Learning *Edited*

The morning after the reveal of his secret dimension proved to be surprisingly calm and normal. All of the girls eventually made their way back to their homes, having their own responsibility to take care of on top of getting ready for Celestia's official introduction of Simon to the rest of the town.

Once the library was mostly empty, Twilight thought that this might be the best time to ask Simon about the photo that she had found in his workspace. “I'll be right back I gotta run up to my room for something” Twilight got up from the table and headed for the stairs while Spike and Simon continued conversing. It turned out that they had a common love for comic books and had quickly gotten into a complex conversation regarding the different comics of their respective worlds. Twilight had gone to her room where she retrieved the photo from the stand next to her bed. As she looked at the people in the image, she felt a sense of hesitation creep in. There would obviously be some difficulty in talking with Simon about loved ones he likely never see again and there was even the possibility it could damage the trust they’d built up. Yet, Twilight’s thirst for knowledge easily overwhelmed any potential guilt she felt, as she made her way back downstairs. Coming back down the stairs to the table where Simon and Spike were, Twilight levitated the picture over to Simon. “So Simon, can you tell me who the other two people in this picture are.”

“Hmm.” Simon lifted his eyes to Twilight, reaching out, he grabbed the photo and brought it closer to his face. “Where did you find this photo?”

“Oh, um, when we were in your workspace it fell out of one of those books you have. I wanted to ask you about it at the time but you seemed busy so I kept it to ask you about it later. I hope you don't mind.” Twilight blushed a little in embarrassment

“Hey, don’t worry about it, I don't mind.” Simon smiled to Twilight’s relief. “It's just a photo of me and a couple friends while we were roughhousing.”

Simon set the picture face up on the table and slid it across to where it landed between Twilight and Spike. Once Twilight got a good look at the photo she noticed it had changed, now it was different, showing Simon laughing and sitting on top of another human. It was hard to tell the features of the other human, save for the short dark mane while the other human sitting on its knees behind Simon with his arm wrapped around his neck had a long red mane.

Twilight looked up at Simon confused. “Wait, this isn't the…” Twilight started to say but got interrupted by Simon.

“Isn’t it time that we go the meeting place for the announcements,” Simon asked, clearly diverting attention away from the photo.

Twilight's head snapped to the clock, the topic of the conversation completely forgotten. “You’re right, we need to get going.” Twilight stood up, quickly leading the Simon out the door of the library while Spike stayed behind. At Ponyville town square, a stage was set up with every pony gathering around to hear Princess Celestia's announcement.

At the moment, Simon, Twilight, and Celestia were inside City Hall, doing what they could to keep Simon out of sight for as long as possible. All that was left was to proceed with the event as a whole.

Celestia turned her gaze to Simon, who looked otherwise unaffected by the current situation. While part of his calm demeanor did concern her, she put that out of her mind for the moment, knowing that she needed to present the situation in a calm manner, lest she start a potential panic.

“I trust you are ready for this Simon. In a few moments, everypony’s eyes will be on you.”

Simon simply continued to smile, looking out at the crowd through one of the windows. “Trust me, your highness, I’m more than ready for whatever comes next.”

Nodding, Celestia made her way out onto the stage, a quick glance to acknowledge her sister on the side before reaching the edge of the state.

“Good day my little ponies” Celestia’s voice, amplified through magic, easily reached the ears of every pony in attendance. “I am sorry for the short notice for this meeting, however, circumstances required so, and thus I trust that you will indulge me with a few moments of your time.”

Most of the ponies in attendance showed little concern over the matter. Though obviously, they were slightly curious. As some of you may have noticed yesterday, Twilight and her friends were escorting a minotaur through town. Well, I have come here to say that it was no Minotaur.” She paused giving time for that to sink in. “In truth, It was another creature, one that due to unforeseen circumstances is currently displaced her in Equestria. His name is Simon and we would now like to bring him out so he may answer a few questions. I imagine some of you may be surprised by his appearance, but please try to restrain yourselves until he begins taking questions..”

Luna and Celestia both lit up their horn’s pulling apart some curtains revealing nothing. Several of the ponies on stage quickly moved through the curtain calling out for Simon leaving only Luna, Celestia, Twilight, and a few guards standing on stage, awkwardly looking back at the crowd.

“It appears that our guest has gotten his times confused. Though I can assure everypony it will only be a moment longer.” Celestia tried to reassure the ponies but her response was met with a few nervous chuckles and murmuring out in the crowd. Pinkie Pie and Rarity were in the midst of searching the town hall in case he got lost while Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy took to the air. All the while, Applejack searched the ground around the town hall in case he wandered off.

It was about five minutes later when Dash yelled out, “I found him.” She was pointing down at a spot towards the back of the crowd. Twilight looked out, trying to see, and sure enough there he was sitting among the crowd, though only the ponies sitting near him had seemed to notice his presence.

“Simon what are you doing out there,” Twilight shouted to him standing on the end of the stage.

“I didn't want to miss the important announcement,” Simon spoke but had turned the volume up on his speaker so that she would hear it. This caused a few of the ponies in the crowd to laugh, including both princesses. All the shouting had drawn the rest of the girls back to the stage. Twilight face hoofed at the comment, debating whether Simon was simply trying to be funny or if he was truly that oblivious.

“You are the important announcement, now will you please get up here.” Twilight stomped her hoof for emphasis. Simon, seeing little point in arguing, stood up, allowing all the ponies in the crowd to get a good first look at the alien creature. Many of those were stricken mute by the surprising site, some simply choosing to remain silent while others couldn’t find the words. As Simon made his way to the stage he offered friendly waves towards ponies that he passed by. Arriving at the stage he hopped up, allowing Twilight to whisper to him. “Now remember, we don't want to make anypony afraid, so please refrain from mentioning anything about the possible hostility that your world has.”

“Okie Dokie” Simon spoke quickly, giving her a thumbs up.

Celestia cleared her throat. “It would appear our guest is here now while we may not have as long as we originally hoped for questions we can take a few before we end this meeting.” Among the crowd, a few ponies stood up that wanted their questions, with the first being a brown pony with an hourglass cutie mark.

“Time Turner you may go ahead.”

“Splendid,” the stallion said with a noticeable accent.“I find myself very curious, what sort of technology do you have back in your world”

“Well to be quite frank, it’s miles ahead of yours,” Simon said, though seemed to regret his words once he saw that some ponies seemed almost offended by the implication. “That's not to say that you ponies are primitive or anything, it's just that magic isn't quite abundant where I come from and we had to compensate by focusing more on more advancing our tech in order to live more comfortably.”

“Fascinating, perhaps you could give me a glimpse of some of your words science when you get the opportunity. I would relish the chance.”

His question answered Time Turner took his seat, allowing Celestia to pick the next pony, this time a mint colored mare with a harp cutie mark. Twilight immediately recognized the mare and was about to object, fearing that her outgoing personality might lead her to ask something that the young foals shouldn't hear.

“Do you have something special you look for in a friend and if ponies want to be your friend where could they find you,” Lyra asked smiling hopefully.

Simon smiled recognizing this pony as the one that was flirting with him the previous day. “Well, for now, I will be staying with Twilight and her friends until a proper residence can be acquired for my tall stature.” Simon motioned his hand towards Twilight. “As for becoming my friend, I suppose it's just as you would make friends with your own kind.” Twilight let out a sigh of relief, while Lyra sat back down, giving a hoof bump to the mare sitting next to her.

Looking out into the crowd Celestia gave a little giggle as she saw three fillings clambering over each other, trying desperately to get their hooves higher into the air in order to be noticed. “Yes, the three fillies.” The crowd around them made some space, allowing them to be better seen. Looking over, Twilight of course, was able to immediately recognize the three as the Cutie Mark Crusaders and actually found herself curious as to their questions.

“How long are you staying for.”

“Isn't their anypony that's going to miss you while you're here.”

“Why Are you wearing clothing.” The three questions all came at the same time, though Applebloom and Sweetie Belle quickly shifted their looks to Scootaloo for her rather surprising comment.

“Scootaloo you can't just ask why he’s wearing clothing,” Applebloom said giving her a small push.

“Well why not I’m curious.” Scootaloo gave her a small push back.

“Because it's rude that's why.” Sweetie Belle answered this time.

Simon cleared his throat gaining the attention of the three. “No need to fight, it’s a perfectly valid question. As to why, you see I wear these clothes because I do not have fur to protect my skin from the elements, so I, along with others of my kind wear these as a form a protection.” Simon gestured to his clothing. “As for how long I plan to be here, we are unsure at this time. As to the last question, I’m sure that some people will miss me while others will probably be happy about the vacation from having to deal with me. So it evens out I guess.”

Celestial looked around the crowd one more time. “Alright, we have enough time for one more question.” Immediately, she spotted a spastically waving hoof in the back. “Yes you in the back,” she pointed at them.

Pinkie Pie suddenly jumped out from the crowd. “Do you enjoy parties?” Her eyes almost seemed to stretch from her sockets as she awaited his answer, a wide smile on her face.

Simon smiled out to the crowd. “I can safely say that I do love parties.”

For anypony in Ponyville, they were not surprised when Pinkie immediately gave a loud cheer before she took off running.

Twilight approached Simon, taking a passing glance at the pink smoke trail left behind by her friend. “You’re probably gonna regret telling her that.”

Simon only chuckled. “Maybe, but I’m not worried. I do enjoy a good party and your pink friend seems like a lot of fun.”

The duo quickly made their way off the stage, followed by a pair of guards while Luna took her sister’s place at the front of the stage.

“With that, I would like to end this meeting. We thank all of you for being so patient and understanding regarding this situation. Any further questions you may ask either Simon or Twilight at the library. However, we do ask that you remain polite and cordial. Thank you.” Luna quietly made her way off the stage as the crowd dispersed.

Twilight and Simon meanwhile made their way back to the library, the rest of the girls had already left to their own homes as they had their own matters to attend to. Spike was waiting for them to return and opened the door to greet them. “So, how did it go?” he asked Twilight as she entered.

“Everything started out great, at least until Princess Celestia tried to introduce Simon and he suddenly disappeared.” Twilight sighed remembering that moment.

“He disappeared? Were you able to find him, where’d he even go?” Spike asked rapidly, almost developing into a full-on ramble.

“Relax Spike, we found him pretty quickly. Turns out it was a simple miscommunication, even if it did cause a little trouble at the time.” Twilight waved a hoof behind her as Simon came, ducking in through the door, allowing Spike to take a calming breath. Twilight went to her table and promptly, laid her head down, already feeling exhausted after this morning's events.

“So what is next on the list of things to do.” Simon asked as he took a seat next to Twilight. Spike shrugged and went back to his work around the library.

Twilight looked up at him without lifting her head. “Well, other than keeping you here and out of trouble I’m supposed to be studying your familiarity magic. Though I’m currently at a loss of how to do that since it doesn't affect anyone that has been introduced to you.”

“Well I’m sure, not everypony in town was there, why don't we just ask some of those ponies to come over where you can study them.”

Twilight head lifted completely off the table, exhaustion replaced with the feeling of smacking herself for not thinking of such an obvious solution. However, before she could start jumping for joy, another thought occurred. “That’s a sound idea I suppose, though I don’t know how comfortable I am using other ponies to test unknown magic on.”

Simon looked almost puzzled at her comment. “I understand what you’re saying Twilight, but you remember how science works right? Once you have a problem you want to work out, you need to perform an experiment to test our your hypothesis.”

Twilight stared wide-eyed at Simon, surprised by his statement. “Wait, you mean you are a scientist.”

Simon held his head up, beaming with a small degree of pride. “Oh yes, I've always been into all the science's since I was a kid and not to toot my own horn, but I’m pretty good at it.”

“Me too,” Twilight laughed suddenly filled with more energy she stood up with her front hooves on the table to be more eye level with Simon. “The others use to call me bookworm and egghead all the time. Rainbow Dash still does.” The last part she muttered under her breath, though Simon was still able to easily make it out.

Simon laughed, mostly at the former part. “Oh, I completely understand that, bullies used to laugh at me all the time, though I hardly let that stop me.”

Suddenly the pair found themselves engaging in a long and very informative conversation, going over shared experiences as well as random little events of their lives and it carried on for far longer than even had anticipated.

“You know, you're not as annoying as you seemed at first.” Twilight quickly placed her hooves over her mouth. “Oh, I didn't mean it that way.” She quickly said, now feeling ashamed of her rather callous remark.

Simon however, simply laughed it off. “Trust me, once you get to really know me you'll find that I am much more annoying than before.” His face then quickly lite up into an even larger smile.“Oh, you wanna see something really fun.”

A little hesitant after his previous comment, Twilight nodded her approval. Simon reached out towards Twilight and at first, she assumed that he was just going to pull something out of his fourth-dimensional space again, but no black spot appeared. Instead, she felt Simon's hand brush against her ear. As his fingers wrapped around her ear holding it still they sent pleasant feelings through her body making her understand why Pinkie was so insistent about having her head in his lap during the train ride. Twilight felt some pressure before she heard a couple of clicks through the translation device that she was wearing then there was another voice.

“Hello, Simon what would you like of me.” Twilight looked around confused trying to find the source of the new voice. Twilight opened her mouth to ask Simon where this other person was but he shushed her before any words came out.

“Hello Ace, please execute admin command add user security level three.” Simon was looking straight forward behind Twilight causing her to turn her head around finding nothing there she looked back to Simon.

“Commencing scan please hold still.” The ground around Twilight lit up as a blue disk appeared on the floor surrounding her. As it slowly rose from the ground the light from the disk covered her until the device was completely above her before it came back down to the ground. Once it touched the ground it disappeared. “Scan completed, new user please speak your name.”

“Uh… Twilight Sparkle.” Twilight said still confused as to what was going on.

“Registration complete.” Twilight looked around starting to get frustrated at not knowing what was happening.

“Okay, I’m normally a pretty patient pony, but I’d prefer to not be kept in the dark. Who is this other voice.” Twilight voiced her annoyance at Simon

Simon merely grinned at the purple pony’s plight. “That other voice is Ace, an artificial intelligence or A.I. that I created and have now given you access to.”

“Artificial Intelligence?” Twilight put a noticeable amount of emphasis on the world artificial as she spoke.

“Yes, Ace is a collection of programs which enable it to perform a great number of functions, even enabling it to make some decisions for itself.” Simon explained, though Twilight still appeared confused.

“What's a program?”

Simon stopped to think about it. “I guess you could say a program is a written language that machines from my world use to make decisions.” Twilight nodded only partially understanding the situation.

“Okay, so how do I use it?” Twilight asked, still wondering what even she was supposed to be using.

Simon removed the device from the side of his head bringing it close enough for Twilight to see but stayed in range so the device could continue translating, bringing his face uncomfortably close to her’s. “What you do is you press this button on the side twice then you just make a request of Ace. If the request is within its capabilities, it should comply with it.” Simon pointed to a small outward indentation in the middle of the translator. However, before either of them could move the door suddenly burst open with an explosion of pink.

“Surprise.” Pinkie Pie loudly proclaimed, bursting through the door, only to immediately silence herself as the sight of Twilight and Simon's face so close together. The party pony had to bite her lip to stifle her laughter. “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn't know I was interrupting. It’s okay, I’ll just come back later.” Pinkie started slowly backing out only for Twilight to quickly pull her back with her magic, while pushing Simon away.

“Pinkie, it's not what it looks like, Simon was just showing me how another one of his devices worked.” Twilight spoke, seemingly maintaining her composure, though a quick glance showed her blushing. Simon meanwhile was laying flat on the floor where Twilight had pushed him

“Geez Twilight, I didn't know you were so forward,” Simon said laughing, fully taking advantage of the situation.

Twilight blushed more, her composure starting to falter. “Don't you start too.” she shouted only causing more laughter from Simon and Pinkie.

“Whoa, Twilight calm down, I was just teasing you. But I bet you know why I'm here,” Pinkie interrupted her while Simon simply looked confused between the two

Twilight sighed, knowing what was coming next. “A party?”

“That's right.” Pinkie exclaimed excitedly, swinging the rest of the door wide open and walking inside.

“You two are the last of the party guests, so come on.” She quickly began pulling Simon up from the floor before grabbing Twilight by the hoof and dragging them to Sugar Cube Corner. The group, however, didn’t need to get close to see there was an entire party already set up that managed to actually stretch both inside and outside the building.

Once inside everyone cheered out a welcome to Simon, with a wide range of treats, all from the pastry shop, along with streamers and confetti already scattered about. However, Simon didn’t have much time to indulge in such delights as he was quickly bombarded by questions from every pony who hadn’t gotten a chance prior, pushing Twilight out of the way, much to her annoyance.

Before Twilight could make any attempt at retaliation, Pinkie quickly pulled her aside and practically shoved a cupcake in her mouth. “Relax Twilight, it's a party, all six of us are here so we will make sure that he is always within sight of one of us. Plus Applejack said she would take first watch. So, just have some fun.” While Twilight felt compelled to argue against such a decision, a quick glance around confirmed what Pinkie had said, with Applejack already helping out Simon with answering the many questions being thrown his way.

“Okay Pinkie, I guess it would be nice to not have to worry about him for one night. Especially since I’m gonna have to keep an eye on him for the next six.”

Twilight started to walk away, taking one last look at Simon she suddenly got a strange feeling. Given the situation, she figured it was simply her being in high-stress mode and opted to ignore it, even though a part of her still felt uneasy.

The party continued for several hours until eventually, the sun was starting to go down. Twilight, having enjoyed her moment of peace, was now searching for Simon with little success. Thinking back, she recalled the last pony he was talking with was Lyra and quickly picked her out of the crowd.

“Lyra have you seen Simon?”

The mint colored pony thought to herself for a moment. “I think the last I saw him he was being dragged upstairs by Pinkie Pie.” Twilight, after a quick thank you, made for the upstairs, ignoring Lyra making a comment about Simon escorting her home. Once she reached Pinkie’s room door, she was able to make out voices from inside.

“Wow, that's a lot bigger than I thought it was going to be.” Pinkie's voice said, causing Twilight’ to immediately freeze in place as she heard the sounds of Simon's voice as well. Any curiosity/suspicions she had regarding what was happening quickly devolved into paranoia as Pinkie spoke again.

“Oh don't worry, a lot of stallions don't have much in terms of stamina when it comes to this so as long as you last longer than them you will be fine.”

Twilight took a step back, her jaw hanging out wide. “They couldn't be.” Twilight knew that Pinkie was a forward mare but she didn't think she was that forward. Twilight was about to try again when a thought occurred to her. She used her magic to press the spot on her device that Simon had showed her twice and a voice came through to her.

“Hello Ms. Sparkle how may I be of assistance.” the voice stated

“Umm yes hello...Ace.” Twilight paused, trying to remember what Simon had called it. “Is there a way you can translate what Simon is saying for me right now?” Twilight asked, unsure of how exactly she was to pose the question.

“Certainly Ms. Sparkle, I can connect your headset to Simon's so that you two may communicate from any distance.” the voice said calmly.

“Wait wait,” Twilight spoke hurriedly, halting any action being taken. “I mean, I want to hear what he is saying but I don't want to interrupt him in what he is doing. So it would be best if he didn't hear me.” It was only after Twilight spoke that she realized just how creepy everything she was doing sounded.

There was a short pause before the voice spoke up again. “Very well Ms. Sparkle. Now activating Creepy Stalker Mode.”

“Well, can’t say I didn’t earn that.” Twilight quietly thought to herself, slightly ashamed at what she was doing, only to hear something else from the room.

“Hang on a second, I could see how this positioning is better for your kind but it's a little awkward for me do you mind if we change it.” Pinkie's voice came through very clear on her headset.

“Sure thing Pinkie, let's just adjust really fast.” There was a pause where Twilight could hear some shuffling, though no words were spoken.

“There, is that better.” Simon's voice had asked.

“Mmmmm.” A pleasured hum came through. “Yeah, that's a lot better, let's keep going, this is A-mazing.” Pinkie’s voice, speaking as if she was in a dream-like haze.

Twilight figured she had heard enough. “Okay, Ace that's enough.” Part of Twilight wanted to pursue the issue further, but her concern of being found out and potentially causing a rift with her friends, caused her to quietly head down the stairs. Of course, she wasn’t done with the matter and would hopefully get a clear explanation once the duo left the room.

Once Twilight was gone, Pinkie’s door came crashing open as the party pony rolled out of the room. “Wow Simon, I don't know what your race has with spinning their dance partners but it sure makes me dizzy.” Pinkie laughed getting up on her hooves.

Simon nodded in agreement as he was folding up a large dance mat that was set out in the middle of Pinkie’s floor. “It's called the Tango Pinkie and the spin is actually a very important part of it. Also, you're the one that dragged me up here to teach you some dances from my world, so you should’ve expected things to be a little intense,” Simon responded, laughing in return. Half an hour later Pinkie and Simon both came down the stairs finding the store was mostly empty, with many of the partygoers having since departed. Thankfully, their small group of friends had remained, taking a seat at a nearby table, with the duo making their way over to join them, though Twilight was quick to divert her gaze.

Simon gave a yawn. “Well it looks like the party is winding down, how about we head back to the house Twilight.” Twilight nodded still unsure of how to process what she’d heard, to which Simon remained blissfully ignorant. The two of them bid farewell to everyone as they left the party and returned to the library.

“So is there somewhere I could sleep at,” Simon asked looking around, taking a better note of his surroundings.

Twilight thought for a second. “Well I think I might have a spare bed upstairs, never really needed it up until now but it should suffice.” Simon nodded motioning for her to lead the way. The pair quickly moved up to Twilight’s bedroom, which Simon found had two floors, with Twilight’s own bed being located on a small flat just above the stairs entrance. Below it was a larger open area surrounded by bookcases and with a quick flash of magic, the floor opened up, allowing another bed to rise up from a secret compartment.

“After I had a bit of a chaotic sleepover, which included a lengthy argument about bed space, I figured it would be best if I had a spare when I had guests over. Looks like it was a smart decision.”

“Thanks, Twilight.” Simon smiled at her, his voice carried a kindness and sincerity that she hadn't heard from him before. Simon moved over to where the bed was and removed his top layer of clothing though he kept on a pair of what looked like shorts that he was wearing underneath everything. Simon climbed into the bed throwing the blankets over himself. Twilight had to stifle a laugh at how undersized the bed was compared to him. Simon looked over at Twilight. “Are you going to join me?”

Twilight’s face immediately became aglow. “J..J...Join you?” ”Wasn't he just with Pinkie Pie earlier is his race insatiable.” Twilight's mind was going a mile a minute before Simon interrupted her thoughts.

“Yeah, you know, go to sleep too.” Simon motioned up to the second floor to where Twilight's bed was. Twilight felt relief but there was also something else nagging at the back of her mind.

“Not quite yet, there is still some stuff I want to get done before I go to sleep.” Twilight moved over to her desk that was nearby and started reading several books, though Simon seemed to pay her no mind as he laid down and rolled his back to her. After a few minutes of studying she looked back at Simon. “Are you still awake?” When she didn’t receive an answer, she figured he was likely asleep.

Looking back at her books, and then at Simon, she had an idea, activating Ace again.

“Hello Ms. Sparkle, how may I be of assistance.” It spoke in the exact same manner as it had before.

“Well for starters, you can just call me Twilight. I was wondering Ace would you be able to teach me Simon’s language. Figure it would make things a little easier if I could talk to him without the translator.” Twilight spoke quietly trying not to wake anyone up. At first, there was no response, making Twilight think that maybe she spoke too quietly.

“Username registration complete.” Twilight had to clamp her mouth shut with her hooves to avoid shouting as the voice responded before there was another brief pause afterward before the voice came back. “Of course I can Twilight. Would you like to start now?”

Twilight nodded before realizing that this thing couldn't see her. “Yes, I would like that very much.” She used her magic to bring over some blank papers as well as her quill and ink, preparing to take notes, only to quickly become surprised at the sight of a strange blue object flying in front of her.

“What is this?”

“This is a holoprojector we will be using it to teach you.” Twilight was confused about what it had meant by this, but before she could raise a question it continued on as symbols appeared through the holoprojector. Of the symbols, one became much larger in size.

“This first letter is A, which is pronounced with an ah sound.” Twilight paid close attention as the lesson continued well into the night. Twilight ended up being so engrossed in learning a new language she failed to notice that the sun had started to rise and that she’s been up all night.

Eventually, exhaustion had set in and Ace, thankfully, had opted to stop the lesson around when they managed to get to the letter S. By the time Simon had finally woken up, he caught sight of Twilight with her face planted firmly in her notebook, snoring loudly for all to hear.

The next few days went rather well. Naturally, they first made sure to get Simon a properly sized bed the next day. Of course, Simon would do the occasional annoying thing but Twilight was really starting to enjoy her time with him. Every now and then ponies would show up that were curious about Simon, some would even show up from other towns that had heard about Celestia's announcement. Thankfully for Twilight some of them were even willing to participate in experiments to examine the effects of Simon's familiarity magic. Meanwhile, on most nights Simon would disappear into his workshop and Twilight would continue her lessons on Simon's language and was making substantial progress, confident she’d have it down soon.

Of course, in her efforts to master Simon’s language, Twilight had made it an unfortunate habit of staying up well into the night and thus would sleep in beyond her usual wake up time. Thus it was well into the morning when Twilight was awoken from her most recent language binge by the smell of food in the air. A quick scan revealed that Simon’s bed was empty prompting the unicorn to head downstairs. To no surprise of her own, she found Simon had music going on he was dancing and singing to it while in the process of making breakfast. From the sight, Twilight couldn't help but laugh alerting Simon to her presence.

“Aw, you ruined the surprise.” He feigned annoyance.

Twilight looked confused at him “Surprise?”

Simon nodded. “Yep, I was making breakfast. Now, go leave the kitchen and wait for your food, it's almost done.” Twilight saw little point in arguing and seated herself out of the kitchen. It was only a few seconds before Simon came out with a plate of food and set it down in front of Twilight. She looked at the questionable meal in front of her. On the plate was several recognizable fried vegetables but on top of the vegetables was a bunch of small white cubes all covered in a dark sauce, It smelled edible but it wasn't any kind of food that she had before.

“Aw, come on, don't be such a baby about it,” Simon whined out much to his roommates' annoyance. He quickly picked up the fork scooping up some of the food and held it out to her. Figuring she should at least try it, Twilight leaned forward taking the fork into her mouth.

It was in this exact instance that the front door burst open. “Hi Twilight, how’s my favorite sister doing?” Shining Armor’s massive smile quickly melted away at the sight of his sister sitting at the table while being fed by some creature.

“Oh, I’m sorry Twilight I didn't know you have your boyfriend over.”

Twilight blushed heavily at that. “No, it's nothing like that.” Twilight quickly spit the fork out as she stood up and started walking to her brother, preparing some kind of excuse.

“Relax Twilight, don't take everything so personally. Just a little big brother humor there.” Shining approached his sister and gave her a hug. Twilight immediately relaxed returning his hug.

“So, what brings you here Shiny. I don’t mind, it’s just I thought you were busy in Canterlot” Twilight asked stepping back after hugging her brother.

“Well, I would be lying if I said it was only because I missed you. I'm actually here because of…. him.” Shining motioned to Simon.

Twilight looked perplexed at the notion, eyes darting between the two males in the room. “What do you mean?”

“Well first off, I wanted to make sure he wasn't giving you too much trouble. As soon as Celestia told me what was going on and that he would be staying with you for a week I had to come make sure for myself. Also, my guards tell me that they got their flanks handed to them by this guys and now they lost any motivation to train.” Simon looked over the conversation finally covering an interesting topic for him.

“From what I’m gathering, your brother wants to help get his soldiers motivated again by showing that he can beat me in a fight. A friendly duel I’m guessing?.” Simon looked over to Shining who just gave him a confused expression at Simon’s odd language.

“I don’t suppose you understood any of that?” Shining asked looking back to Twilight.

Twilight, having been able to understand Simon perfectly, found herself frowning at the idea Shining was proposing. “I did, and to be honest I’m not crazy about what I’m hearing. You essentially want to use him as a sparring partner right?”

Shining gave a shocked look to Simon. “How did you know that's what I came here for?” Simon pointed behind Shining who turned around, right outside the window Twilight could see a couple of guards were peering inside.

Despite being essentially called out on his intentions, Shining simply laughed at his subordinates actions. “I guess there's no more use in hiding come on in, they can see you staring,” He yelled out towards the door, prompting several guards to shuffle into the small library.

“What's going on?” Twilight asked looking around at everyone.

Shining sighed, an action mirrored by several of the guards present. “Look, sis, after your new friend easily took down some of my best soldiers, it pretty much destroyed their confidence. I figure dueling him will at least show we can win or at least hold our own against unknown opponents.”

While Twilight could see some of the merits in what Shining was saying, she didn’t seem especially happy about the idea and prepared to retort, when Simon’s voice cut her off.

“I accept.”

Twilight looked back to Simon. “No, you do not accept.” She then turned to her brother. “Shining, fighting against Simon won’t prove anything.”

Shining sighed walking away from the guards and Simon. “I know that Twilight, but this is way beyond just me. My troops won't drop the subject and this could be a real boost to morale and get some of the slackers more serious about their job. Please, just this once, let us do this.” By this point, the Captain of the Guard was almost begging on his knees.

Twilight sighed in defeat, knowing that there was little point in arguing now. “Fine, I’ll allow it but I will be the one overseeing the dual.”

Shining gave a brief, silent cheer, before regaining his composure. “I wouldn't have it any other way. Thanks, Twily.” Shining put his hoof around his sister's shoulders, only for the pair to find themselves lifted off the ground. looking around, they found find that it was Simon now holding them under his arms, both of them unsuccessfully flailing to get free.

“Alright, now that everyone is in agreement on what to do, let's get this party started,” Simon shouted turning towards the door.

Shining looked to Twilight still not knowing what he said.

“He’s excited for some reason.” Both of the siblings had stopped their struggling, resigning to their fate of being carried.

“So how do you understand...Simon was it?” Shining asked his sister as they were carried away.

“Simon has some kind of translation device, we’ve been using it since he first arrived.” Twilight motioned to the thing that was on her ear. Shining nodded his head, Simon ducked out the door that the guards had opened up some of them snickering at the situation that their captain was in.

Simon stopped once outside the door. “Wait, where are we going to hold the duel at.”

Twilight sighed, slightly annoyed by her houseguest’s apparent lack of insight. “Well if you would put us down we could prepare an area.”

Simon nodded, embarrassed that he hadn’t figured that out as he quickly set them down. “Yeah, I suppose that might help.”

“Alright everypony, let's head around back to prepare an area for this duel.”

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

In an Unknown world

The large man stood upon a stage high in the air, with a massive crowd of thousands before him. A small man approached, handing off a microphone to him.

“Attention my deities, starting tomorrow morning we will be holding a tournament, the winner of which will be awarded a year's supply of magic as well as a secret reward. Be prepared as this competition will be dangerous and intense. That is all you may all return to your jobs.”

As the large man walked off the stage and everyone started leaving, murmurs of excitement or sharing thoughts of what the prize is going to be echoed throughout the crowd. Yet none present noticed a grin stretching across the face of the tall man as he departed the stage.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Ponyville

Simon and Shining stood in a ring of guards, with a small assortment of weapons neatly arranged next to them. Shining was now fitted with one of Simon's translation devices feeling it was important that he could communicate with Simon and was looking at Simon, eager to get started.

“Since I challenged you, I’ll let you have the first choice of weapons.” Simon looked over the assortment of tools, which included long swords, short swords, and spears.

Simon thought to himself for a moment. “Would it be okay if I bring in one of my own weapons?”

Shining, however, shook his head. “Unfortunately no. All of these weapons have special enchantments on them to keep us from injuring each other.” He reached out his hoof as it came close to the blade of one of the swords when a shield suddenly appeared around it.

“Also an alarm will sound if it registers a lethal hit, that is how we will keep track of points.” Simon nodded in understanding looking over the weapons, quickly grabbing one of the long swords and gave it a few test swings to get a feel for its overall weight. Shining walked over picking up a short sword in his mouth.

Simon looked over at Twilight. “What were the rules again?”

Twilight sighed angrily. “This is the third time I’ve explained this to you. It's a three-point match, meaning that the first one of you to score three points is the winner, no magic allowed.”

Simon looked over to Shining seeing him holding the sword in his mouth. “I would like to make a request, I’d prefer it f he could use magic to manipulate his weapon.”

Both Shining and Twilight looked at him confused. “Why?” Twilight asked.

“Well, it just doesn't seem fair that he has to use his mouth while I have arms, which give me an advantage in reach and dexterity. Just doesn’t seem right to start off with such an obvious edge in the fight.” Twilight looked to Shining and shrugged.

Shining pulled the sword out of his mouth with his magic. “I’m okay with it if that's what he wants.” Simon smiled taking his place across from Shining.

“Alright.” Twilight took up a spot off to the side between the two of them. “I’m going to count to three and when I say go you start, understand?.” Shining nodded lowering his stance preparing to strike, Simon, on the other hand, was busy balancing the tip of the handle to his sword on his fingertips, an action that made Twilight almost scream at his brazen lackadaisical attitude, but kept her composure.

“Alright, ready. Three…. two….one….GO!.”

Shining launched forward at Simon, his sword pointing straightforward for a lunge attack. Simon suddenly overextended his hand causing him to fall off to the side making Shining's strike miss, while the sword Simon was balancing fell, striking Shining in the back, signified by a loud noise suddenly ringing out notifying of a point strike. Said Royal Guard Shining looked around confused, watching the sword slide off his back and onto the ground.

Shining then turned back, confusion still etched on his face while Simon simply shrugged. “Lucky hit I guess,” He chuckled lightly, as he dusted himself off and got back to his feet.

Shining moved back to his spot grumbling about a lucky shot, before getting into his stance again, only to again find himself struck almost stupid by the sight of Simon, now leaning on his sword like it was a cane.

Ignoring his confusion, once Twilight gave the signal, Shining slowly approached his opponent, watching his every move all the while Simon just stood there watching leaning on his sword like they weren’t in the middle of a fight.

Irritated, Shining closed the gap and swung at Simons midsection the blade a few inches away from hitting. However, he didn't move an inch like he recognized the shortness of the blade would render the attack pointless. Shining couldn't figure it out but his attitude towards the duel was starting to upset him. Shining charged with a downward swing, to which Simon swung his sword up finally seeming to take an interest.s The two blades connected, with Simon taking the moment to go on the offensive with cross strikes, swinging back and forth every step forward forcing Shining a step back as he tried to find an opening.

As they approached the ring of guards Shining saw an opening in the pattern that Simon was following. Shifting his blade so Simons blade glanced off, Shining had just enough time to push his blade in, hitting Simon in the gut causing the alarm to ring and the guards surrounding them cheered out.

The two of them returned to their starting positions before the match began. This time Simon was the first to make a move, swinging his sword around above his head then brought it straight down, with Shining managing an upward block, only to be forced down from the strength of the blow. Shining quickly realized something wasn't right if this guy had this much strength than he shouldn't have been able to parry his sword so easily from the previous point. However, he didn't have much time to think as he felt the weight being lifted off his magic as Simon had pulled back and was now lunging forward.

Quickly sidestepping to avoid the attack caused Simon to fall forward allowing Shining a moment to get a body strike and his second point.

Simon stood up, stretching his back and rubbing the spot that just got hit he smiled down to Shining. Simon reached up with his empty hand and touched the translation object.

“Twilight can you hear me?”

Shining looked over to his sister but she had no reaction at all. “Good, she can't hear me right now. Shining just want to say, you’re a very capable warrior, much stronger than what I was giving you credit for.”

While Shining took the compliment in stride, it was apparent Simon had more to say.

“Sadly, I can't let you win I can't look bad in front of my future bride now can I.” Shining gave a confused look to Simon as they both returned to their starting positions. “You see your sister and I are to be married to unite me people with yours but your sister wasn't exactly happy about it. Of course, she isn’t going to question the princesses, thus her only request was that she had to be the one to tell you.”

Shining was stunned. “So then why are you telling me this.”

Simon faked shock. “Because if I had a sibling I wouldn't want a last minute invite to their wedding.” Shining looked over to Twilight and could see there was definitely something on her mind. “But I tell you what, let's bring this duel to a close. If you tell Twilight that you want to change the rules to allow both of us to use any magic and make the next point the winner then I agree that if you win I will call off the marriage to your sister.”

Shining didn't like this one bit but the thought of his sister marrying this arrogant creature was clouding his better judgment. “Fine.” He spat out. Just before Twilight started the next match Shining spoke up. “Hold up Twilight I wanna change a few things.” Twilight looked at her brother confused. “I’m getting a little tired of this so I want to make this the last match and remove the magic restriction. The next one of us to score a point is the winner.” Shining gave an angered look to Simon who just smiled back at him.

“Umm if that's what you want,” Twilight said confused Shining nodded. “Okay, this is a one-point elimination round all magic will be allowed as long as it is non-lethal.” Twilight gave Simon a look of suspicion pretty sure that he had something to do with this Twilight moved into her spot to watch the fight before calling out the start.

“Three...two….one….GO.”

The moment Twilight said go, Simon threw his sword in Shining's direction. Shining quickly put up a shield only for the blade to disappear before impact, leaving the royal guard confused. Looking at Simon, who was just standing a short distance away with no weapon, Shining charged at him thinking this was his chance to strike. Simon, ever still smiling, pointed up to which Shining saw a black spot hanging above, out in front of him he managed to move just in time as Simon’s sword came shooting out of it before it vanished in another spot on the ground.

When Shining turned to Simon, he was pointing down this time, with Shining now finding a spot directly below him. He barely managed to dodge the sword as it erupted from the ground, picking up speed with each attack. However, Shining had no time to pause as Simon was suddenly in front of him, grabbing his sword out of the air and bringing it down forcing shining to go on the defensive.

This duel continued for a bit, with Shining noticing that Simon’s strikes lacked the same amount of force as previously, while he seemed to be able to always avoid every strike thrown his way. Regardless, Shining charged trying to close the gap the Simon had put between them but after a few steps, his front hoof seemed to fall through the ground, causing him to lose balance and stop in place. Simon threw his sword straight up pointing up after it another spot appeared absorbing the sword before disappearing. However, by now, Shining had a clear idea of what exactly he was doing.

“He must have to point where he wants the spots to open.”

His theory seemed to be verified as Simon pointed out with both hands prompting two holes to open up where he was pointing, one on each side of Shining, all but forcing him to make a decision on what to do... Shining chose to move forward and to the right. This proved to be a wise decision as the sword came out the one behind him.

Shining looked back to Simon who was now pointing to the right, sadly Shining wasn’t able to react as quickly and only managed to get a shield up mere moments after, only for nothing to come.

For a moment Shining thought he was safe then a force struck his shield, almost shattering it. Shining turned his head back to Simon who was now right in front of him, sword in hand. Simon flipped his sword around in his hand and dug it into the crack, piercing through towards Shining, almost hitting him in the face.

By this point Shining knew he was running out of options, Simon was expertly keeping him on the defense with each move he made and if he was going to turn this fight he had to make a risky move. Thus he closed his eyes and started pumping magic into the shield until it finally burst in both force and light throwing Simon back without his sword, leaving him blind.

Leaping forward at the first moment he could, Shining struck but knew something was wrong when he felt it hit but there was no resistance from the barriers and no alarm ringing. There was a gasp causing Shining to open his eyes in front of him was Simon sitting still, with Shining’s sword stuck inside Simon.

Simon laughed a little but it ended with a cough a little bit of viscous red fluid coming out of his mouth. “I guess this means you win.” Holding himself up with one hand he put the other in his pocket near the sword and threw confetti into the air.

Shining looked at him in shock and confusion as Twilight ran over to Simon's side. “Simon are you okay.” She asked, though from appearances it would seem the opposite was true.

Simon smiled to Twilight using his empty hand to gesture to the sword stabbing through his lower abdomen. “Well considering that my kidney is currently trying to pass a sword I can say I have been better.” Simon tried to laugh but just ended up coughing up more of the red fluid.

Twilight figured that it had to be his blood. “This isn't the time to be joking around.”

Twilight's concern for Simon snapped Shining out of his shock, who quickly ran to his injured opponent’s side. “I’m so sorry Simon I don't know what happened, I personally enchanted these weapons and the spell should have lasted for the rest of the week.”

Simon looked to Shining, grinning in spite of the blood. “That's easy, I have a natural magic absorption field around me. Every time you swung my body took a bit more of it off the sword until your enchantment finally broke.” Simon groaned a bit as he shifted his body a little. “That's why I was trying to end this early. In hindsight probably not the best idea.” Simon laughed again, only to cough up some more blood.

Twilight was by this point freaking out trying to figure out what to do. “This isn't the time to be joking around we need to get you to the hospital as fast as we can.” Twilight lit up her horn lifting both Simon and the sword at the same time.

“Whoa whoa whoa, slow down there.” Simon held out a hand to Twilight the moment he was airborne. “It's not as bad as it seems just put me down and I'll show you.”

Against her better judgment, Twilight compiled, concern still written all over her face. Simon grabbed the sword handle with a single hand and turned so they could see both sides of the sword through his body. Simon suddenly started doing his best to run away.

“You’ll never take me to the hospital alive.” Sadly, his antics only got him a couple of feet before he groaned and started to fall over. Twilight quickly used her magic to lift Simon back up into the air so that the sword didn't hit the ground and make things worse.

Twilight quickly approached where she was holding Simon. “Are you out of your mind? Now’s not the time for stupid pranks, you could die if we don’t do something.” Looking up at Simon she could see that he was barely conscious, only adding to her panic.

Simons' eyes were only half open, yet he still managed to laugh. “Haha, you do care about me.” He spoke slowly almost like he was just waking up. Twilight gave a frustrated grunt and started moving him towards the hospital, Shining, and the guards all following with them.

The group was quick to burst through the doors of the nearby Ponyville Hospital, getting the attention of both the staff and many of the patrons present.

“Quick, we need a doctor, there's been an accident.” She levitated Simon through the door as the nurses came charging up with a stretcher. Twilight carefully set Simon down on it, he was unconscious and no longer putting up a fight allowing the nurses to take him away, though Twilight was required to stay behind.

Shining came in after telling his guards to return to Canterlot Castle and tell the princesses what happened as well as fetch the rest of Twilight's friends. Shining approached his sister and gave her a hug. “I’m so sorry Twilight this is all my fault after he told me he would call off the wedding if I won I got so focused on winning that I didn't notice the weakening magic on my weapon.”

Twilight separated herself from Shining’s hug and looked him directly in the eyes. “What wedding, what are you talking about?”

Shining gave a confused look to Twilight “Simon told me that you two were going to be married to unite his people with our people just before the last match, but then he told me if I won that he would call it off.” Shining looked down to the ground slightly ashamed. “I noticed that he had to point to open those spots that he was attacking me from I got so focused on exploiting that.”

Twilight sighed as the pieces all fell into place. “Shining I’m about to tell you something that you can not tell your guards.” Shining turned his attention to Twilight as she explained.

“Simon comes from a world where fighting for your life on a daily basis isn't unnatural.” Shining gave her a confused look making Twilight sigh. “He threw the match, he wanted to lose and so he actively antagonized you because he knew it’d help you win.” Shining’s expression turned to one of shock. “I was there when Simon stopped the guards and he didn't move an inch to stop them it was an automatic reaction. He probably heard you talking about how it demotivated your guards and wanted to make up for it, thus figured if you beat him in a fair fight that would boost you soldier's morale back up.”

“But but but.” Shining was in shock it suddenly all made sense to him the weak blows, the near misses, the wedding lie, all of it clicked. Shining suddenly felt even worse about accidentally stabbing him.

Thankfully, before he could mull over it too long A caramel colored pony in doctor’s coat came out from the back and approached Twilight.“Twilight Sparkle, Shining Armor, I’m Doctor First Aid, regarding the patient you brought in, could you please follow me.”

“How is he, doctor,” Twilight asked worriedly.

The doctor gave her a reassuring smile. “Don't worry, in spite of the stab wound and blood loss, he should be just fine. However, that's actually something I want to talk to you about.” The doctor waved his hoof for them to follow him as he made his way to the patient rooms. The doctor opened one of the rooms the pair shared a quick laugh at Simon who was once again stuffed into a comically undersized bed. Once the doctor stepped in he closed the door behind himself.

“So what was it that you wanted to talk to us about?” Shining looked back to the doctor from Simon.

First Aid moved over to the side of Simon, directly to the area that previously had a sword sticking through it. “This.” He used his hoof to slide up Simon's shirt revealing a small wound just a little bit of the red fluid trickling out of it.

Twilight gasped in surprise. “That's amazing doctor, you must be an especially talented unicorn to be able to heal him that quickly.”

The doctor, however, shook his head.“Don't get me wrong, I along with several of the other unicorns here are quite skilled but this isn't my work.” Twilight and Shining gave the doctor a confused look. “You see we had him in the operating room, everything prepped to stop his bleeding, yet when we removed the sword a bunch of this red fluid gushed out.” He used his gloved hoof to smear the red fluid that was leaking out back into Simon's wound. “By the time we got it all wiped down his wound had mostly closed itself. Originally, we thought it was blood, but after analyzing it, we now know it's heavily saturated with magic and is probably what is healing him.”

“Okay, so if he is healing so fast, then why is he unconscious?” Shining asked passing a glance at the sleeping Simon.

“I’m sorry, but I don't know. If I had to guess, it would be that the rest of his systems shut down to help speed up the healing process. However, regardless, at the rate he’s going at, it should only be a few hours until he's back to one hundred percent.”

Twilight breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s a relief, thank you, doctor.”

First Aid nodded his head. “Well I have other patients to deal with, so I’ll leave you alone for now. Though try not to disturb him if possible.” With that he stepped out of the room leaving Twilight and Shining alone with Simon.

“Wow, he is something else isn't he?” Shining commented, still amazed at what they’d learned.

Twilight gave a quick laugh. “Trust me, if we could do half of what I've seen him do Equestria would be a completely different place.”

As the pair continued to laugh at the prospective potential of Simon, the remainder of the Mane six burst into the room, several demanding to know what happened.

”Hold up everypony, just calm down and I’ll explain what happened.”

After a quick summary of the events that took place, the group seemed satisfied with the answer. It seemed most of them had mainly come to ease their own concerns as Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy had to leave to finish taking care of personal matters. Twilight promised to let them know when he woke up.

“So, if I understand this correctly all this came about because Simon wanted to help Shining prove himself to his troops?” Rarity questioned and Shining nodded. “My my, it would seem our new friend is quite the noble-hearted fellow.” All those still conscious in the room nodded in the affirmative.”

Simon suddenly groaned from his bed, muttering something but due to his translator having been removed prior only Twilight was able to understand him and even then it was only one word. Looking at the charts present near his bedside pertaining to the red fluid with Simon, Twilight couldn’t help but take a closer look. Pinkie Pie all the while, who’d been resting her head against Simon’s legs, quickly shot up in excitement at the noise from her newest friend.

“Simon!” Both Pinkie and Twilight shouted at the same time and quickly moved over hugging him.

Simon gave a grunt of pain as he grabbed his headset and placed it back on his ear. “Careful, I’m still healing.” The two mares immediately got off of him both of them muttering apologizes under their breath. Rarity and Shining were also close to his side, though thankfully with much more restraint.

“Simon,” Shining spoke up garnering his attention. “I owe you an apology, I really didn't mean to hurt you.”

Simon rose his hand silencing Shining. “It's no problem, I know you didn't mean too, and in your defense, I did kind of goad you into it.”

Shining nodded. “Still you have earned my respect.” Shining gave a small pause before he smirked up at Simon. “And it would be an honor for you to marry my sister.” This caused both Shining and Simon to start laughing, while Twilight facehoofed, annoyed that the joke was persisting, leaving the remaining two room occupants confused. The group chatted for a bit until Simon was able to get out of bed, a new scar seen underneath his shirt, while First Aid was giving him a look over...

“So are all of those scars from a fight you lost,” Twilight asked, remembering that he was covered head to toe in scars.

Simon smiled somberly and shook his head. “No, not all of them.”

“Well, scars aside, Simon you seem well enough that I’m going to release you into the care of Twilight, but please take it easy until at least tomorrow.” First Aid said the last part almost as if it were a command.

Simon nodded his approval. “Sure thing doc.” Gathering together they all left the hospital together.

Stopping outside of Twilight's library Shining gave his sister a hug. “I’m going to head back to Canterlot and update the princesses before they freak out too much. See you soon sis.” With that he turned and started walking towards the train station.

Rarity turned to Twilight.” Pinkie Pie and I are going to fetch the rest of the girls then we will meet you back here.” Pinkie Pie nodded before she walked over and gave Simon another hug before they left. Twilight and Simon turned to the library upon entering they were greeted by Spike questioning what happened after relaying everything that happened to him. By the time she was done explaining everything, Twilight gave a yawn from her exhausting day

Simon approached behind Twilight. “So Twilight, are you ready?”

Twilight spun around seeing Simon looking over her, causing her to back up a bit. “What do you mean, am I ready for what?”

Simon grinned down at her. “You asked me to teach you how to do what I do.”

“Oh right. Are you sure you wanna start it now, you just healed and the doctor said you needed to rest.” Twilight was still a little on edge from the day’s events and she still had some unanswered questions, mainly where he went during the initial announcement of his presence and more noticeably why he was so calm with being in an alien world.

“Why not now, seems like a perfect time to me since we have some time to kill before your friends show up.”

Simon moved past Twilight sitting down at the table in the middle of the room, reaching out he pulled out a book from his fourth-dimensional space, which she recognized as one of his research journals.

“So how about we start with something simple, I just want you to shoot a small amount of magic at me.” Simon flipped open the journal to a random page he pulled out a long thin round object from between the pages pressing something on the back it made a soft click. Simon looked up from his book Twilight was about to agree when she thought of something. Simon put the small object down and held his hand out indicating for Twilight to use that as her target.

Twilight moved to the stairs that lead downward. “While I don’t think this is a good idea, can we at least do this in my lab and not where there are books that can be destroyed.”

“..Yeah, probably a good idea.”

The duo descended into Twilight's lab and she quickly made additional space by moving most of her equipment aside. “There we go, you think this will be enough room for this?”.

“Well, I mean yeah but the practice isn't going to take that much room,” Simon spoke moving across the room from Twilight. Simon held out his hand again “Okay, whenever you are ready just send a magic blast at my hand here.” Twilight nodded confusedly as to why he said they wouldn't need much room when he wants her to shoot magic at him.

Seeing little point in arguing, Twilight filled her horn with magic before letting it go, making sure to watch as the blast traveled hitting Simon's hand. As expected, the same light blue vortex that the puppets had used to block her magic before was now in front of his hand but it was smaller than before. Simon hummed to himself as he picked up the journal and the small object and began moving around on the inside of it. Twilight figured it must be his version of a quill and ink.

“What are you doing there,” Twilight asked curiously moving over towards Simon.

“Oh, I’m just taking a few notes.” He looked down to Twilight as he finished jotting down. “Alright, now could you hold onto some magic as long as possible?”

Twilight nodded. “Sure, I think I can do that.” Twilight took a more sturdy stance as she started to build up magic in her horn, this time focusing on holding it. Simon stared at Twilight, writing in his journal for a few minutes or so while moving around her.

“Alright, I think I’ve got the information that I need.” Simon stood up from where he was crouched down next to her writing in his book, allowing Twilight to stop focusing and let her magic return to its normal level.

Twilight looked up at Simon “So what is it you are writing.”

“I’m just making a few notes and some diagrams.” Simon flipped back a few pages and turned his book to Twilight, in it was drawing of Twilight from different angles as well as a few words here and there.

In all honesty, she was flattered that he actually took the time to draw her in so much detail until she flipped the page on the next page was the pose she was just doing holding the magic from different angles. Though it wasn't her concentration face that he captured that bothered her, rather it was that while behind her he had caught a glimpse of her genitals and had sketched them in as much detail as the rest of her.

Twilight entire face turned red, her face a mixture of outrage and embarrassment. “Why did you draw that.” Her voice practically shaking the entire lab as she shouted.

Simon turned the book to himself and gave a confused look. “Huh, I guess I didn’t notice. My apologies.”

“What do you mean you guess?” A bit more anger creeping into her voice. “I was right here I saw you drawing in the book.”

“Oh, you see that was magic.” Simon flipped his book forward a bunch to an empty page. “Watch my eyes closely.” Putting his quill to the paper again he stared directly at Twilight and she did as he asked, watching his bichrome eyes.

There was a flash of blue that shimmered across both pupils before his quill began moving rapidly across the book. After a few moments he stopped, turning the book back around and on one page was a close up of Twilight’s face.

“It's an automatic drawing magic that I had learned from another Deity As you can see it effectively copies whatever I see in more detail than I could ever hope to copy. It’s pretty helpful for drawing and diagramming, but as you just saw, I don’t have control of what it’s drawing beyond what I see.”

Twilight though still embarrassed seemed to understand, recalling how scientists, herself included, had a tendency to act without thinking. “Alright, you can keep the diagrams, but in return, I would like to study your species as well.”

“That seems perfectly reasonable. Though for now, let’s focus on why I was drawing you in the first place.” Simon flipped back to the page that they left off on, though looking at them caused a little bit of redness to return to Twilight's face.

Simon turned to the next page which contained diagrams that Twilight recognized, specifically an image of the inside of her body, but with arrows and lines inside. The image actually mirrored the magic theory book that she had read in school which explained how magic flowed through a unicorn’s body.

“As I’m sure you’re already well aware all the magic in your body accumulates in your horn.” Simon pointed to her horn in the book with his quill. “So this is the point where we are going to focus on trying to open your dimensional space.” Simon sat down next to her. “However, I’m going to have to direct your magic since you have never done this before, so this part is going to feel a bit weird.”

Twilight gave him a confused look. “Feel weird how exactly?”

Simon held out his hand palm up. “Well, I’m not entirely sure but I can assume you have never had someone guide your magic before. You’ll understand soon, so just place your hoof on my hand.” Twilight nodded, hesitantly placing her hoof in his palm.

“Okay now take a few deep breaths and focus on the feeling of magic, after this you are going to have to reproduce the effect yourself.” Twilight breathed in and out a few times before nodding that she was ready Simon closed his hand on her hoof and closed his eyes. There was a warmth that flooded into her hoof and she was suddenly very away of movement of magic in her body.

Twilight had to admit it was definitely weird, when she cast spells before she only felt the magic at the point of build up, but with him in control, she could feel every turn and ripple of the magic through her system. While it wasn't painful, it wasn’t exactly comfortable either, like the magic was being yanked in every direction inside her body.

Twilight closed her eyes to focus more on what she was feeling the magic, but in the darkness of her mind's eye, she saw the magic in her was forming runes. Yet, she had no idea why as this was advanced magic theory, something not even the most talented unicorns in history were able to pull off. Yet, it also made Twilight curious about what she could do with it.

She tried widening her mind's eye so that she could see more, yet the runes in her vision were growing smaller and she could see tendrils that were forming them, one purple while the other was blue, the later wrapping in a spiral pattern all the way till the tips met. Twilight followed the combined tendrils to the point where they met together there she saw a vast swirl of purple magic being lead by the light blue, in contrast, the light blue lead further along.

Allowing her curiosity to lead her further she followed the light blue magic when she got to the source of it, it was much larger than the purple had been and had tendrils coming out of every direction. Twilight expanded her view again finding that each tendril lead to large sets of runes. Focusing directly on the runes, she found that a large amount of magic was filtered into them.

Peering even further, she noticed there was another, red-colored magic that was pulling energy though only enough to barely keep itself visible.

Twilight felt a sudden urge to touch it as it grew larger in her vision while a purple tendril of magic appeared drawing nearer the red magic before it suddenly latched onto it, only to turn red as the runes began draining magic at an enormous pace.

Twilight could feel herself grow weaker by the moment but no matter what she tried she could no longer move the purple magic away. Twilight’s eyes shot open looking to Simon his eyes were wide open, seemingly shocked as well as anger appearing on his face. Twilight quickly removed her hoof from his hand thinking she might have done something wrong, causing the weakening feeling to suddenly disappear.

“What did you do,” Simon stood up his voice filled with angry, matched by a menacing aura around him.

Twilight backed away from him afraid that he was going to attack. “I...I don't know I was seeing these runes and I sorta just followed them.

“I have to go.” His tone had turned back to where it was before, yet lacking his usual mirth as he stumbled towards the door. As he walked he held the placed he’d been stabbed earlier with one hand, reaching into his pocket before producing a key. He quickly stuck it into the door and turned it, causing waves of magic to ripple across. Opening the door he leaned against the frame before looking back at Twilight.

“Don't meddle in things you don't understand.” Twilight saw the fury in his eyes as he spoke but there was something else, as his blue eye had gone red now matching his other eye. He disappeared into his lab the door not completely closed. Twilight was frozen in place not understanding what just happened, only pulled from her stupor by the sound of thumps from inside the room followed by a pained scream and one last thump before everything went silent. After a minute of quiet Twilight cautiously approached the door.

“Simon, I’m sorry,” Twilight called out as she gently opened the door. Walking in she looked around. “Simon, what was that scream I heard...I’m worried now.” Moving further in and looking all around the area there was no trace of him in his room.