. So he kept quiet about this feature to see how long it would take until someone discovered it. An experiment involving the whole school, so to speak.

While he wanted to compliment Amber on her cleverness, he also didn't want to lose, so he frantically started looking for a way to block her incoming attack. His set-up wasn't created with the intention to add a stacked combo to it, so he had to improvise.

Picking up his next card, he weighed his options. Stacked combos had an energy output much higher than the regular ones, so his only option was to counter with a stacked combo as well. Though, thanks to his recently completed amplification pattern he could keep it simple.

Glancing over, he realized his biggest advantage over Amber. He could set up exponentially faster than her if he wanted to. And right now, he had to if he wanted to win.

Frantically starting to channel he started setting down card after card, hoping to get done in time.

"Hah! Take that!" Amber shouted just as Atlas put down his last card.

A small, red wave started traveling over the table, signifying an attack.

"Guess I win once again," Atlas said nonchalantly, shooting a smirk towards Amber.

She furrowed her brows in confusion and looked towards the table again. Apparently, she was so focused on creating her own pattern that she didn't check what Atlas was doing. As such, once she saw his own stacked cards her eyes widened.

"What?" She called out in surprise. "What is this?"

"You'll see," Atlas smirked, watching as the red wave was almost upon his cards. Shortly before it could make contact, a blue line appeared, deflecting Ambers attack back towards her own cards.

Unable to do anything else, Amber watched as the wave washed over her cards, the pathways she so meticulously set up sputtered out pathetically.

"What was that?" Amber asked, stunned.

"An amplified reflector pattern," Atlas explained while getting more comfortable on his bench.

After meticulously studying Atlas's pattern Amber let out a deep sigh.

"And I thought I'd beat you for sure this time."

"Told you, if it's in the game, I know about it," Atlas responded.

"Yeah, but why did you never tell anypony about the possibility of stacking cards to create new patterns?" Amber asked incredulously.

"I just wanted to see how long it took until someone figured it out on their own," Atlas answered with an apologetic smile on his face.

Amber studied Atlas's face as if to see if he was serious.

"Show me."

"Show you what?"

"I want to learn these patterns right now!" Amber declared. "It's unfair if only you know about them, right? So show me."

"But I kinda wanted to study some more for the finals tonight... You know? The finals that are quite literally next week?" Atlas tried to worm his way out of what could possibly become a long night.

"Atlas, you're one of the smartest unicorns in the whole academy, one night of missed studies isn't going to make you fail your finals." Amber retorted.

"I guess you're right," Atlas sighed. "So what do you want to know?"

"Everything," Amber deadpanned.

"Of course you do."

Atlas resigned himself to his fate and started with the simplest stacking combo there was. Since stacking allowed for a great number of new combinations and even completely new spells, explaining everything to her would most likely take the whole night.

At least this way he wouldn't have to think about the upcoming finals. Even though he knew that he was probably fine, he was still a nervous wreck. After all, the results of these tests would quite literally decide his future.

Glad to have a distraction, Atlas fully immersed himself into his explanation.

Author's Note

This chapter was originally supposed to be about them studying together for finals and maybe talk about some serious stuff... Well, things kinda escalated and here we are. So, school time is almost over D: let's see what happens next ^^

Also, I feel like I'm lurking around an update schedule of twice a month for now. Feels comfortable actually. Since I've basically fussed over this story for over half a year due my weekly update plans, this way allows for much more downtime :D

Once again, thanks to my editor Azriel and my proofreader Kilobytes for a job well done!

Today's chapter was brought to you by this song. Catchy as hell!

BONUS VIDEO:

Also, it's kinda my birthday today, so.... yay!

48. Honesty

Scholar Arc
Year 5, Month 1, Day 1

"Uhh... hi," Amber said, giving Atlas a small awkward wave.

Atlas just stood there, as his thought process came to a screeching halt. Blinking a few times his brain started to reboot itself as he tried to comprehend the madness that was his life. The two occupants at the table exchanged worried looks while they waited for Atlas to give them any reaction at all.

After a few more moments of awkward silence, Atlas blinked a few times rapidly as if he just now realized where he was.

"Bwuh?" Was the only thing that came out of his mouth after he tilted his head to the side and furrowed his brows.

"Umm... Allow me to introduce myself first," the brown stallion said in an attempt to smooth the situation. "My name's Midnight Sapphire, and I've been on night duty as your guard for the past few years. It's a pleasure to finally meet you in a more official capacity."

Atlas momentarily tore his eyes of the orange mare in front of him and acknowledged Midnight Sapphire's existence with a short nod in his direction, before returning to disbelievingly staring at his presumed friend.

Midnight Sapphire looked back and forth between Atlas and Amber, waiting for either of them to start talking. After it became obvious that it was just not about to happen he let out a deep sigh.

"Look, I'm sure you two have lots of things to talk about, so let's just say I'm gonna grab myself something to drink and I'll be back later, ok?"

Neither of them answered him, but Amber shot a grateful look before refocusing on a crease in the table.

Midnight rose from his chair to make an awkward beeline for the door. He had to gently nudge Atlas in order to get him to move away from the door a bit.

"Why don't you take a seat?" Amber asked after a few moments.

Atlas mechanically moved to the chair Midnight Sapphire left. He sat down, not even sure of where to even begin, waited for Amber to kickstart their conversation.

"So, umm... I'm sure you have a lot of questions..." Amber said while stealing a glance at Atlas, who was still staring at her in disbelief.

A million questions bounced around the guard rails in his head making it difficult for him to decide which one to ask first. Amber returned to not saying anything, seemingly giving Atlas the time he needed to come to terms with the situation. After all, one of his best friends was just revealed to be a covert agent assigned to spy on him.

Slowly, but surely, Atlas started to recover from the initial shock of his discovery. The more time passed, one question seemed to gain more and more importance, until he just blurted it out.

"Why did you never say anything?"

Amber looked up from the table and into Atlas's eyes.

"I was given orders to not reveal my true identity unless an emergency situation called for it," Amber explained solemnly.

Something about Amber's answer irked Atlas. At first, he couldn't quite place it, before it hit him like a truck.

"Real identity?" Atlas asked, shocked. "Does... does that mean Amber is not your real name?"

It wouldn't have been the first time someone in Atlas's circle of friends used a fake name, but at least Belle didn't hide it for five years.

"Oh! Nononono!" Amber recoiled. "Amber is definitely my real name! I was just referring to my identity as your guard and observer!" Amber winced slightly, since saying these things out loud made them sound worse than they were.

Atlas breathed a sigh of relief. "Alright, I think I get it so far. But, why were you placed into my class instead of just observing me like, what was his name again? Midnight Sapphire?"

Having to keep her position a secret made some sort of sense to him, but why she couldn't just regularly perform her duties was beyond him.

"Well, there are actually two reasons for that," Amber explained. "First off, I wanted to go to the academy anyways, so I was able to strike a deal with my superiors."

Atlas nodded slowly in understanding and to prod her to continue.

"The second reason is..." Amber started fidgeting and avoiding Atlas' eyes. "Because of my special talent," she added almost inaudible.

Since nothing was around to overshadow Amber's voice, Atlas had no problem hearing what she said nonetheless and his eyes went wide at the revelation.

"Your... your special talent?" He asked cautiously. "But... So... you always knew what it was? From the very start?"

Amber simply nodded at his question, confirming his accusations.

"But... what about all the times we tried to find out what it was?" Atlas asked, tearing up a little bit. "I remember that we stayed up a whole night researching once, only to come up empty."

"It was all part of my cover," Amber whispered, a stray tear finding it's way across her left cheek.

Atlas, once again, stared at Amber in disbelief. He started to feel a little nauseous as he stared at the stranger before him. All this time he had known her, laughed with her, gotten to appreciate her and trusted her. Only to have it revealed that she was keeping some immense secrets from him.

What if there was more she didn't tell him? Was everything he thought he knew about her just another lie? At this point he couldn't even be sure if he knew the mare in front of him at all.

The thought alone scared Atlas immensely.

A deep feeling of betrayal was eating Atlas up from the inside and he felt sick.

"What is it?" Atlas asked, already dreading the answer. "Your special talent, I mean."

"I... I instinctively know when someone is lying," Amber said meekly. "Until today I haven't failed once in recognizing a lie."

A pit formed in Atlas' stomach. If she truly always knew when someone was lying... She would've seen through Atlas' cover a long time ago. While she couldn't possibly know what exactly he was, she definitely must have known that everything he told her about where he was from was a lie.

Which brought up the question... Why hasn't she told anybody about it?

Surely, if she told the guard that he was lying through his teeth about his past and some other sensitive things, Atlas would've immediately been put behind bars. The fact that he was still a free man, or stallion as it was, meant she never told on him.

"So... you always knew?" Atlas asked tentatively.

Atlas intentionally didn't specify what he meant, since it seemed pretty obvious what he meant at this point.

"About all your lies? Yes, I always saw right through you," Amber let out a saddened laugh. "You have a terrible poker face."

"Why didn't you ever tell...anypony?" Atlas conspiratorily asked, and now genuinely curious, perhaps even a little hopeful. Maybe, just maybe, it meant all of their friendship wasn’t just a job.

"I just thought that you lying about your origins didn't endanger anypony around you, which is why I didn't report it," Amber said. "After all, I was only ordered to report any and all suspicious behavior that could potentially be dangerous." She added with a smile.

"I'd say that is plenty suspicious behavior right there," Atlas responded, momentarily forgetting his internal turmoil and donning a small smile.

Amber just shrugged her shoulders in response, smiling at a dent in the table. The mood seemed to lighten up a bit at the bit of banter. A short pause followed, in which neither felt the need to say anything and instead chose to process all the new information.

"So... who are you?" Atlas asked suddenly, which prompted a sharp intake of air and a hurt look from Amber. "That mare I've gotten to know over the past five years... How much of her is actually you?"

"Except for the things we just talked about..." Amber happily smiled. "All of it."

Atlas had to blink a few times since this wasn't exactly the answer he expected.

"I never changed myself for the mission's sake," Amber explained. "Apart from my secret mission, I was just a regular student at the academy. I wasn't told to befriend you, but I did so anyway. All those times we were together, that was all me. When we made jokes together, when we studied together, struggled together, played together, laughed or cried together, all of that was me just being myself. I might have originally approached you because of my mission, but over the past years, you have grown to be my best friend.
And that's the honest truth."

Amber finished with a hopeful smile, her tears betraying her jovial look. She obviously was just as emotionally invested in this conversation as Atlas was, which gave him pause.

Atlas averted his gaze towards the floor. His eyes flitted around, focusing on nothing in particular as he let everything pass through his mind again.

Five years. Five years of friendship, of hardship and supporting each other. He had made many happy memories with Amber, and the thought of it being fake almost crushed him when he first saw his friend sitting in a chair that a stranger should have been. He still felt a little betrayed, but at the same time he could understand why she couldn't tell him.

Seeing her reactions during this whole conversation felt like further proof that she was happy to finally come clean. Happy, and scared.

Happy to finally be able to stop lying, and scared at the possibility to lose a dear friend. It would truly be cruel to lose a friend because of things that were outside one's range of influence, something that must scare her just as much as it scared Atlas.

But still, instead of deciding to keep it a secret, something which she definitely could have done, she chose to come clean and tell Atlas the truth. Something which could potentially cause her to lose her best friend.

What further proof did he need at this point?

Atlas' eyes flashed a soft orange, accompanied by a slight shiver running through his whole body. By now he was familiar with the feeling and due to his mastery of magic, could even feel like something had changed within him.

His head snapped upwards, his eyes meeting Amber's as his eyes widened in realization. He would need to test his theory later, but right now he had more important business to attend to.

"I believe you," Atlas simply stated.

Amber's eyes shot wide open, a quiet sob escaping her. The waterworks started in full as the tension visibly left her body.

"Does... does that mean we can still be friends?" Amber asked between a few sobs. "Even after all I did?"

Atlas rose from his chair and moved to give Amber a hug. She obviously needed a good friend right now.

"Of course," he said quietly. "And I believe since you told me your secrets, it's only appropriate that I'll share mine with you."

Amber didn't say anything in response and simply hugged Atlas back, relieved to finally be able to be honest with her friend. They remained like this until Amber finally calmed down.

Author's Note

Four down, two to go. Next chapter's gonna be close to this, and the one after will have quite the jump in time, so get ready. Hope you liked this chapter :D

Also, I don't remember whether or not I've posted this before, but here it is again, because it's still accurate(well except for, I don't take forever):

Once again, thanks to my editor Azriel and my proofreader Kilobytes for a job well done!

Today's chapter was brought to you by this song. Beautiful.

49. Research

Scholar Arc
Year 5, Month 1, Day 3

"I'm leaving," Atlas called over his shoulder.

He was putting on his saddlebags when Belle rounded the corner from the living room, sporting a big smile.

"Alright, have a great first day at work," the pink mare responded as she approached. "And don't let them walk all over you."

She gave him a peck on the cheek and received a hug in return before Atlas opened the door and stepped outside.

"I have no idea when I’ll be done, so if I'm not home in time for dinner, don't wait up for me, okay?" Atlas turned around to look at Belle once more.

"I'll make sure to set aside some for you if you can't make it," Belle replied, still smiling.

Atlas nodded once, satisfied with her answer and started on his way towards his new place of work. He could hear the door close behind him as Belle retreated back into their home.

Now that his time at the academy was over and he didn't have to spend his days in the dorm anymore, he could, or rather had to live in the city. Crimson had recently moved out of the flat he shared with Belle to move in with Blue Current, so Belle and Atlas decided to do the same.

They found themselves a nice flat at the base of the mountain, near the academy. Belle's commute was a little longer now, but she assured Atlas that she didn't mind it in the least. Something about being able to visit various shops on the way to collect ingredients for White Mallow.

Amber returned to her job with the royal guards and was living in the barracks for the time being. After the events of two days ago, they had talked about a lot of things and Atlas told had told her the truth about himself. This time he made sure to withhold some of the more important details instead of lying about them. After all, nopony knew the full truth about him, not even Belle; and he planned to keep it that way.

The last time he heard from Amethyst was via a letter, stating that he had been accepted into the Teras branch of the guard, effectively making his dream come true.

Meanwhile, on Crimson and Blue Currents side of things, talks about marriage had begun. Atlas was happy for the two of them, but was low-key a little nervous since their move put pressure on him to propose to Belle.

Atlas knew that marrying Belle was the next logical step to take. He really loved her, he was sure of that now, and Belle loved him back just as much, if not more. But whenever he thought about it, he got cold feet. Even though he had a lot of time to get used to it, the idea of marrying someone just didn't click well with him.

Originally he thought he would stay single all his life, enjoying life as he pleased without someone else telling him how to go about it. That was even before he was whisked away to magical pony land.

"Marrying a pony..." Atlas said under his breath as he ascended the climb up the island. "Even though I am one..."

Shaking his head in an attempt to clear his head, he focused back on the road. Thinking about it now would help nobody. He entered the Academy grounds proper, fighting the urge to turn right and towards the school, Atlas turned left.

He had been to the other sections of the island before, sometimes because some researchers wanted to run tests on him, or sometimes simply because he had to deliver something for a teacher.

Since each section was dedicated to the various research facilities pertaining to their respective schools of magic, he had to pass through the sections for the schools of combat and illusion before arriving at the one for manipulation.

Atlas pulled out the map he received with his orders, where a building towards the back was circled. He followed it, trying to find the shortest route while also remembering the layout of the buildings around him.

Unicorns were walking to and fro, some even greeting him or wishing him good luck on his first day. He returned their greetings with a smile, apparently, he was already well known around these parts.

Finally, he arrived at his destination. The building was rather large compared to others he had passed on his way here. Although there seemed to be a lack of traffic around the area, which seemed a bit weird to Atlas. He chalked it up to it being sort of out of the way and went for the door.

Not sure if he should just enter or not, he decided to knock first. He wouldn't want to step on anyone's toes on the first day after all. He waited for a minute, since no one answered the door he knocked again. Same as before, nothing happened.

Atlas shrugged his shoulders and just went in. Should have probably done so in the first place, since such a big building was bound to have no one watching the door.

Once inside Atlas took a look around. To his surprise, the building was more like a warehouse instead of the normal interior he imagined. A single space spanned the whole building, with the ceiling being about three stories high. Why such a high ceiling was necessary was beyond Atlas and he made a mental note to ask once he got the chance.

In contrast to the open ceiling, almost every inch of floor space was occupied by something. Weird machinery stood around with no apparent rhyme or reason and scrolls littered the floor in between them. The odd desk could be spotted in some places, their occupants nowhere to be found.

In fact, the whole building seemed to be deserted. Atlas watched for any sign of life but came up empty. They should have been informed of his arrival today, so where was everyone?

"Hello?" Atlas called out. "Anypony here?"

Atlas' ears turned in various directions, trying to hear any kind of sound. After he got no answer he decided it was time to explore a bit.

Trying not to disturb anything he made his way to the center of the large room. He knocked a few stacks of scrolls out of the way, but otherwise, he made it there relatively unhindered. Again, he looked around for any sign of life.

"Hello?"

Again, he received no answer.

"Huh, must be late or something..."

With a sigh, he levitated his saddlebags off his back and onto a nearby desk. Compared to everything around it, it was relatively empty and Atlas figured it would be just as good a place as any to put it. He picked one of the scrolls at random and scanned its contents. It was titled: "My thoughts on Crystal Clarities Resonance Jewelcrafting: A Guide to Enchanting Gems", followed by messy notes that were almost illegible.

Frowning he put the scroll back where he found it. Looking around some more he found a bookshelf nearby and decided to check out what kind of books they had here. He recognized quite a few from the school library, but there were also some advanced books he had never seen before.

"Dr. Quartz Sigil's Theory of Thaumic Resonance... The Theory of Thaumic Harmony... The Gruff-Blackwell mineral detection incantation... Chaotic Entanglement: The Pattern Within Nonsense, by Cookie Crumbles..." Atlas read the title's out loud while tilting his head sideways to read.

Since he figured he'd have to wait around until someone actually showed up, he decided to read one of those books. The Theory of Thaumic Harmony struck his fancy and he levitated it off the shelf. He looked back to the desk, in search of a chair, only to come up empty. Taking a moment he scanned his surroundings until he spotted something that looked suspiciously like a bean-bag chair. Shrugging, he made his way over to it while flipping the book open to the first page.

On his way there, he came across a particularly large stack of scrolls, piled up to almost twice his size. He gave it a cursory glance in passing and had to do a double-take when he saw a face staring back at him.

"Great Scott!" The head said. "An unknown pony roams around my laboratory!"

The mountain of scrolls collapsed as the unicorn jumped out of it and directly in front of Atlas. He had a brown coat and a messy white mane, springing out into every direction imaginable, creating the worst case of bed hair Atlas had ever seen. Judging by the wrinkles in his face, the stallion must have been of an advanced age.

"State your business intruder!" The stallion commanded while getting uncomfortably close to Atlas' face.

Atlas took a step back after the initial shock petered out and recollected himself.

"Uhh... hi, my name is Atlas and I'm supposed to start as a research assistant here. Who might you be?"

The stallion furrowed his brows in thought and mumbled something incoherently. Suddenly, he perked up and started looking around. Apparently, he found what he was looking for as he immediately ran away. He seemed to navigate the utter chaos with ease while Atlas could only see where he went by the scrolls flying around.

"A-HA!"

A cry of joy could be heard somewhere, followed by a quiet "pop" sound. Atlas' eyes were blinded as the stallion reappeared out of thin air before him. Teleportation was still a somewhat new concept and only a few had actually successfully cast the spell. Seeing the mystery stallion pull it off so casually was impressive.

"You seem to be right!" He said to Atlas. "I seem to have received a note announcing your arrival. But it says here your name is..." the stallion squinted at the paper, "...Otlus? That right?"

"No, it's Atlas, actually," Atlas repeated slightly confused.

"Huh, yeah that seems about right," the floating scroll tilted sideways a few times as if he was trying to decipher its contents. "I might have accidentally spilled some coffee over it once... or twice. Well, no matter!" The scroll was unceremoniously thrown over his shoulder, to be forever lost in the sea of paper all around them.

"I see you were about to start reading The Theory of Thaumic Harmony by Rainbow Bismuth, good choice!" The stallion said, eying the book floating next to Atlas. "Are you interested in enchantments perhaps? Would you be interested in becoming an assistant here? So few ponies actually care about enchantments and I have no idea why!"

The stallion laughed, apparently completely forgetting his earlier hostility and replacing it with overbearing interest.

"Ummm... yeah, as I already said. I'm supposed to become an assistant here today." Atlas explained once again. "Might I speak to whoever is in charge around here?"

The stallion blinked owlishly, tilting his head to the side.

"I am," he said matter of factly.

Atlas let out an exasperated sigh. Apparently, he'd be stuck with some cooky old stallion for the foreseeable future. He hoped that at least the other ponies were a bit less... all over the place.

"Might I ask for your name?" Atlas asked.

"Oh yes!" The stallion exclaimed. "How silly of me! You don't know me! Of course.. of course... Well, my name is Brown Diamond, but ponies just call me Doctor Brown most of the time!"

Atlas' right eye twitched when he heard the stallion's name. Truth be told it kinda fit, but it still seemed like a bad pun.

"Well, color me pleased to meet you Doctor Brown," Atlas said calmly. "May I ask where the others are? Shouldn't they be here by now?"

Atlas had to hide how awkward this whole conversation made him feel and tried to remain as polite as possible for now.

"Oh, no, no, no," Dr. Brown said "It's just me in here. Always has been. Yes. Just me... all alone... all day..." He seemed to turn a bit sad before he suddenly brightened up. "No, wait! You're here now! And you care about enchantments! Ohhhhh, I have so much to show you! Follow me!"

As soon as he completed his sentence Atlas' eyes were once again assaulted by a bright flash, accompanied by a barely audible pop. Atlas just stood there frozen in place, Dr. Brown seemed like a true eccentric and he could tell already that working here was going to be an ordeal.

Why the guard thought his talents would be put to good use as this stallions assistant eluded him. Shouldn't there be a bigger research department dedicated to enchantments? And if there was, why wasn't he sent there?

His thoughts were interrupted by another flash and pop announcing the return of Dr. Brown.

"Well, what are you waiting for? We don't have all day!" Dr. Brown said excitedly. "Oh wait, I guess we do... Well, follow me anyway!"

"Wait!" Atlas called out.

Dr. Brown's horn had already started glowing again, no doubt in preparation for another teleport.

"Why?" Dr. Brown asked, genuinely confused. "There's research to be done and you're burning daylight."

"I can't teleport," Atlas said exasperatedly.

"Really now?" Atlas confirmed with a nod. "On foot then! Follow me!"

The doctor once again took off, weaving through the maze-like chaos around them effortlessly. He stopped at a distance, once again calling for Atlas to follow him. The latter just sighed and started trotting in the stallions rough direction, trying to find a way through the unnatural environment.

He floated the book back to where he got it, trying to introduce at least a little bit of order to the chaos surrounding him. After a while he arrived at Doc Brown's location, finding him rummaging through the contents of a seemingly random chest.

"Oh, you're going to love this! Just came in last year, truly revolutionary stuff!" He said with his head buried in the chest. "A-HA!"

His head emerged, a triumphant look on his face. Apparently, he had found what he was looking for. Out of the chest floated a familiar stack of cards.

"Magic: The Channeling?" Doc Brown fervently nodded his head in excitement. "I kinda made that, so I'd say I'm pretty familiar with it already," Atlas added offhandedly.

Doc Brown's eyes went with excitement and Atlas immediately recognized his mistake. The doctor started bombarding him with questions, talking so fast that Atlas could barely make out anything.

"You'll have to show me how you managed to make all the spells compatible without them interfering with each other! Oh, it's so exciting to finally meet a kindred spirit!" He exclaimed finally. "I invent a lot of things as well in here, come, let me show you my newest invention!"

He stormed off to a nearby desk, upon which rested a complicated apparatus. It seemed to be made from various metals, interwoven with each other to form some sort of pedestal. All kinds of gemstones were embedded into it and at the top rested one of the biggest Opals Atlas had ever seen. He could practically feel the energy washing off it to the point where he asked himself how he hadn't noticed it before.

It was fascinating and it's purpose must have been quite amazing if it needed this much mana to power it. Maybe Brown Diamond actually was a genius and not just some crazy stallion.

"This looks incredible... What does it do?" Atlas asked in awe, just as Doc Brown arrived at the desk.

"This thing?" He looked back to confirm that they were talking about the same thing. "Never mind that, that's just some trash I made last week." He levitated it off the table and chucked it over a mountain of books. "But this thing here is a real beauty." He said as he pointed at something small resting on the table.

Atlas was still looking towards where the contraption was chucked, regret filling his mind over not finding out what it actually did. Still, if the thing on the table was even more amazing, it must have been truly stupendously awesome.

He approached the desk, looking curiously to where Doc Brown was pointing. A significantly smaller contraption rested on it, looking similar to a very crude, legless crab. A topaz was embedded on top, giving it quite the stylish appearance.

It looked rather unimpressive at first, but Atlas wouldn't judge it until he found out what its purpose was.

"So, what does it do?" Atlas asked curiously.

"It passes butter!" Doc Brown replied happily.

Atlas sighed. This was going to be a long day.

Author's Note

So during writing this chapter I finally decided on how to pull off one of the last three great unknowns this story still had. Which means Act 2 just got a bit longer and the scholar arc gained another chapter. Act 3 has gained some more substance as well from it. Now I just need to solve two more :D EDIT(even before the chapter was posted(lol)): Actually solved two instead of one. Also, re-solved the first one to fit the second one. yay!

I hope you liked Brown Diamond, personally, I really enjoyed writing him. Also, references everywhere!

Once again, thanks to my editor Azriel and my proofreader Kilobytes for a job well done!

Today's chapter was brought to you by this song.

P.S. Once this chapter reaches 88mph we will jump into the future... let us set it to like.. I don't know... maybe five years into the future?

50. Runes - Part One: Journey

Scholar Arc
Year 10, Month 4, Day 22

"Want to go over the list again?" Atlas asked.

"We already went over it twice, I really doubt anything has changed since we looked at it last," Crimson responded.

"I still don't see what purpose this list has," Doc Brown added. "Too much order is boring, so can't we just say, forget something? It would at least add a little spice to our journey."

"For you maybe..." Atlas muttered.

With a sigh, Atlas added the list to his saddlebags, which he set down near the others. Even if they did find something missing, they couldn't really go back to get it, since they were already on the outskirts of the town. After a whole five years of working under Brown Diamond, they were finally about to start Atlas' first personal research project.

Officially the project was under the care of the head of the department Doc Brown, but Atlas was the one who suggested it. When Atlas told Doc Brown about runes and what he suspected they could do, he was immediately on board. Just the promise of a long forgotten enchanting method was enough to almost give Brown a heart attack.

The real problem was convincing the higher ups. At first, they didn't even believe that runes existed, so Atlas and Doc Brown had spent months searching through every imaginable book in their library for clues or references to them. They’d had to pester their superiors for months until funding was approved. Atlas correctly suspected that what had finally pushed them over the edge for approval was the potential uses for the guard.

"Do you think he'll arrive soon?" Crimson queried while playing with a pebble on the ground.

"He should've been here some time ago, so I really hope so. We're burning daylight." Atlas replied slightly miffed.

They were promised a guard since it was entirely possible that they would encounter monsters on their way. Of course, Atlas was capable of defending himself well enough, but it was always better to have a professional soldier along for the ride.

In turn, Crimson came along as a scout. When Atlas asked if he was interested he was taken off guard by how quickly he agreed. If they had a pegasus with them the temple they were searching for would be infinitely easier to spot, since it was supposedly located deep within a forest.

White Mallow described the location of the lost temple as good as he could, but they would still need to search a large area since it was impossible to pinpoint without an accurate map.

"You think that's him?" Crimson asked.

In the distance, they could see a lonesome guard trotting in their direction.

"Must be, guards always travel in pairs." Doc Brown supplemented.

Once the guard got closer, he revealed himself to be a familiar face.

"Hey guys, long time no see." Amethyst Blade greeted.

He was decked out in the standard issue Teras armor, which covered most of him. Its colors were mainly black with purple accents, reminding of the standard guard armor. It could have also been a very, very dark gray, Atlas could never tell. Apparently wearing it on regular patrols was optional, some ponies abandoning it for increased mobility during battle; but for official assignments like this, it was mandatory.

"Amethyst? You're our guard?" Atlas asked in disbelief.

"The one and only," Amethyst responded smugly.

Atlas and Crimson chuckled happily upon hearing that their friend was to accompany them. They hadn't seen him for quite some time since Teras members usually were gone for months on their patrols along the borders.

After they properly greeted each other, including a few hugs, they started to gear up. In the researcher's case, it was as simple as putting on their saddlebags.

"You must be Brown Diamond," Amethyst said to the disheveled looking unicorn. "I've heard a great deal about you."

"Whatever they told you, I didn't do it," Doc Brown blurted out.

"Mostly good things," Amethyst added, slightly confused.

"Well, I probably did those things," Doc Brown rectified with a smug look. "You interested in enchantments son?"

"Uhhh... sure?"

"Good enough," Doc Brown shrugged. "Come on, let's go! We have a forgotten art to rediscover!"

With those words, he started happily walking northwest, towards the mountains.

"Is he always like that?" Amethyst asked.

"Yeah, but you get used to it, "Atlas replied. "Only took me about two years or so."

Laughing, Atlas started to follow Brown Diamond who was already placing considerable distance between them. Crimson and Amethyst shrugged before making to catch up to him.

"So Amethyst, haven't seen you in a while. What have you been up to?" Crimson asked.

"Patrolling the borders mostly," came the reply. "I'm actually surprised by how little fighting we actually do. Monsters coming too close to our kingdom isn't as common as you might think it is."

"But, I heard a lot of ponies die and Teras is always understaffed," Crimson asked curiously.

"Well, yeah. It's just when a monster actually shows up ponies tend to get hurt and we don't have medics with us most of the time. If you get a bad wound we often can't return in time to have it treated."

"Why don't you have any medics with you? Seems kinda irresponsible."

"Medics aren't exactly useful in a fight and if you can't pull your weight in a fight you're putting the entire team at risk. There are a few veteran healers in Teras that can put up a decent fight, but not anywhere near enough."

"Huh, you ever come close to dying on us?" Atlas interjected.

"Once or twice," Amethyst said. "Hydra pulled out a sizable chunk of my leg about a year ago, almost bled to death."

He accentuated his statement by levitating the shinguard off his left foreleg so they could see the scar. Running up the entire length of his leg, the scar was clearly visible, devoid of any fur. Both Atlas and Crimson winced at the sight before Amethyst put his armor back in place.

"What have you two been up to? Any interesting developments?" Amethyst asked in turn.

"Mostly research for me. Doc and I had a few breakthroughs on enchantments, but everything we did was just making the existing ones more efficient. No new stuff yet, but we hope to change that with our little expedition here." Atlas stated.

"Just working away at the weather factory," Crimson said. "Blue Current got a promotion recently and will probably take over once her father retires in a few years."

Amethyst nodded, happy that his friends were doing well in life; albeit a bit sad that he was missing out on it.

"Also," Crimson added. "Blue Current is pregnant."

Atlas tripped over his own legs because his head snapped towards Crimson at an unhealthy speed, while Amethyst opted to simply freeze in place with his jaw hanging open.

Crimson blushed at his friends reactions, the red of his cheeks barely registering through his fur. Atlas caught himself first and playfully slapped Crimson on the shoulder.

"Congratulations!" Atlas laughed.

"Heh, thanks..." Crimson blushed even more.

"I call dibs on being uncle!" Atlas exclaimed.

"You can't call dibs on being an uncle..." Amethyst responded, having just recovered.

"You can and I just did. What are you gonna do about it?" Atlas asked smugly.

"But that's not how uncles work..." Amethyst muttered. "That aside, I must congratulate you as well. I look forward to meeting him or her. How far along is she?" He redirected at Crimson.

"She just recently started showing, so probably around nine more months or so," Crimson said proudly.

"That's great! I'll see to it that I'm not stationed too far off during that time, wouldn't want to miss it after all." Amethyst said.

"Does Belle already know?" Atlas asked slightly concerned.

"I do believe they scheduled a get-together tomorrow, so if she didn't before, I'm sure she's about to find out. Why?"

"Oh, just... reasons. You know?" Atlas replied awkwardly.

Crimson was slightly confused but let the matter drop. Wouldn't be the first time his friend acted a little weird.

Atlas, in the meantime, had an unsettling thought. Belle had agreed to wait however long it would take until he finally got comfortable with the idea of marriage and all it implied. Crimson and Blue Current were setting an example he just couldn't follow yet, and by all means, he should have long ago.

Their friends expecting a foal would definitely raise some flags and Atlas wasn't sure if he could face them just yet. He didn't know what it was, but there was still some part of him, something missing, that prevented him from fully accepting the situation he found himself in. He had spent many a sleepless night thinking about what it could be but always came up empty in the end.

"You okay Atlas?" Crimson asked. "Something on your mind?"

"Huh? What?" Atlas snapped out of his stupor. "Oh hey look, Doc is already way ahead of us! We really should catch up."

With those words, Atlas took off, cantering towards Doc Brown who had indeed put quite the distance between them already. It also appeared that he had, for whatever unfathomable reason, put on his favorite lab coat along the way.

Crimson and Amethyst shared a confused look before taking off, running after their friend and starting their journey proper.

"Atlas? Psst! Atlas! Wake up!" Amethyst whisper-shouted.

The noise was just loud enough to pull Atlas from his slumber. He groggily opened his eyes to look at whoever had the nerve to wake him up ahead of time.

"Amethyst? What time is it?" He asked, following up his question with a huge yawn.

He groggily attempted to rise, since he was awake anyway.

"No, wait! Stop moving!" Amethyst cried out in alarm.

Atlas furrowed his brows but stopped moving nonetheless, since Amethyst seemed to be genuinely distressed.

"Why?" He asked simply, now wide awake.

He could just barely make out the sun rising in the distance, the view from their perch atop a mountain pass quite formidable.

"Now, Atlas, promise me to not freak out," Atlas nodded. "There are currently three snakes using you as a pillow."

Atlas slowly turned his head towards his torso, only to find that Amethyst was telling the truth. Curled up on him were three distinctively colored snakes, presumably sleeping. It was kinda hard to tell since snakes couldn't close their eyes, so he just took their lack of movement as a clear sign.

It also explained the weird sensation of weight he felt since he woke up.

"I'm gonna levitate them off you very gently, don't make any sudden movements or they might strike," Amethyst said while simultaneously firing up his horn.

"Don't you dare!" Atlas called out to stop him.

"What?" Amethyst exclaimed confusedly, the mana gathered in his horn dispelling. "But why? They could be dangerous!"

"Don't you fight huge monsters for a living? Don't tell me you're afraid of some noodles." Atlas rebuked in disbelief. Atlas' moving around must have woken the snakes up since they’d started periscoping to see what was going on. "Besides, they're kinda cute."

Atlas smiled down at the reptiles resting on him, which stared back curiously. Now that he looked at them, the brown one seemed oddly familiar, but he couldn't quite figure out why.

"But they could be venomous!" Amethyst said in a last ditch effort.

"Oh come on, they clearly came to me because I was warm. The nights can get a little cool around here. If they wanted to bite me they'd have done so while I was asleep."

"But..."

"No buts!" Atlas replied slightly angrily. "The snakes are staying, end of discussion. Now, friends, if you could maybe readjust yourselves a little, I'd like to get up."

Amethyst looked on in a stupor as the snakes actually did as asked and moved towards Atlas' back while he got up from the ground. The brown one was even daring enough to coil around his horn. Simply chuckling, Atlas rolled up his bedroll with his magic, the snake doing nothing to hinder his casting ability.

"Come on, let's wake up the others, we can already see the forest from up here and I'd like to get a move on," Atlas said while replacing his bedroll back into his saddlebags.

"No need," Crimson said, as he got up himself. "Your bickering would be enough to wake up even Blue Current, and let me tell you, she's a heavy sleeper."

"Agreed," Doc Brown added, apparently already in the process of preparing breakfast. "I'm also not sure how I should feel about the fact that our supposed bodyguard is afraid of tiny snakes."

"I'm not afraid of them!" Amethyst rebuked angrily. "I just didn't want to endanger Atlas by startling potentially lethal snakes!”

"Alright, but shouldn't a member of Teras know which snakes are venomous around these parts and which ones aren't?" Doc Brown added with a raised eyebrow.

That shut Amethyst up for good and he started to roll up his bedroll as well. He muttered something along the lines of 'just wanting to help', but caught himself a few minutes later.

Breakfast could do wonders for one's mood.

"Call me Jörmungandr! King of the snakes!" Atlas shouted ahead of their group.

Somehow, on their way down the mountain pass, he had managed to pick up even more snakes. By now he was practically covered by them, making him look like he was bound by living, moving ropes in some kind of perverse BDSM display.

"Don't worry, he did something like this before," Crimson said to a worried looking Amethyst. "Although not this extreme, I must admit."

Amethyst shot Crimson a concerned look, wanting to respond somehow before he got interrupted by Atlas' shouting.

"Behold! Another one!"

"Okay, so here's what we're going to do," Atlas said seriously.

After two days of mostly uneventful traveling, they had finally made it to the outskirts of their destination. Ahead of the group was the treeline of the forest in which the temple of their desire resided in. Allegedly.

"According to White Mallow, the temple should still be around one day's travel away from here. Crimson, we'll need you to fly above us from time to time to assure we're staying on course. Amethyst you'll be on guard duty as our vanguard with Doc Brown behind you and me at the rear."

"Is there anything I should look out for?" Crimson asked.

"Anything that looks pony made and sources of water," Atlas responded.

"From what we could gather, this forest is still largely unexplored. It has been deemed worthless by King Goldbar since there were close to no natural resources found by his expedition," Atlas explained. "If the records and White Mallow are to be believed, there should be no monsters inside, making predators like wolves our biggest threat. This was years ago, though, so be on the lookout for anything potentially alarming regardless."

The rest of their group acknowledged the orders in an uncharacteristically serious manner compared to their attitudes up until this point; while it seemed like a simple road trip until now, it suddenly felt like it was about to get serious.

"Alright then, let's go."

Satisfied everyone knew their role, Atlas turned around and let Amethyst take the front. While they acted quite serious, the forest didn't look threatening at all, it felt inviting even. The trees didn't stand too close to each other allowing copious amounts of sunlight to filter through their leaves, casting their rays onto a picturesque scenery filled with flowers and other fauna. It didn't take long until curious rabbits and squirrels could be seen watching their procession.

Seeing how idyllic everything was around them, the group relaxed a bit, loosening their formation while still staying on the lookout for anything out of place.

"It's pretty beautiful," Crimson said matter of factly.

"Sure is," Atlas responded.

Atlas' mind wandered towards Vibrant Colors and how she would’ve loved to see this and put it on canvas. Sometimes he felt a bit guilty for leaving her all alone, but deep down he knew that's where she wanted to be. A big city like the Crystal Kingdom wouldn't suit her at all. With a smile, he resolved to go and visit her someday.

Doc Brown had already wandered off, ignoring the instructions as usual, and Amethyst was forced to babysit him as he examined one of the plants growing at the base of a tree. By now their formation had completely fallen apart, the forest having had a relaxing effect on them.

A fire crackled madly in a pit they made, a pot with left-overs of their vegetable stew sat unattended while hanging from a metal hook on a barely stressed branch. A nearby creek complimented the fire with the sound of running water.

After spending the whole day traversing the forest, they had made camp near the creek, which Crimson spotted from above on one of his scouting flights. The day passed by them quite uneventfully, the most exciting thing happening being Doc Brown finding a broken pot of sorts.

"How far away do you think we are?" Amethyst asked.

"With a bit of luck, we could stumble over it tomorrow," Atlas responded. "But, I seriously doubt it. This forest is huge, and we don't really have anything to go by. From here on out it's up to luck."

"At times like this, I'm glad we have a natural compass with us," Amethyst grinned.

"I'll let you know that I have a name," Crimson chuckled. "and I still can't believe we forgot to bring along an actual compass."

"Not my fault it wasn't on the list," Atlas said defensively.

"It kinda is, you wrote it after all," Crimson quipped.

Amethyst laughed, immediately joined by Crimson. Atlas tried to keep up his grumpy facade, but it didn't take long until he joined in with them.

"Horseapples!"

Doc Brown was rummaging through his saddlebags, apparently looking for something. He had been at it for quite a while now, his weird demeanor largely ignored by the three friends. They had gotten used to it after traveling with him for some time.

"What's up, Doc?" Atlas called over to him with a smirk.

"I can't find the bag of candy I brought along!" Came the frustrated shout back.

"What would you possibly need candy for out here?" Amethyst asked.

"I'd guess to eat it," Crimson replied with a raised eyebrow and a look that practically doubted Amethyst's sanity.

"No no no, not for eating you silly pony." Doc Brown responded and turned around to face them. "I brought them along just in case I wanted to re-enact the war between the Teras division and the Diamond Dog pack that wanted to claim the lonely mountain for its resources."

Crimson and Amethyst looked at each other in confusion while Atlas simply shook his head, familiar with the crazed professor's quirks.

"Re-enacting important historical battles through the use of confections is one of my greatest hobbies after all."

Amethyst furrowed his brows. "That doesn't make any sense..."

"Oh, my dear Amethyst," Doc Brown shook his head in disappointment. "How about you join me once I find them? It actually is a lot of fun."

Amethyst sighed, letting the matter slip with a shake of his head, lest he be pulled into the insanity. They returned to their previous conversation, decidedly ignoring Brown Diamond rummaging through their bags as well.

Atlas sighed as he scanned the ground for anything out of place. It was their third day in the forest and Atlas was slowly starting to lose hope. He knew it would be difficult to find the temple since they had little to no actual information on it, but since they found absolutely nothing until now it was starting to get to him.

Crimson was leading them along by staying airborne most of the time and coming down from time to time to tell them where to turn. They almost lost each other a few times, but either Atlas or Amethyst were able to flag him down by sending flare spells above the tree's canopy.

"Atlas? Doc?" Amethyst called out, not too far away. "You might want to come look at this!"

Atlas looked towards where the voice had come from, a bit of hope squirming its way back inside of him. He trotted over to Amethyst, Doc Brown arriving almost at the same time.

"Look!" Amethyst said, pointing towards the ground in front of him. "That looks pony made!" He added excitedly.

Resting at the base of a tree was what, at first glance, looked like a regular rock. Upon closer inspection, weathered carvings could be seen engraved upon its surface. While it was utterly illegible due to the test of time, it definitely looked like writing.

Just then, a dull thud could be heard from behind them. Crimson had just landed and he looked decidedly out of breath.

"Guys? I think I found it." He said matter of factly. "There's some large building southeast of here."

Excitement bubbled up within Atlas and he could see Doc Brown having a similar reaction. After days of searching, could they really dare hope?

"Lead the way," Atlas said, itching to get going.

Crimson nodded with a smile on his face and took off into the trees behind him. They joined him in a mad chase, eager to finally see what they’d come all this way for.

It took them almost fifteen minutes before they suddenly burst through the treeline and into a huge clearing. Occupying most of it was a pony made building. A building which Atlas would definitely brand as a temple.

Rows of pillars supported a huge roof, reminding Atlas of pictures he saw of temples in Greece. Which actually made a lot of sense, considering who built this place.

They approached the entrance, which simply consisted of a huge piece of missing wall on the side of the temple. Nature had left its mark on the building, ivy and moss having spread all around the structure, making it almost seem like it was painted green from a distance.

"You think this is it?" Doc Brown asked Atlas.

"Only one way to find out," he replied before briskly trotting inside.

Author's Note

This sub arc will most likely have three parts, maybe two depending on where I'll want to end the next chapter. For those of you not in the know, I'm doing a NaNoWriMo to challenge myself. Even if I don't reach the 50k I've set as the goal, you'll be getting a lot of chapters either way. For now, the chapters will still be released on the sorta weekly chapter, but the rate will increase once the challenge is over(3rd march).

Once again, thanks to my editor Azriel and my proofreader Kilobytes for a job well done!

Today's chapter was brought to you by this song. Let's listen to some german music for a change, shall we?

51. Runes - Part Two: Library

Scholar Arc
Year 10, Month 4, Day 28

Atlas carefully climbed over a small pile of rubble as he entered into the temple proper. It was immediately recognizable that time hadn’t been any kinder to the inside of the temple, as everything seemed either broken, overgrown or faded. The roof, as well as the walls, were littered with holes, and sunlight poured in, illuminating the interior.

The temple itself actually consisted of a single, great hall. Broken benches made of stone littered the floor, oriented towards the front end of the temple, where something akin to a podium stood. The wall behind it had been, at some point in time, painted with what must have been a beautiful mural, but alas the colors had long since faded, and left behind were only smudges of seemingly random shapes and forms.

The sound of several hooves clacking against stone echoed across the temple as the rest of Atlas' group trickled in. Gasps of amazement could be heard behind him as his companions took their first look around.

"I've never seen anything like this," Doc Brown mentioned. "It's a truly unique style of architecture."

"It’s amazing alright," Amethyst said. "So what do we do now?"

"I'd suggest we split up and search for clues," Atlas replied while still looking around and taking everything in. "Look for anything that looks like writing that's carved into the walls or other surfaces. Maybe even hidden passages or stuff."

"Sound like a plan to me," Crimson said, shrugging. "I'll go check out the roof."

He took off and flew through one of the skylights in the roof, while the rest of the group shrugged off their saddlebags, stacking them against one wall before walking off towards different corners of the room. Doc Brown went to look at the podium, while Amethyst went towards the wall opposite of where they entered, which left Atlas with the area to their right.

He approached a huge gate, most likely the original entrance to the temple and probably much larger than necessary. Contrary to the rest of the temple, the gate's doors were made of wood. By now it was thoroughly rotted, with the left door lying on the ground and the right one hanging from a single hinge.

Atlas tried to wipe away some of the grime from the door on the ground, but as soon as he touched the brittle wood it started to crumble away. Figuring he'd find nothing by examining them in their dilapidated state he decided to venture outside. If he remembered right, there should be stuff written above the doorframe, like which god the temple was built for.

Once outside he scanned the exterior walls. He could definitely make out faded letters above the doors, but they looked like regular writing. Since they didn’t seem like the runes he was looking for, and because he couldn't make out any legible words anyway, he quickly lost interest. After a quick sweep of the pillars around him revealed nothing of significance, he headed back.

After about an hour of searching every nook and cranny of the temple, Brown Diamond found something and called the others over to him.

"Look at this pedestal," he said as he pointed towards the object of his attention, which held aloft a broken bust. "Does anything about this seem peculiar to you?"

For a few moments, they stared at the thing that looked, for all intents and purposes, like all the others spread around the temple. Until Atlas saw it as well.

"The ground next to it," he announced, having found what the good Doctor had noticed.

Their attention drawn, Crimson and Amethyst inspected the floor more closely. Beneath the dirt and dust, scratches in the stone formed a sort of path, leading away from the pedestal's base.

"Do you think it's part of some sort of mechanism?" Amethyst asked, intrigued.

"Guess we're about to find out," Doc Brown said as he powered up his horn.

He pushed the pedestal along the scratches on the floor until an audible click could be heard. The companions looked at each other, curious to see what would happen next.

A soft purple glow seemed to emanate from underneath the pedestal and pulsed twice before disappearing again. Crimson was just about to ask if somepony knew what just happened when a loud rumbling drew their attention towards the podium at the back of the temple. A purple glow could be seen there as well.

The group shared a look before they dashed towards the source of the glow. On the floor next to the podium were lines of purple glowing runes.

They had finally found it. The reason for their being here was finally within reach.

A moment passed. "Soooo... what now?" Crimson asked after a bout of silence.

The runes were definitely beautiful to look at, but there was a significant lack of them doing anything other than glowing.

"Hmm... Well, I can't read any of it," Brown Diamond remarked. "If it's even supposed to say something."

They stared at the glowing letters for a while longer, trying to figure out what they were supposed to do. Atlas was racking his brain, but everything they had researched about runes merely confirmed their existence. None of their books mentioned how to read or use them.

"There seems to be something missing," Amethyst said, pointing at one of the runes.

Indeed, towards the lower half of the text was a missing letter; where it was supposed to be, only a hole was present. That's when Atlas remembered something White Mallow had told him when they first met.

"Of course!" he exclaimed before levitating his saddlebag towards him. He immediately flipped it open, and just like he suspected, he was greeted with a similar purple glow from within. Grinning, he levitated out the necklace he’d received from White Mallow as a gift.

"According to White Mallow, this stone opened a hidden pathway that led them deeper into the temple!" he said while showing them the glowing rune.

"Well, what are you waiting for, kiddo?" Doc Brown asked giddily. "Put it back where it belongs!"

Atlas did as he was told, eager to see what awaited them below. His comrades watched on with great anticipation as he slowly lowered the stone into the opening in the floor. They held their collective breath, excitement clearly visible on each of their faces.

Only for nothing to happen.

"Oh, yeah," Atlas deadpanned, lifting the small item to his face with a smirk. "It can't fit with the wooden chain still attached to it."

The other members of the group groaned with annoyance while Atlas detached the offending piece of wood. This time he didn't create any theatrical suspense and just put it in.

It was a perfect fit, and as soon as the last piece was in place, the runes started to glow brighter. The ground started to shake as the whole text seemed to sink into the ground. After descending a few inches, the plate started to retract backward, revealing a staircase leading down into the darkness.

"Last pony down is a chicken!" Brown Diamond yelled almost immediately before darting into the unknown below, closely followed by his levitating saddlebag.

Atlas, Crimson, and Amethyst shared an incredulous look with each other.

"I'm no chicken," Atlas said matter-of-factly, eyebrow raised, and followed Doc Brown.

"Oh no, he's contagious," Amethyst groaned.

"Just running down there seems a bit dangerous..." said Crimson.

"Yeah, you're right. Let's follow them to make sure they don't hurt themselves."

The pair began their descent as well, as Amethyst lit up his horn to illuminate the dark staircase. After about a minute of walking they could see the now familiar purple glow at the bottom. As they entered a hallway, they found Doc Brown and Atlas inspecting runes that were carved all along both sides.

"Find something interesting?" Amethyst asked as soon as he was within earshot.

"Yeah, it looks like these runes are meant to illuminate," Atlas said. "It's always the same rune throughout the whole hallway."

"Why use runes for that though?" Amethyst asked. "Don't we have magically infused gems for that? As far as I can recall they've been around almost forever."

"It's just a guess right now, but it might have something to do with energy efficiency. If all you had to do was carve the rune, and it powered itself by absorbing ambient mana, you'd technically have a light that never has to be manually recharged," Atlas said.

"Well, I guess that would make sense..." agreed Amethyst.

He walked over to Doc Brown, who was feverishly sketching the rune into a small notebook he'd brought along. It looked like two triangles touching at the tips, almost like a pointy hourglass that lay on its side.

"This is amazing," Doc Brown muttered. "We've barely been here for a few hours and have already seen so much amazing stuff. I wonder what's further in?"

He put away his notebook into his saddlebags and slowly trotted down the hallway, taking in everything he could. The rest of the group followed closely behind him, looking out for anything interesting.

"What if there's something bad down here?" Crimson asked while uncomfortably scanning the walls. "Like traps, or monsters?"

"I'm sure I can deal with any kind of monster that might have made its home down here," Amethyst reassured him. "It's why I'm here, after all."

"We also already scanned for traps," Atlas said. "Well, Doc did; I don't know any spells like that, but I trust him."

"If you say so..." said Crimson, still a bit uncomfortable. He vastly preferred open spaces to narrow hallways.

For a while, the hallway remained unchanged. The runes on both sides were equally spaced from each other; if they were required to be so or if it was simply aesthetic, none of them could tell. Finally, they entered a large rectangular room.

The hourglass runes were present in this room as well: the walls, and in this case even the roof, were covered with them. To their left and right, other hallways led away from the room, while on the opposing wall were two metal doors.

Doc Brown walked up to the right door and tried the handle.

"Locked," he remarked with a tinge of grief.

"Same here," Atlas said from the other door. "Know any lockpicking spells?"

"Can't say I do," Doc Brown said. "What about you, Amethyst?"

"I could try to create a construct that fits the hole," Amethyst answered.

He stepped up to the door where Doc Brown was and examined the handle.

"Uhhh... there doesn't seem to be any kind of keyhole," he said.

"Maybe they’re magically locked," Atlas suggested with a small shrug. "I wouldn't be surprised if there were more key runes like the one we used to get in."

"Can't we just blast it open?" Amethyst asked.

"I'd advise against it," Doc Brown said. "We don't know what's on the other side; we could destroy valuable artifacts or set free something that's meant to be locked up."

"So, we try one of the other hallways then?" Crimson asked. "Should we split up?"

"No," Atlas shook his head gently. "We're in an ancient underground temple, splitting up is almost a guarantee to get one of us killed; don't you read any books?"

"They're just books, Atlas, fiction. This is real life," Crimson shot back, annoyed.

"I have to agree with Atlas, just because they're made up doesn't mean there's nothing to be learned from them. Splitting up is a bad idea, we should stay together." Doc Brown said in a rare moment of responsibility.

"Alright, alright," Crimson relented. "Left or right?"

"Left, of course; only a mad pony would go right in this situation," Doc Brown stated as he purposefully walked towards the left hallway.

"I'm tempted to go right," Amethyst muttered, but they all followed him nonetheless. He seemed to have his mind set, and as far as they knew, left was just as good as right.

The hallway they found themselves in was largely the same as the one they entered through, although this one seemed to curve to the right. It didn't take them long until they arrived at a rotunda. Six paths led away from it, not counting the one they just came from.

"Great, now what?" Crimson asked.

"For starters, we should mark which hallway we just came out of," Amethyst said. He summoned a small construct hammer and chisel, and proceeded to carve an X into the wall next to their entrance. "After that, we just pick one at random I guess."

"Well this one over here has an arrow painted next to it, might as well pick that one," Atlas said while pointing to the second path to their right. "It was probably left by White Mallow's group or some other researchers."

"Most curious," Doc Brown said while alternating between looking at Atlas and the direction Atlas was pointing to.

"What?" Atlas asked, confused.

"There's no arrow where you're pointing," Amethyst and Crimson said simultaneously.

Atlas furrowed his brows and looked back over. There, just next to the entrance to the hallway, was a painted green arrow. Looking at it closer, it even seemed to glow a little.

"Seriously?" Atlas asked. "You can't see the glowing green arrow on that wall over there?"

"You mean this one here?" Doc Brown said, now standing to the left of the hallway indicated by Atlas.

"No, it's actually on the other side," Atlas said, annoyed. "Listen, if you're just fucking with me, it's time to stop. There's no way you can't see this thing, it isn't exactly well hidden. I'd even go so far as to say it stands out."

"Most curious indeed..." Doc Brown said. "Well, I'm following the invisible arrow."

Atlas watched his supposed elder walk into the hallway without a worry in the world, leaving them behind.

"Seriously guys, it's right there," Atlas said, exasperated, his hoof still stuck out in the arrow’s direction.

"You'll have to believe us when we say there's nothing there Atlas," Amethyst said, following after Doc Brown. "But if you say you can see it, I'm willing to believe you."

"Me too. You always were a strange one," Crimson said. He hesitated a moment, then whispered, "Does he know about your situation?".

"I told him the abridged version. He certainly doesn't know about the god part, much less the whole not being able to die deal. I'd like to keep that under wraps as much as possible," Atlas whispered back.

"Alright, your call. But knowing about all that makes seeing invisible arrows almost normal." Crimson chuckled and followed after Amethyst and Doc Brown as well.

Atlas smirked and briskly trotted after his friends to catch up. This time they went downwards for quite a while until they arrived at yet another split in the proverbial road.

"Which way, pathfinder?" Doc Brown asked in a chipper mood.

"Left..." Atlas grumbled, the glowing arrow present here as well.

This time his comrades followed his instructions without any fuss. They took many more turns, Amethyst dutifully marking the way they came from; the arrows ever-present and leading them deeper and deeper into the ruins.

Boredom was starting to set in, since all of the hallways looked the same, when finally, they entered into another large hall. Rows upon rows of bookshelves filled it, while in the center a reading table and chairs could be found. It would appear they had found a library.

"I will never doubt your hallucinations again, dear Atlas," Doc Brown said in awe. "This might be exactly what we were looking for. If even one of these books is about runes, it'll all have been worth it."

Doc Brown approached the nearest bookshelf. A lot of books seemed to be missing; only half of the available space was occupied, as seemed to be the case with most of the other shelves as well. He levitated a random book towards him, only to watch it crumble and fall to the ground before him in pieces.

"These ruins might be older than we thought..." Doc Brown remarked. "Let's spread out and look for any books that don't crumble at first touch.”

The plan was generally agreed on, and after dumping their saddlebags at the reading table in the center, each of them picked a random direction and started searching. It was a slow process. Many of the books were illegible or crumbled like the first one they’d tried. Only a very small number of books were in a good enough condition to be carefully read.

Yet, they didn't find any books about runes. An hour and about fifty books later they still had nothing to show for their hard work. Granted, some of the books were still very interesting, but not what they were looking for.

Atlas lazily walked amongst a section he hadn't been in yet and occasionally levitated a random book over. By now he had gotten pretty good at spotting the ones that would be useless or break up immediately. After reading their titles he immediately discarded them; no point in bringing back books that were about architecture.

He came to the end of his row and was about to enter the next one when something caught his eye: a faint green glow at the very end of the hall, obscured by yet another bookshelf. His interest piqued, he cantered over to it.

The glow seemed to come from behind a bookshelf that rested flat against the wall. Furrowing his brow, he picked the bookshelf up with his levitation and set it down to his right, revealing a hidden door leading into a small room. Now that the obstruction was out of the way, he could clearly see that the whole room was illuminated by green light, rather than the soft purple he had gotten used to by now.

Atlas tentatively entered the small room. There was a single bookshelf inside, and nothing more. He slowly turned around to locate the source of the glow and came face to face with what appeared to be a letter scrawled directly on the wall. Similar to the arrows he had followed, it was painted with the same green paint.

His eyes went wide when he realized it was written with the Latin alphabet instead of the weird symbols ponies used.

Dear Atlas,
You haven't died in a long time, so I wasn't able to contact you. For now, this message will have to suffice. My accomplices and I have taken a great risk upon us to "send" it. Rest assured, you'll be the only one who will be able to read this, it won't show up in the device Zeus uses to monitor you.

It is with great regret that I must inform you, that your prison has been completed. Your soul won't be able to leave it anymore, and I won't be able to pull you out to talk. That being said, I had a backdoor installed which will allow me to enter into your version of the underworld, Tartarus. If you should die, I'll be notified and pop in.

You should also know that some gods are pretty vain. Especially Zeus. Ever since your prison has been completed, he has lost interest in you more and more. Your life is most likely too boring for him. With Zeus having lost interest, his sons and daughters that follow him like sheep have left the device alone as well. Meaning you're not being monitored anymore.

Behind you, you will find a bookshelf filled with almost everything we know about runes. Much of your prison has been created through their use, since they are low maintenance while still being effective. They will ultimately be the key to your freedom, so I implore you to learn as much as you can about them.

Best of Luck,
Hades

Atlas read the message again and again. His situation seemed to have gotten worse since he talked to Hades last. At least he now knew they weren’t watching him all the time anymore.

Slowly, he turned around to face the bookshelf behind him. Now that he looked at it more closely, the books seemed like they were brand new, compared to all the others they had found until now. He scanned their backs and read their titles, noticing that they also used the Latin alphabet, making them useless to everybody else but him.

His eye twitched when he realized that they probably had no way of effectively carrying back this many books.

Atlas stepped outside of the room and lit up his horn, sending a bright green beam towards the ceiling.

"Hey, guys!" he shouted. "I found something!"

He could hear the clatter of wood hitting stone, followed by rapidly approaching hoof-falls. Doc Brown most likely darted out of his reading chair as soon as he heard him. It didn't take long for the stallion to drift around the corner in front of him. He spotted the hole in the wall behind Atlas and sped past him, giggling like a little filly.

Atlas shook his head and smiled when he heard pages being flipped at an incredible rate. Not long after, Amethyst and Crimson arrived as well and filed into the room. He didn't even bother to ask if they could see the message on the wall, now knowing for sure that they couldn't.

"This is amazing!" Doc Brown said. "All of these books are in top condition! And they seem to be written in a language I've never seen before!"

Amethyst levitated one of the books towards him and flipped it open. He looked at the text for a while before his eyes went wide with recognition.

"Atlas? Aren’t these the same letters you were using when you first arrived at the academy?" he asked incredulously.

All eyes fell on Atlas following Amethyst’s statement. He laughed nervously and nodded.

"Does... does that mean you can read these books?" Doc Brown asked, baffled.

"Yeah, I guess so..." Atlas shrugged.

“Tell me… Are they about runes?” Doc Brown asked cautiously, which Atlas simply confirmed with a nod.

Before he could do anything Doc Brown was upon him, crushing him with a bear hug.

"Eureka!" he exclaimed. "This will be our legacy, dear Atlas! An ancient art rediscovered by us! This is the happiest moment of my entire life!"

True to his words, a few stray tears streaked their way down his face. Atlas awkwardly patted him on the back until he let go.

"That's all well and good, but how are we going to take all those books with us?" Atlas asked. "We only have four saddlebags, which are mostly filled already," he reminded them.

"Oh that shouldn't be a problem," Doc Brown said, waving Atlas' concerns away with a hoof. "We can just put them into my saddlebags, they're bigger on the inside."

Atlas' eye twitched. "And you're only telling us now? We could have taken more things with us if we knew that!"

"Ah, but how would we take back, for example, an entire shelf worth of books if my bags were also full?" Doc Brown rebuked, tapping the side of his head with a hoof.

"Ugh, fine," Atlas relented. "No point in arguing. Let's just gather up these books; we can check them out on the way back or in the lab."

Everypony agreed, and Doc Brown went to retrieve his saddlebags. True to his words, they could fit almost all the books in there. Atlas, Crimson, and Amethyst took two books each as well.

"I doubt we'll find anything more about runes here," Atlas said. "This looks like more than we need. Certainly more than we hoped to find."

"Agreed," Doc Brown said as they filed out of the small room. "Let's hurry back, I really want to get to studying these books."

"You can't read them, though," Crimson quipped from the side.

"Bummer, I suppose I'll have Atlas teach me on the way back." Doc Brown answered, slightly less enthusiastic.

"Nothing left to do but head back, I guess," Atlas said.

They made their way back towards the exit, but as they passed another hallway leading out of the library, Crimson stopped.

"Wait, can you guys feel this?" he asked. "There's a soft breeze blowing out of here. You think there might be another exit?"

"Could be," Atlas said. "If it's closer than where we came in, I'm all for it. Took forever to get down here."

"Anything to get back home faster," Doc Brown agreed as well.

They stepped into the hallway, following Crimson since he was the only one who could feel the slight breeze with his wings. Once again, they were faced with several junctions along the way, but this time it was Crimson who was able to accurately guide them through the maze.

Suddenly, the neat hallway gave way to jagged rock. They stepped out onto a ledge that overlooked a huge cave. At this point, the others could feel the breeze as well. To the left of their position, they could see an opening, through which sunlight filtered in. The sound of running water could also be heard from beyond, suggesting a river outside nearby.

"Can... can you guys see what I'm seeing?" Amethyst asked.

"Depends," Doc Brown replied. "Are you referring to the giant pile of gold and gems in the center of the cave? In that case, yes."

There was no denying it: smack-dab in the center of the cave was an enormous pile of treasure. They followed a small path leading them down from the ledge and approached the literal mountain of valuables.

"Just as a side note," Doc Brown said, "I'm not going to throw out any of the books just so we can take this worthless stuff."

"What do you mean, worthless?" Crimson asked unbelievingly. "Even a fraction of this would make all of us rich!"

"I'll have you know that I'm a stallion of science. Knowledge is worth more to me than any amount of money could ever be," Brown Diamond replied.

"Still, it wouldn't hurt to take two or three things with us..." Atlas said, levitating a golden chalice before him. "Only idiots would turn down free money."

"Agreed," Crimson and Amethyst replied.

"Let's just take a few valuable-looking things and then go," Atlas said. "We can't take much more of this stuff either way."

They spread out a little to search for small items that looked as expensive as possible. Amethyst was levitating a platinum bangle with engraved gems to inspect it when the pile before him shifted. He didn't pay it much mind, thinking it was probably caused by him taking the bangle out.

Even so, he was forced to take a closer look when the small shift grew into a veritable landslide of gold. He took a step back to get a better look at what was happening.

When the landslide came to a stop, a huge, closed eye almost as big as a pony was revealed. Amethyst couldn’t help but gawk at the single shuttered eyelid, its scales a hypnotizing royal blue.

"Uhhh... guys?" Amethyst said quietly. "Do you remember how I said I could defeat any monster that we'd find lurking down here? I'd like to retract that statement."

His friends looked at him in confusion, while Amethyst's heart sank to the very bottom of his legs. The eyelid slowly opened to reveal a single golden eye, staring straight at him.

Author's Note

Look at this! That's some fucking awesome FanArt by The Spirits Demise! They're so cute together :yay: :pinkiehappy:

Moving on! A lot of stuff happening in this chapter. Runes! Status Update from Hades! Books! Barrelriders!

Hope you enjoyed it, let's see how they get out of this one... Or will they? :trixieshiftleft: :trixieshiftright:

Once again, thanks to my editor Azriel and my proofreader Kilobytes for a job well done! Further thanks to Temujin and Soren Mercer for helping out as well. This has to be the most heavily edited chapter in the history of my story ^^

Today's chapter was brought to you by this song. Which in turn was brought to you by The Spirits Demise.

52. Runes - Part Three: Dragon

Scholar Arc
Year 10, Month 4, Day 28

"What do you mean?" Atlas asked, not yet aware of the giant resting under the mountain of gold.

The eye blinked as it regarded Amethyst standing in front of it for a second before the whole treasure pile started to move. All four of the ponies ran towards the wall of the cave to avoid being buried under the resulting avalanche. They hurried behind a natural rock formation right next to the path they took to come down.

A giant dragon emerged from the gold, rising to its full height in a stretching motion. It was covered by scales that were a mesmerizing royal blue while its belly was colored in a pure white. Thin and sharp spines ran down its entire back and tail, while two large horns protruded from its head.

The group of ponies stared on in awe and fear as the dragon turned around to regard them, every step it took shaking the ground beneath them. The dragon lowered its head, scanning the cave for the intruders, its maw easily big enough to swallow all of them at once.

The breath coming out of its nostrils was hot and felt like a strong wind, the ponies hair whipping in all imaginable directions.

"Where are you," the dragon spoke slowly and with a feminine voice, her eyes scanning the area. "Thief?" She shifted atop of her pile, turning around, searching.

Atlas' group took the opportunity to silently hurry back up the path towards the temple. Sensing the dragon closing on them they took the opportunity to hide behind a rocky outcrop on a ledge overlooking the cavern.

"Well?" The dragon sniffed the air a few times, turning back around to face them. "I smell you... I hear your tiny hearts beating with fright..." Her face was now mere inches away from where they were hiding. "Come now... don't be afraid. Step into the light!" She commanded with finality.

It was no use, they had been found. "Run for it," Atlas whispered.

They burst forth from their hiding place, running faster than ever before towards the safe haven the small hallway promised. Just before they arrived at the doorway, a gigantic fist slammed into the upper archway. The cave shook under the force of the dragon's punch and they could only watch in horror as their exit collapsed, trapping them with an angry dragon.

"Leaving already?" The dragon asked mockingly. "Why don't you... stay for a while?"

The words were powerful enough to shake their very bones with its vibrations and were spoken slowly. Even though the dragon's voice was deep, it still sounded distinctly female. Especially now that her face was so close to them.

"My cave is far off from your borders, what brings you all the way out here?” The dragoness peered over the ponies before her accusingly.

"Are you here for my treasure?" It asked with hatred in its voice. "You damn ponies are just so greedy, always trying to steal our hoards. I thought I escaped far enough away from your lands, yet, here you are."

The irony of her statement wasn't lost on Atlas, but he definitely wasn't about to point it out in their situation.

"O mighty dragon!" He called out. "Rest assured we are not here to rob you! We came to the temple above your cave in search of knowledge and merely came through here on our search for another exit!"

The dragoness seemed to mull over his words watching them carefully.

"If your words are true, then tell me; why does the red one wear some of my jewelry on his wings?" She asked.

All eyes slowly turned towards Crimson who indeed wore some sort of bangles at the base of his wings. He smiled sheepishly at them, sweat flowing from his face.

The others had abandoned whatever they were currently holding in favor of escaping death by avalanche. In turn, Crimson couldn't remove his newly acquired bling in time and now they were in deep trouble.

"While it is true that we came here for the books that are currently in our saddlebags when we came across your hoard, we thought it was the treasury of the temple above and planned to only take a few items with us since we can't carry much more anyway!" Atlas shouted, trying to rectify the situation by telling the truth.

"Lies!" The dragon shouted into their faces. "You puny ponies are here to take away what is rightfully mine!"

"Here, you can have them back!" Crimson shouted.

He had managed to take off his decorations and threw them down, back into the pile below them.

"We already got what we came for! Your treasure is safe from us!"

The dragon followed the two bangles with her eyes as they rejoined her treasures. Shortly after, she began to pull her head away from them.

It was a truly impressive display, seeing the dragon at her full size atop her mountain of gold. She took up almost the whole cave with her excessive form.

"I thank you for returning what is rightfully mine," she said calmly, the ponies breathing a sigh of relief. "Yet, you now know where my hoard is. Did you think I didn't know this day would come? The day where you ponies once again, find me? Only to take away what I have carefully collected over the centuries?"

The longer she talked, the angrier she got. They could clearly see the fury in her eyes as she remembered the wrongs pushed upon her in the past.

"Last time I was but a little hatchling!" She exclaimed furiously. "Yet, you beat me down and took from me that which is most precious to a dragon! Now look at me! My skin is iron! My teeth are swords! It is high time I took my revenge!"

"No please!" Atlas tried to shout over her booming voice. "We mean you no harm!"

"I... am fire," the dragon said as flames started to flicker around her mouth. "I... am death."

Atlas barely had enough time to process what she had just said when he could feel the temperature in the room rising.

"Amethyst! Shield!" He immediately shouted when he realized what was about to happen.

Amethyst seemed to have noticed as well, the shield encasing the huddled ponies a fraction of a second later, with Atlas and Doc Brown immediately channeling mana into the shield to strengthen it.

It was only moments later that dragonfire washed over them like a molten sea of death. The shield was doing a valiant job protecting them from the flames, but that didn't stop the temperature inside their bubble from rising almost instantaneously to near boiling levels .

Atlas stopped his efforts in strengthening their shield and immediately started to work on cooling down their environment by creating an ice cold mist around them. He had to expend a great amount of mana just to keep it from turning into steam which could have been just as bad as the flames outside.

Their struggle felt like it went on forever, but in reality only lasted for about five seconds. The torrent of flames slowed down and eventually ended completely. The surface of their shield was blackened and they couldn't see beyond the bubble until Amethyst dropped the shield.

The dragon regarded them with contempt, and apparently was preparing another breath to smite them.

"Split up! We're sitting ducks here!" Amethyst commanded.

Just as they were told, they all ran in different directions. Doc Brown immediately teleported down into the cavern before he started gunning it for the only other light source in the cavern. Atlas tried his luck with running directly at the dragon, figuring she wouldn't be able to see him if he was under her. He jumped straight down, conjuring a sheet of ice that he rode like a snowboard down the jagged slope. Meanwhile, Crimson took to the air and zipped towards a spear with golden engraving that was sticking out of the treasure pile.

The dragon choked back the last of its flame upon seeing her prey scatter. A cold fury surged through her upon seeing the puddles of gold on the cavern floor, where her fire had turned a fraction of her horde into a molten sludge. Singling out a target, she turned to her left to face the insolent pony who so brazenly dared to try and steal from her.

Crimson, now equipped with a spear, charged directly at her eye as she was turning and plunged the spear directly into her iris. Upon impact a loud crack resounded before the spear snapped at the handle. Taken by surprise his momentum carried him forward until he crashed directly into the surprisingly tough eye.

The dragon laughed mockingly. "You fool! Did you believe a mortal weapon could hurt me? I am an ancient dragon!"

She followed up her words by swatting Crimson down out of the sky like he was little more than an annoying gnat. He plummeted towards the ground and skidded past the galloping Doc Brown before hitting the wall.

"And where do you think you're going?" The dragon asked.

She turned around to properly face him, the shifting pile of gold testing Atlas' balance, who was now under her. Her giant hand was closing in on Brown Diamond, with him none the wiser.

Atlas recognized the impending doom for his friend and boss and grabbed him from afar with his telekinesis. Yanking as hard as he could, he pulled him away from her path, her claws missing him by only a hairs width. The clasps of his saddlebags ripped and flew away from him in a high arc, landing on the ground with a dull thud.

"The books!" Doc Brown shouted panicked.

The dragoness took notice of this and regarded the bags with a morbid interest. She seemed to ponder something before she swiftly picked them up between two claws and proceeded to throw them into her gaping maw.

"Nooooo!" Doc Brown shouted while she swallowed them whole without even chewing. "My magnum opus!"

He struggled against Atlas' grip and eventually broke free with a counterspell. Moments later teleporting away before reappearing on the dragon's snout.

"Give them back!" He shouted.

Tears were flowing freely as he launched every imaginable offensive spell he knew at her face. They were admittedly few and did little more than create a mild inconvenience for the lumbering scaled behemoth.

She moved to squish him like the inconsequential insect he was, when a giant purple hammer connected with her lower jaw. Her neck snapped back like a ragdoll and sent Doc Brown flying. Crimson, who had mostly recovered, intercepted him and went to set him down safely.

"Forget about the books!" Crimson shouted at the hysterical stallion. "We need to get out of here!"

When Doc Brown still didn't listen to him, he slapped him across the face, which seemed to wake him up a bit. "Right... right... not all of the books were lost..." he mumbled.

"Exactly, now come on, we've gotta help Atlas and Amethyst," Crimson propped the stallion up before they both turned around to face the rampaging dragon.

During their little chat, Atlas and Amethyst were keeping the dragon busy by flinging offensive spells at her like it was going out of style. Atlas had to constantly dodge between her legs while doing so; his spells, while more effective than Doc Brown's, still did little more to the rampaging dragoness than a mosquito bite would do to a full grown pony.

Amethyst had a little more success since he could tailor his constructs to the fight. A giant sword and shield were pummeling the dragon, but keeping them active was putting a lot of strain on Amethyst.

"We won't get anywhere like this..." Crimson muttered to himself, trying to think of a way out of their precarious situation.

"We need to buy those two some time," Doc Brown suddenly said. "They're our combat aces, I'm sure they'll be able to think of something, given enough time. I suspect the giant dragon trying to kill all of us isn't helping their ability to think clearly."

"You got a plan?" Crimson asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Something like it," Doc Brown said with a manic grin on his face. "Just try to distract her while I prepare."

Crimson looked doubtful, but for now, it was their best shot. Crimson took off, while Amethyst managed to land their first good hit. His sword slashed along the dragons left leg and carved out a sizable gash into her flesh.

The dragon cried out in pain and put her attention solely on Amethyst. "How dare you!" She shouted at the top of her lungs as she prepared to billow another bout of fire to punish him.

Amethyst saw it coming, but his avenues of escape were limited to falling back on his ace in the hole. Under great stress, he channeled magic into his wing-construct spell, and with a single mighty flap catapulted himself out of the way. The wings dissipated as soon as he was airborne and out of harm's way to lessen the stress on his mana pool, and he only just managed to redirect a small amount to safely land.

The dragon followed him with her eyes unbelievingly but pursued him nonetheless.

"Hey Dragon!" Crimson shouted. "Say goodbye to your treasure!"

The dragon's eyes snapped over to his voice immediately. Crimson was hovering over the exit of the cave, holding a sizable pile of golden trinkets in his legs. Once he saw that he had her attention, he simply dropped everything he held into the river that was flowing far below him.

The dragon's eyes became pinpricks, her fury building until it was absolutely blinding. Amethyst momentarily forgotten, she went to crush Crimson. As soon as she started moving though, a single glowing white goblet popped into existence before her face.

Before she could even question its existence, it exploded with great force.

"Haha! Take that you stupid lizard!" Doc Brown called out.

He had used an enchantment on the goblet before teleporting it in front of her face. Originally, the enchantment was supposed to keep liquids cool inside the container, but for whatever reason he couldn't figure out, they always exploded.

He was already enchanting several more goblets that he had gathered and was sending them to her face at a steady rate. The dragon, in turn, was constantly blinded by the resulting smoke and explosions, while the force of the explosions was actually enough to stop her from going forward.

Crimson darted over to him with a grin and started searching for more ammunition for the mad scientist, while Atlas and Amethyst regrouped to catch their breath.

"She's a tough one for sure," Amethyst mentioned, breathing heavily. "You got any ideas?"

"For starters, running off while distracting her won't do us any good. She'd definitely pursue us. We need to immobilize her somehow..." Atlas answered while racking his brain for any possibilities.

"We're going to need something big... could you maybe freeze her?" Amethyst asked.

"Not enough water," Atlas shook his head. "I can't make enough to completely encase her, anything less than completely immobilizing her and she'd just melt it."

"I guess we'll have to inflict a wound severe enough so she won't be able to pursue," Amethyst wheezed.

They both had to duck when the dragon suddenly turned left, narrowly avoiding her tail.

"My spells had trouble penetrating her scales, so it would have to be something from you," Atlas surmised.

"To be honest, I'm pretty spent, can't you go all nuts like you did back when we were all kidnapped?" Amethyst suggested. "A spell like that surely would be enough to hurt even a dragon."

"Something like that would also most likely collapse the cave and kill all of us by proxy," Atlas pointed out.

The idea wasn't bad, but definitely not worth it. Atlas also had no idea how to trigger something like that again.

"True, but couldn't you try something less destructive?" Amethyst tried again.

Atlas sighed. "I can try, but I have no idea if I can pull it off."

To be perfectly honest, Atlas had no recollection at all from what happened back then and all he had to go by was what his friends told him. That being said, he had a pretty good idea what caused his transformation.

He closed his eyes and tried to tune out the sound of constant explosions going off and an angry dragon. He somehow had to access the fragment of Atlas' soul from within him, which would give him an extreme power boost.

"Atlas, if you can hear me, some help would be really appreciated... I know you're inside me somewhere and that you can hear me, so please, just a little would be enough!"

Atlas tried everything, from mentally feeling out for a great source of power to simply asking for help.

"It's no use," Atlas eventually relented. "I can't do it."

Amethyst cursed, looking around for anything that would help them before the sound of running water reached his ears. He turned around to face the cave's exit when an idea hit him.

"If you had lots of water, could you think of something?" Amethyst asked.

"Probably, but where are you going to get that much water from?" Atlas asked confused.

"There's a river right outside the cave remember," Amethyst replied with a shit eating grin.

"Oh," Atlas replied, chastising himself for not thinking of it earlier.

Meanwhile, Doc Brown was enjoying himself greatly. He had found a way to harass the dragon and thanks to Crimson's efforts, he wasn't about to run out of ammunition any time soon. Whenever the dragon was about to catch them, he teleported away, only to continue from somewhere else in the room.

The dragon was growing more and more enraged at the ponies. They were just ponies, how dare they vex her so, in her own home no less! She finally had enough when a particularly big explosion went off before her, making her stumble backward a bit. She filled her lungs with air and let forth a terrifying roar. It was enough to blow away the smoke surrounding her and knocked Doc Brown to the ground.

Finally being able to see clearly, the dragoness wheeled around to face the prone pony. She immediately grabbed him with her hand and pulled him up to her face.

"I'm going to enjoy chewing on you, pony," she spat out, fully intending to eat him, despite the low dietary value.

"Hey doc, stop playing with the dragon and come over here for a second!" Atlas called out to him.

Doc Brown turned his head, the only thing he could turn in the dragon’s iron grip, to face Atlas. What he saw made him smile before he simply disappeared with a pop.

The dragon stared at her empty hand in confusion. She blinked a few times, wondering where he had gone. Having heard Atlas as well, she turned around to face him.

"We could use a hardening enchantment right about now doc, a fast one if you could," Atlas said, straining.

"Of course, of course," Doc Brown said, marveling at their creation. His horn lit up and Amethyst's construct changed color from purple to green. "All ready to go." He stated, pleased with himself.

Amethyst had used one of his constructs to gather a sizable amount of water from the river, before calling it back to the cave. He then gathered it before changing its form into that of a large spike before Atlas froze the water inside. He cooled it down as much as he could so that it would hold for as long as possible.

The plan was to use Amethyst's construct as an outer layer, so they could penetrate the dragon’s scales, while the ice was supposed to be a more permanent addition to the dragon. Since Amethyst had to constantly fuel his constructs with mana, it would just disappear once they were a certain distance away.

He waited to launch the projectile until the dragon was just about to face them, all three of them helping out, so it would gain enough momentum. They rammed it into her left shoulder, where it effortlessly penetrated her tough scales.

With a howl of pain the dragon collapsed, the icicle easily pierced her hide before being embedded almost completely within her. Amethyst let his construct dissipate so that the icicle could do its work. Due to the extreme cold, the dragon's blood froze almost instantly, cauterizing the wound but also sending excruciating waves of pain through her body.

"You guys are nuts," Crimson said as he landed next to them.

"Whatever, let's get out of here before she recovers," Amethyst said with urgency.

"There's only one exit and we're pretty high up, though," Crimson pointed out. "I don't think I can carry any of you down," he added, pointing to his rather messed up wing.

"Oh, that's an easy one," Doc Brown said, sprinting towards the entrance to the cave. "Hey Dragon! It was 'ICE to meet you!"

With those words he disappeared as he fell out of sight, having simply jumped off the ledge.

"Well, there is a river down there," Atlas said, shrugging.

The dragon behind them thrashed around in pain, the intruders forgotten for now.

"You think that will be enough to keep her here?" Crimson asked doubtfully.

"I don't think it's enough to kill her, but she’ll definitely have to take some time to heal from that one," Amethyst said.

"If you say so..." Crimson replied, doubt visible in his eyes.

"Hey Crimson, think you can at least take our saddlebags down?" Atlas asked while peering over the edge. "I'd hate for the books to get wet..."

"Probably, but I most likely won't fly around anymore after that. My wings hurt something fierce."

"Thanks, buddy," Atlas said before taking off his saddlebags and jumping off as well.

Amethyst nodded towards Crimson in thanks and joined the other unicorns. Crimson sighed and took one last look back towards the injured dragon before picking up the saddlebags of his friends and flying out to join them.

He wasn't looking forward to coming home since Blue Current would most likely chew him out for almost getting himself killed. He smirked and hoped that she would at least accept the treasure in his bags as an apology.

Author's Note

yey, it dragon.

Three editors were maimed during the editing of this chapter, no animals, though, so it's ok. A memorial will be erected in memory of the good men we lost in the great editing war of '17.

Once again, thanks to my editor Azriel and my proofreader Kilobytes for a job well done! Further thanks to Temujin and Soren Mercer for helping out as well.

Today's chapter was brought to you by this song. Bioshock is an amazing game.

Also, join us on Discord: Link

53. Runes - Part Four: Array

Scholar Arc
Year 11, Month 6, Day 2

Atlas sat at the table, eating breakfast. He was just munching on some cereal when Belle came back into their shared living room. She got into the chair opposite of him and pushed over the newspaper before starting to eat her own breakfast.

"Thanks..." Atlas mumbled, still half asleep.

He grabbed the newspaper within his magic and unfolded it. The headline read: 'Royal Foal Born to King Gold Bar and His Wife, Queen Silver!'. Intrigued, Atlas flipped over to page two, so he could read the featured article.

'Yesterday, in the evening hours, Queen Silver gave birth to a healthy unicorn filly. The happy parents have already given a name to the newest addition to the nation's Royal Family: Princess Platinum.'

Atlas furrowed his brows; the name seemed oddly familiar, but he just couldn't place where he had heard it before. He racked his brain for anything relating to the name but came up empty.

"Have you read the headline?" Atlas asked Belle.

"About the royal foal?" Belle asked. "Yeah, looks like a healthy and beautiful little filly. Why?"

"Well, it is pretty big news," Atlas replied. "But the name Platinum seems to ring some bells, do we know anyone with a similar name?"

"I don't think so," Belle responded after mulling the question over.

Atlas shrugged, deciding to ignore the feeling for now and just continue reading. He got almost halfway through the paper when it finally hit him.

"Princess Platinum..." he said under his breath.

Atlas mentally slapped himself for almost forgetting her name. The realization came to him, that he was already forgetting details about the show. He made a mental note to write down as much as possible of what he could still remember soon. There was a lot of time between now and whenever the show's events started, and it was entirely possible that he could forget everything between then and now.

Since his prison was literally made to resemble the show, he had to preserve any information he had about it. Knowing future events before they happened could prove... useful.

He folded the paper back up after he finished reading and slid it over to Belle. His cereal bowl floated over to their sink as he stood up from his chair.

"Already leaving?" Belle asked, unfolding the paper in front of her.

"Yeah, today's the big day," Atlas answered with a smile.

"Already?" Belle said, surprised. "Didn't you say it would be sometime next week?"

"Yeah, but that was just accounting for possible errors," Atlas explained. "We've gone over everything thrice, and it looks like it should work perfectly."

"I wish you the best of luck then," Belle said, an enthusiastic smile lighting up her face.

"Thanks, I just hope the array doesn't blow up in our faces," Atlas joked.

They shared a hearty laugh, remembering the times when things actually blew up in the lab, which occurred pretty often. Atlas' water affinity had proven invaluable in putting out fires over the past years.

Atlas slipped his saddlebags on and made his way over to the door. Belle got up to send him off and planted a kiss on his cheek.

"Have fun," she said in a cheery tone.

"Thanks, you too," Atlas replied. "Say hi to White Mallow for me, would ya?"

"Sure, he's always happy to hear from you."

They said their goodbyes and Atlas started his commute. As usual, there were already tons of ponies up and about; the steady stream of bodies wound to and fro from the academy and never really stopped during the day.

Over a year had passed since their daring escape from the dragoness. They lost almost all of the books they’d found that day, but at least they were able to successfully bring home six of them. If they'd put all of them into Doc Brown's saddlebags they would have been totally screwed, since Atlas wasn't sure if Hades could even send over new ones.

Amongst the books they retrieved were two that explained the basics and four more pertaining to more advanced techniques. They were missing a great deal of information but they’d made do with what they had.

Atlas’ body was moving on auto-pilot while he traversed the well-known path towards the lab. Soon enough he found himself passing into the academy grounds proper through the big gate.

It had taken them a long time, but after hundreds of experiments on the basics as well as long hours of studying, today was finally the day where they would try out a large rune array. Up until now, they seldom used more than ten runes, but their most recent experiment contained a total of two-thousand, three hundred and fifty-four runes.

Admittedly, it was a pretty big leap in quantity, but most of the runes were actually security arrays, in case something went wrong. If an array of five runes could decimate an entire desk, they weren't taking any chances on a runic pattern that was almost five hundred times longer.

Something they conveniently forgot to mention in their reports.

A commotion caught his attention just before he was about to turn down through one of his shortcuts. He was currently still on the main path and could see the gate separating the Manipulation and Life districts, where a rather large crowd of ponies were excitedly chatting amongst themselves.

His interest piqued and his route forgotten, he made his way over to them. Their attention seemed to be focused on a cart in the center of the mass, so he politely pushed his way forward until he could get a proper look. Three eggs were resting on top of a bunch of hay, all of them as big as a pony's head with blue dots on their white shells.

Apparently, Teras had recovered some slain monster’s eggs again, which they regularly sent over to the top researchers in the life district to examine. It would seem like today's haul was something a little more special than usual, so he looked around for someone who could tell him what it was.

He spotted a familiar face in the crowd and made his way over to him.

"Hey Tourmaline!" Atlas called out to get his attention. "Long time, no see."

Tourmaline Quartz was a unicorn with a light gray coat and a green mane. He graduated together with Atlas and was the valedictorian of the school of Life. If anypony knew what was special about those eggs, it would be him.

"Atlas?" Tourmaline called back. "You got that right, we haven't seen each other in what? Five years? How have you been?"

"Oh you know," Atlas replied with a smirk. "The boring researcher life, complete with lots of explosions and whacky adventures."

"Tell me about it," Tourmaline replied, matching Atlas’ smile.

"So, what's this all about?" Atlas asked. "Some sort of special eggs?"

"Oh yeah, definitely," Tourmaline replied with a twinkle in his eyes. "Dragon eggs, actually. I heard they found one making its nest in the mountain. At first, they tried to get it to leave peacefully, but since it was guarding its eggs the situation escalated. As you can see, the Teras won that little bout."

"Impressive," Atlas said. "Dragons are pretty tough, so whoever managed to kill that one must've been quite capable."

"For sure. I heard the last time someone brought back real dragon eggs was almost fifteen years ago," Tourmaline commented, still gawking at the eggs. "I'd give one of my hind legs to get the chance to study one of them..."

A little drool was starting to make its way down the side of his face as he daydreamed about the possibilities.

"Uh... sure," Atlas said. "Well, it was nice seeing you again, but I really need to go now; I bet my partner is already waiting for me.”

Tourmaline Quartz snapped back to reality and focused back on Atlas.

"Oh yeah, good luck with your research," he said, holding out his hoof.

"You too," Atlas replied before lightly bumping his hoof.

Atlas split away from the crowd and resumed his trek towards the lab. There was no doubt in Atlas’ mind that Doc Brown was already impatiently waiting for him.

A few minutes later he pushed open the door to their shared building and entered. Just as he suspected, Doc Brown was already flitting about the room, checking the array for any mistakes. They had cleared a large space to the left of the entrance so they could etch the array directly into the stone floor.

The complete array was almost twenty-five feet wide, and in its center rested a small pedestal, covered in nearly as many runes as the floor.

"'Morning," Atlas said as he levitated his saddlebags off to somewhere where there was free space.

"'Ah, good morning Atlas!" Doc Brown replied. "I've been waiting forever, where have you been?"

"First off, I'm still an hour earlier than the time we agreed on," Atlas said absentmindedly while trotting over to their notes. "And there was a commotion over in the Life district; looks like they got some dragon eggs from Teras."

"Dragon eggs? We'll have to try and get our hooves on one of their shells then," Doc Brown said while comparing a drawing to the runes on the floor.

"What for?"

"I'd love to see how much magic they can hold! Who knows? Maybe they'd be viable conductors." Doc Brown nodded, satisfied, and pulled out the next drawing.

Atlas looked up from the notes they'd dumped on two desks they'd pushed together. "That would actually be interesting..."

"Anyways, I've already checked and double-checked everything since I came today, everything seems to be in order. You want to go over it as well?"

"Sure, better safe than sorry," Atlas replied.

He grabbed a stack of notes and started to make his way around the array. They had painstakingly planned out every detail of the array in three months of work.

A lot of the runes they learned from the books were familiar to Atlas, since they resembled Nordic runes from back on Earth. Even so, it greatly surprised him that there were quite a few runes he had never seen before. Every rune had multiple meanings and effects, and their position and sequence could greatly alter the outcome of the spell.

It was a rather vague art to master, but Atlas seemed to have a knack for it. He didn't rule out the possibility that Atlas, the titan, knew about them, and that some of his knowledge was trickling through.

Since they had to create something which would be of use to the guard if they wanted to keep their funding, Atlas suggested they try to create a map. The lack of accurate maps was something which annoyed Atlas ever since he’d arrived in this world, and he was determined to solve at least this problem.

Luckily, the higher-ups agreed that accurate maps would assist them greatly when planning out combat maneuvers, and their project was quickly green-lighted.

The array was designed to send out a magical pulse that would send back any kind of uneven terrain as data to the pedestal, which would then convert the information and imprint it on an enchanted piece of paper. The spell was designed to be as accurate as possible, so they would have to clean up the map afterwards; otherwise it would be detailed to the point of being unusable.

Atlas and Doc Brown fussed over their array for well over an hour before they were satisfied. Atlas proceeded to secure the enchanted paper to the pedestal before taking up his position outside of the circle.

"Well, this is it," Atlas said nervously.

"Nothing to it but to do it!" Doc Brown replied giddily.

"Right, right..." Atlas murmured.

The task of supplying the array with mana fell to Atlas. They didn't want to risk an uneven flow of energy, so they decided it would be better for one of them to do it alone, while the other kept watch for anything going wrong.

Atlas took a deep breath, doing his best to calm himself down, and started feeding the array with his mana. It would take him at least ten minutes to achieve the calculated energy level before he could activate it.

He channeled the mana through the pedestal in the center and saw the runes around it slowly starting to glow a dim pink, matching the glow on Atlas’ horn. Doc Brown was circling the array like a shark, watching intently.

The minutes ticked away; Atlas could feel his horn straining as hundreds of runes lit up, one after another. He started to sweat with the effort of keeping the spell going, but refused to quit. They had put in too much work to fail now.

Eleven minutes later, the array pulsed once, before glowing a little brighter. The charge was complete.

Atlas gulped once, and activated the spell. Originating in the center of the array, a bright green pulse washed over them before phasing through the walls and out of sight. The pulse made Atlas' mana pathway tingle when it passed over him, but otherwise didn't seem to have any lasting effect on their surroundings.

Doc Brown and Atlas looked at each other and nodded. Everything seemed to be in working order, so they refocused their attention on the pedestal in the center, neither of them daring to move. Several minutes were spent waiting with nervous anticipation before the pedestal pulsed twice.

This was it: the moment they'd been waiting for. Three months of work were about to be either paid off, or wasted.

They watched the paper with bated breath until black lines started to appear, filling out the available space in short order. As the picture on the paper grew, the array's glow started dimming, and both of them immediately darted over once it went out completely.

Resting on the pedestal, was now a perfectly detailed map of half of the kingdom. Just as they had expected, they'd have to clean it up a bit, since almost every single building was present on the map, but otherwise their experiment was a complete success.

Both of them stared at the map for a while, eyes wide, taking in everything they could, before their faces broke into huge grins.

Cries of joy filled the lab as they hugged each other, jumping for joy. Their celebration was cut short, however, by a bright flash of light behind Atlas, immediately stopping them in their tracks.

"I really, really hope that wasn't one of the runes..." Atlas gulped.

"Oh it wasn't," Doc Brown said, letting go of Atlas with a smirk. "But you might want to take a look at your flank."

Atlas furrowed his brows in confusion and craned his neck to see what he meant, his jaw dropping when he saw what was on his flank.

Atlas had finally earned his cutie mark.

He spent a few seconds gawking at it, taking in every detail he could about it before his eye twitched in annoyance.

"Oh come on!" he cried out in frustration. "My cutie mark is a pun!?"

Author's Note

It only took him 53 chapters to get his cutie mark. That has to be a new academy record!

Cutie Mark Pic is by h3nger

Once again, thanks to my editor Azriel and my proofreader Kilobytes for a job well done! Further thanks to Temujin and Soren Mercer for helping out as well.

Today's chapter was brought to you by this song.

54. Going Native

Scholar Arc
Year 11, Month 6, Day 28

Atlas looked at himself in the mirror. His mane had been neatly combed back by Crimson just minutes ago and the look was pretty off-putting for him. He’d gotten used to the unruly mess that he called a hairstyle and usually didn’t bother fighting it, aside from the occasional sweep with a comb.

Further weirding him out was the bright green suit he wore. As he’d found out, it was tradition for stallions to wear a suit matching their magical affinity in color. Atlas, of course, had the privilege of being able to choose, but ended up with green as his only choice. Belle vetoed the pink suit because it made him look silly, apparently, while he didn't want to pick red because it would clash with Crimson's fur, who would stand next to him as his best stallion.

Then there was the issue of keeping his fourth affinity a secret, so he couldn't pick orange, which left him with the green suit.

"Nervous?" Crimson asked, sitting next to him.

"Like you wouldn't believe," Atlas answered, fidgeting with his hooves.

"Oh trust me, I do," Crimson chuckled. "After all, our roles were reversed a few years back, remember?"

"Oh yeah..."

"Took you long enough to finally step up to the plate, though," Crimson said. "Why the sudden change of mind?"

"It's because of my cutie mark," Atlas said, and they both looked down at his flank. "You and Belle are the only ones who really know about my... situation. I know I never outright told you, but I wasn't always a pony and I think that's been holding me back. But now that I've got this... It made me realize that's just what I am now, no two ways about it."

Crimson mulled over Atlas' words for a few moments, looking at his cutie mark with a thoughtful look.

"So, I know you told everyone that the thing on your mark is the same as the cover image from one of those rune books... but, is that what you actually were before becoming a pony?" Crimson asked cautiously.

Atlas sighed. "Well, I guess it's okay if you know. Yeah, that's exactly what I was before. A human."

He stared at the pony looking back at him from the mirror, feeling strange. The memories of Earth were still present, but they just seemed so far off, like an entire lifetime was between then and now. It was doubtful that he'd return willingly at this point. After all, he had established a comfortable life here, let alone the fact that he was about to get married.

"Ah well, at this point what is one more odd thing about you," Crimson said. "Not like it makes a difference at this point. It's pretty weird to think about though."

"That's just me," Atlas laughed. "A weird collection of oddities with a bit of luck sprinkled in between."

"Yeah, it's actually quite hard to believe that you're supposed to be a god, seeing how you act like a regular pony all the time."

Atlas and Crimson shared a laugh, Atlas' nervousness momentarily forgotten. The door opened and Amethyst stuck his head through the gap.

"You guys ready?" he asked them. "It's time."

Atlas' veins turned to ice as his nerves returned with full force. Crimson reassuringly patted him on the shoulder a few times and went towards the door.

"Come on, Belle's waiting for you," he said with a smile.

Atlas got up and went after his two friends on shaky legs, before proceeding to follow them down the hall. Ponies didn't have churches like back on Earth; instead, unicorns erected special buildings on so-called places of power. The mana concentration was higher than usual in those places, and they believed that the pair would be blessed if they entered the bond of marriage at such a place.

The trio stopped, Atlas in the center, before a closed ornate set of doors. There was already an official inside, addressing the gathered guests much as a priest would have on Earth. Now all he had to do was wait; the doors would open up once it was time for him to enter.

"You ready?" Amethyst asked.

"No," Atlas replied as the door slowly opened before him.

They walked into a great hall. Rows upon rows of wooden benches filled with friends that came to see Atlas and Belle on their big day lined the rectangular room. Usually, family would be present as well, but that was somewhat of an issue for both of them.

They made their way past smiling faces, towards the official at the very front: a blue unicorn with a white mane, wearing a golden suit himself, representing their current King. Atlas could have sworn he saw Doc Brown in the last row, tinkering with some weird contraption. The casual disinterest of his boss and partner cheered him up a bit and he took up his position on the right side of the dais, with Crimson and Amethyst behind him.

A large mural framed the background behind them, depicting two unicorns getting married at the base of the lonely mountain; an aurora in the colors of the six magic schools filled the sky in a breathtaking display.

"Today, Atlas has appeared under the watchful eyes of the gods and his king, to enter the sacred bond of marriage," the official droned on.

Atlas chuckled at the line, since it was probably truer than everypony present believed, which earned him a reprimanding look from the blue pony.

"Now, let Charity Belle enter," he called out to two ponies standing next to the doors.

Atlas was able to hear a small amount of disdain in his voice when he said Belle's name. It was possible that his officiator was of the common belief that unicorns should only marry other unicorns, but as long as he did his job, Atlas wasn't about to call him out on it.

The doors opened once again and in walked Belle, followed by Blue Current and White Mallow. Belle wore a beautiful white dress with golden highlights, her smile even more radiant than usual. The sight of the dress caused Atlas to momentarily recall the day he’d asked her to marry him.

As soon as Atlas had popped the question, she immediately said yes. Much to his surprise she then proceeded to pull out comprehensive plans for their wedding, including a guest list and location. The most baffling thing, though, was when she proceeded to pull her wedding dress from a hidden department in their closet.

It was at that moment that Atlas realized just how long he had forced her to wait on him, even though she clearly loved him beyond belief. That wasn't even a month ago, and now they already stood at the altar. Apparently she had asked the place to keep a spot open.

Just in case.

Belle took up her position on the other side of the official and flashed Atlas a happy grin, as if to say that she wouldn't let him go now, no matter what. Atlas simply smiled back before refocusing his attention on the official before them.

"Today, Charity Belle has appeared under the watchful eyes of the gods and her king, to enter the sacred bond of marriage," he said.

Atlas let his gaze wander over their gathered audience as the official pony droned on about traditions and other nonsense. He had already heard most of it at the rehearsal, so he knew that the only important part was at the end.

Lots of unicorns had gathered on Atlas' side, mainly his colleagues, former friends from school and even a few of the higher-ups. It seemed that Atlas was becoming even more of a small-time celebrity, as he could see a few unicorns who were most likely just there to get into his good graces. He had to stifle a laugh when he saw that Doc Brown was frantically trying to extinguish a small fire hidden by the ponies in front of him.

Belle’s side represented a stark contrast, as it was mostly filled with earth ponies and pegasi. He knew a lot of them through Belle who had introduced most of them over the years, but there were many faces he didn't recognize as well. Most likely some of her clients at White Mallow's clinic.

"...they came to be, when one of the six heavenly beings stepped on them..."

Yup, still spewing complete nonsense.

Atlas spent some time looking deep into Belle’s eyes, momentarily getting lost in them. They were always enthralling to look at, but today they seemed lovelier than usual. It definitely helped that ponies had huge eyes, compared to humans. Before he really knew how it happened they were holding a staring contest.

Atlas’ eyes began to water, since Belle proved to be a formidable opponent, when Amethyst lightly tapped his shoulder.

"What?" Atlas hissed, his focus taken away from Belle.

"You're supposed to say 'I do', you idiot!" Amethyst hissed back.

The audience shared a laugh at Atlas' expense before the official cleared his throat once.

"I will ask once again," he said, slightly annoyed. "Will you, Atlas, take Charity Belle as your lawfully wedded wife? Do you promise to treat her right in accordance with the laws of the heavenly beings and myself representing the king as your witness?"

Atlas looked back into Belle’s eyes. "I do."

"Then, will you, Charity Belle, take Atlas as your lawfully wedded husband? Do you promise to treat him right in accordance with the laws of the heavenly beings and myself representing the king as your witness?"

"I do," Belle responded.

The official nodded once in acknowledgment of their vows. "Then, you may now exchange the rings."

Crimson trotted over to Atlas, presenting him with a necklace that had a golden ring attached. He lifted it up with his hooves, as was tradition, and slid it over Belle’s head. The piece of jewelry complemented Belle well, making her look even more beautiful in his eyes.

In a similar fashion, Belle was presented with a ring by White Mallow, although this one didn't have a necklace attached. She took the ring and slid it over Atlas' horn.

The rings were, of course, only symbolic, and they wouldn't have to wear them all the time compared to human customs.

"By the power vested in me by our gracious King, I now declare you husband and wife," the official finished.

Apparently, the ponies didn't have a custom of kissing the bride when the wedding was complete. That didn't stop Belle from doing it, though.

The crowd cheered as Belle kissed Atlas like she had never before, completely taking Atlas by surprise. He melted into the kiss, though, once the initial shock wore off. They separated and faced their gathered friends before Atlas addressed them.

"Now, who's ready to party?" he asked, as happy as can be.

His question was met with another round of applause, as he had to fight the urge to tear off the stuffy suit he was wearing.

Wearing clothes felt weird.

Author's Note

What a coincidence that this came out on Valentines. I did not plan for this, but I'll take it. Also: W00t for 150k words!

I'm really looking forward to the next few chapters :D They're going to be very important! We now only have two mini-arcs left in the first part of this story :3

Once again, thanks to my editor Azriel and my proofreader Kilobytes for a job well done! Further thanks to Temujin and Soren Mercer for helping out as well.

Today's chapter was brought to you by this shit.

55. A Certain Scientific Plan

Scholar Arc
Year 11, Month 7, Day 5

Atlas was silently pouring over the table of contents of one of the books about runes. It displayed every single rune that was known and how it looked, but without an accurate description of how they worked and in what sequence they could be used, they were almost useless. While he had mostly memorized the runes that they had actual information about, figuring out how to use the rest of them proved to be an almost insurmountable challenge.

They could, of course, use a trial and error approach, but since the options were almost infinite, that would be a huge waste of their time. Sure, Atlas had all the time in the world, but he didn't want to spend a millennia just trying to figure out what the runes did.

Atlas figured that his best bet would be to just go and ask Hades, but he'd have to be dead for that to work. And if Belle found out that he willingly killed himself, again, she'd definitely kill him. While that would achieve his goal, either way, he didn't want to piss off Belle so soon after they got married.

They had just taken the last week off to go camping in the mountains. Amethyst told them about a relatively safe spot, devoid of monsters and thriving with vegetation overlooking a pristine lake. A lot of their time was spent fooling around and playing with snakes, and it was just the trip they needed to normalize the novelty of marriage.

Today was Atlas' first day back in the lab, which he was surprised to find was still in one piece. Atlas sighed as he stared at the runes as they mocked him from the pages of the book. He couldn't quite find the motivation to actually do any work as his mind drifted back to the past week again and again.

The door to the lab flew open and a grinning Doc Brown entered. He happily cantered over to where Atlas sat and deposited a small bag on his desk.

"Today's our lucky day, Atlas!" He exclaimed happily. "They managed to hatch one of the dragon eggs, so I pestered them all morning to give me some of its shell."

The little bag opened up to reveal several small pieces of a shell, just as Doc claimed.

"I can't wait to see what we can do with them!"

"That's amazing," Atlas said enthusiastically. "Good job on getting those!"

"Ahh... I'll be over there if you need me, I want to get started immediately." Doc Brown took off in the direction he’d indicated and dove into the mess that was their shared lab.

Atlas shook his head and refocused back on his book. It was getting close to lunchtime and he was starting to get hungry. He was pondering over what he should eat, and where, when suddenly an explosion rocked the whole building; scrolls and books falling to the floor with Atlas almost joining them. He barely managed to hold on to the desk he sat at, shocked back into reality.

"Do you need my help extinguishing the fire?" He called out to Doc Brown, who was off somewhere conducting his own experiment.

"You mean that wasn't you?" Came the confused shout back.

Atlas furrowed his brows in confusion. If neither of them was responsible, who was?

Another explosion rocked the building, and this time Atlas’ face reunited with his old friend the ground. He was about to let loose a barrage of expletives, when the faint sound of screaming reached his ears, shortly followed by the alarm going off from the tower.

Doc Brown's head popped out of a stack of scrolls nearby, a concerned look on his face.

"I think we should go and check out what's going on," Atlas said from his position on the ground. "Maybe we can help."

Doc Brown nodded and they scrambled to their hooves, running to the door. Atlas threw open the door with his magic before they dashed outside. Immediately the smell of smoke entered his nostrils and the sound of shouting and screaming ponies reached his ears. They ran towards the main road of their district, which was the designated gathering point in case of an emergency.

On their way there, it became painfully obvious that something had happened over in the Life district. Smoke was rising over the walls that separated them and the orange glow that was associated with fire could be seen.

They were close to reaching the group of already gathered unicorns when the earth trembled again causing both of them to stumble.

"What the fuck is going on over there?" Atlas complained from his prone position.

"Oh no," Doc Brown said with dread filling his voice. "What's she doing here?"

"What do you mean?" Atlas asked as he got up. "Who's 'she'?"

Doc Brown didn't answer and was instead focused on something to their left. Atlas’s eyes shot wards the direction Doc Brown was looking shortly before his heart shot into his throat.

On the walls separating their district from Life’s, rested the huge form of a blue dragon with a white underbelly. Its spiny back was currently turned towards them, but if they looked closely, they could see a pretty nasty scar on her left side.

"Do you think she's here for us?" Doc Brown asked with shaky legs.

"I hope not," Atlas replied. "We didn't exactly play nice when we last saw her."

"Ponies!" The dragoness suddenly shouted. "Surrender my children now and I will only lay waste to half of your city!"

"Children?" Doc Brown asked befuddled. "You don't suppose the eggs that were brought here were hers?"

"Can't be," Atlas replied. "I was told that the dragon that was nesting in the mountains near here was killed by Teras members."

A gust of wind almost knocked both of them over as the giant dragon flapped it's mighty wings and took off.

"Dragon? As in singular? What if they only killed the male while our little friend here was out hunting?" Doc Brown retorted.

Atlas wanted to chastise Doc for jumping to conclusions, but he couldn’t help but think he hit the nail on the head. The dragoness must have somehow found out that her eggs were brought here, maybe it was due to the fact that one of them hatched earlier in the day.

"Whatever the reason for her presence may be, we have to see if we can help with anything," Atlas urged, as they sprinted the remaining distance to a impromptu mustering point.

The head of their district, an elderly yellow unicorn with a blue mane, was already furiously shouting out instructions. Ponies ran off in all directions as they were ordered to help put out fires or escort wounded ponies. The sound of flapping wings announced the return of the dragoness, shortly followed by another explosion as she flew overhead and an exploding ball of fire hit a building nearby.

Unicorns in the crowd cast shielding spells to protect them from the rubble that rained down on them from all sides. Atlas could see numerous beams of light and other projectiles fly towards the dragoness as she flew over them. He looked for their source and saw that ponies had taken to the walls, most likely all of them from the School of Combat.

Most of the spells they hurled at her either missed or didn't do much. As long as she didn't land again, they'd have a hard time of doing any real damage from that distance.

"Doc Brown!" The elderly pony shouted when he spotted the brown pony in the crowd. "Get over to the Life district and help teleport the heavily wounded out of the danger zone!"

"On it!" Doc Brown replied before disappearing in a flash of light.

"Atlas! Go join the combatants on the walls, everypony counts!"

"On it!" Atlas replied before taking off towards the wall on his right.

He consciously didn't go left, just in case the dragoness decided to land there again. Standing there would be suicide, especially if she saw him. If she ever did spot him, there was no doubt in Atlas' mind that she would blame the whole debacle on him and start to actively hunt him down.

Atlas ran through a door in the wall which was wide open and darted up the stairs. There were already around twenty unicorns waiting for the dragoness to do another fly by, horns already charged for larger spells than the last volley contained.

Just in time with his arrival, the dragoness was incoming again. Atlas didn't have much time to prepare anything fancy, so he decided to completely opt out of this volley. He knew how hard her scales were and chucking some low-level spells at her would just prove to be a waste of mana.

Even though a lot of spells hit their mark, the dragoness flew on undisturbed, virtually unfazed by their attack. Atlas bit his lip in thought, they'd need something big to bring her out of the sky, and they needed it fast.

"Hey! Are you guys from Combat?" Atlas called out. "We're going to need bigger spells than that! Please tell me you've been researching something big we can use!"

Atlas practically pleaded with them, only to have most of them avert their eyes in shame.

"Most of our senior mages are off on a training excursion for either Teras or the guard, they both had scheduled exams today..." A nearby unicorn admitted dejectedly.

"So what? You guys are researchers as well!" Atlas exclaimed furiously. "There has to be something that's better than low-tier spells in your inventory!"

The unicorns remained silent, their heads hanging low in shame. Atlas couldn't believe what he was seeing, professional combat unicorns who couldn't do jack shit! He furiously tried to think of a solution, anything that would give them the upper hoof.

He could just do a giant ice spear again, but the chances of missing were too great. There was also the off chance that the dragoness would recognize the projectile and come for him. He went through his whole repertoire of combat spells, but aside from the giant ice stick, he couldn't imagine anything doing any real damage. At times like this Atlas wished that he picked Combat as his major, Transformation was useless in this situation.

Or so he thought.

His eyes went wide as he got an idea that wasn't just reckless, but positively crazy. Even though it was highly dangerous, it was the only viable thing he could think of currently.

"Alright, listen up!" Atlas commanded the sorry excuses for combat mages around him. "I'm gonna need the best earth elementalist present!"

Atlas expectantly looked around him for any kind of response until a white unicorn with a blue mane stepped forward.

"That would probably be me," he said meekly.

"Can you create smooth rock formations?" Atlas asked him immediately.

"Yes?" The unicorn asked hesitantly.

"Alright you're on board," Atlas said. "I'm also going to need the best manipulation mage you can find me, ideally one that can manipulate iron and levitate large masses. I don't care who you send, but tell them to meet me at the training grounds in the Combat district as fast as possible!"

After giving out his instructions Atlas took off towards the stairs where he emerged earlier.

"Come on! We don't have the luxury of time!" He shouted back angrily when he realized nopony else was moving.

His statement was punctuated by another fly-by from the dragoness accompanied by the report of another explosion echoing in the distance. That apparently did the trick, as the other unicorns sprung into action. Satisfied that they were finally moving Atlas resumed his mad dash, the white earth elementalist hot on his tail.

They ran through the Illusion district at top speed, dodging ponies and rubble alike. Thankfully the dragoness was focusing on another part of the academy currently, so they arrived at their destination relatively unhindered. Not a lot of ponies were left in the Combat district, since most of them were currently on the walls, chucking useless spells at a target that didn't care.

Atlas had to catch his breath before he took a look around the training grounds. It was a rather large space, four circles were painted on the ground which were usually used as fighting rings during training. The walls that encased the whole field were lined with numerous props, like armor and weapons.

"I'm going to need ten round slabs of stone with a hole in the center. They'll need to be as close to three feet wide as you can make them," Atlas started explaining. "And make them smooth like you never made something smooth before, no impurities!"

"Alright, but if they really should be that smooth it's going to take a while," the unicorn said while firing up his horn.

"I'd rather not risk this failing, so take as much time as you need; but remember, time is of the essence," Atlas said while scanning his surroundings. "As soon as you finish one, give it to me."

"I hope whatever you're planning works..." The unicorn mumbled as he tore a chunk of stone from a nearby wall and began working on it.

Atlas found what he was looking for in the meantime, mainly the entrance to a nearby office. He ran inside and began looking for something to write with. He found it relatively soon in the form of a quill and parchment and then levitated everything he needed, including one of the desks, outside.

Setting down everything close to his helper he began furiously scribbling on the scrolls in a mad attempt to try and calculate all the possibilities. What he needed to create was very simple in design, but very destructive if properly pulled off. He began by throwing together the first runic sequence that came to mind, but quickly scrapped it in favor of hopefully thinking of a more effective pattern.

All the while, the dragoness didn't relent in her assault on the academy, one of her shots came down dangerously close to them showering them in flurry of detritus. By the time he finally had a theoretically working sequence, three slabs of stone were stacked next to him on the ground. They had holes in them, just as he had ordered, but they were too small.

"Hey, uhh... what was your name again?" Atlas asked awkwardly.

"Aquamarine," the stallion answered.

"Could you maybe make the holes twice as big as they are now? Sorry for not specifying that before."

"Sure," Aquamarine sighed and picked up one of the finished slabs.

"Thanks."

With that minor hiccup out of the way, Atlas went to work on something else, or more specifically, a drawing. Once this task was completed, he picked the first finished slab up and held it in front of him. He felt the surface with his hoof and found it to be satisfyingly smooth, but just when he was about to start inscribing the first runes, a call drew his attention away.

"Hey, you're Atlas right?" Came the call from his left.

A Turquoise unicorn mare with a white mane came running full tilt at them. She came to a sliding stop right next to Atlas' impromptu workstation with ragged breath.

"I was told to come here as fast as possible, is it true that you know of a spell that can defeat the dragon?"

Atlas' answer was disturbed by the dragoness once again flying overhead and this time, hitting the tower's base in the middle of the academy. He hoped the tower wouldn't fall, or they'd have a big problem, even if they defeated the dragon.

"Highly experimental, but I figure it's our best shot," Atlas reminded her. "Can you meld metal?"

"Yeah, easily," The mare nodded. "What do you need?" She added eagerly.

"Make one of these," Atlas pointed at his shoddy drawing. "The measurements are on there. Use any metals you want from the armor and weapons around us, I'll take responsibility. Make it as sturdy as possible, the surface should also be smooth."

The mare scanned over the drawing, biting her lower lip. "Yeah, that should be possible, it's going to take a while, though, those are some pretty exact measurements..."

"It's all good, we're still working on our part here as well, but remember..." another explosion rocked the earth, "We can't really afford to work slow either."

"Got it," she answered.

The mare took the drawing up in her magic and went over to where a rack of armor was located and started to rip off bits and pieces from them. Satisfied, Atlas returned to his own task, inscribing runes. He had gotten pretty good at it by now, it was his special talent after all, but that didn't mean he could half-ass it. The runes still had to be properly and, most importantly, carefully carved.

If ever he needed his talent to serve him, now was the time. He projected his previously designed runic circle onto the slab of stone in his mind. Once he was satisfied, he activated his spell and the runes were etched onto the slab instantaneously like they were punched out by a template. Atlas looked it over once looking for any mistakes before he nodded and started to channel magic into the array.

Once he charged it completely, which was pretty simple since the array only contained twelve runes, he picked up a nearby rock with his magic and chucked it through the hole. Once it passed through, the runes flashed once and the rock gained considerable speed before falling to the ground a few feet away. Happily smirking at his successful test run Atlas set the first completed slab down to his left and picked up the next one.

They worked feverishly on their respective tasks, occasionally prompted to hurry it up whenever an explosion reminded them of the situation they were in. By now a lot of buildings had been destroyed by the dragoness and the fire was spreading. The tower defiantly standing amidst the smoldering ruins of the academy.

Atlas was starting to suspect that by now at least somepony must have tried to give her back her eggs, but he was also pretty sure that the dragoness just wanted revenge for her earlier experiences in life.

Aquamarine and the mare, who had introduced herself as Malachite, finished their respective tasks before Atlas, and were now both intently observing his work. With a dull clunk, Atlas set down the last of the ten slabs.

"So... what now?" Aquamarine asked curiously. "What's all this stuff for?"

Atlas was busy inspecting the projectile Malachite had made, turning it around in front of his face. After a while he set it back down on the desk, satisfied with her work. Ignoring Aquamarine's question, for now, Atlas bulk-enchanted the slabs as well as the projectile to make them more sturdy.

Being a nerd and reading up on railguns was really paying off right about now.

"You'll see soon enough, the explanation can wait until after we’ve dealt with the dragon trying to kill all of us," Atlas said with urgency. "Malachite, think you can hold up all of these slabs at once so that they form a straight tunnel?"

"Sure," she replied before she set herself to the task.

"Aquamarine, I trust you know some shield spells?" the stallion in question nodded. "Alright then..."

Atlas took a deep breath to calm his nerves. Now it was sink or swim, they'd either finish it with this one shot, or they'd have to think of something else.

"Malachite, you just focus on keeping the tunnel as stable as possible, I'll take care of the aiming,” Atlas instructed. "Be sure to put a strong shield between us and the tunnel, Aquamarine, there's a pretty good chance that this thing will explode after it has fulfilled it's purpose."

Both of them acknowledged his orders with serious faces and Atlas lead them up onto the nearest wall so their line of sight wasn't obstructed. The dragoness flew over them just as they arrived, which suited Atlas just fine. He followed her flight path as she went to turn, before coming around and once again flying straight at them.

The unicorns that were with them on the wall looked at them curiously as they got into position. Atlas gently pushed with his magic so that the barrel of his impromptu rail gun pointed straight at the incoming blue dragon. He levitated the projectile some distance behind the makeshift barrel. The array he had made would only double the speed of whatever passed through it, so he would need to provide the initial velocity. After passing through all ten of them, the projectile would hopefully reach an insane amount of speed, which was sure to obliterate the dragon's skull.

Provided he actually hit her with it.

"Everypony, get behind us!" Atlas gently advised their bystanders. "Now!"

Thinking about what kind of range their weapon had, everything within sight was a potential target, but Atlas waited until the dragoness got closer, it’d give him the best chances with their shot.

"Shield up!" Atlas called to Aquamarine, who dutifully erected a red shield between them and their gun.

The dragon reached the point Atlas was aiming at, and he thrust the projectile as fast and accurately as he could into the tunnel. At first he could follow the projectile with his eyes, until it suddenly vanished from sight, accompanied by the predicted explosion.

The barrel was ripped to shreds and the pieces of rocks pelted their shield, with dust momentarily robbing them of their visual on the target. A quick thinking unicorn behind them cleared the dust with a wind spell to reveal the dragoness, now with a noticeable hole in her head, falling out of the sky.

Atlas let out a cry of relief that his plan had worked and he turned around to hug Aquamarine, who struggled against Atlas' grip. He was celebrating his success with laughter, until a shadow blocked out the sun, causing him to look up.

The body of the dead dragon was hurtling at the ponies on the wall at high speed, all of them scrambling in an attempt to get to safety. Atlas let go of Aquamarine who just stood next to him, stunned.

"Ahh, fuck."

Author's Note

So yeah, that happened. I had fun writing this chapter, since it marks a very interesting milestone in the story. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did while writing it. Schloop.

Once again, thanks to my editor Azriel and my proofreader Kilobytes for a job well done! Further thanks to Temujin and Soren Mercer for helping out as well.

Today's chapter was brought to you by this song.

Come join us in the Discord channel! Lonk

56. To Tartarus And Back

Scholar Arc
???? ?? ????? ? ??? ??

Atlas could slowly feel his body again. After being suspended in what felt like an infinite void for an indefinite amount of time, he could finally feel the warmth of being alive once more. He opened his eyes to find himself lying face down in a cave.

The stone had a red tinge and seemed to smooth to be natural. The ground was even and the ceiling formed a dome in a perfect half circle. Confused, Atlas sat up from his prone position, not surprised to find himself in his old human form once again.

He got up on his feet and proceeded to dust off his clothes, nearly falling over from the alien sensation of standing on two legs.

"I see," Someone said behind him. "Being a quadruped for so long must have messed with your muscle memory a bit. Would you like a chair?"

Atlas turned around to take a look at the speaker, who turned out to be Hades, greek god of the underworld.

"That would be nice," Atlas responded. "Thank you."

Hades snapped his fingers and a table, accompanied by two chairs appeared out of thin air. One of the chairs appeared in such a way that it hit the back of Atlas knees, forcing him to sit down. He blinked a few times in confusion and shock before shooting Hades a semi-annoyed look.

"Thank you..." Atlas said, slightly miffed.

"Do not mention it, dear Atlas," Hades replied and approached the chair opposite of Atlas.

When he looked back down on the table, a tea set had appeared, steam slowly wafting out of the kettle next to it.

"Would you like a cup?" Hades asked politely while sitting down.

Atlas nodded and took a good look at Hades. He looked just as when he met him the last time, all those years ago. His long, black hair was slicked back against his head, accentuated by his full beard. The purple toga revealed some of his chest, although he seemed to have forgone bringing his golden bident this time.

Hades took his cup after pouring them some tea, humming in delight after the first sip. Atlas just dumbly stared at his own cup, wondering why his levitation didn't work, until he facepalmed in realization. He proceeded to pick up his cup like any normal human would, cursing himself for his stupidity.

"I must say, that was quite the humorous display," Hades said. "Although, I am pleased to see that your studies concerning runes seem to be progressing smoothly."

"Thanks," Atlas said with a slight blush. "Not one of my greatest moments to be honest."

"Oh but why not?" Hades asked. "Your fast actions saved a lot of... ponies today. That dragon may well have laid waste to half the town if you hadn't stopped her so quickly."

"I'm talking about letting her fall on me afterward... or... us? Was anypony else caught underneath her body?"Atlas asked, not looking forward to the answer.

"Oh yes, quite a few actually," Hades responded while taking another sip of his tea. "About ten ponies, flattened by a falling dragon. Not a headline you see everyday."

"So Aquamarine and Malachite... didn't make it?"

"I'm afraid not," Hades said. "One hundred twenty-three souls were lost to the furious dragoness today. Quite tragic."

Atlas somehow didn't believe him when he said it like that. In fact, Hades probably liked it when souls entered his domain. Was this still his domain, though?

"Where are we exactly?" Atlas asked, scanning the weird cave again.

"The ponies call it Tartarus," Hades explained. "It's their version of the underworld. I do feel quite honored that they named it after my prison."

"Is there someone in charge down here?" Atlas asked curiously.

"Not really," Hades answered. "This whole place just kinda manages itself, and I have honestly no idea how they pulled that off. I wasn't around when they made it, after all."

They fell into a comfortable silence, being content to just sip their tea and relax for a second, until Atlas broke it.

"So why did you pull me down here?" Atlas asked. "We both know that you don't have to come talk to me when I die, so what's the occasion."

"Oh nothing special, really," Hades answered. "It just provides a nice opportunity to relax. I did update you with that message just recently. So I guess you could say that I'm just checking in."

"Alright, well, if you don't have anything special to talk about, there's actually something I've been meaning to ask you," Hades motioned for Atlas to go on. "Most of the books about runes were eaten by that dragon that killed me shortly after we got them. We've just sort of been able to get by with what we could rescue. Could you maybe send a few more books our way?" Atlas asked hopefully.

Hades set down his cup and fixated Atlas with a deadpan stare. He even went so far as to raise an eyebrow to complete his 'really?' look, when Atlas didn't elaborate further.

"I'll have you know those books were from my private collection," Hades sighed. "And no, I can not send you more books. You'll just have to figure it out by yourself."

"What?" Atlas exclaimed. "But why?"

"Those books you got, were actually smuggled in here long before your prison was completed," Hades explained patiently. "It is now impossible for any god of the Greek Pantheon to enter without it being immediately known by Zeus. It's impossible."

"But aren't you here right now?" Atlas asked.

"Yes, but not really," Hades asked. "Similar to you, it's just a part of me that's here. My soul, so to speak. I had someone install a backdoor for me when they worked on the prison."

"Damn..." Atlas muttered.

"Do not worry, young Atlas. You may not have fully realized it yet, but you have time on your side. You are immortal now, take your time." Hades advised. "But it would seem like our time today is being cut short." He added with a sigh.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Atlas asked in confusion.

Hades got up from his chair, leaving behind an empty cup. He motioned for Atlas to do the same and the furniture disappeared back into the nether it came from.

"Just look at yourself," Hades said, gesturing towards Atlas' lower body.

Atlas' legs seemed to have vanished, where they usually were, only nothingness remained. It felt weird to stand on appendages that weren't there and Atlas furrowed his brows.

"Uhmm, care to explain?"

"Certainly," Hades chuckled. "It would seem like the ponies are aiding in your recovery, speeding up the process considerably. It's time to return to the land of the living."

"Oh, that's good," Atlas said while watching how his body slowly dissipated. "I guess?"

"Let me tell you one more thing, before you leave," Hades said seriously. "You have been saddled with a great burden, and for this I am very sorry. Atlas and I were actually good friends and his fall pained me greatly. You remind me of him in many ways, and it looks like you were a worthy successor to his soul.

"The way ahead may be long and full of hardships, but remember that you are never truly alone. I can see that he likes you as well," Hades said with a smile, one hand resting on Atlas shoulder.

"What do you mean?" Atlas asked.

"You seem to stand quite a bit taller than when we last met," Hades added, his smile transforming into a smirk.

Atlas had barely enough time to register that he was right before he disappeared from the realm of the dead completely. At their first meeting Hades was almost a head taller than him, but now, they were seeing eye to eye.

Dull pain greeted Atlas as he awoke, once again, in an unfamiliar place. It smelled sterile and he found himself to be tucked into a warm and comfortable bed. A groan escaped his lips as he slowly opened his eyes to a blinding light. He wanted nothing more than to close them again to protect himself from the pain, but he pushed through the pain and opened them anyways.

"Atlas?" He heard a voice next to him say, undoubtedly belonging to his friend Crimson. "You're awake."

The statement hung in the air as Atlas took a look around his surroundings. He was indeed in a hospital room, although it didn't look anything like they did back on earth. Unicorn hospital rooms were a lot more homely, actually reminding him of what his regular bedroom looked like back at home. Atlas turned around with some difficulties, to face the other way, coming face to face with a tired looking Crimson sitting in a chair next to his bed.

"Crimson?" Atlas asked. "How long was I out?"

"It's been almost three days now," Crimson replied with a sigh. "Everypony was really worried about you, no matter how much I tried to reassure them that you'd pull through."

"You... you mean they don't know?" Atlas asked in disbelief.

"I don't think so, no. It took almost a day before they could safely remove the dragon without something else collapsing." Crimson explained. "They found you under it, barely clinging to life and brought you here as fast as they could. They say it's a miracle and that you got really lucky."

"That's a relief," Atlas said, letting his head fall back to his pillow, wincing at the spike of pain going through his skull.

"Where's Belle?" Atlas asked after a few moments of silence.

His inquiry was met with no reply and Atlas looked over to Crimson to see what was going on. His friend’s gaze seemed to be locked on the floor, and Atlas noticed the bags under his eyes for the first time since waking up.

"Crimson? Where's Belle?" Atlas asked once again, slightly impatient.

That seemed to do the trick as Crimson was shaken from his stupor and he instead looked out the window.

"On the day the dragon attacked, Belle and Blue Current met up at your home," Crimson told Atlas. "You two had just come back, so they got together to cook something nice for you and me. Wrapped it up all nice and warm and rushed out the door to bring it to us.

"Belle was on her way to bring you lunch when the dragon attacked Atlas, She was at the academy."

Atlas hooves started to shake and he began to feel a little queasy. His breath got a little shaky as he thought about the implications.

"What happened?" Atlas asked, dreading the answer.

"She took shelter in one of the buildings when it all began, and... the building... it was one of the first ones that collapsed.

"Atlas... She..." Crimson swallowed empty. "She didn't make it."

Atlas went into shock. His eyes started to water as he processed Crimsons words. He didn't want to believe what he was just told, didn't want it to be true. But when he saw the tears falling from Crimsons face, he just knew it was true.

His love was ripped from him, possibly by a mistake he himself committed. The world seemed to lose all of it's color, and for the first time in his life, Atlas truly felt...

Alone.

Author's Note

SCHLOOP

57. Laughter

Scholar Arc
Year 11, Month 7, Day 18

A series of impatient knocks could be heard echoing through the painfully empty house. All the blinds were drawn, giving the living room a desolate feeling.

"Open up Atlas! I know you're in there!"

Outside, Blue Current was busy assaulting the door to Atlas' flat with an annoyed look on her face. Crimson was standing behind her, watching his wife with a small amount of concern. Atlas much to the concern of his friends had holed himself up as soon as he was discharged from the hospital a week ago. Crimson had agreed that his behavior was unhealthy, but was much more willing than his wife to give Atlas more time to grieve.

His wife seemed to have other plans.

"Come on, honey. I know you're upset about all of this, but why don't you just let him be for now?" Crimson said in a feeble attempt to placate his wife.

"No," she said, immediately shooting him down. "We haven't seen him for over a week now! I know he must feel devastated, but this is just getting ridiculous. We can't help him if he doesn't let us!"

"So you're trying to force your help on him?" Crimson asked incredulously. "What if you only make things worse?"

"It does sound bad if you put it that way..." Blue Current relented a little. "But I just can't bear letting a friend suffer through something like this alone! All of us are sad about Belle's death, but we’ve been there for each other to help heal the wounds. I'm afraid that if we let Atlas do this alone... we might lose him as well..."

Crimson watched as his wife adopted a sad face and looked to the ground, defeated. He was pretty sure that that was impossible, even if Atlas truly wanted to do something drastic. In fact, he wouldn't be surprised to learn that his friend at least tried to kill himself once or twice since Belle's untimely departure. A little piece of knowledge that had been gnawing at the back of his mind for the past week.

Of course, he had tried to support his friend as best as he was able to, and when Atlas was still kept at the hospital it looked like it was working at least a little bit. All of Atlas' friends and co-workers had come to visit him, even some high ranking guards had stopped by to commend him on helping during the attack. In hindsight, he really should've seen the signs, because no sooner than Atlas has stepped through the door to his house, he’d slammed it before locking every bolt.

"I'm sure that won't happen, Atlas is stronger than that." Crimson said in an attempt to reassure Blue Current, pulling her into a hug. "He just needs some more time, and maybe somepony that doesn't try to rip off his door."

That got a little laugh out of her, calming down Crimson as well. "Besides, I think he enchanted his door anyway..."

It was entirely possible that every entrance to Atlas' home was secure against breaking and entering. Whether that was the case before Belle's death or a recent addition, he couldn’t tell. But he was sure that as long as Atlas wasn't ready to talk, there was no way to get through to him. He was simply too stubborn at times like this.

"I guess we'll just have to wait," Crimson said sadly.

"I guess you're right."

They both looked at the offending piece of wood that was separating them from their friend who was suffering, leaving them both helpless at his doorstep. Turning around, they started their way back to their own home, where Blue Current made a decision.

She would wait until Atlas decided to come out of his hole. And when the time finally came, she would be there. No matter how long it took.

Atlas turned on the spot he was currently standing at. He was living on the floor in their living room. No, that wasn't right. His living room.

From his new position, he was able to see the dining table, empty and lifeless as it was. From time to time he thought he’d caught a glimpse of Belle, just sitting there, enjoying a hearty meal, but he knew it was just the fabrication of a wishful mind. Another thing he was able to see, was several dark spots in the kitchen.

It wasn’t long after he got home that he first took his life. The kitchen knife actually did a pretty good job even though it was starting to get a bit dull. At the time he though his plan was borderline genius.

Since he had access to Tartarus, he'd just kill himself and go to the afterlife. There, he could snatch up Belle's soul and bring it back, or, if that didn't work, at least talk to her one last time.

Shame it didn't work. At all.

He’d forgot in his haste to get there that his entry into Tartarus was entirely dependant on whether or not Hades pulled his soul down. Apparently, Hades had no need for a meeting so soon after they last met, so the only thing he got to experience was waking up in a puddle of blood after an extended period of nothingness.

He didn't let it end at only one try though. Determination and sadness led him to commit the gravest of all sins again and again, until he just couldn't do it anymore. All it did was spread more blood on the kitchen floor; blood, which smelled absolutely rancid by now. With a heavy sigh, Atlas got up from the floor and wandered over to the kitchen. He regarded the admittedly gigantuan pool of blood with indifference, but started to clean what he could with a lot of water and a rag.

Thankfully there was no carpet in the whole flat, so the stains weren't that bad. It took him the better part of an hour of constant scrubbing until he was left with nothing but a few discolored cupboards and the horrible smell. Admittedly, it wasn't that bad anymore, but it still bothered him. He popped open the windows and let some fresh air inside.

As Atlas' stomach growled, it reminded him that he’d ate nothing since beginning his suicide marathon. Seeing as starvation was the one thing he didn't really want to experience again, he made his way over to their fridge. Something Atlas had fashioned together himself, using his ice magic and some runes which worked surprisingly well. He could probably make a fortune if he started selling them, but all the money in the world wouldn’t fill the hole in his heart.

Cracking open the magical wonder he found it to be empty. Same with the cupboards and even his secret stash. With a heavy sigh he resigned himself to his fate. If he didn't want to starve he had to go outside and purchase some food. Maybe he'd even visit his friends, maybe.

He approached the door and slowly opened it with his magic, the bright sunlight immediately assailed his eyes causing him to flinch back. The next moment greeted him by something heavy crashing into him, throwing him backwards into his fortress of solitude, and all he could see of his assailant was blue.

Blue Current let out a huge yawn. Her eyes were transfixed on that damned door that had been taunting her for days now. Just behind it was a friend who was hurting, and there was nothing she could do about it except wait. And wait she did, camping out on the roof of the opposite building. She’d taken some time off work and started most of her days staring down the wooden frame from her perch.

Oh, how she would've loved to just tear it down so that she could at least keep Atlas company if nothing else. What he was doing was not healthy. There was no doubt in her mind that Atlas was affected the most by Belle's death, and the only cure for sadness was spending time with friends. Granted, some ponies said that time would heal all wounds, but having friends on one's side could speed up the process immensely.

She opened up the little bag of snacks Crimson had brought by earlier and took a look at its contents. After careful deliberation, she pulled out a small sack filled with crackers and began munching on one of them. Her gaze flicked back to Atlas' front door and she regarded it with mild annoyance. She'd been up here for almost four days now, and he still hadn't come out yet. It was starting to annoy her even more than it already did, and she wondered if she should try to unleash her fury on the door again.

Just as she pondered the merits of another assault, the door cracked open revealing a gray unicorn shielding his eyes from the sun. She immediately dropped her crackers and took flight, swooping down to crash into Atlas and wrapping him in a tight embrace as they flew back into his home together. A few happy tears found their way to her face as she simply hugged the struggling unicorn on the floor.

"Huh? What? Let go of me!" Atlas protested, doing his best to fight off his unknown assailant.

“Please don’t ever do something like that again.” Current whispered into his ear. “I was so worried when you wouldn't come out.”

"Blue Current?" Atlas asked tentatively.

Her words had struck a chord with him, as he remembered Belle saying something very similar to him long ago. In fact, the situation was eerily similar to back then as well. He had just committed suicide for the first time and Belle scolded him for it when she was sure that he was okay. The memory brought a small smile to his lips, as he remembered how much she cared about him, even when they barely knew each other.

"Yeah, it's me," she replied.

"Could you let go of me? It's kind of uncomfortable..."

"Just a little bit longer..."

Atlas gave up his struggle, allowing Blue Current to embrace him. What came as a surprise, even to himself, was that he actually enjoyed feeling the warmth of another pony again. It was like a ray of sunlight in the bleak existence his life had become recently. After a while, Blue Current let go of him and got up, offering her hoof to Atlas, who was still lying on his back. He accepted her help and she pulled him up into a standing position.

Barely a moment of composure passed before Blue Current proceeded to smack him upside the head.

"That's for making all of us worry so much," she said as Atlas rubbed the spot she hit.

"I'm sorry..." Atlas said sincerely.

He was so busy wallowing in self pity that he completely forgot about his friends, and how they'd feel if he completely cut off his ties with them like he did. Meanwhile, Blue Current looked around the living room with an expression that reflected the disgust she felt at what she saw.

"Atlas, this place is a mess!" She scolded Atlas. "And, ugh... what's that smell?"

Blue Current put a hoof in front of her nose in an attempt to block out the smell, and scanned the room for anything that could be causing it. The suspects were a great many, since almost every surface was covered in some sort of garbage. She quickly gave up on her search and instead let her gaze linger on Atlas, which disgruntled her even more.

"You look absolutely horrible," Blue Current said, not sugarcoating her words at all. "We need to get you cleaned up."

Saying Atlas looked horrible was an understatement. Since he’d locked himself up, he had completely forgone any sort of care for his body. His mane and tail were tangled and dirty, and his coat was one big assortment of stains. If someone didn’t know him they’d undoubtedly think he was a squatter.

Atlas wanted to rebuke something, but found himself being dragged limply along as Blue Current started pulling him outside, throwing the door closed behind them as they went. Whether he liked it or not, Atlas was due for a spa treatment. They could worry about the mess in his flat later.

Atlas sighed and closed his eyes as he submerged his body in the hot spring water of the spa. Blue Current had dragged him halfway across the town to her favorite spa and had insisted on a full treatment, which she would pay for.

On their way, Atlas was subjected to many odd stares, as unicorns left and right recognized him, no doubt wondering how he ended up so filthy. At first he was reluctant, but the treatment was remarkably rejuvenating, his sorrows momentarily forgotten as he soaked in the steaming water.

"So, what have you been doing all this time?" Blue Current said breaking the silence between them from her position to his right.

Just like that, Atlas' mood soured as he adopted a scowl.

"Mostly pitying myself," Atlas replied, a bit disgusted at his own behaviour now that he looked back on the past week.

"You know we would have loved to help you through this, right?"

"Yeah..." Atlas admitted, the conversation going back to silence.

Ever since Crimson told him about Belle's fate he felt like he was dead inside. The time between then and now seemed like a blur, the memories of what happened hazy at best. He had retreated inside of himself so much that it felt like he’d barely functioned on auto-pilot. He could consider himself lucky that Belle always kept their kitchen well stocked, or he would have needed to leave his presumed safe space a lot sooner. Now that he thought about it, that probably would not have been such a bad thing.

Atlas stole a quick glance over at Blue Current who had her eyes closed and seemed to be completely relaxed. A small smile crept onto his face and he closed his eyes once again, going back to mindlessly relaxing with a friend.

Blue Current led Atlas out of the spa, the latter now looking clean and full of energy. A stark contrast to the pony who went inside just an hour ago.

"Thank you, I really needed that," Atlas said.

"Don't mention it," Blue Current replied. "That's what friends are for after all."

She shot him an honest smile, making Atlas feel guilty for the way he’d acted. The loss still pained him greatly, but he definitely felt a little better. All it took was a friend who made sure he understood that while he may have lost someone important, he wasn't alone.

Atlas stomach rumbled a not so gentle reminder that he’d forgone food for a week. Since Blue Current practically dragged him all the way to the spa he hadn't had the chance to eat something yet. Blue Current seemed to notice as well and suggested going to a nearby restaurant with a smile on her face. Atlas agreed and followed her through the winding streets of the Crystal Kingdom until they turned a corner and the buildings started to look vaguely familiar.

As they turned into an alley Atlas realized why. A bit further down he spotted Apple Bee's restaurant. While they didn't go there as often as they used to anymore, due to the increased distance, it was still a special place for him and his friends. They entered to find it practically devoid of customers, not really a surprise considering it was usually dead at this time of day.

Sitting down in one of the booths off to the side they both patiently waited for somepony to come out to serve them. It didn't take long until Apple Bee himself poked his head out of the kitchen, apparently having heard them entering.

"Blue Current! What a joy to see you again!" He bellowed with a large smile, apparently not being able to see Atlas since the booth blocked him from his view. "It's been some time, are you alone today?" He asked as he moseyed over to her location.

"Not exactly," Blue Current replied. "I've brought along one of my friends."

She pointed over at Atlas who sat across from her, causing Apple Bee to adopt a curious look. He rounded the corner and as soon as he spotted Atlas who sheepishly waved at him as a greeting, he let out a gasp. The next thing he knew was that he was buried in a sea of red, as Apple Bee pulled him into one of his trademark hugs. The red stallion as huge as he was usually meant that the hugged pony would practically disappear within him.

"Oh, I am so, so sorry for what happened to poor Belle!" Apple Bee said. "How are you holding up?"

Apple Bee released Atlas from his fleshy embrace to give him a chance to talk.

"Kind of better, I think?" Atlas ventured.

His emotions were in turmoil, and he wasn't completely sure how he felt at the moment. On one side he was still grieving, but on the other he was happy to finally reconnect with the outside world. There was also guilt and shame mixed in, resulting in a cocktail of emotions that broiled within him.

"Tell you what," Apple Bee said, "let's get some good food into you. That always cheers me up! On the house of course."

With those words he trotted off towards the kitchen, busily calling out for his cook to 'rev up those frying pans'. Atlas chuckled upon hearing the enthusiasm behind the announcement. At least Apple Bee seemed to be the same, no matter what happened. It didn't take long for him to return with two plates of what looked like some sort of pasta with vegetables mixed in.

"Eat up! There's more where that came from, so if you're still hungry after this just let me know," Apple Bee pointed out.

"Will do, thanks," Atlas replied before greedily digging in.

It had been a while since he had a proper meal, he didn't really put any effort into his cooking while he was holed up. He devoured the pasta like a glutton. Blue Current regarded him with an odd look before asking Atlas a question which confused him greatly.

"Would you like to talk about it?"

Atlas furrowed his brows in confusion, she hadn't really brought it up all day, and her sudden inquiry blindsided him. He noticed that his cheeks were wet and he brought a hoof up to check what was going on before realizing that he was actually crying.

The pasta tasted great, as he could practically taste the love that went into its creation. It reminded him of Belle’s cooking, it simultaneously made him happy and sad. He wiped his eyes dry with a napkin, before making an audible snort an a attempt to keep any mucous from escaping from his nose.

"No... no, thank you," Atlas replied. "Not yet..."

"Alright, if that's what you want."

As the silence settled back in they both went back to eating their food, Atlas ate at a much slower pace this time. His head was filled with memories of Belle. How she would wake him up each morning with a smile on her face with a delicious breakfast already waiting for him. How she'd wish him a nice day at work and plant a kiss on his cheek before he left.

The cute smile she had whenever he told her of Doc Brown's antics in the lab. How enthusiastically she'd tell him of the new things she'd learned from White Mallow. He could hear her laughing, which sounded like the most heavenly chiming crystal bells. Or how she'd always draw little hearts on the notes she left for him whenever she couldn't be there when he came home in the evening.

Memories of his time with Belle flooded his mind as he lethargically ate his noodles. He didn't even realize that he'd finished his meal and was basically just forking up air into his mouth with an absent look on his face. A blue hoof softly shook his shoulder propelling him back to reality again, and Atlas looked to the side to see Blue Current standing next to him.

"Come on, it's getting late. Let's get you home," She said with a look of pity on her face.

Atlas simply nodded and got up from his seat, following Blue Current outside and waving Apple Bee goodbye, who returned the gesture enthusiastically. The sun was indeed already setting in the distance, painting the horizon with a slew of deep orange and reds. They made their ways through the streets in complete silence. Atlas was still caught up in his memories, while Blue Current was thinking about what she could do to help her suffering friend. She came to a sudden stop and turned around to face a surprised looking Atlas.

"Before we go home, I'd like to take you to one more place," Blue Current said. "If that's okay with you?"

"Sure," Atlas replied devoid of emotion.

He was actually dreading the moment where he'd have to be alone. Now that he’d spent some time with one of his friends, he was practically afraid of going back into his fortress of solitude. Blue Current nodded, satisfied with Atlas' answer and started leading him in the opposite direction.

Soon enough they entered a part of the Kingdom Atlas was wholly unfamiliar with. It was a huge city after all, making it almost impossible to know where everything was for one pony. Current was leading him towards the outskirts of the town, though, indicating that they were making their way towards an earth pony district.

The buildings were starting to thin out, the space between them gradually increasing. He could spot a few private gardens and families spending the evening together at tables they'd set outside. Soon enough, a large hedge came into view, seemingly stretching for as far as Atlas could see, and Blue Current was steering him towards a gate that lead to whatever was contained within.

She pushed it open, the hinges moaning in a plea for somepony to oil them before entering as Atlas followed closely behind her. Once he passed the threshold of the hedge he was greeted with a sight all too familiar and he immediately realized where Blue Current was leading him.

Rows upon rows of stones of all shapes and forms were neatly placed on the ground and he could barely make out the writing on the nearest ones. It was definitely a graveyard, and there would only be one reason that they would be here. Atlas gulped and stopped, his legs locked up on him refusing to move. He definitely didn't want to be here right now.

Blue Current noticed that Atlas stayed behind and backtracked towards him, gently pushing him forward and in the right direction. She sidled up to him to let him know that he wasn't alone, but otherwise remained silent. Atlas moved along with her in a daze and she could feel him slightly shaking as they passed by hundreds of graves. They finally made a turn, and walked down one of the rows where they could spot an orange stallion with white hair sitting in front of one of the graves.

He lifted his head when he heard the duo approach and regarded them with two milky empty eyes. Atlas immediately recognized him as White Mallow, which could only mean they had reached their destination.

"Who is it?" He asked weakly, his voice lacking the energy it usually carried, making him sound just as old as he looked.

"It's Blue Current," she replied. "And I've brought Atlas with me."

Meanwhile, Atlas' eyes were slowly drifting towards the headstone that White Mallow was seated in front of. The stone in question mimicked the appearance of Belle’s cutie mark, a heart with a cross in the middle, and bore a freshly cut epitaph. He didn't want to look at it, but still, his eyes were inexplicably drawn towards the writing that was carved into it.

"Atlas? Is it really you?" White Mallow asked, ripping Atlas' attention away from the grave.

"Yeah..."

White Mallow stood up and felt his way towards Atlas with one of his hooves. As soon as it made contact, Atlas found himself once again in the loving embrace of a friend.

"It's good that you decided to come outside again," he said softly. "Acceptance is the first step towards recovering."

White Mallow patted him on the back a few times before backing off again. He pointed towards a small box on the ground next to the headstone, a note tucked underneath it.

"I actually came here today to leave this for you to find, for when you finally decided to visit," White Mallow explained. "It's something Belle left behind at our workplace. She would have wanted you to have it."

Atlas regarded the small box with curiosity. What could possibly in there that White Mallow wanted to return to him?

"I'll just leave you two alone now," White Mallow said. "Be sure to come visit me, once you feel up to it."

Atlas was pulled in for another short hug before White Mallow started to trot away, navigating his path perfectly along the graveyard. Meanwhile, Atlas’ attention was inexorably pulled towards the box on the ground. He levitated it over to him along with the note that told him that the box and what was inside was for him, and that it was left there by White Mallow. Gently, he lifted the top off and took a look inside. He levitated the single item out from within before bringing it in front of his face to take a better look at it.

It was a photograph.

Photography was still a relatively new concept, and therefore, expensive. He could still remember the day Belle dragged him along with all their friends out of the city to take this particular picture. She was so excited about the whole thing that she wouldn't shut up about it until they all finally caved and went with her. Belle insisted that she would pay for the whole thing, but in the end they ended up splitting the bill seeing as they couldn't just let her take such a big hit to her savings.

They all stood there, happy as could be, smiling towards the camera with the lonely mountain in the background. A single tear fell upon the picture, as Atlas vision started to blur and his chest tightened. He slowly looked over towards the headstone and read its inscription.

Here lies
Charity Belle
Loving wife and friend
May the memory of her smile give us the strength to carry on when we need it most.

Atlas was hit with the full realization that Belle was dead, and there was nothing he could do to bring her back. Up until now, he had hung unto the slight sliver of hope that he would be able to do something. He was technically a god with access to the afterlife. Denial had settled into his mind, and thinking back he hadn't even cried once since he got the news. He was very upset in the hospital, but no tears were shed.

Now, though, everything came crashing down on him and he started to bawl his eyes out, collapsing in front of his dead wife's grave. His body was wracked by violent sobs when he felt somepony embrace him from behind, and the sound of faint sniffling tickled his ears. He leaned into Blue Currents shoulder for support and let his tears flow freely.

The nearly full moon hung in the clear night sky. It allowed for his light to illuminate the world far below it in a soft glow. All the ponies were asleep by now, resting from their daily activities in the moon's cool embrace. All, but two.

Atlas and Blue Current were still at the graveyard, both of them had barely moved in the past two hours. Atlas had finally let his bottled up emotions out, and he had cried until he just couldn't anymore. Now his body only occasionally shivered from a mixture of feeling cold and being exhausted. Blue Current had stayed with him the whole time offering moral support and a shoulder to cry on, a shoulder that was now drenched with his tears.

"It just hurts so much..." Atlas said, his voice hoarse.

"I know..." Blue Current said softly. "I know..."

"What am I supposed to do now?"

"I don't know," Blue Current replied, looking up towards the stars. "I guess we'll just have to figure it out as we go."

"Will it ever stop hurting?"

"Maybe, maybe not. I don't think there's a way to know for certain. But I'm sure that Belle would want us to move on."

"Yeah, she never really was one to linger in the past." Atlas said, a smile creeping its way onto his face. "She always lived in the present, facing the future only as it greeted her."

"I think we could learn a lot from her," Blue Current said. "If you ask me, the most important thing is to face tomorrow with a smile. Live each and every day like you mean it, and just give it your best."

“Just like Belle always did…” Atlas reminisced.

“Exactly,” Blue Current said. “Do you remember how she tried to cheer you up when you were nervous about your valedictorian speech back at school? The things she did just to make you smile…”

“I was actually concerned about her health at one point,” Atlas had to laugh at the silly memory.

Belle had tried absolutely everything in an attempt to take his mind off the speech. From telling him jokes to tickling him, everything was tried. She actually swallowed one of his quills on accident after one of her more acrobatic hijinks in his room, and he had to rush her to the hospital.

"Huh, I actually feel just a bit better after that," Atlas chuckled while wiping away a stray tear. "I guess it's true that laughter is the best medicine after all."

Atlas felt a great deal better upon realizing that even though he couldn’t bring Belle back, that he would always have the memories of the good times with her. He doubted that he would ever forget Belle, and he was sure that some of the pain would always remain. But as long as he had his friends at his side, he felt like he could be happy nonetheless. As long as he had friends, he would never truly lose his smile.

Atlas sucked in a shaky breath as a familiar wave of power washed over him, causing his eyes to momentarily flash a bright blue. In that moment he felt more connected to his friends than ever before. And, even though it was faint, he felt like Belle was still at his side warming his soul while watching over him from the sidelines.

Atlas smiled and got up on unstable hooves, Blue Current rising with him. He regarded Belle's headstone with newfound conviction and a fond smile on his face. His horn lit up and he could clearly see the runes he was about to etch into it in his head. With a flash of magic, an array of runes appeared, following the outline of the headstone and forming a heart. He charged them with his magic, making sure to use his pink mana, until the runes started to glow a soft pink.

The array would ensure that the headstone would never break or get dirty, as long as the runes remained charged. With another spell, Atlas picked up the picture of his friends and integrated it into the stone, at the center of the newly formed heart. The photograph would keep her company so she wouldn't feel lonely. Until, one day, her friends would join her with a smile on their face, as she welcomed them into a warm home.

Atlas turned around with a smile on his face, Blue Current walking beside him. Yes, no matter where they went, they could always rely on a friendly face helping them along the way. No matter what, their friendship was a bond that would transcend the boundaries between worlds. He truly felt happy for the first time since he received the news of Belle’s death, vowing to send his friends off with a smile when their time came.

Even if he would never be able to join them.

Author's Note

Oh boy, this took me a while to write... This damn chapter single handedly caused me to pretty much fail my challenge. I kinda avoided starting to write it because of it's thematics and the fact that I'd kinda draw from experience. It also gave me the sads while writing it :( I love all my characters, and while I didn't have any issue with killing Belle off, it's always the aftermath that gets me.

Let's move on to less sad parts of the story, shall we?

Once again, thanks to my editor Azriel and my proofreader Kilobytes for a job well done! Further thanks to Temujin and Soren Mercer for helping out as well.

Today's chapter was brought to you by this song. Grandia is still the best RPG ever.

Come join us in the Discord channel! Lonk

58. To Raise The Sun

Scholar Arc
Year 11, Month 7, Day 23

Atlas followed behind two guards who were leading him towards the royal palace. The palace was situated near the top of the lonely mountain, on the uppermost tier of islands. If one wanted to go there, they would have to pass through three other island floors, which housed various other facilities. Atlas and the two guards had just left the third island behind them, which housed the various servants quarters and estates of several noble families, and started their trek up the connecting path on the side of the mountain.

After Atlas’ visit to Belle's grave a few days ago, his friends had come over to help him get back on his hooves. The flat was cleaned up and the time he’d spent with his friends was a calming salve for his still healing mental wounds. It was still there, underneath it all, but at least he felt confident enough to go back to work and lead his life again.

It wasn't long after his re-appearance at work that he was approached by two guards. They’d told him that he was required to go with them and give a statement about what exactly happened the day of the dragon attack.

A day after that, he’d received an invitation to the palace.

Atlas felt terribly underdressed for the occasion, but apparently, he wasn't required to wear anything, which conflicted with everything he’d learned as a human. He could already see the great wall which encompassed the royal palace, the highest spire of the palace barely peeked over, granting Atlas his first glimpse into its regal splendor. Atlas took in the details of the large gate they were coming up to. Two guards stood in front of it, looking vigilant and eying the approaching group with suspicion. As soon as they reached the gate, Atlas' escort saluted and the guard to his right spoke up.

"Upon the request of King Gold Bar, we have brought the unicorn, Atlas, for an audience."

The attention of the guards at the gate shifted towards Atlas, looking him up and down. Atlas nervously smiled at them, even though Atlas himself was technically a part of the guard he couldn’t help but be intimated by the twos towering physique. No doubt, the guards stationed at the royal palace would be the best of the best and could therefore easily overpower him, should he do something they didn't like.

"You are expected, enter." The guard simply said, before powering his horn up, which caused the gate behind him to slowly open.

Atlas' escort dropped their salutes and started down the newly revealed path, Atlas following closely behind them. When they had passed the threshold of the gate, Atlas felt as if he had, once again, traveled to a completely different world.

The island itself was bigger than any he had ever visited, yet the only building that occupied it was the palace. Seemingly integrated into the mountain, the large structure towered over him. It was seemingly built from some kind of red stone, and kind of reminded him how some of the giant cathedrals looked like back on earth. To the sides, the palace started off with a low sloping architecture, barely three or four stories high, and gradually gained height towards the center while curving along the walls of the island. The tower that stood before him was truly enormous, Atlas could barely see the top from where he stood.

Everything that wasn't occupied by the palace itself, provided space for a plethora of flora and fauna. A deer watched them pass by curiously from the protection of a small forest to their right, while to their left was a beautiful garden, featuring flowers of all colors and sizes.

Atlas felt like he’d stepped into a fairy tale with how surreal and majestic it all seemed. They eventually approached the front of the palace, where a huge fountain was flanked by various statues of royal looking ponies, presumably depicting past kings and queens. Important looking unicorns could be seen milling about, engaging in conversation or simply enjoying the scenery, all of them wearing fancy dresses. The sight once again caused Atlas to feel like he should have at least worn a suit, but now it was far too late to change.

Atlas was lead around a fountain, the what he assumed were nobles sending curious glances his way, but otherwise ignoring their little procession. They approached a needlessly large gate, which was currently opened all the way. Once again flanked by royal guards on either side. Unhindered and with much less ceremony, they were allowed entrance into the palace.

Looking around, Atlas found himself inside what appeared to be a hallway, the ceiling of which was needlessly high up. Paintings, busts, flowers and nobles lined the sides in a decorative manner while up ahead a line was formed, leading through yet another set of doors. Atlas caught a glimpse of what he presumed was the throne room through the wide-open archway, as the two guards who had been escorting him, simply led him past the line of waiting ponies and directly into the next room. Needless to say, he received quite a few annoyed glares, as they likely had been waiting in line all day, while Atlas was allowed to take the fast track via his royal guard VIP-Pass.

They entered into yet another massive hall, supported by giant pillars that lined the center, leading towards a set of stairs, where at the top rested the royal throne. The throne itself was seemingly made from a white marble with intricate decorations carved into it. Upon a comfortable looking pillow rested a yellow unicorn with a brown mane, a crown resting on his head that identified him as the King. He regarded the noble currently talking to him with mild interest.

After the courtier had finished speaking with the king, the noble walked away seemingly pleased with the outcome. The king seemed to notice Atlas' little entourage and he motioned for them to step forward.

"King Gold Bar," one of the guards said bowing deeply. Atlas hastily bowed as well, not wanting to offend. "Per your request, we have brought to you, Atlas. The unicorn who was responsible for defeating the dragon."

"Thank you," the king said in a deep baritone of a voice, "you may leave us."

The two guards bowed once again, before walking off to the side, leaving Atlas alone with the king.

"Step forward, brave Atlas."

Atlas did as he was told and walked forward until he stood at the bottom of the stairs leading up to the throne, where he bowed once again for good measure. He didn't dare talk until he was addressed directly, so instead, he remained silent.

"You have done your country a great service by defeating the dragon who attacked a few weeks ago," King Gold Bar said. "I hear your contribution was instrumental to the wyrms fall."

"Yes, my king," Atlas confirmed. "I fashioned an experimental magical construct with the help of two other unicorns, both of which were sadly crushed by the falling dragon."

"So I've heard," the king smiled, "these runes that you and your colleague discovered seem to be very versatile. And apparently are quite powerful when used by capable hooves. I wish you luck in furthering our knowledge into this lost art."

"Thank you, your highness," Atlas replied courteously.

"It saddens me to have heard that you lost your wife to that infernal dragon, you have my deepest condolences," King Gold Bar lowered his head in sympathy for a moment. "A great many lives were lost that day, and thanks to your quick thinking, there was no doubt a great deal less bloodshed than could have been."

"Thank you, your highness," Atlas pretended to bow once again, but in truth, he just didn't want to let the king see his eyes starting to water at the mere mention of Belle. He took a few moments to recompose himself and looked back up.

"That being said, you did us all a great service. A service which of course we, and by that I mean I, intend to repay," the king said. "You were summoned here today for me to do just that. First off, please accept this medal and the highest award for valor that is within my power to bestow."

King Gold Bar motioned towards one of his attendees, who stepped forward, a small case levitating in his magic. Upon a purple cushion rested a silver medal attached to a chain. A depiction of the lonely mountain was carved on its face, the sun rising behind it. The unicorn levitated the medal out of the case, and over to Atlas, who lowered his horn a bit so that the medal could be slipped over his head effortlessly.

Atlas didn't really care about the medal, but he wasn't about to refuse the king. He had a sneaking suspicion that him getting a medal was just for show anyway. Keeping up appearances and all that.

"It's called the heart of the mountain, and only ponies who have risked everything in battle receive them. Wear it proudly," King Gold Bar continued. "I'm sure you'll be happy to hear that there is also a monetary compensation bundled with it.”

"And last, but not least, for your great service, I'd like to offer you the opportunity to take part in the raising of the sun. It is a great honor, and you've earned a place in the ceremony."

Now, that got Atlas excited! Everypony in the kingdom knew that a group of ponies was tasked with the raising of the sun and moon every day. Being allowed to take part in this sacred ritual was something every unicorn strived for, Atlas being no different.

"It would be an honor, your highness. I accept!" Atlas blurted out hastily, once again bowing his head, but this time with a big smile on his face.

"Very well, then," King gold Bar nodded, "you'll soon receive further instructions on the matter. I once again thank you for your service, and may the heavenly beings guide your path. You're dismissed."

Atlas bowed a few times more, for good measure, while taking a few steps back, before eventually turning around and trotting towards the exit of the throne room. Contrary to his entry, the nobles that stood in line regarded him with a great deal of interest and respect. Or at least the ponies who were within earshot did so. As he got further away from the throne, he once again received little more than unhappy glances.

Atlas didn't care, though. His mind was awash beneath daydreams of raising the sun, and a chance to rub shoulders with the greatest magical minds in the kingdom. He'd have to study hard so that he wouldn't bring shame upon himself.

Atlas stood at the top of the highest tower of the royal palace. It was still early in the morning and the moon was on its way towards the horizon. From his position he could see all the way to the mountain ranges in the distance, the kingdom below him was calm and silent, devoid of the hustle and bustle that would soon appear alongside the dawn.

Today was the day Atlas would help raise the sun.

The day after his trip to the palace he was visited by an elderly unicorn in ceremonial sun robes, who had come to teach him all the required spells of the ceremonial raising. His robes were a deep black, little white dots scattered all over it, representing the night sky, while the accents were a vibrant gold, with a few reds strewn into the mix. A similar set of robes currently rested on Atlas' body, as well as the other nine unicorns that were gathered there with him.

"It is time, young Atlas," a voice behind him said.

Atlas turned around to face his company, which mostly consisted of old unicorns. Each and every one of them was more powerful than him by a wide margin. As he surveyed the room Atlas didn’t doubt for a second that the mages before him had forgotten more about magic than he’d ever learned. Even though they were plenty old, a spark of wisdom glinted in their eyes as they took position around the center of the room, forming a circle with a free spot for Atlas.

Stepping up to fill the hole in their formation, Atlas tried to remain as serious as possible. He couldn't afford to mess up, it would utterly destroy his reputation. All things considered the others would most likely be able to raise the celestial body without his help, but it would still bring shame upon his name if he failed at this most sacred of tasks.

"Begin," The eldest simply said, when the moon started to sink behind the horizon, causing everypony present to flare up their horns.

Raising the sun was a team effort, achieved by multiple unicorns combining and supporting each other's spells through a focus that stood in the middle of their formation. A large monolith that looked like it was melded from hundreds of individual strings of various materials. They wove and circled around each other until they scattered into all directions at the top, reminding Atlas of a tree.

Carefully, Atlas started to weave his first spell, intended to connect him to the focus. He could feel his magic joining the others, an alien sensation washed over him that was strange and yet comforting at the same time. Closing his eyes, he allowed himself to be submerged in the sensation while continuing on to the second spell. He started to feed his mana into the focus, feeling the others do the same until a faint hum started resonating around them.

Last but not least, the eldest of the present unicorns started to cast the actual spell to raise the sun, while the others joined with a minor spell intended to support him and keep the flow of mana stable.

Atlas was nearly overwhelmed once the spell was complete. The sudden connection to the sun made him feel insignificant and small, the celestial body's presence in his mind shook him to the very core. He had never before felt something so powerful, yet so serene.

Following the others lead purely by reaction, Atlas started to lend his power to their purpose, which was to gently push the sun into its intended orbit. To Atlas, it felt like they spent an eternity just guiding the huge ball of fire along, when in real time barely five minutes had passed.

The spell was finished, and the flow of power slowly ebbed, yet Atlas felt like his very soul was catapulted back into his body. With a gasp he opened his eyes, feeling like he had run a marathon. Chuckles resounded around the room, as the elders regarded him with mirth, none of them looking worse for wear. They slowly started to file out of the room and towards the stairs that would lead them down the tower while the first rays of sunlight started to filter in through the windows behind Atlas.

The eldest approached Atlas, a light blue unicorn stallion with a mane as white as snow, and wrinkles all over his face. He put a hoof on the shoulder of a baffled looking Atlas with a smile on his face.

"Well? How was it?" He asked, barely suppressing a laugh at Atlas astounded visage.

"That was the most amazing thing I've ever experienced in my entire life..." Atlas responded with wide eyes.

"That's what everypony says after their first time," the elder laughed. "Well, take your time to process your experience and feel free to come join us for a hearty breakfast downstairs once you're ready."

The elder tapped Atlas’ shoulder reassuringly a few times and headed for the stairs. Meanwhile, Atlas found that his shaky leg no longer wanted to support him and plopped down into a sitting position. He continued staring at the focus in the center of the room while trying to remember the feeling that the sun gave off.

Atlas was sure that no matter how long he'd live, today was a day that he'd never forget.

Author's Note

Aaand that's the end of this mini-arc. Only two of those fuckers left. We are now 5-6 chapters away from the end of the scholar arc and the subsequent jump to the second part of this story! I feel like now is a good time to bring up a topic which I've been mulling over for a long time now... It's about whether or not I should create a new story for the second part, and later the third one as well, or just keep on posting the chapters in the current one. If I'd do a split, this story would probably be rebranded to: "Divine Entertainment - Book One: A New World", or something like that.

Let me know what you think in the comments.

Also: one year anniversary, yey!

Once again, thanks to my editor Azriel and my proofreader Kilobytes for a job well done! Further thanks to Temujin and Soren Mercer for helping out as well.

Today's chapter was brought to you by this song.

Come join us in the Discord channel! Lonk

59. Back To School

Scholar Arc
Year 18, Month 2, Day 1

Atlas took a deep breath in an attempt to calm himself down. He was currently standing in front of a door that lead into one of the academy's classrooms. And not just any classroom either, no this one was filled with students that looked forward to being taught by him. Atlas had never gotten over his stage fright, and the nervousness was starting to creep up on him again.

About a month ago Atlas was approached by the principal of the school, who offered him a teaching position. It took a lot of convincing from the principal, but in the end, Atlas decided to accept the new position. In an interesting turn of events, Doc Brown was happy about the new arrangement, apparently he had also been pestered by the principal about becoming a professor. Which would stop now that Atlas decided to take the position.

One of the main reasons that caused Atlas to cave was the fact that he pretty much learned everything he could from the rune books, and was now stuck with endless experiments to find new runes. Failures exploding in his face got tiresome after the first few hundred times, so teaching was a welcome respite.

With a last encouraging thought, Atlas pushed open the door with his magic, entering the classroom proper. Just like when he was in school all those years ago classes still consisted of about twenty students, all of which were already seated and immediately stopped their conversations once Atlas entered. Acutely aware of twenty pairs of eyes following him, Atlas made his way over to the teacher's desk and set down a small suitcase full of teaching supplies, which he had carried around in his magic up until now.

“Good morning everypony,” Atlas said, “and welcome to your transformation class. My name is Atlas, and I’ll be your homeroom teacher for the coming year.”

As he introduced himself, Atlas swept his gaze over the gathered unicorns before him. Having a room full of young ponies stare back at him, suddenly made him realize how old he already was. Well, old for a human at least. Each and everyone had a smile on their face and determination in their eyes, which was good since Atlas didn’t want any troublemakers in his class.

“Why don’t we start this whole thing off with introductions?” Atlas asked. He always hated it when he had to do stuff like this back when he was in school, so he reveled in the chance to have others do it. “I’m sure most of you know who I am, but just in case anypony doesn’t, let me begin. As I’ve already stated before, my name is Atlas. I graduated at the top of my graduation class thirteen years ago, and have been researching new ways to apply transformation magic in everyday life ever since. Some of you might have one of my inventions at home, like the refrigerator or the rune-based light. Together with my lab partner, I re-discovered the forgotten art of runes and have been researching them pretty much every day. I would like you to know that you will be my first class ever, so if I make any mistakes don’t hesitate to point them out to me.”

Atlas’ introduction was met with approving nods and a few hushed conversations in the back. He didn’t like to think about it, but Atlas was sort of a low-key celebrity now. He’d defeated a dragon and was the first unicorn ever to have a triple affinity. Fortunately for him, he wasn’t being researched by a plethora of lab coat wearing maniacs anymore, so keeping his newer affinities a secret wasn’t difficult.

After Belle passed away, the only one who knew the full truth about Atlas was Crimson.

“Alright, so why don’t we start over here then,” Atlas said as he pointed to the green stallion closest to the door.

“My name is Glinting Malachite and my special talent is enchanting,” he answered in a sort of bored voice.

Atlas looked at him curiously, expecting maybe one or two lines more from him, but it soon became apparent that this was all they were gonna get out of him for now and instead he motioned towards the next pony. As his students introduced themselves one by one, Atlas took notes on where they sat and how they looked. Since learning new names was the bane of his existence, having to learn several classes full of ponies’ names would be close to impossible without keeping track somehow.

The rest of Atlas’ day went by somewhat swimmingly. In the afternoon he had another batch of students, where he had to basically repeat everything he already did with the morning class. They took well to his first lesson putting his mind somewhat at ease, yet still, it had been surprisingly exhausting.

Tired, Atlas rested his head upon his desk in the teacher's lounge. It was strange having free access to this once sacred room, but he was glad that it was outfitted with various couches to relax on.

“Difficult first day?” A voice asked to his right as the chair belonging to his neighbor's desk was pulled back.

“Not exactly difficult, but challenging,” Atlas answered without looking up. “My research up until now was a lot more solitary than this.”

“Ah yes, I can see that as being a problem,” the stallion replied, “you’ll get used to it, though, don’t worry.”

“I hope so…”

“You’re Atlas, right? The new transformation teacher?” The stallion asked casually while arranging some documents on his desk. “My name’s Starswirl, and I teach advanced illusions. I look forward to working with you since our desks are next to each other and all that.”

Atlas perked up at hearing the stallion's name and lifted his head off his desk to take a look. Next to him sat a blue unicorn with a white mane, a look at his flank revealed a cutie mark consisting of a simple swirl decorated with a few turquoise stars. Under his chin, the hair grew a little longer, somewhat resembling a beard. While having a small beard going, especially on older unicorns, was nothing unusual, combined with the name ‘Starswirl’ Atlas had little doubt about who was currently sitting next to him.

“Yeah, I’m Atlas, pleased to meet you,” Altas responded while owlishly looking his new acquaintance up and down. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“Only good things I hope,” Starswirl chuckled.

“Yes, of course,” Atlas reassured him.

Truthfully, he’d never heard of Starswirl before now, Atlas would even go so far as to say he momentarily forgot that he was supposed to exist. Everything he knew about Starswirl, he knew from the show, which wasn’t much to be honest. But the glaring detail Atlas remembered, even without looking at his book, was that Starswirl was without a doubt important and powerful. Like Trixie, but for real.

“Hey listen,” Atlas continued, “I have a few questions about illusions I’d like to have answered at some point, would you mind going for a drink sometime to discuss it for a bit?”

While illusion wasn’t exactly high on his priority list, it wouldn’t hurt committing a little time to it, since he had an affinity for it as well. Now that the thought entered his mind, he’d need to study all kinds of magical fields if he wanted to exploit the fact that he had affinities for literally everything. Might as well start now.

“Of course, I always love discussing magic with colleagues,” Starswirl answered with a happy look on his face. “I’m sure I have some free time next week, be sure to remind me about that. I actually wanted to ask a few things about runes as well, and who better to ask, right?”

“Exactly,” Atlas shared a laugh with Starswirl, “I look forward to it.”

Having discussed everything they needed to, both of them returned to their respective work. There were sizable piles of paper on each desk just waiting to be filled out or corrected. With a sigh, Atlas started to look over his notes of the day again, trying to memorize the names of his students.

The sun was well past the horizon and the moon and stars were out in force illuminating Atlas’ path. He had just finished his first day as a teacher and was on his way home. Or rather, on his way to pay a visit to Brown Diamond. There was no doubt in Atlas’ mind that the kooky old stallion was still busy in his lab, so he decided to make a little detour before heading back to his lonely abode.

Reaching the familiar building he pushed open the door without knocking and entered, closing the door behind him. The first thing he noticed was that the few tidy spots Atlas had created for himself were already overrun by a plethora of knick-knacks. It had barely been a day and the state of the lab had already reached equilibrium apparently.

“Yo Doc!” Atlas called out, “where are you?”

The lights were still on, so he was definitely still around. The lack of an answer either meant that Doc Brown was either absorbed in his work or that he had fallen asleep in some obscure place again. Fortunately, Atlas had gotten pretty good at finding the elusive unicorn during his years as a lab partner. He swept his eyes across the floor, looking for anything that would give the doctor's position away. It didn’t take long to spot the bushy tail sticking out from behind an impressively unstable pile of books.

Rolling his eyes, Atlas made his way over, finding him furiously scribbling runes onto a piece of paper. He was surrounded by similarly filled scrolls, indicating that he had been at it for quite a while, further proven by the fact that there were also a noticeable amount of crumpled up balls among them. At a glance, the arrays he was designing were used to fortify… something. Fortification enchantments were among the easier things to do with runes, Doc having this much trouble with that made little to no sense to Atlas, so he tapped Doc on his shoulder with furrowed brows.

“Hey Doc, what are you up to?” Atlas asked curiously.

“Ahhh!” Brown Diamond jumped at the unexpected contact and whirled around to face Atlas, combat spell at the ready, only to find Atlas’ deadpan stare facing him, complete with raised eyebrow. “Jeez, Atlas, a little warning next time?”

“I did call out when I entered,” Atlas replied. “Not my fault that you forget everything around you when you're absorbed in your work.”

“I suppose you’re right,” Doc Brown sighed. “So, what brings you here? Having fun as a teacher?”

“Just thought I’d come visit… It felt weird to work and not be here the whole day,” Atlas replied. “So, what’s all this about?” He motioned towards the runes.

“Oh! That!” Doc Brown answered startled. “It’s ummm… It’s a… surprise?”

Doc Brown was gathering up all his notes in his magic and generally looked like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar. It was obvious he didn’t want Atlas to find out what his newest experiment was about. This behavior was neither new or unusual, though, so Atlas decided to let it slide. The only thing he was kind of worried about was the fact that he wouldn’t be around to put out the resulting fire.

“Yeah, sure, let’s go with that…” Atlas said while rolling his eyes.

“I’ll be sure to come and tell you if it was a success,” Doc Brown said. “If I manage to pull this off we’ll be looking at the next stage of rune usage in our society!”

That got Atlas’ attention. “You sure you don’t need any help? I mean I’m pretty sure I could help if it’s that important…”

“Oh, don’t worry, you just focus on teaching the young ones what they need to know,” Doc Brown deflected. “I have things under control here.”

Brown Diamond seemed really nervous for some reason as if he really didn’t want Atlas to find out what he was doing. It was probably something dangerous, and since Atlas stopped him from doing stupid things before he didn’t want him to find out.

“Alright,” Atlas relented with a sigh, “just try to not blow this place up, I’m kind of attached to it.”

“No promises.”

“Sure.” Atlas shook his head, “well, I’ll be going home now, just wanted to check up on you. Good night.”

Atlas turned around and into the direction of the door, already mulling over what little he saw of Doc’s arrays to find out what he was trying to do.

“And seriously!” Atlas called back, “this place better be standing tomorrow!”

Author's Note

This took a while to get out, because of excessive Zelda and Mass Effect gaming. Not much to say about this chapter, except that Starswirl is officially the first show canon character to appear in the story!

Once again, thanks to my editor Azriel and my proofreader Kilobytes for a job well done! Further thanks to Soren Mercer for helping out as well.

Today's chapter was brought to you by this amazing song.

Come join us in the Discord channel! Lonk

60. Magical Mishap

Scholar Arc
Year 18, Month 2, Day 12

“And that’s how we managed to escape the dragon and save at least a few of the books…” Atlas ended his explanation. “I’m also one-hundred percent certain that the dragon that attacked the academy was the same one we fought in that cave. It had a scar where we hit it.”

“Fascinating,” Starswirl responded while lazily stirring the fruit punch that rested before him on a table.

It took them some time, but they finally found a moment where they both had enough time to meet each other in a more casual setting. Of course, they’d talked to each other almost every day, but that was mostly work related. Now, they could simply relax at a nice cafe and ask those questions they wanted answers to. Atlas had already learned quite a bit about illusion magic since Starswirl was a master of the craft and could answer all of his questions. In turn, Starswirl had quite a few questions regarding runes, and Atlas did his best to explain the abstract concepts behind them. He’d just got done re-telling the adventure that lead to the discovery of the books while leaving out the parts that would give his secrets away.

“Runes seem like a difficult subject to wrap one's head around,” Starswirl said. “At least they seem a lot more finicky than anything I’ve come across so far.”

“There was a lot of trial and error involved that's for sure,” Atlas responded with a smile. “Putting out fires became a daily routine for a while.”

“Sounds pretty dangerous.”

“Well, yeah. But doesn’t most magical research come with that sort of risk? Also, the results more than proved to be worthwhile.”

“I’m not going to argue with that,” Starswirl said. “That refrigerator of yours is revolutionary. It might help out tremendously with the growing food shortages.” Starswirl looked out of the cozy cafe they were in, watching the snow gently drift past the window. “The winters have been getting longer and colder, so being able to store food more efficiently is invaluable at times like this.”

Atlas shifted his gaze to look outside as well. Winter getting colder had been gnawing at the back of his mind for a few years now. Maybe he was overthinking things, but knowing what he did, he suspected it to be the work of windigos. Apparently, it was even worse in the earth pony kingdom, which just re-affirmed his suspicions. The earth ponies were the most confrontational of the three tribes, so it made sense that the problem would start with them.

Of course, Atlas had tried to look up the Windigos in various libraries, but couldn’t find any mention of them anywhere. It was possible that this would be the first time they’d ever appeared in this world. Or maybe they were around before, but nobody noticed them up in the clouds. It was also entirely possible that the pegasi knew about them but didn’t share their knowledge with the other tribes.

Be that as it may, Atlas had found no information on how to battle them at all. From the show, he knew that the issue was the fact that the three tribes hated each other's guts and refused to cooperate. Changing three nations outlook on life seemed almost impossible to do for him alone and sometimes he wondered if he even should. After all, everything should turn out for the best, even if they had to abandon their current cities and face a lot of hardships re-building at another place.

Atlas turned his head back to Starswirl to find him shooting him an expectant look.

“I’m sorry. I’ve spaced out there for a bit, did you say something?”

“It’s alright,” Starswirl replied. “I asked if it’d be possible to take a look at one of the books you found. I’d love to see this strange language they are written in.”

“Sure,” Atlas replied after thinking about it for a second. He didn’t tell Starswirl about how he could read the books from the beginning, and instead told him they had spent a lot of time trying to translate them. “They are back at my old lab, if you want to we could go right now. Doc Brown is around pretty much all day anyway, working on something. He might not even notice us being there, he can get so absorbed in his work…”

“Oh? That would be absolutely amazing! I’m all for it, let’s go!”

Starswirl downed his drink and hopped off the chair he sat on, leaving a few bits on the table. He was obviously pretty excited, so Atlas chuckled and joined him, leaving payment for his own beverage as well.

Atlas always thought that Starswirl would be this wise and rational pony based on what he knew about him from the show. As it turned out, he couldn’t have been more wrong. Instead, Starswirl was a young, happy-go-lucky stallion with an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. It did make him more approachable though, and Atlas could see their friendship lasting for some time. Well, maybe the “wise” part would come into play a few decades from now.

For now, though, Atlas was happy to see the prestigious professor happily making his way back to the academy with an extra bounce in his step.

The snow crunched under their hooves as they made their way through the streets of the kingdom, the snow storm swallowing the usual sounds of the city and in turn creating a serene scene like out of a fairytale. Even though their fur protected them from most of the cold, ponies preferred to stay inside on days like these, leaving Atlas and Starswirl the solitary occupants of the streets.

Atlas looked towards the sky, the usually beautiful night was dominated by gray clouds which barely let any light from the moon pass through them. At this moment, Atlas considered himself lucky. Despite all the hardships he’d faced in this world, all the losses he had suffered due to being here, it was clear to him that he had also gained a lot. His current friends being only one of them.

With a smile, Atlas directed his gaze back towards the street in front of him, only for his vision to turn completely white. The force of something hitting him in the face threw him off balance before causing him to fall over into the snow, which stirred up a cloud of powdery fluff in the process.

Atlas raised his head from his spot on the ground, blinking owlishly while trying to find whatever just attacked him. It soon revealed itself as a smirking Starswirl, several more snowballs already floating behind him, bobbing slightly as if they were floating on water. As soon as Atlas spotted this, the first few rounds of frozen water were sent his way.

Atlas couldn’t help but smirk at Starswirl's foolishness. Water was his domain, snow being no exception to this. Atlas’ horn lit up and immediately the snow around him built a wall in front of him, effectively blocking all three projectiles coming for him.

“You can’t win this fight, Starswirl!” Atlas called out. “The snow is my friend!”

Waiting for a reply from the blue unicorn, Atlas opened up a small hole in his wall so he could look through. To his surprise Starswirl had vanished from where he was, leaving Atlas seemingly alone in the street. With furrowed eyebrows, Atlas dropped his defensive wall and started to look around for his adversary, turning to and fro.

“I’m pretty sure I have a fighting chance, though,” Starswirl suddenly said from behind him.

Atlas didn’t hear him coming at all but spun around to face him immediately. During his turn he magically picked up a mass of snow next to him and threw it in Starswirl's direction, planning to shower him and rob him of his visibility, if only for a moment. To his surprise, Starswirl didn’t even attempt to dodge and was seemingly unaffected by Atlas’ attack.

“After all, I’m not alone,” Starswirl said to his right. “Don’t forget that I can cast my own brand of magic as well.” He said from Atlas’ left.

Atlas found himself surrounded by three identical looking copies of his friend Starswirl, more appearing with every second that passed, until there was a sea of blue filling the street, with a single gray dot in the center.

“Illusions huh?” Atlas smiled. “Oh, it’s on!”

Atlas immediately created a wall that completely covered him, before pushing it outwards in a wave-like motion. Clone after clone vanished in its wake until Atlas was once again alone on the street. Another snowball hit Atlas in the back of his head and he spun around to find Starswirl standing on a nearby roof. He playfully stuck out his tongue and seemingly vanished shortly after, the snowballs Atlas had sent for him passing through thin air.

“Get back here!” Atlas shouted and began to pursue.

Atlas took a shaky breath as he walked next to Starswirl towards Doc Brown's lab. The cold made his throat hurt with every breath he took, and he couldn’t wait to be back in a warm environment soon.

Their snowball fight had escalated into an all-out snowball war somewhere along the way and Atlas was pretty sure they had smashed a few windows in their carelessness. Luckily they weren’t caught, and although it wasn’t anything to be proud of at their age, they had fun and that was all that counted. It was also a very educational experience for Atlas to see so many Illusion spells in action.

“I can’t wait to get inside,” Starswirl panted. “Also, a warm shower would be nice right about now…”

Atlas found himself agreeing wholeheartedly, but didn’t have it in him to say anything back. His focus was on the door they were approaching. More specifically the door to Doc Brown's lab. He pushed it open with his magic and allowed Starswirl to go in first, following shortly after him and shutting the door to keep the cold at bay. Immediately the warmth of the room caused both of them to release a relaxed breath as they just relished in the fact that they were out of the cold for a moment.

That moment of relaxation was cut short, however, by a chicken running past them while clucking loudly. Both of them stared at the retreating chicken in confusion, as several more ran past them, seemingly running away from something.

“Is this normal?” Starswirl asked with a raised eyebrow.

“I’d love to say that it isn’t, but at this point, I can’t say I’m surprised,” Atlas replied. “Brown Diamond can be a bit… eccentric. Who knows what twisted thing he’s researching this time.”

“I wonder what he needs all these animals for…” Starswirl said, focusing his attention on something to their right.

A few cages could be seen sticking over the chaos that littered the floor all around them, each of them containing a different animal. Now that it was mentioned, Atlas noticed the smell that always came with animals that were gathered in a closed space, as well as the various sounds they made.

“Well, considering he’s the only one that knows where the books currently are in this mess, I guess we’re about to find out,” Atlas said and started to walk towards the animal cages, where he suspected Doc Brown to be.

They rounded a pile of books and came face to face with even more animals in cages. The cages were formed up in a wide circle, which had a complicated looking runic circle drawn on its inside. Finally, at the center, was Doc Brown, currently busy with adding more runes to the array. While Atlas was quite proficient in all things runes, the array that Doc Brown was currently finishing was one he had never seen before, meaning that this must be a newly designed spell. The presence of animals in the room was concerning to Atlas.

“Hey Doc?” Atlas called out to him, not daring to step into the runic circle. “What are you up to? And what are all those animals for?”

Doc Brown visibly jumped at hearing Atlas’ voice, clearly too absorbed in his work to notice the two coming in. He frantically looked around until he spotted Atlas and Starswirl standing outside his circle, eyeing him curiously. Adopting a fake smile and looking uncomfortable with their presence he addressed them.

“Oh hey, Atlas… and Atlas’ friend” He nodded to each of them. “I didn’t expect you here today.” He added with a nervous chuckle. “What brings you by?”

“I wanted to show Starswirl the books on runes…” Atlas explained, now on high alert. Doc Brown was acting way to nervous, meaning he was up to something Atlas would usually stop him from doing. “What’s that array for, Doc?” He asked accusingly.

“What array?” Doc Brown asked obliviously. “Oh this one? Hadn’t even noticed it… weird…”

“Don’t play games with me Doc,” Atlas said calmly. “Just tell me what this circle is for, and why there are so many animals here.”

Atlas’ tone left no room for debate, and Doc Brown knew it, judging by his facial expression. Looking around, Atlas could see that Doc Brown had gathered animals of all shapes and sizes. Chickens, goats, lizards, deer, bats, it even looked like there was a bear tucked away somewhere in the back. He couldn’t see into some of the cages, but the more animals he saw, the more confused Atlas got.

“Well, what is it?” Atlas asked impatiently.

Doc Brown mumbled something incoherent while looking to the ground. He looked like a kid that was caught with his hand in the cookie jar, pawing at the ground with his hoof.

“Speak up!” Atlas demanded.

“I’m conducting an experiment on the effects of runes when applied to living beings!” Doc Brown blurted out.

Starswirl looked slightly disgusted at the statement, but was mostly confused, since he didn’t know much about the subject. Meanwhile, all the color was draining from Atlas’ face. He very clearly remembered the passage in one of the books that explicitly forbade applying runes to anything that lived. On one side it was just cruel, but even worse, it had mostly unpredictable outcomes.

“Doc,” Atlas said determinedly. “Step away from the array…”

“No!” Doc brown called back in a panic. “Can’t you see how valuable this research is? I’ve spent so long perfecting this array!”

By now, Starswirl had picked up on the fact that something was very wrong here. He moved into a stance that would allow him to either run or intervene at a moment's notice.

“What’s going on?” Starswirl whispered to Atlas.

“Whatever happens, we can’t let him complete that array,” Atlas whispered back. “Worst case scenario he blows up the whole academy…”

Starswirl was momentarily stunned, before his face turned serious and he fixated on Doc Brown, ready to act if things went south.

“You know what the books said about this Doc! You’re going to kill us all!” Atlas rebutted.

“No! No, no, no! You don’t understand!” Doc Brown pleaded. “We don’t have all the books, there is bound to be more on this in one of the books we lost! A safe way! I’m sure my array will work Atlas, I’ve been preparing for this moment for weeks now!”

“Doc, I need you to step outside the array,” Atlas said calmly, beckoning for him to come towards him. “If I have to, I’ll stop you from doing this by force. I’m sure neither of us wants that.”

Doc Brown’s face took on a look of betrayal, the nervous smile he had sported up until now vanished from his features. He took one step forward and Atlas let out a breath he had been holding.

“I’m sorry,” Doc Brown said, his horn lighting up.

A single rune was stamped into the floor, right where his recently moved hoof rested, completing one of the many circles. Immediately afterward, a dome-like shield formed around the whole area, encompassing the array, as well as all the animal cages. The spell that Starswirl flung at Doc Brown evaporated uselessly against the shield.

“No!” Atlas shouted. “You can’t do this Doc!”

Time was of the essence now, and Atlas was already flinging combat spells against the shield, which didn’t even flicker slightly under Atlas’ and Starswirls combined efforts. Meanwhile, Doc Brown had returned to his array, adding runes like there was no tomorrow. Which might actually turn out to be true, in this case.

“There’s still time to stop!” Atlas called out desperately. “You don’t have to do this!”

The shield was still being pelted by ice and energy attacks, the noise upsetting all of the animals inside.

“I have to!” Doc Brown shouted back. “Just imagine all the good a spell like this could do! It could save the whole kingdom from starvation, Atlas! Just imagine it… they’re going to write a book about me after this…” Doc Brown cackled after he said this, putting the last rune on the ground.

The whole array lit up in a vivid green for a moment, before dimming itself to a constant soft glow. Atlas could feel the energy in the air, apparently, there were Runes used in the circle that had been gathering mana for a while now.

“You’re insane!” Atlas realized. “You’ve finally gone off the deep end! Listen to me! They won’t write books about you for this! You’re going to kill us all!”

Unaffected by Atlas’ words, Doc Brown went to one of the cages that contained a mountain goat. He opened it up, leading the animal out with his magic and towards the center of the array.

“Do you know a powerful shield spell?” Atlas asked resigned.

“No, you?” Starswirl answered.

“Yeah, just support me…”

With a sad look, Atlas cast a shield spell he’d learned from Amethyst and Starswirl immediately channeled his mana into the spell to make it more stable.

Inside the dome, Doc Brown turned to face Atlas and looked him right in the eyes.

“For the good of our tribe…” Doc Brown said with a straight face, his horn lighting up to activate the array.

Atlas just looked at his long-time co-worker and friend, as the ground began to shake under them. Things were starting to fall over all over the laboratory as the rumbling intensified. Atlas watched as Doc Brown closed his eyes, sure that his spell would succeed, a calm smile appeared on his face again. Soon after, the goat started to shine in a bright light, bathing Atlas’ world in a sea of white, until everything turned black.

Atlas groaned in pain as he woke up. His everything was hurting, and he was pretty sure that he was buried under… something. He opened his eyes to find himself encased in darkness. After taking a moment to try and re-orient himself he started to shimmy around in the tight space he’d found himself in and felt something shift on top of him. He powered up a levitation spell and tried to lift off whatever was on him, only to be assaulted by a blinding pain from his horn. It would seem that he hit it on something, so magic was out of the equation for now.

At least the short burst of levitation caused a chain reaction, and most of the rubble that covered him shifted to the side. The weight on him now was considerably lessened as Atlas hauled himself out of his momentary prison and took a look around.

The lab was in ruins.

Book pages were strewn all over the floor, along with various knick-knacks and pieces of the ceiling which had collapsed partially. Dust was whirling around while a few rays of moonlight managed to pierce the clouds above and illuminate the lab through the holes in the roof.

Apparently, Atlas was buried by bits and pieces of the roof, and judging by the white tail sticking out of the rubble where Atlas was just before, Starswirl suffered a similar fate. Atlas began clearing the debris with his hooves, his body protesting during the process. It didn’t take him long to uncover Starswirl who was still unconscious, but at least he was breathing.

Atlas lightly tapped his cheek with his hoof a few times in an attempt to wake him up. Starswirl didn’t react at all, but at least he was alive. Atlas cleared the rest of the rubble off him and put him into a more comfortable position.

Turning around, Atlas faced ground zero. The roof had collapsed over where Doc had been as well, burying everything under it. The animal cages were deformed and empty, whether they just escaped or simply vanished, Atlas couldn’t tell. No indication of what happened to Doc Brown was readily apparent, so with a sigh, Atlas walked over to the pile and started digging.

At least the whole academy wasn’t blown to kingdom come.

For a good ten minutes, Atlas kept digging around, finding neither hide nor hair of Brown Diamond, or the goat for that matter. At this point, he began to wonder where the guards were. They should have been here by now, collapsing roofs and earthquakes weren’t exactly hard to miss after all. Nonetheless, he kept at his task. It took another five minutes of solitary digging around until he finally found something.

After clearing an especially big rock, he came face to face with a horn. He recognized it, having seen it on the goat just before the… accident. Now his curiosity was piqued, did Doc Brown actually succeed in whatever he was trying to do?

Intrigued he started to unearth the goat at a faster pace, his face growing more and more concerned, the more he unearthed.

After he completely cleared all the rubble, he stared down incredulously. What was currently curled up on the floor before him, sleeping as if nothing was wrong with the world, was certainly no goat. The elongated body seemed to be stitched together from various animal parts. It had tiny wings on its back, the upper half of its body was covered in fur, the lower half in scales and at the tip of its tail was a tuft of white hair. The four limbs it sported were mismatched as well. A bear paw, a chicken leg as a hand, a lizard leg and some hoofed animals leg.

There was no mistaking it, the being that slept in front of Atlas was none other than Discord himself. Chaos made flesh. And to top it all off, he was barely the size of a baby.

Atlas’ eye twitched at the sight. Of all the things that could have come out of this experiment… this was wholly unexpected and Atlas had no idea what he was supposed to do now. As he was contemplating what to do, the small draconequus opened his eyes. Two yellow orbs with red irises settled on Atlas’ form, eying him curiously. Atlas stared back nervously since pretty much anything could happen in the presence of Discord, no matter how big he was.

“Ma-ma?” Discord said curiously with a childlike innocence.

Atlas reeled back at the single word that was spoken, his eyes widening in surprise.

“Ma-ma?” Discord asked again, his eyes fixated on Atlas, who slowly started to piece together what had happened.

“Ahh, shit.”

Author's Note

Wot a tweest! This was a lot of fun to write, I hope you enjoyed it. I can imagine this being a bit controversial, but I'm sure it'll work out :3

On a side-note, I've decided to split the story into three parts, instead of keeping it as one long-ass story. We're approaching the first break, and the decision had to be made. In light of that change, I've created a group called "Divine Universe" which you'll find a link to below. I hope the group will help with transitioning readers over to the new story. For those not interested in groups, I'll make it as obvious as possible for anybody when the sequel comes out.

Once again, thanks to my editor Azriel and my proofreader Kilobytes for a job well done! Further thanks to Soren Mercer for helping out as well.

Today's chapter was brought to you by this song.

Come join us in the Discord channel! Lonk

Or the official Divine Entertainment group! Divine Universe

61. Chaos Incarnate

Scholar Arc
Year 18, Month 2, Day 12

“Ahh shit,” Atlas sighed.

Atlas stared down at the little eldritch bundle of cute that was currently crawling towards him on four mismatched limbs. Aside from the fact that the actual Discord just appeared after the magical SNAFU of the century, Atlas had the sneaking suspicion that Doc Brown had somehow been transformed into some pseudo-god.

“Mamma?” Baby Discord asked again, doing his best to crawl towards Atlas.

To make matters worse, it seemed Discord thought that Atlas was his mother.

Was there even anything left of Brown Diamond inside there? Whatever the case may be, Atlas made a mental note to follow the warning he’d received about runes, lest a similar fate befalls him. Or at the very least he’d make sure to stay outside of the runic array…

While Atlas thought about the various implications of the situation, tiny Discord finally arrived at his destination, which is to say, Atlas’ left front leg. The miniature Discord teetered unsteadily as he worked to stand up, he almost fell before managing to stabilize himself with his tail at the last second and wrapped his arms around the leg of his presumed mother.

“Awww…” Atlas said involuntarily.

He did look mostly harmless, vulnerable even. Maybe, just maybe, the Discord before him wasn’t evil in the slightest. If he could grow up in a controlled environment and live a fulfilled life, a lot of suffering could be averted in the future. Chaos magic could apparently bend the very fabric of reality, which would most certainly come in useful.

Atlas furrowed his brow at the thought. In the show, Discord was able to do pretty much whatever he wanted, no matter how impossible it seemed. In combination with what Atlas knew about his current situation, it would seem like Discord was able to manipulate the prison on some level. Atlas looked down at the draconequus hugging his leg, seeing him in a whole new light. Discord could be invaluable as an ally for whenever the final showdown between the gods went down… whatever that meant.

Just as he thought about this, he heard the door behind him open with a creak, immediately followed by the sound of it falling off its hinges and hitting the floor.

“Hello?” A voice called out. “Is anypony in here?”

“Over here!” Atlas called back.

He could hear two distinct sets of hooves making their way over to him. Judging by the metallic clinking sound they produced, Atlas didn’t really have to hazard a guess at the pair being guards. Soon enough, two guards came into view, running towards him as soon as they spotted him.

“Mr. Atlas? Are you okay? What happened here?” The left guard asked, his eyes scanning the vicinity and eventually landing on Discord, causing his eyebrows to reach unexplored areas on his face. “And what is that?” He said, pointing at the weird amalgamation of animal parts.

“That’s… a long story,” Atlas said, dodging the question. “More importantly, I believe my friend Starswirl over there is in need of medical assistance.”

The guards followed the direction that Atlas’ free hoof pointed at, and spotted the still unconscious Starswirl. The left guard immediately rushed over to check up on him, while the right guard stayed with Atlas.

“Where is Doc Brown? Was he here when… whatever happened here, happened?” The guard asked concerned. “I’m sorry we didn’t come sooner, but explosions aren’t exactly unusual around here, we only noticed something was wrong when we passed by on our patrol…”

“You mean you didn’t feel the earthquake?” Atlas asked incredulously.

“Earthquake?” The guard blinked owlishly at Atlas, obviously not knowing what he was talking about.

“Nevermind then,” Atlas said resigned. “As for the Doc, that’s a long story as well. But I highly suspect that this,” Atlas pointed down at Discord, “is him.”

Atlas made sure to give him the most deadpan face ever, to make sure that the guard didn’t assume this to be a joke. The guard, in turn, alternated between looking at baby Discord and the most serious face that had ever existed until he shook his head with a sigh.

“I guess I’ll need you to come with me and file a report on this,” the guard stated. “This is way out of my realm of expertise, and I’m sure the higher ups would want to know about this.”

“Alright, but what about Starswirl?” Atlas asked, looking over to where the other guard was inspecting the unconscious unicorn.

“He’s in good hooves, my partner has a medical background,” the guard explained. “Please follow me.”

His worries placated, for now, Atlas attempted to walk with the guard but found it to be a lot harder than usual, considering something heavy was clinging to his left leg. He looked down, his eyes meeting Discord’s, which was looking up curiously.

“Could you, like… not?” Atlas asked, unsure of what to do.

Discord’s answer to the question was to just turn his head in confusion, reminding Atlas of a small puppy. With a sigh, Atlas channeled a small amount of magic through his horn as a test and found that the pain was mostly gone now. So he plucked Discord from his leg with telekinesis and transferred him to his back, where he immediately curled up and fell asleep. Glad that “Spike Tactics” worked on Draconequus babies too, Atlas followed after the waiting guard. If he had to lug Discord around, he’d at least make it more comfortable for both of them.

As they left the building, Atlas looked back at the lab. The building looked like it had aged by a few centuries, with nobody looking after it. The roof had collapsed, all the windows were broken and shards of glass and pieces of the walls littered the snow. Doc Brown was at least for the moment presumably gone for good, replaced with an unpredictable wildcard and Atlas blamed himself for it.

The signs were there, maybe he could have done something if he’d just been there for his friend. Now that he thought back on the past few weeks, months even, he really should have noticed that something was wrong with Brown Diamond. If only he had seen the signs...

Hindsight was a bitch.

Scholar Arc
Year 18, Month 2, Day 13

Atlas strode through a hallway in one of the kingdoms many hospitals. He was awfully familiar with it since he had been admitted a few times here and he associated some unpleasant memories with the place. The smell of disinfectant permeated the building, and was irritating his sensitive nose as he passed by nurses, doctors, and patients alike; quite a few recognizing and greeting him with a smile.

His destination was the room at the very end of this particular hallway, where Starswirl was currently recovering. Apparently, he’d suffered from severe magical exhaustion, combined with some slight head trauma from a bit of collapsing roof that had landed on him. The injuries weren’t too serious, but the doctors decided to keep him for observation over the next couple days just in case.

Atlas, on the other hand, was still dealing with a constant headache he’d had since yesterday. The scientists they met after the accident were extremely interested in the draconequus, and wanted to study him. Since Atlas had some bad memories concerning overeager scientists, he high-tailed it out of there as soon as he was allowed to, leaving behind a crying Discord that was calling for his ‘momma.’

Just one more thing on the list of things Atlas didn’t really want to deal with.

Arriving at his destination, he knocked a few times before opening the door and entering into the sparsely furnished room. Of the four beds inside, three were currently occupied, the unicorns occupying them briefly looking up in excitement when Atlas entered, before being disappointed that the visitor wasn’t for them. Staying at a hospital could get extremely boring, especially when no one had invented devices like the phone or laptop yet.

Aside from a short acknowledging nod, Atlas ignored them and made his way over to Starswirl’s bed, next to the window, only to find he already had a visitor.

Starswirl was currently engaged in a lively discussion with a young looking mare. Her coat was a pure white and her mane a two-toned green, with the darker color being more prominent. Two bright green clovers rested on her flanks, giving Atlas an idea of who she might be.

Just then, Starswirl spotted Atlas coming towards them and excitedly waved him over.

“Atlas!” He exclaimed happily. “Good to see you in one piece! Nopony wanted to tell me what happened after the explosion, I was beginning to fear the worst.”

“Don’t you worry, all of my limbs are still firmly attached where they should be,” Atlas chuckled and sat down next to the mare. “Which I’m afraid, I can’t say about Brown Diamond…”

“Oh,” Starswirl's face adopted a more sober expression, “what happened to him?”

“The spell went haywire and apparently everything within its area of effect was melded together into one being…”

“So all the animals…” Starswirl left the question unfinished as he thought about the implications.

“I’m afraid Doc Brown is gone, instead we have to deal with a completely new kind of...being that took his place,” Atlas explained somberly. “It seems to be sapient, but behaves like a little foal, barely able to talk…” Atlas paused for dramatic effect, “and it seems to think I’m it’s mother,” he deadpanned.

Starswirl barely suppressed a laugh and Atlas could see the presumed Clover shaking slightly, apparently holding back her mirth as well.

“That’s… that’s terrible,” Starswirl said, although his face betrayed his words. It took him a few moments, but he sobered up after a while. “What are they doing with it?”

“I presume there’s a swarm of knowledge-hungry researchers all over the poor thing,” Atlas said. “Trust me, those guys don’t really play nice when they want to know something…” He shuddered.

Anal was supposed to be a fun and intimate thing.

“I guess we’ll have to wait until they have their first results until we know what’s going on exactly,” Starswirl said. “While we have to wait anyway, why don’t I introduce you to my daughter, Clover? I believe I haven’t mentioned her yet.”

If Atlas had been drinking something, the liquid would leave his mouth under great pressure right now. As it was, the only sign of his surprise was a slight twitch of his right eye.

“Well, that’s one headcanon gone…” Atlas muttered under his breath.

“Hi, I’m Clover,” the mare introduced herself again, holding out her hoof. “Pleased to meet you, my father has told me some good things about you.”

Clover smiled brightly as Atlas shook her hoof, his mind thoroughly blown. He’d have to adjust his notebook after what he just learned.

“The pleasure is all mine,” Atlas replied.

“I’ve told her about our discussions, and she’s told me that she’d be greatly interested in learning more about runes as well,” Starswirl explained. “The information you’ve put out was scarce after all.”

“Well, the craft is far from being perfected yet. We’ll still have to do a lot more tests to make the techniques a public domain.” Atlas retorted.

“Didn’t stop you from selling stuff made with them, though,” Clover replied with a smirk.

“We did put a warning label on it that says to not try and recreate it,” Atlas defended himself.

“Didn’t stop a lot of ponies from trying,” Starswirl said, “I know quite a few unicorns that had patches of fur burned off from the resulting explosions.”

All of them broke out in a bout of laughter at the expense of overly curious individuals.

“So what’s your field of expertise?” Atlas asked Clover, interested in learning more about Starswirl's daughter.

“I don’t really have one,” Clover stated. “I have a magic affinity and just kind of dabble in anything that seems interesting. My father gives me a lot of private lessons after school, so I guess you could say I’m his apprentice?” She looked towards her father with a questioning look.

“I mean, I guess?” Starswirl answered and furrowed his brows in thought. “I never really thought about it that way.”

“Alright,” Atlas said. At least that part fit the canon description. “So what are you studying right now?”

“High-level manipulation spells,” Clover answered. “I also do a bit of foalsitting on the side.”

“How old are you again?” Atlas asked curiously.

“I’m twenty-four,” Clover answered diligently.

“Wow, that’s pretty early to be studying high-level spells,” Atlas commented with a raised eyebrow.

“Yes, my Clover is a clever girl!” Starswirl proclaimed proudly. “She mastered illusions when she was only seventeen!”

“Impressive,” Atlas said intrigued. “So why the foalsitting? Wouldn’t you be better off studying or researching more?”

Just then, a ruckus outside their door interrupted their conversation. They could hear ponies yelling something, but couldn’t really make out what was said. The shouts were accompanied by the laughter of what sounded like a young child and things falling over. Apparently, someone's foal was having a little too much fun out there.

“Please wait for us, your highness!”

Atlas shot his friend a confused look who just stared back at him smiling. What the hell was royalty doing in the hospital? Just as Atlas asked himself that question the door to their room flew open with a crash, startling the occupants. A young filly with a white coat and pink, curly hair rocketed into the room, making a bee-line for Clover.

“Clover!” She called out with excitement in her voice.

“Platinum!” Clover called back and opened her forelegs wide to allow the filly to jump into the hug, which she promptly did to the effect of almost knocking Clover over with her speed.

Atlas was still processing what exactly was happening when two out of breath guards rounded into their room, looking around frantically for something. Their eyes landed on the filly in Clover’s embrace laughing happily and both of them let out a sigh of relief.

“Your highness, please don’t run off like that,” one of the guards reprimanded the filly as they walked over to their little gathering. “We can’t protect you like this.”

“You don’t need to protect me!” The filly exclaimed proudly. “I’m too fast for anypony to catch me.”

Atlas was confused as all hell. He couldn’t understand why the royal foal, of all ponies, would storm into Starswirl's hospital room and act so friendly towards Clover as if they were the bestest of friends. Starswirl, on the other hand, was looking on with mirth, especially enjoying the confusion written all over Atlas’ face.

“I’m sorry Lord Starswirl, when she heard what happened she insisted on visiting you,” the guard explained to the bedridden unicorn.

“Oh? Don’t worry about it, it always cheers me up to see little Platinum,” Starswirl replied. “Clover as well, of course.”

“Lord Starswirl…” Atlas mouthed the words he just heard, but couldn’t quite put two and two together yet.

His eyes darted from the filly Platinum to their guards, to Starswirl, then Clover and back towards Platinum. Then Starswirl again, followed by the guards and Clover, before briefly resting on the guards again. A bird flew by the window, catching his attention, before he took some time to stare at Starswirl a little longer, then the guards and Clover again, holding the royal foal before it finally all made sense.

“Wait! You’re nobility?” Atlas asked Starswirl, accusingly pointing a hoof at his friend.

“Why yes, as is Clover by proxy,” Starswirl answered nonchalantly. “If you haven’t figured it out, Clover tends to babysit this little bundle of joy over there in her free time.”

Atlas looked towards Platinum in shock, who was eying him curiously, as if his presence was just made aware to her by his little outburst. After spending some time looking Atlas up and down, she moved out of Clover's gentle embrace and took a tentative step towards Atlas.

“Your cutie mark looks weird,” she stated matter of factly before booping his nose and returning to Clover to tell her what she had done today.

Meanwhile, Atlas’ brain decided to execute an emergency shut-down, the royal boop having been just too much after the many revelations of the last few minutes.

Scholar Arc
Year 18, Month 2, Day 14

Atlas sat on his chair, at his table inside the living room of his home. All of these things belonged to him, but they were currently being invaded in the worst imaginable way. He took a sip of his coffee, which tasted weirdly like ice cream, as a banana flew by, flapping its peel-like wings. With a sigh, he watched as his ice cream-coffee slowly started to leak upwards and out of the cup, towards the ground.

Coincidentally, all of his furniture was currently glued to the ceiling; Atlas himself being upside down in his chair. Across the table from him was an excited Discord, giggling happily as he made his teacup perform a race against the sugar bowl which spread its contents literally everywhere. Atlas was pretty sure he even saw some of it phase through the wall and outside.

Shortly after Atlas had returned home yesterday, to recover from the mental strain the day had put on him, a knock had resounded through his empty home. After opening the door, Discord was practically shoved inside, along with a note. Whoever brought him here immediately took off running after accomplishing his task, leaving a very confused Atlas being hugged by a very happy baby Discord.

After giving up on dislodging him from his neck, he chose to ignore his happy cries of ‘Mamma! Mamma!’ and read the note. Apparently, Discord had been raising hell at the academy, crying for his mother and generally accomplishing magical feats that should by all means and purposes be, impossible. They finally gave up after a whole building was transformed into wobbly jello and decided to give the unhappy baby what it wanted.

Which was apparently Atlas, a.k.a Discords “Mother”.

Of course, having a unicorn with uncontrolled magic in one's home was pretty bad. If said unicorn was a draconequus, and said magic of the chaos type, the situation was infinitely worse. The saving grace, for now, was that nothing had blown up yet; in fact, it didn’t seem like anything had broken at all. Instead, Atlas’ furniture was disabled in other, more creative ways.

One of his cupboards was currently playing a violin, made of water mind you, in a corner, while the cutlery was apparently electing a president in the kitchen.

The spork seemed to be winning.

“Listen, Discord,” Atlas began, trying to hold a rational discussion with a small child, which just happened to be the future Lord of Chaos. “Could you please return things to normal? This has been going on all night and I’d really like to have some peace and quiet for my morning coffee.”

Atlas was aware that his point was sort of moot, since his non-coffee had long since evacuated his cup and was currently dancing ballet to the sounds of the cupboards’ concert, but he felt it necessary to bring up anyway. Discord just stared at him with eyes that were literally as big as saucers, making him look even more creepy than he already was.

“Discord?” he asked confusedly.

“Yes, Discord, that’s your name,” Atlas stated as if the draconequus should have known.

“I, Discord?” he asked, with his lion paw pointed at himself.

Atlas realized that nopony had bothered giving him a name until now. The others probably didn’t really care and Atlas just assumed his name was Discord because he knew what was going on. Should he use this opportunity to give him a less hostile name?

“Umm… no, actually your name’s… Tim.”

“I Discord!” Discord said, his tone of voice fluctuating as if it was auto-tuned.

He jumped up and down in his seat, a feat which seemed impossible considering they were currently hanging from the ceiling. Atlas had long since given up on rationalizing anything that was currently happening, but he was still being constantly surprised.

Apparently the plan to give him another name failed spectacularly, as the table between them morphed to spell the word: “Discord”. The sugar that was floating around melted into caramel and exploded like tiny brown fireworks, celebrating the occasion.

Just then, the spork declared war on the rune-fridge, attacking by throwing the forks among his people like spears.

Atlas sighed as he looked around his living room which was currently devolving into insanity.

“This is going to be a long day…”

Author's Note

Hurray for shenanigans. I finally have an outlet for my insanity :3

Once again, thanks to my editor Azriel and my proofreader Kilobytes for a job well done! Further thanks to Soren Mercer for helping out as well.

Today's chapter was brought to you by this song.

Come join us in the Discord channel! Lonk

Or the official Divine Entertainment group! Divine Universe

62. Discord

Scholar Arc
Year 18, Month 2, Day 21

One week.

One week of constant chaos and close to no sleep.

Atlas felt like he was dead on his hooves. The lack of sleep was proving to be his worst enemy given the current situation. He was sure that his heart would hand in it’s two week notice any minute now. Considering what was currently happening around him, it might even do so literally.

Watching over Discord quickly proved to be a full-time job, given that the little demon apparently didn’t sleep. Ever. The few times where Atlas actually managed to fall asleep, he was awaken soon after by… something inevitably happening. The amount of impossible things his feeble mind had had to witness the past week, was for lack of a better word unimaginable, and yet there was a great deal more to come.

By now, he wasn’t even expected to turn up at work. His new mission, as was ordered by the higher ups, was to “study” the anomaly Discord and send the results back for evaluation.

Starswirl came over a few times after he was discharged from the hospital, but never stayed for more than an hour, not that Atlas could blame him. Apparently he valued his sanity too much to stay longer. Crimson and Blue Current visited as well, but left soon after for similar reasons. Their daughter loved it though and would probably have stayed forever if they let her.

Atlas didn’t even bat an eye as an eye-bat flew past him, smashed into the wall and left an ink splotch on the stone, that was unsettlingly successful at dripping up towards the ceiling. He’d made his way towards the kitchen, desperate for some coffee, passing a happily floating Discord on his way.

“Might I get one coffee, please?” He asked the spoon behind the counter, which nodded enthusiastically and signed for his comrades to prepare the beverage.

The cutleries civilisation was flourishing, though sadly, as a side-effect, they had completely taken over the kitchen. They had buildings, small fields and even some rudimentary transportation. Much to Atlas’ relief they actually planted coffee beans, how they got them to grow, he didn’t know, and neither did he care. All that mattered was that it tasted alright.

He absent-mindedly registered that there apparently was a parade in honor of President Spork, who had been in office for a solid week now. It seemed to be a good ruler. Thankfully, the spoons had gotten pretty good at their craft and he didn’t have to wait for a long time to get his coffee. He threw a few marbles on the counter, which they used as currency in their little country.

Atlas was glad that he technically had an infinite supply of marbles, since due to Discord’s wild magic he was literally losing them all the time, finding them later all around the flat.

He turned around, finding that the dimensions of his abode had once again changed. His living room was currently a good sixty feet long, the table and chairs of Atlas’ desire now way too far away for his liking. With a sigh he made his way towards them anyway, glad of the fact that he’d somehow managed to tame the chairs after they had gone rogue about three days ago and let himself get comfortable on one of them, setting his fish-shaped mug down on the table, which still spelled out “Discord”.

As always, it didn’t take long for Discord to join him on the other side of the table. This behaviour was pretty much the only constant he had shown for the past week. Whenever Atlas would sit down at the table, Discord would join him. The chaos around them wouldn’t stop, but it toned down a little, most likely because Discord was focusing most of his attention on Atlas. As a result, Atlas had spent a lot of time sitting at the table.

As always, Discord just sat there, curiously staring at Atlas, as if he was waiting for Atlas to do… something. What that was, or if that statement was even true, Atlas didn’t know.

With a sigh, he levitated his cup and drank some of the heavenly liquid called coffee. By now, he mainly enjoyed it for it’s taste, since his excessive consumption of the drug had given him some weird resistance against the caffeine. Either that, or he was just too tired for it to effectively work anymore.

“I eagerly await the day where all of this…” Atlas tiredly gestured towards the entirety of the chaos around them, “... will stop.”

Atlas blinked and suddenly everything around him was back to normal. The living room had reverted back to it’s regular size, and no weird animals were running around anymore. He craned his neck to look behind him, finding that the spork civilisation seemed to have fallen, leaving behind only a normal kitchen, littered with spoons, knifes, forks and one spork.

“Seriously?” Atlas asked incredulously. “All I had to do was ask nicely?”

Of course Atlas had asked Discord to stop before, or rather, demanded it from him. There might have even been an instance where he had begged. Yet, weirdly enough the one that finally got him to stop, was the off-hand comment. Atlas just didn’t understand what was going on anymore. He’d gotten so used to chaos all around him that the normalcy weirded him out a bit.

Discord, meanwhile, just sat opposite of Atlas with a tilted head, observing what Atlas was doing. He seemed like a normal child all of the sudden, so Atlas decided to take his chances at teaching Discord a valuable lesson.

“Hey, Discord, do you know what sleep is? It’s tons of fun!” Atlas said with faux excitement, in an attempt to make sleeping sound more interesting.

“Sleep?” Discord asked, letting the newly learned word roll of his tongue.

“Yes, sleep. When you feel tired, you allow your body to completely relax and gather power for the next day. And you know what the best part about it is? Dreams!” Atlas said excitedly. “It’s like watching a movie in your head, where anything… is… possible…” Derailing himself by realizing that Discord could do that while being awake anyway, Atlas wanted to facehoof so badly, yet he resisted the urge. Discord was a baby, he didn’t need to know that he was getting duped.

“Fun?” Discord asked curiously.

“Yes, lots and lots of fun,” Atlas replied. “I can show you how to do it if you want.”

Discord seemed to ponder the proposition while Atlas showed him his best awkward smile. It was a miracle that he seemed to understand roughly what Atlas had said to him, even though he was barely able to talk himself, yet Atlas wasn’t about to look a gift pony in the mouth.

“Sleep!” Discord said after a short while, opting to not float and instead spread out his arms in front of him, apparently wanting to be picked up.

Atlas complied, the promise of sweet, sweet sleep causing him to not care about anything right then. Atlas got up from his chair and levitated Discord onto his back before walking towards the bedroom. He set Discord down on the pillow that once belonged to Belle, the small creature just big enough to fit completely without spilling over. Atlas himself walked over towards his side and immediately tucked himself under the blanket.

Discord observed what Atlas was doing, and after some time simply decided to curl up on the pillow like some overgrown snake.

“Now just close your eyes, calm down and let your body relax, sleep will come to you before you know it…” Atlas said, stifling a yawn.

Discord did as he was told and Atlas was internally cheering. He’d gone too long without a good night's sleep.

“Good night, Discord,” Atlas said closing his eyes.

“Night, mama,” Discord answered.

“No, no, it’s papa,” Atlas answered absentmindedly, already half asleep.

His eyes shot open once more as his own statement confused himself. He looked at Discord who apparently had already mastered the complicated art of “sleep”, judging by his slowly moving chest. It didn’t seem like Discord heard him, so Atlas closed his eyes once more.

“Fuck it, I’m too tired to deal with this right now...,” Atlas said before letting out a huge yawn.

This wasn’t how Atlas thought he’d become a parent.

Not at all.

Scholar Arc
Year 20, Month 7, Day 16

“But why won’t you let me go outside, daddy?” Discord asked in a whining voice.

Atlas and Discord were both sitting at the living room table, which had long ago been returned to its normal form. While Atlas was sipping on his coffee and reading the newspaper, Discord was trying to convince his presumed father to let him go outside for once.

“You know just as well as I do that I couldn’t really stop you if you wanted to,” Atlas replied. “But for now it’d be a lot better for all of us if you stayed inside, at the very least until you have full control over your powers.”

Discord sighed and let his head rest on the table, boredom evident on his face. By this point he hadn’t grown a whole lot, mostly getting longer and less chubby. He was still pretty small, barely reaching higher than Atlas’ chest. One part that definitely matured by a large margin was his mind.

For just being a four year old Discord had displayed an incredible talent for learning things. Talking full sentences barely took him half a year, and the common sense Atlas had been trying to hammer inside him ever since then, seemed to have taken root as well. The one problem still persisting though, was that Discord’s chaos magic could still be unpredictable sometimes, but they were working on that.

Sometimes he wondered if Discord’s mental maturity had something to do with the fact that the spell that created him, literally absorbed Doc Brown. It was entirely possible that he retained some of the knowledge that once belonged to the goofy unicorn and was slowly starting to manifest itself, although memories seemed to be exempt from this.

“Why are other ponies scared of me?” Discord asked.

Atlas winced a little when he remembered a particular event that happened about a year ago. Thinking the chaos magic was mostly under control, Atlas had decided to finally go outside with Discord for a little change of pace. The outside world was supposed to be a new experience for the little Draconequus and at first it was. Even though they were getting a lot of odd looks, or more specifically, Discord was, it was an enjoyable outing.

As fate would have it, the fear of the unknown and unusual decided to manifest itself in the form of one elderly unicorn. He’d seemed offended by the mere existence of the being that was Discord, and told everypony in the vicinity just exactly what he thought of the “abomination” happily riding on Atlas’ back.

The whole ordeal stressed Discord out, ultimately resulting in a surge that wreaked, well… havoc.

Word spread quickly, making ponies afraid of some presumed monster that didn’t really exist, and Discord was henceforth seen as little more than a danger to those around him. The incident even resulted in an order to keep Discord inside until he was completely in control of his powers.

“Ponies are afraid of the unknown, Discord,” Atlas explained. “Your kind of magic is new and somewhat unpredictable, and that can be scary for a lot of ponies. Technically, it’s changing everything they thought was true about magic and turning it upside down. Sometimes literally.”

“But I never hurt anypony,” Discord whined.

“I know, Discord, but fear is oftentimes irrational,” Atlas said. “Listen, we’ll figure out how your magic works exactly, and when we do, we’ll show them how incredibly wrong they were about you. Sound good?”

Discord brightened up a little after hearing Atlas’ encouraging words, a small smile appearing on his face.

“Yeah!” Discord agreed.

“Alright then, why don’t you go and get ready for your magic lesson? I’ll be with you shortly.” Atlas replied, turning the page of his newspaper.

“Will do! Thanks, daddy!” Discord said while jumping off his chair and taking off towards the previously unused room, that was now used as an improvised classroom.

Looking past his newspaper Atlas watched Discord eagerly run on his mismatched feet. A smile appeared on his face, the thirst for knowledge reminding him of Doc Brown.

The small being had really grown on him over the past two years.

Scholar Arc
Year 23, Month 4, Day 12

“Don’t run off too far!” Blue Current called after the two playing children.

Atlas sat beside her on a park bench, watching the kids as well. Ever since he and Discord figured out how to control the latter’s chaos magic, they went outside a lot more. While apprehensive at first, the other ponies quickly realized that Discord wasn’t a real danger to anypony anymore, so they left the two of them well enough alone.

Since Discord and Green Lantern liked to play with each other, Blue Current and Atlas intended to give them as many chances to do so as possible. Just like today, where they had a scheduled a playdate for their two kids.

By now Atlas was comfortable with calling Discord his son.

The sun was high in the sky, the blue canvas only disturbed by a few stray clouds as spring started to officially settle in. Even though the weather seemed perfect, it was still quite cold for this time of the year, but the unnatural chill didn’t really bother anypony.

“Thanks for letting Green Lantern play with Discord, by the way,” Atlas said.

Even though they were mostly left alone, most ponies still thought that Discord was something that shouldn’t be, and mostly avoided them whenever possible.

“Oh, don’t you start this again!” Blue Current complained. “You say this everytime we meet up, and I tell you everytime that I don’t care what the others think. Discord is such a sweet little guy, even if he looks a little weird.”

“Yes, yes, I know,” Atlas said in a monotone voice, “but I still feel the need to thank you for it. Green Lantern is pretty much the only friend Discord has that’s his own age, so being able to meet up like this means a lot to him… and me.” He added that last part as an afterthought.

“Well, our little Lantern doesn’t seem to mind, in fact, she thinks Discord is pretty funny, what with his special kind of magic and what-not,” Blue Current said. “Again, do I have to tell you this every time? I’d think by now the message would have sunk into that thick head of yours.”

“True enough,” Atlas chuckled, “I’ll try to not bring it up again. It’s just, Discord and I have spent so much time alone, even though you guys tried to visit often, that it’s just strange to finally be out and about again.”

“I understand, truly I do,” Blue Current said. “Just know that me and Crimson are your friends, and we’ll always be here for you. There’s also Starswirl and even Amber and Amethyst, even though they’re always away on some deployment.”

“I just wish Belle was here to see all of this,” Atlas sighed. “She’d would have loved Discord.”

“Of that, I’m certain,” Blue Current confirmed.

A comfortable silence fell over the two parents, and they were contempt with just watching their kids play. Apparently, there was a game of tag going on, with Discord chasing the green pegasus filly all over the place, apparently banned from teleporting to create a more even playing field.

“Will they let you teach again?” Blue Current suddenly asked.

“Yeah, when the next school year starts I’ll be back at it again, now that Discord isn’t considered a threat anymore,” Atlas replied. “I’ll just have to find somepony to keep an eye on Discord while I’m gone. Or, who knows? Maybe he’ll manage on his own? He is quite mature for his age…”

“I’ll be glad to watch over him, whenever you need me to,” Blue Current offered. “My work times are really flexible, and I’m looking after Green Lantern anyway, one more foal wouldn’t make a difference.”

“Thanks, I’ll be sure to let you know,” Atlas responded.

Since Atlas was still technically serving in the guard and his job of keeping Discord from turning the lonely mountain into a gigantic cake had ended, he was required to take up his old position as a teacher again. Sure, he had barely been on the job more than a month when the accident happened, but this time would be different. As things looked right now, He’d most likely serve the rest of his time at the academy. Maybe even longer than that, if he really liked it.

Scholar Arc
Year 28, Month 12, Day 10

King Gold Bar sends out his daughter, Princess Platinum, on a Journey to find new habitable lands in the newest effort to preserve the kingdom.

Read the latest news on the current situation on page two

Atlas read the headline for today's newspaper with mild interest. He activated his levitation spell and used it to pull out a small book from a nearby bookcase. The blue, hard-paper bound book lazily floated over to him and lazily opened itself. After setting down at the table, the pages started to flip through, revealing page after page filled with neatly organized notes until eventually stopping at what seemed to be a crude timeline.

Atlas levitated some ink and a quill over to himself, dipped the ink into the quill and marked the second entry on the timeline with an ‘X’.

X Princess Platinum leaves for Equestria

He closed the book, which contained everything he still remembered of the My Little Pony show from earth and put it back in it’s spot on the shelf with his magic.

While the book exclusively contained knowledge about the show at first, it had long since been joined by other things Atlas didn’t want to forget. Such as the names of his friends, important historical events not mentioned by the show, and lastly a picture of Belle.

The door suddenly flew open, a gust of wind blowing a flurry of snow and a disheveled looking Discord inside. After a snap from Discords eagle claw, the door returned to being closed in the blink of an eye and all of the snow was cleared, as if it had never been inside in the first place.

“I know you said it’ll get even colder than last year, but I thought you were bluffing dad,” Discord said, shaking himself like a dog to get the last of the snow off himself.

“Well, the cold will only get worse until we leave,” Atlas said. “We’ll just have to deal with it in the meantime.”

Discord had stumbled upon Atlas’ book of notes at one point when Atlas was at work and read the whole thing. Of course, a lot of questions were waiting for Atlas once he’d gotten home. Questions he couldn’t really ignore. Backed into a corner, he decided to tell Discord everything, even though he was only twelve years old. Thinking that at least his own son deserved to know the whole truth, Atlas told him everything, from once being a human to what the gods did to him.

Young Discord was quite fascinated by the whole story and promised to keep it a secret, even from Green Lantern and her mother. This officially brought the count of ponies who knew everything about Atlas back up to two.

“Can’t we just leave now?” Discord complained, snapping away his warm clothes. “You know where this Equestria place is, right?”

“Sadly, I do not,” Atlas replied. “I just know that it’s somewhere out there and that Princess Platinum will find it for us. We’ll just have to be patient and wait. Look, apparently she already left, so it won’t be too long now.”

Atlas turned the newspaper so Discord could see it and the Draconequus eagerly read the headline.

“Thank god!” He exclaimed dramatically, the expression being something he had picked up from Atlas. “It really shouldn’t be snowing all year long, that’s just… unnatural.”

Atlas chuckled a bit, the irony of Discord being the one who uttered these words not being lost on him. Discord, meanwhile, walked over to the kitchen to put away the groceries which he just came back from buying.

Sometimes Atlas thought he lived together with a roommate instead of a young child, the intelligence of Discord astounding him everyday. By now, he was pretty sure that some of Doc Brown was leaking through, since Discord had taken on some of his tendencies and quirks.

Atlas turned the page and returned to reading the article.

The long winter still continues and doesn’t show any signs of stopping. The cause of the freezing temperatures are, as of yet, still unknown. While our magic experts are still feverishly searching for the cause, as well as a solution, King Gold Bar seems to assume the worst.

Just today he sent his daughter on a quest to find a new land with a warmer climate for our country. Accompanying the princess is her well known advisor, Clover the Clever and a contingent of guards.

Let’s hope that their journey will prove to be a success...For all our sakes.

The rest of the article was mainly describing the send-off ceremony that was held and potential routes that were discussed beforehand. Atlas skimmed over the boring parts until he reached the end, where a small box was dedicated to news from the other tribes.

Talks between the three tribes have fallen through. While the recent meeting was supposed to shed a new light on the situation, the present heads of the respective tribes merely used the chance to blame each other for the situation.

Of all ponies, the loudest was Chancellor Puddinghead, who was overheard loudly accusing the unicorns and pegasi of working together against the earth ponies. Furthermore, she seemed convinced that the sickness that claimed Queen Eventide last year leaving their country in shambles was brewed up by the unicorns in a plot to enslave the earth ponies.

Her wild accusations and, admittedly random tangents, riled up Commander Hurricane as well as Princess Platinum, resulting in all parties leaving the negotiation table prematurely.

Whoever this Chancellor Puddinghead was, she seemed to be unfit to rule a country. Apparently, after the Queen died of some “mysterious” illness, she took over state affairs by announcing herself as the new de-facto leader. Since Eventide didn’t leave behind a successor and Puddinghead had been a close advisor of the Queen, nopony had seen a problem with it.

Something they regretted soon after, since Puddinghead only drove their tribe into corner after corner before ultimately resorting to blaming the unicorns and pegasi. A sentiment the blatantly racist earth ponies picked up gladly.

Putting the newspaper away, Atlas floated over a piece of paper as well as his ink and quill. He began compiling a list of things he needed to prepare for when the inevitable move happened. Furthermore, he wrote down the titles of books he planned to “save” from their cold fate and spells he wanted to learn before leaving. It would be impossible to bring along the entire royal library, though he was sure the librarians would try, so he had to cram in as much studying as he could before a lot of knowledge was inevitably lost forever.

The clock had just begun ticking, and time was running out.

Author's Note

So, since the whole Discord addition was a relatively new addition to my plans, this chapter wasn't included in my roadmap. As a result I almost skipped ahead ten years without even caring, but then I realized that you guys would probably lynch me if I didn't commit at least one chapter to Discords development/growing up.

The end is nigh.(neigh?)

Once again, thanks to my editor Azriel and my proofreader Kilobytes for a job well done! Further thanks to Soren Mercer for helping out as well.

Today's chapter was brought to you by this song.

Come join us in the Discord channel! Lonk

Or the official Divine Entertainment group! Divine Universe

63. Towards Greener Pastures

!Important Author’s Note!
Just as a heads up, this is the last chapter of this story! More details in the Author’s Note at the end, make sure to read it! You’ll also find a link to the sequel there.

Scholar Arc
Year 32, Month 8, Day 2

Atlas pulled a red book out of the shelf, which was coated in a thin layer of ice. The spine of the book suffered the same fate, although, luckily the pages seemed to be alright for now. He put it into his saddlebags, which were bigger on the inside thanks to a spell he learned from Doc Brown quite some time ago. With a sigh he took a look around the royal library, which had become depressing to look at. Barely half of the shelves even had books on them anymore, the royal librarians having taken as many with them as they possibly could.

The winter had gradually become worse over the years, forcing the kingdoms occupants to completely evacuate and migrate towards the newly founded Equestria. It took Princess Platinum and the others almost two years to find it, and only recently had the last ponies moved out of their homes in the no frozen kingdom. By now, the cold and snow had become so bad that there was a never ending storm raging outside, making it almost impossible to go anywhere, except for the few experienced mages that lingered. It also didn’t help that the Windigoes actually started attacking ponies that were out and about.

Most of the windows in the kingdom had shattered relatively early on when the temperature fluctuations had been extremely dramatic, and the giant windows of the royal library were no exception. Thanks to the efforts of Atlas and his friends, they were able to make it somewhat livable though.

Snow was swirling around the inside and thin layers of ice covered almost every available surface, forcing everypony present to constantly keep up warming spells if they didn’t want to freeze to death.

Atlas heard the sound of hoofsteps approaching, before Starswirl appeared from behind a nearby bookshelf, a stack of books lazily trailing behind him in his magic.

“I think we have just about everything now,” Starswirl said while inspecting one of the books for damages. “Besides, I think there aren’t any useful books left around here, now that we have what you wanted.”

Starswirl closed the book he had been inspecting and stacked it on top of the rest before floating them into another saddlebag that was resting nearby.

“Hear anything from the other two?” Starswirl asked, looking around to try and spot their companions.

“Not yet, I’m sure they’ll return soon enough,” Atlas replied, closing his saddlebags and putting them on. “We’ve taken too long to gather the books from our lists as is, we’ll need to leave as soon as we can. The Windigoes are growing more agitated by the minute, and I’m pretty sure we’re the only targets they have left in the kingdom to feed on.”

“I whole-heartedly agree with that sentiment,” Amethyst Blade called out as he approached from the direction of the entrance. “They seem to be growing restless. If we don’t leave soon, we might get trapped for good.”

“I guess we should get a move on then,” Starswirl said. “We got what we came for, no reason to stay any longer.”

“Agreed,” Atlas said, looking around for their last team member. “Discord!” He called out, trying to get the young draconequus attention.

“Present,” Discord answered appearing out of nowhere, floating on his back a few feet above the ground. “And empty handed. There was nothing of interest in the east wing.”

In human years, Discord was now an adolescent, although one wouldn’t be able to guess just by looking at him. While he did grow a bit, there wasn’t that much of a difference. If Discord wanted to, he could still comfortably ride on Atlas’ back.

“Bummer, but no big deal,” Atlas answered. “Anything else would have just been a bonus anyway. We just decided that it’s high time to leave, get ready.”

Discord did a mock salute and disappeared again, probably to collect his things from the east wing. The group of friends had spent the better part of the last year visiting almost every library in the kingdom, looking for particular titles that were either forgotten or deemed unimportant by their respective librarians, gathering up an impressive amount of books. By now they could probably open a complete library once they got to Equestria with what they salvaged.

The royal library was their last stop, otherwise they would have probably been denied access by the last present librarians, even if they came to “rescue” some of their books. They didn’t exactly plan to return them after all.

Once Atlas told Starswirl about his plan to stay behind longer than everypony else and steal together enough expensive books to last a lifetime, he immediately agreed to help out with the endeavour. Together they compiled a list of books that seemed important, that or they just wanted to get their hooves on for some reason or another. They were aware of how dangerous this project would become the longer they stayed behind, so Atlas asked Amethyst to help and protect them, to increase their chances of success against the Windigoes, should they decide to attack.

Discord technically had to stay with Atlas as well, since they were an adoptive family. Blue Current and Crimson had offered to take Discord with them when they evacuated, but Discord protested heavily against it, much to Green Lantern’s disappointment and Atlas’ mirth.

Amber was among the first guards that were sent towards Equestria, tasked with guarding the ponies that were supposed to get an early start on constructing new villages.

Looking out of a nearby window and into the overcast sky, his thoughts went towards Vibrant Colors. Even though he’d promised to return and visit her someday, he never actually did. Things just kept happening and he never found the right timing to go on the long journey. All he could do right now, was hope that Vibrant had heard of the safe-haven, Equestria, and went there a long time ago.

Discord popped back into existence, a tailor made blue saddlebag strapped against his midriff. “All ready to go.”

“Alright then, let’s head out,” Atlas said, earning him nods of approval from his companions.

They started to trot towards the giant, purple-painted double doors that were the entrance into the library, passing by hundreds of almost empty bookshelves on their way. The royal library was huge, to say the least. Over hundreds of years, an extensive amount of knowledge had been gathered here. Every new book containing virtually anything known about magic was once collected here, the library representing everything the kingdom stood for.

Yet, little more than an empty, frozen husk remained of it, perfectly mirroring the desolate tundra outside.

The Crystal Kingdom, once a grand city, full of life and happiness was now as still as the grave. No ponies roamed the streets under the proud gaze of the mountain it was built upon, and only snow and ice remained in their stead.

The Windigoes proved to be a near cataclysmic event for the society that ponies knew, forcing them to abandon their homes, their history. Yet Atlas was not sad at the prospect, since he knew that from the ashes of this fallen civilisation, a new and better one would rise.

It may not be there for quite some time, but Equestria would one day be a unified country built on goodwill and understanding, the three tribes’ bleak history a footnote on the road to something better.

“Okay, listen up,” Amethyst said once they reached the exit. “We’ve got a long way ahead of us and it won’t be easy. You all know that the snow is ever present and unrelenting now, making travel nearly impossible. We’ll assume our usual formation and travel as fast as we can, ideally we’ll leave the city border behind before the day comes to an end.”

Keeping track of time had become somewhat of an issue, since the days just sort of blurred together into a sea of grey and white. Some magical ingenuity from Atlas and Starswirl allowed them to build a crude timekeeper, notifying them of the rough position of the sun. Of course they could tell whether it was day or night, simply by the fact of being able to see, since at night it got pitch black, but having a rough estimate of time helped them survive. It was almost unimaginable, but it got even colder at night, which is why they tended to avoid being outside and unprotected during the nighttime hours up until now.

A luxury they couldn’t really afford going forward.

“Atlas, you’ll take the lead, clearing a path for us with your magic, followed by Discord. Your job is the keep the winds at bay. Starswirl will follow, keeping an eye out and helping out where needed with me taking up the rear. I’ll fend off the Windigoes as best as I can, should they decide to attack.” Amethyst explained.

By now everyone in the group knew their roles by heart, yet Amethyst always insisted on drilling it into their head before every new trip. Usually they just let it go in one ear and out the other, but today was different. It would be their furthest and most dangerous trip yet, so everypony was paying attention.

“The Windigoes seem mostly focused on the city itself, probably because a lot of negative emotions still linger in the city. If we make it past the city borders we should be relatively safe from them. The challenge will be actually getting there, but I believe with all my heart, that if we work together, all of us will make it out in one piece.” Amethyst continued, earning nods of approval from the others. “If Atlas' theory is right, then our friendship should be enough to keep the windigoes at bay. I’ll miss this place, but I think if I never see snow again I’ll die happy.”

“I sure know I’ve seen enough snow to last a lifetime…” Starswirl muttered, causing the others to chuckle as they moved into their respective positions.

Atlas and Starswirl dropped their wards on the libraries interior with practiced coordination, causing all of them to be hit with the extreme cold that raged all throughout the city. It didn’t take long before Discord snapped his talons and the winds abruptly stopped billowing around them, much to everybody's relief. Starswirl started warming up the air bubble Discord had created. It wouldn’t be enough to make them comfortable while moving, but together with the absence of wind, it counteracted the cold enough to prevent them from freezing on the spot.

“Move out!” Amethyst called from the back, now in complete military mode, and their little progression left the royal library.

The group was moving slowly, their progress hindered by the copious amounts of fluff creating an endless snowbank to the horizon. Atlas did his best to clear the snow in their path, but conserving his mana reserves meant he couldn’t clear all of it from their path. Using his magic like a snowplough, he pushed away the snow in front of him to the side, creating walls taller than himself that loomed next to them. They still had to wade through knee-deep snow, excluding Discord who just opted to float along. All of the unicorns had spells running that helped ward off the cold to some degree, but they could still feel the cold sapping their heat and chilling them to the bone.

Since the royal library was situated inside the royal palace the way down was treacherous. The usually safe paths were hidden beneath mountains of snow, the raging storm not helping visibility. One wrong move on Atlas’ part could’ve sent them tumbling down the side of the mountain, potentially killing them all in the process.

The trip that usually didn’t take more than twenty minutes took them almost four hours to complete. When they finally arrived at the foot of the mountain, Amethyst ordered them to rest, while Atlas focused on clearing the snow from a nearby building to get to the door. Atlas’ and Starswirl's wards went up almost immediately upon entering, causing everybody present to let out a sigh of relief as the cold momentarily abated. The wards were definitely useful, but sadly they were stationary.

“We’re making good time,” Amethyst told the group while looking at their makeshift clock. “We probably won’t make it past the city limits before night fall, but we should push on anyway. Every minute we spend within could be the one that calls attention to us, and if the Windigoes decide to attack, we’d be in deep trouble…”

“The storm became even more violent around an hour ago, I believe they’ve definitely found us,” Starswirl agreed. “I don’t think the question is if they’re going to attack… it’s when.”

“It looks like they’re content to just observe us for now,” Atlas supplied. “If we’re lucky, they’ll leave us alone. They’re not exactly known to take direct action, after all.”

“I’d very much like to believe that,” Amethyst said, “but I’m not gonna take any chances. We need to get out of here fast, so eat something and replenish your strength. We’re gonna need it once we set out again.”

With a round of agreements, they all took off their saddlebags and started looking for the foodstuff that was hidden away. They had packed a lot of reserves, enchanted to keep fresh over a long time but their were reaching the limit of their inventory all the same. Even if they hadn’t found all the books they wanted, they’d have had to set out sooner or later anyway.

While they all silently munched on their various fruits and grains, Atlas took a look around the room they were in. Like everywhere else, the room was covered in snow and ice, but he could still recognise that this must have been the living room of a family’s home at one point. A table with four chairs, all currently occupied by a member of their group, was located in the far right of the room. He could see various bookshelves, one of them had fallen over, leaving a few books sprawled over the ground. His eyes were drawn towards what looked like a fireplace, a small amount of snow drifting in through the hole caught his attention.

On the little sils above the fireplace rested a picture, portraying two adult unicorns with a small filly standing proudly between them. She stood slightly to the side, her eyes fixated on her flanks, leaving Atlas to believe the family had taken the picture to celebrate the fillies newly acquired cutie mark.

Seeing the picture really drove the point home for Atlas, that a massive amount of ponies had to just up and leave their home. In a perfect example of the butterfly effect, what most likely started as a slight disagreement between the tribes ended up almost becoming a war and instead called down a cataclysmic event from the heavens.

If he didn’t know that this was “supposed” to happen, Atlas would be sure that this was a set-up by the gods.

If Hades message was to be believed, he was now well and truly trapped. It didn’t seem to make much of a difference for Atlas, at least not in anything he could physically feel so he didn’t care too much about that little piece of information. What was more important to him was that Zeus and his lackeys were apparently losing interest in watching him everyday, which would prove to be invaluable for what came next.

According to Hades, he’d have to play some part in their usurpation of the divine rank structure and runes were the key to all of it. With the gods’ watchful gaze gone, Atlas would be free to explore and learn all he wanted until he figured out what he was supposed to do. The books they had salvaged would help immensely in this process, as he’d decided that others shouldn’t be privy to his potentially world-rending research, barring a few close friends.

“Alright, time to move out,” Amethyst said, ripping Atlas from his ruminations.

They geared up and once again assumed their positions before braving the storm, one last time.

“Discord! What’s going on with your enchantment?” Atlas called frantically against the winds tearing at his face and mane.

“The storm has become too strong!” Discord replied desperately. “It’s just powering through my shield!”

Discord struggled against the winds, his elevated position becoming a disadvantage and forcing him to land, almost completely sinking into the snow. The storm had suddenly grown more violent around the halfway point out of the city, causing Discord’s enchantment to fail. Now, more than ever, it became clear, that while powerful, Discord was still a child.

“Incoming!” Amethyst shouted from the back, which Atlas barely heard over the howling winds.

The world around them was illuminated in a bright purple as a giant shield construct appeared over them, narrowly deflecting what looked like a giant snowball. The snow it was built out of exploded in all directions, building the snow walls around them even higher and forcing the group closer together. Once they stood back to back Amethyst boxed them in with a series of flat constructs, building a small room around them. The wind died down immediately, although it was still trying to rip apart their safe space from the outside.

“This can’t be a coincidence! They must be targeting us!” Amethyst said, his eyes flicking to and fro, trying to spot one of the ethereal equines.

“What are we supposed to do?” Starswirl asked, at the end of his wits. “If we stay here we’ll be sitting ducks!”

“We’ll have to make a run for it,” Amethys said gravely. “It’ll be dangerous, but it’s our only option.”

“It won’t work, they’ll tear us apart as soon as you lift the shield,” Atlas countered, his eyes searching for any signs of their enemy as well.

“Can’t we just, like, friendship them away?” Discord asked nervously.

“It’s worth a try…” Starswirl said, looking at his friends expectantly.

“Alright, huddle up and think happy friendship-y thoughts!” Amethyst commanded, pulling Discord and Starswirl into a bearhug and beckoning for Atlas to join them.

Atlas did so with the barest hesitation and began to remember all the good times he had with his present friends. Amethyst, Starswirl, Discord… Doc Brown. He knew the others were doing the same, since a warm tingly feeling was starting to fill up his heart. The air around them seemed to warm up slightly as a pink tinted shockwave seemed to propel itself outwards. Atlas remembered as hard as he could, causing the building power around them to explode outwards, banishing the ice and snow around them.

He could feel grass beneath his hooves as more and more area around them was cleared and they could hear pained whinnies from somewhere within the storm. As more and more memories flitted through Atlas’ inner eye, he suddenly remembered something incredibly important he had forgotten.

“No homo, though.”

“What?”

Three confused stares centered themselves on Atlas as everyone lost their focus. Whatever pseudo-spell they had been casting petered out leaving them with a few hundred feet of cleared area. No snow had remained, revealing houses and ground alike. They had successfully created a small spot of spring surrounded by winter.

“Whatever! This is our chance!” Amethyst reminded. “Run!”

The construct around them faded from existence and the group started booking it in their original direction. They most likely wouldn’t have much time before the Windigoes returned, so every inch counted. They barrelled through the streets of the Crystal Kingdom unchallenged, but soon enough they approached the border, the sudden change between spring and winter looking unnatural, an invisible shield separating the two.

“Stay close!” Atlas called, activating the full reserves of his magic, cleaving a path through the piled up snow.

Discord and Starswirl activated their usual spells as well, shielding them from the wind and the freezing temperatures. Without any care for pacing they tore through the streets, and draining their magic stores with abandon. Everypony knew if they didn’t make it out of the city before the Windigoes returned they’d be done for.

And there was no guarantee that they’d stop pursuing them when they left the city.

The buildings around them started to spread further apart, signalling that they were approaching their goal. Their hopes raised with their target in sight, the group redoubled their efforts. Even though their lungs were burning from the long distance they’d run to get to this point, they pushed on relentlessly.

“Incoming,” Amethyst called again, letting the hearts of everypony present fall like a stone.

Once again, the world was painted purple as Amethyst’s shield floated protectively over them. Atlas looked up to see another giant ball of snow hurtle towards them. He breathed a sigh of relief as he realised it would miss them by a good margin and continued his running. Just as predicted, the projectile missed them entirely. Unfortunately, it landed only a few feet in front of them, the resulting explosion of snow sending a vertical avalanche their way.

Atlas stopped his advance immediately, bracing against the incoming white death and conjuring up an angled shield to redirect the snow. Discord, Starswirl and Amethyst caught up to him, huddling behind the shield, the latter two joining their magic into the shield spell to make it bigger and stronger. It didn’t take long for the avalanche to hit their shield with full force, causing its casters to groan with effort. It became apparent that there was simply too much snow, so Amethyst once again conjured up constructs to box them in.

“We’re so fucked…” Atlas said, watching as the snow piled up around the walls, just barely stopping short of completely burying them.

“This certainly is a bad situation we’ve found ourselves in…” Starswirl said, looking slightly claustrophobic.

“Options?” Amethyst said, at the end of his wits.

“Can’t we just do the friendship thing again?” Discord asked.

“I seriously doubt they’d let us, but we can try…” Atlas said half-heartedly.

They once again started hugging in a completely heterosexual way and started recalling their friendship. Just as Atlas predicted, the Windigoes were wary of them now, proven by the two snow bombs landing close to them, shaking the ground and causing them to lose their footing as well as their focus. Amethyst had to extend the ceiling of his constructed box to avoid them being completely buried from the resulting masses of snow rolling over them.

“What else we got?” Amethyst asked, dejected.

Discord was just floating slightly above ground, a sad look on his face, while Atlas and Starswirl racked their brains for any ideas. Between the four of them, they had a vast array of spells available to them but in this situation all of them became useless. Atlas didn’t even consider using runes, since whatever they’d end up using would have to be mobile.

“I think nothing short of a teleport will save us now,” Starswirl said. “There’s just one problem…”

“What is it?” Amethyst asked, clinging on to their new plan.

“None of us has enough magic left for any significant group teleports,” Atlas explained with a monotone voice. “Teleporting more than one pony is magic extensive as is, but also making it long range? We’d barely make it a mile at most…”

Starswirl nodded gravely as an uncomfortable silence fell over the group.

“What if all of us support one caster?” Suggested Amethyst. “Would it be enough?”

Starswirl and Atlas exchanged a look, both thinking it to be a possibility. Atlas cast a simple spell from the school of life, which allowed him to roughly see how much magic everybody present had left in their respective pools. He was running the calculations in his head when another exploding snowball shook the earth they stood on, forcing Amethyst to expend more mana by extending their protection upwards once again. Taking into account the magic Amethyst had just spent, as well as how much he was using to keep his spell going Atlas came to a conclusion and shook his head.

“It would just take too much mana.”

“What about your runes? Can’t you use some to extract ambient magic and add it to your own?” Amethyst suggested further.

“Already thought of that, but the runes would take too much time to gather sufficient mana… Time we don’t have…” Atlas answered.

Once again, an uncomfortable silence fell over the group, Discord growing more anxious by the second. By now all of their lives depended on finding a solution to the conundrum they’d found themselves in, and while Discord was very smart for his age, he had to trust his guardians to find one. He felt useless right in this moment and cast nervous glances to the three ponies who were all deep in thought, not daring to disturb their focus by speaking up.

“What…” Amethyst slowly looked up from the ground. “What if you’d only need to teleport three of us?”

“I suppose it would be barely enough… why?” Atlas asked, confused at first before he realised Amethysts intentions. “No! Absolutely not, we’re not leaving anyone behind!”

Starswirl looked on in stunned silence as he too came to the same conclusion as Atlas while Discord bore a face of confusion, not following what was going on.

“But it’s our only chance!” Amethyst rebuked. “Three out of four seems like a pretty good deal to me, if the alternative is us all biting the dust!”

“You know perfectly well that I can’t die!” Atlas said heatedly. “And I’m pretty sure Discord can’t just be killed either!”

While Discord and Amethyst were in on this secret by now, Starswirl had never heard of this. “Wait, what?”

“So what, the two of you being icicles down here for all of eternity will help nobody and will take out one more pony than my plan!” Amethyst rebuked, ignoring Starswirl completely.

“No, seriously, can we go back to the part where Atlas can’t die?”

“I’ve lost a close friend once already due to a mistake I made! I’m not going to lose another because I wasn’t strong enough!” Atlas shouted back.

Amethyst recoiled slightly, shock apparent in his eyes. “Then how do you think I’d feel about leaving you and Discord behind? You’re not the only one who was hurt by Belle’s death...” He said in a hurt tone.

Atlas was already halfway to a heated reply when Amethyst’s words sank in. Doing his best impression of a fish, Atlas froze, not knowing what he was supposed to say to that.

“Please, if you blame Belle’s death on us agitating that dragon, then I’m just as responsible as you are,” Amethyst said sadly. “Besides, I’m a guard, a decorated member of Teras even! I’m supposed to sacrifice my life to rescue civilians. And since you completed your service two years ago, you count as a civilian as well, so don’t even try that argument.”

Starswirl looked on between the both of them, he had a lot of questions but felt it was a bad moment to ask them right now. Instead he shot Discord a questioning look, who just shrugged at him.

“But if you supply your mana and stay behind… There’s no way you’ll make it…” Atlas said with watering eyes.

“I’m well aware,” Amethyst said, his eyes hardening, resolve visible on his face. “But at least I’d know that my death had a meaning. The most honorable death a guard could wish for.”

Atlas stared directly into Amethyst’s eyes, who met his searching gaze with an unwaverable glare of his own. Desperately, Atlas tried to think of a counter-argument or find some weakness by looking deep into Amethyst’s purple eyes. After a while, Atlas let out a defeated sigh.

“If… If that’s what you truly wish for… Then as one of my closest friends I’ll honor it.” Atlas said, his sight starting to blur as they started to water, although he did his best to not outright start crying in an attempt to respect Amethyst’s wish.

Starswirl and Discord were all but forgotten, both of them not daring to disturb the moment, although both of them looked like they wanted to protest. Seeing the resolution on Amethyst’s face and the sad defeat on Atlas’s made them hold back their words though. Atlas used his fetlock to wipe at his eyes, drawing a deep, chilling breath into his lungs.

“Then I will promise here and now, that I will carry your name and memory to the end of all eternity,” Atlas stated, standing straight. “I shall never forget all that you’ve done for us and always remember you as a hero… and a dear friend.”

Another explosion rocked their shelter, being largely ignored by everyone present as Atlas started charging a teleportation spell into his horn. Starswirl took this as his cue and started to supply as much mana as he could spare into Atlas’ spell. Discord, not yet able to share his mana pool due to their vast difference simply decided to settle on Atlas’ back and give him a supporting hug to his neck, letting him now that he was there.

The purple light around them disappeared as Amethyst cancelled the constructs protecting them. Since the snow was tightly pushed against it until just before, a solid tunnel remained, even without the support of Amethyst’s magic. The lack of a closed roof meant that the cold wind could reach them once again, sending cold shivers down everyone's spine.

“That’s all I could ever ask for,” Amethyst said, lighting up his horn as well with a smile on his face. “Be sure to say hi to Crimson and Blue Current for me and give Green Lantern a hug, will ya?”

Atlas nodded solemnly as he felt Amethyst’s mana being poured into the spell. He didn’t really care about the exact calculations and only focusing on sending them as far away as possible with the provided mana. Soon enough the mana stream from Starswirl came to an end, the blue unicorn panting slightly as he apparently had expended most of his mana pool. The influx of energy from Amethyst ended a few seconds after, causing Atlas to adopt a hopeless frown.

“It’s not enough...” Atlas said shocked, his voice barely a whisper.

Atlas had calculated the minimal safe distance to teleport an adult and a child, and the mana currently charged into his horn was not enough by a significant margin. At this rate, even if they teleported, the Windigoes would be upon them in a matter of minutes.

“Then, take all of it,” Amethyst said, causing Atlas to snap his head towards him, a smiling face meeting his surprised gaze. “I won’t need it anymore after this.”

Under considerable strain Amethyst powered up his horn once again, the stream connecting them once again established. At first it was only a miniscule amount that seemed to come over the connection, before Atlas felt like he was being hit by a truck made of pure energy. The otherwise invisible stream of mana suddenly became visible, jumping in a high arc between their horns bathing everybody present in a purple light.

As Atlas was wondering where Amethyst had hidden such vast reserves of mana and why he didn’t use them before, he felt his body tingling all over from having so much mana at his disposal. His eyes started to shine a bright purple, a clear sign of an immense amount of mana being discharged by a unicorn, even though they usually shone a bright white color.

Atlas was riding on a high, feeling like he could do pretty much everything he wanted right now. While the amount still wasn’t enough to teleport all four of them, he could teleport three to a safe distance and then some! Just as he was thinking this he could already feel some of the excess mana being flushed out of his pathways, since it was just too much for him to hold, so he hurriedly activated the spell, not wanting to waste Amethyst’s sacrifice.

In the last moment between Atlas casting his spell and them actually disappearing, Atlas shot a last look towards Amethyst wanting to thank him.

When he did, he found Amethyst barely being able to stand, his eyes appearing dull and his fur seemed to have lost it’s vibrant color. Just before the signature white flash of light blinded him, Amethyst seemed to collapse like his strings were cut by some invisible puppet master, a small smile still plastered on his face.

An instant later, Atlas, Discord and Starswirl were assaulted by the harsh cold winds of the winter tundra they found themselves in. Since he still had mana to spare, Discord immediately threw up another protective barrier around them. Facing the foot of an imposing mountain, Atlas spun around trying to see the Crystal Kingdom through the considerably less violent snow storm, yet all that greeted him was a vast expanse of white in the direction the Lonely Mountain was supposed to be.

Atlas stared towards where he believed the kingdom to be, the image of Amethyst collapsing refusing to leave his head. He didn’t know how long he spent trying to catch a glimpse of the elusive city but eventually he felt a soft tap on his shoulder. Turning his head, he found a worried looking Starswirl, as well as Discord floating closely behind him.

“We’ll have to find shelter soon… It’s getting dark.” Starswirl said solemnly.

“Yeah… you’re right,” Atlas replied in a monotone voice, starting to walk towards the mountain with his head hanging low with only the hope of finding a cave and some solace keeping him going.

Starswirl and Discord simply followed the gray unicorn, deciding to give Atlas some time to process everything. Besides, neither of them really felt like talking, since they too, just lost a friend.

As the scene of Amethyst collapsing played in Atlas’ mind over and over again, he could feel the first tears starting to roll down his face, before freezing halfway down his cheek.

Scholar Arc
Year 32, Month 8, Day 20

Atlas and his friends scaled yet another mountain on their journey towards Equestria. The path was thin and seemed unstable at some points, forcing them to walk in single-file. At least they’d left the Windigoes domain behind and only had to deal with the regular cold and snow that came with being on a mountain. After spending almost a full year in the freezing temperatures Windigoes brought with them, this almost felt like spring to the group.

They had now been trekking over mountains and through valleys for a little over two weeks, making good time despite the rough terrain. Their travels were spent mostly in silence, since they more or less exhausted the topics that didn’t lead back to what happened to Amethyst.

Atlas still felt very conflicted about Amethyst's sacrifice, and even though he knew that it was what Amethyst wanted, that last view of him falling over like a sack of potatoes haunted his thoughts at day and his dreams at night. Amethyst had smiled in his last moments, but all Atlas could think of when he thought back to it was how lifeless he looked. Lacking his usual coloration, coupled with those dull and dead eyes just seemed unnatural and sent shivers down Atlas’ spine.

They rounded a small bend on their path, sending a few small rocks tumbling over the edge and into the abyss below them, before being greeted by the sight of yet another mountain that waited to be scaled.

Probably the weirdest thing to come out of all of this was the fact that Atlas felt that his mana pool had grown significantly. He had shared his findings with Starswirl and they came to the conclusion that the immense amount of magic that was stored inside of Atlas, even if only for a moment, had figuratively stretched out and expanded his pool. Whether this was a permanent or a temporary change remained to be seen.

What he didn’t mention to Starswirl was that after the fact, Atlas had gained the sixth and last Affinity of Magic. While at first it was just a feeling of something having changed inside of him, a secretly conducted test at night had soon confirmed his suspicion. For Atlas, there was no pride in the newly acquired affinity. It felt wrong to have gained something from the death of a friend.

And for some reason, he felt like the bigger mana pool and the final affinity was not all that had changed.

Atlas had had a lot to think about recently, and as a result had grown somewhat introverted and silent during their travels. He could tell that Starswirl had a lot of questions he wanted to ask, and Atlas knew that he’d eventually have to face them, although it felt too early to reveal the full truth about himself just yet.

So they spent yet even more hours of silently wandering up the mountain they were currently on. None of them really knew how much further they had to go still, but every time they crested the ridge of a new mountain they hoped it would be the last. The bleak gray and white landscape was beginning to drive them crazy, as they all longed to see the supposed fertile valleys of their new homeland.

Hope once again flaring up, they approached what seemed to be the highest point of the path they were taking, which had started to widen considerably, allowing them to walk next to each other. The sun was already going down, so this would probably be as far as they would get today before having to make camp.

Cresting the top, their eyes were momentarily blinded by the sun going down on the horizon, bathing the world before them in gentle orange hues.

Atlas felt his breath hitch at the sight that greeted him, Starswirl and Discord experiencing much the same reaction. Discord stopped floating and sat down on Atlas’ back, using his mismatched hands as support.

Before them, was their new home. Equestria. Lush forests seemed to sprawl in all directions, only disturbed by the occasional mountain or lake. Rivers flowed freely towards the open ocean which dominated the far flung horizon. And amidst all the beauty, stood one mountain that towered over all the others, reminding everybody present of the home they left behind.

Atlas immediately recognised it as the mountain where Canterlot would be built, and for the first time in weeks, a smile graced his lips.

“Is… is this it?” Discord asked unsurely from Atlas’ back.

“Yes, Discord,” Atlas replied. “This is Equestria.”

“Our new home.”

Author's Note

So, this is it! The end of Divine Entertainment! but it's not the end of Atlas journey, not by a long shot. If you'd like to continue following the story of Atlas and his friends, be sure to come over and read the sequel!

Divine Indifference!

I'd also like to thank Navanestra, for drawing that amazing picture, which also doubles as the cover art for the next story! Be sure to give his stories a read as well!

Once again, thanks to my editor Azriel and my proofreader Kilobytes for a job well done! Further thanks to Soren Mercer for helping out as well.

Today's chapter was brought to you by this song. Because I'm terrible at jokes :D

Come join us in the Discord channel! Lonk

Or the official Divine Entertainment group! Divine Universe

1. Of Runes and Ponies (Prologue)

The sun was starting to set, casting its last rays of light over the world, painting the sky in a beautiful orange. The mountains that had stood there for eons were a dark grey, creating an astonishing contrast.

Inside one of them, a massive cave system riddled the interior like a giant ant farm. So massive in fact, the mountain was almost hollow. Tunnels connected caves of all shapes and sizes, creating a maze of natural stone. But if one were to look closer, he would notice that those hallways weren’t natural at all. All the walls and floors were smooth, looking as if someone sandpapered them to perfection, not a single jagged rock to be found.

But this wasn’t the only unnatural occurrence in there. Every bit of surface was covered in glowing runes. Some of them stayed where they were, others slowly moving in circles, or travelling along set paths every imaginable direction. To the uninformed spectator it looked like pure chaos, but every rune was placed perfectly.

In one of the smaller caves near the top of the mountain, Atlas was peacefully slumbering on a makeshift bed, which was the only piece of furniture present in the small space. The runes around him gave off a steady hum, which he had long gotten used to.

A small tremor shook the cavern and Atlas awoke from his comatose state, almost immediately dismissing the shaking as one of the smaller earthquakes, which were in no way unusual when one was living in a mountain. After all, a lot of mountains were directly atop of a fault line.

However he was jolted completely awake as a multihued blur literally tore a hole straight through the mountain, and more importantly, the cave he was sleeping in. Atlas was thrown across the enirety of his cave together with his bed, only to crash violently into the adjacent wall. All around him rubble fell to the ground, almost burying him alive. He coughed and stood back up from his prone position on the floor, shoving the bed, which had landed right on top of him, to the side with a burst of magical energy.

For a moment all was quiet with Atlas just sitting there, attentively watching the runes on the wall next to him. It started off as a slight flicker but eventually he had to watch them slowly sputtering out of existence. The giant hole in both cave walls must have disrupted the flow of magic he oh so carefully set up over the last millenium. With a huge sigh, he watched as his work slowly unraveled into nothingness, unable to do anything.

“What the actual fuck just happened?” He asked no one in particular, once the familiar purple glow all around him had vanished, rage evident in his voice.

He started to get up, intent on finding out just what decided to ruin everything. Finding whatever had the nerve to destroy his work, and adequately punishing it had now become his top priority. The possibility of one of the local tatzlwurms being the culprit was ruled out almost immediately, because some of the runes were there to keep them well away from his work.

Dusting himself off, he went to where whoever was responsible exited his mountain. The gaping hole in the wall was jagged on all sides, providing a strak contrast to the smoothness he got used to, and revealed the sun going down over the horizon, far off in the distance. Atlas furrowed his brow and, after hopping up and inside the hole, started walking towards the edge of the mountain.

As soon as he emerged, he had to shield his eyes. Even though the sun was pretty weak right now, he did spend quite a few years inside the mountain.

While his eyes adjusted, he could already hear the sound of a not-so-distant battle. As soon as he could see clearly again, he looked towards where the sounds were coming from, and almost couldn’t believe what he saw.

A giant red and black centaur was doing battle with a purple alicorn, the two of them flinging beams of pure mana at each other, which proved to Atlas that neither of them were trained in the art of magical combat

“A purple alicorn? That one’s new…” Atlas mumbled to himself.

The sight of the battle seemed familiar, and he almost remembered something, but for the life of him, he couldn’t place the memory. He watched them, shooting their inefficient laser-beams at each other for a while. Pondering if he should help the alicorn out or not.

“Nah, let her deal with it, not my problem,” Atlas said after a while. After all, they just ruined his lifes work, so he didn’t care if one of them lost their lifes while battling each other. Damage assessement was more important right now.

“Let’s just hope my fail-safes held up…”

Celestia was in Twilight's newly formed castle. The white alicorn with a tricolored mane was taking in every detail of the room she was currently in. She was so proud of her students newest achievement, defeating Tirek, an old foe from times past. Of course, she didn’t do this on her own, her friends being just as instrumental to their victory as Twilight herself.

Using the Elements of Harmony they once again imprisoned Tirek in Tartarus, and returned all the magic he had stolen to its rightful owners. Surprisingly it was all thanks to Discord, the draconequus having provided the last key needed to open the box of harmony. He truly seemed reformed now, having finally accepted true friendship into his heart. He even presented Celestia with some beautiful flowers, in an oddly genuine attempt to apologize.

Half the citizens of Ponyville were currently roaming the castle's halls, wondering about the newest addition to their small town, which made moving around a tad more difficult for Celestia. Usually, ponies tended to give her a lot of space wherever she went. It had become some sort of an unspoken rule, which a few of the Poniville residents happily ignored, much to her joy. She talked to Mayor Mare, her good old friend The Doctor, and even to the kinda ditzy local mailmare.

It took her quite some time, but eventually she reached her destination, which was the supposed throne room of the castle. Twilight and her friends stood in front of six crystalline mini thrones arranged in a circle around a table, each of them displaying the cutie mark of one of the elements.

Three pink butterflies, belonging to the element of kindness, Fluttershy. The pegasus’ coat was a vibrant yellow and her mane pink, building a stark contrast. True to her name, the mare stood slightly behind her friends, looking like she was a bit overwhelmed with all that was going on around her.

A tricolored Lightning bolt coming out of a cloud, belonging to the element of loyalty, Rainbow Dash. The mare, also a pegasus, hovered slightly above the ground. She was quite the athlete and prefered her gift of flight over walking. Her coat was a deep blue, and her mane multicolored, like a rainbow.

Three blue gems, belonging to the element of generosity, Rarity. She was a unicorn with a pristine white coat, and a royal purple mane which was styled to perfection, even after a hard-fought battle. The mare was actually quite a renowned fashion pony, excelling in creating garments for all kinds of ponies.

Three delicious looking red apples, belonging to the element of honesty, Applejack. An earth pony apple farmer. Having an orange coat and sporting a brown stetson on her blonde mane, she stood right next to Rarity, nodding along as the fashionista talked about how beautiful the castle was.

Three Balloons, two blue, one yellow, belonging to the element of laughter, Pinkie Pie. The earth pony was the pinkest thing Celestia had ever seen in all her hundreds of years of existence. Her coat was a bright lively pink, her mane also pink, albeit a bit darker. The mare seemed to, once again, break physics wherever she went. Darting from one place to the other, sometimes appearing from seemingly impossible places, and even going so far as to be leaving afterimages in her wake.

And finally a purple star, surrounded by five smaller, white stars, the element of magic, Twilight Sparkle. The unicorn turned alicorn was Celestia’s most prized student. She had a lavender coat and a purple mane, two pink highlights running along the middle.

Celestia took Twilight under her tutelage when she was a little filly. On the day Twilight took the exam to enter Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, she had a magical surge, turning the present examiners, as well as her parents into potted plants. It was so powerful that Celestia herself had to step in and stop the little filly. While Celestia stepped in before any real damage could be done, the lingering magical power was enough to hatch the dragon egg present in the room, giving birth to Spike. The little purple and green dragon had become her assistant since then, always helping her as well as he could.

Celestia had educated and guided Twilight in her studies. Almost caring for her as if she were her daughter. She watched as Twilight went to Ponyville to learn about friendship, still guiding her from behind the scenes, without her noticing, of course. She watched as Twilight and her friends overcame many obstacles and grew as friends, all leading up to today's events.

It was about half an hour ago, she had the privilege to officially pronounce Twilight the Princess of Friendship. But now it was time for her to return to Canterlot, her sister Luna having already done so. Tirek did quite a number on Equestria, and now they had to deal with the aftermath.

As Celestia walked up to the six mares and the lone dragon, Twilight noticed her approach and turned towards her.

“Did you need something Princess?” Twilight ask with a beaming smile on her face.

Celestia had to suppress a chuckle, since, even though Twilight now stood on equal footing with herself, she still treated her like a mentor and princess. She even did a little curtsey.

“Yes, Princess Twilight,” Celestia replied in her usual calm manner.

She was happy to finally be able to address Twilight as her equal, and made sure to call her out as such. She saw Twilight cringe a bit at the title, still not being used to it.

“I will have to return to Canterlot now,” Celestia explained. “There is a literal mountain of paperwork with my name on it waiting for me. Your new post will have to be made official, and there is still the aftermath of Tireks attack that has to be dealt with.”

“Is there anything we can do to help Princess?” Twilight asked with a concerned voice, her friends voicing their consent to the offer.

“You have done more than enough as is, please take some time to recover and settle into your new home,” Celestia said, stopping their enthusiasm in the bud. They had gone through quite an ordeal and as such, had earned their rest.

After all, the Golden Oaks library, in which Twilight resided, was destroyed in her battle with Tirek, so she had to move into the castle whether she wanted to or not.

“I’m sure it will take quite some time to properly make this castle into a place that feels like home,” Celestia said. “But I’m sure you’re all eager to explore all the nooks and crannies it has to offer.”

Twilight nodded sadly, she was quite fond of the library, and losing it was like seeing an old friend die. Her friends immediately closed in on her, promising to help her however they could. Celestia once again smiled, knowing her student… no, her friend, was in good hooves.

“Then I will take my leave here, have a wonderful day, everypony,” Celestia said.

Celestia was just preparing her teleport spell back to the castle, when a bright white flame appearing right in front of her disrupted her concentration. Everybody in the room gasped, as the flame was quite bright. Celestia looked stunned at the object now floating in front of her. A pure white scroll. Where usually the wax was used to hold the scroll rolled up, there was a purple glowing runic circle, that slowly rotated in place.

Every single eye in the room was on the floating scroll, since nobody had ever seen something quite like this. While Spike was able to send Celestia scrolls in a similar fashion by using his magic fire, this seemed different. It also didn’t help that the scroll was practically glowing with energy.

Twilight spotted the runic circle and Celestia could see a spark of hunger light up in her eyes, since Twilight was a sucker for everything even remotely related to magic. Runes being a dead magical art, only told about in tales and very, very old history books was sure to garner a reaction out of her.

“Is… Is that… Are those runes?” Twilight zipped next to Celestia, eager to learn something new. “Can I take a look at it?”

Twilight looked up at Celestia, puppy eyes armed and dangerous. Unfortunately for her, Celestia had grown immune a long time ago.

“I’m afraid not,” Twilight’s ears fell. “This is a letter from an old friend of mine, and when he sends me one, they are typically quite urgent, so it would be wise to respond right away.” Celestia glanced down at her disappointed friend. “That said, you’ll probably meet him soon, and there is no better pony to ask about runes than the one who invented them, right?”

Celestia watched with a smirk as her student’s jaw dropped, an incredulous look on her face. Ignoring her for now, Celestia tapped her horn on the runes. The circle started to expand, reacting to her presence. Shortly after, it dissappeared with a flash, the scroll unfurling before her. Inside were more runes, preventing anyone but the intended recipient to read what was written in green ink.

Celestia,

we need to talk.

I will come to you tomorrow morning.

Make sure the purple alicorn is with you.

Also, send the scroll back with a suitable meeting place, as I have no idea where you currently live.

Signed,

Atlas

Celestia smiled at the written words, Atlas apparently didn’t change at all, since she last saw him. Straight to the point, like always. She once again touched the parchment with her horn, a few runes lighting up.

“Canterlot Castle, Throne Room”

As she spoke those words, they were magically written down. She drew her horn back, causing the scroll to roll back up and incinerate itself with the same white flame in which it arrived. She turned once again to Twilight and her friends, intending to follow Atlas’ instructions, even if she had no idea what for, or how he knew Twilight.

“I would like to invite all of you to Canterlot Castle, as my old friend would like to meet with Twilight, and I’m sure he would like to see the rest of the elements as well.”

Twilight was just about to respond in the affirmative, as a faint boom was heard in the distance. A magical shock wave washed over all of them, surprising everypony and causing them to look around trying to locate its source.

Celestia recognized it for what it was: Atlas’ signature spell.

She smiled, eagerly anticipating seeing Atlas again. After all, it was over a thousand years ago that he disappeared without a trace. And now, he was finally back.

Author's Note

So this is more of a preview, of what's to come.

Next chapter, we go back a few thousand years to follow Atlas's story.

21. Death?

“Kill me!”

“Yeah I heard you the first time Alex!” Crimson responded outraged. “Are you nuts?”

“Why would we do that?” Belle asked worriedly.

Alex however kept smiling, further unsettling Crimson and Belle.

“But it’s so simple you two!” Alex said gesturing with. “Everything will work out this way.”

“I just… Alex… what?” Crimson said, having lost his ability to form sentences.

Belle inched away from Alex towards Crimson. Alex’s behaviour was scaring her and she subconsciously widened their distance as a precaution. Alex looked at her with a betrayed look as he sighed.

“All right, let me spell it out for you.” Alex said.

“By all means, please do!” Crimson snarked at him.

“So you guys know I’m immortal, yes?” Alex asked, an expectant look on his face.

“Yeah.”

“Yes.” Belle and Crimson responded. “Although I’m still a bit sceptical.”

“So last time I got this really nasty cut, which by all means should have killed me. Which it did.” Alex lead a hoof across his throat, wincing from the pain he received for the movement. “But when I woke up it was completely healed.”

Crimson nodded. It was the only somewhat reasonable explanation for how Alex had survived. Belle just listened on in confusion. Although she overheard them talking about it before, she didn’t know the details.

“And the stabwound I received didn’t heal up at all, it just behaves like a regular injury.”

Crimson looked towards Belle for confirmation.

“There seems to be nothing out of the ordinary.” She shrugged.

“Alright, so what’s your point?” Crimson asked Alex.

“I think the way my healing works is that it just restores my body to working order whenever I die.” Alex explained. “Sort of like a respawn.”

Crimson furrowed his brow. “What’s a respawn?” He asked.

Alex’s face fell. Sometimes he forgot that there were words that would not be known in this world.

“It’s a fantasy concept from a book.” Alex explained. “Where a perfectly healthy copy of yourself appears at a set point after your death. But in my case it wouldn’t be a copy, I’d just heal up.”

Alex waited for a moment, while his two friends tried to wrap their heads around the concept. Belle seemed to give up after a while, contrary to Crimson who seemed like he grasped the principle of it.

“So you just got some sort of super healing?” Belle asked. “That only works if you’re dead?” She added confused.

“Yes!” Alex said while pointing a hoof at her.

Belle shook her head, it just didn’t make any sense to her. How could anyone do anything if they’re dead?

“Crimson you understand right?” Alex asked him hopefully.

“I think I do.” Crimson answered.

“So do you finally see how killing me would solve our problem?”

“I do.” Crimson said.

Alex’s face lit up, this was going better than expected. Belle looked shocked at Crimson’s statement, and was about to say something, when Crimson beat her to the punch.

“But that still doesn’t mean I can just kill you! Also I don’t want want to lug around your dead body!” Crimson said.

Disappointment spread across Alex’s face. Just when he had thought Crimson was with him.

“I know this is awkward for you. But I’m the one that’s going to die! I’ve got it worse than you!” Alex rebuked.

“Can you even hear yourself Alex?” Crimson asked incredulous. “You sound like a madpony!”

“So what?” Alex started to raise his voice. “I got thrown into another dimension and was made immortal against my own will! I can’t even control my magic, and now you’re telling me I shouldn’t use the single advantage I have?”

“Yes!” Crimson started to shout now too. “I don’t care if you’re immortal or whatever! I’m against killing! Sometimes it’s necessary, but this is just ridiculous. I can’t kill a friend, especially if it’s entirely avoidable!”

“Guys…”

“But you won’t really kill me! I’ll just be out of comission for some time!” Alex rebuked.

“Guys… please…”

“I’d still need to inflict a mortal wound on you! That’s as close as it gets to killing someone, and I refuse to do it to a friend!”

“Oh yeah? What happened to being loyal, huh? Your leader wants to die, and you won’t even do that much? You promised to help me in any way you could!”

By now their argument had devolved in a full on shout fest.

“Being loyal doesn’t mean I have to follow every order! My job is to protect you, even if it is from yourself! I just want what’s best for you!”

“Then just fucking kill me already!”

“GUYS!” Belle shouted.

Alex and Crimson were reminded of her presence and looked towards her. She cowered behind the nearest tree, only her head poking out from behind it. She was crying and looked afraid.

“Please…” She stammered in between sobs. “Please don’t fight.”

Alex and Crimson looked like deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming truck. They looked at each other, confirming a momentary truce.

“I’m sorry Belle.” Alex said as he cautiously approached the scared mare, wincing with every step he took. “We shouldn’t have let it get that far.”

“Yeah, we’re sorry Belle.” Crimson said, rooted where he stood.

“Are you okay?” Alex asked her, when he reached her.

“Please, don’t talk about killing yourself Alex.” She sniffed. “It’s just too sad to even think about.”

Alex positioned himself next to her before he pulled her into a gentle hug.

“I’m sorry.” He said once again. “No matter how effective it would be, I shouldn’t have brought it up.”

Belle wiped away her tears with a fetlock and showed him a weak smile.

“I might have overreacted a bit too.” Crimson said, rubbing the back of his head with a hoof. “Sorry.”

“It’s alright.” Belle said as she got back up on her hooves. “Let’s just continue sorting through our stuff.”

She trotted back over to Crimson who was still next to their spread out inventory. Alex hobbled after her, doing his best despite the pain.

“Can I help?” He asked.

“You just lay down over there and relax.” Belle said surprisingly harsh. “You’re hurt, and you need rest.”

Alex wanted to say that he would help anyway, but a quick glance from Belle shut him up so he relented. He picked a spot close to them and laid down on his un-stabbed side.

“So how does it look?” Alex asked. ”We got anything useful?”

“Quite a bit actually.” Crimson answered. “It’s all second or third rate of course, but we’re pretty much covered on the essentials. Even got a compass.”

He held up a small metallic looking compass that looked like it was extremely old, scratches adorning the surface, the glass was also cracked in several places.

“Neat.” Alex said. “You said we’re a few hours away from the city. Any signs that we’re being followed?”

Crimsons sighed. “We’ve actually seen neither hide nor hair of Dusty or any other pursuers since we left the camp. But you can never be too careful, so we avoided the roads, and stuck to the bushes as much as we could.”

“Which reminds me.” Crimson said. “You still owe us an explanation Belle.” Before he shot her an expectant look.

Belle avoided his gaze in favour of watching the ground. She really didn’t want to talk about this, but considering all that happened she’d have to eventually.

“Explanation?” Alex asked confused. “For what?”

“Belle seems to have figured out why Dusty did a sudden one-eighty back at the camp.” Crimson explained. “She promised she’d tell us once you’re awake.” He looked back towards Belle. “Which is now, Belle. I’d like a good explanation right about now, or I’ll tie you to a tree and leave you here.”

“Now, now, Crimson. No need to overreact.” Alex interjected.

Crimson dismissed Alex’s argument and continued pressing Belle. “Well, what is it Belle? Dusty almost killed us, even though he was always such a nice guy before. What gives?”

“I think he might be working for my mother.” belle mumbled just loud enough for the both of them to hear.

“Your mother?” Crimson asked. “I thought you were an orphan?”

“That…” Belle said reluctantly. “Is not exactly true.”

“So your parents are still alive?” Crimson asked. “But why would your mother try to kill you?”

“Well, my mother is…” Belle was visibly uncomfortable saying this. “High Queen Eventide.”

Silence reigned over the small space the trio resided in. Crimsons mouth hung half open, while Alex looked mostly confused. He’d heard about the High Queen while he was on his job hunt, but never really payed too much attention to the royal family. This was the first time he actually heard her name.

Seeing as neither Crimson nor Belle were about to pick the conversation back up again, Alex decided to do it himself.

“So you’re mother being the High Queen relates to Dusty… how?” He asked.

Crimson was shook out of his stupor at Alex’s words, and focused his attention once again upon Belle.

“Well, I guess I’ll need to tell you a bit about my childhood before you can understand.” Belle answered. “Eventide is the highest authority within the palace, as well as the earth pony tribe. My father is nothing more than a figurehead, and acts just like one. The one who raised me was my mother. Whenever she wasn’t occupied with politics, she gave me lessons.”

Crimson and Alex listened intently to her story.

“In the beginning it was relatively harmless stuff like math or reading.” Belle continued. “But when I was around five, the lessons started to change. She taught me how to effectively scheme and work behind the shadows. She tried to make a puppet out of me, one who hates pegasi and unicorns just as much as she does.”

“That’s disgusting.” The words escaped Crimsons mouth before he could stop them.

Belle looked up from the ground and towards Crimson.

“Yes it is.” She said. “And I hated those lessons.”

“Soon enough her personality around me would change too. If I would make a mistake, she’d beat me.” Belle said with disgust in her eyes. “At some point I tried to confide in my father, but he didn’t think of what my mother had done as wrong. It kept getting worse until eventually it just became too much for me, and I escaped from the palace.”

“Eventide sent a lot of guards after me when she noticed my disappearing. I was small, so I could hide in small places, and managed to avoid them for a long time.” Belle said with a smile on her face. “Eventually I got so dirty that you couldn’t even recognize my original fur and mane colors, and I could just walk right past a guard without him even noticing.”

“At some point down the line I was picked up by Dusty and his camp. Where I spent my time until Alex showed up.” She looked to him with a grateful expression. “I told them I couldn’t remember my name, so they gave me a new one. From then on out I was known as Charity Belle, and the guards looking for me eventually stopped searching.”

“But it appears that Dusty is somehow connected to the Queen.” Belle continued. “Someone must have overheard us when I told you my real name. I don’t know if it was Dusty, or someone else. But apparently Dusty was the one who received the order to kill me. It looks like my mother has completely abandoned me, and decided I was too much of a threat to her throne by just existing.”

“Which brings us to now.” Belle said while shifting her attention towards Crimson. “Are you happy with my little story, or are you still going to abandon me too?”

Crimson looked like a deer caught in the headlights. “No!” He said. “Goodness no! I’m so sorry to hear about that, that’s awful.”

“It’s alright.” Belle sighed “You both risked your life for me, so you deserve to know.”

“Wait.” Alex asked. “Is all of this the real reason why you wanted to tag along with us?”

“Kind of.” Belle said. “But I still wanna see the magics.” She added with a smile.

“Hmmm…” Alex said. “Well whatever. Welcome to the team, I guess.” He shrugged and reached a hoof out for Belle to shake.

Belle was a little bit confused but still lightly bumped Alex’s hoof.

“You’re not mad at me for keeping it a secret?” Belle asked.

“Nah.” Alex responded. “Yo Crimson, you almost done packing? We’re burning daylight.”

Crimson looked confused at the question, and slowly looked towards the few items still lying on the ground.

“Almost.” He simply said.

“Allright, finish up.” Alex commanded. “I don’t wanna linger here for too long. By the looks of it, Dusty will definitely pursue us, and the further away we get, the better.”

Crimson agreed with Alex, and started to pack the rest of their stuff. In the meantime Belle shuffled closer to Alex until she was next to him.

“Thanks.” She said silently.

“Don’t mention it.”

Crimson awoke to the singing of birds. They had travelled quite a distance yesterday, and made camp inside a forest clearing. True to his word, Crimson carried Alex the whole way. It was a lot more awkward for both of them when Alex was awake for it, but they got used to it after a while.

Crimson stretched his limbs as he checked the sky. He couldn’t see the sun, but the blue sky indicated that it was already morning. After he got up from his prone position, he made his way to Belle who was sleeping a few feet away from him before he shook her awake.

Belle opened her eyes and yawned loudly.

“Can you go wake up Alex?” Crimson asked her. “I’ll get something for us to eat.”

Belle nodded, still half asleep and got up. Satisfied with her answer, Crimson made his way over to their bags. He rummaged through them, looking for something suited for breakfast, when he heard a high pitched scream from Belle.

He immediately shot up from his sitting position and spun around, prepared to attack if necessary.

“What’s wrong?” He shouted in Belles general direction.

She was lying on her back in the grass, looking terrified towards Alex. She stammered something that might have been words and pointed towards Alex with a hoof.

Crimson ran over to him, confused about what had caused her to scream. As soon as he reached the unicorn he knew what was going on.

Alex’s throat was cut wide open, a bloody and rusted knife laid next to him. Alex was definitely dead.

Crimson recognized the knife next to Alex as the one they got from the ponies back in the city, and he pieced two and two together. Alex had committed suicide.

“That stupid piece of shit!”

Author's Note

Even more backstory! Yay! Also, ~~honeybadger~~ Alex don't give a shit. Next chapter will be next saturday, I need a little break from writing :P I also need to plan out the next sub-arc in more detail.

Hope you had a good read, and feel free to comment!

Once again, thanks to my proofreader/editor Ambros for a job well done!

Todays chapter was brought to you by this song. Woodkid's amazing!

22. Names

Dusty sat on the rooftop of a small store, and watched the sun rising over the horizon. The city was slowly starting to come alive, as more sounds could be heard. Ponies were trotting past his perch, while the owner of the store opened his doors for business.

He was wearing a travelling cloak, which concealed the jet black saddlebags underneath. In various places on his body, he had hidden blades as well as several other weapons.

After his failure yesterday he went back to the palace to report his failure in completing the mission. After some chewing out by his superior, Dusty asked to be given enough gear to pursue his target. It took some convincing, but in the end he received the requested goods. He didn’t really think they’d approve his request and assign someone else to the task, but apparently there were still some ponies in the organization who trusted his skills.

According to the report he received yesterday, Morning Sun and her friends left the city to the North. Which led Dusty to believe they were still heading towards the Crystal Kingdom. Finding them would be difficult, now that they were a whole day ahead of him, but not impossible. If he wouldn’t be able to locate them on the way there, he’d just have to search the kingdom until he did.

The sun had now completely crossed the horizon, officially starting the day. Dusty jumped from his perch onto the street below him, landing nimbly, belying his advanced age. A few ponies were surprised at his sudden appearance, asking if he was alright, but he ignored them.

He started walking towards the northern exit of town, with newfound determination. His task was as difficult as it was important, so he set out, ready to fulfill it at any cost.

“I must be in the underworld again.” Alex mumbled as he got up into a sitting position.

He opened his eyes and took a look around. While he was in a cave with a little lake beside him, there were several differences to the last time he was here. For one, the lake didn’t have that eerie glow. What confused him even more was the fact that there seemed to be an exit to his right, sunlight illuminating the cave.

As he was wondering where he was exactly and when Hades would show up, a red hoof connected with his lower jaw. Pain spread out from the point of impact as he was thrown back to the ground.

“You selfish idiot!” A voice shouted.

Alex looked up from his prone position to look at his assailant.

“Crimson?” Alex furrowed his brow in confusion. “Where am I? Where’s Hades?”

“You seem confused Alex.” Crimson said much calmer this time. “Should I hit you again so you regain your senses?”

Crimson wound up his hoof for another strike when a pink blur shot between them.

“Crimson, stop!” Belle shouted.

“Belle’s here too?” Alex asked. “Are you both dead?”

“It looks like he desperately needs that second hit.” Crimson said while trying to push past Belle.

“Crimson! You need to calm down!” Belle tried to reason. “At least give him time to explain himself!”

“What’s there to explain!” Crimson shouted back, annoyance clear on his face. “He clearly just went behind our backs and went through with his insane plan anyway!”

Alex was slowly adjusting to the situation, clearing the cobwebs off his mind. He felt for his throat first, then to his left side, where Dusty stabbed him. Both wounds were gone, the tissue had healed to the point where it looked and felt like they never existed.

He was obviously still in the mortal plain of existence, which confused him. Shouldn’t he have to pass through the underworld to return to his body? Alex tried to think about possible reasons why his recovery went different this time, when he remembered something Hades told him when they last met each other.

‘While you’re dead I can pull your soul into my realm.’

Which meant that Alex didn’t necessarily need to cross the underworld. Just that Hades could pull him over there if he wanted. So judging by the fact that Hades didn’t do it this time, there was likely no new information he wished to share with Alex.

Alex was thinking about if Hades was somehow able to contact him if he needed to tell him something, when Crimsons hoof once again clocked him in the face.

Apparently Crimson remembered that he had wings and just flew over Belle to get to Alex. Belle stood a few steps away and looked at Crimson like one would at a little kid.

“Are you happy now?” She asked him.

“Yes.” Crimson immediately answered. “He’d deserve more than this. But seeing the results I’m willing to look away for once.”

“Alright, now get out of the way.” Belle pushed past Crimson, making it a point to bump into him and approached Alex. “Are you okay?”

Belle offered Alex a hoof, which he gladly took. She pulled him upright into a sitting position. Alex rubbed his left cheek, where both of Crimsons hits connected.

“I’ll live.” Alex said.

“Can I hit him once more?” Crimson asked Belle. “Please?”

Belle took the task upon herself and lightly smacked Alex upside the head. She looked sternly at him for a moment before pulling him into a hug.

“Please don’t ever do something like that again.” She whispered into his ear. “I was so scared when I found you this morning.”

“I’m sorry.” Alex responded.

Alex felt kind of awkward. He wasn't used to people, or ponies for that matter, being this up close and personal with him. Adding to that, he never really knew how to deal with overly emotional people.

“I know you both said that you can’t die Alex, but I thought you were just really good at healing spells or something.” Belle said. “So when I found you lying in a puddle of blood I thought we really lost you.”

“I’m so sorry you had to go through that.” Alex said sincerely. “But look Belle, I’m all better now! Not a single scratch.”

Alex tried to take a step back so he could show her, but Belle apparently didn’t want to let go of him.

“You better be sorry Alex!” Crimson interjected. “If you ever just go behind our backs again like this, a few punches are going to be the least of your worries. Belle was scared out of her mind!”

Alex looked past the pink mane obstructing his vision to see Crimsons angry face. It was clear that Crimson wasn’t happy with what Alex had done, but he could also see that Crimson really cared for him.

Alex knew that the two of them wouldn’t approve of his decision, and he was prepared for the backlash. But he also knew that If he didn’t go through with it, the risk of being found would be substantially higher. Their group couldn’t afford to have dead weight right now.

Ever since Alex was brought into this world, he had just kind of went with the flow. Fate had dealt him a bad hand, and there were powers moving in the shadows making sure they stayed bad.

At the same time he had gained some advantages, that would help him cheat in this extreme game of cards. He had an informant who could reveal part of his opponents hands, as well as a little trick that technically allowed for infinite redoes. If he played his cards right, he might just win in the end.

So he had steeled his resolve, and decided to accept who he was now. To use the power that he had been cursed with, and turn it into a gift. His friends hadn’t come to terms with it yet, and Alex hoped he wouldn’t have to use it again any time soon. But if he could save his friends lives by giving one of his own, he’d do so in a heartbeat.

“I promise.” Alex said.

But for now, his friends wanted to hear something else from him. They just wanted what’s best for him, and he loved them for it. Just as they would protect him, he would give everything to protect them.

“I’ll hold you to it.” Crimson said.

Alex put a hoof over Belle, who was still hugging him, and drew her closer.

“It’s gonna be ok Belle.” He said to her. “You won’t lose me. Or Crimson. We’ll protect each other.”

Belle finally let go of Alex and took a step back. Her eyes were a bit wet, but she didn’t look sad at all. A big smile adorned her face as she enthusiastically nodded.

“You know?” Crimson said, sporting a smile himself now. “I still had my doubts about you. But after actually seeing you heal up like that, I guess there’s no denying it anymore. You really are immortal aren’t you?”

“I told you so.” Alex said. “How long was I out?”

“Almost a whole day. The sun’s about to go down outside.” Crimson answered.

“Did I miss anything?”

“Well watching your wounds just close up was pretty interesting I guess.” Crimson said. “But other than that it was a pretty uneventful day of travelling. Except for the the fact that I had to lug around a dead unicorn of course.”

“Heh. Sorry.” Alex said. “From now on I’ll be able to travel normally with you guys, so I guess we’ll be faster.”

“Even though the method of achieving this was a bit extreme.” Crimson reprimanded Alex

“So how far away from the border are we?” Alex asked. “Any rough estimates?”

“I’d say we still are about two days away.” Crimson answered. “Problem is soon after the border we’ll have to take one of the main roads. Otherwise we won’t be able to cross the mountains. I’d suggest we go out of our way and travel at least a day east or west before heading for the kingdom. That way Dusty probably won’t find us on the road.”

“Sounds good to me.” Alex said. “What about you Belle?”

“I’m alright with whatever you guys decide, you’re allowing me to tag along after all.”

“Okay, I don’t particularly care for the direction either, so I’ll leave the decision up to you Crimson.” Alex said.

Crimson nodded in acknowledgement before taking out Alex’s map from a saddlebag, trying to map out their best route. Alex looked towards Belle and remembered something he wanted to ask her.

“Hey Belle?” He said.

“Yeah?”

“You know, after you told us about yourself I was kinda wondering what we should call you now.” Alex explained. “Is Belle okay? Or would you prefer Morning Sun?”

Belle looked surprised at the question, so Alex patiently waited for her answer.

“Umm…” Belle started. “Belle’s just fine actually. I don’t really like my old name. There’s just so many bad memories connected to it. On the other side, Charity Belle is a name that was given to me with love.”

Crimson and Alex nodded, accepting her answer.

“Allright, Belle it is then.” Alex said.

“But why bring this up now?” Belle asked him. “You could have asked before you, you know…” She waved her hoof around in the air for a bit.

“Because I have an announcement to make.” Alex said.

Crimson looked up from the map, signalling that Alex had his full attention now. While Belle just sat down, looking at Alex expectantly.

Over the past few weeks Alex’s life had changed drastically. His boring yet comfortable life had changed into one filled with adventure and danger. Up until recently he was still fighting those changes, not wanting to fully accept them. But after what happened in High Rock, he finally came to terms with his new life, and the fact that he would most likely never return to Earth.

Even though he usually doesn’t remember his dreams, the one he had the night of Dusty’s attack stuck with him. He could remember it as if it really happened. After thinking about it over and over again, he was sure that he was contacted by Atlas in his sleep.

All of this made him realize that he wasn’t just Alex anymore. He had ascended to a godly level, although not out of his free will. After his second death, he finally accepted what he was and decided to leave his old life behind to start over in this world.

To symbolize this, he decided to change the very thing that defined himself as who he was before to what he was now. He decided to change his name.

“From now on. Please call me Atlas.” He said to his friends. “Just Atlas.”

Author's Note

Finally it's here! The name change! I don't know if any of you remember(ambros didn't) that this was foreshadowed all the way back in chapter two. From here on out Alex will be known as Atlas.

Hope you had a good read, and feel free to comment!

Once again, thanks to my proofreader/editor Ambros for a job well done!

Todays chapter was brought to you by Jon Bon Jovi apparently ^^

37. Going Home

Atlas followed his escort through the halls of the guard station. They walked in silence as Atlas contemplated his sentence once again as they passed barred doors and windows.

While Inquiring Mind said that he'd be placed under heavy surveillance, he also mentioned that whoever would watch him would do so from the shadows. As Atlas though about that, he was relieved that at least nopony would follow his every move right next to him. Having a third wheel would make meeting with his friends awkward as hell.

On the other side, he had to worry about just where they'd draw the line. Would he be able to go to the bathroom without some secret agent taking notes?

As they reached the end of the hallway the guard led Atlas down a staircase to the entrance hall of the station. There, sitting on a bench already waiting for him, were his friends.

They currently were engaged in a hushed conversation, their attention focused solely on their chatter. Crimson's ears swiveled around when Atlas drew closer, no doubt picking up on the sounds of approaching hoof steps. Breaking up their little huddle he glanced up towards the stairs.

Crimson's movement caused Belle and Amethyst to stop their conversation as well, to see what grabbed Crimson's attention. As soon as Belle's eyes landed on Atlas, a look of relief washed away what had been concern etched into her features. Crimson had a similar reaction, while Amethyst eyed him suspiciously, perhaps unsure what to think of the evening's events and revelations.

The guard led Atlas over to his friends, before stepping aside to give them some room for their reunion. Belle shot a last worried glance towards the guard before wrapping Atlas into a hug.

"I'm so glad they didn't lock you up," she whispered into his ear.

Atlas gently returned the hug, opting to not say anything for now. Crimson and Amethyst got up from the bench as well, approaching the hugging pair. Belle let go of Atlas and took a step back, wiping away a tear with her fetlock.

"They haven't told us any details, so what is your sentence exactly?" Crimson asked.

"Well, for one, I've gained a permanent second shadow," Atlas said. "They've also concluded that I somehow gained a third affinity, and that my newly gained powers are a potential threat to the general populace if left unchecked."

"So it is true then?" Amethyst interjected. "You’ve truly gained an affinity towards manipulation mana?"

Atlas shot Amethyst a confused look. "Yes, they hooked me up to this affinity scanner or whatever it's called."

"Fascinating..." Amethyst trailed off, lost in thought as his face lost some of its hardness.

"Anyways, I'll also have to provide unconditional support for anypony interested in studying my unique case," Atlas continued to explain.

"That doesn't sound too bad, considering you blew up a whole field," Crimson said, raising an eyebrow at Atlas.

"Supposedly...I have you guys to thank for that," Atlas said with a smile. "Since you told them what happened they decided that I wasn't fully responsible for what happened." He made it a point to look each of his friends in the eyes to get the message across. "I truly appreciate it."

"Don't sweat it, you'd have done the same for us," Crimson said, punching Atlas lightly on the shoulder.

"Yeah, we'd never leave you hanging!" Belle said, sidling up to Atlas.

Atlas was somewhat surprised by her sudden closeness but chalked it up to her just being happy… well, that and him literally telling her that he loved her mere hours ago.

"All I did was tell them the truth," Amethyst said. "It just so happened that you're not to blame for all of this."

"Thank you anyways." Atlas smiled. "According to them, it was ultimately your information that made them reconsider my sentence. Since you were able to give a little more insight as to what happened on the magical side of things."

"Sure," Amethyst said around a yawn. "What do you say we get this show on the road?"

Not even waiting for a reply from the others Amethyst turned away from his friends and made for the door. Nodding to each other, they followed him outside. Following closely behind them was the silent guard.

Once outside they found Amethyst looking around confusedly with a scrunched up face.

"What's up Amethyst?" Crimson asked, seeing his distress.

"Do any of you know where we actually are and how to get back?" Amethyst replied.

Atlas furrowed his brow and looked around. Since they were blacked out when they were transported to the barn, they had no idea where they were, neither were there any landmarks around any of them recognized.

"Allow me." The guard spoke up from behind them.

The guard started to walk off down a seemingly random street, turning back after a while as he patiently waited for the group to follow him.

Amethyst shrugged, shooting one last glance towards the guard station.

"Sure."

Atlas and his friends were following the guard in pairs. Shortly after the start of their journey, they were told to stick together since it would be easier to guard them in case something happened. Crimson and Amethyst were walking closely behind the guard pony, leading a hushed conversation.

Atlas and Belle were a few meters behind them, Belle walking almost uncomfortably close to Atlas. Back in his time as a human, walking this close together was a lot more comfortable than it was in his new pony form. Since their legs protruded somewhat outwards to the side they rubbed awkwardly together with each step they took. Belle didn't seem to mind, but Atlas began to miss having a stationary upper body.

They had been walking for almost half an hour with the guard leading them through the maze that was the kingdom's streets. As they passed by an abandoned house, an overturned trash can with a few cats rummaging through it, Atlas finally gathered enough courage to say what he needed to say.

"Belle?" he asked in a hushed voice.

Belle just hummed questioningly, seemingly content not saying anything for now.

"You know, I had a lot of time to think today." Atlas began. "All alone in that room for a few hours..." He trailed off towards the end of his sentence.

Belle lifted her head, looking curiously at Atlas while waiting patiently for him to continue.

"It's about what happened in the barn." Atlas bit his lower lip. He really didn't want to do this but knew he had to if this relationship was to work out in the future. "About how I told you that I love you."

Atlas just stared straight ahead, not daring to look Belle into the eyes right now. Belle furrowed her brows, unsure of what to say.

"Is something wrong?" She asked after a few seconds of Atlas not elaborating.

After a while, Atlas let out a huge sigh and let his head hang slightly.

"You know... Love." Atlas said. "Love is such a strong word."

Belle was growing worried but gently nudged Atlas, signaling that she was listening.

"After all that happened tonight, I was just so happy that Dusty didn't take you away." Atlas gave another tired sigh. "Recently I have lost a lot of things. I went through a lot of hardships to get to this point, and you were the one who saved me back in High Rock."

Atlas finally looked towards Belle, looking deep into her eyes. Two blue orbs stared back at him, full of uncertainty.

"Since then you've grown to be my precious friend, and I wouldn't have been able to deal with losing you too. Not after I finally managed to get some stability in my life."

Atlas tore his gaze from her deep blue eyes and shifted his attention towards the countless stars dotting the night sky. Somewhere up there were the ones responsible for this whole mess, probably even watching right now. Watching and waiting, ready to trip him up the next chance they got.

"What I'm saying basically is... I may have acted a bit rash."

A small gasp could be heard next to Atlas, causing him to wince. Belle took a step towards the side, separating them slightly, and Atlas suddenly felt a lot colder.

"What... what do you mean?" Belle asked, close to tears.

"I'm saying that back there I wasn't really in any state to make a huge decision such as this. I was an emotional mess!" Atlas said, redirecting his eyes back towards a hurt looking Belle.

"After having thought about it, I'm just not sure what I'm feeling for you is... Love." Atlas put a lot of emphasis on the last word, putting a lot of emotion behind it.

Belle's eyes started to water, a betrayed look flashing across her face.

"Are... are you already breaking up with me?" Belle said, a slight sliver of hope still present in her voice.

Atlas studied her face. The moonlight accentuated her features, reminding him once again how beautiful she was. Even though deep down Atlas felt weird calling a pony of all things beautiful, he couldn't deny that her face was aesthetically pleasing.

"No," Atlas replied with finality.

Belle furrowed her eyes in confusion, a hopeful smile tugging at her lips.

"While I'm not really sure yet if what I'm feeling for you is actually love, I would be lying if I said I wasn't feeling anything for you," Atlas said.

Atlas sighed once again, awkwardly looking around, not sure where to look at the moment. He had never really confessed to anyone before, so his heart was thumping wildly in his chest.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is... I'm willing to give this whole thing a try," Atlas said. "You and Me, I mean." He waved his hoof between them a few times, trying to get his point across.

Belle took a few seconds to register the new information, but once it finally all locked into place, a huge grin spread across her face. She almost comically slid back to Atlas's side, as if somehow there was suddenly a magnetic force between them.

Atlas could have sworn he heard a soft 'shwooop' from somewhere and shot a concerned look toward Belle. As he had to slightly look down to look at her, he realized for the first time that she was quite a lot smaller than him.

He tilted his head to the side in confusion, as he could have sworn she was almost the same height as him before, but chalked it up to him never really paying that much attention. Belle looked right back at him, a happy smile plastered across her face.

"That's good enough for me," Belle said. "I'll always stay with you, so there's no need to rush."

Atlas pushed aside all thoughts about potential height differences and smiled at his new girlfriend. Or marefriend, as he had to remind himself. He leaned into her a bit more, the awkward leg rubbing momentarily forgotten as well, just enjoying her presence for now.

"Would you two lovebirds terribly mind to pay attention?" A voice asked suddenly.

Atlas and Belle whipped their heads around, only to find a bemused looking Crimson standing before them.

"We've arrived." He said, presenting the stairs to their flat with an exaggerated motion.

Atlas and Belle both blushed and separated, from each other. They looked around awkwardly for a few moments, while Amethyst could be heard laughing softly off to the side.

"Well, Atlas, Amethyst." Crimson nodded his head towards each of them respectively. "I'm plum tuckered out after tonight's events, so I'm gonna hit the hay. Goodnight you two."

After they returned his goodnight wishes, Crimson turned around and walked up the stairs, fumbling with the keys which he procured from... somewhere.

"Belle? You comin'?" He called down once he managed to get the door open.

Belle shot a glance back at Atlas before zipping over to him, planting a quick peck on his cheek, before running up the stairs and into the flat. Crimson just shook his head in amusement and followed her in, closing the door behind him.

Atlas touched a hoof to where Belle just kissed him, staring at the door in a daze. His thoughts were kickstarted once again when a purple hoof waved in front of his face. He followed the appendage back to his owner, finding Amethyst Blade at its end.

"Come on, we still have some ways to go." He said, pointing towards their guard, already waiting for them.

"Sure," Atlas replied and fell into step beside Amethyst.

Atlas flopped onto his bed, exhaustion overtaking him. A soft click behind him could be heard as Amethyst closed the door. Soon enough he could be heard reuniting with his mattress as well. They stayed like this for a while neither of them talking as seconds passed in silence. Ever since they departed from Belle's and Crimson's place they were content in not talking to each other, both of them deeply caught up in their own thoughts.

"Hey, Atlas?" Amethyst suddenly said, his voice cutting through the silence.

"Yeah?" Atlas replied.

"You're weird you know that?"

Atlas sighed, cuddling up to his pillow.

"Yeah."

Sleep quickly found them both after the long day they’d both had.

Author's Note

I'm back! :D I hated writing the start of this chapter, literally after Belle's first sentence I got hit by a small writers block for two days. Two days of staring at that one line of text and not knowing what to do with it. Once I got past it, I finished in record time though.

So after an eventful evening, we've officially "reset" the plot and soon, the scholar arc prelude will be done. Once Atlas enters the regular classes in the academy, you'll start seeing some bigger time leaps in between chapters, as the scholar arc technically covers over 30 years D:

Also, I hope this romance scene gets better marks than my last one :P

Once again, thanks to my editor Ambros and my proofreader Kilobytes for a job well done!

Today's chapter was brought to you by I'm Back (to Rise)! Gotta love me some Mick Gordon!

47. Graduation and Classification

Scholar Arc
Year 4, Month 11, Day 26

"The top graduates of their respective fields will now hold a short speech. First up, Steadfast, who is the top graduate for the school of combat, subclass Elementalist."

The crowd gave a hearty applause as an earth brown unicorn got onto the stage, approaching the podium as the previous speaker yielded his spot to him.

It was graduation day at the academy, and friends and family had gathered in the open space between the two buildings to celebrate with their loved ones. A grand stage had been set up, where all the teachers were seated comfortably in the background. Front and center was where the enchanted podium had been erected, carrying the spoken word across the crowd, so everyone could hear.

Steadfast began with his speech and everypony present listened intently on what he had to say. All but one.

Atlas sat on his chair in the front row, oblivious to the world around him as he unconsciously tuned it out. Over the years he’d spent at the academy, a lot had changed about him, but one thing was just the same as when he still resided in the human world.

Atlas had terrible stage fright.

While he was totally okay with talking in front of his class, the crowd currently gathered behind him was on a whole other level. Easily two-thousand ponies were seated under the blue sky, and every one of them was currently watching Steadfast while he was giving his speech.

Apparently, graduation was a really big deal in the Crystal Kingdom and usually the whole extended family came to attend. When Atlas thought about the fact, that in just a few minutes, he would have to stand up there himself, he had to choke down his panic.

Since he graduated at the top of his transformation class, he would need to hold a speech as well. As soon as he’d found out about the customary speech, he had tried to pawn the honor off on someone else in his class. To his dismay, they’d all insisted that he deserved it.

As Steadfast finished his speech with a bow and yet more applause, Atlas went over his speech one more time. He had it all written down and was currently reading it for the forty-second time since the ceremony had started.

Trying to calm his nerves he read it again and again, even though he had long memorized it to perfection before graduation day. Atlas was so absorbed in his lecture that he let out a startled yelp when something touched his shoulder.

Whipping his head to the left, the object which so rudely invaded his personal space was revealed to be the hoof of the mint green pony sitting next to him.

"Atlas, they just called your name!" She hissed over the confused murmur of the crowd. "Get up there!"

"Oh yeah... sorry..." Atlas stammered out, hesitantly getting up from his seat.

Apparently, some time had passed since his name was called out, which he failed to notice because of his nervousness. He climbed up the stairs to the stage with his heart racing at a thousand beats per minute, he could feel the gaze of the crowd following his every movement.

Not paying any attention to where he was going, he got his hind leg caught up on the last step of the stairs, causing him to stumble and face plant. A small gasp went through the audience while Atlas wished for nothing more than to just sink into the ground and disappear.

With a beet-red face, Atlas got back up on four shaking legs. "I'm okay!" He called out to no one in particular. "I'm okay..." He repeated, albeit at a much lower volume, addressed more to himself than anyone else.

Slowly he made his way over to the podium until he stood behind it, facing the crowd.

His eyes traveled over the sea of ponies before him, searching for a familiar face. While he did so he suddenly became more aware than ever that thousands of eyes were currently resting on him, waiting to listen to his words of wisdom.

Atlas froze up. He was sweating all over. His knees were weak and his legs felt like spaghetti. He was incredibly nervous, but on the outside, it looked like he was silently regarding his audience in preparation. His eyes went wide as he realized that he forgot everything he had written down, and in his panic, he forgot to bring his speech with him, which was now lying in the grass in front of his chair.

His vision seemed to go black at the edges, while non-existent walls seemed to be closing in on him. His breathing started to get quicker and he could feel himself getting sick. There was no way he could just talk in front of so many ponies.

Atlas closed his eyes in an attempt to shut it all out, not caring what everypony currently thought about him. The confused murmur of the crowd started up again and in Atlas's mind, it was so incredibly loud, almost unbearably so.

He didn't want this. He just wanted to be anywhere else.

"You can do it Atlas!"

A shout pierced through the moment and Atlas’ eyes shot back open.

"You can do it!"

His eyes darted over the crowd, trying to find the speaker. It didn't take long for him to locate the pink earth pony mare apparently jumping up and down on her chair, trying to get his attention. There, amidst of a sea of strangers was Belle, happily waving at him, despite the crowd looking at her as if she just crashed a funeral. Next to her were his other friends. Amethyst, Crimson, as well as Blue Current. All of them were here, giving him encouraging smiles.

Atlas suddenly realized that he wasn't alone. None of these ponies before him mattered right now. None, except for his friends. He couldn't just disappoint them when they went out of their way to come here today.

Closing his eyes once again, Atlas took a deep breath before releasing it slowly, a smile now adorning his face. When he opened his eyes again, he focused only on his friends, and only on them.

This speech was for them.

"Five years ago," Atlas started his speech, "when I enrolled into this Academy, I couldn't access nor control my magic. At all." He built in a little pause for dramatic effect. "Now, five years later, I stand before you as the top graduate of my class.

"Those past five years weren't easy. I loved being here and studying everything I could about magic. I immersed myself in my studies, I learned and achieved a great many things, even progressed our understanding of transformation magic by a little bit. But as much as I love what I've done, I could have never done it without the support of my friends."

Atlas smiled and tore his gaze off from where his friends were seated and let his gaze swivel over the crowd. His eye twitched as he immediately recognized his mistake and refocused on the pink mare that was almost tearing up by now.

"My time at this academy has come to a close, but my path on this road has just started. I already have a great many ideas on how to progress our understanding of magic in general. It will be a long and arduous road to travel, but I would like to remind myself as much as everypony else in the audience today; If something seems too hard to do alone, do not be afraid to turn to somepony else and ask for help.

"As such, I hope I'll continue to make new friends and connections in the years to come. Not only with unicorns, but also with earth ponies and pegasi, so that we might progress even further. Not just as a city, but as a species, unified by the bond called friendship. Together."

Atlas once again let his eyes wander to gauge the audience's reaction. While he was extremely nervous to give his speech, he recognized a certain potential with doing it.

Right now, pony kind was still divided. By including the different races into his speech and making it painfully obvious that he thought they could progress further together, he effectively turned the whole audience into his test group.

As expected he saw quite a few sour faces staring back at him, some even looking outraged at the idea. But the vast majority seemed to be mostly indifferent to it. Judging from this, relations between the tribes seemed to be not too close to the point of no return, at least on the unicorn side of things.

The one thing Atlas had tried to do ever since he arrived in this dimension, was try to find out where exactly he was in the timeline of the show, the earliest event known to him being the Hearth's Warming Eve story told by the show. As it stood, it was most likely quite a few years off.

All of this was of course little more than a theory to him, but he'd much rather know than not. Even if he could probably not do anything to change the outcome, just knowing when it would happen would be enough.

Atlas gave it a lot of thought and at this point, he wasn't sure if he should intervene, even if he could. A lot of ponies were going to suffer because of their leader's ignorance, but as a result, the tribes would unify under one banner and found Equestria.

"A wise stallion once said: "Do not pursue your dream, but your passion."

"I'm Atlas, valedictorian of the one-hundredth and twenty-second graduating transformation class. Thank you."

Taking a step back from the podium, Atlas lowered his head in a bow while the audience applauded. He held the pose for a few seconds before shooting one last look towards where he knew his friends were seated. He got off the stage opposite from where he entered to make space for the next pony and approached his seat before almost collapsing on it.

His heart was still beating at unhealthy speeds and he felt like he’d just ran a marathon. Glad that it was finally over, he closed his eyes and tuned out the current speech in an attempt to calm down.

The ceremony would most likely go on for another hour or two at this point, but at least his part was now over. All that was left was to collect his degree afterward and then attend a party thrown by his friends, which was something about today he had actually been looking forward to.

Settling himself in he tried to at least get comfortable, a thing that was almost impossible on the lawn chairs that were set up. Yet another one of the weird parallels of their dimensions. Why did they have human chairs when they weren't even comfortable to sit on as a pony.

Atlas chalked it up to the gods being lazy once again, as he did every so often when he noticed things like this.

Scholar Arc
Year 5, Month 1, Day 1

"Come in."

Atlas opened the door he just knocked on and entered. Looking around the office he tried to gauge the personality of its occupant. All in all, the room was decorated rather sparsely. The walls were decked out with a plethora of certificates, medals, and awards. Towards the back, a huge desk filled out the room, a purple rug under it bearing the Royal Guard's emblem. A shield with the depiction of the lonely mountain at sunrise on it.

Behind the desk was a large and comfortable looking chair, currently occupied by an elderly stallion. His coat was a dull green and his mane had long since turned gray. Upon his body rested a snugly fit uniform, sporting the usual purple colors with gold highlights the guard was known for. His face was littered with wrinkles and scars alike, giving him the general look of being tired. Just one look into his deep blue eyes confirmed the opposite to be true for Atlas, since they seemed to be full of life, watching him intently like a hawk.

"Please, take a seat." The stallion said, gesturing towards one of two chairs in front of his desk.

While they didn't look as comfortable or expensive as the one behind the desk, they still looked like a piece of luxury. Atlas did as he was told and moved to take a seat. Once he was properly settled in, he expectantly waited for the stallion to continue.

"I am Colonel Jade Spear, do you know why you're here today?"

"Yes, sir." Atlas dutifully answered.

Since his education had been completed, the time had finally come for him to make good on his contract and start his service in the military. Although, if his current location was anything to go by, they would most likely stick him into the guard.

Shortly after the ceremony, Atlas had received a letter telling him to come to the royal guard recruitment center, where he would receive further instructions.

"Good." Jade Spear simply responded. "Then, first off, let me congratulate you personally on your stellar academic career."

"Thank you, sir," Atlas responded.

"Usually somepony else would give orders besides me, but as I'm sure you are aware you are a somewhat special case. So, I’d say it’s my honor to be the one to tell you what you'll be doing from now on, we'll also have to discuss a few things that are rather delicate and not meant for the lower ranks to know."

The colonel looked at Atlas as if he was expecting an answer.

"I understand, sir."

"Good, the sooner we get started the sooner you can get out of here." Jade Spear said as he levitated a few documents out of a drawer in his desk. "First off, we have to assign you to a division where you'll fit in and be of use to us."

He spread out the documents and seemed to read over a few of them.

"It says here that you are quite the gifted water elementalist. How do you feel about a more combat heavy division? Ever heard of Teras?"

"They hunt down monsters around the kingdom if I remember correctly. I met a few of them on my travels, and one of my friends recently joined them," Atlas explained. "Although, I'd really rather not do anything with a combat role. I was hoping to maybe be assigned to a research division?" He asked hopefully.

Jade Spear clicked with his tongue, obviously annoyed.

"Is something wrong, sir?" Atlas asked cautiously.

"No, nothing," Jade Spear replied. "It's just that the higher ups technically already transferred you. Although, if you told me you wanted something different it could still be arranged. The lads down at Teras are always looking for new recruits, you sure you don't want to help them out?"

"Yes, sir," Atlas replied. "I feel like I will be more useful in as a researcher expanding the kingdoms knowledge."

"It's a damn shame, it is." Jade Spear sighed. "Moving on then, here are your orders. Mind that you don’t lose them."

A small stack of documents floated towards Atlas' side of the table.

"Read through them carefully once you get back home, for now, here's the gist of it," Jade Spear explained. "You really impressed some important ponies with what you achieved while at the academy. That card game you made was especially intriguing to them. Not to mention you're the first pony with a triple affinity ever, which means those science quacks want to keep you close.

"As such, you'll be transferred to our 26th Research unit, located on the same island as the Academy you went to. You might be familiar with it since you probably were tested by the guys at some point. You'll find further information in the papers I gave you."

"Sir, thank you, sir." Atlas beamed.

Truth be told, Atlas was actually kind of scared before coming here. At his graduation ceremony he talked big about his plans to further their understanding of magic, but if he would have been assigned to a combat unit, all of his plans would have fallen through right then and there.

"Moving on then," Jade Spear said, another stack of papers floating to his front. "You are aware that you are still being observed since you have been deemed a potential danger to yourself and those around you almost five years ago, yes?"

"Yes, sir," Atlas answered.

In all his time at the Academy, he never once saw one of his supposed shadows. It actually slipped his mind some time ago, so being reminded of it was a tad unsettling to Atlas.

"As of today, that ends." Jade Spear said matter of factly. "The researchers, as well as the relevant authorities, have deemed you safe enough since you have displayed the necessary amount of restraint and control over your abilities. I'll just need you to sign here."

Jade Spear floated over a single scroll, as well as an inkwell and a quill towards Atlas, indicating with the quill where he needed the signature to be. Atlas took them in his own magic and read through the scroll once before signing it enthusiastically.

He might have never noticed anyone following him, but that didn't change the fact that they were there.

"Thank you," Jade Spear said while filing the scroll appropriately. "Well, then there's just one more thing I'll need to tell you. The two guards assigned to you wanted to officially meet you. You'll find them in conference room three, just down the hall. Do you have any questions."

"No sir," Atlas said.

"Well then, you're dismissed," Jade Spear indicated towards the door. "Have a nice day, and welcome to the Corps."

"Thank you, sir."

Atlas left the Colonel's office, and once outside, let out a sigh of relief. This talk had quite literally decided his future and could have taken some bad turns. In the end, the results were in his favor, which was like a weight falling off his shoulders.

He started trotting down the hall, looking for the conference room. Since he was now more or less a free pony, he might as well meet the hide and seek world champions that tailed him for the last several years of his life.

Spotting a small plate indicating the room next to it as conference room three, Atlas stopped to take a deep breath. He let it out through his mouth and along with any lingering nervousness from the serious talk before. Satisfyingly calmed down, Atlas gave three sharp knocks on the door and entered without waiting for an answer.

As far as conference rooms went, this one looked fairly standard. Big table, lots of chairs and a huge blackboard. At the end of the table, two seats were occupied.

On the left side sat a dark brown unicorn stallion. His mane was cut short and an even darker brown than his coat, almost black even. His cutie mark was obscured by the table and he shot Atlas a nervous smile once he saw who entered.

Opposite of him sat an orange unicorn mare. Her mane was blond and hung lazily down the side of her neck. Since she sat on Atlas's side of the table he could perfectly see her cutie mark, which consisted of two question marks and one exclamation mark, each a different color.

Atlas's eyes went wide as his eyes slowly traveled up the mare's body until they eventually met a pair of deep blue eyes he was all too familiar with.

"Uhh... hi," Amber said, giving him a small and awkward wave.

Author's Note

I made this badge for the Royal Guard. Could have made a better one, but I'm satisfied with this :D First multi-day chapter, yay!

Also, a shoutout to Heidao, you called it! You are now officially on my shitlist.Technically you were ever since you wrote your comment. I can just call you out for it now :D

Once again, thanks to my editor Azriel and my proofreader Kilobytes for a job well done!

Special thanks to Azriel, who helped out a great deal with this chapter. Lots of questions were asked and his military knowledge came in really handy in this chapter!

Today's chapter was brought to you by this song. I went to watch "Why Him?" and Steve was in it. Love that guy!