And I thought we were normal. How wrong I was.

   I open my eyes slowly as I begin to regain consciousness and I can feel my bed under me. I begin to look around the pitch dark room slowly but I'm unable to see anything. I manage to enable a dim light spell at the cost of turning my slight headache into a migraine. Fuck; I need to be more careful about using my magic. It's literally a doubled edged sword most of the time.

   I get up out of the bed and I almost fall to the floor due to my disorientation. I take it slow and I continue to walk towards my door. I open the door after reaching it and I open the door slowly as the light of the hallway assaults my eyes and I cringe I'm displeasure. After my eyes recover from the sudden shift in light, I dispel the light spell and I continue through the hallway with my head throbbing. Suddenly just going back to sleep seems very appealing.

   I walk into the main room and I don't see anypony in the room. I at least thought Berry would be here. I think as I walk over to the wall clock and checking the time, 6:54. I guess she's still asleep. I walk over to the kitchen and I pull another can of tomato soup out of the cabinet. I guess I should eat something; keep my strength up and whatnot. I open the can and I set the can in the microwave for about 45 seconds to warm it up and during that time I grab a spoon out of one of the drawers. I hate spoons

   I grab the can out of the microwave and set it on the countertop with my spoon. Time to eat. I stir the thick soup for a few moments before taking a few warm spoonfuls. Simple yet delicious. I finish the soup in the next few minutes and thankfully my headache has subsided by that time.

"I wonder what happened last night... I probably lost after I dropped. After all I doubt my magical wall actually did anything; she probably just acted like it did to trick me. I wonder what Berry is going to do for my punishment." I say aloud as I toss the can into the trash can and walk into the main room to sit on the remaining couch.

"Good morning Sonata." I hear the voice of Berry come from my left and I turn towards the mare wearing a simple running outfit.

"Good morning?" I say in a more asking than greeting tone.

"What's the problem?" She responds while pulling out a carton of eggs from the refrigerator.

"I thought you'd be displeased with my performance last night. I did lose after all." I answer.

"What do you mean? You didn't lose; it was close but you won by 32 seconds." She answers before pulling out a package of bacon. What?

"What; but didn't Spacial catch me right after I blacked out?" I question while eyeing the meat and eggs. I didn't steal either of those at the store although stealing the eggs would've been beneficial now that I think about it...

"Nope. She ran into your wall like an idiot and hurt herself and as for me I was stuck in the night crowd across town." She answers and begins to heat up a pan on the stove top. I guess she brought over more stuff than I thought.

"Wasn't she teleporting though? How could she hit the wall when she was disappearing and reappearing?" I ask.

"She wasn't teleporting. It's a spell she picked up on a few years ago. It acts like your speed step to increase here speed slightly but rather than just doubling the speed of the user it also creates an area of low pressure in front of caster creating less resistance and allowing the caster to flow through the area quickly which explains the sounds of wind that accompany it. Simply put it only looks like teleportation." She explains thoroughly as she cracks two eggs into the pan and seasons them with what seems to be a simple salt and pepper mix.

"So I'm not going to be punished?" I ask to ensure my theory.

"Nope. It's a shame though. I thought you'd lose.it must just run through this chain of mentors and apprentices." She says with a sigh near the end.

"What do you mean 'through this chain of mentors and apprentices'?

"You're the first one to win this game on the first try since me and I was the first one since my mentor, the previous guild master, to win on the first try. I guess I'm a better teacher than I thought." She says while taking the eggs out of the pan and putting the bacon into the pan with the same basic blend of seasonings.

"Or I'm a better student than you thought." I remark sarcastically.

"Considering Spacial and I were only at 20% of our usual power; I think it's my teaching." What?

"20% of your usual power?" I ask.

"Yeah; it's traditional for the two chasers to wear limiters that bring them down to 20% of their usual power during the first time the game is played. Afterwards we can change the limiters to take away less power to train you more. For the most part we play this game as a way to gauge what your strong and weak points are." The magenta mare says while taking the bacon out of the pan and setting it with the eggs on her plate.

"Uh; and here I thought I was actually doing better than you."

"There's not a chance in hell you could already be better than I am." She replies while taking a bite of the bacon.

"What did I do right and what did I do wrong?" I ask as she enjoys her meal.

"You made good use of the defects the lock-pick conjuring spell comes with, the faux bodies might've worked on a pegasus or earth pony and you also recognized how a crowd can be used to mask your trail. However you choose to hide in two places highly similar to each other and also you only ran for a good portion of the time." She chastises through a mouthful of egg whites.

"Sorry about that. The light cancelation fell through and when the faux bodies didn't work my options where severely reduced." I respond somberly. I really am a one trick pony.

"And that, my son and student, is what I plan to fix. You already see to have a respectable enough magical reserve for now, but without spells to use it I can't expect much from you. In your pocket, however, there happens to be a list of spells I picked out from your book for you to learn. I want you to have them down by Thursday because then we're going to play an Everfree survival game." She explains

"What do you mean 'survival game'?" I ask evenly.

"We go out into the Everfree and go camping for awhile. It's mostly a team building exercise rather than a training exercise though. We even have a great spot by some manticore dens." She says and I do the calculations in my head. The fuck is a manticore

"Wait; you're only giving me a day to learn them?" I say as I remember today is Wednesday.

"They're fairly simple and I'm giving you all day to learn them. Besides; it's not going to be Spacial and me will go going you this time." She answers and puts her plate into the sink.

"Then who is going to go with me?" I ask with an idea already forming in my head. Who else but...

"Thunderback and Macintosh." She says while walking over and sitting in her rocking chair.

"Why them?" I ask.

"We may be a family, but we still have jobs. Spacial is going to rob a home in canterlot and I'm going to assassinate a large landowner in the griffin badlands. The way I hear it his young colt is getting a little anxious for his inheritance." She says with a smirk.

"And you don't think anything of it?" I ask wondering how such a happy mare could be cutting other pony's lives short.

"Not really. It's like any other job; to make money you have to make somepony else pay a price. The way I see it; you can say I'm a criminal or murder, but at the end of the day I need bits like anypony else. I'm just doing what I'm good at." She says solemnly. I understand what she's saying but I still don't agree with it, maybe I'm too young or she's looking at it the wrong way.

"Will they have limiters on them like you two did?" I ask to change the subject.

"Not at all." She answers and I take out the list of spells for me to learn.

"Ten spells, heh? I guess I can do this." I say after reading the list.

"That's the spirit. Now go on out for a while; I need to plan out my job." She says before walking back to what was once Uefi's room. Heh, if Uefi could see the shit I'm having to do right now he'd probably laugh at me and call me an idiot for listening to them. Either that or he'd be yelling at me for living with an alcoholic.

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   I walk out into the forest hoping to find a secluded place to practice. The forest itself is pretty nice actually, besides the somewhat ominous fog. The larges trees in the area seem to an odd twisted pattern to their bark and they're branches and leaves are formed like that of a weeping willow's. Vines hang low to the ground from the branches and I find myself acing to move them all around simply to make it another meter ahead. Small moths, flies and butterflies continue to come by me as I walk and I wonder how they manage to move around through the vines. The advantages of being small, I guess.

   After walking for about 20 minutes and making mental marks as to how to get back, I finally find a nice place to stop. A little extravagant for the forest but I like the mythic feel. A small pond, only about 10 meters in diameter all around, makes up most of a small clearing in the trees and the branches if the trees create an overhang of the first meter of so of the pond and light floods through the canopy formed by the high branches in small shafts giving off a good bit of iridescent light. To put it simply the pond has an ethereal feel. Maybe I'm exaggerating, but that's how it feels. Either way, I've found my training area. I just won't do anything potentially destructive here; it's too precious for that.

   I kneel down near the edge of the water and pull out Berry's list of spells to learn. Where to start?

-Raven Cloak- Page:36

-Shadow Wrap- Page:23

-Dark Sparks- Page:45

-Light Rift- Page:21

-Dark Sight- Page:29

-Air Coil- Page:34

-Open View- Page:43

-Spire Form- Page:47

-Chaos Point- Page:147

-Deviant Point- Page:147

Time to get to work. I think as I flip through the book to first spell.

Chapter 4

Spell 6: Raven Fall

This is an old favorite of mine. This spell creates a storm of fake magical birds that cover a ten meter diameter area and initially will come from the casters feet and wrap around him/her for a brief moment. Usually you would just use this as a scare tactic to trip up pursues while you teleport away, if you can teleport that is. The birds themselves will fade away after thirty seconds or so; so that's your time limit for it. The seal for this spell is one large circle and 8 lines starting at the center of that circle that spiral outwards to the circle. Have fun.

This seems to be simple enough. I think before setting the book aside and forming the seal in my mind while I close my eyes. Here goes nothing.

   I begin to push my magic into the seal and the sapphire hue of my magic begins to fill each section formed by the spirals one by one and I can feel a little strain but nothing that shouldn't be taken care of by my natural regeneration after I cast the spell. I fill the last section and open my eyes to see the effects of the spell.

   An eruption of black birds begin to flow out from the ground around me and they swarm around me for a few moments in a spiral before flying outwards and flying around the diameter of the pond in a frenzy of feathers and the sound of birds screeching fills the air. The birds are midnight black in colour and their eyes are singular sapphire colour. There's probably a good hundred or so of them forming a thin veil of falling feathers and faux bodies which continue to circle the area in a counter clockwise manner. After thirty seconds of this, the birds begin to become quieter and one by one their bodies begin to fade away and disappear. Well that was fun; I guess that could be useful to elude any predators I come across.

   I practice the spell another fifteen times before deciding to move on being as I feel I've done good enough practice with it.

Chapter 3

Spell 8: Shadow Wrap

As the name would entail this spell allows you to darken the preexisting shadows on yourself or an object and the shadows around the object and magic is drained as the shadows that are already around your object and the shadows around it become darker depending on how large the item is. Simply put; your magic is used to darken the shadows. This spell does require a continuous amount of magic to be applied to it to keep the shadows wrapped around the object and to keep the added concealment effective. The seal for this spell is quite minimalist in its nature however you must be in contact with the shadow and with the object you wish to cloak; the higher your contact level is the better. After you darken the object however you no longer need to maintain contact with the shadows or the object allowing you to have a stronger concealment while in the shadows. The seal is only four lines coming out in a spiral from a single point. After filling this seal you will need to simply think about pulling the shadows around the item as of you were wrapping it in another layer of shadows.

I guess this won't be too hard. I think while walking over under the trees and putting my book back into my pocket. I kneel down in the grass with the palms of my hands in the shadow covered grass. I guess I'll start by wrapping myself. After all, I'm most likely to use to hide myself and if I can't do that it will severely cut how useful this will be for me; not it mention it will be good practice.

   I form the seal in my mind and I begin to fill it with what is now the scarlet hue of my magic. The seal itself doesn't take much magic to fill the seal and I look down to my hands. Here we go. I begin to think of the shadows wrapping themselves around my hands and body; to my surprise the shadows around my hands begin to darken along with portion of the initial one. I can feel a drain on my energy but I could probably hold this spell for a good five minutes before running out of energy. I'll play with this one later. If I'm supposed to get these spells down by days end I don't want to be running out of energy before at least getting halfway through. I think before dropping the spell and I visibly become lighter with the shadows around me. Time for the next spell.

   Chapter 5

Spell 2: Dark Sparks

This spell has the name might entail is a spell you use to create black sparks to light fires and the like. I realize the fire made by the fire is still the same as regular fire but the black sparks are good if you don't have enough time to activate the spell when you're burning something so with this you can activate it off sight and light the fire when you get to the object. Also I wanted a flame spell in this book but I needed one that would fit the theme. The seal is fairly simple; just imagine a small square with four arrows outside of it pointing to its corners and a circle around that. You will need to regulate how much magic it receives after this to ensure you don't make too many sparks and to ensure that the sparks don't die out. Not for indoor use.

I think I'll try this one later. I don't want to risk burning down my sanctuary. Moving on now...

Chapter 3

Spell 6: Light Rift

As the name implies Light Rift creates light. Rather than your basic light spell this will create a flashlight type of light which will be emitted from one of your hands. The more magic you put into the spell; the bright it gets. To activate this spell think of a thin and tall oval in your mind and fill it with your magic. Simple and effective.

And here we go again. I think as I envision the mentioned seal and I fill it with my magical energy. The initial cast is quite easy for me and after filling it with my sapphire magic a small oval similar to the one I thought of opens above my right hand with light flowing out of it like a flashlight. This however still doesn't even absorb more magic than I can regenerate. Then again it's highly similar to the light spell so the cost is naturally similar to it's forerunner.

   I shine the light around for another few minutes just to get the hang of its range and whatnot. And onward moves my training session.

Chapter 3

Spell 11: Dark sight

A common spell, but never the less useful; is Dark Sight. The spell creates a low level night vision effect to help you see in the dark. This is good pair with a dim Light Rift spell to help even out the center of your vision but also give some situational awareness to the rest of the area. This spell originated in an old tribe back before equestria's founding as a central government. They used it to give them the ability to hunter quietly at night and launch ambushes without being seen from their light spells or so I'm told. The seal for this is pretty simplistic; just two circles with one small circle in the center of each larger circle and a line passing horizontally through each circle's center. This spell will require a continuous amount of magic to stay active. Have fun and don't make me look bad.

   I walk back under the trees where the sun isn't coming through very well to make sure that I don't end up hurting my eyes. If staring at the sun is bad for your eyes, then staring at it with night vision couldn't be much better. I envision the seal after I'm under the trees' canopy and I begin to fill it with what is unsurprisingly my scarlet magic. I think I'm sensing a pattern.

   The spell does take a little bit of energy to cast but nothing too substantial. I feel am odd sensation come over my eyes and to my surprise a red tint comes over my eyes and areas originally to dark to see into become clearer. The drain is noticeable but I could still hold this spell for a good half an hour or so before needing to stop. I look around for another few minutes before deciding to move on to the next spell being as sitting around with night vision is only going to waste time. Hmm; Air Coil doesn't sound exiting and neither does Open View or Spire Form. I guess I'll just do Chaos and Deviant Point before taking a break for a while. I think as I flip the page for the two spells.

Chapter 17: Imbues

Spells 1&2: Chaos and Deviant Point

These two can explain themselves to you. Think of seven points in a line with a hexagon of any size on both sides of the line. Celestia have mercy on your soul.

Well that was vague. I think as I sit down by the water's edge. I mean really; at least be more descriptive. Oh well; I guess I'll just give it a try. I think before drawing the image in my mind. Here we go, I think as I begin to fill the seal with my magic. Surprisingly enough the spell actually does use up a good bit of my magical energy as the hexagons fill with my magic; the left takes to the scarlet magic and the right takes to the sapphire magic. After the hexagons are both filled with their respective colours of magic the center dots begin to fill with an odd silver hue of magic that I'm unfamiliar with. Odd; I don't remember having magic like this.

   After the spell is finished being filled I nearly vomit into the waters due to the strain and feel an odd pain in both of my hands and when I look to them I'm surprised to see two small wisps of smoke making their ways out of the back of my hands. The scarlet wisp rising from my left and is thinner and longer than its sapphire coloured companion which is more of a thick puff of smoke which is rising out of my right hand.

"Ok; I'll bite. What the hell is this?" I say aloud as the two wisps float in front of face.

"Hello. I believe this our first real meeting outside of your soul. Good thing; it was getting a little stuffy in there."  A now familiar voice comes from the scarlet wisp.

"Shit. You two again?" I say while face palming. It just doesn't end.

"Quite. If you didn't want to see us you shouldn't of done an imbue spell." The sapphire wisp voice with the voice of Safaia.

"I don't know what an imbue spell is. It was just written that it would explain itself." I defend while watching the two puffs of smoke closely. This is much less threatening.

"I guess that makes sense. After all imbue is something better explained through an actual conversation. To put it simply an imbue spell is a spell which allows hosts, such as yourself, to manifest the abilities of those within them through an object. In this case, air is the medium." The red wisp explains. What?

"What do you mean by 'hosts' and 'those within them'?" I ask with genuine confusion although I'm pretty sure I'm the host and they're the ones I'm hosting.

"Oh yes, you don't know about that, but that's all in good time. First let's see if you're really worthy of manifesting us." Safaia says and I feel my body go limp as my vision goes blurry and the two small puffs of smoke disappear into the air. Fuck. You'd think I'd be used to this by now.

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Berry's POV

   I walk out from behind the trees after his conversation ends and I give him an experimental tap on the head. He's out cold.

"Looks like I was right. He is a host." I say aloud. I hope you're ready Sonata because those two are going to put you through the hoops now. Celestia knows mine did the same thing to me. I think before walking away for his limp body. You definitely won't understand now, but in time you'll understand.