Evoker

I had just gotten a first-hand look at pony magic, and I would be lying if I said it wasn’t impressive.  Their magic is almost completely designed to help others.  In my world, someone with a talent in healing was rare.  Here, Twilight opens up to the right page in a book, casts a spell, and I no longer have a gash in my shoulder.

After that, we began to put the plan into motion.  I couldn’t do much without getting discovered and possibly starting a panic, so Twilight and Fluttershy got some supplies together.  Food, water, and other essentials mostly.  I didn’t just sit around and do nothing though.  I had something else to take care of.

I was standing close to the Everfree Forest behind Fluttershy’s cottage, hopefully far enough out of the way that no visitors would see me.  Fluttershy assured me that she didn’t get visitors very often, but I didn’t want to take any chances.  I closed my eyes and calmed my thoughts as I prepared to do something I didn’t want to do.

Calling upon me so soon?  And here I thought you weren’t going to take up my offer.Her voice resonated in my mind with a self-satisfied tone, and I had to bite back a bitter response.  I was asking for her help after all.

‘I am not taking you up on your offer,' I thought back to her.  'I want to know how to create a blast of force.  You said before that, with my current restrictions on you, the most I could learn would be a blast of force.  Teach me that.’

You still deny yourself the power I can give you?  You are unlike any of your kind that I have met before.  Very well.  I will teach you what you want to know.  Just remember, you can do so much more.

‘I’ll keep that in mind,’ I thought to her.  ‘Now how is it done?’

You will need to focus your mind and reach out for the energy in the world around you.  It shouldn’t be too hard for a mage of your strength.  Remember, you are not reaching for elemental forces to direct.  You are reaching for pure energy to focus and control.  It will fight you, but you must be stronger.

I listened to what she had to say and began to try it.  I focused my mind and began to reach out and gather the magic I needed.  It didn’t seem as hard as she made it out to be.  The magic did try to disperse almost as soon as I had gathered it, but I was able to keep it together to a certain point.  If I gathered too much I lost all control and had to start again.  After a few minutes, I had finally found the most I could gather without losing control.

‘Now what?’

That should have been more difficult.She almost sounded surprised.  This world seems to have much more ambient magic than your own.

‘Yeah, real interesting, but what do I do now that I’ve gathered the energy?’

Aim it and set it loose.  And with that I felt her consciousness fade back into the depths of my mind.

It sounded simple enough, so I tried it out.  To say my first attempt didn’t go well was an understatement.  It was not as simple as she made it out to be.  I focused on a direction and set loose the magic…only to have a burst of force happen right in front of me and knock me backwards a few feet.  I could just imagine her laughter at my first attempt.  Or maybe she was really laughing?

As I dusted myself off, I decided it didn’t matter.  I wasn’t going to ask her for any more help.  I had the basics idea of what to do.  Now I just had to experiment until I get the results I wanted.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was a few hours before I finally got passable results.  I made my way back to Fluttershy’s cottage to wait for the girls.  As it turns out they were ready to go.  They had all the supplies together, and the only thing they were waiting on was me.

“Are you girls sure you want to do this?  I’m not sure how much danger you are used to, but this is probably going to be pretty bad.”

Fluttershy and Twilight gave me a look that seemed to ask if I was serious and I sighed.  I knew I wasn’t going to be able to change their minds, but it was worth a try.

“Trust me, we’ve faced worse than this,” Twilight assured me.  “We always come out alright in the end.”

“When this is over you two are going to have to tell me what you’ve faced that’s worse than a rogue fire spirit that wants to burn me and everything around me to the ground,” I said with a slight smile.  “Right now our plan is simple.  Twilight, you hold a barrier around us so we can move through the fire to get to Singed.  Fluttershy, you keep a lookout to make sure nothing sneaks up on us.  I will be ready with my magic for when we find Singed.”

Quietly, Fluttershy said, “That sounds pretty simple.  Why are you so worried that something will go wrong?  If you don’t mind me asking.”

“I don’t mind at all.  And I am worried because in my experience it is better to expect something to go wrong and have everything go perfectly than it is to expect everything to go perfectly and have something go wrong.”

“Oh, that makes sense, I guess.”

“If there are no more questions, then I believe we should head out.”

At this Twilight spoke up, “I have one last question.  How will we find your fire spirit inside a massive forest fire?”

“We most likely won’t find him.  He’ll probably find us.  That is why Fluttershy is keeping a lookout.  Now, are we ready to go?”

Twilight pulled out a long roll of parchment from her saddlebags with her magic and gave it a quick look over.  When she was satisfied, she said, “Yes, I believe we are ready to go.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It had taken the rest of the day and part of the night to make it to the base of Canterlot Mountain.  We had to stay away from the roads to make sure I wasn’t seen, but we finally made it.  The burning forest and the dimly lit landscape around it was an eerie sight.  We were wary of going into the forest now, so we decided to make camp and go in before sunrise the next morning.  It was a beautiful night, so we decided to just lie on the ground and fall asleep under the stars.

Twilight and Fluttershy had already fallen asleep, but I just couldn’t sleep knowing that I could be walking to my death in just a few hours.  I had faced death many times before, but never as vulnerable as I am now.  I could only hope that my new friends would help me get through this.  And if they couldn’t, I could only hope that they survive.

I could make out the shapes of pegasi flying over the fire and pushing around clouds.  They were creating a rainstorm that would only target the fire.  I was amazed at the control these ponies had over their world.  I hoped it would be enough, but I knew it wouldn’t be.

The last time a fire spirit had gone rogue in my world, it took four mages with strong water spirits, including myself at the time, to stop it.  Even then we weren’t fast enough, and it had consumed an entire village and a large amount of the surrounding farmland.  Those who escaped were left with nothing but the clothes on their backs.  Others weren’t so lucky.  I prayed to whatever deities this world may have that something like that wouldn’t happen here.

Finally, I closed my eyes and went to sleep.  And in my dreams, I saw those who were lost before and promised them I wouldn’t let it happen again, no matter what.