Tempest

The thing standing in front of me required my immediate attention, forced me to stop casting my spell and look up. Light, very light gray-blue fur, resting above sand colored hooves. Further up, the deep blue eyes stared ever unto me, or at least, in my direction. They didn't seem to look at anything in particular, but both seemed to be looking at nothing in particular somewhere past me. Its mane, a deep chestnut thing, long locks slowly fading into a blue similar to its eyes. Glancing behind it, the tail reminded me too much of a brown blaze, more strands of blue rising from it. But most disturbing was its cutie mark. A Spell book, backed by a blue flame.

Shayde's Illusion of me was absolutely flawless.

There was something strange about staring at an illusion of yourself that i could never quite figure out. Like staring into a mirror in three dimensions.

"Alright, Shayde. You've beaten me." I Sighed. Again. He seemed to best me in these tests of magical ability far more often than i ever bested him. I had nothing prepared that compared to this... thing. A little trick involving mixing fire and frost, interesting, but nothing as jaw dropping as this.

I don't think the other foals could tell the illusion from the real colt until i spoke.

"Ah, yet another win to add to my trophy rack."

"Yes, the one that obviously exists. My, Shayde, it's so wonderful and shiny!"

"Har-dee-har-har." He said mockingly, and stuck his tongue out at me. If there was something that i truly was better at doing than him, it was winning in the competition of "who can make the most cutting remark". None of his were up to par with mine, and I loved it.

"Well then," I said, glancing over at the Illusion."get rid of this thing, please. It's... unsettling."

"Aw, come now Flame. You aren't that terrifying to look at." His horn glowed gold, and the illusion began making faces at me.

"You can stop now, I've admitted defeat."

"Come now, I think these are all massive improvements."

"I thought this illusion was of me, not of you."

"Touche." He stopped with the faces. "Mind getting rid of this thing then?" He feigned a yawn then continued: " Summoning these works of art is just so tiring, i don't think i could muster up a banishment."

"Oh, please, great one. Grace us with an artful display once again, show us all how one would remove such a beautiful piece from his presence."

"Nah, i don't feel like it."

"Don't feel like it, or can't?"

"... a bit of both... i mean, even if i could banish this... work of art, I would leave it to the common folk like you."

I could have sworn he was doing an impression of me near the end of that sentence.

"Fine, i suppose i could Lower myself to do this." I kept up the cheesy impression, it was quite amusing. And it drew away from the glaring truth i had just exposed, that Shayde couldn't banish some of the illusions he made. I could understand, banishments were far too advanced, even for someone who breezed through arcane spells as easy as him to master. Or at least, to master without any degree of studying how they worked. Shayde didn't lie the day i met him, he never could study magic. It bored him too much. And yet, for whatever reason, the powers at be granted him so much skill in the magical art. It made his way onto his flank, his cutie mark a bolt of pale purple energy, eternally whizzing past while never seeming to move.

It was one of the many things about him that i found so fascinating. How any creature could simply "do" things like he did. How any creature could have an obsession with magic almost as unhealthy as mine and still be competent in social endeavors. And how anypony could be forced into the situation he was placed into, abandoned, forgotten, alone, and have  a genuinely optimistic attitude toward life. He always seemed cheerful, and his happy glow seemed to radiate outward, affecting all who came near.

While Shayde refused to study, i had made sure to find out how to do a simple banishment in my studies, knowing it would take a while for him to understand how. I removed the illusion from existence, it's energy flowing into me. Okay, i lied about a simple banishment, in fact, the spell was my own fabrication. I mixed a drain spell with a simple banishment, so every time i removed one of Shayde's illusions from the world, the energy expended into it would become mine. It was like always having the last laugh, because even if i lost to one of them, he would be exhausted after creating one, and i would feel like i had just gulped down a whole bag of sugar after banishing one.

Not long after meeting him, Shayde and I became locked in an eternal struggle to best each other. We both benefited, both of us learning new ways to humiliate the other from the spell books, which at the time was the second rarest thing i had ever seen, a good quality tome, that would sometimes slip past the Patron's hooves.

I remember back long ago to our first "real" conversation, where we both wanted to be involved in. We were both in the mess hall, and my normal corner, the one that had the window next to it, was taken. Some new colt had sat down in it, a colt who for whatever reason caught fire that night. I made sure the fire was fake, of course. He wasn't burned, just... very warm.

It was quite funny, actually, he ran to me after the fire "extinguished" itself, yelling and screaming, and all i had to say for him to leave me be was; "Well perhaps next time you should be mindful of if your seat belongs to somepony before you sit in it."

I never had to look for another seat again after that night. However, the previous days events were at least bearable. Being without a corner to sit in, i realized i would have to sit next to somepony. I decided that if it had to be anypony, it would be that plum colored colt from a few days before. I swallowed my pride and sat next to him. Luckily, he too, sat alone.

"Hi there, Flame, right?"

"Y-yes." I managed to get out. "Some new colt stole my normal seat, so i decided the next best course of action would be to find somepony to sit with, which so happens to be you. This is temporary of course, mainly because i was interested in how you pulled off that teleportation so flawlessly earlier in the week."

Every single bit of that seemed to go over his head. He sat wide eyed for a moment, trying to digest the bits he must of gathered.

"So, do you want a seat... or..."

"Yes."

"Now your speaking a language i can understand."

"Thank you." I sat down next to him.

"So... How's Hiding in corners all day working for you?"

"Fine. How is... being loud and obnoxious?"

"Fun, at least more so than being eternally lonely."

I wondered if all conversations ponies had were laced with this many insults.

"Yes, I'm eternally lonely. That of course, is why this table has so many ponies dying to speak with you."

He glanced around, and seemed to think for a moment or two.

"Ponies just can't handle being around me."

"And why, may i ask, is that?"

"They just can't stand how amazing I am."

"Oh of course. How could i be so blind."

"Oh look, you actually sound like a person, and not some kind of freak."

It was all I could do not to glare at him. I wanted to make some cutting remark, but i couldn't. It was easier to levitate my glass and throw it at him. He caught it with his own spell, and threw the water back at me. He did not, however, think to grab the glass the water was in. Said glass flew past his head, over the table to his right, all the way to where the Matron and Patron were sitting. I have to hand it to myself, the toss was dead on for a miss. It shattered against the back of The Orphanage Patron's head. As the glass shattered, the room drew dead silent, except for the plum colored colt beside me laughing hysterically, choking out "You're bucked, dude!" between laughs.

The portly unicorn picked a shard of glass out of his Black mane, a drop of blood oozing down the side of his neck, the red mixing with the soft orange. His bright violet eyes spun around and focused on the laughter booming from our table. They advanced, ever so slowly inching toward us, glaring down at us menacingly. Shayde hadn't realized yet, so i focused enough magic to hit him bluntly and get his attention.

"Ouch! What was that for, 'Sir Poncington?'" He seemed to give that last bit a tad more sting than the rest of the sentence. I guided him upward with my eyes, silently.

"I Might ask the same of you, Boy." The stallion standing before us was nearly as wide as he was tall, as if he were square, and yet round at the same time. Shayde seemed to shrink, and the violet eyes bore into me.

"Nothing, sir, I mean, that was not intentional, i didn't mean it. You see, Shayde was being an idiot, and he annoyed me, and I..." I realized this was falling on deaf ears. His eyes continued to dig into my soul.

"It was a reckless missuse of... magic..." He added a fair bit of venom to the last word. "You think yourself in control, and yet obviously..." He paused and floated a napkin from the table, wiping the blood from his neck. "Obviously, you aren't. I suppose a first offense could have a... merciful consequence..." He levitated our plates off of the table, inspected the meals, and tossed the food in the garbage nearby. " Both of you will return to your dormitories without eating supper tonight. I trust I will not be forced to deal with this again?"

Neither of us could say much, we just slinked away silently, keeping our heads down. The feeling of hundreds of eyes staring down at us was overwhelming, i could feel tears streaming down my face as we reached the stairs. Shayde, i had recently come to find out, was in a cot right next to me. All these years, i had never noticed him sleeping beside me. We both climbed in to our beds. I couldn't say how much time went by, laying there in silence, but over time i realized that i never managed to ask about the teleportation incident.

"So, you can teleport 'without studying', but can't catch a glass cup?" I saw a pair of crimson eyes turn toward me.

"I'm an enigma, what can i say?"

"Clever, you used a big word that actually exists. I'm surprised."

"Hey, poncington is a word, you just haven't heard of it yet.

"Of course. So, as i was saying, teleportation. How?"

The look on his face was a puzzled one. The look of someone who was questioned on the most simple of things, and not understanding why someone couldn't grasp the idea.

"What do you mean, how?"

"I mean, 'how'? How can you never study, and yet execute these with ease."

"With ease? If you think that kind of thing just happens, you need to pay more attention to your surroundings. I try these spells and fail all the time. But i still try them. Its kind of like you reading and re-reading, except more interesting. And cooler."

It was true, i had never noticed him practicing these spells before, but i saw no reason for him to lie to me.I lay there awake thinking things over long after the rest of the foals had returned to their beds, and the soft sounds of young snoring and breathing filled the room.

Shayde made little sense to me. He claimed to just do things, trying things out without consulting some kind of greater intellect or knowledge base to make sure he was doing it right. And he persevered. It hurt to contemplate.

What confused me more was the Orphanage Patron. Why he had so much open hostility toward magic, being a unicorn himself. I thought back to the incident in the mess hall. He sounded like he didn't even like the word magic. The Matron was always out and about, talking with foals, telling stories, greeting guests. The Patron only appeared in the wee hours of the night, walking the halls, checking on foals. His study was opposite our bunk room, and on nights where i stayed awake, soft grey light flickering around me, reading, I could hear voices. Nothing i could clearly make out, old, raspy voices. They certainly didn't belong to anyone who regularly came to visit.

It was strange, and to be honest, a tad disturbing, to know this stallion who was supposed to help protect us was allowing strange ponies in in the middle of the night just to chat with. None of it made any sense.

I got up and trotted over to the window. A light snow was falling over Manehattan, a soft white blanket enveloping the streets, hiding away the dead leaves falling from the pathetic little potted trees that lined the sidewalk. It was a light dusting, which was understandable, being a Autumn storm. Snow made everything so calm, so pretty, no matter how much or how little of it there was. It was the most versatile thing there was, being everything from a weapon, to a building material, to a grand white sheet that covered the world and silenced all noise.

I sensed a presence behind me, closing in. Shayde's head appeared next to me, gazing out the window as well.

"Can i ask you something?" He said, slightly louder than a whisper. "Why do you always do this?"

"I'm sorry? Do what?" He glanced over at me, crimson orbs in the moonlight.

"Every night, around now, you always get up and walk over here, and just stare at the moon. Why?"

I thought everyone was asleep by now, this was my time, silence and solitude, that sort of thing. I never did understand what drew me to the moon at this hour. It was some big old white orb in the sky. Nothing special. Maybe it was the eyes, the knowledge that the mare in the moon was staring down at me, some all powerful being that knew my potential. Maybe it was the way that the light would reflect off the rooftops, and seem to make everything sparkle and shine. There was something about it that was wonderful.

"Oh, I don't know. Its just... pretty, I guess."

He looked back out onto the streets. "Yeah, i guess so."

A shadow slowly descended from the clouds above, two pegasi, a rather plain chariot in tow, circling the city from miles away, the snow swirling in a trail behind them. They turned, and they seemed to drift towards the orphanage. Shayde and I stood in silence, watching it slowly glide toward us.

After watching the chariot for a moment or two, Shayde must've gotten bored, and broke the silence.

"So, what do they want?"

"How am I supposed to know?" The Pegasi had landed on the roof, they were moving incredibly fast for anypony carrying something in the air. Especially if the chariot were the same build as the clunky, Canterlot guard models. I had seen a few in parades that passed by, and had no idea how such a monstrosity could fly. Hooves scratched and pawed, and hoof-steps walked towards the roof of the study, near the balcony. No, not hoof-steps, these were soft, and sounded like scratches rather than the familiar clip-clop of hooves.

That raspy voice I had heard so many times before called out, and the Patron answered back. I couldn't make anything out, being behind several walls.

"What sick creature would keep foals up so late?" Shayde had some kind of grin on his face, that over time i've learned to mean "I have a wonderful, terrible idea".

Out the window, an invisible force slowly carved out a large "B" in the snow. Next to it, a "U". Only when Shayde started on the "C" did i realize what he was doing.

"What in Celestia's name are you doing?" It took all i had to whisper this, i wanted to scream at him.

"Writing 'Buck Off' in the snow."

"WHY?" It hurt to keep quiet at that point.

"Because."

"We aren't supposed to be up right now! Carving out expletives in the snow isn't exactly going to prevent us from being caught!"

"Uh-Huh."

He was on the first "F". I had to do something. Fire seemed easy enough. My horn glowed gray, and a soft gray light began to erase the work Shayde had begun.

"Stop it!" he shoved me aside, and the fire dissipated. He went to work writing the "B" again, and i started from the back, burning it away. He stopped and re-wrote it behind me, but he was failing. the snow was becoming slush, too difficult to write in. He saw this, and a wave of slush rose from the other side of the street, smothering my flames and allowing Shayde to continue writing. I focused on the space above where he was writing, and a gray fireball crashed down, melting all his new work. Shayde Gave a huff, and rose another wave of snow from further down the street, that came barrelling toward the window. I rose a gray wall of fire to stop it, then another tounge of flame to-

I Stopped casting and listened. Shayde noticed the change and did the same. The conversation was over. The voices were long gone and a few buildings down, the chariot was parked, the two pegasi looking in awe at the street of slush we had made. and a lone figure was sitting inside it, peering through the windows of the buildings on the street. He glanced in our window, and saw Shayde and I. He stepped out of the chariot, walking on two legs. He scratched his chin, spun around, and sat back down. He motioned to the two pegasi, and they took off. The figure in the back never took his eyes off of us.

I glanced over, and Shayde was shaken. He struggled for some kind of stupid response.

"Well, that sort of thing just takes away your energy, doesn't it." He feigned a yawn. "Well, g'night!" He sprung back to his bed, and pulled the cover over his head. I sat down, turned back to the window, and stared into the night, wondering if the mare in the moon could make any sense of what had happened tonight.