The Reluctant Protector

The clearing in which I take up residence is rather strange. Any who were to look at it from a birds-eye perspective would see a large, perfectly circular bald-patch on the surrounding forest. From the treeline, the ground slopes up towards the centre where my cabin is, like a grassy pimple on the flat expanse of the Everfree’s endless canopy. Except for one part.

Three obsidian stones, or should be more appropriately named boulders given their size, rise up out of a perfectly level platform of basalt stone about half-way down the hill. Appearing to have grown from the earth itself, these stones are arranged at the points of an equilateral triangle and act as a sort of… tap, into the intersection of two ley-lines. Super highway’s of raw magical energy. By standing between the stones, one can amplify their magics to absurd degrees. If you know how. I walked to the centre of the three monoliths, got to my knees, closed my eyes, and waited.

“Hey Artemis!” A cheery voice said. I opened my eyes and saw Lyra approaching. It was quite bright out now, the sun steadily making its way towards noon. “I got your note.”

“I can see that.” I replied, looking her over. She looked particularly animated today. “Excited for your first day of school?”

“You betcha!”

I smiled warmly. “Come here and stand in front of me.” She did. “Kneel.” She did. “Close your eyes.” She did. “Breathe.” Her eyes opened and she raised an eyebrow.

“Wow, thanks for the reminder Artemis." She said with a giggle. "I can’t believe I made it this far without you.”

I shook my head. “You’re not breathing.” I explained. “You’re taking in the necessary oxygen your body requires in order to live.”

“Otherwise known as breathing…” Lyra said, rolling her eyes. I gave her a deadpan look.

I shuffled in place. “Just be quiet and do as I do.” I closed my eyes again and began breathing. Inhale through the nose, as much air as I could take in. Count to three. Exhale through the mouth. Count to three. Repeat. Doing this breathing exercise is actually remarkably loud. Especially outside in a near silent forest, with only a few birds singing somewhere nearby. I kept my ears open, listening to my student breathe.

After about five minutes of this I could hear her getting bored. The rhythmic inhale and exhale of her breath was becoming slightly faster and off tempo with my own. After another two minutes she spoke up. “My knees hurt.” I cracked open an eye to look at her. She was staring right back.

“That’s probably because you have been kneeling on the stone ground for close to ten minutes. Keep your eyes closed.”

“Ten minutes!?” She stood and peered down at me. “It feels like we’ve been doing this for hours!”

“Close to ten minutes.” I corrected. Kneel back down Lyra.” I closed my eye again.

“You haven’t even told me why we're doing this.” I sighed and stood, towering over her like a mother scolding a child.

“You remember the note I wrote to you this morning?” I asked, folding my arms.

“Yes?” she answered warily.

“What did it say?”

“Something like, ‘Lyra, come to the stones, expect a long… day…’” She slowed her speaking and looked to the ground. “Oh...”

“‘Oh.’” I mimicked. “And it said ‘meet me at the stones’, not ‘come to the stones.’” I placed my hands on her shoulders and gently pushed her down, until she was sat cross legged on the ground. I sat in front of her, crossing my own. “Lyra, I'm going to teach you all I know. I assume you already have the basics of magical knowledge for the Three Races. Earth Ponies, Pegasi and Unicorns. You did go to Princess Celestia’s school for a time, right?” She nodded. “I’m not any of those things, remember? I am a Human. That means I do things slightly differently, which in turn, means that you will do things slightly differently. Unfortunately, this means starting from scratch.”

She looked very worried. “But- but- I can already do magic!” She gripped her cracked horn. “I can still levitate objects and- and produce light!” I held up a hand to stop her.

“Lyra, what I am going to teach you will have you using your horn as little as possible.” Her eyes widened in alarm.

“But the doctors say I have to keep using it for it to heal!”

“This has nothing to do with your horn being broken.” I said gently, trying to calm her. “That doesn’t matter. I could teach my ways to a Pegasus or an Earth Pony, or hell, even a Griffon!” She gave me dubious look. “In fact, your Unicorn heritage will actually make this slightly harder for you, as your natural instinct will make you want to use your horn. You must overcome this.”

“How?”

I smiled and got on my knees again. “Breathe."