Temporary ceasefireby Ion ClockworkChaptersWelcome to debate.A new line of studyBONUS CHAPTER A certain scientific phenomenon.RevelationsMagic is the strangest thing.Welcome to debate.“How dare you!” “It is my opinion miss Sparkle, I am fully aware of your’ views on this subject.” “But to say that magic is inefficient! The audacity is almost unthinkable Ion! We live in a world where magic makes up a greater part of our life. And we as unicorns must embrace this responsibillity!” Ion Clockwork regarded the pony in front of him with his usual calculating stare. The Unicorn mare’s entire muzzle was slowly turned a deep shade of red in constrained anger. In Flanksight, it may have been a badly thought move to start discussing his theories with one of the most magically inclined ponies in the university. A+ student, master of nearly all forms of magic. Twilight Sparkle was probably one of the most gifted unicorns of this age. And here at the academy of experimental magic, she fit like a custom tailored sock. “We are at the academy of experimental magic Ion, MAGIC. Not the Fillydelphia center for advanced research!” Ion raised an eyebrow. “I am here to expand my horizons on the order of my supervisor miss Sparkle. I do not have to enjoy it, but I will do it.” The young mare looks like she is about to say more when the huge double doors open, revealing princess Celestia stepping out onto the stairs. “Welcome ponyfolk, to the grand opening of our new academy. You are all here because you have been hoof picked from the best students around equestrian. To further broaden your’ horizons in magic. In a moment, supervisors will start calling out names. When your’ name is called, please step towards the supervisor and file in an orderly line.” Ion sighed deeply as an assortment of mares and colts started calling out names and concentrated on listening for his own. Out of the corner of his eye. He noticed Twilight had stopped trying to pester him and was now watching eagerly, probably awaiting her name to be called. “Honeysuckle!” A small golden mare with a mint green mane stepped up to the supervisor. “Ion Clockwork” Ion snapped to attention and walked smartly over to the supervisor, a tall colt with deep gray hair, on a deep blue body. His cutie mark a bird flying over the stars. Ion fell in line behind a small group of other unicorns. They were nine now, not counting the supervisor. With 150 unicorns being invited and 15 supervisors the plan was obvious. “Twilight Sparkle” Ion’s ever present frown deepened into a scowl. The voice that had called ‘her’ name was the same that had called his. With a light hop in her step she fell in behind him. Ion returned his attention to the ever dwindling crowd. And soon the commotion died down as everyone surveyed the groups. Princess Celestia smiled and with a flick of hey horn the doors into the academy flew up. Cheers went up from around the crowd and everypony was ready to take their first steps into the new academy. “Now my little ponies, you may follow your supervisors. Starworks, you may start!” With that the supervisor in front of Ion started moving. “After me now everypony!” All at once they started walking, Starworks leading them past Celestia, who nodded to each pony as they passed. The hall they entered was grand to say the least, the design archaic. Inspired in part by the Canterlot castle itself. Long corridors, carpeted with remarkable shades of red lined the corridor floors. And Starworks led them down into one of these corridors now. “You may have seen some aerial views of the academy or looked at the flooring plans, but if you have not, I will give you a little refresher course. The academy is a five story building, built mostly out of brick and mortar. Painstakingly constructed over the course of two years. The entire third floor is classrooms; the first is the commons area and dining hall. The second floor is the dormitories. The fourth floor is the teacher’s commons. And area you will not enter unless you require assistance from a teacher. The fifth floor is our observatory, where we will hold a small number of lessons in the coming months.” He led them through a series of corridors, until they came to a staircase. “This staircase leads all the way up to the fourth floor. To get to the observatory, one has to take the staircase in the teacher’s lounge.” Ion briefly considered the reasoning behind such a position. Before swiftly dismissing it as protecting the valuable equipment the observatory surely holds. Starworks started up the staircase and the group of students followed. “We will now be heading to the dormitories where I will assign you rooms. The rooms in this academy use a pairing setup, one mare and one colt to each, sharing a small communal room and two private bedrooms.” They were heading down a bright corridor now; one side was a series of open windows, cut into the side of the academy. The other a series of doors, each bearing a blank plaque. Starworks stopped in front of a seemingly random one. “We shall commence immediately” His horn glowed and all down the corridor the plaques started shining in an ethereal blue light. Before a sharp flash flowed across them, carving names into the cold metal. “Everypony find your’ rooms and get acquainted. You will be awoken tomorrow at eight sharp. When you do, make your way to the entrance hall to receive lesson plans. Good night everypony!” Ion Clockwork started walking down the corridor, briefly letting his gaze linger on each of the plaques. Then he stopped as his own name swam into his vision. He stood stock still for the entirety of ten seconds. “FOR BUCKS SAKE” TENANTS T.sparkle I.Clockwork Heads turned all the way down the corridor as everyone stopped talking and turned to look at him. Twilight walked up to him. Then looked at the plaque herself. "Do you think we could talk to the teachers about this?" Ion eyed her warily. While she might be his polar opposite in beliefs, they were both practictioners of practicality. He did not have time to respond however. As Starworks at walked up behind him. "Is there a problem with the arrangements Ion? Because if you believe so, you are more than welcome to take it up with the princess. She decided on the room pairings." Gritting his teeth, Ion shock his head. "No Starworks. Everything is perfectly fine." Starworks nodded. "Good, now get your' flank in bed. Tommorow is your first day and you wouldn't want to make a... mistake, quite so early." Ion shivered, there was something off about Starworks. However this was no time to start another argument. He had already spent most of the ride over arguing with Twilight. With a grudging nod he stepped into the room. Twilight bringing up the rear. "I am very sorry for Ion's behaviour professor. It will not happen again, you have my word!" Ion closed his eyes and his frown deepened. He had never met one as annoying as this mare. "It is good to have such dependable students as you here miss sparkle. I am sure Ion could learn a lot from you. Have a good night." Ion heard the door click shut and started surveying his surroundings. A small study of sorts, with a table to dine or work on. A fireplace for heating and a pair of comfy looking seats in front of it. Three doors led off to seperate rooms. Two were marked, blank stone plaques empty of any detail. The other was completely unmarked, and upon further investigation. Led to a small bathroom. Both the marked rooms turned out to be sleeping quarters, identically furnished except for the view from the windows. Both contained a chest for personal belongings, a bed and a table. Back outside Twilight had already walked up to the first room and her horn was glowing. After a second a similar flash to the one Starworks had made engraved her name into the stone plate. Ion decided that this was infact a good idea and turned to his own door. He reached within himself, touching gently upon the part of his body that. Had never seemed like it fit. Magic, it was a part of him yet it was alien. He had never felt this true connection to it that other unicorns did, instead preferring the cold comfort of technology. Clearing his head of thoughts he send a mental spike, a sharp blow of intagible power. Right into the magic, where it met with a bit of resistance before shattering a barrier. Like a thin membrane constraining it. His horn started glowing, a violently green colour, with occasional green sparks shooting off it. He felt the plaque in his mind, and with a probing touch, hardened his magic. Then scraped it into the plaque, the words of his name becoming apparent as a strong force simply displaced the stone to the sides. When he was done, the plaque read his name in deep lines. With raised ridges along the edges. He was satisfied and spared twilight one look and two words before going into his room. "Good night." "Good night Ion." Closing the door behind himself he decided that he was in fact tired. And before letting go of his magic, he lifted the blanket up into the air. Hovering as if pinched by an invisible spirit. He let it hang, keeping his focus on it as he lay down onto the bed. He curled up into comfortable position and let the blanket drop. He was asleep before it even landed on him. And he didn't notice the lights dimming in response to his sleep. A new line of studyIon stirred. A sort of insistent tapping on his horn causing him to stir. After a couple minutes slid by the tapping grew more insistent. And with a grunt Ion opened his eyes just in time to see the room start lighting up. For a second he was intrigued, and decided to test a sudden theory. Closing his eyes again he waited. Soon he saw the light dim through his eyelids. And again the tapping resumed, quite strongly this time. “I get it, getting up now.” Ion grumbled to himself. Before rolling out of bed, landing on his hooves. Ion reached for his magic for the first time that morning, something akin to stretching your wings for a Pegasus. The first time of the day was always the hardest, and the barrier in his mind resisted his first attempt. The mental spike slipping on a surface akin to a strong bubble. With an angry grunt Ion sent another, this time piercing the veil and setting his horn aglow with its customary green luminosity and crackling green sparks. He felt the door in his mind; Sweeping his magic across its surface, an almost tactile interaction. Before a small snake drifted into the locking mechanism and gave it the push the door needed to unlock. He proceeded to push the door out of his way as he walked out of his room. The first thing that struck him was a large pile of sealed containers sitting in the corner of the study. The second was that they were eerily familiar. Stepping closer to look, a small sticker on one side proclaimed FROM: Fillydelphia center for advanced research. TO: Graduate, Ion Clockwork P.S Forwarding your personal belongings to you from your personal storage area. We received a letter from the academy regarding their transport and so here they are. Hope you enjoy a little touch of home. ~Professor Auto Carefully lifting them into a more orderly pile ion spied another pile of objects behind his boxes. A series of smaller wooden containers, with a golden trimmed letter attached to the top that read T. Sparkle From princess Celestia A creaking sound shattered the silence. And Ion Clockwork turned to see Twilight Sparkle coming out of her room, looking roughly as tired as he himself had been. She turned to him with tired eyes. “Did you feel that tapping too?” Ion nodded. “Yes, I believe it is a form of alarm clock, designed to wake all the unicorns in bed after a certain time.” The tired look fading from her eyes quickly, Twilight adopted a serious expression. “What do you base your’ theory on” “A practical experiment where I pretended to sleep after waking, the lights dimmed and the tapping resumed as I closed my eyes.” She nodded gravely. “Very well, I accept this as satisfactory evidence.” Ion and Twilight both stared at each other, before both of them dropped the serious façade to burst into laughter. “Right then, what is the time?” Ion eyed the clock. “Twelve minutes past eight” “We had to be in the hall by nine right?” “Correct” Only then did twilight seem to notice all the boxes. “What are all these metal boxes doing here?” Ion stared her straight in the eye. “Fools are hiding inside them, I should take away their’ metal boxes.” She stared blankly back. Ion snickered. “Just an inside joke, there are some crates for you over there, the wooden ones.” Stepping over to them, twilight cracks one open with her magic while eyeing the letter. And after putting it down, floats a large amount of books out of them. “Wonderful! How thoughtful of her.” Ion raised an eyebrow. “Books?” She nodded. “Books from my library in Ponyville, I am the resident librarian there and now I will not have to leave my favorites behind.” She leaned over to look at the labels on one of the metal boxes. “I guess my jest yesterday about Fillydelphia touched a sore spot didn’t it?” Ion regarded her with a scowl as he responded. “And just when we were getting along for a bit.” “Well excuse me Ion. It’s not my fault you started discussion magical philosophy with me!” Ion closed his eyes, grimacing. “Let us forget of this incident. I must sort my belongings before I head to the opening ceremony.” Focusing, Ion exerted his magical grip on one of the boxes, lifting it in the air in front of him. Taking a tight magical grip on each bolt that held the box together he unscrewed each one at the same time. The box instantly coming apart into 6 metal squares. He stacked these onto each other in midair and set them down, before regarding the assorted objects floating in front of him now. It was his old tools, and for a couple seconds. His usual scowling face mellowed and a small sparkle in his eye spoke of some unseen joy. And then he was to his usual self. He lifted a moderately sized device, similar to a jackhammer of the type road ponies usually used to work the streets of Canterlot. Lining three of the plates from the first box on the wall, he set to work. Pressing the jackhammer device against their corners, a soft pneumatic hiss followed by steam issued from the back of the device each time he did this, a small rounded knob was left in the metal each time and as he finished each plate, his crackling green glow faded from them. Leaving them suspended to the wall. “What are you doing?” Ion smiled to himself, something he only did when he indulged himself in an interesting line of thought or worked with machinery. “It is quite like professor Auto to send me my belongings packed in Skirt plates. And as for what I am doing, I am making a shelf.” Twilight watched with a puzzled look as he put down the jackhammer device and lifted up a series of long steel rods, barely a centimeter in diameter. His glow enveloped the remaining metal plates from the first box and held them to the top of the now wall mounted plates. The plates together forming a 90 degree angle. Maneuvering the rods above the plates, ion let them drop. The rods falling into holes in the plates, sliding deep into the wall mounted ones and leaving a bit poking out the top of the upper plates. To these tips, ion applied a small screw on cap. Stepping back, Ion nodded slowly. Twilight sparkle looked bemused. “So, you get a bunch of tools from your old school and then you make a shelf?” “Correct. I am creating an area to store my possessions.” Twilight shrugged. With the shelf assembled, Ion started unboxing the other boxes, three others in total. And by sliding the skirt plates underneath the top plate on his shelf, they were all quickly packed into a compact rectangle on the wall. Slipping a series of odd ends out of the boxes, Ion placed what looked like half a mechanics workshop on the shelf. “Just like my room in the Fillydelphia center” He turned around as he heard a door close. Then he looked at the clock. “Oh dratted!” Ion Skidded into the entrance hall at forty seconds past nine. And the crowd was already dwindling. A huge board covered most of one wall. Listing every student and every class they had to go to. The list stretched quite high up. For a second Ion wondered how he would find his name when the list seemed to swim before his eyes. And all the text started flying across the paper, only to suddenly halt. Leaving his name right in front of his muzzle. “That is thoughtful of them.” The first class on the list showed “Undecided, please see the headmaster.” Ion raised an eyebrow. This was a surprise, but he decided to go with it. Walking back towards the staircase, he started the ascent into the teacher’s area. He was in fact quite winded by the time he reached the top of the stairs. “I suspect that I am in worse shape than I first thought.” Stopping to catch his breath, Ion took the steps into the only corridor. A long straight hall, lined with doors. All of which had a position marked on them. “Head of agriculture.” “Head of security” “Head of offensive magic.“ “Head of passive magic.” “Head of defensive magic.” “Head of practical studies.” “Headmaste- Ion Clockwork stopped, and turned to face this door. It was lined with gold trims, and the plaque was a magnificent shining metal. However what had made him stop was not the need to meet this pony or because of the door itself. It was the pony’s name that was marked under it. Headmaster Head of advanced studies PHD. Friendship magic. Her royal highness. Princess Celestia. Ion steeled himself and lifted his hoof to knock on the door. Only to have somepony else put a hoof on his shoulder. He turned around, coming face to face with one of the immortal deity’s of the realm. “Hello Ion.” He shook, her very presence carrying such a power now that he was alone with her. The air seemed to bend, as if her power drew even it to her. “It is good you came, step into my office.” The door opened in front of her as she walked past him. Snapping back to his senses, Ion followed. Entering into a surprisingly modest office. Lots of shelves covered in books lined the walls and the room itself was dominated by a plush sack, surrounded by a series of smaller plushes. Upon which three other unicorns sat. As he looked at them he picked out one he had noticed before. The one known as Honeysuckle was there. The others were as of yet unknown to him. Ion sat down on a plush. “Hello my little ponies. And welcome to my study, I am sure you are all wondering why you are here.” A series of reverent nods. “You all share a common thing. You disagree with the established concept of magic in one or another. And so I have come to propose a solution. You all will have a separate lesson with one of my most trusted colleagues. The lesson which she will teach you will hopefully expand your horizons and accept magic into yourselves. I will now demonstrate why this is necessary.” Raising her horn, the entire room flooded with light. And when it faded, Ion could see magic. It flooded in waves off the princess. Like a gas that flowed but always remained tethered to the princess. He turned his head, looking at the other unicorns who looked as amazed as he was. Honeysuckle's magic was dripping, like thick sauce. It fell away from her in large globs. A unicorn with a blue coat with hair that reminded him of toothpaste had magic that hung still, completely unmoving in the shape of a much larger pony. The last had a coat that was deep red, with a mane that reminded him of ash had magic that flowed upwards, like a lit candle. He turned to the princess who softly motioned towards the door. Turning, Ion noticed a mirror. All of the students walked up to it. Their’ eyes lighting up as they saw their own magic. Ion looked at himself. At first he couldn’t see it. But soon he noticed green glow, surrounding his body. And he wondered why it hid like that, and then he realized that he felt why. He was holding it, constraining it and locking it. And as he realized this, he let it go subconsciously. And it coalesced into a sharp green lightning bolt. That sparked off his coat and slammed into the mirror, shattering it. Ion stared in shock, as sparks ran along his coat. Painting him in bright green electric arcs. Then his mind reasserted its usual control over it and the magic snapped like a rubber band. Rebounding back into him, and then retreating back behind the barrier in his mind. The others locked him in stares that could melt concrete. Almost accusingly as if he had deprived them of the oppurtunity to look at their' own magic. “As you can see, having negative relationships with your magic can be dangerous.” Ion turned to the princess. “And so I introduce you to your new mentor, who will work with you to build a relationship with your own magic. Through the magic of friendship.” Twilight sparkle stepped out from behind Celestia. “Hello Ion.” BONUS CHAPTER A certain scientific phenomenon.This chapter is considered skippable, you will only miss the birth of the villain by skipping this one. If you dislike gore, then don't read this. We introduce our villain. It gets gorey and grimdark in this chapter, you have been warned. It won't be quite so dark the next time we meet our villain however. "You did what exactly?" "I ripped a hole!" Pinkie was jumping up and down, bubbly mane whipping through the air as her jumps took her in a perfect circle. Lyra groaned, turning back to the huge rippling hole in her house. It looked like someone had pushed their hoof into a pond. Only through it, faint shimmering shapes could be seen. "And you thought, poking into my wall was totally a sensible idea?" "Yuuuuup!" Lyra attempted to put her hoof to her face, but missed and hit herself in the horn. "Owwwieeeee!" Pinkie kept jumping, took a spinning turn in midair and jumped into the rippling hole. "Wait! Pinkie!" Lyra dived after her. The portal enveloping her like a second skin. An odd liquid sensation. She was floating in an ocean that stretched out in every direction possible and some impossible. Pinkie was slightly farther ahead. The pink blob floating in space. Lyra swam after her, pushing her back hooves against the current to maintain her speed. Pinkie simply gliding forward almost gracefully. Towards five lights in the distance. Ion stirred in his sleep. A soft pressure reaching him, not similar to the alarm. This was an almost ethereal sensation. It suddenly surged. Ion bolted awake, the mental pressure causing him physical pain. After almost three minutes writhing in his bed, the pain receded. Ion got to his hooves, rolling off the bed. "What the buck was that?" A hint of the feeling lingered, leaving a faint pull in the air, out of his room. And with only a seconds hesitation, Ion pushed open his bedroom door and stepped out. The small study eerily quiet. Everything was tense, as if the world had drawn a bow string. Ion made his way out to the hallway. The force drawing him along the carpetted floors, to the staircase. As he put a hoof on the staircase, someone spoke behind him. "Ion? You feel it too?" Honeysuckle's voice reverbrated slightly in the large corridor. Ion turned to face her, only to be met with Colgate and Cinderpile as well. "This can not be a coincidence." Ion intoned. "Whatever it is, we all feel it. And I want to find out what it is." This was Cinderpile. Then, as if on unspoken consent. They all made their way up the stairs together. When they reached the third floor, the trail went off into the maze of classrooms and interlocking corridors. Drawing them on as it twisted and turned. The pressure got stronger and stronger the more they followed it. And Ion was experiencing some form of deja vu, the corridor was eerily familiar. "Wait, is this not where w-" A scream shattered the silence. Or rather, a symphony of screams. A sound that could only produced by something as twisted as the everfree forest. Everypony broke into a run. The scent drawing them towards the same classroom they had shared the day before. Pinkie Pie was screaming, she did not know why. She did not know when, she saw only red as the continuing pain caused her to writhe in pain all across the floor. The explosion of pain in her forehead had blotted out everything but itself and when she screamed she heard nothing except the pain she was experiencing. Ion was at the head of the group now, moving at a full gallop towards the door of the classroom they had used. Pinkie felt the immense force harder than ever, it seemed to flood out and fill not only her with pain but the very room. She felt it, the very fabric of the universe was hurt here. Ion barreled into the door, not taking time to reach for his magic. And the door swung open, slamming into the doorframe. Everypony stopped in their tracks. The abomination before them burning itself into their retinas. The creature was vaguely pony shaped, except it's shape ebbed and flowed, bulging and shrinking randomly. It turned its head towards them. "END ME!" It was a pink pony, her face contorting in directions impossible. A huge welt on her forehead formed, only to burst. Spraying blood in a frenzied spray, as a mint green horn erupted from its forehead. Its skin cracked in a straight line down the middle of its face. "END THE PAIN! END HER!" It continued its screaming, the entire room pooling with blood as the creature was torn apart from the inside. Cinder reacted first. Coalescing her magic into a real fire, that tore through the room towards the creature. Its mane caught fire, and its fur burned all across its body. The creature let out a bellow that shook the very fabric of magic. The entire room wobbling before the group's eyes. Flickering, as if someone was madly flipping images. The room changed between the normal classroom and a hellish region. The mangled bodies of ponies impaled on large pencils, or having the blood squeezed out of them by books. The words of the books whipping through the air, leaving welts on the ponies as they begged for mercy. Then as suddenly as it had started, it stopped. The world reasserted itself as the hole in the world closed itself. The creature continued writhing. Occasionally flickering out of existance, or reappearing somewhere else in the classroom, spasming wildly. Lyra was going mad, she felt it. Like a physical part of her, she felt her sanity bending under the weight of the situation. Magic was everywhere, flesh was everywhere. She felt herself taking a place she shouldn't have. She felt her sanity bend almost all the way around. Pinkie let go, she could not live in this pain. And after surviving many deadly accidents, the pink pony simply let go of life. Dissipating into the fabric of the realm, becoming not one but many others. Lyra's sanity snapped. The sound was like a twig, she could see now. Through the burning holes in the skull covering her head. The eye's blocking her vision had melted. She could see the ponies watching her. She could see their magic, odd looking magic. She laughed then. The sight was unfathomable, the pink pony's flesh had burned away. A green unicorn now laughed before them. Covered in the blood of the pink pony. She was wearing the pink one's bones like armor. her eyes were bloodshot, and she was mad. Utterly, gloriously mad. Ion felt himself going mad too, this pony could not exist. These events could not have happened. It was becoming too much for his fragile mind, and then the thing spoke. "I'M SORRY PINKIE, I'M SORRY. I DIDN'T MEAN IT." Then she cackled madly, her voice betraying no guilt for her actions. She eyed the students, looking at them, almost tasting them with her eyes. "YOU WILL BE THE FIRST ONES TO KNOW THE PAIN OF MADNESS." Ion reacted instinctively, breaking the barrier of his magic. Pushing it towards the thing, before letting it go. And achieved the desired results. The magic coalescing into a massive green bolt of energy. Slamming into the bone clad unicorn. The thing stumbled, before regaining its footing. Then the bolt froze, the air around the creature warped and the magic dissipated, floating away. All of them screamed, Ion sending another bolt flying towards the thing. Accompanied by a wave of magical fire, a huge translucent dragon hand and a tidal wave of orange magic. All of the power hit it at once, and it waved its mane, sticking out of the place the pink ones mane had stuck before. "NO." It was a command, and the magic obeyed. For a second, the world around her became again the hellish classroom. Then it was gone, along with the magic. The green unicorn eyed them. "WE, SHALL, DO, THIS, AGAIN." Every word seemed to strain her. Her bones catching fire, a deep green fire. That moved unnaturally, in every direction. Her body transformed, turning into something that looked a pony with large skeletal wings instead of front hooves. Then with a flap, it flew up. Into reality, which warped around it to accomodate its passage. Ion fell over on the floor, staring blankly at the blood soaked planks. The world blackening around the edges. Then he fainted. RevelationsTo make up for that grimdark chapter, let us do a light hearted chapter, with lots of story exposition. Happy reading. Ion Clockwork slowly forced his eyes open, a thick stupor fading away like a waterfall. “Oh drat!” Ion shook his head, and turned towards the sound. Then he looked again, and again. Before finally just accepting what he saw. A line of softly glowing sheets of glass, covered in images of dreamscapes. Covering a wall that stretched into the distance, impossibly far. However this was not the strangest thing in the room, that particular award went to Luna, who was floating roughly half a meter away from him. she waved her hooves frantically in the air. “Buck buck buck buck, you were not supposed to be awake yet!” Ion noticed that he was unable to move, a soft translucent bubble surrounding him. “Where am i?” Luna stopped panicking. Letting herself slowly sink to the floor, touching gracefully down on her hooves. “I guess there is nothing for it. Welcome to dreamland.” Ion attempted to raise an eyebrow, but found his facial expression stuck as if frozen. “You cannot show emotion here. You are not in your’ body at the moment.” Ion continued to stare at the princess of the night, somehow much less intimidating in this world. Luna sighed, looking over at one of the screens. “Why am I here, what happened?” Luna looked at him for almost twenty seconds before answering. “Your’ mind has experienced a trauma too powerful for its safety measures, and put you into a coma. We found you and the other students knocked out on the floor of the classroom. We felt the spatial tear interacting with the world there but arrived too late. I am currently discussing with the guard captain, new security measures.” Ion observed her. “How can you be here at the same time?” “I am the magical representation of my soul, I have a certain amount of autonomy from myself, though both me and me are aware of each other.” “Why am I in this bubble.” “The bubble as you see it is a repre- Hold on.” Luna spread her wings and with one giant leap and a flap of her wings, landed next to a glass sheet far away. The images depicted a pony running from an angry manticore in an abandoned town. “This will not do!” Luna’s horn started glowing and the pony fell down into a deep pit, only to land in a giant cake. Obvious delight on his face. Luna flew back over to Ion. “This is also the realm of dreams, all ponies dreams take place here and I as the princess of night have responsibility to make them all happy.” Ion would have nodded if he could. However the continued containment within the orb constricted his available methods of expression. “And why am I not experiencing any dreams?” “You would not survive it, your mind is weakened by the traumatic events of the night and the strain of bringing forth dreams would cause you to go the same way as Bonebird, into madness. The bubble is your minds way of representing the hold I have on you at this moment, the reason you are incapable of moving is your mind logically assumes the bubble keeps you captured, I see you wearing a straightjacket binding your front hooves together.” And as she said this, the bubble faded and he appeared to himself to be wearing a straightjacket as well. The impact with the floor as the bubble ceased to exist did not instill any sensations in him at all. He decided to ask about Bonebird later, the name awoke a certain amount of feeling in his incorporeal form. “So this world is completely subject to my own interpretation?” Luna shook her head. “In its essence, no this world is my world, and as such it is subject to my whims, however you can see it in a guise that your mind finds logical. Should I wish however, for you to see something specific then I may force it upon your mind.” And with that, a soft pressure filled Ions form and he was standing, a rope bound around his waist. A continued representative of his captivity in this realm. Ion walked around tentatively, the ground was a shade so deep that it did not appear to be ground at all, it would be much more comfortable if the ground was stone or something similar. And as he thought this, the immaterial ground became cobblestones, a road leading into the infinity beyond the dreams. “Come the morning, all these dreams will be gone, forgotten by those who held them. And the only dreams will be those in her realm.” Luna gestured towards the direction opposite to the dreams. And even as he turned, Ion noticed a severe increase in the levels of lighting; the area was a deep cyan blue, like the midday sky. And even as he watched. The cobblestones he had imagined flowed to cover the ground there as well. There were soft clouds there, shining slightly as they drifted lazily over the ground. An especially large cloud hung suspended in the air, a freeze shot of the maddened creature was visible on the screen. Halfway through the hole in reality that had let it- her escape. Ion saw himself too, standing alongside his fellow students. Cinderpile, Colgate and Honeysuckle, and for a moment he wondered what had happened to them. “Why are my fellow students not here as well?” Luna butted her two front hooves together a couple times. “Their minds took it better than yours. Upon examination you have a very ordered and logical mind, however this also means you are that much more in danger of madness when encountered with situations like this.” This seemed reasonable, and Ion turned to study the picture again. That abomination, he wondered what had happened just before they arrived, what had caused the creation of this creature. “My sister’s essence is currently asleep; she spends much of her time asleep after my one thousand year absence, catching up on lost rest no doubt.” That was when Ion noticed the soft plush sofa underneath the giant cloud image. Upon with the royal sovereign of the equestrian nation was strewn out in a most undignified position, her wings splayed wide over the side of the couch, each limb lying limply. A small drop of spit drooped out of the corner of her muzzle. Bobbing slowly up and down as it was suspended above the ground. A large amount of small white dots lay all over her, making her look like she had contracted some odd polka dot disease. An empty bucket that proudly proclaimed “CANTERLOT POPCORN EMPIRE” was lying on its side on her belly. “She insisted on ‘snacks’ while we reviewed your memories.” If Ion had not been incapable of emotional response while in this world, he would most certainly have laughed, however he did no such thing. “Is her real body asleep as well?” “No, she found herself a way to rest without actually sleeping during her solitary reign. She leaves her magical essence asleep here most of the time. Alicorns are beings of magic, and as such the only part of us that needs rest is magic, that being her magical essence means that she is currently feeling quite refreshed. However she has taken to real sleep as well.” Ion felt an odd sensation, tugging at his navel. “What the…” Luna turned to him. “Time passes differently here, you are probably waking up. It was unfortunate that you had to wake while in this state, however armed with the expanded repertoire of knowledge I have given you, I hope you do not feel wronged by us because of the memories we took from you.” Ion wanted to say more but he felt a sharp push from behind and toppled into the floor, he turned around as he fell to see for a second celestia's face framed by the sudden hole he had fell through. Ion wanted to ask her where her usual archaic method of speech had gone but then he blinked and was staring at the roof of his room instead. A small note materialised with a soft pop and floated gently down onto his muzzle. The words inscribed on the page were simple. "Gotcha." Luna eyed the representation of celestia. " "Really? Was that absolutely necessary?" Celestia stared back at her "Maybe not" Luna slammed one hoof into her forehead "You absolutely amaze me sometimes sister." "I love you too luna." The next chapter will go be the lesson they had with Twilight, and will contain lots of joking and general sillyness. Magic is the strangest thing.Chapter 5 “Magic is the strangest thing." This chapter takes place before the Bonebird event during the grimdark chapter. Ion was walking along with his fellow students, as they followed Twilight Sparkle out of Celestia’s office. A lot was on his mind; on one hoof, he now knew the reason his magic worked like it did and on the other hoof he now also knew that his magic was not an integral part of him. Something which made him feel both sad and relieved in equal measure. Twilight led them down the stairs onto the second floor, a few stragglers still wandering the corridors, looking for their classrooms. Everyone was silent as they followed Twilight, and once they walked by a classroom with an open door, through which Ion saw a light orange unicorn swinging a large steel ball around the classroom as a bunch of smaller balls flew after it, attempting to collide with it. Then he was past the door and saw no more, Twilight was much more determined now each step she took moved her at an ever increasing pace towards some unseen goal. Her speed was such that everyone had to go at a fast trot to keep up with her. Soon they arrived at a door that proudly bore “Special studies, Professor T. Sparkle.” “Follow me now everypony.” And with that they entered the classroom, it was quite big, it had ten desks sitting in a horseshoe shape around a podium. One side of the walls had a series of large windows stretching all the way up to the roof. Shelves covered in books and an assortment of odd objects lined a few walls and all the way at the back, a room marked “Storage” proclaimed its purpose to the world. Twilight sparkle trotted up to the podium, lay her two front hooves on it to stabilize herself and then she spoke. “Alright everypony, draw yourself desks from the ring and bring them up to the podium.” As four desks floated towards the podium, Ion took notice of the magic holding them. Like his, they all had some strange quality to their magic. Honeysuckles grip on her desk left it glowing a deep molasses yellow; leaving drops of magic that faded out of view as she moved her desk. The blue unicorn with the toothpaste mane had her table with a more literal magical grip; the faint outline of a giant clawed hand gripping the table could be seen. The parts of the hand that were farthest away from the table were invisible. Most magic could only be seen when it was interacting with something, which is why objects glow when handled telekinetically by unicorns. Even as he watched the toothpaste pony’s table started cracking under strain of the magical claw’s grip. He deposited his own table next to the others, he had not had enough time to observe the ash colored pony’s magic however he did notice that the ash pony’s table was a deeper shade of brown now, and a small amount of smoke was drifting off the table surface. They all sat into their seats, front hooves on the table and back hooves jutting out underneath. Twilight Sparkle eyed them from her podium before speaking. “Right, seeing as you will be classmates for a long time, it is only natural you should get acquainted. We shall go clockwise, and I will start.” Her horn alighted and roughly 15 pages floated from a bag that lay next to the podium. They gathered on top of each other; stacking up neatly on the table. She floated one up in front of her muzzle. “I have prepared a carefully chosen essay on myself to help you reach greater unde- yes?” The unicorn with a toothpaste mane lowered her hoof, making a soft *click* as it hit the desk. “I don’t think you need an entire essay miss sparkle. You could just tell us the bare facts and let us figure it out ourselves.” Twilight looked taken aback, her mouth hanging half open. Then she seemed to come to her senses again. The papers jamming themselves back into the bag. “Errr yes, okay.” She cleared her throat. “I am Twilight Sparkle, and I will be your professor for this year, I have been to Celestia’s school for gifted unicorns and I will be teaching you rather unusual things. Because “broken unicorns” have not been seen in such great numbers in a long while.” She swept her gaze over the room, making sure everyone was listening. “My cutie mark is this six point star, it represents magic. My talent is magic and I pride myself on my knowledge. It is an honor to be teaching here. The reason I am teaching you, is because the princess feared and still fears that I may be a broken unicorn. Due to my magic being present in much higher quantities than usual.” Ion pondered on the words Twilight had used. For he was unfamiliar with the term ‘broken unicorn’ and it did not sound like a pleasant title to have put on you. “Now it is your turn.” Twilight pointed a hoof at the pony with the toothpaste mane. And she sat up straighter. Her cutie mark coming into view, it had the picture of an apple, bouncing of a pony’s head. “I am Colgate and I come from Trottingham. I am happy to finally find an explanation for the way my magic behaves and I hope to have a good time studying alongside all of you. Hopefully we will learn a lot this year!” Twilight sparkle nodded and pointed a hoof at Ion “Your’ turn Ion” Ion nodded. “I am Ion Clockwork, I come from Fillydelphia. I studied at the Fillydelphia center for advanced research and I enjoy mechanics. I too am pleased to find I am not alone in having an anomalous magic. And I hope that we may solve this mystery throughout the year” Twilight pointed at Honeysuckle. “You’re up next.” Honeysuckle gave a wide smile. “Hi! I’m Honeysuckle. I came here to learn about natural magic but instead I’m gonna learn about my own, and I am so excited!” Honeysuckle’s grin stretched on a bit longer than was comfortable. “I come aaallll the way from the equestrian highlands! But there is no snow there, only rain. Oh and there are sheep, lots of them and they keep going “BAAAA” every time I go by and it’s so funny and I can’t help but laughing and opening the gates!” Twilight was looking flustered now. “And I even brought honey, I love honey. I even have a cutie mark for honey and it is so nice because you can eat it or you can just drop it on the floor and it goes all like “SPLOOT” and the sound is so funn-“ She stopped to pull a deep breath. Twilight seized the opportunity. “Err, thank you Honeysuckle.” Honeysuckle looked up from the jar of honey she was stuffing her face into. Her muzzle coming up covered in the sticky liquid. Ion idly wondered how such a unicorn was chosen to come to this academy. “No problem, Miss Sparkle! Twilight breathed a sigh of relief before pointing at the ash colored pony. Who sat up a little straighter. “My name is Cinder; I came here because of a series of accidents involving setting a large portion of the Mareachussets University on fire.” There was a beat and nopony moved; Cinder gave a nervous laugh. “Uhm, maybe you should continue Miss Sparkle.” She seemed to come out of her sudden shock. “Yes, probably, I mean of course.” She paused for a second to collect herself. “As I said, you are here because of your anomalous magic, and to better help you come to terms with this we will begin by learning the term “Broken Unicorn” a term dubbed by Professor Egbert of the Fillydelphia center.” Ion mentally sorted through the list of names he remembered, and sure enough a cream white unicorn with glasses and an unhealthy obsession with the inner workings of magic swam to the front of his mind. Twilight levitated a massive blackboard behind herself and turned to it, bringing up a softly glowing bit of chalk. “A broken unicorn, is a unicorn that through unknown circumstances does not completely synchronize with their magic, it is hard to describe a single situation as every broken unicorn so far has had different circumstances. Some have become unreasonably powerful due to the inability to control it and a few have become…” She turned to them and grimaced before speaking. “Detached, from reality; Or in layman’s terms, insane. And in an effort to prevent that happening to you, we will be working together to analyze your magic and bring you in control.” She drew a series of images on the blackboard, a huge shapeless blob and a pair of ponies, looking pretty much identical. “This represents magic” She punctuated this statement by tapping the huge blob with the floating piece of chalk. “This a normal unicorn, you can visualize the connection like this.” She drew a thick line from the pony to the blob. “The normal unicorn can draw magic from the reservoir in our world whenever he or she wants. And he or she can control how much and where to direct, what form it should take etcetera. However the strength of this connection varies between unicorns and a strong mind is required to pull larger amounts of magic out of it.” She drew some squiggly lines around the thick line. “The flow can go from zero up to a maximum limited by their connection; however most unicorns do not hit this maximum within their connection unless interacting with objects related to their cutie mark, as this sharpens the mind considerably.” The chalk moved over to the second pony. “This pony represents a Broken Unicorn, and this the connection.” She didn’t draw anything, just pointed the chalk at the space between the Unicorn and the magic. “This is exactly the oddity, there is no true connection. They are simply sharing the same space, and instead of having to draw magic to itself a broken unicorn is constantly getting influxes of it. And the Unicorn mind is not built to withstand this, this results in anomalous properties in the magic, usually related to personality or interests. It is a defense mechanism that refines the magic in an effort to consume it. “ She turned back to the class. “The best way we can demonstrate is by doing, and as such we will dedicate this lesson to figuring out exactly what anomalous properties your individual magic’s have acquired. Now, who is ready to do some science?” She punctuated the statement by rubbing her hooves together enthusiastically and there was a general murmur of assent. “So who wants to go first?” Ion sighed internally and raised his hoof. “I am willing to cooperate in this magical experiment.” Twilight turned around and the Storage Door slammed open before she could reach for it with her magical grip. She seemed to stand for a second, perturbed. However she quickly recovered and out of the storage room came a series of objects; floating gently through the air before alighting upon the podium. “Please step up to the podium Ion.” Ion got out of his chair and made his way around the podium and up the small steps on the back, he observed the objects including a steel cube about four inches across and a series of wood blocks. Twilight started drawing on the board. “Alright everyone, what is our thesis statement for this experiment?” Cinder raised her hoof. “The objects will react in the way that they would usually do if a unicorn handled them?” Twilight wrote that on the board “Does everypony agree?” Everypony showed signs of consent. “Right, how would we go about testing this?” Honeysuckle raised a sticky hoof. “First we got to see it Miss Sparkle! See how it looks different!” Twilight turned to Ion. “Whenever you are ready, pick up the steel cube with your magic and hold it a couple inches off the surface of the podium” Ion nodded and reached within himself, the magic was there as always, a fluxing amorphous mass of indescribable consistency, constantly shifting and never easy to trap. Using his mind as a focus he tugged at it and drew it towards his medium, his horn. A sharp green glow started to emanate from his horn, the glow punctuated by soft crackling noises as short arcs of magic coalesced within it, before sparking to another area and disappearing. The cube was quickly surrounded by the same force as Ion reached out and touched it with his magic, the magic meeting resistance as it surrounded the cube, before tunneling into the cube and permeating its structure. Applying a modicum of force to it, Ion lifted it off the table, before stopping about 5 inches up. He held it there and turned to Twilight. Who nodded before turning to the rest of the ponies present. “Alright everypony, describe what outward signs show that this magic is anomalous.” Everypony raised their hoof. Twilight pointed to Colgate. “Well, the most obvious thing I can see here is that the magic is condensing into dense bolts and sparking across the visible cloud. It is in fact doing this in a manner similar to electricity.” Twilight nodded. “Ion’s magic is acting as if it was partly made out of electricity; sadly this is beyond our ability to explain. Electricity is still the domain of Professor Arcs, and he himself has admitted it is a volatile form of energy. What do we know about electricity?” Cinder raised a hoof. “It is a conduct for energy that can propagate itself through some metals and can be used in place of magic to power some of our devices. However harnessing it is still hard because it can only be obtained from lightning.” Twilight looked thoughtful for a second. “Put down the steel cube and pick up a wooden one.” Ion did as instructed, withdrawing his magic from the steel cube before wrapping it around one of the small wooden cubes, his magic did not perforate it, instead remaining on the outside of the item; the glow a good deal dimmer and the sparks merely hopping short distances. “Notice the dimming of the magic and lessening of the electrical arcs. This suggests to me that the magic behaves quite like electricity in the way that it reacts more readily to objects capable of carrying an electric charge. Please move it closer to the steel cube.” Ion slid the wooden cube through the air slowly, the glow around it becoming stronger as it neared the steel cube and just before it came within two inches, a strong arc shot out of the side of the wooden cube. Impacting the steel and causing it to glow a deep shade of green. Twilight merely observed, as did the rest of the students. Soon another bolt coalesced and one after another they struck the steel cube, pushing it away and leaving scorch marks on the podium where the cube had been touching it. Ion put the wooden cube down and retracted his magic. “We have disproven our thesis statement; the object acted like a storm cloud and struck the steel cube despite not containing any storm cloud particles prior to our test. And as such we must find a new statement.” Honeysuckle jumped up. “His magic is just like electricity!” Twilight turned to the board and wrote “Ion’s magic acts according to the laws that usually govern electrical currents.” She turned back to face the class “We need an expert on the subject to aid us, please excuse me.” She tensed down and her horn alighted with sparkling motes of magic, they quickly spread out before coming shooting back towards twilight. The air around her imploded as a sudden unicorn shaped hole formed in the spot she had just occupied. The silence stretched on, a minute passed by slowly; Ion shuffled his hooves a bit, his attention started to wander. Its search for a subject to interest it brought it to the Storage Door. He stared at it, it stared back. He shook his head, for he had been interpreting it as looking back at him. And for a second it seemed to wink at him, leaving him to turn back just as a resounding pop announced the return of Twilight Sparkle. She was not alone however, a purple unicorn with a singed grey mane was with her, his cutie mark covered by the rubber suit he was wearing up to his neck. “This is Professor Arcs, after I told him about the situation he was more than happy to come with me.” Professor Arcs gave them all a sweeping gaze, before turning his eyes on Ion. “So you are the one who manifests his magic as electricity?” Ion shook his head. “No sir, I manifest my magic with the properties of it however.” Arcs started rubbing his hooves together, the suit making a noise like cats informed of their death posthumously and catching up on all the shouting they should have done. “I would very much like to see that.” Ion nodded and levitated the steel cube again; as the sparks resumed their movements across the fabric of the magic Arcs’ eyes started lighting up. And before anyone could say anything he was at the podium, climbing towards the cube, reaching out. Ion panicked his memories flashing back to magic kindergarten. Sitting across from a filly, laughing at the gently sparking cubes he was trying to levitate. He pushed and pushed, the cube tittering slightly before lifting up an inch above the ground. The filly reaching out, her mouth open in wonder. The sizzle of burning hair that followed. Everything flashed forward to his final year at the Fillydelphia center, his visit to that filly. Paralyzed for life, she lay in her bed, her eyes watching, blaming. Ion broke out of his reverie, a shout splintering his normally stoic façade. “NO!” The soft squeak of Arcs touching the cube was the only sound in the classroom. Arcs looked at him, Ion eyed him back. And with a soft curl of the lips, Arcs laughed. “This is absolutely marvelous, the benefit a source of electric magic could be to my researc-“ He seemed to notice Ion’s haunted expression for the first time. “Have I done something wrong?” Arcs flicked his head around, looking at the class in turn. “I am sorry but am I missing something here?” The cube made a soft thud as it hit the podium. Ion looked at Twilight, his gaze revealing his troubles almost as much as the shout. Twilight nodded. “We shall be stopping for break everypony. Please remain seated until the bell rings.” Ion stumbled back off the podium and into his seat, Twilight pulled Arcs over to a corner and started discussing something Ion could not and cared not to hear. ‘Bong…’ A soft but insistent note filtered into the classroom, Twilight turned back to them. “You may leave for the mess hall if you wish to eat, break lasts thirty minutes. Ion, would you please stay here?” Ion nodded slowly, and remained sitting as his classmates filtered out the door. Meanwhile, in a cave not far away, Bonebird paced while she awaited her guest. Each step sending up soft violet embers from the stone floor.
Welcome to debate.“How dare you!” “It is my opinion miss Sparkle, I am fully aware of your’ views on this subject.” “But to say that magic is inefficient! The audacity is almost unthinkable Ion! We live in a world where magic makes up a greater part of our life. And we as unicorns must embrace this responsibillity!” Ion Clockwork regarded the pony in front of him with his usual calculating stare. The Unicorn mare’s entire muzzle was slowly turned a deep shade of red in constrained anger. In Flanksight, it may have been a badly thought move to start discussing his theories with one of the most magically inclined ponies in the university. A+ student, master of nearly all forms of magic. Twilight Sparkle was probably one of the most gifted unicorns of this age. And here at the academy of experimental magic, she fit like a custom tailored sock. “We are at the academy of experimental magic Ion, MAGIC. Not the Fillydelphia center for advanced research!” Ion raised an eyebrow. “I am here to expand my horizons on the order of my supervisor miss Sparkle. I do not have to enjoy it, but I will do it.” The young mare looks like she is about to say more when the huge double doors open, revealing princess Celestia stepping out onto the stairs. “Welcome ponyfolk, to the grand opening of our new academy. You are all here because you have been hoof picked from the best students around equestrian. To further broaden your’ horizons in magic. In a moment, supervisors will start calling out names. When your’ name is called, please step towards the supervisor and file in an orderly line.” Ion sighed deeply as an assortment of mares and colts started calling out names and concentrated on listening for his own. Out of the corner of his eye. He noticed Twilight had stopped trying to pester him and was now watching eagerly, probably awaiting her name to be called. “Honeysuckle!” A small golden mare with a mint green mane stepped up to the supervisor. “Ion Clockwork” Ion snapped to attention and walked smartly over to the supervisor, a tall colt with deep gray hair, on a deep blue body. His cutie mark a bird flying over the stars. Ion fell in line behind a small group of other unicorns. They were nine now, not counting the supervisor. With 150 unicorns being invited and 15 supervisors the plan was obvious. “Twilight Sparkle” Ion’s ever present frown deepened into a scowl. The voice that had called ‘her’ name was the same that had called his. With a light hop in her step she fell in behind him. Ion returned his attention to the ever dwindling crowd. And soon the commotion died down as everyone surveyed the groups. Princess Celestia smiled and with a flick of hey horn the doors into the academy flew up. Cheers went up from around the crowd and everypony was ready to take their first steps into the new academy. “Now my little ponies, you may follow your supervisors. Starworks, you may start!” With that the supervisor in front of Ion started moving. “After me now everypony!” All at once they started walking, Starworks leading them past Celestia, who nodded to each pony as they passed. The hall they entered was grand to say the least, the design archaic. Inspired in part by the Canterlot castle itself. Long corridors, carpeted with remarkable shades of red lined the corridor floors. And Starworks led them down into one of these corridors now. “You may have seen some aerial views of the academy or looked at the flooring plans, but if you have not, I will give you a little refresher course. The academy is a five story building, built mostly out of brick and mortar. Painstakingly constructed over the course of two years. The entire third floor is classrooms; the first is the commons area and dining hall. The second floor is the dormitories. The fourth floor is the teacher’s commons. And area you will not enter unless you require assistance from a teacher. The fifth floor is our observatory, where we will hold a small number of lessons in the coming months.” He led them through a series of corridors, until they came to a staircase. “This staircase leads all the way up to the fourth floor. To get to the observatory, one has to take the staircase in the teacher’s lounge.” Ion briefly considered the reasoning behind such a position. Before swiftly dismissing it as protecting the valuable equipment the observatory surely holds. Starworks started up the staircase and the group of students followed. “We will now be heading to the dormitories where I will assign you rooms. The rooms in this academy use a pairing setup, one mare and one colt to each, sharing a small communal room and two private bedrooms.” They were heading down a bright corridor now; one side was a series of open windows, cut into the side of the academy. The other a series of doors, each bearing a blank plaque. Starworks stopped in front of a seemingly random one. “We shall commence immediately” His horn glowed and all down the corridor the plaques started shining in an ethereal blue light. Before a sharp flash flowed across them, carving names into the cold metal. “Everypony find your’ rooms and get acquainted. You will be awoken tomorrow at eight sharp. When you do, make your way to the entrance hall to receive lesson plans. Good night everypony!” Ion Clockwork started walking down the corridor, briefly letting his gaze linger on each of the plaques. Then he stopped as his own name swam into his vision. He stood stock still for the entirety of ten seconds. “FOR BUCKS SAKE” TENANTS T.sparkle I.Clockwork Heads turned all the way down the corridor as everyone stopped talking and turned to look at him. Twilight walked up to him. Then looked at the plaque herself. "Do you think we could talk to the teachers about this?" Ion eyed her warily. While she might be his polar opposite in beliefs, they were both practictioners of practicality. He did not have time to respond however. As Starworks at walked up behind him. "Is there a problem with the arrangements Ion? Because if you believe so, you are more than welcome to take it up with the princess. She decided on the room pairings." Gritting his teeth, Ion shock his head. "No Starworks. Everything is perfectly fine." Starworks nodded. "Good, now get your' flank in bed. Tommorow is your first day and you wouldn't want to make a... mistake, quite so early." Ion shivered, there was something off about Starworks. However this was no time to start another argument. He had already spent most of the ride over arguing with Twilight. With a grudging nod he stepped into the room. Twilight bringing up the rear. "I am very sorry for Ion's behaviour professor. It will not happen again, you have my word!" Ion closed his eyes and his frown deepened. He had never met one as annoying as this mare. "It is good to have such dependable students as you here miss sparkle. I am sure Ion could learn a lot from you. Have a good night." Ion heard the door click shut and started surveying his surroundings. A small study of sorts, with a table to dine or work on. A fireplace for heating and a pair of comfy looking seats in front of it. Three doors led off to seperate rooms. Two were marked, blank stone plaques empty of any detail. The other was completely unmarked, and upon further investigation. Led to a small bathroom. Both the marked rooms turned out to be sleeping quarters, identically furnished except for the view from the windows. Both contained a chest for personal belongings, a bed and a table. Back outside Twilight had already walked up to the first room and her horn was glowing. After a second a similar flash to the one Starworks had made engraved her name into the stone plate. Ion decided that this was infact a good idea and turned to his own door. He reached within himself, touching gently upon the part of his body that. Had never seemed like it fit. Magic, it was a part of him yet it was alien. He had never felt this true connection to it that other unicorns did, instead preferring the cold comfort of technology. Clearing his head of thoughts he send a mental spike, a sharp blow of intagible power. Right into the magic, where it met with a bit of resistance before shattering a barrier. Like a thin membrane constraining it. His horn started glowing, a violently green colour, with occasional green sparks shooting off it. He felt the plaque in his mind, and with a probing touch, hardened his magic. Then scraped it into the plaque, the words of his name becoming apparent as a strong force simply displaced the stone to the sides. When he was done, the plaque read his name in deep lines. With raised ridges along the edges. He was satisfied and spared twilight one look and two words before going into his room. "Good night." "Good night Ion." Closing the door behind himself he decided that he was in fact tired. And before letting go of his magic, he lifted the blanket up into the air. Hovering as if pinched by an invisible spirit. He let it hang, keeping his focus on it as he lay down onto the bed. He curled up into comfortable position and let the blanket drop. He was asleep before it even landed on him. And he didn't notice the lights dimming in response to his sleep.
A new line of studyIon stirred. A sort of insistent tapping on his horn causing him to stir. After a couple minutes slid by the tapping grew more insistent. And with a grunt Ion opened his eyes just in time to see the room start lighting up. For a second he was intrigued, and decided to test a sudden theory. Closing his eyes again he waited. Soon he saw the light dim through his eyelids. And again the tapping resumed, quite strongly this time. “I get it, getting up now.” Ion grumbled to himself. Before rolling out of bed, landing on his hooves. Ion reached for his magic for the first time that morning, something akin to stretching your wings for a Pegasus. The first time of the day was always the hardest, and the barrier in his mind resisted his first attempt. The mental spike slipping on a surface akin to a strong bubble. With an angry grunt Ion sent another, this time piercing the veil and setting his horn aglow with its customary green luminosity and crackling green sparks. He felt the door in his mind; Sweeping his magic across its surface, an almost tactile interaction. Before a small snake drifted into the locking mechanism and gave it the push the door needed to unlock. He proceeded to push the door out of his way as he walked out of his room. The first thing that struck him was a large pile of sealed containers sitting in the corner of the study. The second was that they were eerily familiar. Stepping closer to look, a small sticker on one side proclaimed FROM: Fillydelphia center for advanced research. TO: Graduate, Ion Clockwork P.S Forwarding your personal belongings to you from your personal storage area. We received a letter from the academy regarding their transport and so here they are. Hope you enjoy a little touch of home. ~Professor Auto Carefully lifting them into a more orderly pile ion spied another pile of objects behind his boxes. A series of smaller wooden containers, with a golden trimmed letter attached to the top that read T. Sparkle From princess Celestia A creaking sound shattered the silence. And Ion Clockwork turned to see Twilight Sparkle coming out of her room, looking roughly as tired as he himself had been. She turned to him with tired eyes. “Did you feel that tapping too?” Ion nodded. “Yes, I believe it is a form of alarm clock, designed to wake all the unicorns in bed after a certain time.” The tired look fading from her eyes quickly, Twilight adopted a serious expression. “What do you base your’ theory on” “A practical experiment where I pretended to sleep after waking, the lights dimmed and the tapping resumed as I closed my eyes.” She nodded gravely. “Very well, I accept this as satisfactory evidence.” Ion and Twilight both stared at each other, before both of them dropped the serious façade to burst into laughter. “Right then, what is the time?” Ion eyed the clock. “Twelve minutes past eight” “We had to be in the hall by nine right?” “Correct” Only then did twilight seem to notice all the boxes. “What are all these metal boxes doing here?” Ion stared her straight in the eye. “Fools are hiding inside them, I should take away their’ metal boxes.” She stared blankly back. Ion snickered. “Just an inside joke, there are some crates for you over there, the wooden ones.” Stepping over to them, twilight cracks one open with her magic while eyeing the letter. And after putting it down, floats a large amount of books out of them. “Wonderful! How thoughtful of her.” Ion raised an eyebrow. “Books?” She nodded. “Books from my library in Ponyville, I am the resident librarian there and now I will not have to leave my favorites behind.” She leaned over to look at the labels on one of the metal boxes. “I guess my jest yesterday about Fillydelphia touched a sore spot didn’t it?” Ion regarded her with a scowl as he responded. “And just when we were getting along for a bit.” “Well excuse me Ion. It’s not my fault you started discussion magical philosophy with me!” Ion closed his eyes, grimacing. “Let us forget of this incident. I must sort my belongings before I head to the opening ceremony.” Focusing, Ion exerted his magical grip on one of the boxes, lifting it in the air in front of him. Taking a tight magical grip on each bolt that held the box together he unscrewed each one at the same time. The box instantly coming apart into 6 metal squares. He stacked these onto each other in midair and set them down, before regarding the assorted objects floating in front of him now. It was his old tools, and for a couple seconds. His usual scowling face mellowed and a small sparkle in his eye spoke of some unseen joy. And then he was to his usual self. He lifted a moderately sized device, similar to a jackhammer of the type road ponies usually used to work the streets of Canterlot. Lining three of the plates from the first box on the wall, he set to work. Pressing the jackhammer device against their corners, a soft pneumatic hiss followed by steam issued from the back of the device each time he did this, a small rounded knob was left in the metal each time and as he finished each plate, his crackling green glow faded from them. Leaving them suspended to the wall. “What are you doing?” Ion smiled to himself, something he only did when he indulged himself in an interesting line of thought or worked with machinery. “It is quite like professor Auto to send me my belongings packed in Skirt plates. And as for what I am doing, I am making a shelf.” Twilight watched with a puzzled look as he put down the jackhammer device and lifted up a series of long steel rods, barely a centimeter in diameter. His glow enveloped the remaining metal plates from the first box and held them to the top of the now wall mounted plates. The plates together forming a 90 degree angle. Maneuvering the rods above the plates, ion let them drop. The rods falling into holes in the plates, sliding deep into the wall mounted ones and leaving a bit poking out the top of the upper plates. To these tips, ion applied a small screw on cap. Stepping back, Ion nodded slowly. Twilight sparkle looked bemused. “So, you get a bunch of tools from your old school and then you make a shelf?” “Correct. I am creating an area to store my possessions.” Twilight shrugged. With the shelf assembled, Ion started unboxing the other boxes, three others in total. And by sliding the skirt plates underneath the top plate on his shelf, they were all quickly packed into a compact rectangle on the wall. Slipping a series of odd ends out of the boxes, Ion placed what looked like half a mechanics workshop on the shelf. “Just like my room in the Fillydelphia center” He turned around as he heard a door close. Then he looked at the clock. “Oh dratted!” Ion Skidded into the entrance hall at forty seconds past nine. And the crowd was already dwindling. A huge board covered most of one wall. Listing every student and every class they had to go to. The list stretched quite high up. For a second Ion wondered how he would find his name when the list seemed to swim before his eyes. And all the text started flying across the paper, only to suddenly halt. Leaving his name right in front of his muzzle. “That is thoughtful of them.” The first class on the list showed “Undecided, please see the headmaster.” Ion raised an eyebrow. This was a surprise, but he decided to go with it. Walking back towards the staircase, he started the ascent into the teacher’s area. He was in fact quite winded by the time he reached the top of the stairs. “I suspect that I am in worse shape than I first thought.” Stopping to catch his breath, Ion took the steps into the only corridor. A long straight hall, lined with doors. All of which had a position marked on them. “Head of agriculture.” “Head of security” “Head of offensive magic.“ “Head of passive magic.” “Head of defensive magic.” “Head of practical studies.” “Headmaste- Ion Clockwork stopped, and turned to face this door. It was lined with gold trims, and the plaque was a magnificent shining metal. However what had made him stop was not the need to meet this pony or because of the door itself. It was the pony’s name that was marked under it. Headmaster Head of advanced studies PHD. Friendship magic. Her royal highness. Princess Celestia. Ion steeled himself and lifted his hoof to knock on the door. Only to have somepony else put a hoof on his shoulder. He turned around, coming face to face with one of the immortal deity’s of the realm. “Hello Ion.” He shook, her very presence carrying such a power now that he was alone with her. The air seemed to bend, as if her power drew even it to her. “It is good you came, step into my office.” The door opened in front of her as she walked past him. Snapping back to his senses, Ion followed. Entering into a surprisingly modest office. Lots of shelves covered in books lined the walls and the room itself was dominated by a plush sack, surrounded by a series of smaller plushes. Upon which three other unicorns sat. As he looked at them he picked out one he had noticed before. The one known as Honeysuckle was there. The others were as of yet unknown to him. Ion sat down on a plush. “Hello my little ponies. And welcome to my study, I am sure you are all wondering why you are here.” A series of reverent nods. “You all share a common thing. You disagree with the established concept of magic in one or another. And so I have come to propose a solution. You all will have a separate lesson with one of my most trusted colleagues. The lesson which she will teach you will hopefully expand your horizons and accept magic into yourselves. I will now demonstrate why this is necessary.” Raising her horn, the entire room flooded with light. And when it faded, Ion could see magic. It flooded in waves off the princess. Like a gas that flowed but always remained tethered to the princess. He turned his head, looking at the other unicorns who looked as amazed as he was. Honeysuckle's magic was dripping, like thick sauce. It fell away from her in large globs. A unicorn with a blue coat with hair that reminded him of toothpaste had magic that hung still, completely unmoving in the shape of a much larger pony. The last had a coat that was deep red, with a mane that reminded him of ash had magic that flowed upwards, like a lit candle. He turned to the princess who softly motioned towards the door. Turning, Ion noticed a mirror. All of the students walked up to it. Their’ eyes lighting up as they saw their own magic. Ion looked at himself. At first he couldn’t see it. But soon he noticed green glow, surrounding his body. And he wondered why it hid like that, and then he realized that he felt why. He was holding it, constraining it and locking it. And as he realized this, he let it go subconsciously. And it coalesced into a sharp green lightning bolt. That sparked off his coat and slammed into the mirror, shattering it. Ion stared in shock, as sparks ran along his coat. Painting him in bright green electric arcs. Then his mind reasserted its usual control over it and the magic snapped like a rubber band. Rebounding back into him, and then retreating back behind the barrier in his mind. The others locked him in stares that could melt concrete. Almost accusingly as if he had deprived them of the oppurtunity to look at their' own magic. “As you can see, having negative relationships with your magic can be dangerous.” Ion turned to the princess. “And so I introduce you to your new mentor, who will work with you to build a relationship with your own magic. Through the magic of friendship.” Twilight sparkle stepped out from behind Celestia. “Hello Ion.”
BONUS CHAPTER A certain scientific phenomenon.This chapter is considered skippable, you will only miss the birth of the villain by skipping this one. If you dislike gore, then don't read this. We introduce our villain. It gets gorey and grimdark in this chapter, you have been warned. It won't be quite so dark the next time we meet our villain however. "You did what exactly?" "I ripped a hole!" Pinkie was jumping up and down, bubbly mane whipping through the air as her jumps took her in a perfect circle. Lyra groaned, turning back to the huge rippling hole in her house. It looked like someone had pushed their hoof into a pond. Only through it, faint shimmering shapes could be seen. "And you thought, poking into my wall was totally a sensible idea?" "Yuuuuup!" Lyra attempted to put her hoof to her face, but missed and hit herself in the horn. "Owwwieeeee!" Pinkie kept jumping, took a spinning turn in midair and jumped into the rippling hole. "Wait! Pinkie!" Lyra dived after her. The portal enveloping her like a second skin. An odd liquid sensation. She was floating in an ocean that stretched out in every direction possible and some impossible. Pinkie was slightly farther ahead. The pink blob floating in space. Lyra swam after her, pushing her back hooves against the current to maintain her speed. Pinkie simply gliding forward almost gracefully. Towards five lights in the distance. Ion stirred in his sleep. A soft pressure reaching him, not similar to the alarm. This was an almost ethereal sensation. It suddenly surged. Ion bolted awake, the mental pressure causing him physical pain. After almost three minutes writhing in his bed, the pain receded. Ion got to his hooves, rolling off the bed. "What the buck was that?" A hint of the feeling lingered, leaving a faint pull in the air, out of his room. And with only a seconds hesitation, Ion pushed open his bedroom door and stepped out. The small study eerily quiet. Everything was tense, as if the world had drawn a bow string. Ion made his way out to the hallway. The force drawing him along the carpetted floors, to the staircase. As he put a hoof on the staircase, someone spoke behind him. "Ion? You feel it too?" Honeysuckle's voice reverbrated slightly in the large corridor. Ion turned to face her, only to be met with Colgate and Cinderpile as well. "This can not be a coincidence." Ion intoned. "Whatever it is, we all feel it. And I want to find out what it is." This was Cinderpile. Then, as if on unspoken consent. They all made their way up the stairs together. When they reached the third floor, the trail went off into the maze of classrooms and interlocking corridors. Drawing them on as it twisted and turned. The pressure got stronger and stronger the more they followed it. And Ion was experiencing some form of deja vu, the corridor was eerily familiar. "Wait, is this not where w-" A scream shattered the silence. Or rather, a symphony of screams. A sound that could only produced by something as twisted as the everfree forest. Everypony broke into a run. The scent drawing them towards the same classroom they had shared the day before. Pinkie Pie was screaming, she did not know why. She did not know when, she saw only red as the continuing pain caused her to writhe in pain all across the floor. The explosion of pain in her forehead had blotted out everything but itself and when she screamed she heard nothing except the pain she was experiencing. Ion was at the head of the group now, moving at a full gallop towards the door of the classroom they had used. Pinkie felt the immense force harder than ever, it seemed to flood out and fill not only her with pain but the very room. She felt it, the very fabric of the universe was hurt here. Ion barreled into the door, not taking time to reach for his magic. And the door swung open, slamming into the doorframe. Everypony stopped in their tracks. The abomination before them burning itself into their retinas. The creature was vaguely pony shaped, except it's shape ebbed and flowed, bulging and shrinking randomly. It turned its head towards them. "END ME!" It was a pink pony, her face contorting in directions impossible. A huge welt on her forehead formed, only to burst. Spraying blood in a frenzied spray, as a mint green horn erupted from its forehead. Its skin cracked in a straight line down the middle of its face. "END THE PAIN! END HER!" It continued its screaming, the entire room pooling with blood as the creature was torn apart from the inside. Cinder reacted first. Coalescing her magic into a real fire, that tore through the room towards the creature. Its mane caught fire, and its fur burned all across its body. The creature let out a bellow that shook the very fabric of magic. The entire room wobbling before the group's eyes. Flickering, as if someone was madly flipping images. The room changed between the normal classroom and a hellish region. The mangled bodies of ponies impaled on large pencils, or having the blood squeezed out of them by books. The words of the books whipping through the air, leaving welts on the ponies as they begged for mercy. Then as suddenly as it had started, it stopped. The world reasserted itself as the hole in the world closed itself. The creature continued writhing. Occasionally flickering out of existance, or reappearing somewhere else in the classroom, spasming wildly. Lyra was going mad, she felt it. Like a physical part of her, she felt her sanity bending under the weight of the situation. Magic was everywhere, flesh was everywhere. She felt herself taking a place she shouldn't have. She felt her sanity bend almost all the way around. Pinkie let go, she could not live in this pain. And after surviving many deadly accidents, the pink pony simply let go of life. Dissipating into the fabric of the realm, becoming not one but many others. Lyra's sanity snapped. The sound was like a twig, she could see now. Through the burning holes in the skull covering her head. The eye's blocking her vision had melted. She could see the ponies watching her. She could see their magic, odd looking magic. She laughed then. The sight was unfathomable, the pink pony's flesh had burned away. A green unicorn now laughed before them. Covered in the blood of the pink pony. She was wearing the pink one's bones like armor. her eyes were bloodshot, and she was mad. Utterly, gloriously mad. Ion felt himself going mad too, this pony could not exist. These events could not have happened. It was becoming too much for his fragile mind, and then the thing spoke. "I'M SORRY PINKIE, I'M SORRY. I DIDN'T MEAN IT." Then she cackled madly, her voice betraying no guilt for her actions. She eyed the students, looking at them, almost tasting them with her eyes. "YOU WILL BE THE FIRST ONES TO KNOW THE PAIN OF MADNESS." Ion reacted instinctively, breaking the barrier of his magic. Pushing it towards the thing, before letting it go. And achieved the desired results. The magic coalescing into a massive green bolt of energy. Slamming into the bone clad unicorn. The thing stumbled, before regaining its footing. Then the bolt froze, the air around the creature warped and the magic dissipated, floating away. All of them screamed, Ion sending another bolt flying towards the thing. Accompanied by a wave of magical fire, a huge translucent dragon hand and a tidal wave of orange magic. All of the power hit it at once, and it waved its mane, sticking out of the place the pink ones mane had stuck before. "NO." It was a command, and the magic obeyed. For a second, the world around her became again the hellish classroom. Then it was gone, along with the magic. The green unicorn eyed them. "WE, SHALL, DO, THIS, AGAIN." Every word seemed to strain her. Her bones catching fire, a deep green fire. That moved unnaturally, in every direction. Her body transformed, turning into something that looked a pony with large skeletal wings instead of front hooves. Then with a flap, it flew up. Into reality, which warped around it to accomodate its passage. Ion fell over on the floor, staring blankly at the blood soaked planks. The world blackening around the edges. Then he fainted.
RevelationsTo make up for that grimdark chapter, let us do a light hearted chapter, with lots of story exposition. Happy reading. Ion Clockwork slowly forced his eyes open, a thick stupor fading away like a waterfall. “Oh drat!” Ion shook his head, and turned towards the sound. Then he looked again, and again. Before finally just accepting what he saw. A line of softly glowing sheets of glass, covered in images of dreamscapes. Covering a wall that stretched into the distance, impossibly far. However this was not the strangest thing in the room, that particular award went to Luna, who was floating roughly half a meter away from him. she waved her hooves frantically in the air. “Buck buck buck buck, you were not supposed to be awake yet!” Ion noticed that he was unable to move, a soft translucent bubble surrounding him. “Where am i?” Luna stopped panicking. Letting herself slowly sink to the floor, touching gracefully down on her hooves. “I guess there is nothing for it. Welcome to dreamland.” Ion attempted to raise an eyebrow, but found his facial expression stuck as if frozen. “You cannot show emotion here. You are not in your’ body at the moment.” Ion continued to stare at the princess of the night, somehow much less intimidating in this world. Luna sighed, looking over at one of the screens. “Why am I here, what happened?” Luna looked at him for almost twenty seconds before answering. “Your’ mind has experienced a trauma too powerful for its safety measures, and put you into a coma. We found you and the other students knocked out on the floor of the classroom. We felt the spatial tear interacting with the world there but arrived too late. I am currently discussing with the guard captain, new security measures.” Ion observed her. “How can you be here at the same time?” “I am the magical representation of my soul, I have a certain amount of autonomy from myself, though both me and me are aware of each other.” “Why am I in this bubble.” “The bubble as you see it is a repre- Hold on.” Luna spread her wings and with one giant leap and a flap of her wings, landed next to a glass sheet far away. The images depicted a pony running from an angry manticore in an abandoned town. “This will not do!” Luna’s horn started glowing and the pony fell down into a deep pit, only to land in a giant cake. Obvious delight on his face. Luna flew back over to Ion. “This is also the realm of dreams, all ponies dreams take place here and I as the princess of night have responsibility to make them all happy.” Ion would have nodded if he could. However the continued containment within the orb constricted his available methods of expression. “And why am I not experiencing any dreams?” “You would not survive it, your mind is weakened by the traumatic events of the night and the strain of bringing forth dreams would cause you to go the same way as Bonebird, into madness. The bubble is your minds way of representing the hold I have on you at this moment, the reason you are incapable of moving is your mind logically assumes the bubble keeps you captured, I see you wearing a straightjacket binding your front hooves together.” And as she said this, the bubble faded and he appeared to himself to be wearing a straightjacket as well. The impact with the floor as the bubble ceased to exist did not instill any sensations in him at all. He decided to ask about Bonebird later, the name awoke a certain amount of feeling in his incorporeal form. “So this world is completely subject to my own interpretation?” Luna shook her head. “In its essence, no this world is my world, and as such it is subject to my whims, however you can see it in a guise that your mind finds logical. Should I wish however, for you to see something specific then I may force it upon your mind.” And with that, a soft pressure filled Ions form and he was standing, a rope bound around his waist. A continued representative of his captivity in this realm. Ion walked around tentatively, the ground was a shade so deep that it did not appear to be ground at all, it would be much more comfortable if the ground was stone or something similar. And as he thought this, the immaterial ground became cobblestones, a road leading into the infinity beyond the dreams. “Come the morning, all these dreams will be gone, forgotten by those who held them. And the only dreams will be those in her realm.” Luna gestured towards the direction opposite to the dreams. And even as he turned, Ion noticed a severe increase in the levels of lighting; the area was a deep cyan blue, like the midday sky. And even as he watched. The cobblestones he had imagined flowed to cover the ground there as well. There were soft clouds there, shining slightly as they drifted lazily over the ground. An especially large cloud hung suspended in the air, a freeze shot of the maddened creature was visible on the screen. Halfway through the hole in reality that had let it- her escape. Ion saw himself too, standing alongside his fellow students. Cinderpile, Colgate and Honeysuckle, and for a moment he wondered what had happened to them. “Why are my fellow students not here as well?” Luna butted her two front hooves together a couple times. “Their minds took it better than yours. Upon examination you have a very ordered and logical mind, however this also means you are that much more in danger of madness when encountered with situations like this.” This seemed reasonable, and Ion turned to study the picture again. That abomination, he wondered what had happened just before they arrived, what had caused the creation of this creature. “My sister’s essence is currently asleep; she spends much of her time asleep after my one thousand year absence, catching up on lost rest no doubt.” That was when Ion noticed the soft plush sofa underneath the giant cloud image. Upon with the royal sovereign of the equestrian nation was strewn out in a most undignified position, her wings splayed wide over the side of the couch, each limb lying limply. A small drop of spit drooped out of the corner of her muzzle. Bobbing slowly up and down as it was suspended above the ground. A large amount of small white dots lay all over her, making her look like she had contracted some odd polka dot disease. An empty bucket that proudly proclaimed “CANTERLOT POPCORN EMPIRE” was lying on its side on her belly. “She insisted on ‘snacks’ while we reviewed your memories.” If Ion had not been incapable of emotional response while in this world, he would most certainly have laughed, however he did no such thing. “Is her real body asleep as well?” “No, she found herself a way to rest without actually sleeping during her solitary reign. She leaves her magical essence asleep here most of the time. Alicorns are beings of magic, and as such the only part of us that needs rest is magic, that being her magical essence means that she is currently feeling quite refreshed. However she has taken to real sleep as well.” Ion felt an odd sensation, tugging at his navel. “What the…” Luna turned to him. “Time passes differently here, you are probably waking up. It was unfortunate that you had to wake while in this state, however armed with the expanded repertoire of knowledge I have given you, I hope you do not feel wronged by us because of the memories we took from you.” Ion wanted to say more but he felt a sharp push from behind and toppled into the floor, he turned around as he fell to see for a second celestia's face framed by the sudden hole he had fell through. Ion wanted to ask her where her usual archaic method of speech had gone but then he blinked and was staring at the roof of his room instead. A small note materialised with a soft pop and floated gently down onto his muzzle. The words inscribed on the page were simple. "Gotcha." Luna eyed the representation of celestia. " "Really? Was that absolutely necessary?" Celestia stared back at her "Maybe not" Luna slammed one hoof into her forehead "You absolutely amaze me sometimes sister." "I love you too luna." The next chapter will go be the lesson they had with Twilight, and will contain lots of joking and general sillyness.
Magic is the strangest thing.Chapter 5 “Magic is the strangest thing." This chapter takes place before the Bonebird event during the grimdark chapter. Ion was walking along with his fellow students, as they followed Twilight Sparkle out of Celestia’s office. A lot was on his mind; on one hoof, he now knew the reason his magic worked like it did and on the other hoof he now also knew that his magic was not an integral part of him. Something which made him feel both sad and relieved in equal measure. Twilight led them down the stairs onto the second floor, a few stragglers still wandering the corridors, looking for their classrooms. Everyone was silent as they followed Twilight, and once they walked by a classroom with an open door, through which Ion saw a light orange unicorn swinging a large steel ball around the classroom as a bunch of smaller balls flew after it, attempting to collide with it. Then he was past the door and saw no more, Twilight was much more determined now each step she took moved her at an ever increasing pace towards some unseen goal. Her speed was such that everyone had to go at a fast trot to keep up with her. Soon they arrived at a door that proudly bore “Special studies, Professor T. Sparkle.” “Follow me now everypony.” And with that they entered the classroom, it was quite big, it had ten desks sitting in a horseshoe shape around a podium. One side of the walls had a series of large windows stretching all the way up to the roof. Shelves covered in books and an assortment of odd objects lined a few walls and all the way at the back, a room marked “Storage” proclaimed its purpose to the world. Twilight sparkle trotted up to the podium, lay her two front hooves on it to stabilize herself and then she spoke. “Alright everypony, draw yourself desks from the ring and bring them up to the podium.” As four desks floated towards the podium, Ion took notice of the magic holding them. Like his, they all had some strange quality to their magic. Honeysuckles grip on her desk left it glowing a deep molasses yellow; leaving drops of magic that faded out of view as she moved her desk. The blue unicorn with the toothpaste mane had her table with a more literal magical grip; the faint outline of a giant clawed hand gripping the table could be seen. The parts of the hand that were farthest away from the table were invisible. Most magic could only be seen when it was interacting with something, which is why objects glow when handled telekinetically by unicorns. Even as he watched the toothpaste pony’s table started cracking under strain of the magical claw’s grip. He deposited his own table next to the others, he had not had enough time to observe the ash colored pony’s magic however he did notice that the ash pony’s table was a deeper shade of brown now, and a small amount of smoke was drifting off the table surface. They all sat into their seats, front hooves on the table and back hooves jutting out underneath. Twilight Sparkle eyed them from her podium before speaking. “Right, seeing as you will be classmates for a long time, it is only natural you should get acquainted. We shall go clockwise, and I will start.” Her horn alighted and roughly 15 pages floated from a bag that lay next to the podium. They gathered on top of each other; stacking up neatly on the table. She floated one up in front of her muzzle. “I have prepared a carefully chosen essay on myself to help you reach greater unde- yes?” The unicorn with a toothpaste mane lowered her hoof, making a soft *click* as it hit the desk. “I don’t think you need an entire essay miss sparkle. You could just tell us the bare facts and let us figure it out ourselves.” Twilight looked taken aback, her mouth hanging half open. Then she seemed to come to her senses again. The papers jamming themselves back into the bag. “Errr yes, okay.” She cleared her throat. “I am Twilight Sparkle, and I will be your professor for this year, I have been to Celestia’s school for gifted unicorns and I will be teaching you rather unusual things. Because “broken unicorns” have not been seen in such great numbers in a long while.” She swept her gaze over the room, making sure everyone was listening. “My cutie mark is this six point star, it represents magic. My talent is magic and I pride myself on my knowledge. It is an honor to be teaching here. The reason I am teaching you, is because the princess feared and still fears that I may be a broken unicorn. Due to my magic being present in much higher quantities than usual.” Ion pondered on the words Twilight had used. For he was unfamiliar with the term ‘broken unicorn’ and it did not sound like a pleasant title to have put on you. “Now it is your turn.” Twilight pointed a hoof at the pony with the toothpaste mane. And she sat up straighter. Her cutie mark coming into view, it had the picture of an apple, bouncing of a pony’s head. “I am Colgate and I come from Trottingham. I am happy to finally find an explanation for the way my magic behaves and I hope to have a good time studying alongside all of you. Hopefully we will learn a lot this year!” Twilight sparkle nodded and pointed a hoof at Ion “Your’ turn Ion” Ion nodded. “I am Ion Clockwork, I come from Fillydelphia. I studied at the Fillydelphia center for advanced research and I enjoy mechanics. I too am pleased to find I am not alone in having an anomalous magic. And I hope that we may solve this mystery throughout the year” Twilight pointed at Honeysuckle. “You’re up next.” Honeysuckle gave a wide smile. “Hi! I’m Honeysuckle. I came here to learn about natural magic but instead I’m gonna learn about my own, and I am so excited!” Honeysuckle’s grin stretched on a bit longer than was comfortable. “I come aaallll the way from the equestrian highlands! But there is no snow there, only rain. Oh and there are sheep, lots of them and they keep going “BAAAA” every time I go by and it’s so funny and I can’t help but laughing and opening the gates!” Twilight was looking flustered now. “And I even brought honey, I love honey. I even have a cutie mark for honey and it is so nice because you can eat it or you can just drop it on the floor and it goes all like “SPLOOT” and the sound is so funn-“ She stopped to pull a deep breath. Twilight seized the opportunity. “Err, thank you Honeysuckle.” Honeysuckle looked up from the jar of honey she was stuffing her face into. Her muzzle coming up covered in the sticky liquid. Ion idly wondered how such a unicorn was chosen to come to this academy. “No problem, Miss Sparkle! Twilight breathed a sigh of relief before pointing at the ash colored pony. Who sat up a little straighter. “My name is Cinder; I came here because of a series of accidents involving setting a large portion of the Mareachussets University on fire.” There was a beat and nopony moved; Cinder gave a nervous laugh. “Uhm, maybe you should continue Miss Sparkle.” She seemed to come out of her sudden shock. “Yes, probably, I mean of course.” She paused for a second to collect herself. “As I said, you are here because of your anomalous magic, and to better help you come to terms with this we will begin by learning the term “Broken Unicorn” a term dubbed by Professor Egbert of the Fillydelphia center.” Ion mentally sorted through the list of names he remembered, and sure enough a cream white unicorn with glasses and an unhealthy obsession with the inner workings of magic swam to the front of his mind. Twilight levitated a massive blackboard behind herself and turned to it, bringing up a softly glowing bit of chalk. “A broken unicorn, is a unicorn that through unknown circumstances does not completely synchronize with their magic, it is hard to describe a single situation as every broken unicorn so far has had different circumstances. Some have become unreasonably powerful due to the inability to control it and a few have become…” She turned to them and grimaced before speaking. “Detached, from reality; Or in layman’s terms, insane. And in an effort to prevent that happening to you, we will be working together to analyze your magic and bring you in control.” She drew a series of images on the blackboard, a huge shapeless blob and a pair of ponies, looking pretty much identical. “This represents magic” She punctuated this statement by tapping the huge blob with the floating piece of chalk. “This a normal unicorn, you can visualize the connection like this.” She drew a thick line from the pony to the blob. “The normal unicorn can draw magic from the reservoir in our world whenever he or she wants. And he or she can control how much and where to direct, what form it should take etcetera. However the strength of this connection varies between unicorns and a strong mind is required to pull larger amounts of magic out of it.” She drew some squiggly lines around the thick line. “The flow can go from zero up to a maximum limited by their connection; however most unicorns do not hit this maximum within their connection unless interacting with objects related to their cutie mark, as this sharpens the mind considerably.” The chalk moved over to the second pony. “This pony represents a Broken Unicorn, and this the connection.” She didn’t draw anything, just pointed the chalk at the space between the Unicorn and the magic. “This is exactly the oddity, there is no true connection. They are simply sharing the same space, and instead of having to draw magic to itself a broken unicorn is constantly getting influxes of it. And the Unicorn mind is not built to withstand this, this results in anomalous properties in the magic, usually related to personality or interests. It is a defense mechanism that refines the magic in an effort to consume it. “ She turned back to the class. “The best way we can demonstrate is by doing, and as such we will dedicate this lesson to figuring out exactly what anomalous properties your individual magic’s have acquired. Now, who is ready to do some science?” She punctuated the statement by rubbing her hooves together enthusiastically and there was a general murmur of assent. “So who wants to go first?” Ion sighed internally and raised his hoof. “I am willing to cooperate in this magical experiment.” Twilight turned around and the Storage Door slammed open before she could reach for it with her magical grip. She seemed to stand for a second, perturbed. However she quickly recovered and out of the storage room came a series of objects; floating gently through the air before alighting upon the podium. “Please step up to the podium Ion.” Ion got out of his chair and made his way around the podium and up the small steps on the back, he observed the objects including a steel cube about four inches across and a series of wood blocks. Twilight started drawing on the board. “Alright everyone, what is our thesis statement for this experiment?” Cinder raised her hoof. “The objects will react in the way that they would usually do if a unicorn handled them?” Twilight wrote that on the board “Does everypony agree?” Everypony showed signs of consent. “Right, how would we go about testing this?” Honeysuckle raised a sticky hoof. “First we got to see it Miss Sparkle! See how it looks different!” Twilight turned to Ion. “Whenever you are ready, pick up the steel cube with your magic and hold it a couple inches off the surface of the podium” Ion nodded and reached within himself, the magic was there as always, a fluxing amorphous mass of indescribable consistency, constantly shifting and never easy to trap. Using his mind as a focus he tugged at it and drew it towards his medium, his horn. A sharp green glow started to emanate from his horn, the glow punctuated by soft crackling noises as short arcs of magic coalesced within it, before sparking to another area and disappearing. The cube was quickly surrounded by the same force as Ion reached out and touched it with his magic, the magic meeting resistance as it surrounded the cube, before tunneling into the cube and permeating its structure. Applying a modicum of force to it, Ion lifted it off the table, before stopping about 5 inches up. He held it there and turned to Twilight. Who nodded before turning to the rest of the ponies present. “Alright everypony, describe what outward signs show that this magic is anomalous.” Everypony raised their hoof. Twilight pointed to Colgate. “Well, the most obvious thing I can see here is that the magic is condensing into dense bolts and sparking across the visible cloud. It is in fact doing this in a manner similar to electricity.” Twilight nodded. “Ion’s magic is acting as if it was partly made out of electricity; sadly this is beyond our ability to explain. Electricity is still the domain of Professor Arcs, and he himself has admitted it is a volatile form of energy. What do we know about electricity?” Cinder raised a hoof. “It is a conduct for energy that can propagate itself through some metals and can be used in place of magic to power some of our devices. However harnessing it is still hard because it can only be obtained from lightning.” Twilight looked thoughtful for a second. “Put down the steel cube and pick up a wooden one.” Ion did as instructed, withdrawing his magic from the steel cube before wrapping it around one of the small wooden cubes, his magic did not perforate it, instead remaining on the outside of the item; the glow a good deal dimmer and the sparks merely hopping short distances. “Notice the dimming of the magic and lessening of the electrical arcs. This suggests to me that the magic behaves quite like electricity in the way that it reacts more readily to objects capable of carrying an electric charge. Please move it closer to the steel cube.” Ion slid the wooden cube through the air slowly, the glow around it becoming stronger as it neared the steel cube and just before it came within two inches, a strong arc shot out of the side of the wooden cube. Impacting the steel and causing it to glow a deep shade of green. Twilight merely observed, as did the rest of the students. Soon another bolt coalesced and one after another they struck the steel cube, pushing it away and leaving scorch marks on the podium where the cube had been touching it. Ion put the wooden cube down and retracted his magic. “We have disproven our thesis statement; the object acted like a storm cloud and struck the steel cube despite not containing any storm cloud particles prior to our test. And as such we must find a new statement.” Honeysuckle jumped up. “His magic is just like electricity!” Twilight turned to the board and wrote “Ion’s magic acts according to the laws that usually govern electrical currents.” She turned back to face the class “We need an expert on the subject to aid us, please excuse me.” She tensed down and her horn alighted with sparkling motes of magic, they quickly spread out before coming shooting back towards twilight. The air around her imploded as a sudden unicorn shaped hole formed in the spot she had just occupied. The silence stretched on, a minute passed by slowly; Ion shuffled his hooves a bit, his attention started to wander. Its search for a subject to interest it brought it to the Storage Door. He stared at it, it stared back. He shook his head, for he had been interpreting it as looking back at him. And for a second it seemed to wink at him, leaving him to turn back just as a resounding pop announced the return of Twilight Sparkle. She was not alone however, a purple unicorn with a singed grey mane was with her, his cutie mark covered by the rubber suit he was wearing up to his neck. “This is Professor Arcs, after I told him about the situation he was more than happy to come with me.” Professor Arcs gave them all a sweeping gaze, before turning his eyes on Ion. “So you are the one who manifests his magic as electricity?” Ion shook his head. “No sir, I manifest my magic with the properties of it however.” Arcs started rubbing his hooves together, the suit making a noise like cats informed of their death posthumously and catching up on all the shouting they should have done. “I would very much like to see that.” Ion nodded and levitated the steel cube again; as the sparks resumed their movements across the fabric of the magic Arcs’ eyes started lighting up. And before anyone could say anything he was at the podium, climbing towards the cube, reaching out. Ion panicked his memories flashing back to magic kindergarten. Sitting across from a filly, laughing at the gently sparking cubes he was trying to levitate. He pushed and pushed, the cube tittering slightly before lifting up an inch above the ground. The filly reaching out, her mouth open in wonder. The sizzle of burning hair that followed. Everything flashed forward to his final year at the Fillydelphia center, his visit to that filly. Paralyzed for life, she lay in her bed, her eyes watching, blaming. Ion broke out of his reverie, a shout splintering his normally stoic façade. “NO!” The soft squeak of Arcs touching the cube was the only sound in the classroom. Arcs looked at him, Ion eyed him back. And with a soft curl of the lips, Arcs laughed. “This is absolutely marvelous, the benefit a source of electric magic could be to my researc-“ He seemed to notice Ion’s haunted expression for the first time. “Have I done something wrong?” Arcs flicked his head around, looking at the class in turn. “I am sorry but am I missing something here?” The cube made a soft thud as it hit the podium. Ion looked at Twilight, his gaze revealing his troubles almost as much as the shout. Twilight nodded. “We shall be stopping for break everypony. Please remain seated until the bell rings.” Ion stumbled back off the podium and into his seat, Twilight pulled Arcs over to a corner and started discussing something Ion could not and cared not to hear. ‘Bong…’ A soft but insistent note filtered into the classroom, Twilight turned back to them. “You may leave for the mess hall if you wish to eat, break lasts thirty minutes. Ion, would you please stay here?” Ion nodded slowly, and remained sitting as his classmates filtered out the door. Meanwhile, in a cave not far away, Bonebird paced while she awaited her guest. Each step sending up soft violet embers from the stone floor.
