Author's Note

So, I'm late. But! This coming weekend I'll drop two chapters that will be back to the 3k+ words that I'm usually putting out recently.

Also, what do you guys think of a musical chapter? One that has music to go along with what is happening in it? I feel like it'd be a challenge, but I have a perfect chapter thought out to go with a specific song.

Lesson Part Two

As Sēti licks his paw clean of every crumb and piece of sugar, I glance outside at the area below us through a nearby window.

Luckily, I found a room that has a window overlooking most of the town. Walking up such a steep incline with someone on my back was not the most comfortable experience. I think I should scope out the town, but first...

I sit down on the bed opposite of Sēti and give a look of pure curiosity. "Sēti, tell me what you know of magic. From what you have told me of your past, it seems like you were just taught basic things yet you seem to know of alignment combinations I never heard of. That, and the fact you are so prolific with enchanting knowledge is also very interesting."

He gives one final lick of his paw while looking at me from the side. "Well... I actually don't know too much, considering I was just taught about basic air magic in a less than ideal situation. Even when I was made into a captain, I was just taught basic knowledge about alignments and what they can be combined to do. As for the enchanting knowledge I possess.. That will remain a secret.". Sēti looks down at his sword and sighs, showing that there is a line to not be crossed, even now. After a moment however, his eyes dart to my sword at my side and back to his.

"Cheeky little cat! I'm not blind! Be straightforward, come on." I say with a smirk, leaning back and holding myself up with my arms from behind.

"Well..." starts Sēti, twiddling his claws around each other. "Does your weapon have more than just those three forms? I have never seen a weapon like that, nor have I heard of such a thing existing. Not that I have lived a long life, but I have seen plenty of enchanted weapons."

"Hmm, I dunno.. Should I tell you?" I ask playfully, imitating the Thinker statue.

Sēti reaches out quickly and shakes my legs in excitement. "Please? Please? Please? Please? Pllleeaasseee?"

There we go.. Act your age you silly cat! I'm not gonna let the gloom and doom take you over just yet!

"Allllrriiighhhttt. It has quite a few more forms actually, though right now I think I could really only show you how one works without causing a bit of... A commotion." I say nervously, flashing a somewhat embarrassed smile.

With widened eyes, Sēti drops his jaw a bit. "Some forms are that powerful? But how do you know that they will cause a problem?"

I think back to how I 'programmed' the weapon and shiver slightly. "I just know. Some of them are very much so meant for battle, though perhaps soon you will see a more powerful one. So, as you know, each gem you gave me has an alignment specialty.". Sēti just nods and gives an almost giddy smile.

How can such a worn down kid be so cute!? No, no.. Back to the topic Devan.

I start pointing at each corresponding gem as I explain. "Each alignment has corresponding attributes. Earth being Physical. Air being Energy. Dark being either destructive, providing suppression, or supporting taking from others. Finally, Arcane being the basis of all magic. When it came down to it, I wanted a weapon that could do many things, so instead of making one weapon that can do it all... I just made multiple weapons that can fill each of my wants. Therefore..". I stand up and push a bit of magical essence into the smoky quartz gem, a shield forms around my hand quickly and I present it to Sēti. He backs away, knowing what it did to the last being it touched that wasn't me. "Ah, you see it only does that when it touches those I sub-consciously view as an enemy or someone I just don't know in general. Since I view you as an ally and a friend, I wouldn't worry about it.". Nodding slowly, Sēti picks up the shield from it's handle and looks at it in wonder.

I'm glad I made that distinction in it's commands, wouldn't want someone in Ponyville to get sucked dry.. That'd be something I don't want to explain. Most of Ponyville I know.. Maybe I should just put some sort of system where it would send a message to me instead? Hmm.. I'll make changes later if need be.

Sēti is still examining each and every part of the shield, feeling each edge that it holds. "Each of the forms have a few secondary functions. This weapon you have seen from experience." I say, giving a knowing grin.

"Yes! It seems like you have some sort of rock sentinel system that controls small parts of the nearby ground that act as a defensive mechanism of sorts as well as a counter to any attack within a close range. I honestly would have never thought about something like that! It's so cool!" Sēti replies with amazement in his tone while also speaking at a high speed.

Surprised by how accurate Sēti is, I feel taken aback. "Yeah... That's all actually right. You're pretty clever to have figured that out, yet you've never tried an enchantment like that before?"

Sēti shakes his head quickly and runs his paw over the gems on the shield. "Nope! I didn't think you could go that far with it. Enchanting isn't done for more than just adding elemental attacks or some utility where I am from, but this is on a whole new level! Magic is so amazing!! Can you teach me?"

I can't help but put on a confused look when I hear such a question. "Teach you? But I'm not a master... I'm just some guy who happens to be a bit more inventive with it than others as far as I've seen."

Xirandine lands in front of us both as a smaller version of himself before growing to his normal size. "Actually, I believe you are a kind of master of magic. I'm sure Rarity or Obsidian has said so, but many magic users barely learn elemental magic at all. In order to do so, they must have a natural talent or have mastery over Arcane magic."

"What's arcane magic even do? Honestly, I just spouted off something that my mentor said during captain training. My knowledge on actually using and comprehending magic is... Lacking." Sēti states with an embarrassed look on his face.

Xirandine and I look at each other and sigh before I reply. "I will have to teach you then, because it seems like you really don't know anything about magic and yet use it naturally. First, let me get through my weapon's forms and then we will go over some basic magic that isn't of the 'Air' kind."

Nodding excitedly, Sēti hands the shield back to me and I push a bit of magic into the emerald, making sure to hold the weapon out as it forms this time. The partizan-like spear appears after a split moment, surprising Sēti a bit. "I didn't think that it was that big when I saw it before! What does it do!?"

I mean, I knew he really liked weapons and their enchantments, but he's REALLY into it, scarily even. But I don't want to keep a child waiting, especially not one that is finally opening up to me.

"If I put a little of my magical essence into the weapon whenever I attack with it, compressed air comes out of it. I kind of used such air magic before, but also got the idea from your rapier there. It works with thrusts and does something special when I spin it, though I won't be doing that here... Wouldn't want to destroy this room." I answer, handing over my weapon once again to let him inspect it.

I hear a small scoff come from his mouth. "Copy-cat..". Realizing what he just said, he facepaws with a grin.

"Hah! You gotta be... Kitten me!" I say, giving an equally large grin. A moment later we just look at each other and start laughing. Hearing his genuine laugh fills me with so much joy I couldn't help but laugh harder. After a few more moments, we calm down and he wipes his tear-ridden eyes and looks down at my weapon with a different kind of smile. One of actual joy. Feeling over the weapon again, he hands it back to me, satisfied. I can't help but return the smile in kind. Laying my finger on the onyx gem embedded in the weapon, I activate it. Looking down at the weapon transforming, I see his eyes get a bit wide before he gives me a pout.

Sēti grabs the Épée, stands up, and swings it around before looking at it closely before turning to me. "Really? You copied me again? Have you no originality?"

I sigh and take the sword from his hands and look at Xirandine for a moment, or specifically, his shadow. "Xirandine, would you mind standing in front of a chair? Just for demonstration."

Xirandine does as asked, sitting in front a chair that's pushed into a small table in the room. I stab my shadow while looking at the collection of shadows behind Xirandine, fueling the weapon with some magical essence. At the same time, the sword seems to appear behind Xirandine and stab the chair, piercing it completely and almost hitting Xirandine himself. Jumping forward in surprise, he looks behind him and then back at me. Xirandine points his holey hoof at me and snarls. "You're a sadist! You KNEW that the chair wasn't going to stop the sword!"

I just stick my tongue out in response and flick my sword, slashing it through the chair like butter as it clatters to the ground in pieces. "Oh yeah, one more thing." I say before jumping into my own shadow, causing it to disappear along with myself, my vision blurs into a shadow for that split second as I reappear in Xirandine's shadow. "Surprisingly, this doesn't use much magical essence that's stored in the gem, but it is quite effective!"

As I notice their slack jawed faces, I shrug and chuckle a bit while reaching down and putting the chair back together with some basic wood magic. Feeling my reserves of magic being a bit depleted more than I'd prefer, I change the weapon back to it's default state. "Now, Sēti, let's talk about using spells. I've seen you use basic air magic to propel yourself around and slash through the air, how did you learn that without even using arcane magic?"

"Well.. The one who taught me knew that magic existed and how it could affect even the air around us. So I kind of just went off of that, it took months to even use air to move me around, many more to create those air blades. I only learned about the basic forms of magic during my captain training." replies Sēti, puffing a few wisps of air out of his paw.

So either he's somewhat more talented than the usual spellcaster, according to how long I should have taken, or his teacher was just that good. Sounds like the former. Right! Time for a quick test!

I rummage through my bag, pull out an item and place it on my hand. It is a string. "Lift this up out of my hand.". Sēti nods before reaching his paw forward and pulling it out of my hand, staring at me intently. I can't help but sigh and take the string back, laying it back onto my hand. "Nice try, now use your magic. This is arcane. The basis of all magic, like you said. Being able to manipulate your magical essence and command it to form around this string, allowing you to be able to move it around. It might take some time, because this is not a normal—" I start to say, before the string immediately begins to levitate out of my hand, surrounded by Sēti's magical essence, and lands into his paw. "How? That string is made out of a material that is hard to lift with magic!". I attempt to lift the string out of his paw and find myself struggling a bit before it slowly makes it over to my hand.

Have I... Lost some power in my magic? I mean, I haven't really needed to use magic much because of this cloak and now this weapon... I think I need to get back into using it more often instead of these magical items, I hate the idea of not being able to defend myself without them!

"Alright, it looks like you have a natural aptitude for at least simple magic. With arcane, you can lift things, teleport around and plenty more! That... I don't know about. I really need to attend a school for magic." I say, chuckling nervously. "Let's try something else. Command that string to spin and fly around you while also going up and down in the air."

Sēti lifts the string up with his aura once again, and starts to spin it in place but seems to struggle to fly around him and doesn't even go up and down. His face looks like it's constipated with frustration.

Thinking for a moment, I finally remember something I was told before. "You can stop now. I suppose you don't do multiple commands well, at least not yet. Or perhaps you aren't meant to.. I've heard from my mentors that some minds just can't handle all of the commands, but since you're a prodigy at the simple ones... You'd do better to have some help. I know just what to do!". I take off my cloak and pull a little bit of Sēti's essence from his body, which causes him to shiver and makes his fur stand up on end, and infuse it into it before handing it over. "Now, this cloak will follow your commands, it can absorb any attack and even protect you from mental spells. It can also change to fit a size and shape that you want, as well as change color, even matching what's behind you or around you in order to camouflage yourself! I am giving it to you, because it will actually help you survive long enough to master whatever magic you decide to focus on AND it will help me not rely on it so much. After all, I can just cast a spell to copy what it does anyways, I did make it after all."

Sēti looks down at his new cloak before putting it on, touching it's gem for a moment before seemingly giving it a command, causing it to shift into a trench coat like form. As he examines it's appearance with wonder, Sēti looks back at me with some tears in his eyes. "Thank you, yet again. So.. I have one small request before we continue with our training. Can I see another form of your weapon? I know it's selfish but... I'm really curious."

I can't help myself when under attack from such an innocent look. I groan loudly and lift my weapon in front of me, putting magical essence into the last gem, Arcane. "I wanted to save this for another time as a surprise, so try not to hint that I can make this."

Xirandine and Sēti both lean in closer and inspect it's new form before tilting their heads simultaneously. Xirandine seems to recognize it after a moment and looks at me with a surprised look. "Is that what I think it is? If so, you're a clever one."

I look down with a prideful smile at the almost cartoonish pistol gripped in my hand.

If only you knew what this form could do.. Along with the three other forms that I have locked away.