“I’m not any closer to understanding it, Luna.” Ash said, tossing the blood-stained knife aside. For the past two hours, it had seen constant use by Ash and Luna. He felt sick once more, his Magicka reserves well below half, yet just enough to stop him from feeling pain. Once Luna had learned how much Magicka he had, she had quickly calculated exactly how much he could spend before being in pain, and kept pushing him to that limit again and again. While the fact that she was helping him learn as much as she could, the fact didn’t change that he was sick to his stomach, tired of pain, and the scent of copper was filling the air around the gazebo. “I think I’m done for today.”

Luna nodded her understanding, sympathy in her eyes as she cleaned the knife with her magic and then teleported it away. With another spell, the few drops that had managed to get on his clothing or fall onto the gazebo vanished and the smell of blood began to fade away. “Do you wish to take a nap in your room? I can teleport you directly there if you wish.”

“I’m not sleepy, just a little sick until my reserves refill.” Ash couldn’t help the irritation that was in his voice, knowing that the only reason he felt sick was because Luna had pushed him to that point. Otherwise, Ash would have stopped at the strain and let his magic refill before repeating the process.

Her ears folded flat against her head and let her gaze drop to the floor, understanding his irritation, and tried to defend herself. “I’m sorry, but to truly master magic, any form of it, you have to push yourself well past your comfort zone.”

“I know.” Ash said simply. “But it doesn’t mean I like it. Let’s talk about something else.”

“Like what?” Luna asked. Ash thought for a moment before a thought came to mind and he figured he needed to discuss it.

“Luna, I need a way to earn money, whatever it may be called here. I need clothes, materials, and the like. I can’t just wait and bum off of you and Celestia until I learn Healing Hands and get it certified. I think I have a few ways to do so with magic, but I wanted to discuss them with you.” Ash said, gesturing to his only set of clothes once he mentioned them.

“We don’t mind, Ash.” Luna said honestly, gazing at him with those large eyes that all ponies had. “At this point, you’re already closer to a friend than anything, and we always help our friends.”

Ash just sighed. “Letting me stay in the castle is one thing, Luna, but I’m not letting either of you provide me with clothes or anything else. I need to find a way to get an income, but I’m not sure what positions are open or even if I’m allowed outside the castle.”

“What do you mean ‘if you’re allowed outside the castle?’” Luna asked, a confused and slightly worried look in her eyes. “You aren’t a prisoner here!”

“I’m aware, but Celestia’s first order once I arrived was to prevent news of me from escaping the castle, so I’m assuming I’m a secret right now.” Ash said. Luna made a noise of understanding before shaking her head quickly.

“She rescinded that order last night, after dinner, once we knew you weren’t hostile. She would have done so earlier, but the meeting made us both forget. News has been trickling out of the castle about you since last night, though we also haven’t done anything to spread the news more. You’re free to leave the castle at any point, Ash.” Luna explained before continuing. “But what ideas do you have for making money with your magic?”

“Well, first of all, is turning iron to gold illegal?” Ash asked curiously.

“Yes, Ash, scamming ponies by painting iron to look like gold is illegal.” Luna said, looking at him with slight worry. “You weren’t planning to counterfeit, were you?”

“No, I meant literally turning iron to gold. One of the Alteration spells, Transmute, can turn iron to silver and silver to gold.” Ash explained, making Luna’s eyes widen and splutter.

“S-s-silver!” Luna stuttered out. “Truly?”

“Yes.” Ash said, giving Luna a strange look. “Luna, are you alright?”

“Ash, silver is one of the most sought-after metals on Terra!” Luna exclaimed. “Not only is it incredibly rare, but it’s in very high demand in Equestria due to it being an ingredient in magicite, a metal that conducts magical energy with almost no waste. Magicite is the primary metal used inside our machinery because it can easily draw power from a battery gem and into the device. How soon can you learn that spell?”

“As soon as I learn the prerequ…” Ash trailed off. “There’s no lower tiered Transmute.”

“What?”

“I learn spells by learning their lower-level counterpart. To learn Firebolt, I need to know Flames. To know Healing Hands, I need to know Healing. There’s no ‘lesser Transmute.’ I don’t know how to learn it.”

“Is there any spell before that in the same school that involves turning one thing into another?” Luna questioned, her wings twitching repeatedly on her back.

“Equilibrium, I think. You think it might be required for Transmute?” Ash asked.

“Yes.” Luna said simply. “Ash, if you learn how to turn iron into silver, I will personally pay for everything you desire and just accept several pounds of silver as payment.”

“I’ll get started, then.” Ash said slowly. The situation had developed incredibly fast, which threw him off guard. Between suddenly learning that silver was essentially a magical superconductor to Luna’s excitement, he was rather startled.

Luna closed her eyes and forced herself to calm, a long exhale leaving her nose. After a few moments, she opened her teal eyes again and looked at him softly. “I’m sorry, Ash, but Equestrian magitech has always been limited by our supply of silver, and you just provided the opportunity to rectify that problem.”

“Luna, even if I learn the spell, I don’t think I’d like to spend my entire life transmuting iron to silver for Equestria.” Ash told her slowly, making her blink in surprise before she starting chuckling.

“We wouldn’t need you to produce that much. Maybe two hundred pounds of it a year? The recipe for magicite is low on silver, but it does require it.” Luna told him.

“Two hundred a year.” Ash mused. “Once I learn the spell, I can do that. I believe Transmute converts a pound at a time. I’ll get started on learning Equilibrium, then.”

Reaching to the side, he grabbed his phone and navigated his way through the app to the Equilibrium page. Before he could begin reading, he found a dark blue muzzle suddenly appear beside his face as Luna moved to behind him and started looking over his shoulder to read with him. “You don’t mind me reading with you, do you?”

“No, I don’t.” Ash said, then began reading.

“To learn Equilibrium, you must understand that there are three energies within the body of an Aetherium mage. Those energies are Magicka, Vitality, and Stamina. Magicka is the magical energy from Aetherius that provides the ability to cast spells, as you should know well enough by now. Stamina is the mundane energy gained by eating and sleeping that allows a warrior to swing his sword or brace his shield. It is the energy that is expended by walking through your home, exercising, or any other physical activity. Vitality is an energy that is not well understood as of yet, but it is best described as life energy.”

“Vitality, when lost, will begin to make a person feel tired and sluggish, though they will be physically rested and active as ever. At a later point, their mind will begin to slow and dull. As such, it is sometimes confused as Stamina, though pains should be taken to avoid such a confusion. Should you lose too much Stamina, you will simply pass out and awaken some time later, having regained your Stamina. Should you lose all of your Vitality, you will die, plain and simple. Do avoid this fate.”

“Now, Equilibrium is an incredibly useful, if dangerous, spell for mages of all types and calibers. Equilibrium, a Novice-rank Alteration spell, allows the caster, you, to convert your Vitality directly into Magicka at an equal rate. No energy is lost or expended during this process, something that continues to astound mages the world over. Be careful when casting this spell as it can drain you of your Vitality entirely, which will result in your death.” Apparently, Luna had read that section at the same time as he did because one of her wings wrapped partly around his shoulder, squeezing gently.

“Perhaps I was too hasty in convincing you to learn such a dangerous spell.” The Alicorn said softly.

“I’m learning it, Luna. The guide is right; Equilibrium is an incredibly useful spell that I want to know, doubly so if it is the precursor to Transmute.” Ash said, placing his left hand- the one not holding the phone- on her wing gently. “Thank you for your concern, though.”

A light nuzzle to the side of his face was all he received in reply before he continued on.

“Keep in mind two things. The first is that Equilibrium is one of the only spells known that has no backlash. Perhaps it is because the spell itself muddles the mind and distracts the caster that it is inherently safer? The second thing is that healing spells from the school of Restoration restore Vitality just as easily as they heal wounds. As such, you are able to cast Equilibrium until you are low on Vitality, then cast Healing or a higher-rank spell until you are low on Magicka, and repeat the process continuously. Keep in mind that both transfers are equal rate, or 1:1 ratios, so energy is not lost in either case. However, the risk with this is attempting to cast Healing while drowsy and sluggish from low Vitality, which can cause massive injury.”

“I know several healing spells. We can test if Unicorn magic can restore Vitality as well.” Luna whispered into his ear. “If that’s the case, you can cast Equilibrium continuously until you ‘understand’ the spell and gain access to the next spell.”

“Good idea.” Ash replied, then kept reading. They still hadn’t read how to actually cast the spell.

“As previously stated several times, Equilibrium is an incredibly dangerous spell to cast. As a result, or perhaps just coincidentally, it is also incredibly easy to cast. Simply imagine two pools of water, one red and one blue. Imagine the red liquid dripping into the blue liquid, turning blue as it does so. Take note that this is also the only known way to ‘measure’ your Magicka reserves, as the size of the bowl, well, pool, etc directly corresponds to the depth of your reserves. Should you try to imagine either pool larger or smaller than it is, it will fail. Also take note of the fact that the speed of the ‘dripping’ directly transfers to the speed of the exchange of Vitality and Magicka.”

“Rather fortuitous that the spell will show me how much Vitality I have left, isn’t it?”

“Very much so.” Luna replied. “Go ahead and channel the spell, Ash. As soon as I notice the spell working, I will begin casting one of the healing spells I know on you. If you notice your Vitality is still draining, cease casting it.”

Ash nodded once, nervously, before imagining two pools of liquid, one red and one blue. It was difficult to do with open eyes as he kept wanting to close them, to give himself a ‘blank slate,’ as it were, to imagine them on rather than having to do so with his eyes open. Eventually, however, he succeeded. In his mind, two large cooking pots, one black and one silver, appeared, the silver one filled with a deep red, viscous liquid that looked like blood and the black one filled with a dark blue liquid that reminded Ash of colored water. His Magicka pool was low, still drained from his Healing spells. Slowly, he imagined the silver pot was lifted and tilted, slowly pouring the Vitality out. The red liquid turned blue as it fell, just as slowly refilling the Magicka pot.

Unbeknownst to Ash, whose entire focus was directed into his mind, a small ball of red light formed in his right hand. The ball glowed red, though rather than the glow seeming to flow out of the ball, it seemed to flow into the ball as blue energy filtered into his body from his arm. It was the physical sight of Vitality transfering into Magicka. Reacting quickly, Luna began casting a basic Rejuvenation spell on Ash, the dark blue aura around her horn channeling into his body and seeking out any wounds to heal. She just hoped the spell considered low Vitality to be a wound.

Inside his mind again, Ash leveled out the silver pot once it had been drained half way. With the pot now leveled and smooth, he quickly discovered that it was refilling. There was no liquid dripping into it or anything, just the level of ‘water’ was rising. Refocusing on the outside world, Ash turned to Luna who was easily channeling the spell. “It’s working. It’s refilling my Vitality, just not as quickly as I was draining it.”

Suddenly, the energy around her horn intensified, turning a deeper, more opaque blue as she seemingly switched spells. Maintaining it effortlessly, she grinned at him. “Look again.”

Reimagining the two pots, he saw that the Vitality pool was filled entirely. In fact, it was overflowing, though the red liquid vanished as soon as it fell a few inches away from the silver pot. As far as he could tell, there were no consequences to it, so he ‘lifted’ the pot again and quickly poured some of the red liquid into the other pot. However, he failed to take into account that his Vitality was still filling, so a veritable flood of Vitality fell into his Magicka all at once, overflowing the black pot suddenly. The next thing Ash was aware of was a flash of light, roaring warmth, freezing cold, motion, and darkness.

Ash wasn’t quite sure when he came to whether it had been an hour, a day, or just a few minutes. All he knew was that he snapped awake instantly, feeling perfectly refreshed and rested and ready to continue his day, or start it if that was the case. He opened his eyes and rolled to his feet with nary an ache and looked around, his eyes widening and heart dropping as he did so.

He was still in Star’s Yard, that much was clear, except for quite a few differences. The first thing he noticed was that he was on the other side of the Yard, easily a hundred feet away from the gazebo that he was last sitting on. However, the gazebo was now gone. All that remained of the pristine white wood and comfortable red cushions was ash and blackened ground, the signs of an intense fire. The few scattered trees around the gazebo were buckled, bent, and split as if lightning had struck them. A twenty-foot section of the stream was frozen as solid ice, ice that refused to thaw from the temperature outside.

Then he noticed something beside one of the doors. A dark blue lump that wasn’t moving. Luna.

Ash surged into motion, running over to the Alicorn without hesitation. It only took him seconds to cross the seventy or so feet that had separated them and he came to a stop next to her, kneeling down on the ground. Idly, Ash noticed that his clothes were dirty and damaged, but it mattered not with Luna seemingly injured.

Whatever had destroyed the gazebo and torn up his clothes had struck Luna fully as well. Entire chunks of her fur was missing, the flesh beneath blackened and charred, sometimes with zagging lines of scarred tissue from where fire and lightning had struck her. One of her wings was frozen to her side with another leg frozen to her barrel. She was unconscious, both thankfully and scarily, and silver blood trickled from her mouth, nose, and ears. Ash couldn’t do anything. He didn’t know Healing Hands. He didn’t know where Celestia was. He didn’t know where the infirmary was.

Right before he decided to run and find the nearest guard, something just clicked and a series of thoughts shot through his mind almost faster than he could comprehend.

Magicka = Aetherius. Restoration: -Magicka, +Vitality. Transfer, Aetherius connection. Heal. Transfer, physical connection.

Before Ash even knew what he was doing, he placed both of his hands on Luna’s charred side. A second later, both of his hands ignited into golden light, the light around his left hand flickering as the mana burn interrupted the Magicka flow, before the familiar ribbons shot out and wrapped around Luna suddenly. Within moments, the charred flesh fell off, replaced by unmarred skin which quickly regrew fur as a strain in his chest appeared. The ice thawed and evaporated as the frostbitten limbs healed quickly, silver blood flowing through the veins once more. Lightning scars faded as sickness grew and intensified and shifted to agonizing pain. Right before his vision blackened, he saw a hint of teal as Luna’s eyes flickered open.

A moment later, Ash fell to his side, entirely unconscious.

Ten Minutes Earlier

Celestia was in a panic. There was no other word to describe it. Her heart was beating furiously, her eyes were wide and wild, her wings kept twitching and refused to lie flat, and she was moving through the halls at a near gallop, forcing servants and guards alike to dive out of the way of the crashing airship that is a panicking Alicorn.

Just moments ago, a guard had burst into the throne room, interrupted two arguing nobles, and informed her that Star’s Yard had exploded. She had tried to get more information out of the guard but there was no more information. One set of doors had been melted shut and another was frozen shut. Wild lightning had apparently agitated clouds above the Yard and now Pegasi couldn’t go near without being struck, particularly due to their metal armor.

The only thing she knew for certain was that Ash and Luna were both in the Yard when it detonated. That neither of them had been seen since the incident. That the explosion was magical in nature.

Had she been wrong? Could ponies not judge a human by looking at them? Had Ash actually turned against them and hurt Luna? The idea of Ash betraying them hurt her. He was already turning out to be a good friend and she couldn’t imagine why he would throw that away.

The idea of Ash hurting Luna, however, infuriated her. If he had hurt her, and truly meant to do so, there was going to be nothing that stopped her from hurting him back. Forget banishing him to the sun, she was going to throw him to the sun. Things would not turn out well for him if he betrayed them.

Several moments later, Celestia rounded a corner to see one of the doors to Star’s Yard, the one that was frozen shut, with several guards attempting to break it open. None of them were Unicorns so there were no fire spells being used. Right before Celestia ordered the guards to move and fix the issue themselves, the doors were ripped off of their hinges by a familiar blue aura and thrown inward. Celestia wanted to cry, she was so relieved.

Luna, entirely unharmed, trotted out of the Yard, which neither Celestia or the guards got a chance to see, before the younger sister began yelling in her Royal Canterlot Voice.

“Guards! Take Ash and bring him to the infirmary immediately. I do not know what injuries he has, if any!” Luna yelled, making Celestia notice for the first time that Luna was levitating Ash in her aura. He was in a much worse condition than she was. While he didn’t seem physically injured, his clothing was torn and stained all over.

Two guards immediately approached Luna and she laid him on their backs before they made their way through the castle toward the infirmary, moving in time to prevent him from falling. Three other guards attempted to enter the Yard only to be blocked by Luna’s wing as she spoke, having dropping the Voice. “All is fine here. Return to your posts.”

Two of them looked like they wanted to protest, but they knew better than that. The final three quickly turned and left, leaving the two Alicorns alone. Celestia quickly strode forward and immediately wrapped a wing around Luna, quickly nuzzling the side of her neck. “I’m so happy you’re okay. When I heard there was a magical explosion, I thought…”

“You thought Ash betrayed us.” Luna said.

“I didn’t know what to think, but I thought it was a possibility. What actually happened?”

“I pushed Ash into learning a new spell and it backfired.” Luna simplified. “I think most of his Magicka escaped him as raw energy, which is what caused the explosion.”

“And you weren’t hurt?”

“I think I was.” Luna answered. “I remembered being in pain as soon as it happened, but I’m not hurt now. I think Ash healed me somehow.”

“I thought he didn’t know Healing Hands?” Celestia questioned, her wing still wrapped tight around Luna’s barrel.

“He didn’t. I don’t know what happened because I was still unconscious.” Luna explained. The pair silent, thinking over the events of the last few minutes. Luna thought of the fact that she had clearly been hurt yet now wasn’t. She was firmly convinced that Ash had healed her somehow, she just didn’t know how. On that note, she didn’t know how the Yard exploded or anything else. She just knew it did.

Celestia, on the other hoof, was thinking about how she immediately assumed Ash betrayed them. She didn’t know how to feel about that. She felt justified that she assumed it because he was a new creature with mostly unknown abilities that had only been here for a day and a half. She also felt guilty because he had shown nothing but kindness and friendship to those he had met so far, even going so far as to invite Luna into his dreams and show her some of his world.

With a long sigh, Celestia decided to wait for him to awaken and explain what happened. Only then would she decide which to feel. If he hadn’t hurt her on purpose, she would owe him an apology and would most certainly give him one. If he had hurt her on purpose… well, to the sun with him.

“I hope he’ll be okay.” Luna said softly. “I didn’t see any injuries on him, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t hurt.”

“I’m sure he’ll be fine.” Celestia replied. “He’s in the infirmary where the best doctors and healers are.”

Maybe Luna had detected the hint of concern in her voice, or some threat of doubt in her eyes, but the younger Alicorn leveled a sharp gaze on the elder Alicorn. “He didn’t betray us, Celestia.”

The confidence in her voice was absolute. Luna had absolutely zero doubt that Ash had not turned against them, that he had not purposely hurt her. To Luna, what had happened was a product of misfortune and ignorance in the hows and whys of Ash’s magic, nothing more or less. To be honest, Celestia wished she felt that kind of conviction, but she didn’t. She was too worried about possibilities than anything else.

“I believe you, Luna.” Celestia said slowly. “And I hope you are right. Ash has done nothing to insinuate he was our enemy.”

“Exactly.” Luna said, nodding once.

Author's Note

This chapter was a bit shorter than all the others, but only by a thousand words. Anyone have an idea of what exactly happened or what those things Ash thought mean? Feel free to comment about it!