Twilight sat aghast on her crystal seat, her angelic wings were taut as if her body instinctively wanted to take into the air and escape. Her head, rested on her palm, while her elbow was situated on the Cutie Map. She was looking intently at Spike with wobbly eyes, her lips were tightly shut and looked thinner than they really were. She was devouring him with her focused, dead silent gaze, she didn’t even bother to blink. Her features looked like they were almost soaking wet, as her lavender coat seemed smooth and polished, giving a genuine shine in the light coming off the lamps, as if she had used an awful lot of cheap face powder.

The Great Mage stood nearby, with one of his legs crossed, supporting himself with his left hand that he placed on the top of the backseat of one of the crystal seats. He listened attentively to Spike who told Princess Twilight of what happened in the Everfree forest. He observed Twilight discreetly, not get her attention, and thoroughly, analyzing her posture, her charming expression of a weird sister-like love he saw in her judgmental frown.

Things like: being surprised by the appearance of a Treeman, which indicated they’re not common in this world, or that she was concerned about Spike’s wellbeing and ran a few scenarios of how it could have ended badly for him and for the three fillies who are relatives to her close friends were obvious concerns. He exiled these topics from his train of thought.

Spike’s head hung low, but his eyes were looking straight at Twilight. The Great Mage regularly revolved around contact with people, his experience allowed him to differentiate fear from worry or, like in this case, the already mentioned form of pliancy visible in the submissive demeanor of Spikes behavior, as the Dragon had his hands close to the sides and nervously played with or moved with his fingers. Spike was visibly stressed, but he didn’t show fear, only humble acceptance of defeat, but why, the Great Mage didn’t know.

When Spike finally came to describe the moment when they encountered the Treeman, and before that how he and Zecora heard the Cutie Mark Crusaders scream, Twilight has changed her whole appearance. She squinted her eyes by a small margin, her ruthless stoic stare transformed into a kind and inquisitive look, while she covered her mouth with her hand with her thumb placed under her chin. Her posture still created an earnest atmosphere in the room, but the cold tension in the air was no more, replaced by serene warmth.

“That’s when Arcane Shine showed up…”

Twilight turned her head lighting fast towards him.

“How did you know?” She asked quietly.

“I heard them scream, I was fairly close to them while it happened, I quickly dropped the stuff that I carried, but it fell into a narrow creek I was just passing by.”

Twilight, opened her mouth to respond, she didn’t appear much awe-struck like moments before, however, the Princess tilted her head, and raised her eyebrow drilling through him with a suspicious glance.

“ But “ She started off with a strong tone “ You must have spotted long before the changing environment under the lunar Treeman’s influence. Why did you decide to forge ahead?” she voiced her question.

His heart rate increased. This uncomfortable question invoked some amusement in him, because of the challenge that came with it. The Princess showed she was not only caring, but also rather clever. He anticipated she had more to herself and he was right. Fortunately for him, the question she asked was easily manageable to dodge without the support of eristics.

“As I said, your highness “ He spoke with respect, but he wished he could spare himself using this salutation “I was close to them “ He lied, knowing well, he encountered it far earlier “ And from what Spike told you, he and your mutual friend, Zecora, also encountered the altered environment close to the spot where it was.”

Before Twilight could counter, Spike jumped in with a powerful “ That’s right. “

Twilight swiveled her head and glanced at Spike, then looked back at Arcane Shine, this time, unsure herself what to say.

“Your highness” The Great Mage spoke lovingly, raising or lowering his tone according to need, with an innocent but serious look in his eyes, while his voice was all but mischievous. He gained her attention, as Twilight brightened up as he addressed her “I didn’t know, that it was a Treeman!” He asserted, putting feelings into the message.

He spoke directly to her, showing some aggravation, but not to be rude, not to show he was insulted and make her believe he saw her question as a form of accusation, that what transpired was because of him. No, that’d be preposterous and worthy of paranoid freak.

He poured emotions into his style of speaking and enhanced his presentation by carrying out simple hand gestures. Being a politician and leader for even half a year is worth five years of schooling on how to be an actor.

“How should I have known?” He asked, making it sound as simple as he could.

There was a brief moment of silence. Spike was leaping from Twilight back to Arcane Shine with his eyes and repeated it a few more times more. He wanted to speak his mind, sensing that the moment was right, he gathered the courage to break the silence.

“It probably sensed them being nearby and woke up from sleep.”

The Great Mage saw a chance for himself in this line of thinking, so he asked in advance before Twilight could “What makes you think that? “

“The four of them together would have had noticed something was off as well. Don’t you think? They’re not stupid. Far from it to be honest”.

Twilight nodded, barely the both of them noticed “Well, they do look like normal trees when they aren’t active from what we know…Not enough time passed for it to spread” She guessed, looking at the floor while speaking.

Perfect. Without much effort put into it, she created an answer to her question herself. The argument was one-sided before it began. The Treeman was walking towards where Spike and Zecora came from while chasing the fillies, and from the information, he got from the three fillies while he was escorted to Ponyvile, they were walking its previous path by mistake. There was no chance for it to contaminate the environment with its lunar (based on the word Twilight used) influence when it even wasn’t looking that way anyway.

“If it’s still there, it poses a threat to Ponyvile!” Twilight stated sturdily, her voice already losing its stable texture, a smidge of panic was disclosable in her voice. “I need to inform the unicorn corp about it.” She murmured loud enough for them to hear.

“Your highness.” Arcane Shine again got her attention, only because he spoke boomingly. “There’s nothing to be worried about. We defeated it.” He said with a slow drawl.

She focused her gaze on him. “Wait what?” she asked puzzled, with her mouth slightly open as her ears stood erect.

“It’s dead, your highness-”

He wanted to continue, but Twilight cut him off.

“You fought with the Treeman?!” She looked at Spike “Have you thought about the consequences?! The risk?!”

Spike knew, that responding truthfully would endanger Arcane Shine, who made the decision to fight, however, after first protesting him, a moment later, he too agreed to take part in it…

The Great Mage on the other hand decided not to admit he was the one who proposed the solution. Why would he, if he can avoid taking the blame solely on himself? Spike and Zecora will account for it with him, when Twilight will believe it was one-minded. Being on Twilight’s good side was a top priority at the moment. He didn’t know that Spike complied with that idea, and this made his narration go smoother.

Twilight focused herself on Spike, as he was the most important therefore her concern lead to her being frank with him, to turn this conversation into a lesson, to never expose himself to danger like he just did. This opportunity to miss the first shot was like a blessing of Agrela.

“We” The Great Mage began“ Agreed to fight rather than run.” The Great Mage kept his elegant way of speaking.

“Because?” Twilight asked not as angrily but composed, but she spoke at a high volume and keeping up an irked manner.

“The Treeman was strangely not as strong as one might have expected.” With this he turned to Spike, Twilight turned his way too, not sure what this meant.

Spike got the gist “When we charged, he blasted the monster with a powerful, magical projectile...A portion of its chest was gone.” He said, amazed as much as when he saw it.

Twilight now started to settle her nerves down, as she slowly understood the first, probably prime reason for making the decision. She didn’t expect Arcane Shine to possess such strength. This alone spoke of talent.

Against a treeman?

Twilight gave him a glance, especially at his horn. She hastily performed the action, as staring at some pony’s horn was plainly unpolite and blunt, in some circles, even seen as perverted.

It was big and thick, long and curved, but not too sharp on the edges, nonetheless, it was a sign of power and health in equestrian society. Most importantly, it was a symbol of possessing natural proficiency in the control of magic.

She didn’t see the spell with her own eyes, she wishes she had. From Spike’s description, it probably was advanced, either light lance or advanced magic beam-type spell but not wrought to the end, if not that then Arcane Shine used pure magic to create a simple in composition powerful attack. It was an ad-lib shot.The need to focus played the first violin in a task like that, let alone magical reserves and an able horn to execute it. There were unicorns with much power but born with unsuited-for-extreme conditions horns that didn’t allow the unicorns to match it with theirs vigor. Vice-versa as well.

“Two Fireballs were not enough to harm it, but it kept it away for some time, which he too cast while we fought it before even the idea to defeat it appeared in anypony’s mind.“

Fireball was a basic offensive spell never taught in schools of any kind other than the ones responsible for the training of uniformed services (military, police, special units regarding the defense of public officials, etc ) special schools for unicorns (like her old school ran by Celestia) and universities. It wasn’t out of the ordinary for the likes of Arcane Shine to know this spell, as he seems not to come from Equestria, judging by his looks. The local black market even in Equestria sells books regarding the art of offensive spells almost everywhere, she leaned towards the option he knows it a long time now, and probably he has learned it with the help of illegal channels, although, she could be mistaken.

Twilight now perceived Arcane Shine differently. He was a stranger, worst of all a skilled one, able to cast dangerous spells...

The Great Mage read it from Twilights expression, seeing a cagey spark in her eyes. Attention was the last thing he wanted for now “Zecoras potions were incredible in stunning it. Her help was essential in its defeat”

The mentioning of Zecora’s special potions triggered Twilight’s memory to tingle. Another problem! Of course, if she didn’t have enough already! To Tartarus with the potions, she’ll get them tomorrow. Now, she had other troubles on her mind.

“How did you kill it?” She uncomfortably said the word, as she articulated it softly.

Spike knew what was coming. His soul wanted to escape his body.

“I walked up to it.”

Twilight’s irises shrank rapidly as her ears registered what he said.

“Breathed fire on it.”

Twilight, was no more.

“Arcane Shine approached it and wielded my fire through magic. “

She oddly remained silent. At this point, she’d already fallen into a rabbit hole of uncontrollable ire, throwing millions of arguments starting with: do you have any idea....

“And incinerated it. “

Twilight sighed tiredly, rubbing her forehead and messaging her head that way. She sat back down, her tense body wasn’t as “boxy” but breezy.

“Did you...Hurt yourself?” She susurrus softly, without anger, without judgment.

Spike, as well as the Great Mage, were confounded. They expected violent eruptions of emotions, all coming from her worries, goodwill, and honest concerns for his well-being and health.

“No”

“Did, anypony get hurt whatsoever?” Her voice was returning to normality.

Here, the Great Mage allowed himself to step in “Yes” He as well spoke softly, it befitted the situation.

“Was it you?”

“I was hit but I didn’t suffer injuries” He confidently intimated, to make sure she gets the message. “One of the fillies...”

Twilight’s mood worsened, her eyes turned sadder.

The Great mage had to pause, holding his breath in, he felt an itch in both his chest and throat, soon it leads to the fallout in the form of burning. He was used to it happening, even in this flurried state he was able to function rationally, so he brushed it off as lightly as it came.

“Apple Bloom, her name was, she got an injury on her leg, but it was insignificant, although it was taken as a serious wound. I healed her with the use of magic”

Twilight nodded, her eyes pinned to his, a spark of burning passion was hidden deep in them. She lowered her gaze and took a small breath in. She stood up, and twisted her head to Spike.

“We’ll talk later some more ” She informed him, with a weak smile.

In a laborious manner, she rotated her head back to her guest, towards Arcane Shine. There, he saw a sweet friendly face looking at him in a sincere friendly fashion. Tired, still living the story told to her with miserable details.

“Thank you.” She paused, gathered her thoughts, and continued, “With my whole heart, thank you” Her words were like half whispers,” I’ll make sure you’ll be treated well if you decide to stay. “

He looked at her, as intently as she looked at him. There was mistrust, and she held it tightly, he sensed it. Even after his feat of saving Spike, who by the looks of it, is very close to her, she still had something against him.

This constant skepticism in the form of mistrust, or maybe a pinch of inbuilt into the mind of every being xenophobia, was something he had to praise her for. Call him stupid for praising what clearly works against him, but out of respect to the characteristics any monarch should have, he had to address it, because that’s what was correct in his eyes.

“For now, please, let me guide you to one of our guest rooms. I’ll try and make up for your noble deed for saving my friends and wanting to risk your own life for them. “

She took his hand, and with both of her hands, which were tiny compared to his, she grabbed his and shook it. He joined with his other one, and increased the pace.

“ Thank you for your hospitality Prin-”

“No,” She interrupted “You don’t have to,”

The Great Mage looked at her joyfully abashed, he forgot himself, and let out a chuckle, only to stop himself as he realized his position. She looked at him with a straight face, preserving her sweetness while he couldn’t believe what he witnessed.

“Me? A complete stranger to call you by name?” He answered after he recuperated.

“You’re no stranger” came the truthful response.

He tilted his head “Pardon?”

“You saved Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scatoloo from potential death, and” She looked at Spike “ One of the closest to me friends I have” Her voice shivered “You are a friend of mine, and Applejack and Rarity as well. “

“Mine too” Spike walked up to them, looking at Arcane Shine, finding it hard due to his height. “Without you, Celestia knows what would have happened.”

Celestia knows…Celestia was one of the Princesses as he recalled. He wondered what feats made her name become a saying.

Twilight guided Arcane Shine to one of the guest rooms, separated by two hallways from her own bedroom. The stroll towards his new room was quick, they didn’t chat much along the way, keeping it relatively silent, with only the echoing sound of their hooves trotting on the crystal floor filling the empty space.

Twilight had her own staff, that cleaned her castle, cooked for her, washed her clothes etc. The cook lived in the castle, but spend most of his time outside, while one maid took care of Twilight’s wearables, the maid lived in her own house, and came to work early in the morning to go home when the sun started to settle down.

Spike went and notified the staff of Arcane Shine’s presence, leaving Twilight and him alone, while she opened the doors to his temporary apartment.

It wasn’t stunning, it was fairly decent. A large round window was located exactly to the opposite of the door, with a large bed, freshly made (to his surprise) the bed was located along the right wall, with a wardrobe next to it. To the left of the room there were doors, probably leading to the bathroom. Next to them, there was a mirror, its angle was adjustable as it was installed in a richly bedecked framework from some very dark wood. Closeby stood a wide bookshelf filled with a few books, but not many, about twenty as the Great Mage assumed. A carpet that stretched from the bed to the left side covered the crystal floor.

“A servant should have done this, not a princess.”

She seemed unfazed “I’ve been told that many times before.” she said looking inside, but she flicked her eyes as she ended the sentence.

“If I may ask” he succumbed to curiosity and questioned her gently “Why?”

“I…” the tune of her voice was frail, it trembled “ I really am thankful for what you did.” She began touching the tips of her index fingers in a playful manner “It’s just that…” She held her breath “ If something would have happened to Spike, I would never forgive myself” Her voice rose to a higher pitch on the accents of each word.

“I understand what you mean.”

Arcane Shine laid his hand on her shoulder. Twilight looked up, their eyes linked. The pigmentation on her cheeks underwent a metamorphosis, as the saturation of her lavender shade turned brighter, pushing it towards redness.

“She probably just realized how her overreaction looked like to me. ”

It momentarily faded away, as she reorganized herself “I hope your stay here will be pleasant”

He retreated his hand “I hope so as well “ He said as if nothing happened “ But not for long”

Twilight raised her eyebrow “Are you on the way to somewhere?”

“Indeed” He went into his room and approached the window “I’m traveling, I won’t stay here too long”

He looked outside, seeing that the sky was turning orange. Smoke started to come out of the first few houses closer or further from the palace. The village will go to sleep in a few hours.

“Good luck then in your travel.”

He stopped facing the window and looked at her.

Twilight said, “I have my schedule to work with, please, remind me to talk with you tomorrow. I may just have the right thing for your work with helping out Spike, Zecora, and the girls.”

“Will it be grand?” He shallowly asked with a smirk, summoning a grin from her.

“I think it will be” There was a moment of silence, “I’ll see you tomorrow, if there will be something of extreme importance, don’t hesitate to come.”

The humming sound of magic, it was followed by her horn sparkling with a lavender mist, the knot of the door got enveloped in it. She left the Great Mage alone in the room as the doors closed, with a heavy click.

Author's Note

Greetings, dear readers.

I used a different method in order to make this chapter. So, please, tell me if this chapter is better or worse than the previous ones.

I hope you guys like what I do and will point out every error I make, for my own sake to improve and your's to get better quality chapters. In the end, all of it is for fun.

I know that the simple way of phrasing might be boring, or that I am too dull to read, nonetheless, thanks to all the people who appreciate my work. It's for fun, and it makes me proud to know that somehow I made some dude who knows English perfectly read this shit and that person thinks about coming back after finishing the chapter. You people are just crazy.

Please have in mind the official book written by John Helfers was read by me, I'll use it as a reference. Green text means that the following part is true about Ardania and can be found in the book.