Waking up from my nap, I look around to find a very terrifying scene. Blast marks mark the field in random spots, notably towards the middle where a large tree now stands.

That wasn't there at all... And what's with all of these blast marks!? I wonder where... Oh shit.

"Obsidian!?" I yell out in desperation, not seeing her laying near me anymore.

"Obsidian is over there boy." responds an unknown voice from behind me.

I turn around quickly while backing away to see a tall, but obviously older creature. It has long ears, is very pale and has somewhat short hair that's black. The body seems almost human-like but is obviously something else.

"What and who are you?" I say, shaking with the burst of adrenaline I received from seeing such destruction.

"That doesn't matter at all. I answered your question, your friend is over there." he replies while pointing at the newly sprouted large tree in the middle of the field.

I look towards it for a split second, trying to find Obsidian before I turn back to see the humanoid being right in front of me. I stagger backwards in surprise and fall before feeling magic catch me. Surprised I didn't fall, I notice that the color of his essence is almost like mine, except a bit darker.

"Oh dear, you are still a fresh magic user aren't you? I suppose you'd be better than most of these ponies, but outside of Equestria you'll find that your skill is pitiful. You may call me Avden additionally, since I apparently need to teach you some things before I go back to my lands." Adven says before grabbing a staff from nowhere and pointing it towards me.

What is this thing! What does he want from me!? I need to find Obsidian and get out of here. If he was able to have a real fight with her and win then I don't think I can do much. She only lost to that crazy mare from before due to surprise, at least that was what I was told. I do have my new enchanted trench coat.. I'm sure that I can at least fend him off until I find her.

I cast a simple spell to launch me backwards with a push of air while commanding my coat to cover my body like before. A decently sized fireball is launched from his staff, crashing into me mid-air after I activate the absorb function of my cloak. My expectations are confirmed when I feel nothing but hot wind from the fireballs blast. I point my arm towards him in response and release my cloaks gem contents in a compressed blade of air. It's much bigger than I thought, since the gem was most likely filled completely, and it slices through the air. He dodges it by ducking quickly and the trees behind him are cut in half until it's momentum stops about ten feet into the forest. He turns around and then looks at me with a smile of pride.

"Well done! I didn't think you'd have such powerful magical items after just starting magic! It took me quite a while before I even got one, almost three years!" he yells with a snide and envious tone before aiming the staff at me again and firing off a different spell.

Is that... A FREAKING GIANT ICICLE!??!

An icicle about four feet tall and six feet wide from point to point is flying towards me as I continue to fly towards the tree.

I assume that the tree has something to do with Obsidian.. I cant let this hit it at all. I really don't want to use my sword, or lightning. Revealing my trump cards won't do anything but make this escape harder by showing him that he needs to use more. Time to just power through this!

I focus a ton of magical essence and command the earth in front of me to create a dense and wide wall. A split second later the wall is finished and the icicle flies into it, the point penetrating the wall until the point sticks through the other side. I feel myself become drained quite a bit and rest against the wall. The icicle melts into water and goes along the wall instantly covering me up to my neck and refreezing, plastering my body against the wall which also moves around my body and melds into the ground.

"All that power, but no focus or control. Think! You didn't do anything but try to use blunt force. Magic is so much more intricate! Why block my magic if you could've misdirected it? So much to learn, but your potential is great." Adven says with a somewhat frustrated tone before continuing in a much nicer tone. "Let's try again, shall we?"

What does he—

I feel my body warm up and I'm suddenly back where I first woke up.

What... Was that? It wasn't teleportation... I know what that feels like, and I know that definitely wasn't it.

"Were you thinking that it didn't feel like teleportation? That it was 'something else'? Well, that doesn't matter. You get another chance." says a familiar voice from behind me.

I cast a spell, without even bothering to turn around, that launches a cascade of compressed rocks behind me and reach for my sword, giving each piece a command to attack Adven while in a spike form. I then start turning around, making my hilt morph a bit to gain a spike while I cast a spell to protect my hands from electrons. Another split second later, I command electrons to gather around the spike and protons to form a sword like shape a few inches from the spike. Like I expected, a lightning sword comes into existence in my hand and I point it towards Adven who is busy catching each of my rocks. His eyes light up when he sees my sword and the pieces flying towards him. I grin at seeing his surprised eyes and release some lightning towards him, watching as it strikes his body as he falls backwards. Rocks slam down into him and the blade pieces wrap around his wrists and ankles, pinning him to the ground. I move forward, putting the lightning blade close to his face, watching as the small hairs on his face get singed from the ambient electricity and heat emanating from the blade.

"I don't know what you did to me, but I've contained you. No magic will get you out of this!" I say, smirking down at a defeated foe.

"You're right. Normally, this would be impossible to get out of. If you were in a normal situation. How do you know that you're awake? Or even alive? I'd stay longer, but my time is up for now." Adven says with a yawn, while a sharp pain erupts in my side. "You see, this is a very strange situation. One that you've never been in, at least it'd be kinda weird if you have been."

I look down and see an icicle stabbed through my side. The pain is so unbearable that I lose concentration and all of my commands fall to pieces. My blade pieces stay in the same position, holding him down. The only thing I could think of is saving Obsidian at the very least.

I must... Save her. I can't believe it.. Done in by some random magical creature in the forest.. Well actually, I can believe it. No time to be stupidly humorous.

I gather all of the focus I can under so much pain and teleport myself to the large tree. I feel the ground, sending out a spell that I've never tried before. A radar spell, looking for one specific tree pony. It rings back telling me her location, the top of the tree. I use some of what little magical power I have left to fly up the tree to find her body sitting in a large nest at the top. I start to fly in when her body catches on fire and she screams in agony. I hurry to her side and watch as she turns to ash only a few seconds after her first scream. I feel tears well in my eyes and I slam my fists down with anger and grief along with as much magical energy as I can, breaking the large tree apart before flying like a bullet towards the fool that would dare to hurt those I care about. I arrive to see him still pinned and smiling.

"Looks like something's burning you up! Maybe it's set a flame in your soul eh?" Adven says while cackling with a crazed tone.

"What the fuck is wrong with you!?!? Why do this!??!" I say, stepping towards him while almost falling over.

His only reply is a grin before I feel my body start to fail me. I reach for anything inside me to make sure I can punish this bastard for everything he has done. I find something deep down and grab onto it, pulling it out and I get filled with energy that I didn't know was there. The vastness of the amount of energy surprises me, but I remain focused on killing him.

I will not let you live. You will die here with me, and her..

I reach towards the sky and pull as many electrons as I can in the surrounding area. I smell ozone in the air as I grab onto his neck and pull energy from him. His expression turns to one of glee as he looks up into the sky. I squeeze his neck harder and focus all of the electrons I gathered onto the tip of my finger. The amount of pure electric energy gathered there causes my hair to stand up completely before I drive it down onto his body, causing his body to be overflowed with lightning. He turns to ash completely in a split second as I feel my body run out of energy and the icicle fall out of me.

It must have melted enough to just fall out... What do I do now? She's dead. I've killed some creature. I'm dying as well... This pain means nothing to the pain in my head right now... What am I supposed to do?

"Nice fireworks kid. Amazing display, really. Lightning magic huh? I never dabbled but it seems like you have it down." I hear from behind me, making me freeze completely.

How.... How is he alive!?!?!?

"HOW!? I killed you!!!" I say with the small amount of strength I have left before falling over, unable to move.

"Magic is a strange thing bud, you seem to not understand what's happening here. Don't worry, I'm sure you'll learn from this. You still need to learn how to be more versatile, but I'm sure you'll catch on! I'm impressed that you so easily dipped into your own life force to cast that flashy spell. You've got talent! Now learn from this defeat. Oh, and say hi to Obsidian for me, alright?" Adven says before waving goodbye and launching another fireball at me point blank.

I sit up with sweat on my face, Obsidian standing nearby while looking out into the field that's underneath a starry sky with a smile plastered on her face. My body is continuously shaking, and I have to squeeze my arm to calm myself, feeling anxiety taking over.

I'm fine... No hole. No battle marks on the field. Nothing. She is okay, I'm okay. We're okay... I need to go take my mind off of that horrible dream.

"Obsidian, I'm going home. I want to talk to Pinkie Pie." I say, trying to hide the dread in my tone.

She looks at me strangely before nodding slowly with a concerned look. I teleport instantly back to the my room in the Carousel Boutique and look around for my vision orb which I spot on the table where I left it. I sit down next to it and put my hand on the orb itself, activating it with a command to contact Pinkie Pie. A few seconds pass before Pinkie Pie appears in the orb, showing her in a well lit part of the train that seems to be some sort of hallway.

"Wow! It works! Hiya Devan, I can't wait to come back and tell you about the train ride! We saw lots of desert. I think I'm the only one that that saw a lot of desserts though." Pinkie says with a snorty laugh at the end.

"I can't wait to see you too Pinkie. I miss you." I say gently, feeling a lot better knowing that she is safe and still making corny jokes.

"Aww.... I miss you too Devan." Pinkie says with a blush. "Well, I don't think the girls would appreciate my late night conversation with you, though I really wish I could stay. Everyone else is sleeping and Twilight almost caught me grabbing this enchanted mirror! I cant even think of how many questions I would get if she saw me using it to talk to you. I'll... talk to you soon okay?"

Pinkie Pie waves goodbye before looking around quickly and blowing me a kiss with her hoof. I smile and blow one back with a somewhat embarrassed blush. She disappears from the orb as I stop the flow of magic from me into it. I then lay onto my bed, staring up at the ceiling and sigh deeply.

I still feel on edge. That dream was way too real... What kind of random creature was that? Looked kinda human.. Maybe something my imagination created?.. I hope I can get some sleep tonight.

After thinking about sleeping, I realize all of my clothes are still on. I float the trench coat over to a nearby hook while removing the rest of my clothes except my boxers.

I just need to get some more rest, I still feel so tired even after that nap. Seemed like a really long one too.

I turn on my side and see something that startles and horrifies me. A simple card that's standing up on the nightstand that I didn't notice before. A rose in a vase sits next to it, one of my favorite flowers. The note reads a short message.

'Adven was here!'

I close my eyes and open them again to nothing but empty space where it was. I shake my head, turn the other way and eventually fall asleep after an hour of wishing what I saw wasn't real and just my overly active thoughts haunting me.

Author's Note

Explosssionn!!