Starswirl's Apprentice

“Dragon scales can stabilize spells.” Starswirl said happily.

“What?” Allen asked groggily.

“Dragon scales; I can use them to help stabilize the interdimensional travel spell. It’s worth a shot at least.” Starswirl said excitedly

“Where are we going to find a dragon?” Allen asked, thinking that they must be rare.

“There is a cave to the south. I will teach you a few spells on the way. Agreed?” The anxious unicorn said in a flurry of words.

“Sounds fine, I guess. See you in the morning.” Allen said, setting his head down on the couch

“No, we are leaving right now.” Starswirl said, already beginning to pack his bags.

“What? But we haven't slept yet.” Allen complained

“Now pack your bags.” Starswirl ordered.

Grumbling, Allen began to pack. “How long will we be gone?”

Putting only a moment’s thought into it, Starswirl said, “About a week I would think.”

“A week?! But that’s a long time.” Allen continued to look for his things and bags when he realized that he didn’t have any.

.

“Oh, right, you don’t have any things. Take this saddlebag and your spell book. Also, before we leave, you may want to learn some heat spells. It gets quite cold; until you get to the dragon, of course.” Starswirl levitated a brown saddle bag over to Allen, who then took it and strapped it to himself.

Putting his spell book in his saddlebag, Allen realized he didn’t have a sleeping roll either. “Are we going to have sleeping rolls or just sleep on the ground?”

“Oh yes, might not want to forget that. I think I have an old one around here somewhere.” Rummaging through his wardrobe, Starswirl pulled out two bags, one blue the other brown. Starswirl passed the brown one to Allen and put the blue one on his saddlebag.

Allen put the bag on his saddlebag and then shrugged, stating he was ready. Starswirl nodded, acknowledging the gesture. They both walked out of the room, preparing for their venture.
Starswirl went to the kitchen first, picking up fruit for the trip. After shoving them in his saddlebag, he trotted out of the room, Allen trotting beside him. They reached the gate of the castle and were confronted by two guards. “Halt. No exit is permitted at this time.”

“But I am Starswirl the Bearded, and this is my apprentice. Now let me through.” He said impatiently

The guards stood steadfast. “No exit permitted,” they said at the same time, a sense of eeriness hanging in the air.

Starswirl thought for a moment, then cast a charm spell on both of them. “Open the gate.” They both complied without any trouble.

They cantered out quickly, not wanting to wait for the spell to lose its effect. Once out of the castle grounds, they slowed to a walk, not wanting to wake sleeping ponies. They soon were out of Canterlot, resuming their trot.

Allen used his magic to produce light for the two of them, taking this time to admire the landscape of Equestria. “Remarkable. Simply beautiful.”

“Yes it is, but we need to continue farther before setting up camp.” Starswirl said.

Nodding his consent, he continued to trot forward.

“Alright, we’ve gone long enough.” Starswirl set down his pack and began to lay out his sleeping roll.

With a sigh of relief, Allen did the same. Starswirl was asleep before Allen could say anything to him. ”That pony is quick to fall asleep. Hopefully I’ll get home soon. This place is messing with my mind. It’s convenient to have magic though.”

In the morning, they had a quick breakfast of apples and vegetables, packed their bags, then went back to their steady trot.

The day was uneventful, small talk the only thing keeping them occupied. The highlight of the day was when Allen began asking questions of Equestrian history and present times.

“So, is Equestria really as peaceful as it seems?” Allen asked, not seeing any signs of war or grief.

“Be more specific. What’s ‘as it seems’ supposed to mean?” Starswirl asked inquisitively.

Sighing, Allen rephrased his question. “When was the last war?”

“War.. war.. might you refresh my memory of what that is?” Starswirl asked, referencing his ongoing vocabulary.

Well, that answers that question, or he’s just not as intelligent as he seems. “A conflict carried out by force of arms.”

“Oh, well, we haven't had a war since the Princesses overthrew Discord. There have been a few outbreaks and riots, but they usually calm down relatively quickly. But we always stay prepared. We aren’t foals, you know.”

“When was Discord’s reign ended?”

“5000 or so years ago.”

Allen’s jaw dropped. “How did they live that long?”

After pondering for a moment, Starswirl bluntly said, “I don’t know. Ask them when we return.”

“If we return, you mean. We’re going into a dragon’s cave uninvited.” Do dragons invite people?

“Well, this dragon isn’t friendly, but he doesn’t like to kill. He will if he has must, though. I would hope he would part with a few of his scales without much trouble. Just don’t mess with his hoard.”

“What’s ‘too much trouble’?” Allen asked, concerned for his own safety.

“Death,” the old wizard said bluntly.

“Well, that’s just great isn’t it? I’m going to die before I even get home. Guess you can just send back my corpse.” Allen said, enraged and confused. To Allen, this was all still a dream. He was in shock.

“Allen, do not get doubtful. I will teach you many spells on the way there. Ones to defend yourself, at least. If you’re that concerned, I will delay the encounter until you are ready.” Starswirl said kindly, then added as a mumble, “I don’t want to lose another novice to my experiments.”

Allen did not hear this. Now calm, he said, “Thanks for the encouragement, Starswirl. It helps.”

Starswirl nodded, then motioned forward, signaling that he wanted to continue.

After that, the day went slowly. Nearing nightfall, Starswirl spoke “Ok, let’s stop here. I’ll teach you some low power defense spells. Don’t want to exhaust you too quickly.”

Allen was surprised that the old wizard didn’t want to push him to his limit in the first few minutes. “Alright. What’s first?”

“Water spells. You’re going to learn to take water from the air and extinguish flames, like so.” Starswirl turned upwards to a cloud, his horn beginning to glow. Allen stood awed as the cloud began to disappear, being replaced with water.

“How are you keeping that much water in the air?” Allen asked.

“I’m not.” His horn stopped glowing and the water began to fall. “Focus. You can levitate the water. But, if you can’t levitate it, try to feel the water and break it into its components, hydrogen and oxygen. Wow that cloud was a long way up.” Starswirl said holding in laughter

Allen tried his best, but could not muster the strength to do such a task. Panicking, he looked to his mentor. “Help,” was all he managed to say before the many gallons of water came crashing down on him.

Starswirl grabbed the unconscious and drenched Allen in his teeth, dragging him away from the soaked earth. He then took the water from the puddles that now covered the land and reformed it back into a cloud.

When Allen awoke, he was soggy and angry. “You know, if you could teach me the spells before I have to use them, it might help a bit!” he yelled

“I did. You just didn’t learn quickly enough.”

“Please let me stop.” Allen shivered after having been drenched repeatedly.

“Not until you get it right.” Starswirl said, bored of lifting the cloud over and over again.

“Fine, one last time. But have I gotten close yet?”

“Yes. You’re closer to evaporating the cloud than levitating it, so try that instead of wasting your energy on levitation.” He said while lifting the cloud to its usual position, turning it into water once again.

Breathing deeply, Allen focused all his energy into ‘feeling’ the water, then shot a bolt of his remaining power into the liquid. He passed out from exhaustion before he could see his success.

Starswirl nodded respectfully. “Commendable effort, but when you separate the water into its basic elements, you need to shoot them away from each other or they collide again.” Just as he was saying this, it began to rain. He sighed, then smiled softly. Walking towards the sleeping colt, he said to himself. “We’ve got much work to do.”

“What happened? Did I do it?” Allen asked, hazy from his sleep. He found himself, not surprisingly, soaked.

“Nearly. You forgot to separate the particles further than just splitting them. They collided afterwards and made quite a rainstorm. Close enough though. Now, let’s move on to controlling it. I’m assuming you felt the water as it fell, correct?”

“I guess so.” He got off the ground and stood on his four legs, but stumbled. I still have to get used to having four legs.

“Now, this time, try moving it. I will drop it in smaller portions this time to make it easier. And no, you cannot have a break. Passing out is a long enough break.”

With a groan, Allen readied himself. Starswirl waited for Allen to nod, then began to turn another cloud into water. In a linear motion, the water began dropping from the sky.

Allen focused on it as he had previously. Before the water hit him, he began moving it around, holding it in a sphere. Then, as a kind of practical joke, he launched it at Starswirl, who then stopped it and flung it back towards Allen. After coughing all the water out of his lungs, Allen, now agitated, got up and glared at the laughing unicorn.

“You really thought you could take me, Starswirl the Bearded, on? You may be able to compete with a few fillies, but my magical abilities are rivaled only by the princesses themselves. You’ve got some work to do before you can challenge me. The only reason you’re capable of doing what you are now is because you felt what you were controlling instead of using raw force. Most unicorns don’t know how to do that unless they study magic itself. Trick of the trade, I suppose.”

After he stopped his griping, Allen suggested they get back to their travels.

“I suppose you’re right. We are going to have to walk through the night to make up for lost time; remember, no complaining, or I’ll seal your lips together. Remember, I’m taking time out of my experiments teaching and helping you.”

“Fine, I understand.” Still aggravated, Allen let it go. Whatever got him home faster. My family is probably looking for me; there probably isn’t any evidence of the portal that whisked me into this strange land, either.

“Stop day dreaming. We need to get walking.”

Shaking his head to get out of the daze, Allen galloped towards Starswirl to catch up, resuming a steady trot when he had reached him.

The night was as boring as the day, except now Allen constantly tried to trick Starswirl or drench him. He always ended up drenched or occasionally charred, shocked or covered in mud.

They had been walking through a forest when the first rays of dawn shone down through the canopy. Allen lay down on the soft grass, too lazy to even take out his sleeping roll. As he closed his eyes, he felt a sharp jolt of electricity go through his body. His eyes opened, startled.

“You realize we’re walking through the day as well, right?” He said, anxious to get on the way.

“But we’ve already gone through the night.” Allen complained, knowing that he would lose the argument anyway.

Leaning on a tree next to him, Starswirl casually lifted Allen into the air. “Are you going to complain?”

“No.” Allen said, knowing well enough that when you talked to the unicorn, you had to be serious; however tempting it was to bring sarcasm to the situation.

“Good. Now follow me.” Dropping Allen onto the grass, Starswirl waited for him to stand up.

Allen pushed himself up with all four legs instead of just two. I’m finally getting used to these things. Then, walking beside Starswirl, he said, “Ok, ready,”

“Slow down. Staying up all night and casting powerful spells has worn me out.” Starswirl said, panting slightly.

“Worn out? So you wouldn’t be able to stop me if I,” taking advantage of the situation, Allen took water from the air and launched it at the tired wizard, “drenched you in water?” Allen said, laughing.

Starswirl simply launched the water ball back, soaking the laughing unicorn. “I can still take on a foal like you. Now, let’s keep moving.”

“Ok, I get it. No more jokes. Can we please just go get the dragon get the scales and go home?” Allen asked.

“Fine with me.”

They spoke little to each other the rest of the day. There was nothing to talk about, anyway. When they awoke the following morning, it went the same way until Allen spoke up, “Am I going to need any further training to fight this dragon?”

Sighing, Starswirl answered “You just had to break the silence. The beautiful, blissful silence. Well, yes, you will need much more training. The way you are currently using spells is by feeling the water or fire. You see, the reason most ponies use this method is though it might be easy, it’s also predictable. The magical energy resonates around you. Anypony, not just unicorns, can predict exactly what you are about to do.”

“Then why did you teach it to me?” Allen asked, now understanding why all his prank attempts failed.

“Because it makes you at least a little bit more useful.” Starswirl said bluntly.

“Gee, thanks. So the dragon will know I’m going to spray water on him and just swat me away?”

“Well, that’s part of the plan. You’ll go in, distract him, and I’ll pull some of his scales off and run.”

Allen seemed less than satisfied with this plan. “Fine. When are we going to get there?”

“Don’t start. We get there when we get there.” Starswirl said.

Allen nodded, even though Starswirl couldn’t see him. The day, and the two days following it, continued on uneventfully.

“We’re here.” Starswirl announced.

The cave had a few sparse trees around the right side that got denser the farther they went. The cave itself was dug into the side of a massive mountain that reached up to the clouds. However, the clouds in Equestria, Allen realized a while ago, were at scattered elevations.

“We’ll rest here until tomorrow, when you're ready.” Starswirl said, a little tired himself. They had slept very little in the past few days.

Even though it was midday, Allen fell down and slept where he landed. Starswirl laid down next to him, sleep taking him as well.

Allen awoke first. It was the middle of the night, so he just lie back on the grass and watched the moon move across the sky. Earlier, Starswirl had explained how Celestia and Luna raised and lowered the sun and moon respectively. This world is so strange. Instead of the rotation of the Earth making the days, it’s two princesses in a palace using magic to move them across the sky. But does that mean that they constantly rotate them around this world, or is this world flat? It doesn’t matter and still wont once I get home. He continued to watch the moon and stars, looking for constellations that he recognized.

At dawn, Starswirl was still sleeping, so Allen nudged him in the gut with a bit more force than needed. “Hey, get up. We’ve got work to do.” Allen said, happy that he was able to tell his mentor what to do.

At this, the provoked Starswirl sent Allen flying backwards, into one of the trees by the cave’s entrance. “Now you get up. We need to get into the cave.” Starswirl stood and adjusted his wizard’s cloak..

Allen pushed himself up and trotted slowly over to Starswirl.

“Are you ready?” Starswirl asked.

With only a moment’s hesitation, Allen replied, “As ever.”