Evoker

I awoke to the familiar sight of Fluttershy’s living room.  The sun was streaming in from the window, so I assumed it was at least noon.  Now I just needed to figure out how long I was out.  I had used up far too much energy in the fight and the subsequent spell to remove the magic from the blaze engulfing the forest, even if most of the magic from the latter spell came from Singed.  I was now in the familiar position of being mostly without magic as well.  All I needed was a pony I hadn’t met yet walking into the room and talking about me and it would be déjà vu.

Almost as soon as I had thought that, I heard faint voices from outside.  I recognized Fluttershy and Twilight, but there was a third voice that I didn’t recognize.

“I thought I would stop by and see how our injured friend is doing,” said the voice I didn’t recognize.  “Has he woken up yet, or is he still unconscious due to his exertions?”

I began to walk out to show them that I was awake, but I stopped when I heard Twilight begin to speak.

“He hasn’t woken up yet Princess.  I hope he didn’t overdo it too much.”  I could hear the concern in her voice as she went on.  “He helped save a lot of lives and a lot of property, and he put himself in harm’s way to do it.  I am grateful for what he did, but I hope he didn’t hurt himself badly in the process.”

At this, Fluttershy spoke up.  “I checked on him after we got back to my house, and I didn’t see any serious physical wounds.  If anything, he’s just exhausted after expending so much energy.”

To be honest, I was shocked that the princess of an entire nation would be coming down to check on me.  I was used to problems like this, although not without my full power to back me up.  It was the job of me and my fellow mages to deal with problems like this.  The high mages would never have come to check on us after an incident.  We were mostly expendable.

‘I guess they do things different here.  Good to know, even if I’m not staying very long.’

I was also nervous about meeting this princess, but I knew there was no avoiding it.  Putting on what I hoped was a look of confidence; I opened the door, much to the surprise of Twilight and Fluttershy who both thought I was still asleep.  On the other hand, the tall, white pony with wings, a horn, and a flowing, multicolored mane, who I assumed was the princess, only had a small smile on her face, as if she had been expecting me to come through the door at any moment.

Taking advantage of the momentary silence, I spoke up.  “Don’t worry about me.  I’m fine.  A little sore and temporarily without any magic more complicated than telekinesis, but fine.  But thank you for your concern.”  I then turned towards the princess, knelt, and said, “It is a pleasure to meet you your highness.  I am Evoker.”

At this her smile got a little larger and she said, “Rise Evoker.  It is my pleasure to meet the visitor to our land who so readily decided to help me and my little ponies.  If there is anything I can do in return, you need only ask.”

“The only thing I need your highness is some rest before I can be on my way.  I was happy to help, and it allowed me to move one step further on my own quest.”

Suddenly, Fluttershy spoke up.  “Wait, you’re already planning on leaving?  Isn’t there a way you can stay here for a while and build up your strength?”

“Fluttershy’s right,” Twilight agreed.  “What if you run into another situation like this one?  You had only just recovered from your trip here and we only went after Singed because time was of the essence.  It ended with you passed out, and now you want to go through that again?”

They both had good points, but time was still of the essence.  I had no clue what was going on back in my world.  Whoever or whatever was framing me was still there, and I needed to get back to full strength soon.  Still, it wouldn’t end well for me if I did run into another situation like this.  The only reason I made it through this time was because I had Twilight and Fluttershy with me.

“I could afford to stay for a little while.  But time is still of the essence.  I need to get back to full power and return to my world as soon as I can.”

A look of relief spread over Twilight and Fluttershy’s faces.  I could stay in this world for a little while.  I just had to stay out of the way and regain my strength.

The princess cleared her throat, bringing attention back to her.  “Now that that’s settled I want to once again thank you for your help.  Many lives were saved thanks to your intervention.  But now I must take my leave.  There are matters that require my attention back in Canterlot.”

Before she could leave however, a thought occurred to me.  “Wait a moment.  I have something I need to ask.  How are the ponies that were taken over by Singed?  How bad are their injuries?”

A sad look crossed her face, but I hoped that it didn’t mean the worst.  “They are in the hospital getting the best care available.  I expect them all to be released within the next few weeks, although one of them will be out in a few days.  Two of them had concussions and some cracked ribs, but nothing more serious than that.”

I let out a sigh of relief.  “Thank you for letting me know Princess.  I was hoping they weren’t hurt too badly.  It wasn’t their fault after all.”

“It is no trouble at all.  Now if there is nothing else, I must be going.”

With that said, there was a flash of light and she was gone.  I released a breath I didn’t know I was holding and felt some of the tension flow out of my body.  She may have been amicable, but meeting royalty is still a little stressful.  Fluttershy at least seemed to share my thoughts, if her body language was any indication.

We headed back inside and I listened to Twilight and Fluttershy talk while I subtly deflected any questions that were aimed at me.  I wasn’t ready to discuss certain things yet, and I felt tired and a little distracted.  Soon it became late and Twilight bid us goodnight.  Once again I laid down on the couch in Fluttershy’s living room and went to sleep.

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Once again I found myself in the landscape of my own mind.  This time however, the landscape had more to it.  The sunlight and heat that had been absent before were back.  In the distance I could see smoke and volcanoes.  I had definitely reclaimed my fire magic.

I decided not to call upon Singed just yet.  I had nothing to ask of him after all, and to call upon him would be seen as gloating.  I decided to once again call upon Azrael.  With a small effort of thought, she once again appeared before me.

You called my host?  I must say, I am glad you survived.  Who knew those ponies had so much in them.

“I’m glad I survived as well.  And once again I am in need of your help.  Not in power, but in instruction.”

I know.  You wish to be able to see beyond the veil, into the void where all of creation is visible, in hopes of being able to see where you must go next.  And then you want instructions on how to travel once you’ve decided on your destination.

“Exactly.  Now tell me what I need to know.”

Of course my host.  It is a simple enough spell.  You must gather energy like you learned earlier, but this time you must use it as a blade, to cut through the veil.  The veil tends to be thin in most worlds, mainly due to the abundance of magic, so you won’t need much energy.  Next, the energy must be directed to stabilize the cut you’ve made, otherwise it will collapse in upon itself and close.  Since you aren’t using as much energy as an energy blast, it isn’t as difficult to control, but you need to pay much more attention to it.  As for travel, you simply send a line of energy to the world you wish to go to, create a portal and connect them.

“I wasn’t expecting you to be so straightforward.”

Nothing is straightforward my host.  Good luck.

And with that she vanished.  I decided to disregard that last bit and actually get some rest.

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The next few days were relatively uneventful.  I practiced the portal spell and helped Fluttershy with her animals.  The spell was more difficult than I thought it would be, but I was making progress.  Twilight would occasionally stop by, but she always seemed distracted.  Whenever we asked about it, all she said was that she was doing research.  She wouldn’t explain any further than that, and we decided not to ask about it.

Finally, late one night after Fluttershy had gone to bed, I put all my practice to work and attempted the portal spell.  The inky black tear in the fabric of reality soon became a perfect circle.  As I worked the magic and poured a little more energy into it, the void came into view.

I was speechless.  It was as deep and infinite as the night sky, filled with an immeasurable amount of pinpricks of light, each their own universe.  There were more than I could have ever imagined, and Azrael’s comment finally made sense to me.  I had no way to figure out where the rest of my spirits were.  The void was so vast that I doubted I would have been able to pick out my own world, if not for the faint energy trail that was left after my trip to this world.  No doubt it would soon fade.  That meant the trails from my other spirits would most likely have faded already.  I was lost, and I had no way of finding where I needed to go.

‘There has to be a way,’ I thought to myself. ‘Something I hadn’t thought of.  Maybe there is some spell I don’t know or overlooked.  Something that proves this isn’t hopeless.’

I resolved to find a way.  ‘There is no way my journey could come to an end before it started.  There has to be hope.  There are others counting on me.’