--=Luna=--

“It means I’m good at magic.” Paelius replies nonchalantly, now at eye level with the alabaster alicorn. At that moment one of the guards jumps in front of his leaders and shouts.

“YOU DARE PUT SELF ON THE SAME LEVEL AS THE PRINCESS! GET ON YOUR KNEES AND BOW YOU INSOLENT CREATURE!” Luna watched the biped’s ears snap to the back of it’s head at the outburst.

“I was not aware I was being rude,” Paelius says in deadly calm. “I was also not aware that there was only one princess as you so helpfully stated.” Luna could have sworn that he saw the guard’s face go pale, even under his fur. She feels rage raise in her chest, even after returning, many still think of her as nightmare moon. In her peripheral vision Luna can see that sad look in her sister’s eyes, but Luna had committed to trying to kill the guard with her eyes. “Are you done because I would much rather not be here.”

With that Paelius starts to stride towards the exit of the infirmary. However, just as he passes the princesses, a different guard speaks up.

“Do you think us a joke, do you attempt to make a mockery of us. We will not let you leave this room… for the princesses.”

“How are you going to stop me. Its not like you can just teleport ahead of me.” With those words the guard’s horn starts to glow as he charges a teleportation spell. Just as he releases the spell Luna sees Paelius make a swift motion. The guard reappears just in front of where Paelius was standing moments before, but Paelius himself has vanished. The guards look of smugness disappears just about as fast as Paelius did.

“Tia, are all of your guards this easy to provoke.”

--=Paelius=--

Paelius finally started to breathe in fresh air. He was teleported into a field of impossibly crisp, lush, and green grass. The sun blared down on him from its zenith high above, the rays only faltered from a few lazy clouds. Down the slope from where he sat is a small village with two rows of houses that look almost identical. On his lap rests an ebony staff with a large sky-blue crystal ball adorning one end.

Paelius pushes himself to his feet. He feels the wind softly blow against his fur, carrying the pleasant scent of fresh baked goods from the town below. The wind also carries some idle chatter with it, nothing comprehensible from this distance, just subtle background noise.

‘Idiot, can’t believe it was that easy.’

Paelius looks over the town to see a few low mountains with caves and tunnels scattered occasionally across it. One cavity in particular glows with an ominous light that is barely visible in the broad daylight. Finally focusing on the civilization below he sees ponies trotting around happily, not a single one Paelius can spot doesn’t show off a ridiculously large smile. The only reason he chose to come to this place with his one teleport was because he felt a powerful presence local to this area. The presence is coming from a house, visibly the same as the rest, that sits at the head of the village.

Paelius starts his short trek to the even smaller village below. He can only count thirteen houses in total even though there seems to be a far larger total of residents. Paelius returns his staff to one of the magically expanded pockets on the inside of his cloak. The spaces jingle with promises of many other helpful items, a large array of books, a few weapons, and some stray potions.

As Paelius enters the town, he sees the ponies that had been minding their days business start to form a herd around him. With a closer look now, Paelius picks up on some details he had missed from afar. These ponies are not as bright as the few he had met back in the infirmary. They seem more grey and less colorful. Grey is the opposite of what their faces said, however. They all had the same large smile copy pasted on each face surrounding him. The smiles are unnervingly large and ingenuine.

‘I can feel the magic, these ponies are definitely under some kind of spell.’

The source of the great power that had dragged Paelius to this sorry corner of Equestria finally starts to approach him.

“Hello there, welcome to our small village… traveler.” A mare with a lilac coat steps out of the crowd of ponies. She has a purple mane and tail with a stripe of cyan decorating both of them. Paelius notices that every single pony in this town has an equals sign tattooed on their flanks. The mare in front of him does not have as large a smile on her face but somehow it both feels more forced and more genuine.

“Name’s Paelius, who are you?” He stated bluntly. Paelius can feel that his ability to speak Ponish is fading and that the spell Celestia had cast was wearing off.

“Mayor Starlight Glimmer. May I ask what has brought you here Paelius?” The mare’s features scrunched up slightly, as if she was trying to decode him with just her stare.

“Important business. It would be preferred I could speak to you alone.” Paelius made sure his words were clear and sharp. Starlight gave a nod to him and then a nod in the direction of the supposed town hall at the head of the village. Paelius starts to stroll a few meters behind the mayor, trying to ignore all the stares he was getting from the usual residents. They finally crossed into the foyer of the building, away from all the prying eyes of the outside world. Paelius clearly sees the mare’s demeanor change.

“What are you, who are you, and why are you here!?” Starlight’s words come out just as short, sharp and aggressive as Paelius’ had before.

“Let’s see, I’m a beastman, I am Paelius the Great Sage, and for why I’m here… that will take a bit more explaining.” Paelius tries to make words and manner feel more welcoming even if that’s nothing like his usual self. “I sensed that you are a really powerful mage and I need you to cast a spell.”

“And what kind of spell might that be Mr. Great Sage.” Paelius can hear some snark creeping into Starlight’s voice on top of the newfound temper. “Where are you from, who are you with?”

Paelius hands a book from one of his multitude of pockets which she grasps with her magic. She opens the book to the page which his bookmark had indicated and started to skim through it. Paelius takes this opportunity to get a proper look around. The air in here tastes slightly damp and it smells of many potted plants. It doesn’t take him long to spy the plants. There are figs, ivy, and even a few philodendron. There is a radio in the corner playing some common elevator music which is the only thing overlaying Starlight’s breathing and occasional grunts of surprise.

“You want me to cast a spell that will block off you magic… why?” The mare looked confused but also slightly excited. “This spell is incredibly complex; it far surpasses anything I’ve ever read about or seen before.”

“I’ve got a hole in my chest and my magic is keeping it open.” At the mention of its existence, the wound starts to increase its pain output. “As for where I’m from and who I’m with… I just came from the place where the princesses live but I’m actually from a place called Susally.”

“I doubt they would let you just leave. The princess… Wait did you say princesses?” Starlight lost all the remaining hostility in her voice, completely entranced with the alien biped in her living room. Paelius pulled the staff out of his pocket, took a breath in, and started his explanation.

“I don’t know what’s going on with you ponies but there are in fact two princesses, Celestia and Luna.” Starlight’s mouth sits slightly agape, as if this is the most shocking news she has ever heard. “I got away by using this staff. It’s primary function is to increase the power of my channeled magic but if I use it on someone else’s magic, I can use whatever spell they use.”

“That’s fascinating.” Starlight eyes the staff in his hands, looking like she is seriously considering just taking it. Paelius quickly slips the staff back into its designated pocket. “One problem though… I don’t think I can cast this spell, it’s way too complicated.”

Author's Note

Starlight is best pony.

I have found that my dialogue is not the best, it comes out dry and fairly uninteresting. I am going to counteract this by adding as much description as possible, to both dialogue scenes and just the rest of the story in general. IDK suffer with my bad writing until I slowly get better at it. :3

Now it may seem weird to randomly jump to Starlight's village but... Starlight is best pony so she had to be in the story.