The Magic of Dust and Lyrium

It has been a few months since Viriola and Xel came to the Ponyville. So far the two have settled in pretty nicely, other than the elf since she keeps getting stares from the few nobles that came through. She learned to ignore them but it still annoyed her to no end.

Xel has been mostly focused on her training, finding out that she has some new magic that no one has seen before was exciting for some, but for Xel, it was a bit jarring. She shook her head a bit as she was now training with Twilight. Her hair grown out a bit, now reaching to the middle of her back.

“So, you said you wanted to see the new magic I had, right?” Xel asked Twilight. She had somehow not seen the new magic in a couple of months, the two having mainly focused on training Xel in known magics.

“Well, I would be lying if I said I didn't,” Twi said. She was wearing some training clothes since the two started training for hours on end. It was made with a dark purple tank top and some training shorts. Her mane was tied up in a ponytail, which made Xel giggle.

“Alright, well it… doesn’t look that impressive at first,” Xel forewarned. Over the months Xel been here, her body seemed to change shape. She became curvier in places and started to develop breasts quickly. She looked more female than before, though she didn't see much difference. Unknown to her, with the new magic she gain, her body became more malleable to what she feels like.

She shifted a bit as she wore a gray sports bra and black yoga pants that hugged her developing body, to which she oddly enjoyed.

“As long it doesn't blow up I'm fine,” Twi said, taking a few steps back. Xel giggled a little, before waving her hand over her head. White orbs appeared above her, before they shot forward one at a time, making five deep holes in the ground. “That… was interesting.”

“Yeah, I can make them into patterns for quicker casting, but it looks like it has to be avoidable, even if it’s a small gap you can slip out of, as long as you CAN dodge it, it’s okay,” Xel said, seeming frustrated with the annoying limitation. She noticed that Twilight made a notebook appeared and started writing in it. Xel smiled at the sight of it before remembering Dusk. That made her frown.

“You know, I met your brothers a couple months ago,” Xel commented. She paused for a moment.

“I… see, how is Shining? He never writes,” she said, continuing to write.

“He was fine… your twins a jackass though,” Xel stated bluntly. She winced at that.

“It's… not really his fault…” she said.

“I heard,” Xel said with a shrug.

“I mean, I would've wound up the same if I had to go through what he went through,” she stated, making the notebook disappear.

“Well, don’t turn out like him, okay?” Xel said simply.

“Xel you don't get it,” Twilight sighed. “I know my brother is a jerk, a very big one, but it's because he went to the tower.”

“The tower?” Xel asked. Twilight shook her head a bit before porting away. Xel frowned a bit.

“She meant the Circle of Magi,” the elf's voice called out. Xel turned to see her sister standing there with a loose white tank top and camo shorts.

“What’s that?” Xel asked.

“It's a school,” Viriola started, looking away. “It's a place where others that can use magic learn to control it.”

“Something tells me it’s more than that,” Xel said, frowning. Vi-Vi looked away for a moment.

“It's also a prison,” she explained.

“A prison?” Xel asked, wide eyed.

“Yup, once in you can never get out,” she continued to explain.

“How’d he get out then, big sister?” Xel asked, blinking.

“Don't know, maybe he became the High Enchanter,” Viriola said, wondering that herself.

“Uhm… then is it bad that I beat him in a magic duel by blasting him with a red magical kamehameha?” Xel asked worriedly.

“if he has a have a problem with you he has one with me,” the elf said with a frown.

“W-what if he brings a bunch of g-guys though to take me away?” Xel asked fearfully.

“Again, if they do they have to get through me,” the elf frowned and crossed her arms. Xel sniffled, opening her arms for a hug. The elf smiled and gave her sister a hug. Xel sniffled, still scared, squeezing her sister tightly. The two stayed like that for some time, the elf rubbing her sister's back and saying comforting words.

Eventually, the little sister was slumped against the older, having evidently fallen asleep. Vi-Vi chuckled as she picked Xel up and carried her to her room. Once there she tucked her in and sat on the bed for a bit.

Xel tossed and turned, seeming to have a nightmare. The elf brushed her sister's hair and started to hum softly. The tune slowly calmed the little sister, from tossing and turning to just quiet whimpers.

Viriola continued this, whispering that everything is alright to Xel. This calmed her more, a peaceful expression overtaking her face. The elf smiled before she leans forward and kisses her forehead. She moved until she was sitting on the floor of the bed. She closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep

Xel woke up with Viriola sleeping near her. Being careful, Xel left the room, deciding to take a walk. On the walk, reality seemed to warp around Xel, before the strange sweatered being appeared.

“Hello there,” The displacer said, smirking.

“Y-you!” Xel shouted, summoning white spheres around her and firing them at the sweatered being. The sweatered being raised an eyebrow, waving a hand and destroying the spheres.

“Calm down, I’m here to do something and go,” The displacer said. Xel didn’t trust them, but knew attacking would be futile, so she calmed herself.

“What is it?” Xel asked in a huff.

“I’m just gonna make something to send you to other worlds with people in similar situations as you,” The sweatered one said.

Xel looked like she had a question, but was interrupted as she gasped, collapsing to the floor. In the being's hand was a magically made copy of the orb in her staff/cane, and it glowed multiple colors.

“Pretty cool huh,” the being said, tossing the orb up into the air and catching it. “This here is a token, it's used to bring you to other worlds once called for by others. Normally you should pick what the token would look like, but I think this would work.”

“W-whats… next?” Xel questioned, wary.

“Now, you need a message, so people know who they’re summoning and what they can summon you for,” The sweatered being said, holding the orb in front of Xel.

Xel cleared her throat, having a good idea. “I am Xel, call me if you need help defending or need help freeing something or someone,” She said. The sweatered being nodded, before tossing the orb into the void, the area around the two returning to normal as the being vanished, Xel passing out.

Viriola knew something was different. When she woke up she felt like something was off. She saw her sister wasn't in the bed, but that wasn't it. She stood up and looked around the room. She saw a bird outside the window, it was a blue bird and it was staring into the room. The elf looked at it for some time and the bird didn't move, at all.

She looked at it before looking at the door. She soon walked out of the room and headed downstairs. The place was quite, too quite. There was no noise, talking, really anything. It was quite. She found out why as she saw both Twilight and a small Drake named Spike standing in place, not moving. She moved over to them and waved her hand in front of them. They didn’t blink.

“What the?” she said, looking at the two.

“They're fine,” a being said behind her. The elf turned and saw a man sitting on the couch, drinking some tea. He wore a dark leather jacket with dark red flames on the sleeves, ripped jeans with some combat boots. His hair was short and black, his beard was trimmed nicely, and his skin was a dark tan colour. What stood out was his eyes, they were draconic like red eyes that seemed to burn darkly. The teacup seemed small in his hands as he drinks it.

“Uhh, who are you?” the elf asked. “And what did you do to them?”

“Oh them? Just made time stop for everyone other than us two,” he said simply as if it was a day to day thing.

“You stopped… okay, not going to question it,” Viriola said, shaking her head. “Just, who are you?”

“I go by many names,” He said, tilting his head. “Relrass, Rinpar, the Shadow King, blah blah, etc etc, but you can call me Kendal since I enjoy that name.”

“Uhhhh…” she simply stared at the man. “Okay~... going to go with the flow here, what do you what?”

“Let’s see,” he looked up to the ceiling for a moment to think. “Let’s get it out of the way since it’s a hassle to explain it, you and your sister are something called a Displacement, beings that can go to other worlds by objects called tokens, I’m here to help you make one for you.”

The elf stared at him for what felt like forever, the man drank his tea as he waited since at the moment the two had all the time in the world. She shook her head some more, trying to figure this out.

“Okay… let’s say I believe you-”

“What’s there not to believe in girl?” the Kendal asked, frowning. “You’re standing in a room with a unicorn and a dragon frozen in time and you’re an elf with powers unknown to you.”

“Good… point,” the elf said. “Continuing, how do I make this token?”

“Just pick something that you like for your token and I’ll do the rest,” he explained. The elf thought about it for some time before pulling out a small knife out of her pocket. It wasn’t real, just a simple curved knife that she picked up from a store.

“Would this work?” she asked.

“Yes, that would do,” he answered, reaching out for the knife. She gave it to him and watched that he held it in his giant hand as it started to glow. He hands it back to her. “Now, a message for others to hear when they get it.”

The elf held the knife in her hands as she thought about it. “My name is Viriola if you need me just give me a call… just don’t piss me off,” she said before handing the knife back as it’s glow solidified. The man held it in his hand before dropping it, making it disappear.

“Now that’s done,” he said, standing up and making a hat appear. “I have to leave, got to deal with a girl with fire powers and a Skeleton.” With that he disappeared, making time resume as normal and Spike tripping over his feet.

“AHH!” he yelled as he faces planted on the ground. “Ow~...”

Twilight went to help the drake up and noticed Vi-Vi standing there.

“Oh… when did you get here Viriola?” she asked. The elf opened her mouth before closing it.

“I’m going to head out, need to clear my head… or hit something… or both,” she said before she went out the door.

“DON’T HIT ANYPONY!!!!” Twilight yelled.

Back with Xel, she felt someone shaking her awake.

“Hey, small fry, wake up,” a brash female voice said to her. Xel groaned, shifting a little, but not waking. The female shook her some more. “Hey, I didn’t drag you all the way off the middle of the street for you to sleep all day, that’s my stick.”

Xel whimpered, rolling over and, again, not waking. She felt herself getting picked up and started to be shaken by the mare.

“Wake up!” she yelled. Xel whimpered more at the yell, awake now but curling up. She saw the mare was a blue pegasus with a rainbow mane. She wore a dark blue tank top that showed off her abs and black shorts. She raised an eyebrow at Xel.

“What’s up with you?” the mare asked. Xel seemed to snap out of something, shaking her head.

“N-nothing… where am I?” She asked, holding her head, having a bit of a headache.

“Under a tree, in Ponyville,” the mare said, crossing her arms. “Why were you passed out in the middle of the street?”

“I… don’t remember,” Xel said, clutching her hair.

“Well, next time you pass out, try someplace out of the way, you almost got ran over by a cart,” the mare said, sitting down under a tree and closing her eyes.

“Okay…” Xel mumbled, taking their staff and walking away, heading home, a little shaky.

“Hey!” the mare yelled, flying over the mage's head. “No thank you or anything?”

“O-oh, s-sorry, thank you,” Xel mumbled, taking a step back from surprise.

“You’re welcome mage,” the mare said, crossing her arms. Xel looked down a little meekly, walking past her and hurrying towards the house tree. When she got there she saw Twilight curled up on the couch, reading a book.

Xel immediately moved to go upstairs, figuring her big sister would still be there. She went there, then to other parts of the house, then back down in the library to find out that she wasn’t there.

“T-twi, d-do you k-know where my b-big sissy is?” Xel asked, voice cracking a tiny bit.

“Sissy?” Twilight asked, looking at Xel through her glasses. Xel shifted from one foot to the other, looking away and blushing a little. “Is there something wrong? Can I help with anything?”

Xel told Twilight what she remembered, looking away at the floor now, shaking more. The mare didn’t say anything for a few minutes before Xel felt her wrap her arms around her and pull her into a hug.

“I hope this helps,” she whispered. Xel blushed, before burying her head in the mare's shoulder, trembling. The two of them sat down on the couch as Xel held Twilight as the mare rubbed her back.

Xel curled up to Twilight, sniffling and shaking a little still. The mare continued this for some time, hoping that the mage would calm down. Eventually, Xel stopped but didn’t seem to want to leave the hold. Twilight didn’t seem to mind though, just happy that she could help.

“T-thanks…” Xel mumbled.

“No problem, happy to help,” she replied. Xel hugged Twilight, just staying there. The two of them stayed like that for some time in silence.

“Say… are you enjoying my magic lessons?” Twi asked.

“Yeah,” Xel said, nodding. The mare let out a sigh.

“That's a relief, I thought I was being too hard on you at times or too soft. Maybe the lessons aren't interesting or too fast or-” she continued to ramble on.

“They’re fine,” Xel assured, hugging tighter. Twi smiled at this as she hugged back. “You're the bestestes teacher,” Xel added.

“Well you're the bestestes student,” Twi replied back, not paying much attention to what she said. Xel giggled, smiling. “What you giggling about?”

“We’re silly,” Xel said, booping her.

“I think both of you are to,” a voice said. The two of them turned and saw Viriola standing in the doorway, her arms crossed and smirking. Xel squeaked in surprise, blushing and throwing herself off of Twilight instinctively, making her fall and hit her head on the floor with a whimper. Twilight panicked and went to help her up.

“A-are you okay?!” she asked, blushing like mad.

“Ow, my head…” She whimpered, rubbing an already nasty looking bump. Viriola shook her head.

“Good job dummy,” she said. Normally for anyone that would make anyone mad. But for Xel, she knew that the elf cares, just sometimes shows it in odd ways.

Xel still pouted, tearing up, though it was from the pain and not from what she said. Twilight moved around and put her hand on the bump and it started to glow. Soon Xel felt the pain slowly die down from this. She saw Viriola staring at them.

‘Xel and Twilight, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G,’ the elf mouthed with a grin. Xel blushed, looking away.

“Is this making it better?” Twi asked, still using her magic.

“Y-yeah,” Xel said, smiling a little. Twilight smiled a bit more as she continued. The elf shook her head and went off to the kitchen to get something to drink. “T-thank you,” Xel continued. Soon Twi was finished and moved out of the way.

“One of the styles of mages can do is called Spirit Healer, it does what it sounds like.” she explained.

“Heals ghosts?” Xel innocently asked.

“Umm… kinda? It’s more like using helpful spirits to heal others,” she clarified to Xel. Xel nodded a little, before suddenly snuggling with Twi. “Umm… what’s with the snuggling?”

Xel shrugged, blushing. Twilight stared at her for a few moments but didn’t move to stop this. She simply blushed at this. “So… we spend a lot of time together,” Xel commented.

“Well, yes since the training in magic and lessons,” Twilight said.

“I’d say we’re… pretty close,” Xel continued.

“Yes, a teacher and student somethings become close,” she added.

“I think… we’re a little closer than that,” Xel said, blushing. Twilight blinked at this.

“What do you mean?” she asked, now confused. Vi-Vi was standing out of sight and facepalming at this.

“Oh my god, she has no idea what Xel’s talking about,” she whispered.

Xel sighed. “Nevermind,” She mumbled. Twilight blinked at this, now confused. Xel looked over and saw her sister standing out of sight. She made a gesture and mouthed. ‘Well?’ Xel simply looked away, closing her eyes.

“Xel, what’s wrong?” the mare asked.

“Nothing,” Xel mumbled.

“Oh my lord,” Viriola mumbled as she walked out of her spot and walk past them.

“She meant close as in a couple,” the elf said, moving to head upstairs. Xel squeaked in embarrassment, flushing red. Twilight went red at this and shifted a bit.

“Is… that what you meant?” she asked Xel. Xel nodded shyly. “Oh… Well… Ummm…” Her face was really red as her eyes dart around, trying to figure out what to say.

Xel looked down, afraid of rejection.

“Umm, I don’t think it would work, I think I would be a terrible girlfriend and… I would just mess things up and-” Twilight blushed a bit more, not looking at Xel.

“D-d-do you… w-w-wanna try?” Xel asked hopefully.

“Umm…” Twilight fidget a bit. “M-maybe…”

“I-i need a yes or no,” Xel said, looking Twilight in the eye. The mare looked at Xel for a moment.

“I… guess we can try…” she said with a smile. Xel went up and kissed her, hugging her. “Eep!” Twilight said, blushing like mad now. Xel blushed but smiled at Twilight. Upstairs the elf smiled at this before going to her room to rest after punching a Beowulf.