A Thousand Lives

Okay, so now I had no plan. I had been in a few similar situations before this, make no mistake, but I normally was packing considerably more heat. In unknown situations I at least have to have much more firepower when my cover gets blown. I think nukes are my favorite. Silver was staring at Trixie, and Trixie was staring at me. I ran through about fourty plans in my head. At least thirty-eight would probably get me killed, and one got me and Silver killed. I settled on the one plan that would merely suck. I raised a hand, and felt my will channeling the fundamental fires of creation. I felt my body strain as I forced the magic through a mental circle, forcing it to my way of thinking. I brow beat it, using my mind to force it into the right shape, and whispered a spell. "Noctis Aeterna" With those words I forced the magic out at Trixie.

Trixie shuddered as the spell hit. "What have you done to me?" I watched her fall to her knee's as Silver stood frozen, unable to comprehend what was happening. The spell fully took, and I collapsed to one knee, panting. Silver was still frozen, staring at Trixie's fallen form. I took a few moments to simply breathe. I wasn't exactly an expert at sleep spells. Especially without a focus. I spent some time trying to review what I had done.

I turns out that was mildly dangerous. Mostly because I realized I could easily have just killed her. "Fuck!" I yelled, stumbling up from my knee to look over Trixie. I held my hand to her throat and felt for a pulse. I was instantly reassured by the slight, steady beat. I sat beside her, letting out a breath I didn't know I had been holding. "Phew, she's fine."

I leaned back, letting myself breathe deep. I looked down at my form. Still human, with my button up slightly stained from my sweat. I brought my hands into my vision, looking them over. I was more doing it to not look at Trixie. My response to being exposed were not... healthy. I would hazard to say it was downright stupid. I was proven right by a solid hit in the ribs, forcing me to fall to my side. A hoof fell on my chest as I rolled, and I saw Silver looking at me with more rage than I thought an adorable little pony.

Her horn glowed as she glared down at me. "You bucking monster." She was talking at a normal volume, which was honestly scarier than if she shouted at me. "What did you do to her?"

I raised my hands in surrender. "She's fine, just sleeping. I didn't know what to do when my disguise snapped." The glow from her horn faded, but here expression stayed hard. I spoke faster. "I can wake her up in a bit. I'll need a second to rest though."

The hoof slowly raised from me, but the glower barely receded. She stared at me for another moment, before finally looking away. "Luna's gonna be pissed if Trixie asks to many questions." I paused, that sounded like a lot of assassination contracts I'd gotten, but a pony wouldn't say that, right? Silver instantly ended that. "We'll have to take her to Ponyville with us. I can give her a full briefing on what she just ran into."

I nodded. "Yeah, but what about my illusion. Did she intentionally sabotage it, or what?"

Silver tapped at a gem above the entrance to the carriage. "Nah, it looks like she had a dispel gem at the top of her door frame. Now that I know about it I can keep the enchantment safe from it." She turned to me, her horn beginning to glow again. I flinched as her magic washed over me, covering me in her enchantment once more.

I looked over to Trixie. "So, how are we getting her to Ponyville?"

Silver smiled in an altogether unfriendly way. "Why? The old fashioned way of course." I felt a chill creep up my spine.

***

I was sweating. A lot. Silver was wildly laughing behind me as I ran through the countryside. I tried to think of a sensible reason for why I was hooked to the carriage and running out of Canterlot, but personally I feel like Silver was just pissed at me. I ran through fields like a majestic cheetah. Or closer to an obese jogger trying to catch their breath. "Why in God's name am I doing this again?"

Silver was sitting at the helm of the carriage. "Because, you put an unregistered spell on an innocent civilian, and because it's this or I tell Luna." I groaned and continued running Ponyville was another ten miles away, and I wanted to still get there on time. Though in all honesty it was still preferable to Luna jumping me.

I reached Ponyville out of breath, and gasping for air. I held a hand to my stomach as I tried to resist doubling over, as that would make my recovery take even longer. I settled my breath as Silver hopped off the carriage. I turned to her. "Okay, new rule. If I cast a huge spell, you pull the cart."

Silver scoffed at me. "If you do it on another pony again I'll do worse than make you pull the cart." She began moving back to the carriage. "The building crew is at Twilights library, just head over there and they can start on your housing arrangements. I'm gonna take care of Trixie. Wake her up real quick?"

I followed her up the stairs and passed through the doorway. "Yeah, let me grab a snack, get some energy up."

Silver stared at me like I was crazy as I pulled my bag of my back, and pulled out one of Applejack's apples. I took a bit as she ran up to me. "Why? We need to wake her up as soon as possible." She stomped a hoof down as she spoke. God, all these ponies are weaponized cute. I think I could feel the heart attack coming on.

I covered my face. "Not the cute! Please?" I took another bite of my apple, keeping my face hidden. "My magic runs on my own energy, I need energy to wake her up. Just give me a minute."

I heard a huff, but when I lowered my hand Silver had begun looking over Trixie. I finished up my apple quickly and tossed the core in my bag. I stood slowly, letting out a groan. "Alright, move over a bit." I saw Silver duck to the side as I reached into my bag. Without a huge rush I could do this the easy way. I pulled out a piece of chalk. I began talking aloud as I began drawing a chalk circle on the smoothed wood. "Waking up is easy, just a loud noise. So for a magical sleep needs a magical snap." I clicked the chalk against the floor as I finished the circle. "Now I just need some reference material..." I paused at my bag. I could use a variety of references, but I needed something this worlds magical field would recognize to properly channel the natural magical field. I dug out a few different reference pages. Namely Latin, Runic, and Japanese. I grabbed the three scrolls, gesturing to Silver. "Hey, magical pony. Gimme a hand real quick?"

Silver grumbled as she walked over. "And why would I want to help you?"

I smiled as I unrolled the parchment. "Because I can do this easily enough with a proper focus, but I need one this worlds magical field will recognize easily. While enough belief can force a field to recognize what I'm doing I'd prefer if it were a bit easier. Do any of these look familiar?" I gestured towards the scrolls as Silver looked over them. She tapped the runic scroll.

"I'm not gonna lie, I don't really recognize any of these, but those there look like they could be a version of caribou runes. I don't know enough about them to be sure though." She tapped a hoof on the floor. "But why would belief enter into it? Magic happens when you focus, belief doesn't matter."

I half nodded as I began trying to find the proper rune and word combo. Upon finding it I sketched the rune several times, circling Trixie. While I sketched the runes I began explaining to Silver. "My magic is powered by two things. One is my emotions. They give the magic it's initial energy. The second one is a worlds native magical atmosphere." I finished the second rune, moving to another point. I was thinking four, one on each cardinal direction. "When I traveled I found that focii that were familiar to the world worked better than ones I liked. I've adapted up to a point, but I can't use a purely native focus." I finished the third rune and moved to the final point. "I have to believe in the focus I'm using. If I don't the spell will collapse, and I get a massive headache."

I finished up the final rune and let out a low whistle. I then began the finishing touch. A pentagram around the circle and runes. Silver watched quietly before exploding into sound. "WHY DO YOU HAVE TO GO THROUGH ALL THIS!!!" She began muttering and pacing, apparently fed up with my slow going.

I erased the part of the pentagram that was disturbed by her outbreak before responding, trying to find my emotional center. "Because I'm not good at this magic. The spell to put her to sleep was simple, but I'm really bad at that kind of thing. If I use all of this, it will greatly improve my chances of success, while also making it much easier. Plus failing might hurt Trixie, and that would be bad." I mostly meant for me, but no reason to throw that out. I finished the pentagram and allowed a small smile. "Fair warning, this is gonna be a lot more theatrical than the spell to put her to sleep. So, don't interrupt. It might end in a back fire, which would make this whole thing take a lot longer."

I sat down, and took deep breathes, trying to clear my mind. I focused, letting go of all my worries and fears. There were a few still lying in my head. Lurking in the far corners of my mind. I imagined them in their own circle, barring them from interference. I then focused my emotions. Plenty of regrets, but that wouldn't due. I took contentment. The feeling after eating those cookies with Luna, Dive, and the others. I formed it into my magic, and made it into the proper shape. I then forced it into the runes. The runes began glowing in an ethereal white light. I pushed the magic more, as the lights all descended onto Trixie. I felt the shape solidify over Trixie, and triggered the spell. "Vaka" With that word I pushed the magic out, nudging it fully into the circle.

The light snapped into Trixie, who gave a light groan as she shook her head. I let out a small groan of my own, feeling antsy and spent. Emotionally I was on edge, but I couldn't help but smile as Silver looked at Trixie in awe. It was like a kid seeing a minor miracle. Though I guess in a world of established magic, something totally new WAS a miracle. I moved towards the door. "Silver, I'm gonna go and meet the crew. Maybe with me out of the room Trixie won't freak as much." Silver nodded while she ran off to check over Trixie, trying to gently rouse her and make sure she was fine. I walked out of the carriage, to go and find the library.