Striving for Perfection

I woke up to the sound of the door opening. Looking towards the door, I saw the nurse that changeling turned into yesterday. In his green magic grip was a tray with plates. Coming closer to me and putting the tray on the bedside table, Changeling said.

"You are very lucky Mr. Ctumer the Queen has accepted your answer and given you a new mission. Since you are the closest servant of the queen to the princesses, you are tasked to learn all about their fighting skills. When you find out, write down everything you learned in a letter and hide it in the royal gardens. Understand?"

"I see." I replied dissatisfied with the fact that I was not given time to wake up.

He nodded and turned around. The "best" nurse in the world. When I got up to look at the food in the tray, I saw the soup, an apple and hay. No thanks. Wait, did I get up? After examining myself and taking a spoon as an experiment, I realized that, although very limited, I could move. I quickly started eating soup trying to ignore the high temperature. Looking out the window, I saw that it was morning and there were no clouds in the sky. If you think about it, for all the time I have been on this planet, there has not been a single rain or at least a large accumulation of clouds. Yes, there are chemicals that can have a limited effect on the weather, but judging by the architecture of these ponies at the stage of the Middle Ages, they know alchemy at best, there is no question about real science.

Thinking about it, without noticing it, I was able to finish the soup and moved on to the apple, ignoring the hay. These ponies can eat animal food, but I'm going to eat like a human. While I was eating an apple, you know who knocked on the door.

"Come in!" I shouted before continuing to eat the apple. Two unique ponies, Princess Luna and White nameless, entered the room. The same impenetrable faces and the same answer in the form of a smile.

"Your decision Mr. Ctumer?" Nameless asked in an interested voice.

"A little clarification and we will get along. The order should not restrict my freedom of speech, that is, I can say whatever I want." I said wanting to make the deal even more profitable.

"Which of us said to execute the deal only on the rights of the first option of the deal?" Luna said in a dissatisfied voice.

"Yesterday we did not come to a final agreement, respectively, the first version of the deal does not yet exist. Well, do all parties agree to the terms of the deal?" I said with difficulty extending my hand for a handshake to the nameless pony.

She held out a hoof which I shook and then repeated the same with the hoof of the Luna. As soon as they shook my hand, the horn of the nameless one lit up and the burnt rags that used to be my coat, the alpha core and my discharged phone appeared on the chair. After the really important issue was resolved, I decided to get a little closer to my employers.

"Since we have come to an agreement, may I know your name Queen?"

"Correction, Princess, Princess Celestia." Celestia said to my confusion.

"Wait, then who is the most important in the country?" I asked, not understanding their system of government.

"My sister and I are the most important ponies in Equestria." Celestia replied even more strongly, seeing me in a stupor.

"So you want to say that there are two people in your country who have the same power?"

"Yeah, what's wrong?" Celestia asked with a little confused in her voice.

"Why didn't any of you try to seize power?" I asked what caused the mood in the room to become significantly tense. So much tension that I did not immediately realize that I had finished the apple.

"Well. . . We're a family." Celestia said uncertainly. Luna looked very depressed by this development of the dialogue.

"If you have any problems with this topic, just say so and we'll talk about something else." I said, not wanting to get involved in this topic.

"Yes, it's better to talk about something else." Celestia said with a little joy in her voice.

"Tell me, Celestia, how exactly are you going to fulfill your end of the bargain? " I asked deliberately not saying her title.

Celestia looked a little surprised that I called her name without a title, but she still replied, "My sister and I are going to find out first, find out the power of your soul and how well you control magic, after which your training will begin."

"Why can't we do all this right now?"

"You were able to at least move today, how are you going to get two devices in your condition that will measure your ability to control magic and the power of your soul? "

"I'll think of something now. " I said before getting out of bed, but staggering and falling back on it from the pain of my leg.

"That's what I'm talking about. " Said Celestia.

I didn't listen to her and stretched out my magic tentacles to the chair to pick it up along with my things.

"What are you going to do with the chair?" Celestia asked in a confused voice.

"I want to make a cane. Learn to think about the answer first and then if the answer is not found, ask it." I said, not paying much attention to Celestia. I tore the legs of the chair with difficulty and tied them with my burnt coat. I put the alpha core and the phone under my pillow. Standing up and using the chair legs connected to each other as a cane, I was able to stand steadily.

"You could have just waited." Celestia said in a dissatisfied voice. Only now I noticed that I was about the same height as her.

"The sooner we start, the sooner we finish, and besides, I still have nothing to do here-" I pointed with my left hand at the door "-lead on"

"Well, if that's what you want." Celestia said before she and her sister left the room. Right in front of my room there was an open window from which a cool breeze was blowing and there was a vase of flowers on the windowsill.

Following them, I began to inspect the hospital. Well-groomed clean white walls. Ceilings and floors made of. . . marble? Do these ponies even know such a thing as economy? For all the time I've been collecting information about ponies, everything except the magic time bomb turned out to be disgusting. Inability to save money, meddling in other people's thoughts, inability to give a name unrelated to ponies and the worst-dual power. I don't know what Chrysalis wants from Equestria, but if she wants to make ponies do useful things, then I'm all for it.

Returning to reality, we entered a room in the center of which there was a rectangular mechanism with a screen, a lot of crystals and wires leading to a chair. When I saw him, I couldn't help but ask.

"How should this determine the strength of my soul?"

"The wires will be connected to you and with their help the crystals will fully analyze your soul after that the specialist will check your results." Celestia explained to me.

"And where is the specialist?"

"I'll find him." Celestia said before leaving the room.

Since it is not very convenient to stand leaning on an improvised cane, I sat down on a chair to which the wires led. Sitting on a chair and leaning an improvised cane against it, I closed my eyes and tried to continue sleeping, but my attempt was interrupted by the Luna.

"Mr. Ctumer?" Luna asked me.

"What do you need?" I said irritably.

"Since you will be trained according to the methods of the old Guard, you will have to choose the weapon you will use."

"I don't want to use any weapons, is there an opportunity to teach me hand-to-hand combat?"

After a couple of seconds of silence, Luna replied, "It's quite possible, but why don't you want to use a weapon?"

"I don't want to rely on anything or anyone, and by the way, what is the 'old guard methods'?" I asked with interest.

"There used to be a guard - the most elite Equestria fighters, but under the influence of the nobles, the Solar Guard was significantly reduced and began to do what the police should do. That is, they have lost their combat capability," Luna said with displeasure in her voice.

"I will tell you honestly, in my opinion, it is necessary to destroy the power of the nobles at any cost and transfer their property to the government."

"And how are you going to do something like that?" Luna asked with interest.

"I see it like this: to conclude an agreement with noble families under which, in return for something, all their property passes under the authority of the crown in cases if no one of the family is alive. After the conclusion of such an agreement, it is necessary to arrange accidents with all the noble families who signed it, and as a result, their property will be nationalized on absolutely legal grounds."

When I finished, Luna paused for a while and replied. "Your idea is not the worst possible one, Mr. Ctumer, but you do not take into account that the nobles may suspect something when signing such an agreement, and in general it is almost impossible to conduct such a large-scale operation, since its success requires the elimination of all the nobles who signed the agreement simultaneously and without exception."

Wow. She expressed her point of view clearly, briefly, not rudely and argumentatively. Perhaps at least the Luna can be something more than an animal unlike other ponies. Perhaps.

"Princess have you been told that you are a great conversationalist?" I asked what caused a slight blush to appear on Luna's face.

"No, but thank you for the compliment." Said Luna, slightly embarrassed.

I was about to continue the dialogue, but Celestia and another doctor entered the room. Doctor Unicorn with yellow fur and dark brown mane and tail of the same color. Unlike the first doctor who asked me questions, it looks very calm being in the same room with me. Probably the first doctor told others about my attitude to doctors in general. Seeing me already on the chair, he smiled and coming up to me said.

"You know, Mr. Ctumer, I am very glad that you decided to do the necessary analyses today, I am burning with the desire to find out how the soul looks and behaves after the "test of will"." The doctor said with enthusiasm in his voice.

"Shouldn't it already be written about this in the archives?" I asked.

"Unfortunately not. The fact is that successfully passing the test of will has been already rare, and after that it is even more rare not to burn out due to the mass release of magic. Add to this the fact that older devices could not determine anything more than the power of the soul and the new devices can determine in addition the very appearance of the soul. As a result, the result of the inspection becomes very interesting. "

"All right, start. " I said, wanting to finish this as soon as possible.

The doctor nodded and started connecting wires to various parts of my body. When he finished, he went to the lever of the mechanism and asked.

"Are you ready?"

"Ready."

As soon as I said that, the doctor pulled the lever and the mechanism started working. The crystals began to glow and conduct energy through the wires to me. As soon as the energy of the crystals reached me, I felt that my whole body was paralyzed and energy began to flow through my magic. Each charge of energy aimed at one point of my body-my heart. When each charge simultaneously hit a point near my heart, it seemed to me for a second that all the magic in my body crumbled, but it quickly passed and charges of different energies began to return to the mechanism. The energy entered the machine again and the image began to appear on the screen of the machine along with the indicators. The image was a dark blue fire. The indicator next to the image is two hundred.

All the ponies in the room were surprised to varying degrees by what they saw. Everyone in the room except me came closer to the screen and started whispering among themselves. I got up from my chair and walked over to the group of ponies. When I approached them, the doctor asked me.

"Mr. Ctumer, do you know what the magic coefficient of your kind is?" He asked.

"No, can't we use the Minotaur coefficient, for example?"

"It's possible, but wait. . . how can you not know the coefficient of your kind? Where you come from is the study of magic so undeveloped? "

"Where I come from, there is no magic at all. " I said, which caused all the ponies in the room to be stunned to varying degrees.

The Luna was the first to recover and asked, "Then how does the sun and moon move in your world?"

"I will not give you a lecture on physics, so I will answer briefly the sun and moon move by themselves. " I replied, even more stunning the pony.

"So you want to say that your world is one big evergreen forest?" Celestia asked

"Everfree? Are you talking about that forest near Ponyville? If yes, I don't understand what's wrong with him besides wolves made of wood. Do not say that ponies are not able to survive even in the conditions of an ordinary forest."

"The Everfree Forest is a unique place-it is the only place on the planet where the weather works by itself and the animals survive on their own."

"Well, in that case, you can call my world one big evergreen forest if you really want to." I said reluctantly.

"In any case, it's strange how low your indicators are." Said Celestia.

"What do you mean low?"

"Your stats are only twenty-five higher than the average unicorn, but usually after the first test of the will, the soul of the pony became several times stronger than the soul of the average unicorn."

"What if only now my soul corresponds to this world, as before the early version appeared?"

"Maybe. In any case, there remains the strangeness of the two-color of your magic, as if ordinary and dark magic is mixed."

"What's wrong? I connected some two energies and only after that I started using magic." I said, making all the ponies in the room look at me like I was an idiot. I have to do it.

"Even in the most basic magic management manual, it is written that ordinary and dark magic cannot be combined in any case, otherwise ordinary magic will begin to distort the mind in the same way as dark magic. Haven't you read at least about the most basic laws of magic? " The doctor asked.

I tried to raise my hand to scratch the back of my head, but I could only lift it a little and said, "Okay, my mistake, but I read only the most basic about how to control magic from the manual."

"In any case, now you need to test your ability to control magic." Said Celestia and then began to leave the room with her sister and me behind.

As we walked on, some hospital staff bowed when they saw the princesses nearby. I hope they won't order me to bow to them. Like a bow is not only ostensibly a tribute of respect that I don't have for the princesses, but also ineffective. In any case, when we entered the next room, which was on the right side of the corridor, I saw what looked like a long gold plate with a deep cut in the form of an uneven road. Like running your magic down the line?

I was taken out of the stream of thoughts by Celestia "How do you think it will test your ability to control magic?"

"I'll do the magic on the neckline, but because of the gold, you need to do it very accurately. Did I guess right? "

"How did you guess? " Celestia asked me in a surprised voice.

"Unlike you, I know how to use my head. " I said, forcing Celestia to make a displeased face.

Celestia cleared her throat and said, "like I said before, yes, you're right, start the test."

I don't need to repeat it twice, so I walked up to the plate, sighed and started releasing one magical tentacle into the cutout. At first everything went well, but after five feet the tentacle began to swing and touched the gold a couple of times. Every time the tentacle touched the gold, I began to feel the magic being sucked out of my body, but despite this I was able to stabilize and continue to lengthen it. Periodically getting on the gold, I was still able to extend the tentacle to a total length of twenty feet, but after that it finally sagged and fell apart. I turned to the princesses who were watching the process all the time. There was a completely neutral expression on their faces.

"It's amazing that you can make runes at all with such poor magic control," Luna said to my embarrassment.

"What do you mean?"

"When foals used to be trained to use runes, they had to pull magic for thirty hooves before and never touch gold, and you only pulled in twenty and touched gold many times." The Luna explained to me. Hooves? Okay, I'll assume that it seems to them that the hoof and leg are the same length.

"Well, that's more your problem than mine," I said with a grin.

"Don't think that your training will be simple, I assure you it will be incredibly difficult for you." Retorted Luna

"As I said, you're a great conversationalist," I said before I started to leave the room. The ponies followed me, but stopped when I stood in the middle of the corridor. While I was thinking where to go, Celestia said.

"What have you forgotten where you came from?" Celestia asked with barely readable gloating in her voice.

I'm not going to please, much less ask her for help. And in general, I not going to ask for help from a pony, at most, from Luna, but I'm not sure about her yet. Damn it, I have to remember. Remember, to remember, to remember. . . There is an open window with a vase in front of my room. More. . . I didn't take anywhere, so we just need to choose the direction in which to go. If I entered the room by turning right, it means. . . Now I need to turn left!

I turned left and started walking as fast as possible. Well, as fast as a man with a cane can walk. As I walked, Celestia started talking to me again.

"Are you sure you're going in the right direction?" Celestia asked me.

"I can remember something more than what I eat." I answered.

"What's wrong with you? What have I done that makes you treat me like this?" Celestia asked me in an irritated voice.

"I have complained about all ponies in general. For all the time I have been in contact with ponies, they have not shown anything at least satisfactory, and I am not saying good at all. And besides, the fact that you generally allowed the nobles to influence the state so much that they actually disbanded the army made you, in my understanding, a terrible ruler. " I said, continuing to walk without looking back at Celestia.

"So, in your understanding, you would be a good ruler?"

"A good ruler? Depends on who you think you are. In my understanding, a good ruler is someone who has been able to develop and secure his country during his reign. Only such a ruler can lead the people to perfection. Have you developed your country? I doubt. Have you ensured the security of your country in every sense? Have you eradicated crime, poverty and unemployment, thereby protecting people from themselves? Have you made sure that all laws are observed without exception, thereby protecting the fact that every criminal should be punished? Have you secured the borders of your country so that every citizen, without exception, can feel safe? I am sure that the answer to all these questions is the same for you - "no"."

"The fulfillment of your conditions is absolutely impossible. Development is too vague a concept. The eradication of crime, poverty and unemployment is impossible. How do you think it is possible to find out even about the smallest crime? Too large an army can provoke neighboring countries and lead to war." Celestia said, pathetically justifying herself.

"There is enough high funding for educational and scientific institutions for development. I have read a lot of information about how different political ideologies and countries in general solve different problems. For example, in a country like the Soviet Union, there was a system by which state companies sent applications for specialists to higher educational institutions and if the institution approved them, then those who studied well immediately got a job after training. Yes, the student was not asked for his opinion whether he wanted to work for this company or not, and the student was obliged to work three years in the company before getting the right to quit, but you can just change the system a little. And in the same Soviet Union there was criminal liability for work evasion. These are the first ways to overcome unemployment that I have just remembered. With poverty, everything is elementary. You simply eliminate unemployment and add a minimum wage. You can find out about the smallest crime through agents who operate in the deep rear. I've never talked about a large army. I was referring to a small, well-trained army and a flexible policy. Admit it, you are the maximum, the ruler who sits on the throne and does nothing, justifying it by maintaining stability."

Celestia stopped talking just as we reached my room. I opened the door and took a step inside, but turned around and said one last thing.

"And also, Celestia, learn to conduct a dialogue like Princess Luna," I said before entering the room and closing the door behind me. As soon as I lay down on the bed after putting the crutch next to her, I fell asleep.