Side-Street Sorcery

Chapters

1 - Usual dangers of magical rituals
2 - Nightlife in Lower Canterlot
3 - Beware of the 'slightly' mad wizard
4 - Friends in low places
5 - Winter's fall

1 - Usual dangers of magical rituals

On one of the flat hills surrounding the bustling city of Koredun stood a great complex of buildings, made from enchanted stone and sturdiest wood. Referred to by locals as simply the Academy and in the wider world known as the School of Silver, this ancient institution gathered all that wished to study the law and rules of the world.

Amongst many lecture halls, hallways and domes stood a tower of great height, its roof shining with silver tint in the rays of the morning sun. It was from this that the School of Silver took its name and it was here that it was born. The Tower of Sor'Tel, a place of gathering for mages and sorcerers. Few garments granted such prestige as the silver-lined robes worn by its acolytes.

It was the pursuit of both power and truth that gathered here the most brilliant minds that later founded the Academy around it. They believed that greater understanding allows greater feats of magic. So they pursued knowledge and with this knowledge, they became a power that could influence the world. While many wizards focused on flashy displays or deadly war spells, the deeds of mages of Sor'Tel were usually more complex and discreet. While not known for their power or combat abilities, they were respected for their skill and understanding of the arcane arts, often shining bright when unorthodox problems arose.

Yet even in such a place, some stood above the others. Those braver, smarter, or more determined than their peers. In each generation, one of them would be chosen to become the High Scion, a personal student to the current Silver Archmage. Currently, this position was occupied by August Luciam of house Roltan, a minor noble.

He was a young man, with pale skin and perpetually tired eyes. He was smaller than most of his peers and his head was crowned by a mess of simple, brown hair. No one could tell that this normal-looking man held such an important position if not for the grey robes with the Towers crest, a star illuminated by a ray of light, sewn with golden thread on the chest.

He worked hard to get to this position and he had to work hard to keep it. Right now he was on his way to his master's laboratory. For most acolytes, those large doors would be intimidating, but to August this place was more familiar than his own room. This was where he spent most of his time, learning arcane arts with his master. He was swiftly accepted by the defensive wards and the doors opened for him.

Inside he was greeted by a group of senior mages, his master among them.

"Welcome, young scion" greeted him the Archmage "With you here we can begin. Come, take your place"

August bowed in reverence and went to his spot in the large magic circle that was taking up most of the floor. The Silver Archmage was a tall man, with a long beard. An imposing figure that stood above even most knights. Yet he was also a man of science and a gentle guide to all students in the Tower.

He was also the greatest of known masters of spatial magic. And today, with all those mages gathered in the chamber, he was going to perform a spell that could push his research years ahead, confirming or denying many theories. Everyone was ready and everything was prepared as they took their spots. Rhythmic chants sounded all around and the air in the room seemed to vibrate from the amount of magic that gathered there. The ritual circle seemed to come alive as the spell reached its peak and a wave of mana flooded the space. The circle that surrounded them started glowing, mana spreading through the set path. Everything seemed well, until the magic circle suddenly flickered, mana spreading around, unexpectedly freed from the rigor of the ritual. That was the last thing that August saw before a sudden burst of mana flooded his body. He tried to resist but failed, and as he felt his body and mind fall to the assault of magical power, he lost consciousness.

******

August came back to his senses slowly and with little fanfare. A small grunt escaped his mouth as his hand moved toward his temple in an attempt to quell his massive headache... and it was enough for him to know that something was wrong. He knew his body well enough to know that some of his limbs were in the wrong places. Yet the lack of overwhelming pain suggested that the reason for that was different than simple injury.

Ceasing all movements, August sent a quick mana pulse through his entire body and allowed himself a small sigh of relief - his mana was flowing well. In a strange way, but well. Quickly and steadily. That meant he could still use his magic. That was all he needed.

Not feeling any injuries and with his magic working, August finally opened his eyes. Stabbing pain of headache buried itself even deeper into his mind as rays of sun mercilessly assaulted his eyes.

The first thing the young mage noticed was the cobblestone he was lying on. Next, nice, white walls on both of his sides, that went at least a few floors up. Above all this, he could see a clear blue sky and the sun, high on its path, shining down on him with spite.

August's attention was drawn away from the hateful ball of flames as some creature quickly dashed above the alleyway. Realizing from its shape and size of the shadow that it could not be a bird, August rose to his feet - and promptly fell, only now realizing what was wrong with his body.

He had additional limbs - he could see them now, two stubs covered in a greyish fur, ending with a harder tissue, somewhat resembling hooves. It could be a horse leg, but one imagined by a child taking their first lesson in arts rather than one attached to an actual animal.

A quick glance proved that such visage was shared by the whole of his body - an uncanny mixture of some rather fluffy pony species and a child's overeager imagination. His muzzle was also way too short, but at the moment he found it inconsequential. Instead of thinking more, he rose to his hooves, determined to find what had happened.

He might have been new to this body, but thanks to his training in polymorphic spells, as well as a few less-than-amusing jokes between the students, he already had an understanding of how to move on four limbs.

He slowly made his way to the end of the alleyway where he woke up, only to end up on a crossroad with another small, empty alley. Yet the sounds he heard around him got a little bit louder. Deciding that any way would be fine, the young mage turned right and after a quick trot found himself at the edge of a much bigger - and busier - street.

One look was enough for him to realize that wherever he was, it was far away from his home. On the street were no humans, elves, or dwarves - or any other race he could recognize. Instead, this place was inhabited by strange creatures, one that, just like his new form, resembled equines, yet of many different colors and with short muzzles and eyes far too big for any creature of that size. Some of them had a horn sprouting from their heads, despite not possessing any regality that unicorns August had met previously seemed to have naturally. Few had wings instead of horns, appendages that suited their looks much more in young scion eyes.

Realizing that his current form probably resembled those strange creatures, he lifted his hoof to his head - only to hit his horn, pain from this newly discovered body part adding to the preexisting headache and making him grimace in pain.

That made one of those strange equines look at him and August instantly realized his mistake: a strange person, visibly confused and in pain, was either a danger or in need of assistance, both of those drawing attention that August could not afford right now. He was not sure if he could even communicate with those creatures, any question asked might expose him as an outsider. Not knowing anything about this place or its culture, any contact was a risk that the young mage was hesitant to take.

With all this in mind, he did his best to conceal himself - he stepped out of the alleyway and walked down the street. Now that he caught someone's attention his best chance was to pretend that everything was fine. Unless this place had some strange set of rules that governed how to walk on a road he should be able to remain unnoticed. In his mind he thanked all the gods that being naked seemed to be the norm here, otherwise, everyone would think him a madman considering his current lack of apparel.

Slowly walking away, he allowed his mind to wander, trying to understand what happened. Most reasonable theories were the first to be discarded - it was neither a dream nor an illusion, as neither of them could be so detailed and clear. Then came the less plausible explanations. Severe brain damage, divine visions, sudden madness. Yet even they could not fit this ridiculous situation. That could mean-

August almost tripped when two of those strange creatures walked past him. They talked. They actually talked. And in a language he could understand. It was very similar to Varantian, a very old language used eons ago by mages from the North.

"... so I told him 'Dude, that's not how you make pancakes'"

"And he wanted to argue with you? Dear Celestia…"

They passed him quickly so he lost the chance to listen more closely, but he recognized most of the words. Some of them were probably a form of local dialect or maybe names, but that meant he could communicate. He was no longer forced to conceal himself, but to be able to talk with others he needed two things. First, to brush up on his Varantian and second, obtain enough information about this place to not draw attention with his ignorance. And as moths are drawn to flames, his mind, shaped by years of study, was also drawn to one conclusion. A library. In such a big city, there surely would be one. Excited by the prospect of foreign knowledge he sped up his steps.

And realized he had no idea where to go now. A glance at the skyline of the city provided him with a view of a castle, probably belonging to a local ruler, and a few tall towers in the city center, but nothing that would allow him to recognize it as a library. His knowledge of the art of city planning suggested that the library would be close to the center or in the castle, but older cities were usually less planned and more evolved, so this knowledge wasn't useful. Instead, he decided to carefully prepare a sentence in Varantian, trying his best to emulate the strange accent locals were using. After a short preparation, he approached one of the equines, a winged one with with forest green coat.

-"I beg thy pardon, good sir. Could thee mayhaps give me guidance towards the nearest library? I hath just arrived in this city and seeketh knowledge. If thee granteth me thine assistance, I will trouble thee no more."

The equine seemed surprised by his words, but not afraid. August was, honestly, proud of his work. The sentence was clear and while he was unsure of some finer grammar, anyone should be able to understand what he said. His teacher would surely be proud of how much he remembered, even after so many years. Now he just awaited the answer.

-"Eeee... ummm... yeah, sure... just... go to the old market." the creature pointed at one of the tall towers "Then go left next to the Flowing Golds mansion, it's the building with a large hedge around it. Go straight and you should be there."

August nodded his head to show that he understood the instructions

"I'm truly grateful for thine assistance. I wish thee a fair day then."

Having said his goodbyes, he went on his way, only to hear a silent voice from behind him

"I'm a mare, you bastard..."

He kept going, pretending he didn’t hear. There was nothing he could say at this point.

******

The spell worked, Ausgust decided before he reached the library. The spatial spell of his master worked, but due to some mistake, he was transported instead of the intended item. Most likely a problem with the circle integrity. If he could recreate what happened he might be able to return home. He knew much of the Archmage's research, but he was still far too inexperienced to try to recreate the experiment his master performed. The second problem was the cost, most items used were rare and expensive ingredients. Although the unicorn horn powder seemed to be easily obtainable here.

Amidst many fruitless ideas, he reached the intended place. A large building with rows of windows and many equines walking in and out, with the word 'Library' written on it. Hoping that it would be open to the public, August entered, doing his best not to bump into any of the creatures that were there.

The main aisle was truly enormous. It easily dwarfed the library in the Academy, thousands of books gathered here piled high up into the ceiling. The scion instantly knew that there he could find all the knowledge he needed to survive in this new world... and that he would never be able to find most of it in any reasonable amount of time.

He decided to start with the basics. He slowly made his way down the aisle until he found the section about linguistics. He might be capable of using the language, but he was sure sooner or later he would run into problems, especially while reading more advanced books. He quickly grabbed an encyclopedia and a few other books that might help him brush up on the language, found a good spot, and started reading. Then spent a lot of time trying to find a position in which his new body would be comfortable, failed to do so, and kept wriggling.

After a few hours of reading, he stood up with cramps in all of his limbs and deep shame. Apparently, despite this language being similar to Varantian, it also developed for a few hundred years more after the languages split from whatever common ancestry they shared. That meant he was speaking like some thousand-year-old recluse - if any such being ever existed, that is.

No one approached him during his reading, but he still heard many conversations between the strange equines. They seemed to call themself simply 'ponies' and that name seeped into a lot of their vocabulary. Due to this and many new, strange words that seemed to exist only in this world, he decided to 'borrow' the encyclopedia to make sure he had a way to check new phrases. The only problem was the tracking spell, bound into the tome.

Yet such a simple spellwork was nothing to the High Scion of Sor'Tel. After a few minutes of familiarising himself with the way that mana flew through his new body, his horn flashed green as all mana weaved in the book scattered, rendering the spells useless. Satisfied with a job well done, August left the library.

The sun was setting down, casting shadows on the pristine streets of this strange city. August stood at the doorway for a moment, lost in the strange yet familiar view of a sunset and the bustling city. He might have remained frozen like this until the night approached, but his body had other plans. His stomach twinged in pain, letting him know how long he spent reading and at that moment, August realized how big of a problem he had. He was in an unknown city, with no money, no home, and no food.

Usually, he only had one duty, to study the arcane arts. That was his passion and that was what was expected of him. His more mundane desires and duties were taken care of by a swarm of servants and attendants, sometimes even fellow students trying to earn his favor. To suddenly be deprived of this came as quite a shock.

After fruitlessly going through his options, he ended up in some small alleyway in the lesser part of the city. Quick illusion cast made him unrecognizable from a pile of garbage and ignoring all protests of his body, he fell asleep on the cold bricks of the city he learned was called Canterlot.

Author's Note

Hello everyone! Welcome to my first fanfiction ever, at least first one to be published. Hope you will enjoy your stay here. I will try to upload at least weekly, maybe more often if this story gains some traction. Upcoming chapters will also mostly be longer. This point was just too fitting to end first chapter on.

As english is not my first language, some errors might have sneaked in, despite my best efforts to proofread and edit my own work. Feel free to correct me if you catch something wrong.

Tags to this story will be added as it progresses. It will most likely only be character tags, as I consider them no better then simple spoilers. Celestia and Luna are already here simply due to the fact that they are immortal, so it's pretty hard to not bump into them at least once over a whole story and I didn't want to leave the tag list too barren

Have an awsome day and I hope you will continue reading.

2 - Nightlife in Lower Canterlot

Lower Canterlot was a relic of old times. Times, when Equestria was untamed, wild land. Times, when only high walls and the watchful eyes of an Alicorn could guarantee safety. Times long gone. For centuries, ponies migrated away from this place, drawn to opportunities given by newly established cities and villages, as Equestria expanded its borders and secured new lands. Nowadays, the only inhabitants of this place were those too poor to move out, criminals, and people who were bound to Canterlot due to personal circumstances.

Shadow Flow was the second of those. A middle-aged pegasus, his forte was infiltrating noble houses, stealing and trading important information. He once managed to get into the Royal Palace itself, which was the best recommendation one could get in this line of work.

Despite all this, he still made a blunder. Now, he was desperately running through the empty streets, a thick file under his wing. His other one was dislocated, preventing him from flying. Not that he even wanted to, it would make him too easy to spot.

He managed to gain some distance, but he was running out of breath. He knew he needed a plan, a way to shake off the pursuit. In a corner of his eye, Shadow Flow spotted a large pile of rubbish, lying on the side of one of the alleys he was passing by. It seemed large enough to fully cover him. Not thinking much of it, he ran towards it, jumping in, desperately trying to hide.

And then all Tartarus broke loose.

******

Waking up to alarm spells going off in his head and the sight of someone charging at him, was not a first for August. It was still unpleasant though.

School of Silver was not focused on combat, but still offered classes about battle magic. August was never a slouch at those and attempts at his life, while rare, still happened, keeping him always on guard.

A sudden vortex of air, meant to primarily deflect any projectiles, rose around the still-concealed August. The unfortunate pegasus, caught in the middle of the jump, got carried by the winds and slammed at a wall, with a grunt of pain.

August didn’t even bother looking at it, his magic searching for any other threat as an opalizing barrier surrounded him, finally dispelling the illusion of a pile of garbage. Meanwhile, vines that covered the wall that the strange pony was slammed into, coiled around its limbs and pinned it to the wall.

Not sensing any more threats and realizing where and why he was, August realized that he might have overreacted. Not wanting to take risks, he kept the shield up but ordered the vines to let go of this strange ‘pony’ creature.

“Who art thee… no, thou… No, it was… yoo. Who art yoo?”

Still a bit disoriented after the sudden wake-up, August stumbled a bit with his speech, while trying to look menacingly at the pegasus now lying on the street. He never actually saw his muzzle in this new form and had no idea how his current expression looked for those creatures. He could only hope his body language was intimidating and not weird.

It seemed to matter little to the pony, as it didn’t even look up, trying to recover from getting slammed into the wall and having its wing dislocated even further. August patiently waited for it to get itself together and answer the question.

The awaited answer never came as from around the corner ran a brown ‘normal’ pony, however they called them here.

“He is here! Get him!” It shouted to someone behind it and rushed towards August, who frowned at the unexpected complication.

After a second of consideration, August decided to stick with a non-lethal approach. He quickly compressed the air around the pony head and instantly decompressed it back. The assailant stumbled and screamed in pain, stumbling on its feet and falling. August almost smirked. He might be fighting an unknown creature, but nothing that qualified as a mammal did well against that spell.

His magic picked something approaching him from above and three more presences running down the street. He quickly identified the airborne threat as one of the ‘pegasi’ and created multiple whirlwinds in the alleyway. His opponent must have sensed them somehow, as it instantly pulled up instead of flying into the turbulent winds and getting flattened on one of the walls.

With two other ‘normal’ ponies and a unicorn showing up, August let go of his non-lethal approach, quickly recollecting a plethora of more dangerous spells. He was starting to draw a matrix for Rynaxian Moonblade when suddenly the unicorn that just arrived shouted

“Enough! Stop, everypony stop! Can’t you idiots see that he is a mage?”

All the ponies around stopped, excluding the one that was still on the ground with ruptured eardrums. August, glad to have a chance to get out of this mess with a bit of diplomacy, also stopped his spellcasting. However, not fully trusting the other side, instead of dispelling everything completely, he attached a small chunk of his mana to each pony, making it much easier to aim his spells if fighting resumed.

The unicorn, with its head held high slowly approached August. Its forest-green fur seemed to glow slightly in the dim moonlight, and its creamy mane was well-groomed. It carried itself completely different then the rest of its group.

“I’m sorry for this disturbance, sir. I’m Stranded Leaf, also a mage. I finished the advanced course at SGU” The way it phrased the sentence suggested that it expected August to be impressed. While the SGU didn’t mean anything to August, the fact that Stranded Leaf dispelled the mana that August attached to it and its goons guaranteed that it was at least a semi-competent mage.

“This little thief” Leaf pointed at the pegasus that started the whole situation “stole something from our boss. If we could get him, we will not bother you anymore”

All the time Stranded Leaf had a small, benign smile on its face, as if debating some trivial matters at a local party. August pretended to think the matter through, but there was very little to think about. Either a life or death fight or giving away a stranger, and apparently a thief anyway. He nodded his head

“I take no offense with what happened. Temperaments get heated during a chase”

Stranded Leaf seemed lost for a moment, hearing the strange accent of the other unicorn, but the confusion didn’t last long

“Great. You helped in catching this rat, so I believe compensation is rightfully deserved. I promised those peasants some money for their help, but seeing that you, good sir, did most of the work, I think half of it should be yours.”

Even August, despite not knowing much about the body language of their species, could sense their displeasure. He took the small sac offered to him by Stranded Leaf anyway.

“I give yoo my thanks, Stranded Leaf. I wish yoo luck in the future.” With a shallow bow, August moved aside and watched as two 'normal' ponies lifted the unfortunate pegasus, who was now shaking in fear. Stranded Leaf meanwhile levitated a file full of papers from the ground.

“Aaand that’s it,” Leaf said after taking a look at the contents “Blaze, get here!”

At this command, the pegasus who earlier tried to attack August and quickly retreated into the air swooped down from the rooftops and landed on the ground

“Yes, sir?”

“Here is your half” The unicorn tossed a small sac at the pegasus “Get Shadow Flow to the mansion before dawn, I have to get the files back to my lord”

Without any other word, Stranded Leaf casted a spell and teleported away, leaving August alone with a group of thugs, right after giving him money.

'He really doesn’t like me. Or maybe them.’ thought August, waiting for the ponies to move. Two of them were busy holding the captive, the one August stunned before was back on his legs, despite looking drowsy. That left the lone pegasus as the only capable combatant. The pegasus that was now approaching him

“Hey ummm… sir” August expected many things, from threats to violence, but an awkward conversation starter wasn't one of them “I know that it’s a bit much, but we really need this money. I will give it back, I promise”

The pegasus seemed to almost prostrate itself in front of August, who was a bit lost in this situation

“For a group of thugs, ye truly are bad at robbery. Is this some local traditional way of exerting money?”

“No. I’m just not suicidal. I saw what you did with Boulder” The pegasus pointed its hoof at the temporarily deaf ‘normal’ pony “But I’m desperate enough to beg. Please, sir. If we don’t have the money by tomorrow, we will be in big trouble. I will give it back in full, I promise”

August took a long, good look at this pony while thinking through his options. It had orange fur and a long, red mane. Its feathers had an interesting pattern, Starting red and turning orange and yellow, making them look like miniature flames. Overall, a bit too bright a color palette for his liking.

“Nothing is for free in the world” August slowly started

“I know sir, but I promise I will give it back full…”

“Stay quiet while I talk” August didn’t let her finish, his voice still calm, but with a hint of threat “Luckily for yoo, I was looking for a place to stay and yoo seem a reasonable enough host. The streets of this city seem a bit too exciting for my liking.”

August tossed the sac he got from Leaf to the pegasus

“Take this as my payment for staying with yoo until I find myself a better residence. Do not bother me and do not try anything stupid”

Blaze seemed surprised for a moment but then bowed deeper

“Yes, sir. Thank you, sir. We will make sure your stay with us is pleasant.”

“Then lead the way. Yoo interrupted my sleep and I long to return to it”

******

A few minutes later a pegasus, a pony, and a unicorn were walking down the street. The other two ‘normal’ ponies split away to escort the prisoner. This left August with only Blaze and Boulder, the pony whom he injured. Rather awkward situation, but August had many in his life, so he used his usual strategy. He just stayed silent and looked cold and aloof. If everyone else felt more awkward than him, in his book it meant he won. Blaze had a different opinion

“So, my name is Blaze Strike. It’s nice meeting you.” The pegasus carefully started a conversation

“Nice meeting yoo too, Blaze Strike”

After waiting for a moment for anything more to come out of August's mouth, Blaze kept going

“Mind telling me your name? Or at least something I could call you?”

“My name is August…” Here August paused. His name didn’t fit the standard of this world. Those ponies already knew he wasn't just a nobody, but he still didn’t want to so brazenly admit that he wasn’t from those lands. He quickly thought about changing his answer but decided it would be too suspicious. It was still salvageable. Their names were mostly made of just two words put together. August was a word, not only a name. He just needed a second part. He quickly went through his options. He quickly realized both his names had meaning as a word. August Luciam of house Roltan.

“August Light. My name is August Light”

Perfect. And no one will catch him not reacting to his own name.

“Very grey coat for someone named after such a beautiful month”

“August as majestic and dignified. No one named me after a month”

“That makes more sense, actually.”

August looked at the pegasus, wondering if it was being sarcastic, but could spot nothing to suggest that it was the case. At some point he and Blaze started walking side by side, Boulder two steps behind. And despite August doing his best to seem distant, the pegasus seemed insistent on talking more

“Mind sharing what brought you to Canterlot? You don’t seem to be a local, judging by the accent”

“What happened with yoo calling me sir? At least yoo showed some respect back then”

August voiced his irritation, but Blaze seemed to take it as a joke and giggled

“Come on, we will be staying with us for a while and you helped us in a pickle. I thought you were one of those stuck-up upper-city unicorns, but you seem quite decent”

“I’m sure I never helped yoo with pickling anything. And while I might not be an upper-city unicorn, I still demand some respect” He stopped for a moment to look at Blaze, as walking and looking sideways in this new form might end unfortunately “You don’t have to call me sir, but I’m not a friend of thee, Blaze Strike. I am, begrudgingly, thy tenant. We can talk, but I would appreciate yoo keep thy distance”

After finishing his speech, August resumed his walk forward. Boulder behind him seemed a little unnerved, sensing some tension between Blaze and this dangerous mage. Blaze seemed slightly dejected for a moment, but a few minutes later started talking again, with slightly less vigor

“Then what brought you to Canterlot?”

August sighed deeply

“Accident, really. I’m just here to do some research and get home. With some luck, it will be quick”

“Oh, if it’s something quick, you can just stay with us. No need to search for a new location”

“I wouldn’t want to intrude for the few years it will most likely take” he didn’t add that he also didn’t want to spend more time than necessary with them

“Few years?! You said it was a quick research!”

“I surely didn’t use the word ‘quick’. Any research in the field of magic takes a long time, sometimes many generations. My only luck is that I’m just duplicating a research I had seen once.”

“You mages are insane”

“Dedicated is more fitting” rebutted August

After that, Blaze finally fell silent and August could enjoy the rest of their walk looking at the unfamiliar constellations that were shining above.

******

Soon they arrived in front of a two-story house. As all the other buildings in the area, this one also seemed to be in slight disrepair. Fortunately, it was still standing strong, so August happily went inside after Blaze opened the door.

Inside was an indistinctive room, a big table with few chairs in the middle and some cupboards. What intrigued August the most was the weird metal box. Judging by pots and cooking utensils clattered around it, it was probably somehow used for cooking. Something to check later. There were more important things now.

“Where is my room?” August asked, turning to Blaze

“First door left, upstairs. Just let me go and move my things out of there” Blaze seemed to hesitate for a moment before asking “Could you help Boulder in the meantime? We can’t afford a doctor, and him being deaf will make our work hard”

“I’m not a healer. The ears should heal in up to two months times, just don’t let any water get into them” Seeing the panicked look that Blaze had, August sighed “I can help him regenerate faster, in a week or so. It’s much easier than healing”

“That would be great, thanks,” Blaze said and went upstairs after making a few gestures towards Boulder, who sat down on a worn-out sofa in the corner.

August approached him with curiosity. Apparently, this was a male of their species. He recalled the mare that he asked for the way to the library and started circling Boulder, trying to spot any differences significant enough for him to be able to tell apart mares and stallions in the future.

His observation came up empty. Deciding that he wasn’t interested enough to try lifting Boulder's tail or do full body scans and try to find strange anatomical differences like the angle of hip bones, August decided to focus more on the particular specimen in front of him. ‘Normal’ pony, they had their own name he couldn’t remember now.

Muscular, without a doubt. He could see the muscles moving under his skin. Probably the reason he arrived first. From this close-up, August could see multiple scars hidden under his brown fur. He was also shorter than August.

That one came as a surprise, as Agust was used to being on the shorter side in any social gathering. That gave two options, either his height didn’t transfer properly to this new body, or unicorns were simply taller than other ponies. Stranded Leaf was also quite tall.

He was taken out of his musings by Blaze Strike coming back downstairs

“So, are you done with this healing thing?”

Oh, right. August quickly attuned his magic to Boulder's mana and pushed a simple spell matrix straight into his bloodstream. The pony winced in the process

“Yes, it is all done” he looked intently at Blaze, trying to decide if it was rather mare or a stallion, with no success. Maybe a larger observation sample was needed.

“What’s with that gaze? You looking for something?”

“Sexual dimorphism” August answered with a straight face

“The what?” asked Blaze, confused

“Nothing important. Show me my bed and do not bother me until I wake up myself”

Author's Note

The second chapter is finally here! Slightly later than I wanted to, and slightly shorter, but I was busy during the weekend. Thank You everyone for positive response (no downvotes as of this point, I honestly didn't expect that). I'm trying to up my quality, especially when it comes to the editing proccess as I made some rather easly avoidable mistakes.

I'm thankfull for any criticism left in the comments, I'll try to respond to them when I have time.

Have an awsome day and I hope you will continue reading.

3 - Beware of the 'slightly' mad wizard

It was noon when Blaze decided there was no way that the weird mage, August Light, was still asleep. It was afternoon before Blaze found enough courage to knock on his door.

“Come in” sounded a stiff voice from inside the room

Blaze pushed the door and walked in. August was lying on the bed, focused on the book levitating in front of him.

“Blaze Strike. What brought you here?”

Blaze instantly noticed that his speech seemed smoother and his accent was slightly less noticeable

“I was making dinner and wondered if you would like some. Only today,” Blaze quickly added “as thanks for helping Boulder. We really can’t afford to feed another muzzle”

“It is the first time I’m compensated for fixing something I have broken myself. Or some…pony, I guess”

August closed the book and stood up. The book had the symbol of the Library of Canterlot on the cover. Blaze decided that it was better not to inquire about it.

“I will gladly partake in a meal” continued August “Thank you for this offer, Blaze Strike”

Side by side, they made their way downstairs. August's legs were slightly cramped after long reading so he was hesitant while walking down. He came to the conclusion that stairs were a very bad architectural choice for a species of quadruplets. Or were they three different species? Unclear. Something to check later.

The living room was full. Boulder was sitting next to a window, looking outside and lost in thoughts. His muzzle was moving slightly and he seemed to be muttering something to himself.

The other two earth ponies that were a part of this group were sitting on the sofa and… hugging, most likely. This sight made August wonder about the mobility of their joints, as it certainly had very little to do with horses that he knew of.

Blaze didn’t lie to him about dinner, as in the air he could feel a pleasant, herbal smell that made him salivate. August couldn’t tell what could that smell be, but he didn’t care. He didn’t eat for a whole day and was ready to take a risk with whatever Blaze was making.

Blaze quickly went towards the weird white box, that seemed to somehow generate flames, on which a pot was standing. August was left, standing awkwardly at the foot of the stairs. The two ponies that were hugging, after noticing him, straightened their postures and were now looking at him, only adding to the awkwardness. Boulder was still looking out the window. Not being able to hear anything, it seems he didn’t notice that August was there.

“My greetings, everyone” August nodded and sat down at the table, ignoring the intrigued gazes.

Soon, Blaze turned the fire off and started placing plates on the table. August was surprised to see ceramic plates. Judging by the poor state of this house and the rather doubtful occupation of his hosts, he fully expected to be eating out of a wooden bowl using a wooden spoon. Yet the plates, despite being old, were even decorated with a simple, floral pattern along the rim.

Blaze poked Boulder with a wing, finally getting his attention and everyone gathered around the table.

“Before we start eating, how about we all introduce ourselves? Since we have a new pony here?” suggested Blaze “I’m Blaze Strike, the de facto owner of this house”

“River Swirl. Nice to meet you, despite the weird circumstances” said an azure pony with green mane, smiling. From this angle, August could see an image of a whirlpool of muddy water on River Swril's hindquarters. Presumably one of those ‘marks’ he remembered reading about. Now that was something that he needed to investigate.

“Green Gourd. Hope we get along well”

Now, this pony was a stallion, August was sure. His voice was so deep that air seemed to vibrate with each word. His coat was dark green and his mane a yellowish brown. He was shorter than Boulder, but still sturdy and muscular.

“You might have noticed, we are a couple,” said River Swirl, putting her foreleg around Gourd.

That meant that River Swirl was a mare. ‘Great, one less chance of embarrassing myself’, thought August.

“I am August Light. I hope my stay here will not be inconvenient for any of us here” In his old body, as part of learning noble manners, August knew how to behave in such situations. Here, however, he had no idea how he should behave, so he just kept a rigid posture and a straight face.

All eyes turned towards Boulder, who, noticing the sudden attention, decided to finally talk

“Hi, I’m Rolling Boulder. Hopefully, our future meetings will go better than the first”

He was slightly too loud and he seemed unsure of his own voice, a clear sign that he wasn’t used to speaking while deaf. August almost responded to him, but realising the futility only sighed

“If I knew I was going to end up here I would have disposed of him in some different way”

He quickly thought of a solution. While some illusion spells used soundwaves to simulate sound, few simply tricked the mind into believing that it heard something. One cast of Simevions Mindprobe and Boulder jumped from his seat, surprise on his muzzle

“What… what in Tartarus was that?!” he shouted, all the other ponies also standing up, only August staying on his chair.

“A simple illusion, nothing else” This time he said it both with illusion and out loud “Your ears might not work, but I can still trick your mind into believing that it heard something. Doesn not work on people who never had hearing, unfortunately. As I said, I am August Light.”

His explanation seemed to calm everyone down. All the ponies returned to their seats.

“Let me say, that’s some impressive spellcasting. I know some unicorns, even a few with cutie marks related to magic, but nopony capable of all that. Where did you learn?” Blaze asked while putting a pot full of something on the table

“In the Tower of Sor’Tel. I do not expect this name to mean anything to any of you.”

“If it’s anywhere outside of Canterol, then there is no chance of me knowing about it. But it seems like an excellent place if someone like you came from there.”

“I am a rather special case, but I am sure that any alumni of my tower could replicate all spells I have shown so far” There was pride in August’s voice “Standards are really high there.”

He took a look at the food that Blaze put on his table

“Might I ask what we are eating?”

“Noodles and daffodil sauce”

August hesitated after hearing that the sauce was made out of flowers but decided that they probably knew better what worked for them. The first part of this dish picked his interest more.

“What are these ‘noodles’ you speak of?” he asked while levitating one of the long, thin ribbons up from his plate.

Everyone else looked at him in surprise

“You don’t know what noodles are?” asked Swirl, and after a nod of confirmation from August “Sweet Celestia, that Tower of yours must be in the middle of nowhere. What do you even eat there?”

“Our meals are cooked by some of the finest cooks of the realm, just so you know. Yet you are right, I come from far away”

“That would at least explain your weird accent. Does everypony sound like that wherever you are from?” inquired Blaze

“Very few even know Varantian in my homeland, much less speak it regularly. During my education, I was taught that my pronunciation is correct”

“I don’t even know what Varantian is, so I’ll just assume you mean Equestrian” Green Gourd said in his deep voice “I didn’t even know there were some pony groups that wandered so far away from the lands of Three Tribes.”

Not wanting to delve into the nonexistent sharded history between Equestria and his homeland, August scooped some noodles into his mouth

“Excellent taste, my compliments to you, Blaze Strike”

“Oh, it’s nothing much, really. But I’m glad you like it”

August pretended to be focused on eating and soon comfortable silence fell over the table. He managed to escape talking about his home for now, but the discussion was sure to return sooner or later. His hosts were not bad companions to talk with, but he couldn’t let his guard too much.

Soon the dinner was over and Boulder started gathering the dirty dishes. Looking at the massive earth pony, a question came to August’s head

“How did you explain all this to him? He seems to have a pretty good grasp on the situation”

“Well, after you went to sleep we sat down with a sheet of paper and a pen. You could have told me about this spell of yours, it would surely make it easier.”

“You both can read?” August asked. He was honestly surprised. He realized long ago that they were more than simple thugs he took them for, but he knew lots of nobles who, even if they would never admit it, never learned how to read and write properly. To see some peasants mention it so casually was strange.

“Of course we can. We are poor, not stupid. We went to school like everypony, you know?” Blaze seemed insulted by the suggestion that they didn’t know how to read

“Like everypony?” now August was starting to think they were simply making fun of him

“Of course. Everypony in Equestria goes to school. Princess Celestia personally finances public schooling”

“Your royalty pays for everyone going to school? A princess?” this tale was getting more and more ridiculous.

“Yes. Our princess is a great ruler and she makes sure everypony has at least basic knowledge” While August was more and more confused, Blaze seemed to be getting more and more angry at him

“You have a princess as a regnant?”

“She’s been on the throne for the last few hundred years, she is not a regent!”

“Regnant, not regent. Also, a few hundred years? Just give her a crown and call her queen!” August paused for a moment “Wait, a few hundred years? How?”

“Have you seriously never heard of Princess Celestia? Ruler of the Sun?”

“That’s quite a title.”

“Well, she moves the sun so I think she deserves it”

Well, if that didn’t have some wonderful implications. Apparently, immortal ruler who claims to move the sun. So either a megalomaniac who tricked everyone into believing their power, not that likely considering how hard it would be to trick a whole nation, or an almost godlike being. Mayhap even simply a god. August liked none of those options.

“I think I will have to read some more on this princess of yours.”

“You seriously never heard of her? How do you clever mages think the sun and moon move then?”

August swallowed at least three much better models of movement of celestial spheres than ‘magic’, simply because he couldn’t be sure if any of them worked here. Maybe that princess really moved the sun. Maybe they were currently walking on a giant turtle. How could he know?

“Maybe we should stop there” interjected Swirl “You both seem to be getting a little too agitated.”

“Let me be the one to apologize for this,” said August to everyone's surprise “I know some of my questions might cause offense, but I promise they stem from nothing but a curious mind. There is no ill intent behind, merely misunderstandings.”

Blaze seemed to relax a little after hearing this.

“I’m also sorry. I know you are new to Equestria, I should have known better than to overreact. You just reminded me too much of some nobles I’ve met.”

“That I can easily understand” August couldn’t help but chuckle “I am, in fact, of noble birth.”

“Wait, really? Like, real title, land, and all this?” asked Blaze

“Well, considering my father is still alive, I’m only an heir to the title rather than a fully-fledged noble, but yes. Real noble, title, land, and everything else” Realising that he was bringing the conversation dangerously close to his homeland again, August decided it was time to go back to his room.

“I will go back upstairs. I shan't live on your hospitality alone, so I need to think about finding a job.”

“It might be for the best, honestly. We will have guests soon.”

“Trouble?”

“We have the money, so no. Just don’t show yourself, a new muzzle here might provoke them.”

******

With August gone, Blaze took on a more serious expression.

“Alright everyone, August aside, Iron Hooves will be here soon, just give him the money and be over with this whole ordeal.”

“He really is something, don’t you think? You can tell he is a noble. The attitude is there but somehow he is much more reasonable than those idiots from the upper city. I wonder what his homeland is like” River Swirl spoke, despite what Blaze said.

“Some backwater place, considering how surprised he was by us reading” declared Gourd

“It’s rather unfair to think like that. Even in Equestria, not all villages can guarantee education and outside the border access to education gets worse and worse.”

“It doesn’t matter. What matters is he seems like a good pony, even if weird. He said something about staying for a few years, so we just got ourselves a reliable magic expert. That’s somepony not easy to find in Lower Canterlot” Blaze smiled.

“You think we can afford whatever he charges for consultations?” asked Swirl

“He healed Boulder and seemed satisfied with getting only a dinner out of it. I would say he doesn’t care about money, unlike those misers you can usually find here.”

“He said he was looking for a job. Maybe we could point him to a few ponies” suggested Gourd “Getting some good points with him could go a long way”

“Good idea. I think Stream Line was searching for a unicorn. Now, give me some paper, I need to tell Boulder to stay in the corner and look tough.”

******

August in the meantime was sitting on the bed in his new room, circulating mana throughout his body. His horn was covered in a deep, green glow, little green sparks jumping all over his fur. Even his eyes, despite his closed eyelids, glowed slightly green. Usually, mana leaks were a sign of either injury or trying a spell far too hard for the mage's abilities. In this case, August was radiating mana trying to learn how his new body casted spells.

He noticed it before but didn’t find time to investigate. This new body interacted with mana slightly differently than he was used to. It wasn’t anything substantial, many wouldn’t even notice. August, having spent his whole life learning magic, was irritated by it. Like a musician who knows he is slightly out of tune, despite no one in the audience noticing. All his spells, while still successful, were off.

He flooded his whole body with mana and watched how it moved. The horn seemed to be the most important part. No matter how he tried to cast, some of the mana always went to the horn, making it glow. The horn also seemed to work as some of the wands and staffs, enhancing the flow of mana and also allowing the caster to have a focal point to gather power for spells, without accidentally melting their own hand while learning to cast a fireball.

That also meant that any injury to the horn would make it hard to cast anything, its removal could even make it impossible to utilize magic. A surgery on mana pathways could remedy that. Something to test. Maybe horns regrow, like the teeth of some animals? That would be like infinite production of high-quality wands. Too good to be true, so unlikely.

August cursed himself for not asking for something to write on. Instead, he created an illusion of paper on which he made an illusion of ink, writing down his observations on his new body. A small Spell Stability Matrix and some raw mana pushed inside made sure that the fantom scroll would last at least a day.

He was sitting there, lost in his research, undisturbed by his circumstances or the passage of time. That is, before he heard the screaming.

******

“Iron Hoves. Please, come in”

“Do you have the money Blaze?” the newly arrived earth pony went straight to the point.

He was massive. He barely managed to fit through the door after slightly lowering his head. Bulging muscles were visible under his short trimmed copper fur. Behind him were two other ponies that Blaze couldn’t recognize, one earth pony and one pegasus.

“We managed to get all of it. Here” Blaze passed a sac full of money to Iron.

He stood silently in the middle of the room, slowly counting each coin as his minions engaged in a staring contest with Boulder.

“It really is all here” he was talking slowly, lost in thoughts

“Yeah, so go tell Winter that we are even now” The only answer to Blaze's words was even more silence. Finally, Iron spoke

“Listen, Blaze, let me be honest with you. The boss told me to get you out of here. We didn’t expect you to pay it all off, but the order still stands”

Blaze was locked in place for a moment, surprised. Then exploded with anger

“So what, you think you can just go around and kick ponies out of their homes?! You got your money, so fuck off!”

“I will give you the money back. I’ll even add some more. Consider it me buying this house from you” Iron was standing calmly, unimpressed by Blaze's anger.

“It’s my home, you think I will just sell it for some spare change?”

Everypony in the room came a few steps closer to the arguing duo. They were all ready to fight, in case the situation escalated to violence.

“It’s nothing personal Blaze, but your dealings with the upper city are getting too much attention. Sooner or later you will step into something that will bring guards here. And I don’t mean city guards, I mean the Royal Guards. Winter doesn’t want this. Nopony does. That’s why you need to go. Peacefully, I hope”

Blaze was fuming, but knew that Iron was right, nopony wanted attention from the upper city. They could live here however they wanted simply because nopony important cared enough. As soon as it changed, all the ponies here could be in prison in a few hours.

“See? That’s what I’m talking about! You are even hiding nobles under your roof! Do you think Winter will tolerate it?” Iron said, pointing behind her

Blaze turned around, surprised, only to see August, slowly walking down the stairs. Suppressing the urge to groan, Blaze tried to quickly expalin the situation to Iron.

“He is not a noble! I mean, he is, but he is not from Canterlot! He just lives here temporarily. Just a traveler, he helped us get the money we needed. He won’t cause Winter any trouble”

“Blaze, we both know you are spouting nonsense. Anything to do with nobles is playing with fire. Week. One week is all I will give you. Get everything in order, sell the house, and move out. Preferably out of the city. I heard Ponyville is nice this time of year”

“I just moved in here and I do not intend to move anytime soon” everypony froze hearing August's voice. They were all focused on Blaze and Iron and they didn’t expect August to join the discussion.

“I even paid for my stay” August finally made it to the end of the stairs. He now had to raise his head slightly up to look at Iron, but it didn’t seem to bother him “And the food here is acceptable”

“Listen, I don’t know who you are, but I have nothing against y…” started Iron, but August immediately cut him off

“Didn’t you say that dealing with any nobles is dangerous? As was said, I am a noble. I think it means you have something against me” Taking a few steps forward, August pushed Blaze slightly aside and faced Iron directly “Let me also tell you something. You were right. You are playing with fire right now”

“You think some lost noble that has to live in the lower city can scare me?”

“I’m a noble. You think some overgrown thug can scare me?”

Iron Hooves was never a stallion of many words. It didn’t mean he was stupid, but his giant stature taught him, that it was usually easier to deal with other ponies with physical confrontation rather than talking. Having enough of this overconfident unicorn, Iron decided to teach him a lesson, throwing a quick jab, hoping to catch August off guard before he could cast any spells. Unfortunately for him, August came here to provoke a fight rather than hoping to intimidate him. It meant he was ready for the fight to start. Just as Iron thought he did not need to talk with August, August thought the same of Iron.

The powerful jab connected with a translucent barrier surrounding August. As Iron pulled his foreleg back, preparing for another strike, August's horn flashed green. Iron couldn’t see what the spell did, as he stepped forward, delivering his most powerful blow, hoping to shatter the magical shield. Only, he didn’t feel any impact. Surprised, he looked down at his legs. Instead of his right foreleg, he could see his bones and muscles. The cut was so clean, that his body hadn’t yet registered what happened. But as he turned around to look at his foreleg lying on the ground and back again at the wound, blood suddenly gushed out and he started screaming.

******

River Swirl saw it happen, even though she wished she didn’t.

As Iron was retracting his foreleg after his strike, the appendage suddenly… came off, as if it was only held by wet glue. The foreleg flew back, carried by momentum, and landed on the floor with a wet ‘plop’ that River somehow heard despite the noise made by Blaze, Boulder, and Gourd rushing to help August.

The blood-freezing scream of pain that came from Iron Hooves a second later made everypony freeze. None of them noticed what happened, but they were all looking with surprise and disgust at the blood flowing out of Iron.

“Listen now” August cast another spell and blood stopped flowing from the wound “I don’t care what problems you have with Blaze or what your boss wants. I want tranquility and silence. I hope, for the both of us, that you will disturb me nevermore. Go and tell this to your boss. Take him out” he ordered the two goons who looked at him with terror

The duo quickly grabbed their boss, helping him walk out of the door, sending fearful glances at August. Only the foreleg was left after them. August grabbed it in his magic and threw it out the open door.

“What… did you just do?” asked Blaze, calmly

“That? Oh, it was a simple spatial distortion. My master specialized in this type of magic, so I, too…”

“Not what I asked about. Why, in Celestia's name, did you decide it was a good idea?!” all the calm was gone, Blaze was now screaming

“It looked like it was going to end up in a fight anyway”

“No! I mean… maybe” Blaze seemed unsure for a second “But you can’t just rip his foreleg off! You know what Winter will do to us?”

“I don’t even know who this ‘Winter’ is”

“Ah, yes, right… Then if you know nothing, don’t make trouble!” Blaze took a few deep breaths “Alright, so Winter Storm is one of the gang leaders here in Lower Canterlot. This house is on his territory. So unless you can slice up a hundred more of his goons, we are in deep trouble”

“I’m not a warmage, I don’t know many area-effective spells, and casting any offensive spell so many times is too mana-consuming. I could probably curse them all to death given some time”

Blaze looked at him with an empty stare

“I thought you were strange, but you are straight-up insane. Just… give me a moment to think”

A minute passed with everyone in the room staring at Blaze with different amounts of fear and confusion

“I got it. I think. Gourd, go and tell Boulder's daughter that she has to stay with her aunt a bit longer. The rest of us will go and talk with Balanced Brick”

“Balanced Brick?” asked August

“He is another big shot here and he really doesn’t like Winter Storm. If we offer him a good deal, he will take us in just to spite him” Blaze gave August a sullen stare “My applause. You are here just a day, and depending on the outcome of these talks, you might have just set our flanks, or half of the Lower Canterlot, on fire”

Author's Note

And so the third chapter is here! Some socializing and then, unfortunately, another fight. I truly wanted this series to be more peaceful and slower, it’s just that August has such an uncompromising personality that he makes troubles wherever he goes until he gets what he wants. I hope it will all be over soon so I can tag this story as a slice-of-life comedy and write about the joys of friendship…

Yeah, unlikely. But I didn’t plan to have so much fighting and flying limbs in the first chapters. Hopefully, it doesn’t bother anyone too much, I tagged the story ‘violence’ from the beginning, knowing it would happen sooner or later. It just happened surprisingly quickly. I guess arrogant mages just have really punchable muzzles.

We also have the first chapter to make it past 4k words. When starting this story I wanted to make my chapters around 5-6k words, but I get too excited and want to post immediately after writing something. In the end, you get as much story as you would get otherwise, just in smaller bites.

Have an awesome day and I hope you continue reading

4 - Friends in low places

Blaze, Swirl, and August were walking down the street. The sun was high up, its rays pleasantly warming their backs and painting the street golden. August knew better than to be fooled by the serene surroundings. For a good while they were being followed. By whom and for what reason he could only speculate. His companions, despite lacking his arcane senses, also seemed tense, surely knowing that this deep into a gang’s territory they surely were under observation.

They soon saw a small group of ponies standing in their way, clearly waiting for them. A white pegasus with a blue mane and a fresh-looking scar on his neck walked ahead to meet them.

“Blaze Strike! Nice to see you again” he ignored everypony else and hugged Blaze with his wings.

Seeing that Blaze wasn’t surprised, August guessed they knew each other.

“Hi Stream Line. Listen, could we meet with Brick? Like, right now?” Stream Line took a step back and looked closely at Blaze and then August.

"You bring a strange unicorn with you and want to see the boss, eh? Listen, Blaze, I don’t think Brick will want to deal with something that even you didn’t want.”

“It’s not that, luckily. August Light here isn’t even from Canterlot. He is simply staying with us temporarily.”

“You found yourself a unicorn for your team? Does he know any good spells?”

“More of a tenant than a team member. The problem is Winter had enough of us and tried to throw us out.”

“So you decided to finally accept our offer and join us here at the Edge? Great, I’ve been waiting, so, so long for that! Let’s have a party tonight, I’ll show you some of our best pubs.” Stream Line didn’t try to hide how happy he was about it, despite the circumstances that forced Blaze to make such a decision.

“That’s not the full problem” Blaze hesitated for a moment “August here… might have cut off one of Iron’s legs and thrown him out when he came to evict us.”

That got the reaction from Stream Line and his ponies. They all looked at August with newfound respect, whispering among themselves.

“And here I thought that you were just some pampered noble” Stream Line approached August and bumped his hoof on the unicorn’s chest “You are a full-fledged mage, aren’t you?”

“Not fully fledged. I’m still a student. I never had my graduation ceremony” August explained, looking at the hoof still pressed against his chest and wondering if this was some local custom. He decided to simply ignore it.

“You have to have some skill to deal with Iron like that, an acknowledged mage or not” Stream Line stepped back and addressed Blaze again.

“I’ll take you to Brick. He always wanted to have you with us, and a competent mage is always welcome here. If you would like to join us, that is.”

“Not the kind of job I was imagining, but I’m willing to help if your demands do not prove too cumbersome. I will need a place and ingredients for my research. If you provide, I can help with any magic-related problem. Do not expect me to fight for you on the streets though.”

“Good enough for me. We will see if Brick agrees. Come.”

Stream Line turned around, Blaze walking right next to him with August and Swirl behind and the rest of Stream Line’s group, closing the small procession. After a few minutes of walking, interrupted only by Stream Line talking with Blaze about, from what August understood, some party he was at last week, they reached a small park, surprisingly well-maintained considering the part of the city it was in. It was even surrounded by a metal fence guarded by a pair of earth ponies. They nodded at Stream Line who nodded in return.

Their group made its way through lush trees and patches of colourful flowers. The whole park was empty and silent, the wind dancing among the leaves the only disruption. They soon approached the edge of the park, which also proved to be the edge of the town itself. A small viewing balcony above the cliff’s edge gave an amazing look at the plains surrounding the capital of Equestria.

From this height, August could see the surrounding villages he saw on the maps. Up to the horizon, the land was filled with colourful patches of different crops, undoubtedly tended to by farmers who made their living from sustaining the capital. There were no other mountains anywhere in sight, a strange occurrence as mountains rarely formed alone. Yet the only break in the blanket of fields and small houses was a large forest, growing defiantly in the hearth of the kingdom. Most likely a royal hunting grounds.

Next to the battlements, which also served as railings, stood a small table surrounded by four chairs. On one of them sat an orange earth pony with a short, brown mane, busy watching two small birds flying nearby.

“Brick,” started Stream Line “Blaze is here with an offer and some information. And a unicorn, named…eee…” he looked at August for help.

“August Light”

“Yes, August Light. An apprentice wizard”

Balanced Brick turns his head from the birds to the newly arrived. He raised his brows, as if surprised, but gave no other reaction. A short moment passed in silence before he finally spoke.

“Come, sit down Stream” he spoke slowly, but clearly, with a deep, calming voice “Welcome Blaze, Swirl, it’s been some time since we last met.” Brick stood up and extended his hoof to August.

“It’s nice to get to know you, August Light. I’m Balanced Brick”

August looked at the extended hoof, unsure what was expected of him. It’s not like he could grab it using his own hoof. Was he supposed to kiss it? Such a gesture was usually reserved for extremely specific circumstances and he never saw anyone do it here. He also never stood in front of a thug leader, neither in Equestria nor back home. He decided it would be best to simply ignore the extended hoof and use the fact of being from outside Equestria as a cover if needed.

“It is a pleasure, Balanced Brick” August answered after a few seconds of silence, bowing slightly. His current bow lacked the grace he learned in his previous form, as he tried to project the posture and movements from his old body to this one.

Seeing this, Brick finally lowered his hoof, watching August with interest in his eyes.

“Well then, Blaze, please, explain to me what brought you here in such an eccentric company”

“Winter is trying to kick me out of my home”

“I’m surprised it took so long for him to grow tired of you” Stream Line interjected

“I really don’t need the snark right now”

“I would love to help, but it’s a lot to ask for just to help you keep your house” Brick gave his answer.

“I wish it was that easy,” Blaze sighed “but August mutilated Iron Hooves when he told us to get out. I’m more afraid of losing my life now rather than losing a home”

“This guy?” asked Brick while looking at August with disbelief in his eyes. The unicorn looked prim and proper, pampered even. His manners, his words, everything screamed noble. And he supposedly maimed somepony?

“Despite how he looks, he is a quite skilled mage. Maybe best I’ve ever seen.”

“ You don’t need to advertise him so hard unless you can somehow make him work for me.”

“I’m willing to offer my help, in light of the fact that it was my rash action that aggravated the issue” interjected August.

“Huh, now, that changes things. Then sure, advertise him. I want to hear more.”

“Good mage, bad mouth, will insult ponies by accident.”

“A rather bland introduction. Put in some more effort, Blaze.”

“I told you all I know. You can ask the stallion himself.”

“Well then. You said you would offer your help. How far would that help extend?” Brick turned his attention to August.

“Consultations in matters of magic, protection against all magical threats, magical safety measures, and basic enchanting” August listed things he was willing to do here “All ingredients necessary have to be provided, small provision for each hour that a request takes. In exchange, I will need a place for my laboratory and help in acquiring any ingredients for my research. I will pay for them myself, but some of them may not be easily available”

“Hard bargain, but a trained mage is worth that. The question is, how well are you trained?”

“The best that there is”

“That is quite a confidence. I like it” one of the birds flew down and landed on Brick’s head “You managed to take down Iron, so I guess you are not just boasting. We have a deal for now, mister Light. Prove yourself and I'm sure we will have a long and fruitful cooperation.”

“Great, great. So, what about me?” Blaze indiscreetly steered the conversation back to her problem.

“I don’t want to deny you help, in the light of our past and you bringing Light here. You will have my protection and I won't butt into how you operate, but you know what I want in return. I made you this offer before.”

Blaze shifted on her legs, hesitating.

“I will have to ask her first. If she agrees, I can introduce you” she finally answered.

“All I ask for. Now, could you please give us a moment? I would like to talk to August Light, alone" Everyone started walking away before Brick spoke once more “Stream, you can stay.”

The pegasus obediently came back and took place behind his boss, who pulled three glasses from under the table.

“Some water? I wasn’t prepared for anypony coming to visit, so I unfortunately can’t provide anything else.”

“I’m grateful for the offer, but no."

“As you wish” Birck poured water for himself and Stream Line “I should be thanking you, honestly. It might have been Winter who forced Blaze to do this, but without you, she would have probably wiggled her way out” he took a sip of water and smiled “Now, I will finally have a shot at making my way to the upper city. First things first though. Winter. Stream, gather everypony.” Another sip “Despite his name, Winter has a hot temper, and he will try to retaliate against Blaze as soon as possible. We will try to catch him off guard then and turn the tides in our favour” Brick turned to August, still smiling “Unless you can cast a curse at him and spare us the hassle.”

August looked at the far horizon, lost in thoughts for a moment.

“I would need part of his body, preferably blood, a large diamond, a two-meter-wide slate of marble, and a chisel. Inferior materials would be acceptable if you would be satisfied with a non-lethal curse.”

“Ah, yes, um…” Balanced Brick quickly managed to control his expression “I don’t think it will be needed, but I will keep that in mind. Instead, I would much prefer you go personally.”

“I do not remember our agreement including errands.”

“It did not and it’s in no way required of you. I simply think it would be in your best interest.”

“I will be the one to judge that and I do not see how it would benefit me.”

“Let me explain then. While I’m sure we can deal with Winter, it will be a long, arduous process.” Brick circled the table, getting a little closer to August “But if we had an unexpected advantage, for example, a dangerous wizard, we could strike directly at their heart. We could end this whole dispute before the sun rises tomorrow.”

There was a lot of theatrics in the way that Brick spoke as if he was trying to give this situation more pathos than it deserved. August found it mildly entertaining.

“Indeed, that would be very beneficial for you. I still fail to see the benefits for me.”

“You could consider this an investment in your new business partner~” After a few seconds of silence from August, Brick continued “or you could consider it an investment in your own peace of mind. Like it or not, Winter will come for you. If not he personally, then Iron Hooves surely will, as soon as he is able.”

“I can easily deal with anything they try.”

“Yes, but why wait if you can deal with them right here and now before they get any chance to cause trouble?”

August took a moment to think about it. The logic was sound, and as much as he didn’t want to get dragged further into the problems of this city, Winter might already consider him an enemy and Iron considered him one for sure. The proposition sounded reasonable.

“Just this once. Consider it a favour from me.”

“I don't like favours, they are too dangerous. But I will remember your decision and make sure to show my gratitude in the future. Now, could you please join Blaze for a moment? If you need to do anything before we take on Winter, do it now. I have to organise everything with Stream, but then the game is on.”

“Of course” Still keeping his neutral expression, August stood up and walked towards Blaze and Swirl, who were currently enjoying a walk in the small park that surrounded them.

Stream Line and Balanced Brick watched the unicorn walk away, neither of them saying a word until he disappeared among the trees.

“Weird guy, don’t you think?” started Brick.

“Don’t you say, dude” came the answer, followed by silence “You think he was serious about that curse?”

“I’m not sure. Just keep in mind to never give him a marble slate.”

******

August found Blaze and Swirl standing next to a patch of bright red flowers that he couldn’t recognize. They were talking in hushed voices, one of Brick’s ponies standing just outside of hearing range and watching them. Hearing hoovesteps behind them they both turned around, but after seeing August they relaxed.

“What exactly did you promise Balanced Brick?” asked August who, curious by nature, always abhorred not having answers “I saw people sell their souls with less hesitation on their faces.”

They seemed confused, so he quickly explained.

“I never actually saw anyone sell their soul. It was a joke.”

His words seemed to do little to reassure them, judging by the look they gave him.

“Maybe my master was right, I should give up on humour and stick to the arcane” August sighed.

“No, it’s not that, it’s just… no, never mind. You wanted to know what my deal with Brick was?”

“If you could sate my curiosity, yes.”

“Remember how we met? That unicorn from upper city, Leaf, was with us.”

“I do remember”

“The important part of that is that he was from the upper city. Usually, nobles don’t want to associate with ponies like us, but sometimes they need our services. Most of them prefer to hire lower-city unicorns, or just send their own servants incognito. The only other way to get picked is to have someone in the upper city recommend you. And we happen to have a ‘friend’ amongst the nobility. That’s how we get our best jobs. Brick wants to contact them and get a hoovehold amongst nobles.”

“I thought no one here wants the attention of nobles. Was that not the reason that Winter tried kicking you out?”

“You are right, most ponies are content here, they don’t want more troubles than they can handle” Blaze cast a quick glance at the earth pony that was watching them and lowered her voice even more “Brick on the other hand wants to elevate himself. He is smart, but also a tad too ambitious. Sooner or later he will trip. That’s why I didn’t join him in the past”

“Why do it now then?”

Blaze snorted, which sounded more like a horse than a human. August was caught off guard by animal noise coming from someone with whom he was having a normal conversation.

“Back then I had a choice. Now, if not for Brick, Winter will break my wings.”

“You could leave the city. Do something else”

“I have friends here, I was born in this city. At my age finding a job in another place without any education or experience and with a doubtful background would be almost impossible. Outside of Canterlot the best I could land is working on some backwater farm.” Blaze took a few deep breaths “I’ve spent my whole life here. All my memories are here. I lived in this city, against the wishes of many, despite everything they did to try to get rid of me. I’m not going anywhere!”

Blaze seemed to be getting more and more agitated with each word. Her wings even spread slightly, likely a sign of aggression, as was the case with some other winged creatures. She seemed ready to continue her tirade with even the smallest prompting, but August decided that her personal story wasn’t of much interest to him.

Using her current silence, he took a few steps back, using distance to show he was no longer interested in talking. Not the most polite method, but hopefully direct enough that even she will understand. He took his eyes off her, watching the nearby patch of grass instead, intrigued by the fact that it seemed greener than the grass back home. While enjoying the local flora, something else caught his attention. He focused on Swirl, who was sitting nearby, looking up close at a patch of flowers. He studied her form for a moment. He had no problems with walking, but lying down proved unpleasant and sitting was an uncharted territory. He tried to imitate the position, sitting down, slowly repositioning his legs and torso, trying to find some comfort.

His attempts were interrupted by an angry-sounding Blaze.

“Excuse me? I thought we were talking. Why in Tartarus would you sit down and stare at Swirl? Are her hindquarters that much more interesting than our conversation?”

“You seemed to only grow more and more angry. I decided that it would be better to give you some time to calm down.” August explained, using telekinesis to slightly shift his hoof.

“And you thought that ogling my friend is a good way to do that?”

“I’m not ogling anyone. I’m trying something out” he heard one of his joints pop quietly.

“Trying something out? Trying something out!? How about I try and…” Blaze paused and took a deep breath “No, Blaze, calm yourself. He’s just an idiot. Wizard idiot. Powerful wizard idiot.” Another few deep breaths “I’m going for a quick flight, I’ll be right back.”

Distraction gone, August returned to his attempts at untangling his limbs. Unfortunately, Swirl took the silence as an invitation to start talking.

“Forgive Blaze, she has a short fuse.”

“I understand” Wait, her legs were positioned more like… this. Much better.

“Especially when she talks about politics and her family... history. Sometimes I’m afraid that she will one day try to burn down the city hall.”

“Politics are always controversial” he did it. Now he had to figure out how sitting on a chair worked.

“She is a good mare in her heart. Great friend.”

“Without a doubt” that Brick guy was sitting down on a chair. How was he doing it?

“Seriously, could you stop staring?” August finally heard the clear displeasure in Swirl's voice

“Ah, yes, of course” August stood up “I’m done anyway.”

“Do I even want to know what you are done with?”

August was no longer listening. Not like he was paying much attention before. He found a place nearby where he could see the place where Brick and Stream Line were sitting and talking. They were quite far away, but it was nothing that a small sight enchantment couldn’t mitigate.

This got the attention of an earth pony guarding them. Not wanting to get in trouble with the weird unicorn, he approached Swirl first.

“What is he doing?”

“Don’t ask me. Checking if he likes Canterlot stallions?”

At this moment August started bending his legs in some weird shapes.

“Is this his yoga routine or something?”

“I have no idea. I have known him less than a day”

August, still busy doing his weird poses, started suddenly levitating a few inches above the ground. It did not help with his movements, they only got weirder and wilder.

“You know what? As long as he is not throwing fireballs, I’m fine.” The guard turned around and went back to his post

This left Swirl alone, waiting with anticipation where will this lead. A unicorn, levitating in the air, weird gestures. Surely, it will all lead to some amazing spell. Hopefully not a fireball, that park was nice. The best in Lower City.

With a gust of wind, Blaze landed next to Swirl. She took a quick look at August and sighed.

“What is he up to now?”

“Who knows? I hope something cool.”

They stood side by side, calmly looking at the weird mage.

“Nice flank though” commented Swirl.

“You should be happy your coltfriend can’t hear you”

“I don’t hear you disagreeing.”

“Meh, I’ve seen better.”

“I know. I saw you looking at the last Wonderbolts show.”

Author's Note

Hello there everypony. I'm back, hopefully for longer. I finally managed to gather enough motivation to start posting again. The good news is that I have a few chapters ahead mostly written, they are just waiting for some editing. The bad news is that it is always the hardest part for me.
I love writing, it feels great to finally get a story from out of my head and into the paper (metaphorical one in this case). Editing lacks that feeling, it mostly boils down to a tedious hunt for small mistakes and little fixes. And trust me, there are a lot of them. Most of the dots in each chapter were added only in the edit and I still find some of them missing.
It also forces me to read my own work again, and nothing makes me cringe harder than that.
Alright, enough complaining. I'm honestly just stalling at this point.
Have an awsome day and I hope you will continue reading.

5 - Winter's fall

Attempts to replicate a proper sitting posture ended in failure. Side effects included a stretched tendon. Irritating, considering that now August had to keep up with his companion with a slight limp. They weren't walking slowly either. Stream Line and August were on their way to meet with a team that Brick had organised to attack Winter’s headquarters.

To appease August, Brick agreed to limit his help only to the two unicorns that Birck had as bodyguards. They could just consider them a magical threat under their original agreement. August went with this complicated logic to draw clear lines and keep himself separated from the rest of Brick’s operation. Brick went with this because he didn’t care enough.

For his help, August was promised a place for his laboratory, payments for any tasks completed, and a promise he wouldn’t be bothered without a sufficient reason. He also got something extra for the help he was going to provide today with the attack, his first commission as Brick called it: a hefty sack of golden coins, called bits, and saddlebags to keep them in.

It was a weird feeling, having something on your back like this. August started thinking about different designs for carrying things, yet this species, while better than horses, still lacked the mobility and convenience of arms and hands that humans had. Saddlebags were most likely the best way, after all these ponies had hundreds or even thousands of years to perfect such simple tools. There was little chance he could think of something better than they had. He will just have to get used to this.

His irritated expression and weird movements as he tried to adjust his saddlebags were apparently misinterpreted as nervousness.

“Don’t worry, if you’re as amazing as Blaze said, I’m sure it will be easy for you, even if you don’t have much fighting experience” Stream Line put his wing around August and gave him a light squeeze with it “Those two can’t cast anything greater than a cheap fireball.”

“Why drag me into this then?” August took a step to the side to shake off Stream’s wing. Those ponies seemed to like physical contact far too much.

“Well, nopony wants to be the one to get hit with that fireball. Happened once, poor dude had to spend a month in a hospital.”

“Truly a cheap fireball if they even managed to get him to the hospital,” August thought for a moment, recalling his memories “I think I heard someone mention him yesterday.”

“Who?” Stream Line looked at him, surprised.

“Dude.”

“What?”

“Dude. I think I heard someone mention him.”

“Yeah, but who are we talking about?” Stream Line was getting more and more lost.

“Dude?”

“What dude?

“It’s not a name?” August was slowly coming to the conclusion that he was making a fool of himself.

“Noooo…?”

“Then forget that this conversation happened.”

Despite feeling like an idiot, this interaction had one unexpected boon for August – the atmosphere was awkward enough that Stream Line finally stopped talking and even started walking a step further away.

In this blessed silence, August enjoyed their walk much more. Sun was still in the sky and while Lower Canterlot lacked the astounding architecture, it had much more greenery and much less noise. It was a rare occasion for August to enjoy a quiet stroll. The only thing souring his mood was the fact that soon he would have to fight. He hated fighting. Even more so now that he had to fight with some local thieves. This whole conflict was far beneath him.

As soon as this was over, he should start working on the way home. It will take some time and there should already be a new High Scion by the time he returns, but as long as his master is still alive he should be able to easily take back his place.

He will also need to find someone more influential than the gang that was currently backing him. There is no way they will be able to provide all that he needed. Maybe he should think about getting official recognition as a wizard in this land? Surely, they must have procedures in place for recognising new mages without having them go through years of magic kindergarten first.

“We are here” Stream Line disrupted August’s thoughts, stopping in front of a small, unassuming house and knocking on the door in a weird rhythm. The doors opened soon after and Stream and August walked into a room filled with about two dozen ponies.

August was surprised as the ponies gathered here finally looked like actual thugs. He could see a lot of scars and signs of past trauma and they were all armed with simple weapons, mostly knives, short swords and clubs. Unlike all the other ponies he met so far, they also had a dangerous glint in their eyes, that suggested that staying in a back alley with them alone was a bad idea.

August was satisfied with what he saw. He didn’t really believe that those ponies knew how to fight, but this sight gave him a slim hope that his new companions weren’t as inept as he feared.

While August was taking a look around, Stream Line was approached by a muscular, white pegasus.

“Hi Stream” the two ponies bumped hooves “This is the wizard we get?”

“Yup. Stray Ray, meet August Light. August, meet Stray Ray. She will be leading today” Stream Line introduced them to each other.

Ray had a light blue mane and tail and her fur was white enough to blind someone when looking at her in the sun. August was sure that long hours of care were put to keep her fur like that. Overall, she seemed far too bright, which ill-suited August. He preferred calm, toned colours. Like grey.

Ray also took a moment to look at August and then extended her hoof towards him “Nice to meet you”

Copying Stream Line, August carefully bumped his hoof with Ray “Pleasure is mine. I hope our cooperation is fruitful”

“I’m sure it will. I wanted to punch Winter in his stupid muzzle for years. Thanks for providing me a chance. Come, I’ll get you some water before we go out”

Ray led them to a long table and poured them both a cup of water.

“So, August, or do you prefer Light?” Ray started a conversation after they sat down

“August, please. I do not think anyone ever called me Light” August picked his glass with magic. He wasn’t sure if it was safe, but he was thirsty and those ponies didn’t look like the kind of people that dabbled with poisons. Magic wasn’t that reliable when it came to this, but he cast a quick poison-detecting spell, more for his own comfort than usefulness.

“Then, August, what kind of help will you be providing”

“He will take down the unicorns, nothing more, nothing less” Stream Line answered.

“Really? Are you just gonna stand and watch after that?”

“My agreement with Brick states that I only provide help with magical threats. I am not going to partake in your wars. The only reason I am even here is that a quick end to this conflict is convenient to me."

"Oh, come on! I thought that a wizard willing to go and bash some heads would be at least a bit fun."

"Why does everyone expect me to be some unhinged sociopath?”

“It’s the face, I bet” Ray said with a grin.

“Maybe it has something to do with you proposing we curse Winter to death?” Stream Line gave him a deadpan look

“He can do that? Then why in Tartarus are we even bothering with this attack?”

“We lack a marble slab” Stream’s disapproving gaze strongly suggested that Ray should shut up.

“Well, August, you might be stiff, but you are still cool” she pat him on the back, with enough force to almost send him crashing down onto the table “Let’s go, we’ve got some bastards to beat”

The ponies around the room shouted various battle cries, everyone picked up whatever weapon they had and went outside.

******

“Say, please, should we not maintain some stealth? Going like this through the middle of the street seems, to me, counterintuitive” asked August as their small group crossed another street.

“It’s not like we can avoid being spotted” answered Stream Line “Most ponies here know our muzzles and know we work for Brick. We just have to get there before Winter manages to get more ponies, beat everypony and get out.

“And will this be enough to end this war? Beating one pony up seems too simple”

“Reputation is probably the most important factor for anypony here. What kind of reputation would Winter have left after he gets jumped and beaten in his own home? He will probably just leave the city if he has any decency left”

“Putting your hopes on someone's decency is rather foolish. I would suggest killing or at least maiming him. It would be the more permanent solution”

“No! We can’t go around killing ponies.” Stream Line said, slightly louder than he probably intended.

Ray, who up to this moment was busy looking around and seemed more focused on their mission than a chat August was having with Stream Line, turned her head towards them and started listening with interest.

“Why not?”

Stream Line focused, searching for a good reason to give. He quickly dismissed appealing to August's decency, he understood enough about the wizard to know how that would end.

“The guards. The guards might intervene if ponies start dying.” He finally gave his answer, proud of himself for thinking of something. Maybe he just saved a few lives.

“Hmmm. Understandable” August nodded his head.

They continued their quick march, uninterrupted. All of them started to feel the pressure of the upcoming fight. They were all searching for signs of ambush, their hoofs quite often wandering close to their weapons. Only August seemed to be lost in his own world.

When they finally arrived at the front of a large warehouse, even August finally lifted his head.

******

Unimpressive. That was the first word that came to August's mind. The place that Brick chose for a meeting was at least scenic and had its own, unique beauty. This was nothing. He expected one of the more powerful ponies among the locals to have at least some sense of decorum. Brick had. Why Winter could not? Will they really have to fight inside some dirty warehouse?

With some hope left, August sent a scanning spell through the building, hoping that the dreary front was only a cover for more interesting insides. His hopes were soon bashed, as while the inside of the building wasn’t filled with wares only, it consisted mostly of a storage area and maybe a dozen small rooms.

While doing so, he also scanned for any living beings inside. He counted almost thirty, but couldn’t tell more without stopping for a few minutes and focusing on casting some more potent spells.

“Thirty enemies. We seem to be outnumbered”

“That many? Are you sure?” asked Stream Line

“I do not usually open my mouth if I am unsure”

“Bah, we can be outnumbered, but we are not outmatched. It’s just more heads to bash for each of us” Ray declared, grabbing a spear she was carrying on her back as her group answered with various enthusiastic shouts.

“Great enthusiasm, everypony” Stream Line leaned closer to August and whispered “Hey, can you get us all inside somehow? Like, teleport us in or something? I don’t fancy crossbow bolt to my muzzle”

“Blind teleport would be wasteful and dangerous. I can cover your entrance, but that is beyond what I was tasked to do”

“Oh, come on, don’t be so stingy! You are here already, what problem is it to cast one more spell?”

“Mages don’t work for free. I’m willing to negotiate”

“Okay, fine. What do you want?” Stream Line asked with exasperation.

“Nothing you currently have. Consider what I will do a favour, and keep in mind that one day I will come to collect it”

“Open-ended deals like that are the most dangerous”

“It will be nothing beyond your capabilities, that I can promise. Also, despite what you might think, I usually do not demand firstborn as a payment”

“You would be rather late for that, my firstborn was born many years ago.”

“Truly?” August looked at Stream Line, trying to guess his age.

“Hey, enough of that. Are you ready?” Ray interrupted them.

“Yeah, we are” Stream Line confirmed “You got a deal. Now, show me what you got.”

“Great” August smiled a predatory smile that made Stream Line question his decision to owe a favour to this wizard.

******

Winter and his closest friends and advisors were all hidden behind a small barricade of crates and barrels, aiming varied weapons at the only door leading to the storage part of their hideout. He knew that sending a full squad to burn down Blaze Strikes house and capture the new unicorn that lives with her wasn’t the best idea, but he wanted to make an example. He didn’t think that Brick would have the balls to attack him directly.

Even now he still couldn’t believe it. To send only two dozen ponies to take him down, even if one of them was Stray Ray, was a joke. He will gladly prove that to Brick. Stained Page and Distant Sun were on his sides, ready to shower the attacker with spells. Winter and his two personal guards were wearing chainmail and helmets, a hefty investment a few years back, but one that saved his flank many times. Usually, Iron Hooves would be here too, also armoured, but right now he was at the Canterlot Hospital.

He felt his lips go dry and quickly ran over them with his tongue. He fought many times but never seemed to be able to get rid of the anxiety that caught him right before it started. He slowly waved his wings up and down, trying to cool himself down a bit.

With a surprisingly quiet ‘pop’, the wall next to them disappeared, revealing a group of armed ponies that instantly rushed into the newly formed breach.

Few ponies kept enough clarity of mind to fire their crossbows into the approaching group, but the bolts lost their momentum as soon as they left the strings and fell uselessly. A ball of fire shot straight onto Stray Ray only to reach her as a gust of hot air.

That was as much as Winter could observe the fight, as the white pegasus rushed straight at him, a flap of her wings sending her charging spear first. An attack that could easily be deadly, but they both knew it was far too little to take Winter down.

His sword shot forward and redirected the thrust to the side. He tried to step forward and close the distance, but Ray had already retreaded, the point of her spear once more threatening to strike. Winter knew better than to try and attack first. In the chaos of the fight that had just begun there was little place to manoeuvre, much less to fly, so he was forced to be passive and wait for his chance.

Ray probed his defence, her spear darting back and forth, trying to get a reaction out of him. His blade followed her movements, always threatening, always ready for even the smallest mistakes. Ray moved in, her spear following through instead of retreating. Winter pushed ahead, letting the spear slide off his chainmail, bruising his ribs as his sword searched for his opponent. Yet before he reached a close enough distance, Ray retreated, her spear point once more threatening, forcing Winter to disengage or risk another hit.

The chance appeared in the form of one of his guards finding a free moment to attack Ray from the side. She dodged the slash aimed at her with a simple step back, getting out of reach of the sword and then followed with a swipe with the blunt side of the spear. The attack was, despite landing right in the chest, blunted by the armour and only sent the attacker back.

The tip of her spear was still aimed at Winter, always ready to strike, knowing that he was the biggest threat here. He knew though, that this distraction was the best chance he might get, so he jumped ahead. Ray retreated and poked with her spear, trying to force him back, but her guard was slightly off after the attack she just defended against. Winter pushed the spear aside and slipped past it, giving himself enough space to leave a gush at Ray’s left foreleg, the sudden pain almost making her drop her weapon.

He knew it was his moment, as he stepped closer, chasing after desperately retreating Ray, preparing to deliver a thrust that will surely end this fight, but his eagerness was his undoing – he moved too fast and got too close, as Ray dropped her spear and delivered a powerful hoovetrike right to his muzzle. Winter staggered back, with tears in his eyes.

They both disengaged, Ray, picking up her spear and preparing to defend herself with her left foreleg injured and Winter, wiping off the blood that started flowing from his nose and taking a look around. While his ponies were managing the fight well, their numbers compensating for their subpar skill, Distant Sun was lying unconscious on the ground, his horn smoking lightly. Never a good sign for a unicorn. He quickly located Stained Page, who, horn aglow, was standing in front of an unknown, grey unicorn, tired but still fighting… until he suddenly collapsed, without the slightest sound.

Winter understood where Brick found the confidence to attack him like that – he found a wizard willing to help him, maybe even finally sold himself to somepony in the upper city, like he always wanted. Winter knew that his time was growing short, he needed to deal with that unicorn immediately.

He looked back at Ray. Despite her injury, she had a better weapon. Even in a tight space like that, a spear gave her a reach advantage that he couldn’t just ignore. He could defeat her, surely, but it would take time. Time he didn’t have. He needed to take a risk. And despite their equal martial prowess, there was one thing he was much better at – flying.

He rushed straight at Ray. Her spear moved forward, aimed at him, keeping him at a distance. He noticed that she was slower, her long weapon harder to use with an injured foreleg. He moved his sword as if he was going to push her spear aside, but before they clashed, he flapped his wings and jumped into the air, above her spear. He sailed past her guard and aimed a wide slash at her neck.

He saw her eyes get wider, but they were still glued to his blade. His strike was too slow, he knew this from the beginning. If that was all, she had plenty of room to dodge that attack. So, with great effort, he moved his wings again and spun in the air. His sword barely missed the low ceiling as it accelerated, helped by the twist of his whole body. A show of skill that would fit more in an acrobatics show rather than a fight. Nonetheless, successful. Ray had no time to react, as Winters's sword cut the air, aimed at her neck. He knew she might not survive that, but at this point, he was fighting for his whole life's work. He wasn’t going to give up without giving it his all.

His sword stopped with a muted clank, as the air itself seemingly solidified and deflected the attack. Winters's momentum was stopped, dropping him, surprised and unprepared on the ground, where Ray immediately struck him with the blunt side of her spear into his throat, between the helmet and his armour, making him fall to the ground coughing and choking.

******

After Winter fell, his ponies lost most of their will to fight. Few ran away, others were quickly defeated after Ray joined the fight. August stood back, next to the hole he made, watching everyone else running around, taking care of injured or taking stock of what was in the warehouse.

The whole thing seemed like a cordial affair, far distanced from what usually happened to the defeated back in his homeworld. Here, after the fight was over, everyone seemed to forget that any fight happened. The defeated were disarmed, but after that, they were just placed in a remote corner and left to tend to their injured. Both sides didn’t lack those. Fortunately, no one has approached him yet to ask for help.

Aaaand, he jinxed it. Here comes Ray.

“You alright?”

“I am well enough. I did not do much”

“Just wanted to say thanks for help. Winter caught me off guard”

“Happens to the best of us”

“Yeah, true. But what happened with the stingy mage that only does the bare minimum that ripped off Stream just minutes ago? I thought you were only here for the unicorns” She bumped him shoulder to shoulder with a wide grin.

“I told Brick that I would help with any magic. And for me, it must be a miracle that someone can be so cocky and get beaten so easily.”

“Ouch. Thanks anyway. You aren’t half bad, just stop looking so constipated all the time.”

With one last deadpan glare from August, Ray went back to her ponies, a stupid grin still on her muzzle. After that, August came to the conclusion that it was enough interacting with ponies for today. He approached Stream Line, who was busy going through a massive tome.

“I have done my part. Do you need anything else or can I go now?”

Stream Line lifted his gaze from the book.

“No, you can go if you want. We will be going soon too.”

“Great. I wish you a pleasant eve.”

Stream Line ignored the weird goodbye and only muttered something under his nose.

Just a few minutes later, he was interrupted again, once more by August.

“What’s the problem now?” he asked, preparing for another dose of August’s weirdness.

“I… seem to have forgotten the way back to Blaze’s house.”

They ended up returning together.

Author's Note

Hello everypony. I’m back with another chapter and with the first proper fight scene in this series. Focused on Ray and Winter, as honestly, August wasn’t doing anything interesting. Also, writing cool fights between mages is much harder. I tried to keep it short and sweet, as fights us should be, and would love to hear your opinions, for I thought long and hard about how I would like to present fights in my prose.

Anyway, it might be a while before we get another fight scene. With August having his own place now, he will hopefully stop beating up all those poor ponies. That bastard. If he keeps going on I will have to think about changing the tag to mature.

Have an awesome day and I hope you will continue reading.